Chapter 182: Second Ordeal (4)
“...Let’s see.”
First, I needed to sort out the situation.
While everyone else was sleeping, I was the only one awake, holding my throbbing head while rummaging around the dying bonfire.
There was a lot to think about.
...First, let’s examine the situation.
Since we were at the beginning of the Second Ordeal, it wasn’t difficult to sort out the information about the situation.
Like the fact that the location I was currently in was the Forest of Demonic Creatures near the Forge of Struggle, or that the immediate goal was to survive here for three days.
Since I had defeated even the Rulers of Demonic Zones nearby, honestly, I doubted that it would be that dangerous here.
But that was only if the ordeal proceeded ‘normally’.
“...”
While swinging around the poker with a frown on my face, I kept racking my brain.
The Hero Selection wouldn't proceed so easily. There was no way. In the first place, the main focus of the event was to ‘rank’ the candidates. They wouldn’t do that sort of thing in such a soft environment.
Besides…
The goal to ‘survive for three days’ was only camouflage.
To be more exact, you should interpret it as ‘survive as long as possible’.
When they said that they would be raising the difficulty drastically starting tomorrow, it meant that they were dead set on eliminating everyone. The main focus of the ordeal was to find out how long they could survive in such an environment.
The main character is not me.
That was one fact that I should keep in mind.
At the end of the day, my role in this ordeal should be limited to Iliya’s sidekick. I should not be the one who stood out the most like I was before.
It didn’t matter in the First Ordeal since all she needed to do was to get a high score, but the Second Ordeal was the bridgehead to the Final Ordeal. This was the time when they held the real evaluation on whether the candidates could stay unscathed after they grab the Holy Sword or not.
In other words, they would be focusing on ‘how’ rather than the result.
Iliya’s competence was the thing they would examine, not mine.
What I had to do was to strengthen what I had been carrying over.
To improve her abilities by deliberately exposing myself to life-threatening situations.
That wasn’t a hard thing to do. I could do it easily.
The problem was that there was a high chance that I’d need to be away from her so that I got into that kind of situation to begin with.
If that were to happen, she’d be left alone with Faenol. Just the two of them. I wouldn’t be there as the mediator.
“...”
At a first glance, it didn’t seem like a problem, did it?
Like, Faenol was the most rational one among the Vessels and Iliya wasn’t the type to pick fights with others for no reason.
But…
The problem here was that Iliya did have a big ass reason to pick a fight with her.
“...What do you think, Caliban?”
I asked Caliban, who had begun to come to his senses, in a gloomy voice.
[About what.]
“The odds of Iliya staying sane when she meets the Red Devil.”
[...]
He went quiet for a bit before letting out a bitter smile.
[...None. How can she?]
“As expected, huh?”
I also let out the same bitter smile. It couldn’t be helped. Faenol was literally the enemy of her family.
Let alone Iliya, this person over here was adamant on being uncooperative with Faenol the first time he saw her.
“...By the way, your attitude toward her has been a lot better these days.”
I didn’t know why, but his attitude towards her had gotten a little softer lately.
After hearing what I said, he had only been trying to put up with it, but these days, even his grumbling about me getting involved with that punk had become less and less frequent.
[I mean…]
His voice was calm as he continued.
[She seems to have a reason.]
“...”
[I can feel it the more I watch her.]
“What exactly do you feel?”
[She doesn’t seem like someone who would misuse her power and recklessly harm others. Like, she doesn’t seem like a bad person.]
“...”
[The way she kept on saying that she wants to die as soon as possible. How she urged you to awaken her feelings quickly because the Red Devil’s power would be weakened if you don’t do it properly—if anything she seemed to dislike that power in a lot of ways.]
Caliban continued with a chuckle.
[Quite the opposite, isn’t she someone with a strong sense of self-hatred?]
“...”
His analysis was accurate.
In her mind, someone like her should just disappear from this world as quickly as possible.
Despite my declaration that I would make her happy, chances were her feelings about that had not changed much.
“...She had her reasons in the past.”
I said as I looked at Faenol, who was sleeping peacefully.
She had a dark past—all of the Devil’s Vessels did, but Faenol had the darkest past among them.
“...”
I recalled a few keywords, a few background stories from the game, flashed through my mind.
Maiden from a countryside village. Mage of the Magic Tower. Inquisitor of the Heretic Inquisition.
Even among the Devil Vessels, her background was the most colorful one.
And there was a reason, which she could not say, why she became like that; her surroundings had been completely devastated.
She probably believed that everyone around her was suffering ‘because of her’.
That was why she thought that someone like her had to quickly disappear from the world.
[It seems so, huh? Come to think of it, I think it can’t be helped.]
“Excuse me?”
[When I met her during the Crimson Night Incident, I never had a conversation with her. When I cut off her neck, she had already lost her mind completely.]
“...”
This was the first time that this person had spoken about his past without me asking him.
The more shocking part here was that he directly mentioned Faenol.
It was probably a kind of half-evidence that he had greatly reduced his repulsion towards Faenol.
[Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anything about ‘how' the Red Devil inside her ended up going out of control.]
“...”
[Seeing all the Vessels around you, it seems like the Devils don’t go out of control that easily. A lot of them might even live their life without knowing they had such a thing inside them if you weren’t here.]
Caliban continued calmly.
[So, my rough guess is that she didn’t cause the Crimson Night Incident after the Devil went out of control for no reason.]
“...”
[Don’t get me wrong. I still hate that Red Devil punk. She still has to pay for the crimes she committed against those who were unjustly swept away by that catastrophe and died back then. But still, if there’s one thing that I am aware of.]
His voice still sounded calm.
It was to the point that it sounded ridiculous, especially due to how upstanding his sentences sounded like.
[The Devil is the bad one, not that lady called Faenol.]
I looked at the Soul Linker, still with surprised eyes.
Surely I didn’t hear it wrong, right?
Normally…
You wouldn’t even entertain that kind of thoughts against someone who incited a disaster that could straight out kill yourself and your family.
There shouldn’t be many people out there who’d say what he had said without getting carried away by their emotions, even when they understood the circumstances.
“...You’re a true Guardian, Caliban.”
Those who were called the symbols of righteousness and justice.
The exemplar of the most ideal ‘Knight’.
[...Then how do you usually think of me?]
“Uh, that one idiot from the neighborhood?”
[...]
“Or a clown, maybe?”
[Shut the fuck up.]
A window suddenly appeared in front of me as I chuckled at Caliban’s reaction.
System Message
[ You caused a psychological change in a soul imbued within ‘Soul Linker’. ]
[ ‘Synchronization Rate’ with the target soul increases! ]
[ The ‘Second Memory’ is unlocked! You can watch it by synchronizing with the soul when you wish! ]
[ A Special Event will occur after you unlock the last memory, the ‘Third Memory’! ]
I frowned slightly upon seeing it.
This…was definitely that.
Just like back when I strengthened the Soul Linker, this should be part of his memories that I could take a peek on.
“...”
A Special Event, huh?
I wasn’t sure, but I had a strong feeling that this could be the key to this main quest. Call it a Sera sweat’s gut feeling.
Other than that, it felt like a lot of things that were related to this guy would be revealed through this main quest.
I thought so while quietly looking at Faenol’s face, who was sleeping.
She slept right next to Iliya—on the surface, you might think they get along well.
“...It’d be nice if they are.”
This time, there was a high chance that a situation where only the two of them remained would happen.
Since I had to troll around so that Iliya’s chances of standing out would be higher.
My only hope was that no emergency would occur while I was doing it
[You’re always so loose-lipped. Do you know that?]
“...”
[Has there ever been a time when something didn’t happen because you hoped so?]
“...”
Don’t cowardly hit me with facts.
I sighed while scratching my head.
But still…
If Faenol was there, at least I’d be able to forestall ‘accidents’ such as being suddenly attacked by Yuria like what happened during the First ordeal.
I might be able to focus completely on the main quest.
“...Well, at least fortunately, I think I’d be able to manage to break through the ordeal itself with ease.”
As soon as I thought so and said that…
-!!
-!!!!
“...”
I was certain of one thing.
I did have loose lips.
They came so viciously.
Yeah, technically, ‘starting from today’, they’d raise the difficulty. They definitely said that, yes.
It was just, I thought they had the conscience to wait until the sun rose so that people could act properly. Not in the break of a dawn like this! Fuck, they really wanted us to suffer, huh?
Sure, yeah, this was the Hero Selection, but dude. Most of these people were students.
“Pack… They're using troublesome punks. Are all those people in charge of the Ordeals sadists?”
They were especially specialized in hunting and tracking even among large Demonic Creatures.
I got up from my seat as I thought so.
“...”
I suddenly noticed something strange.
A blue ‘shroud’ descending from the sky.
“...”
At first, I thought I saw it wrong.
But seeing it again, it became more clear.
It was definitely ‘that’.
“...Fucking hell.”
As soon as I saw it…
All the composure was gone from my face.
I immediately screamed in a high pitch.
“Wake up-!”
“Uh, eh, uh, w-what is it, Teach?”
“...Senior Brother?”
“Mr. Dowd…?”
Upon hearing my scream, the punks, who were sound asleep, woke up simultaneously while panicking.
“Wake up and get your equipment, right now! If you dawdle even for a second, we’re all gonna die!”
As if sensing the urgency in my voice, they got their weapons and equipment amid their panic.
Considering the situation, it was a very shrewd reaction. But when I watched the scene, I still couldn’t ease my nervousness.
[Hey, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden? What’s that?]
...It's the Nullifying Shroud.
A very high-level spell that could be called a magnetic field.
An insane technology that incapacitated every single ‘Special Power’ inside it.
[...What?]
Caliban asked in bewilderment.
[How is that possible?]
In Sera, the source of all powers worked through Special Powers.
In the material world, even the power of non-standard beings like Angels or Devils were bound by Special Powers, and that Nullifying Shroud could ‘erase’ it all.
This was originally a gimmick that was occasionally seen in challenges or contents with a hell level of difficulty. This kind of shit never popped up in Chapter 4.
“...”
My blood was boiling.
To release High-Grade Demonic Creatures in a situation where people couldn’t use any of their power. That was the equivalent of them throwing all those people to their deaths.
[Why did they suddenly release such a thing?! This is a Hero Selection Ordeal not an execution ground.]
Don’t ask me.
As far as I knew, there was only one person who could artificially implement that.
The Empress of the Empire. The Sword Saint of the time, who was next to her.
In other words…
It was the Ruler of the Empire herself who pulled this crazy stunt.
...Let’s think about it later.
I could find out the reason why she was doing such a thing later.
The released large Demonic Creatures must have been looking for humans nearby right now.
For now, I had to move.
So I could save the lives of everyone here.
“T-Teach, what’s wrong?”
“First, don’t panic and listen.”
I said while holding Iliya’s shoulders, who was obviously panicking.
“Not everyone here can survive.”
“...”
“So I’ll die just once.”
“...”
“Don’t worry. I’ve done this a few times.”
Unfortunately, she did not seem to stop /genesisforsaken
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