◈ 402. [Side Story] Plague (2)
Shoot Aaaaa!
The ferry we were on slipped on the stagnant water and burrowed into the sewer.
Stumbling on the boat, I looked back at the village at the bottom.
“Aaaagh!”
“It hurts, it hurts… !”
“Protect the gold coin, the gold coin… !”
The appearance of the village swept away by Raven’s plague was devastating.
Residents were scratching their diseased skin and at the same time banging their heads on the floor because of their polluted minds, both physically and mentally collapsing.
Even besides – contagious.
Residents who had not yet been sick ran to rescue other residents, but the plague was transmitted through an unknown route, and the body and mind were disintegrated in the same way.
“Kuh… .”
It is literally a living hell.
But I didn’t have time to worry about them.
《I’ll chase you to the end of hell, Ash-!》
It’s because Raven came after him.
Plague Lord has changed into the form of fog and followed closely behind us.
Just getting swept into its path caused the water in the sewers to boil with a rotten smell, and the sewers to corrode and collapse.
“If you get caught, it’s the end honey!”
“Don’t worry! No matter how much of a nightmare corps commander is… … .”
Despite the dire situation, the Sword Ghost and the Window Ghost calmly rowed the boat forward. The Sword Demon glared at Raven with a bloody gaze and drove the boat.
“You won’t get to and from this bottom hole faster than me!”
Shoot Aaaaa!
Just in time for the flood, the black rainwater filled the sewerage and overflowed.
The ferry was pushed into the huge sewer where black turbulent whirlwinds roared.
Like a leaf floating on a stormy sea, the boat swayed precariously.
However, the Sword Ghost and the Window Ghost steered the boat amazingly and did not lose balance.
The speed of the raging rain was terrifying. The ferry that got on the current moved at a tremendous speed.
《Don’t miss it! don’t miss it! Come on! come to me! Your body, your mind, your soul-!”
Raven, who had turned into fog, let out a bizarre shout and reached out to us.
However, the ferry narrowly avoided his hand, and Mason’s hand, which inevitably fell close, was offset by an attack with a huge claw.
“Are you okay?!”
“so so… It’s okay.”
Mason’s fingernails rotted away and fell apart. But when Mason gave it strength again, new nails sprouted. Beast painters are convenient.
Shoot ah-!
The huge sewage pipes were tangled like a maze, winding and dividing into several branches and then joining together.
The ferry continued to twist its course, making its way through the maze. Raven’s movements weren’t as nimble, so he fell behind us little by little.
“ Ashi Yi-Yi-! ”
Raven’s voice became more and more away while riding a ferry into the sewage for a long time.
“… Did you bully me?”
The sword ghost and the spear kept the speed of the ship fast without being vigilant, but I intuitively felt that I had been fighting with the nightmare corps commanders for a long time.
We shook off Raven’s pursuit.
“Whoa… .”
After wiping the cold sweat on my forehead, I finally checked the condition of the party members.
Fortunately, Salome and Mason, as well as the Sword Demon and the Spear, were relatively unharmed from the plague.
It seems that they were able to protect themselves from Raven’s plague thanks to my mental defense passive skill [Indomitable Commander] and the wide-area application of the invincibility effect.
But just as my [Indomitable Commander] was pierced and I was struck by his mental plague.
If they are not careful, their minds will be infiltrated and they will see terrible hallucinations.
At least, my invulnerability side hadn’t been pierced yet, probably because of the high defense score, but this side was equally anxious.
‘It’s not some kind of Pokemon, it’s fucking evolving alone… … .’
I gritted my teeth thinking of Raven, who had entered the Hidden Phase alone.
At that time, the sword ghost and the spear ghost, who had been rowing silently, opened their mouths.
“It looks like you’ve shaken off the pursuit, so all you have to do is get to the ground like this.”
“Sit still. I’ll be leaving soon.”
Looking at their backs standing in the bow, I asked shyly.
“What about the villagers?”
Before leaving the bottom town, I saw it clearly.
The villagers suffering from being swept away by Raven’s baptism of plague.
how are they going?
“… .”
The two bandits, who had been silent, answered reluctantly.
“All of our villagers are cursed with eternal life. We cannot die.”
“So, if the plague is not cured, you will have to suffer in pain until the end of the world… .”
I was taken aback by their blunt words.
“How can you speak so calmly?!”
“What’s the difference?”
The Sword Demon smiled and looked back at me.
“Do you think a life of searching for gold coins on this floor for 500 years will be fun and happy?”
“… .”
“It’s the same thing as enduring with a scourge that’s worse than dying anyway. It just adds one pestilence to it.”
The window was spoken.
“I don’t know about you, but we’ve been through worse than that plague.”
“More… ?”
“Five hundred years ago, when the Lake Kingdom suddenly sank below the lake. How are all the people?”
The window stared intently at the black water that filled the sewer.
“I drowned in the sunken city.”
“… .”
“But none of them died because they were all cursed with eternal life. I couldn’t breathe and I suffered endlessly in the water holding on to my painful lungs because the water filled up.”
Think about the scale of Lake Kingdom, which was viewed from above.
It was a city-state of enormous size, almost the size of New Terra, the ecliptic.
If a whole city that big was sunk at the bottom of a lake, how many people would… .
“The Demon King proposed to us who fell into such a living hell.”
The Sword Demon continued.
“I promise to help you escape from this painful reality. I promise to make you sleep comfortably. Instead, the nightmares you have are mine.”
“… .”
“The vast majority of the residents of the Lake Kingdom succumbed to the Demon King at that time. and… I was wrapped in a black cocoon and turned into a nightmare for the devil.”
Black cocoons in human form that have been visible since entering the heart of the Lake Kingdom.
that’s all… … They were people who once lived in the Lake Kingdom.
“Then, those black uncocooned survivors… ?”
“I made it through. One hundred years until the water drains from the Lake Kingdom.”
one hundred years.
Having survived the pain of drowning for a hundred years?
“We who endured a hundred years of drowning. Do you think he’ll succumb to the plague?”
“… .”
“We Eternals have their own way of living. So don’t worry about us, after we get out of here safely… … Bring a bunch of gold coins.”
The Sword Demon and the Spear started to focus on driving the ferry again.
“… .”
I clenched my fists, looked at their backs, and
made up my mind… … said.
“Go back.”
“… ?”
“what?”
Everyone in the small boat looked at me. I said one more time.
“Let’s go back. Go back and take that plague… … Let’s defeat Raven.”
It was Salome who looked at me with a blank face.
“What nonsense, Ash! He’s the one who broke your mental barrier! That guy overcame the wall that even I, the succubus queen, could not cross!》
“… .”
“If it’s just a mental barrier, don’t speak again! Its essence is a plague that corrupts the body! You’re lucky enough to eat one of those fruits and gain resistance to the plague, but if this side gets pierced by any chance, you’ll experience the real pain of hell!” Mason also objected in a hoarse voice
.
“I know you’re usually reckless, but I can’t understand you any more this time.”
“… .”
“Even if you say you’re going back… How are you going to defeat the plague corps commander, who is struggling even with an army, with just five?”
I raised my tired eyes and looked around at the people on the ferry.
It’s not that I don’t want to get rid of myself right away. The vision he had just received was truly horrifying.
The death of the comrades I had lost that I least wanted to see. If I saw something like that again, my mentality might not be able to withstand it.
But I am the one who aims for the true ending. This is the player who has to plan until the end of the game.
‘We have to defeat it here.’
Raven’s Plague has evolved in a terrible direction.
It is a shitty enemy that leaves permanent injuries to allies and spreads corruption and pollution throughout the city if it invades the Crossroads, but now it has become an even more terrible being that damages the mind.
If only that plague had leaked out of the Lake Kingdom.
Not the crossroads, the whole world… … It may collapse in an instant.
When he was still here in the Lake Kingdom.
It must be eradicated before it is called in earnest.
“… I have a strategy to defeat him.”
Even though I took a strange evolutionary stone and mutated on my own.
If its true nature is Plague Corps Commander Raven, then I have a way to defeat it. The elimination method established during the game.
“On the contrary, it is difficult when there are many of them. A small number of elites are suitable.”
The plague corps increases exponentially as the number of sides increases exponentially.
As few as possible… … no, to be honest.
“… It’s ideal to have a party with throwaways who don’t mind getting the plague.”
I honestly looked around at the party members.
Undying immortals Sword Demon and Spear.
Half-man, half-beast Mason, who is on the verge of death.
Salome is always the same thing I have to fight… … He will run away with [Escape from reality] if the situation arises.
With this party composition now, you can mobilize for Raven repulsion operations without feeling guilty.
I’ve said it outright – I’m going to send you all on a suicide mission.
Salome, who had been listening quietly, looked at me with trembling eyes.
“We do. But Ash… … You?”
“… .”
I sighed and nodded.
“Raven’s Plague has the characteristic of destroying everything once the Raven is defeated.”
Damage already inflicted cannot be repaired, but its plague itself is extinguished. No matter how widespread it is, it loses its source and power and disappears.
“It must be because the basis of the plague is Raven’s malice.”
《… .》
“So, just kill him before I die.”
Salome tried to say more, but I looked away.
The sword ghost and spear ghost, who had stopped the boat before I knew it, were glaring at me with ferocious eyes.
“You are a very funny guest.”
“Why do you think we will follow your orders?”
I silently took out a piece of paper from my bosom and shook it.
At that time, it was a written oath that each other wrote and shared.
– The Troupe in Distress helps Ash escape the dungeon. When Ash escapes the dungeon, he pays half of his fortune to the Disaster Relief Corps.
Yes.
It doesn’t help ‘escape’. It will help you until you ‘escape’.
whatever i do Whatever you do. they should help me
“You can see that I took a picture here, right? You two have to cooperate with me until I escape.”
“What?!”
“Sir… !”
The Sword Ghost and the Window Ghost, who hastily confirmed the oath they had, grabbed the back of the head as if they had been hit.
I looked at them and opened my mouth.
“When the Lake Kingdom sank, the other survivors gave up on reality. I would rather escape into a nightmare than live and suffer eons of torment.”
“… .”
“But the people of the bottom village chose a reality that is more terrible than a nightmare. Why?”
The sword ghost and the spear ghost, who had been muttering, exchanged glances and said,
“… People.”
“Because I wanted to be human.”
He crumpled the pledge and put it back in his arms.
“That’s why I’ve been collecting gold coins all my life.”
“Because it was not our dream to have nightmares for the devil in a cocoon.”
“Neither do I.”
I nodded.
“I still want to remain as a person.”
Just now. The last time you looked around the bottom village.
My eyes met with the little brother who was sharing fruit with me.
He waved his hand softly at me as our eyes met.
While being engulfed by the plague with his whole body stained red… … Like greeting a departing friend. with a peaceful face.
… If I don’t kill Raven in time.
The villagers and the little boy may struggle in pain as their mind and body are consumed by the plague for the next hundred years.
“after.”
Exhaling, I slowly got up.
I’m afraid.
The nightmare Raven showed me.
everyone I killed. This guilt weighing on my shoulders.
But but- I know what scares me more.
– brother!
i was able to save
I was able to reach out
The little life I turned away and ignored.
I know keenly that the regret after losing an opportunity without fighting is greater than the regret after fighting and losing.
‘I want to save it.’
people within my reach.
I still want to save
So, even if this fight is long and terrible and painful –
I will not back down.
“let’s go.”
Keep your body upright and your back straight.
I gathered up all the courage I didn’t know how much was left.
I said.
“… To kill monsters and protect people.”
I hope that the flag I already abandoned once will still remain in me.
