[296] 6. Big Secret (5)
“We’re here to save you! Where are you now?”
“Shoooooooo!”
Nade bent his four arms and shouted at the sky.
Then all the Egoists stopped moving.
Amy caught her breath and watched the situation. My heart raced at the thought that my voice might have reached Sirone.
But what followed was disastrous. The egoists became elongated as if they were being sucked in by something, and then the rainwater gushed against them.
Then, drawing a parabola in the high sky, he began to be sucked into Ned’s egoist.
The form of Egoist, which absorbed his comrades, began to change rapidly. It grew to more than 3 meters in size, and insect legs protruded from its shoulders, sides and waist.
Its tail puffed out like a bee’s butt, and its face grotesquely stretched back and forth, giving it the appearance of a curved sausage. The face was cut open as if it had been cut with a knife, and saw-toothed teeth appeared, and a long tongue came out of the throat and swayed like a wave.
“Keeeeeeeeeee!”
Amy’s face went pale. I couldn’t believe that it was Sirone. The form created by all the egoists in the vicinity was terrifying.
As the monster stepped forward, the ground thumped. that can’t be beat Even with such conviction, he held on to his confused spirit and took a fighting stance.
If you step back at only level 11, you won’t be able to save Sirone. Even if it meant dying on the spot, he was determined to fight back.
“Okay go!”
“Good job! Run now!”
As Armin passed by and said, Amy looked back at him with an absurd look on his face. However, he soon canceled the magic and ran. Rayna immediately followed.
The three of them ran with all their might. In the distance, Egoist’s screams echoed through the sound of rain.
Armin took refuge in a dark alley and sat down with his back against the wall. Amy and Raina also sat across from each other, raised their heads and let out a rough breath. Raindrops hit my face like a shower.
Amy asked before she could catch her breath.
“What the hell is that? It’s Sirone’s consciousness, how could such a monster come out?”
“It is a selfish defense mechanism that humans have. It blends into the projectile. The stronger the projectile, the stronger the Egoist’s power.”
Amy remembered that Nade was the strongest.
“But is it okay to run away like this?”
“When the Egoist is attacked, the Egoist uses a nearby projectile to reveal itself. However, when it becomes terrifying like it is now, the nature of the egoist disappears, so we can’t figure out our location. It’s really strong and there’s no benefit to getting rid of it, so it’s better to run away.”
Rayna put her elbows on her knees and covered her face. No matter how much he ran, steam rose from his body.
“Whoa, is it because we failed to inject keywords?”
“It’s not that we failed, it’s that Sirone refused. There’s a lot of boundaries. Of course, as the situation in reality is the situation, it has no choice but to do so.”
Amy asked.
“Do I have to keep fighting those things from now on?”
“Right now, it’s the only way. You have to keep injecting keywords until Syrone accepts. There is no way to get down to level 1 other than to be guided by Sirone.”
“But anyway, those are also Sirone’s rituals. Can I convince you?”
Arius shook his head coldly.
“Egoist is a self-defense mechanism that every human being has. Recognizes all targets except Sirone as enemies. Even those of us who gained 7 gold and 10 gold trust the moment the keyword death was entered are no exceptions. It’s nothing to be sad about. The world is recognized as me and others, but the egoist is only me and me. They have no concept of being a stranger.”
Amy, who keenly felt Egoist’s blind aggressiveness, shuddered.
“How are we going to fight? It is so strong.”
“No, this is weak. The closer you get to the depths, the stronger the egoist. This is why we must find the incarnation of Sirone in the surface layer. If you enter the realm of stage 1 instinct, Egoist takes over most of your consciousness to protect Sirone. In other words, it exerts power comparable to Sirone, the master of this world. That’s why divers never dive too deep. Arius would have thought differently had Sirone’s subconscious not weakened.”
Amy said with her eyes shining.
“Then isn’t Arius and Zion in the same situation? They say that the lower you go, the stronger the Egoist, so you might die before you even arrive.”
Armin shook his head.
“no. He’ll probably take a detour without finding Sirone. A grave robber is an expert on the human mind. It may seem like a common world, but objects here have their own meaning. Arius will interpret the meaning and find his way down directly. Of course, there is a high probability of getting it from below the REM area, but by then, Sirone’s unconsciousness will have collapsed considerably. Arius was aiming for that and jumped in.”
said Rayna.
“Then, why don’t we use Arius’ method as well? Amy knows Sirone well, so maybe she can interpret things here.”
“The shape of the hamm ritual is different for each person. There are terraces and squares. There is also an aisle type and a phased space. But usually the gateway to the lower floors is underground. It’s consciously the most natural.”
said Amy.
“Then shouldn’t we find a cellar here too?”
Arius laughed.
It seemed that these women still did not realize what a terrifying place human consciousness was. After all, this is only 11 steps.
“I was talking about a general theory. The human mind is so complex and delicate. Unless you’re an expert, you’ll have to search all the basements of this world, and even if you do, you can’t guarantee that it’s the entrance to level 10. You can’t get there faster than them anyway. But if we meet Sirone here, things might turn around. We have to keep injecting keywords.”
Reina said with a tired expression.
“Egoist will find us every time, right?”
“There is only one way. That’s why I told you not to come. It’s funny to say this with help.”
Amy had no regrets about it. It was just that it was embarrassing that Sirone attacked him.
“ha. I feel strange. To have to fight Sirone’s spirit.”
Armin glared at him coldly.
“Calm down, Amy.”
“yes?”
“This is not the time to be sentimental. As you can see now, the minds of others are extremely dangerous places. It is a place where even the best divers who are equal to Arius have lost their lives.”
“I know. That’s why I’m nervous.”
“Really?”
Amy looked at Armin curiously. I am really nervous. No, he was even prepared to risk his life.
“Don’t be mistaken. It’s not that Sirone bothers us. We’ve entered Syrone’s realm and are causing a mess. This is an extremely private space that Sirone does not want to show to anyone. Miss Amy came in there. Still, it is cowardly and despicable to be angry or disappointed with the reaction of this world.”
“That’s…”
Amy was speechless.
As Armin said, he never thought about it from Sirone’s point of view. If someone could come into his mind and examine everything… the thought was terrifying.
“We are not going to see Sirone. You will meet the incarnation of Sirone. Hwashin is completely different from the Sirone I knew on the outside. Amy Yang couldn’t withdraw. So it’s sad, but maybe it’s natural for Hwashin. If Miss Amy sees the incarnation of Sirone, no matter what he does, he will definitely feel like he is not Sirone.”
Rayna added.
“Even though it’s actually the most accurate sirone.”
“yes. The only thing humans can know about other people is their outward appearance. But incarnation is different. It’s because all the emotions that make up human beings are all mixed. To be more precise, even the shameful and embarrassing parts that cannot be revealed to anyone are integrated. We are going to see it.”
Amy thought for a moment, then took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks with her palms. My face was red, but thanks to you, I came to my senses. As Armin said, let alone nervous, he was not even prepared.
“all right. I will never judge.”
Armin saw the cool light in Amy’s eyes and only then revealed a satisfied smile. Without this level of determination, there was no ability to break away from the minds of others.
What if the heart of a man who confessed his love was actually just an animal desire? What if the person you thought was your best friend was actually full of jealousy and envy?
How many people in the world would not feel betrayed after knowing the truth?
Arius emphasized once again.
“Ataraxia will be at least level 3 deep. And it’s a place where there are things you never want to show others.”
“yes. I won’t be interested in anything. Because I also have an inner feeling that I want to hide. Sorry for being immature. I guess my emotions were shaken without my knowledge because I couldn’t withdraw.”
said Rayna.
“are you okay. Because I hadn’t even thought of that. And I would have felt sad if I hadn’t been able to withdraw.”
Amy smiled bitterly.
“Sirone must be sad about me too. I got it wrong. No matter how much Geumgangtae’s mental strength, he must be a human with the same emotions as everyone else.”
Armin stared out of the alley, then slowly turned his head to look at Amy.
“Now… what did you say?”
“yes? Ah Sirone has the same feelings…”
“No, not that. Did you say Geumgangtae?”
Amy blinked in bewilderment, then spoke quickly when Armin’s expression was more serious than expected.
“yes. There is a famous monk at school called Ms. Etella, and he said that. If you can use ataraxia, you should enter the realm of Geumgangtae.”
“What an idiot…!”
Armin hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.
Why couldn’t I have thought of it?
No matter how much you engrave it in your instincts, ataraxia is too huge a concept for humans to contain.
Normally, the capacity was enough to destroy the mind.
But Sirone is making full use of it. Therefore, the teacher named Etella got it right.
“I’m sorry Miss Amy. You’ve been pretending so far. I was such an idiot. I feel like punching myself in the head a few times.”
“yes? What am I…”
Armin wrapped his arms around Amy’s shoulders and energized him.
“You saved us. Follow me. I will go to Sirone.”
Reina straightened her bow and stood up.
“Then are you fighting the Egoist?”
“no. We will also make a detour. Like Arius.”
Armin was confident of success.
In this way, you can catch up with Arius. Above all, it was a method that Zeon and the others, who had to avoid Sirone, could not use even if they knew about it.
Armin took the two women out into the street. Egoist’s fears had gone far, but they weren’t seen nearby.
The place I arrived at was the outskirts of the main road, cutting through the ankle-deep rainwater. The carriage was standing and the coachman was sitting in the driver’s seat in the rain.
He was wearing a narrow-brimmed magician’s hat, but for some reason, only his face was in shadow, so he couldn’t see his face. It looked like a person without a face.
As Armin approached, the coachman didn’t even look at him.
“There is no service today.”
Armin took out all the remaining gold coins and showed them.
“I have a place I need to go to urgently. Please look at the circumstances.”
It was an amount that exceeded Armin’s reliability, so even the coachman wouldn’t have firmly refused. As expected, his voice sank a bit. But again, it was a reluctance.
“On days like today, driving is difficult. It’s raining too much. Where the hell are you going in this weather?”
Armin looked back at the two women waiting behind him and asked the driver.
“Let’s go somewhere where it doesn’t rain.”
The coachman’s head twisted in Armin’s direction as if it had been electrocuted. The movement was so bizarre that the women watching swallowed their saliva.
“Let’s get on, sir.”
(End of Volume 12)
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