Chapter 72
To be honest.
When it was revealed that Yor was a Manifestor, Chae-rin felt a bit disappointed.
A secret known only to a select few had been exposed to the whole world.
Of course, it was a matter of life and death for him, but still, the secret they'd shared was now gone.
Even if it seemed selfish, she couldn't help feeling that way. After all, logic and emotion are separate matters.
So she'd been vaguely hoping to learn another secret...
And now, she had the chance to witness another one of his secrets.
However... unlike what she'd imagined, it didn't feel good at all.
Instead, only a heavy weight pressed down on her heart.
This wasn't the kind of secret she'd wanted to learn.
"Ugh... Kuh..."
She watched through narrowed eyes.
An 18+ scene was unfolding before her. Though not the usual kind of 18+ scene.
A man who hadn't flinched even when impaled by spears was now writhing in agony.
The sight made even Chae-rin, who'd grown somewhat immune to brutality while leveling up, wince.
When parts of his body started writhing, Yor would take his dagger and stab those areas without hesitation. Blood would spray out each time, thrashing around on the ground before finally settling down.
By now Chae-rin understood what he was doing. He was draining out blood that he couldn't control. If left alone, it would clearly damage his bones and organs.
But the process looked incredibly painful.
The one small mercy was that the pain seemed to come in waves.
After draining blood from his body, he'd get brief moments to catch his breath.
Those were the only times she could actually talk with him.
"...It's called Rage Mode. Manifestors experience it once a month."
Huff, huff.
Yor leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. Though not much time had passed, his forehead was already drenched in sweat.
"When it hits, your body gets various side effects for a while."
"...Wait, once a month? How long has this been happening?"
"Let's see... probably since I was around 10."
Chae-rin looked around at the desolate cave again.
She was starting to understand why the cave looked like this.
He had created all of it. Not just today, but months ago, and years ago too.
He had endured this pain here dozens of times already.
Realizing this made the surroundings hit differently.
The weight of years pressed down on her, momentarily taking her breath away.
Even if this was just a game scene, wasn't this too much...?
Chae-rin asked him in a worried voice.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No, it's fine... just having someone nearby is enough."
That was true.
For Yor, just having someone close by was comforting.
She didn't need to actively help. Just being there with worried eyes was enough.
Besides, there wasn't really anything she could do to help anyway.
Chae-rin felt a small sense of powerlessness at this.
But regardless of how she felt, the Rage Mode continued.
When parts of his body started writhing again, he'd unhesitatingly slash his own flesh with the dagger.
His face would contort in pain each time.
After draining more blood, he managed a strained smile and said:
"Heheh, but isn't it kind of similar? You girls also have periods once a month."
"Really? You're making jokes in this situation?"
Chae-rin frowned unconsciously.
Not because his joke was offensive, but because his attempt to lighten her worry while in such a state made her uncomfortable.
Why think of others when he was clearly struggling just to endure?
But Yor just kept chuckling regardless.
Not because it was funny, but simply trying to break the tense atmosphere.
Watching this, Chae-rin quietly marveled.
'He's really strong...'
Not just physically. His mental fortitude was incredible too.
After all, he'd been living with this every month until now.
She felt she would have broken down long ago if it were her.
Chae-rin watched him with sympathetic eyes.
Time passed slowly.
The night was gradually fading away...
*
"Phew..."
How many hours had passed?
Starting to feel the strain, I finally drank the Holy Water.
Though I only had one bottle left which made it somewhat wasteful, I couldn't keep putting on a self-mutilation show in front of a guest.
While probably not as much as me who was directly suffering,
Her mental stamina must have been quite drained from watching this display.
So using the Holy Water was the right choice, both for me and for her.
Maybe it was because someone was with me, but this month's Rage Mode was somewhat bearable while staying conscious. Usually by this time I'd be rolling on the ground from the pain.
As I took a breather, Chae-rin muttered.
"Ah, so that's why you kept asking for Holy Water..."
Seems she was finally understanding my previous requests.
After appearing lost in thought for a moment, she asked:
"So without Holy Water, you have to suffer like this every month?"
"No, it's not like this every month. There are two types of Rage Mode, so the other one is easier."
I briefly explained that the other type affects the mind instead.
Felt kind of like telling someone I had a mental illness. Well, a mental illness that only occurs once a month doesn't really affect daily life, but still.
After my explanation, she asked another question:
"Then how do you usually handle the other type?"
"Usually I wander around outside until morning... yeah, usually that."
Sometimes when lust hits I just stay in the cave masturbating until it passes, but.
I didn't mention that part. Even I have a sense of shame after all.
Thankfully she let it slide when I glossed over it.
Anyway, with this, I'd made it through this month. I now had another month's reprieve.
As the tension drained away, fatigue crept in.
I got up and briefly looked over my body. A bitter smile crossed my face.
'Covered in blood...'
Well, natural after draining so much blood. I really wanted to take a bath and sleep.
Like usual, I planned to put off cleaning the cave.
Too tired to clean, and the blood takes quite a while to clean up anyway.
Though it would leave stains again, by now they barely showed among all the others anyway.
I stood up to head to the water pool in the center of the cave.
Chae-rin still wore a dejected expression. Almost looked like she might cry if someone touched her.
It made me feel a bit guilty.
After all, I was the one who asked her to stay because I was scared to endure it alone.
Though I didn't regret it. Now that my cave's location was exposed, I needed someone to watch my back anyway.
"......"
Honestly I wanted to set up guards while I slept here too.
But I decided to send her back. Maybe because of the Holy Water, but I still had some mental energy left.
This much should be enough to handle anyone who might enter while I sleep.
So I put on a bright face and slapped her back.
Slap!
"Ah!"
She looked at me in surprise at the sudden hit.
"Alright, stop moping and get up. Thanks for staying through the night. You must be tired, you can head back now."
And so I sent her home. Her expression was still gloomy.
*
When she emerged from the cave, the sky was tinged purple.
In other words, late dawn.
The sun hadn't risen yet, but morning would break soon.
She looked at the hazy blue sky and smiled bitterly.
'Well, there goes my sleep for today...'
She'd unexpectedly pulled an all-nighter.
And she probably wouldn't be able to nap either. What she'd witnessed today was too shocking to sleep peacefully.
Even someone who always seemed so strong had moments of weakness.
And it was heavier than she'd imagined.
What shocked Chae-rin wasn't just the Rage Mode.
The cave's dark and lonely atmosphere had been equally impactful.
When the few lit lights went out, pitch darkness would engulf everything.
Thinking of Yor enduring that pain alone in there made her worry rise unbidden.
Well... he seemed to have managed fine until now but.
After witnessing a scene like today's, she couldn't help but worry.
"......"
So she opened her skill window. She had one skill in mind.
The skill system in [Demons Saga] wasn't much different from other games.
Level up to get skill points, use those points to learn skills.
The main difference was that skills were ridiculously expensive.
And you could learn them through training instead of points.
Take the coveted Sword Energy that users want so badly - it costs 160 points to learn.
Meaning you need to be at least level 160 to learn it through points.
At that point they're basically threatening you to learn it through training instead.
Anyway, the explanation got long but the conclusion was simple.
Chae-rin had found a skill she wanted to learn.
Her eyes fixed on an unlocked skill blinking in the corner of her window.
'Night Vision.'
The ability was very simple. See clearly in darkness.
Her reason for learning it was equally simple. To traverse this dangerous forest at night.
She'd ignored it before since it seemed useless and she didn't want to waste skill points, but now she had a reason to learn it.
'...I should visit at night sometimes too.'
She didn't have enough skill points yet.
As she left the forest, determination filled her eyes. Chae-rin silently resolved to work harder on leveling up.
Time passed.
The brief winter ended, and the seasons prepared to change once again.