Chapter 8
I looked at Lydia Straw, who’d brought Laura Crown over with a beaming smile.
Apparently, there’d been a communication error.
I’d clearly asked her to look for anyone suspicious, so why had she brought Laura Crown over?
"Just like you asked, I brought her!"
When did I tell you to bring her here?
Lydia Straw patted Laura Crown on the back. Laura stared at me, dumbfounded, then hurriedly shook her head.
"I-I don’t know anything."
She shook her head as if she’d done something wrong.
"..."
Obviously, I hadn’t expected her to know anything.
Bringing this woman here wasn’t part of my plan to begin with.
No, those two women weren’t part of my plan at all. And never would be.
A crazy bitch and a Chapter 2 boss?
Seeing two people who’d never met in the story standing there looking at each other made me feel strangely uneasy.
Was it because the traitor came to mind? Or did it feel like two disasters were meeting?
Anyway.
There was nothing good about having these people around.
Maybe I should politely tell them to get out of the way because it was dangerous.
"Get lost."
At my words, Lydia’s eyes widened, while Laura nodded and turned to leave.
"All right."
"Huh?"
Then Lydia grabbed Laura as she was leaving.
"W-What?"
"Since I’ve been spending time with you lately, I’ve started to understand what you mean, more or less."
What nonsense are you talking about? If you understood me, you wouldn’t have brought Laura Crown here.
"Don’t talk shit."
"See? He’s saying I’m right."
How exactly?
I sent out a wave of pressure telling her to get lost, and Lydia Straw’s face went pale as she lowered her gaze.
Were humans really creatures of adaptation?
She seemed to be resisting the pressure I gave off better than before. Or had she gotten used to it?
No, capable, decent characters like the student council president should come looking for me. Not walking bombs like you.
"...Whatever. I’m leaving."
Laura Crown muttered as she started to walk away.
I looked at Lydia Straw as if to ask, Aren’t you leaving too? When our eyes met, she nodded, still pale, and replied.
"Y-Yes! I won’t leave, no matter what! Don’t worry!"
That’s not what I said. Get lost. I don’t like you.
No, I don’t dislike you. I’m just scared of you.
"If you don’t leave right now—"
"We’re cut off."
Before I could finish speaking, Laura’s voice came from behind me.
Had she gone out and come back in the meantime?
More importantly, cut off?
I slowly turned to look at her. When our eyes met, Laura lowered her gaze to the floor again and murmured.
"Something unknown is blocking us."
"..."
If it was something unknown...
"It seems like a Corrupted."
Laura murmured, and Lydia’s eyes flew open.
"Don’t worry! M-M-Mr. Aiden... no, Lord Starfive cut down two Corrupted in a single strike!"
"...So the rumors were true."
Laura murmured at Lydia’s words.
I let their conversation go in one ear and looked at the status window.
[Debuff: Mild Sprain]
I looked at the debuff window that was still there.
The empowered strike was...
[Available Empowered Strikes: 2]
Two?
[Awe: 29%]
Didn’t I get an empowered strike for every 5%?
Then shouldn’t I have four empowered strikes? These guys can’t even do basic math?
I couldn’t help getting angry at this blatant unfairness.
As a result, my voice came out sharper than usual.
"Report."
"...What?"
"Don’t make me say it twice."
At my words, Laura squeezed her eyes shut, then began to explain.
She shook her coin pouch, and it jingled.
"The opponent is a Corrupted. It looks like one of the students at this school transformed."
"..."
"And this place seems to be inside its stomach."
"Its stomach?"
"...Yeah, I think it’s safe to say we’re inside its belly."
Laura answered, sweating coldly, and glanced at me.
How did she know all that—no, of course.
Laura had the <Bribery> skill.
It was useful for figuring out the skills of bosses and mobs in advance.
So she knew because this whole space was being treated as an organism.
That made sense.
I slowly nodded, and a questioning look appeared on Laura’s face as she watched me.
"...Isn’t that strange?"
"What is?"
"...Nothing."
She slowly shook her head.
How anticlimactic.
Thinking that, I sorted out my thoughts.
I immediately understood the situation from what Laura had told me.
There were several kinds of Corrupted.
There were those who simply became a single organism, like Benjamin, and those who transformed into one enormous environmental feature, like the giant stomach-like Corrupted surrounding us now.
Later on, there were even Corrupted who became labyrinths.
For now, I should see it for myself.
I started walking, and the two of them followed behind me.
Surprisingly, there was no one else in sight besides the three of us.
If it was a Corrupted this huge, shouldn’t at least one person besides us be trapped inside?
There had also been people who’d gone in to avoid me.
This was a little strange.
*
How long had we been looking around?
Just as Laura said, every path was blocked.
No, should I say blocked?
The walls of flesh were writhing.
The walls of flesh writhed, flaunting their grotesque appearance.
"It’s all like this."
Laura murmured, looking at Lydia and me.
"Can you break through?"
"..."
To get straight to the point, I could break through.
Think about <Dark Fantasy Saga>.
You could cut your way out from inside a Corrupted that had become an environmental feature.
I could probably cut through it using Cursed Swordsmanship.
I could cut through, but...
"I can."
"What? Then hurry up and break through—"
"But I won’t."
The two of them looked confused at my words.
Looking at their faces, I recalled a video I’d seen on the <Dark Fantasy Saga> community.
There was a famous environmental Corrupted called Heaven of the Great Forest, and this happened when someone destroyed it.
The user’s character destroyed Heaven of the Great Forest, and at the same time, the character ended up outside.
Then a message appeared: <You have fallen into eternal darkness.> The character was left alone on a dark screen.
The user’s companions were gone too, and only the directional keys worked, so the user cursed.
The character wandered through the endless darkness for hours, until the user turned off the video and the incident ended.
Various accounts since then also suggested that you shouldn’t recklessly break through the outer wall of an environmental boss.
If that eternal darkness really existed in this world too, then opening this up would be too much of a gamble in our current situation.
"You won’t...?"
Laura looked at me suspiciously, and Lydia looked at me with a puzzled expression too.
I couldn’t explain something like this.
If I knew too much, that would only arouse suspicion.
What should I do about this—
"Oh!"
Lydia clapped her hands.
"As expected of you, Lord Starfive!"
"What?"
Laura murmured in confusion.
Of course, my reaction was the same.
What nonsense was she about to spout now?
"You’re worried about the others who are still trapped!"
"..."
Laura Crown looked at me as if to say, Him?
Of course, as soon as our eyes met, she lowered her gaze to the floor.
"There might be other people trapped besides us, and if only we get out, they’ll be in trouble!"
"...No, then we can get out and bring back help."
Laura was absolutely right.
Couldn’t we just go get a professor?
"No."
"What?"
What did you say?
Lydia clicked her tongue and shook her head.
"What if the others get hurt in the meantime? Besides, since Lord Starfive can take down a Corrupted in one strike, the goal is to quickly deal with the source of the incident and minimize the number of casualties!"
"...Is that really true?"
Laura looked at me as if she were shocked.
No, that’s wrong. Absolutely not.
But it’d be a little awkward to say no here.
I’ll just keep my mouth shut.
"...Hmm."
I closed my eyes with my arms crossed.
"See? I was right!"
My conscience pricked me, but I just stayed still.
"...Yeah."
Then Laura, who’d been looking at me, stood up and took something out of her pouch.
A few coins.
"I like that kind of attitude."
She murmured without meeting my eyes.
"I have to save my people, too."
Her people.
Laura Crown’s story briefly flashed through my mind.
The princess of a fallen kingdom.
The only survivor of the Crown Kingdom.
Or at least, that’s what she believes.
"There’s nothing more important than money and my life."
She murmured calmly and tossed three coins into the air.
With a bright clink, the coins flying through the air disappeared as if someone had taken them.
I knew this skill.
<Search>
Laura’s skill that used money to find whoever she wanted.
Laura’s eyes glowed gold, and she turned her gaze somewhere.
"But that doesn’t mean three coins are worth more than someone’s life."
She murmured, then turned her gaze forward.
"This way."
She drew her rapier and strode forward, and the two of us followed behind her.
What an unbalanced combination.
A man who was supposed to die in the tutorial, a woman who was sure to rank among the top three characters every player dreaded facing as a boss, and a woman who became a Chapter 2 boss.
Honestly, it wasn’t unbalanced.
I just felt like throwing up.
A dream team made up of people I desperately hoped I’d never meet.
"So."
Laura, who’d been walking, looked at Lydia and me.
"You two are covering the three coins, right?"
"..."
"..."
We looked at Laura too.
She twirled the ends of her hair and murmured as if she were doing us a favor.
"...I can pay for one coin."
"..."
"..."
"...Th-Then... I can pay up to two coins, including that guy’s share..."
I’ll think about it.
"Shut up."
[Party Leader / Aiden Starfive]
[Party Member / Lydia Straw]
[New Party Member / Laura Crown]