Chapter 51
[The basic stat “Stamina” has increased from E rank to E+ rank.]
[Remaining Good Karma points: 0p]
I remained frozen for a long while as I stared at those messages.
Good Karma points, and forcibly improving stats.
Even I, a veteran player of the original work, had never heard of such a thing.
‘An option... Did I break through Hellscape?’
Additional Options.
When the difficulty was set to [Impossible], various additional choices would appear.
The direction of play would change depending on which option you added.
For example, losing your eyesight and taking the Blind Swordsman route, or playing as one of the academy staff.
‘Content for veterans.’
Every one of them boasted considerable difficulty.
They had been made with the brakes off, specifically for old users.
But among those options, there was one considered the most difficult of all...
[Additional Option: Hellscape (地獄道)]
-All spawned monsters remain in a berserk state.
-The difficulty of all hostile factions that appear increases by 300%.
-All of the player’s basic stats are fixed at E rank.
That was Hellscape.
It was difficult enough to make even most veteran players click their tongues.
[Title: Fuck, is this difficulty meant to be cleared???]
[Author: LoveGoldFarming]
I’ve been trying Hellscape for the fifth time already.
This truly fucking impossible difficulty is making my mind go blank.
Do this and you die, do that and you die, do nothing and you die. Ah, fuck.
This is such a fucking garbage game. I seriously want to find the company headquarters and set it on fire.
I don’t know about anything else, but...
-All basic stats fixed at E rank <- This is a truly absurd restriction.
Fuck, how are you supposed to face Calamities or conquer Purgatory with an overall rank of E?
I’ve already died four times in Seven Nights, the easiest Calamity.
And I think I’m going to die this fifth time too, lol.
Is there no bug that can forcibly raise stats?
If I could just solve the stat problem, I feel like I could somehow clear it by racking my brain.
[Yeah, none.]
-> There wasn’t any bug that improved stats.
-> LoveGoldFarming) Why the hell is there nothing like that?
[There’s no bug for raising basic stats—the stamina, strength, and agility ones, right?]
-> LoveGoldFarming) No, there are bugs like Character Parry Baseball and Status-Effect Parry, so why isn’t there a stat-raising bug that just changes the letters?
-> lol These bastards are sneakily meticulous, aren’t they?
-> There are so many bugs, but there’s no truly serious bug that can completely break the game.
-> That’s why there’s no item duplication bug, either. At most, you can duplicate simple items like food.
[But honestly, it’s right that bugs like that don’t exist.]
-> If bugs could destroy everything, would that be a game? It’d be an insect museum.
[If you’re going to whine like that, couldn’t you just not set the difficulty to Hellscape? Why are you stubbornly trying to play it?]
-> LoveGoldFarming) There’s an achievement you can only get by clearing this...
-> You’re working on achievements? Even so, isn’t this a little too difficult?
-> LoveGoldFarming) But I used to clear Bug-Finding Game like I ate meals...?
-> Are you and Bug-Finding Game the same? lol
-> You bastard... Did you just take our Bug-Finding Game bro for a joke?
-> I’ll kill you, you fucking bastard. I’ll flood the board with all kinds of gore right now.
-> LoveGoldFarming) When did I ever?
That was why the stats fixed in Hellscape could not be altered.
There wasn’t even a bug that could break through them.
If such a thing had existed, I would have used it long ago.
And yet, I had found the answer in a mysterious title.
‘Saint... Saint.’
I read the title’s description, then read it again.
‘So, if I save another person’s life, I can gain something called Good Karma points. And I can spend those Good Karma points to improve my basic stats...?’
I racked my brain.
I had acquired 50 points by taking a single survivor out of the cage just now.
And it had cost exactly 50 points to raise the Stamina stat by one rank.
[Basic Stats]
Stamina: E+
Strength: E
Agility: E
Mana Sensitivity: E
It had risen from E rank to E+ rank.
Perhaps a rank rose easily because the stat was infinitely low to begin with.
By rescuing just one person, I had broken through the previously locked limit on my Stamina.
‘I feel oddly less exhausted than I was a moment ago...’
So it was a system that awarded currency in proportion to the lives I saved.
It was a setup that fit the concept of [Saint] to the letter.
Who would have thought such a function was hidden inside it?
After obtaining the title, I had equipped it for some time without gaining anything. That must have been because I hadn’t saved any lives during that period.
‘If the status window hadn’t told me, I might never have known.’
Hellscape (地獄道).
A restriction that could be overcome through the title’s special ability.
Then there was only one thing I had to do from now on.
“Ignition. Saw.”
Farm points.
“Ignition. Scythe.”
Shraaak, shraaaak—!
The scythe swung fiercely, slicing through the rows of cages standing in succession.
I tore the doors off the isolation cells one after another and rescued the people inside.
As I reached out to those who were terrified.
“Don’t worry, everyone! Those cultists have all been dealt with by the Slayers! It’s time to wake from this nightmare and return to your warm homes!”
Words meant to reassure the people.
I spoke them with the same blend of lies as at the ranch.
There were fewer people than before, so directing them wasn’t difficult either.
The rescued survivors moved obediently, then embraced one another and burst into tears.
“Th-thank God... Sob, we’ve really been rescued?”
“God. Thank you, thank you...”
“I thought I was going to become a monster without a chance to do anything...”
“Ugh, sob... It’s a miracle, it’s a miracle...”
Every one of them offered thanks or prayed right where they stood.
Some even clung to my hand, collapsed, and wept.
I stayed beside them so they could feel at ease.
I even showed them the corpses of the cultists sprawled across the floor, making absolutely sure they understood that they were safe.
Ding—!
[You have acquired 20 Good Karma points.]
[You have acquired 20 Good Karma points.]
[You have acquired 20 Good Karma points.]
[You have acquired 20 Good Karma points.]
.
.
[You have acquired 20 Good Karma points.]
[You have acquired 20 Good Karma points.]
[Remaining Good Karma points: 400p]
It seemed Good Karma was set at 20 points per life.
Perhaps they had given me 50 earlier to commemorate unlocking the ability.
There had been twenty uninjured survivors trapped in the isolation cells.
After tearing down all the cages, I had accumulated 400 Good Karma points.
“Your Highness.”
“Hmm, shall I toss them over as I did last time?”
“Please.”
In addition, there were the ten people trapped in the special isolation ward.
Their bodies had been contaminated by demonic energy and had begun to mutate.
Carmilla used blood magic to create a large hand.
Then she picked up the mutated people and threw them straight toward me.
“Hngh...!”
People came hurtling toward me like baseballs.
The Absolute Balloon Sword was gripped in my hand.
Pfiit—.
Pfiit—.
Pfiit—.
A relentless game of Parry Baseball.
Each time I swung the sparkling balloon sword, the mutated people regained their original forms.
“Whew.”
They were still in the stage before becoming mutants.
They had not yet completed their transformation.
In that case, there was room for me to intervene with Imagination Parry.
Their racial stats had not changed; they were merely suffering from the status ailment called ‘contamination.’
“Daughter...? Our daughter...!”
“Mom...? That’s strange. I had a strange dream...”
“Ah, how could this happen... Sob, thank you, thank you...”
The survivors became a sea of tears once again.
Some of them even prostrated themselves before me.
The parents who had nearly lost their children did so especially often.
“Rest assured. We, the Slayers, have rescued all of you.”
“Sob... Saint... Are you a saint?”
“It’s a miracle. How could this happen...”
“God, oh God...”
It took quite some time to calm them down.
Amid the sniffles, Carmilla tilted her head slightly.
“Victor... No, Captain Garurik.”
“Yes, it’s about time we headed back.”
“What do you intend to do with the survivors?”
“I’ve contacted the Border Guard Knights.”
“The Border Guard Knights... You mean the knights’ order we encountered at the ranch last time?”
“That’s right. Sir Kantas promised he would help us anytime.”
“You could not possibly have reached them at this hour. You must have given them advance notice.”
“Preparations like this have to be made ahead of time. I contacted them before we captured Professor Glinbert.”
“As expected... My trusted aide is truly meticulous.”
“Hehe, it’s better to be thorough, isn’t it?”
About an hour later, troops arrived near the temple.
A lion emblem embroidered in gold thread on fluttering banners.
It was the symbol of the Border Guard Knights.
Kantas, who had come rushing ahead, saluted.
“Sir Garurik! Sir Manur! It is an honor to see you again!”
“It’s good to see you as well, Sir Kantas. As I told you beforehand, please handle things as discussed.”
“On all the honor of my knighthood! After identifying every survivor, I shall ensure that they return safely to their families!”
“Reassuring.”
"For humanity!"
"Mm, for humanity."
The knight was still excessively formal.
Perhaps because I had earned his goodwill over the ranch incident, he seemed ready to grant almost any request.
‘Well... It’s nice to have someone so useful.’
Having someone handle the aftermath was a good thing.
It meant we could leave the remaining matters in their hands, as we were doing now.
After handing over the survivors, we left the temple and returned to the academy.
“Ugh...”
My entire body was stiff and sore.
It felt as if I were being crushed beneath a heavy, clinging fatigue.
‘How did so much happen in just a few days?’
During practical training, I cleared the first Calamity,
then faced Alice’s nightmare when it appeared,
arrested Professor Glinbert for collusion in plotting the incident,
and finally crushed the cultist branch he had been in contact with.
‘All of this happened in just four days.’
Of course, I had gained plenty in return.
The rush of rewards from practical training.
The cooperative relationship I had built with Alice.
The compensation the academy had promised to provide.
Jaber’s wish ticket.
The White Knight’s End.
And finally, I had figured out the use of the title [Saint].
‘Even this many rewards would give me indigestion...’
I was stuffed. Very stuffed.
I had gained as much as I had suffered, so I had no regrets.
Of course, that didn’t mean the fatigue built up in my body had disappeared.
Thump—.
The moment I reached my dormitory, I collapsed onto the bed.
The soft blankets wrapped around my exhausted body and carried my consciousness into languid rest.
‘Let’s rest...’
I had been running around far too frantically for a while.
They had said classes were suspended for the time being because of the incident during practical training.
I planned to avoid getting involved in troublesome affairs for a while and quietly recuperate.
‘I’m never leaving this bed.’
With that resolve, I pulled the blanket all the way over my head.
***
And then.
There really is no such thing as “never” in life.
[Student Victor.]
The auditorium was filled with the entire student body.
The students stood in neat rows and columns, all eyes fixed on the podium.
I sat in the waiting seats for Class E, staring at the stage with a sour expression.
[Not only did this student take first place in the latest practical training evaluation, he also provided decisive assistance in apprehending a mole within the academy.]
[Please come up to the podium.]
[Students, please welcome him with a hearty round of applause.]
Immediately afterward, the entire student body’s attention turned toward me.
The students clapped while whispering among themselves.
I had no choice but to get awkwardly to my feet.
‘No...’
It had been only twenty-seven hours since I swore I would never leave my bed.
I was dragged out before I even had a chance to enjoy my rest.
And all so I could receive an award in front of the entire student body.
A voiceless scream echoed inside me.
‘Fuck.’
Just let me rest.