Chapter 162 - The Time The Road Opens (2)

'We should wait a bit before we go.'

According to the timer, they had about an hour to relax.

If they went right away, there was a chance they'd meet the knight squadron, so it would be best to leave as late as possible. Also, that would give Louise time to calm down.

While Hyun was making plans, he heard Louise's voice.

「I think it's weird.」

「What…?」

「Until now, I've only thought of undead as scary, but today's a bit different… What about you? Am I feeling like this because I'm weird…?」

Thanks to «Assimilation», Hyun understood what she meant.

Louise had no memories of her past—she didn't even know she was a demon.

Although it was obvious from seeing how much the deaths of a few devils was upsetting her.

Louise didn't know anything, so to her, her emotions were fluctuating for no reason.

「I'm not sure why I'm the only one acting weird…」

“Haa…” Hyun let out a sigh.

He hadn't been completely sure about Louise's identity, but now he had become sure of it. It was about time he told her the truth.

Hyun carefully asked something.

「You… What do you think of demons?」

「Demons…?」

「Yes, be honest.」

Until very recently, Louise thought of demons as evil beings.

How would she react if she heard she was a demon?

「I'm not sure. After all, I've never seen one.」

「Are you scared?」

「I'm… Not sure. I'm not scared of devils anymore, so I guess I would feel similar about demons…」

Whether she liked it or not, Louise had to know the truth eventually.

「Listen, but don't take it to heart.」

「Hmm…?」

「You're probably a demon.」

He had some doubts initially, but now he was almost sure of it.

The reason why Louise's feelings fluctuated so much while seeing the devils die was probably because of that.

「A demon…?」

Louise remained silent for a while.

Hyun left her to think a bit.

Asrian was real life for her. Anyone would feel confused if they heard they were a demon.

「Me, a demon…?」

「Don't worry. Even if that's the case, I will be on your side.」

Hyun mumbled after feeling a sudden increase in uneasiness.

Louise was scared about a demon receiving hate.

For a user that was of the Abyss, angels were enemies, and demons were allies. Louise was worrying about nothing.

Thankfully, Louise's reaction was less than he thought.

「You don't hate demons…?」

「Yes.」

「Hyun, if you don't leave… I don't care about being a demon.」

Hyun told her other things, too.

The Main Quest, and why they were trying to reach the Ruins of Darkness… Louise seemed sorry after hearing all of it because she realized that all the struggles they went through in the Symmetrical World were because of her.

They would be able to obtain many things at the end of the road that led toward the ruins. When he told her, Louise's expression changed as if she didn't like that.

「But… I don't want to recover my strength or memories if I can live normally like right now…」

Louise was afraid of having to go through another situation like that—the deaths of numerous devils.

「Do you want to return?」

「Yes…!」

「That isn't possible.」

Hyun immediately refused.

What kind of future would come if Louise didn't move? Hyun could easily guess what would happen based on the experience he'd gained in the previous game.

The Main Quest wasn't an event you could slow down by hiding.

If the Darkness didn't do anything, the forces of Light would just get stronger.

It would keep taking control of all the places around the world, and in the end, Louise wouldn't have anywhere she could stay.

「It's something you'll eventually have to do.」

「I… see…」

There was a chance that the Main Quest he was doing had the chance to rewrite the history of Asrian completely.

Depending on the result of the quest, the balance between the forces could change.

The Holy Kingdom had moved first, so Darkness had to react to that—that was her destiny as Darkness.

「You may find it hard… but be strong. This is also for you.」

In the end, Louise understood her situation.

The Heavens hated all demons.

If she remained still, she wouldn't be able to do anything eventually, so before that happened, she had to move and try to balance things out.

"Did you finish talking?"

「Yes. Let's go.」

[Time before the road that leads to the Ruins of Darkness closes: 42 minutes 29 seconds.]

'What should I do?'

Hyun began thinking about every move he could make.

He could either hinder them, reduce their forces, or get ahead of them.

Among those options, getting ahead of them and reaching the Ruins of Darkness first seemed to be the most important.

Whatever they did, they had to start moving before it was too late.

The group began moving through the road that had opened between the fog.

* * *

A few minutes after Hyun began moving to the Road of Darkness…

Paf-!

Immediately after Mayday logged in to Asrian, she saw the town that had been destroyed.

'Huh? Wh-what happened? Did everyone die…?!'

After «Incineration» went through, there was nothing left in Pitchblack Lighthouse.

Mayday was able to survive thanks to Ain's advice.

'I'm glad I logged off before anything happened!'

Logging out when the battle started had the same penalty as if you'd been killed.

The criteria that decided that was the moment you were recognized as an “enemy” by an NPC.

If it weren't for Ain's advice, Mayday would've lost her life at the hands of the Holy Knights.

'Did she save me…? That Ain…? Seriously?'

She couldn't believe it.

She didn’t think Ain was the type of person who would give someone else a piece of advice.

In reality, Mayday wasn't wrong. After all, it was Hyun who had given her that advice in order to keep as many of the Abyss's forces alive as possible.

「Mayday, are you alive?」

「Yes. I'm in the Black Town… Although this doesn't look like a town anymore.」

「You really are alive! But every user that was there was killed. How did you…?」

「Ah, you see. What happened is…」

Mayday briefly explained to him what had happened.

Just the fact that she'd met Ain was good enough to report on, not to mention how Ain's faction had changed and that Ain had saved her life.

XL seemed surprised after hearing what happened.

「Really? Ain gave you a warning…?」

「Yes, that's weird, right? She doesn't seem the type of person who would do that.」

Ain was the most 'my way' type of user she'd ever met.

When Pias tried to make her join the guild, a fight suddenly happened.

XL thought about it for a while and then carefully spoke.

「Wait a moment, maybe…」

He thought about a possibility they’d discussed regarding Ain not long before.

「Are you sure it wasn’t 'Hyun'?」

「What…?」

「I'm talking about the possibility that Hyun «Assimilated» to Ain.」

Ah…! Mayday quickly began thinking about what happened at that moment.

When she thought about it, her atmosphere seemed different.

If you could borrow the other person's voice while using «Assimilation», it might have been possible that she'd talked with Hyun.

「I… I think that it might have really been Hyun!」

She began recalling her memories.

How Ain talked, the unknown skill she was using, her eyes that moved awkwardly…

「I think it was Hyun!」

According to the information they knew, Hyun was someone who cared a lot about his own gains and losses.

If he thought that leaving her alive would be better, it wouldn't be weird for him to give her such advice.

「What? You met Hyun?」

「Mayday, what quest are you doing?」

New voices joined the conversation.

One was the vice-leader of the guild, Reina; the other one was an executive, Bear Shield.

「Although I'm not a hundred percent sure… I think that the chances are high. Woah, I've been talking with Hyun!」

「If you met him, that's good news.」

XL smiled in satisfaction.

「He gave you good advice, right? If so, the relationship won't get messed up like the first time we met them.」

「Haha, Pias, he's talking about you!」

「At least we're going to get a chance to break the wall.」

There was no chance they'd be able to make Hyun or Ain join them.

—That's what the executive of the Darkness Guild and ex-Asra user Keiji said.

Although it might be impossible to make them join, according to him, building a good relationship was possible.

For example, what if they became trade partners? Keiji knew what Hyun wanted from his experience in the previous game.

「The easiest way to build a good relationship with Hyun is to offer him a good item. A rare or lower-rank item could make things worse… Yes, a unique item that's over level 100 should be good enough.」

「Hey, Keiji, isn't that too much? We're the Darkness Guild, after all!」

Reina complained.

「Well, it isn't like we didn't make a mistake… I guess it should be okay to give a present to Ain. Something that won't overwhelm her.」

「No, it won't have an effect on Ain. You should give the present to Hyun. The more grand and overwhelming it is, the better the effect it will have.」

Keiji kept talking about numerous things, but they decided to talk about the details later on.

「Well, it seems like we will be able to recover the relationship. Although I still can't believe that a single user can have such a big influence….」

「Okay. If I meet him again, I'll talk to him. I'll contact you later!」

And the short conversation between the executives of the Darkness Guild ended.

'Although I have to meet up with him first…'

Mayday decided to think about the situation.

She’d gone there because she'd received a quest from the Duke.

But she'd decided to participate without thinking too much about it. To think that it would be such a big quest… Not only that, but it had yet to end.

Maybe it would keep going on until she left the place and died.

She wasn't sure why the town was destroyed like that. She'd logged out before the knights entered the town, so she had no way of knowing what had happened.

'Did some sort of bomb fall on the town?'

She wasn't sure if Ain was still in town or if there were more survivors like her.

'There really isn't anyone.'

She quickly gave up on trying to find someone else.

The fog gave the place a chilling atmosphere.

The town’s area wasn’t very big, so it didn't take her long to look around the town.

'Hmm? There's a road!'

Soon, she found a road that was connected to a dark valley.

The road the knights and Hyun's group had gone through was still open.

It was the road that led toward the Ruins of Darkness. The other places were full of fog, so it was hard to move.

'It's narrow, and it looks scary, but this isn't a horror game. Is this the only road left?'

While Mayday was thinking about whether she should go through that road or not…

She heard stones moving from behind and quickly turned around in surprise.

She saw a figure standing up amidst the rocks.

'An old man…? Is he a user? No, he isn't a user!'

She soon realized that it wasn't a person.

He had red eyes, sharp claws, and long canine teeth. The being that stood up was the vampire Priest of Pitchblack Lighthouse.

"U… Ugh… I barely survived…!"

If he hadn't hidden as soon as the knights entered the town, the Priest also wouldn't have been able to survive.

"Hmm…?"

The Priest looked into Mayday's eyes when he emerged.

"A human?!"

"Ugh…!"

Mayday flinched at the sudden shout.

"A user? Are you of the Abyss?"

"Yes!"

She quickly understood the situation and nodded.

Vampires were devils that belonged to the Abyss. She tried to appeal to him, saying she was doing a quest for the Abyss.

"I see."

The vampire stood up and turned his attention from Mayday.

Instead, he looked at the town that had been destroyed.

"This was the doing of the Heavens… But as long as I'm alive, I won't stop praying to Darkness, you bastards!"

"Hmm… Mister?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"What's that road?" Mayday asked while pointing to the road that led into the fog.

"What?"

"Where does that road lead?"

The Priest was stunned as he looked toward the direction Mayday was pointing.

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