WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
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Chapter 87: Grave King Necledin (3)
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Alicia's turn.
The screaming wraiths instantly returned to their original forms.
Shellop, who had been panting, spoke.
[…It seems we've become monsters.]
[Ah...! How could something so dreadful happen!]
Each wraith wore a grief-stricken expression.
The wraith called Shusha was even shedding tears.
It was all psychological warfare. When shaking Mine failed, they shifted their target to Alicia.
Despite how she might seem, she had never lost her respect for the Empire's soldiers.
Alicia spoke.
"Pasha came by two days ago."
[...Pardon?]
"I gave her your belongings. She accepted your death and wished us luck."
[...Pasha, that child came all the way here?]
"Yet you're standing in our way. Is that what a father should do?"
The wraiths all turned to look at Alicia.
She continued without hesitation.
"Warriors who gave their lives for the Empire. I, Alicia Cyrus, princess of the Empire, command you."
She unfolded her fan and drew up her Mana.
"Die once more for the Empire."
Flowers Fade in Ten Days.
At Alicia's resolute dance, the wraiths visibly wavered.
After staring at her for a long while, an impossible light returned to their eyes.
[…For the Empire.]
They began to break down their own forms.
They weren't disappearing.
The shells that had maintained the soldiers' appearances peeled away, returning them to their true forms as writhing Wraiths.
No matter how many wraiths had merged together, some degree of consciousness had to remain for them to preserve how they had looked in life.
They had been soldiers who willingly threw themselves into an Evil God Dungeon, never knowing what might happen.
That wasn't something anyone could do without great loyalty to the Empire.
Alicia's words and actions must have drawn out the loyalty they had forgotten.
Aren Bright's turn.
Aren Bright gripped Sun Shine.
"Kh...!"
Blood burst from her mouth.
Her face had gone pale. Her condition must have been worsening little by little.
Aren Bright hadn't entered the dungeon intending to throw her life away. If she collapsed in only the third dungeon, what was she supposed to do about the remaining four?
That was probably why she had told Mine to attack. She must have judged that she still had some strength left.
She had taken three attacks, but none of the wounds had seemed fatal.
So why?
Then I noticed dark red stains spreading from her wounds.
Alicia muttered.
"...Corpse Poison."
There was a certain chance of being afflicted with Corpse Poison after taking an attack from an undead monster. Skeleton soldiers and zombies were all corpses, after all.
But even a wraith's attacks could inflict Corpse Poison?
Did that bastard bishop pull something here too?
Corpse Poison spread through the body more slowly than a powerful poison.
Aren Bright probably hadn't realized what was wrong until just now.
Emotional manipulation, mind games, and deadly poison.
That asshole had crammed in every nasty thing imaginable.
Aren Bright seemed to realize something was wrong as well and looked toward the bag containing the Antidote Herb.
But Necreddin twitched a finger in response to her movement.
Necreddin, too, was anticipating Aren Bright's action and preparing to launch the next attack.
Taking out the Antidote Herb, putting it in her mouth, and purging the poison from her body would all count as her turn.
If Necreddin's turn came next, Aren Bright's recovery would become meaningless.
Aren Bright made a desperate gamble.
"Sun Shine."
Activating a Core's ability consumed an enormous amount of Health. With her poisoned as she was, the burden would be doubled.
In that state, Sun Shine's physical enhancement was like borrowing from the future, a kind of debt.
A Halo appeared over Aren Bright's head, and she took the opening stance of the Ultimate Divine Sword.
"No-Self."
The Ultimate Divine Sword's only Art for clearing weaker enemies.
Rumble!
A flurry of strikes carrying the sun's light began tearing through the wraiths.
[Kyaaaagh!]
But the range fell just short.
The original game was about defeating single-entity bosses.
Naturally, area attacks were treated as trash, and Aren Bright's No-Self didn't have enough range to strike all five at once.
The Ultimate Divine Sword had always been a sword art specialized in one-on-one combat.
'It doesn't have enough range to finish them all at once.'
And that wasn't Aren Bright's problem alone.
The only area attack I had was Ashen Light, whose power was lacking.
Deathblow would be decent, but I didn't like wasting a turn charging it against a boss whose patterns I didn't know.
Mine's healing and Holy Calling were also single-target, while Alicia wasn't specialized in offense to begin with.
If this had been the Necreddin from the original game, I wouldn't have needed to worry about any of this.
"Keugh...!"
The instant the flurry of light stopped, Aren Bright's body swayed heavily.
"Aren!"
"Aren!"
She sank to the floor and vomited dark red blood.
[Ah... How pitiful. Look at your poor friend.]
Necreddin's turn.
Necreddin crooked a finger toward Aren Bright.
'Pitiful my ass.'
The four wraiths moved as one again.
This time, they intended to finish Aren Bright off for good.
Aren Bright, full of openings, wouldn't be able to stop the attack.
'Mine...'
Crunch! Slash!
"Kh...!"
Alicia stepped in front of Aren Bright.
She was the only one among us with a defensive build.
She shouldn't take as much damage as Aren Bright.
But that was only by my standards.
There was no way it didn't hurt.
How often in her life had a noble princess like her suffered the pain of having a blade pierce her body?
Blood burst from her back and shoulder like a fountain, but Alicia didn't let out even a groan, let alone a scream.
"Princess!"
"It would be a problem if you collapsed here. Halibal and you. You both must remain standing."
She was right.
We were already short on firepower. Neither of us could afford to be taken out of the fight.
Still, I never expected her to throw herself in the way.
Maybe Aren Bright and I were no different to her than any other imperial soldier.
My turn.
There was no choice.
I had a rough grasp of the gimmick now.
I immediately fed Aren Bright an Antidote Herb.
Black liquid began seeping from her body like sweat.
The detoxification was underway.
Come to think of it, Alicia must have been poisoned with Corpse Poison too.
"Senior, you need to take an Antidote Herb as well."
"I know."
Mine's turn.
"Raphael!"
She summoned Rosia as she had originally intended.
The moment Rosia appeared, she seemed to read Mine's heart and ran to Aren Bright, beginning to heal her wounds.
On Alicia's following turn, she took an Antidote Herb as well.
On Aren Bright's turn, she steadied herself, gripped her sword again, and charged the wraiths.
Then Necreddin attacked again.
The drawn-out exchange continued.
We attacked, got hit, detoxified, and recovered.
Still, the situation wasn't as hopeless as I had thought.
'It's not impossible.'
Unlike us, Necreddin showed no sign of recovering Health.
Aren Bright had been hurt purely because she had let her guard down and hadn't expected the Corpse Poison. Once she recovered and reformed the line, she wouldn't fall for the same trick again.
And now we had Rosia too.
Since Rosia was a summon, she didn't need separate care. That gave us an even better chance of winning.
So one hundred turns. Two hundred turns.
I didn't know how long it would last.
But if we stretched things out for as long as possible, it felt like we could win.
Little by little, we chipped away at Necreddin's Health.
Then, around ten turns later.
[Good. Let's stop here.]
Necreddin suddenly clapped.
Such an ominous sign made all four of us flinch at once.
"...Stop what?"
[You know it too, don't you? That time is up.]
The moment I heard that, I realized something was wrong.
Why had I only noticed now?
Demonic energy had already filled the area.
Then...
[...No...]
A single tear ran down Necreddin's cheek.
"...Sister?"
Mine wasn't jumping to conclusions this time.
Even to me, that tear felt real.
It was as if Sister Arisha's consciousness, not Necreddin's, showed through in her tears.
[No! Please, everyone run! Hurry!]
"Run?"
[Why?! Why me...?! Why do I have to take the lives of my precious children with my own hands?! Why?!]
With her scream, an ominous shockwave erupted around her.
[I'm so... sorry... Because of me... If only I weren't here...]
The demonic energy around us began to swirl. The wraiths flowing from the throne merged together, forming a massive scythe.
A shadow that appeared behind the throne held the scythe.
A familiar figure.
'Necreddin...!'
It was the true form of Necreddin I had seen in the original game.
When Necreddin raised the scythe forged from vengeful spirits high into the air, I instinctively understood.
The moment that scythe came down, something irreversible would happen.
But I couldn't stop it.
I couldn't dodge it either.
I wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"Rosia!"
Mine cried out desperately.
She took a defensive stance with Rosia in front of her, but her hands shook uncontrollably.
Alicia unfolded her fan as blood streamed down her body and squeezed out the last of her Mana. Her expression twisted for the first time.
Aren Bright tightened her grip on her sword and clenched her teeth.
But she couldn't take her eyes off the scythe.
We all knew.
It was useless.
[Reaper's Scythe.]
As the scythe swung, the world turned gray.
At the edge of my vision, my companions crumbled away like dust.
'Ah.'
As my consciousness faded, a word suddenly came to mind.
Berserk.
A kind of sudden-death gimmick where the boss used a party-wiping attack after the clear time limit ran out.
Right. No wonder its attacks had seemed so restrained.
I couldn't believe they'd added this too.
'Unleashing every area attack we had within ten turns to defeat all five at once... Was that the key?'
But how?
I had to think.
Next time, I had to...
My vision went dark.
[Unique Ability - Rewind Action 1 / 3]
Time rewound with a familiar sensation.
⁎⁎⁎
I stood before the door leading to Necreddin's throne.
"Eek?! W-Why all of a sudden?"
I suddenly covered Mine's ears.
I loosened one hand from Mine's ear and whispered to her.
"Summon Rosia first."
Footnotes:
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