Mistaken for a Masked Monster - Chapter 121

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 121: Don Quixote’s Reverie (5)

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“What a relief, what a relief...”

Ranne clung tightly to me, repeating those words under her breath.

She had buried her face in my chest.

Her loose blond hair tickled the tip of my nose as her body pressed close.

She panted as if exhausted, but unmistakable relief mingled with every breath.

“Truly... I knew you'd be safe!”

Ranne spoke in a choked voice.

Before I knew it, I was patting her back.

Her warmth pressed against me.

The damp beads of sweat, her own crisp, fresh scent.

It was all so sudden, yet only one question kept running through my mind.

‘How...?’

How on earth had she found me?

The entrance I'd used should've vanished.

By then, hundreds of question marks were floating over my head.

For a moment, I even wondered whether she was a shapeshifting monster or a hallucination...

‘But that isn't it either.’

After hesitating briefly, I opened my mouth.

As if reacting to that, violet eyes flashed up to meet mine.

“Um... Miss Ranne.”

“Yes, Sir Viktor!”

Her eyes shone so brightly it almost felt burdensome.

I cautiously asked my question.

“How did you enter this place? I did think everyone would be looking for me, but this space is so unpredictable that I didn't expect any help to arrive. It didn't seem like there was any passage leading outside, either.”

Temple of Lumiera.

It had originally been a dungeon designed to be cleared alone.

You could only enter through a passage at special coordinates, and even that came with the limitations of being one-use and for one person only.

Once such a passage had already been used, it was almost impossible for anyone else to enter afterward.

‘Almost impossible does mean there are possible cases, though...’

It was theoretically possible.

In other words, it was a method that could only exist in theory.

Still unconvinced, I asked, “Don't tell me... you found another passage?”

“A passage? I don't know if it was truly a passage, but while searching, I did find a magic circle that looked exactly like the one Sir Viktor was swept into. I immediately jumped in, and woke up on the first floor of this place. Then I climbed to the third floor, where I sensed a presence, and found you like this.”

I knew it.

She really had found another passage.

‘Is this for real...?’

I couldn't contain my shock.

Finding another passage.

Looking only at the sentence itself, it didn't sound especially remarkable, but I knew the difficulty and odds involved.

‘A side path.’

That was what they called the second passage into the temple.

The side path activated exactly twelve hours after the first passage was used.

Its location was random.

It appeared at only one point in all of Count Kihano's territory.

It would genuinely be easier to find a needle in a desert.

‘I tried to figure out this gimmick in my previous life, too...’

Setting aside the lack of any related bugs, simply finding it in the game wasn't easy.

The location was completely random. There wasn't any pattern to it.

Even I had only properly used a side path a handful of times in my previous life.

Because of that, most players didn't even know the passage existed.

The developers had said they never expected anyone to use it. They had simply included it as something like an Easter egg.

‘And she found that?’

A blizzard raged outside.

She had searched the vast northern snowfields and found it.

Even if she was the protagonist of the original story, that was luck and determination beyond common sense.

“You mean you jumped in the instant you found the passage, without any suspicion at all?”

“Yes! There wasn't time to hesitate!”

“Wasn't that reckless? What if it had led somewhere else?”

“It's all right. I can't explain it properly, but I had a feeling it would be fine.”

“A feeling?”

“The Blessing of the Star. It's part of the power dwelling within my heart. Sometimes it sends me intuitive signals. In fact, I was able to find the passage in that vast northern wilderness because of that intuition.”

I stood there blankly for a moment before finally understanding what Ranne meant.

The girl who shared her life with a star, its power engraved in her heart.

‘Ah.’

Intuition.

There were times when Ranne showed an unusually sharp side.

In the original story, it was called [Path of the Star], a passive skill that activated only rarely.

The exact conditions for its activation and how to use it had never been revealed, so it remained a MacGuffin for the protagonist.

It seemed to work for Ranne in the form of a kind of intuition.

‘You could call it... a sort of revelation from the star.’

That meant it had activated at just the right moment.

Either way, it seemed she hadn't found me through luck alone.

‘Well, this worked out.’

I had just been disappointed by our lack of firepower.

I hadn't expected such a timely party member to appear.

And she was the student ranked third in the year, after Rin Glacia and me.

‘This'll make the clear easier.’

Ranne was well-balanced.

Her focused firepower was also among the best of anyone in the group.

Fatigue had begun to build up, but suddenly I felt as though I'd gained an army at my back.

“Anyway... I'm glad I was able to see you, even like this.”

“I'm relieved as well! I was so worried that something might have happened to you, Sir Viktor...”

“I'm glad you were so concerned for me. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine. I don't even have a single scratch on me.”

“As expected of you, Sir Viktor. Even after being caught in the Cult's trap, you don't seem the least bit flustered.”

“The Cult? A trap? ...Ah.”

Come to think of it, that was the setup.

After tilting my head for a moment, I put my act back on.

“What is there to fear? With you beside me, Miss Ranne, we can make it through no matter where we are.”

“Th-those words are more than I deserve! I'll do my best to live up to them.”

“I'll do my best not to become a burden myself.”

“More importantly, I rushed straight over earlier and didn't get a proper look around... What a peculiar place. The Cult's trap. For something like that, there is hardly any demonic energy here, but perhaps even that is a trick meant to lower our guard. Or perhaps it is simply a place to confine us, so demonic energy was unnecessary.”

“...Mm. That's right.”

Sure.

Let's go with that.

“We must hurry! From the others' perspective, I have gone missing after you, Sir Viktor.”

“Agreed. Let's break through quickly. I don't want to make the others worry any more than we already have.”

“I'll take the lead and clear the way!”

“Then I'll support you at your side.”

Clack, clack.

As if they had sensed the commotion, knights were gathering at the end of the alley.

Ranne raised her spear, and I raised my scythe, aiming them at the ice-armored knights.

Two sets of feet pounded down the corridor without hesitation.

Tap!

“Here we go!”

After that, the sounds of ice and iron shattering did not cease on the fourth floor for quite some time.

* * *

We swept through the fourth floor like a raging tide.

Ranne's flashes of light led the way, with my scythe supporting her.

The Knights of Old Winter were swept away like autumn leaves.

“Hup...!”

I swung my scythe at the knight in the foremost row.

Stab!

The blade slipped through a gap in its pure white armor.

Then I twisted the blade and spoke.

“Activate. Thorns.”

Shhhaaaak!

Spikes surged up and shattered the knight into pieces.

I immediately flowed into my next attack.

More than a dozen knights charged at once.

I changed the shape of my scythe again.

“Activate. Shield.”

Thoom!

A shield as large as my body blocked the knights' path.

After tying them down, I signaled to Ranne.

“Now!”

Kwang!

The moment I shouted, a flash of light surged past the shield.

Starlight barely skimmed past me and struck the clustered armor.

Crunch!

A single thrust of the spear pierced through the ice.

The knights were lined up like kebabs on the spear.

I placed my shield against Ranne's spear.

“Activate. Coating.”

Shrrrk!

Blackness unfurled, wrapping around the spear.

Like paint covering light, the scythe coated the spear shaft.

“Activate. Thorns.”

Then came my quiet words.

Dozens of spikes erupted from the coated spear.

Kwakakak!

The knights impaled on the spear met their end at once.

Only after they shattered and scattered across the floor did I return the scythe to its original form.

My breathing was calm, just short of being strained.

“Phew...”

It was a smooth clear.

The gap in our firepower had been filled perfectly.

‘Our compatibility really is good.’

I glanced at her blond hair and thought.

If we formed a group with only the two of us, Ranne and I worked exceptionally well together.

Well, Ranne herself was the kind of dependable protagonist who meshed well with anyone...

‘Still, it's true that she works especially well with me.’

My precarious combat style.

Ranne reliably covered the weaknesses that came with it.

‘Just one left now.’

More than several hundred fragments had already piled up.

Standing amid the wreckage of those knights was the final gatekeeper.

A towering War Colossus. It had to be over fifteen meters tall.

It blocked the stairs leading to the fifth floor.

“Miss Ranne!”

I put away my scythe and drew the Balloon Knife with my other hand.

A sparkling radiance spread across the area.

Ding!

[Skill Name: Vitality Charge!]

-The light produced by this weapon charges vitality.

-Vitality is absorbed by the designated target, restoring basic energy such as stamina, mana, and aura.

Absolute Balloon Sword Premium Plus.

My soulmate shone brightly.

The clear flash reached Ranne, then swirled as if gathering around her.

Whoooosh!

The light further revitalized the girl.

An equal amount of stellar power condensed in the hand gripping her spear.

<Grrraaaah!>

Boom, boom!

The War Colossus tried to bring its axe down on us.

Toward that giant, Ranne fired the star clutched in her hand.

-Kihano Style Spearmanship, Ninth Form-

‘Reverse Starfire’

Kwang!

A thrown spear aimed at the gap in its armor, at its neck.

The attack pierced clean through the War Colossus.

With the connection between its head and torso severed, its head rolled onto the floor.

Boom!

Like the knights before it, the giant became powerless and shattered into pieces.

At last, we had crushed every last knight on the fourth floor.

At the same time, a blue screen appeared before us.

Ding!

[You have cleared the fourth floor of the hidden area, ‘Temple of Lumiera.’]

[The door to the fifth floor of the temple has opened.]

[Your trial is being prepared.]

[The owner of the dungeon has recognized your presence.]

[The apostle, ‘Chief Justice of Old Winter,’ awaits your trial.]

Having such a reliable party member made the dungeon clear far more stable.

The fourth floor, which I had expected to be difficult, went by with surprising ease.

I hadn't even used the crown yet.

“Let's go.”

“Yes.”

We passed through the War Colossus's remains and climbed the stairs.

These stairs were especially long compared to those on the other floors.

We climbed for about thirty minutes.

While we walked, Ranne suddenly spoke to me.

“...Um, Sir Viktor.”

“Yes, Miss Ranne.”

“I'm sorry.”

Ranne suddenly apologized.

When I asked why, she gave me a complicated smile.

“For getting you involved in something like this...”

“Getting me involved?”

“I keep wondering... what if I had waited for support instead of following the traces back then? If I had made a better decision, perhaps an accident like this would never have happened. It feels like it's all my fault.”

“Your problem is that you always try to carry too much on your own, Miss Ranne. It's all right to learn how to rely on others more.”

“...But in the end, the responsibility for this lies with me. It is no different from me having dragged everyone into this.”

“Miss Ranne.”

Tap.

I suddenly turned around and placed my hand on her blond head.

Then I gently pressed down on that overthinking head.

She flinched in surprise.

“S-Sir Viktor...?”

“I told you, didn't I? That I trust your choice. We trusted you, Miss Ranne, and everyone shares the responsibility for that choice. No one in this world can solve everything alone. No one will blame you over something like this.”

“...”

“And why should you blame yourself? The ones at fault are the people who set up this whole situation, aren't they? Reproach should be directed at the people who made the trap, not the people caught in it.”

Seriously, who had set up this trap?

Once I found them, I was going to give them hell.

“...I see.”

Ranne considered my words for a long time.

After hesitating, she gave a small nod.

Her violet eyes, which had been lowered, looked back up at me.

“I think... my mind feels a little clearer now.”

“I'm glad to hear it. Hehe.”

Ranne's smile finally seemed a little more natural.

I gave a short laugh and led her onward.

The stairs had brought us to the fifth floor.

A grand gate carved from ice awaited us.