Road to Death (1), Road to Death (2), Road to Death (3) and Road to Death (4)
“what… This.”
Hyeon hurriedly backed away from the mirror and examined his body.
Was it just a fantasy? Fortunately, my body isn’t as twisted as I saw in the mirror.
when I was so relieved.
“ah… .”
I found Mina next to me and took a breath.
Mina’s upper body was completely turned as seen in the mirror.
In that state, red bloody tears were shed.
Just like the statue at the entrance did… .
It was a scene that might remain as a trauma for a while to those with weak courage.
“ah… I shouldn’t die now… .”
Without finishing her words, Mina’s new form quickly scattered into light.
As the bloodstains disappeared along with it, it felt as if the incident that had just occurred had been a dream.
Of course, both Hyeon and Ain know very well that it is not a dream.
thud. thud. My heart started beating like crazy.
Perhaps it was because he had just seen Mina’s face, Hyun realized that Ain was extremely nervous.
“That person… Are you dead?”
“I think so.”
Hyungwon silently nodded his head.
Assrian has a function that sends a whisper to the most recent conversation partner.
The message returned when Hyun searched for Mina with the corresponding function was this.
[The player is not currently online.]
Hyungwon bit his lip slightly.
He died without any help.
It was embarrassing to have assured Mina that she would never die.
“… .”
Hyun quickly erased the guilt welling up in his heart.
The danger is still not gone! It’s not the time to dwell on the past.
After Mina died, giggling laughter began to echo through the room.
“Who is laughing like this… !”
‘Is it an enemy?’
Hyun used all the buff skills.
It was to prepare for an enemy who did not know when and where to appear.
However, even after waiting, only laughter could be heard, and nothing unidentified appeared in front of my eyes.
[Your soul is approaching death!]
[Your soul is approaching death!]
… … .
Instead, only those messages were repeated.
Ain must have read the same message, and his voice began to grow impatient.
“hyeon. If we go on like this, what will become of us?!”
“I know!”
Unless you are blind, there is no way you will not be able to see the warning message.
Why does the string still not move?
‘Why is that thing here?’
Hyeon found eyes peeking this way through a crack in the doorway.
The statue placed at the entrance on the 13th floor was hidden behind a half-open door.
With a creepy eye smile as if tempting something.
“I don’t think I should leave now.”
Hyun decided it was dangerous to leave the room.
His instincts, having experienced numerous traps in Assrian, were telling him that.
“Then what shall we do?!”
“Calm down, I’m thinking about it!”
[Your soul is approaching death!]
As messages flooded his vision, Hyun looked back at the accident.
There are certainly oddities in the current situation.
Mina died without knowing why. Neither she nor her children knew why she died.
A guy with that level of ability should be able to instantly kill the rest, but he and Ain are still alive.
Why is one dead and the other alive?
And what is this mysterious message?
[Your soul is approaching death!]
Are you approaching death?
Hyun saw this message for the first time in both Asura and Asrian.
Things I didn’t know were happening all the time, so I couldn’t make a judgment.
“Kuh… !”
But there was no time to think for a long time.
It was because his stamina suddenly began to decrease rapidly.
Hyeon got goosebumps at the sensation of liquid dripping down his eyes.
——————
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I was afraid to look in the mirror.
Like Mina, she didn’t know she might be shedding bloody tears.
At this rate, death cannot be avoided… Now is the time to make a choice, even if you don’t like it.
‘What do we do?’
It smells like a trap, but should we leave the room right now?
Although the odds were slim, there was still a gamble of escaping to the symmetrical world through prayer.
However, what Hyeon unconsciously came up with was a completely different method.
[The transcendent is protecting you!]
[Health does not drop below 1 for 3 seconds!]
My stamina has already been exhausted.
Right before death approached, Hyun used one skill.
‘Bantan.’
At the same time, he quickly scanned all directions with his eyes.
The effect of Bantan is to grant ‘stun’ to the target that attacked you, no matter where the opponent is hiding or how far away they are.
It was luck to discover the effect. It was more likely that he would not have found it.
Hyun could see the stars spinning above his head in the mirror.
‘I found… uh!’
Right before the 3-second invincibility ends.
Hyun jumped into the mirror with the steps of a god of death.
Curiously, I couldn’t feel any sense of collision.
It was because Hyun’s new model, which jumped in leaving an afterimage, was sucked into the mirror as it was.
Flash!
Then Prosia’s ice sword cut through the front.
“… … .”
Hyun took a deep breath and looked at the blade embedded in the floor.
The enemy that existed before my eyes had disappeared without a trace.
‘It’s gone.’
It was clear that the enemy was not an illusion.
When I lowered the scythe and cut it, I definitely felt the sense of cutting something.
“What happened… ?”
“I don’t know. There was something, but it seems to have escaped now.”
I couldn’t answer Ain’s question clearly.
When Hyun looked back again.
In the huge mirror located there, his own face shedding bloody tears was reflected.
“I think I just passed this mirror.”
“I saw it too. It went through like a portal!”
“Isn’t this a mirror? oh… !”
blah blah blah!
As soon as Hyun’s fingers touched it, the mirror shattered.
Behind it, there was nothing but a wall blocking it.
“It’s broken.”
Hyun stared blankly at the wreckage lying on the floor.
Ordinary mirror pieces that can be seen everywhere.
At that moment, a sudden nervousness welled up.
It was because Ain’s anxiety was transmitted through fairy tales.
“Wait, wait, can we go back like this?!”
“I don’t know.”
Hyun slowly assessed the situation.
The scenery of the world in the mirror was almost the same as the previous world, but there were a few differences.
First of all, the half-open door was completely closed.
‘Do you still want to stay?’
A statue of a ghost at the entrance.
Maybe the moment you open the door, he will come out.
clap.
Ain must have recognized that fact as well, and as soon as Hyun held the doorknob, his tension was raised.
Tring!
It was at the moment when Hyun was about to turn the doorknob that an unexpected message popped up in front of their eyes.
[warning! If you open this door, you will die.]
[Do you still want to open it? Y/N]
“laugh… !”
“Dead?”
Hyun stopped moving.
Messages rarely lie.
Nevertheless, if death is determined, it is almost a definite fact that something very dangerous exists outside the door.
Hyun’s eyes softened as he removed his hand from the doorknob.
“Looks like the only way is here.”
Since the passing mirror was broken, there was only one closed door in the room.
Naturally, it was impossible to break through the wall and escape.
Caang!
Even if you wielded Prosia’s ice sword as hard as you could, all you could do was make a few scratches on the wall.
And even that was restored in an instant.
‘this.’
Hyun, who then looked at the inventory, swallowed a saliva.
Hyun was always prepared for the contingency.
Carrying a private room return scroll is part of that.
Although it is an item that allows you to move to the border city as soon as you use it.
[This scroll is not available in the current region!]
Even that seemed impossible now.
“Ahin, I think we’re in real trouble… ?”
“why? Can’t you just scroll here?”
nod
Hyun’s affirmation raised Ain’s voice.
“Then what are you going to do?!”
“well… .”
Hyun glared at the doorknob.
“Looks like there is no other way.”
What is behind it that makes the system so sure of its own death?
The system does not determine the user’s death to the extent that a strong enemy pops out.
It is almost an established fact that if you open the door, you will not survive.
“To open it… ?”
“huh. It happened like this. It’s better to die seeing something.”
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no other way, so Hyun decided to accept death.
I intend to satisfy my curiosity with my life.
There’s no other way out anyway.
The moment you slightly turn the doorknob.
Wow!
The door opened wide by itself.
It was because the energy from outside the door rushed into the room, like a flood breaking a dam.
In an instant, the world turned purple.
The boundary between objects and objects became blurred, and the field of vision became blurry.
As expected, what existed outside the door were not monsters, monsters, or statues of ghosts.
More than that, death itself is irresistible.
Hyeon and Ain did not even know the cause of their death until they died.
[died!]
Everything in the room melted.
The broken mirror pieces were scattered, and the carpet on the floor was also burnt away.
As time passed, the strong wall collapsed.
Looking at the purple aura that engulfed the entire space, Hyun thought it was similar to the ‘black fog’ that exists in the land of darkness.
The sight of violent energy blending everything into one continued for a while.
“… … .”
and after a while
Hyun became unable to understand English.
‘what?’
If you die in Asrian, you will be unable to connect for a certain period of time.
However, Hyun’s connection was still not terminated even after the death message surfaced.
‘Is it a bug?’
Hyun looked down at his hands.
From the fingers to the wrists, arms and shoulders, the outlines of all parts are blurry.
It felt crude, as if drawn with a pen.
“Ain?”
I was surprised to even say it myself.
Dead, how can I still talk?
It was even possible to move the body.
“Ain. there is?”
I asked again, but there was no answer.
I could feel that Ain had disappeared, that the sense of assimilation had disappeared, but I was convinced again by looking at the status window and the friends window.
Her connection has already been disconnected.
The only one who hasn’t been forced to quit yet is himself.
thud! thud!
Soon after, I heard the sound of hitting something hard and someone shouting.
“hyeon!! You haven’t come out yet?!”
It was the real Ain’s voice.
Outside sounds are audible during games.
Ain was tapping the capsule and singing a string that hadn’t come out yet.
“Wait a minute.”
“Yes… ?”
It didn’t take long for Ain to realize the change.
It was because Hyun transferred his voice to Ain’s capsule with the game voice.
Ain hastily put his mouth to the capsule microphone and said.
AIN: Hyun, are you alive?
“no. He’s dead… ”
AIN: What are you talking about when you’re dead?!
“I don’t even know what the situation is.”
Ain also lost connection, but why can he still move?
Also, why does the surrounding landscape look awkward as if the screen is broken?
Is it really a bug? If I disconnect now, won’t it come back to normal?
The message came to Hyun at the moment when he was afraid of various thoughts.
Tring!
[Condition satisfied!]
[A new quest is open!]
<Final Awakening Quest: Transcendence>
-At the end of the abyss you will remember what you forgot.
(compensation : ???)
A message that popped up out of nowhere.
Hyun was in a daze.
I rubbed my eyes for a moment in disbelief.
It was because he knew better than anyone what the quest he had just come up with.
‘Really?’
There are a total of three job-related quests in Asrian.
First of all, the level 50 awakening quest.
The second is, the former quest that exists in 100 level units up to level 400.
‘It’s called the final awakening quest… ?’
and the last third.
The final awakening quest is a job quest that can be progressed after level 400.
Unlike the 50-level awakening quest, no one said this quest was easy, even though it could be re-challenged indefinitely.
Considering the level of difficulty, the opportunity to re-challenge should of course be given.
As much as that, the quest reward is also different from the previous one.
So, the final awakening quest was also a key factor that divided the gap among users after level 400.
‘Why is this coming out here?’
Yes, it is a quest that can generally be challenged from level 401.
It was never a normal situation for him to think of this quest after completing his 2nd job change.
Is it a real bug?
Hyeonu’s heart became urgent.
If something is really wrong, I have to confess before I get suspicious!
After creating the Shade Guild and even building a city, it was more than acceptable to have your ID suspended due to a pointless misunderstanding.
Hyun immediately took a screenshot and sent it to Robert. With the content that Asrian’s fatal bug was discovered.
It wasn’t until 10 seconds later that the reply arrived.
<no errors identified>
However, the content rather made Hyun suspicious.
‘This is not a bug… ?’
Being able to connect even when dead.
A world suddenly blurry, as if the pixels were broken.
In addition, the final awakening quest suddenly popped up before level 400.
All these phenomena are normal… ?
‘no. You must have seen it wrong. After all, sending just one screenshot might not have been enough.’
<Let me explain what I just went through. Even though I’m dead now, I’m still connected, and the final awakening quest is originally over level 400… >
When I tried to report a bug with a more detailed explanation like that.
‘for a moment.’
A flash of light passed through Hyun’s head.
‘Do I need to correct their mistakes?’
It’s none of your business whether they’ve just glanced through the screenshots or not.
What matters is who is to blame when things go wrong.
It was as if he had just received an assurance that there was no error and that he had an insurance policy.
‘The development team says it’s not a bug, so I have no reason to get excited by myself, right?’
Hyun started to roll his head quickly.
An opportunity that may not come again today.
So what is the best in this situation?
Hyeon’s troubled eyes gradually began to grow serious.
***
A purple mist enveloped the world and distorted things.
The colors of adjacent objects blended together, and every movement was cut short.
It was difficult to distinguish between the wall and the floor, so Hyun couldn’t even dare to move in place.
Fortunately, this fog is slowly dissipating.
‘I think it will get better if I wait a bit.’
As time goes by, the bumpy graphics are getting smoother.
I thought it would be better to move when the world becomes clearer.
While standing still, Hyeon had a conversation with Ain.
“Can you hear me?”
“huh!”
Because the broadcast was turned on and the noise filter was turned off, Hyun was able to communicate with Ain outside the capsule without difficulty.
“I’m the only one dying… I will be bored for a while.”
“I am dead too. A message was printed saying that he had died.”
Even though it died, the connection didn’t break.
“really? Are you dead?”
“huh.”
“What happens if I log out in that state?”
“I don’t know. Even if I do, I will do it as late as possible.”
You can’t stay in the capsule forever, so you’ll have to close the connection someday.
However, there was no guarantee that they would be able to connect again after that.
Hyun decided to make it his goal to gather as much information as possible in the given time.
‘A message popped up saying that the conditions were met earlier.’
I calmly looked back at my memories.
In Assrian, there are cases where a quest is automatically triggered when certain conditions are met.
What conditions changed before and after turning the doorknob?
There was only one change in conditions that stood out in particular.
It is death.
‘Did I receive the quest while changing to death?’
Of course this is nonsense.
Because it is common for users to be logged out at the same time they die.
However, if it is possible to connect to Assrian even after death, there may be conditions that activate.
“Ain, what are you doing?”
“Yes?!”
“No, I heard you breathing loudly.”
“just… I’m watching the broadcast!”
“If you’re not busy, find an interloop.”
Ain was also asked to search for information.
“Search for the underworld, afterlife, and other similar keywords.”
“Is there an underworld in Asura too?”
“I don’t know about that, but there’s no other place to be when you’re dead. Just in case, let’s search for something.”
Of course, Hyun was also with them.
It’s because two people are more advantageous than one person to sift through the massive interloop data.
It took me a few minutes to find any useful information.
“It seems the NPCs were also interested in the afterlife.”
Hyeon was able to accidentally discover the information about where the souls of the dead go.
The concept of the soul, which is considered a mystery in reality, certainly exists in Assrian.
It’s normal for there to be a story about where a soul that has lost its body goes.
“Listen, Ain. I found information that looks useful.”
Hyun read what he found in Interloop to Ain.
“The soul must reach the edge of the nether to obtain a new body.”
“Netherlands… ?”
“Well, like the afterlife or the afterlife, it must be the world where the dead go.”
Among them, there were also unusual settings.
“Also, the longer the previous life, the longer it takes to reach the end of the nether.”
“Mmm.”
Here’s an easy example:
A newborn baby who dies in an accident can be reborn in no time.
On the other hand, the soul of an old man who died of old age must wander in the Nether for a very long time.
This is because the end of the nether is as deep as the lifespan he has lived.
“It’s an interesting setup. It’s a bit obscure because the source is a classic tale.”
If that setting is true, the act of reaching the end of the nether world would be clearing the karma the soul had experienced during its lifetime.
“Is it because devas are afraid of death because reincarnation is difficult?”
“It could be. It is said that the lifespan of a celestial is dozens of times that of a human.”
“hmm… But we are users. What about users?”
At Ain’s question, Hyeon fell into thought.
“well.”
The lifespan of a user is much shorter than that of an NPC.
If you’re unlucky, there are cases where you die again the day after being resurrected.
A life short enough to be compared to a ephemera.
It would depend on the user’s inclination, but if there was a nether for them, it was clear that the depth would be very shallow.
“At least you can reach the end more easily than the NPCs.”
“You mean the place where Hyun is located is the Nether?”
“There is no other place.”
While Hyun and Ain are having a conversation. The purple mist that swallowed the world gradually faded.
Sets of line segments were transformed into planes and then into elastic solids.
“Ah, now you can see it roughly. I can move. Whoops… ?!”
Vision is restored and after a while.
Hyun realized that he was surrounded by sharp blades.
If I had moved forward even a little, I might have been cut by it.
It was because there were ugly blades protruding from all over the floor, like the forelimbs of a praying mantis.
“A place like this… .”
And when he got out of the forest of blades woven like thorns, Hyeon was overwhelmed by the scenery that appeared in front of him.
The place I thought was the Forest of Blades was just one of thousands of passages.
A huge cavity with a diameter of 800 meters greeted the prefecture passing through a narrow passageway. A sea of swords!
The purple blades were densely gathered to form an unpleasant lattice pattern like the body parts of an insect.
Even more surprising was the fact that a new passage was leading to the bottom of the dimly visible cavity.
“What the hell is that?!”
The scene was passed on to Ain, who was watching the broadcast in the living room.
Ain, who was watching the screen, couldn’t keep his mouth shut easily.
Is it a monster? A bird about 2 meters tall was flying around in the huge cavity.
It was a guy with ugly metal sticking out all over his body.
“I saw it for the first time! Was there a place like this in Asura?!”
“No, there was no place like it. If there is, it’s probably the nether.”
“Netherlands… .”
“That’s the most plausible.”
Hyun smiled in response to Ain’s words.
In the status window that I sneakily opened, there were numbers written that couldn’t exist.
Stamina: 0/-26400
Horsepower: 0/-1680
Magi: 0/-351000
(※Caution: You will be logged out automatically when your stamina is exhausted!)
“Your health is 0 right now… ?”
“huh. Probably zero is the maximum.”
A system that accumulates negative health every time you take damage.
If this is not the nether, it is not explained.
“And again, I found out something important.”
Hyun smiled and added an explanation.
Guess what follows. But it was also a highly probable guess.
“I think this incident is related to ‘chaos’.”
A dungeon that suddenly appeared in a cave.
It is not deception.
There is no need for her, who has far greater power in other places, to secretly increase her power on Ufia Island.
So when Hyun discovered the monster’s dungeon, he guessed that it was related to darkness.
It was said that someone from Louise’s subordinates had been hiding on the secluded island of Ufia.
“It didn’t seem like the monsters in the dungeon were deceiving or serving the darkness.”
But now, my thoughts have changed.
basis for that judgment.
As he descended the 13th floor, he was unable to use the protection of darkness at all.
When the protection was applied, the monsters rather showed hostility.
Why did the protection of darkness, which is said to instill affinity with all beings of the abyss, backfired?
“Excluding those two, there is only one Great Demon left.”
Chaos could not be thought of as being lumped into the abyss.
The great devil that not even a single piece of information is recorded in the interloop.
Nothing was known about what the entity was or what characteristics it possessed.
Since all monsters belong to the abyss, should the protection of darkness be eaten?
If chaos is involved, exceptions must be made to the obvious.
Turning the proposition upside down, where there are exceptions, chaos may be involved.
“It is doubtful that I came to this world.”
The clue is not only that.
As the door opened, the destructive purple mist shuffled everything, animate and inanimate.
After that, the world looks like it’s in chaos.
Hyeon had to wait a long time for the distortion to clear up because he couldn’t even properly distinguish his own body.
“It’s a place where the word chaos naturally comes to mind.”
If a new world exists, there is usually a transcendental person who manages it.
It was quite plausible that the Nether’s manager was Chaos.
“Well, it’s still just speculation.”
Even so, the question remained.
Even though I died with Ain, why was I the only one who entered this space?
What is the reason why the final awakening quest was created only for me?
and another one.
<Final Awakening Quest: Transcendence>
What is the meaning of the quest title, ‘transcendence’?
Through the experience of Asura and Asrian, he knew the weight of the word better than anyone else.
Until these questions are resolved, nothing can be determined.
Hyun’s eyes narrowed as he lost himself in thought.
***
“Um… I am tired and my head is not spinning.”
“Because it is morning. Sleep first.”
“Well, because there is no one by my side. Are you okay?”
After a while.
Ain’s voice, which I thought had left, was heard again.
“But will you be okay without me? Hyun, now I can’t do without my body!”
“Stop talking nonsense and go to bed… .”
After that, Ain’s voice stopped.
<Fatigue: 83>
Hyun, who checked the interface, frowned.
Ain is not the only one who is tired.
Perhaps it was because he had spent too much time in the dungeon of Ufia Island, he was already quite tired.
‘Is it okay if I switch to a resting state for a while?’
Hyun pondered, but soon decided to quit.
The state of rest is an act of erasing the soul for a while, which was proven during the apostle test.
If the soul disappears in the state of death, nothing remains, right?
The moment you leave the capsule, there’s a high chance you won’t be able to come back.
‘I might be able to sleep while connected for the first time in a while.’
While thinking about this and that, Hyun began to move slowly.
It was clear where the destination was.
<To get a new body, the soul must reach the end of the nether.>
This is the information written in the interloop.
-At the end of the abyss you will remember what you forgot.
And this is the goal of the final awakening quest.
The two sentences were leading themselves ‘down’ with almost the same meaning.
‘Under.’
Going down the winding road would be cumbersome and time consuming.
Hyun jumped off the common cliff as it was.
Shii profit-.
The wind whistled by my ears, and the purple blades embedded in the walls and ground drew closer.
If you land as it is, of course you will be cut by the blades lined up on the floor.
Right before the collision, Hyun created a ‘wind barrier’ in the air.
‘what… ?!’
No, I tried to make it, but it failed.
Translucent blocks that appeared in the air disappeared as if twisted as soon as they were created.
In an instant, Hyun suddenly came to his senses.
The magic has been canceled! why… ?
However, before he could think of his next thought, Hyun’s body was tumbling down into a field of countless blades.
“Keugh… ! damn!”
Objects cannot be distinguished clearly because of the weakly remaining purple fog.
I can’t avoid it!
Rolling down a slope made of blades, Hyeon’s body was scraped to and fro by sharp blades.
I twisted my body as much as possible to avoid fatal injuries.
[Poisoned!]
[Accumulates 53 damage per 10 seconds!]
Stamina -1054/-26400
‘poison?’
The moment he saw the message, Hyun’s complexion turned pale.
What was smeared on the purple blade wasn’t just poison.
As soon as he was poisoned, his vision began to distort.
Just like the time when the purple mist swept over the world, Hyeon became unable to distinguish his surroundings.
‘Oops, a mistake… !’
He later regretted jumping off the cliff.
This is a completely different world.
There is nothing strange about the fact that the existing skills do not activate.
I should have checked the wind barrier before jumping off.
Hyun blamed himself for his mistake and opened his inventory.
It was to use the antidote that he had been carrying around in case of this.
[Inventory does not exist!]
‘… !’
The situation got increasingly serious.
Inventory doesn’t even open.
‘Can’t use the item?’
Hurrying to check, the equipment window was also empty.
‘I have no equipment. why? I’m still wearing clothes… .’
Since the appearance was the same as before, Hyun naturally assumed that he would be equipped with all the equipment.
People die and return empty-handed.
Could it be that because this is the underworld, he couldn’t bring his belongings with him?
‘In this state… Should I go?’
Hyun narrowed his eyes.
The only thing you can see in an addicted state is a distorted world where you can’t distinguish the front.
The surroundings would still be covered with blades, but I couldn’t tell which was dangerous and which was safe.
Hyun pursed his lips and turned over the previous recording.
Fortunately, the sight of the sword rolling down the cliff was saved.
‘Direction… this way.’
It moved based on the video record and last memory.
After jumping as hard as I could, I landed somewhere.
Seeing that the hazy purple stems had disappeared, it seemed that poisonous swords did not exist around here.
‘Am I on the right track?’
I felt a warm sensation in my feet.
It seems that an unknown liquid has risen up to my calves.
‘I can’t see anything more and more.’
It is said that vision accounts for 80% of human senses.
With the loss of an eye, there was nothing to judge.
Rarely, I felt pain on my skin.
It feels like something is eating my flesh.
Am I standing on a hot river right now? Are there dangerous monsters in the river?
If it’s swarming with piranhas… So shouldn’t we get out of here quickly?
[Accumulates 43 damage per 10 seconds!]
Stamina -1344/-26400
The only clear interface.
Hyun decided to believe only the numbers.
The speed at which physical strength decreased was saying that there was no damage other than poison damage.
In addition, unlike the darkened vision, the poison damage tended to decrease over time.
[Accumulates 35 damage per 10 seconds!]
[Accumulates 21 damage per 10 seconds!]
[Accumulates 13 damage per 10 seconds!]
… … .
[Decoded!]
vision was restored.
A waterfall was flowing in front of Hyun’s eyes.
One step ahead is a cliff.
When I sneaked closer to the edge, I saw that unknown monsters were teeming with creatures under the waterfall.
The hot water, which I thought had reached up to my calves, was flowing just enough to wet my feet, and wasn’t even hot in the first place.
The sensation of being bitten by something was just a hallucination and hypnosis.
Whoa.
Hyeon, who suddenly lost his energy, sat down leaning on the rock next to him.
I burst into laughter.
“Haha, that’s really stupid… .’
Hyun admitted his mistake and decided to revise the plan.
It might be suicidal to jump down the hole.
I promised myself that in the future, no matter what happens, I will never rush.
***
‘The skill is not being used.’
It was after a little experimentation that Hyun realized that fact.
Most of the magic was scattered right before it was completed.
The completed skills are ‘Shadow Shield’ and ‘Return’.
Since there was no subject to experiment with assimilation, there were only two skills that could be used right away.
‘If that’s the case, it’s no different from a level 1 supporter.’
The fortunate thing is that the stats are not level 1.
‘I guess I have no choice but to use my body to fill in the parts where skills don’t work.’
From then on, Hyun progressed slowly.
direction still down.
I passed the forest of swords, and the gorge where the purple mist flowed like a waterfall.
There is no regularity in the passing scenery.
Looking at the chaotic place, Hyun felt like crossing the map of the game he had made.
‘Is that the sun?’
While going down an unknown cliff,
Hyeon noticed a glowing sphere down there and his eyes lit up.
The light body floating in the air was radiating sunlight in all directions, and the plants that received the light were stretching their stems on the cylindrical cliff.
‘The waterfall below the sword, and the sun below it.’
The backgrounds here were not all probable.
It was a place that would not appear in any fantasy background.
Even the traces of civilization seemed to be mixed everywhere.
Kurur. It was because an unmanned elevator was operating along the sheer cliff.
Hyun put his foot on the narrow platform.
On the way down the cliff in the elevator, he passed an orb that was assumed to be the sun.
‘Kuh… !’
I quickly turned my head.
Because the moment I stared at the light, my vision began to distort.
‘What was it… ?’
sudden hallucinations.
‘I don’t think I should look at it.’
The glowing orb may not be the sun, but something that the soul’s eyes cannot see.
These hallucinogenic devices were among the traps one had to be most wary of.
‘Something could happen if I lose sight of it for a second.’
It often gave me goosebumps.
Hyun, who thought he was definitely going down, was climbing the stairs without realizing it.
It seemed that this was possible because it was an Assrian capable of sensory synchronization.
To avoid repeating the same mistakes as before, you need to pay close attention.
Like that, the string went down constantly without letting go of the string of tension.
It was on the way that the string continued to go down like that when I discovered something new.
‘A magic circle?’
between cliffs and cliffs.
A small magic circle was drawn on the scaffold at the point where you had to transfer to the next elevator.
Could this be a trap? Of course, I heard that suspicion.
‘There is no other way.’
Looking around, except for the scaffolding, it was a cliff. It was filled with darkness with no end in sight.
After that, Hyun took a deep breath and slowly raised his foot on top of the magic circle.
Tring! It was at that moment that the message came to mind.
[The memory of the soul has been recorded at the save point!]
‘Save point… ?’
While Hyun stopped in a daze, the elevator started going down again.
The dark and huge cliffs were decorated with countless lanterns.
Lights spread out in all directions flashed past Hyun’s field of vision.
Looking down at the beautiful night view, Hyun fell into his own thoughts.
Save point is a word that appears in many games.
It mainly exists in games that cannot be cleared to the end in one go.
You can’t restart from the beginning every time you die or restart the game.
‘Even if I re-challenge the quest, do I need to do it again from the beginning?’
When I thought so, a sense of relief came over me.
The reason Hyun rushed in the first place was because he didn’t want to miss this opportunity.
I don’t know when I’ll be able to visit the 13th floor of the dungeon on Ufia Island again and enter this world.
But if there is another opportunity next time, I can relax a little.
‘Huh, let’s rest for a while.’
Hyun, who regained his composure, sat back.
Kurur.
The elevator, which was descending vertically, changed its movement before I knew it and was moving along the track like a train in a mine.
The sensation of the vibrations passing along the old railroad tracks to the floor felt peaceful.
‘Can I sleep for a bit?’
rattle. Even after the train stopped completely, the strings did not move.
Instead, I closed my eyes.
Fatigue is just over 90.
You’d better go to bed now if you want to go down a little further.
Maintaining the connection like that, Hyun fell asleep in an instant.
… …
how much time has passed
‘… !’
Hyun wakes up.
Looking at the screen made up of interfaces, I was able to recall that I was still connecting to Assrian.
It’s been a long time since I fell asleep in a game.
A long time ago, when you saved Louise, you had a similar experience, and when did you do it again?
Perhaps it was because of my posture or because it had been a long time since I slept, I could feel the pain subtly all over my body.
‘Wait, it’s not your posture! My stamina is decreasing?!’
Hyun jumped up from his seat.
[Health: -20458/-26400]
Whatever happened while he was sleeping, his remaining physical strength was only about 6,000.
‘What happened… !’
Have you been poisoned again?
But there was nothing around before I fell asleep!
The spot where the train stopped was also a perfect place to hide, so there was little chance of encountering monsters or monsters.
‘There’s something nearby!’
However, there is no guarantee that that probability will not occur.
Hyeon noticed the eyes glaring at him from a close distance and swallowed.
Its true identity is a statue that sheds tears of blood.
It was the guy at the entrance of the 13th floor of the dungeon.
‘Why is that thing here?’
No time to think!
Hyun drew his weapon.
Charleuk! The scythe of vigilance in his hand was transformed into a spear.
Is it because I just woke up?
At this moment, Hyun was unaware that the equipment window had suddenly opened.
I didn’t even assimilate with Ain, but I didn’t feel strange that the boundary window was created.
‘Something is frustrating.’
My body doesn’t move the way I want it to.
The usual controls and even that easy moving didn’t go well.
The feeling of sticky air constricting the whole body.
It was difficult to guess the location of the enemy because the field of view was fogged up there.
Transparency, biorhythm acceleration! Cut the giants!
He poured all his skills into it.
No, I even used a skill that I couldn’t have possessed.
Prosia’s ice sword pierced the vigilante’s scythe and flashed in rainbow colors.
Great! Blasphemy!
As the blade whipped through the air, the statue shattered in an instant.
‘Sheesh… !’
And immediately put back together.
With arms hanging from legs and legs hanging from arms, the statue was reassembled in a standing position in a handstand.
Why? Only the face of the upside-down guy was still shedding bloody tears.
‘What’s this… Gut!’
Hyeon grabbed his chest as he felt out of breath.
It’s so frustrating that I think I’m going to vomit.
It was dizzy and painful enough to think about forcibly closing the connection.
Maybe fatigue is wrong? Maybe the capsule safety system is broken?
If something went wrong with the body in real life, it would be a really big deal.
Yeah, I don’t know what it is, but right now it’s better to just force quit… .
“Hup!”
At that moment, Hyun felt something pulling his collar.
Is that the statue guy?
They’re dragging me somewhere!
I couldn’t figure out the direction because my vision was completely distorted.
I just struggled not to be dragged away.
“… there is.”
“… ?!”
“Shi… ! Please stay still.”
A faint voice came from the confusion of vision.
I was mistaken for a moment that Ain was calling.
Because the voices were similar.
However, she soon came to her senses after realizing that she couldn’t call her now.
“who… hey?”
“Shii, it seems your ears are fine now?”
“what… .”
“You are now under the curse of indolence.”
“curse… ?”
“It’s not completely solved yet. We have to get out of this area before it’s too late.”
Hyun did not understand the situation at all.
Who is the owner of the voice, what is the curse? Where did the ghost statue that was glaring at him just now disappear?
However, he intuitively knew that the voice was not against him.
There was nothing he could do anyway in the yard where his senses were messed up, so Hyun calmly waited as the voice instructed.
As time passed, the distorted vision slowly recovered.
“ah.”
The scythe of vigilance he was holding in his hand had disappeared before he knew it.
The various skill effects that were in his body were also turned off.
No, it didn’t exist in the first place.
Weapons, magic, and statues of ghosts are just shapes created by one’s own imagination.
‘Was it a hallucination?’
Hyun realized belatedly that his heart was beating like crazy.
It wasn’t just his senses that were confused, it seemed that his emotions were also messed up.
It was the moment when I realized how subtle and terrifying hallucinations are in Asrian with sensory synchronization.
“Shii- are you awake?”
Then Hyun could see the face of someone who had dragged him.
It was not unreasonable to mistakenly think that he was Ain.
“The curse seems to have been avoided.”
Except for the fact that the girl’s voice was filled with the sound of the wind, she was very similar to Ain.
No, it might be ambiguous to call her a girl.
Because it is certain that she is not human, with only her skirt floating without legs.
Besides, he had no eyes.
Hyeon had no choice but to swallow his saliva while facing the terrifying white eyes.
***
“It’s Shiina.”
“Shina… ?”
“huh… Was it Sana… ? No, Shiina would be right? Yes, that’s right, Shiina.”
Shiina introduced her name like that.
That the lower half of the body does not exist under the skirt. And, except for the eerie white eyes with no pupils, Shiina was no different from an ordinary girl.
‘No, but isn’t it normal?’
She often made a shriek-shriek wind noise.
Is it because it’s a ghost?
Still, it sounded like an animal’s cry, so I didn’t care too much.
“What happened to me?”
“Shiii, that’s right… . It is the curse of indolence.”
Shiina’s words popped out of her mouth again.
“If you don’t leave one area for a long time, your soul will rot. How long have you been there?”
“I slept for about an hour.”
“one hour? is it old? It must have been a long time ago because it was right before the curse was applied… ?”
At the mention of an hour, Shiina tilted her head.
「Shi! Anyway, you can’t stop here even for a second. You will be cursed!”
“The curse of indolence?”
“That’s right, no soul can escape this curse. At first it’s kind of hallucinating, but in the end it rots… You have to be more careful than monsters.”
Hyun finally grasped the situation.
Staying in one place for a long time, such as sleeping here or doing maintenance in place, seemed dangerous.
“I see.”
Shiina kindly answered the question.
Opportunity to get information.
Hyun decided to ask her about everything he was curious about.
“Why did you help me?”
In response to that question, Shiina started flying around the prefecture.
“Shiih- you stink!”
“smell… ?”
Hyun put his nose close to his collar.
It doesn’t smell like anything.
“Am I still?”
“Yeah, I don’t know why, but it smells really good. It’s similar to the smell coming up from the terminal area, so it’s pleasant to smell it.”
Unknown words kept coming out of Shiina’s mouth.
“Where is the terminal area again?”
“That’s right, it’s an area close to the end of the world.”
‘End of the world… !’
“They say anyone’s wish can come true once they reach the end of the world. I don’t know why you smell that place.”
In an instant, a memory from a while ago flashed through Hyun’s head.
It was written in the interloop that the soul had to reach the edge of the nether in order to gain a new body.
And the goal of the final awakening quest was to remember what was forgotten at the end of the abyss.
The contents were in line with Shiina’s words.
“Is this the nether?”
「The Nether? What does it mean?”
“Isn’t there something called the afterlife, the world of death, or the spirit world similarly?”
Shiihi— Shiina furrowed her eyebrows at that question.
It’s like you don’t understand the meaning at all.
“Shii, these are all words I’ve never heard before.”
“okay… ?”
Apparently, Shiina didn’t know much.
She didn’t even seem to understand the meaning of death properly.
Instead of death, the expression ‘disappear’ was used.
‘Maybe he’s been dead for a long time, so he’s forgotten his memory.’
Through our conversation, we were able to gain some certainty.
The fact that this place is the Nether and that Shiina is a spirit wandering in the Nether.
Seeing that he and Shiina met, it seemed possible that the two souls could exist in the same nether world.
Then who is Shiina?
Hyun decided to ask a question about her this time.
“How long have you been here?”
“this place?”
“The time that existed in this world.”
To Hyun’s question, Shiina nodded as if she understood.
“Shiiyi, for a very long time.”
“For how many years?”
“year? Hmmm, I think I know that word for some reason… Long ago… ah!”
In an instant, Shiina’s pure white eyes widened.
“That’s right, two thousand years!”
“I’ve been wandering around here for two thousand years… ?”
“A very long time ago, someone asked me something similar to yours. At that time, I answered that it was two thousand years.”
“Previous… ?”
“Shii, but I don’t know how long a year is. If I stay in one place for a year, I wonder if I will be cursed with indolence… ?”
“… It will probably take.”
Even an hour was dangerous, but a year is already time for the soul to be destroyed by a curse.
At this moment, Hyun was convinced that Shiina had lost her sense of time a long time ago.
Is it because I’ve been wandering in the Nether for an unimaginable amount of time?
“You want to go to the end of the world, right?”
“That is the same wish of all souls. You are also going to the end of the world.”
“But why… .”
“why?”
“no… .”
why haven’t you gone yet?
Hyun tried to ask such a question, but then stopped.
Listening to what Shiina said, it wasn’t that she didn’t have the will to reach the end of the nether.
may not have reached
Hyeon was suddenly seized by a complicated mind.
It is unknown who Shiina was during her lifetime, and what kind of existence she will be reborn when she reaches the end of the Nether.
However, just thinking about how it would feel to wander around the world avoiding the curse for an eternity makes me feel frustrated.
“Shii- this is definitely the smell coming from the lower area.”
“… ..”
Hyun stared at Shiina, who was buried in his collar.
“Come with me.”
“huh?”
“With you by my side, I think I can find my way to the end of the world. If you follow this smell.”
“Do you think that will help?”
「Shii-!」
Shiina nodded, and her skirt fluttered.
<Fatigue: 82>
Fortunately, thanks to a sigh, the fatigue level has decreased considerably.
“good. After all, the destination seems to be the same.”
As long as there were no battles or hallucinations, it could have lasted three or four more hours.
‘Shall we go a little further?’
Hyun started to move forward with Shiina.
***
While following Shiina, Hyeon stuck out his tongue several times.
This place was more mysterious than I thought.
According to Shiina’s explanation, the world is divided into countless ‘zones’.
Forest of Blades, Falls of Miasco, Cliffs of Lanterns, and more.
It seemed that the background he passed through changed so quickly because the area had changed.
“Ah, thank you.”
Hyeon thanked her while flying through the air while holding Shiina.
She can fly, but since she has to walk on the ground herself, she has to be held this way sometimes.
“I’m sorry for asking again and again.”
“Shii, it doesn’t matter. Because you smell good.”
“okay?”
For a moment, an idea came to Hyun’s mind.
Shiina is probably a ghost.
If it’s a monster, wouldn’t he prefer himself using the protection of darkness?
That thought was a big mistake.
Shii, Shii!
As soon as she used the protection of darkness, Shiina freaked out and backed away.
Since he had been told not to do such a thing again, Hyun scratched his head and replied that he would.
“Where did you come from?”
While moving, Hyun and Shiina talked about various things.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen a soul in its full form like you.”
“A whole soul?”
“A guy who can talk to me. Oh, isn’t it the first time? It seems like there was one more person in the past… is not it?”
Shiina, who had been wrapping her hair, immediately shook her head.
“My memory is fuzzy. Well, it won’t matter.”
“Are there not many souls in this world who can speak?”
“Few things have an ego, so how many have intelligence capable of conversation?”
“We can do it.”
“That means you and I are very special souls.”
Shiina looked at Hyun’s legs and added.
“… Besides, you seem a bit more special. I have a body that I don’t have. Is that why it smells like this?”
“I’ve been smelling it since before, but what kind of smell do you mean?”
「Hmm. I guess I can’t feel it It’s so strong.”
“after… stop.”
Hyun let out a sigh and separated Shiina from hovering around him.
Except for that kind of happening, nothing special happened.
“This way.”
Is it because it has been wandering around this world for a long time?
Shiina was well aware of the byways between the districts.
“here is… .”
“It’s the giant tree’s water vein. Passageway to the next area. If you go down vertically, you will inevitably run into dangerous things.”
“Anything dangerous?”
“Things that aren’t even souls… It’s best to avoid that.”
“The road here is too winding, and if you stay in the same area for a long time, you will be cursed.”
To Hyeon’s concern, Shiina replied with a confident smile.
「Shii, the weak have their own way. If you follow me, you won’t be cursed.”
Shiina talked a lot to herself.
He seemed to enjoy talking himself.
Hyeon suddenly had a question.
Was she muttering to herself before meeting him, even when there was no soul to talk to?
“Oh, wait!”
“huh?”
“There is a magic circle.”
It was while passing through various districts along Shiina that Hyeon found a familiar pattern.
A magic circle of the same shape as the one we saw before.
When I got on top of it, the same message came to my mind once again.
[The memory of the soul has been recorded at the save point!]
‘done!’
The presence of additional save points was good news for Hyun as well.
You never know how deep the end of the Nether will be, or when you’ll be able to get there.
It was at that moment that Shiina’s eyes widened as she watched from the side.
“just now… Did the pattern shine?」
“huh… ?”
「Shii, the pattern shines!」
“What’s special about that?”
“It’s not special! It means the soul is blessed. How did it activate?!”
Shiina wandered around Hyun and asked.
“I just climbed up and it went by itself.”
“Go up?”
She also headed straight for the magic circle, but unlike Hyun, the light did not come into the pattern.
Looking at Hyun again, he uttered gibberish.
“I can’t. Are you more special than me? It smells like something special.”
“that… What else is a blessing?”
Hyun asked Shiina once more.
Because after the curse, the blessing came out.
Shiina started to explain what she knew in an excited voice.
“There is a saying that a blessed soul can turn back the time of the world.”
“You want to turn back time?”
“Yes, if you turn back time, you will arrive at the end of the world someday… His wish will surely come true.”
