POV – Stanley

[The Fake Capital – Palace dungeon]

Ugh…

[Stanley awoke and looked about the dungeon, discovering he was utterly alone.]

That’s great, Narrator, but I have a headache. Do you mind shutting up?

Opening his eyes, Stanley confirmed he was alone in the dungeon. The female doppelganger had disposed of the other three doppelgangers. They each had been stabbed through the brain and lay dead on the floor beside him.

It seems that doppelgangers have factions, or at least rouge elements, which resulted with disputes between them.

Attempting to stand, Stanley realized he’d been tied to the wall with a metal chain.

Narrator, I don’t suppose you can do something about this chain?

[Stanley awoke disoriented and tied to the wall. Completely unaware that the chains were extremely fragile, easily able to be broken apart with a strong tug.]

Thank you, Narrator.

Putting my arms against the wall to get the strongest force possible, I rammed my hand forward and tugged the chain off the wall.

The chains were still tied to my wrists, but at least I wasn’t attached to the wall.

How long have I been asleep?

Discovering my bag had been pushed into the far corner of the room, I retrieved it. All of my items were still inside, while Scarlet had been lain beside it.

That’s fortunate. I wouldn’t know what to do if any of my items went missing.

Although, she probably didn’t steal them because she was afraid of tracking magic being embedded into them. Edward did say that trackers are easily created and commonly attached onto more valuable items.

I probably should’ve learned how to do that.

Stanley poked around the room to see whether there was anything interesting left behind. If any evidence or anything similar had been behind, it had been cleared up by the female doppelganger.

After taking a period of time to remove the metal chains, Stanley stared at the dead doppelgangers’ bodies.

The doppelgangers hadn’t even changed form in death. If the Narrator hadn’t confirmed that they were doppelgangers, Stanley wouldn’t have had a clue. It seems that, even in death, there is no way to confirm whether someone’s a doppelganger.

Also, shouldn’t I have been teleported to the prize?

Where is the prize I was supposed to receive for surviving the Decima Game?

Despite the headache and questions without answers, Stanley stepped out the dungeon and back into the palace hallway.

…And, at the set of two open doors, he entered the door on the left.

[God’s Tower]

POV Swap – Hansoo

Hansoo meditated outside Hephaestus’ forge, clouds floating above as a hammer struck an ingot nearby.

The sound never entered Hansoo’s ear. The entire area was in dead silence. Not a sound could be heard.

The void was descending.

A cold emptiness spread throughout the area.

Sound… light… heat…

Everything was absorbed.

A week had long since past. Hansoo had refused to leave.

He wasn’t powerful enough to leave… wasn’t powerful enough to confront his foes.

Yet, despite meditating to strengthen his story, it could no longer protect him.

Hansoo was dying.

His life, his story, his history was being absorbed by the void.

It wasn’t silent, or getting darker… Nor had the temperature changed. The surroundings were the same as they’d always been.

The change was because Hansoo was dying.

The clanging of the forge stopped. Hephaestus halted his forging of a metal armament. Sighing to himself, he selected a spear from the numerous weapons lining his wall.

As Hephaestus carefully placed the spear beside Hansoo and slowly spoke, “Don’t let your story be forgotten and disappear forever. Existence is more valuable than that.”

Hansoo never heard him.

However, the void’s pressure surrounding him weakened slightly.

The preparations complete, Hephaestus stared upward toward the clouds above and muttered to himself, “Goodbye, my little fledgling.”

Hansoo disappeared, reappearing in the third zone.

The area that God’s Tower existed was now desolate. The tower had disappeared as though it was a mere mirage in this everlasting desert.

Replacing it, Hansoo sat in meditation.

Once he regained his senses, he slowly gazed around the area. His adventure was like an illusion, a mirage, memorable yet false.

Turning his eyes to a spear resting in the side. It was the spear Hephaestus had handed him when he initially entered the tower. Proof his adventure wasn’t a mere illusion.

Grasping the spear, he easily lifted it this time.

Wordlessly staring at the spear, before setting his eyes off in the distance.

Hansoo began walking.

There were miles to go before he slept.

Lives to save and friends to make.

And monsters, many monsters, desiring death.

His story has only just begun.

POV Swap - Tobias

Staring at the dust cloud in the distance, I sighed to myself.

Bloody hell.

This is the last time that I will save him.

From now on, if he gets himself into trouble, he has to solve it himself.

If he can manage to convince Rin to save him, then fine… but, I’m not going to save him anymore.

Jumping off the branch, I head in his direction.

As Bai Xiaobao got closer, there were constant loud crashes cause by whatever is chasing Bai Xiaobao slamming into trees. That, along with Bai Xiaobao’s constant cries allowed me to easily locate his position.

Once I’d arrived within sight of Bai Xiaobao, I began to regret coming.

Whatever was chasing him was enormous. I’m surprised I hadn’t spotted it from the distance. The dust cloud must’ve been covering it.

The creature resembled a boar, if said boar was larger than most houses and had an elongated snot that could be used to knock down mountains.

The hell?

Isn’t this supposed to be Easy Difficulty?

The only living being I’ve seen similar in size to this monster is that massive basilisk in Hell's tutorial zone.

While size isn’t proportionally related to strength, in order to even survive at that size, the monster would need a decent amount of strength.

Without enough strength, its heart wouldn’t even be able to pump blood through its body. The size alone would prevent the proper circulation of blood. At that point, nevermind chasing someone down, even surviving would be a challenge.

Since it’s still alive and chasing Bai Xiaobao down, it’s almost certainly extremely dangerous. Even by Hell Difficulty standards.

Remembering that I had acquired ‘analyze’, I activated it on the boar.

{Mutated Terrabus – Dangerous, has a tough body.}

Seriously? Dangerous?! This is Easy Difficulty!

How did Bai Xiaobao even manage to provoke this thing?

Speaking of Bai Xiaobao, it seems he spotted me and has begun to run in my direction. Which means that the Terrabus that’s following him is also heading in my direction.

Wonderful… If he wasn’t a protagonist, he wouldn’t have even been able to survive this long after angering this monster.

With how dangerous it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a monstrosity.

Yeah… screw fighting that thing.

Activating Petrifying Eyes, I watched as the enormous Terrabus slowly seized up and turned into stone.

Mhmmm… Overpowered. Just the way I like my abilities.

Sure, the Terrabus isn’t dead, which means I won’t get mana for killing it… But, permanently petrified isn’t too different from dead.

If I could figure out a way to smash it, I could still receive mana from it. Although, I wouldn’t have a clue how to smash something the size of a mansion.

Nor can I really be bothered to do so. I’m nowhere near running low on mana. The wards I’ve been using only consume a fraction of a percent of my mana.

Bai Xiaobao hadn’t seemed to realize that I’d dealt with the Terrabus and continued running toward me.

Reaching me, he hid behind me. Before slowly poking his head out and realized the Terrabus had been dealt with.

Grabbing Bai Xiaobao’s arm, I stated, “I won’t be dealing with something like that again. Next time, you either deal with it yourself or die trying. Understand?”

I watched him visibly gulp before nodding repeatedly and he began praising me for saving him.

Letting go of his arm, I interrupted, “Why was it chasing you?”

Bai Xiaobao began, “Well, there was this deliciously looking heart-shaped fruited in a tree…”

“…and you decided to eat it.” I finished his sentence.

“The fruit had this amazing aroma, the kind only a supreme treasure of heaven and earth gives off. How was I supposed to know that beast was nearby? Also, I didn’t eat it immediately, I only grabbed it.” Bai Xiaobao corrected, pulling the heart-shaped fruit out of his knapsack.

My eyelid twitched, he didn’t eat it?

Why didn’t he just give it back to the beast then?

How daring do you have to be to carry such an object around as an enormous beast chases you around?

He was going to have me fight that thing, potentially endangering my life, when he could’ve simply given back the fruit.

Confirming my thoughts, I said, “Let me get this straight. You were going to have me fight that Terrabus, when you could’ve simply given back the fruit?”

“Obviously, you are so powerful, it never stood a chance!” He exclaimed, gesturing around wildly.

He has far more confidence in me than I do. If I chosen to fight the Terrabus in fair combat, there’s less than a thirty percent chance of victory.

…And that's including utilizing God-hunter.

Staring at the fruit, I wondered whether ‘analyze’ would work on it.

{Angel’s Fruit – Consuming drastically increases the density of the consumer's body and provides an angel’s halo.}

Okay… that tells me nothing.

Analyze semi-worked, though. At least I know it isn’t poisonous.

Well, I won’t steal his lucky chance anyway. Especially, since I have no idea whether it’s compatible with the void flower’s petals.

Sending Bai Xiaobao a complicated gaze, I finally replied. “Whatever…. since you still have it, don’t eat it yet. I’d like to see if Rin can identify the fruit first.”

Since she came from a world with similar magic, it’s possible she’d know something about this fruit. Such as, a more effective way of consuming it.

Also, with her save and load, she could figure out the most effective consumption method. If she bothered to.

Either way, waiting is the best option for the time being.

Walking back to our temporary base-camp with Bai Xiaobao.

Upon arrival, I discovered Rin rooting through her backpack pulling out various artifacts and items. Meanwhile, Sidney was nowhere to be found.

Thinking about it, Rin must’ve been able to hear that Terrabus heading toward us long before I asked her about Bai Xiaobao.

…I’m not quite sure what bugs me more. The fact that Rin knew the Terrabus was heading toward us, with Bai Xiaobao in tow, and didn’t say anything.

...Or the fact that Rin stayed here calmly, leaving me to face that monster alone.

Should I take it as a sign of trust instead of callousness?

Although, in Bai Xiaobao’s case, it was probably callousness. I haven’t seen her even act even slightly affectionate towards either of my disciples.

Also… Did Sidney attempt to escape again? I don’t see her in the camp.

Pinching my nose in annoyance, I closed my eyes and considered what to do about Sidney.

Sidney clearly isn’t happy here. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be constantly attempting to escape.

I don’t understand. While I kidnapped her, I am providing an excellent opportunity to grow stronger… and it’s not like heading back to that village will actually allow her to escape from me.

I’d know exactly where she was… which is kinda the opposite of what your trying to escape from someone. Yet, she keeps repeatedly heading in the direction of Bai Xiaobao’s village. When I catch her again, I’m going to need to personally question her on exactly why she keeps trying to escape.

Waiting beside Rin for her to stop organizing her backpack. Once she was finished, I inquired about the fruit. “Bai Xiaobao found this. Do you know anything about it?”

She took a quick glance at it, before plainly stating, “It’s unrecognizable.”

Blinking, surprised at staring blankly toward at the fruit. Rin usually recognizes most plants and fruits due to her father teaching her to hunt from an extremely young age.

Deciding it couldn’t hurt, I asked, “Is the name Angel’s Fruit recognizable?”

Rin paused and her wolf-ears immediately turned toward me. While her facial expression turned into a semi-frown.

I’ll take that as a yes…

Rin’s stared into my eyes and inquired, “How do you know that name?”

Not wanting to be too specific due to Bai Xiaobao listening in, I replied. “It’s my talent.”

Rin seemed to understand my message and nodded, “The Angel’s Fruit is what a ruler eats before they ascend to the throne. It’s commonly thought to be a ritual... but, select people know the fruit is far more important than a simple ceremony. More accurately, it’s the reason a ruler ascending to the throne lives a long life.”

Ah, the encyclopedia of Rin.

Perhaps the most accurate database in the entire universe. Complete with cultural knowledge and secret background information that a regular hunter should, by all rights, have no information about.

While I don’t know what her dad actually did, I know he was way too knowledgeable regarding secret information to be a random hunter.

… and he chose to spread this information to his daughter from an extremely young age.

Keep in-mind, Rin must’ve already memorized all this information by the time she arrived here at 14.

Ignoring the mystery that I’ll probably never solve, let's head back to the topic at hand.

It provides longevity?

Surprising, but ultimately useless. The basilisk’s manual already made me functionally immortal in terms of longevity.

Tossing the fruit back to Bai Xiaobao.

Realizing I’d forgotten to ask, I inquired. “Know of any way to improve its effectiveness?”

Rin shook her head.

I signaled for Bai Xiaobao to eat the fruit.

Bai Xiaobao was more than happy to comply and quickly gobbled down the fruit without a scrap being left behind.

Well, let's see how this ends up...