Chapter 105 : Chapter 105
Chapter 105: The Knights (6)
The darkness that had completely swallowed my surroundings in an instant began to envelop me.
“─Vell! Vell!”
The sounds around me seemed to be growing distant.
Starting with Alicia's voice calling for me, the sound of sharp steel striking something and bouncing off. The sound of the wind. And even the sound of my own breathing.
Soon, the world before my eyes began to blur.
My vision narrowed, and as if looking from the end of a long tunnel, everything grew smaller and more distant.
Before long, all color vanished, and I was left alone in perfect darkness.
The surroundings were nothing but pitch-black darkness, and eventually, I couldn't even feel my own body.
At that moment.
Crack─
Cra-cra-crack!!!
The darkness that had enveloped me began to be mercilessly torn apart, and soon, light seeped through the gaps.
A brilliant light shone down on me.
Before long, the darkness completely vanished from the shining light, and the surrounding scenery returned to normal.
[The authority of the Postponer of Ruin repels the interference of Demonic.]
[The authority of the Postponer of Ruin blocks all types of mental interference.]
[The test is terminated.]
[You have passed the first test to ascend to the sky.]
.
.
.
[Bulletin Board Level increases.]
[Lv.3 → Lv.4]
[Current Bulletin Board Level is ‘Lv.4’.]
────────────
[Accessible Bulletin Board List]
[Anonymous Bulletin Board] [Lv.1]
[Auction house] [Lv.2]
[Guild Bulletin Board] [Lv.3]
[Tips and Know-how] [Lv.4]
────────────
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.
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[Understanding of Demonic increases very significantly.]
[Demonic energy increases. (+2)]
[5 → 7]
Staring at the fragments of darkness that had vanished so futilely, I couldn't help but be momentarily dumbfounded.
‘……What?’
It definitely seemed like something grand was about to begin, but it ended so absurdly.
“Vell! Are you okay?!”
The sword held in Alicia's right hand as she called for me in an urgent voice, and the blood dripped from the hand gripping it.
It seemed the metallic sound I heard earlier was the sound of Alicia swinging her sword.
“I'm fine.”
“A moment ago, what was that? What on earth happened?”
“Let's go back for now. I'll explain the details on the way.”
“Are you really okay?”
“Yeah.”
The reason I was in a hurry was simple.
Until now, there had been no cases where absorbing an Ascension Stone Fragment was observed from the outside.
However, the phenomenon this time occurred on a scale large enough for an outsider, Alicia, to clearly perceive it.
‘There's a possibility that the people in Winter Castle noticed.’
Of course, the distance from here to Winter Castle was considerable, so they might not have noticed, but there was no need to gamble.
A reasonable level of risk management is not an option, but a necessity.
Now was the time to perform that risk management, and I gathered the demonic beast byproducts appropriately and set off towards Winter Castle with Alicia.
“Tell me now, what happened.”
“It's nothing serious.”
On the way back, I vaguely told Alicia that the mutant's corpse seemed to have had a strange reaction, and Alicia nodded as if she understood.
She looked like she wanted to ask more, but it seemed she didn't want to make me uncomfortable by asking further.
‘I didn't know things would turn out this way.’
I knew a great deal about this world, but unfortunately, I was bound to be ignorant about matters related to Ascension Stone Fragments.
That's why this happened.
‘I should be careful for the time being.’
Currently, external personnel who came as support from the Empire are staying at Winter Castle.
Among them, I would have to be especially careful of the Griffin Knights.
The Griffin Knights' commander, Yuliana, was almost certainly a player, and there was also the possibility that she was the Anonymous Bulletin Board user, Knight Commander.
‘I should check what I need to check first.’
I absorbed an Ascension Stone Fragment after a long time, and my bulletin board level, which had been stagnant, finally rose.
The newly revealed bulletin board was one I already knew, and at the same time, it wasn't.
‘The Tips and Know-how Bulletin Board……. Is it the same board as the one I know?’
Originally, the Tips and Know-how Bulletin Board was, just as its name suggests, a board where users posted tips and know-how, and it operated on a point system where a certain number of points were consumed when viewing a post.
Therefore, to collect points to use the Tips and Know-how Bulletin Board, one had to receive points from the basic attendance check, or write a tip post on the board themselves and receive points from other users.
Of course, I didn't know if the newly appeared bulletin board was the same as the one I knew, but I would find that out by checking it myself.
‘Then, I'll check the other things first.’
I checked the remaining notifications as well.
This was because the most important notification remained among those I hadn't checked yet.
[The trait ‘Weapon Summon(??)’ grows.]
[The trait level of ‘Weapon Summon(??)’ has risen.]
[Lv.3 → Lv.4]
[The ‘Lv.4’ weapon list is added to the summonable list of ‘Weapon Summon(??)’.]
[Currently summonable weapon types : 3 → 4]
──────────────
[Weapon Summon]
Grade : ??
Type : Active
Level : 4
Summons weapons and ammunition.
The types of weapons and ammunition that can be summoned increase according to the level.
Currently summonable weapon types : 4
Currently summonable ammunition types : 3
Currently registered personal weapons : 1
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I finally obtained a level 4 weapon.
The level 2 weapon was a shotgun, and the level 3 weapon was an automatic rifle, so I was quite expectant of what the level 4 weapon would be.
I wanted to check what the newly added weapon was right away, but that was precisely what I shouldn't do right now.
‘There will be a chance later.’
Rather than that, I planned to check what I could check right away on the way back.
For example, the newly obtained bulletin board access.
[Accessing the Tips and Know-how Bulletin Board.]
[Attendance points have been awarded. (+5)]
[Currently held points : 5pt]
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-Known strategies for Iskandar's Tomb so far.
-Various information on bulletin board access from level 1 to level 5.
-This and that about the Eastern Union.
-Regarding the characteristics of Demonic persons.
-Various tips for surviving in the Demonic Realm.
──────────
A completely different scene from what I had seen on the Anonymous Bulletin Board.
Checking it myself, I became certain.
The Tips and Know-how Bulletin Board didn't seem much different from the system I knew.
Points were needed to view posts, and to get points, one had to write posts and receive points from others, or do an attendance check.
As expected of a board run on a point system, the board was filled with tip posts, not all sorts of junk posts.
‘Indeed.’
It wasn't that one couldn't write posts other than tips on the Tips and Know-how Bulletin Board, but due to the nature of the board being run on a point system, writing such a post even once would brand one's nickname as a scammer and an aggregator.
Therefore, unless one was crazy for aggro, it was rare for anyone to write strange posts on the Tips and Know-how Bulletin Board.
Should I say a sort of self-purification took place.
‘Anyway, Demonic person…… a term I'm hearing for the first time.’
The fact that there was a term I didn't know in the World of Justice meant there was a high possibility it was something related to Ascension Stone Fragments.
‘I'll have to look into it.’
As a test, I clicked on the post titled -Regarding the characteristics of Demonic persons, and a familiar notification appeared.
[10 points are required to view this post. Would you like to view it?]
[YES / NO]
Unfortunately, the points I currently possessed were less than 10, so I couldn't check the post.
‘Tsk.’
Of course, there was no need to rush.
If the points needed to view the post were 10, it meant I could see it just by checking attendance tomorrow.
I would naturally find out what a Demonic person was when the time came.
‘I have a guess, but…… it's better to check it myself tomorrow than to make a clumsy guess in a situation lacking information.’
As I was lost in various thoughts, Alicia's voice was heard.
“Vell.”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“If you're in any trouble, please tell me. I'll help if I can…… if I'm not in the way.”
The reason Alicia was suddenly saying this was probably because of the strange behavior I had shown.
“I will.”
“Thank you.”
“For what.”
Though I, for one, just hoped a moment where I had to do that wouldn't come.
Not long after, as we approached the entrance of Winter Castle, I saw Conlan and Albino, who were in the middle of processing demonic beasts.
“Yo, did you grab a share?”
“It's not bad.”
“That's something to look forward to. Are you getting ready to go back now?”
“I should.”
“Then let's go together on the way. Hey, Whitey! You're heading back too, right?”
“I am.”
Now, it was time to return to Winter Castle.
***
Yuliana and Royer urgently sought the snowfield where the abnormal phenomenon occurred, but when they arrived at the snowfield, there was no one there.
“There's nothing here.”
“Not entirely.”
“Hm?”
Yuliana approached the corpse of a demonic beast buried beneath the snow.
It was an unremarkable sight as the surroundings were filled with the corpses and debris of demonic beasts, but Yuliana discovered something from the corpse there.
“As expected.”
“What's wrong?”
“Look closely.”
As Yuliana gently pulled out the demonic beast from under the snow, Royer's expression soured.
No matter how many times he had seen it, looking at the corpse of a demonic beast that had been hacked to pieces and dismantled was not a pleasant experience.
“That's…… a mutant, isn't it?”
“Seems like it. Judging by how the corpse is rummaged, it either ended up like this during the war, or the Winter Castle soldiers processed it themselves.”
Yuliana rummaged through the mutant's corpse, and soon discovered one fact.
“It seems to be the latter. The fragment is gone.”
What that implied was clear.
“……Does that mean a player took it?”
“Wouldn't the probability be high? Or they could have just taken it as if taking demonic beast materials…… but considering the storm of Demonic energy that occurred here, the possibility is low.”
“Uhm.”
Royer's expression darkened rapidly.
A mutant that had undergone this much transformation must have held an unusual fragment, and the fact that a player took it was bad news in many ways.
Even more so, considering the power held by the fragment.
“This is better, actually.”
“Better?”
“If a storm of Demonic energy of that magnitude occurred, the player exposed to the fragment must have undergone a change of that magnitude.”
There was no way Royer didn't know what Yuliana was talking about.
“Demonic person-ification….”
“Or they might have died, unable to handle the Demonic energy.”
If that was the case, it would be a relief, but if Demonic person-ification had truly progressed, then it was no ordinary matter.
“What are you going to do now?”
Yuliana answered Royer's question.
“First, we'll have to find the players currently in Winter Castle.”
“Are you talking about Vell Blackwood?”
“Wouldn't he be the most likely one, for now? We have the Dennis case anyway.”
“Hmm, but you said we couldn't cause trouble inside Winter Castle?”
“There won't be a problem.”
Yuliana added quietly.
“Yes, no problem at all.”