About an hour ago.
【Status Abnormality: Bleeding Lv.3】 【While exploring the dungeon, you have sustained a wound and are bleeding.】 【HP is continuously being consud, and your vision is steadily narrowing.】
"…Damn it."
Vincent cursed under his breath.
He desperately tried to cover the wound, but it was insufficient to stop the consumption of his HP.
"Cap... are you okay...?"
The one by Vincent’s side was... soone who, if it were Labyrinthos, might be of help, but in Dungeon Seeker, she was the least helpful teammate.
"Anna... where are the others?" "I... I don't know..." "...Ha."
A sigh escaped involuntarily.
When you are in a bleeding state, healing items or the skill of a "Healer" class can be used to treat the wound. The problem was that neither of those was available at the mont.
In their escape from the monsters, he had ended up separated from the rest of the team, with only Anna remaining by his side.
As for healing items... he had already used them all before coming to the basent. Mashina had gone for a risky gold reversal, entering the basent without proper preparation.
If he had known this would happen, he should have prepared more.
Vincent regretted a little.
"Follow , Anna..." "Wh-where are you going?" "I don’t know. But we have to try sothing."
Even while bleeding, Vincent walked.
Maybe, just maybe, a healing item might have fallen sowhere in the dungeon. He was gambling on that slim possibility.
Besides, it was better that Anna was still alive.
But if he died from blood loss like this, Anna wouldn’t survive for long either. This coward wouldn’t last in this dungeon.
At least, he had to save one team mber.
That slight sense of responsibility made Vincent move his body.
‘…Secret passage?’
As he continued to move, he sensed a reaction from his skill.
He opened a door made of iron bars and pushed aside an old bed.
And then, he found what appeared to be a hole, like a pet door, hidden under the bed.
"Did soone dig this with sothing like a spoon...?"
It seed unbelievable that a spoon could create such a hole, but he didn’t have the strength to reply to Anna’s comnt. Even as they spoke, his vision was becoming hazier by the second.
There was nowhere else to go, so Vincent crawled into the hole.
What appeared next was... a room about the size of a studio apartnt.
[Didn’t expect a guest.]
An NPC was sitting on a chair.
She had a gloomy aura, with blue eyeshadow that gave off a sinister feeling. The wide brim of her witch’s hat barely concealed her faint smile.
She wore a necklace made of bones around her neck and was gently cradling a severed head in her arms.
"Eeek...!"
Seeing the severed head, Anna hid behind Vincent.
Vincent also instinctively tensed but soon realized that this NPC was not hostile. He cald himself and spoke.
"…A witch?"
[Yes.]
The NPC nodded in response to Vincent’s words.
A witch.
She was one of the characters from the Labyrinthos PC version. And there were rumors that she would soon appear as a playable character in Labyrinthos VR.
To advance, sacrifices are inevitable, they say.
So she must be a villainous character with a twisted ideology, abducting people for experints in the na of advancing humanity.
Vincent beca slightly tense.
[Well, it's good that you're here. I’ve been stuck here and needed help.]
"…You’ve been stuck here?"
[It’s good that I ca to the Iris Duke's mansion, but there have been various problems. So, just like you, I’m also stuck here.]
"……?"
Stuck here?
Vincent had already seen the "witch’s experint subjects" as he traveled here.
Those monsters were definitely the witch’s work.
[The reason I ca here was to investigate what happened at the Iris Duke’s mansion. I wanted to get my hands on "The Noble Villain," Laura Iris.]
[Do you know that her father is the head of the duke’s family, and her mother is of royal blood? It’s rare to find a woman with such an excellent lineage and talent. That’s why I wanted to make her part of 'my experint' for the advancent of humanity.]
[But what I discovered was not what I expected. Instead of finding her, I learned that the Duke’s family had violated a taboo.]
[The Iris Duke’s family sealed away an ancient demon in this basent long ago. They received recognition for their achievent from the imperial family and were granted the title of duke.]
[However, unlike the righteous previous dukes, the current Iris Duke was extrely greedy. He pursued immortality, and because of that greed, he awakened the ancient demon.]
[He sacrificed the entire Duke’s family to the ancient demon, and that’s why the Iris Duke’s family was destroyed when the demon opened a gate to this land.]
"……That was the story?"
Vincent had experienced Labyrinthos mostly as a PVP ga, not a story-driven one. So the tale the witch told was quite interesting to him.
[Of course, that’s all in the past now. The ancient demon was defeated by the paladins, and the gate was closed. The Iris Duke, who had gained power from the ancient demon, also lost his life.]
[So I revived him.]
"……You revived him? Who?"
[The Iris Duke.]
[The Iris Duke, who led his family to ruin with his greed. Isn’t he the disgrace of his family?]
[If she’s truly the noble duke’s daughter, I expected she wouldn’t just let him go.]
[I predicted that she would co here herself to kill the duke and preserve her family’s last remaining honor.]
"…I see... I understand."
So, to bring Laura Iris into this ss, the witch had done all this.
As his vision darkened further, Vincent thought.
The 'revived Duke' we encountered as soon as we entered the basent must have been the revived duke.
The revived Duke, by the witch’s hand, had killed Shina.
And then, he led the rest of the team to their deaths.
Vincent realized that fact.
[What I didn’t expect was that a knight would chase here.]
[If it hadn’t been for the knight, I would have been able to finish my masterpiece.]
[But thanks to him, things got out of control.]
The witch said this, lightly patting the severed head in her arms.
【Quest updated.】
【Long-term goal: Track the whereabouts of the Dragon Priestess → Retrieve the corpse of the Dragon Priestess.】
【Short-term goal: Defeat the revived Iris Duke and escape from here.】
Silence filled the room.
In front, the witch was sitting quietly on her chair. On the floor, Vincent’s body, succumbing to blood loss, lay lifeless.
Anna stood there, uneasy.
Na-rim and Gaho watched the scene, a little wary.
And after hearing the entire story from Anna, Laura, for so reason, remained silent.
Her usual smile had vanished, and her expression was blank.
Her eyes were fixed on the severed head that the witch was holding.
"Laura…?"
Na-rim called out to Laura without thinking.
Not long ago, the lyrics of a song Laura had sung remained oddly in Na-rim’s mind.
The ambitions of those who rise again. The ghosts who wander, calling each other’s nas and embracing each other until one of them perishes.
Rest in the words of betrayal, more than the hollow love.
That was definitely the lyric.
Na-rim couldn’t understand why, but the image of Laura singing that song and the current expression on Laura’s face strangely overlapped in her mind.
"Why did you sing that?"
Laura smiled faintly and asked.
Na-rim realized.
Laura was quietly angry right now.
‘…Angry?’
No, she wasn’t sure if it was anger.
Could this person even get angry?
She seed like a goddess.
Even if she encountered sothing unreasonable, she’d probably laugh it off, that calm, relaxed atmosphere that Laura exuded.
So, it might not even be anger.
It could just be annoyance, or so other emotion.
But one thing was for sure: it was so kind of negative emotion.
"The knight’s death was shocking. I didn’t think the knight we were chasing would end up as such a corpse."
Gaho, feeling an odd atmosphere from Laura, tried to lighten the mood with a comnt.
He had watched the Aséorsal broadcast for drafts, and the feeling from this situation reminded him vaguely of when Leon got infected, and when the SerenadeKR mbers wouldn’t hand over the vaccine...
Laura, however, didn’t seem to respond in the way he expected.
He wondered what could have triggered her temper.
Having only recently t Laura, Gaho didn’t know much about her.
"The knight is no problem. He’s just soone who can die and be forgotten."
"…What?"
Gaho stared blankly at Laura.
Watching him, Laura thought to herself, "Gaho doesn’t know much about the knight."
Laura shrugged and then said:
"Na-rim, do you have a hamr?"
"Yeah? Well, I have one for now..."
"Hand it over."
"Sure…"
Na-rim handed Laura the hamr.
It was a hamr she had bought for climbing bolts. Though, she carried it for various uses, including breaking things.
And it could be used as a weapon too.
With the hamr in her hand, Laura looked at the witch.
‘Am I not Laura Iris anymore?’
If this were the ‘noble villainess’ Laura Iris, not the virtual talent Aurora, the witch would have recognized her instantly.
But now, there was no reason to swing the hamr.
Even if she did, she wouldn’t win against the witch.
If she were in her real body, she was confident she could tear the witch apart, but sadly, this body was just a data fragnt, a ga avatar. Its specs were ridiculously weak.
After thinking for a mont, Laura relaxed her shoulders.
It was the sa smile, but the corners of her mouth lifted just a little, and her eyes softened.
With that small change, the tense atmosphere quickly eased.
It felt like a provocation, but she thought it was foolish to be shaken by such a minor emotion.
As a duke’s daughter, one should know how to control one’s emotions.
"Anna, I’ll resurrect Vincent, so help ."
"Eh?"
"And Na-rim, contact Sora with the radio."
"Got it..."
Laura gave her orders, and Na-rim hurriedly grabbed the radio and started reaching out.
Though they had a rivalry with Vincent, they would probably help him.
The Cerberus & Behemoth alliance had virtually been wiped out, and now they couldn’t overco the gold gap with Leviathan. They would want to collaborate to at least finish on a high note.
They’d also need to call back Sora’s group.
To deal with the ‘revived Duke,’ the more hands they had, the better.
"Um, Laura... I can’t get in touch…?"
Na-rim said, holding the radio.
What...?
A massive ram’s horn had grown from its head. The creature's body was purple and muscular, with eyes embedded all over it.
The wings behind it were torn, and only its skeletal remains remained.
It was a devil, or it should have been. But it was hard to call it a devil.
The wings were shredded, and half the skin had lted away.
Was this once human?
It wasn’t clear.
"...Trouble."
Barubara muttered lowly, having lost one arm.
And from afar, the sound of pounding at echoed.
Thud! Thud! Crack! Thud!
If you peeked out just a little, the monster continued to pound away.
With every strike, flesh was torn, and blood burst out.
"Save ..."
At so point, ro had stopped making a sound.
Sora sighed.
"...What now?"
【《Survival》 Kaga ro: Deceased】
【《Protection》 Barubara Rian: Unknown】
【《Exploration》 Ayano Kōji Sora: Online】
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