Episode 101
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Three hours later.
Creeeak…….
I carefully opened the door and stepped out.
No matter how careful I was, I couldn't help the sound of the old hinges, so even after leaving the room, I froze in suspense for a mont, staring at the door right next to mine.
Fortunately, the Male Lead bastard seed to be asleep, as I couldn't hear any presence.
'Phew…….'
Relieved, I crossed the corridor with lighter steps.
It was six in the morning, when the temple's lockdown was lifted, so I was going to et Nise.
'I did the quest, so that damn restricted area must be unlocked now.'
The temple, in the early dawn, was desolate and silent.
I had planned to say I was on a walk if I ran into anyone, but for so reason, I didn't encounter a single person all the way to the back garden.
I imdiately pushed my way through the overgrown bushes where the rcenaries had co and gone.
While walking along the broken path, I was extrely tense, worried I might pathetically stagger after hitting that transparent wall again.
But fortunately, nothing blocked my path until I reached the old temple building.
It seed to be completely unlocked because I had completed the 'Stop the Fake Disaster' quest.
Users who succeeded in this quest were extrely rare, so I hadn't seen any gaplay videos of this place.
'It's probably nothing special.'
I knew full well it was just the place where the mistreated Nise lived, but maybe it was because it was an unknown space I hadn't checked beforehand.
I couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
I hesitated at the gloomy atmosphere unique to a deserted place, then finally entered through the half-destroyed, open door.
The inside of the old temple building was much smaller, but its structure wasn't very different from the building currently in use.
A half-crumbled goddess statue and the altars in front of it.
Whatever they did here during the night, new-looking candles were scattered everywhere.
I scanned them with sharp eyes, then finally opened my mouth to call out for the one I was looking for.
"……Nise! Are you here?"
Even though it was small, it was probably composed of dozens of prayer rooms and chambers, so searching them one by one was a waste of ti.
So I just put strength in my stomach and called for Nise.
"Nise!"
"……"
"Nise! Co out! It's , the kidnapper!"
"……"
"I ca to give you the mushroom allergy dicine!"
Nise! Nise. Nise. Nise…….
Inside the ruined temple, only my resounding voice echoed emptily.
I revealed I was the kidnapper, in case he was scared and hiding, but there was no reply.
Far from a reply, the surroundings were dead silent.
As if no one was here.
"……Nise? He's not here?"
The thought occurred to belatedly, but that couldn't be.
The Pope considered Nise's very existence ominous, so he would flog him and heartlessly kick him out, even when Nise could barely move.
"Hah, shh…… Do I have to search everywhere?"
I stared blankly at the corridor, which split into three sections, then finally sighed and started walking.
'No way, he didn't die in that ti, did he?'
A sudden anxiety spiked. Given the number of goblins I saw last night, he must have used a lot of power.
What the hell am I supposed to do if that sunfish died before I could do anything?
I felt like I could only relax if I checked that Nise was okay, so I hurriedly entered the rightmost corridor.
It was then.
Whoooooosh!
Suddenly, an ominous wind began to rage from beyond the corridor.
And then.
Grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind.
With the bizarre sound, a black mass could be seen rapidly approaching from the end of the corridor.
"What……"
I stopped in my tracks and watched it intently, then freaked out at the unidentified black mass that had co right up to .
"Aah! Crazy!"
[Lv.??? Unidentifiable Wicked Dregs]
"So gross……!"
I shuddered at the monster's appearance and hurriedly stepped back.
An oval, jet-black form with hundreds of eyes embedded in it.
I recognized it imdiately, thanks to its horrifying appearance and na, which were particularly infamous on the forums.
The final boss that briefly appears in the main quest to uncover the temple's vile secret.
"Why is that here already……"
Just as I was flustered by the sudden appearance of the eyeball monster.
Grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind.
The bastard suddenly rolled its dozens of bulging eyeballs and made that bizarre sound.
And the bastard suddenly split in half, opening its mouth with a 'Chomp' sound, and ca toward .
"Ah…… Jo……"
"Uwaaah! Stun!"
I unknowingly scread at the gory scene and chanted the skill.
[Lv.999 Stun skill has been activated.]
Bzz, bzzt!
Bright blue sparks imdiately shot up, coursing over the bastard's body.
"Ah, ah……"
The eyeball monster, which seed to be resisting for a mont, making strange noises, soon closed all of its hundreds of open eyes and collapsed to the floor.
Despite its huge size, it was a limp movent, like a falling curtain.
"……Hah, hah. Did I get it?"
I cald my pounding heart and watched the bastard warily.
But the monster, which looked like it would get right back up, didn't move even as ti passed.
'……What. Is it a X-ing pushover?'
Stun might be a skill that incapacitates an enemy, but I was very flustered by how easy it was to defeat.
This eyeball monster was infamous not just for its appearance.
It had no displayed level or health bar, so user attacks didn't work on it.
Only the Saintess could kill this unidentified monster, which didn't even appear in the monster compendium.
'Anyway, seeing that gross bastard ans I'm on the right route, right?'
I was very flustered by the unexpected encounter, but on the other hand, I also felt a sense of relief.
The Lv.??? commonly called the 'Eyeball Monster'.
The Unidentifiable Wicked Dregs appear when you've entered the correct route to make Nise the main character.
The mont the temple's evil deeds, abusing and using Nise for a long ti to cause the 'Fake Disaster', are all exposed by the user and their companions.
The Pope, in a final, desperate act, unleashes that monster to try and kill them.
With no level or HP bar displayed, attacks are neutralized one after another, and just when everyone is panicking.
The Saintess, Liv, appears from sowhere with a dagger, stabs the monster, and purifies it, sacrificing her life to make it disappear.
Nise is deeply shocked by his sister's death and falls ill, but after receiving devoted care at the Imperial Palace, he finally recovers.
Its identity is never revealed, so I don't know for sure, but the power to defeat that eyeball monster was clearly related to divine power.
So, even though I was puzzled by its appearance before now, there was nothing I could do about it.
'Well, Nise doesn't seem to be here, so I'll withdraw.'
I observed the limp black mass and the area beyond it carefully, slowly backing away.
Seeing the monster here, it seed the temple had placed so kind of barrier on the old temple.
Fortunately, the Stun seed to have worked properly, so as long as I got out, there shouldn't be a problem.
Making that judgnt, I finally turned my back on the monster.
And just as I was about to head quickly toward the entrance.
Suddenly, the hem of my robe pulled taut, and I couldn't move forward.
'No way.'
My heart sank. I looked down and saw a long, black clump, presumably the monster's hand, gripping the hem of my robe.
Grind, griind. Grind. Grind. Grind.
The bizarre sound I heard earlier slowly began to echo again, as if its closed eyes were opening.
"Ugh……! Annihi-!"
A chill ran down my spine, and I opened my mouth to chant a skill.
"He……lp…… Nise……"
But at that mont.
Unbelievably, amidst the creepy sound of rolling eyeballs, one word was clearly heard.
'Nise.'
I turned around, my eyes wide.
And I imdiately flinched.
The eyeball monster, which had crawled to my feet at so point, was lying flat, looking up at . It opened its snout with a 'Chomp' and spoke.
"Nise…… Nise captured……"
"What……"
"Help……"
It wasn't an auditory hallucination. The monster was talking to .
I, who had been frozen with my mouth agape, finally stamred out a question.
"Wh-What. You…… You can talk?"
"Help, Nise……"
But it seed it could only say "help," as the bastard just repeated the sa words.
Co to think of it, I realized the monster hadn't tried to attack from the beginning.
"Hah……"
I sighed at its still-horrifying appearance, but I couldn't just ignore it and leave.
I finally turned completely toward the monster.
"You…… What are you?"
"I, I am……"
I was thinking of hitting it with another Stun if it just said "help" again.
Fortunately, the bastard mumbled sothing and slowly raised its body from the floor.
A giant shadow fell over .
Grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind.
The sound of eyeballs rolling actively echoed, as if all the hundreds of closed eyelids had opened.
"Ugh, don't co any closer."
I warned it, standing one step away from the bastard, which was much larger and more threatening than .
Surprisingly, the bastard seed to obey, standing in place and moving its snout with a Chomp, chomp sound to speak.
"I…… I am…… We aaare……"
"Right, you are."
"We are…… the curse…… you received……"
"The curse I received?"
When I asked for confirmation of the word I'd barely understood, the bastard gently shook its head.
It was incomprehensible, so I was naturally bewildered.
"I wasn't cursed, though?"
Suddenly, sothing flashed through my mind.
The curse from black magic I received for severing the soul connected to Ballakk's cursed doll.
But Nise had suddenly used a skill and gotten rid of it.
'But what was that skill?'
Co to think of it, I was so flustered by the surprise hand kiss from the Female Lead that I couldn't think deeply about it.
Evil powers like curses can only be purified by those with divine power, like the Saintess or priests…….
I couldn't understand how Nise, who wasn't the Saintess but 'The One Forsaken by God', could wield such power.
"We are……"
But the monster didn't resolve my questions and just continued to ramble incomprehensibly.
"We are, dregs……"
"Dregs?"
"We…… We aaare…… Liv……"
Liv.
Just as I'd barely understood the monster's slurred pronunciation.
Chommp.
The bastard opened its mouth, incomparably wider than before.
Gulp.
Before I could even think, oops, it swallowed my head.
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