Uuuh… Haa… No… I don’t want to be eaten… It hurts… Kyaaaah!
By the time I had defeated the second corpse.
The necromancer Nokteon clutched her head and screamed.
Again? At this point, possessing this laurel makes me uneasy.
The black engraved patterns squirmed out of my hands and enveloped my whole body.
A girl covered in pale skin and black spots collapsed onto the ground.
“You killed them. They’re all dead. It’s over, hahaha… Haa… Guh…”
The girl’s neck twisted grotesquely. Eyes flared up from the darkness in her robe.
“So I’m going to burn you just the same.”
[Necromancer ‘Nokteon’ summons a random ‘Doll3’.]
[Infamy difficulty has been set to 10.]
[The Empire’s Last Sword Master · Reinhardt Shipot (0/1)]
– It’s here!!!!!!!!
– Isn’t this just probability manipulation? LOL, today’s broadcast is legendary.
└ What’s the probability?
└ I don’t know, the story doesn’t disclose probabilities.
└ Based on Challenger rank games, the object appearance rate is under 1%.
– Normally, I would welcome this with open arms, but why does it have to show up in this situation?
– World rank 3, welcome~
– The whole world is undermining Adella;;
– What if this shows up during the tournament? Has it ever appeared before?
└ No, no, something like this along with Mephisto just doesn’t show up, think about it logically.
└ It’s been ages since ACK opened, and there are still people who don’t watch the tournament?
– If I can grab it, the combat power should inflate massively.
“What’s their deal taking their anger out on us? Those with the laurel all seem a bit off! Oh, except for you, sister…!”
– Among them, NoName seems to be the craziest?
– Adella, just shut up!!!
– There’s no time, unleash your attacks!
“I’ll explain everything later. For now, let’s focus on the enemy.”
I thought it would be enough to just know the enemy’s information for tackling the Nightmare, but I never expected to study the world while sneaking in during dinner.
Thanks to that, at a point where I knew both Nokteon’s identity and ‘my’ identity, I could fully understand her despair.
The air suddenly grew heavy.
The already sticky air felt thick like humidity choking me.
A doll made of clay rose from the ground, gradually forming color and shape.
In the whirlpool, a man reached for a great sword.
It should be far enough that I wouldn’t be hit…
[Daehagwonsaengsalryeo: I forgot! NoName, step back immediately!]
Instinctively sensing danger, Adella pushed me away.
“Sis!”
“…?”
The swordstrike slicing through the horizon.
Kwaa-
The following violent wind pressure swept over the ground.
“Ouch, that stings…!”
Adella, who absorbed the shock, clutched her head and rolled on the floor.
The tip of her ear was sliced off by the sharp blade.
“Heal…!”
Around the wound, red blood soaked her face. I hurriedly tried using a mid-tier heal, but the magic wouldn’t respond.
[Reinhardt’s reverse field has been activated. Healing magic cannot be used.]
Fast at informing, aren’t they?
In an emergency, I tore a strip from my sleeve to staunch her bleeding ear.
“Hah! My ear really hurts… Please tell me it’s not cut off, right? My ear is okay, right?”
“If you keep worrying about it, it’ll hurt more. Just stop the bleeding and let’s get out of this field quickly.”
“If I go out, you’ll be left behind!”
“If time passes, healing won’t work anymore. Do you want to live your life with half an ear?”
“What? It’s really cut off? Nyaaaaaaaaaah!”
Crying over a cut ear. She used to hide her pain even after getting stabbed in the leg.
For now, it seems like she knows how to use regeneration magic, so she should be alright if she can use magic.
[LG Chaos: I’m sorry. In fact, I’ve never met the boss either…]
[Daehagwonsaengsalryeo: It makes sense since it’s not in pro games. How do we deal with this?]
A sword master.
If it’s the sword master of this world, then wouldn’t that mean ability on par with Klaus?
It must be the man Alphonse Shipot mentioned before, Reinhardt Shipot.
But to launch a long-range attack right from the start…
I’d be able to witness Alphonse’s unique magic after all. It seems he cannot show me what a real long-range attack is without taking action.
*
[Vtube]
[World of Arseria] [@worldofarceria_KR]
[World of Arseria | Nokteon Nailink Character PV – “The Secret of the Forest of Arseria”]
[Warning: This video contains spoilers. Viewer discretion is advised.]
Hey, passing by splendid person! I’m Nokteon Nailink.
Are you busy? If not, would you listen to my story?
So, you see…
Every moment I woke up was a continuation of agony.
[Nokteon Nailink! Don’t you dare pop out!]
I didn’t open my eyes at the sound of me being called.
From the moment my eyelids parted, it was hell.
[Is your head rotting away? You should be grateful for being spared, shouldn’t you? Do you want to die like those other fools?]
These were threats laced with coercion.
After all, they can’t kill me.
I am one of the few chosen test subjects, a resource, and a source of nutrition. Perhaps even more than the name Nokteon, I’ve been called various names.
My desperate struggles only led me to be dragged away by the uncles once again.
What they expected from me was obvious.
[Here, take it. There’s no time, swallow it quickly.]
I was handed a purple pill.
A month’s worth…
A month’s supply of magic contained in that pill.
I’ve never experienced something like this… I felt like I had promised to die in rage but instead, panic washed over me.
[What are you resisting for! You need your skull cracked before you crawl back here?]
I knew that resisting against adults was futile, yet I struggled with all my might.
But all I received in return were merciless beatings and remorse. Endless self-loathing found its place among my empty feelings.
Soon, countless thorns erupted from the ground.
[Aah…]
The thorns smelling softly of earth pierced through my hands, arms, and legs. They penetrated deeply. The scent of the forge wafted through.
It felt like I wasn’t even permitted to scream in my final moments, as the last thorn punctured my throat.
A month of hell began.
…
…
Hell grew increasingly dreadful.
After a day out, I would need a month of sufficient rest, but gradually that cycle grew shorter.
After emerging from a month in darkness without even being able to scream in pain, I just wanted to die.
Really, I could never endure again as a human being.
I think I heard from the uncles that biting my tongue would mean death. Should I bite my tongue now? Or I could see a sharp twig on the ground. Would cutting my wrist with this let me die?
My heart beat recklessly, and I could feel pain. Then at that moment.
[Stop.]
[…?]
A soothing voice like a spring breeze.
Turning to the voice’s owner, I found another subject like me.
[Have you never seen the same experiment subject before?]
It shouldn’t be. I’d already been here for five years. I wasn’t surprised by her.
[Your ears…]
[Huh, what about this?]
Her ears were extraordinarily long.
They looked as big as half her face.
Even I, who confidently went through all sorts of hell for five years, merely had a small lump on my ear.
It was a side effect of the pill.
But if her ears had grown that long, how long had she been trapped in this forest?
[I’m not sure. Based on recent experiments, it seems like I’ve been here for about a year. It was a time when cherry blossoms were blooming.]
To be stuck on the ground, unable to see, hear, or move, just feeling pain, for a year?
That wasn’t normal. And as she said, her mental state was also far from normal.
She stuttered her words and barely remembered what she just said, drooling out of her mouth.
But occasionally, as her mind cleared, we continued to talk.
[When that tree grows, demons will be summoned to this world.]
I realized that the thorns emerging from the earth were roots of a colossal tree. I even learned that the name of that tree was ‘Yggdrasil.’
[There’s not much time left.]
Even if demons were summoned to this world, what could I care? My every day was hell.
[Do you have a family? Which part of the Empire are you from?]
I had family.
I barely recalled, but I had a loving mother and siblings.
I told her about how I had been bound and taken in a wagon here for several days.
But how did she know I spoke the Imperial language?
[Didn’t you know? Everyone here is from the Empire. You, me, and even the uncles.]
Her words were shocking.
So the reason we had been suffering all this time was to nurture that tree…
The Empire sacrificed slave children like me as scapegoats.
[But the fruit hasn’t borne for several years.]
She explained why the intensity of the experiments was increasing.
[But there’s hope.]
By chance, she had sent a rescue request through a pigeon, so someday someone would come to save them.
Despair and hope arose simultaneously.
If someone truly were to come to rescue us, wouldn’t I be able to see my family again?
Summoning a bit of courage, I whispered to her.
“Let’s make sure to meet again alive.”
But after a day passed, and then two days passed, I could no longer find her in the forest.
Ah… Just a minute…! The story isn’t over yet…
Are you still busy?
If not, could you save me?
The world’s flowers shone brightly, sparkling like lovely stars in the Forest of Arseria.
The demons— Kyaaaah!
[Nightmare II]
[-WareSoft-]
*
Watching Na-me easily handle the Empire’s last sword master, Nokteon felt a mix of disbelief and fear.
‘The doll is being pushed…?’
Even now, the pain of borrowing demonic power throbbed in my head.
Having drawn out all the magic from the laurel under the condition of sacrificing her lifetime, she shared the same sight as Reinhardt Shipot.
A blade flew in without a hint of warning.
The instincts left by the doll in its living days sent a warning.
If I didn’t react immediately, my head would be severed.
There was no technique in her movement. Nokteon simply moved as the corpse desired.
Swish-
It was a sound like wind hitting a window, yet the force behind that strike was considerable.
My heart raced uncontrollably. I kept closing my eyes every time an attack flew at me.
Nokteon wasn’t accustomed to life-and-death battles.
Still, the reason the doll could keep facing Na-me was ultimately due to the power of the laurel.
Even amid relentless bombardment, the doll consistently found opportunities.
Feeling this with her entire being, Nokteon wanted to cry.
‘Just die… Please! Just die!’
Whether that will was conveyed or not, Reinhardt’s body lurched forward.
Kicking off the ground, he frantically infused the blade with aura.
The pain of tearing muscles burst through my arm, and my hand holding the sword felt like it was going to be ripped off.
“Guh…!”
A strong intuition told her it might be the final blow.
Thus, for the first time, she opened her eyes and found herself unable to close her mouth at the spectacle that unfolded afterward.
The giant’s body was pierced through with her sword, hanging mid-air.
Seeing the arm supporting the weight of the sword master resembling a massive weight stunned her.
How could a person end up like chicken pierced through a skewer? I watched as she threw the sword into the wall and slowly stepped back toward herself.
“O-Don’t come… Come here, successor of Yggdrasil! No, no! Don’t come near…!”
She was weaponless, but facing an unfathomable, deep abyss would certainly induce fear.
Tap-
Even with the footsteps of the reaper stepping right in front of her, Nokteon Nailink couldn’t lift her head.
Her hands tightened around her neck.
So this is dying, ultimately dying like this.
Recalling those days when I lived under the Crown Prince, struggling to extend my life, the debt began to weigh on me, and as she confirmed her face, she couldn’t hide her shock.
“Sister?”
Though everything was blurred and dark as she neared the laurel, there was no doubt she was the subject sister I had met in the Forest of Arseria.
“Guh… Guh… Hic… Oh… Sister… It was you. I’m so sorry for not recognizing you…”
Upon realizing that the reaper aiming for her life was the sister she once knew, a flood of emotions burst forth, and an inexplicable sense of relief washed over her.
“Our families… they’ve all died… The Pope burned the entire forest… Huuu…”
“No, your family is all alive.”
“…! Is that true…? Can I really trust you again like I did back then…?”
Tears flowed over her skin now stained black. Na-me wiped away the thick shadows with her fingers and spoke.
“Yeah, Nokteon Nailink.”
“Thank you… Sister, you must live…”
Nokteon’s body slumped down.
Yet, with her tiny hands, she didn’t let go of Na-me’s fingers.
[Necromancer · Nokteon Nailink has been defeated.]
I gently closed her eyes and took the ring made of laurel before escaping the cave.
Na-me suddenly looked up, gazing at the indifferent sky.
In a world where the concept of elves didn’t exist, the soft voice of a woman claiming to be an elf echoed.
“This really is a damn world too.”
[Part 2: Eternity of Illusions, Lament of a Nocturne END]
[Part 3: Collapsing Babel Tower]
