Chapter 298: Continuous Pursuit

Lying in wait for a while, I maintained utter stillness, my watchful eye unblinking as I stared at one spot through the scope of the White Death.

It was the space between a metal fence and a brick wall, a narrow gap that led both to and from a place outside of my sight, snaking to be obscured by that same wall; it was a shortcut I only realised existed thanks to the Protagonist managing to reach me quicker than expected.

Anyway, it was only because this small section was blocked by that fence―and it was only because it was this very sort of metal bar fence―that I could catch him off guard.

Eventually, just like I planned.

‘…Now.’

Finally, I pulled the trigger, a minute sense of magic energy being drained from my body at the same time to refill that used by the weapon.

In a single heartbeat, that drained magic energy was also filled in.

And at that moment.

[You Died]

Crimson words appeared before my eyes.

The gap between the fence bars was indeed enough to fit a magic bullet.

With that acknowledgement, I removed my face from the scope, revealing the wider scene of a colossal cathedral flooded and surrounded by a dark, murky waste. The holy building itself also bore a look as if it had spent the last few centuries lost underwater, corrupted by black sludge and something else that I didn’t quite feel confident enough to call as innocently as ‘seaweed’.

When I first followed the Protagonist here, I was also initially surprised at the lack of a civilisation around such a tremendous structure, or at the very least the ruins of that sort.

Yet, there was nothing; though whether that was because it was all buried under the ocean of black sludge and waste was a question I didn’t care to answer.

This place, which bore only a blank night sky with no celestial body to speak of, was just awful.

‘…Ah, they’ll respawn again soon. I should get a move on.’

Beginning to notice faint ripples of a presence beneath the surface of the waste near me, I dismissed the White Death and started to move.

Until now, I was being relatively careful regarding enemy monsters. I wasn’t sure at first whether they would attack me, since in the original games they only ever targeted the Protagonist unless a few special items were used.

Unfortunately, it turned out I wasn’t so lucky as to have that privilege, so I had no choice but to maintain that guard at all times. The slimes in this location were particularly annoying since destroying them took too long with just weapons, and their amorphous bodies were able to attack flexibly like a whip that left marks of their toxic sludge on you, making it hard to defend.

Although, there weren’t many times I had to deal with enemies other than the Protagonist, in big part thanks to the Draconic Shadow’s Superior Presence Concealment being enough for them to mostly ignore me.

In any case, there were just enough pieces of broken debris and rubble floating around in the black waste for me to use as platforms to get around, and they were laid out in a way that almost seemed to form a pathway through the sea of sludge.

It looked like the Protagonist’s next checkpoint would be somewhere within the main body of the cathedral, and since it was so big, I wouldn’t even be surprised if there were multiple spread about the place.

Using all of the grace period between the Protagonist’s death and his respawning, I managed to cover roughly one half of the distance to the cathedral.

[Grave of the Old Faith]

Of course, even if the Protagonist did respawn, it didn’t mean I would wait for him to come to me.

After all, each second that I spent here…

‘…Hm? Wait, is that–‘

Suddenly, my attention was grabbed by something I spotted at the very top of the cathedral.

Standing by the edge of its roof.

“Who…?’

It was only a subtle silhouette against the lonely backdrop of darkness, but I was sure there was a person standing right there.

I wasn’t looking up there through the White Death’s scope because I was focused on the Protagonist, of course, so there was no way of knowing when that figure arrived.

I already knew the Protagonist’s spawnpoint was not located near there, so it definitely wasn’t him…

‘…Doesn’t matter.’

Whether it was a hostile or one of the Protagonist’s allied NPCs, the important part was that they shouldn’t get in the way so long as they remained up there―With that in mind, I hastily continued on my way towards the cathedral.

The metal fence was still visible from my location, but the angle was too harsh to allow another snipe.

Either way, the path I was going was the only visible route towards the end of the world.

For that reason, there shouldn’t by any need to fret about the Protagonist somehow sneaking past without my knowledge――

RUMBLE~~~!!

“…!?”

Interrupting me again, a tremor shook the world.

The ocean of black waste quivered violently, toxic sludge sloshing on all sides and causing the path of floating rubble to splinter apart; I stumbled, digging my feet into the unsteady material beneath me with no choice but to pause my advancement.

And then, with an exceptionally loud, drawn-out sound of something roaring…

‘This…!’

All of that black waste began to gently swirl, wave, and gradually drain away, the whole situation reminiscent of someone pulling the plug on a bathtub full of contaminated water.

‘Someone activated something.’

Naturally, I glanced first up towards the roof of the cathedral―to find nobody there.

Of course.

I couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t the Protagonist’s doing, but judging by the fact this hadn’t happened any of the times I killed him before now, there was no reason to believe that would suddenly change.

Although, even supposing that were fact… it was also true that someone suddenly appeared who hadn’t shown themself before now.

‘Interfering…’

If it continued, that could become a real pain.

As the sludge continued to drain as if melting away, more and more of not just the cathedral, but also its previously hidden surroundings were exposed.

Similar to the top part of the cathedral, albeit far more along its process of degradation, various areas remained tarnished, blemished with marked blots of sludge and black slime all over.

It was already experiencing blatant deterioration through time, but that somehow only made it feel even more ancient.

As for the surroundings… To say they weren’t doing much better would be a compliment.

Frankly, it was just a vast layout of derelict ruins, clear evidence of what once must have been a human settlement in the form of archaic, shoddy hovels and shacks of stone and rotted wood perhaps only able to withstand the civilisation’s collapse thanks to their overly simple structures.

All of that wasn’t even to mention the residual sludge and odd slimes that managed to stick through the draining process.

By the time the ‘lake’ had been completely voided, the full picture revealed and even the barred front entrance of the cathedral present directly ahead, I felt one main impression from the exposed location.

‘The whole place looks like a complete slum except for that singular building.’

Compared to everything else in the visible vicinity, the cathedral was infinitely superior.

As if the people who lived here, who built and worshipped here, had just that one driving force.

‘Grave of the Old Faith’.

‘…Makes you wonder if that was the reason it failed. Anyway.’

Ridding my thoughts of unnecessary curiosities, the rubble I was using as a platform had also sunk to the ground of thickly-layered sludge.

Stepping onto that nauseatingly squishy surface, the stench was, perhaps to be expected, even worse than it was with the sea above it present.

More importantly, that gigantic cathedral’s front entrance, one straight line ahead of my location, then slowly began to open from within alongside an excruciating, almost torturous creak that resounded across the whole of the ruins.

One man was revealed at its boundary.

[Him]

“Haa…”

Inadvertently sighing, I didn’t think much and summoned the White Death.

“…I really hope there isn’t much more to go after this.”

After all, chasing the same guy from one End of the World to another―

[You Died]

―It got stale real fast.