Chapter 9

Lucid quickly closed the distance.

Her hurried movements clearly betrayed the anxiety she felt, despite her bravado, about what I might do if I fled into the cave.

According to the original plan, I should have escaped into the cave before she approached, but there was something I needed to check first to slightly increase the plan's success rate.

'A light skirmish should be fine.'

The distance to Lucid rapidly closed.

Five meters.

Four, three, two...

And one meter.

When we were close enough to reach out and touch each other—

"I'll chop you to pieces! Black Dragon's hound!"

"Die! You crazy bitch!"

Without waiting, we both swung our weapons.

I blocked Lucid's dagger with my shield.

Considering her abilities, even a single successful attack would be fatal, and a light graze would result in a wound I couldn't simply shrug off.

Having failed her attack, Lucid threw herself backward to avoid my sword.

I knew it, but it was hard to keep up with her movements.

The gap between me and Lucid was much greater than I had anticipated.

Not only in stats, but also in combat experience.

Unlike me, who had wielded a real sword for the first time today, she looked as if she had used a sword in some form or another before becoming a soldier.

Thwack!

I blocked a dagger that flew rapidly towards my head with my shield.

In that fleeting moment, my vision was obscured.

However, I could anticipate Lucid's next move.

Having listened for her footsteps since raising my shield, I swung my sword widely to the right.

"Ugh!"

I didn't feel anything catch on my hand, but I heard Lucid's startled groan.

The experience and proficiency I had gained through D&K were steering the battle in my favor.

"How...?"

"Did you think Ranking 2nd Odin was made purely by luck?"

"What do you mean...?"

"Why are you so curious about someone who's going to die anyway?"

I, too, had no intention of having a long conversation with her.

I pursued Lucid, who was taken aback.

Lucid quickly regained her composure, actively using her nimble movements to evade my attacks and create openings, striking back.

Several chilling situations unfolded.

The grim reaper, overseeing death, approached and retreated as if mocking me.

Had I not hastily absorbed the Cave Rose, I might have already had a hole put in me by her dagger.

"Ugh..."

Eventually, I allowed one attack.

Frankly, it was already a miracle that I had gotten this far with just game knowledge.

The dagger grazed my thigh.

It was a minor wound.

A really light one that could happen in daily life, and something that could be left alone without even bothering to go to the hospital.

However, Lucid's ability made the wound swell and caused the blood, which should have just been a few drops, to gush out continuously.

Lucid's attacks became bolder, perhaps feeling more confident.

'As I thought, it's not possible.'

I had wanted to defeat Lucid with my own abilities if possible, but it was indeed a reckless challenge.

However, I had succeeded in gauging Lucid's combat abilities, which were not explicitly stated in her stats—one of the things I had wanted to confirm.

With this, my plan wouldn't fail due to her physical prowess.

Now for the other part.

It was time to confirm Lucid's loyalty to her player.

Just as my loyalty to Baron Lemming was at rock bottom, not all heroes offered absolute loyalty to their players.

I swung my sword widely to create distance between me and Lucid.

If the distance widened, Lucid would throw daggers.

Therefore, before Lucid could assume a throwing stance, I opened the pouch at my waist.

"......?"

My sudden action brought a puzzled expression to Lucid's face.

After confirming that her gaze was fixed on the pouch, I took out one of the fruits from it and threw it far to my left.

"If that falls on the ground, it'll be useless."

"You, you crazy bastard!"

Lucid, without a moment's hesitation, turned her back to me and lunged for the fruit.

The player's command was not to wipe out the allied soldiers, but to secure the four tree fruits we had collected.

Lucid's loyalty to her player was so overflowing that she exposed herself defenselessly to an enemy with whom she was in the middle of a battle, all to fulfill that command.

'Confirmation complete.'

If I attacked her back now, I could inflict a significant wound.

However, such a wound wouldn't be enough to overturn the gap between me and Lucid.

The distance between Lucid, who had lunged for the fruit, and me had widened considerably.

Seizing that opportunity, I dashed into the cave.

And, hiding in the darkness, I observed Lucid's reaction.

"You...!"

Lucid stood at the cave entrance, stomping her feet.

It was clear she had no idea that I would run into the dark cave, even after I had explained the assassin's eyes.

She hesitated.

Whether to follow me into the cave, or to wait for the soldiers to arrive, surround the cave entrance, and wait for me to emerge exhausted.

It seemed Lucid had two choices, but in reality, there was only one.

As someone who knew nothing about this cave, she would first consider the possibility of an exit on the opposite side.

In the end, Lucid gritted her teeth and ran towards the cave.

I moved deeper into the cave, checking the status of the pouch tied to my waist.

The tree fruits, heavily imbued with magic, emitted their own light.

Under the sun, this light was insignificant, but in a dark cave like this, it shone more brilliantly.

So much so that it seeped through the cracks in the pouch.

That light served as a beacon for Lucid, who was chasing me.

And similarly, by seeing the faint light leaking from the fruit Lucid was carrying, I could gauge the distance between her and me.

'She runs surprisingly well.'

Lucid was quite perceptive.

The cave was not a place made for people to walk through.

The uneven floor could easily cause an ankle injury if one stepped incorrectly, and it was a dangerous place with ceilings that suddenly lowered, floors that caved in, and even precipices.

Although the fruit emitted a faint light, it was not easy to discern what was underfoot with eyes not yet accustomed to the darkness.

In such a place, moving at high speed without a torch would often result in injuries or falls.

But Lucid had none of that.

Even I, who had explored this cave countless times during D&K and thoroughly knew which routes were safe and which were dangerous, sometimes felt my heart sink.

She was keeping up without major problems, except for a few minor incidents where she almost stumbled.

It was rather fortunate.

What if she had stumbled and broken herself near the entrance, thought, 'Ah, this isn't going to work,' swallowed her pride, and left the cave?

I had worried a lot, but Lucid was thankfully moving as I expected.

By the time we reached our destination, the distance between Lucid and me had narrowed to a point where we could almost touch each other.

Lucid probably had no idea.

That I had been regulating my speed to maintain this distance in this place.

I naturally unfastened the pouch from my waist.

And threw it far to the right.

As if, forced by the narrowing distance, I had acted frantically to avert the immediate danger.

"This bastard again...!"

Lucid's voice came from directly behind me.

Lucid pushed off the ground, chasing after the flying pouch.

It was natural, as her job was to secure the fruits safely rather than to catch me.

I stopped running.

And watched a small light leap into the air, catching the three lights leaking from the gaps in the pouch.

Immediately after.

The light fell downward.

Far below where the ground should have been.

Thump!

The dull sound I had been expecting reverberated.

Following it, a thin groan came from below.

I walked exactly five steps in the direction of the sound.

And stopped.

Having explored the cave countless times while playing D&K, I perfectly knew its topography.

That there was a rather high precipice ahead.

And that falling from here was enough to kill a Level 1 hero. I knew.

When I lowered my head, I saw four faint lights scattered haphazardly below.

"Damn... it... I, I'm just like this..."

Lucid's voice was getting weaker.

I descended to the bottom of the cliff via a safe path.

Gathering the scattered four fruits into my pouch, I approached Lucid.

Lucid, whose limbs were twisted in grotesque directions, was trembling intermittently, and the red flowers blooming around her were so numerous it was hard to believe they had come from one person's body.

"...Cowardly."

Those were Lucid's last words.

"You're right."

She was right.

I didn't have the confidence to win in a head-on fight, so I used cowardly means.

But the fact that I won hasn't changed.

She was stronger than me, but ultimately, it was I who achieved victory.

What was important now was that I had survived.

That was all.

"......"

I thought I would be quite happy if I won.

But I wasn't as happy as I thought.

I just felt frustrated, as if something was blocked.

***

Defeating Lucid wasn't the end.

Ten White Soldiers still remained, and the Level 2 hero, the player, had yet to show up.

I was still in danger.

"Well, now..."

Dragging my tired body out of the cave, I gave a wry smile.

The White Soldiers surrounded me as if to encircle me.

However, they didn't rush in immediately.

The news of Lucid's death must have already reached the player's ears.

They must have realized that I was not an ordinary soldier who would fall with a single sword slash, so they were extremely tense.

Fortunately, the Level 2 hero... the player character was not visible.

It was probably because they were afraid their own character would die.

If the player dies, it's game over, so they were giving commands from a safe place.

This was a common phenomenon among beginners.

At first, you should actively use your player character.

There's no hero as strong as that!

Can I really do that? What if I die...?

A Level 2 hero in Stage 1-1 is just a bully!

In the chat window, a veteran was live-training a fresh newbie.

I needed to get out of here before the White player, convinced by the veterans, brought out their cherished Level 2 hero.

However, I no longer had the strength to fight.

Not only was I injured, but I had exhausted my stamina to the limit fighting Lucid.

Honestly, I doubted if I could safely reach the rally point even without interference.

And the cards I had left...

'...I have one.'

I felt a light weight in the pouch tied to my waist.

Four fruits.

If I absorbed these, I could gain magic power, and by boosting my abilities with increased magic power, the chances of overcoming the current situation would increase.

Naturally, side effects would occur if absorbed directly without going through a wizard.

However, these fruits were different from the Cave Rose.

In the case of the Cave Rose, the side effect was merely an inefficiency so severe that it would bring tears to one's eyes; instead of absorbing 12 magic power, one could only absorb.

However, the side effects of the multi-colored fruit obtained through anomalous phenomena were on a different level.

'If my memory serves me right... 4 magic power. And instead of a temporary increase in other stats, it was a berserker state where vitality was continuously drained...'

D&K was a game that forced realism in strange ways.

In D&K, the phrase 'vitality is drained' didn't mean HP, which players commonly knew.

It literally meant the vitality of that hero.

That is, life span, or life itself.

While it was the option I wanted to avoid most as someone who wanted to live a full life, even if not to 100, what could I do?

Would I die right now, or shorten my lifespan?

If I had to choose between the two, I had no choice but to pick the latter.

"Even if Baron Lemming is a greedy, damn superior, he'd understand one if I risked my life to protect three."

Hoping for that man's last bit of conscience to be generous.

I took out one fruit and put it in my mouth.

I watched the expressions of the White Soldiers, who were flustered by my sudden action, one by one, and chewed the fruit, moving my jaw.

The juice spread throughout my mouth.

I swear.

It was the worst taste and scent of any tree fruit I had ever eaten.

The Cave Rose was also like that; do all things imbued with magic taste like this?

Praising myself for my patience in swallowing this terrible fruit instead of spitting it out, I closed my eyes.

Ibiko Fruit - Mutant abnormally consumed. 4 magic power accumulates in the body.

Physical abilities slightly increase due to the rise in magic power.

Unrefined Ibiko Fruit - Mutant causes temporary abnormal phenomena in the body.

Strength, agility, endurance, and quickness increase. Mentality and resistance decrease.

Temporary confusion in memory occurs, and rational thought becomes difficult.

Vitality is continuously consumed. Prompt treatment is required.

I opened my eyes.

The whole world was dyed red.

A soaring euphoria filled my body and mind.