novelraw Chapter 113
Chapter 113
Ch.113 It’s too late now, you know.
“Huh? What’s going on? Why aren’t we going in?”
Selena stared intently at the cave.
Why… why is he standing there?
And even more unbelievably, the sword he’s holding…
That’s Roy’s sword.
In the game, it’s the blade summoned by the King of the Dead.
My head spins from the sheer impossibility of it all.
I knew he approached me to steal the Concept Artifact.
It holds tremendous power, so naturally he’d covet it.
But… why did you become Roy’s vessel?!
The situation is so chaotic I can’t process any information clearly.
“That woman is the King.”
Icira’s words hung heavy in the air.
“It can’t be… surely not…”
Selena never appeared in the game.
At least, I never saw her during my gameplay, and no game sites ever mentioned her.
If such a beautiful character existed, someone would have posted about her online.
But becoming the King of the Dead?
Even in reality, this unforeseen turn is impossible to believe.
Because whoever becomes the King of the Dead is doomed to die without fail.
So after stealing the Concept Artifact and attempting to kill me… was it all just to surrender your body to that thing?!
—”Let’s go back, Davinus. There’s an unnatural trap hidden inside.”
Selena’s unexpected words… no, that wasn’t Selena’s voice.
It was a grotesque, raspy, elderly man’s voice—so jarring I nearly jumped.
You’re kidding, right? Is Selena really the King of the Dead?!
“How strange… How did they detect the trap?”
Icira frowned, muttering quietly.
“But they seem to be leaving.”
At Nekhuf’s comment, I shouted urgently:
“No! We have to stop them now. I have things to say!”
Mia asked with trembling eyes,
“Is it because she’s your ex-girlfriend?”
“This isn’t about that! If we deal with him now, we can prevent the world’s destruction!”
Normally, I never raised my voice at the Hero Party due to my past sins—but right now, I couldn’t help it.
“I saved you all when you were nearly subjugated by demons! I’ve supported you in every way possible to ensure your victory over them! Is this how you repay me?!”
They opened their mouths but only bit their lips in silence.
“Grrgh…!”
“Well, things are settled now. Let’s go—Teleport!”
At Icira’s command, the area was engulfed in blue light.
The surroundings instantly shifted.
“Oh? I never expected you’d actually show up once we decided to leave. My adversary.”
Spotting us, Davinus and the King of the Dead looked startled.
I yelled furiously,
“Shut up! How did you steal Selena’s body?!”
The King chuckled mockingly at my anger.
“Steal? No—I was given her body.”
“Shut your mouth! You corrupted Selena?! Fine! I’ll kill you myself!”
—Bang!
I instantly drew ‘Equality’ and fired—but he dodged with an eerie, unnatural movement.
“Heh heh… You’re indeed formidable. Killing you seems impossible.”
“Do you have any idea how many years I’ve played Destiny?!”
—Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each time, he evaded ‘Equality’ with bizarre postures, leaving me baffled.
“Heh heh… Are you afraid? Afraid of losing her?”
“What? Why would I fear losing the woman who abandoned me?! Everyone, what are you waiting for?!”
I urged the party, frustrated that no one was attacking him.
“We know without you saying it, Sage!”
An arrow flew from Selena’s bow.
As the King deflected it with his sword…
“Die, King of the Dead!”
Nekhuf exploited the opening, lunging at blinding speed.
“Graaah!”
Davinus rushed forward with bare hands to aid Roy—but
“Not so fast! Attack Nekhuf! Flanta! Stop him!”
Thick vines erupted from the parched earth, entangling Davinus.
Nekhuf and the King of the Dead exchanged attacks too swift for the eye to follow.
I seized the chance and shot at the King’s back.
—Bang!
Yet somehow, he dodged again—twisting unnaturally as if he’d foreseen it.
What?! How did he detect an attack from his blind spot?!
This was unbelievable.
I’d never faced anyone like this—neither in-game nor here.
The King glanced at me, sweat beading on his brow.
“It seems difficult… Impossible to deal with you all here.”
His expression darkened inexplicably.
What’s going on? I haven’t even landed a proper hit!
“Dark Fog!”
The boss raised his hand, conjuring black mist—but I drew Levi’s Dagger.
“Dispel!”
The dark fog vanished instantly.
In the King’s hand gleamed Altarion’s Staff.
“How dare a mere corpse flee before me! Freezing!”
Icira thrust out her hand, firing a blue beam—but it halted before reaching him.
“A dragon, I see… Very well. With this much opposition, retreating is wise… Until next time, adversary. Teleport!”
He waved his hand and chanted the incantation.
Blue light erupted as the spell activated.
I swiftly aimed ‘Equality’ and fired.
—Bang!
The King staggered mid-cast.
“Kuhh!”
I hit him. Though ‘Equality’s instant-kill effect likely failed, I’d definitely damaged him.
“Your Majesty?! Are you alright?!”
At Davinus’s panicked voice, I shouted,
“Exorcism!”
As I invoked holy power to purify him, the blue light flickered out—
—and they vanished instantly.
“Tch! Icira, can you track where they went?!”
She shook her head.
“That would be difficult…”
“Damn it!”
Frustrated, I hurled Levi’s Dagger to the ground.
—Clang!
Its clear ring echoed through the air.
***
Having escaped Hans’s attack, the King of the Dead and Davinus stood panting.
“Haah… haah…”
The King collapsed to his knees, drenched in cold sweat. Davinus hurried to support him.
“Your Majesty, are you alright?”
“Kuh… They’re tougher than I expected. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve died already.”
He’d originally intended to kill Hans’s group outright.
But his adversary relentlessly pressured him with ‘Equality,’ denying him any significant gains.
Just as he tried countering Nekhuf’s deadly blade, Hans and Mia sniped him.
Whenever he struggled to cast dark magic against Nekhuf’s onslaught, Hans nullified it with Levi’s Dagger.
And if he attempted offensive spells with Altarion’s Staff, the dragon intervened.
“Your Majesty… exactly how many times have you died?”
“Who knows? In my stubbornness, I tried killing the adversary dozens of times—only to fail and revert each time.”
The Arbiter’s Armor was too thick, and every time he targeted Hans, the others fiercely interfered.
Though the King’s divine power shielded him from ‘Equality’’s instant death, the damage was immense.
Worse, Hans mixed holy power into his attacks—threatening to annihilate his very soul.
‘They fought me as if they’d done it before… Could he truly know the future?’
He grimaced at the uncannily perfect enemy synergy.
“Your Majesty… then what should we do?”
“There is a way. We must find how to break their trap.”
The King explained the cave’s layout and the nature of its hidden traps to Davinus.
‘With someone like Selena as my vessel, defeating you is impossible.’
Even a Sword Saint-level fighter like him couldn’t gain the upper hand against Nekhuf the elf.
Though his dark magic was blocked, that wasn’t the core issue.
“So find a way to cure that poison and destroy the holy relic. Then they’ll crumble easily.”
“Yes! I’ll search for a solution at once!”
Davinus knelt, accepting the King’s command.
Watching him, the King ground his teeth inwardly.
‘Don’t celebrate too soon for expelling me… I’ll soon take your head myself…’
***
After confirming the King of the Dead fled the Seal Stone Dungeon, we returned straight to my mansion and gathered in my room—as if demanding an explanation.
But I had no clear answers myself.
During the heavy silence, Icira spoke up.
“Hans, you need to properly explain this situation.”
Under Icira’s indifferent gaze and the elves’ probing stares, I honestly had little to say.
“I don’t fully understand it either. It was definitely Selena… yet she shouldn’t be able to become the King of the Dead…”
In Destiny, only three characters could become the King of the Dead.
Selena wasn’t one of them.
Which meant the game—based on this world—intentionally omitted her story entirely.
But why? Why?
This dissonance between game and reality made no sense.
This place clearly wasn’t the game.
Consider Leah—she’d only recently defeated the Demon King in the New Continent.
Or the doubts I’d had when rescuing Aria earlier.
In-game, Leah couldn’t possibly defeat Vallien.
If players controlled the Hero Party—who’d just slain the Demon King, the endboss of the new DLC ‘Dragon War’—the difficulty would be laughably easy.
That’s why monsters in ‘Dragon War’ or ‘King of the Dead’ were balanced to be far stronger than main story content.
But in reality, that logic collapses.
The Demon King held power capable of destroying the world.
It’s absurd that a party defeating such a being would lose to a slave-trader mage.
And from the Auros Auripex tablet, I’d realized—this place could never be just a game.
It was far more natural to assume the ‘game’ was based on ‘this world’.
Then how could Selena become the King of the Dead?
It felt deeply wrong—downright bizarre—that such a pivotal figure, capable of altering Destiny’s ending, was entirely absent from the game.
Could it be that this game… no, that the ‘true ending’ of this world—the real inspiration for Destiny—was something entirely different…?
A cold bead of sweat trickled down my spine.
“Sage, what are you thinking?”
Everyone watched me with anxious eyes.
Did I worry them…?
“It’s nothing. I was just organizing my thoughts.”
As they eyed me cautiously, Nekhuf spoke gently.
“Brother… I don’t know what’s going on, but talk to us. Figuring it out together will surely yield better results than you facing it alone.”
“Exactly, Sage. Haven’t you always handled everything by yourself until now? It’s alright to lean on others sometimes.”
Their words were undeniably right.
“Alright… I’ll share what I’ve figured out so far. In the original Destiny game, only three people could become vessels for the King of the Dead: Cardinal Davinus of the Church of Death—who we just saw—Prince Ascal, and the adventurer Colt.”
The inclusion of a prince and an unfamiliar name left everyone with puzzled expressions.
“Meaning Selena wasn’t among the possible vessels. If she’d been one in-game, things wouldn’t be this complicated.”
“So… the woman you met didn’t know?”
“Exactly. If she had, she’d never have given away the Trident of the Sea God there.”
Why would anyone—especially not a fool—hand their lifeline, the Trident, to a pawn of the Church of Death?
Icira cut in coldly, “Then this is serious. It means you don’t perfectly know the future after all.”
“Right. That’s why I was so shocked. Not only is Selena part of the Church of Death—but a vessel?! I never saw that coming.”
“I see. But what confuses me… How did they know there was a trap inside? I magically concealed the dungeon’s interior structure. Yet they took one look and said they couldn’t enter—it’s too suspicious.”
Icira questioned how the King of the Dead had detected their dungeon trap.
“Well…”
Honestly, I knew little about magic.
Concealment? I had no idea how it worked—I just assumed unusual artifacts or phenomena in Destiny were handwaved as ‘magic’.
“So you’re saying it’s impossible they detected it through magic?”
“Correct.”
Seeing her nod, I fell into thought.
“This is tough… Could there be an ability I don’t know about?”
The King of the Dead’s unique powers shifted depending on his vessel.
Possessing Davinus granted bonus damage to dark magic; inhabiting Colt enhanced swordsmanship.
But… what about Selena?
Aside from her being a rare Magic Swordsman class, I’d never seen her display any special ability.
“Could Selena possess a Gift?”
In this world, game ‘traits’ manifested as ‘Gifts’.
I glanced at Nekhuf—the Gift-rich elf before me.
A blind, ordinary elf had become a Sword Saint’s equal solely through his Gifts.
The power of Gifts was immense—but…
“Brother, why are you staring at me like that?”
“Well, you are the elf with a ton of Gifts, aren’t you?”
“What?! Seriously?!”
“Is that true?!”
Everyone looked shocked.
“Of course Nekhuf’s special! I knew the gods loved our diligent Nekhuf!”
—Smooch! Smooch!
Nephert hugged Nekhuf’s head and kissed him repeatedly. I watched with a look of utter disgust.
What a ridiculous spectacle.
Everyone—except those two Sand Elves—eyed the scene uncomfortably.
“Ahem… So you can see people’s Gifts?” Icira asked.
“No, not visually. But since ‘Gifts’ here correspond to the ‘traits’ in the game, I assumed…”
I pondered Selena carefully.
“But Selena’s Gifts… Hmm? Did she even have any?”
I racked my brain over our past encounters—but nothing came to mind.
“Wait—when Leah went berserk at the rare and unleashed magic wildly, she mentioned having a Gift. Can you actually see them?”
Icira shook her head.
“Not exactly. I just sense a Gift when I witness the magic’s power—like with your disciple. Either way, we should consult Lord Auros.”
“You mean Auros Auripex?”
She nodded.
“Lord Auros can see human Gifts with perfect clarity.”
“Really?”
Auros had that ability?
I’d always treated him as just a wallet—since veteran players could one-shot him with ‘Equality’ and farm rare drops from him during ‘Dragon War.’
True, he was the DLC’s final boss and undeniably powerful—but to hardcore players, he was basically an ATM.
Icira nodded firmly at my question.
“Yes. Lord Auros inherently possesses mysterious powers.”
“Then I should go see him tomorrow.”
After all… it’s far too late now.
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