I Save The World In A Doomsday Text Game

Chapter 268-1: Ogiwara Clan’s Chief Retainer, Desperate Water Prison (1)

[A colossal barrier enclosed the towering castle keep before you. Holding the barrier pass in your hand, you stepped across under the watchful gaze of a line of samurai, entering the lowest level of the Tenshukaku…]

[What came into view was a labyrinthine network of intersecting corridors, lined with numerous chambers. Countless female attendants moved back and forth, and at every turn of the passageway, elite samurai stood guard…]

[According to what you knew, after the daytime assassination attempt, the castle lord, the daimyo, had retreated to his bedchamber in the depths of this floor to rest and recover.]

[Following your memory, you reached the innermost part of the Tenshukaku. Along the way, even when the samurai saw you, none of them bowed in greeting. Their hands gripped the hilts of their swords tightly, maintaining their posture of absolute vigilance.]

[These samurai bodyguards had been trained from childhood as deathsworn. They were possessed of a near-fanatical loyalty to the castle lord. Even if ordered to commit suicide on the spot, they would comply without hesitation.]

[At the end of the corridor was the daimyo’s bedchamber, but in front of the sliding door stood a gigantic man.]

[The burly giant’s enormous frame almost filled the entire passageway, blocking the door completely. His naked upper body, like a small mountain, was covered in thick fat beneath which powerful muscles bulged faintly.]

[He held a massive, heavy tachi, barring your only path to the bedchamber.]

[You have encountered the Fire-Worshipping Ogiwara Clan Chief Retainer!]

[You looked at the great tachi barring your way and recalled this man’s identity…][He was the daimyo’s most trusted retainer, a personal guard to the entire household.]

[His brute strength was astounding, he could tear cattle and horses apart as easily as lifting a hand. He had once eradicated several hundred enemy soldiers single-handedly on the battlefield.]

[Because of these terrifying feats, he was highly valued by the clan head, who appointed him as the personal guard responsible for protecting the family.]

[The Ogiwara Clan Chief Retainer blocked your way, his fat-laden face squinting into narrow slits that glimmered with menace.]

[He barked in a deep, resonant voice that without the clan head’s permission, no one was allowed near the bedchamber!]

[With a twist of his thick wrist, he turned the gleaming blade of the great tachi toward you. If you dared to advance even a single step, even with your high rank as senior retainer, he would cut you down!]

[Looking at the immovable chief retainer, you were filled with anger. You knew that without bypassing this man, you would never be able to enter the bedchamber.]

[Would you challenge him to a duel?]

[You slowly took two steps back and raised your voice toward the bedchamber. “Clan Lord, your humble servant has urgent news to report, it concerns the assassination attempt earlier today…”]

[The Ogiwara Clan Chief Retainer did not so much as glance aside, continuing to glare fixedly at you.]

[From behind him came the voice of the Ogiwara Clan Head, “Enter.”]

[The daimyo’s voice was full and steady, with no hint of injury.]

[The chief retainer responded with a heavy acknowledgment, then stepped aside to clear the way. You strode forward, sliding open the door to the bedchamber…]

[Inside, the furnishings were simple. No maids waited by his side, only the daimyo himself sat at a low table, drinking.]

[His upper body was bare. His right shoulder and arm were missing, but where mangled flesh had once been, new skin had already grown. The skin was tender and pink, like that of a newborn child.]

[The Fire-Worshipping Ogiwara Clan Head poured wine with his remaining left arm, gesturing for you to join him.]

[Without a change of expression, you closed the sliding door and stepped forward to accept the cup, draining it in one gulp.]

[The daimyo’s gaze grew distant, as though lost in memory. After a long silence, he spoke slowly. He had thought that when Genichi the Iya Palace Master returned, he himself would regain youth and attain longevity…]

[Who could have foreseen that Genichi had long since been poisoned by the remnants of the demonic abominations? The man most likely to achieve immortality was the first to set out for the underworld… how laughable.]

[The daimyo seemed disinterested in your report. Perhaps, at this moment, he simply needed someone he trusted to hear his frustration at the shattering of his hopes for eternal life.]

[He invited you to drink another cup. He continued, saying he did not know what means those demonic remnants had used to seize the skins of Genichi and the Ninja Master… such sorcery was monstrous beyond imagination, a horror to the world.]

[Though now he had no hope of immortality, if he could master this shocking sorcery, perhaps by exchanging skins he could still reach another form of everlasting life…]

[The Fire-Worshipping Ogiwara Clan Head suddenly hurled his cup to the floor!]

[He stood, his gaze blazing as he fixed his eyes on you. In a loud voice he declared that he could disregard your severing his arm, could ignore your identity as one of the demonic remnants, but you must impart to him that skin-stealing sorcery!]

[Otherwise, having drunk the poisoned wine, you would never leave the Tenshukaku alive!]

[As his words fell, the sliding door behind you split under the slash of a blade. A great throng of elite samurai poured in, led by the burly Ogiwara Clan Chief Retainer.]

[In the blink of an eye, you were surrounded layer upon layer. Countless crossbows aimed at you, ready to fire at any moment!]

[Suddenly, a tearing pain ripped through your belly, as though your entrails were being shredded.]

[All strength drained from your limbs. Darkness swallowed your vision, and you fell into unconsciousness…]

[…]

The game text ended abruptly, leaving Lin Xun dumbfounded.

“Damn it! When did I give myself away?”

After a long wait, the game text resumed its flow.

[…]

[You slowly opened your bleary eyes, feeling completely devoid of strength.]

[The space around you was dark and damp, heavy with a stench of rot that clung to your nostrils.]

[In the dim, flickering light of a corner lamp, you discerned after a time that you were in a water prison.]

[Your lower body was immersed in foul, decaying water. All four walls were copper and iron, with only a steel grating of thick bars overhead.]

[Your wrists and ankles were bound by chains covered in rune inscriptions. The moment you strained against them, the runes lit up, draining away what little strength remained in you.]

[Your awakening drew the attention of the samurai standing guard above the prison cell. The samurai quickly left the cell, apparently to report to someone outside.]

[Before long, the figure of the Ogiwara Clan Head appeared outside the water prison.]

[He ordered the samurai on either side to withdraw, leaving only the two of you in the cell.]

[The Ogiwara Clan Head crouched down, looking down at you as you sat half-submerged in the foul water, and slowly began to speak…]

[“Are you wondering how I discovered your true identity?”]

[The Ogiwara Clan Head gave a soft laugh and explained that entering the Tenshukaku required not only the barrier pass but also a spoken password. First, when you entered, you failed to give the password. Second, when the Chief Retainer blocked your way, you didn’t speak the passphrase.]

[As for your order to have the samurai remove the bolts from the crossbows, that suspicious command prompted the other retainers to report to him, and naturally your identity was exposed.]

[Upon investigation, four samurai and two craftsmen were found missing from the guard towers, neither their bodies nor any trace of them could be found.]

[And linking this to your daylight attempt to assassinate him while disguised as Genichi and that ninja dog, he deduced that what you had used was not the Art of Transformation, but a forbidden sorcery to seize skins.]

[Knowing you wielded such witchcraft, he realized it was better to set a trap and lure you in rather than spending a thousand days guarding against a thief… Now you had become a prisoner in chains, no different from the yokai held in Dharma-Aspect Temple.]

[At this point, the Ogiwara Clan Head paused, then continued. The chains binding your limbs were not ordinary iron. He advised you not to waste your strength struggling. If you were wise enough to teach him that forbidden sorcery, perhaps you could still leave this cell and spare yourself some suffering.]

Even if Lin Xun wished to teach the Ogiwara Clan Head the method of possessing shells, it could not be imparted. Besides, now that he was at the mercy of his captors, even if it could be taught, Lin Xun would never surrender that ‘sorcery.’

[The Ogiwara Clan Head could tell from your expression that you had yet to yield. He gave a scornful laugh, rose to his feet, and looked down at you coldly…]

[You tried to break free of the chains, but your whole body was drained of strength.]

“Heh, you think this can hold me?”

Lin Xun decisively switched shells.