Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 35

Episode 35

Whoooosh!

At my shout, an unidentifiable gale swept through the inside of the estate.

"Ugh! Wh-what is this!"

It was a wind strong enough to helplessly push back the Adjutant's body as he tried to crawl up the stairs.

In the fierce wind, people blocked their faces with their hands.

Lv.25 Old Chandelier That Lost Its Light and Fell Asleep is absorbing light.

Simultaneously, a system window popped up with shabby text.

Whoooooo.

However, even after the wind died down, nothing happened with the chandelier.

Screech, screeeech...

It just swayed weakly, scattering hazy dust.

In the hall that had quieted down because of it, only the clear sound of crystals clinking against each other echoed.

'What, why is this happening? Was the activation phrase wrong?'

With a bewildered expression, I once again recited the activation phrase Sera had told me.

But I hadn't gotten a single letter wrong.

Common sense dictated that if I had failed to memorize those few grandiose and cringey lines, it wasn't an issue of intelligence, but my subconscious rejecting them.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before I found out why the attack hadn't activated.

Due to being asleep for a long time, absorption will take some time.

...2/5 ...3/5

"Kuhaha! I wondered what you were doing, and it's just this?"

The Adjutant, who had been flustered by the sudden gale, soon glanced left and right, regained his composure, and resumed climbing the central stairs.

Adam was also glaring at me, as if he found this absurd.

'Are you kidding me! Activate already, I'm dying of embarrassment!'

My face grew hot.

Wanting to crawl into a hole, I stared anxiously at the system window.

...4/5 ...5/5.

And finally.

Lv.25 Old Chandelier That Lost Its Light and Fell Asleep is activating.

'MP -300'

MP 699

Right before the attack activated, my full mana was suddenly drained.

'Crap, why is it using my mana?!'

The heir of the Hailey family is standing right over there.

I looked back and forth between the depleted mana window and Adam, feeling utterly dumbfounded.

Just as I was thinking I needed to chug a mana potion as soon as this was over.

The jangling, swaying crystals momentarily stopped moving.

At the same time.

Zhiing, zhiiiiiiing.

As if exploding, hundreds of light beams burst from the chandelier.

"Wh-what... Uwaaaargh!"

The Adjutant, who was climbing the stairs, let out a piercing scream and fell flat on his face.

With that, the Hailey family's secret art began to show its power.

Woong, wooong. Zhiiiing.

As if putting on a laser show, straight beams of light shot out incessantly from the faintly vibrating chandelier like sharp arrows, striking the people.

The non-hosts, including Adam, were naturally unharmed even when hit by the light.

"Kraaaargh!"

"Ugh!"

"Kieeeeeek!"

On the other hand, the people being controlled by the Darkness-Eating Centipedes convulsed and writhed in agony, like vampires seeing the sun.

The people who were at first just flustered by the light pouring from the chandelier began to catch on to the situation one by one and started to grab the fleeing hosts.

Thanks to them, the extermination became much easier.

You have defeated three Lv.2 Darkness-Eating Centipedes with Lv.25 Old Chandelier That Lost Its Light and Fell Asleep.

You have defeated two Lv.3 Darkness-Eating Centipedes with Lv.25 Old Chandelier That Lost Its Light and Fell Asleep.

You have defeated five Lv.1 Darkness-Eating Centipedes with Lv.25 Old Chandelier That Lost Its Light and Fell Asleep.

.

.

.

Kill notifications floating endlessly in the air.

The chandelier shooting light wildly in all directions.

The lobby, a scene of pandemonium with the screams of hosts and the death cries of the Darkness-Eating Centipedes.

'This... is just like a club, isn't it?'

It was clearly a horrific scene, but watching the chaos from a step back, the thought suddenly occurred to me.

If it weren't for the screams, this place would be no different from a club.

The convulsing people were, in fact, dancing wildly to the music.

'Boom, boom, boom. Gara-gek-gek...'

I was humming the only club song I knew.

Wooooong...

Suddenly, the beams of light weakened and gradually disappeared.

'Is it already over?'

Not even one minute had passed.

As the surroundings were plunged into darkness, I was startled and turned my head to check the window.

Unfortunately, a passing cloud was covering part of the full moon.

The chandelier's attack stopped because the light source powering the magic had disappeared.

"Th-this can't... This can't be! How did I get this far!"

It was then.

The Adjutant, who had been flat on the landing, seized the moment the attack stopped to jump up and shriek.

"What, he's not dead yet?"

It seemed to be because he was right under the chandelier, so the beams of light hadn't really reached him.

The Adjutant, moving with round holes punched through his face and body, as if he'd truly been shot by a laser gun.

No, the leader's appearance was so horrific it made my hair stand on end.

'So, this is what it means to be the leader.'

The bastard, his face grotesquely twisted like a demon's, suddenly began to contort his body with a bizarre groan.

"Kik, kiiik, keueok..."

Pitch-black demonic energy surged from the holes punched by the light beams.

Tuduk, tududuk. Following the sound of tearing flesh, sharp fangs burst through his cheeks.

Yellow liquid dripped, drip, drip, from them.

Chiiiiik.

Hazy smoke rose as the wood of the staircase melted.

It was the centipede's venom.

After completing its second transformation, the bastard soon fell flat on the floor again, just like before.

It was a movement quite different from when he was dodging the light beams.

He began to slither up the stair railing at high speed, wriggling like a real centipede.

I had been focused on the fangs and hadn't noticed the hundreds of slender legs protruding from his chest.

"Kieeeek, keueeeek...!"

"Ugh! He's really pulling out all the stops."

This is why, even when I was an operator, I avoided looking up monsters if I could.

Because for a game, the graphics were too realistic.

Disgusted by the Adjutant's revolting behavior, I shuddered and prepared for an attack.

It was obvious his target would be either me or Adam.

Seeing him go down the railing at incredible speed, Adam was the lucky winner.

"Kieeeek... I'll kill you. Dieee!"

Klang!

Indeed, fitting for the 'White Sword God,' Adam skillfully attacked the charging centipede-man.

But the sword he swung didn't penetrate the leader; it bounced off the hard shell and glanced off.

Adam immediately pursued the leader, but for some reason, the bastard dodged his attacks one after another with fluid movements.

I soon found out why.

'Serina...!'

Breaking expectations, the leader's target wasn't Adam in the first place.

A flash of panic crossed Adam's face, who, like me, had believed he would be the target.

Kkiik, Klang!

Dodging another blow, the leader twisted his body like lightning and rushed at the idly placed wheelchair.

Leaving Serina completely exposed without any barrier in order to eliminate the Darkness-Eating Centipedes was a fatal mistake.

"Serina! No!"

Adam was quite far from the wheelchair, having chased the leader.

The bastard must have been aiming for this exact moment.

A centipede monster with hundreds of legs, and a human with only two.

Their speeds were incomparable.

"Kieeeeeek...! Fall into eternal despair and self-destruct, Hailey!"

'This isn't good. I'll just use a skill.'

Just as the centipede's sharp, venom-spewing fangs were about to sink into Serina.

"Anni...!"

"My lady! Keuk!"

Someone blocked Serina's path even faster than I could shout "Annihilate."

"Frank!"

Seeing the Butler's neck bitten by the Adjutant, Adam's face paled and he started to run.

At that moment.

Lv.25 Old Chandelier That Lost Its Light and Fell Asleep is ready to activate.

I saw the system window pop up and shouted without delay.

"Lightning Spear!"

Lv.25 Old Chandelier That Lost Its Light and Fell Asleep is activating.

'MP -300'

MP 404

My mana, which had recovered by a measly amount, was drained again, but I had no time to worry about it.

Zhiiiiing... Kuwaaaaaang!

Perhaps because the leader was the only Darkness-Eating Centipede left, the chandelier's attack pattern changed.

Unlike before when it indiscriminately fired beams of light, a single, thick pillar of light shot out like a spear and impaled the leader.

"Kieeeeeeeek!"

The black demonic energy that had been leaking from the Adjutant's horrifically transformed body was consumed by the pure white light and gradually faded.

In that time, Adam unhesitatingly swung his sword at the head of the bastard biting the Butler's neck.

Swoosh, Thwack!

With the dull sound of something being sliced, a spray of black liquid shot up.

The Adjutant, having had both his body and soul completely stolen by the monster, had lost even his red blood.

Thud. Trrrrr…

The bastard's severed head landed not far away and rolled haphazardly on the floor.

But no one paid it any mind.

The bodies of the headless Adjutant and the Butler collapsed in a heap, thud.

Wooooong...

As if the leader had finally died, the light pouring from the chandelier also gradually weakened and eventually disappeared.

You have defeated the Lv.25 Darkness-Eating Centipede with Lv.25 Old Chandelier That Lost Its Light and Fell Asleep.