Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 72

Episode 72

I hurriedly ran over, took out the egg, and examined it thoroughly.

The egg, slightly larger than an ostrich egg, was fortunately fine, without any cracks.

I was greatly relieved by the warm, faintly pulsing egg.

"Phew, that's a relief."

The 'Thunder Elephant Bird' wasn't a combat-type monster, and besides, at level 150, it was too much for it to face the undying puppet.

Furthermore, I hadn't intended to capture it for that purpose from the start, so I felt a little guilty for Cheondung, who had sustained a fatal injury.

'I was worried about what to do if it died...'

Commendably, it seemed to have transformed into an egg and hidden before that could happen.

Some species of ancient monsters would revert to their original form for rapid recovery when fatally wounded.

The 'Thunder Elephant Bird' was one of them.

An undying pet.

That's why ancient monsters had extremely high scarcity value and were incredibly popular among users.

Thump, thump, thump.

As if it recognized its owner's voice, the faint pulse inside the egg grew a little stronger.

"You worked hard. Let's go."

The moment I stood up, cradling the egg carefully in my arms.

'HP -20'

HP 132

Ten minutes must have passed, as my health dropped right on time.

'Are there only 20 minutes left now?'

It would have been simpler if it all just drained at once.

A sigh escaped me as I recalled the troublesome process of having to stop by Dover Village and then return to the capital.

I was wondering what to do for 20 minutes as I slowly turned around.

My vision went completely dark, along with a low, muttering voice.

"...You hand over all the useful things to just anyone."

It was because the man was standing right in front of me, having approached without a sound.

"Ugh, you scared me!"

I recoiled in surprise, almost jumping back on the spot.

Through the black mask, I could see bright red eyes looking down at me.

"Wh-Why are you here?"

Because of Cheondung, I had completely forgotten about Kassel's presence.

No, actually, I had assumed he would have left after seeing the elves go, so I stammered like an idiot at the unexpected situation.

But instead of answering, he motioned with his eyes toward the egg I was hugging.

"You seem to have a hobby of collecting junk."

"Junk? It could be a treasure to someone."

When I denied it seriously, he scoffed as if it were absurd.

"I wondered what on earth you were planning to do, pouring 5 million in gold... and all you caught was a pig-bird?"

"It's an elephant bird, okay?!"

"And now it's unusable."

His gaze, which had been fixed on the egg-transformed Cheondung, rose back to me.

His impassive eyes, as if looking at something useless, began to fill with pity.

[The Lord of Nightmares looks down on your taste and level.]

'What's so wrong with my taste and level!'

I was thoroughly ticked off by the system window that popped up out of nowhere.

It was an unexpected wildcard in the fight with Ballakk, but I had captured Cheondung out of necessity from the start.

But how could a mere game character possibly know the profound intentions of a world-ranking number one genius apothecary player?

It wasn't like I could grab him and explain, so I snapped at him, half-resigned, as he picked a fight for no reason.

"Mind your own business and be on your way. It's none of your concern whether I raise a pig-bird or an elephant-bird."

With those words, I quickly tried to pass him.

"To see if you're the person I think you are."

That, and the conversation we'd had earlier, made my conscience prickle, and I felt extremely uncomfortable.

I felt needlessly anxious, and my pace quickened.

But, thwak.

"Wait."

Kassel grabbed my shoulder as I tried to hurry past.

Then, before I could even be surprised, he forcibly lifted one of the arms I was using to hug the egg into the air.

"What do you think you're...!"

"This'll be hard to fix with just an antidote potion or holy water."

I was about to explode in anger, but I froze when I saw my wrist, which he was holding up.

The curse's energy had already crept past the long glove's cuff, slithering up above my elbow.

'Ugh.'

It didn't hurt, but the black spreading was very unsightly.

It was bad enough seeing just the part above the glove.

But on top of that, that bastard Kassel yanked the glove off completely.

"...Ugh, hey!"

"You're insane."

Kassel's brow furrowed slightly at the sight of my ravaged arm.

I, too, scowled at my arm, which was mottled like spreading mold.

Kassel, who had been staring silently at my arm, met my eyes again.

He spoke in a tone of complete disbelief.

"To destroy an item used as a sacrifice in demon summoning with your bare hands. I can't tell if you're ignorant or just out of your mind."

"Ignorant?"

"Is self-mutilation a hobby of yours?"

A laugh escaped me at those words.

It was absurd to be accused of that by someone who had self-harmed countless times just to stay awake.

But, perhaps misinterpreting my laugh, Kassel clicked his tongue.

"You're not sane."

[The Lord of Nightmares doubts your intelligence and mental state.]

'This bastard.'

I felt a surge of anger at the system window, but I held it in.

It was no big deal to me, but I guess to an outsider, it would look foolish and crazy.

'HP -20'

HP 112

Just then, the health-drain penalty from the curse occurred again.

Now, just 10 minutes.

"Let go, now."

With so little time left, I struggled to free my wrist from his grip.

But instead of letting go, he rummaged in his clothes with his free arm and suddenly pulled out a bottle filled with a blackish liquid.

The bottle, shaped much like a potion vial, looked familiar.

Pop.

He popped the cap off with his teeth and, without hesitation, poured it onto my blackened arm.

Chiiiiik.

Then, hazy smoke billowed up, as if water had been poured on a fire.

[The black magic curse weakens under the influence of Holy Water.]

[The health-drain penalty is temporarily delayed.]

I stared blankly at the system windows popping up one after another, my face bewildered.

When the smoke cleared, my arm, now free of much of the blackish taint, was revealing its pale, original color.

"The other one."

Kassel, who had poured out about half the Holy Water, stopped and pointed to my other arm.

I hesitated for a moment, then obediently held out my other arm.

Kassel silently pulled off the glove on that arm as well.

I didn't know why he was suddenly doing me this favor, but I had no reason to refuse a 'penalty delay'.

If I disappeared in the middle of this because of an auto-summon, it was more likely he'd just be filled with strange suspicions.

Chiiiiik.

As the other half was poured, smoke billowed up again with a sizzling sound.

Once some of the blackish curse marks had faded from the remaining arm, Kassel let it go without any lingering attachment.

"I only had one, so this is just a temporary fix. Go to the Temple and ask for help."

"...Where did you get the Holy Water?"

"From them."

It was a short, insincere answer, but I understood his meaning immediately.

He meant he'd killed organization members and taken it.

I didn't have time to be surprised by the fact that two vials of precious Holy Water, which even royalty struggled to obtain, were in the hands of a criminal organization.

'...So he used the last one on me?'

The blackish traces of the curse hadn't vanished completely, but.

I glanced down at my now-fairly-clean arms.

I felt a little strange.

"...You didn't have to go this far."

As I muttered that, Kassel suddenly let out a dry laugh.

"What's your reason for going this far?"

"I had no choice if I wanted to sever Ballakk's soul."

I knew that wasn't what he was asking, but I shrugged and answered coolly.

"I didn't kill him, and it'd be dangerous if he tried to get the doll back."

It wasn't wrong, either. There actually was a route like that.

If you kill Ballakk but fail to properly sever the Soul-Connecting Strings, the surviving Dark Society members cause trouble later.

They try to resurrect him by using a witch to shove all of Ballakk's soul into the puppet doll.

If that happened, I'd have to pay a price even heavier than the current 80% HP-drain penalty, so this was the appropriate countermeasure.

"You could have just handed the criminal and the slaves over to the Temple and the Imperial Palace."

But Kassel didn't seem to understand why I, who looked like a mere noble and not a hero or anything, would invite danger upon myself.

It made sense. As if proving my thoughts, he muttered in a low voice.

"I don't know what you plan to do with slaves stolen from the black market, but it's not a very good plan."

"I didn't steal them. I liberated them."

"Ah. Liberation."

He repeated my word, letting out a breath of air as if it were a joke.

But that, too, was brief.

"So, why you."

He asked, his expression wiped clean as if by magic.

[The Lord of Nightmares regards you with strong suspicion.]