An Aberration is one wholly devoured by a Fragment of the Outer Gods. Already made one with the Fragment, it needed to be separated from it. That's the strategy. Because an Aberration loses its power once the Fragment is drawn out.
Of course, the Fragment comes out even if you just kill the Aberration. But then the yield is low.
In this unhelpful game, working out a strategy was quite hard. Every Rift has different rules and a different setting, so there was no method but endless retries. The reason Rifts are such a bullshit pain to clear.
Right now, though, I had Evangeline.
"They say Von Derk was the eldest son of a prestigious house of swordsmanship. He doesn't look the least bit like a noble, though—"
Information I'd otherwise have had to dig out by smashing my head against bare ground, Evangeline reeled off.
"They say he had a great gift for swordsmanship. So he carried his father's whole expectation — but really, Von Derk loved the guitar more than the sword."
In a Rift, Evangeline is a kind of cheat. She finds the way in one go even in a maze where wayfinding is hard, and can even read the Aberration's information.
In exchange, the danger was just as great. While reading an Aberration's memories, Evangeline could, if it went wrong, be devoured by the Aberration. Like right now.
"Uuurghh......"
"E-Evangeline?! What's wrong!"
Even at Andy's shout, Evangeline's focus blurred. A vicious emptiness welled up in her eyes.
'Tsk, assimilating with the Aberration already.'
Evangeline's ability was even more lethal against an Aberration. An Aberration that devoured Evangeline would become a calamity-tier thing in an instant. In fact, there had been many game-overs where Evangeline assimilated with an Aberration.
The way to keep her from being devoured was simple.
'A bite.'
I looked at Andy and gestured at the back of Evangeline's head. Andy smacked the back of her head without a moment's hesitation. A reaction so fast it was as if he'd been waiting for it.
"Agh!!"
"Hm? What's wrong?"
When Evangeline turned, Andy asked innocently. Her focus had come back.
"......Huh? Felt like someone smacked the back of my head?"
"Come on, who'd smack you."
"Weird, it hurts. Mm, anyway, by his father's order he was dragged off to war. A war with the Sharn Kingdom, it says — was there such a kingdom? Never heard of it—"
Coming to her senses, Evangeline prattled on again. Andy slyly raised a palm, as if to say give the order anytime. If anything, he seemed to be waiting for it.
By the time Andy had smacked the back of her head twice more, the heart of it came out.
"It's the guitar."
I nodded, looking at the guitar strapped to the Aberration's back. It was obvious, really. Every time it played the guitar, its speed quickened and its aura sharpened. Even so, the reason I'd had Evangeline read the quest window was to train her in advance.
Meaning to finish it, I gripped my sword hilt.
"Wait! Von Derk just wanted to go home! He never wanted to end up like this from the start!"
Evangeline spread both arms wide and blocked my path, in a posture of protecting the Aberration.
"A real reject."
Milo shook his head. Andy waved his hands wildly too.
I bit back the urge to nod in agreement with them.
The Outer Gods and Evangeline are polar opposites. Evangeline can only loathe an Aberration on instinct. And yet she was shielding it. This was rather noble, too noble to write off as mere reject behavior.
"So? What are you going to do?"
At my question, Evangeline's eyes went wide. Hope flickered up.
"I'll talk to him properly. Ask him to let us out."
At Evangeline's words about talking with the Aberration, Andy and Milo let out incredulous laughs. Naturally. Saying you'd talk with an Aberration sounds awfully stupid.
It'll sound laughable, but Evangeline could actually do it. She could persuade an Aberration and walk out of a Rift.
But then—
"What about the Aberration?"
"Yes?"
"Will it leave with us? Go out looking like that and it'll be caught and killed at once."
"No, just us—"
"You'd leave it like that?"
I pointed at the Aberration.
The Aberration was already so steeped in curse its very form sagged. Where its eyes should have been was only hollow darkness, and curse reeking of rot dripped from it. Not even infamous black magic holds a curse so horrific. Naturally. Because that's not a curse.
It's a blessing. The blessing of the Outer Gods.
"Hm, if I were him, I think I'd kneel and beg to have my neck cut instead."
Evangeline's blue eyes shook wildly, like a storm.
I didn't bother to press her. This, too, was training. Evangeline has to grow further. Beyond an Aberration—
'To where she can read even an Outer God.'
Arrogant as it sounds, Evangeline could do it.
Just then, Evangeline bit her lip hard.
"Please make it painless."
Evangeline asked, even bowing her head. Her voice ran over with sincerity.
"Don't worry. It's my specialty."
Evangeline smiled weakly and stepped back.
The Aberration gazed at me with its hollow eye sockets. The black sockets, rotted maggots dropping from them, seemed to warn me. That I, too, would become like this.
'Tsk, you should've managed your corruption level properly.'
I gave my own warning in return and gripped my sword.
「.......!」
When I stabbed the guitar with my sword, a ghastly scream echoed out. A horrific sound, like a soul shrieking. Andy and Milo couldn't withstand the shock and collapsed. But Evangeline gritted her teeth and held on. As if she'd see it through, no matter what.
I slid my hand into the split guitar. My fingertips touched something small. A loathsome lump of flesh, pulsing.
'A Fragment of the Outer Gods.'
When I gripped the Fragment, the pulse grew stronger. A pulse vast enough to shake the mind. The overwhelming gulf came through whole. It felt just like being an ant clinging to a whale's heart.
I could understand why everyone accepts a Fragment, knowing the end is ruin.
To become one with this vast thing is a fierce glory in itself, isn't it—. Would you refuse a great glory for mere fear of ruin? Join the glory, the glory—
'Glory? Bullshit.'
I snorted and burst the Fragment. It vanished as if it had been one thing all along. An alien sensation crossed over from my fingertips.
Oh, glory. Great glory.
A bizarre sound rang through my head. A side effect of accepting the Fragment. Just as I moved to ignore it and shrug it off—
Ding-dong! A crisp notice chimed.
You have absorbed a Fragment of the Outer Gods. Please select your desired stat.
Strange. Absorbing a Fragment grants a stat automatically according to its nature. There shouldn't be anything to select.
Just then, a stat-selection window opened. And yet—
1. Glory.
2. Glory.
3. Glory.
4. Glory.
5. Glory.
The options were all plastered with Glory. One of the Fragment's side effects.
For the side effects to surface already from eating a Fragment that came out of a mere C-rank Rift—. Not good.
Just then. Pak! A stinging pain came from the back of my head. For an instant the selection window blurred. A very slight opening, but I didn't miss it.
'Bestow upon me Thy accursed protection.'
I raised divine power and black magic at once. The chains and the pure white force tangled together, and an indescribable pain assailed me. An agony like my soul melting. No — it really was melting. Black magic takes my life force as collateral.
Thanks to it, my mind cleared and the bizarre selection window vanished. I slowly exhaled and regained my composure.
'That was close.'
Damned Hard Mode—.
As I was slowly catching my breath, I saw someone fretting at my side.
"S-something seemed off...... I figured, like before, that smacking the back of your head when something's off is the thing to do...... I swear I had no ulterior motive!"
Milo babbled incoherently with a constipated face.
Milo had clocked the back of my head, it seemed. Thanks to it, a brief opening had formed and I'd been able to pull myself together.
"Well done."
"Spare me— well done?"
"Yes, thanks to you I survived."
Milo broke into a wide grin, relieved.
I lightly threw a fist.
"Agh!"
Struck in the back of the head, Milo went sprawling. He looked up at me with dumbfounded eyes. I ignored him and looked down at my hand.
'Was the Fragment absorbed?'
It was a Fragment that came from an aura-nature Aberration. If it had been absorbed, my aura stat would have risen.
Aura is described as fire, and a knight's level is divided by how finely he refines that aura. A low-rank knight's aura, for instance, burns wild and rough. Refine that rough aura into something stable, and you're called a mid-rank knight. A high-rank knight, in turn, expands his stable aura. The aura is no longer confined to the shape of a blade. He can fire aura like an arrow, or stretch it long like a whip to cut through space.
And beyond a high-rank knight, upon reaching a High Knight, the aura seizes space itself. That is called the domain of the sword — the Sword Realm. The reason a High Knight is called a realm of transcendence.
I am a High Knight.
Because of the error that came of setting all four stats to S, I rolled for twelve years. Twelve years was a long span, but nowhere near enough to raise all four stats to the High Knight level. There were bound to be side effects.
'I can't use the Sword Realm.'
High Knight though I am, I couldn't deploy a Sword Realm. Not being able to use it didn't particularly matter. The problem was that the Sword Realm is the doorway to the path of the Sword Master. In other words—
'I can't ascend to Sword Master through enlightenment.'
This was the reason I'd consumed a Fragment of the Outer Gods. Because I had to raise my level by force.
But to reach Sword Master without enlightenment, I'd need an S-rank Fragment. A C-rank wasn't enough.
So is a C-rank Fragment useless to consume, then?
'No — it lets me raise my level momentarily.'
Meaning to check, I raised my aura. Unlike before, there was a strangely ticklish feeling. Following it, I raised more aura.
The sword began to tremble like an aspen leaf. From the arm gripping it came the pain of tearing muscle. My whole body warned me, but I ignored it and focused on the aura.
Soon the blue aura left the blade and began to spread out around me. The Sword Realm, proof of a High Knight.
The Sword Realm took a different form for each knight. Some pulled in a surging sea, some raised an armored castle. Most were splendid and dazzling. But my Sword Realm was desolate and barren. A place where discarded blades lay scattered—
'A battlefield.'
Just then, a severe drain assailed me. At the same time, the aura vanished in an instant. The symptom of having used aura to the limit.
I swiftly withdrew my aura. The unfurling Sword Realm crumbled at once.
'Three seconds at most.'
To get three seconds only by burning through all my aura. An absurdly low efficiency — yet I grinned wide. The side effect was a problem that would be solved by gathering Fragments. What mattered was that I'd confirmed the possibility.
"A-a High Knight?"
Milo's stammering voice broke my thoughts. He was staring at me with a shocked face.
"Classified."
"Classified—. Yes! Brother!!"
Milo answered thunderously. His ever-impudent eyes sparkled like a boy who'd seen a hero. A truly simple fellow.
"Eeyaaagh!"
At the shrill scream I turned my head to find the surroundings collapsing. The Rift had begun to close.
"Time to leave."
"How do we get out?"
Milo asked seriously. I lightly pointed downward. Following my finger, Milo flinched — for below, a darkness vicious as a bottomless pit was churning.
"You just jump in. Milo, fire a battle cry forward for five seconds."
"Eh? What's that supposed—"
I shoved Milo's back.
Milo plunged into the darkness, flailing.
"You crazy bastard......!!!"
Milo's scream echoed and reverberated.