▶ 【Non-Killing (-)】
For a moment, I rubbed my eyes, wondering whether I had seen it wrong.
‘……Why?’
Thinking that perhaps I had misunderstood what “Non-Killing” meant, I even opened the detailed description.
【Non-Killing (-)】
-Does not commit murder. Combat efficiency is greatly reduced when fighting Humanoid Units.
“…….”
I had not misread it.
She refused to kill people.
Even if the person in question was an enemy standing before her with a weapon drawn.
And there was another horrifying fact.
◈Geas◈
【Curse of the Sun】
-Bladed weapons cannot be wielded without sufficient justification.
‘She’s a Magic Swordsman, but she has restrictions on using swords and other bladed weapons?’
I was certain that this woman—
In the original game, she drew her sword without hesitation…….
And once she lost it, she had no problem slaughtering people either.
So why?
I was staring blankly at the System window in sheer disbelief when—
“Setanta, why have you been staring at the wall with such a grave expression?”
“…….”
Aileen asked with a puzzled look.
Now that I looked closely, she had something resembling an iron practice sword hanging separately at her side.
Compared to Claíomh Solais, which shone brilliantly behind her waist, it could hardly have looked more pathetic.
‘Haah…….’
At this rate, she was headed straight for the bottom tier among SSRs.
An SSR who could not even properly draw her sword without justification—
and who would become passive every time we confronted an enemy faction because she “couldn’t kill”?
She was worse than James!
“This is driving me insane. Why does a boss who was completely overpowered as an enemy turn into a piece-of-shit character the moment she joins my side?”
“……Setanta, what did you just say? Did you say you wished to relieve yourself before we depart?”
“Sir Setanta! Do you require a latrine? I will guide you there immediately-.”
“…….”
A Geas already engraved into the soul could not be undone.
But unless I could at least remove her 【Non-Killing】 Trait, she would never function properly as a Hero.
My head was already beginning to ache.
“……Let’s just go.”
We decided to leave before we fell any further behind schedule.
.
.
.
We followed the Underground City passage back up to the surface.
Corpses filled the streets everywhere.
Still, perhaps the Imperial forces had managed to suppress the monsters to some extent overnight, because fortunately, none were wandering through the streets anymore.
“Guards…… Guards! Please help me…… my wife is trapped under here…….”
“N-No! My child’s mutation still isn’t that severe! If she receives Divine Healing, she can still recover……!”
As we walked, cries for help, arguments from people resisting being dragged away……
The sobbing of the survivors echoed intermittently through the streets before fading into the distance.
‘Let’s see…… I think the Chapel was somewhere around here.’
Just then, I noticed a crowd gathered in the distance, murmuring among themselves.
Ah, that must be it.
“M-My daughter…… my daughter is trapped beneath that Chapel!”
Just as expected, a middle-aged man stood in front of the Chapel, wailing at the top of his lungs.
The guards beside him merely exchanged troubled looks and discussed something among themselves.
They showed no intention of helping.
“She’s probably already dead, isn’t she? Even the soldiers who went in to search haven’t come back yet…….”
“Wouldn’t it be better just to burn the entire building down? It sounds like the place is crawling with monsters.”
“I’m not going in there. Absolutely not. Going inside would just be throwing my life away…….”
Judging from their conversation, the guards had no desire to enter a Chapel that had already been overrun by monsters.
“My…… my little girl is beneath the Chapel!”
“…….”
“She got swept along with some beggars and ended up going down there……. Please, anyone…….”
At the middle-aged man’s mention of “beggars,” Rian and Aileen reacted.
Apparently, the man’s daughter had been swept along with a group of Ailantian beggars as they fled underground.
“Please…… I’m begging you! Anyone, please…….”
[Emergency Quest triggered!]
At that moment—as though it had been waiting for precisely this opportunity, a quest notification appeared.
◈Emergency Quest◈
【The Girl Trapped Beneath the Chapel】
-Rescue the girl from beneath the Chapel.
◆ Quest Success Reward: Acquire 1 Player Point
‘One Perk Point as a reward.’
If I rescued the girl while I was already down there farming the Holy Relic, I would also receive a point for completing the quest.
Two birds with one stone.
I immediately lowered my voice and spoke to my party members.
“I have a feeling some of our compatriots may be trapped beneath this Chapel.”
“……!”
Of course, according to the original game, every last one of those beggars was already dead.
The only survivor was a single “Imperial” girl.
‘I do feel a little bad about deceiving them.’
But I needed to complete the quest, and my Ailantian party members only reacted when their compatriots were involved.
For now, I decided to play ignorant.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
Just as I was about to enter the Chapel with them—
“Y-You’re really going to help? You’re going to save my daughter……!”
“Well, I suppose so. We’re heading that way anyway, so we’ll bring your daughter back with us.”
“……!”
Perhaps he had noticed the Ailant accent mixed into my answer.
A conflicted expression briefly crossed the man’s face……
But soon enough, he began bowing repeatedly and describing his daughter’s appearance.
* * *
CREEEAK-
When I pulled open the wooden door leading beneath the Chapel, a musty odor rushed out.
The smell of damp dust.
And the smell of rotting wood.
……Shh.
I raised an index finger to my lips and glanced between Rian and Aileen.
They slowly nodded.
CREEAK, CREAK-.
Each step made the wooden boards groan beneath our feet.
After descending for quite some time—
We finally reached the basement beneath the Chapel.
“Grrrk, grrrk…….”
As we stood before a thick iron door, I sensed monsters on the other side.
They must have noticed our arrival.
‘Are they all going to rush us the instant I open the door? That would be troublesome.’
In the original game, Setanta’s role was that of a “single-target one-shot damage dealer.”
Naturally, fighting large numbers put him at a disadvantage.
‘Hmm, what should I do?’
I glanced toward Aileen.
At least we had one former boss who specialized in AoE damage.
‘But Aileen is still low-level right now. She doesn’t have the same performance she did when I fought her as a boss.’
That golden Sword Aura that had once carved straight across the middle of the map and obliterated every living thing in its path…….
It would still be a long time before I could see that terrifying spectacle from the original game again.
Which meant overwhelming everything with AoE damage was not an option.
‘Then should we sneak inside and assassinate them one at a time?’
The problem was that the basement was far too dark.
I could not exploit the graphics settings here to make dark environments easier to see either.
……Would it really be safe to enter like this?
I was still considering it when—
WHOOOOSH-
“……!”
A blue light appeared before my eyes.
Following the source of the bluish glow, I turned around and saw Rian muttering something as though reciting an incantation.
‘Is he about to cast magic?’
He held an old magical book in his hands.
At a glance, its pages were densely covered in what looked like ancient hieroglyphs.
There were even occasional, disturbingly detailed anatomical diagrams of the human body……
It looked like the sort of grimoire that would be classified as forbidden literature.
RUSTLE-.
Rian rummaged through his clothes and pulled out a jelly-like doll.
Its eyes, nose, and mouth looked uncannily human.
There was something deeply suspicious about it.
“…….”
For some reason, Aileen’s complexion worsened as she watched him.
She abruptly turned her head away and moved a considerable distance from the Dark Mage.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
“……What are those ugly dolls?”
I whispered quietly to Rian.
I had seen them before in the game, but seeing one in person suddenly made me curious about what those dolls truly were.
“Ah, Sir Setanta! Would you like to touch one? They’re among my finest creations.”
“Hmm……?”
I carefully poked the doll’s cheek with the tip of my finger.
BOING.
A firm, pudding-like elasticity pressed back against my fingertip.
Was I imagining things?
For a moment, I could have sworn the doll had frowned.
“They’re rather cute, aren’t they?”
“Ah, yes. Well. I suppose they are.”
“The originals are hideous, filthy, violent criminals. Turning them into this form makes them easier to carry around, and I feel less guilty about it.”
“……?”
……Violent criminals?
Don’t tell me these things were people.
So the theory that they had originally been humans was true?!
“Then, Sir Setanta, I’ll begin.”
HMMMMM-.
Before I could ask anything else, violet mana began rising around Rian.
The moment he murmured a few words of incantation—
CRRRK!
The seething violet mana surged upward and began burrowing into both of the doll’s eyes.
“……!”
The jelly doll’s mouth trembled open.
Its formerly cute expression vanished, twisting into something hideously grotesque.
DRIP-.
Then a liquid that might have been blood or tears began pouring from its face.
At last, both of the jelly doll’s eye sockets were left completely empty.
[Rian offers a sacrifice and casts magic!]
[All party members receive the 【Enhanced Night Vision】 and 【Presence Suppression】 buffs!]
‘Oh…….’
The shapes of the objects around me immediately became visible.
With this kind of night vision, I felt almost like a wild animal hunting in the dark.
[The entire party is currently affected by 【Enhanced Night Vision】 and 【Presence Suppression】.]
[Remaining Time: 29 minutes 59 seconds]
‘The buffs last plenty long enough too.’
As expected of Dark Magic cast by paying a price.
It was more cumbersome than ordinary magic, but the effects were undeniable.
“I’ll wait here. Unfortunately…… because I have to pay a price every time, I’m unable to react immediately in combat.”
Rian lowered his head as he spoke.
Well, Mages were generally frail to begin with……and in an underground map like this, it would be difficult to respond quickly unless one could use instant, chantless magic.
Rather than hold us back, it was much better for him not to follow at all.
“Then I wish you good fortune, Sir Setanta.”
He made a gesture toward me that resembled a prayer before stepping well away.
CREEEEAK-.
I gently opened the iron door.
Then I slipped into the blind spot beside it.
“Grrrrk, grrk…….”
Perhaps thanks to the Presence Suppression buff, the monsters fortunately seemed unable to detect me.
Wiggle, wiggle.
I gestured toward Aileen, who still had a deep frown and a serious expression on her face.
It was time to clear the dungeon.
“……Grrk?”
THRUST!
I immediately stepped forward and drove my spear into the head of the nearest monster.
They were low-level Humanoid Monsters, so the spearhead penetrated easily.
‘They really can’t detect us?’
……THRUST!
I did not seem to draw any aggro either.
Thanks to the Presence Suppression and Enhanced Night Vision buffs, the work was remarkably easy.
‘Aileen is handling herself just fine too.’
I had been a little worried because she was wielding a blunt iron practice sword without an edge.
But Aileen repeatedly struck the exact same spot, crushing the monsters’ skulls with precise blows.
She could not kill them in a single hit like I could, but her swordsmanship was so restrained and precise that I could not help admiring it.
‘Good. At this rate, we’ll clear them out within three minutes.’
Everything was going suspiciously smoothly when—
‘Hmm?’
I spotted one monster with an unusual appearance.
Thick layers of hardened keratin covered the front and back of its head.
‘……That one might not die easily.’
It stood beside the rubble of the collapsed Chapel, shaking its head.
A bizarre appearance.
Strange behavior.
Judging from my long experience with the game, creatures like that had to be killed in a single blow.
If I failed to finish it immediately, there was no telling how it might retaliate afterward.
“…….”
I took a short breath.
Then I firmly gripped the shaft of my spear with both hands and crept toward it……
CRUNCH!
I drove the spear straight into the center of its head with all my strength.
“SKREE! SKREEEEEE-!”
Beyond the hard layer of keratin, I felt something softer.
The sensation of tearing through the flesh hidden beneath the shell traveled clearly through the tip of my spear.
“Grrk, grrrrk…….”
But it was not dead yet.
I needed to split its head completely open to finish it for certain.
CRRACK!
Still gripping the spear shaft, I spun my body around and tore its skull wide open.
But apparently the trajectory of my spearhead grazed some of the building debris.
……SKRRAAAAPE!
Sparks suddenly burst outward, illuminating the surroundings.
‘Oh?’
At that moment—
[A monster detects you!]
[A monster detects you!]
[A monster detects you!]
…….
Dozens of gleaming eyes turned toward me at once.