ALL NOVEL [Arc 4] Chapter 49: Those Tortured by Darkness
"GM, what's this about?" - Garami
I tried to keep my calm while showing GM the new System Message that had appeared after the Mirror Throne was crushed by the Evil Dracolich...let's dismiss him while we're at it. He's sorta...DEFINITELY scary. I can barely think straight with something like that in the corner of my eyes.
"This...geh!? Garami, this is bad! It's the reward-evolution program!" - GM
"Re...what?" - Garami
"Reward-evolution program! It gives the ones who cleared a Chaos Dungeon on their own the chance to evolve in safety by putting up a barrier and reducing the MP- and SP consumption due to evolution to a reasonable degree!" - GM
Really? I looked at the entrance to the throne room and saw it was blocked by some sorta barrier. The doors that were behind the Mirror Throne are not affected, most likely because they lead to an isolated room.
"Mhm. And those who don't wanna evolve right away?" - Garami
"The program was added to the World System recently, so they must have forgotten about adding that option. Nobody noticed it yet because no one has used the program until now!" - GM
"Why!?" - Garami
"Don't ask me! I'm trying to send messages to the World System administrators, but they are not getting through! The Demonic Sea is blocking the signal!!" - GM
"Tch...GM! What are the last requirements for the evolution option we decided on? The monstrous-one!" - Garami
"1 skill for demons and dragons each!!" - GM
"Then search for some I can buy!" - Garami
After outsourcing the time-draining job to GM, I ran for the huge doors the Mirror Throne tried to protect and forced them open. In there, I found something close to a royal grave, with a huge stone coffin placed in the middle of the room.
Thinking it was the "treasure chest" containing what I was looking for, I tried to jump at it and push the lid away, but my body wouldn't move.
This is one of those "events", right!? Argh, I'm seriously not in the mood right now!!
Regardless of my will, my body started to open the coffin...eh? Wait, so it's gonna do what I wanted to from the start?
Inside the coffin was the mummy of...I don't know. It's too old to see what the person used to be, but considering the backstory, this should be the "vile queen".
And...what now? My body still won't move as I want, and time is running short...did the mummy's chest just-whoa-!?
A...something jumped out of the mummy's chest and into my-!? GUEEEH!? THIS TASTES LIKE......I don't wanna describe it. And my body's still system-controlled...
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SYSTEM MESSAGE: Key Item [Vile Queen's Heart] has been absorbed into the user's body. New evolution options are available. |
Absorbed...no joke there...
But despite the...otherwordly taste, I'm not feeling sick or anything, so I guess it's fine. Not that I ever imagined something worse than the Essence of Heresy would ever exist...
"Garami! I found the skills you need!" - GM
Great! I still have 4 mins left. More than enough time to get the last...
"What's up with these skills?" I asked with an annoyed voice.
"You need one more demon-related and one more dragon-related skill for your evolution and those two are the only ones I could find in a hurry!!" - GM
Tch. The dragon-type isn't that bad, but I know from experience that the demon-type will be useless...or, using it on Mira would be...fun.
Okay, let's take them both.
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SYSTEM MESSAGE: Consumed 3 Skill Points. Acquired the skill: [Sweet Demon's Whispers Lv.1]. Consumed 6 Skill Points. Acquired the skill: [Dragon's Stomach (Poison) Lv.1]. |
And with that, the conditions should be satisfied. I brought up my evolution options...that's a lot. And they're all showing their information without being asked, making it a bigger mess to sort through which I don't have time for!
Blasted demon-evolution-tree. Luckily, GM had saved the list over the options with the most potential for me, so we used it to shorten the list.
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Evolution Options: |
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| Identification Result: Evolution Option | |
| Race: | Plaguemare Demonia Dragon |
| Attribute: | Darkness/Death/Poison |
| Evolution Requirements: |
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| Description: |
A demon who has turned into a dragon by killing one. It brings death and plague where it goes. Their basic abilities are incredibly high, and they can spread a festival of status ailment to anyone they come across over. Their fang contains poisons, their claws are cursed, and they release scale powder that brings diseases. Their breath can erode anything in its path, with their weak physique from a dragon's point of view being their only "weakness". They can transform into a humanoid form of unparalleled beauty to backstab those who are foolish enough to be tempted by their beautiful appearance. |
| Identification Result: Evolution Option | |
| Race: | Kur-Udug Therion |
| Attribute: | Darkness/Light |
| Evolution Requirements: |
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| Description: |
The demon who have attained the power of a monstrosity to further improve their self-trained abilities. They have the wits and skills that they have developed over their lives and reinforced them with powers outside of what man can obtain. Their bodies are stronger, their moves smoother, their feet faster, and their magic is more ferocious. They also have the ability to change between the monstrosity or their real, human form whenever they wish, as well as partly access either side's power whenever they need to. This is a demon whose power are those of assassinations, yet have grown to be able to fight outside the shadows. Be it in light or darkness, they fight as one with strength. They are the ones who kill, yet are one day destined to rule...perhaps. |
Just three...I haven't obtained enough Light skills to advance the [Black-Light Technique Master] title yet, so the two standard evolution options for Kur Kigal that we looked at before aren't listed here...
"Hey, GM! The [Demon Lord]-evolution is not here!" - Garami
"Huh? Oh, here is its info...wait, we haven't the time for this!" - GM
One quick look doesn't take so long.
| Identification Result: Evolution Option | |
| Race: | Dominus Daemon |
| Attribute: | Curse |
| Evolution Requirements: |
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| Description: |
A demon crowned by the gods of evil and chaos to be a leader for the demon-kind. They have great strengths in any stats and are born leaders of anything demonic. They will command vast armies of demons to wage wars, but they are so-so in personal fights compared to species that have a focused and specialized style of combat. |
Ah...my VIT is around 500 without [Demon Lord]...failed to see that...
In that case, the optimal evolutions are either the dragon or "the beast". While the dragon may sound like the strongest from its description, it feels like I would be dedicating myself to status ailments only. Plus I dislike the thought of being a dragon after losing my Thaumaturgy Revolver to that Darkness Dragon. Got nothing against other dragons, but becoming one is sorta...
I would have chosen it if there were no better options, but as one can see, "Kur-Udug Therion" is right here saying "pick me!".
"Two minutes left!!" - GM
Crap, that's right. My thoughts sorta flew into the sky...hey! There are still two whole minutes left! Tch. Note to self: never let GM defuse a timebomb.
*Click*
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SYSTEM MESSAGE: Extra Race: [Kur-Udug Therion] has been selected. During evolution, you will not be able to move. Do you wish to start the evolution into Extra Race: [Kur-Udug Therion]? Y/N |
Yup, yup.
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SYSTEM MESSAGE: WARNING A Rebuild is possible due to evolving into the [Kur-Udug Therion] race. Do you wish to perform a Rebuild? Y/N |
Considering it's an Extra evolution despite being on the same branch on the evolution tree as Kur Kigal, I'm not surprised. The description made it clear that this race is more monstrous than its counterparts. Yes, please.
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SYSTEM MESSAGE: Commencing evolution to Extra Race: Kur-Udug Therion. Launching Rebuild... |
After I chose "Yes" again, I felt my consciousness fading-OUCH!?
S-stupid rock coffin..., my head...*sniff*...zzz...
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...and this place is? I expected to be arriving at the "grid room" like when I evolved into a Kur Kigal. This place has no grids at all. It's pitch black! Where's the light switch?
"WHO IS WALKING HERE!" shouted a loud voice all of a sudden as I tried to find the lights. That was scary...
I looked behind me in the direction of the voice and saw...d-d-d-d-d-dragoooooon!?
A gigantic dragon was standing on two legs behind me. And hold the line! Pale-grey scales? Chains on all limbs? Three heads!?
For some wacky reason, I was in the presence of the Calamity that's supposed to be sleeping in the Demonic Sea! I think! I hope I am not!
"........." - Azi Dahaka?
"......?" - Garami
What gives? The moment I turned around, the dragon stopped moving.
The seconds turned into minutes, but the supposed Calamity didn't do anything...this is awkward...
"...uhm-" - Garami
"HIIII!" - Azi Dahaka??
Wha...the Calamity went running for the hills the moment I made a noise? And now he's hiding behind...nothing? Just keeping his head covered with his arms??
"...AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A CALAMITY?!" - Garami
"HIII!! P-p-please excuse me! Lady Alvatria!!" - Azi Dahaka???
".........what did you call me? What did you call me? Hey, what did you call me!!?" - Garami
I can't let such an insult lie! I closed up to the oversized coward-lizard and shouted at him:
"Just what part of me looks ANYTHING like that ******!!?" - Garami
"Huh!? Well...your body, your face, your attitude..., why did you color your hair white?" - Azi Dahaka???
"WHAT DID YOU SAY-!? ...seriously, what did you say? Th-th-that bitch...has the same appearance...as...me???" - Garami
"Uuuuuhh...L-Lady Alvatria, is it not obvious that you would look like yourself...?" - Azi Dahaka
.........the world...is turning black...more than before...*Faint~*
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Chaos' PoV:
["H-hey! Lady-, no, stranger! I get it, I get it! You are not that incarnation of sadism and pettiness, so please! Don't die on meeee!! Please don't let the first friendly face I've seen in over 1.500 years die a pitiful and undeserving death like thiiiiiis!!"] -Azi Dahaka
"......" - Yrlanaya
"......" - Tharos
"......" - Chaos
The three of us looked at the screen as the former Calamity made a fuss over the Champion of the Goddess who literally tortured him to the point of turning into an evil dragon from a human, and also obtaining the [Wrath] skill on top of that.
"...he is...surprisingly kinder than I expected." - Tharos
"No, the only reason he turned into that was because of Alvatria." - Yrlanaya
Good thing we sent her like a package to Yrlayana's dressing castle. She better have fun finding the most embarrassing nun-outfit she can find...if that emotionless-except-excitement psychopath even minds it. That Lesser God working for Tharos also went flying back to the mortal realm to assist with the surviving Mirror Imitations.
"Azi-kun is better than the former [Greed] user that's sealed in Invidia." - Chaos
"True...no, all the Calamities sealed in the seven Demonic Seas are the worst bunch you can find. Not only did we have to seal them all at the same time, we even had to confiscate their Seven Sin skills. An act that's never been done before in the history of Terra Sol." - Tharos
"The remaining six were never as bad as them...no, Azi-chan should not be counted as part of the "prison"-group." - Yrlanaya
"Still no good excuses to unseal only that poor guy?" - Chaos
Both of them shook their heads. Tch. Having to watch over our image can be damn frustrating sometimes.
"That is why we connected that Garami-girl with Azi Dahaka's dreamscape, did we not?" - Tharos
"True. You do get thirsty for some social company. And those two have much in common." - Chaos
"Like being annoyed at Alvatria. Or being targeted by Alvatria. Or being tormented by Alvatria. Or being cursed with Alvatria. Or-" - Yrlanaya
"We get it." - Chaos and Tharos
Stop stating obvious facts.
"But did we need to let that bug stay? The whole "save evolution"-reward shouldn't be a forced option like that Garami-girl experienced." - Tharos
"She works better under stress~. That is one thing that definitely separates her from Alvatria~." - Yrlanaya
For some reason, I think she would not mind that prank from Yrlanaya if she heard that.
"Then, while Garami-chan is having a good and long chat with Azi-chan under the excuse that the evolution takes longer time than normal~, I will choose the cutest-" - Yrlanaya
"Rejected. Whatever you chose's bound to end up in catastrophe. Tharos, do the poor Champion a favor and be the one to select the items." - Chaos
"Okay...but, should she really be given a set of Unique Items? While it's true we only grant them to people who conquered a Chaos Dungeon on their own in a single try, isn't this an exception to the rule?" - Tharos
"It's because it's an exception that she should get it!" - Chaos
"That is right! The continent may have become uninhabitable with this third strike after the two Disasters! Especially if we start to intervene! My Proof is not enough for Garami-chan!" - Yrlanaya
"Ah, good point. Let's see, only Extra-rarity stuff to chose from, huh...somewhat of a letdown..." - Tharos
Phew. They're both on the right track now. And I should choose my gifts for her as well. With the excuse for her bases in the Demonic Sea being destroyed. Those things were part of the Mirror Throne's powers anyway, but the poor demon should get some head pats.
First, a "Dungeon-Redecoration Ticket", then a ticket that grants her Dungeon the Standard Dungeon Monster-line. I overheard Alvatria laugh at her for wishing for...
"Hey, did you mentioned that you were going to give Garami your Proof?" - Chaos
"Hmm? I did. And?" - Yrlanaya
........., let's add 10 Dungeon Points to the gift basket as well...poor girl...if I could go back in time, I would punch the gut of the past me that wanted her to pay...as if she's not facing enough struggles as it is...*sniff*
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Kigal-Note/Titles: Monster Slayer