Season 2: Chapter 173: Erased Memory (3)
The floating swords pointed menacingly in Almond’s direction with a deadly light.
Frrrrrrr…!
The swords belonged to the ninja using the Shadow Sword technique.
"There's no other way, Luna."
Swift had betrayed Almond. He gave the other ninja permission to kill Almond. They were trading someone's life as they pleased, but things did not go as planned.
Almond had already significantly leveled up.
[The right to choose is transferred to the party member with the highest level.]
The rune box considered Almond to be the strongest among the party members.
[1. Rune]
[2. Weapon]
[3. Potion]
Thanks to this, the choice was given to Almond.
[You have chosen a weapon.]
Although he originally wanted to choose a rune, a weapon would obviously be more helpful at this time. It was said that rune boxes gave weapons that were quite good.
Almond chose to receive a weapon and luck turned out to be on his side. If there was a streaming god, they had manifested to help him.
[The Bow of Liberation]
[★]
A bow used by minions who escaped the battlefield. Later, it was recognized in the sanctuary's records as part of their story and gained special powers.
? Mana Bow: Pulling the bowstring automatically creates arrows made of mana.
Although it only had a one-star rating, he was best at using a bow.
'A bow!'
The bow instantly appeared in his hand and he didn't even need arrows.
Fizzzz...!
'Is this Raina's?'
It felt similar to the bow Raina used. The grip fit snugly in his hand.
As if he had been trained for this moment, Almond instantly leaped into action and flicked the bowstring twice.
Swoosh—
Two arrows flew, drawing two blue trails. Their final destination was the ninja's eyes.
Pwook!
The sword the ninja was about to send flying with the Shadow Sword technique dropped to the ground. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, but the ninja had no eyes left to blink.
"... Huh?"
The time it took for all this to happen was shorter than the gap between the ninja's dumbfounded mouth movement and the scream that followed.
"Aaaargh!!!"
He writhed in agony, clutching his blinded eyes. Without eyes, the Shadow Sword technique naturally became a useless skill.
Clang!
All the swords fell to the ground or aimlessly swung, cutting down his own allies.
Amid this, Swift looked at Almond with a grim expression and asked, "How... how are you a higher level than me?"
His eyes looked unfocused and he was barely standing. It seemed to be quite a shock.
"How did this happen? This is the first for such a variable to appear."
"Almond. Did you... deceive me? You definitely said you were level three."
"You’re talking after trying to kill me?" Almond sharply responded while continuously flicking the bowstring.
Swoosh!
Three arrows flew in succession.
"Huh?"
Swift pulled out his real weapon from his waistband and swung it.
Clang!
He deflected them all with a speed never seen before and blocked all three arrows.
"You..."
Swift's eyes were seething with rage.
Gnash...!
He clenched his teeth and his pupils narrowed. Then…
Whoosh!
Flames of mana blazed all over his body.
"I must eliminate you here."
Whoosh!
Swift threw his sword with all his might. He intended to blink.
Almond shot at the incoming sword.
Clang!
The sword was intercepted in mid-air.
Fizzzz!
Swift blinked out of existence and appeared in mid-air. However, he had anticipated this level of resistance and immediately threw another sword.
Whoosh!
Almond wanted to shoot it down again, but…
'The ninja...!?'
The ninja glared at him with bloodshot eyes and sent a sword flying toward him. It seemed he wasn't completely blind.
"I'll kill you!!!"
All six of the ninja's swords flew toward Almond.
— ???
— Will that work?
— Oh no!!
— Don't!
— Lol, the cheater's laughing now
First, Almond twisted his upper body.
'I'll dodge one.'
Chik!
Swift's sword grazed his clothes and…
'I can deflect about four with arrows.'
Almond instantly calculated that he could deflect four with arrows and his hands moved just as fast as his thoughts. The blue bowstring vibrated.
Clang clang clang─
The arrows shattered and deflected four of the ninja's swords.
Two swords flew quite close to each other. Almond turned his bow and accurately struck the two swords to deflect them.
Clang!
He didn’t just shoot arrows, but used the bow itself.
— Dang
— He dodged and blocked all of them? Lol
— ??? I quit!
Almond pulled his bowstring once more in that state.
Bang!
He released another blue arrow.
Swoosh—
It embedded itself in the ninja's shoulder.
Pwook!
'I aimed for the neck.'
The ninja had escaped the fatal blow with his unique agile movements.
"Guh...!"
However, he was already bleeding profusely from both eyes. Even a hit to the shoulder was fatal for him now.
Almond remained unfazed and turned behind to shoot another arrow at a sword in mid-air.
[Blink]
Fizz!
Swift blinked into that spot.
"!"
Immediately after blinking, an arrow struck Swift right in the solar plexus and sent him flying.
Pwook!
"Cough!"
— Dang
— Crazy lol
— How he predicted that shot was insane
— To hell with it! Contract bearers!
— Wow
— sss
The ninja had been badly injured and Swift had been hit in the solar plexus.
In contrast, Almond was unscathed. He could have finished them off right then and there.
"Over here!" Luna's voice came from behind. "Stop fighting or you'll die! Run away! They’ll eventually recover! Join me!"
[Luna's Second Proposal]
[Would you like to join?]
Although Almond had just gained the upper hand, he found Luna's proposal somewhat regrettable. As Luna said, the ninja's eyes started to recover and Swift got up quickly despite having an arrow stuck in his solar plexus.
Swift ordered his subordinates, "... Kill him!"
The other party members, including Ben, rushed at Almond. He couldn't kill them all.
'If I don't accept Luna's proposal, I'll die...'
There was no guarantee he could survive again without accepting. Almond ultimately accepted Luna's proposal.
[Yes]
At that moment, the screen went dark.
[Time passes.]
***
When the screen came back, a window greeted him.
[FakeNapoleon has donated 10,000 won.]
[Wow]
A donation came in.
— Lol
— Nickname lol FakeNapoleon lol
— FakeNapoleon is getting a lot of memes lol
A person named FakeNapoleon mocked the fact that the impossible mission he put in for Almond to not die was still being executed.
Seeing this donation made Almond think that accepting Luna's proposal had been a good decision.
"Are you the real FakeNapoleon? Thank you."
— What's a real FakeNapoleon anyway?
— Real fake lol
— The corners of his mouth are raising, so annoying lol
Almond laughed and chatted with viewers.
"What were you thinking doing that?" Luna spoke to him from the side.
‘Ah, right.’
Now he had to play on the same team as her.
'What's going to happen now?'
It was ironic to be at odds with Swift in Swift's story mode. Although things could somehow work out, Almond preferred simplicity and straightforwardness. He felt uneasy as things seemed to have gotten complicated.
"What was I thinking? They tried to kill me, so I tried to kill them too."
"... Ha. Do you really think you can do that? You could never kill them," Luna told him outright.
"Now it's your turn to talk."
Almond thought this was a chance to ask her questions.
"About what?"
"Why did you try to kill me?"
"What? What are you talking about?!"
"You sent Swift to kill me and you killed Ben's friend too."
"What are you…? Sw-Swift tried to kill you?!"
Luna murmured to herself as if she was just realizing, 'So that's what happened...'
"That wasn't me sending him. Swift doesn't listen to me in the first place!?"
"You could have persuaded him. You two seemed quite close."
"...!"
Luna stopped talking.
"Ha, but now I've saved you. What do you think about that?"
"It could be an act."
"For what?"
"I don't know."
“Geez,” Luna scoffed with a sense of defeat. "Fine. I understand why you're doubting me, but this one seems particularly tough."
— Lol
— Nuts can be tough lol
— This one??
Luna spoke as if she was aware of the player entering Almond’s current body. She said something like this before. He would naturally follow her if she knew, but…
'Isn't the very act of making Luna's proposal impossible to refuse a setup for betrayal later?'
The producer's intentions seemed suspicious.
Luna looked up at Almond and said, "Listen well, skeptic."
She seemed to be trying to convince Almond.
"See this?"
Her hand pointed up and a translucent barrier could be seen enveloping Luna.
"I used a rune of stealth."
"... A rune?"
She had a rune?
"If you're inside this rune of stealth, no footprints or shadows will be left behind. It's activated around me now. Do you get what I'm saying?"
"No."
— No, what? lol
— Lol
Luna explained undeterred, "If you move away from me, you'll exit this rune of stealth! It's clear they want to kill you right now, isn't it?"
"... Yes."
She was right.
'I have nowhere else to go.'
Almond had become a wanderer in a sense.
"As long as this rune of stealth protects me, you'll have to stay by my side. At least during this time, you have to listen to me."
It wasn't a bad proposal.
Almond nodded.
"Okay."
"Phew."
Luna started walking and talking. Almond followed, careful not to step outside the rune of stealth.
"I've been repeating this exploration countless times."
She began to tell an astonishing story.
"It's not just that I've done this multiple times. It's literally repeating. The same or similar events keep happening."
— A returnee from multiple rounds?
— So she knows the future or something??
"You think reaching the sanctuary will change something? No, I've been there countless times. It just repeats from the beginning."
Ding.
[You've moved a step closer to Memory (★★).]
The memory started to respond.
***
[Beginner Tip: Did you know? There are rules in the sanctuary. Participants absolutely cannot break these rules. However, these rules are not explicitly stated.]