Chapter 86

Chapter 86

‘The Poison Stage…’

Celine groaned inside She didn’t know that the next stage would appear so soon. Didn’t the swamp stage end the other day?

In Libron Castle as well. Because the player’s field of view was not properly visible in the poison stage, the background was barely visible, though at least, it wasn’t a fancy castle like the Imperial Castle.

‘Rather, it was more like an ordinary mansion.’

Her head hurt.

It really became like the phrase from the quest. Then, the phrase from the quest, which she thought was just announcing that it was the last stage of the true ending route, came to her.

—Prepare, then wait.

‘…I was stupid.’

Celine blamed herself inside.

After she had prepared enough, she got used to going to a certain place and clearing the stage, so she didn’t even think about what exactly the phrase meant.

‘I can’t even be so pathetic to say that I’m glad that I don’t have to visit the places anymore.’

Now the stage would pop up in front of her own eyes when she was not ready for anything, and in a completely unexpected place. Perhaps, like the swamp, it may appear at the most difficult times.

‘I should have prepared a little more…’

Still, Celine remembered what she was doing yesterday.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Celine let out a small sigh.

She would have been by Leonhard’s side yesterday anyway, even if she knew that she would be facing a new stage right in front of her nose today. While she knew what he was going through, she couldn’t leave him alone.

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“….?”

Leonhard immediately got off Black, but Celine just sat there blankly.

‘I wonder if she was very surprised.’

He carefully led her away from Black.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

“No. It’s a given to be surprised. I was… surprised, too.”

Leonhard told her to wait a moment and then walked over to the entrance, as Celine could not be recklessly brought into a space filled with dubious smoke. Fortunately, instead of objecting, she just bit her lip and told him to come back as soon as he felt something wrong.

“….!”

His eyes widened and he swung Rashin in an instant, transforming it into a metallic shield. However, the smoke quickly broke through the temporary barrier and penetrated his body.

‘….?’

Leonhard frowned. He didn’t feel anything special.

‘It’s strange…’

If this smoke were harmful to people, the entrance to Libron Castle would be full of people crawling out, asking for help. However, Libron Castle was so quiet that not even a scream could be heard.

‘…Did the wizards do something to restore it?’

He turned towards Celine with the shield transforming back to Rashir.

“It doesn’t seem like a big deal. I guess you can come in.”

“What…?”

Celine asked with wide eyes, but she didn’t move a single step.

Seeing that, Leonhard was a little taken aback. Of course, this smoke can be scary. Wasn’t he too nervous and made a shield?

“It looks dangerous, but it’s not a big deal. If you’re really worried, I’ll go see the person in charge and find out what’s causing it. It makes me uncomfortable.”

Their sight was completely blocked, and they could only see right in front of them.

But for him, the fact that he could see her face a step away from him mattered, so Celine nodded her head slowly before she stiffly moved her body to step her foot into the smoke.

“….!”

As heavy smoke hit her nose and mouth in an instant, she twisted her body and created a shield with the wind, protecting her and Leonhard.

“Celine?”

A fresh breeze drove the smoke away from her and allowed her to breathe properly. Still, even that brief exposure was quite painful, so Celine sat on the ground, gasping for breath.

“Celine!”

Leonhardt knelt down and carefully grabbed her shoulders.

“What… what is the problem?”

“This, this is poison.”

“Poison…?”

Leonhard’s face looked puzzled.

“It’s, it’s a poison that doesn’t work on Leonhard. I don’t know why.”

She stuttered. On the other hand, Leonhard still seemed unconvinced.

“Celine, I am also affected by the poison. This is just normal acting.”

Celine gritted her teeth. He couldn’t seem to understand, but she could guess enough. It was because the enemy who relentlessly appeared in the poison stage, aiming for the main character, was none other than Leonhard.

Leonhard, who has not appeared in the game for a while, reappeared in the Poison stage. More precisely, he relentlessly pursued the main character from the poison stage to the final stage.

So, he couldn’t be affected by this poison gas.

‘…Ah.‘

Celine closed her eyes tightly. She could sense that he was examining him anxiously, but she couldn’t stand it.

From now on, she realized that no stage was easy.

For a while, he played the role of a cheat key while fighting against enemies on stage with her… but what if Leonhard himself is the enemy of the stage? Even if she didn’t bother to experiment, Celine knew the answer.

‘The stage itself won’t come true…’

Her head was dizzy.

If he had been playing the role of a bystander since the beginning, it would have been a long time since he was deeply involved in the process of clearing the stage. She kept thinking of the empty boxes she didn’t want to pay attention to. If he had told Leonhard strongly and cleared the stage by herself…

Celine shook her head.

‘No. Let’s not worry about the past. If it wasn’t for Leonhard… I might still be caught in one of them.’

She just thought she and Leonhard did their best at the time. Above all, there were many problems to solve before that, and she had no time to be regretting the past.

“Leonhardt.”

Celine raised her head and looked straight at him. As soon as the blue eyes, sharp from anxiety, confirmed that she was all right, they softened with relief.

“I have a favor.”

“…What.”

“Please… do not help me.”

“….?”

Leonhardt was silent but did not bother to hide his feelings. Thanks to that, she was able to read his expression.

‘I know what you’re talking about, but I think you want to say that it’s a useless worry…’

Celine gulped and spoke again.

“Do you remember that mansion? Please follow me as you did back then. Don’t stop me… and don’t help in any way.”

“Is it that dream again?”

“Yes.”

At the question, she nodded her head.

“And, if you don’t do that, then I have to… start all over again.”

“What do you mean?”

Leonhard frowned.

“From the beginning, standing at this point…”

Celine roughly explained it. How could she say that she had to start over at the beginning of the stage, which was an automatic save point? There was silence, still, it seemed that Leonhard finally nodded.

It was as she expected.

“Whatever it is, if this also appears in your dreams… it would be right to follow your words.”

He spoke slowly.

“However, it is a different story when you are in mortal danger. I will do everything in my power to save you… so that you know.”

“Leonhard!”

Celine hurriedly shouted.

In any case, if the situation as he said, happened, everything would go wrong. However, Leonhard didn’t seem to be moved at all by Celine’s dissuaded cry.

Rather, he looked at her with a sad gaze.

“So, don’t die.”

His voice was firm. She sensed that he had drawn a line he could never retreat from.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Celine checked the shield once again, which she had created using the wind.

The heroine of [ Celine’s Nightmare ] progressed through the stages by filling its health points with healing potions. It seemed that there was no need for it this time, as the magic shield had worked well enough.

‘Thank God.’

She had no intention of wasting the healing potion.

It’d been quite a while since she didn’t receive a stage clear reward. Clearly, the more she went, the more difficult it would be to clear the stage, so she had to save the healing potion to the end, even for Leonhard, not for herself.

“Leonhard, you really can’t feel anything, right?”

“I know what you’re worried about… it’s just uncomfortable not being able to see. Not to mention that. It sounds like a really normal place.”

“Is that so?”

Hearing his words, Celine eventually took a deep breath and pulled back half of the shield, leaving it wrapped around herself.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes.”

She blinked.

Her whole body trembled at the thought of walking for a long time in the green smoke, which only felt like poison gas and she patted her pocket full of magic stones to clear her mind.

‘I have done more than this. I have enough magic power. I brought a lot of her magic stones… If it’s necessary, I can use Ringzor’s scabbard.’

There was no time to lose.

Celine started to run aimlessly in front of her.

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“Gasp, gasp…!”

Before long, Celine was exhausted. It must have been because she stayed up half the night with Leonhard. However, she continued to move her heavy body, as she had no time to make up for the lack of sleep.

She was lucky because she had ‘Hermes shoes.’

“….!”

Celine stood frozen.

It was bomething soft landed on her foot. She knew what it was even before she bent down to check it out.

It was the body of a fallen person.

“N, no…”

A moan escaped her mouth.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she suddenly felt as if she had been hit in the head. It’d been a long time since she didn’t think of this place, Leonhard’s country, as a simple game space.

She thought so of the stage.

In the lava field, in the ghost town, in the swamp… she has prided herself on fully realizing that this is the world of real people.

Nonetheless, at this moment, Celine realized. She subconsciously thought of the stage as an object in the game that needs to be cleared as quickly as possible. She still hadn’t gotten the slightest bit out of that perception…

‘As soon as I found out that this place was engulfed in poison gas, I should have thought… of the many people inside.’

Celine didn’t budge and buried her face in her hands. She needed time to think.

In order to move everyone in the castle, clearing the stage would be delayed by at least a day. Above all, if Leonhard had helped, the clearing of this stage itself may not be successful. But in the end, she made a decision that she should do this on her own.

“Are you there? Leonhard.”

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