CH 64

Swoosh!

A light-filled sword blade split the boss’s ghost vertically.

“Sister, are you okay?”

“Thanks to you. Thank you.”

“No problem. It goes without saying that you are the top priority.”

Right after being protected like a healer. Ray intervened with a cold face.

“You were also an Aura user.”

“Yes, brother.” (Ash)

“What? Brother?”

“It’s not an important issue, so let’s not argue about that.”

“Right. The important thing is something else. Why don’t you take out your main weapon to show your real strength now?”

“Oh, did you know that far?”

As if waiting, Ash threw down his old long sword and pulled out the twin daggers that had been attached to his thighs.

“You and I should be the main force. I’ll be on the front.” (Ray)

As expected, a very knightly decision. Ash and others agreed and said one word at a time.

“Yes, I’m not confident about the front.”

“Please. Our Pure Gold Apple Team will follow up and attack.”

“I’m a wizard, so I’m going to take on the rear support. First of all, I will start with mantras.”

While Seijin applied a buff, Ash asked me.

“Excuse me, sister, but what is your healing range?”

“About 25 meters in radius.”

“What? Not the diameter, but the radius?”

“A-Are you serious, Miss Healer?”

Even though I kept it short, they seemed surprised. While I was silent, Ray refreshed the atmosphere.

“This is not the time to be surprised. I will count to three and open the way. Everyone get ready.”

“Yes, cadet!”

Susususu…!

I felt Ray pumping his aura up. It seemed he was about to set off an aura storm to drive away the ghosts.

“Then one, two…!”

Aura against ghosts was inefficient. I can’t let the stamina of the main power in the party go to waste.

I whispered in a quiet voice.

“Exorcism.”

[<System> Advanced skill ‘Exorcism Lv.28 (+10)’ activated.]

“Thr…! What?!”

Papa Papapapa!

Kyieeeeee…!

The ghosts were torn to shreds by an exorcism spell. While they were screaming in pain, the vortex that lost its power was destroyed at once.

“In-Incredible!”

“As expected of a cadet who placed 2nd in his year!”

Ray flinched in embarrassment while the people admired him.

You can’t stand there like a fool.

“Cadet, let’s go.” (Eli)

“Ah!” (Ray)

It was only after I pushed his back that Rey came to his senses and kicked the ground. The Pure Gold Apple trio followed.

“Ahhhh!”

“Hyaaa!”

It was a shout so they could overcome the fear of facing an S-class boss.

“…I have a question, but I will do it once I’m back, sister.”

Ash was the last to move. At a speed that the average human eye cannot detect.

Ray, who was at the forefront, leaped to the wriggling Obsculia. The sword filled with aura was branded horizontally.

Shh! Sizzling!

In a stroke filled with aura, dozens of ghosts were slashed out at a time. Driven by momentum, Ray fired aura slashes one after another, and the Pure Gold Apple trio followed and shoved weapons into the far end of the Obsculia.

“A-Attack works!”

“Great!”

Ash circled the edge of Obsculia and slaughtered to his heart’s content.

“I need to hit the back of the head, but I don’t know where the back is.”

Obsculia was weak for S-class due to its cluster nature. The steadily decreasing size of the boss boosted the morale of the allies. However.

“If we continue like this… W-wait! Look at that, Captain!”

“Oh My God! What’s wrong with that speed?”

Whoa…!

Kuohhhhhh…!

The abyss on the ceiling spit out black ghosts like a back-flowing sewer. With the replenishment of ghosts, Obsculia remained the same size as before.

“Damn it, there is no end!”

“Where is the weakness?!”

As time passed, there were also minor injuries. Allies bitten by the ghosts bled from their limbs.

“….”

Watching the battle from behind, I healed their wounds without a word. Because right now, I’m a healer.

[‘The Troubled Architect of the Tower of Trials’ is watching you.]

Ash walked over to Ray.

“Brother, this is just a war of attrition.” 

“I know. But right now there is no other way.”

The only thing they can do is endure. Without a healer, they would have been completely wiped out by now.

After a while, Obsculia, who had been only suffering until now, started to fight back.

<It hurts…! It hurts…!>

<How dare you… hurt me…!>

<I can’t forgive you…!>

Pushshush!

Suddenly, ghosts burst out of the abyss like a fountain gushing water. It was an astronomical number of ghosts that would remain even after restoring the Boss’s body. They started taking over the walls and ceilings.

“Ugh!”

“Wh-what!”

The nightlight stones were covered and the cavity quickly darkened. The ghosts seemed to keep pouring out. The walls and ceiling were not enough to accommodate them, and the ghosts were trampled under the allies’ feet.

“Ah, it’s dark…!”

“Come this way! Take my hand!”

When the people withdraw from the swamp of ghosts to ascend to higher places.

<You can’t escape…!>

Obsculia casts a curse.

[<System> Warning. ‘Stigma of Prey’ is activated.]

A black pattern appeared on the backs of everyone’s hands, including me.

<Food…food…>

<Be quietly eaten…!>

The Ghostly Anglerfish covered the whole cavity and flashed its eyes at the same time. Hundreds of millions of ghosts hidden in darkness revealed their presence.

“Huk…”

It was an overwhelming number. It felt like peeking into the Halls of Hell.

[<System> ‘Stigma of Prey’ activates ‘Fear effect’]

Resistance to fear was difficult unless they reached a certain level. Even Ray and Ash hardened for an instant, not to mention the rest.

“Ah…I can’t believe it…”

The psychological dam that had barely managed to hold back despair collapsed. A deep fear appeared on the face of the Pure Gold Apple trio, who had been struggling so far.

“The Num-numbers…”

“It’s hopeless…we will all be eaten…”

I could heal their wounds and buff their bodies, but it was impossible to raise the spirits of a terrified mind.

<Ellet.>

“….”

[‘The Troubled Architect of the Tower of Trials’ is restless and gives you a side glance.]

Whooooooooo!

The ghosts tried to attack the Pure Gold Apple trio, which was frozen on the spot, like a swarm of piranhas. In an instant, Ray hurriedly intervened and blocked the attack.

“Ugh.”

He was bitten in various parts of his body in the process, but he stood firm and persevered.

While I quietly poured healing on him.

Sususu…!

Ray fixed his sword and strongly pumped up his aura. His sword was lowered vertically like a judge’s mace.

Kwagwagwagwang!

The ghosts in the place where the aura flew away melted cleanly and disappeared. It was powerful, but it wasn’t significant. The empty spaces of the exterminated ghosts were filled in an instant, and Ray gasped as if he had exhausted a considerable amount of power.

The Golden Apples behind his back were not in fighting condition.

Ray spoke solemnly to Ash, who came a beat late.

“You said your name was Ash, right? I will attract attention, so take everyone and run away.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Take care of the rest.”

“It is an impressive example of chivalry. But unfortunately, it seems to be too late for that.”

“What?”

“Brother, you are a bit slow on perceiving things. Look.”

Ash raised the back of his hand in front of Ray’s eyes. The black pattern was on the backs of everyone’s hands, not just Ash’s. 

It was also the very same curse that the Little Duke of Wallenstein had for the rest of his life in the original.

“It’s a brand that will make you prey of this Boss for the rest of your life.”

And as long as it is branded, Obsculia always appears in search of its prey.

Seijin who approached them before they knew it, bitterly added to the facts.

“It might be better to just die here than to become a medium of a dungeon sink. It will get the people around you.”

Ray was gravely silent.

Ash smiled with deep skepticism.

“Oh, I would have lived if I had bounced off alone as soon as the Boss came out.”

The Pure Gold Apples had already given up on everything.

“Ah, my God. How did this happen to us…”

“Death, we will die. It was unreasonable from the beginning, an S-class…”

“Haha…It’s all over…”

An air of fear and despair hung around everyone.

Oh, it’s suffocating. I need to ventilate.

‘Architect.’

[‘The Troubled Architect of the Tower of Trials’ flinches in surprise.]

That was then.

<Dinner…! Time…!>

Swoosh!

Countless ghosts attached to the ceiling stretched their bodies all at once. They intertwined and formed a different shape. It was a huge mask of black matter in the shape of a blazing sun.

It looks as if the head of a masked monster was glued to the ceiling, and soon, the main body came out of it.

<Hunt…! Begins…!>

The black-sun-like maks came flooding in vertically with its mouth wide open.

“Oh my god!”

“Ah, ah, ah……!” 

The moment the giant mouth was about to swallow us all, I raised my right hand toward the sky and spread my palms out.

Kwagwagwagwang!

Along with the roar, a light vibration rose up the ankle and wrapped around the body. After it calmed down, a bewildered groan was heard.

<What…what…!>

<Food… why…!>

<Not chewed…!>

In the air, Obsculia’s sun-like mask crackled its teeth, and sparks were splashed everywhere.

“Uh, what happened…?”

People slowly opened their eyes and raised their heads.

A silver light reflected in their eyes and glistened around. There was something between the allies and the Boss, that reflected Obsculia’s attack.

Ash muttered with a blank expression on his face.

“Walls…?”

A silver citadel surrounded and protected everyone.