24 Hearts

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Calypso’s Nightmare

-Good job?

The ghosts thrashed around Count Jinmu, speaking with a cheery voice, but anger was within it. One of the spirits leaned in front of his face.

-He’s the one who broke the long-standing plan we’ve been preparing for!

“There’s no ‘us.’ This is all yours.”

-Didn’t you start this to revive your wife and son?

“I was foolish enough to be deceived. Even if I thought about it a little bit rationally, I should have known it was impossible.”

-Are you saying you’re going to come this far and give up?”

Count Jinmu smirked at the words of the ghosts.

“Of course, I’ve been thinking of falling out for a long time. But didn’t you drag me further by controlling my body?”

-This doesn’t make you sinless. Do you think you can atone for what you’ve done?

“Atonement? No way. It’s just that, as a necromancer, I felt like a disgrace for falling into the hands of those that I controlled.”

Words didn’t work. The ghosts tried to push their shapeless souls back into Jinmu’s body, but they simply bounced back. Panicking, the spirits thrashed and cursed.

The circle continued to consume Jinmu’s magic power. But thanks to Judah, they broke the ritual by destroying the orbs. The magical powers that gave them the power to control Jinmu loosened. Thanks to that, the ghosts were pushed out, and Jinmu gained control of his body again, but even that simple action felt impossible for him.

Jinmu laughed in the face of the clamoring ghosts.

“Hey, try again in a hundred days. You won’t be able to get into this body again until the moment I die… This is wonderful. I don’t know how long it has been since I last saw you all enraged like this.”

As he spoke, he froze all of a sudden and spat out a handful of blood. It dampened his clothes with its sticky, dark red hue, oozing down his shaggy beard. It looked exhausting and painful, but he remained calm, just like his collected eyes.

“Now, kid. Now is your chance. Kill me.”

Judah walked to him, with his bastard sword hanging down. The ghosts threatened him not to come close, but they didn’t dare to come close. Rather, he shooed them away with a simple twitch of his dagger.

“…”

“Do you have any regrets?”

He tried to talk to the Count as he sat there defenseless, with both eyes closed, ready to accept his end. He may think his question was out of useless compassion, but Judah was curious. Was he not afraid of death? Did he have any regrets in his life? Jinmu opened his closed eyes and stared up at Judah.

“Are you curious about that? If it’s regrets… Then there is. I have big and countless regrets. I want to turn back a lot of things. I want to go back and change what I was doing. But I’ve come too far for that.” He spat out blood as he laughed, “That’s why I don’t want to live. Death is all that’s left for me. My destiny is here.”

Staring into his eyes, it told him to stop the chatter and just end it. Judah wanted to ask more, but out of respect, he couldn’t. He walked in front of him and shook his sword. With the sound of the blade cutting through the wind, he severed his neck. He blew his neck in one blow. His face rolled on the floor, a tranquil look resting upon his face. Judah stepped away from the pooling blood, looked down at his hand, and frowned. Cutting a person’s neck didn’t even feel very good.

Upon his death, the ghosts who had been bound to his soul began to scream and wriggle.

-Aah! Damn it! Without him, this won’t be easy! If we had been killed in vain like this, we would rather hand over ourselves to Him! This is painful! He was weak!

-I will be able to bring him to this land! Bel-Therja will come to this land!

Tens and thousands of specters emerged from thin air. Each of the ghosts yelled, and their noise was growing into the same chaos as a marketplace. The noise began to hurt their ears. Judah blinked ahead, spotting a ghost eat another one of its kind.

-It can’t end like this. I’ll devour you all! I will eat you and sacrifice myself to Him!

What the hell were they praying to Bel-Therja for? It was all useless. Even if hundreds of thousands of blood and souls were offered in his name, whether or not he would be summoned, the Lord would do nothing. Thousands of souls in this place won’t even move his hips.

Even in the game, Bel-Therja appeared halfway to the end. In the first place, the monarchs were highly beings who found no interest in the middle ground. Judah could only laugh at the ghosts and their pathetic attempts.

As other ghosts began to eat each other, their numbers declined rapidly. Only those who grew in size survived.

– It will be a sublime sacrifice to bring him here!

They hollered as they threw themselves into the magic circle. He didn’t know why the hell they desired to call Bel-Therja so much. Was it because they wanted to be revived? It would be much better to live in possession of a healthy human being. Curious about their intentions in summoning Bel-Therja to the point of offering their own soul as a sacrifice, Judah focused himself on getting Jeanne away from the circle instead. Thousands of ghosts ate each other and offered themselves as sacrifices, but of course, nothing happened. The magic circle absorbed their souls before flashing a blinding light, but that was all there was to it.

“…Is it over?”

“I think so.”

Count Jinmu was dead, and the ghosts were gone. In the game, the fight would’ve been over with loads of items and loots hovering within the area.

「Calypso’s Nightmare」

[You defeated Count Jinmu.]

[As a necromancer, he did something that should not be done by letting the ghosts consume and control him.]

[Several villages were ruined by ghosts that lost control, and the inhabitants of these villages became ritual sacrifices to summon Bel-Therja.]

[If you arrived later, if you hadn’t defeated Count Jinmu, the ritual to summon Bel-Therja would be completed.]

[The summoning ceremony was bound to fail, but it would still open a passage connected to the demon world.]

[If that were the case, Calypso’s nightmare wouldn’t end in the village you saved, but a part of Calypso’s land would have become a land of death overtaken by ghosts and monsters.]

[What you and your companion had done must be a great achievement, but unfortunately, no witnesses saw the phenomenon so that no one will recognize your feat.]

[But don’t worry. If you report this to the Adventurers Guild, Calypso’s mage might regard you to some degree.]

[You and your teammate’s level rose by 5.]

[The lowest stats among strength, stamina, agility, magic power, and magic resistance increased by three and the highest stats by 2.]

[Shadow Justice/Swordsmanship proficiency increased by 2.]

He confirmed each reward mentioned in the notifications.

Their rewards may not be tangible, but it was a much more satisfying reward.

Not only did his level rise by 5 points, but even his stats also increased, and so did his shadow justice and swordsmanship proficiency. Jeanne received similar rewards as well. The only thing left to do was to leave the dungeon and look around. Before leaving, he planned to check the dungeon for anything useful he could take. Then, on the altar of the magic circle, something caught his eyes.

“Judah? Where are you going?”

“Wait a minute. There seems to be something on the altar. I’ll get it. You should rest for now.”

Jeanne nodded and disarmed. She was reluctant to sit still beside Count Jinmu’s decapitated head, but her fatigue was too strong to ignore. She didn’t even expect to fight against a senior Blue Lancer in a place like this. Jeanne took a couple of steps away before sitting down, cupping her chin as Judah made his way to the altar.

On the ground were the shards of the reddish beads Judah absorbed using Altemia.

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[Name: Magical orb containing numerous souls]

[Rating: Rare]

[effect]

When ingested, recovers physical strength, magic power, diseases, and injuries

[Explanation]

The power source used in the evil black magic ritual. It is made only through blood and soul sacrifice. It is a rare object, and if conjured perfectly, its value is enormous. However, this is only a shard, so it is ineffective to use for magic. When eaten, it could act as a healing item because it is made out of life force. But before using it, you must remember, you will be at risk of getting reported should they discover you have such an item in possession, as they will be under the impression that you have done numerous blood and soul sacrifices to obtain it.

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‘Is this also a quest reward?’

After reading the item’s description for a moment, Judah thought that he could give it to Edsen’s daughter. All they had to do was return to the -Aslan- and finish the quest swiftly. Finally, everything went well. After scavenging for useful items in this dungeon, they could retreat to Cherryu village and rest.

But as soon as he placed the shards in his -Bag-, the magic circle began to glow.

“?!”

What was happening?

The magic circle should have failed. There was no time for him to leave the altar. A dark aura whipped from the ground just as a shadowed giant rose from its smoke. Judah’s mind emptied. There was nothing he could do.

Crrreak!

Judah stumbled and fell to his feet as the figure towered over him. Despite his best efforts to get up, his entire body had frozen. His eyes turned to Jeanne. She sat by the stairs, trembling the moment her eyes saw the figure. It took all of her courage to stand and attempt to approach Judah. Her legs trembled.

“Judah, come this way quickly!”

She yelled, her voice shaking as fear settled in. In a flash, a strong surge of magic exploded from the circle, blasting a big shockwave that slammed Jeanne onto a wall knocking her out cold. Judah couldn’t even warn her. He turned his back and tried to flee.

“Where do you think you’re going?” A booming voice pounded from behind. Despite the simple question, the voice struck fear in his every word. As soon as he heard it, every hair in his body stood up as chills ran down his spine.

However, it was nothing compared to the fear that made his heartbeat pound in his ears like drums.

If he didn’t have the characteristics of the -player-, his fear would have turned him crazy in an instant. Even though he knew that he shouldn’t look back, Judah’s body turned around on its own, regardless of Judah’s will.

Before him stood a gigantic skeleton cloaked in a black cloth.

Although the presence was translucent, as if it were an illusion rather than a physical being, the sight carved itself into Judah’s mind.

It was the -Sixth Monarch Bel-Therja-.

* * *

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「Status Window」

[Name: Judah Arche]

[Title: Little Hero of Serenia Castle (2)]

[Level: 30]

[Job: Black Claw _ Shadow Magic Swordsman (Hidden_A)]

[Number of resurrections: 2]

[Strength: 42(C) / Potential A]

[Health: 45(C) / Potential S]

[Agility: 46(C) / Potential SS]

[Magic Power: 44(C) / Potential B]

[Magic Resistance: 54(C) / Potential S]

[Charisma: 5(F) / Potential A]

[Knowledge: 17(F) / Potential B] ◀ Special

[Luck: 84(A) / Potential S] ◀ Special

[Remaining points: 15]

「Talent 4/10」

[Player]-Rank: S

[Determination]-Rank: S

[Guardian of the First Lord]-Rank: C

[Selected One]-Rank: A

「Skill 3/10」

[Shadow Justice/Swordsmanship]-Rank: A

[Mercenary-style left-handed dagger]-Rank: C

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「Status Window」

[Name: Jeanne Art Loire]

[Title: None]

[True name: Blue Moon Wolf]

[Level: 26]

[Occupation: Blue Lancer (B)]

[Race: Human]

[Strength: 34(D) / Potential A]

[Health: 38(D) / Potential S]

[Agility: 30(D) / Potential B]

[Magic Power: 37(D) / Potential B]

[Magic Resistance: 55(C) / Potential S]

[Charisma: 8(F) / Potential A]

[Knowledge: 18(F) / Potential B] ◀ Special

[Luck: 56(C) / Potential C] ◀ Special

[Favorability: 35 (interesting)]

[Reliability: 70 (trustworthy)]

「Talent 3/5」

[Blue Moon]-Rank: A

[Wolf’s Protection]-Rank: A

[Apprentice Blue Lancer]-Rank: D

「Skill 4/5」

[Horror Spirit]-Rank: A

[Knight]-Rank: B

[Imperial Shield Craft-Blue Lancer]-Rank: B

[Imperial Spearmanship-Blue Lancer]-Rank: B

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1. If you collect fragments, does the limit of your innate talent also increase?
2. Natural talent does not rise. If you lack innate talent, you can raise its limit instead. For example, if you say you can only reach up to 89 because your talent is A, you can increase it to 99 (S) through stat points or the effect of some items. However, you can’t go higher than 99 unless you get a special achievement. By the way, if you have fragments, it is possible to raise it beyond 99.