21. The Great Sinner of Madness
We finally arrived at the Goblin’s treasure vault, shining brightly!
There were some creatures guarding the entrance, but I subdued them and successfully entered.
Today was truly an incredible day.
Not only did I get to properly experience the most broken and ridiculously unbalanced power in this game, called Mental Power, but after that experience ended, I received an unbelievable reward that left my mouth hanging open.
At this point, I was starting to wonder if the developer was secretly giving me special treatment.
When I fought the Badger Monster, the Madness Infection didn’t progress this quickly.
Of course, with goblins that could actually talk, the infection took a very long time to finish.
The last one I met wasn’t infected at all until the very end.
“They’re fighting among themselves up there. Is it really okay to just leave them alone?”
“Wouldn’t the one who survives after fighting like that be more useful?”
“…Even if they’re monsters, isn’t this a little inhumane?”
If you’re going to complain about such human things, I wish you would take me somewhere with a slightly more human civilization.
We’re in a forest where creatures try to kill me just because I light a fire at night, and you’re worrying about things like this?
I still had to go to the Fairy Lake with the remaining members.
And from among those members, I needed to form another team with those who had successfully evolved and enter the center of the forest.
I had absolutely no idea what was waiting there.
I was so weak that if I fought this area’s Goblin Chief one-on-one, I would obviously lose.
There was no point taking people weaker than me.
If I’m their leader and I’m supposed to lead them, then they should be stronger than me.
That way, I can trust them and leave things to them.
“Do you see anything useful?”
I quietly ignored Pie’s complaints and changed the subject.
Arguing with her would only create more friction.
So I directed her attention toward the dazzling piles of gold and treasure that were almost painful to look at.
The treasures were so extravagant that I simply stood there with my mouth hanging open for a while after opening the treasure vault.
It really felt like the center of a dungeon straight out of a fantasy story.
It was exactly the kind of thing that excited my inner fantasy-loving self.
“It’s not like I have a good eye for items. Everything just looks like trash to me.”
“Trash?! How can you say such a terrible thing about all these shining treasures!”
“Yeah.”
Was she too lazy to even answer?
Or was she upset because I changed the subject without replying to her?
Either way, there was no denying that gold and treasure were basically useless in the Maze Forest.
Carrying them around would only make my body heavier.
Even now, I only carried a pouch containing food because carrying anything else was inconvenient.
Sometimes, even that felt annoying.
Well, my original goal was to find useful equipment.
So I shouldn’t get too attached to the treasure.
Ahh, but if I complete the quest the Chairman gave me, all the money here will be mine…!
Was I really incapable of completely resisting the temptation of money?
In the end, Pie dragged me deeper into the treasure vault.
There, we arrived at a huge loot storage room that felt completely different from the previous area.
“Just how much stuff did they steal?”
With this much treasure, the numbers would only make sense if I assumed that every adventurer who entered the Maze Forest and never came back had been robbed by these guys.
“…There really is way too much.”
They seemed to have sorted the items by type and location to some extent.
But even then, there was far too much.
At this rate, it would take an entire day just to figure out what everything was.
This was when I desperately wished for an Appraisal Skill.
Whenever I saw appraisal skills in novels, I used to think, What kind of ridiculous skill is that?
But now that I was experiencing something straight out of a novel, I desperately needed that ridiculous ability.
I once again realized that extreme freedom meant extreme inconvenience.
Yes, when I thought about how ridiculously boring my life in the real world was despite having complete freedom, simply following maximum freedom could definitely ruin the fun of a game.
…Though saying that wasn’t going to change this game.
The fact that they had created such insane technology, especially that completely crazy AI technology, and were hiding it deep inside their own pockets instead of releasing it to the outside world said everything.
They were unbelievably stubborn.
“…Wait. This one feels different.”
“Huh? What’s different?”
I was muttering to myself as usual when Pie’s words suddenly snapped me back to reality.
What caught my eye was a crystal ball with absolutely no noticeable features.
If this were a game, an item with special abilities wouldn’t look that boring.
It was almost too plain.
And yet, strangely enough, it looked especially strange to me.
It felt like something was drawing me toward it.
“It’s not just me, right?”
“Yeah… I don’t think it’s glass. It’s slightly hard and smooth, but in a way, it also feels a little soft.”
“It’s the eye of a demon that lived a loooooong, loooooong time ago.”
“Whoa!! Don’t suddenly talk to me, you crazy bastard!”
Just like the last time I met Hayang, my meeting with her this time was also incredibly sudden.
Could she possibly enjoy surprising me like this?
Was she some kind of pervert who got pleasure from suddenly appearing and scaring people?
There was another country that gave her that kind of strange taste…?
Hmm.
Maybe it was better if that was all it was.
Not that I personally enjoyed anything unusual or anything…
“What’s the occasion this time? Did you suddenly feel like chatting with me?”
“Well, that wouldn’t be bad either. But if that were the case, I wouldn’t have appeared like this. What would I gain from looking at your face?”
Maybe she just wanted to see my face and talk after such a long time.
Why did she have to put it so coldly?
I thought we’d developed some kind of friendship by now.
Was it just one-sided love on my part?
“Let me see. What should I say to make you listen to me quietly?”
“What kind of interesting story are you planning to tell me?”
Hayang thought for a moment.
Then she lifted the chains that had once been wrapped around her and showed them to me.
Compared to when I first saw them, they were slightly thicker and rougher.
Flames fiercely burned through the gaps between the chains.
“If I am your madness, then these chains are your indomitable will. Normally, they would probably appear in the shape of a shield. But seeing them appear like this tells me a lot about how you view perseverance and effort.”
Something that restrained me, hurt me, yet was as hot as fire represented the way I viewed perseverance and effort?
…No matter how I thought about it, this game was dangerous.
How had they managed to see through me so accurately?
Were they using some kind of massive database to figure everything out?
“Mental Power. I and these chains give you a special class. You don’t seem interested in it at all, but your class is called the Sinner of Madness.”
“Why is that a class? If it’s a class, shouldn’t it have a more class-like name?”
“A class is ultimately just a title given to you by someone who doesn’t know you. So I think it’s appropriate.”
Why was Hayang so damn smart when she was supposed to be me?
“Originally, you should have been swallowed by madness and promoted to a Demon of Madness. But you foolishly awakened the power of indomitable will, so everything fell apart.”
“What? Are you disappointed because you could have completely taken over my body?”
“I’m frustrated because I can’t use my full power.”
If this situation was created while she couldn’t even use her full power, then just how terrifying would she be if she could use all of her Mental Power?
No matter how I looked at it, this Mental Power completely broke the game’s balance.
I really wished hidden classes like this existed only in novels.
Who would enjoy a game where the balance was broken and only certain players could enjoy special benefits?
“Wouldn’t you have died without even making a sound in that fight if Pie hadn’t supported you?”
“Huh? Pie? Ah! Right! Pie has Mental Power too! Love, right?”
“She has Love. And although I don’t know the details, it seems she also has a gloomy type of Mental Power like me.”
Hmm.
So that’s how it was.
Anyway, another version of myself was explaining that my Mental Power wasn’t actually all-powerful.
I’d just been complaining about how overpowered Mental Power was a moment ago.
Now I felt strangely embarrassed.
But why did the system immediately tell me about status effects while hiding the buffs I was receiving?
Was this buff discrimination?
Why hide the good things and reveal only the bad ones?
What the hell was wrong with this company?
I thought this company was going to become a legendary game developer.
But if things continued like this, people would only remember them as the company that opened the door to a new era of gaming… and nothing more.
“So? What are you trying to tell me?”
“Because your promotion to Demon was canceled, you ended up taking a slightly unusual route. Instead of going from Sinner to Demon, you went from Sinner to Great Sinner.”
[Promotion Successful! You endured the heart of madness with your indomitable will and have become the Great Sinner of Madness!]
“Wait. Hey. If I overcame it, shouldn’t I have become something other than a Sinner? Why am I a Great Sinner?”
“It means that, at least, you haven’t given up on being human yet. But at the same time, you haven’t abandoned your madness either.”
“…Ah! So I’m kind of like a hypocrite?”
“More like a con artist.”
Still, I hadn’t committed some huge crime.
So being called a Great Sinner didn’t exactly feel good.
And now that I had immediately been promoted to Great Sinner, the way NPCs treated me could completely change.
There was no problem here because Pie was the only NPC around.
But for other players who started in towns, being forcibly changed from Sinner to Great Sinner like this could cause a lot of trouble.
“So? Does anything change after becoming a Great Sinner?”
“You can now use the indomitable power that you couldn’t use at all before. It’s proof that you’re suppressing me more firmly.”
[The Indomitable Chains tighten around you. Skill — ‘Indomitable Chains’ has been added.]
[Indomitable Chains [C1]: Numerous chains blackened by the power of madness. They bind the target, preventing them from moving. Using this skill consumes HP.]
Tsk.
I wished my understanding of willpower had been a little softer.
Instead, I got a skill that literally ate away at my HP whenever I used it.
On top of that, I couldn’t even use it for attacking.
It was a skill meant to bind someone, just like the way I had restrained Hayang.
Binding-type skills were apparently essential before fighting bosses.
But I had barely experienced a proper one-on-one fight except against Horned One.
So this skill didn’t really suit me.
…Wait.
Couldn’t I wrap the chains around my hands or arms and swing them around to use them as a weapon?
Maybe it wouldn’t work for a while, only to suddenly become possible at some point?
“Hey, Hayang. What exactly can I bind with this skill, and how much can I bind? The skill description is so vague that I can’t figure it out.”
“That depends on your ability. Use your imagination and figure out something somehow. Why? Don’t have confidence?”
“…Rather than arguing, Hayang, could you help me a little?”
“Don’t suddenly back out now. Just say what you want. You called me your friend before, and now you’re treating me like some difficult person you need help from. What’s with you?”
Ugh.
She had just said something about me too.
“Well, we’ll talk about that later. For now, just help me choose some equipment. You seem like you have a good eye for this stuff. Right?”
“Of course.”
Perhaps we were finally on the same wavelength.
The empty space soon filled with the strange sound of Hayang’s laughter and mine.
And the more we laughed, the tighter the Indomitable Chains wrapped around me.
As if they were trying to grab hold of my very soul.
