Chapter 60

60. The Forest Will Remember This

Swish.

I quickly closed the curtain again.

It was way too realistic.

I couldn't look at it for long.

I seriously felt like I was going to throw up...

There was a world of difference between seeing the corpse of a creature that couldn't exist in reality and seeing a realistic corpse of something that could actually exist.

I finally understood why this game was rated for people over nineteen, and why it was rated nineteen even without any suggestive content.

“Could it perhaps be some kind of undead...”

“An elf becoming undead? Even if that were possible, I have no intention of becoming that filthy.”

Come to think of it, I hadn't seen an undead in this game yet.

Maybe they were waiting until players like me, who would gain a new trauma from seeing corpses, became accustomed to the game.

Ugh.

I just hoped the undead I would eventually encounter as monsters would have a more game-like appearance.

I really didn't want to get used to something like that.

“What about that Re... that girl from earlier? Who exactly is she? Could she be the one I'm actually talking to? Maybe she's secretly the mastermind behind everything.”

“That girl? She is a child with a sick heart, but she's not that kind of person. Her nature... no, her very foundation is good.”

“Why are you meeting me like this? Why don't you react even after I've seen your true form? What is your purpose?”

“Why don't you try guessing?”

“First of all, I don't think your goal is to kill me.”

If that had been his goal, he would have killed me the moment I pulled back the curtain.

If not, there should have been some kind of reaction by now.

“...No, fine. Didn't you have something you wanted to say after meeting me in person? Then say something else.”

“Twenty years ago, I was caught in a massive fire and pushed to the brink of death. It was such a shocking experience that even now, I cannot erase the image of that enormous wolf made of fire from my mind.”

“Hmm?”

“To be honest, you've changed so much that I couldn't recognize you. But the only person who would come looking for me here, the only person who would come looking for the Indomitable Chain, would be you—the one who commanded that wolf of fire.”

Oh, crap!

This guy already knew that the person who would come claiming to be Errol's acquaintance would be me!

Ugh.

Come to think of it, Modak had also been wearing my chain and walking around with it.

If someone came looking for that chain, there really wasn't anyone else it could be except me!

Damn it!

And now that I think about it, this was the elf who had survived back then!

I had completely forgotten because I was concentrating so hard on the flow to avoid destroying the mansion while entering!

Come to think of it, I felt like someone had been watching me back then...

Could this person have been looking at me at that time?

In this form?!

“Twenty years ago... I don't really know about that. Maybe if I'd taken history lessons, but I've never been interested in things like that.”

“Back then, it wasn't only me who was burned. The Mother Forest, which our tribe considered sacred, was also completely destroyed in the fire.”

“That's really unfortunate.”

“The wolf of fire didn't simply start fires. It showed the overwhelming appearance of a predator toward our elves, and even toward the humans who had followed us into the forest.”

“Oh dear. That must have been very upsetting.”

“All the other tribes that heard about it felt the same way. The sorrow over the burning of the Mother Forest, the fire whose cause was unknown, and the wolf of fire whose origin was unknown. It was the ultimate form of absurdity.”

“Oh...”

“Perhaps because of the anger and resentment we felt back then, we were able to win the war against the Empire. Even so, the wounds our elves received at that time have not disappeared even after twenty years.”

...

Stop!

Please, stop!

My heart feels like it's being torn apart!

The conversation I had with Grandpa Alo while going to meet Modak had been roughly like this.

Why the hell do I keep causing nothing but bad things around me?

No matter how much time passes, I never get used to this feeling.

Hearing things that had unknowingly become my karma calmly come out of someone else's mouth was incredibly painful.

And this incident was even worse because I had been the one who carried it out.

I had even finished it by deceiving one of the survivors from the human side who had managed to survive.

And now, because I couldn't afford to be discovered, the situation was even worse!

Even if I apologized and said that I hadn't known this was reality, there was no way they would accept my apology.

But if I could, I wanted to apologize and ask for forgiveness.

Before the injustice of I didn't know what I was doing became stronger than everything else.

I didn't want to become such a shameless person!

...

Still, if I could first figure out exactly who I was talking to and the source of the faint pleasure I could sense in this person's words, then I would do just that.

“The sight of you devouring the flames consuming the Mother Forest, devouring your burning companions, devouring your burning enemies, and then leaving without regret after everything had burned down to ashes. That appearance of you greedily devouring everything more than anything else...”

Modak began sending out danger signals.

It wasn't like I didn't know what was happening.

But if I moved carelessly, who knew what he would do to me?

For now, I would simply prepare myself so that I could react no matter what he did.

“What was that?”

“...It was so beautiful.”

[The Great Demon of Gluttony! Epishurean, the Burn-Eating Corruptor, has appeared! You are inside the body of a Great Demon! The situation is extremely unfavorable!]

“Did you see the Mother Forest, completely blackened and reduced to drifting ashes? How, how intoxicating it was...! The ashes scattered by the wind were the finest seasoning, while the blackened trees lying on the ground made excellent plates! I deeply regretted not having anything to place upon them. Then one remaining piece of flesh led me into an entirely new world of gastronomy.”

“My god... You ate your own kind?”

“Yes. No one understood. No one, not a single person! I knew it too. I knew better than anyone that no one would ever understand me! I couldn't just tell anyone about it. Ever since that day, everything has burned black before my eyes, and yet I simply couldn't, couldn't...! Ingredients speaking to me? Ingredients understanding the feelings of the person tasting them?! It doesn't make sense, does it?”

I pulled out the Indomitable Chain and fired it toward the door.

I struck the strangely heavy door with the chain, forcing it open.

Then I fixed the chain to the wall at the end of the hallway and quickly escaped the room using the flow.

At the same time, teeth suddenly sprouted from the doorframe.

The door rapidly closed as though trying to catch me as I fled.

The entire thing moved like a giant mouth.

Is only that room the Great Demon's body?

He said that this entire mansion was his body!

And judging from how he called the Mother Forest the finest plate, and how this mansion seemed to have been built from the trees left behind after the forest burned...

Am I fighting the karma from that incident right now?

Wait.

Then what about Re...

Re...

Revin-ge?

What was she?

Why was she here?

Was she some kind of lure, like the bait hanging from the head of an anglerfish?

Was she the child of the elf I killed back then or something?!

“I know you. You are carved into my eyes. You are special to me! Don't run away! Please! I call myself a gourmet, so I never interfere with the chef. Never! No matter what! So please, give me my daily meal! Feed this starving stomach!”

Crack!

The tightly closed mouth opened wide.

A thick and sturdy-looking tongue shot out from inside at incredible speed.

Even the tongue was cracked as though it had been burned, and I could see embers that had yet to go out inside it.

Disgusting!

Was he trying to catch me with that?!

“No, seriously...! I have a lot to say to you, okay?! But can't we meet again later?! A little more peacefully?!”

“Ahh... in the end...”

I had been planning to retreat for now.

But at that exact moment, I saw Revin with an expression of unimaginable sadness on her face.

For some reason, the atmosphere around her and her presence were so different that I couldn't immediately look away.

It felt as if she knew something about what was happening.

But at the same time, it seemed like she had never wanted things to turn out this way.

I fixed the chain to the opposite end of the hallway.

Then I pulled myself toward it while simultaneously grabbing the sobbing Revin and began retreating.

“You're going to explain everything, right?”

“...Yes.”

Even though skipping the story had become a habit for me, this was something I needed to hear.

Otherwise, the lingering discomfort would bother me so much that I wouldn't be able to do anything else.

As if trying to stop me from escaping, the burned trees in the hallway began stretching out one by one like irregular thorns.

“D-Don't go! I'm telling you, show me that beautiful and bountiful dining table one more time!!!”

Clatter!

From the mouth of that grotesque creature crawling through the passage, covered with countless strange teeth, my chain shot out again, just as it had during the corruption, trying to grab me.

Why did everyone keep having my chain?!

Was it really that desirable?

Surely it didn't contain some incredibly attractive power?

Whenever someone saw it, all it did was provoke them by asking whether they would give up!

Did they understand?!

When I met Pai, I would have to apologize first.

But after that, I was definitely going to demand an explanation about why she had scattered my chains all over the place.

“Grit!”

“This is mine, idiot!”

I grabbed the chain that had shot toward me with my bare hand.

All I had to do now was go down the stairs and I'd be at the entrance.

Why did this guy have to make things so troublesome?!

“Let's see, ahem...! This is the power of indomitability! It is a power far beyond what a weak elf like you, who is so easily controlled by pleasure, deserves! Never giving up! The heart and conviction that refuse to surrender! That is indomitability!”

I was so embarrassed.

Still, the flames of the chain I was holding reacted to my words.

For an instant, the flames grew violently stronger, making the creature hesitate.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem possible to retrieve the chain right now.

So I let go of it and focused only on escaping the mansion and rejoining the others.

“Grrk...! What incredible control over fire!!!”

“Uwaaah, I seriously got goosebumps!”

The creature hesitated for a moment after being burned by the flames of the chain.

But it immediately charged at me again.

I didn't have time to politely grab the doorknob and turn it.

Still being chased, I reached the mansion's entrance and slammed directly into the front door with all the momentum from the chain pulling me forward.

I smashed through the door and escaped the mansion.

With Revin in my arms, I landed by scraping my back across the dirt in a way that would have shattered my shoulder blades if this were reality.

Then I shouted as hard as I could in response to Ien's startled voice.

“Uncle?! Is it a battle?!”

“Stand by for now!”

I hurriedly crawled over the fence around the mansion to avoid the creature crawling powerfully through the broken doorway.

There was nothing dignified about my escape.

The guide and Ien quickly rushed toward me, grabbed my hand, and pulled me farther away from the fence.

At the same moment, the creature's tongue slammed into the spot where I had been.

“Why? Why? Why are you running away? Don't you understand? You showed me a new world!”

“Hoo... Everyone, move back a little. There's something I need to check.”

“I'm hungry... I'm telling you, I'm hungry!!! I want to put something delicious in my mouth. I want to put it inside, chew it with my teeth, roll it around on my tongue, swallow it down my throat, and melt it inside my stomach!”

“You talk too much. Hey! I'm right here! Come and catch me!”

I wanted to find out exactly how far the creature could attack beyond the fence.

So I slowly moved backward, deliberately provoking it into attacking me.

“About five meters. That tongue is ridiculously long.”

“Uncle, shouldn't we retreat for now?”

I thought so too.

I had absolutely no disagreement with Ien's opinion.

Our current fighting force consisted of me, an ambiguously strong tank and sub-damage dealer; Ien, a damage dealer who had recently obtained a skill that ignored defense after leveling up; Mallang, a top-class healer whose body was extremely weak; and the village chief, who had recently learned how to use a bow and had finally become capable of fulfilling a combat role, though he was still only a backup for our backup.

Modak was on hold for now.

If I brought him into this battle, it seemed more likely that he would only provoke that monster further.

As for the guide, if we lost him, we would become lost in the forest.

So it would be difficult to have him participate in the battle.

Unlike during the tester period, I didn't live in the Maze Forest.

If we had to come back here again after running away, it would be extremely troublesome.

So the best choice would be to fight while prioritizing everyone's safety as much as possible, or simply retreat and prepare for the next opportunity.

[Will you give up?]

If I could, I would've done that a long time ago!

By now, whenever I saw that malicious message, I felt a chill run down my spine.

It was so terrifying that I could feel cold sweat running down my back.

It had been a long time since I had felt something like this.

It was enough to make my hair stand on end!

“You're worrying about too much. I can do everything.”

“B-But...”

“If we leave this thing here, we have no idea what it'll do. If it somehow forces its huge body out of the forest, it'll cause chaos the moment it gets outside. We can't allow that.”

[Your Indomitable Heart has reached a certain level. You have realized the additional stat ‘Toughness’ and a new skill, ‘Indomitable Bearing’!]

[Indomitable Bearing [D3] — When used, Toughness increases in proportion to your Vitality.]

I still couldn't understand this game's proficiency system no matter how much I thought about it.

It was way too instinctive.

Anyway, I immediately activated the new skill I had obtained for the first time in a while.

The muscles throughout my body seemed to pump up.

Then, in the very next moment, they compressed.

As a result, my body became slightly smaller, but much sturdier.

[Toughness: 10 + 132.
Defense: 124 + 284.]

So twice the Toughness stat was added to Defense.

I never expected my excessively violent method of hunting monsters to pay off like this.

“Okay, go!”

“Kuwaaaah!”

“Wha...?”

Suddenly, a Hydro Pump was fired from behind me.

The powerful blast struck the demon, whose body had been twisting into an increasingly horrifying shape, and forcibly shoved it back into the burned mansion.

I slowly turned my stiff neck toward the place where the powerful water cannon had been fired, passing right beside my ear.

“...W-Whoa...”

“...You did that?”

A timid elf maid girl was sitting on the ground in surprise at her own power.

She had one finger pointed forward.

She herself seemed shocked by what she had just done.

“I-I was... told to do it like this...”

As everyone's eyes immediately turned toward her, Revin didn't know what to do.

She slowly hid behind a tree and tried to explain herself.

“Who told you?”

“...Ah, um, I feel like I'm not supposed to say this... Can I?”

Revin muttered as if asking someone for permission.

Then, just like when she had guided me to her master, she answered with a surprisingly clear expression.

“I am the spirit of the Lake of Life that was in the Mother Forest, the lake you used as a warp gate. The lake that lost its destination after you and your wolf burned down the forest. I wanted revenge on you.”

[Modak: ...Even I'm starting to feel bad now, Dad. What should we do? Let's apologize right now! She might forgive us!]

Enough...

Please...

Just stop...