“Grrrrr…”
What is this? What the heck is going on?
“Is it good?”
“Nyaaah… My hair must smell… Plus I didn’t wash today, and it’s all sticky…”
“It’s okay. You only smell good. You’re clean.”
What the heck? The Forest Keeper is brushing my hair?
But it feels so nice that I can’t refuse.
I should be pulling away any moment now.
But I can’t do that either.
“Do elves usually do this to people they just met?”
“Yep.”
“I think it’s a great culture to emulate. So nice, grrrrr…”
At first, I thought maybe my head was still a bit foggy from the drink, but my mind was as clear as a bell.
Getting my hair brushed by a Forest Keeper—what a rare experience!
Just like how bad things tend to follow one another, good things come in bunches!
The mission that Gestalt and Daniel informed us of was actually a secret mission!
We can mess with the Academy folks all we want, and if this goes well, Adella will ultimately end up with the Laurel!
“Wow, that’s easy! We can expect great things from you, Gestalt!”
“Show some respect to the Branch Leader, Adella.”
The Forest Keeper seemed completely unfazed by the change in our mission.
“I almost said something stupid about the bald guy being ignorant.”
“Nya-haha! Baldy? If you look closely, even Uncle Gestalt has hair growing like downy fluff, right?”
What’s up with this elf? She looks like a proper princess but acts and talks like a rough mercenary who’s been through the battlefield forever.
Looks like I’ve finally found someone I like after a long time.
The first ones to leave the Abyss were NoName and me.
The distance to the Observatory was quite long to walk, so we had to get there ahead of time to meet our mission deadline.
We couldn’t take the wagon because of the risk of being tracked.
I thought it was pretty harsh to send just two ladies on a long journey alone, but then again, what’s good is good, right?
But surprisingly, she was quite the quiet type.
If I didn’t start the conversation, she would never open her mouth.
I had a clear reason for not wanting to chat.
Honestly, getting too attached wouldn’t suit a true mission operative.
The most important thing in battle is my life.
If push comes to shove, I need to be able to cut ties without hesitation.
I’m not saying I’m planning to betray anyone, but friendship doesn’t fill your stomach, and with my personality, I could cut ties decisively in that kind of situation—especially since this mission is going to be tough.
I really want to blame my earlier defenseless head treatment at the inn on the alcohol.
Why did I act like that all of a sudden?!
The clock tower in the royal castle chimes every hour, standing silently.
Both of us had quick footsteps, so we arrived early at the Observatory.
The Forest Keeper didn’t seem tense at all. Maybe they’ve done this kind of thing many times before?
“Aren’t you bored?”
“A little.”
“Tell me some stories from the past. Opportunities to meet an elf are quite rare.”
What kind of place is the Forest of Arseria?
The enchanted place known as the elves’ paradise is a location that is off-limits to outsiders.
“I was the fourth princess of my homeland.”
“Princess? The one I know?”
Wait a minute, isn’t this a person of tremendous status?
Is she really a princess of a whole nation? I had already sensed this aura that felt far from normal.
The gap in social status felt very palpable, making my own situation feel inferior.
“So being the fourth means you have a lot of siblings? Did you get close with them?”
“No, I don’t think I did.”
“Well, families with siblings all say the same thing about not getting close to each other.”
I can’t relate since I don’t have a family, but that’s what I hear.
“So, are they still in that forest? Or did they come to look for the Laurel like you?”
“No, they’re all dead. Except for one.”
“What? Dead…?”
“I killed them all.”
“What kind of nonsense is that!? Are you completely insane? Were all those claims about being a princess just lies?!”
I was such a fool for taking the Forest Keeper’s strange story seriously.
But thanks to her, I felt a lot of my tension dissipate.
Whether her skills match her looks is yet to be seen.
Time passes painfully slowly.
It’s that feeling where even the falling leaves during night watch seem to move in slow motion.
How wonderful it would be if battles actually looked like this.
Unable to endure the boredom anymore, I decided to open up to the Forest Keeper.
“Do you want to know why I ended up in the Abyss?”
*
[The Branch Leader is the one who let you into the Abyss?]
[Well… if that’s what you want to call it. I was saved from being beaten up by the guards and brought here. With nowhere else to go, I stuck around.]
I began speaking freely about the Branch Leader, who Adella had always stayed silent about.
As expected, she was someone who craved dialogue with others.
Though she might have some sharp edges personality-wise, she was no longer ignoring or brushing off my words.
But it wasn’t just Adella who had changed.
The guards we ran into at the Observatory.
Just like Adella, they were no longer shackled by their intelligence.
Normally, the guard that would attack first from the right would just obstruct visibility and could be knocked off the cliff if pushed down, completely removing them from the battlefield.
“Grrk… How dare this brat play tricks? Everyone stay alert! The enemy is a high-level wizard!”
A knight climbed up from the cliff, just barely hanging onto the edge.
Right before falling, he cleverly threw off his helmet.
As visibility was restored, it seemed he used his sword as a support to keep himself alive.
The enemies on the third cycle are stronger than those on the second, and the ones on the fourth are stronger than those on the third.
It’s not because I’ve gotten weaker; objectively, they’ve become much more intelligent, cautious, and meticulous.
They don’t recklessly attack, even if they seem to show an opening on purpose.
Like highly trained elite soldiers, they only swing their swords when they are guaranteed safety.
The guards of the Observatory were real knights with only one life to lose, not zombies or golems.
“Watch out for the sword energy! We have the numerical advantage, so keep pressing!”
They isolate Adella and me, separating us.
They’ve cowardly devised a plan to keep Adella as a hostage, taking advantage of her injured leg so I couldn’t protect her.
The difficulty of the game was going haywire.
I barely managed to deflect a sword coming at my throat.
I spun my body halfway around, utilizing momentum, and accurately stabbed a surprised enemy in the chest with a precise thrust.
Ping—
It should have been an attack potent enough to pierce straight through the chest, right?
But my blade shattered helplessly.
[Current Penalty (3): -45%]
‘Ah, so that’s how it is.’
All my physical actions are being halved.
It’s a familiar feeling.
It’s akin to the curse I felt when I first logged into World of Arseria, where my mana circuits were interrupted.
Both mass and acceleration were unchanged, but,
The strength applied to my sword fell short of the product of both.
“Now’s our chance!”
The weighty great sword buried itself into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt.
I managed to twist my body to avoid it, but because of that, my range of motion became ridiculously limited.
Dozens of ominous eyes lit up.
They were the gazes of predators waiting for my mistake.
One knight was stealthily stabbing from behind me. Two knights were trying to crush me with their bodies while dropping their shields. Am I surrounded?
A sacrificial lamb is needed.
And the first offering is clearly my body.
I slipped my hand into the path of the incoming sword.
Sshh-
With my gauntlet deflecting the sword’s path, it grazed my waist, while my right arm got completely wrecked.
In return, I slammed down my left elbow onto the knight’s wrist, completely disarming him.
Utilizing his shifting center of gravity, I grabbed the knight’s arm, who was twice my weight, and flipped him over.
With a perfect throw, the knight dropped headfirst, unable to regain his senses.
“Grab him! The enemy still doesn’t have a weapon!”
As I dodged the guard flying at me from mid-air, he succeeded in grabbing my ankle even as he fell.
If it were acceleration, I could’ve broken free from an adult male’s grip.
“…!”
[You cannot use acceleration. (0.4 seconds)]
Still in cooldown, huh?
Things are looking grim.
I could sense their smirks even beyond their concealed helmets.
If my skills are on cooldown, I should have some alternate method ready… but the fatigue from the ongoing battle has left my brain in refusal mode.
An intense strike that could cleave the body comes flying at me.
Death is right at my doorstep.
“NoName!”
Crack—
“Adella?”
“What are you doing? You… almost died! Get up quickly!”
Adella had barely managed to block the knight’s attempt to cleave my head in two with her tiny dagger crossed in an X shape.
Without a moment to waste, she pushed back the guard and handed me the incense burner.
“I picked it up while escaping from the Observatory! As a priest, you should be able to handle this level of weapon, right?”
[Corrupted Incense Burner]
[A passerby dropped this incense burner. It emanates an ominous aura, having absorbed the earth’s mana.]
[Skill acceleration 30, spell power +15, healing reduction effect 20%]
Skill acceleration? That’s a pretty nice stat to have, isn’t it?
[Acceleration lv.2: Grants 23% (20+3%) movement speed and 17.25% (15+2.25%) attack speed for 5 seconds.]
[MP cost: 50, cooldown: 10.77 (14-3.23) seconds]
“Thanks. Let’s fight together.”
With acceleration, I can somewhat make up for my weak attack power.
“No! I need you to heal me! What’s going to happen if you go off alone, Forest Keeper! Hey, hey, hey, Adella, I’m gonna die! Save me!”
