“…What the heck is this?”
Rubia swallowed as she looked at the Great Sword lodged in the ground.
“When did you pull off such a cute trick? It seems like one hit won’t cut it. Please hit me three times.”
Ser, who was standing next to her, scrunched his face in genuine annoyance.
“…How did Noa-san know about this?”
“Um… I felt it.”
When Hermila stood up, a surge of energy emanated from her, enveloping the area.
At the same time, I felt it wrap around our bodies.
At first, I was puzzled, but by concentrating, I began to understand what it was.
The essence of the energy was called “Jinki.”
According to Sirin’s explanation, it was a power that uses life force as its source. The more impressive the achievements of the person, the stronger the power became, and she listed various things, but… what was it again?
Anyway.
The essence of Jinki is manifesting one’s strongest desires more clearly.
It could be seen as similar to a unique ability, but it’s a bit of a higher-tier power than that.
The downside is… since it draws from life force, it shortens one’s lifespan.
Of course, the lifespan Hermila used as payment is measured in hours.
Hmm… maybe quite a few hours?
Around 20 hours…?
Surely there was a skill in the game that had such an effect.
It was a skill learned at the final level, level 110.
I don’t remember the name, but it was a skill that consumed HP to use.
It wasn’t flashy, but I think its damage was incredibly high… um, my memory is vague…
“Does Noa-san know about this power… the essence of Jinki?”
As I was desperately trying to recall a ramen recipe that suddenly slipped my mind, Hermila’s voice pulled me back to reality.
“Ugh… yes, yes.”
“You can feel it?”
Nod–
“You know it’s a power that gnaws at your lifespan, right?”
“Y-Yeah…?”
Hermila, who had been looking at me with a complicated expression for a moment, sighed.
“Right. Noa-san… um, no.”
Then she dusted herself off and took a step back, bowing her waist.
“I sincerely apologize. I’m sorry.”
“Add a little more sincerity to that.”
“…I’m sorry.”
After briefly bowing, Hermila raised her head, her expression slightly more rigid than usual—a somehow stiff look.
“To definitively subjugate Valoran, I intended to use you all. Well… more precisely, I aimed to harness your positions and reputations to unify the residents.”
“Positions and… reputations?”
“Yes. The position of a Shaman and the reputation of a Mage Tower Master. Moreover, since Rubia-san is revered as a hero in Cartia, uniting the residents would have been easier.”
“If necessary, would you have sacrificed us?”
“Of course not. You don’t need to play such roles. It wouldn’t even be possible.”
Her voice had a sense of conviction.
“Your existence is something that cannot be exchanged for anything else in this world. I thought you might have some understanding of this, right?”
Glancing at her with piercing eyes.
“From your expression, it seems you do. First, may I sit down and continue explaining?”
Nodding, Ser sat down first.
After her, Hermila took a seat.
Then it was my turn.
And Rubia, who was still standing, said, “I still can’t trust Hermila.”
She said this while glaring at Hermila.
“I understand.”
“But…”
Slowly, Rubia’s hand gently patted my head.
“Since Noa believes in you… I’ll try to believe as well.”
“…Thank you.”
“Now, could you explain? We can’t just sit around like this forever.”
With that last statement, Rubia plopped down next to me.
“Phew… since things have turned out this way, let’s skip the pleasantries and get right to the point. If you need to apologize more, I’ll offer it again later, but for now, please.”
“Well then, I’ll postpone hitting Hermila-san to next time.”
Snicker– Hermila nodded and picked up a stick rolling around on the floor.
Then she proceeded to trace a circle on the ground.
“Now Noa-san can see this, right?”
“Um… yes.”
“Hehe, I will slowly explain each part now. So, this is Cartia.”
She drew a small circle within a large one.
That small circle is the main land, right?
“Within this, for opening a dimensional rift, the magic circles will be…”
Tap- Tap- Tap-
A total of twelve dots were marked.
“There are these, but since they can change at any time, I hope you just keep that in mind… Oh, it’s changing even now.”
While Hermila continued to adjust the positions of the dots, she began to inscribe numbers next to them without stopping.
“The order is like this. The mages dispatched from Erden will activate the magic circles sequentially. They cannot be stopped. It will work at the cost of their lives, regardless of how far away they are.”
Thus, she marked numbers all the way to 13.
Wait… there are 12 magic circles, but why are there 13 numbers…?
I counted one by one, starting from where it began.
There were still 13.
But why are Rubia and Ser not saying a word while watching?
“Hmm…”
As I tilted my head for a while, Hermila smiled and added an explanation.
“There are these 12 magic circles, and the one in the main land is the summoning circle.”
“Ahh…!”
“Did you understand?”
“Yes…!”
“Good job! Now, let’s move on to the next part. Once the magic circles operate in this order, they will consume the offerings prepared by Erden and activate the summoning circle.”
Hermila drew a line from the magic circle to the summoning circle.
Looking at Ser, Hermila said.
“Originally, Ser-san was supposed to block the magical power from reaching the summoning circle, but that’s no longer possible.”
Hearing that, Ser’s expression crinkled.
“Isn’t it just magical power?”
“Yes. The moment Ser-san decided to join us, Erden changed the structure of the summoning circle. It draws from human life—”
She trailed off, drawing a new circle far away.
“To be precise, it draws the life of a fetus born in the underground of the cult.”
Rubia, with a look of horror, clamped her hands over her ears.
Ser, whose expression rarely changed, also grimaced and ground his teeth.
“The essence of a newly born life is the most vibrant and pure. Plus, it possesses the most life force, making it the most suitable fuel for use.”
“…Fuel, you say.”
Even while having this horrifying conversation, Hermila showed no change in emotion.
“Of course, we’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to stop it. But it was already too late. The moment they entered the world, their souls were extracted. It seems they’ve been planning for this variable for quite a while.”
Amidst the heavy silence, Hermila tapped the ground with the stick.
“All that’s in the past. There’s nothing to be gained in regretting it now. So, let’s continue explaining.”
Even while discussing something dreadful, there was no emotional fluctuation from her.
“When the magic circle activates, the summoning circle will be triggered within around 5 minutes. Then a dimensional rift will open in the sky.”
The smoothly moving stick swirled chaotically inside the large circle.
“The Valoran that emerges from that dimensional rift will immediately launch an area attack upon landing. This will be true no matter what future can be seen.”
An area attack that triggers the moment a raid starts.
Valoran will descend on a steed, plunging a Great Sword down, creating a shockwave.
If you start without knowing anything, you might as well start with half HP… it’s a very frustrating pattern…
“We will charge in right after that attack subsides. If that happens, Valoran will show two types of reactions. One is closing the distance and attacking while riding, and the other is scattering red projectiles. There are many other patterns, but these two have been the most frequent, so we’ll plan around that.”
The charging attack pattern while riding is…
Taking two steps forward, then swinging right, up, down, left, down, up, right, and diagonally left before completing a whirl whoosh—boom!
If you parry through all that and jump at the end to dodge the shockwave, that’s when you get your chance to attack, the easiest pattern.
The speed of the Great Sword swinging was absurdly fast, but… well, if you record the screen and watch it in 0.25 speed, everything becomes clear.
That way, you can remember it easily.
I even jotted it down on a Post-it and stuck it at the corner of my monitor.
“First is the countermeasure against melee attacks. Once they begin charging while riding… we must avoid them at all costs.”
Whoa.
Umm… well, that makes sense.
In reality, they won’t be swinging in a predictable pattern, but wildly.
The speed would be insane.
So just dodging is…
“Right, up, down, left… generally like that, the attacks will come in a way I couldn’t possibly track them with my eyes.”
Huh?
“Even if I can manage to block the first four, blocking them all is impossible. So while I hold them off at the front, you all should back away and attack Valoran. This is the Elixir for that.”
Rubia squeezed my hand tightly with a trembling expression.
Ser mumbled as if he didn’t like that plan, gnawing on his lips, while I held my breath and tilted my head.
Listening to Hermila, it sounded like the patterns I’d seen countless times in the game before, right?
If that’s the case… I should be able to handle it easily.
