episode_0281

The accident is complicated.

This is the evil part of this game that I know best.

Even while looking at the monitor and screaming, I never forget it even after entering the monitor and being possessed here.

But just for this moment.

A feeling of endless discomfort came over me.

In this game, all kinds of trials come to Karsain on a daily basis.

It’s not entirely strange that events that occur with a small probability occur.

There were many experiences where I almost died from a knife being shoved into my throat or from an abnormal status, as well as threats from choices and episodes.

Yeah, that’s correct.

Because at the center of any incident is Karsine.

‘And Karsene is me. So I should be the one being attacked.’

But why?

Are you blatantly targeting Harnie and not me?

For what reason, anyway?

─Gyaaaahhh!!

“…!”

My ears, which had been dull, opened at the sound of screaming again.

‘…Yeah. Now is not the time to be leisurely like this.’

-Sreung.

▶Episode V. The Aftermath of the Martial Arts Tournament is in progress.◀

▶The last event that will take place in the venue has been designated.◀

▶Eliminate all the demons within the hall.◀

[Number of Demons: 50]

On the outside, you might not see anything.

However, there is an invisible timer for this event.

As the demons’ offensive continues, the participants become flustered and cannot exert 100% of their strength.

Not only that, but the surrounding people are in a state of panic as soon as they see the devil, so the helpers’ strength to save them is greatly reduced. This is because magic cannot be used carelessly inside the building.

If time is delayed here…

‘Time limit. Game over.’

A bad ending where everyone here is killed because they failed to deal with the demons’ attack.

That’s the dead flag that appears in this event.

In other words, it’s all my turn as the player.

This event will not end unless Karsain removes a specified number of demons.

Since it appears with a slim chance, the difficulty level is set to be really high.

Anyway, I had to move as quickly as possible.

“Carcein!”

As I drew my sword and tried to move, Harnie grabbed my arm.

“Are you trying to uproot the demons?”

“It’s dangerous. Harnie. If you ask me to take you with me, I will refuse.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

There was a brief roar as the magic circle unfolded, and then a small jewel fell out of her clothing. She held it out to me.

“This is…”

“Take it. Carcein. You’ll need it.”

A jewel that Harnie would always attach to her clothes and carry around with her wherever she went.

This is the world’s best self-defense tool, intricately woven with the guardian’s seal to detect poisons and aphrodisiacs to protect the weak body.

“No way. If I give this to Harnie, you will be in danger.”

“…You’re more dangerous than me.”

“What is that…?”

“You’re not planning on going in there and eliminating the source of the demons? Then, if anything happens, you’re more dangerous than me, who can fight with those people, since you have to move alone. You’re not even going to a place like that with something to brighten your vision?”

“…”

I was speechless.

I thought I could just break through and destroy the source like in the game, but it would look different from Harnie’s perspective.

It must have seemed so dangerous for one to single-handedly break through those evil spirits that threaten human life.

‘Besides, the inside of the building was completely dark.’

As with any event in the game, all lights went out.

Not only the chandelier, but all the lights in each room had gone out, and even the lights that were powered by magic stones had all faded and disappeared.

In the midst of all this, fighting while avoiding the demons’ surprise attacks in a space covered in dark vision, it was impossible to avoid injuries.

but.

If this were available, things would be different.

“It’s okay. I can’t use magic freely, but I can at least protect myself. And.”

Harnie gently held my hand with both of his.

“If you’re really that worried… Come back sooner.”

“Yes?”

“You just have to be by my side.”

…You gave me the only way to protect myself, and now you’re telling me to just come back and protect that person.

But that’s the truth.

It would be right to quickly deal with events like this and come back.

-Sreung.

“I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

[ 3. Draw your sword and go eliminate the source of the demons’ intrusion. ]☑

-Tiring!

▶Choose the option to determine the branch.◀

▶The hidden time limit is displayed, and the timer increases slightly.◀

[ Time remaining: 11 minutes 29 seconds ]

[ Additional time: 2 minutes ]

▶Warning! A large number of menacing demons are appearing!◀

▶Be careful not to die from the demons’ attacks!◀

***

“Keeek!”

-Tiring!

[ Number of Demons Removed: 16 ]

[ Number of individuals remaining: 34 ]

When this event occurs, the path forward while eliminating the demons becomes extremely difficult.

The existing backroom building was a space where all sorts of traps were rampant for Carcein, so even after this event occurred, those traps could not be ignored.

The trap that led to the accidental contact with the female character was because it pressured Carcein in various ways.

The door, which had been weakened while dancing, suddenly falls over, leaving a gap, and if you step on the bananas that the children had laid out as a prank, you will also be attacked by the demons.

The worst case scenario would be injuries from falling building debris or being stabbed by sharp wooden frames or aggregate, causing your HP to rapidly decrease.

Those traps were laid in countless numbers.

I couldn’t figure it all out, and some of them changed their layouts with the attacks of the demons, so I had to experience bitterness every time I played.

However, these damages were mainly caused by one status abnormality.

If that weren’t the case, Carcein would never be taken lightly.

That was actually the case.

▶You will not be affected by the Darkness status effect due to the effects of certain items!◀

Traps that were once a headache now become visible as soon as the dark vision disappears.

It was this brightly shining jewel that illuminated my vision.

‘…Thanks to the jewel Harnie gave me.’

◆Jewel of Guardianship

[ Protects the owner of the jewel from various threats. It cannot be affected by status effects below level 3, except for darkness and poisoning, and damage taken is greatly reduced due to the protective effect. ]

▶Complete immunity to darkness status.

▶Complete immunity to status effects of Lv. 3 or lower.

▶Lv. 4 or higher status abnormality effects reduced by 75%.

▶Vision becomes brighter by 5.

As your vision brightens, the loss of stamina and action power is noticeably reduced.

Not only that, but HP is barely reduced, and since you can move your body freely, you have plenty of time left.

Thanks to the effect of this item that was always floating in the status window, I was able to move easily without stepping on any traps.

As we gradually eliminated the demons, we soon reached the 50th.

however.

“Huh?”

▶Eliminate all the demons within the hall.◀

[ Number of Demons Removed: 50 ]

[ Time limit: 4 minutes 8 seconds ]

Even though 50 of them were removed.

Even though the source of these demons’ appearance was eliminated in time.

The event clear message did not appear.

“If I do this, the original event will be cleared, and the episode will be cleared too?”

-Tiring!

▶You have more than 3 minutes left in the time limit.◀

▶A selection occurs.◀

“…What is this?”

▶Please select a location to move to among the backstage fields.

[ 1. Flower bed ]

[ 2. Room 382 ]

[ 3. Sponsorship Right Fork ]

[ 4. Main Kitchen ]

…

…

A choice that I had never seen before unfolded before my eyes.

Instead of the episode clear window that should have appeared after satisfying the number of events performed following the event clear, a selection screen appeared.

[ Time remaining: 4 minutes 6 seconds ]

“In the meantime, the timer is ticking again?”

It’s so frustrating.

Even though the episode was cleared up so quickly, something else got twisted and I had to make a choice… What the heck is going on?

“No. It doesn’t matter what this choice is.”

You must not choose.

This is too risky.

If it were simply a matter of getting information, there would be reasons to take risks, but that’s not the case now.

The first place I started was the main hall.

In my memory, I went back there after the event was completed.

The moment I was about to turn around.

-No problem. Kukukung!

“…”

Debris forcibly blocked my path.

“No, shit. I told you not to just pass this by─ Whoa!”

-Thud! Kookookookook.

What a fucking mess.

Just because I swore once, he’s going to swing the building around and do whatever he wants.

“…If I try to go back like this, it will take time.”

Since I’ve been focusing on fighting multiple demons, I don’t have much mana left.

It won’t be easy to cut down that debris, and we don’t even know how far it’s blocked…

In the end, you have to choose.

I can’t choose the right answer here because I don’t know what it is. It would be a disaster if it was a place with a trap or a field where a trigger occurs.

At that time, I was slowly selecting safe places by using the method of elimination, trying to remember as much as I could.

-Dudduk. Dudduk!

From somewhere, a familiar sound was heard.

Something rough flew towards my body with an eerie sound.

-Kang!

“Huh…!”

The body is pushed by a heavy weight.

If I hadn’t quickly focused my senses, I might have been blown away several meters instead of being able to stop it.

It crawls out of the darkness, adjusting its posture.

It’s definitely a devil.

But it was different.

“This is… that guy Maf’s time…?!”

Unlike the species we’ve removed here so far.

***

“Oh my.”

-thud.

The demon who had been swinging the tree trunk repeatedly to attack has fallen.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that strong…

“Ha, why on earth is this here?”

The tree monster Maf.

The bastard would have completely disappeared if he had caught Claire alone.

There is no devil in this place.

It’s not like the devil would have appeared at this event.

What the hell happened…

‘hmm?’

A person’s voice is heard from somewhere in the hallway.

No, actually this is not a human voice.

“Black, ugh…!”

The crying was right.

I wondered what the hell was going on, but strangely enough, as I followed the sound of crying, a location that appeared in the options appeared.

Perhaps, it was not a coincidence.

-Suddenly.

As I open the door and go in, I see a frightened woman.

Ha. But I thought it was a voice I’ve heard a lot.

Heli. Was it this woman?

It’s a situation where a futile sigh comes out naturally, but this woman.

It doesn’t look normal.

“I, I, I saw it. Those, those people… turning people into demons… into demons…”

“…what?”

“Those, those things that turned into trees…were originally people…! I said it was a plan!”

Originally a human? A plan to turn a human into a demon?

At that moment, something flashed through my mind.

“Hey, you, tell me more. What the─”

“To proceed with the plan, Harnie Youngae must be eliminated, eliminated… I, that’s all I know! I don’t know! So, please, please save me!”

After that, Heli started screaming and talking nonsense, grabbed me and kept repeating that he was begging me to spare him, and then collapsed from exhaustion.

But here’s what I heard.

It was completely consistent with the feeling of discomfort that suddenly came to mind.

“Harnie… should be removed?”

-Tiring!

▶Episode V. Cleared the aftermath of the martial arts tournament.◀

▶You have succeeded in bringing about results beyond the options!◀

▶You’ve obtained additional information by clearing the hidden event.◀

[ The plan of an invisible force has been discovered . ]

[ ??? is rising ]

[ Current figure: 80% ]

▶??? has reached 80%, so it gives away the secrets of the world.◀

【Your death brought despair to someone. This despair spread like an epidemic and laid that person’s soul here.】

【 It’s not too late, Kim Min-hyuk. 】