Ch.4747. Special Item

As I entered the hidden space, I immediately felt a sense of weakness.

My body grew heavy, and the surrounding air seemed to push against me.

Moving forward felt like wading through resistance, making every movement feel unnatural.

I knew what was happening. I’d experienced this in the game before.

I opened my status window, which I hadn’t needed to check until now.

[Ludion]

[Strength: 17 (-12)]

[Endurance: 8 (-6)]

[Agility: 26 (-18)]

[Mana: 11 (-8)]

A stat reduction debuff.

Just like in the game, it seemed to reduce my stats by about 70%.

It’s not a problem. My stats were below average to begin with, and in this place, as long as I don’t touch anything I shouldn’t, stat numbers hardly matter.

So growth is blocked, but it can change into other elements.

I’m not sure how to utilize this, but I’ll keep it in mind.

For now, I decided to review what I knew about this place I’d entered.

The Rubetia Imperial Family has many secrets, but three are considered particularly important.

Remnants of the past, the Loser’s Curse, and the Fate of Doom.

One is the dark knowledge accumulated by Rubetia’s ancestors from ancient times.

Another is the seed of demon-kind created from the accumulated curses of kingdoms that were defeated and disappeared in Rubetia’s wars.

And the last one… this one is truly absurd, but with an extremely low probability, there’s a gimmick where the end of the world suddenly arrives.

And fortunately, here in this place I’ve entered, I could deal with that last one.

‘The first two are also troublesome enough if they occur…’

At least those have some logical basis I can understand, but I have no idea why they included the doomsday gimmick.

Do you know the emptiness of suddenly seeing the message “The end has come” and having your game abruptly terminate when everything was going well?

What’s worse, I experienced this during my first playthrough, not long after the game was released.

I spent ages trying to figure out what I’d done wrong, but found nothing.

It took months before it was discovered and started appearing online… I really got screwed over.

Anyway, since the probability of such an absurd ending occurring is equally absurd, I probably don’t need to worry about it… but since I’m already here, it would be good to eliminate one risk factor.

With that thought, I headed deeper inside, when a gender-neutral voice echoed through the empty space.

-Unauthorized individual detected.

I looked up toward the source of the sound, but there was no one there.

However, I wasn’t surprised.

‘This place seems identical to the game, down to the last detail.’

It was the same progression as in the game.

So I ignored the voice and walked deeper into the space.

Sensing this, the voice warned me again.

-Access for unauthorized individuals is prohibited. Stop immediately.

-Defense protocol will be initiated if you do not comply.

“Go ahead~”

It says “defense,” but it’s actually an intruder elimination function.

It fires powerful mana bullets randomly throughout the space, and with my current endurance of just 2, it was clear that even one hit would be fatal.

In other words, I now had to play a bullet-hell game where I couldn’t afford to get hit even once.

And without any retries.

‘This is a bit nerve-wracking.’

Still, I had some confidence.

The difficulty level is insane, but this place was originally a playground for veteran players.

-Initiating defense protocol.

Immediately after the voice spoke, bright red lines began to appear in mid-air.

I recognized what they were instantly.

‘It even shows this?’

They were indicators showing where attacks would come from.

I’m not sure by what criteria they appear, but… I was planning to dodge just by watching the bullets, so this makes it easier.

I moved my body, recalling my memories of playing here.

Dodge what I can, and use invincibility frames to ignore what I can’t.

Do you think breaking through difficult patterns is a matter of talent?

No, it’s surprisingly a matter of effort.

How many times do you think I got a game over while playing this game?

10 times? 100 times?

‘I can’t really remember.’

I asked rhetorically, but there’s no answer. Even I don’t know.

If I could count how many times it took to clear, then yes, it would be a matter of talent.

Once you start putting in effort, there’s no need to count how much you’ve done.

You just keep going until you succeed.

It’s because I repeated it so many times that I’ve been able to survive here until now.

Looking back, all the dodging and parrying I’ve done so far… if I had slipped up even once, who knows what would have happened.

‘I’ve been confident in my abilities, but…’

Despite this clearly being reality, I think I’ve been approaching it too much like a game.

In fact, I entered this place with that same mindset… but I couldn’t help but change my perspective.

While dodging, my left arm suddenly began to burn.

“Ugh.”

Without my noticing, a bullet must have grazed my forearm.

I thought I had dodged it, but my timing must have been slightly off.

This was my first dodging mistake since coming to this world, and my first injury.

-Defense protocol terminated. Qualification granted to the individual.

-Complete. Access permitted. Welcome.

Fortunately, the situation ended before any more mistakes could occur.

The thunderous sounds of bullets whizzing by quieted down as if they had never happened, and the bright red lines that had filled my vision disappeared.

Looking around, I saw that the bullets I had dodged had left countless holes in the walls, making them look grotesque.

I didn’t stare too long as it might trigger trypophobia, but one thing was certain.

“…That was fucking reckless.”

I just nearly died.

Honestly, I was lucky it only grazed me. If I had been unlucky enough to get shot through somewhere, I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened afterward.

I knew this place was dangerous, that as a playground for veteran players, it wasn’t a difficulty level to be challenged lightly.

But I thought I’d be fine.

I thought if I just used my dodging skills well, I could break through everything unscathed and return safely, just like I had up until now.

I was wrong. My torn clothes where the mana bullet had grazed me, and the red liquid flowing from the wound completely contradicted my thinking.

Now that I’ve belatedly realized it… well…

Whatever, I survived, so it’s fine.

I’m clearly aware of the situation, but such carefree thoughts are all that come to mind.

People really do become calm when faced with a life-threatening crisis.

And alongside the thought that I nearly died, another thought occurred to me.

‘So it takes this much pressure for me to make one dodging mistake.’

My stats were reduced by 70%, making my body heavy, and bullets were raining down like crazy from all directions.

And in the midst of all that, just one miss? I think I can trust my evasive maneuvering skills a bit more from now on.

Of course, I should still be somewhat careful about safety. My left forearm is starting to sting.

“How am I going to explain this one?”

Looking at the wound, I saw that the skin was torn in a straight line.

It was just stinging now, but it would probably start hurting properly soon.

My clothes were torn too. Celia would definitely have something to say if she saw this.

For now, I tore off a strip of the already torn clothing and wrapped it around the bleeding area to stop the blood.

Did I do it well? It felt like it had gotten quite a bit better.

Next, I headed toward the door that had opened with the announcement that my entry was permitted.

Having come this far, I couldn’t just turn back… I needed to do what I could while I was here.

Beyond the door was a large hall with three doors.

The large hall was strewn with all sorts of treasures, relics, and special items.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to come here so soon.”

Honestly, I had thought I should find a way to visit at some point, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon.

Of course, I couldn’t take everything I needed right now.

There weren’t any specific restrictions, so I could probably carry things out… but if I carried them out of here, they would be very noticeable.

It’s just a shame I haven’t unlocked my inventory yet.

I’ll have to come back once I get an inventory.

Still, I decided it would be good to gather things I could use immediately, so I started searching through the items.

Soon, I found the items I had in mind.

A mysterious purple gem. And a disc with a strange magic circle drawn on it.

…The system doesn’t provide any explanation?

I thought an item description would appear when I picked them up, like how the status window appears.

Thinking about it, if such a thing were to appear, it would have done so already.

It doesn’t matter if nothing appears. I already know what these items are and what abilities they have.

[The Reclusive Witch’s Revenge]

[There was no need for revenge against a witch who was never discovered, but her ability was revenge itself.]

[When you receive an attack while holding this item, “Grudge” accumulates. You can consume all accumulated Grudge to activate “Revenge,” dealing fixed damage equal to the accumulated Grudge value.]

The purple gem was one of the first items I thought of when considering how to navigate the world with dodging and parrying.

Of course, the amount of Grudge that accumulates is very minimal, and it only stacks up to 500, so it’s not enough damage to take down a high-level enemy in one hit… but it was highly valued for its ability to deal fixed damage.

I never used it in the game, of course. The protagonist’s normal attacks were stronger, so there was no need to use this.

Still, assuming it’s fully charged, 500 damage is enough to walk with your head held high in this dangerous world. For me, it’s more than I could ask for.

I don’t know if Grudge will accumulate properly, and even if it does, I’ll probably only use it in truly desperate situations… but it’s better than nothing.

And the disc is…

[Regret of the Ancient Wizard]

[What do you think you need before starting a journey?]

[The courage of a wolf? The flexibility of a butterfly? The stealth of a snake?]

[All wrong. What you need is the courage to acknowledge your weakness and abandon the journey.]

[Still, it’s better than having nothing. Take one with you.]

[When used, a random type of mark is engraved on your body, and you gain abilities corresponding to that mark.]

It’s a gacha. An ability gacha at that.

There are three types of marks: Red Wolf, Golden Butterfly, and Black Snake. As long as I don’t draw the dud Snake, it should be fine.

But how do I use this?

Not knowing, I placed my hand on the center of the disc, and something like mana began to ripple.

At the same time, I felt something being drawn out of my body.

It seems the disc is designed to activate automatically when it detects the mana of the person touching it.

Including such convenience, this ancient wizard was really serious about helping newbies.

Flash-!

The magic circle on the disc began to glow, and something started to happen.

For me, who currently only has dodging and parrying as tools, this is my only hope! Please be either Wolf or Butterfly!