Ch.64Chapter 64. Twisted Fate

Murderer.

The most frightening thing about traitors who extend their malice toward fellow humans is that when they deliberately hide, they become indistinguishable from ordinary people.

Such fear becomes especially prominent in places isolated from society, like dungeons.

[If you look for the room with the library after your first camp, a member of the Murderer Clan hiding in your party will soon begin their operation. It’s a dangerous plan to occupy the base camp that the Adventurer’s Guild wants to establish inside the dungeon, and eliminate all adventurers who come there.]

As Irie said, many adventurers besides our party are attempting to clear this dungeon.

The larger the scale, the more important supplies and rest areas become, so if we find a suitable spot during exploration, multiple adventurers will try to establish a camp.

Even though the detailed structure of the dungeon changes moment by moment, the overall layout remains largely the same, making camp establishment particularly important in the early stages of exploration.

[If such a base camp is occupied by the Murderer Clan, adventurers who enter the camp for rest will be violated without knowing anything, losing their lives and spoils. And since Heroes interfere with such camp occupation, the Murderer Clan has placed one of their members in some of the Hero parties that have entered the dungeon.]

[Even a Fallen Hero’s power as a Hero cannot be ignored, so she would also become a target for the Murderers. After her death serves as a signal, the Murderer Clan members who return to camp will receive his signal and begin their full-scale operation.]

Of course, despite being fallen, she’s still called a Hero.

Having witnessed her power up close, they would strongly feel the need to eliminate her, but since I can’t earn the trust of my party members either, they wouldn’t believe this situation.

“Haa, really, I hid it so well, yet somehow you found out my affiliation and name.”

So I need to explain the situation after dealing with this guy here.

Having reached that conclusion, I held my spear in a standoff when the Murderer pointed his crossbow at me and asked:

“So, what are you planning to do? You’ve openly revealed your identity, and exposed mine too… Should I accept that one of us has to die here?”

“Is there any need to say that out loud? You should know well enough after always aiming for the backs of Heroes and being cautious.”

“Kya~ I thought you were the quiet type, but you know how to be sarcastic too~ Well, I guess this is my true self~”

The Murderer laughed smugly with an impudent attitude.

But despite his playful demeanor, the crossbow he aimed showed no trembling, and his eyes flashed with killing intent.

Though disconcerted at having his identity exposed, he seemed to be accepting the situation and approaching it coolly.

“Well, I guess you have your own circumstances for wanting to protect that kid. If elimination was your goal, you would have watched until I dealt with her and then stabbed me in the back to steal the credit…”

Of course, he wouldn’t know exactly who I am.

He’s just making assumptions based on my infamous reputation as a Hero Slayer, thinking I’m someone from the underworld like himself.

“But I’m asking just in case—have you grown attached to that child? Or are you bothered by the Fallen Hero label she got because of you?”

Yet his following question carried a bitterness that seemed far from how one would address a villain.

Isn’t that strange?

According to Irie’s prophecy, he’s an assassin from the infamous Murderer Clan of the underworld, and he himself doesn’t deny it, calmly accepting the situation.

So he should be scum who shows no mercy to his targets, but why does he show such emotional aspects when speaking of affection toward someone?

“…Sigh, let’s stop this.”

As I was thinking this, he relaxed his tension-stiffened body and put down the crossbow he was holding.

When I flinched and raised my spear, he lifted both hands above his head to demonstrate his defenselessness.

“…What are you plotting?”

“It’s not a plot, I just don’t feel like it. The organization ordered me to assassinate the Hero in my party at an appropriate time, but killing a child who hasn’t even had her coming-of-age ceremony doesn’t sit right with me.”

“You expect me to believe that…”

“I do this to make a living, but honestly, I’m getting sick of this business. Doing dirty work gets old after a while, and I’m not some psychopath—ordering me to kill a young Hero who’s being bullied by F-rank adventurers… it’s just not something a human should do.”

A frightened, helpless young girl with nowhere to turn—a victim that anyone with a human heart would feel sympathy for.

Mentioning something that would evoke compassion in anyone with a heart, he raised his hands even higher and gave me a bitter smile.

“I actually enjoyed traveling with you, didn’t you feel the same?”

As if appealing to the bond we’d formed together.

Certainly we’d only been together for a day or two, but that’s enough time to get a sense of someone’s character.

Though he’s scum who has killed many people, based solely on what he’s shown so far, it would be a stretch to say he’s completely heartless.

Even when making playful jokes, he never crossed the line, and when others gossiped about the girl, he didn’t join in, occasionally muttering words of sympathy and compassion for the Hero…

“…I’ll restrain you for now, so it’s best not to try anything foolish.”

“Thanks for trusting me.”

Paul Denian smiled with satisfaction at the trust I expressed while remembering these points.

I closed the distance with him as he maintained his posture with both arms raised, and visibly took out a multi-purpose rope from my pocket to restrain him.

To gain his trust through such actions.

And when the distance closed, to switch tactics and stab his legs with my spear.

-Swoosh!

And at that moment, his raised hands began to come down toward me.

In his hand was a dagger that had sprung from his sleeve, ready to slash my neck.

Damn, his dagger is faster than my spear.

Should I rely on my armor’s durability and clash with him?

-Clang!!

But before I could make that judgment, my Ego Weapon reflexively struck the dagger.

As the dagger’s blade shattered miserably against the mythril’s hardness, the Murderer looked down at the fragments and took a step back with a stiff smile.

“…Isn’t that too harsh? I even threw away my weapon and surrendered.”

“Only a fool would trust someone whose passive skill is deceiving others.”

Though his acting was so natural that I was momentarily fooled, I absolutely trusted Irie’s prophecy.

And Irie had written in her note:

If I don’t ‘deal with’ this guy here, a massive slaughter of adventurers in this dungeon, including our party, will begin.

-Crash!!

Of course, if he were someone who could be reasoned with, she wouldn’t have used the expression ‘deal with’ in the first place.

With that certainty, I threw my spear to pursue him as he tried to leave the library, and the spear hit the corridor wall, releasing physical force that buried part of the path he was trying to take.

“Kya, so this is what it takes to be called a Hero Slayer.”

“Stop right there, you bastard!!”

“Standing here would make me the fool! Woohoooo~”

The Murderer fled while making strange exclamations as if mocking me.

By the time I recalled my spear embedded in the wall, he had already moved beyond throwing range and was preparing to turn a corner.

He momentarily paused there, smiling provocatively with his characteristic arrogant grin.

“Sorry about this! Nothing personal, but our industry runs on credibility! I genuinely feel sorry for the Hero, but I can’t betray prior commitments!”

“Then I’ll go ahead, so good luck to you spearman and your party without a scout! Hahaha!”

“Damn you, who said I’d let you go!?”

After briefly looking back at where I’d come from, I gripped my spear and began running through the dungeon corridors to pursue him.

Though following him would take me away from my companions, I realized this was also part of the flow predicted in the prophecy.

[If you fail to subdue him when lured to the library, don’t rejoin your companions, but drive him in the opposite direction. If you go that way, you’ll soon find many adventurers who are trying to establish a base camp there.]

[Starting with him, uncover the Murderers hiding among the adventurers, and join the Hero to reinforce the base camp to prepare for the upcoming attack. Just by supporting her at her side, the infamous title of Fallen Hero will somewhat recover, which will also lead to benefits and safety guarantees for you, Hyoseong.]

According to the prophecy, the base camp isn’t far from here.

First, I’ll drive him to the camp, then seek cooperation from the people there to capture him, and afterward convince my party members with their help to make them understand this situation favorably.

Yes, if everything goes according to plan, everything will be resolved well.

“Hey, base camp!! Look over here!!!”

But Irie said that while she can see predetermined futures in detail, she can only prophesy roughly about futures that are trying to change.

This means she can’t detect all the variables that occur in the immediate situation.

“There’s a Hero Slayer rampaging over there! That guy tried to kill all our party members!”

“Y-you crazy bastard…!!”

No sooner had I arrived at the place designated as the base camp as planned, than the Murderer boldly shouted lies to the shadows there.

Just by being a little late to stop him, I realized the situation was getting terribly complicated.

I’m in a socially distrusted position, but he can’t be distinguished from an ordinary adventurer unless his identity as a Murderer is revealed.

Since there are already some Murderers hiding in the base camp, if they deliberately incite people, those who don’t know the situation will inevitably be swayed.

“Everyone look this way! Over here!”

Damn, what should I do?

Maybe I should put on a mask and try to persuade them too… Wait. Something feels off about this atmosphere.

If this place is used as a base camp, they should have lit lamps or campfire kits, so why isn’t anyone lighting a fire in this enclosed space?

“Hey, can’t you hear me?! Hello!”

But perhaps because he was being pursued, the Murderer failed to notice these strange points?

He approached the crowd shrouded in darkness without hesitation, and only after closing the distance with them did he seem to notice something, freezing in place.

“Uh, wait. What is this?”

-Uuuuugh…

A groan.

But far from what an ordinary human would utter.

Low, gloomy, and completely devoid of vitality…

Like a sound that might be made by the dead rather than the living.

-Uuuuugh, uuuuugh!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

But by the time he noticed, he was already caught by them.

As he was dragged away by the shadows, his flesh was mercilessly torn by bony hands and weapons, causing blood to burst forth.

“Ah, aagh! S-save… kuhek!!”

Squish, tear!

A series of horrific sounds, so terrible that one couldn’t imagine his previous cocky demeanor.

I realized these were the sounds of a human body being butchered in real time, but even that wasn’t happening in one swift stroke like cutting off a head.

Starting from the skin, they were indiscriminately digging through the leather and organs, tearing off fragments bit by bit and putting them in their mouths…

“S-save me…”

The Murderer, being eaten away bit by bit, managed to escape from the crowd, but by then his facial skin had been completely peeled off, leaving him in a hideous state.

-Uuuuugh.

As if unwilling to allow even such resistance, the dead grabbed his body again, tearing it apart with their hands and beginning to devour it ravenously.

Some of them turned away from the tattered living corpse and began to open their mouths, dripping with hunger, directing their crazed eyes toward me.

-Gruuuugh…

-Uuugh, kyaaaah!!

Yes, they’re Undead.

The people who had been stationed at this base camp had somehow turned into zombie-like creatures and were occupying this place.

“This is insane…”

This can’t be happening. Why have the adventurers in this dungeon turned into Undead?

Even though dungeons are places where space-time is distorted and anything can appear, there’s usually some consistency with the environment.

In a place where only stone-type monsters like gargoyles should appear, why is a situation that wasn’t in the prophecy unfolding out of nowhere?

[Please be sure to read this part before reading the note with the prophecy.]

At that moment, I recalled the content written at the very beginning of Irie’s note.

The warning phrase written before getting to the main point was sufficient to understand this incomprehensible situation.

[Hyoseong. My prophecies may hold true in most situations, but they cannot be said to be absolutely perfect.]

Prophecies about the future are not perfect.

Such a confession would be quite fatal to trusting a prophet, but Irie had also written in her note why this happens.

[The reason is that there are beings called ‘Transcendents’ in this world who can interfere with the future I read, albeit few in number.]

Transcendents.

Beings whose movements cannot be predicted even by the power of a prophet like her, who have in some sense reached a realm beyond cognition, even more so than Heroes.

I immediately understood when she mentioned their existence because I had encountered several beings who could be called such since coming to this world.

The vampire I met recently, Vivian who can blow away an entire building with just a finger, and Tachia who, though I don’t know her exact identity, treats Ego Weapons as trivial—I suspect they are all such beings…

[So if you feel the situation is diverging from the prophecy, immediately destroy all the notes I’ve given you and leave that place. Once a Transcendent has twisted the future, the subsequently prophesied future will also be twisted in a chain reaction.]

Yes, a Transcendent who can twist the future Irie prophesied has appeared in this dungeon at some point, and ahead of me, they visited the base camp, massacred the adventurers, and resurrected them as Undead.

And if we’re talking about forces associated with Undead and transcendental beings in this world, there’s only one.

“Fuck… why is a boss-level entity like the Four Knights showing up in a dungeon where newbies play?”

The Lord of Corpses.

One of the calamities threatening humanity by creating an army of corpses under the ideology of turning all living beings into moving corpses.

One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who follows him has, for some reason, begun to extend their grasp into this dungeon at this moment.