episode_0111

Before entering the Elven Forest, I gave them a warning.

“Listen carefully, everyone.”

“Got it!”

“The spatial distortion magic has faded enough for us to enter, but the distortions aren’t completely gone yet.”

“It hasn’t all disappeared?”

“Nope.”

Some remnants of the distortion magic remain.

So I explained.

“The first distortion magic is perceptual distortion.”

“Perceptual distortion?”

“Remember when I explained before why feelings of disgust exist?”

“You mean when you showed us that mold?”

“Yeah.”

“Basically, it was something like that, right? Dangerous things trigger disgust, while safe things don’t.”

“Well… roughly speaking, yes.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the kind of distortion we’ll encounter this time.”

“?”

I kept it simple.

Safe allies would appear as monsters,

while dangerous monsters would appear as lovers.

“So… if we enter the forest, we’ll look like orcs or goblins?”

“Whoa…”

“And the more affection someone has for you, the more grotesque their form becomes. If they genuinely like you, they might transform into something worse than orcs or goblins.”

“So the more someone loves you, the creepier they look?”

“That’s one way to put it.”

“Ugh… I seriously hate this…”

“That’s why, no matter what shows up, don’t attack.”

“Because Cain might kill you?”

“Yeah.”

The heroes fighting among themselves is one thing,

but the real problem is that the hero party might kill me.

I’m just a D-rank adventurer who’d die in one hit.

“But isn’t not attacking at all dangerous? Couldn’t actual monsters appear?”

“Well, yeah, technically they could…”

The chance of encountering monsters is practically 0%.

Until just yesterday, this place was a forbidden zone where no one could enter due to the distortion magic.

Not just people,

but monsters couldn’t get in either.

Thanks to that, it’s safer than most places—you’d have a harder time spotting even a single goblin here.

…That said,

it’s not literally 0%.

There’s a slim chance that goblins or orcs living near the Elven Forest might have slipped in.

But there’s no need to worry.

Most of them are weak fodder even I can handle,

and their numbers wouldn’t be high anyway.

…Still,

not being able to attack at all is a problem,

so I prepared a contingency.

“Sophia.”

“Yes?”

“Pull out about six beam swords, fully charged with divine energy.”

“Ah! That’s a great idea!”

Sophia immediately took out the beam swords and handed them out one by one.

“Beam swords?”

“If we fight with these, we won’t spill blood among ourselves.”

I gave a quick explanation.

Divine energy beam swords.

Blades of light forged by compressing divine energy—a weapon that slices through enemies.

They deal no physical damage,

instead attacking purely with divine energy.

Because of this, they have a unique trait.

If they strike a demon or monster, they inflict critical bonus damage,

but if they hit a human, they restore HP.

So.

If we fight with these, even if we attack each other, no blood will be shed.

“Whoa…”

“Take two each, since they’re special weapons.”

One as a main weapon.

One as a backup.

We each took two, treating them like that.

“Cain? What about me?”

“Can you even use a beam sword?”

“I can.”

Kkamang, holding one beam sword in her mouth, leaped between trees, demonstrating dazzling swordsmanship.

A technique that sliced through twenty falling leaves in an instant.

The divine energy blade couldn’t physically cut the leaves,

but it left clear marks of divine energy behind—

proof she could have cut them.

“Whoa…”

“How’s that? It’s my first time using a sword in my mouth, but… I think I can be at least somewhat helpful…”

“First time?”

“Yeah… It hasn’t been long since I took on this cat’s body…”

“Not long?”

“Right…”

“Then… you fought Alice to a draw in an unfamiliar state?”

“Ah… Well…”

“?”

“When I fight seriously… my form changes… Even then, saying I was on par with Alice feels… a bit off.”

“?”

“Alice called it a draw, but… it ended that way because I couldn’t move after using an unfamiliar technique, and she attacked then…”

“Seriously?”

“By outcome alone, it was a draw, but going by the process, it was more like my loss… Alice was so strong that calling it even feels inaccurate.”

“That’s still incredible.”

“Huh?”

“There are very few warriors who can mutually annihilate Alice.”

Right now, Alice is as strong as a cheatless generic hero in Prophecy RPG.

And Kkamang could trade blows with her?

That alone puts her on an insane level.

And if her finisher had enough backlash to immobilize her… she must’ve used THAT move.

Alice’s ultimate technique, usable only when Prophecy’s End is active.

Just witnessing that move is a feat in itself.

Why?

Because it means you survived getting hit by her strongest attack in that state.

The Golden Sun died to it.

Jet of Supersonic Speed, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was killed just by splash damage near Prophecy’s End.

Meanwhile,

Kkamang tanked the full brunt—and lived.

Survived the first hit, took another,

and even counterattacked.

That puts her at Demon King level minimum…

Wait…

Right now, fighting Alice to a draw is something even most Demon Kings would struggle with.

And yet?

An ancient hero who lost to the Demon King’s army fought Alice to a draw?

Something doesn’t add up.

If weakened Kkamang could stalemate Alice,

then pre-death Kkamang should’ve been strong enough to wipe out even the Demon King.

But she lost to the Demon King’s army?

That’s impossible.

The Demon King’s army grew stronger over time.

The early Demon King’s forces were multiple times weaker than now.

So.

If Kkamang really could fight Alice evenly, she should’ve won against the armies of that era.

But she didn’t.

That only means one thing.

Kkamang isn’t an ancient hero.

She’s something else entirely.

Something else…

Frankly, the number of people alive who can fight current Alice to a standstill is vanishingly small.

Aside from the hero party, who comes to mind…?

Marianne.

Only one person.

Ah… so that’s why.

If Kkamang is Marianne, even the dream incident makes sense.

It was suspicious from the start.

Lia suddenly shouted, “Lewd playtime!”

A phrase I used in the dream.

Someone could have told her that term,

but the timing—jumping me the moment I woke up—was too perfect.

Back then, I dismissed it as coincidence.

Because entering someone else’s dream without a succubus is impossible.

But.

If a succubus was involved?

If Marianne had already been recruited?

Then slipping into dreams would be trivial.

…The moment I realized that—

This is insane.

I thought she was a fake Marianne,

but she might be the real one.

Holy shit… Was that actually Marianne?

Dream-Marianne had high enough affection to want that with me.

Which means?

Real Marianne might want it too?

…But

For now, it’s just a theory.

Nothing’s confirmed.

Lia shouting “Lewd playtime!” could’ve been pure coincidence.

Maybe there was an ancient hero stronger than the Demon King

who died to an incurable illness before fighting seriously.

So.

I can’t say [Kkamang = Marianne] with 100% certainty.

I’m 90% sure, but…

There’s a 10% chance I’m wrong.

Best to wait for concrete evidence before acting.

Good thing…

The Elven Forest holds that evidence.

The second distortion magic is .

…I explained as much.

“Truth and Lies?”

“Random voices blurt truths or lies to distort relationships. All voices are random—either true or false.”

“Random?”

“Yeah, random.”

“So we can’t tell which is true or false?”

“Basically.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Ignore them all.”

“Ignore?”

“They’re just nonsense meant to divide us. Tune them out.”

“That’s it?”

“If you hear something you can’t ignore, ask if it was true after the distortion ends. Easy, right?”

“Hmm…”

Alice paused, then asked another question.

“Other distortions?”

“The rest are minor—color distortions, smell distortions, stuff like that. Just shrug them off.”

Leaves turning red out of nowhere.

Trees suddenly smelling like grilled meat.

Harmless distortions not worth stressing over.

Focus only on the pattern.

I called it random, but…

No.

Voices that only speak truth.

Voices that only lie.

Over 50 voices spout conflicting stories, making it hard to discern,

but as a Prophecy RPG veteran, I know them all.

So.

I’ll uncover everything.

What the hero party is hiding.

Whether Kkamang is truly Marianne.

I’ll find it all out.