Misunderstanding

Tired.

Head hurts.

She was naturally shy.

The [Outsider] status added to her embarrassment, causing fatigue to spread rapidly.

What moves Americano is [Berserk].

[Berserk] reacts to a person’s emotions.

Based on the keyword ‘rampage,’ all sorts of emotions become sacrifices to [Berserk]. Resisting the direction of [Berserk] results in debuffs, while cooperating results in buffs.

Americano, amidst her shame, filled her eyes with the [Berserk] of annoyance.

With her eyes glowing red, she faces the third monster on the third floor.

The monster that came up the stairs was human, holding a sword.

The Tower of Trials doesn’t exclusively select monsters as opponents for the Hero.

Just like with [Human Knight Chris], ordinary humans are also chosen and come up as opponents for the Hero.

[Mercenary Daoud]

Gray text.

It was a rare human-type monster, but weak, and she wasn’t in the mood to fight with a sword right now.

Crackle.

Electricity sparks between her fingers.

“I’ve become the opponent of beautiful Heroes. A third-floor Hero, huh? I’m Mercenary Daoud. Please don’t be petty and seek revenge for dying by my hand.”

“….”

“No words? I don’t know what misfortune you were born with to summon me on the third floor. Consider yourself unlucky, Hero.”

[Mercenary Daoud] charged in.

A crude sword with chipped teeth.

Swordsmanship learned in actual combat.

All meaningless.

“You know.”

“It’s too late to beg for mercy!”

“Faster than light?”

As Americano extends her hand forward and unleashes her Awakened Ability, a very simple thing happens.

A thin beam of light connects her index finger to the tip of [Mercenary Daoud]’s sword.

The beam of light emits dazzling light.

Sonic boom.

Bang.

[Mercenary Daoud] turns to ashes and disappears without even realizing he died.

Watching the ashes fade away, she looks up at the ceiling.

No matter what swordsmanship you’ve learned or what magic you’ve mastered, it’s meaningless in the face of overwhelming firepower.

That’s why she disregarded her Awakened Ability.

‘It’s too overpowered to use in the game.’

[3-3 Floor Mercenary Daoud] [Clear (3/3)]

[Rank] [SSS]

[First Reward] [Demon King Stone ×3]

[Party Reward] [Enhancement Stone ×3]

[Reward] [1,500 Gold]

“Nothing special.”

She received the clear message.

She sighed.

One use of her Awakened Ability wasn’t enough to relieve this stress.

“I expected it to be strong, but it’s really strong.”

“And that’s supposed to be hundreds of times weaker than what she used in her world.”

“Isn’t that too much of a cheat?”

Skilla, Tang So-hye, Nabi.

She turned back to where the three were.

Skilla, the party leader, said.

“Let’s stop here for today.”

“Stop here?”

“You’re tired too, right? It’s written all over your face. You fought well against the Orc Warrior.”

“Yes…”

“Still, if I knew a mercenary would appear, I would have made you use your special ability and then swordsmanship.”

They exchanged trivial words.

They went down the stairs.

They exit the Tower of Trials.

On the way out, she asked.

“By the way.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

Tang So-hye.

“Do you happen to know about Rebirth?”

“I do, but why? Rebirth is something everyone in our world desires. The Rebirth implemented in the game is just entering the custom room and changing your Avatar, but it’s still beneficial in that it resets your stats.”

Stats can be reset too?

She didn’t know that because she hadn’t tried it.

“Do you know the conditions?”

Americano wants to do a second Rebirth.

To shed her [Outsider] status.

“In the game, there’s a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Rebirth. I know about the 1st, but the 2nd is clan secret. We’re still learning about the 3rd.”

The game has only been released for a year.

There wasn’t enough time to grasp everything about the game.

But there will be plenty of time to find out in the future.

“For the 1st Rebirth, you need to invest points in stamina. 60 points should be enough. First, build up your stamina through exercise, and when it doesn’t increase even when you push yourself to the limit, then invest the points.”

“Ah… I see.”

She already did the 1st Rebirth.

“But Rebirth doesn’t make things better. You can receive a blessing-type Geass by spending stats during the 2nd Rebirth, but if you’re not going to engrave a Geass, it’s really useless, you know?”

“Is that so?”

Just the [Geass] alone is quite a merit.

[Nine Yin Severed Meridians] also has the problem of freezing, but if you can withstand the cold, you can theoretically use Magical Power almost infinitely.

[Berserk] is also somewhat fun, and [Outsider] is… well, it’s like a completely concept-based [Geass], but if you look closely, there are many interesting [Geass].

“Did you engrave a Geass, by any chance?”

“Huh?”

“Will you tell me?”

“….”

What [Geass] did she engrave?

[Outsider: Enhancement]

[Berserk: Enhancement]

[Nine Yin Severed Meridians: Enhancement]

[Ill-Fated Beauty: Enhancement]

[Ill-Fated Talent: Enhancement]

…How can she say this?

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“Yes… Thank you.”

“Ahaha, thank you for what? It’s natural to keep it a secret when the game has become like this. A Geass is practically a weakness. So, it’s a secret from now on, okay?”

“Yes…”

That’s true.

Weakness.

Hearing it like that, it really was.

Just [Nine Yin Severed Meridians] alone has a curse that freezes you with cold, and if someone pours freezing magic on top of that, you’re completely helpless.

‘Usually, in games or comics, there’s even Chill immunity.’

Well, realistically, that couldn’t be. If there was Chill immunity, [Nine Yin Severed Meridians] wouldn’t have been a deadly disease or a curse in the first place.

“It doesn’t really matter, so I’ll say it, I didn’t engrave any Geass.”

“But, if you engrave, you get, points. If you look closely, there might be, Geass that aren’t, a loss.”

“Of course, I looked into it too.”

But she shrugged her shoulders.

“But they only emphasized my strengths or weaknesses? Maybe they made it to emphasize individuality and enjoy role-playing?”

“Role-playing.”

Thinking about it that way, [Geass] with little merit and significant demerits, like [Outsider] or [Insider], made sense.

It was originally for concept.

‘Is that… so?’

Does it make sense?

The debuff of [Outsider] was too severe to fully accept it.

There’s also the fact that she enhanced [Outsider], and the combination with [Berserk] also has an influence…

Hmm…

Um…

‘Whatever.’

She stopped reasoning.

‘I’m going to remove it anyway.’

“More than anything, engraving a Geass creates a sense of discomfort when using Qi.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah. I heard that engraving a Geass or changing your Avatar to be different from your real appearance changes the shape of your Qi channels. That’s why I’m still using my real appearance even though I’m an Avatar.”

Tang So-hye smiled proudly.

She’s confident in her face.

“Ah, is this a candle boasting in front of the sun?”

“What is?”

“Nothing, never mind.”

Tang So-hye blushed and cleared her throat, “Ahem.”

“By the way, if you don’t mind, can I guess one of your Geass?”

“…Huh?”

Suddenly?

“You can answer however you want, according to my guess. Maybe you…”

Tang So-hye’s eyes glanced at Skilla.

Skilla was being scolded by Nabi.

She was against changing the difficulty to Challenger.

They were arguing about whether to leave the Great Devil unattended.

Tang So-hye said quietly.

“Is it Nine Yin Severed Meridians?”

“….”

Correct.

She flinched for a moment.

Tang So-hye said.

[Geass] will become a weakness.

[Nine Yin Severed Meridians] was Americano’s weak point.

“Judging by your reaction, it seems I’m right?”

“Aren’t you, going to hide it?”

“I’ve been caught, how can I, hide it.”

Tang So-hye briefly explained the reasoning that led her to the correct answer.

She took Americano’s hand.

“It’s cold. Nine Yin Severed Meridians makes your body cold when you use Magical Power. I happened to learn about Nine Yin Severed Meridians recently, so I knew.”

“Can you, tell the difference?”

“I could tell the difference.”

It was an unfortunate coincidence.

“By the way.”

Tang So-hye touched Americano’s clothes.

“It’s a bit torn from fighting the Orc Warrior. Let’s get a new set on the way back.”

“Yes…”

On the way back to the dorm.

They got another set of clothes at the clothing store.

Arriving at the dorm.

Tang So-hye said.

To Skilla and Nabi.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Leaving them in the dining hall, she took Americano upstairs.

“….”

Nabi, left in the dining hall on the first floor, had something she wanted to ask Skilla. She opened her mouth only after Americano was gone.

“Miss, there’s something I want to ask. That…”

She pointed to her neck.

“What’s that on Americano Hero’s neck? It’s like her neck…”

“Looks like it was cut off?”

“…Yes. There was a bruise like that.”

“That’s what it is.”

She expected it, but she was surprised to hear it directly.

“That’s what it is?”

“Her neck was cut off.”

“But the Hero will revive even if she dies, so why…”

“Yeah, she revives.”

Skilla frowned fiercely.

“But she didn’t die.”

“Didn’t die? How can you not die even if your neck is cut off?”

“Usually, you die.”

But she didn’t die.

Skilla was annoyed by that.

Demonic Cult.

Demonic Cultists.

Those to be torn to pieces.

“She should have died, but those Demonic Cultists forcibly prevented her from dying. Is there any other way to explain it? Americano was toyed with death.”

“Bruise.”

Americano possessed a Holy Skill of the healing type.

She would have healed her own neck with her own Magical Power, but the bruise didn’t disappear.

Skilla knew of similar cases.

Nabi also knew.

“Does that mean she was strongly exposed to someone else’s Magical Power to the point where anti-magic power was imbued?”

The bruise doesn’t disappear because it’s a place where anti-magic power is engraved.

Nabi is a mage.

Mages are those who imagine.

She imagined the circumstances that led to the bruise and imagined the most plausible cause.

The bruise on Americano’s neck was cutting across her neck. It was cutting her neck cleanly, so cleanly that it couldn’t have happened during battle.

It was cut off cleanly.

What that means is…

‘Oh, God.’

Even the mage prayed to God.

It was a terrible thing.

In the mind of Nabi, an excellent mage, all sorts of possibilities for how that bruise came to be were flashing by.

Mages are those who imagine.

Nabi had a rich imagination.

In her mind alone, Americano’s neck was severed hundreds of times.

She belatedly realizes that the owner of that neck is Americano, and her face turns pale.

“What to do.”

“Don’t show it in front of her. She seems to have a lot of pride. When she fights, she tries desperately to overcome her trauma.”

“Most people wouldn’t even come out of their rooms if they experienced something like that. She’s amazing.”

“She’s a supporter I’ve acknowledged. Her mental strength alone has already exceeded level 50.”

But thinking about what Americano went through makes her feel gloomy.

It must have been accompanied by terrible pain and experiences that would make 100 out of 100 people beg to be killed.

When the question of why they would do such a thing arises, she immediately finds the reason.

The Hero’s departure.

Whether it’s returning to their original world.

Or retiring from active duty.

Giving pain was the first method that was considered to defeat the Hero.

Nabi had also done it before, and recently she had been actively looking for it. Because of the Demonic Cultists and the Heroes who invaded Gospel.

The Hero revives.

How do you kill a reviving Hero?

How do you neutralize them?

Killing the body is useless.

Then let’s kill the mind.

So that they can’t act as a Hero.

Let’s thoroughly destroy them.

The idea was simple.

The Demonic Cultists would have been thinking about the same thing to fight against the same Hero.

And,

‘She was caught.’

Americano.

By those thugs who attacked Gospel.

The Demonic Cultists directly kidnapped Heroes and experimented on them on the experimental table to kill Heroes. Americano was unfortunately caught in that devil’s clutches.

It happened in just the few days that they hadn’t met.

She was subdued.

And cut off.

‘Ugh…’

She thought of Americano’s neck.

It was cut off cleanly.

It’s the first time that something clean has been so scary.

There are many crazy people in the world.

And the Demonic Cult clan was famous for having many such crazy people.

Nabi, who had received help from Americano, harbored deep animosity towards the Demonic Cultists who made her that way. It became several times stronger.

“….”

Skilla looks at Nabi.

Her expression changed from moment to moment, wondering what she was imagining on her own.

Her face turned pale and then red.

Mages often get lost in their own world and giggle. It was difficult to know what they were thinking at other times, but this time she showed what she was imagining, and she spoke of what she had seen last time.

She only saw what was on her left arm,

“There was the same thing on her left arm.”

Bruise.

Nabi is surprised.

“…Yes?”

Mages are those who imagine.

Imagination was chain-like.

If it’s on her left arm, what about her right arm?

If it’s on her arm, what about her leg?

In Nabi’s mind, Americano’s neck, arms, and legs were falling off.

All of that flashed by in an instant before she could stop it, and her sympathy for Americano exploded.

“How could such a terrible thing happen.”

“Right? You can’t forgive those Demonic Cultists, can you?”

“Yes. They have to go through the same thing.”

Skilla doesn’t know what terrible things Nabi imagined.

Still, another true companion has been created to avenge Americano.

Americano.

She was pretty, capable, and had a good will.

She also had a record of defeating a level 50 Hero thanks to the help she received during the Gospel invasion.

The first Hero she reached out to and made a party member. Skilla cannot forgive those who hurt her companion.

It was a misunderstanding that Americano would be horrified if she heard it, but it was too scary a topic to ask her about.

Sensational material stimulated the imagination, and unproven reasoning built up misunderstandings. The desire to protect Americano accelerated the misunderstanding.