< 73 : The Ancestor of Vampires, Pluto (1) >
The smartphone that I had dropped on the floor did not break.
I was worried when it made a loud noise as it fell, but fortunately, the screen did not crack.
The game screen that had gone black also returned to normal soon.
And the only character that remained on the screen was Eutenia.
The characters that were fighting with Eutenia had all disappeared.
Eutenia was alone, looking at the sword in her hand. I could not help but stare at her with curiosity.
“Did she… defeat them all by herself?”
The enemy was a boss character with a vicious pattern.
A pattern that reduced the power of magic.
And a pattern that obstructed the player’s vision.
Both of them were patterns that made normal play impossible.
The boss with such a pattern had vanished from its place in just a few minutes.
There was no other explanation than Eutenia had taken down the boss.
It looked like Eutenia was in a tough situation, but it was not as serious as I expected.
I quickly moved my eyes to the message box at the bottom of the screen and checked the messages that had been printed recently.
-Please observe another area.
-Please observe another area.
-Please observe another area.
-[Apostle : Eutenia Highlost] has performed an offering to you.
-The sacrifice offered to you : 1
-The effect of <Karma’s Blessing : Offering> is activated.
-Your karma increases by 2 according to the number of sacrificed offerings.
At the top of the message box, there was a message about the vision-obstructing pattern that the boss character had used.
Sometimes, in games where the boss monsters have vicious patterns, there are cases where certain patterns obstruct the player’s vision.
This game also had a vicious pattern that obstructed the player’s vision.
As the game’s difficulty increased, there might be other bosses with such patterns.
I needed to come up with a countermeasure for this pattern.
The only countermeasure that came to my mind right now was sound play.
“She also did an offering in the meantime.”
Below the warning message about the vision-obstructing pattern, there was a message about Eutenia’s offering.
It seemed that Eutenia had also proceeded with an offering after finishing the battle.
The number of sacrificed offerings was one.
And the amount of karma gained was 2.
The number of offerings and Eutenia alternated in my head, raising a question.
The number of characters I saw before the pattern was activated and the number of characters that Eutenia offered did not match.
“Why is there only one offering?”
Before the vision-obstructing pattern was activated, I saw at least a dozen characters.
If she had offered them all, she should have gotten at least 30 karma points.
But Eutenia only had one offering.
That meant that she only killed one enemy.
Then what happened to the rest of them?
Eutenia failed to kill them.
The number of characters I saw with my eyes and the number of offerings did not match.
I could not help but wonder as I looked at the screen.
“Is it a temporary event? Or is it a teaser boss?”
There were two possible scenarios.
The large number itself was part of the pattern, or it was close to a teaser for a specific boss.
If it was the latter, I might face that boss again someday.
I remembered the vicious pattern of the boss I faced this time and thought about my current power level.
Eutenia and Evan.
And the followers of the cult.
Except for the creatures that were hard to move freely, these were all the available forces of the cult.
If I faced a stronger boss next time, could I fight with this power level?
I ran a simulation in my head, but there was no positive result.
“I need to keep leveling up if it’s an event boss.”
Defeating the bosses that would come in the future.
And keeping all the characters who participated in the battle alive.
That was my goal.
If I kept having close battles like this time, I might lose a character someday.
To prevent that, I needed to level up continuously.
Especially, I needed to avoid focusing too much on magic settings like this time.
“I should think about how to train physical characters.”
Evan was good at sword fighting, but he was more powerful in brain-type damage.
The next apostle would be better off with a physical setting.
I should also spend money regularly when I have some spare cash.
After finishing my rough plan for the future, I looked at Eutenia who was heading to the cave with a sword.
She was holding the sword that the boss character had used.
She probably did not offer the sword separately, so the weapon must be an item that could not be offered.
A small speech bubble appeared above Eutenia’s head as she headed to the cave.
-“I need to check if I pulled out the stake properly.”
There was only one stake that Eutenia could mention in this situation.
The holy relic that she had been looking for a long time.
She finally achieved her goal.
I followed her to the cave with the game screen.
According to Evan, there was also a sealed ancestor of vampires where the holy relic was.
Eutenia was heading to where the ancestor of vampires was sealed.
“There is a vampire sealed by the holy relic, he said.”
The ancestor of vampires, Pluto.
He was the character I had been waiting for to choose as the next apostle.
If I followed Eutenia, I would also see the vampire.
I looked at the screen with anticipation.
It was time for <Apostle Selection>, which I had not done for a long time.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a really long time. Let me see your face.”
It was a meeting that I had waited for a long time.
It was time to see the result of my waiting.
****
Eutenia entered the cave where the ancestor of vampires was sealed.
She looked around with interest in her eyes.
In the narrow cave, there were metal rods with flames rising from them, stuck on the walls at regular intervals.
They did not look like ordinary candlesticks.
There were no candles that should have been on the candlesticks.
It looked like they were using some magical means to light the fire.
“What a strange sight.”
Thud. Thud.
Eutenia’s footsteps echoed in the narrow cave filled with shadows.
The guardians who would have normally guarded this cave were all gone now.
This mysterious cave was completely transformed into Eutenia’s space.
As she continued to move forward, a large magic circle came into Eutenia’s view.
Above the magic circle, there was a girl with her eyes closed, bound by chains.
And in front of the magic circle, there was Peter, standing blankly with a stake in his hand.
“Peter?”
“Oh… The battle is over already…?”
“Have you been trying to pull it out all this time?”
It had been quite a while since Peter had entered the cave.
But the stake was still in its place, and Peter’s face was flushed with exertion.
Eutenia could easily understand what was going on.
The stake that sealed the ancestor of vampires.
She had also considered the possibility that it would not come out easily.
As Eutenia approached the stake, Peter let go of it and stepped back a few steps.
Then he scratched his head awkwardly and spoke to Eutenia.
“This is harder than I thought… to pull out…”
“Is that so?”
A hand reached out from the shadows and pulled out the stake.
Thud.
The stake that had been stuck in her heart came out, and the wound where the stake had been healed.
The blood that swirled around gathered to Pluto’s heart and healed her wound.
Seeing the vampire heal herself from the wound caused by the stake, Peter opened his mouth wide.
“Wait, that… It was hard to pull out…”
“Different people have different ways.”
“That’s…”
“Shh. She’s starting to wake up.”
At Eutenia’s words, Peter had to shut his mouth immediately.
Blink. Blink.
As her heart recovered, Pluto opened her eyes that had been hanging on the magic circle.
Under her faintly lifted eyelids, she showed the red pupils characteristic of vampires.
Her ruby-like red eyes were like jewels.
Her eyes moved slowly and scanned her surroundings.
Pluto’s eyes met Eutenia’s as she looked around with a blank expression.
A hoarse voice came out of Pluto’s mouth as she found Eutenia.
“…Ah.”
“You finally opened your eyes. The ancestor of vampires, Pluto.”
Blink.
Her eyelids moved slowly again as she heard Eutenia’s answer.
She still seemed to be affected by being released from the seal.
It would take some time for her to recover fully.
Pluto closed and opened her eyes again and asked Eutenia.
“…Where am I?”
“The Ketterunt region of the Empire. The cave where you were sealed.”
“Sealed?”
“Don’t you remember? You lost in a war hundreds of years ago and were sealed here.”
Blink. Blink.
Pluto blinked again and looked at Peter and Eutenia alternately.
She seemed to ponder for a moment after hearing Eutenia’s story.
It looked like she was recalling some memories from the past.
Pluto, who had been lost in thought for a while, nodded her head and agreed.
“I… lost the last war I fought in.”
“I’m glad you remember something.”
“I know I was sealed by a stake. But who are you?”
“My name is Eutenia Highrost.”
“Eutenia?”
“I’m the first apostle of the great one, and the person who came to save you.”
Hmm.
Pluto nodded at Eutenia’s answer.
It was a situation where she had just woken up from a long seal.
Even from Eutenia’s perspective, there must have been a mountain of things to worry about.
Shhh.
Pluto’s gaze moved to the chains that bound her.
The chains connected to the magic circle were still restraining Pluto’s body.
“This is annoying.”
Pluto, who had been looking at the chains, pulled the hand that was connected to them.
Clang.
The thick iron chains broke like thin threads in an instant.
It was a sight that did not seem like the result of pulling a huge chain.
Pluto, who had broken one chain, pulled the rest of them as well.
Clank. Thud.
The chains that were pulled by Pluto broke without exception.
Pluto, who had broken all the chains that were connected to her, shook her hand and looked at Eutenia.
“Are you human?”
“I’m a pure human.”
“Then why did you wake me up?”
“Because the great one wanted it.”
If Eutenia’s master had not ordered it, there would have been no such thing as waking up Pluto.
She would not have even known about the existence of the progenitor of vampires, let alone waking her up from her seal.
So Eutenia’s words were nothing but the truth.
Pluto heard that story and jumped off the altar that had bound her.
Now that the seal was broken, there was no point in restraining her any longer.
“The great one. Is it the one I know?”
“I only know one true god.”
“That’s different from those humans who worship six.”
“Those who have wrong beliefs must be corrected, I think.”
Pluto nodded her head quietly as she heard Eutenia’s confession of faith.
She had been annoyed by the followers of the six temples during the war.
Now that she heard Eutenia’s words, they were nothing more than cute to her.
After finishing her explanation about her situation and her faith, Eutenia told her about her master.
If Pluto had participated in the war hundreds of years ago, she would have known which side had the right belief.
“The great one is calling you. If you answer his call, you will surely find the way you want.”
“The way I want…”
Blink.
Pluto blinked again as she faced Eutenia.
Pluto grabbed her head with one hand and staggered for a moment.
Eutenia stretched out her shadow and supported her body.
Pluto leaned on Eutenia’s shadow and said to her with a serious expression.
“What is the way I want?”
“…What?”
“I can’t remember well.”
“It seems… your memory hasn’t fully returned yet.”
She was a person who had been sealed for hundreds of years.
It was possible that so much time had passed.
Eutenia thought so and tried to move on.
But then Pluto asked her an unexpected question.
“And by the way, you… umm, what was your name again?”
“…”
Eutenia’s cold gaze looked at Pluto.
