Chapter 686
Episode 686 Butterfly (6)
It’s true that I’m an evil spirit, but I have no memories of that world.
Why does the famous saying that he drank alcohol but did not drive while intoxicated come to mind as soon as I hear this?
It sounded so absurd at first, but after a while, a lightning bolt struck my head.
“By any chance… were you resurrected by the revival stone?”
If so, then it makes sense.
There are several conditions required to use the revival stone, but the biggest penalty is ‘delete memory’.
I also had to revive a comrade because of this, but my intimacy went down to 0, so I left the team and just got kicked out by the revival stone—
“The stone of revival···?”
But what is this reaction?
“I don’t know what you meant by that, but it has nothing to do with the Stone of Resurrection.”
“Then why don’t you remember?”
When I asked her question, Jaina’s hand tightened.
“I… gave all my memories of that world to Karui-sama a while ago. That’s why I have no memories.”
Oh, I see.
I thought it was definitely because of the revival stone.
This is a bit embarrassing.
‘···I can even offer something like a memory·’
It’s not completely unreasonable, considering the time I played as a priest of Karui.
When all attempts were in vain and it was getting close to ‘game over’, the guy inevitably made a suggestion.
They are asking for a price in exchange for my life…
The price was always random and the choices were very varied.
Intimacy with all characters drops to 0.
Or take away one of the integers you have.
In some cases, it even claimed the lives of fellow NPCs, not to mention permanent physical damage.
‘The most frustrating thing was that in exchange for my life, I was asked to return to the city and become a wanted criminal.’
At this time, the deal with Karui is absolute.
Even if the price is paid ‘postpaid’, if the promise is not kept, the character will be punished and die.
Anyway, this isn’t what’s important…
“Was the situation so dire that you had to sacrifice your memory?”
When I hummed briefly, Jaina made a mysterious expression.
“Yes··· I guess so· probably·”
Um, this is just a vague way of speaking, isn’t it?
While I was wondering whether to ask more questions or not, surprisingly, the other person spoke first.
“That day, I paid a total of two prices. Once to get us all to safety… At that time, I lost my memories of my original world.”
“and?”
“Another time… I used it to save a dying person. In return, I lost all my memories of ‘that person’.”
“···Was he/she a precious person?”
“I don’t know for sure… but it must have been like that. It was worth paying that price.”
“What happened with that guy?”
“Nothing will happen. I will die in the labyrinth soon.”
“······”
“You don’t have to take it so seriously. I didn’t really feel anything even though he died right in front of me.”
Listening to Jaina’s calm voice, it really hits home.
Why do people in this world call Karui an evil god?
“Then how did you end up hanging out with Baekho Lee? Are you trying to return to your original world?”
“No, I’m not really interested in that world. I don’t remember anything anyway. Rather, to me, this side is reality and that side is like a dream.”
The process was quite different, but in some ways it was a very similar case to mine.
Is that why?
At first I was just going to get some information, but I’m becoming more and more curious about Jaina’s story itself.
“There is only one reason why I hang out with Baekho Lee.”
“what?”
“Because in order to regain lost memories, you have to offer a huge amount of sacrifices.”
“I see····”
As Jaina said, it is not impossible to get back the price paid to Karui in [Dungeon and Stone].
Permanent physical defects can also be restored.
If Karui judges that the offering is sufficient,
“I only go with Baekho Lee because I can easily get good quality offerings. There is no other reason.”
Wow, I never thought there would be such a situation…
Since he said earlier that he is not interested in modern memories, it is clear what memories he is trying to recover.
If there is one question, it would be this:
“···Why are you going to such lengths to regain your memories?”
I already have no memory of ‘that person’
So he clearly stated that he had no feelings when he died.
But why does this woman do this?
“It’s just… I feel a little stuffy”
Jaina’s answer was very simple:
“I really didn’t understand a single word he said to me or the expression on his face when he died that day. It was so frustrating and frustrating. Why? Is that weird?”
“···No, not even one·”
With those words, the story ended with Jaina’s detection spell catching the monster’s presence, and they did not talk about the related topic any further.
But the story we shared earlier kept lingering in my head.
‘A demon who lost his memory…’
There really are all kinds of stories in the world.
***
Kwaaaaaaaang-!
Apart from the characteristic of the ‘Star Grave’ where meteorites fall periodically, the climate of the primeval land changes every time.
And that too in a very harsh way to people.
“Haa··· haa······”
This time it was a heat wave.
Well, I’m not sure if this can be explained by the word ‘heat wave’.
Hwaruk-!
Smoke begins to leak out from the raw trees that cannot withstand the heat, and in severe cases, they even catch fire and burn fiercely.
Even though the Fire Orb had fire resistance, I didn’t get burned or take continuous damage, but there was nothing I could do about the heat.
If there was a wizard, he would ask me to turn on the air conditioner.
“···We’re surrounded·”
“What should I do?”
“It’s impossible to run away at our speed, so we have no choice but to fight.”
Even though I tried my best to avoid fighting monsters, there were times when I had no choice but to fight them.
Tanker and priest
It’s not a good combination for hunting monsters, but somehow we managed to hunt them.
That would be the case···
“Jaina Flyer casts [Rotten Wind]”
“Deals continuous dark damage to enemies within range and reduces their physical resistance level.”
The priest himself is not a typical priest.
“The character cast [Swing]”
I’m not usually a tanker either.
Kwajik-!
Up to level 4, the two of us can easily solve it.
Well, it’s very slow, but…
Kuuung-!
“There it is, Vartanus!”
“Get up!”
Anyway, even while fighting like that, if a monster of level 3 or higher appears, I quickly run away.
Since it is a combination of a priest and a tank, it is not impossible to catch it if you continue fighting for several hours, but that is only when it is possible to do it one-on-one.
It’s not worth spending hours trying to catch in the first place.
‘···uh?’
When I, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped, Jaina asked me in an anxious voice why.
Instead of answering, I pointed to a part with my hand.
A crudely torn piece of cloth was hanging from the tree.
Traces of people that I had not noticed when I passed by here before.
Swish·
When I reached out and opened the cloth that was tied up, I saw letters written inside.
[If you see this·········Ah, as a monument·]
The middle part was burnt black by the heat wave, so I couldn’t read the content, but I could immediately understand what it was trying to convey.
“They told me to come to the central monument of the primeval forest.”
Lee Baek-ho, the Archer of Destruction, GM
It seems that one of these four people was heading to the monument in the center and delivered this message on the way…
“Why four people···?”
“Do you think Aureus left this behind?”
“Ah, I see…”
“Anyway, if you go to the central monument, you can meet one more person.”
It was a rare piece of good news.
That’s understandable, because except for Aures, the rest are all dealers.
Any one of the four will complete the damage tank heal combination.
Then from now on, stability and movement speed will increase significantly.
“Let’s move quickly”
“yes·”
I judged that there was a possibility that the paths might diverge, so I moved as fast as possible.
and····
1 hour 2 hours 3 hours····
At that time, we were continuing our forced march without any rest.
Suddenly, a familiar male voice is heard from the empty space.
“···Me, Baron?”
Wow, surprise
I almost swung the hammer without realizing it.
“···Habelion?”
As soon as I looked towards the place where the sound came from, the GM’s figure was revealed as if the hiding spell was broken.
Surprisingly, I met my colleague before I even reached my destination.
“Baronniiiiiiiiiiiim!!!!”
I lightly moved to the side to avoid the GM who was hugging me without any hesitation and then asked,
“Did you make the cloth tied to the tree?”
“Oh no, I just found it a while ago and was following it!”
Hmm, that’s right.
Somehow things are going smoothly
If this happens, there will be another colleague waiting in front of the monument who tied the cloth.
In an instant, the number of people that was two changed to four.
“What happened to the Baron—·”
“We’re almost there, so let’s talk once we get there.”
I was curious about GM’s situation, but since there wasn’t much distance left to the destination, I opened my senses wide and focused on moving.
And then about 30 more minutes passed.
“What is this···?”
As we make our way through the bushes, we see the same gravestone buried in the crater in the distance.
But the problem is······
“Was there something like that originally?”
“That can’t be possible”
In a place where only a tombstone should be, there was another building whose identity was difficult to discern.
It is a building that looks like it was built by removing only the door corresponding to the entrance of a temple and installing it on the bare ground.
There are stairs going down, but even when I looked closely, it was dark and I couldn’t see inside very well.
also····
“The writing over there is red… It wasn’t like that originally, was it?”
“Yes! The tombstone is as certain as I have examined. There was no such phenomenon.”
The first line of the top of the stele, which had indecipherable hieroglyphs written on it, is glowing red.
What on earth is this situation?
I was so confused, but the biggest question was:
“···But why is there no one here?”
I came here following the message left on the sky, but there was no one waiting for me here.
“Let’s wait a minute. Maybe he went out for a moment to tie some more cloth around it.”
“Yes… Then I will examine the tombstone a bit. Unlike before, I sense a flow of magical power….”
“I’ll go and check out that building. It feels very familiar.”
“A familiar feeling?”
“It’s hard to explain in words, but just think of it as something like an energy related to an ancient being.”
“···i get it·”
So the two of them started to investigate, and I watched their investigation process while keeping a close eye on the surroundings.
and····
‘Why on earth isn’t anyone coming?’
After three whole days, I started to think that there was no point in waiting here.
“Fortunately, it’s not too late.”
The old man of destruction appeared from afar with a leisurely look.
It was hard to believe that the wizard had been wandering the 9th floor alone for over three days, but he looked so fine.
‘···As a wizard, can you play solo to some extent?’
It’s surprising, but before we talk about skills, I had a question to ask.
“Did you hang the cloth?”
“···cloth?”
When I told him about the cloth tied to the tree, the old man replied that he had never seen anything like that.
“I just came here because I thought if I was in the center, no one would come.”
“Then you don’t know who hung the cloth either?”
“No, that’s probably something Baekho Lee did.”
“How can you be sure?”
“There’s no way Aureus would have done that, so there’s only one person left.”
“Yes? But maybe it was left by Mr. Bryant?”
When GM tilted his head and asked, the old man of destruction recited in a firm tone:
“Bryot is dead.”