Chapter 200 Beginning Of A Nightmare [7]
Chapter 200 Beginning Of A Nightmare [7]
-(Past || Katrina exiting the Dungeon of Trails, aka Tower; Location: Inside Ward at the exit portal of Tower)-
Vupp-
Breathing in the fresh air, a smile bloomed on Katrina's tired face.
"I'm peak Lvl.10!" The absence of gaze she felt inside the Dungeon made her relax and feel calm. It was also helpful that her surroundings were devoid of people, save for the pair of a man and woman at the far corner.
The dark sky above was devoid of moons and stars. Perhaps during the night, no one liked to roam around the Dungeon entrance?
Thinking like this, she walked to her residence/laboratory.
In her hands was a wand with a purple gemstone embedded in it. This was her reward from 2nd Trial.
The wand increased her mana capacity by 10%, which meant that she could now cast support spells faster than before. She wasn't anything worth mentioning in spell casting however, support magic was better than her alchemy with zero combat ability.
She could use basic Rank 1 and Rank 2 spells like <Haste>, <Bind>, <Recovery>, <Wall>, and a few more. This greatly Nathan surprised. He knew that Katrina was also a support magician, but not that she could use it in battles, too.
Katrina thought it to be suspicious. Why did Nathan know about her stealing and other circumstances, but not about this?
But when she found that he was telling the truth, she could only accept it.
'My reward from 1st Trial is what I needed the most!' Her reward was the reason behind her newfound determination and vigor.
"It's her"
"Yes, she went into the Dungeon with the suspect"
Someone was whispering with each other. But due to the empty street, it wasn't hard to hear it.
From the piercing yet calm gazes, Katrina could tell the identity of her stalkers. They were the man and woman waiting outside the Dungeon.
Katrina changed her path continuously. Trying to shake off her pursuers.
But she was unsuccessful.
Slowly, the enthusiasm dimmed, replaced by fear.
'...Why are they following me? Who are they?'
Katrina walked to another junction in hopes of losing the tail. In the dark night, the shadows were eerily long, and every corner was too dark to see anything hiding in it.
Whosh-
"Kya--mmphh!"
A hand stopped her emerging shout and pulled her into the shadow.
Katrina felt her senses weaken. Her surroundings changed rapidly.
By the time her kidnapper stopped, they reached a completely different corner inside Ward.
"Are you alright? I apologize if I was rough, but if I didn't do that, those people could've followed us."
The slender hands placed her back on the ground.
"That's a pretty face, you go-! Ow! Why are you hitting me?!"
"Don't come near her, you creep! Stand at that corner and keep watch!"
Katrina tried to recognize those voices. Under the lightless night, she was unable to watch her saviors, nevertheless; she knew they weren't trying to harm her.
Katrina's nerves tensed and, activating her skill from 1st Trial, she squeezed out a question.
[Lie Detection]
"W-what is happening...?" She fumbled over her words. This reminded her that, for some reason, she was only able to speak comfortably with Nathan. Even if she wasn't uncomfortable with others, she still couldn't converse properly with them.
The girl, assuming from her voice and long hair, calmly answered Katrina.
"A Drill..." Katrina held an understanding expression. Drill referred to mock drills that happen in Ward and every other facility on Bermuda Island to train its residents for the day when the Gate of Hell below the island might open. "..however, something is suspicious about this Drill."
The kind kidnapper pointed at the sky.
"It's daytime. Ward's officials are using some kind of artifact to stop everyone from peeking inside. This shadow barrier has essentially cut off Ward from the rest of the world by isolating the space."
[Truth]
***
-(Present || Nathan returning from dropping the eliminated cadets outside the blue dome, Location: Floor 13)-
Graar-
Phzzt-
Puchi-!<.com>
A longsword stabbed the bear-like monster's heart in one go and killed it.
[Congratulations, you have killed Lvl.16 CoscoBear. You have gained 3800 exp]
"That's one more monster killed."
Sigh
'One less monster for the Abomination to copy from.'
I had been killing the monsters throughout the tournament. Monsters didn't give any points in the competition. Thus, overseers were not prohibited from killing them as it wouldn't affect the competition.
Monsters in general have [Traits] and their number increases with their ranks. [Traits] are similar to humans' [Stigma]. However, the fixed number of [Traits] was not natural.
These 'monsters' are System generated, or to be precise, System regulated and are only allowed to have a fixed number of [Traits] while their other [Traits] are removed when the System puts them inside dungeons.
Abomination is an unregulated monster. In layman's terms, an Abomination did not have its [Traits] removed.
Rustle-
Fwosh-
A sharp object flew past my hair and brought down the crow following me.
Shiiiing-
The dagger was followed by a 3-meter-wide magic circle on the ground. I took a peek at the number of magic sequences in the magic circle before being forced to close my eyes because of the bright light.
'Rank 4 magic circle'
"Isn't this too much of an entrance? I guess you were in a hurry to sign the Oaths?" Opening my eyes, I found Lark closing his eyes, standing a few meters away from me. "By the way, wouldn't it alert the 'Shadow' and Satoru?"
"Don't worry about it. Both the crow and your stalkers are under illusion magic for 5 minutes."
'Lark shouldn't be above Rank 2 mage, yet X was able to use Rank 4 magic?'
[Appraisal]
I couldn't help but click my tongue. The results were the same as before. It seemed I needed to level up more to gain more information with [Appraisal].
"What are you trying to do?"
Watching Lark frown, I couldn't help but smile playfully, "Trying to take the bonus reward"
"I don't mean that." He took threatening steps toward me. "Why did you create mayhem in the Underworld? Do you know how many innocents lost their lives as a result of your actions!?"
"Less than 100 actually." I shook my head with a solemn look.
"What?"
"I'm not kidding. Those bombs didn't even kill 100 people."
How did I know this? Duh, it's with this!
======
[Absolute Evil Lvl.1] (Passive)
-10% resistance against the physical and magical attacks of beings with Evil disposition.
-10% increase in physical and magical damage against beings with Good disposition.
-Requirements for Lvl2: 99/100
======
I placed the bombs under the section of people who jumped to kill me when I called out to the crowd that wanted to take my position in the tournament. But the result was beyond me!
99/100 kills? Really?
"Does that make any sense!? And what if the number of people who died was less than 100?! One life is not any less valuable than 1000 lives!"
X had ordered the 5-star Kraken resting in Byzander Island, the site of Ward's final entrance exam and the location where I got Ether manual and my art, to not kill humans.
This coupled with the fact X didn't kill me despite me repeatedly changing the storyline made me think...
'Maybe X is an extreme pacifist?'
My lips twisted in a sneer.
"Why didn't you stop the bomb by yourself, then?"
"What?"
"Weren't you also present there, Miss First Outsider?"