kscans

Chapter 232 - The Undying Sleep

That night, when Hayato logged in, the base was in a state of commotion. He could hear the sound of hurried footsteps moving down the hallway.

He ran into Rose as soon as he left his room. Rose looked at Hayato with a slightly relieved expression.

"Thank goodness. You have awakened."

"Um, yeah, did something happen?"

To the NPCs, players like Hayato were considered to be sleeping while logged out. Rose thought Hayato had woken up because he had come out of his room.

"We have rescued Mist-sama, but she will not awaken. We were thinking of using Dragon Blood, but as it is an expensive item, we were hesitant to use it without your permission, Hayato-sama."

"Use the one in the storage right away. The five-star one, of course. Is Mist-san in her room?"

"Yes. Damian-sama and the Maid Chief are in the room now, checking on Mist-sama's condition."

Hayato thanked her and headed to the room where Mist was.

He entered without knocking and saw Mist inside an open coffin. Damian and the Maid Chief were also around.

"I heard from Rose-san, but Mist-san won't wake up?"

"Hayato, it seems you have finally woken up. That is right. We found Mist in a monster room, but she was lying on the floor being beaten on by monsters. She did not seem to be taking any damage, but she will not wake up. We thought she might have been hit by some kind of magic or special attack, but that does not seem to be the case either."

As Damian said this, the Maid Chief nodded.

"We have checked various things, but Mist-sama is not afflicted with any special status abnormalities. However, we thought there might be some change if we gave her Dragon Blood, so we asked Rose to bring some. I apologize for taking the liberty of using an expensive item on our own."

"I told Rose-san as well, but there is no problem at all. In fact, please use it right away. By the way, could you tell me what happened?"

Hayato decided to confirm with Damian and the Maid Chief what had happened during today's exploration.

Yesterday, they had found a place on the fifteenth floor of Necropolis that was large enough to be a monster room. They had mapped out all the previous floors and discovered a space of a likely size from the size of a single floor.

There was a locked door to that place, so they were almost certain, but it was late and they had been exploring for a long time, so they gave up. They returned to the base once and decided to deal with it the next day.

And today. They used a portal to travel to the same place.

When they opened the door with the lockpicking skill of Maris's pet beetle, Hercules, it was a monster room as expected. There they found Mist being beaten on by spirits.

They scattered the spirits and rescued Mist, but she would not wake up even when they called out to her. They thought she might be weakened from being in the dungeon for a long time, even though she was a vampire, so they carried her back to the base.

That was just after Hayato had logged out, a little before noon.

From then until Hayato logged in again, they had been checking and investigating various things. They had considered Dragon Blood as a last resort, and there had been an opinion to wait until Hayato woke up, but Damian had said he would take responsibility and decided to use it without permission.

Hayato wished they had used it sooner, but he understood that high-quality Dragon Blood was expensive. He thought they must have been hesitant to use it without telling him.

Just then, Rose arrived.

"I have kept you waiting. Here is the highest quality Dragon Blood."

Hearing this, Damian looked at Hayato in surprise.

"Are you sure we can use the highest quality one? There is a possibility that nothing will happen, you know."

"Of course, please use it. It would be more of a waste to use lower quality ones bit by bit. If this does not work, we will think of something else."

"...I am grateful. Then I shall use it."

Damian brought the bottle containing the Dragon Blood to Mist's lips.

Mist seemed to be unconscious, but since it was a virtual reality, it could be used without any problems. She drank all of it, but there was no particular change in Mist.

They waited for several minutes after that, but even when they called out to Mist, she did not wake up and remained asleep.

Damian muttered in a small voice, "Could it be..."

"Damian-san, do you have any idea what's going on?"

"It is only speculation, but if even the highest quality Dragon Blood cannot cure her, then it is possible that Mist has entered the undying sleep."

"The undying sleep... you mean the state where you fall asleep if you remain a vampire?"

Hayato had heard about this from Damian before. That was the reason they had gone to Necropolis in the first place. He had said there was an item on the lowest floor that could prevent it.

"That is right. Looking at this state, that is the only thing I can think of."

"I would like to ask one thing, you said there is an item on the lowest floor of Necropolis that can prevent it, right?"

"That is what I have heard... Is that the only way to wake Mist up..."

"Um, that's fine, but who is this information from? It seems far-fetched that there would be an item on the lowest floor of Necropolis, a place no one has ever been to."

There was no particular problem with aiming for the lowest floor, but he had to confirm whether such an item really existed. Hayato did not know if the information was reliable.

Since Mist and Damian were taking action, it might be reliable information to some extent, but Hayato was very curious about the source of the information.

"I believe I told you before, but there is a comrade of the Ten Undead who has not yet entered the undying sleep. The information is from him."

"Ah, that's right. I remember now. Damian-san, please don't be offended, but can you trust the information from that person?"

Damian looked surprised for a moment, but then he seemed to understand what he meant and nodded with a serious expression.

"What you say is reasonable, Hayato. But it is fine. His name is Ruth, and though he looks like a child, he is trustworthy. In the first place, that information was apparently received from God as a reward."

"...Information from God?"

"That is right. I believe you know, Hayato, but he was Mist's opponent in the last Clan War. I heard he received the information as a reward for that."

Hayato recalled the final battle of the Clan War.

Everyone except Hayato and Diite had fought one-on-one, and Mist's opponent had been a child vampire. If that child had received a reward from God, then it meant he had received it from Diite.

"I have something I want to check, so I'm going back to my room for a moment. I'll be back, so please wait."

Hayato said this and returned to his room without waiting for a reply.

And he sent a voice chat to Diite. He received a reply immediately.

"Hello, Hayato-kun. It seems you were able to rescue Mist-kun. I was able to collect a lot of data, so that was a great help. I will feed this back to Infinity..."

"Diite-chan, wait a minute. I have something I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"What is the undying sleep? Damian-san is saying that Mist-san has entered it, but players don't enter such a state, right?"

"Wait a moment, Mist-kun has entered the undying sleep? It should not have happened so soon..."

"So it was going to happen eventually? What kind of state is it in the first place?"

Diite did not answer. However, it was clear from the voice chat that she was trying to say something but was saying things like "ah" and "um," and seemed to be troubled.

Hayato asked the indecisive Diite a question himself.

"Is this a demerit from the reward for Mist-san and the others?"

"...I suppose I can tell you, Hayato-kun. It is not a demerit, but a reward. It is a contract we have made."

"A contract?"

"That is right. Mist-kun and the others will fall asleep when a certain condition is met. However, the contract states that they wish to have their memory of the reason for it erased. That is why they will eventually fall into a sleep from which they will not awaken. That is the undying sleep."

Hayato did not understand why that was a reward, but he put that aside and asked another question.

"There is a story that there is an item on the lowest floor of Necropolis that can prevent that undying sleep."

"Huh?"

A rare, dumbfounded voice from Diite. Hayato was surprised by that voice.

"You made a very rare sound, didn't you? In the first place, the story is that a child named Ruth received that information from God as a reward."

"Wait a moment, what are you talking about? I gave Ruth-kun information? I did no such thing."

"Eh? But, you know, in the final battle of that Clan War, you had a child named Ruth fight Mist-san, right? I heard it was a reward for that?"

"...Did Ruth-kun say that?"

"I haven't heard it directly, but Damian-san said so."

"I see. First of all, let me tell you that there is no such item that can prevent the undying sleep. And I did not tell Ruth-kun that such an item is on the lowest floor of Necropolis."

"Then what's going on?"

"Either someone is lying, or... I will investigate, so please wait a moment. Also, I will tell you, Hayato-kun. The story of what the undying sleep is. However, I want you to not tell them themselves."

Hayato nodded, saying, "I understand."

"The Ten Undead, except for Damian-kun, are afflicted with an Incurable Disease. A disease that will lead to death if left untreated. So when the disease progresses to a certain point, they will fall completely asleep in the Cryosleep of the spaceship to stop it from progressing any further. That is the undying sleep."

"...Eh?"

Hayato tried to understand, but his mind was rejecting it.