kscans

Chapter 376 - Pawn

After receiving the call from Ivan, whose memory had returned, Hayato briefly explained the situation and then contacted Relic.

Hayato didn't have the time to explain things to Ivan, as he needed to make more neutralizers. So he asked Relic, who had only registered for the event and had not yet come to the battlefield, to handle the explanation.

Relic readily agreed and was now sharing information with Ivan at their base.

Hayato also contacted Esha and Noat, who were in the same clan as Ivan and whose memories had also returned. Both of them had a slow reaction but seemed somewhat surprised. However, the tone of their voices conveyed a sense of "this is going to be a pain," which made Hayato a little uneasy.

(I only know the Ivan who had no memories. Was the old Ivan different in various ways? Anyway, it seems Ivan lost all his weapons and armor, so I'll have to prepare some for him.)

According to Ivan, when he woke up, all his equipment was gone. That meant he had also lost Excalibur, the Hero's sword.

It was unclear whether this was for system reasons, but considering the situation, Hayato thought Ivan had probably not been equipped with any gear during his fight with Lutz.

In other words, it was highly likely that Amanda had done something.

(Considering Lutz-san moved to the New Demon Lord's side, I should assume some kind of deal was made. He was always saying he wanted to fight Ivan, so maybe she used that to lure him in. In that case... no, there's no point in thinking about it. I'll just do what I need to do now.)

Even while lost in thought, Hayato continued to create neutralizers. The mechanical way he worked was strange to others, but it could also be seen as reassuring.

Hayato stopped thinking about Ivan and Lutz and decided to focus on the current situation.

The information that had reached Hayato's ears was as follows.

The battle against the New Demon Lord's Army had begun inside Abaddon.

Since many of the battles took place in narrow passages, even though it was a group battle, the fights were at most ten versus ten, and sometimes one on one. Also, hostile insectoid monsters were interfering with both sides, making it unexpectedly difficult to advance.

Randa had said they might need to go to even deeper floors, not just the lower ones, and then launch a surprise attack.

Currently, the first and second underground floors of Abaddon were filled with players. To avoid them and reach the enemy camp, there was the option of taking a detour through deeper floors.

However, going to deeper floors meant powerful monsters would appear. Fighting them would drain their resources more than necessary, so she was hesitant about whether they should do it.

Also, the enemy was probably thinking the same thing, so a route through the third or fourth underground floors would not be very effective. They also needed to consider a route through the tenth and lowest underground floor.

(The lowest floor route was originally planned for Lunaria-san and Gil-san's group. They said with a smug face that as long as the centipede wasn't there, they could take any route. And Amanda-san is on this battlefield. We should probably avoid a fight, but is there anyone who can stop her?)

Lunaria and Amanda. At present, Lunaria was likely to lose due to the difference in their weapons' performance. In fact, there was no one who could beat Amanda.

That being said, that was in a small,scale fight. If a large number of people spammed area,of,effect magic, there was a chance they could win. But this battlefield was inside a dungeon. Unless they could create a very specific situation, defeating Amanda would be difficult.

(Lure her into a straight passage and use Destroy or something? But it won't be that easy to lure her... wait, maybe I can be the bait?)

Amanda was fixated on Hayato.

In yesterday's battle, the Demonfolk had come for Hayato. The method was unknown, but there was no doubt they were trying to capture him.

Just as he thought that he should be the one, a voice chat came in.

"We've found Amanda. Engaging now. We'll buy as much time as we can, so hurry and destroy their Area Stone."

It was not a voice chat sent to Hayato personally, but a group chat, so the information was relayed to many members.

However, Hayato was a little surprised by the voice. He knew the person was logged in, but it was the first time they had used a chat for the entire group like this.

(Is this part of Randa-san's strategy? But will it be okay...)

The voice belonged to Veru Brandle, the father of Ash and Ren.

Amanda was in Veru's line of sight.

Veru and the other members of the Dragon Soul clan had been instructed by Randa to scout the area where Lutz had defected.

Lutz's last known location was near the fifth underground floor. It was a mid,level area with reasonably strong monsters. For that reason, there were few players, and the passages were not so crowded.

Considering the layout of Abaddon's passages, Veru and the others had split up and were lying in wait at a spot they thought the enemy would surely pass through.

Veru was the one who hit the jackpot.

He had encountered Amanda in a narrow passage, but she was alone. There was no one else near her.

Though he found it strange, Veru began to buy time. Randa had requested that since there was currently no way to defeat Amanda, he should stall her inside Abaddon for as long as possible.

"You must be Amanda, correct?"

"That's right. And you are... Veru Brandle, the world,famous actor?"

"That was a long time ago. Now I'm just a man of the past."

"What a shame. I was hoping to get your autograph."

"I've forgotten how to sign my name. As a substitute, you should get my son's and daughter's autographs. Their value will rise from now on."

Upon hearing that, Amanda burst out laughing.

"Is this what they call a doting parent?"

"I can't beat my wife, though. She was saying our children would be famous a hundred years ago."

"What a lovely story. But for me right now, talk of parents is quite taboo. I have nothing but anger for my father in particular."

Veru did not let it show on his face, but he found this strange.

Amanda was a genetically enhanced human. He had heard she was born from combining the genes of outstanding individuals. It was unlikely she lacked information about her genetic donors, but it shouldn't have been a situation that would provoke anger.

Talking was a better way to buy time than fighting. Thinking this, Veru was about to ask for more details, but Amanda charged at him.

Veru was a Shadow Dragon. His skill, called Shadow, allowed him to manipulate shadows as long as his MP lasted.

He opened his right hand and thrust it towards Amanda. A black sword made of shadow was instantly created and blocked the attack.

Seeing that, Amanda was surprised.

"That's an interesting trick you have there."

"I'm an actor. My job is to entertain people, wouldn't you say?"

Veru immediately attacked Amanda with the sword.

It was a textbook attack, but that was what made it the fastest and strongest. It wasn't a feint, but a straight and clean sword line. It was so straight that it paradoxically made it difficult for Amanda to defend.

As the sound of clashing swords echoed, Amanda opened her mouth.

"You're good!"

"I've played the role of a gladiator before. If you've ever seen it, I'd love to hear your thoughts."

Both his offense and defense were solid. He never took unnecessary risks and didn't fall for sweet temptations. There were no flashy attacks like in the movies, just a continuous exchange of plain attacks and defenses.

In a virtual reality where one doesn't get tired, it was possible to fight indefinitely, but the problem was weapon durability. The sword made of shadow also had durability, and it would decrease with repeated attacks and blocks.

On Amanda's umpteenth attack, Veru's sword shattered. The impact caused Veru to lose his balance.

Amanda was not one to miss such an opportunity. She immediately closed the distance and got inside Veru's guard.

However, Amanda quickly backstepped away from Veru.

In that instant, a spear made of shadow shot out from the ground.

"That was dangerous. I'm not impressed by you pretending to be hit."

"To attract a woman's attention, one must sometimes show weakness. My wife saw through it, so it had no effect."

The spear that shot out turned into a liquid,like substance and wrapped around Veru's right arm. It then gathered in his right hand and formed a sword.

Pointing the tip of the sword at Amanda, Veru took out a bottle of wine from his item bag with his left hand. It was an MP recovery drink made by Hayato. Drinking too much would give him the bad status of being drunk, but its recovery effect was higher than normal juice.

Veru bit the cork of the wine bottle with his mouth and pulled it out. He then threw the cork away and drank straight from the bottle. It was hardly gentlemanly.

Veru was dressed in gray trousers, a shirt with the hem untucked, and a worn,out white jacket. The front of his shirt was slightly open, and he had stubble and unkempt, messy hair.

To be frank, he looked sloppy, but it was a different story when a handsome man did it. The way he drank the wine was also theatrical, and some people would probably let out a shriek.

"You look cool."

"Thank you, young lady. I guess I'm not done for yet."

"Indeed. But it's about time for you to make your exit. Cede the leading role to the younger generation."

"That hits a little too close to home."

Amanda charged again.

Veru threw the wine bottle he had been drinking, but Amanda dodged it by jumping. With that momentum, she moved erratically, kicking off the ceiling and walls to approach him without letting him get a bead on her.

It was probably to guard against an attack from a shadow spear, but Veru was surprised that she would pull off such a movie,like stunt.

He was thrown off by Amanda's swift and unpredictable movements within the passage, but Veru barely managed to block her attack. He immediately tried to attack Amanda with a shadow spear, but it didn't hit Amanda, who didn't stay in one place.

Furthermore, she threw knives at inconvenient times.

He couldn't check and shoot down each one, so he shot shadow spears in all directions. He managed to block the knives, but his MP consumption became severe.

"How long can you last, I wonder?"

"I wish you'd be a little gentler on an old man."

Veru was defending against Amanda's attacks, but it was getting difficult to trade barbs. He thought he would be disqualified as an actor if he couldn't come up with a witty reply, but he focused on defense to do what he had to do.

A fight with Amanda was a battle of attrition. A normal fight would result in his equipment being destroyed quickly.

However, Veru's shadow was different. As long as he could recover MP, it could regenerate no matter how much it was destroyed. Maintaining high,performance equipment required expensive and rare ores like adamantite, but for MP recovery, cheap fruit was all that was needed.

He had been given a large amount of wine and grape juice from Hayato, so as long as he had time to drink, he could fight a long battle with Amanda. Randa had asked him to stall Amanda, taking that into account.

(However, even though I don't get tired, it's mentally taxing. Well, I can't show a pathetic side to my children. I'll just have to endure somehow.)

Randa had analyzed that, given Amanda's personality, she would not advance without defeating her enemies. Veru was also confident that as long as he didn't lose, she would not leave this place or move on. However, he didn't know what would happen if she found out he had no intention of winning and was just buying time.

So for now, he focused on defense while mixing in attacks.

(I have to act my part well.)

There were times when he was in his natural state, but most of it was an act. Whether he had room to spare or was struggling, whether he had a trump card or not, he gave the opponent more information than necessary through his acting, while making sure his goal of buying time was not discovered.

Perhaps tired of that kind of fight, Amanda took a little distance. Then she let out a long sigh.

"You're hard to deal with."

"Then shall we take a little break? I'll treat you to some wine. It's made by Hayato, what do you say?"

Upon hearing the name Hayato, Amanda's body twitched.

"Then I'll have some."

Veru, who had not expected her to actually want some, thought for a moment about setting a trap, but then decided against it. He took a bottle of wine from his item bag and placed it on the ground. Then he took some distance.

"I can't get close enough to trade, so I put it there."

Veru, now at a distance, took the opportunity to drink some wine.

He did not take his eyes off Amanda during that time, but Amanda happily picked up the wine and put it in her item bag.

"Aren't you going to drink it?"

"I'll enjoy it slowly later. In return, I'll show you my full power. Overclock."

Veru immediately threw away the wine bottle he was holding and created a huge shadow that covered the passage. Then he set another trap on the ground.

He had heard about Amanda's exclusive skill, Overclock. It was a super buff skill with similar performance to Lunaria's Black Swan, improving all her abilities. Randa had told him to run as soon as he saw it.

Bang. An impact was transmitted to the wall made of shadow. And then a crack appeared.

(To drain the shadow's durability in one hit...!)

Immediately after, the shadow shattered with a sound like breaking glass. And Amanda was smiling in a sword thrusting pose.

After confirming that, Veru turned his back on Amanda and started running.

"That's not very cool of you... huh?"

A large number of shadow spears shot out from the ground where Amanda was about to give chase and pierced the ceiling. The damage wasn't great, but several spears restrained Amanda's body.

"Guh, this!"

Amanda was caught between so many spears that she couldn't move her body properly. As a result, she couldn't swing the weapon in her hand and couldn't damage the shadow spears.

"Sorry, but I'll have you stay like that for today."

In reality, if she resisted violently, the shadow would break, but this was a plan to give her false information so she wouldn't struggle. It was unclear if it would be effective, but there was no harm in trying.

"You have bad taste, doing this to a girl."

"That may be so, but there are unavoidable circumstances... Shall we talk for a bit?"

"Talk? Are you thinking of joining our side?"

"No, I'm in the camp that wants to live in the real world. I promised my wife that I would watch our children be praised as actors in her place."

"A doting parent to that extent is just scary."

"That's what all parents are like."

"Ash and Ren, was it? Those two are lucky. They're completely different from me."

Veru felt a sense of unease again. Amanda clearly knew about her parents and her tone suggested she did not think well of them. It might have just been that it hadn't come up in conversation, but he hadn't heard anything like that from Hayato.

"Do you hate your father?"

"Hate? No, I despise him. To the point where if he were alive, I'd want to kill him."

"May I ask why?"

"Because to him, I... no, we were just pawns. After listening to Hayato and the others talk, I looked into it and everything was a farce. It makes me sick to think I lived without knowing until now."

Saying that, Amanda laughed self,deprecatingly.

Veru was an actor. He could tell if someone was acting with almost 100% accuracy. He could always see through it unless the other person was an actor of the same level.

And it didn't seem like Amanda was lying. If she could act like this, she would definitely win the best actress award.

"What on earth..."

The moment Veru was about to ask, the shadow spears shattered into pieces.

"I didn't think I was being restrained."

"Shut up."

"Hypnos..."

Seeing Hypnos suddenly appear, Veru muttered.

Hypnos looked at Veru and smiled slightly.

"Veru. It's been a while, are you well?"

"...Yes, I'm perfectly fine."

"Don't look so scary. In the end, your family resolved their issues and were bound by a wonderful bond, weren't they? A lot happened, but let's let bygones be bygones."

"That's my line. What are you, the perpetrator, saying?"

"Then will you defeat me here? If that will satisfy you, by all means..."

Before he could finish, a shadow spear shot out from the ground just in front of Hypnos. It attacked Hypnos, but the shadow spear shattered just before it touched him.

"How rude to do that while I'm talking."

"You say that, but you have no intention of being defeated... Well, fine. I'm satisfied with that attack. But from here on, it's an event battle."

"Now, wait a moment. We have our own business to discuss. Please wait until it's over."

Hypnos said that and, as if he no longer cared about Veru, turned his back and looked at Amanda.

Veru was at a loss as to what to do with such a defenseless posture, but he decided to wait.

"Amanda."

"What is it?"

"Why did you release Ivan?"

"To win, of course. Is there any other reason?"

"You lie. Amanda, we are allies, albeit in a roundabout way, are we not? I believe I have the right to know."

"Allies? Do you mean because we were both pawns?"

Upon hearing that, Hypnos's body shook violently. After a moment of silence, he opened his mouth.

"I'm surprised. Where did you find out?"

"Yesterday, I was listening to Hayato and the others talking with Parsha through the monitor. I also learned that Parsha betrayed us, but more importantly, the words Paradise Lost came up."

"...You knew?"

"I had forgotten, but I remembered. It was about the plan that man was talking about at the research institute. I was a child back then and didn't understand it well, but thinking about it now, it all makes sense. That man, he only ever saw us as tools from the beginning. What genetically enhanced humans? It really pisses me off."

After Amanda said that much, Hypnos started laughing.

"I see. Then we are completely allies. I'm pissed off too. Shall we abandon today's battle and share information with each other? Right now, he's mostly immobile. We can still do something during this event."

"...Don't tell me, he's here?"

"No, the original is not. But there is an AI that has inherited his will. Infinity has only recently finished constructing it, but it's not perfect yet. If we're going to do something, it has to be during this event."

"...Fine. Your incomprehensible actions now make a little more sense. You're trying to cause an irregularity, aren't you?"

"Correct. Let's continue this at the Demon Lord's Castle. There's an outsider here, after all."

Hypnos glanced at Veru.

He didn't understand the details, but Veru had been listening the whole time, thinking it might be an important conversation. All he fully understood was that they were leaving this battlefield.

"If you're leaving this battlefield, I won't stop you."

"Then we'll take you up on that offer. That's right. There's one thing I want to say."

"What is it?"

"The Stampede event, that was my doing, but it was also planned from the beginning. I won't ask for your forgiveness, but just remember that there are others who should be hated."

"That's..."

"Hayato might have a chance to learn that. I'm hoping for that. And what comes after, as well."

"H, hey..."

Veru tried to stop them, but Hypnos and Amanda disappeared.

He wondered what to do, but he gave up, realizing there was nothing he could do, and sent a message through the group chat that Amanda had retreated.