Is It Bad That the Main Character's a Roleplayer?

Chapter 29: The Consequences of One’s Choices (4)

“This is very serious. We haven't gone to the Adventurers' Guild yet, but I don't think their situation differs much from the Temple's."

The Inquisitor spoke while walking at a quick pace.

“That might be the case."

The Archmage agreed with her.

“We should first talk with the Demon Knight once we meet with him. He might want to go to the sewers as well… Hmm? You?"

At that moment, she stumbled upon the ugly mug of that guy.

“Why are you alone here—"

“You'd better follow after me as fast as you can."

“…What?”

“Mister Knight went to the sewers alone."

She couldn't overlook that statement.

“That's…"

“You let him go alone?!"

“So what? Are you coming or not? This isn't part of my job to begin with, yeah?"

“Sigh, fine. What did I even expect from a criminal?!"

"You've never seen me commit a single crime, but you always call me criminal this, criminal that…!"

“Then what are you if not a crimi—!"

“Stop!! Is that important right now?!"

“…!”

Only after the Archmage shouted did she stop. Her main priority shouldn't be arguing with this thief but to catch up with the Demon Knight who had gone ahead.

“Knowing his personality, he probably didn't get any supplies, let alone rest. We need to find him as quickly as possible."

She hit the nail on the head. He went into the sewer system with as little preparation as possible. In that case, it was even more urgent for them to reach him.

“…After this matter is resolved, I will hold you accountable for your crimes."

“Sigh, what crimes are you even talking about?"

She couldn't deny that, either.

She’d initially met him in a den filled with thieves and robbers, and when he first appeared before them, he seemed to be preparing an attack. She had just called him a thief all this time without even knowing whether he had actually committed a crime.

The only time she witnessed him committing any criminal activity was that act of personal revenge. However, even that couldn't really be called a grave crime as the other party involved was a Demon Contractor.

But still, she didn't want to admit it. This was completely different from the matter with the Demon Knight.

The Demon Knight only held a Demon in his body but was himself extremely honest and upright. Despite being in a position where he could easily fall into temptation, he persevered.

On the other hand, what about this guy? What side of the line did that guy walk on?

Even without being hosts to a Demon or contracted to one, people could still commit grave sins. In a way, such people were even worse; despite having the choice to live righteously, they chose sin for their pleasure or convenience.

That was why she couldn't tolerate him and was extremely confused because she had no idea what she should do.

Although she knew how to judge clearly proven crimes, she had yet to learn how to deal with those who only might have committed one

“…I'll remember that."

So that was all she could say.

The world outside the Temple was much more difficult to navigate than she thought.

* * *

“They're weaker than I thought…"

I had honestly been a bit worried because everyone around me spoke of how dangerous it was here. With all these people so scared, I had also gotten nervous.

However, they just acted that way for meta reasons, as always. Unless they applied a serious balance patch, wasn't it actually pretty rare for the difficulty of enemies to suddenly jump?

Even if I had leveled up quite a bit, up until now, I could deal with most Demons in one or two hits. And even if I didn't, it had never reached the point of endangering my life.

Still, it wouldn't be wise to just rush into this headfirst.

“Finding my way around is a lot more difficult now…"

I fortunately didn't have much issue with hunting. However, just finding the right direction was proving to be quite troublesome.

“Sigh…"

How many hours had already passed? Three? Four? Or maybe five?

My fatigue level had been around 100 for a while, and I had no other items or system functions that helped me tell the time. I could only determine that it had been some time since I first entered this place.

The same went for the map. Unlike before, when I only had to search one area, I now had to go through the entire city's sewer system, so I was struggling to narrow down the search area even by leaving marks on the map.

These damn Demons had even dug new tunnels…

Even so, I couldn't stop. It would be too much of a waste to just give up at this point. I was still confused as to whether I was still playing a game or just asking for trouble here, but it would be a waste either way.

For that reason, I erased all of these miscellaneous thoughts from my mind and wiped away the few drops of blood on my cheek.

One might think cleaning myself wouldn't really matter, as my clothes would clean themselves automatically with time, but that didn't extend to things that got on my skin, which left me feeling pretty uncomfortable.

Even more so because I had to endure being covered in that stuff for hours. Even my groin was drenched in it.

「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 20m.」

However, once [Detection] blared out, I had to discard any discomfort I might be feeling.

I reflexively swung my weapon.

Slash!

My blackened sword cut into the ghoul’s neck, and my foot kicked its stomach. That way, I could increase my distance from the enemy and extract my blade from its neck.

Rush!

What followed next, of course, was splitting that thing's stomach. Afterward, the ghoul died completely, turning into a pile of ashes.

「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 20m.」

No sooner had I discovered and disposed of the closest enemy was another target marked.

Around the corner, three steps ahead of me. It would try to jump me soon. Judging by the sound of its running, it probably was a Sammokgu.

So what?

I moved my shoulder back and held my sword horizontally as though I were pulling a bowstring. Instantly, black energy engulfed the blood-stained blade.

「Stinger │ One's weapon will be imbued with Arcane Power, enabling one to perform a rapid forward stab.

Effect: Consumes 6 MP. Strikes enemies within range before you, dealing 279% damage.」

Since I’d realized it was possible to use unacquired skills, this was the first one I used, even before Slash. That was probably because its motion was the easiest.

Stab—!

Crack!

The Sammokgu that jumped out couldn’t even let out a bark before I smashed its head in. As such, I didn’t need to confirm if it was dead.

“Ptoey."

Well, I had to endure getting pieces of meat in my mouth all the time, though. Urgh, I felt so uncomfortable.

* * *

* * *

I continued to move my tongue around my mouth while I shook the fat, sticky fluids and flesh off my sword. Then, a ringing suddenly sounded in my ears.

‘It's coming.’

「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 20m.」

Sometimes, [Detection] activated a little late, or maybe my instincts and intuition were reacting faster than the skill.

I hurriedly did as my body wanted and lifted my sword in front of me. It slightly tilted a little as if something had hit it.

Clang!

Claws—an iron weapon—that seemed too smooth to be a Demon’s bounced off of my sword.

“Hah!"

“Tsk."

A person? Was that a person just now?

I saw a person hiding in black smoke. He seemed humanoid, but his appearance wasn't normal at all. Arms covered in blackened blood vessels, bloodshot eyes, and a milky tint over his pupils. He honestly seemed more like a corpse than a living person. Or maybe that was what one would look like after one reached the end stages of Demonic Erosion.

「Vampire │ Those who have voluntarily accepted Demonic Erosion to become Demons. To maintain their reason, they must extract others’ life force.」

As if to answer my questions, the System Window appeared and provided me with information. Those who had given up on being human, the type of people my character would absolutely despise.

“A bastard who succumbed to demonic temptations…!”

So I happily snapped at him. After retreating to the other side of the pathway, the enemy stepped on the sewage as he rushed toward me. That flowing black fog seemed both familiar and extremely annoying to me.

“Die, you traitor!”

Who was a traitor? I didn’t even get anything from these guys, so wasn’t it rather strange to talk about betrayal and the like?

If you’re going to say stuff like that, you should have at least given me some good items! I didn’t remember ever getting any equipment in this game, even though it was an RPG!

Of course, even if he gave me something, I wouldn’t change my opinion and instead maintain my set image!

Clang! Claaang! Clang!

The enemy, armed with weapons resembling claws, persistently and accurately aimed for my arms. He was the most agile enemy I had encountered up to this point.

However, no matter how fast he was, it wasn’t enough that I couldn’t see or react to his attacks.

That was more than sufficient.

I subtly moved my sword, blocking his claw attacks, and put one of my hands into my sleeve, quickly withdrawing a dagger and throwing it toward him.

“…!”

The enemy’s eyes instantly widened, and the hands that had been aiming for me all this time moved quickly to cover his vital points. Ting! The dagger bounced off the metal plates covering his hands.

However, I managed to break his pace. I stretched out my right hand, which wasn’t holding the Longsword. Whack! I cleverly slipped past his raised guard and grabbed my enemy’s neck.

“Kurg!”

Just as I heard choking sounds escaping his mouth, I pinned him down with my hand and stabbed my sword into him.

Stab!

Accompanied by the sound of metal cutting through flesh, the Longsword accurately pierced his heart. Even if I hadn’t hit it, he couldn’t survive the severe damage I had caused to multiple vital organs due to the angle at which I struck.

“You traitor—!”

However, the Vampire continued fighting me to the very end. He grabbed my arm and tried to dig his claws into my skin as if he wanted to cause even the slightest bit of damage to me.

Cruuunch!

“Kuwaaaargh!”

But was there any reason for me to just sit there and watch him do it?

I put some force into the hand holding the sword and cut sideways. The sounds of bones breaking and muscles rupturing mixed together until my sword’s blade emerged from his side.

Throw.

I immediately tossed the enemy to the side. I checked my right arm, but there fortunately weren’t any injuries, just some marks left on the gauntlet. I didn’t give my character the gauntlet for something like that, but it was still very fortunate.

I already had to put bandages around my leg, so it would be quite wasteful if I had to use any more.

“Alright, so the right path is…”

As I retrieved my versatile dagger, I pondered over that matter.

I got here after only going to places where mobs gathered, concluding that only the right path would hold so many enemies.

And just now, I came across an elite monster for the first time. There was no way a high-level mob would appear in some useless area, so my intuition seemed to have been correct.

“That way, probably.”

Furthermore, that Vampire just jumped out from the path to the right. There was a good chance that was the correct way.

Scrrrrratch.

Still, I marked one of the walls with my Longsword, just in case. It would have been impossible if the walls were solid stone, but they were currently covered in those black root-like things, so I could leave as many marks as needed.

Sting.

“Gotcha.”

At that moment, I felt something sting the back of my neck. Considering the small radius of the sting, it didn't seem like a large weapon.

「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 20m.」

Rather, why the hell did [Detection] activate so arbitrarily? It would sometimes ring out immediately when something entered the 20m radius, and sometimes would only ring after I had already been attacked.

Were there enemies here that could counter my skill? Or was my skill level too low? Either way, I wanted some clarification.

“Gretchen, I don’t know why you betrayed us…”

I checked my rapidly rising poison counter and gently rolled the dagger I hadn’t yet put back into my gauntlet-clad hand. The unknown enemy behind me wouldn’t see what I did because my torso blocked his view of my arms.

“Now you can return to his arms—”

And the moment my poison counter reached 90, I turned around and swung my dagger.

“Kurgh!”

I vaguely guessed the height and position of the enemy based on where I heard the voice coming from. Bullseye. I precisely stabbed his throat.

Ting!

I quickly pulled out whatever was stuck in the back of my neck with the hand holding the Longsword. The poison needle fell to the floor and bounced into the sewage water.

“Ku-kuhup!”

Now, all I had to do was deal with the guy who’d stabbed me with that poison needle, right?

When I saw that guy clutching his throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding, I straightened my sword. My enemy's eyes, reflecting the light, filled with horror, and his outstretched hand indicated that he wanted me to stop, but I didn't care.

“Go to hell."

I took his supplies. Well, it was a bit too gross to keep them as spoils, so I just tossed them.

「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 20m.」

“…Fuck, did they really only send out a Vampire and an Assassin to deal with that monster?"

“They're enough to buy us some time, at least…!"

Then, I saw more enemies coming my way. They didn't wear those black robes, so they probably weren't Demon Contractors. Were they just some mobs wielding melee weapons? How annoying.

“Have you come here to present your neck to me?"

Seeing that they came out after I walked this way, I was certain I had found the right path!

“Good. I shall cut off your heads then, you worms!"

Thanks for giving me such a warm welcome, you bastards!

* * *

“Miss Priest, you are safe!"

“Hey, lower your weapons!"

“Clear the way immediately!"

“Yes…”

The Inquisitor climbed out from one of the sewer entrances as several people welcomed her. The Archmage had already come out and gotten behind the barricade, supported by several others.

“Are you hurt anywhere?"

“I'm fine. But you, Sir Archmage…"

“It isn't a serious injury, so don't worry, Miss Priest."

It wasn't. However, he had already been in a bad condition when he’d gotten injured.

“I'm sorry, Inquisitor. If I had just reacted faster…"

“It's not your fault, Sir Archmage. It was rather unreasonable to make you rush about like that to begin with."

The Archmage wasn't someone who moved his body a lot in the first place.

Besides, what had they done the last few days? She didn't recall getting any proper rest for the past week. They rarely slept properly at night, skipped meals, and were constantly on the move.

The average mage would have already collapsed by now. The Archmage could endure this long because he was of the Shaggi race, born with superior physical strength and reflexes.

“It's me who should be sorry. If only I had moved a little faster…"

Then what about her? Her Divine Power, through some pain, gave her almost infinite stamina and power that wouldn't yield against the Demons.

In other words, as long as her will wasn't broken, she could continue fighting even if the rest of the world was crumbling apart.

However, despite her best efforts, she couldn’t overcome her mental fatigue and allowed an attack against the Archmage to slip past. She was disqualified as both a Hero and an inquisitor.

“…And, the Knight…"

Furthermore, she hadn’t achieved her purpose behind unreasonably entering the sewers. The Inquisitor gritted her teeth and shook her head.

“I couldn't find him."

She had found traces of his progress. It was strange how the corpses of the slaughtered Demons were placed around like signs, so they didn't even need to cast {Tracking}.

“H-He went in far too deep."

However, that was all. His progression speed had been too overwhelmingly fast.

Even though he moved while clearing the area, new Demons had already refilled the place.

“This old man should have just stayed out here. I'm just a burden to you, Inquisitor."

“No, you're not. Even if I went in alone… He'll probably come out on his own in the end."

Their purpose behind entering the sewers was to reach the Demon Knight, persuade him to leave, and escort him outside. They did this because they were all far too tired to explore the sewer system.

She planned on suggesting they take some time to maintain their weapons and get supplies before properly exploring… However, she didn't even get the chance to persuade him. Now, she only had one choice left.

“Let's rest, Sir Archmage. We'll go back in, in about five hours."

Rather than going too far in and risking severe injury, they should take a break and recover their stamina.