Chapter 27: Battle of Bloody Baron (3)

Along with the bright red system message.

The Baron’s body was sucked into the mansion.

Only the Baron’s elongated hook-hand, torn off and left behind.

And countless bloodstains indicated that the Baron had been there.

Q. Baron Subjugation Battle
You have dealt a fatal blow to the Baron.
The Baron is wounded and will focus on recovery for the time being.

<<Choose Your Path>>

1. Enter the Mansion (Enter Phase 2)

2. End the Subjugation Battle (Forfeit Baron Gate Battle)

3. Burn Down the Mansion (Baron retreats to the next Gate)

4. Seal the Mansion (Cannot be selected: Required skill missing)

The Baron, saved by the game system.

The system message appeared at the perfect timing.

Making Edelin realize once again that she was indeed inside a game.

‘Did I get too immersed…?’

Seeing the soldiers die before her eyes.

Made her recall the people who had died in the past, unwittingly building up the emotion of anger.

If she were an ordinary player.

She might have played this raid while enjoying it with interest.

‘But I can’t do that.’

Even if she forced herself to recognize it as a game.

Wasn’t the continent she stood on the actual continent where she had lived in the past?

Just as Edelin’s way of speaking had solidified into a historical tone.

To her, this place was like a precious memory-filled location, akin to actual reality.

‘I cannot forgive those who defile a place filled with memories.’

Even if someone called it over-immersion.

Even if someone called it game addiction.

Her thoughts would not change.

• [Let’s go Phase 2~]

• [Too bad, thought she might ignore immunity and get a one-phase clear.]

• [Punish him with your magic sense this time too!]

• [Considering the future, option 2 isn’t a bad choice either.]

• [Option 3 isn’t worth picking. Even if he doesn’t have time to heal after retreating, it’s still annoying.]

• [Thinking about the remaining noble bosses, skipping the Baron seems best.]

• [But that’s not what we want to see, right?]

• [Exactly lollll We want to see her pick 1 and kill him]

• [Pioneer the route no one has taken!]

Given the choice windows Edelin had encountered so far.

They predicted what she would choose.

“Enter the Mansion.”

• [Knew it lollllllllll]

• [We believed in you lollllllllll]

• [That’s our High School Girl-chan!]

• [I’m a military veteran High School Girl-chan. Retreat doesn’t exist.]

• [We go for another hour!]

The chat window erupted into a festival at the expected response.

“Saintess! Leave this place to us and go!”

Even though the Baron had retreated, the monsters outside the mansion did not disappear.

Edelin nodded in affirmation to the General’s solemn words.

She took her first step into the mansion’s interior, the inside unseen.

[Numerous guests visited his mansion.]
[Hearing the rumors circulating among the public.]
[To find a way to fulfill their desires.]

A gentle female narration continued.

[They too desired immortality.]
[Whether of noble birth.]
[Or of lowly status.]
[The eternal utopia that humans inevitably pursue at least once.]

Light briefly entered the pitch-black mansion interior.

Revealing wine filled with blood and meat of unknown origin on a long dining table.

[Thus, they yearned even more.]
[Those with frail bodies could regain health.]
[The healthy could extend their lifespan.]
[A festival of banquets and feasts with no visible end.]

The image of the Baron and his followers greedily consuming food appeared.

[All sorts of delicacies graced their table.]
[But as time passed, the food ran out.]
[They began to covet each other.]
[A gruesome slaughter of blood began, targeting each other’s flesh.]

The illuminated world turned dark.

[And at the center of it all was the Baron.]

For the sake of eternal life.

Committing the terrible atrocity of sharing blood and flesh with guests.

The Baron and his followers.

The narration’s story, no different from the past.

Made Edelin feel the thread of her patience finally snap.

‘In the past, those vampire bastards also killed ordinary people for their feasts.’

Whatever the reason.

The sin of fulfilling one’s desires by killing people.

Was a heinous crime insufficient even for the death penalty.

Edelin took one step into the unseen darkness.

One step forward.

A vast banquet hall.

The bright light that had illuminated the Baron vanished.

In the newly changed location, the Baron awaited Edelin.

• It is admirable that you drove me into a corner. But this is my home!

“Home?”

An incongruous dining table ill-suited to the antique interior decor.

Upon the table, littered with the rotten chunks of meat seen in the narration.

Empty blood-wine glasses rolled on the floor.

A place impossible to consider a home.

• Humans who live short lives would not understand!

The viewers bristled at the Baron’s words.

• [No, what does living a short life have to do with the house?]

• [lol Seems like my older sister’s room.]

• [Ugh. Is your sister’s room a pigsty?]

• [Yeah. Seriously, she lives without ever cleaning her room.]

• [Still, calling a place full of rotten smells and corpses a home is a bit much;]

For this moment, the viewers’ opinions were united.

A desire for Edelin to quickly dispose of the Baron.

“I have no desire to know. Is that all you have to say?”

The story of the Baron heard through the narration was merely that of a nobleman committing evil deeds.

Edelin’s expression contorted as if the mere act of exchanging words with the Baron was repulsive.

• Very well. Pay dearly for the crime of invading another’s home!

[Phase 2 against the Bloody Baron Baron will begin!]

Along with the alarm indicating immunity had worn off, the Baron moved first.

‘Even so, there aren’t many patterns he can use.’

The Baron’s attacks, limited to the single hook pattern anyway.

Were simple linear patterns, difficult even to get hit by.

Would he really attack the same way after losing an arm like that?

• Khahahahaha.

Naturally, the Baron’s pattern changed upon entering Phase 2.

Click-!

The light illuminating the mansion instantly died down, plunging it into darkness.

• [Another darkness pattern?]

• [Isn’t this the pattern we saw endlessly in Gate 1?]

• [But it’s useless against High School Girl-chan, right?]

Contrary to the expectation that he would attack sneakily in the darkness.

Perhaps about five seconds passed.

The mansion’s interior lighting returned to its original state.

“…?”

When light illuminated the mansion’s interior again.

The mansion’s decor had completely changed.

The place littered with corpses, bones, and empty wine bottles.

Had somehow transformed into a spawning ground where hundreds of large and small eggs writhed.

And the Baron’s mocking laughter filled the banquet hall.

• Find me among the hundreds of eggs.

Eggs that writhed as if they would break at any moment.

• [lolllllllll Was this what Phase 2 was?]

• [They just slapped a mob summon pattern onto Phase 2 lollllllll]

• [But the number is quite large?]

• [It’s not just ‘quite large’ f*ck. How are you supposed to clear this.]

• [It would be tough to break them all alone.]

The large and small eggs all contained vampires.

Breaking the wrong one meant the hassle of dealing with the emerged fodder vampire.

Yet, taking the time to break them slowly was not an option, as the eggs would hatch simultaneously after a certain time.

One had to accurately break only the egg containing the Baron.

In the non-raid version, the Baron would hide after laying five eggs at most.

But hundreds.

“Is hiding the best you can do…?”

Edelin was fed up with the Baron’s behavior.

Whether he hid to recover health.

Or heal wounds, that was the Baron’s choice, but.

“Do you think I would give you time to heal your wounds?”

Edelin’s pupils glowed with a blue light.

Magic Sight, imbuing the eyes with magic to see through the opponent’s essence.

Her eyes pierced through the eggs, searching for the main body within.

“Here you are?”

Pushing aside various eggs, she arrived at one egg, neither too large nor too small.

The Baron might have thought he was hidden.

But it was a useless act before Edelin.

Slice

Edelin’s sword split the egg.

• H-How…!

Inside, the Baron stared at Edelin with startled eyes.

“You reek of such a disgusting smell. Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

She looked down at the Baron, her blue eyes shining.

For the first time in his life, the Baron felt the emotion of fear.

• S-Spare me.

“Spare you?”

Before the Baron could do anything, Edelin sliced off his remaining arm.

• Kraaaaargh!

“When the people who died because of you begged for mercy, did you spare them?”

• Krrrk… Th-That…

“You did not, did you.”

Although the people who died in the past weren’t killed by the game’s Baron.

It was true that people had died because of the Baron.

“Even when you devoured innocent people and soldiers.”
“Even when you sacrificed others for your own eternity.”
“Can you shamelessly ask to be spared?”

Each of Edelin’s words became daggers piercing the Baron’s chest.

The fact that the Baron, already turned into a monster, would not repent at those words.

She knew that well too.

“If words could make you understand, it would have happened long ago. Isn’t that right?”

• W-Will you spare me?

“Of course.”

Edelin smiled and nodded readily.

“If you can withstand this.”

Edelin stabbed her sword into the Baron’s leg, pinning him to the ground so he couldn’t escape.

Placing her hand on his head, Edelin activated her Nightmare energy.

[Oh dear. It would be better not to do something you’ll regret.]

Despite the King of Nightmares’ warning, Edelin used Nightmare to absorb the Baron’s energy.

• Wh-What are you doinggg

The Baron, lacking both arms, could do nothing.

“I will make you human.”

• St-Stop! Stop it! Human! I don’t want that!

“I am truly glad you dislike it.”

She absorbed his energy without pause.

[Mana level increased by 0.1 due to Special Stat Nightmare.]
[Mana level increased by 0.1 due to Special Stat Nightmare.]
[Mana level increased by 0.1 due to Special Stat Nightmare.]
[Mana level increased by 0.1 due to Special Stat Nightmare.]
[Mana level increased by 0.1 due to Special Stat Nightmare.]
[Mana level increased by 0.1 due to Special Stat Nightmare.]
.
.

The mana level rose crazily.

As expected of a monster serving as a boss.

The concentration and amount of energy the Baron possessed were beyond imagination.

‘Truly remarkable power.’

But the bloody energy could not overcome Nightmare’s appetite.

As she indiscriminately absorbed the energy.

The Baron’s appearance began to change slightly.

His plump skin gradually became dry.

As time passed, he withered more and more like a mummy.

Edelin, having completely drained the energy from the Baron’s body.

Retracted her outstretched hand.

In its place, only the dust of what used to be the Baron remained piled on the floor.

[You have successfully completed the Bloody Baron Baron Raid!]
[Amazing Achievement! You have completed a Solo Raid.]
[Your Mana level has reached the 3rd Circle!]
[Amazing Achievement! You have achieved the Youngest 3rd Circle User accomplishment.]

The Gatekeeper of a Gate.

The lord of a castle who instilled fear in players with the Bloody Curse.

Met his end at Edelin’s hands.