Chapter 687 |
Even though the sound was evidently the clear and clean ringing of bells, something about it felt eerie.
Instinctively, Davey turned his head to face the source of the sound, but he saw nothing. Still, the chill that ran down his spine and the goosebumps on his skin were screaming at him to leave the place.
Then, just as he was about to take out the Dimensional Key, a clear, natural-sounding, and yet unsettling voice said, “You’re going?”
When he turned his head, he saw a little girl standing right in front of him. As to when she approached him? He had absolutely no idea.
The girl had pale skin that was almost white, carefully braided hair that reached until her calves, and a pair of bright yet serene purple eyes that reflected Davey’s figure. Her appearance made it seem like she lived without a single hardship in her entire life.
In one hand, she had a purple parasol that matched the color of her eyes, and with her other hand, she held onto Davey’s pants. Surprisingly, despite donning a western-style gothic dark purple dress, the girl seemed to fit right into the world yet still be out of place at the same time. She looked just like a doll that calm and pretty girls from rich families had.
Although she had a dreary air of elegance about her, Davey still couldn’t help but take out the Dimensional Key.
“Brother?”
Davey shook off her hand as soon as he saw her tilt her head, and he immediately thrust the Dimensional Key in the air.
In an instant, Winley, Hydro, and Perserque began to turn into light with the magic circle's influence.
“You’re going?”
Crack!!!
But the very same changes that Hydro and Winley went through—which also made it possible for them to go through the door that the Dimensional Key had opened—bound Perserque and Davey to where they were.
“We’re fucked.”
Cold sweat dripped down Davey’s back. Although the others did not seem to notice the girl in front of them, he could sense that she had an inner strength beyond anyone's imagination. Similar to how his mana was so vast and so deep that it was impossible for ordinary people to sense it, no one apart from him could feel the threat that the girl in front of them posed.
“Brother, I smell something familiar,” the girl said, as she walked up to Davey and began to sniff around him.
Some people finally noticed what was going on and looked at them in confusion.
“Shit! She’s fucking cute. I want to take her back home and raise her.”
Boom!!!
Before anyone had a chance to react, the head of the one who impulsively spoke was blown off, causing a terrifying and hair-raising rain of blood. The girl looked at the other young men with her head tilted innocently, as if she had no idea what had just happened. But the others reacted differently.
“U-uwaaaaaaaaaaaack?!”
“What the hell is this?!”
Some of the members of the Sirius Guild shrieked and fell down on their butts.
“U-urgh…”
Seemingly unable to handle the cruel and gruesome display they had witnessed, some of them hunched over, gagged, and emptied whatever was in their stomachs. Over a certain period of time, the only version of a macabre scene that the players of Alf Online were allowed to see was the censored one. But judging from their reactions, it seemed like the censorship was bypassed, forcing them to watch the incident play out as if it were reality.
One of the guild members began to act with hostility toward the girl. Then, even without knowing how he came up with the idea, he gritted his teeth and shouted, “Thi-this… Fuck! That! It’s that bitch!”
Boom!!!
But the price of openly showing hostility to the girl was quite steep.
“Urk… ugh…”
One of the young men was reduced to pieces, and his hostile cry died along with him.
But this was just a simple game for these people, so unless they were in a special situation like Davey, dying was not a problem for them.
‘What is this horrifying feeling of deja vu?’
Perserque had been frowning for a long while already, and Davey immediately forced her mouth shut before she could even utter a word.
“Don’t say anything!” Davey shouted, causing Perserque’s eyes to widen.
“So, this is all your handiwork?”
Hearing Davey’s question, the girl turned to look at Davey with her head still tilted innocently like before.
“Brother, why do you smell so familiar?”
“If you were asked a question, you shouldn’t answer with another question. You have to answer it first.”
“Hnngh… Eclipse doesn’t know,” the girl answered and approached Davey, who appeared as though he was uninterested. Then she added, “Brother… and sister. Go with Eclipse. Play with Eclipse.”
Davey smiled when he saw her speaking so calmly. “Should we?”
“Yeah!” the girl replied energetically, a wide smile flashing on her face. Then she looked at the members of the Sirius Guild and said, “Brothers, play with Eclipse too.”
The smile painted on her face was a picture of innocence. But none of the people present could open their mouths to respond. After all, who was it who created that gruesome bugged situation? Not only that, their instincts were also screaming at them and telling them to…
“R-run, run away!!!”
In the end, some of them were unable to bear the pressure. They turned around and fled the scene. There were even some of them who kept on swiping in the air in front of them. Perhaps they were trying to log out right on the spot.
But then a wind blew from somewhere, forcing everyone to stop..
Fwoosh!!!
The girl’s purple parasol flew lightly in the air, and then when it finally landed on the ground, their surroundings had already changed completely.
“Wha-what is this?”
“Eclipse doesn’t want her brothers to run away. Eclipse likes playing with you, brothers.”
The way she laughed proved that, although she seemed innocent, she was actually anything but innocent.
“Amazing…”
One by one, the guild members, whom Davey had held onto before, disappeared without leaving a single trace behind, and he and Perserque were the last two to remain.
Meanwhile, the surrounding area was no longer the hot forest from before. Instead, what was before them was just an awfully vast desert with no end in sight. However, it was not as if their location had changed. So, why did the surroundings suddenly change to a desert? It was because the entire forest had been transformed into one—from the land to the trees. Even the air was not spared. Everything faced death and was destroyed. This was a terrifying power.
“You turned the entire forest into a desert in just an instant, huh?” Davey said as he slowly pulled Perserque closer by her arms so that he could protect her better. All the while, his eyes didn’t stray from the girl, who was innocently playing with the sand, her interest seemingly piqued by something else.
In the first place, she was no ordinary cute girl. She wasn’t a part of the game either. So if Davey’s intuition was correct, then the members of the Sirius Guild who died by her hands were most likely…
Then, at that moment…
“Huh? Introduce myself? Hnng… Okay…”
The girl, who was playing with the sand, slowly got up and proceeded to shake and clap her hands to get rid of the sand. Then, with an awkward gait as though she was trying to imitate something she had seen somewhere, she slowly held her skirt and smiled brightly at Davey.
“Eclipse is good, so Eclipse will listen.”
“...”
“Hello! I am the Ancient Dragon, Eclipse. Uhm… Eclipse is a Princess of the Abyss, you know. So, Eclipse came to meet you, brother.”
“You came to meet me?” Davey asked stiffly.
As Davey stood before the Ancient Dragon, he felt as though there was an intangible force that was dragging out what he truly felt in his heart.
And when it came to the Ancient Dragon, Davey couldn’t pretend that he had no idea about it. It was an ancient being of comparable power to Neltarid, and it had also fought against the Malicious Spirits.
Other than that, Davey knew of only one Ancient Dragon that existed under Freyja’s influence. It was none other than the gigantic dragon that had devoured the Abyss and ended up being eroded and corrupted by it. The dragon’s name? It was Eclipse.
‘Eclipse as in the eclipse in lunar and solar eclipse.’
Eclipse made sure to keep her eyes on Davey as she walked around. Then she said, “Brother, I want to play with you.”
Crack, crack, crack!!! Bang!!!
What else could Davey say? He could only take out the weapon that he retrieved from Hydro earlier—the Corona Destroyer, which was a large sledgehammer made from the materials dropped by the Malicious Spirits. He gripped the weapon and swung it.
Even with its tremendous power and incredible speed that most beings could not match, the Corona Destroyer was easily blocked by Eclipse's small hand. And Davey could only feel helpless after seeing Eclipse’s calmness, which showed her confidence in her defensive abilities.
Crack, crack, crack!!! Boom!!!
Davey swung the Corona Destroyer again as soon as he managed to pry it from her grasp. This time, he aimed it at her flank, and the unexpected direction of the attack caught Eclipse off guard. It ultimately sent her flying several tens of meters away from Davey. No, in fact, it would be more accurate to say that she was only pushed back a few tens of meters.
“Hiiing… Eclipse’s clothes got dirty…” Eclipse stood up and lightly dusted off her dark purple dress. Then, as if she remembered something, she clapped her hands and said, “Brother! Play tag with Eclipse! Eclipse will be it!”
For a split second, Davey saw something flicker in her eyes. Then, out of pure reflex alone, he jabbed the Dimensional Key once more and shoved the bewildered and dazed Perserque through the small gap that opened.
Thud!!!
At the same time, an extremely powerful force slammed straight into Davey, and he felt as though he had briefly lost consciousness when it made contact with him.
The power was leagues beyond any of the Princesses of the Abyss that he had met before. Perhaps it was because she became a Princess of the Abyss, not born as one from the start.? Or maybe it was because she was an Ancient Dragon that became a Princess of the Abyss? No, perhaps there was another reason?
Davey was unable to come to his own senses, leaving him to roll around on the ground several times over.
Then, despite the searing pain from his fractured bones, he extended his arm and dug his hand into the sand to anchor himself until he ceased rolling around again and again.
“Ugh…”
The pain, which felt like his insides were being ripped apart, suddenly washed over his entire being. But all he could do was ignore it and prepare for a counterattack. He didn't think Eclipse, who was walking toward him, really wanted to play, even though it may seem like it.
Davey exhaled roughly as he combined Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon. Then, with Super Ribbon in hand, he turned to face Eclipse, activated a random power, and mustered all of his strength.
Although he was supposed to save some of his energy and observe his opponent in case anything happened, it depended on who was his opponent. What was the used of saving up his energy if Eclipse’s single attack was that powerful??
[Demonic Sword 80th Form]
[Dying to Live, Living to Die]
Slash!!!
An overwhelmingly dense bluish-red blade energy, which could cut down the heavens and the earth, shot out. This blade energy, which was flying toward the little girl, had not yet encountered anything that could prove itself to be a worthy opponent. In fact, this attack carried power that was far heavier and stronger than what Davey could usually generate.
Clang!!!
But with just one swing of Eclipse's hand, Super Ribbon's blade energy was easily broken, just like glass. It was such an overwhelmingly terrifying force, and yet it seemed as though it was only a byproduct from the special power she possessed.
This was no longer just a simple difference in power.
Davey, whose jaw was left hanging, murmured to himself, “Wow… I’m going to fucking die.”
He was in genuine awe of the display of power.
“Hngh? No time? Whyyy? Eclipse wants to play some more… Hiiing. Okay. Brother!!! Eclipse will chase after you now!”
Even though she was laughing like an innocent child, she had strength and power that were leagues beyond Sleesia's. She was even strong enough to be called a true disaster. Or perhaps it would be more apt to call her death?
