Luca gazed at the garden with its blooming roses, wondering what kind of transaction they would be conducting there.
Arknight sighed wearily, then tilted his head…looking at Luca and then back at the garden.
"Calm down, they're coming."
Sol and Rivenhart appeared out of nowhere in front of Luca and Arknight.
"Huh…?!"
Luca's eyes widened. He knew this was a world where normal logic couldn't be applied, but how could they appear at such a precise moment?!
"Arknight, we've arrived."
Rivenhart said casually, brushing the dust off himself, while Arknight chuckled.
.....
Rivenhart and Sol watched as the butler, who was about to do something, suddenly stopped.
"Don't tell me you're planning...!"
Sol then pulled a small sample of soil from his pocket and smiled.
"Sorry, but you're no match for us."
Then they would disappear, that was Sol's plan. He had actually used his last remaining charm on Arknight the first time Arknight went down into that secret tunnel… Of course, Arknight knew this, but she didn't seem to care much.
But this butler was smarter than they thought. Just as Sol was about to take out the piece of soil, the butler simply turned his back and walked away.
"It's tea time."
He left, leaving the two of them bewildered… Why would the butler help them? What was this all about? This tea time was clearly an excuse… But did they even have time to ask so many questions?
Sol didn't say much, but immediately took Rivenhart's hand and used the soil sample to teleport to Arknight's location.
Rivenhart just looked at the butler, and in his heart, Rivenhart had a hypothesis… The player is an NPC. That is, when the player is actually involved in the events of a level being replayed, a character who survived the events of that level will play the role of an NPC. After all, Rivenhart was an NPC in the first level… Rivenhart felt a similar feeling, but it was different for some reason, some element.
...….
Now they were all preparing to enter the garden, but Luca, bewildered, didn't understand what they were going to do there. Anyway, after Eirene's incident, they knew how dangerous the garden and their mistress were, as if, back when they were still in their servant uniforms, her orders were absolute.
Arknight entered the garden without hesitation, and Rivenhart followed. Sol, seeing this, was about to follow, but noticed Luca frozen, so he helped by pulling Luca along behind the other two.
As soon as they entered, they encountered their mistress looking at the withered flowers with a disappointed expression. She just stared, then gave a strange smile, tearing each flower out of the ground one by one. Each time, her skin changed colour again; from dark and mottled, it became whiter… like human skin.
The mistress was about to pull another one, but she stopped. She turned her head to look at the group of people. The way she turned her head was very strange; although her appearance resembled a human, her behaviour was completely different. Her body remained crouched, facing the withered roses; only her head was turned to look at them… by lightning, it was a 90-degree angle.
This time, Luca didn't tremble all over, only got goosebumps. Perhaps this was an improvement after days of relentless torment?
After all, he hadn't had any rest yet… He prepared to run again.
Rivenhart looked around. Everyone knew why Arknight wanted everyone here… to find Eirene.
Rivenhart didn't say anything, but he was smart enough to know that Sol's placement of the spell on Arknight was all part of Arknight's plan; the purpose of them all meeting here was...
Why would someone like Arknight want to save Eirene? What kind of deal did they make…?
Luca had a thousand questions, though goosebumps were still rising under the watchful gaze of his mistress, who seemed to be watching them without any intention of doing anything… perhaps for this moment.
Arknight only smiled, doing nothing but looking at her mistress.
"My dear mistress, could you please not pick those delicate little roses?"
Rivenhart asked.
According to the rules the butler set, shouldn't we avoid harming the roses? He never said the young mistress was allowed to pick them… so we have to ask first. If the young mistress wishes, then we can rest assured… but shouldn't we not trust the butler?
That's what Luca was really curious about… He knew Rivenhart was asking because of the rules. Could Rivenhart have already found it? But since when?
Luca sighed. At this moment, Luca realised that he hadn't escaped the game yet, so he couldn't let his guard down.
The mistress just looked and paused. She glanced at them briefly, then shook her head, though her hands had stopped plucking the withered roses.
"Find the butler… I want him."
Arknight stared intently, as if that were what she wanted… but why meet the mistress only to then go find the butler? Luca wanted to ask Arknight, but before he could, their bodies moved out of the garden.
They were back in the main hall near the door. Perhaps now they had to find the butler? Although he didn't know what to do, Luca knew he had to ask Arknight.
"I have a question: why did you go through all the trouble to find the mistress only to come back here to find the butler?"
"Why? Because I like it."
Arknight winked, not bothering to answer Luca's question. Seeing this, Luca gave up; after all, he couldn't force Arknight, who was many times stronger than him, to answer his question.
Sol looked around and chuckled to lighten the mood.
"Hey, hey, we have to go find the butler. Anyway, with a new person like Luca, it should be easier to find him."
"Sol's right. If you guys have so much free time, go find him."
Rivenhart sighed and walked ahead, Sol following behind.
"See? Let's go."
Arknight smiled and followed, Luca knowing that if he didn't follow now, he would be left behind, so he reluctantly followed along; indeed, newcomers are easily bullied.
They walked around together, and at this point, Arknight stopped and looked at a wall.
"Let's go, he's not here."
"How do you know?"
Sol asked with a puzzled expression.
Wasn't it a bit hasty to judge just by looking at a door?
"Curious, huh? Out of respect for your boyfriend, I'll tell you."
"There should be another door leading to the kitchen on the first floor, but it only appears when the butler is present."
Rivenhart stared intently at Arknight, triggering the mechanism of this world. Arknight merely smiled, as if it didn't affect her much.
"Don't be so jealous."
"I didn't say anything."
Arknight shrugged while Rivenhart turned and pulled Sol along… Leaving Luca as an observer watching the conversation that had just taken place.
"Hey… wait for me!"
Luca immediately ran after them.
Of course, Rivenhart and Sol intended to go up to the second floor to check. Luca knew they might meet the butler up there… but going up there meant meeting Lys, or Laria as they were now called, so he'd rather go down to the basement to meet Luxie.
So Luca stopped them right at the bottom of the stairs.
"How about we go down to the basement?"
The other three stopped and looked at Luca in surprise. Arknight also showed a little curiosity.
"Why? We can check it later."
Sol spoke up, then approached Luca as if to check what exactly was making Luca afraid or unwilling to go to the second floor.
"Because…"
Luca was trying to give a reason that was both logical, convincing, and likely to be true.
"Ah… Because I've been up there before. We've seen the butler almost everywhere, like on the first floor, the second floor, and we haven't seen the garden. Using the process of elimination, the only place I haven't seen the butler is the basement, so it's likely he's there."
Luca put a lot of effort into this explanation, though he didn't really need to; they could have thought whatever they wanted. But Luca made Arknight laugh.
"Do you know how funny you look right now?"
Luca's face flushed slightly. They treated him like a kid… even though it was his first time playing, and he was a little shy, they didn't need to do that.
But at least he didn't have to go up to the second floor. They all went down to the basement level 1 together.
On the first basement floor, they saw a pitch-black basement with no one in sight, only scattered crates everywhere. It seemed like a battle… or a search had taken place there.
"Interesting, huh? You probably guessed right,"
Arknight chuckled and patted Luca on the head before going ahead. Rivenhart looked around while Sol watched Luca.
"Hey, you have a keen intuition. Teach me, give me your secret so I know when I can devour him without him getting angry."
"Devour… him…"
Luca's face turned red like a tomato… he had never thought about such adult things.
After all, he was mostly alone, so hearing things like this was a bit much… Perhaps after the incident with her husband, Sol had become bolder, and since Luca knew everything, Sol was almost no longer shy.
Rivenhart pulled Sol's head down to look at Luca again.
"You didn't hear anything, did you?"
Luca nodded repeatedly, his gaze a mixture of embarrassment and anger at Rivenhart… It was best not to anger him, or not only Sol but also Luca himself might be doomed.
"I didn't hear anything at all."
Rivenhart nodded and pulled Sol away.
"I don't know what he was saying."
Rivenhart sighed, while Sol just pouted.
"Sorry,"
Rivenhart decided to ignore it, while Arknight looked at Luca.
"What are you standing there doing, kid? Expecting to get away with nothing and expect to reap the rewards?"
Arknight chuckled, and Luca, feeling helpless, followed. He was practically a freeloader, and what other choice did Luca have? Luca was just a weak new player; his survival depended on countless generations of support.
After walking a little further, they encountered more rooms and an open door leading to basement level 2.
Luca was walking when he noticed that the rooms were now covered in roses, with vines hanging on the walls, in short, a wild and chaotic scene. Luca approached the roses on the wall… they looked so fresh that he was about to touch them when…
"Don't touch them!"
Rivenhart warned Luca, but it was too late. As soon as Luca touched them, they burst into flames. Luca immediately pulled his hand back, surprised… They spontaneously burst into flames? Why?
Luca had more and more questions swirling in his mind, but he couldn't answer them… He decided to just accept it as the obvious; perhaps that was the best course of action for him at the moment.
Arknight used her hands to lift a rock blocking the path down to the second floor and turned away… the second floor was even more horrifying than the first.
Instead of flowers, there were now bleeding hearts in the centre, replacing the pistils of burning roses. They were probably only burning slightly at the moment, but who knew if they would eventually incinerate them.
Luca felt like throwing up on the spot because the smell of rotting flesh from each heart was truly unbearable.
"How long have these hearts been here?!"
Sol groaned, covering his nose and moving closer to Rivenhart.
"It wasn't like this when I first arrived."
Luca said, looking at Arknight. After all, she was the last person in this basement with Luca. Besides, Arknight's behaviour made her like his personal encyclopedia, placed behind Eirene.
"This might be an omen, kid."
Arknight tilted her head and looked at the heart closest to her, while Luca didn't understand what Arknight was saying, explained further.
"She means that we probably don't have much time left. Perhaps the master of this game has lost patience."
"LOST PATIENCE?!"
Luca realised he had raised his voice slightly and lowered it.
"But it didn't mention a time limit, did it?"
"It didn't mention it, but that doesn't mean there isn't one."
Rivenhart sighed, looking at Luca.
"You may not know, but what we're experiencing is a real event involving someone, and we have to solve it or find out the truth to escape. However, if that were all, it would be too easy. The time we have will depend on the person involved in the event. If we encounter a calm and patient person, we'll have more time, but if we encounter an impatient person, we might only have an hour or more, but at the very least, an hour."
Luca absorbed the information and simply nodded. Their lives were practically in the hands of those powerful forces… The fate of the chosen ones wasn't as rosy as in the stories.
"Thank you for the explanation."
Rivenhart said nothing, considering it a worthwhile update for a newcomer like Luca.
Luca sighed, while Sol just smiled and patted Luca's shoulder in comfort. While everyone was still talking, Arknight found the room full of mirrors where she and Luca had met; they were now shattered into tiny pieces scattered everywhere. Luca approached with the other two.
"This room…"
"Yes, almost all the mirrors are broken."
Arknight finished Luca's sentence as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Luca saw his reflection in a piece of mirror; he was covered in blood…
Arknight sighed in frustration; her plan had gone a little off track.
"There's really no easy game."
No sooner had she finished speaking than they heard a deafening cry that ripped through the air. It was so loud that shards of glass shattered into dust, the ground trembled, and Luca's body shook. If he wasn't mistaken… this was Luxie, out of control… or rather, her boss version.
Luca turned around, his body stiffening, his face as if a vampire had sucked all the blood out of him… Before him was a gigantic monster with a bow identical to Luxie's, but it had more arms than anything else, its body a jumble of pencil strokes, twisted and contorted.
"Help…Mom…"
Those words repeated as the girl lost control, overwhelmed by her own terrifyingly large body.
"Oh dear~ This little one is growing so fast."
Arknight looked quite surprised, but the surprise on her face seemed…fake. Rivenhart became more serious. Sol was preparing to attack, but only Luca was ready to run if anything happened, since staying wouldn't do him any good anyway.
Wait…why does this scene look so familiar…?
Luca realised this when the arm caught his attention; it transformed into a large pair of scissors that Luca held as a weapon.
Wait… HEY, STOP! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT!
Before he could figure it out, Arknight pulled out a pair of twin daggers with a beautiful, dancer-like design. Her swords had alternating blue and purple lines, like the colour of her hair, and the hilts were shaped like butterflies, each half of a complete butterfly.
Sol's was simpler because he had used up all his charms, so he took out a prop.
[Prop: 'Sealing Charm']
[You have activated a prop that temporarily seals the opponent's power]
The charm immediately stuck to Luxie, causing her more pain, but her body also shrank… however, her power remained the same. As for Rivenhart… he took out a pen and wrote continuously in the air, creating small monsters that attacked Luxie and Arknight. Luxie didn't even intend to use her abilities to fight.
Luxie screamed and cried even louder in pain. Arms sprouted out of nowhere, arms from her back, arms from her neck, arms from the cracks in the mirror itself; they were everywhere, attacking them while Luxie continued to scream.
"It hurts so much… Mom, save me…"
A mirror to Arknight's right distorted the image, then hurled Arknight's reflection outwards along with the arms. The reflected blade slashed back, striking the wall with a deafening metallic screech. Arknight spun to block it just in time, as if she were dancing on her dance floor.
Rivenhart wrote even faster while Sol hugged Rivenhart, dodging the arms and grabbing a small dagger to counterattack.
It was simple enough, but Rivenhart had to add details like how the mirrors flew, how many shards hit where, and everything else.
Luxie roared, crying louder, and this time attacking faster. From each broken mirror, an arm emerged, indistinguishable from its real body.
These arms slammed down in rhythm, creating shockwaves that spread through the mirrors, knocking away everything in their path. Luca tried to defend himself with his scissors, but perhaps even his weapon was too heavy for him.
Arknight ran across the mirror. Each step created a circular crack that spread out in a precisely detailed radius. Two curved blades rotated in opposite directions, cutting through the air in layers, shattering the arms before they could fully form to attack her.
An arm shot down from the ceiling. Arknight combined the blades, merging them into a 360-degree sword circle where the two butterfly wings had merged into one. The space around Arknight was circularly cut, creating a void in the mirror; the arm and reflection were all removed from that radius.
Arknight landed, rotating her wrists to unsheathe the swords, returning them to their original dual blades.
Rivenhart knew exactly what to do, so he continued recording and added a new piece of information.
The arm that was transforming into Rivenhart instantly reverted to its original form, and Arknight swiftly slashed again to continue, while Luca… remained unchanged, simply focusing on self-defence.
The mirrors no longer stood still on the wall; they slid, rotated, and flipped like the giant scales of a creature adjusting its posture for more efficient killing.
The monster stood upright for the first time. The image of the dissolving child, Luxie, appeared right in front of its chest, eyes closed, while the parts from the waist down merged into the monster's body. The regenerating arms, though fewer in number, were denser and more clearly structured, each attached to a mirror behind it as if the mirror were its spine; in other words, its speed of regeneration and attack would be faster.
Rivenhart looked towards Luca and the scissors, thinking that Luca understood Luxie better than any of them, so Rivenhart decided to take a gamble.
Rivenhart continued to try to keep a coward like Luca fighting while Arknight was surrounded by arms.
[God X-2]
[You have activated the skill 'The Rager']
[Current status… Loading…]
[You have activated the skill, start a 2-second countdown]
[Successful]
"Chaos Flicker."
Around Arknight, shards of mirror flew around, supporting her attacks against the arms. At the same time, Arknight's muscles tensed; her body was working at full capacity, yet she felt no fatigue… She was enjoying it.
A monstrous arm slammed down right in front of Luca, causing the air to explode. Luca rolled, his heel slipping on the slanted mirror surface, nearly losing his balance. At that very moment, a shard of mirror behind him struck back, shooting a replica of the arm straight at Luca. Luca immediately pulled out his scissors and cut a line in front of it.
CRASH!
The spatial rift opened just enough for the reflection to fall in, and the illusory arm was swallowed up and self-destructed. Luca jumped to his feet.
"Okay, I can fight this thing..."
Luca gasped for breath, his body trembling even more after that swing; his body ached terribly. All of them were bleeding, some more than others. Was this what Luca saw in the mirror?
Arknight lunged at Luxie, using her twin blades to slash through three arms simultaneously with such precision that no shards were left behind. As Luxie screamed and swung her arms to defend herself with mirrors, Arknight spun her sword, forcing the reflections back, turning the room's attack into damage for Luxie, rather than the monster.
But Luxie learned Arknight's attacks faster than she did, causing one of the mirrors behind Arknight to suddenly collapse, deflecting the reflection and creating a diagonal slash from a blind spot.
CLANG!
Arknight was knocked back half a step, just half a step, but enough time for Luxie to slam her giant fist down on the floor, activating all the surrounding mirrors. The arms began chasing after Luca.
With each step Luca took, a mirror in front of him shattered, raining down sharp shards along with those pitch-black arms. Luca couldn't tear them all apart, let alone withstand it.
He slid, dodging two shards, tearing a small gap to avoid the third, then stepped on a falling piece of mirror to propel himself upwards. In that moment of suspension, Luca saw Luxie more clearly than ever before, a form struggling to hold itself together. Luca swallowed hard; despite his dislike, Luxie had helped him quite a bit.
"Sorry, it might hurt a little."
Luca whispered, then cut a gash, creating a rift in space right at the joint between Luxie's body and the mirror. The girl screamed, tears streaming down her face.
"It hurts… It hurts so much… Don't… bully… me anymore… I promise I'll be good… don't sell me to the devil…"
All the remaining mirrors simultaneously tilted, forming a spiral structure that compressed the space, narrowing it towards the centre. The ceiling lowered, and the mirrored floor rose, distorting every direction into a single path, forcing them to either advance or be crushed to dust.
Luxie wasn't completely sucked in. Her upper body was pulled toward the opening of the spatial rift A, but her lower half remained firmly attached to the mirror surfaces like roots in the earth.
The remaining arms pierced through the mirrors, sprouting from all directions, no longer following any geometric pattern. Luca knelt on one knee, holding scissors in both hands, trying to hold back the violently shaking spatial rift. Seeing this, Rivenhart resumed writing.
But perhaps due to overuse, Rivenhart began to bleed, while Sol became increasingly anxious. A dagger pierced the joint between his arm and the mirror, breaking the reflective structure.
The arm exploded into fragments of metal, scattering everywhere. A piece of mirror pierced Sol's bicep when he wasn't concentrating.
"Are you alright!?"
"I'm fine, just focus!"
Sol was worried, but still had to obey Rivenhart's words.
Each of Arknight's slashes was reflected with an equal force, forcing Arknight to both attack and defend. The 360-degree sword circle spun continuously, creating a small zone of destruction, but the boss began to avoid it.
"You little brat really kept your word and killed me, didn't you? But that makes the game more interesting."
Despite her injuries, Arknight laughed loudly. Her body ached from using her abilities, but she continued to push her limits.
The spatial rift could no longer contain her, bouncing back at Luca, while the amulet on Luxie was torn apart and returned to Sol's pocket.
"Why is this boss so hard to defeat?!"
Sol, clutching Rivenhart, who was holding a pen and looking around with blood-stained clothes, rushed to Luca to protect him. Simply doing so had cost them a great deal of energy…
With Luca's spatial rift broken and Sol's amulet broken, Luxie was stronger than ever, making Arknight struggle even more, though half of Luxie's arm had moved toward the other three.
The last remaining arms clung tightly to the mirror, their nails digging deep, pulling the mirror's surface inward, forming a giant cocoon around Luxie's human body.
"AHHH STOP IT HURTS SO MUCH IT HURTS SO MUCH!!!"
Luxie's agonising scream sent the others flying. Sol was thrown against the mirror wall, his back hitting the wall hard, blood gushing from his mouth. Rivenhart, having fallen off Sol, tumbled to the ground, kneeling on one knee, his pen still reaching for it. Arknight plunged her sword into the floor, using it as a pivot to avoid being thrown further, while Luca, already pressed against the wall, now had his old wound exposed even more.
They were at a disadvantage… Rivenhart couldn't write anymore; his hand was twitching, and he didn't know if he'd have the strength to run if he wrote any more. Sol could still stand, but he was almost completely exhausted, his body trembling. Arknight was restrained, so she couldn't move much, and Luca used the scissors as a crutch to stand up, but he didn't have much ability to fight, let alone the fact that he was terrified of ghosts.
At this moment, Arknight burst into laughter.
"So you've finally decided to show up?"
The other three turned to look and saw the butler standing there with a smile that was almost… gentle? He just signed.
"Perhaps you have won this hunt."
He simply walked closer to Luxie, and arms lunged at him, but he deflected them all with just his hands… Luca stared wide-eyed… wasn't that incredibly powerful?
The butler looked at Luxie, then grabbed Luca's scissors nearby and, with a swift, clean motion, created a spatial rift to pull Luxie's body away from the monster, causing it to scream even more desperately than usual.
The butler leapt up, plunging straight into the monster, cutting it to pieces, his own body covered in blood, then picked up the sleeping Luxie and handed her to Luca.
Everyone began to realise a fire was spreading… The monster's enormous body had crushed the hearts, causing them to explode and burst into flames.
"Run for your life."
He returned the scissors to Luca and used them to open a portal. Seeing this, Arknight stopped.
"You know, even though I won, this was probably not a very enjoyable hunt…"
"I know, but I'm still the loser."
Arknight said nothing, as if she already knew his fate, and only sighed.
"You're the first prey to admit defeat."
Arknight giggled as she began to step through the gate, and Sol used all his strength to lift Rivenhart and pass through it. Only Luca remained, watching the flames engulf everything in his hands, carrying the unconscious Luxie's body, his arm returning to Luxie's.
"Hey, haven't I seen you somewhere before? Why are you helping us? Why is Luxie clinging to me and constantly calling me mother? Why is her husband interested in me?"
Luca immediately asked his question to the man standing there, his body covered in the black liquid from the monster's blood that was acting as a conduit for the fire.
"How should I put it? We've met before, but perhaps you don't remember. Anyway, you don't have time, hurry up and go."
"Aren't you coming with us? I know how much you love your daughter."
The butler was quite surprised that Luca recognised the mistress as his daughter, so he just tilted his head.
"What makes you think so?"
"From your behaviour and my intuition that you, as the butler, were at the wedding and even standing alongside her, not to mention your apparent indifference to her abusive husband, I guessed that was the case."
The butler just smiled and nodded.
"You're right, and a father's duty is to help his daughter… she's suffering, so perhaps that's why I'm helping you, and… I'm also a grandfather; I can't let my granddaughter suffer."
"She… my daughter… she's so naive, she doesn't realise her husband no longer loves her… he does everything to make her hate him, but what can I do now… she's just a girl looking for love."
Luca watched the flames spread closer to the butler, and for some reason, he became more panicked.
"If that's the case, you need to live! Only you can change her, can you?! If so, what are you doing right there?!"
The butler just stood there, took his watch, put it around Luxie's neck, and sighed.
"I only wish for one thing… I only want a place where she can be happy, where she can be herself… isn't that too selfish of a man who's failed at being a father, and you?"
Luca was about to say something more when he was pushed through the gate. The last image he saw was the butler, now younger… a man with jet-black hair and that butler's uniform. He said something… as if…
"Goodbye, ***"
Luca didn't understand what he said, but the last words were distorted… Perhaps… he was too tired? But why couldn't he hear the last words clearly… Why?