How strong had I become? That was the question I had been asking myself for the past few months. In the game, I could get an idea of my growth through statistics, but in real life it was hard to tell just from that. This wasn't just a game.
In that sense, he could be the perfect match for me.
Even an ordinary knight capable of harnessing an aura was on par with a rank six adventurer, and when it came to interpersonal battles, they would be even above it. But my specifications weren't bad either. Of course, my Spiritual Imprint was still in phase six and my level was still so low that I had an overwhelmingly small number of essences compared to the strongest fighters of this era. But from Ogre to Bayon and Storm Gush, he had a whopping three rank three essences. The combination of these essences was also designed and designed especially with synergy in mind. More importantly, the main reason why a tank couldn't compete with a knight was because it lacked damage, but in this case, Demon Crusher could make up for it.
In other words... we are on equal terms. One hit, and we're both dead.
There was a tense silence on the dark steps. I assumed he was also uneasy about the confidence with which I acted.
Had he been too strong for no reason?
My opponent spent so much time measuring the distance between us that this question came to mind. The more I did it, the more I refined my concentration. Just as they said that a battle between swordsmen of yesteryear was decided in a flash, this battle was also decided in an instant.
Deslick.
The one who made the first move was the other side. He took only one step. The moment he climbed a step to make up for his lack of reach, I sprayed the acidic blood I had been storing in my mouth by biting my tongue.
«¡Puhuuup!»
The bastard didn't dodge it. Like a boxer who doesn't even blink when a punch is thrown at him, he adopted a neutral stance and stabbed his sword. This was the reason why Corpse Golem essences were so powerful. Not a single son of a bitch knew Acid Blood. He must have thought that covering himself in blood was no big deal.
¡Chhh!
Acid blood reached him before his sword reached me. There was no screaming, just the sizzling of something melting. But even if he were trained to handle things like that, no human being can have perfect control over his body. He reflexively closed his eyes, causing the tip of his sword to waver. Taking advantage of that opening, I twisted my body to the side and lunged.
Run.
The floating sword brushed my side. It wasn't a wound worth worrying about, but did he realize what was happening just by the sensations he felt through the sword?
Slip.
He raised the shield with his left hand. Since his first move had failed, it seemed like he was choosing to use defense to overcome this assault. Judging from the white light forming on the surface of the shield, it seemed like he had at least one defense-related ability. However, this was his second self-hammer. This hammer had Armor Penetration.
¡Clashhh!
The moment I mercilessly knocked the hammer over him, his mouth opened and he spit out blood. «Kurgh!» His eyes were filled with shock. He was sure that it must be difficult for him to understand why his body had been pulverized when he had blocked the attack with a shield. But understanding something and accepting it were two different things.
Run.
Accepting that he was in a bind, he backed down the stairs. The attempt to somehow buy time to regroup was his third auto-mate, because he also had a grappling ability.
¡Whoom!
Using Transcendence followed by Eye of the Storm, I stopped him from leaving me.
«¡N-No…!»
Sí.
¡Shock, shock, shock!
I dropped the hammer again and again until his head turned to paste.
«Ugh, I'm sweating.»
After hitting him enough to kill him three times, I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead. Although the battle had only lasted a few seconds, it consumed considerable mental energy. However, the reward remained unmistakable.
Wow, what kind of team starts in grade four?
I assumed that the lord of the castle had invested quite a bit because the knight's equipment was very good. I didn't dare leave him behind, so I quickly stripped him and threw him into subspace. I had to abandon the less valuable items there because I ran out of space, but it was inevitable.
Suddenly, I remembered the note Amelia had left.
Grab the Stone Fragment from the Records and leave on my own? Go where? I still haven't found a place to bury the equipment.
How could I leave all this behind after so much work? I couldn't go anywhere until I took care of it first. He didn't even know how to use the stone in the first place, anyway.
In any case, an opportunity like this will not present itself again, so I have to take advantage of it quickly.
When I finished looting, I left the naked body behind and went down the stairs.
Grifo.
The stairs themselves were very wide, but when I got to the bottom, a passageway appeared large enough for twenty people to easily pass through. At the end there was a big door.
It was slightly open.
There was no one visible in my immediate surroundings, so I approached the door making as little noise as possible. Behind the door of what appeared to be a shelter, there was only one person sitting. His hair was depopulated by the ravages of time. She had a fat, bulging belly, a stylish outfit that clearly looked like it was made of quality fabric, and eyelid creases deep enough to leave you uncomfortable. It had to be the lord of the castle, whom he had only seen from afar once.
The man seemed to notice my presence at that moment, and spoke in an anxious voice. «...Sir Omanus?»
Hmm, what to do?
After thinking about it for a moment, I revealed myself.
«You are... Iron Mask?» The lord of the castle shuddered when he saw me. «Where is Sir Omanus? He went to see what was happening...»
«Omanus is dead. Oh, to be clear, I killed him».
When I calmly conveyed this information, the man's eyes widened and he began to retreat.
What a useless thing. Do you think you can run away like this?
As I quickly approached and lifted him by the back of the head, the lord of Noark Castle began to stir in a fit of rage. «Let go of me! I said let me go! How dare you!? Do you know who I am?» He looked very bad for the ruler of a city.
Okay, so he should have brought more guards to his secret panic room.
«W-What do you want...?! P-Stop! Use your words!»
I picked it up with one hand and gave it a simple pat to record it. Soon, I found what I was looking for. Amelia said she was probably carrying it and she was right. Although I didn't know it would be in the shape of a necklace.
Grifo.
I tore off the necklace tightly and freed the lord from the castle. He let out an angry cry because a treasure left by his predecessors had been taken from him, but he did not fight me.
Well, I already have it.
Worried that simply touching it could activate it in some way, I clung only to the necklace chain and placed the Records Stone Fragment in the subspace.
«You...! Do you know what that is!? Give it to me now! I said give it to me!»
«Ugh, how noisy. Do you want me to pull out your teeth?» Once I got the castle lord to shut his mouth, I calmly asked him: «Do you know how to use the Records Stone Fragment?».
«You! That's what you were looking for...!»
«Just answer the question. It's just you and me here».
«...Do you think I have something to tell you?»
The lord of the castle was a tough nut to crack. At first he became angry, then said he didn't know, and only after a beating did he reveal the story his predecessors had passed down to him.
«No way to use it?».
«At least according to all known records, yes-yes... But it is said that when a person who answers the call of the times approaches her, a light will shine».
I didn't expect it at all. Amelia told me that not even the lord of Noark Castle himself knew how to use it, but in reality, he seemed to know everything about it.
So it will not activate unless a condition is met.
It was a good idea to ask just in case.
«If that answers your question-»
«Uh huh, just tell me this. What does a person who 'answers the call of the times' have to do if they want to return?»
«What...? Why do you ask...?» I assumed that, after all, he must have more than zero neurons, because the castle lord's eyes widened. «Wait, you are...?»
Well, you'd have to be an idiot not to notice after so many hints.
I had no intention of hiding it, so I just nodded. «It's how you think. So tell me what I have to do to get back to my original time period».
«N-No wonder... I was wondering how you got to that place that no one knows. I guess that's how...»
«Or something you don't ask ».
When I rebuked him, the man turned pale and hurried to answer my question. «I heard you're leaving the same way you come. That after completing all your work here, the stone will call you again...»
«How annoying».
«...Can I also ask a question?» While I was wondering what to do now, the lord of the castle spoke to me. «What kind of person will I be in the future?» he asked, his eyes shining unpleasantly.
Did you hope to leave your mark on history as a hero? «Why do you ask that?»
«It's just curiosity... Although now that you're here, that future won't exist... I can still be curious».
So I didn't really know anything. I was sure that was why all the rumors said that it was a treasure that could take you back in time and change history: not even the leaders of Noark knew how it really worked.
«Oh, how did today's operation end? Orcules, have we managed to expel those bastards from the city?», asked the man.
«Are you so curious about the future?». He nodded at me. «Then close your eyes».
«...They are closed».
"¿What are you doing?"
«No veil hopes».
That was a relief. It would have been a problem if he said he saw something.
«That's your future.» I lowered the hammer with all my strength.
Desplome.
The castle lord's body collapsed and a red pool of blood began to pool where he had fallen. I looked away without much interest. If half the things I had heard and seen living in this city over the past few months were true, I deserved to die.
He was also destined to die that day.
The murder of the lord of the castle would be known as the work of Hercules by the public, and that was what Amelia believed as well. But it turned out that the real culprit was me.
Well, that's not surprising anymore.
Actually, I was torn between killing him or not until the last moment. However, there was only one reason I finally put the hammer down. Even if I just got up and left, the castle lord would be killed by someone today and the story would pass. That would definitely be the case no matter what. Unless, by a slight chance, the one I killed was an impostor and the real lord of the castle ran away and fooled the whole world for twenty years or so. Unless it was a scenario as ridiculous as that, the results wouldn't change.
«Eh...?» At that moment, my feet stopped on their own. «Wait».
I seemed to understand how the philosopher who shouted Eureka felt!
«...Deceive the whole world?»
I felt like an electric current was flowing from my head to my toes.