The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter - Chapter 123.6

Chapter 123.6

Translator: “Pink Tea” Editor: ”Weasalopes”

For roughly two weeks I continued my lifestyle intent at accumulating LP, eating cookery and frequenting lewd establishments .

Thanks to that I became pretty used to life in the castle town . During that time I kept monitoring S .

His daily life was extremely ordinary .

No hostility towards nobles or royalty, no attempts to dispose of the guards .

He diligently worked at the meat stall and was somewhat getting along with neighbors .

He doesn’t appear like a bad guy at all .

The only time he acts as S is when he finds a person of outstanding ability . Naturally, he uses 【Brainwash】 to turn them into his comrades . However, as I saw it, he is very picky about his targets .

Strength alone isn’t enough . There is something else that he seeks . Maybe a character?

Perhaps the effect of 【Brainwash】 will expire if you won’t meet regularly, but for some reason, he rents a building on weekend and holds assembly there .

That swordsman that got into the fight also went there, so there is no doubt about this .

As one would expect, I was too scared to infiltrate .

「It’s about time to challenge him . 」

Looking at the ceiling, I resolve myself .

I already have 11000 LP .

I did my best to accumulate them .

About two or three times a week S visits bars during the nighttime . It seems that he simply wants to drink .

That’s where I’d like to strike . What I should be careful about are his skills . I didn’t approach him close enough to confirm what is 【Freewheeling】 . Since I didn’t want him to remember my face .

However, with this much LP, I should be able to deal with him .

「Noir, wake up . Breakfast is ready . 」

Naina-san came to wake me up .

「Thanks for always waking me up . 」

「Since you are still growing I made your serving extra-large, and we also one day will have to defeat S together!」

She recognized me as a comrade . It seems that people who want to take down S count as such . However, I’m putting some distance between us .

I feel like me and they are a bit different . I want to return home as fast as possible and see Emma and others – that is my motivation .

However, for her and her comrades, it’s all about revenge .

I feel like I might get influenced, so it’s a bit scary . And, S is also acting for revenge .

If my little sister, Alice, was killed by someone, I also wouldn’t be able to forgive that person .

「Did you get any information on him? Do you know his location?」

「I’m investigating that at the moment . 」

「I see, let’s do our best . Also, there is a messenger from the castle . 」

「Roger . 」

Without making eye contact with smiling Naina, I come down to the first floor .

I didn’t reveal S’s whereabouts to them .

It was because I wanted to try to the best of my ability to take him alive, while her comrades wanted him dead . If any of her comrades caught S, they most likely wouldn’t hand him over to the state .

They will end his life themselves . That’s for sure .

That’s why I thought I should act alone .

A few soldiers were sent with the messenger so I came to the inn’s back yard to meet them .

「How is the progress?」

「I think of making attempt today or tomorrow when S will be drinking at a bar . 」

「So you are going to aim for a chance when he is drunk . Not bad . Do you need assistance from guards?」

I’m not sure how to answer . I’d like to have some assistance, but chances are, they might get brainwashed and turned into additional enemies .

「At first I will try alone . However, I’d like to have something that I can use to restrain him . 」

「Understood, you will have it by noon . Then, about S’s location . 」

「Shh!」

I interrupt the soldier .

It was because I felt a human’s presence behind the inn’s back door . When I dashed there and opened it, there was Naina-san with an astonished expression on her face .

Looks like she was eavesdropping . Well, I could understand her desire to learn something about S .

「So-sorry . The food was waiting, I thought it might get cold . 」

I wonder how much she heard . The door is pretty thick, so I think it should be fine, but .

Making eye contact with the soldiers I decided to continue my breakfast . Resting until noon, I then receive a rope from soldiers that once again showed up at noon .

Made with special materials, it’s supposedly can hold even those in possession of monstrous strength .

Putting it into subdimension storage I head to confirm S’s situation .

「Welcome . Thank you for your continuous patronage, ojichan . 」

As a butcher, he really was a good young man . The customers also liked him . There was nothing strange about his action, so I went back to the inn and took a nap .

In the evening I continued monitoring and tailing him . Closing his stall eight hours past noon, S made his way to the bar .

「Hm, so it’s today, huh . So it’s today after all . 」

Today it will be decided .

This thought makes me nervous……

Two hours later, S came outside . He walked as normal . He didn’t drink much? S returned the way he came . Along that route was an alley .

The moment he entered it I resolved myself . There are no people nearby and it actually has plenty of space . It’s a reasonably fitting place for a fight .

Closing the distance I call out to S from behind .

「S, battle me . 」

「…How do you know that I’m S?」

S slowly turned around . His expression looked nothing like shopkeepers from the meat stall . Seeing his cold eyes without a single speck of warmth to them my breath grows heavier .

He should have no intimidation-type skills, and yet, this pressure .

「I have Appraisal . 」

「Were someone to stare at me from the effective range I would’ve noticed . …… I see, so it was you that time . 」

He is talking about the incident when he got rid of the pickpocketing lady .

「You need money for Fangs of Counterattack to operate, right? Even so, killing her just because she failed to steal a wallet is too much . 」

「Leaving her would’ve created a lead to me . And above all, with the way she lived, it wasn’t strange for her to get killed any day . 」

I asked what might that mean, but S just pulled a knife from his pocket without answering . The length of the blade is about thirty centimeters . Without a moment of delay, I use 【Item Appraisal】 on it .

【Tough Knife Rank A Skill: Strong Edge】

Strong edge is a skill that my double-edged sword had as well . Having or not having it makes a great difference in the durability and sharpness of the blade .

S dashes at me head-on .

I calmly block the strike with my sword .

To me, his prowess with short swords seems to be several levels below that of Emma .

He also didn’t have a skill for it . Just let’s make sure not to get cut by it .

In a bit of exaggerated motion, I swing downwards my for counterattack .

「Nnguh . 」

S avoided it with a backstep, but because his clothes were cut, his expression turned grave .

I can actually compete with him in melee! Or rather, I actually have an advantage .

「Your skills are impressive . I’d like you to use them for my sake . 」

「Not possible . What you are doing is a crime . 」

「Nobles and the king are no different from criminals as well . They are playing with the lives of innocent people for their own amusement . I merely want to save this city from the wrongful ruler . I want you to lend your strength for this as well . 」

For a moment my vision gets distorted . Furthermore, my mind goes blank . The calm voice of S resounds in the depths of my brain .

Lend me your strength . Lend me your strength . Lend me your strength . Lend me your strength .

I should help him, I thought, but immediately changed my mind .

That was the effect of 【Brainwash】 !

I could immediately return to senses because of the level difference and mental skills I had .

I’m so glad that I learned them .

「You would’ve been better off with brainwash . Now the only option left for you is to die . 」

S’s mood changed, or rather, he was now seething with killing intent . At the same time, a purple puddle appeared under my feet . I immediately move back . This is the skill that killed the pickpocketing lady .

★

S arracks repeatedly .

「Kuh, stone bullet…?」

What makes me question it, are ten stones floating in S’s vicinity . This isn’t 【Stone Bullet】 .

One after another stones fly at me .

I dodge or deflect them with the sword, but this is pretty tough . And just when I thought that I blocked them somehow, he closed in on me and cut my arm .

How great it would’ve been if I had enough composure to comment on this outstanding sharpness . Surprisingly enough, S didn’t make a follow-up attack and took distance .

*Clang!*

The next moment water splashed onto me from above, leaving me completely soaked .

「Huh?? What???」

For a moment I thought that it was rain, but there was none today . In the first place, the amount of water wasn’t that of rain . It doesn’t seem like I was hit with any fast-acting poison, so for a moment, I felt relieved .

「Can you dodge it this time?」

S smiled boldly . And once again hurled stones at me . I see, he made my clothes heavier with water in order to slow down my movements .

It’s fine . As long as I don’t lose my cool everything should work out… Eh, my vision? No, my body is swaying?

When I tried to confirm my footing, I saw that the stone pavement was moving . But I had no time to be astonished by this bizarre phenomenon . Stones about the size of an adult person’s first were approaching me .

Direct hits… From three of them . First the biceps of the left arm, then a thigh . Of course, it hurt, but the last hit was the most severe .

「Uugh……」

Being hit in the temple, I sway and crumble to the ground . The floor wasn’t rocking anymore . I don’t think it’s a serious injury, but it drew blood and I can feel a dull pain .

If he tried to attack me with a knife right now I would die . Through the sheer force, I manage to get up . For some reason, S is out of breath .

「Haa, haa . 」

Using my 【Edit】 I investigate his other skill .

【Freewheeling】

〈Manifest imagined phenomenon in reality . Phenomena that directly affect living beings are not possible . Moreover, the more abnormal it is, the more concentration and stamina it consumes . 〉

Seeing this skill makes me want to scream .

Making imaginative real is extremely brutal . The only saving grace is that he can’t directly poison or paralyze a person . And now I also know why S is out of breath .

He is tired after repeatedly making one thing after another . It can be more or less counted as him showing a weakness . However, I also wasn’t in condition for fast and agile movements . Thus 【Edit】 .

Erasing 【Manifest in reality】 is 25000 LP .

That’s a lot… It looks like destroying the skill is impossible and S appears to have recovered .

「You seem to be strong . Then I guess I’ll stop you from moving . 」

Two hands emerged from the buildings nearby, one from each side, and grabbed both of my feet . They seem human, but a lot longer . The grip strength is also considerable . What a great imagination you have there!

Cutting off both of those hands I ran in the opposite direction from S . I’d like to retreat for now and plan countermeasures .

「As if I’d let you escape . 」

One after another hands stretch from nearby buildings . While being struck with a sense of dread from that scene, I avoid the hands’ pursuit by sliding and jumping .

After I left the alley several arrows flew at me from the ground . Suddenly, out of thin air . Though I panicked for a bit, I burn them down emitting 【White Flame】 from my hand .

I managed to calmly counteract it .

Way to go, me .

And while glancing behind me I run with all my might . Though S left the alley, he made no attempts to chase me any further .

He likely judged that with his current fatigue he won’t catch up . I’m saved……

For the time being, I didn’t relax and managed to return to the inn . My heart is about to jump out from my chest . Inside the inn was Naina-san, cleaning the interior .

「Noir? Your head is bleeding . 」

「I walked through a dark alleyway and bumped into a building . It’s fine, nothing serious . Good night . 」

「Su-sure, good night . 」

I can’t tell her that I just fought S . I already decided that I won’t ask her or her comrades for assistance . Returning to my room I apply a healing salve to the wounds .

Having my share of tough fights I became somewhat stronger . Such wounds are nothing . Rather, the mental damage might actually be more severe .

Making your imagination reality…… That is just unfair!

Lying down on the bed I think of countermeasures .

Destroying the skill is impossible, but making it weaker might be feasible .

Using 【Grant】 to hinder him might also be an option . I consider one idea after another . Perhaps due to the fatigue, but I gradually doze off .

While feeling my eyelids grow heavier, I think . In truth, I don’t really want to fight him . Some part of me sympathizes with his situation .

Those noble battles are simply ridiculous . But there is nothing I can do . So even though my level got higher, I’m still powerless after all .

「Just what is the right thing to do . 」

Muttering so, I close my eyes .

My consciousness immediately faded and I fell asleep .

Not sure how much time has passed, but some time later I heard a sluggish and low voice .

「Fairytales need a hero . 」

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