Chapter 22 - Irreversible (1)

SLASH!

The severed head rolled across the floor, and I flicked off the blood. The others, who suddenly made eye contact with me, let out a gasp. It was a natural reaction, as they must have anticipated their own fates.

"It is time to pay for your sins, you vile demon bastards!"

‘But this isn't just about me. The Inquisitor is stepping up too.’

"Hero bas—!"

SMASH!

Watching the ones dying at Kimchi Dumpling's hands, I sneaked a glance at my EXP bar.

‘I expected it, but I don't get any EXP when the Inquisitor gets the kill. What a waste.’

"Ugh."

‘At least the Archmage and the Thief have stepped back, so that's a relief? Well, honestly, it would have been fine even if they had joined in.’

‘I can just fill up my EXP elsewhere, after all.’

"Uh, could you leave one guy for me?"

The Thief suddenly brought that up out of nowhere. The Archmage and the Inquisitor turned their heads toward him.

"What do you mean?"

Even if he hadn't fought as fiercely as the Inquisitor or me, the Thief had pulled his weight by protecting the Archmage.

Perhaps because of that, the Inquisitor's voice wasn't as hostile as before. Although it was still laced with disapproval.

"It's nothing special..."

The Thief stood in front of the pile of corpses that had been stacked on the altar, only to be used for the summoning and crushed under the Knucker's trampling. The bodies were completely drained of blood and their flesh mashed together, leaving not a single intact corpse in the mound.

"One of my comrades is family to the kid who was kidnapped. I just want to give him a chance at revenge."

Considering the Thief's background lore—throwing himself into the back alleys to kill the noble who murdered his friend—it was a perfectly understandable statement.

‘Not to mention, one of the Thief's class advancement branches in the original game was Avenger, wasn't it? The Thief was the only one with such a corny class name, so I remember that much.’

"If they can't get their precious person back, shouldn't they at least be able to enact proper revenge?"

"Private retribution is forbidden by law."

‘It's just that our Inquisitor is an incredible brick wall of stubbornness.’

Watching the Thief's expression sour, I grabbed the scruff of a Demon Contractor sprawled messily on the floor. The bastard was still breathing.

THUD.

"Gah!"

‘Good. I threw him nicely right in front of the Thief.’

"Demon Knight...?"

"... Sir."

"Keep this in mind. If that demon bastard escapes, I will cut off your head along with his."

"... Hah, keeping an eye on things is my specialty. That will absolutely never happen."

‘Personally, I don't really advocate for private retribution, but it's not like I can't sympathize.’

‘Furthermore, the Demon Knight is a case who even lost his chance at revenge. He would probably show a minor favor like this.’

‘And the quest objective includes suppression, not just complete elimination, so the system will allow this much.’

"Demon Knight!"

‘Well, the Inquisitor doesn't seem to like it. If she were a D&D character, she'd definitely be Lawful Neutral.’

"Heh, I will curse you... offering up my blood and flesh to..."

SLASH.

‘Do you think I'd actually listen just because you're casting something?’

"Archmage...!"

"Demon Contractors are dangerous. Unless you plan to escort him using divine power, it is better to kill him. We do not know what he might do."

"Can he still pull something even if his tongue is cut out and his limb ligaments are severed?"

"... You shouldn't leave him alive for long. Demonic power is different from ordinary magic. You must never let your guard down."

"Don't worry. I'll kill him the second we get outside."

‘I did think the EXP was a waste, but I didn't expect I'd have to clean up the rest of them myself.’

I went around stabbing and killing the bastards spouting curses one by one. Because the Inquisitor was busy arguing with the Thief, she only managed to kill a few, which suddenly caused my EXP bar to fill up by over half.

"You have to follow the law...!"

‘Ah. There's no one left alive now, right? There aren't any alarms going off on my detection skill either. The quest updated too.’

‘Good. Now I just need to leave this dungeon.’

‘Hmm. No. Should I just log out here? Even if I push it a bit further, the full-dive termination alarm will probably ring in less than an hour anyway. And it's doubtful I can properly progress the quest in that time.’

‘It really kills the mood when a quest gets cut off in the middle, so logging out at a clean stopping point isn't a bad idea.’

‘Besides, if it's a distinct location like this, it'll be easy to remember where I left off when I log back in later.’

‘Of course, I don't know about other games, but the NPCs here are way too realistic. If I act lost and confused when I log back in, they'll think it's weird. I want to prevent breaking my concept in that moment at all costs.’

"Log out."

And so I made my decision and carried it out.

「Invalid command.」

‘But what the hell is this message?’

"...? Log out."

「Invalid command.」

"...???"

‘... Is it a bug? No, what kind of game in the world has a bug with the log out function?’

‘Is the game company planning to go out of business? No matter how well-made a virtual reality game is, it instantly devolves into a trash game the moment you can't log out.’

"Log out."

「Invalid command.」

"... Log out!"

「Invalid command.」

*‘What is this? What the hell is this?’ * I couldn't wrap my head around the repeating windows.

It couldn't be helped. This was a scenario I hadn't accounted for, a situation no gamer would ever imagine.

"Demon Knight?"

‘... No, let's calm down. Unless the game company went crazy, there's no way they wouldn't have fixed such a major, critical bug. So, this... this is probably just a location issue.’

‘You know, games rarely have zones where logging out is disabled. This is probably one of those cases. They just wrote the message vaguely and scared the crap out of me.’

"... It is nothing."

‘More importantly, I must have panicked more than I thought. I just made a remark that slipped a little from my concept. Then again, who wouldn't react like this after seeing a message like that.’

"Where are you going?"

Feeling a sudden rush of urgency, I hurriedly headed outside.

"I am going to execute the corrupted ones who colluded with the demons."

‘I couldn't exactly reply, "I'm going outside to try logging out," so it was only natural to recite the updated quest objectives.’

「❖ Ominous Omen

◆ Move to the Temple

◆ Find the traitors who colluded with the Demon Contractors」

‘Of course, I don't intend to clear it. I'm going to quit the game the moment I leave this hidden underground passage.’

"...! P-Please wait a moment!"

The Inquisitor called out to me urgently and soon began muttering a prayer.

‘It's probably for Purification, but it made a slight chill run down my spine.’

"Sir."

‘But the only important thing right now is logging out.’

I ignored the request to wait and entered the passage we had come through. Then, someone hastily followed me.

‘The Inquisitor is still performing the Purification, and the Archmage is by her side, so the only one left is the Thief.’

"Thank you."

The words were delivered in a serious tone and a firm voice, instead of his usual somewhat flippant, provoking manner.

Although a faint groaning sound—from the Demon Contractor—continued to be heard behind him, I could just treat it as BGM.

"... Us thief bastards don't forget a grudge. And we don't forget a favor either. I will definitely repay this debt."

"I do not need it."

‘Favor or not, considering your face is the representative character for the Thief class, it's obvious you're going to join as a companion anyway. What a load of nonsense.’

"... Even if you don't need it, I'll still repay you."

"I believe I said I do not need it."

*‘Was this passage always this deep?’ * I quickened my pace slightly as I pressed on. My mental health was important.

"Who goes there!"

"Whoops. The cops."

Then we ran into town guards who were just coming down the stairs. Was it because it was ambiguous to call them hostile targets? The detection skill didn't go off.

"W-Who are you!"

"Surrender at once!"

But perhaps because I was currently drenched in blood, the guards were trembling as they raised their weapons.

It was painfully obvious that they didn't want to attack, but drew their spears and swords for self-defense because they felt they would die if they didn't.

"Surrender?"

I fiddled with my sword hilt. I hadn't set my character's personality to be so ruined that he would swing his weapon at innocent civilians with no ties to demons or crime, so that was exactly my limit.

‘Though I don't necessarily need to hide my surging irritation.’

"Demon Knight!"

"You there, hold on!"

Fortunately, less than twenty seconds after my standoff with the guards began, the Inquisitor and Archmage came running from behind.

It was very good timing. Though the Archmage seemed to be having quite a hard time, bending at the waist the moment he arrived.

‘Then again, not only did we wander around all night, but we also jumped straight into battle without a single rest. It makes sense for a mage with low stamina to be getting tired by now.’

"W-Who are you people!"

"I am a Heresy Inquisitor of the Order!"

‘Standing my ground here will only make things annoying and convoluted. Even my concept wouldn't be oblivious to that, so it should be fine to step back this time.’

Calculating fiercely, I took a step back. The same went for the Thief, allowing the Inquisitor to quickly move to our front line.

In her hand, she held a holy relic of the Order to prove her identity.

"The, the Order...?"

"We detected demonic energy in the underground passage and are on our way out after slaughtering all the Demon Contractors. And these men are the helpers accompanying me. Lower your weapons."

"D-Demons!"

"... Is that true?"

The Inquisitor didn't speak at length. A holy light flowed from her body, warmly illuminating the dark passage.

The guards, exchanging glances, hurriedly lowered their weapons.

"Please forgive our rudeness, Priest."

"You were merely doing your duty. Do not apologize."

Just as I was wondering if a Heresy Inquisitor was a higher rank than I thought, I heard a quiet muttering from beside me. It was the Thief.

"Priest, my ass, they're just a bunch of thugs..."

‘... Hey, does this guy refuse to join your party if you start with the Priest class? Well, it feels like he wouldn't join right now either, but still.’

‘I thought the Demon Knight would have the dirtiest personality, but digging into the Thief class, it seems they're quite a handful too. I didn't really read their scripts in the original game because the way their story unfolded was too annoying.’

"Let us go."

While I was briefly lost in thought, the conversation with the guards seemed to have finished. The Inquisitor stared at me with a look that said it was time to leave. It was exactly what I wanted.

"Hey, hand over the criminal."

"Huh? But this is mine."

"The Heresy Inquisitor ordered the retrieval of the Demon Contractor."

"... Ah, that thug bastard..."

"What did you just say?"

"I said, 'It's narrow here, so I will hand him over outside,' though?"

"... It wasn't that long of a sentence."

"That's because I speak a bit fast."

We went up the stairs and left the vegetable shop. The past-noon sunlight piercingly stung my eyes.

"Ah, but I have some urgent business to attend to. I'll be going now."

"...! Wait, stop!"

"Catch him!"

"That scoundrel—!"

"Oh my."

"Ah, Archmage, are you alright?"

"Haha... I am alright. However, it seems a march of this caliber has been a bit much for an old man."

"Ah, um, ah..."

"Still, I can keep moving, so do not worry. We must find the corrupted ones at the Temple, must we not?"

Leaving behind the Thief, guards, and Inquisitor bickering, and the Archmage drawing the Inquisitor's attention half-jokingly, half-seriously to cover for the Thief, I focused on the *DING* sound ringing in my ear.

「Somon: Commercial District」

‘It's a zone update. Now I can really log out.’

‘... I should be able to.’

"Log out."

I glared at the empty air in front of me and muttered the command. And a window popped up.

「Invalid command.」

"You, crazy...!"

‘Fuck, has this game completely lost its mind...!’

"Demon Knight?"

At the shout that slipped through my teeth, the Inquisitor looked back at me. But I didn't have the confidence to manage my expression.

No matter who was in my shoes, they would react the same way. This was no longer in the realm of something I could cover up.

‘This isn't a quest that can't be paused, and there's no reason for this zone to restrict it either. It means there's not a single reason for logging out to be blocked.’

‘But it still doesn't work? With this, I could sue the game company and win unconditionally. Damn it. It's that serious of an issue.’

"Settings."

I even tried bringing up the window directly and manually spamming the log out button.

It was a method I avoided using because the NPCs' AI was so advanced that they might think it was weird—since they couldn't see this window—but now wasn't the time to care about that.

「Invalid command.」

「Invalid command.」

「Invalid command.」

「Invalid command...」

But the exact same window only kept popping up in overlapping layers.

"... What the hell."

*‘This, this can't be happening.’ * Feeling the temperature in my cheeks drop rapidly, I tried muttering "log out" like a crazy person. But still, only the words saying it was invalid popped up.

"Demon Knight? Is there a problem?"

"Are you...?"

‘Who needs horror games? Damn it, this is true horror.’

Overcome by surging fear, I chewed on my lips and grabbed my head as if tearing my hair out.

‘What do I do now? Seriously, what do I do?’

‘Even in the trashiest, bug-ridden games, you might crash, but you were never barred from logging out. I've never even heard of such a thing.’

‘Not once, has anything like this ever happened...’

"...! Emergency protocol."

Then, remembering a certain feature, I shouted urgently. It was a function built into the capsule itself.

"Force quit capsule."

"Pardon?"

「Invalid command.」

"Emergency protocol, force quit capsule!"

「Invalid command.」

"Fuck!"

But even that didn't work. I rapidly spammed curses I hadn't used since my twenties, desperately shouting "log out" and "force quit" in alternation.

Unfortunately, or perhaps naturally.

Not a single function activated.

"Demon Knight, what is the matter!"

"What on earth is wrong with you?"

‘What do you expect me to do? If logging out doesn't work, and the capsule's emergency system doesn't work either, how am I supposed to turn off the game? How am I supposed to get out!’

‘How the hell did these sons of bitches at the game company make the game to have a dogshit bug like this...!’

"Demon Knight. Did, did something happen?! Could it be, the demon...!"

The Inquisitor grabbed my arm and locked eyes with me. At that, a terrible revulsion and a spine-chilling anxiety crawled across my skin.

"No..."

"Yes?"

"Logging out..."

‘No, no. Stay calm. Once the IV nutrients I set up for the full-dive period run out, the full-dive will automatically terminate. And naturally, the game will shut off too.’

‘Because of people starving to death from continuing to game even after their nutrients ran out, this function was established as mandatory. So this will unconditionally activate. It definitely will.’

‘So calm down. Let's calm down. I'm just, just going to play for a few more hours. Just a few more hours until the full-dive ends—’

"Snap out of it!"

SMACK!

A tremendous pain struck me in the solar plexus. The sound of my HP dropping was remarkably loud.

"Gah!"

‘What, this is crazy. I adjusted my pain settings, so why does this hurt so much...!’

"You...!"

Reflexively clutching my solar plexus, I glared at the person who hit me. It was the Inquisitor.

"Hah! Have you finally come to your senses!"

‘Kimchi Dumpling, why are you so damn proud after striking a person's solar plexus...! And why are you smiling! Do you really want to become a Kimchi Dumpling!’

"Are you kidding—!"

"I apologize for hitting a vital spot! However, it looked like you needed my help."

"... What?"

Looking at her sparkling green eyes that stared straight back as if she had done absolutely nothing wrong, I felt my utter bewilderment practically salute her. It was to the point where, for a brief moment, even the serious issue of not being able to log out felt like nothing to worry about.

"I felt the demonic energy in your right arm writhing. The demon you were suppressing started acting up, did it not?"

"...?"

‘What kind of nonsense is she spouting?’

"Do not worry. I do not doubt you. You may waver for a moment, but I believe that you will eventually overcome the demon, and that you will not succumb to it!"

"...?"

"Therefore, Demon Knight! If something like this ever happens again, you can leave it to me anytime! I will somehow buy you time!"

"...??"

"I will definitely buy it for you!"

‘... Kimchi Dumpling, I know I'm fond of you, but you're spouting pure nonsense right now.’