Chapter 118

Anomalies vs. an Anomalous Person (1)

The Forgotten Social Gathering. Did I really need to escape it?

Still seriously considering that question, I returned to the palace guest suites to find Seraphia pacing outside the door, just as before.

Whatever she was thinking about, her expression was grave. Then she suddenly recoiled in horror and shouted into thin air.

"No!"

"Don't you remember?"

"Eek!!"

Seraphia looked as though her heart had dropped straight out of her chest.

"Waaaugh...!!"

She had even lost the ability to speak. But as soon as she recognized me...

"Brother!!"

Her heart leaped back into place, and her command of language returned in an instant.

"A-are you all right?! You're not hurt anywhere, are you?!"

She was repeating the exact same words and actions as before. It seemed her memories had been erased too.

Rather than explaining everything, I immediately used Mental Empathy[E].

◆Activating Bond Skill, Mental Empathy[E]!

The message appeared before my eyes, and Seraphia gave a sudden shudder.

"Huh? Ah...?"

Her expression twisted strangely, as though memories were being injected into her. Unlike last time, she didn't check her dress, but...

"Aaaah?!?!"

There didn't seem to be a problem. She clutched her head in apparent confusion.

"This...! What on earth...?"

Sure enough, her memories returned in no time.

* * *

Gentle morning sunlight spilled across the royal garden. The tea party was filled with understated elegance, lively with the guests' individual charms and fragrances.

"It's the same again. All their actions and conversations."

Seraphia answered in a trembling voice.

There was just one problem.

"How long are you going to hide back there?"

"... Pardon? Oh, um..."

She was hiding behind a wall and showed no intention of coming out. Apparently, the Gremlins last time had given her quite a fright.

But how could the Sovereign of Bitter Cold, known as [The Allied Army’s Greatest Enemy], possibly be scared of mere Gremlins?

"As I told you last time, fear disappears once you face what's really there."

As Iliana, a hero of the allied army, had put it:

["That's because fear is a product of the imagination."]

Fear without a tangible form swelled endlessly in the imagination, but...

["Once fear takes on a concrete form, imagination is restrained, and the fear is inevitably 'hollowed out.'"]

Hollowing out. What did that mean?

["A cockroach right in front of you, or a cockroach hidden behind the furniture. Which frightens you more?"]

That was what it meant.

In any case...

"So stop hiding and—"

"Eek!"

... What part of her was supposed to be the Sovereign of Bitter Cold?

Swallowing a sigh, I turned away and carefully observed the nobles at the tea party.

'So the same Anomaly doesn't repeat?'

The Anomaly from the first time hadn't occurred. I used Predatory Instincts[S], but sure enough, they weren't Gremlins.

Apparently, Anomalies occurred at random.

"The phenomenon seems to have changed. Go see if the nobles' actions or conversations differ from the original gathering."

"... Oh, yes!"

Only after hearing there were no Gremlins did she answer with enthusiasm. Yet she still wasn't moving.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, well..."

Her lips moved a few times, as though she were trying to make excuses.

As I watched her...

The Sovereign of Bitter Cold from my previous life.

The Seraphia before me now.

"Couldn't you c-come with me, Brother...?"

... I was beginning to experience cognitive dissonance.

* * *

Unfortunately(?), we found no Anomalies at the tea party.

That brought us to the gathering's second event: the banquet. The nobles were chatting at their respective tables.

"Have you drawn up the export plan I mentioned yesterday?"

"I'm still considering it. We will need the royal court's approval, after all."

"There are already rumors that several houses are preparing similar goods. You will need to act quickly."

"Hmm."

"If you're having trouble, why not leave the negotiations with the royal court to me?"

"Oh! Would you do that for me?"

"Provided we come to a firm agreement on how to divide the profits."

The discussions ran deeper than those at the tea party. Conversations went back and forth as they bargained over their respective interests.

"It's... the same here too."

Seraphia spoke softly, even as she slowly edged behind a wall.

Leaving her behind, I thoroughly inspected the banquet hall.

'Nothing that looks like an Anomaly.'

I examined my surroundings even more closely, especially the nobles gathered in the hall. After using Predatory Instincts[S] on every one of them...

'No Gremlins either.'

I walked over to inspect the drinks. The wine mixed with matter from the Negative Dimension was still there, for some reason.

I immediately smashed every bottle of it.

CRAAASH!!

The atmosphere in the banquet hall instantly froze.

"That... that wastrel bastard!"

One of the nobles jumped to his feet and shouted.

The man striding over to berate me was Alex, the third son of House Segretus.

"Do you even know what you just smashed?"

"What was it?"

I tested him by giving the same response as before. Just as before, he grew even more heated and raised his voice.

"It's a premium wine named 'Divine' because it is said to have received a god's blessing!"

As his voice shook the banquet hall, murmurs spread among the nobles.

"La Brillard Divine!"

"How could he do that to something so precious!"

Reactions erupted all around us, seemingly in agreement with Alex. They were exactly the same as last time.

Sure enough, he grew more conceited.

"I didn't know that."

"Ha! You think saying you didn't know settles everything? You have to take responsibility!"

"I'll take responsibility and—"

I stopped midsentence.

My Inventory wasn't working anyway, and...

'There's no need for me to act exactly the same too.'

I stopped what I was doing and carefully examined the [Rules].

Did my silence make him think I was frightened?

"Now that you think about it, there's nothing you can do, is there? Tsk, tsk."

Alex shouted, utterly full of himself.

"I knew what a stupid wastrel you were the moment you sponsored that lowborn bitch Iliana."

... So it was Iliana who had prompted him to pick a fight with me, just as I thought.

His mockery continued.

Honestly. The Blacksmith, a hero of the allied army, hadn't been wrong about a single thing.

["Listen, Predator! Those human nobles can act like fucking assholes without worrying about an axe in their skulls. They're even worse than the primitive fuckwits who ran around with stone axes!"]

I checked the [Rules] again, paying particular attention to [Rule 5].

[Rule 5] - If you eliminate a phenomenon that is not an Anomaly, you will return to the initial state. Exercise caution in your actions.

I needed to build up my Sanity anyway. Repeated resets were exactly what I needed right now.

"Or did you get to fuck that lowborn bitch in exchange for sponsoring—"

THWAAACK!!

I kicked Alex square in the face.

* * *

THWAAACK!!

A deafening impact rang out without warning. Seraphia instinctively turned toward the sound.

And what did she see?

Some noble was flying through the air?

"Huh...?"

Her expression went blank with shock.

Regardless, the man flew dozens of meters, only stopping when he struck the banquet hall's wall.

CRAAASH!!

The wall collapsed, and the shattered debris buried the noble like a cairn over a grave.

"..."

"..."

The banquet hall turned into a funeral parlor as everyone fell silent. Shock and horror mingled on the nobles' faces, as though they couldn't believe what had just happened before their eyes.

The entire hall was frozen.

Then it happened.

"How dare...! How dare!"

The noble rose from beneath the mound of rubble.

With his lips mangled and his cheeks swollen, he was utterly unrecognizable.

"I-is that...?"

"The third son of House Segretus...?"

The nobles were wondering the same thing.

And at that very moment...

"I wondered why Iliana ended up so broken."

Everyone's gaze naturally turned to one man.

Adrian.

He strode toward Alex.

"Living in a festering shithole of a family, tormented by vermin like you... How could she have turned out any other way?"

"Y-you bastard, how dare—!"

"Shut your mouth."

THWOOOMP!!

With a sound like a balloon bursting, Alex's body shot into the air.

"Huh...?"

Seraphia couldn't begin to understand what was going on.

* * *

THWOOOMP!!

A deafening impact rang out without warning. Busy creating an Anomaly, Luseria instinctively turned toward the sound.

There, through the crystal ball...

Alex, the third son of House Segretus, was embedded in the ceiling?

"What...?"

The face of Luseria, the Enchantress of Lust, went blank with shock.

Regardless, Alex's body fell from the ceiling. Covered in blood, he could no longer move.

"C-cough...! Sh-save...!"

He begged for his life.

"Didn't I tell you to shut your mouth?"

Adrian didn't so much as blink. He lifted his left foot high, then brought it down on Alex's right shoulder.

CRUNCH!

The sound of shattering bone rang out. Alex's mouth stretched wide, but no cry emerged.

A silent scream.

An indiscriminate beating followed.

BANG! CRUNCH!

THWOOOMP!

... It was terrifying.

And brutal.

"What...?"

She honestly wondered why he was doing that. No, seriously, why was he doing that?

Alex wasn't an 'Anomaly.' And Adrian's beating hadn't occurred at the original banquet either.

Was that why?

"Stop right there!"

"Violence within the palace is strictly forbidden!"

The Forgotten Social Gathering began spinning out of control, taking on a course of its own.

"What is this...?"

Luseria couldn't begin to understand what was going on.

* * *

As I beat Alex, the Royal Knights closed in on me from every direction, just like the Gremlins.

I was planning to reset the gathering anyway, and I had a steady supply of Sanity available. This seemed like a good opportunity to make another super-combination skill.

'A value of 107 gave me B- rank.'

◆Activating transcendent skill, Berserk[?].

◆[Sanity] - 682

◆Berserk[?] will be applied at rank [B+].

◆Skills eligible for transcendence at this value: Promote Metabolism[C+], Toughened Skin[B], Nutrient Synthesis[B], Slime Cell[B-].

A value of 682 gave me [B+] rank.

Looking through the eligible skills...

'Looks like skills I haven't acquired the complete genetic material for aren't eligible.'

Low-Light Vision[D+] and Assimilation[C+] weren't included, despite being lower-ranked than Berserk[B+].

'Let's see...'

I considered which skill to apply Berserk[B+] to.

For now, I set Slime Cell[B-] aside. I hadn't made a combination skill from it yet, so I couldn't make a super-combination skill either.

In that case...

'Shall I try Toughened Skin first?'

◆Skill, Toughened Skin[B], has been upgraded to rank [B+].

◆[Additional Efficiency] - Gain an additional [+10%] damage resistance.

◆[Additional Effect] - Recover Stamina equal to [0.1%] of damage mitigated.

As Toughened Skin[B+] transcended its rank, it gained Additional Efficiency. It also surpassed biological limits, acquiring a biologically impossible 'Stamina absorption' effect.

That, in turn, affected the combination skills based on Toughened Skin[B+].

◆Combination skill, ‘Dragon’s Skin[U]’, transcends its limits!!

Dragon’s Skin[U], in particular, was affected most significantly and transcended its limits.

◆Draconification[E]

: While this skill is active, the player consumes [500Kcal](per second) to immediately transform all bodily cells to possess [Dragon Traits].

This applies the [Heightened Keratin Effect] to [Muscle Cells and Bone Tissue] as well, increasing [Strength and Stamina] stats by [+30%] and converting [1%] of damage mitigated by Dragon’s Skin[U] into [Energy(Kcal)].

<This skill can be toggled On/Off.>

<This is a super-combination skill created by transcending the limits of Dragon’s Skin[U].>

A super-combination skill indeed. It was every bit as overpowered as Accelerated Heartbeat[E].

What was there to think about?

◆Activating super-combination skill, Draconification[E]!

I broke straight through the Royal Knights' encirclement.

* * *

What... had just happened?

Luseria slowly went over the scene she'd just witnessed. Yet no matter how many times she replayed it, she could make sense of only one thing.

There had been a series of crashes, and then every last Royal Knight had been taken out.

That was it.

The banquet hall she now saw through the crystal ball was a shambles unlike any other.

"D-do you think... you'll get away... with this...?"

A Royal Knight's cracked voice reached her.

"Don't worry. It'll all be forgotten anyway."

Then Adrian's voice followed.

"...?????"

Luseria could barely keep her wits about her.

"Why?"

No, how?

How did he know it would be forgotten?

The Forgotten Social Gathering used the Authority of Oblivion to erase memories over and over. In other words, its victims had no way of knowing which Anomaly had caused the gathering to reset.

Even if the same Anomaly repeated, they returned to the beginning without remembering its cause or consequences. They became trapped in an endless cycle.

But if he remembered that things would be forgotten?

The Forgotten Social Gathering's endless loop would no longer hold.

"How in the world...?"

But that wasn't possible. It was utterly beyond the realm of possibility.

... No, wait.

If he knew things would be forgotten, then...?

"He's resetting it even though he knows?"

... Was he insane?

She didn't know how he knew about the Authority of Oblivion. But even putting that aside, where on the entire continent could anyone find a lunatic who willingly threw himself into it?

There was absolutely no one.

Aucta From Afar.

The one and only being who existed far beyond understanding and perception.

Even Aucta From Afar wouldn't do such a thing.

So what the hell...?

"Would about ten resets get me to A rank?"

"What kind of wastrel bastard—"

What kind of bastard was this?

... Luseria simply couldn't understand.