Chapter 318 - Memory (3)

“Fucking hell!”

I sat up the moment I opened my eyes. Everything was hazy, and an acrid smell filled my nose. Outside the window, it was unusually noisy.

“Anyone on the streets will be considered a rebel! Everyone, get inside!”

Authoritative shouts rang out from all directions.

“Aaaaaah!”

There were occasional screams, too, and every time a deafening boom erupted in the distance, a faint tremor traveled through the bed.

So what the hell was going on?

I needed information. Which meant...

I trudged toward the window, forcing my unresponsive body to move. The moment I flung it open, black smoke rushed in, drawing a dry cough from me.

“Cough, cough.”

Even as I coughed, I scanned the view outside. Soldiers patrolled the smoke-choked streets, keeping the citizens under control.

And...

'There really is a fire.'

In the distance, I could see the city engulfed in flames. It was the eastern district, where Orculus had its headquarters. Although it was a considerable distance from here, this was an underground city with poor ventilation. One major fire had filled the whole city with smoke...

BOOM! BOOOOM!

Judging by the intermittent, distinctly unnatural explosions, this didn't seem to be an ordinary fire.

“This is driving me nuts... What the hell is happening?”

I pressed a hand against my throbbing head. My brain felt several times slower than usual. Maybe it was a lingering effect of the poison Amelia had given me.

'Right. She poisoned me... '­

That snapped me awake, and everything that had happened before I lost consciousness flashed through my mind like a panorama.

'What the hell is she thinking? And where has she disappeared to now?'

I didn't know. But that only made me focus on one thing, just as I had the day I first woke up in this body.

Setting everything else aside, what did I need to do right now?

The answer came quickly.

“The drawer.”

Amelia had told me to open the drawer. Maybe it held an explanation for all this.

I shut the window and went over to the bed. The nightstand drawer had helpfully been left open, and all it contained was a single note, only a few lines long.

“Ha...”

The note began with a brief apology, saying she was sorry. It didn't take long to read it all, and the moment I finished, I tore it to shreds.

Even that didn't dispel my anger.

'I never imagined D-day was today.'

Amelia had lied to me. The note didn't explain why, but the reason was obvious. She must have wanted to stop me from interfering with the past any further, thinking that might allow the future to change.

'Ha. I didn't know she was the sort of character to pull a stunt like this... '­

I was still reeling from the betrayal, but I forced down my anger and checked the time first.

[04 :31]

Four thirty in the morning. We'd started drinking a little after ten at night, so I'd been asleep for about six hours.

'All right. What now...?'

I closed my eyes for a moment and gathered my thoughts. Amelia's note said she'd handle the rest alone, and that when I woke up, I should find the Stone Fragment of Records and go back.

Given the state of the city, sneaking into the lord's castle certainly didn't look difficult.

But...

'What a joke. So she's just going to stay here alone?'

I really didn't like this approach.

Yet despite those feelings, another thought occurred to me. What would happen if I really did nothing? Would that change the future somehow?

“... Whatever. Let's just get out of here first.”

I stopped deliberating and quickly put on my equipment. Time was short. I could think through the rest on the way.

CREEEAK.

I hurried toward the lord's castle.

* * *

After passing through the acrid smoke and between soldiers busy controlling the civilians in the streets, I soon reached the lord's castle.

But the firmly shut gates wouldn't open even when I presented the token identifying me as one of the lord's men.

“The lord has ordered us not to let anyone inside. And why are you only arriving now? The summons went out ages ago.”

“... I was asleep.”

“Then head to the eastern district now. I've checked, and your clan marched out quite some time ago.”

Ugh, what a pain.

“Got it. Keep up the good work.”

I turned away from the gates without hesitation. It wasn't as if closed gates meant there was no way in.

Barbarians didn't ask for permission.

'With all this smoke, they shouldn't be able to see me from here.'

I followed the wall a short distance, checked that no one was around, then used [Leap] to vault high over it.

Unfortunately, someone was standing just on the other side.

“Wh-who are you?!”

The patrolling soldier was horrified to see me fall out of the sky.

THWACK!

I quickly silenced him before he could raise a fuss, then ran toward the keep.

Just as Amelia had said, the castle would be practically deserted on the day of the operation. I saw no one who posed much of a threat—only patrolling soldiers.

The real heavy hitters were probably fighting the forces in the Orculus-held eastern district by now.

“An enemy!”

THWACK!

“An enemy has breached the walls!”

THWACK!

Thanks to that, I skipped through this section quickly. The trouble started at the keep.

BOOOOM!

The moment I smashed through its doors and entered the ground floor alone, a group of vicious-looking explorers surrounded me.

'Right. Even if the place is empty, they left this many behind?'

Elite troops who had been granted knighthoods. After coming and going from the castle countless times over the past few months, I even recognized some of their faces.

“... Iron Mask, why are you here? Why aren't you in the eastern district, where the fighting is?”

“Oh, I just have something to discuss with the lord.”

“To think you were an Orculus lackey.”

A bald guy whose name I could barely remember glared at me with furious eyes, as though a trusted comrade had betrayed him.

I didn't feel particularly guilty. Not only was I not an Orculus lackey... I'd never considered these bastards comrades in the first place.

“Enough. Come at me.”

“I don't know what reckless arrogance made you crawl in here alone, but this will be your—”

What were these rank-five nobodies babbling about? I told them to come at me, and they just kept talking.

If they wouldn't come to me, I'd go to them.

BOOM!

Rather than waste time on pointless conversation, I immediately activated [Gigantification] and used [Leap] to land in the middle of their formation.

Then...

“Behel—raaaaaaa!!”

My hammer was already monstrously large thanks to [Gigantification]. I combined [Transcendence] with [Swing] to make it roughly three times larger still—

WHOOOOSH!

Then spun like a top, swinging it around me.

I called it Whirlwind. I'd borrowed the name from my favorite game before I got hooked on [Dungeon and Stone]...

Its defining feature was the satisfying impact and sound you could enjoy while spinning around.

Like this.

CRASH-CRASH-CRAAAAASH!

The squishy ones burst like balloons the moment the hammer hit them, while a few tougher ones went flying into the walls.

It was a predictable outcome. The hammer I held wasn't an ordinary weapon.

'I definitely built myself as a tank, but somehow my setup is better at dealing damage than tanking now.'

No. 87, Kraul's Demon Crusher. A double-digit Numbered item with an option that increased damage by 500% when using blunt-weapon skills.

Put simply, just holding this weapon made the rank-three skill [Swing] five times more powerful. How could any of them take that hit and stay standing?

Of course, none of that mattered if they dodged.

“Wh-what... What in the world...?”

Those who had escaped by throwing themselves flat on the floor as soon as I swung stared up at me in shock. Some recovered their wits enough to counterattack.

Arrows. Fire. Lightning. Axes.

I checked their weapons and smirked.

'How come not a single one uses a sword?'

That was the funny thing about Noark. Being a knight didn't mean you could use Aura. They'd merely been granted titles in recognition of their loyalty. Barely one in a hundred was a real knight capable of using Aura.

'So they really did drag all those guys off to the front.'

From there, I fought by manually bringing my hammer down on them one at a time. Even warriors covered head to toe in heavy armor quickly ended up senseless on the floor once I activated the 50% armor penetration option with downward strikes.

Had about five minutes passed?

The battle ended when the few remaining enemies fled. I didn't bother chasing them, and I skipped looting, too. Not only did I lack the time... after steadily piling loot into my subspace ring for months, I had no room left anyway.

'... Damn. I have to find some way to take this hammer back with me.'

Even as I thought that, I hurried on. My destination wasn't the upper floors, where the lord's study and office were, but the underground shelter Amelia had told me about.

I raced along, finally found the stairs leading underground, and practically ran down them—only to stop short.

Someone was coming up from below.

“I was wondering what all that commotion upstairs was...”

As luck would have it, this was someone I'd met before. The knight who had come to recruit us on the lord's orders.

What was his name again...?

“Iron Mask, why are you here?”

Rick Omanus.

He drew his sword as he looked at me.

* * *

I'd accidentally taken a wrong turn, or something along those lines—I didn't even have time to offer an excuse.

WHOOSH!

He was astonishingly quick to assess the situation. The instant he saw me, he infused his sword with Aura and readied himself to fight at a moment's notice.

Only then did he attempt conversation.

“Answer me, Iron Mask. Why are you here? And how did you learn of this place? Tell me everything.”

To answer his question, Amelia had told me. No one might know about this underground shelter now, but that wouldn't be the case in the future.

“So you refuse to answer?”

At his words, my heart began to pound.

THUMP.

Knights were practically a hard counter to tanks. Tanks tended to be tough but slow, and Aura ignored defense. On top of that, tanks dealt little damage, making it hard to hurt a knight.

My fight in the Crystal Cave against the former knight turned plunderer, the one with the epithet Serpent Knight, was proof enough. He'd sliced through my arm like tofu. All I'd done was use that opening to rush in and cling to him like a cicada.

Raven's magic had been the real reason we'd won.

THUMP!

And the situation now was completely different. This was one-on-one, with neither of us having any allies. I hadn't even begun putting together an anti-Aura setup.

But...

THUMP!

My heartbeat quickened, and my grip tightened around my weapon. These weren't physical reactions born of fear.

This much tension before a fight was only natural.

“Very well. You won't answer, then.”

“...”

“I'll start by taking your arm.”

Rick Omanus assumed an opening stance.

I answered him.

“Try it if you can.”

Yeah. It was about time I took down a knight.