Chapter 295: Nameless Cardinal (2)

As if everything that had happened previously was no more than a dream, I found myself back sitting on the stone chair, everything completely still.

DONG~~! DONG~~!

However, with the same church bells tolling ominously in the background, I didn’t have to wait long before realising the truth.

Creeeaaaaak~!

―The entrance to the chapel opened again.

Fwoosh– fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh–

―And again, blue flames lit up along the sides of the hall, faintly illuminating the dark space between.

[Him]

Behind that red name, four distinct auras emanating from its subject, a wall of fog formed to sever the connection between the inside of the chapel and the outside.

And, at the bottom of my sight.

[Nameless Cardinal]

My own name and health bar appeared.

Just like before, the Protagonist materialised a vial of glowing water, pouring it onto the wooden club in his hands to bestow a white aura and tossing the waste aside.

Slowly, he stepped forward―I hurriedly rose from my seated position in response, still somewhat catching up with the situation mentally.

After all, it wasn’t as if this was my first time encountering this sort of thing, but still, repeating the same sequence of events over again would always take some getting used to.

Withdrawing the cultist’s book from its hold on my waist, I was about to follow the same flow as last time and summon that greatsword, but abruptly stopped myself.

‘Wait. Can’t I just…?’

Instead of stretching my right arm over my chest as my body did on its own before, I forcibly corrected it to stretch out in front of me, towards the Protagonist.

Without pause, I summoned the Black Wisp, immediately pulling the trigger.

‘…Tsk.’

As expected, even if I fired multiple shots, he just rolled through them.

‘Is he watching the movements of my body to match the timing?’

In that case, I should try something else.

Pulling the trigger a few more times, I forced the Protagonist into rolling continuously in one direction, and with the right timing―

Thud-!

‘It works!’

―I summoned an Illusory Aegis in front of him, blocking his path and interrupting his roll.

Smacking his body into the invisible shield, the Protagonist fell to the ground, completely vulnerable; I didn’t waste that opportunity for even a second, shooting his grounded figure without reluctance.

“Ugh…!”

Thus, he groaned, fell limp on the floor, and vaporised into a rapidly-fading grey mist.

[You Died]

‘Nice! That time was a lot better, I didn’t even get hit. Will it work now?’

Honestly, I don’t know what I expected.

‘Librarian, you’ll tell me that he’s been dispatched properly this time, right?’

After all, this was a 5-star Difficulty Contract.

‘…Shit…’

Clearing it was never going to be an easy task from the beginning.

❖─────★★★★★─────❖

For the third time, I regained consciousness and it was dark. Still.

Yet again, I was sitting on the throne of the chapel, everything reset to its initial state.

“…”

‘Hm.’

This was troubling indeed.

As it seems, dodging and parrying weren’t the only mechanics from the game brought into reality.

For some god forsaken reason, perhaps the most broken thing of all had also decided to come along for the ride.

Evidently, the Protagonist had the ability…

‘Respawning… What the hell am I supposed to do?’

…To resurrect at the last ‘checkpoint’.

DONG~~!

[Chapel at the End of the World]

Judging by the short time between the location name popping up and the Protagonist opening the doors of the chapel, that respawn point probably wasn’t far away.

Unfortunately, that meant I didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a plan between each death.

DONG~!

Of course, there was no limit to the number of times you could respawn in the game, and considering the Difficulty I couldn’t hope to expect this Illusory World to be any different.

I didn’t know if this respawning mechanic was the Protagonist’s own ability, or something I was only having trouble with due to being immersed more in the world’s essence, but either way, it really was frustrating.

‘Well, it’s probably just something wrong with this world regardless.’

DONG~!

In any case, it seemed like my time this round was already up.

Sighing internally, I rose from my seat.

Creeeaaaaak~!

The first time around, I wasn’t able to physically move my body until the cutscene was over and my health bar appeared.

Fwoosh– fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh–

But, during the second round, that changed.

[Him]

‘――Now.’

The instant the fog wall appeared behind the Protagonist to block his escape, I pulled the trigger knowing his first move would be to buff his club with that glowing water.

As expected, he failed to react in time, and the result was simple.

[You Died]

Thus, with the Protagonist’s body fading away into fog, the world again grew dark.

❖─────★★★★★─────❖

The instant I regained consciousness, I rose from my seat.

With a severely limited amount of time on the clock, I wasted none of it idling by and immediately rushed to the entrance of the chapel.

Part of me was concerned it might not work as part of a ‘boss arena’, but fortunately, that posed no obstacle.

SMASH-!!

Breaking through the wooden doors effortlessly with the Cardinal’s immense strength, the outside world was revealed to me.

DONG~~!

And, at the same time.

[Chapel at the End of the World]

Its very name appeared before me, indicating the Protagonist’s respawned presence.

‘Where…?’

There was no particular environment that I was expecting to find beyond the boundary of the chapel, but I knew for a fact that the Protagonist’s spawnpoint would be somewhere nearby.

Still, even if my expectations were a blank slate, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

In the far distance in front of me, I spotted a graveyard, although the dismal atmosphere surrounding it somehow made it seem like something even darker.

That graveyard appeared to be a floating island, surrounded by nothing.

All that connected to it was a single, narrow dirt path, littered with gravestones and blooming black flowers I didn’t know the name of, leading all the way up to where I stood at the chapel’s doorstep.

Running along that path in a nimble sprint, all by his lonesome―

DONG~~!

―Was the Protagonist.

‘I see.’

Naturally, I came to the conclusion that his spawnpoint must be located in that graveyard. It was only a small area, so it shouldn’t take long to find.

Now that I knew that, all I had to do was keep repeating the fight from the beginning until I found it.

Incidentally, like the graveyard, the dirt path and even the chapel itself were also surrounded by literally nothing, floating in the middle of an endless expanse with only a backdrop of the fantastical cosmos to separate it from the description of a void.

But even that only stretched so far――The space behind the chapel was where it all ceased.

…In the first attempt, wasn’t there moonlight shining down on me as I entered the second phase? For some reason, that didn’t exist outside the chapel.

Like I thought, it wasn’t something natural at all.

‘At the end of the world’.

Perchance, could that have meant this was the end of the universe?

In that case, I wonder if it could also be taken to mean the periphery of the Illusory World itself.

DONG~~!

…Well, it’s not like something like that really mattered anyway.

‘So long as nothing dumb happens, it’s fine.’

[Him]

As the Protagonist got closer, I spotted the name above his head also come into view. When that happened, as has been the case every time until now…

[Nameless Cardinal]

“My” name also appeared, accompanied by a red health bar.