CHAPTER 139: DEAR LITTLE MADNESS

The achievements were strange.

Noala realized what Allaryx’s last words meant.

"He was a vampire?"

He hastily opened his status window.

In front of Race, instead of Human, Vampire was written.

Hovering the cursor on it displayed further information.

A creature of the night. Requires blood of mammals to survive. Sunlight is extremely harmful. Regenerates health over time.

Strength + 30%, Dex + 35%...

It went on and on.

Another message appeared in the little text box.

Special Class Vampire Knight unlocked.

- Holy!

- New Class?

- What? How?

- This wasn’t even mentioned once.

- Is this real?

- Am I still high?

Watching this unfold, Celli couldn’t help but stare at the screen with her mouth agape.

- It’s the Quinn!

- Isn’t that Averie Auclair?

- It’s Asmodeus!

- No wonder it was such a cool scene. This guy always kills it.

- What’s happening? Am I dreaming?

- This is huge? Where did this come from?

- Did you know about it, Celli?

The girl shook her head. She had no idea. No one had told her, not him and not the company.

To say she was shocked was an understatement.

With fidgety fingers, she tried to call Averie, but the man would not pick up. He was too busy staring at the painting in his room.

Even Ari couldn’t get him to pick up her calls. She had to settle for talking Hyerin’s ear off, while her friends giddily made a ruckus in the background.

"And then," — One of them swung an imaginary weapon — "he swung his spear—"

"Glaive."

"—and said, ’it’s Allaryx time!’"

"He never said that. Stop making stuff up."

Across Asia, gamers who knew Averie Quinn Auclair—mostly BSPH fans—were left blindsided.

- I got goosebumps.

- A surprise Quinn appearance... It’s the best day of my life.

- Such a treat. That was so cool!

- Oh lordy lordy lord, they killed him again!

It didn’t take long for the news to spread to the cultish part of his fanbase, who began posting about it on AQuinn forums.

The comments were filled with debauchery. Lust flowed through that particular corner of the internet like a river of filth.

The sheer depravity was enough to choke even someone as dauntless as Min-Ha’s sister Yun-Ha.

Major entertainment and gaming news outlets poured out articles with great enthusiasm. It was a rather slow month for news, so this was a rather welcome sight for everyone involved.

They had planned on milking Averie’s appearance for the next few weeks, creating an artificial buzz.

It was this buzz that stirred excitement in NeRen and Su-Bin while they were busy working.

"I need to experience it for myself!" proclaimed their youngest member.

Two days later, they tried their hand at the game, only to be met with an utter and complete lack of skill.

"Get off, you losers!"

It was Sunny who took the reins, crushing the foes with ease as if she were swatting flies.

Since the game’s release, the gaming forums had been in a festive buzz, but it was not because of Averie’s appearance.

It was Allaryx’s strength and brutal assault that had truly piqued their interest.

It was a boss nearly impossible to eliminate on the first try, and no one had managed to do it despite the developers deeming it possible.

Throughout the gaming community, the cinematic cutscenes involving Allaryx were extensively praised.

Although not many recognized it, Averie had done a fantastic job. From his voice to his demeanor, journalists noted, everything carried a sense of doom.

And so, in certain circles, he was immortalized as Allaryx, the Dread of the Living.

***

Time passed.

While filming Long Live the Quinn, Averie lost a significant amount of weight.

It was so noticeable that the makeup crew had to lean into it, making it appear as though he was losing his sanity as the mockumentary continued.

Unlike his previous roles, Averie had immersed himself in extensive research for Lady Ethereal.

He learned how to walk, talk, and behave like a well-educated woman.

He studied East Asian traditions and their inherent similarities, even though the details of the world of Lady Ethereal were never once explained in the script.

He only knew that the setting was a futuristic neon city with a fusion of Eastern and Western cultures.

But in Averie’s mind, none of those details lingered; only the mysterious woman persisted.

He was so deep in his preparations that sometimes he would see her, animate and as real as his friend who would be worrying nearby.

The infatuating lady would accompany him, raise her pace, and gesture for him to keep up.

Even though his psyche warned him against it, he would knowingly follow her, assimilating further into her world.

It was a psychotic experience bordering on lunacy.

At one point, the semi-lucid actor wondered whether this was not the wrong way to approach the role.

His devolving state was only worsened by the fatigue brought on by the alarms he had set up for every nightly hour, afraid of being trapped inside Lilith’s Womb.

On the set, while on break, he often lost his sense of reality and wandered around aimlessly.

It prompted the staff and Hyerin to doubt his mental health, but the incident that successfully settled an inexplicable fear in her came on a Sunday morning.

It was Averie’s day off, so his friend was expecting him to wake up late. But when an uncanny scream erupted from his flat, she had to rush in unannounced.

Min-Ha had followed behind, and the pair had found their employer in front of the bathroom mirror.

He had cut his lip while shaving.

For a second, Hyerin felt her anxiety whisk away, and as she raised a hand to reprimand him for his overreaction, his chilling eyes caught her attention.

Shivers travelled across her body, screaming at her to seek help.

In front of her, she realized, was an unstable lunatic. For the first time in her life, she felt unsafe in the company of her best friend.

With wide, bloodshot eyes, Averie single-mindedly stared at his reflection. He wasn’t aware of her presence.

"You are not right!" he screamed in a shrill tone at his reflection, his jaw shaking. "Why can’t you be right?"