Chapter 179 – Ghost Story (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Should we go in first for now? With chief’s personality, once he gets here, he’ll probably just come in on his own anyway.”

After waiting twenty minutes for Kang Geom-ma, everyone nodded in agreement at Weapon’s suggestion.

“I brought this, but will we need it?”

Just before opening the door to Aaron Annex, Abel waved around the flashlight she had brought.

Shaking his head, Weapon answered:

“No, not really necessary. Even though this building is old like this, it has automatic sensors, so the lights come on. And even if they don’t, smartphone light should be plenty.”

“Ah… then I brought it for nothing.”

Abel smacked her lips in disappointment. Rachel suddenly snatched the headlight away and spun it round and round atop her palm.

“Still, you never know, so having one thing like this doesn’t seem so bad, does it? It helps the atmosphere too, nyaha!”

“…Looking at it my way, Rachel, that seems the least useful on you. Your hair is shining bright yellow all by itself.”

After entering the annex, they moved along following Weapon. He grumbled that he didn’t want to take the lead.

But under the sharp stared of the four women, he had no choice and ended up in the very front.

Anyone would have done the same if forced to bear those eyes that had suddenly turned so cold.

From the front, the line was Weapon, Saki, Chloe, Abel, Rachel.

As they were climbing the stairs, Saki, who was walking directly behind Weapon, opened her mouth.

“Weapon, where was that place you said you saw the ghost?”

“The piano room in the middle of the third-floor corridor. The soundproof booth where I practice is at the very end of the corridor. So it’s built in a way where I can’t help but see it whenever I pass by.”

“The middle of the corridor……. Come to think of it, I’m only asking now, but was what you saw really a ghost? It could’ve just been other kids using this place too, like you were.”

At Saki’s words, Chloe, the third one in the line, answered.

“Probably not ordinary cadets. I asked Nox before coming today, and he said access to this annex is restricted for cadets because of safety accidents. Even if it looks clean, the building itself is several hundred years old, apparently.”

Abel, who was second from the back, added:

“That makes sense… We snuck in during the evening so the instructors wouldn’t catch us. If, like Weapon said, over a dozen people had been coming and going here constantly, there’s no way the academy side wouldn’t know.”

At that moment, a faint laugh drifted from behind Abel. Abel didn’t think much of it.

It was Rachel pulling a prank. Rachel had been excited ever since before they entered.

‘I can see it without even looking.’

At most she was probably planning to turn the flashlight upside down, stick out her tongue, and try to startle her.

The scene played itself out in Abel’s mind. Rather than react and make it annoying, ignoring her was the right answer.

Abel kept walking while looking only at the back of the person in front of her, Chloe.

Nyahheuuuu……

The prank kept going even after several minutes had passed. Normally, if one ignored Rachel once, she’d say something like `How boring, hmph` and stop pressing.

Rachel had a pot-boiling temperament. Just as quickly as her excitement rose, she also gave up just as fast.

But right now she was being oddly persistent. Had Rachel finally realized that if she gave up too quickly, she wouldn’t get Abel to turn around.

‘So that’s how you’re going to play this, huh?’

She had been short on sleep lately, and her nerves were sharp. It was about time she gave her a proper scolding.

After calming her breathing, Abel suddenly turned around. The next moment, her eyes grew round.

“…Huh?”

Rachel, who should have been at the very end of the line, had disappeared.

Had she gone somewhere in the middle? No, that couldn’t be.

Just a moment ago, she had clearly sensed a presence behind her.

Sensing presence was one of a swordsman’s basic accomplishments. It let one read an opponent’s movement in advance or prepare for an ambush.

She had trained it day after day without fail. Abel had greater confidence in her sense for energy than anyone.

Even if there had been a brief mistake, it was impossible that she would have failed to notice a presence that distinct.

Then where was Rachel? Abel hurriedly turned her head to the front.

“Guys, Rachel disappeared……!”

Abel swallowed back the words she had been about to spit out.

Because she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, she went blank.

“Wh-why are you there?”

The person occupying third position in place of Chloe. Blonde hair braided down into twin tails entered her vision.

“R-Rachel, wh-when did you move in front of me?”

“Sorry. Abel, you seemed like you were walking too slowly, so I asked Chloe to switch places with me. Right, Chloe?”

Suddenly Chloe’s voice drifted in from behind.

“Yes, that’s right. Ms. Rachel said she wanted to move forward, so I let her. So let’s hurry up and go.”

Prodding Abel in the back with her finger again and again, Chloe urged her on. As though refusing to give her any room to think.

“That’s right, let’s hurry, hurry.”

“Yeah, let’s go. Hurry up.”

From the front, Weapon and Saki added a line each too.

All of them were creating the atmosphere that Abel was the strange one here.

Abel stopped right where she was. Then she placed a hand at her waist and cut them off.

“What are you.”

The air cooled in an instant. Rachel, still turned away, tilted her neck crookedly.

“Stupid Abel.”

Rachel’s voice. She began pouring out words.

“On that day, you couldn’t even step out and were hiding among the cadets, and now why are you suddenly acting brave? If you’d acted now the way you’re acting at this moment, you wouldn’t have let Saki steal the march on you either.”

“……”

“Kang Geom-ma had a closer relationship with you. Think about it. You lived under the same roof with him for an entire month. But look at you now. You act all proud and yet can’t even bring yourself to go visit the Wolf Class.”

“……”

“Deep down, don’t you sort of think that compared to the other girls, you’re still better?”

“……”

“Ahh, our pathetic, pitiful Abel. Abel the hypocrite who tries to look like a selfless person on the outside. Abel who says looks are only superficial decoration, then asks Shail about basic skincare products. Abel the coward. Abel the leech. Abel… Abel-”

“Puhaha.”

Abel let out a light laugh. The mouths that had been running nonstop all fell shut at once.

“You things wearing their skins. I get that you’re trying to rake through my head, but now that you’re pointing out things one by one like that, I almost feel refreshed.”

Sreureung.

Abel drew the sword at her waist.

She held the blade upright before her chest. Her own reflection could be seen in the blade.

All the contempt and ridicule they had poured onto her. She felt not merely naked, but flayed wide open. And yet there was a smile at the corners of her mouth.

Abel opened her mouth.

“Yeah, I’m exactly the coward who always only receives help from Kang Geom-ma, and when he was actually in danger, couldn’t step forward without hesitation.”

“……”

“But you made a mistake. Our House Nibelung always humbly accepts its deficiencies. And then improves them immediately. So the more you point out every single one of my faults for me, the more I have to thank you.”

Abel raised the blade to the tip of her nose. Then she closed her eyes.

Hypocrite, coward, inferiority complex.

She acknowledged all of that. At the same time, she reflected on it.

That cycle was growth itself.

Abel opened her eyes to a narrow slit.

Their current location was the middle of the second-floor corridor. Before she realized it, the four of them had moved far apart.

They were glaring at her as though they wanted to kill her, black tears of blood dripping down.

In the center of their darkened eye sockets, the bloodshot pupils glinted dangerously. The ghosts had borrowed the human skins of her friends.

Abel felt her spine go cold. The fine hairs on her body stood on end.

Trying to break her spirit first with visuals that vicious. It was unfair.

The things gripped weapons in both hands. Kitchen knives, the kind of weapon that appears in horror movies as a matter of formality.

‘Their weapons are blades too.’

They’re not ghosts, they’re fellow blade-users. Once she flipped her way of thinking like that, it felt like the fear was fading.

Besides, wasn’t there someone who always used nothing but sashimi knives as weapons.

Compared to that, she doubted those kitchen knives could even peel an apple properly.

Abel gave a short laugh. The moment she thought of Kang Geom-ma, the knot inside her chest seemed to wash away.

“Diiiiieeeeeeeee!”

The ghosts ran down the corridor, screaming out curses. Their arms swinging the kitchen knives flopped as though their joints had come loose.

‘I have to slay the ghosts.’

While staring at them, Abel thought calmly. Her gaze sank down deeply.

‘If it had been Kang Geom-ma……’

Abel sheathed the sword she had drawn. With a tight grip on the hilt, she lowered herself into a quick-draw stance.

Heavy as though a boulder rested on her back, and deeply crouched.

Her right knee bent, her left foot stretched far behind. An unstable center of gravity.

It was a posture that looked as though a single gust could topple it. Yet that precariousness was the core of its explosive leap.

Abel imitated the swordsmanship of the one she had once envied.

The footsteps were getting closer. About twenty paces. The ghosts thrust their kitchen knives out on twisted trajectories. It was an assault soaked with literal ghostly aura.

“Haa.”

Abel exhaled a hot breath through clenched teeth. Her breath came out long. Chiiik- it sounded like a train venting steam.

Abel’s eyes flashed wide open. In that very instant, her foot shattered the flagstones of the corridor. A silver straight line sliced long through the corridor like a twin popsicle snapped in two.

Seugeong!

At the vanishing point of the corridor, Abel was still holding her posture.

Tak. The moment the guard of the sword tapped against the scabbard, the ghosts crumbled into diced chunks.

* * *

I cut down every ghost bastard that came at me, dozens of them by rough count.

And yet even so, these bastards weren’t decreasing, they were increasing. Bursting into grotesque peals of laughter all the while.

Nyahahahahahahahaha!

At first there had only been Saki, Weapon, and Chloe, three of them. And with one swing apiece, I had dealt with them.

But I had committed an enormous mistake. I had actually said, `Did I get them?`

Not wishing to disappoint, the ghosts came pouring out from all directions.

From the piano room, the art room, the ceiling.

Anyway, if it seemed like the sort of place a ghost might come out from, one came out from there.

Their entrances were grotesque too.

Holding kitchen knives in their mouths, crawling on the ceiling on all fours, bouncing their crowns against the floor. It was a complete gift set of ghosts.

Individually speaking, their martial power was nothing much. About the level of a C-rank magical beast. But when they all came at once, they were extremely troublesome.

If things flowed into a battle of attrition, the disadvantage lay on my side. By unfortunate coincidence, I could only manifest the Blessing of the Sword God for sixty seconds.

So I hid in the third stall of the boys’ restroom first, to work out a strategy. It was a miserable retreat point. Every other place was already packed full of ghosts.

Sitting on the toilet bowl, I organized my thoughts.

‘There’s no way I could deal with all these ghost bastards one by one.’

I came to the conclusion that this nest of ghosts was very similar in nature to a dungeon.

After cutting down a few of them, I got the feel of it. Those guys laughing and rampaging through the hallway were closer to magical beasts than ghosts. That was how they felt to cut.

I tried escaping through the window, but whatever sort of glass it was, it only got scratched.

Once one enters, leaving midway was impossible until the place was cleared. In that regard too, it shared the same characteristics as other dungeons.

Why there was a dungeon inside the academy I left aside. That wasn’t the important thing right now.

If this place shared the nature of a dungeon, then there should of course be a method for clearing it.

The problem was that I didn’t know what it was, since there had never been an event like this old local ghost-tale nonsense back when I was a player.

‘If I knew the method, I feel like I could break through somehow.’

Normally in a situation like this, I would have put my heads together with Saki or Weapon and worked out a countermeasure.

Just as I was newly reminded of their importance, an exclamation mark flashed through my mind.

I immediately brought up the status window and manifested the Blessing of Communication. Then I bluntly spoke.

Hey, give me a hint.

[……]

No reply at all, as though it were buffering. So it had been impossible after all.

I’d thought it was useful because I got decent information from it in emergencies.

‘But when it actually matters, it’s useless……’

Pahht-

‘……?’

* * *

[Tip: Find and destroy the core of `Horror Maison.` Then you should be able to escape.]

[……]

[……]

[Don’t believe it if you want. Later.]

* * *

“A core, huh.”

So it seemed the strategy wasn’t to wipe out every last ghost.

If only it would go a little farther and tell me the location of the core too, but no matter how much I kept calling, there was no further response.

‘It’s sulking.’

Even so, thanks to that, I had a direction now. First I would think about the core’s location while here, then move.

However……

Somehow it had grown quiet outside.

I didn’t often watch horror films, but I knew what this silence meant.

The restroom. A sudden silence. Could there possibly be a set more perfectly staged than this.

More than anything, I was crouched down on the toilet bowl. Which was why I could see a neatly standing pair of pink shoes through the crack under the door. The sharp tips of the shoes pointed exactly toward me.

I slowly raised my head.

A grotesque being so tall her head poked over the top of the stall door. A hideous arc spread across her lips.

“Peekaboo. Found you.”