Chapter 2 – Suicide

Suicide

‘Maybe it was just a coincidence?’

He weighed that possibility.

For it could have been used and left over in a completely different place, not here.

But the Echo of Pain.

This poison was not that common.

‘To think that out of all the many poisons, the Echo of Pain is specifically with me…’

Then, a hypothesis came to mind.

‘No way.’

If that hypothesis was correct, the reason he had it became faintly clear.

‘For now, keep it a secret.’

The man looked at the two confronting each other as if nothing had happened.

The giant and the Saintess.

The stance of the two was extremely precarious.

If even a small trigger were given, they would immediately clash and turn this place into a mess.

‘Will they fight?’

Whether it was good fortune or bad.

The two beasts snarled at each other and then stopped.

They realized there was nothing to gain from fighting each other.

As the heated confrontation slowly dissolved, the watching boy with glasses spoke up.

“D-don’t fight. What is the point of us fighting among ourselves? So, please calm down, both of you.”

Attempting to change the mood, the boy turned the subject to the mana armor that had been in the center of the clearing.

“More than that, this mana armor is fascinating. I am no expert on mana armor, but this armor seems as if… it is waiting for its time.”

In the center of the mana armor sat a mana stone harboring a profound light.

The boy pushed up his glasses.

“I have seen a sample of a mana stone called a Soul Stone before. Unlike other mana stones, it is a stone that uses souls as raw material. The mana stone here looks similar to such a Soul Stone.”

The Saintess was captivated by the mysterious light emanating from the Soul Stone, and after a moment, she wore a complicated expression.

On the other hand, the giant wore a face filled only with displeasure.

“Soul Stone? What is that?”

“It is a mana stone containing souls. Its characteristic is that, unlike other mana stones, it uses souls as fuel.”

“I feel like I have heard of it somewhere…”

“But with this Soul Stone. I can see the soul source contained inside.”

“You can see that?”

“Yes, the glasses I am wearing are special. I can amplify and observe any phenomenon.”

“Why do you have something like that?”

“Because it is a pretty useful item for a mage for whom observing phenomena is important.”

“Are you a mage?”

“It seems so. I checked my bag earlier, and it was packed with things like magic books.”

Everyone gathered around the mana armor.

The man suddenly threw a question.

“Can we wear this?”

If only he could wear it.

Escape seemed possible through that cliff passage swarming with wyverns.

It would be impossible for normal mana armor.

But this was no ordinary mana armor; it was a relic possessing the power of a demon.

“I do not know that much either…”

Just in case, it would be better to at least try.

Everyone shared a similar thought, and the volunteer was naturally the man who had less reluctance toward the mana armor.

“I will try it on.”

The Saintess was about to say something but stopped, and the giant scowled immediately.

“You want to wear that? You sure have guts. You should not take demon-related things lightly. Unless you are a player, once the demonic influence reaches out, that is it.”

“If it succeeds, we can leave this place. It would be foolish not to even try.”

“Do whatever you want. It is not my business anyway.”

Mana armor, which was custom-made to a knight’s physique, required wearing underwear that acted as a buffer when putting it on.

Since that underwear was not present here, and the mana armor found by chance in the dungeon might fit him too tightly, the man decided to at least take off his shirt and try it on.

Soon, throwing off his shirt, he revealed his upper body which had been hidden until now.

Cross tattoos filled his back, and numerous scars covering his sturdy muscles were visible.

Recognizing his identity, the giant grimaced.

“No wonder I felt something strange. Were you a cleric, mister?”

“What?”

“Look at the tattoos engraved on your body right now. Tattoos like those are usually engraved on the clerics of the Holy Order.”

There were two forces representing the Holy Order.

One was the knighthood displaying the Rose Cross.

The other was the battle monks designated as clerics, called the Holy Order’s final line of defense.

The giant said in a tone full of conviction.

“Now I get it. You also followed along for that girl who might be the Saintess. Otherwise, there is no reason for a cleric to be here.”

The man looked at the various tattoos engraved on his upper body.

‘Me, a cleric?’

It was absurd.

The Holy Order was the very faction that loathed and hated players the most.

And yet, he was a cleric of that Holy Order.

‘Could it be a disguised identity? Is the darkest place under the lamp, and I became the Holy Order’s mace myself?’

It was getting crazier by the minute.

It was dumbfounding enough that he was a player, but to think he had even disguised himself as a cleric who beat down those players.

“Anyway, I will try on the mana armor.”

As the man stood before the mana armor, as if it had been waiting for him.

The pitch-black mana armor split open with a cracking sound! It gaped open grotesquely, showing a hideous interior constructed of bone and flesh.

Since it was a form of mana armor completely different from conventional ones.

‘Though it is somewhat unpleasant.’

The man fit his body into the mana armor.

Fortunately, the mana armor altered its shape appropriately to fit the man’s build.

“How is it? Can you use the power of the mana armor?”

At the giant’s question, the man tried various things before closing his eyes in resignation.

“No, it does not budge.”

“It does not even move? Then when does it move? You said there was soul fuel in that Soul Stone thing, right? Wasn’t mana armor supposed to move by the power of mana stones?”

The answer to that.

Or rather, the speculation, came from the Saintess.

“Just as the dungeon warned, once only one person remains here, won’t it move then?”

The giant’s expression turned murderous.

“Cut that unlucky crap. I do not even want to hear it.”

The boy with glasses scanned the surroundings where tight tension lingered.

The man from the cleric background who had just stripped off the mana armor.

The giant who looked like he could chew a monster alive.

The Saintess of the Holy Order who possessed the power of Aura.

Could he really survive past them?

He grew depressed, and his head naturally dropped.

‘How am I…’

Then, suddenly.

A brilliant idea flashed in his mind.

The last beating heart. That was the clue.

* * *

Due to the poisonings.

The man, who could not even hastily drink water, felt a presence approaching him.

It was the boy with glasses.

“What is it? Do you have something to say?”

“U-um. Please make me one promise.”

The kid was quite bold.

“A promise?”

“If I happen to die… if that really happens. Can you keep my body whole?”

“Keep it whole? Why?”

“That is… even if I die here, I feel like I should return to my parents… in one piece.”

“Such pointless worries.”

After pondering briefly, the man decided to accept.

“Fine. No one touches the corpses here anyway. Understood. If that is your wish, I will do so.”

The man squinted at the boy with glasses who was leaving after getting the promise.

‘Next is probably…’

He had no intention of killing anyone, but.

The culprit would be different.

And the next prey that bastard would target was likely…

‘Indeed.’

How much time had passed like that?

A commotion arose in the quiet dungeon.

‘What was bound to come has come.’

The man went to the place where the commotion occurred.

There, the Saintess was holding and examining the dying boy.

“This child, his pulse is about to stop now. It seems he ate something wrong…”

The giant asked the Saintess, who was soaked in bewilderment.

“Another poisoning?”

“I do not know. It also seems different from the people who were poisoned before.”

Near the boy.

Traces of something having been concocted and various books lay scattered here and there.

‘Alchemy and Pharmacopoeia? Did he construct poison with those?’

Making a similar deduction to the man, the giant examined the dungeon’s flora and spoke.

“He surely did not make poison with his own hands just to commit suicide, right?”

“No way… then the one who poisoned people until now was…”

The man interjected into the Saintess’s speculation.

“No. It is too early to draw conclusions. First of all, it seems like a different kind of poison.”

If he had died from the Echo of Pain, there was no way he would go so peacefully.

The giant said, flipping through the book.

“Crazy! What skill. He made poison here just by looking at this? I do not even know what grows here.”

This was not the time for this.

If the boy died, oblivion would return as the dungeon’s warning declared.

Then he would forget everything again.

-Dungeon of Oblivion, the 4th run is beginning.

Befitting a player, a message was projected in the empty air.

Time was pressing.

‘I have to leave something.’

What would be good to leave behind?

Quickly rolling his brain, the man soon solidified his thoughts.

-Cooperate with one of the two.

That was enough.

Since one of the two was the culprit anyway, and even if it was the Saintess, he was a player, so he could ignore the fact he was a cleric and cooperate with the giant.

If the giant was the culprit, he could just use his status as a cleric to cooperate with the Saintess.

Afterward, the final deathmatch would begin.

There was no need to leave clues for that deathmatch now.

Because his future self would leave them.

‘Yes, this is enough.’

He rolled up his sleeves enough to expose the cross tattoo engraved on his forearm, and waited for the time of oblivion.

The exposed tattoo would handle the fact that he was a cleric.

‘I will survive until the very end.’

While he was making thorough preparations like that.

The expression of the Saintess holding the boy turned resolute, and she suddenly began to leave something in the air.

Seeing this, the man was amazed.

‘Could she use magic? That should be a magic to leave messages.’

However, magic was originally a power that existed at the opposite pole of divine power.

Although the Holy Order did not completely reject magic, for a symbolic existence like the Saintess to use magic was…

His consciousness blurred, and his surroundings were submerged in darkness.

The dungeon’s influence reached out, and oblivion began.

‘Right, the empty flask. I wondered why it was there…’

Before his consciousness cut off completely.

The man, who thought of something, left an additional clue on the note.