Chapter 104: Uninvited Guest (1)
“I was so scared, I thought I was going to die.”
I leaned back on the bed and looked at the screen of the smartphone that I had placed on the table.
On top of Yuto, who had the Yggdrasil plugged in, the apostles were gathered together.
The urgent rescue operation for Cuebaerg was successfully completed.
Evan, who I had sent to buy some time, arrived at the scene first and rescued Cuebaerg. Then, Utenia safely brought Evan back.
In the process, the <Random Creature Summon Ticket (Low)> that I had acquired this time also contributed a lot.
I summoned a creature to hold back the enemies while bringing Evan back.
“I would have slept well tonight if any of them had died.”
The main characters of the cult, including Evan, were the ones who grew up on my blood-like money, time, and affection.
If any of them had died, I would have tossed and turned all night.
It was a great relief that no one died while carrying out this operation.
It would have been a way to fight and clear the boss, but it would have been a loss if I had lost even one character in the process.
There was no need to rush to attack the boss in an unprepared state.
It was fine to attack the boss after having enough equipment and supplies.
I wasn’t trying to see the game’s ending right now anyway.
“But I still need to find a solution for that sight-blocking ability.”
Especially, the sight-blocking ability that nullified <The Eye of Observation> itself had to be dealt with somehow.
The skills I used were not the kind of skills that identified Pia.
So it was almost impossible to spam skills in a state where my sight was blocked.
Ordinary characters might not abuse sight-blocking, but I needed to find a breakthrough if I wanted to challenge the boss.
Otherwise, I had to make sure that the characters could endure until the duration of that pattern ended.
Attacking the boss was something that had to be done carefully.
“By the way… What do I do with him now?”
As I was thinking about the boss that would come out later, I stared at Cuebaerg on the screen.
He used to be a big and hideous monster, but now he looked different from before.
He had turned into a round and white rice cake-like shape.
His large single eye was not visible anymore, and even the occasional tentacle that came out of his body looked much shorter than before.
It looked more like a short horn than a tentacle.
He was so cute that Perin, who was holding Cuebaerg, said so.
-“Cuebaerg, I thought you were a terrifying monster… But you look cuter than I thought.”
Looking at him now, I couldn’t imagine him as the monster that rampaged through the forest.
Pluto also nodded his head with Deathside on Yggdrasil, maybe because he hadn’t seen his original appearance either.
But Evan knew about Cuebaerg’s existence from the beginning, maybe because of that.
He told Perin, who was holding Cuebaerg, about Cuebaerg’s truth.
-“He didn’t look like this before.”
-“Really? But he’s cute now.”
-“Huk huk.”
-“…But Yuto is cuter!”
-“Huk.”
Yuto expressed his displeasure at Perin’s compliment for Cuebaerg.
And Perin reacted to Yuto’s words that he understood.
As they continued to chat with each other while making huk huk sounds, I couldn’t help but sigh at their banter.
I covered my eyes with one hand and muttered.
“Really, you guys…”
What would they have done if they hadn’t met each other?
They were a match made in heaven.
I swept my face with my hand that covered my eyes and looked at the screen. My eyes went to the skill icon at the bottom of the screen.
There was one skill there that I faced without a cooldown timer for a long time.
<Regular Meeting: Summon>.
It was a skill that I hadn’t paid attention to for a while after using it last time.
“I guess <Regular Meeting> cooldown must have been over by now.”
The last time I used <Regular Meeting> was right after I selected Pluto as an apostle.
A lot of time had passed since then.
I wondered if it was okay to hold <Regular Meeting> again now.
Moreover, I had plenty of bread to put in the <Regular Meeting> in my inventory.
My inventory was full of bread from the gacha that I had unknowingly done last night.
As I recalled the memory of the gacha, I suddenly felt my face burning and a pang in my back.
“Ah, my two million won… Sigh.”
Looking at the contents of my inventory, it didn’t seem like the gacha results were good.
The meaningful items were only half of the gacha attempts at best.
Besides, the <Random Creature Summon Ticket (Low)> was clearly an inferior version of <Creature Maker>.
The gacha that I had done while sleeping had gone horribly wrong.
I sighed with disappointment and opened my inventory full of bread.
“It’s good to have a lot of bread for the meeting…”
I could arrange the bread as I pleased in the <Regular Meeting> where several characters were summoned at the same time.
The bread that I had placed in the meeting room could also be eaten by the characters there.
In the last meeting, Utenia and Estasia had taken care of all the bread.
But this time, they wouldn’t be able to eat all the bread even if they wanted to.
That was because my inventory was stacked with more bread than they could handle.
-<Regular Meeting> has been reserved.
-Do you want to decorate the <Regular Meeting> place?
-Yes / No
There was no need to think long after making a decision.
Tuk.
I manipulated the screen of my smartphone and reserved the start time for the regular meeting.
The only thing left to do was to fill up the meeting room with items from my inventory.
I had two million won worth of items left, and I might go crazy if I didn’t do something like this.
So I arranged the items that I had piled up in my inventory in the meeting room as I pleased.
“…”
Of course, it took a lot of time to decorate the meeting room with the enriched inventory unlike before.
A very long time, that is.
My hand that was decorating the meeting room with grotesque items from my inventory stopped only just before the <Regular Meeting> started.
***
-Daniel Heslop.
The butcher who was called ‘The Silent Slayer’ by the world stared blankly at what was in front of him with dull eyes.
He had put on a ring with a gemstone on it for quite some time now.
He had tried to remove the ring while staying at the farm, but no matter what he tried, it was impossible to get rid of the Evil God’s ring.
He realized that it was impossible to escape from the Evil God’s ring and chose to pray.
He prayed to the Evil God in heaven with fear and trembling.
Even now, he was praying every night for the Evil God to spare his life.
“That’s about it for our stories. Let’s move on to the important matters.”
But Daniel’s fervent prayer seemed to have no effect at all.
He ended up being dragged into the cult’s meeting anyway.
And this time, there was one new face added to the meeting.
The fourth apostle, Perin Stait.
She was a fairy who had a naive face that didn’t suit the name of an apostle of evil god.
He couldn’t understand how such a fairy became an apostle of evil god.
“Are we going to talk about something important now!”
“Yes. If you have any questions about something you don’t know, feel free to ask in between.”
“Okay!”
Perin’s personality was also similar to her bright voice.
She seemed to have nothing to do with dreadful war plans or subjugation operations.
She looked like an angel by appearance alone, but Estasia’s problem was her inner self that she hid inside.
She had been dozing off in the last meeting.
She even snatched away the bread that Daniel was trying to eat. Thinking about it, Estasia’s inner self was not an angel but a devil itself.
Daniel suppressed a sigh that was about to burst out and stroked his beard as he pondered. Then, Loan, who was facing him, started talking about this agenda item.
“Cuebaerg has been defeated by a subjugation force sent from the holy land.”
“Cuebaerg has been defeated…?”
Daniel exclaimed in surprise as he heard Loan’s words.
He was shocked by the news that Cuebaerg had been defeated.
Daniel knew well about Cuebaerg’s infamy from hearing about it often.
He also knew that Cloud’s subjugation force had been annihilated by Cuebaerg.
Cuebaerg was a monstrous beast that had ravaged one of the empire’s provinces.
It was natural for Daniel to be astonished by the news that such a beast had been subdued.
Seeing Daniel’s bewildered reaction to the news, Evan nodded his head from beside him.
I saw it with my own eyes. They managed to save the body, but it seemed like it had lost its former glory.
“It was a hunting party with three heroes, so it was inevitable that Cuebaerg would suffer.”
“Three heroes…!”
Daniel was shocked again by the news of three heroes participating.
What kind of beings were heroes?
They were the ones who were chosen by the gods and ruled over the peak of humanity with their power.
And three of them joined the hunt.
Cuebaerg’s existence must have been much more threatening than Daniel thought.
As the meeting progressed, Daniel was surprised by the shocking stories that came out.
While he was watching the meeting and nibbling on a bread, Estasia opened her mouth.
“Cuebaerg is the weakest among us… This shouldn’t happen again.”
“…”
The meeting room was silent for a moment at Estasia’s voice.
In the silence, Evan’s serious gaze turned to Estasia.
The topic of hierarchy within the order was sensitive for everyone.
His eyes asked what she meant by her remark.
The other participants were not much different.
They all looked at Estasia in silence, and she opened her mouth again.
“He is the weakest…”
“Well… Maybe he is right now.”
“What about Archbishop Roan…?”
“Archbishop Roan has the miracle of the great one following him, and he also has a guardian that he bestowed upon him.”
Nod.
Roan nodded his head as he listened to their conversation.
He looked satisfied with their talk.
Roan looked around the participants and brought up a topic.
“That might be true. You are all amazing people who are attending this meeting.”
“It’s a meeting where only the elites of the order gather.”
“Maybe that’s why Cuebaerg wasn’t invited. Maybe he wasn’t good enough to attend the meeting.”
Was Roan’s story convincing?
Except for Perin, who was new to the meeting, most of them seemed to agree.
But Daniel, who was listening to Roan’s story, felt like dying from embarrassment rather than denying it.
It was obvious that he was stronger than Cuebaerg.
Then what was he?
He wasn’t even close to being stronger than Cuebaerg, he would be sent to hell with one hit if he met him.
The atmosphere here, where they affirmed their own strength, did not suit Daniel at all.
“Don’t you think so, Daniel?”
“…”
As Daniel felt embarrassed by Roan’s story, Roan’s gaze turned to him.
He asked if Daniel didn’t think so either.
Daniel felt a chill on his back as he received Roan’s question.
Roan’s eyes demanded him to affirm quickly.
Daniel felt suffocated as he received the question.
It was a meeting where only the big shots of the continent gathered.
It was obvious what kind of treatment he would receive if he denied his own strength.
As Daniel struggled to think with his head spinning, Roan urged him again with another question.
“Daniel?”
“Of course.”
“I knew you would say that.”
Roan nodded his head as if he understood, as Daniel reluctantly agreed to his question.
As if it was obvious.
Daniel smiled stiffly and gave Roan a light response.
Cold sweat ran down his forehead.
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