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Chapter 204: ...Claw's Nest (5)
🕑 Added 2025-08-05 03:53:36 +0000 UTCWorld: MSS - Loading...
***
Scarlet letters that combined to form words.
Just a combination of lines. Faint thin lines of mana, that when put together made sense in our minds.
The moment the words came up, the entrances sealed themselves.
｢ Take a Life and You shall be deemed Worthy ｣
To take a life… I’ve taken more lives than I can count by now. All in the name of survival; in the name of protecting the people I’ve met in this world. Comrades in arms, party members, people that I’ve sworn to protect.
｢ 8 Lives, 4 Worthy, 4 Sacrifices ｣
No one needed elaboration on what the words meant.
What was needed.
A puzzle like this in MSS…
Common enough.
I looked at Borealis.
His steady eyes met mine.
“...It’s a pity, Slaveborn.” His voice didn’t hold the edge from before, “I liked you. Respected you, even.”
Borealis could do the math. So could I.
Even if I hadn’t adopted the two [Player] strays…
Kyrian and I… that was two of us.
He had three.
I had a good idea of what type of man Borealis was. He wouldn’t sacrifice one of his party members, even for me. Even for Zenom. Even for Aurora who was his family.
Even if it wasn’t L’teya…
Even if it wasn’t for the two extra [Players]...
This would have ended in bloodshed.
Dawn Vetilius. She had been flirting with me during the trip. We had some strange moments together. As close to as everyday life as we could get in this fucked up world of MSS that lived in as adventurers.
Dorocian Kojisan. We had history, one that started with a misunderstanding and brought us all the way here. An expedition on a strange island where one misstep meant death. That misstep had just happened now.
No one spoke.
And I spoke quietly into the silence, breaking the stalemate, “L’teya, get over here.”
Dorocian’s eyes narrowed. She flicked her eyes in L’teya’s general direction and then towards me, then spoke for everyone to hear, “I knew he’d take that elf bitch.”
L’teya remained where she was. “....Slaveborn, I don’t need–”
“L’teya, I’m not going to say it twice.” I snapped, “Get over here. Now.”
The red-haired elf barbarian dragged herself over to me. I saw her shot apologetic glances at Borealis and his crew.
“Slaveborn, there must be a way out of this.” L’teya mummured, just loud enough for the others to hear. “You’re smart. You know secrets that no one else does. Is there a–”
“No. There isn’t.” I cut her off there.
If I let that hope be birthed into reality…
If the possibility of getting through this without using violence became real in people’s heads…
No. I couldn’t let that happen.
That is not to say it was impossible. There are always multiple strategies available in MSS at anytime. Even in a room like this one, I would say it’s worth looking around. The design of this room was obviously meant to weaken whatever expedition came into take the [Autarch’s Key]. To weaken them, reduce the numbers, make the boss-fight that much harder…
In a normal expedition, I would be the first to suggest searching for a different way. One where we didn’t have to kill each other.
Moments before, I wanted to travel with Borealis. That’s why I lowered my weapons first.
But if we did indeed pursued that route…
I couldn’t guarantee the survival of my party members.
Every second counted.
Aurora Vetilian.
Skaris Deepeater.
Stolen Stars fall Silently.
Simply put, I didn’t want to bet their lives on an off-chance that I could recruit Borealis to my side.
I had five on my side.
Borealis had three.
“Slaveborn, is there room for negotiation?” Borealis asked.
I ran some calculations in my head, then shook my head in a firm ‘no’.
“The priestess is a [Player]. You’d rather take her than one of us?” He pressed.
I ground my teeth. “It’s not a choice. None of you are healers.”
“...Your party members might not even be injured. They might not even have made it through the–”
“Don’t.” My voice took on a tone of sadness, surprising myself. “Just… just don’t.”
The three people I had to were set in stone the moment those scarlet letters made their appearance in this room.
Kyrian.
Freier.
L’teya.
That was it.
“Jourgan.” I said quietly.
The elf archer who’d been trying his best to be invisible throughout the whole thing stood up straighter, somehow crouching in on himself at the same time. It reminded me of something that a rat might do when cornered.
Of course. He wasn’t stupid. He was a [Player]... and he knew the direction of where this was going.
Even if he fought on my side…
There was no room for him.
“I think it’d be best if you walk over to that side.” I said, “That’s the most mercy I can offer you.”
“B-but, I can–”
“There is no room for you here.” My voice was a mixture of sadness and regret.
Behind me, Jourgan looked to Freier for help. She refused to look at him, her gaze steady on the floor.
“Freier, what about you?” He reached out towards her, “Let’s both go over there. Then we can–”
She jerked her arm out of his reach. “...Cruel he may be, but Slaveborn gave you a fighting chance at least, Jourgan. I would take it, if I were you.”
I won’t go into detail about the words that Jourgan spoke. The way that a man can be broken down, what kind of blabbering things the reduce of a man can say in this kind of situation.
But by the time he was done and walked over to Borealis’ side… my mouth tasted of bile.
“Lock, is this the only way?” Kyrian asked under his breath.
“Kyrian…” I swallowed the last of the bile.
And steeled myself.
“Stay behind me, no matter what.” Steel rang as I drew [Snow Scream] and the [Lunar Shield] locked into orbit.
“Slaveborn, I–”
“Kyrian, Freier, support L’teya. She’ll be taking on Dorocian and Dawn.” I gave my battle orders.
Borealis nodded, his shield glowing with green mana. “Dawn, Dorocian. Aim for the [Player] priestess and the elf. I will hold Slaveborn back. If we can open up two slots on his side… at least you two can escape. Cooperate with him as best as you can.”
“And you?” Even as Dorocian spoke, her wolf summons rose from the ground. Larger than a man, fang sharper than most swords… their eyes stalked Freier with obvious hunger.
“...Duty.” Borealis said at last.
“Duty.” Dawn Vetilius echoed her older brother, her rapier snapping up to her head in a fencing gesture.
“I hate you, Vetilius.” Dorocian got on top of her wolf.
“This battle won’t last long.” Borealis muttered.
“...I think that’s about the only thing we can agree on.” I said.
And once more, the air turned to razor fury as I rushed headlong into battle to kill the people that I’ve become friends with.
｢Lock Slaveborn casts [Ascension] on [Share the Load] ｣
｢[Share the Load] ascends to [Manacle Carnival] ｣
Normally, [Share the Load] created an ethereal chain which connected me to my opponent. A single manacle would snap itself around my wrist and the other around my opponent, continuously feeding debuffs to me and my opponent.
A dozen of ethereal chains exploded in my heart.
Chains as thick as my arm, glowing with translucent green, surged forward as one and split into four different directions. The manacles closed around Borealis, Jourgan, Dawn and Dorocian all at once.
Not around their wrists or ankles.
Around their necks.
The chains, by their very nature of being a manifestation of mana, had no physical form. They all snapped shut around my opponent’s necks and immediately started sapping them of their stats, feeding all of us debuffs.
And for every debuff they received, I received the same.
Four people each with three chains, each chain debuffing them.
Twelve debuffs channeled into my body through the chains.
My legs exploded against the ground as [Arcane Masochism] turned all twelve of them into [Speed].
｢Lock Slaveborn is out of Mana! ｣
｢[Imugi Cultivation] increases [Mana Regeneration] at the expense of [Health] ｣
｢[If only I had a Body…] increases [Imugi Cultivation] effectiveness by 50%! ｣
I nearly stumbled as the feeling of mana being sapped out of me shocked me to the core.
The ethereal chains disappeared.
Of course.
A single cast of [Ascension] plus the twelve casts of [Manacle Carnival] literally drained me of all my mana.
But I felt my soul being replenished immediately after with the [Imugi Cultivation] core, turning my blood into the precious soul energy of the MSS world.
In a room as small as this, using [Lingering Darkness] would be detrimental to my party members to the point where it would cancel out my advantage. Not to mention that Dorocian’s wolves had a good enough [Smell] stat to be a level above my comrades.
That’s why my opening move was a triple debuff to all four of my opponents and a dozen buffs to me.
[Snow Scream] screeched as I dragged it across Borealis’ shield, scraping it with [Aura] and leaving deep grooves in the metal.
Borealis grunted and shoved back at the last second, his gladius moving to swipe against my thighs. He’d seen me fight enough times to know to aim for my legs, getting rid of my mobility first.
I jumped over the gladius and instantly shoved all my buffs into [Attack], punching his shield as hard as I could. His shield bent under the force of the impact, the metal reverberating outwards. I could feel Borealis’ forearm crack with that single attack and he backpedaled as fast as he could.
Lightning crackled from behind me as Kyrian, the only Mage in this room, started casting spells of death.
Freier’s purple-white mana flashed momentarily, healing L’teya who was engaged with Dawn and Dorocian.
I followed up with the strike, shoulder-tackling Borealis’ shield and constantly maneuvering myself just out of his gladius’ range. Using his shield as cover, I bent low and kicked his legs out under him.
Arrows fell from the sky like rain.
Straight towards Kyrian.
“Fuck you! I’m going to kill your precious fucking Mage!”
Jourgan.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Freier summon another mount –A blindfolded lion with dark purple fur striped with black, and dragged Kyrian behind her to avoid the worst of the arrow barrage.
Borealis used my momentary distraction to set up his own moves.
｢Borealis Vetilius casts [Blood Mist] ｣
｢Lock Slaveborn is badly [Poisoned]! ｣
Right. Borealis was a shielder-knight with vampiric properties.
｢Freier Marygold casts [Chalice of Suffering] ｣
A fountain rose violently out of the ground. The blood that was being spilt on the ground began to float over.
A spell meant to collect mana in the form of blood. A secondary source of mana that the priestess could use as healing.
But that wasn’t why she had activated it.
It began to suck up Borealis’ blood.
A direct counter.
She was smart.
Borealis eyes widened in realization.
And with resignation.
From the start, this battle was stacked against them.
My team was balanced.
Me, a Blader.
Kyrian, a Mage.
L’teya, a Shielder.
Freier, a Healer.
Again and again, party composition in MSS…
Borealis’ shield wavered.
“I’m sorry.”
I didn’t need a big move.
I was faster. Stronger. Just… just better.
Twelve buffs.
Three debuffs.
My [Aura] cleaved straight through his arm, forcing the man to drop his shield. He couldn’t even heal, as [Snow Scream] infused the ice element into my [Aura], so that everything was frozen over.
The next strike beheaded him.
Lightning flashed.
Axes whirled.
Dorocian and Dawn fought to the death.
Jourgan begged.
…They all met the same end as Borealis.
I won’t dramatize their deaths with feelings. I won’t pretend I felt good or justify my actions more so than I’ve already done.
They were people I liked. Friends, in the loosest sense of the word.
Could I have looked for a different way?
Maybe.
Did I want to?
No.
That’s the choice I made.
And the weight of their deaths is something I’m fully willing to bear.
As Jourgan fell to the ground, the scarlet words disappeared.
The closed off corridors opened back up.
“Lock, should we bury them?”
A chance to be a good guy. To be able to say ‘yes, I killed them but atleast I honored them’.
To spend the precious time that I killed them for.
Hypocrisy at the highest level.
“No.” I pointed towards one of the tunnels, “We move.”
Comments
Seungmin Lim
Fixed!
Saber Saurus
I think the next chapter is under the wrong tags, it's under hallow tales
JgcAhian
Thanks Autor-nim! Not everhing have to be happy endings thats not how life works!
JgcAhian
Better now than later for the Key, it must be done, but it is sad ending, That’s why it’s turning out to be a incredible story.
Pal. ie
First time he’s chosen a route that doesn’t include trying to save everyone. Really hope it isn’t the sheep girl that calls him out for eventually turning into Arione.
