Dropping the bonus for 1500 PS in advance so the next bonus is at 2000 PS. Releasing this in advance for you all, also prepare your tissues for this chapter.
...
Pēdīcābō ego vōs et irrumābō
~Gaius Valerius Catullus
...
While Crimson Night was progressing through the Version 1.1 main story, Carl, who was watching from the side, could actually tell sothing.
Although the Saintess was acting according to the script, she was already doing her best to carry the parts outside the script.
The problem was that she was working hard in the wrong direction.
The Saintess had been performing in a way that she believed would make the players happy.
But in reality, the impression she gave Crimson Night was that she was looking down on the player for being too useless, as if she thought she might as well push the plot forward herself.
How should Carl put it?
The Saintess's confidence was a little different from Hasumi's confidence.
Based on Carl's current observations, the Saintess should belong to the type with a naive yet cruel personality.
The most typical example of this kind of personality was a young lady who had been born into nobility and had taken everything around her for granted since childhood.
The Saviors would definitely fall for her.
She would definitely obtain anything she wanted.
Everyone should revolve around her.
And so, under the Saintess's extrely self-centered confidence, and under the script that forcefully elevated the male villain character written by the writer, scenes like this happened.
"The companions who ford deep bonds with in Version 1.0 ca to assist in investigating this incident..."
"But the person they chose to trust and entrust things to wasn't . It was a villain character nad Noir, who only appeared not long ago?"
Why were all of you chatting with Noir throughout the entire story, while I stood beside you like a walking cara, watching the whole thing?
In short, as Version 1.1's main story progressed, Crimson Night's anger could no longer be suppressed.
And while Crimson Night was in this state of overflowing anger, Version 1.1's main story finally reached its final part.
It turned out that the source of contamination Noir used to spread the plague in Saint Rite was Carl Agata, a character who had already been infected by the Calamity Plague in the previous version.
All the gacha characters gathered together and arrived at the entrance of the underground ruins dungeon in Saint Rite, preparing for the final decisive battle against Version 1.1's final boss, Aberrant Carl.
Just as Crimson Night was thinking that this torturous Version 1.1 main story could finally end, a side quest notification suddenly popped up.
"Hidden Side Quest, Reunion: This ruin is connected to gateways leading to countless worlds. Carl discovered the secret of these ruins, and on the eve of his life reaching its end, he prepared to leave you a surprise."
This hidden quest could only be triggered when Carl was in the player's party while completing the first stage of the main story.
When Crimson Night saw this side quest pop up, there was actually no fluctuation in her heart.
Version 1.1's main story was already written this badly.
How bad could a side quest be?
But as a story content creator, Crimson Night did not want to be flad later as a fake player who had not experienced the full story when arguing with others online.
Troubleso.
After this thought surfaced in Crimson Night's mind, she still chose to accept the hidden side quest.
"You all wait here for . I'm going to talk to Carl. It'll be over soon," Crimson Night said.
Version 1.1's main story was divided into two stages.
The first stage, the Saint Rite portion, had already ended.
The second stage, the crusade against Carl, would only begin after she accepted the main quest.
As long as she did not accept it, the gacha characters gathered outside the ruins had no choice but to stand there and keep waiting.
Even so, the Saintess still spoke up to advise Crimson Night.
"Lord Savior, Carl Agata's illusion ability has already been strengthened by the Calamity Virus. Please, you must not lose yourself in the illusion he constructs."
When Crimson Night heard this, she was really angered into laughter again.
With the quality of your Version 1.1 main story, you still want to lose myself in it?
"Miss Crimson Night, I would like to remind you that this side quest was personally written by and has nothing to do with Oath's writers," Carl reminded Crimson Night at just the right ti.
"A side quest written by you? Mm... if I were in a good mood, I might savor it carefully. But what I'm thinking right now is... well, Carl, you probably won't mind if I kill you rcilessly, right?"
Crimson Night swore that if there were an option in front of her right now that could kill everyone present, she would absolutely choose it.
No killing.
No release from suffering.
Her current mood was truly so furious that she wanted to slaughter everyone, Carl included.
"Please do as you like. After this side quest ends, Miss Crimson Night, you will definitely kill many tis. After all, I am the final boss of this version," Carl said with a smile.
"As long as you know! Also, I'll clear all the small mobs in this ruin as fast as possible! You won't have to wait too long!"
Because this side quest was restricted to solo play, Crimson Night directly charged into the ruins with her sword in hand.
Just as Crimson Night was preparing to activate berserker mode inside the ruins, kill anyone she saw, and finish this side quest as quickly as possible, she froze the instant she stepped into the depths of the ruins.
Wait...
This place is...
The Adventurers' Guild?
For a mont, Crimson Night felt dazed. She almost mistakenly thought she had entered the wrong ga.
After Crimson Night repeatedly confird through the ga's UI, and even switched to the system task manager to check, that the ga currently running was Oath and not the ga she had played before, only then could Crimson Night be certain.
She was still playing the role of Savior in the world of Oath, and not...
"Welco back, adventurer. Seeing you safe and sound, I... can finally feel at ease."
"?!"
Crimson Night imdiately followed the voice that had practically been engraved into her DNA and looked over.
A girl with long silver hair and red eyes was standing there.
It was as if, even if the world were destroyed, this girl would still stand there and wait for her return.
"Sophia..."
Crimson Night spoke the na she had repeated countless tis throughout her past gaming life.
"Mm, it's ."
A smile Crimson Night knew all too well also appeared on the girl's face.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait..."
After a brief daze, Crimson Night quickly began to infer what exactly was going on with the situation before her.
"This is a side quest that crossed over with the previous ga? Then... are you illusions created by Carl, or..."
Just as Crimson Night was confirming the matter, Sophia answered her honestly.
"No, I am . Lord Carl found a portal in these ruins that leads to different worlds, and I... was also curious about what you were doing in other worlds, adventurer. So I accepted Lord Carl's invitation and ca to this world to visit you."
Sophia explained the surface setting of this crossover quest.
"So that's how it is. Mm, then thank you for crossing gas and coming all this way to visit . What I'm doing is actually no different from what I did in your world. I'm just killing monsters and saving the world."
Crimson Night's answer was extrely perfunctory.
First, because her patience had already been exhausted by Oath Version 1.1's main story.
Second, because the reason Crimson Night had given up on the previous ga was that she knew very clearly that the NPCs from that ga who had accompanied her for many years had all already been replaced. They were no longer the original them.
Therefore, when Crimson Night communicated with Sophia, her tone always carried a distant unfamiliarity that pushed people away.
"I still have things to deal with right now. Can you tell how to end this crossover side quest?"
Crimson Night even sowhat disliked those replaced NPCs.
To her, they were like strangers wearing the appearances of her family mbers while insisting on pretending to be her family.
Even though she knew the other party ant well, Crimson Night simply could not accept it no matter what.
Sophia seed to see the reason why Crimson Night was acting so cold and distant, so a slightly doting smile appeared on her face as she said,
"Adventurer, sa as always, a glass of Moon Special, right?"
"I already told you that drink is called Moonlight Spe..."
Crimson Night subconsciously refuted her, because this was practically the most common conversation she had with the girl in front of her throughout nearly seven years of gaming life.
Then, halfway through speaking, Crimson Night froze.
She saw Sophia take a cup of ice-blue sparkling wine from behind the bar and place it in front of her.
Crimson Night did not pick up that glass of wine.
Instead, as if suppressing so emotion, she took a light breath and answered.
"I actually... already quit drinking."
"Mm... why? I rember that before, adventurer, every ti you completed a mission, you would order several glasses to celebrate."
Sophia still spoke in a nostalgic tone.
"Because... after you left, no one... could ever mix a drink with the sa taste again. Even... the new you was the sa."
At this mont, after Crimson Night confird that the person in front of her was the person she had always been searching for, she subconsciously wanted to gently hold Sophia's wrist.
But in that instant, Sophia stepped back and avoided Crimson Night's hand.
Because right now, whether it was Sophia's girl-like body or her voice, both were illusions created by Carl.
If Crimson Night touched her, she would imdiately realize just how hideous the white moonlight she had longed to find again had beco.
But it was precisely this tiny movent that made Crimson Night realize sothing was wrong.
Because she herself was a top-tier lore-focused player.
She could recite the ga's background stories and hidden settings by heart.
Of course, that included the hidden setting of the Calamity Virus.
Crimson Night had even once made a video titled "The Hidden Story of Version 5.0, The Her You Loved Is No Longer Her," specifically to prove sothing.
That the NPCs who had once accompanied the players had all been reset or replaced because they had been infected by the Calamity Virus.
In that video, Crimson Night had even made a bold declaration.
"If it was replacent, then where is the real her now? If she truly has beco data abandoned by the system..."
"Then imagine this. Is the original Sophia who accompanied us already thrown into so dark corner like a garbage dump, slowly rotting away?"
"I don't know. This may be a question I'll spend my entire life searching for. If I can't find her in the later updates of this ga, then I'll go to the next Elysium-series ga, and the one after that!"
"Until I find her. Until I find them!"
And now, at this mont, Crimson Night had truly found her own Sophia.
Just as she was about to reveal the truth of everything, she felt fear.
Abnormal fear.
She was afraid that everything she had guessed in that video was true.
She was afraid that while she had been comfortably enjoying all kinds of fun in the ga world, the NPCs who had once helped her, devoted themselves to her, and loved her had truly been thrown into a dark corner like discarded garbage, rotting away.
Then they had waited day and night for her arrival.
And she had not even seriously tried to find them.
Without Carl's help, these NPCs full of expectation might never see their players again in this lifeti.
But no matter how much Crimson Night wanted to run away, what use was that?
She wanted to know the truth.
What exactly did the truth look like?
So Crimson Night made up her mind and said to Sophia,
"Can you tell the truth? Sophia... how exactly have you all lived through these years? And what exactly... have you all... beco? Is this... really what you truly look like?"
Facing Crimson Night's questioning, Sophia and the other NPCs in the tavern hesitated for a while.
In the end, they seed to know they could no longer hide it and chose to confess.
"Adventurer, do you... really want to know the truth?"
Sophia confird one final ti.
"I have to know!"
Under Crimson Night's firm answer, a very forced smile appeared on Sophia's face as she said,
"Originally... I wanted you, adventurer, to only rember ... at my most beautiful."
At Crimson Night's request, Carl dispelled the illusions from all the NPCs present.
Then, in the next second, Crimson Night saw a sight that made her suffocate.
Sophia's long silver-white hair disappeared.
Replacing it was sparse, withered hair like that of an old person.
At the sa ti, her fair and healthy skin gradually collapsed inward, turning into several layers of wrinkled, overlapping flesh.
Her bright red jewel-like pupils fell away, wrapped by layer upon layer of blood and folds of flesh before disappearing from sight.
The beautiful girl receptionist who had moved the hearts of countless players turned into a twisted, aberrant monster of flesh and blood at this mont.
What kind of pain was this?
Crimson Night did not even dare think about it.
That beauty-loving girl, who usually got conflicted over what hairstyle she should wear whenever she t the players, had spent all these years while Crimson Night was adventuring elsewhere curled up alone in a dark corner of the abyss, watching her body distort day by day into such an ugly monster.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
At this mont, overwhelming self-bla swept over Crimson Night like a flood.
She covered her chest with her hand and could not breathe at all. Tears instantly spilled out uncontrollably.
Even Crimson Night's voice beca extrely hoarse, like a roar suppressing so intense emotion.
Crimson Night finally spoke the apology that had co years too late.
"It's because I failed to protect you all... I'm sorry."
However, Sophia, who had revealed her true appearance, and the other NPCs ca before Crimson Night.
Although Sophia also felt sowhat inferior, she still stretched out her small tentacle and, for the first ti in many years, truly held her player's hand.
"You don't need to bla yourself, adventurer."
"How can I not bla myself? It's all because I was too weak... I failed to protect you all..."
Crimson Night had ten thousand words of apology she wanted to say.
But Sophia used a very simple and extrely gentle sentence to make all the apologetic words Crimson Night wanted to say get stuck in her throat.
"Because we are still here. And you have also co to save us, haven't you? Just like before."
Crimson Night froze.
The NPCs beside Sophia also showed slight smiles that seed to say there was nothing to be sad about, although it was honestly impossible to see much expression on their aberrant forms.
But the big sister from the rcenary guild at the front, together with the other NPCs, spoke their true feelings.
"Adventurer, no... Player, you really don't need to apologize. Because even in the darkest abyss of the world, we still firmly believed that you would co to save us."
"You would co to help us."
"You would co to lead us out of the darkness."
"You would give us hope, even in the days when you were not here."
These were the heartfelt words these NPCs had always hidden deep in their hearts over the years.
"No... I didn't. I... don't deserve to be worshiped by you all like this. What exactly have I been doing all these years? I... am not the kind of person you're talking about at all."
Crimson Night shook her head.
Even though she had already been doing everything she could to search for these NPCs' whereabouts over the years, she could not find them.
After all, she was only a player, bound by the ga system and manipulated by the ga company.
She had not even dared to question the ga company about where those NPCs had gone, all because she was afraid of having her account banned.
The result was that those NPCs who loved her, valued her, and were also loved by her had gradually rotted away like garbage in the darkest corner of this world, suffering tornt until they beca like this.
What right did soone like her have to receive the worship of these NPCs?
But Sophia still tightly held Crimson Night's hand and told Crimson Night, her player, all the feelings she had hidden in her heart for several years.
"No matter what happens, you will always be our hero."
"You once saved us countless tis. Even if we disappear, you are the proof that we once existed. So there is no need to be sad..."
"No!"
As if realizing sothing, Crimson Night grabbed Sophia's tentacle in return and said,
"I won't let you disappear from in front of again! No one can make ! Elysium, the ga company, the GM... no one!"
A faintly encouraging smile also appeared on Sophia's aberrant face.
"Of course. I believe in you, adventurer... in your resolve, player."
"So this ti, there will definitely be an ending better than before!"
But after Sophia said this, she quietly warned Crimson Night,
"But right now... the hand you should hold is not only mine, is it?"
Sophia's reminder suddenly made Crimson Night rember sothing.
She suddenly raised her head, then followed the gaze of Sophia's remaining intact eye and looked behind her.
Carl was standing there, watching all of this.
Sophia let go of Crimson Night's hand and gently pushed her.
Crimson Night also stood up and slowly walked before Carl.
The current Carl really looked like there was nothing wrong with him.
His appearance was still that incredibly strong, black-haired, purple-eyed, gloomy-style handso man.
But with one glance, Crimson Night saw that the area around Carl's collarbone had been dyed pure white, and its surface was covered with a large number of bulging veins.
She was familiar with this symptom.
Far too familiar with it.
This was a symptom of infection by the Calamity Virus.
Although Carl was only pretending, it did not stop him from saying his next line.
"Miss Player."
At this mont, Carl changed the way he addressed her.
At the sa ti, a smile appeared on his face, as if he wanted to put Crimson Night at ease, as he said,
"I... will also beco like them, right? When that ti cos, can I ask you to kill ? Just like we agreed before."
(To be continued.)
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)
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