Chapter 43: Attacking The Narrative, Cursed Sword
All of it was a part of Alan’s plan.
The gravitational rune was too powerful since Alan used his entire arm as a material for it.
That’s why the rune could affect the monster despite the gap of their strength.
The Elicoras Warrior realized too late.
Alan had planned everything. This was his determination to win.
The gravitational pull grew even stronger, dragging the monster down fast.
Why did he use the gravitational rune? What is his goal?
And... why? Why is he so determined to win—
No, that didn’t matter.
How could it, the warrior, accept defeat so easily when its opponent fought so gallantly?
The monster roared.
The warrior refused to give up! It would win!
It tried to resist the pull, slamming its sword into its own chest to destroy the rune, but it couldn’t break free from the pull of gravity.
Its head tubes began to move wildly, growing longer and whipping through the air.
They lashed out toward Alan, who was also falling, though much slower.
Alan snapped his fingers.
Two portals opened on each side of the Elicoras Warrior.
Through them came the trees the monster had thrown earlier.
Only four seconds had passed since the moment the monster threw the tress and the present; the trees were still carrying all their momentum.
They shot through the portals, slamming into the monster.
The Elicoras Warrior roared and swung its swords, slicing the trees into pieces.
Splinters filled the air, but in doing so, the monster lost control of its fall.
It crashed hard into the forest ground, shaking the entire area.
It tried to move again, but before it could, Alan appeared beside it through another portal.
The Elicoras Warrior turned its head sharply, confused.
Why did he come to the warrior?
It didn’t matter. The monster swung its sword again, aiming to finish the fight.
But suddenly, its body froze.
It couldn’t move.
The sword stopped mid-swing.
The Elicoras Warrior looked down and saw a large glowing pattern spread beneath its feet.
When did Alan draw that?
"That’s not a rune I drew," Alan said, as if he could read its thoughts.
The monster looked at him, then back at the glowing platform under its feet.
It recognized the symbol.
Victory Platform.
....!
This was Alan’s goal!
The Elicoras Warrior was standing on the Victory Platform.
"Congratulations on winning the game, champion," Alan said softly.
No.
No!
NO!!!!!
The realization hit the monster too late.
Alan had controlled every part of this battle, from the blinding shot to the cut arm, from the runes to the final trap.
And the Elicoras Warrior had just been dancing on Alan’s beats.
...
MC’s POV
I clutched the stump where my arm used to be.
My head was buzzing.
The dizziness was just as bad as the pain.
I had gone above and beyond the mana limit my body could handle. Using that much mana had overloaded my mind.
I could barely stand.
The bleeding wouldn’t stop. I forced myself to breathe slowly and looked at the special Elicoras Warrior stood frozen in place.
Its body was breaking apart, fading like dust in the wind.
It’s eyes were glaring at me, but after a while, its gaze changed, as if it had accepted the outcome.
"Thank you."
The special Elicoras Warrior looked at me with respect.
"It was a great battle, warrior."
The battle was over.
The monster crumbled into nothingness.
I won.
"Alan!"
Yuna’s voice reached me before I could fall. She flew toward me.
"Wait, don’t move. I’m going to heal you!" she said quickly.
Warm light covered my arm. The bleeding slowed, and the pain dulled a little.
She looked ready to cry.
"Y-your arm." Her lips trembled.
"Don’t worry about it. I have not lost my arm."
"...what?"
"This Cursed Spirit summons our mind. Our real body is still in the real world. So I’ll have my arm when I return to the real world."
It was because of this I even dared to sacrifice my arm and use it for a rune.
Had there been a possibility to lose my arm permanently, I would’ve never done this.
Yuna hands glowed brighter as she worked. "That’s a relief, and I—I’m sorry. I wasn’t of much help."
"What are you saying? You were of plenty help. That heal saved me."
I had timed the injury so that she could heal me in the exact moment where the monster’s guard was lowest, but there was no need to tell her that.
I glanced at the place were the Elicoras Warrior stood last, then looked up at the sky.
The shadowy figures watching from above were glitching. Their forms flickering like broken images along with the screens.
"We’ve exorcised it. It’s going to disappear soon."
"Huh? How?" Yuna asked, still healing me.
I looked at her and asked, "Yuna, how is exorcism done?"
She frowned. "How is that related right now?"
"Just humor me," I said.
She hesitated but nodded. "Okay. Every Cursed Spirit has its own narrative.
"To exorcise the Cursed Spirit, you need to find the weakness in that narrative and attack it.
"Destroying the narrative destroys the Cursed Spirit. That’s how exorcism is done," she explained.
"Exactly," I said. "Now tell me, what was the narrative of this Cursed Spirit?"
She looked confused but answered anyway. "Aliens who come to test humans and take the worthy ones to their world."
"Correct," I said.
I pointed at the Victory Platform.
"If a winner of the test stands on it, they’re summoned to the alien world. Or in truth, they just disappear.
"Normally, even if an Elicoras Warrior stands on it, nothing happens. The platform only responds to humans."
I pointed at the empty air where the Elicoras Warrior had once been.
"But this one was different.
"It has traits of humans because it was created using the ’pixels’ left behind by humans.
"It’s part human, at least by this Cursed Spirit’s narrative. X’Lhaur said it himself."
Yuna’s eyes widened as she caught on.
"Wait, you mean—"
"Yes, the special Elicoras Warrior is part ’human’. So now that it’s standing on the Victory Platform, it’ll be summoned to the alien world. But since the warrior is still part of the Cursed Spirit and is connected directly to it..."
"The Cursed Spirit is summoning itself away," she finished for me. "In other words, it’s going to use its own power to make itself disappear. It’s erasing itself!"
She looked at me in disbelief.
"How did you even come up with a method like that?"
I shrugged. "I had time to think."
Her face, all smiles, suddenly darkened. "But how are you going to escape? You are still inside it’s domain. Won’t you get pulled in with it when it disappears?"
"That’s right. Since I can’t commit suicide here and I can’t leave until I die, I’m stuck." I nodded.
Yuna looked worried, but I raised my hand to stop her.
"Don’t worry. I have a contingency plan."
I opened a portal and stepped through.
A moment later, I appeared in front of the convenience store. I had seen its location during the fight, so I could come here directly.
Just as I was about to step inside, the ground began to shake.
I opened a small portal in front of my eye, connecting it to another portal in the sky above the forest.
Through it, I saw the forest collapsing.
The ground cracked, trees sank, and cliffs crumbled.
The entire world was falling apart.
I closed the portal and entered the convenience store.
The bell above the door jingled.
Inside, X’Lhaur was standing near the counter with the store clerk. They both turned toward me and bowed.
"Welcome, warrior," X’Lhaur said. "We saw your fight. It was remarkable. You faced an enemy far beyond your reach and won through overwhelming battle tactics."
I nodded silently.
"Please forgive us for calling you unworthy before," X’Lhaur added.
"It’s fine," I said flatly.
I stepped toward the clerk, clearly showing I didn’t want to talk to X’Lhaur.
The reason was simple.
’The Cursed Spirit is dying, but it’s still not dead.’
’It’s fairly common for the Cursed Spirits, in their final moments, to fuck over the Exorcist who exorcised them.’
’The way to avoid that is to not engage with the Cursed Spirit while it’s dying.’
"Thank you for your purchase," the clerk said as I handed over the hearts.
The clerk reached for item that was under the counter, but X’Lhaur stopped him.
Then X’Lhaur handed me a gift ’he’ had prepared.
"Please accept this, warrior. Even though you refused our summons, we wish to reward you for your spectacular battle. This is that reward. It’s a sword made by our best craftsman," X’Lhaur said.
I frowned and looked at the sword.
"Lord of Shadows, that’s definitely a cursed item," Yuna warned me.
I glanced at X’Lhaur again.
’He’ had stopped the clerk from giving me the item I actually purchased.
Without that item, I couldn’t leave this Cursed Spirit’s domain.
’So, he’s saying I have to take his gift first if I want to have the item I purchased.’
’Great.’
Taking a cursed item from a dying spirit was the worst idea imaginable.
But there was another issue.
’The person who exorcised this Cursed Spirit in my last life never mentioned getting a gift.’
That meant two possibilities.
Either this was a unique reward for me that ’he’ was giving me after being ’impressed’ by my battle—if this was true, it was a dangerous item.
Or, this sword was something so powerful that the exorcist hid its information in my last life.