Blood poured from Yu’s stomach. Any normal person would be on death’s door with that amount of blood loss. The color was rapidly draining from his face, turning it a ghastly shade of whitish blue.
Then, right before Takuto’s eyes, the wound began to close as if time itself had reversed.
〈！〉Hero Yu’s injuries have healed.
“Master, I’ve healed you! You are back to full health!”
“Yeah, thanks, Ai.”
Healing Magic. It’s simple, but powerful.
The fact that Ai was able to fully heal Yu after a crushing blow proved she was an excellent Priest and Mage. Brave Questers’ magic was in a league of its own.
The Succubus Army didn’t pursue Yu over to Takuto’s side. They were cautious of Takuto—rightly so.
They had come to a stalemate of sorts.
Vagia’s side was considering their next move, and Takuto’s side was being cautious of the new attack method their opponent had whipped out. It was Yu, having regained the color in his face, whose muttering broke the eerie silence.
“I’m wearing the rarest equipment. It’s not the type to take damage. Frankly, I can take on a Demon Lord class boss without breaking a sweat with it. Something must be at play for me to have taken this much damage.”
Yu’s gaze was trained on Vagia’s weapon. It was a single-edged sword with a convex, curved blade, featuring a design that was inconsistent with DokiSuckU. From Mr. H’s prior comment, his game and abilities were clearly responsible for the mysterious sword.
“Weapons, huh? A game where you can prepare weapons? There are so many possibilities,” Takuto pondered.
“Mm-mm-mm! That’s not all, mon dieu! It’s a game where you can prepare weapons, trade them, and easily damage the Hero’s maxed-out gear with them!” Vittorio helpfully added.
A game that could inflict critical damage on Yu. Takuto wished it hadn’t happened, but he had obtained valuable information in return for Yu taking one for the team.
Mr. H had been stringently concealing himself until now. He was likely extremely cautious and had reluctantly exposed his ability to aid Vagia. So, Takuto wanted to put the heat on him to squeeze out all the information he could get.
“Vittorio, use Brainwash.”
“Mm, if that’s what mon dieu wants!” Vittorio chanted his spell. “Now, answer my voice! Now your eyes are spinning round and round like a merry-go-round!”
Takuto played one of his cards: Vittorio’s Brainwash skill. Vittorio was a noncombatant. That status didn’t change even when he was disguised as Atou. On the positive side, he could use several of his many skills. Messing with the mind and poking holes in enemy defenses was where he excelled.
“Aaah! Wh-What’s going on?!”
“Ghh! My head!!”
“Ugh…agh…”
〈！〉The Succubi have been brainwashed.
The Player can no longer influence them.
The Succubi were hit with an unblockable skill. The Lawful Continent Alliance weren’t the only ones with access to various game systems. They were fools to forget it. Just as Vagia said, the Succubus race possesses no notable skills beyond their physical prowess. Vittorio’s Brainwash was even more effective on them because of it.
The Succubi, who had been clenching their heads, rose unsteadily on their feet and turned toward Vagia. Common soldiers had no way to resist Vittorio’s skills—this moment proved that. But Takuto didn’t miss the dead giveaway that happened amid the chaos.
When Vittorio unleashed his skill, the accessories worn by Vagia and her two Noble Succubus guards flashed.
I know a defense item when I see it. Those accessories must also come from Mr. H’s game… Interesting.
“1 Null Mana, 1 Water Mana, release! Activate the Spell Card: Removal!”
〈！〉Vagia’s Turn.
Activates Spell Card: Removal.
〈！〉The Succubi have recovered from Brainwash.
Vagia used a Spell Card from the Seven God Kings. In terms of forcing them to use up Mana, the situation leaned slightly in Mynoghra’s favor, but the scale was forever broken in the Alliance’s favor as long as they had no way to counter Mr. H’s items. If anything, Takuto was in a worse position after having Vittorio’s Brainwash lifted from the Succubi.
He didn’t have any other aces he wanted to play yet.
“Merde, this is a tough cookie to crack, mon dieu. We can cook up the small fry however we want, but the plat de resistance will surely resist my other skills as well!”
Vittorio correctly read the situation. If the Succubi’s accessories defended against debuffs and abnormal status effects, then Vittorio had lost all usefulness. In other words, Takuto had just obtained another burdensome, yippy bag of meat called a Hero unit. As he said, even Vittorio could deal with the common Succubi, but in that case, so could anyone else in Mynoghra.
The problem was Witch Vagia and her two guardians. They couldn’t get out of this predicament unless Takuto did something about them.
“Yu. How about it? Is there anything you want to do about this?” Takuto asked.
“Sorry, man. I honestly can’t do a thing to change the situation. What about you, King Takuto?”
“Hmm…”
He had no more cards to play—was a lie. Takuto wanted to assess Mr. H’s abilities a little more before he made his move. At least he already had a good idea what Mr. H’s game was…all that was left was to confirm his suspicion.
“The equipment we borrowed from Mr. H hits throbbing hard! Even a mighty Hero is powerless against its thrusts, ehe♡.”
The two Noble Succubus received their own weapons. The colors and designs were similar to Vagia’s scimitar, so it seemed they also came from Mr. H. He had enough items to kit the higher-ranked Succubi as well. Takuto’s theory grew into conviction.
“Brainwash didn’t affect you. It also looked like your two guards there were unaffected too. You used a defense item. Did this Mr. H of yours give you that equipment as well? All of the abilities are too off the charts to appear during a game’s main story. Does that mean that this equipment is the core of Mr. H’s game system, or that it plays a key role…?”
“Miss Vagia. He’s dangerous. Eliminate him now,” Mr. H spoke up for the first time in a while. Impatience laced his words. His reaction amused Takuto.
Speech is silver, silence is golden, as they say.
“Miss Vagia. You can’t let this opportunity slip you by. There is always a chance things will go awry. Steel yourself.”
“…I didn’t come here to kill. I told you that at the start, didn’t I? That extends to him too. We can definitely join forces. Let’s aim for the happy ending, darling♡.”
People cannot understand each other intrinsically.
That was what Takuto believed. To him, Vagia’s words were an empty ideal, an impossible pipe dream. If nothing else, she should at least narrow down the people she would share her happy ending with a little more. Not everyone shares the same perceptions or values…
But Takuto didn’t refute her. He had no interest in her happy endings.
Takuto had a goal. What mattered was how he could achieve that goal. And Takuto was undoubtedly moving toward his goal without looking back. He was coming one step closer by dismantling the mystery behind the powers belonging to Mr. H.
“Multiple powerful pieces of equipment with lax equipping restrictions. You can collect as many as you like. Accessories are a part of the lineup… I thought it was a social network game where you stack pieces of equipment to boost your stats, but the fact that each piece has its own ability makes it a game with a more detailed system. But looking at how it relies on SGK for large-scale ability use, it seems like it’s more focused on individual combat…”
Just as a horror movie loses all its appeal when the nature of the monster is revealed, the threat of a game player who has been exposed drops significantly. Such is the value of information and the horror of being unmasked.
“Your genre is Hack-and-Slash. The name of the game is…the renowned masterpiece, Avicii. Makes sense why you can use rare items like they grow on trees.”
Mr. H’s unknown factor became known, his value plummeting like a bad stock.
“Miss Vagia!” Mr. H yelled.
Why he called for her was unknown, but he was clearly shaken from having been unmasked. His panic was practically telling the world that Takuto was correct.
Takuto couldn’t help but chuckle. “I guessed right, eh? You shouldn’t speak when you are panicking. You give too much away,” Takuto advised with a bone-chillingly ruthless smile.