TEOCH 81

I suddenly woke up at dawn and opened my eyes.

Outside the clearing, it was so quiet that not even a rustling sound could be heard, and my companions inside the tent were sprawled out asleep, looking as listless as corpses.

I briefly watched Rehas and Damian sleeping, stuck together affectionately. Damian was sleeping peacefully, breathing softly as always, and Rehas was snoring so loudly it was painful to hear. Seeing the two of them sleeping as well as usual, even though they could have been tossing and turning from anxiety, I let out a chuckle.

‘Damian must have a pretty hard time sleeping next to that person.’

With that silly thought, I came out of the tent. It was because I wanted to be in a slightly brighter place, but unfortunately, the outside was not much different in terms of darkness. It was natural since the sun had not yet risen. On top of that, it was even quite cold because the fire Damian had made was inside the tent.

But I had no desire to go back inside to sleep now, so I leaned my back against the tent and flopped down on the ground. Feeling the cold, but not entirely refreshing, air seep into my lungs, I stared blankly at the sky.

‘It’s a relief that my head is clear from getting a good sleep, but… what do I do now?’

As I thought that, a sigh escaped me on its own. Knowing that worrying about it would not solve anything made my heart feel even heavier. Our survival now depended not on how hard we tried, but on how much mercy the harpies would show us. It was not welcome at all.

‘I don’t like this kind of thing. It would be better to fight on fair terms.’

The fact that things were proceeding in a state beyond my control was more unpleasant than the hope that we might be able to avoid the boss fight. It was not in my nature to just wait and suck my thumb until the harpies made their decision. I would be less anxious if I at least came up with a strategy in preparation for the worst-case scenario…

I tried to formulate a few strategies under the assumption that the harpies might attack us, but none of them were very good. In a situation without the quest item, there were no proper strategies to be made anyway. At best, only gloomy thoughts like ‘How can I prevent Tristan from having a rough time before I die?’ came to mind.

‘Should I send Tristan to the ‘Isle of Trees’ and then go fight with only the other companions? We fought with four people until the last playthrough anyway, so I’m more used to that. In this playthrough, I’ll just check the patterns moderately, and when it seems like we can win if we fight with five people, I’ll bring him over and we can all fight together…’

There’s no way that would work. I lightly clicked my tongue. First of all, Tristan himself would obviously refuse, and if Charon noticed my intention and tried to kill Tristan first from the next playthrough, that would also be a problem in its own way. In the end, it could put him in more danger…

I considered various other strategies, but in the end, it was nothing but a waste of time. For several hours, I drew and erased numerous strategies on the ground, which was too dark to see well. As the sky slowly brightened and the outside of the clearing grew noisy, I just sighed as if the ground would collapse.

‘Damn it, it can’t be helped. For now, I have no choice but to trust Charon.’

By the time my disheveled companions stumbled out of the tent, I decided to give up on a new strategy and put my mind at ease.

Right, no matter how bad the worst-case scenario is, it will probably just be dying while fighting the harpies. Trying to deny the outcome that will come anyway will only make me look pathetic. So, let’s pull myself together, hoping that the situation will be a little different in the next playthrough.

But that was too naive a thought.

The trial that would actually befall us was something far more tremendous than that.

Even though I had been up since dawn worrying, the harpies did not actually arrive until the sun was high overhead.

“Wait, what did you say?!”

—I said I will send you fools to the next area, human. Have you gone deaf now?

I sent her a look full of disbelief. Lethe then shrugged her shoulders as if she was quite displeased, but she did not seem to be lying. The other sisters, Scáthach and Hezel, also seemed to have no particular objection to the decision to let us go. Why? Just yesterday, they seemed to agree with Iren’s opinion…

“I’m curious about the reason for your sudden change of heart. You acted as if you wouldn’t send us off just yesterday, didn’t you?”

—That wasn’t us, that was Iren. Now Iren has changed her mind too, so she’s going to follow Charon unnie’s will. And, the situation has also changed…

“The situation has changed?”

—Yes. We received word from the Demon King’s castle that they will dispatch a messenger to restore the island. Once the island is restored, the monsters’ anger will subside, so there shouldn’t be a big problem letting you go.

“…”

—It’s a fact that you stopped the collapse of several islands, so we’re showing mercy just this once as a reward for that. I’m not sure, but there must be a reason why Charon unnie wants to send you off that badly.

Somehow, it was… a very unconvincing answer. I tried to smooth out my dubious expression and glanced at Charon, only to confirm that Charon was making a similar face. Seeing her make that kind of face even though things went her way, it seemed that even Charon had not expected things to be resolved so easily.

With the situation turning out like this, my anxiety grew even greater. If Charon had contacted the Demon King’s castle herself to bring about this situation, I could at least believe it, but this current situation was no different from getting lucky by chance…

Isn’t this too contrived? Of course, if I think of it as part of an in-game event, it would not be a big problem, but I still had a bad feeling.

I instinctively turned my gaze to Iren. Just yesterday, it seemed like she was glaring at us as if to kill us, but for some reason, she was now wearing an expression as if she had not the slightest regret about us.

“Are you really satisfied with that, Iren?”

—Why are you asking me that? You strange humans. You were clearly the ones who said you wanted to go to the next area, but now that I say I’ll send you, you make that kind of face… What on earth is your problem?

Well, wouldn’t anyone be suspicious if the other party’s attitude changed overnight like flipping a palm? I forcefully suppressed the desire to retort that. It was because there was nothing to be gained from picking a fight with the harpies right now. I did not know what kind of scheme they were plotting behind our backs to come out like this, but for now, we had no choice but to play along with them.

—Hmph, be grateful to Mr. Herus. If it weren’t for his magnanimity, I never would have changed my mind.

“Herus? Who is that, Rohan?”

“Hmm? Ah, Herus is likely the King of Insects, a close aide to the Demon King. It seems he’s the one who has stepped up to restore the island. But why do you ask?”

“No, it’s nothing. The name just sounded familiar…”

Rehas mumbled that and scratched his head, but moved on as if it were nothing. Come to think of it, it was a bit strange. Why Herus? Herus should be the King of Insects, so why would he step up to help the harpies, who were not under his jurisdiction? If she had mentioned the Demon King’s name, I would have at least understood…

‘Is he acting under the Demon King’s orders? Well, Herus is a subordinate favored by the Demon King, so it wouldn’t be that strange.’

Anyway, that was not important right now. If there was some reason, it would slowly be revealed later, and what was important for us now was to quickly move to the next area and get away from the harpies. I was so sick of the island stage after going through so much trouble.

Once we arrive in the next area, we should first start by surprise-attacking the monsters at the entrance to level up. We will be lacking in skills as well as levels since we did not have the boss fight with the harpies, and to make up for that somehow, we will have to move really diligently. Come to think of it, our food is almost running out too. It seems we will have to kill a few easy monsters to get some food as well. And then, so…

—Iren.

As I was thinking that, Charon, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly opened her mouth and spoke. Her voice sounded slightly hesitant.

—What is it, unnie?

—Do you really want to send these humans to the next area?

—I told you, unnie. I am not going to kill these humans.

—Really? Tell me the truth, Iren.

—I have decided to open the passage to the next area for you, unnie. That’s all. I am not doing anything else.

Iren left it at that one sentence and shut her mouth, and Charon, who was looking at her with worried eyes, let out a light sigh and nodded her head. It seemed that Charon had also concluded that she could not do anything about whatever intentions Iren had.

As Charon turned her gaze to look at me, I met her eyes with a complex mix of liberation and relief.

—Then, with the authority of a guardian, I shall open the passage for you.

“Thank you.”

—I hope… I never see you again, Rohan.

“I would hope so. Though I can’t promise.”

After finishing a conversation whose meaning others could not even properly guess, we turned away from each other as if dealing with strangers. While my companions and I waited for the passage to the next area to open, Charon gathered in a circle with her sisters in the middle of the clearing.

From the harpies’ pairs of wings, magical power of five colors flowed out like smoke. The magical power drifted in the air a few times and then created a large gate of darkness. It was the first time I had seen a guardian create a passage directly, so I watched the gate with a sense of wonder.

So we just have to go through that gate to arrive in the next area? Of course, that place will not be smooth sailing either, but if we can skip the boss fight like we did in this area, we might be able to break through somehow. No matter how hard Hard Mode is on the second playthrough, it might not be that difficult to clear…

…That is what I was thinking.

—Huh? Wait a minute, there’s someone beyond the passage.

At that one phrase that popped out of Lethe’s mouth, I felt a momentary sense of foreboding and stepped back. My instincts were whispering that something had gone wrong. Charon and the other sisters’ eyes widened in surprise. Someone’s silhouette was visible on the surface of the gate, which was translucent like stained glass.

But there was one monster who was not surprised, and that was none other than Iren.

—Shouldn’t we close the gate? Who on earth is trying to enter our area without permission…?

—You can’t close the gate, Lethe unnie.

—What?

—The personnel from the Demon King’s castle have come to restore the island. So of course we have to open the gate for them, right?

—But they didn’t say they were coming today!

—They didn’t say when they would come. So they could come today!

—Wait, Iren! Don’t tell me…!

As Iren spread her wings wide, more magical power flowed from them, and at the same time, the black gate began to open with a grating sound. Charon hurriedly tried to cut off her magic, but since the magic being transmitted from the other sisters was still being maintained, the gate that had already begun to open showed no signs of closing. Her face pale, Charon glared at Iren and shouted.

—Iren, you, don’t tell me you lied to me…!

—I- I didn’t lie! I said I wouldn’t kill those humans, and I said I would open the passage to the next area for those humans. And, it was also true that Mr. Herus would send a messenger to restore the island. All of it!

—Then what the hell is going on with this situation? Why is the personnel to restore the island coming at this very moment?!

—That’s obvious, isn’t it? To restore the island, don’t you have to eliminate the cause of the island’s collapse? I mean… those humans!

While the harpies were arguing, I could only stare with wide eyes at the new message that had appeared before me. Wait, this is a lie. This is too much. If something like this exists, you should have at least told me in the tutorial stage!

[System: We will now inform you about the new boss fight system for Hard difficulty.

To differentiate from the existing difficulties, in all stages except for the tutorial stage, you must engage in a boss fight with a different, powerful monster instead of the existing guardian. Of course, depending on the player’s will, you can choose a development where you fight the existing guardian, but to satisfy the conditions for the ‘True Ending,’ you must choose the battle with the new boss.

The new boss is too powerful for the player to face, so you cannot defeat it directly; you can escape and move to the next area if you satisfy specific conditions. In this case, you cannot obtain the experience and skills you would get from defeating the existing guardian, but you can obtain one special skill instead.

Please enjoy a thrilling battle with the new monsters you meet in the new difficulty!]