LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 59
“……”
That’s weird. Is there a bug in the chat box?
So I can dispel debuffs like this too!
I thought sharing this pro tip would generate a huge reaction.
But it was eerily quiet, and a chilling atmosphere hung around.
Uh…
I’m a bit scared.
Is everyone filming a hidden camera show?
Fortunately, the silence didn’t last long.
―――
Scary…
Is the host okay?
Looks dangerously accustomed to self-harm…
Menhera, yikes.
Hey, can we be more considerate of the first-person perspective?
What the heck, you scared me!
―――
Seeing the delayed messages come through,
I immediately understood that the chat had suddenly stopped.
Watching the stream from inside the capsule allows me to see from the streamer’s first-person view, after all.
And then I suddenly drew a knife across my eye, so of course they’d be startled.
“W-wait, everyone? I swear I’m not that kind of person…”
Calling a perfectly normal person a mental patient?
What if I actually was a menhera?
If I were really that way, I couldn’t have made Akare or played the role of Director.
I read through the questions pouring into the chat one by one and replied.
“You ask if I do stuff like that in real life? Is that even a question? I don’t do things like that.”
“I thought you self-harmed when you first came on Suzuka’s stream… But it’s effective, you know?”
“Why didn’t you use holy water or purification? Holy water is expensive, alright? Purification should be saved for that… Uh, for addiction or hallucination debuffs that can’t be healed otherwise.”
“Saving holy water is just like being cheap… Or wait, are your ancestors covering the bill?”
“Huh? You think stabbing a knife in the gut and healing will fix poison? Are you nuts? You’d bleed out before you knew it. Healing doesn’t regenerate spilled blood either.”
“You’re the one who should be talking… No, what am I saying? I’m not crazy; I’m perfectly normal.”
“Anyone who declares themselves normal is usually not normal, right? Hey, over here!”
But really, what is everyone’s deal?
Just because I harmed myself once in a game, they’re treating me like some weirdo.
“Hmph. I won’t communicate with you lot anymore.”
For some reason, every time the broadcast comes up, it feels like my reputation just nosedives.
Rice farmer… something like that.
All those nicknames also popped up after my image was exposed on the broadcast.
I deliberately accepted the attack from the Salvation Church’s official priest who inflicts a ‘hallucination’ debuff.
[ You have been afflicted by the ‘Hallucination’ status anomaly. ]
Once under the influence of the hallucination, the monsters around me started to change form endlessly.
The official priest of the Salvation Church turned into a drake.
The drake morphed into a black illusion rabbit.
The black illusion rabbit became an elder lich.
With the surroundings warping and the original map flickering, I finally opened my mouth to voice my opinion.
“See? The hallucination is making you dizzy, yeah?”
Just a glance at the chat revealed a flood of comments like “Gwaahhh!” appearing one after another.
After confirming the viewers’ reactions, I immediately used purification.
The hallucination immediately dissipated, and I swiftly set out to hunt the monsters using divine punishment.
“What do you think? I was right, wasn’t I?”
―――
I give up!
Yeah, you certainly are something.
That’s some impressive persistence.
Stubborn, geez.
In another sense, you’re a crazy gal!
I admit I lost.
Gwaahhh!
―――
I managed to get the viewers to surrender.
Well, after showing direct evidence for my claims, they had no choice but to concede.
Victorious against the audience, I continued on with my dungeon exploration.
There were a couple of moments where I had to remove blindness and burns debuffs, but the chat was back to treating me like some menhera girl just like before.
These people really have no sense of submission.
“This is the last boss room!”
―――
The cardinal’s patterns were absolutely dreadful.
Haha, please, give me some education.
Huh?
Please, Cardinal!
Go Salvation Church!
―――
The chat was flooded with support messages for the boss monster, Cardinal of the Salvation Church.
Hoping for such an impossible result so fervently is just pitiful.
I couldn’t help but open my mouth, which had been closed in silence.
“Do you know what my job is?”
―――
A crazy girl.
Akare Director.
Rice farmer saint.
A real hacker.
A bullheaded menhera.
A serious brawl of a girl.
―――
The response was so obvious even elementary school kids could guess it.
But all the chat responses somehow missed the mark, and I sighed in exasperation.
Just a bunch of mischievous brats.
It’s making me mad to death.
While inwardly counting to three to tame my anger, I simply stated the answer.
“I’m an Inquisitor.”
I pulled the chat up and scrolled to the section where the supportive comments for the boss monster were, then checked all the viewers who had cheered for the cardinal using the ‘viewer management’ feature.
“Including cults, the Salvation Church is also heretical.”
You just typed in a supportive comment for a cult on an Inquisitor’s stream?
You’ve got to get judged for that.
―――
As long as I’m not implicated, lol.
Let the Inquisitor judge me.
Normalization, haha!
Let’s go~
Season 1 bans, congrats.
―――
I temporarily blocked about ten viewers before continuing my speech.
“How much do you know about the Inquisitor’s special skill, Heresy Designation?”
Heresy Designation.
A skill that grants various buffs when an Inquisitor judges heresy.
Due to the actions of another inquisitor who ruthlessly slaughtered what were deemed heretics, many assumed that “Inquisitors are a PVP-exclusive job.”
But when you think about it, monsters that belong to the ‘Salvation Church’ faction also carry the church’s mark.
This means that it is possible to use Heresy Designation on monsters that belong to the Salvation Church.
“Heresy Designation can be used on cardinals as well.”
Of course, Heresy Designation has a ten-minute cooldown, so it can’t be continuously used without limit.
However, it’s akin to a designated skill for the boss monster of the Salvation Church.
“An Inquisitor does not lose to heretics.”
Confidently proclaiming a line famous from the neighboring town, I opened the door to the boss room.
***
Pera’s clarification broadcast was oddly enthralling.
When she turned on the broadcast to clarify the controversies,
Usually, there would be a sudden influx of viewers during that moment,
And it would be expected for them to leave right after the clarification ended.
However, Pera’s broadcast saw its viewers constantly increase over time.
By the end of the clarification, the viewer count had reached 65,000.
While soloing the minor dungeon, the Malice-Infested Place, it rose to 70,000.
When suddenly engaging in a bizarre act of using self-harm to dispel a debuff, it shot up to 73,000.
Successful in defeating the Salvation Church’s cardinal with Heresy Designation brought it even higher to 77,000.
Finally, reaching an audience of 80,000 as she encountered Master Kim waiting at the dungeon entrance.
[ Akashic Record Gallery ]
―――
New Master Entry Lul [12]
Master’s insane, turn on the broadcast [7]
It’s a sure win for Master Kim [15]
Master’s here to reform the menhera [24]
If these two PVP, who’s winning? [33]
―――
Warrior ranking number one. Unified ranking number one.
The first Akare player. The first Warrior.
No one denies that Master Kim is at the pinnacle of Akare.
While Sweet has a strong ego and fancies herself a hotshot,
Master Kim is always polite and humble.
Because of this, most users tend to acknowledge Master Kim as the best.
―――
[Title] Sweet is a typical noob, and Master is different.
Current level of Master? A whopping 77!
He’s collected all the enlightenment skills,
All core skills leveled to 3, and
Has completed all existing quests.
Perfectly flawless 完全無缺.
Invincible 天下無敵.
A one-man army 一人軍團.
No title would be too grand for the strongest man in Akare.
Comparing Master to a noob like Sweet is simply disrespectful.
Recommended 1025, Disliked 256.
―――
[Comment 1333]
Those idiots deserve it LOL.
No kidding haha!
I’d love to snap the old geezers’ backs over.
The nooblets are a sight to behold.
Dear god, please don’t let warriors write stuff like this.
How embarrassing, seriously.
The fact is, everything in the original post is accurate.
What’s with the advanced voodoo? The writer must have some connection to the upper echelons.
―――
Because of that, many people predicted Master Kim would win.
But opposing opinions certainly existed as well.
Where there are fans, there are haters.
Of course, it’s not just the fans’ fault.
Those who’ve experienced Sweet’s past failings all predicted her loss to Master Kim.
Wizard ranking number one. Unified ranking number three.
Clearly, Sweet represented the epitome of all wizards.
Yet she already suffered defeat in front of Pera’s hammer before.
Thus, Sweet’s supporters expected Pera to win again.
“Ready?”
“Yes. I’m ready.”
Pera’s broadcast.
Pera and Master Kim faced each other once they were prepared.
The secret class specialized in raids and PVP, Warrior.
Unlike basic jobs, the Warrior did not have distinct branches upon the Second Awakening.
Why was that?
Users sought the answers from Akachan’s line in the Hall of Heroes.
– The path of a warrior may be harsher than any other path.
– This world is not very kind to warriors.
Here, the “path” referred to the job’s ‘directionality,’
And in contrast to other jobs that could determine their paths through the Second Awakening,
The warrior could not choose their directional path.
Because they couldn’t choose, there may be disparities from what they imagined and hoped.
As a result, the warrior’s path might feel more arduous than those of other jobs.
Additionally, a path where you can’t see even a step ahead is evidence that this world is unkind to warriors.
…This was the reasoning players generated for why ‘Warriors have no distinct paths in the Second Awakening.’
But in reality, it was due to the sheer lack of records concerning warriors that separate branches couldn’t be established.
Truth can be stranger than fiction.
If Aurora saw this reasoning from users,
– What an interesting hypothesis. Should I just use that?
She would probably react that way.
Akachan’s line was also an improvised ad lib created on Aurora’s command to deliver something that sounded convincing.
Anyway, returning to the duel,
With a taut tension, the starting timer hit zero, and Master Kim lunged forward as if he’d been waiting for it.
The skill linked after a forward leap was one of the Second Awakening skills, Moon Dragon Slice.
A dragon bathed in moonlight plunged toward Pera.
Kwaa-ziiick-!
The combination of the leap and Moon Dragon Slice was thwarted by a holy shield.
While the shield cracked, it shattered entirely.
Seizing the opportunity, Master Kim immediately chained his skills.
Second Awakening skill, Shattering Gale.
Enlightenment skill, Whirlwind Strike.
The blow that could break rocks struck true,
but the Sanctuary had already been activated.
“Heal,” Pera muttered, and all her wounds healed instantly.
A brilliant light spread behind Pera, and to protect the owner of the Sanctuary, Valkyries, the army of the heavens, attacked Master Kim.
Sanctuary. A skill regarded as the ultimate for priests, belonging to the enlightenment class.
Duration: 30 seconds. Valkyries are summoned every 4 seconds,
and each one only attacks once before vanishing.
If I can just withstand this, I will definitely win. I can’t lose.
With this thought flooding his mind, Master Kim immediately tried to create some distance.
But simply creating distance didn’t solve everything.
Divine Punishment.
A skill with considerable damage compared to other classes.
Divine Punishment also dealt damage to the caster, of course.
Thus, Master Kim was cautioned to remember he would become the target of Divine Punishment once he created distance.
But contrary to Master Kim’s expectations, Pera advanced forward.
Why? What’s her plan?
As Master Kim prepared for Divine Punishment, his alertness peaked.
In a close-quarters combat scenario, both still had chances to deal damage.
The Sanctuary was still in play.
However, just hitting once with a blessing and Divine Punishment could deal potentially fatal damage!
Of course, if it was used openly, he could dodge.
Yet Master Kim didn’t stop thinking while dodging Valkyrie attacks.
At that moment, he felt a sense of unease.
The remaining time on the Sanctuary showed 6 seconds.
Only one Valkyrie summon remained.
If there’s a scheme, it should be happening now?
Simultaneously, a thought crossed his mind.
If I just get past this, I’ll win.
Shoving aside the sudden unease that struck him,
Just as he attempted to dodge the last Valkyrie’s attack,
Boom-!
Master Kim’s movements were obstructed by an invisible, transparent wall.
The duel system.
Based on the field where the two players were currently situated,
An invisible wall was formed, completely isolating the outside from the inside.
This system was a sort of device to protect those unrelated to the duel.
And right now,
Master Kim was so focused on Pera that he was oblivious to his own location and found himself cornered.
However, it was still okay.
In the end, he was hit by the Valkyrie’s attack,
but he still had enough health to spare.
Only 2 seconds remained for the Sanctuary to dissipate.
Moreover, his opponent couldn’t even use the only variable, Divine Punishment.
Wait.
His opponent couldn’t use Divine Punishment?
Suddenly, Master Kim had a flash of the crazed Inquisitor’s face who inflicted self-harm.
“Finally got you.”
As Pera closed in, she executed a wall slam.
With his arms pinned, Master Kim grinned awkwardly and asked quietly towards Pera,
“No way, right?”
At that question, Pera smiled broadly.
“May you transcend.”
With that phrase, a torrent of divine power descended upon him.