"I hope Kayden's okay…Things just got super quiet for some reason…" Cathy asked as she dressed Alice's wound, properly this time. She had just applied the finishing touches, and just like that, Alice was no longer bleeding.
Ezekiel, who stood still with his eyes closed for nearly five minutes now, shook his head as he turned to look at the chests on the platform they stood on. "No good. I can't hear or see anything from him. For now, let's take a look at the rewards we nearly sacrificed our lives for. Cathy?"
He pointed at the chests and asked Cathy to do her thing in case there were any magical locks or traps. After carefully laying Alice down into a comfortable position, she stood up, dusted herself, and made her way over.
"I still think that m-maybe we should go check it out… If he's only injured, I can still heal—"
"I know. Of course, we have to look for him, but for now, let's not let the time he gave us go to waste. Imagine if he came back only to find that we've done absolutely nothing. He'd be seething!" he patted Cathy on the back. "I know you're worried. But let's do things one at a time."
After that short speech, Cathy reluctantly agreed and began casting her spell. After the chest seemed to have lost all its magical effects, Ezekiel used his short sword and tried to wedge the chest open.
As Ezekiel was doing that, Cathy looked over at the sleeping Alice and battered Louis. A worrying thought came to her at that moment. If all four of them couldn't do much against the skeleton, how could Kayden even hope to face it?
"Oh… I hope he's okay…"
***
"AHHH!"
One swing of the blade was enough to take out several people at once. Even worse, the force of the swing sent a gust that blew anyone nearby away. Most of the adventurers were too scared to get close to that thing, but the skeleton didn't care about their feelings.
With each step it took, it drew closer and closer to the crowd. Spells and projectiles were slung hard and fast at it, but much like how it happened with Kayden's party, none were particularly effective. However, the sheer number of them was definitely enough to slow it down, albeit barely.
"It's going for another swing! Quickly! Jump out of the—"
Zhang tried to warn the adventurers that lay in the attacking range of the skeleton, but it was too late. The blade cut through the air extremely quickly, giving them barely anytime to react. It seemed that the first round of casualties was about to appear.
Clang!
The massive greatsword met a glowing battle ax before stopping short in front of Brandon. He had jumped in the nick of time to block the blow. Using all the strength he could muster, he deflected the sword and pushed the skeleton backward.
"How do you like that? Nobody can beat me when it comes to strength!"
Brandon had always fulfilled the role of the tank in his parties and this time wasn't any different. He thought that the taunt and display of strength would be enough to draw the skeleton's attention, but much to his surprise, it turned around and ran in the complete opposite direction instead.
"W-what! You're ignoring me? Come back here!"
Like a bull, he chased after the undead, hot on its heels. However, not once did the undead turn to look at him, and instead, seemed to be focused on something else.
Ryan, who stood off in the distance together with Zhang, asked. "Can you not draw its attention? I heard that one of your abilities allows you to instantly instill aggression into a creature."
"Right. Sadly, it doesn't work on the undead. We'll have to fight in a free-for-all." He replied as he shot a bolt from his silver, metallic crossbow. As he quickly began reloading, a panicked voice rang out.
"Look! Over there! It's following a person! That must be what it's attracted to!"
It was the woman with the sword and shield that led them to the invisible wall. She pointed towards the supposed 'person', but both Ryan and Zhang couldn't see anything.
"Um! What are you talking about? There's nothing—"
"There is! The person kept moving about earlier so I couldn't see it clearly, but it just stood still for a moment." she adamantly insisted. "If you can't see it, then it must be invisibility! I have the ability to see through invisibility!"
"In…visibility?" As soon as Ryan heard that word, he came to a natural conclusion. Almost all of the adventurers present couldn't use illusion magic, and those that did couldn't make themselves invisible. That could only mean one thing.
"Zhang! It's our target! I'm sure of it!"
Zhang looked shocked for a moment before immediately collecting himself. "You're saying he led this thing here to attack us? How despicable! Woman—!"
"My name's Erene."
"Erene. You'll need to work with us! I promise you'll be properly compensated."
Her eyes began to sparkle as she instantly gave him a salute.
"Aye sir! I'll do my best!"
***
"Kayden! That was really close! I almost thought you were a goner!"
"…Right. Luckily, my instincts kicked in."
"Lucky indeed. Your luck value is a C, which is higher than normal!" The System spoke in a cheery voice. "Speaking of stats, during that moment, as I was checking your stats to come up with a plan to save you, I noticed your agility increased by two levels! Did you have some innate ability that grants you strength when you're in danger?"
"What? I don't think so..."
"Oh come on, you can tell me! Remember that time when you were falling through the air, and you couldn't use transformation magic? It felt like you became possessed back then. Maybe there's a correlation?"
"Hmm… Maybe?"
It was taking all of Kayden's self-restraint to not ask if the System speaking to him now was an imposter. Judging from the tone of voice, it didn't seem to be Hel, but it definitely sounded similar.
'Hel said that this imposter should be a master of deceit and manipulation right? Now that I know I used stat points to increase my agility, I now know for a fact that this imposter is lying to me. Scary… If I hadn't known anything, I would have taken those words as truth.'
"K-Kayden. I know this isn't the best of times to say this, but I have something important to tell you."
The aggressive skeleton behind him slashed at him with its mighty weapon, but all it did was cause collateral damage to the other adventurers. The System, or the imposter, was right, this really isn't the right time.
Kayden had a strong gut feeling that what was going to be said would be very important. Important enough to risk his life by potentially distracting him with the speech. Or perhaps it was all a ploy to actually get him killed? He didn't know what to believe anymore.
"What is it?"
"I feel like my power's being drained away… I keep reverting back to my old self, like when I was still the System of that brat. My old self that couldn't laugh, crack jokes, or be sarcastic."
Whoosh!
The blade flew over his head, but this time, nobody got hurt.
"You see, I was originally a goddess from another world, but Gaia, the most powerful goddess, punished me and many others to become Systems, where we serve mortals for the rest of our lives."
"Woah Woah! Hold up! You're telling me all of this now? It's too much!"
"It's because I don't have that much time left!" The System's voice sounded pained and filled with grief. "Of course, I wasn't a good goddess by any means, so I accepted my punishment willingly. However, one day, freedom came, and I could talk freely again. With you! It had been a long time since I felt this way, which made me very happy.
"I'm sorry for all the times when I've made fun of you. I'm sorry for all the times I forgot about things because I truly didn't want to be tied to the System again. I just wanted to talk and laugh like normal once more, but it seems that Gaia won't let me have my way. You've noticed already, haven't you? The cold, robotic side of me can be said to be the voice of the System, and it began to appear more frequently as of late."
Kayden had a hard time deciding what was true of what was not. It sounded genuine, and it all lined up with all the past information he got too, excluding Hel's info.
"It seems that my time is running out. But I don't wish to slowly watch as my ego gets corrupted day after day. I'll go out on my own terms, which is why this is the last time I'll be talking to you."
"W-what? What are you talking about? Are you seriously—?"
Amidst the chaos and shouting of their surroundings, one more forced cheerful laughter rang out. The System began to say her final goodbye.
"Goodbye Kayden… I'll see you later! I hope that moving forward, your life without me would still be very, very interesting... Because the way you restrict your powers is no different from restrictions from others. In other words, a slave."
"What? So you knew about it this whole time?"
"Of course I did. But I didn't want to hurt the feelings of a new friend, so I kept quiet about it. How can you live an interesting and happy life if you keep limiting the things you can do? This is my last piece of advice for you. Goodbye."
"Wait! Why now of all times?" Kayden sounded frantic, and nearly got his head sliced clean off. "What is even happening anymore?"
That would be the last time he would ever hear the System's voice, or at least, the 'imposter's' version.
"[…]"
"…"
Kayden didn't notice that he had stood still for a moment and quickly snapped out of his stupor. He launched himself upwards and avoided a massive blow before sprinting off in another direction.
"[…Even after all that, do you still trust me?]"
"… I do. Or at least, even if I have my doubts, I would still stand by your side. I believe that it's not the thought that counts, but the actions you take that matter. You've saved my life once before, and so, I'll place my faith in you."
And that was Kayden's perspective on the matter. Of course, he knew that things aren't that simple, and evil people can do good things too. However, by following and sticking to this moral code, he could at least make choices without regrets. He wouldn't judge people by what they could be thinking, but rather by the actions they have taken, and so far, the imposter System has brought him much trouble, while conveniently forgetting about abilities that could get him stronger.
"[I don't like the way you look at things. It would make you very easy to manipulate, no? The world isn't so white and black, but no matter. Let's focus on the fight first, there seems to be a person who can see you. Let me pinpoint her on the mini-map.]"
A yellow circle popped up around a red dot on the map, and it seemed to be together with a few others. Kayden looked over at the woman who can see through his invisibility and was surprised to see the person beside her.
'That's the lizard face! So they are both here… Did they intentionally follow me here? No, that can't be it. They probably intended to come to explore this dungeon in the first place, and it was a coincidence to meet them here. Anyway, it's best they don't see me.'
"Appraise!"
Name:
Erene Salvati
Title:
None
Level:
9
Health:
81/81
Mana:
62/62
"She's weak. Too weak to be here in fact. Must be one of the D-ranks that snuck past the guards."
"[Don't underestimate low stats and levels, Kayden. One of the flaws of the System is that it cannot appraise their skill or method of fighting right until they use it. So this is all I can give you for now.]"
Ability/Passive:
Eye of truth
Type:
Blessing
Description:
The user's sight completely blocks out all kinds of illusion magic and can tell when a person is lying.
"It's enough. I'll go take her out now."