I shortly returned back to my room and sat on the edge of my bed. There, doing who knows what, I found my blasted Slime companion sitting at the very middle.
Suspiciously, I stared.
"You...what were you doing?"
Hamlet just stared...at least I think it stared. Slime's didn't have eyes, I've confirmed this. So maybe saying Hamlet stared at me should be more of an expression in the future.
Yes. I'll take note of that.
"Give me 'that'." I stretched my hand forward and said to Hamlet.
The next second, he spat out a black obsidian object carved out of black wood. It was the Murmur's Mask.
The terrifying looking mask fell into my hand and I held it up. As for where the mask suddenly came from, the answer was pretty obvious.
Apparently Hamlet had a special skill capable of storing certain items in its stomach.
Again, do Slimes have stomachs? No. This too was just an expression.
In any case it was just a skill that turned out to be really convenient. Since bonding with Hamlet over the Familiar contract, I gained some new skills, but unfortunately that wasn't one of them.
But at the same time, I was kind of relieved? I mean, how would I store items in my stomach?
And how would I get them out?
'Let's not think about it.' tacitly, I agreed internally and turned my attention to the Mask.
"I think it's about time I embrace my new artifact." I said with a slight crooked grin. The flaw of Murmur's Mask, quite honestly, was terrifying enough to make me have second thoughts in ever trying to use it.
But it was an artifact. Wouldn't it be a waste if I didn't use this? It was already bad enough that I had to keep Goliath a secret and release it in only extreme emergencies. The only other stable Artifact I had was Solomon's Ring which would be perfect if it weren't for the damned flaw.
7777 years of unluck.
Damn.
I've thought seriously about it over the last few days and I finally decided to confront the mask. At the very least there had to be some manner of way I could use it.
That was what I thought.
And then I remembered what happened back at the dungeon. I had the Immersion Skill.
My logic was simple, if I could use the skill, or Meta, to offset the whispers and murmurs that would try to corrode my mind, wouldn't I be able to use the mask? The last incident already confirmed that the skill at least had some manner of preventing me from succumbing to the 'truths' and 'secrets' hidden in the mask, so the idea seems feasible.
"Your sure this will work?" I said pensively while staring at the mask.
Meta's response came with a slight buzz.
[This was your idea.]
Oi! Now she's denying me!
'But you said there was a possibility right? I mean, you were able to do it the last time.'
[Yes. It is true that the Immersion skill can offset some of the negative effects of the Artifact, but this is only to a limited extent. In more accurate words, the Skill doesn't cancel the effects, but slows and delays them enough for you the user to retain your original state of mine.]
The Flaw description of Murmur's Mask said: '...For each time this Mask is worn, the wearer looses a portion of their sanity and humanity, and plunges closer and closer to corruption the longer it is used.'
And as strict with its wording as the system has come to be, that meant I could translate this very literally.
Each time I wear the mask, and the longer I do, I lose a portion of my sanity and humanity. Gradually my soul becomes Ccorrupted from the Whispers. What Meta was trying to say was that the Immersion skill wasn't a counter or a remedy; it merely delayed the effects slightly.
That meant even if it was more slower than intended, I would still be gradually running mad.
'Goddamit...this mask is diabolical...'I thought grimly.
"So there's no way around it? Like, at all?" It was a fruitless question, even I knew. I could already guess in what manner Meta would respond.
[The laws and authority of artifacts are absolute.]
'Figured.'
Even if I had some type of Mental Barrier skill, I can't stop my mind from corroding and eventually getting corrupted.
I stared at the mask in my hand and silently enjoyed the sense of mystique and mystery that surrounded the details commited to it's carving.
Despite how it looked, the black mask was smooth to the touch and very light. It had the depiction of a demon crowned with twisting horns and fiendish fangs burning in black flames. There were two endlessly black holes where the eyes were supposed to be. Looking at it, I couldn't even see the end or the other side.
That was for the outer layer and appearance of the mask, on the inside it was different. There were strange and almost indistinct carvings and runes designing the interior. Just like the details outside and the rest of the mask, they each had a dull silvery black colour.
I could hear the mask call for me. I could feel it tempt me just like before. But since I was aware of it this time, I was better able to restrain myself.
At that point, Meta whispered into my mind.
[Do you still wish to use the Artifact Murmur's Mask despite the level of risks and danger the Flaw provides?] She sounded like some of those clarification and warning messages when your selecting a game character.
The kind that would go like 'do you choose blah blah blah as your character?'
Honestly, it made me laugh and chuckle a bit. But it wasn't only because of that.
I found it genuinely funny that Meta would ask me such an obvious thing.
"Hahaha...is that a question, Meta? Do I have a choice?" My laughter echoed through my empty room and the edges of my lips curled into a dark smile.
[...]
"So I just run mad if I use this? Sure, no problem. I just so happen to be a little crazy already. In the first place, who even decided what was sane, and insane? Huh? Isn't sanity overrated? It's just a damned concept - a matter of perspective in the end. And in actuality, sanity isn't what keeps us surviving in the world - wether it's back on Earth, or here in Aethoria..." My smile widened and my heart slowly raced with dark glee.
"It's the madness within that does."
Without a second more thought, I brought Murmur's Mask to my face.
***
Victor didn't hesitate to wear the fiendish mask of a demon with twisting horns. He felt a cold chill enveloped his mind and body, as the still cold comfort of the mask embraced his face.
It was surprisingly more comfortable than it looked. It was like it was made exactly for him and was fitted nicely.
As the cold chill spread through his body like a numbing thrill, Victor felt his consciousness grow a little faint and drift like fog as indiscernible whispers and voices...murmurs filled his heart and mind.
The painful ravings intensified and Victor felt a splitting headache as if his head was being axed into. His head pulsed and his mind thrubbed like a beating heart. A myriad of information filled his mind and burned at his existence.
His messy brown hair that was slightly longer was swept back and slowly turned a pale white, reaching just the base of his neck. The process was slow as if his mind and body was slowly getting invaded by something else. Someone else.
"Aaargghk!!"
Victor grabbed his head and let out an earth splitting groan. His fingers dung into his whitening hair fruitlessly and his eyes underneath the mask was slowly turning bloodshot.
And just when the ravings seemed like it would only get worse, the Immersion skill was activated forcefully.
...
[{Immersion} Level ??? Has been activated.]
[{Immersion is being used.]
...
The ravings quickly receded slightly, and the sharp splitting pain that assaulted Victor ceased until it was just a mild throbbing that was at the level of a disturbing nuisance.
Now that he had regained a gap of respite, Victor sucked in a deep and a sharp gasp from behind the mask. His hair was still white and his chest was heaving, but he was no longer on the throes of corruption.
'Three seconds! Barelly three seconds and I nearly died!'
His thoughts were stark and dark. His bloodshot eyes that were short of bleeding under the mask shook with a smile.
Yes in the end, he was still smiling. The edges of his lips hung crookedly and his face had turned pale despite the cold touch of the mask.
He had intentionally not activated the skill to test out how Murmur's Mask took effect, but the results had been far beyond his expectations.
At that moment, Immersion was measurdly activated, but he hadn't given up control of his body to Meta, or neither was he experiencing another vision.
With this, Victor confirmed another suspicion of his.
Immersion really isn't just an ordinary skill after all. It's like it has separate and different grades for different situations. Right now, I don't feel anything different or strange even though it's activated. I could move my body freely and there are no image's flashing across my mind. Understanding that the skill does work to an extent in offsetting the effects of the mask is good, but I also have to discover the conditions or degree of Immersion... Victor rapidly gathered his thoughts though he was still in pain.
With all this questions, he had an inkling that Meta wouldn't give him a suitable response.
Not now at least.
So he shoved it to the back of his mind and unsteadily rose to his feet. Immediately he stumbled forward, about to fall to the ground when he managed to catch himself.
Hamlet, the evolved silver slime was against the floorboard silently overlooking everything. Victor could sense and feel the intentions and feelings of his familiar. There was worry, but he easily ignored that.
Instead, with a crooked smile, a pale face hidden behind a fiendish black mask, and unsteady steps, he made his way to his mirror against a wall and looked at his reflection.
"Huh? My hair is different." He muttered from beneath the mask as his voice came out somehow darkly.
He touched the now white strands of his formerly brown hair and mesmerised at himself on the mirror with a dark chuckle.
"I resemble the fucking devil."