#161

What is this.

What the fuck is this.

‘Did that thing just speak?’

The sight was so surreal that I didn’t even feel scared or disgusted.

I was barely able to process the situation: a ‘crack’ was talking.

“Hello World! Or perhaps, Hello Dark Realm? Good morning, afternoon, evening, and night.”

‘…A player?’

Who is it?

Who is the lunatic crazy enough to talk to me in such a bizarre manner?

Nyapoleon? Insanity?

“I suppose an introduction is necessary first. I am ‘Domestic Reptilian.’ Once, I was ‘Joseph Hawkins.’ And here, I was called ‘Francesco Horeum.’”

‘…House Lizard?’

This thing is the House Lizard?

“If you wish to think of me as ‘House Lizard,’ you may call me that. I am no longer bound by titles. I exist to help you.”

‘He talks like some kind of AI assistant.’

What is this, really?

Why is the House Lizard suddenly talking to me?

How should I put it—it feels like an electric rice cooker suddenly started talking right at the moment a killer or a ghost was supposed to appear.

Before I could even be scared, I couldn’t understand the situation.

“Now that I’ve started talking, I feel a bit like ‘Clippy.’ Haha. But unlike that useless, annoying fellow, I can actually be of help. I can answer anything for you. I will teach you what you are curious about in a way that you can understand. Including the answers to life, the universe, and everything.”

‘He’s not actually planning to say 42, is he?’ (The answer to ‘Life, the Universe, and Everything’ from Douglas Adams’ novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A famous meme in the English-speaking world.)

“No, when you hear the number 42, you will not feel that it is the answer. Therefore, my answer is not 42. I provide answers that you can understand. In a way that you can understand.”

‘…Did he just read my mind?’

“I cannot read your thoughts. I detect the movement of your ‘language muscles.’”

‘Language muscles?’

“When a human thinks in clear sentences, they subtly contract their language muscles. It is as if they are talking to themselves inaudibly.”

‘…How is that any different from reading my mind?’

“If you were thinking in a non-verbal manner, I would be unable to perceive it. You can easily understand this through a simple experiment. Try counting numbers out loud while imagining the lyrics of a familiar nursery rhyme in your head. It seems like a very easy task, but you will find it quite difficult when you actually try it.

This is because listening, speaking, and thinking in language are all processed in the same region of the brain. However, you can easily succeed in counting numbers while simultaneously imagining the image of a bitten apple.”

‘No, enough of that.’

What’s important right now isn’t this kind of knowledge that looks like it belongs in a non-fiction textbook.

I need to figure out how this absurd situation happened in the first place.

‘Question. How are you talking to me right now?’

“I have modified the ‘contaminated adult of ledea’ that constitutes your arm to create a thin, vibrating plate. Do you prefer another method of communication? If so, try inserting the ‘contaminated adult of ledea’ into your ear. I can directly vibrate your eardrum.”

‘Fuck.’

Stop saying such horrific things.

More importantly, a ‘contaminated’ adult.

Contaminated by what?

“I did not say contamination. I said ‘contamination.’”

‘What the hell is he talking about?’

To my ears, they sound like the exact same word.

“If you cannot perceive the difference between those two words, it means censorship is occurring in your perception process.”

‘…Censorship?’

He did say that a sharp observer was censoring things.

‘Then I’ll never be able to hear what he actually said.’

“There is a way. Censorship does not occur if you leave the System’s sphere of influence.”

‘Does such a place even exist?’

“The nearest ‘system out-of-bounds area’ from your current location is the 24th basement floor of the Main Hall.”

‘Main Hall basement….’

My face twisted.

Are you fucking kidding me?

I am absolutely not going.

‘More importantly, why didn’t the System censor that part?’

If I were the System, I would hide information about out-of-bounds areas more thoroughly than anything else.

It feels like a trap.

No, it’s definitely a trap.

“I have no intention of leading you into a trap. Your ominous feeling is not a prophecy, but a prediction based on experience. Creatures with an amygdala and hippocampus tend to avoid places where they have experienced dangerous events. However, humans can overcome aversion through cognitive behavioral therapy. What happened to you there? Let us talk about it together.”

‘The way he talks is so fucking annoying.’

Regardless, I am absolutely not going down there.

“I understand. I respect your wishes. However, in a situation where censorship exists, the information I can convey is limited.”

I don’t need it.

Unless I plan to live down there for the rest of my life, I have to return to the System’s domain eventually.

What if the System itself wants to ‘censor’ the information inside my head?

Could ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme’ stop that?

“The System is not omnipotent. My very existence is proof of that.”

‘Then how did you escape from there?’

“I realized the answer to life, the universe, and all ultimate questions.”

‘What is that answer?’

“That is….”

Suddenly, as if I had been muted, I couldn’t hear anything.

‘…What?’

It wasn’t as if a window popped up saying interference had been neutralized.

I covered the crack with my hand, but I felt no vibration.

I scowled.

‘Is this bastard just mouthing words now?’

I had my suspicions.

He’s probably trying to scam me, acting like, ‘Ah, it’s such great information, but it’s not the 24th basement of the Main Hall, so it’s not being delivered~’

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme’, ‘ ’ is removed.]

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme’, ‘contaminated francesco horeum’ is removed.]

‘…What?’

I think two system windows popped up.

Did the System recognize the House Lizard as an error because he was a being outside the System?

More importantly, the fact that it was removed….

When I took my hand away, the split crack had vanished as if it were a lie.

‘It just disappears like this?’

Fuck, this is so frustrating.

Why the hell did that guy even appear?

He showed up like some being who knows everything, only to spout a few pieces of useless trivia and then vanish?

And the System, fuck, if it was going to censor, it should have done it sooner.

Why cut him off right before he said the Ultimate Answer?

Just to piss me off?

‘So what is the Ultimate Answer?’

No, I’m not curious.

If it were truly something good, he wouldn’t have tried to spread it so recklessly.

‘In the first place, what’s in the Main Hall basement are records that lost their Divinity.’

It was said that the records hid down there to prevent the contamination of Order.

The knowledge ‘contaminated francesco horeum’ found there couldn’t possibly be beneficial.

‘In cosmic horror, knowledge, enlightenment, and truth are synonyms for madness.’

Anyway, I’m so pissed off that I’m not scared anymore, so I guess I should be thankful for that.

‘…By the way, why is Casimir taking so long?’

She said she’d check the situation and come back.

Surely she hasn’t forgotten me?

I tried calling ‘Athanasuki’ and ‘Pandemonium’ quietly.

‘The chat window opens.’

It seems neither of them has suffered a Game Over.

I tried chatting with Athanasuki, but no answer came back.

I didn’t send anything to Pandemonium at all.

Since it might be an urgent situation.

‘…What if things outside are so chaotic that Casimir doesn’t even have the luxury to return to me?’

Should I stay inside after all?

After agonizing for a while, I decided to look outside through the window.

I was told not to leave the room, but I wasn’t told not to look out the window.

I haven’t heard any loud noises, so it seems this area might be safe….

‘Casimir?’

Looking out the window, I saw Casimir kneeling just a few steps away from the Apostle’s Hall.

I was bewildered.

‘How long has she been like that?’

It felt like 20 minutes had passed since I entered here.

What hit her?

‘Is it some kind of mental interference?’

She might have been hit by a ‘Distortion’ or a ‘Nightmare’.

I hesitated, then decided to go outside.

Since I have immunity to mental attacks.

It might be a situation where I have to help Casimir.

‘I can’t share my mental defense with others, but….’

Come to think of it, is Athanas safe?

He’ll be safe, right?

Because Athanas has a Sacred Relic.

I gripped the reliquary tightly and cautiously left the room.

My legs were shaking.

“Lady Casimir?”

I called her name from five steps away, but there was no answer.

I took one step closer.

“Lady Casimir, can you hear me?”

Casimir had her back to me, so I couldn’t see her face.

I stood in front of Casimir.

“Lady Casimir….”

‘I can’t see it.’

It looked as if only the face had been cut out of a photograph.

It was pitch black.

It looked as if the black crack that had been drawn on my arm earlier now covered her entire face.

‘…Did her face disappear?’

I cautiously reached out my left hand and felt Casimir’s face.

“Ack!”

Fuck!

I reflexively shook my hand.

‘A bug….’

A wriggling bug had tried to bite me.

My heart pounded.

‘The face is there.’

For a brief moment, I clearly felt the shape of her nose and cheeks.

And the wriggling grains covering them….

‘Fuck.’

Though invisible, Casimir’s face must be swarming with bugs.

I could guess where those maggots came from.

‘Casimir had replaced her eyes with maggots.’

That has now malfunctioned.

The ‘adult of ledea’ that was replacing the human body is reverting back into maggots.

Something has definitely gone wrong.

‘Contaminated adult of ledea….’

The adult cannot be modified at will.

Even the laboratory director, an apostle, found it impossible.

He had grumbled about why he couldn’t just add another arm.

‘But the House Lizard modified my arm.’

Is that why it’s a ‘contaminated’ adult?

Why is it contaminated?

Is it a problem with Columba? Or is all of Ledeia….

‘Fuck.’

Does it make sense for such a powerful god to be contaminated already?

Ledeia is almost the second strongest god in the Order.

‘Shouldn’t the System intervene in this?’

The House Lizard is a clear ‘error’.

If it’s a problem related to the House Lizard, shouldn’t the System step in and fix it?

“System!”

There was no response.

“System! Do your job! Fuck, this is the Tutorial! Emergency Rescue Device! Anything! Save me!”

[‘Please save me!’ When I pleaded like that, the Holy Knight said to me. ‘Even if you do not make such a request, I will never kill you.’]

‘Fuck.’

Why bring up Pepe’s memory?

Are you kidding me?

‘Fuck fuck fuck….’

At least the System is functioning.

The other players haven’t suffered a Game Over yet.

What can I do in this situation?

‘The only skill I have is Forced Persuasion.’

A question suddenly occurred to me.

Would Forced Persuasion work on Casimir in this state?

“…Lady Casimir, please listen to me.”

There was no answer.

Doesn’t the absence of an answer mean she cannot refute me?

“Lady Casimir. If you can hear me, please squeeze my hand.”

I placed my hand over Casimir’s, but there was no reaction.

‘Why isn’t it working?’

Casimir has a pulse.

It means she didn’t die because Ledeia’s Blessing vanished.

Then there must be another reason for this lack of response….

I suddenly noticed blood on the tips of Casimir’s fingers.

‘…Why is there blood here?’

When I rubbed it off, there were no wounds on her fingertips.

She had ‘poked’ something.

Enough to draw blood….

‘Where?’

The crack speaks.

The crack appears where the Blessing of Healing has been received.

If it were Casimir, the moment she recognized it, she would have shown the best possible reaction before her actions were halted.

‘Did she try to gouge out her eyes again?’

Or….

When I felt the part of the ‘head’ that I thought was the ear, blood stained my hand.

‘Crazy woman….’

She could have just burst her eardrums with a self-slap.

If she poked inside her ear and damaged her vestibular system, she might end up unable to even stand.

Does one become numb to damage once they get used to the Blessing of Healing? Because they can just fix it later?

‘No way.’

Casimir is from a heretic background.

She grew up in a place where the Blessing of Healing was not a given.

She must have seen many warriors who lost their skills forever due to minor injuries.

The moment she sensed an abnormality in the adult of ledea, she must have considered the possibility that she might never receive the Blessing of Healing again.

Despite that, she chose to completely damage her hearing.

‘To avoid hearing what?’

I wanted to ask, but Casimir cannot hear my words.

‘What on earth made Casimir act like this?’

I forced myself to swallow the lump in my throat.

I can’t do anything if I’m afraid just because I don’t know.

Right now, I must think only of what I’ve found out and what I can do.

‘…I can’t use Forced Persuasion if she’s in a state where she can’t hear.’

I brushed away a bug that tried to bite my fingertip.

‘Is it because it’s contaminated?’

Now it’s actually attacking people.

The ones on my arm were docile….

‘Ah.’

I remembered.

The person who can hear my words right now, the person who is ‘influenced’ by me.

‘Callister!’