Regress and Eat

Red Mana is spreading out from the center of Angelica.

It erodes around the room with the altar and gradually creates a distinct shape.

The red energy intertwined and extended into the shape of a hand and arm. Four of them.

It was equal to the number of people except Angelica.

“What are you talking about? ”

Everyone looked at me curiously.

They can't see other people's mana.

I can't see the view I'm looking at right now.

“Ah!”

In the blink of an eye, Angelica's red arm comes over all of our heads. There was no room to resist.

At that moment.

Parker!

A system window appeared in front of my eyes.

- Skill [Successor's Eye (Rank: EX)] resists Skill [Dominating Hand (Rank: SSS)].

At the same time, I saw a spark between my red hand and my body approaching my head. The hand doesn't come any closer.

But the rest...!

“Mo, is everything okay? ”

Something cold like ice touched my spine.

My comrades couldn't resist the red hand like I did. The blood energy extending from Angelica grips the rest of these heads as if they were crushed.

And the faces of my colleagues, which were tightly hanging on their faces, were erased like lies. Like a doll, empty eyes. I froze, pausing my actions and words.

Some of the system messages were shared with me through [successor's eyes] because I came in contact with Angelica's skill effects. It was information about an unfamiliar skill Angelica was working on.

[Dominating Hand (Rank: SSS, Active)]

Skill Effect: Allows you to freely control surrounding objects for the duration of the skill cast. The add-on allows reading of memory recorded in the subject's brain, and allows for simple memory manipulation and implication injections. Engineered memory or infused implications are retained after the skill's casting time has elapsed.

Restrictions: 1) Limit trigger once a day 2) Limit manipulatable subjects to four 3) If the manipulated memory or implications differ significantly from the target's common sense, values, and depth desired goals, the corresponding memory and implications may be invalidated after skill termination. However, this penalty does not apply while skills are being maintained.

Mana Consumption: 5,000 at startup, then 500 per second

“Brainwashing · · · · Skills? ”

It is also a powerful species that has never been reported so far.

Angelica comes down from the altar with a nagging expression.

And then he looked around at us.

“Once again, you've done a great job. I couldn't have gone up to the 100th floor by myself without you. ”

The horse echoes in the room, creating a hollow echo.

“Well done. You're all tired, right? I get it, so now. ”

He spoke with an emotionless voice, as if sentenced.

“Everyone, die. ”

At that moment.

Everyone but me pulled out their weapons.

“Oh, no! No!”

My torn screams echoed through the room.

His associates bluntly push a black sword to his neck, a bone blade, and the edge of a pulsating wave.

And...

Puck!

Pupu!

Yikes!

The sound of tearing flesh. The sound of tearing. The sound of piercing.

The smell of dark blood filled the room.

Fluffy!

One by one, down on the ground.

You can see the Mana Core, which was beating in the hearts of your colleagues, evaporate.

My eyes felt hot. I didn't have the strength to stand anymore, so I sat down. Trembling like a game.

I barely make out my voice.

“Angelica · · ·? ”

And...

“Tsk.”

She kicks her tongue at the altar.

It was annoying, looking at me with the first look I saw today.

I have a cold voice in my ears.

“Not for you, either. It's bouncing again. Well, it didn't work a hundred times so far, but it can't just happen today. When I woke up, I thought maybe · · · If I knew this, I could bring one more person to the tower. A creature that could help in battle. ”

I couldn't understand.

“You tried it on me, too? Then you wouldn't have seen Mana when I was on the move! ”

“Of course I sneaked the pills, anesthetized them, and then did it while I was keeping my eyes open? Am I an idiot?"

Then he glanced at me as if he was concentrating his mind again.

The system window pops up.

- The skill [Successor's Eye (Rank: EX)] is more resistant to the skill [Dominating Hand (Rank: SSS)]!

Parker!

The red hand, which was trying to reach my head, eventually failed to achieve its goal and was scattered into the air like broken glass.

Red Mana explodes. The red debris falls to the ground, mixed in with the flowing red blood, and quickly vanishes.

As I move my eyes, I can see Nate's severed head.

My pupils opened and my gaze met.

Immediately, extreme despair and fury swirled in a vortex.

“What the--! ”

A rush of turbulence poured down my throat. You howl like an animal. You squeeze an old body and shout.

“What the hell! ”

Angelica draws a dagger in one hand and an egg in the other. I looked back at her. I see the remains of the rest of my comrades.

“I'm sick of people moving around behind me and playing with them. And · · · A year ago, too many people died than I expected and the plan went wrong. ”

Play · · · with ·?

I recalled the process of Angelica and our guild centering on her getting into position.

One of the reasons Angelica was called a saint is because Hunters who were enraged by infinite selfishness and the heads of corporations and governments were inspired and persuaded by her, walked the same path as Angelica, and became her strength.

What if it wasn't just persuasion?

Was it really an effect of mind manipulation and implication?

“Want me to tell you?”

Angelica opens her teeth and smiles.

She quietly opens the subspace. And then you put a dimensional egg into it.

“Ahh · · ·! ”

The meaning of her actions was clear.

“The egg of dimensional aid will not break. ”

Instead of breaking eggs, you secure a safe space?

The dizziness, panic, and extreme crisis swept through my mind.

“The Earth will be opened. ”

“· · Open? ”

“Yes, there's no disconnection. ”

It spins cold in the head, mixed with horror and conjecture.

She, who led us to the top 100 through the ‘Prophecy’, did not want to be cut off from the beginning.

And instead of [Future Prophecy], he was hiding a unique skill called [Dominating Hand].

Clarity and evidence.

I face a desperate conclusion.

“· · You didn't have [future predictions] skills in the first place. ”

“That's right."

[Future Prognosis] thought that Mana's passive skill was unnecessary, so the flow of Mana was invisible.

While in contact with the body, I felt that even with her prophecy, I could not see the system message because it was the same EX rating as my skills.

But it was all a lie. Angelica's skills were a kind of manipulation of people's minds. There was no unique skill called prophecy.

No, but how was she aware of events such as · · · SSS-grade dungeon collapse or the appearance of tower of choice?

Angelica found me without revealing my unique skills through the prophecy. How would I know that I have these skills without a prophecy?

There's another question.

“Why · · · Now? ”

What does she stand to gain by opening up the Earth?

Angelica replied:

“I told you, a year ago, more people died than I expected. That's it.”

The moment I said that, I read the frenzy in her eyes.

Angelica was not the person I imagined and loved from the beginning.

I moved my lips trembling.

“Mad monster. ”

“Speak freely. ”

Angelica comes at me with a murmur.

“Good. You're the only half hunter on the planet who doesn't listen to my skills, who's powerless." I am virtually no different from a civilian, except for my unique skills. ”

I drew a fine line as my lips split.

“Your skills have been useful, but you won't be needed for a month. Let's say goodbye from here. ”

The last greeting went down my throat pale.

“Hello.”

Puck!

As Angelica's dagger pierced my throat, I felt the darkness in front of my eyes, along with the rushing heat.

Away from the senses, from everything else.

After that, you are engulfed in the deep darkness. The hall on the 100th floor is no longer visible, and you fall into a daze of dizziness. I was dragged into a world filled with other things that replace my senses.

Darkness. Just darkness, like darkness.

How long has it been like that?

A strange golden light came from somewhere difficult to distinguish the distance from the direction and surrounded me.

I felt like my body was floating, and I flew away to somewhere at a meteor-like speed. I was merely drawn to the swirling force without even questioning it.

It flew for a long time, but this time it hit me with a strange grey energy. There was no pain, but I noticed a slight change in the route I was flying.

Falling, falling and falling · · · dense abyss covers me with rough texture.

And a dull ringing in my ears.

The noise that sounded like a hallucination gradually became clearer and put meaning into my brain.

Strange voice.

Someone shouts.

“Oh, get up now! ”

< Prolog (2) > End