Hero's Coffin Chapter 55

Chapter 55

He blinked repeatedly, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, and then chose to squeeze them shut. He hadn't seen it. He had never seen such a status window.

Then suddenly, he felt indignant.

"Ha, this is ridiculous. It's not even an individual quest, and there's no separate reward, so why give an order?"

He grumbled but opened his eyes again. He felt resentful towards the status window that had appeared just as he was falling into a deep sleep, and he was uncomfortable with the person he was told to visit, but in truth, he was a little curious. It seemed to be the first time a status window had given such an unexpected mission...

Just then, another blue window caught his eye.

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☆★Special mission to increase quest success rate★☆

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"What is this?"

He let out a dry laugh in bewilderment. Was this an attempt to persuade him, since they couldn't give a separate reward? By the way, the sense of decorating the status window was really terrible. The window that no one would likely click on was ridiculous. Had the operators never played a game before?

Snickering, he finally got up. Right, in games, it's usually better to follow such spontaneous missions. Moreover, since even the NPC was urging him, there must be something to it.

The place where Harenir was staying was the building with the best view of the Encroachment Zone. Even though he had been watching the Encroachment Zone all along while volunteering for night watch, he had chosen such a location even for a brief rest. He shook his head, feeling disgusted.

Still, he had hung cloth over the window now, perhaps intending to rest since everything had been dealt with. Putting aside his questions, he knocked on the door and only moved after hearing the invitation to enter.

"What's the matter?"

Harenir was sitting in a round chair. His voice was incredibly calm as he asked while buttoning the cuffs of his black shirt. His voice was so composed that he forgot to answer and looked around first.

Why is the smell of blood so strong?

His bewildered gaze caught the uniform hanging on the wall. The white uniform stained with blood. It must be because of that. The lamplight brightly illuminated the room, clearly showing the state of the uniform. It was torn, pierced, and in a terrible state.

He was newly amazed at Harenir, who now had not a single wound. He looked curiously at Harenir's cleaner appearance after changing clothes, when suddenly his gaze was caught by something between the collar. Something pitch black was engraved there... Wait, isn't that Dium script?

"You, there are letters below your neck..."

"I asked why you came."

But Harenir cut off his question as he stood up. When he raised his eyes to check again, no letters were visible below Harenir's neck. Was it an illusion? The shirt was pitch black too, so he wasn't sure. And the Dium's curse had only appeared on his arm...

Meanwhile, Harenir's eyes had grown colder. Feeling an unspoken order to leave if he had no reason to be there, he awkwardly opened his mouth.

"Well, the reason I came is..."

That's what I'm really curious about too.

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Connect.

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Just then, a blue status window appeared before his eyes. He gladly checked the content but immediately became puzzled. What am I supposed to connect? As he stood there bewildered, a new window popped up.

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Take Harenir's hand.

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Ugh, I don't want to do that.

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Do it.

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What?

He was so surprised that he almost let out a sound. He barely bit his lip to swallow his shock. Suddenly the status window was speaking informally to him? There had been instances of what seemed like insults appearing before, but this kind of coercion was a first.

Just a moment ago, it had been decorating the status window and making suggestions, but had its patience reached its limit? Or was it ordering him because it knew he had no choice but to follow now that he had come this far? He was bewildered, but even more than that, he felt dazed.

If it was urging him to this extent, was it an important matter? Still, should a player always follow the status window's instructions? Reluctantly, he approached Harenir and grasped his hand. He only awkwardly held one hand, barely.

Unexpectedly, Harenir didn't avoid it and just looked at him as if puzzled. As he was unfamiliarly feeling the warmth of the large hand.

Ping— A headache struck and his vision shook greatly.

This dizziness that made him feel nauseous in an instant was a symptom that came when using a skill. As if taking Harenir's hand had been a start button, black-purple energy spread around him.

Whoosh!

It happened in an instant. The energy that burst out like an explosion swirled around, binding his and Harenir's hands, and then instantly enveloped both their bodies. A complex purple magic circle was quickly drawn. As the number of magic circles increased, he suffered from pain that felt like his head would split. His vision distorted wildly.

He had never felt such a severe headache before, and he even felt as if his soul had been pushed out of his body and was watching this situation in an out-of-body state.

Whoosh! Harenir shook off his hand.

"What is this."

At that moment, his energy had completely drained and he staggered. Ugh, he felt nauseous and covered his mouth with his robe sleeve, panting.

Breathing was so difficult. It felt just like borrowing someone else's body to breathe, and even his heartbeat felt unfamiliar. Thump, thump, thump, the off-beat overlapping heartbeats felt strange, as if two hearts were beating together...

"Huh...?"

For a moment, he saw 'himself'. The image of Isaph that Harenir would likely see entered his mind. Oh, this... it's similar to the feeling of sharing the vision of a subjugated undead...

Click, as his vision was cut off as if switched off, bang! A noise erupted.

"What did you just do to me?"

Harenir tried to grab him. Charitably, it looked like he was going for his collar, honestly, it seemed he was trying to grab his neck, but just before that, he reflexively raised his hand. He had merely shrunk back in surprise, but black-purple energy spread from his fingertips like a curtain, barely blocking the space between him and Harenir.

He was startled by the sound of the colliding energies, and on the other hand, he was bewildered that he had barely blocked Harenir with this curtain. Even to him, the barrier looked flimsy due to having expended so much energy, yet it was blocking the hero? Was this perhaps related to that 'connection', or had he somehow weakened...

Bang! Another loud noise erupted. Harenir tried to reach through the curtain. He flinched and stepped back, but Harenir strode after him, and soon his back hit the wall. The barrier covering his front was on the verge of breaking.

The intense blue anger in Harenir's eyes was so fierce that just facing it felt like his whole body was being slashed. He was clearly sensing the suspicious aspects of this situation now.

One wrong move and I'll die.

His instinct warned him. This was no joke; sincerely, his life or death would be determined by his answer now. Goosebumps rose and he hurriedly read the status window that had appeared. Suddenly, a large amount of information appeared, and he gathered it as if being chased.

Meanwhile, Harenir warned coldly, as if grinding out his words.

"You'd better remove this pathetic thing right now—"

"Y-you're not in pain anymore, right!"

"...?"

"You, I know the curse you received from the priest was getting worse. It's a curse engraved on your soul, so you can't heal it with your ability. So I connected my soul to yours to heal your soul...!"

Harenir paused at his rushed words. Thinking this was his only chance, he quickly composed himself. Believing that Harenir wouldn't kill him only if he believed his words now, he straightened his posture and spoke with an air of having not a shred of falsehood.

"Now that I've shared the curse with you, your pain should have decreased. Just because our souls are connected doesn't mean I can control you at will, I only connected them to suppress the curse..."

"..."

"Try checking your body. After that, how about removing this collar?"

For a while now, a red light had been flickering around his neck. It was flashing so brightly that even without lowering his head, he could sense that Harenir was about to burst his skull. A red collar floating in the air was being tightly pulled by Harenir's hand.

If the information provided by the status window was true, Harenir's reaction was understandable. After the curse had been worsening for hours without disappearing, someone had come and suddenly connected their soul to his, so it was reasonable for him to suspect that he had taken advantage of his vulnerability. Especially since it was 'that' Isaph who had done it.

Of course, he felt anger towards the status window for not informing him before he felt the ominous killing intent with his whole body, wondering if it would have hurt to tell him in advance... While inwardly cursing the terrible game, he tried his best to act outwardly calm, and slowly Harenir lowered his gaze.

"...The curse really isn't appearing anymore."

Harenir unbuttoned his sleeve to check the spot where he had been cursed, and then felt around his own collar. The letters he had seen between Harenir's collar earlier must not have been an illusion. It was clear that the curse had spread there in an instant, intensifying the pain.