A small coral bush stands like a tombstone. Expanding diabolical error effect. I have to find a solution. The [Leviathan] is right.
I go home and throw myself on the bed.
I turn my head towards the bare wall and listen to the drafts. I open my hand feebly.
“Come. Open.”
The grimoire appears and the miasmas tell me I have notifications.
I get up, sit on the edge of the bed, and check.
I have [+1] in the [lv] and decide to bite my finger and drip blood onto the page.
I check the stats.
[lv: 70] [xp: 1089722]
[name: N]
[type: Eldritch E.]
[class: Bakenekro]
[priority: Magic]
[job: Empress]
[hp: 24771]
[s: 2][c: 4]―[d: 7][i: 7][a: 1]
[ap: 47721]
[c: 4][i: 7]―[d: 7][s: 2][a: 1]
[ip: 72471]
[d: 7][s: 2]―[c: 4][i: 7][a: 1]
[?]
[…][…]―[…][…][…]
Swap [c] and [i] in the [ip] section to go from [ip: 72471] to [ip: 72741].
For the rest nothing new.
I check the [skills].
[skill]:
[mastery + requires]
[Immortality]
[emergency skill]
[Necromancy]
[7] + [Magic]
[Necrohound]
[3] + [Necromancy]
… + [Shadow wall]
[Necrolich]
[1] + [Necrohound]
… + [compatible corpse]
[Judgment]
[8] + [Empress]
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[Dungeon path]
[5] + [Eldritch Entity]
[Shadow wall]
[3] + [Dungeon path]
… + [Magic]
… + [ip]
… + [Bakenekro]
[Domestic skills]
[4] + [hp]
… + [compatible class]
[Scan]
[3] + [ap]
[Poisonous bite]
[2] + [Bakenekro]
[Poison cloud]
[3] + [Necromancy]
… + [Bakenekro]
[Will-o'-the-wisp]
[5] + [Magic]
… + [Bakenekro]
[Blue jet]
[2] + [Will-o'-the-wisp]
… + [Necromancy]
Sure, I've come a long way.
I close the grimoire and look at my dangling feet. There is still one thing I don't understand. I'll rephrase and explain myself but I hope I'm wrong.
Sigh.
Ci-cin.
I get out of bed and go to the living room.
[Necromancy]
Mircalla rises from the ashes. She has the same look as last time. I lower my head because I can't hold it up.
“Mircalla… I'm sorry about your sword.”
Nobody talks. The windows are shaking and I can't find words to add.
“The sword is alive.”
I raise my head and shake my ears. I see her green braids swinging in the drafts.
“Huh?”
“The Devil's magical attack has overloaded its capacity, but no magic can eliminate it.”
Her gaze is not full of contempt but it doesn't have Sylviette's inexpressiveness either. I can't interpret it.
“Go get it. A living weapon must not be without a master.”
I nod. Mircalla moves her mouth to say something, then thinks better of it and nods.
“Thank you.”
“Let me go back to my sleep.”
“Yes, sorry.”
I try to dispel the spell and she speaks. “My people, my world… is it still there?”
I smile at her. “Only the Devil is no longer there.”
“Then it was worth it. I do not regret anything.”
She disappears and the last grains are dispersed by the drafts.
♦
Alone, I walk into the cathedral. I know the dungeon repairs itself, but I'm still surprised.
I was convinced I would still find ruins.
I didn't miss the infernal heat.
I wipe my forehead with my arm and brush away the stuck-on hair.
The lava stream in the central transept is the same as that vault.
Incomprehensible mumblings echo in the cathedral.
It doesn't take long to find it. Spread like a web of teeth, claws, and tentacles, the Atmosphere-eater envelops columns and upper balconies.
The hilt is near the altar and the sword breathes. Its eyes fixed on me.
“You missed me?”
I stop in front of the altar.
I wait a few moments but nothing happens.
I've become so used to fighting that I don't expect anything different. I'm surprised that the sword doesn't react in the slightest.
Maybe I have become a bad person, who has lost trust in other living beings…
…but I shouldn't.
I must not be influenced like this by the enemies of the System.
Ci-cin.
I hold out my hand. I have to stand on tiptoe to reach the hilt and grab it.
The sword retracts into a black blade instantly and falls from the weight, embedding itself in the altar.
“NGH! NGHHH!”
I pull with both arms, wrap my tail around it, and push with one foot resting against the altar.
I draw my sword and fall backward.
“Ah! What a pain!”
I sit and admire the black blade illuminated by the lava light.
In the end, Atmosphere-eater is an object. But also, a living being.
How should I behave? Is it right to treat it only as an object? I don't know, it's hard to say.
Living objects do not fall under my dominion. Probably because they break instead of dying, but it's really hard to figure that out.
Bluish streaks, similar to mold stains, appeared on the flat of the blade.
[Scan]
[Atmosphere-eater]
[type: Living-Object]
[status: 998/999] [endurance: 98/100]
[damage: 945] [critical: Swallow, Dismember]
[Atmosphere-eater] is a black sword composed of living metal of the [Eldritch Entity] type. It feeds on magic and living beings and can change its shape as needed. The nourishment regenerates it and buffs its statistics.
[ability 1] [Atmosphere-eater] absorbs surrounding magical energy. It can dispel any spell of [mastery: 7] or lower.
[ability 2] [Atmosphere-eater] can expand and reveal multiple mouths to feed on living beings of [lv: 3] or lower, or creatures with [Deceased].
[ability 3] [Atmosphere-eater] in the 24 hours following a meal can cast the spells known by the eaten creature.
[ability 4] [???] + [requires: [Necromancy: 8 or more]]
[ability 5] [???] – [???: [???]]
Hmm… it is stronger than before and a new [ability 5] has appeared. Incomprehensible.
It's difficult to indicate what the stains are, now I fear that everything is the work of the [Devil]'s influence. Better not to think about it.
Better go home.
“Come on, hungry sword.”