Volume 1 Chapter 77: The Conclusion the of Entrance Exploration
[Author's Note: For bonus chapters, the goal is
25 Power Stones
50 Power Stones
Every Week]
Volume 1 Chapter 77: The Conclusion the of Entrance Exploration
Even though it was a done deal that she would die here anytime soon, Pepper still didn't give up just like that and tried to dodge the flying sword's attack.
Surprisingly, Pepper managed to dodge the flying sword's attack. However, in doing so, the flying sword that was still stuck in her, with Pepper's sudden movements, caused the sword to damage her heart a bit since it was too close when it got stuck.
As a result of that damage to her heart, her remaining 6 HP got further reduced in half, causing her to have a badly bleeding status ailment. This was downgraded to a normal bleeding status ailment that would deal 1 HP per second for a whole minute as a Damage over Time (DoT) effect. Upon receiving the bleeding status ailment, she knew that it would surely kill her this time, for sure.
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Three seconds later, Pepper's HP bottomed out, and as Pepper's HP hit 0, her body started to turn into particles. But until the end, Pepper still tried to stop the flying sword from pulling itself out. Until the end, when Pepper's whole body turned into particles and started to dissipate in the air.
Since nothing was holding the flying sword anymore, it fell to the ground. After a second or two, the flying sword started to float up and hover before flying towards Eve.
Eve, who was in the middle of flying toward the exit, suddenly felt the loss of her telepathic connection with Pepper.
Knowing that Pepper had died, Eve sped up, aware that two flying swords would now be trying to catch up to her.
Being entangled with the two flying swords again would surely mean the end for her.
However, nothing of that sort happened; the two flying swords didn't manage to catch up to Eve because she had plenty of time to increase the gap between herself and the two flying swords. Pepper also managed to delay the two flying swords for a bit.
Carmilla, who was near the exit, was looking at the hemisphere she had picked up from the top of the pedestal.
Suddenly, she felt the loss of one of her connections. Startled by this loss, Carmilla hurriedly opened the status screens of both Eve and Pepper. On Eve's status screen, she saw that her HP was below half, but when she opened Pepper's status screen, instead of the normal blue window panel she usually saw while accessing status screens, inventories, and more…"
A gray status screen popped up, and checking Pepper's HP column, she saw it displayed as 0/60 HP.
But that wasn't the only strange thing that caught Carmilla's attention. In the middle of Pepper's status screen, there was a panel that have a slowly ticking countdown: [1:28:15].
Seeing the countdown, Carmilla assumed that once it reached [00:00:00], she should be able to re-summon Pepper again.
After realizing that Eve was low on HP and Pepper was the one who had died, Carmilla closed both the status screens of Eve and Pepper.
Not long after, Eve arrived, and by the time she got there, Carmilla had already placed the hemisphere back in her inventory.
As soon as Eve landed in front of Carmilla, she canceled her bat transformation and quickly apologized.
Eve: "I'm sorry, Master Pepper..."
But before Eve could say more, Carmilla suddenly interrupted her by saying,
Carmilla: "It's fine, Eve. It's not your fault. Can you tell me what happened?"
After hearing that, Eve began recounting to Carmilla what had happened after she obtained the hemisphere and then left.
Hearing what happened after she left from Pepper, Carmilla tried to console Eve.
Carmilla: "It's not your fault that Pepper died. Pepper will be revived after an hour and 30 minutes in tip-top shape."
Eve: "But still, Master..."
Eve tried to say more, but Carmilla cut her off by saying.
Carmilla: "It's okay, Eve. Just be careful next time. I saw the notification; Pepper didn't have any other choice back there with only 6 HP left. She would have gotten a status ailment if the flying sword managed to free itself or damaged her heart on the inside. Ironically, the damage to her heart was what killed Pepper. With the damage to her heart, her HP was reduced in half, and then getting a status ailment left Pepper with no way out. Even if you had stayed back there, you wouldn't have changed the outcome. Pepper would still have died unless we had a healing skill."
After hearing all of that, Eve lowered her head. She realized that Carmilla was right; even if she had stayed back there, she could have only delayed the inevitable, and it would have been harder for her to leave when Pepper died. She might have even joined Pepper with two improved flying swords attacking her at the same time.
Seeing that Eve wasn't going to say anything more, Carmilla continued to speak.
Carmilla: "Let's leave here, Eve. The two flying swords or the two statues might pull something unexpected again, just like last time."
After saying that, Carmilla transformed into a bat and entered the exit, with Eve following suit.
Several transformations later, the two of them finally exited the very long passageway. Upon reaching the entrance, Carmilla and Eve both canceled their bat transformations at the same time. Unlike the other entrances, Carmilla didn't mark this entrance upon completion since this was the last entrance to explore, and there was no need to mark it.
Carmilla: "We're here."
Carmilla attempted to open the log-out menu again. However, she remembered that when she had tried to log out while her two clones were engaged in combat with the two flying swords, the log-out button had been inaccessible. When she pressed it, a message had appeared, stating that she or her clones needed not to deal damage or take damage for 5 seconds before being able to access the log-out button.
Carmilla: "I will be leaving now since I can't wait for Pepper's respawn countdown timer to end. You will be alone here until I come back and re-summon Pepper. So, for the time being, you can pass the time by leveling our level 2 skills to level 3, re-explore the other entrances, or simply lay down and sleep the whole time I'm out."
Eve: "I will level up the level 2 skills to level 3 and perhaps re-explore the other entrances for anything we might have missed. Goodbye, Master. See you tomorrow."
Carmilla waved goodbye before pressing the log-out button, successfully logging out of the game.
After pressing the log-out button, her game avatar started to turn into particles before disappearing, signifying her exit from the game.
Now that Carmilla was gone, Eve was the only being left in the cave system. However, whether she was truly alone or not will remained unknown, leaving an air of uncertainty in the dimly lit caverns.