Transmigrated As The Final Villain of a Death Game-Chapter 131: The Harper Citadel Arc [ 13 ]

"..."

I shared the quest with Clementine, and upon seeing what I saw... her expression soured greatly.

This whole situation spiraled out of control in less than a minute.

And while I wasn’t sure if the Vermillions were in on it or not... Vincent definitely was.

He was also probably the one who unlocked all these doors.

"We have 24 hours, Clementine," I spoke slowly.

"But the damage has already been done... Let’s kill everyone here and break out."

She nodded at me and pulled out her Soul Sewing Needle.

I didn’t feel the need to hold back either, as I took out every single one of my Clorafite Weapons, and after increasing their weight to several tons, I sent them hurtling at the disfigured demons, trying to destroy their cores.

But to my genuine surprise, the moment one of my weapons was about to pierce a demon, the demon’s core moved out of the way, and while I did a bit of damage... it all healed up in a fraction of a second.

And as if all hell broke loose, the demons growled, snarled, and dashed toward us.

Clementine and I reacted in kind.

I forcefully gripped the cores of the incoming demons with my Telekinesis, then burst them with lightning, causing several demons to fall in an instant and disintegrate.

Yet there were a select few demons who, even after I destroyed their cores, continued to move.

That baffled me, as neither this event nor demons being able to move without their cores had ever happened in the game.

But even so, those who I couldn’t kill right off the bat were finished off by Clementine as she stuck her Soul Sewing Needle into their necks, extracted their souls, mended them into weapons, and then used them to attack the others.

The back and forth lasted several minutes, as the number of demons was a little overwhelming, since each one of them was at least Viscount or Earl ranked.

On another note, the upside was that since these demons seemed to run on pure instinct, they couldn’t use their Gifts.

Only a few of these demons tossed some fireballs, but most of the time, those fireballs hit the other demons, and not us.

So in just a few minutes, blood, guts, and ash were scattered all throughout this underground dungeon as we finally finished off the remainder of the demons.

The smell was nothing short of terrible, so we didn’t stick around any longer and proceeded toward the staircase.

With a wave of my hand, the rocks and debris that had covered the staircase suddenly began to float back into their spots, revealing a basically flawless staircase, much like the one we climbed down.

"Amon?" Clementine called out. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

I turned my head slightly and noticed her worried expression.

Since I knew that not much could be done for the people who had already been killed... I decided to tell her all about the red crystals.

And as expected...

"We’re screwed."

"Yeah. That’s one way to look at it."

She lowered her head.

"Could we have stopped it?"

Before I could answer, a guilty expression appeared on her face as she met my eyes.

"Is it my fault...? Had we gone with your plan instead of mine, they wouldn’t have had any time to finish the ritual."

"..."

"It’s not your fault."

It really wasn’t.

We couldn’t have known what was happening down here.

And even if we did, the approach of gathering people and coming up with a solid plan...

I preferred it over just the two of us fighting everyone by ourselves.

I placed my hand on her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug.

Feeling her warmth, my mind was momentarily taken off the immediate danger.

But... I also realized just how well planned all of this was.

Kai told us about this underground area.

He made Vincent sprinkle in the lie that this issue was time-sensitive, so we’d feel urgency.

...He used Vincent’s lack of knowledge of the pill to bait us down here.

And among many other things, Kai predicted that we would go down first, so Vincent destroyed our escape route.

Honestly...

Dealing with such a person is troublesome.

Way too troublesome.

Even so, Clementine and I finally separated.

Her expression was one of determination.

Yet, judging by her rapid heartbeat and the faint insecurity in her eyes, I knew she wanted me to take the helm of this whole situation.

And so I’ll do just that.

"For now, our goal is to go upstairs and evaluate the damage done. Since shit has gone sideways, use your Gifts and kill any demon you see."

She nodded.

"What about the Holy Knights?"

"If they don’t hear from the citadel by tomorrow, then they’ll be here in two days. But by then, it’ll already be too late."

"And is there no way to call them?"

I shook my head.

If there were, half of the continent’s troubles would be solved.

But since they are a part of the Holy Order, they are basically slaves whose every movement is controlled and monitored.

Letting out a sigh, I stopped dawdling around and began making my way up the staircase alongside Clementine.

There were a few holes in the ground, which I simply stepped on, since they were merely illusions created by Vincent.

We climbed for several minutes, and only then did I begin to realize something.

This staircase was long.

It wasn’t this long.

So this is Vincent’s Mirage Gift?

A Gift that can also create an infinite loop?

It was a nice trick and all, but...

BOOOOOOOM!

A thunderclap resounded in the center of the staircase.

The energy that was previously missing from the staircase reappeared, and in that short moment, I used my Mystic Eyes to travel along the trace of energy, only to realize that Vincent had hidden the real staircase slightly to the left.

Basically, the staircase we were on now was the fake, and it had been the fake one since the moment I cleared the debris and began climbing it.

The extent of his Gift intrigued me.

But I also felt the need to re-evaluate his importance to me.

He would be a great addition to Clementine and my party.

However...

If he has no intention to cooperate, then what’s the point?

Since I haven’t made up my mind on what to do with him yet, I wanted to meet him one more time and then make my decision.

So with that in mind, I nodded at Clementine and stepped through the wall to the side, entering the real staircase and, within just a few minutes, finally arriving back at the top.

I stepped into the light and spotted that Fivien’s room seemed fine.

In fact, it was pretty much untouched.

But once I glanced at the window, I saw several bloodstains on it, and even more on a nearby rooftop.

Just then, I saw a gargoyle fly by with someone’s arm in its mouth.

A disgusted look appeared on my face, which was shared by Clementine, who stepped out behind me.

But before we could even catch a break, the door to Fivien’s room burst open as an incredibly fast bullet soared through the air right in between my brows.