How could you describe the current situation? For now, I was sure it wasn't something like Horror or Frenzy. However, he was not in a normal state of mind either.
¡Ba-dump!
My heart felt constricted for some reason.
«Wh-what?! Are you thinking of hitting us with that one...?!»
«Gahuin, shut up. I'm trying to think».
I felt like a filter had been removed from my mind. Intrusive thoughts continued to bombard me, escaping my mouth in the form of words before I could contain them.
«I'm sorry, Erwen», I said softly. «I didn't mean to scare you».
«No problem! I haven't been scared».
«...Of course.»
The moment I thought I should apologize, the words came out before I made the conscious decision to speak. Why was this happening?
It's probably a field effect.
Although it was not known exactly what had affected us, it was very likely that it was a type of mental debuff.
«And it's going to get stronger as time goes by.»
Hmm, that was probably it.
I was fine when I got here. My mental state had since degraded during the time we spent speaking at the starting point.
«And the same thing happens to this grandfather too», I told myself again.
Gahuin did a double take. «Grandpa?»
«Oh, sorry. I shouldn't have said that out loud».
«What's going through your head? Why did you suddenly hit your head with your own hammer? And those things you keep saying...»
Ah, so annoying. «I'll tell you, so shut up».
I resisted the urge to hit him on the head with the hammer before continuing, but I barely held back, using all my patience.
«Something's wrong with my head», I explained. «I constantly have impulses, and they get stronger as time goes by».
«With impulses... what do you mean?».
«No paran de cambiar».
«At least you could tell us an example-».
«I feel like I want to hit you on the head right now».
Gahuin was immediately scared and took a few steps back, stopping when he seemed to notice something. «Then the reason you hit your head on the hammer...!».
«That's right. I felt like maybe it would get better». Honestly, the method worked. My mind went blank with shock, and it gave me a moment to look at myself again. «But it seems like you also have a problem in your head».
«...Are you talking about me?»
Gahuin reacted as if he were completely innocent, but I was almost sure that he had a problem too.
Although he was a bit of a hard-headed old man, he was not someone who crossed the line like that. Even when we had that disagreement in the past, he came to a logical and decent conclusion for himself, and then turned to me to apologize.
«Erwen, it seems like you're pretty normal...» I watched out loud. «So you tell me. Does that grandfather seem normal to you right now?».
«No... Something's not right».
«There you have it, like she said».
Erwen hesitated and then added: «To be precise, I think there has somehow been a change in his emotional state».
With Erwen backing my opinion, Gahuin could do nothing but accept the assessment. Still, he protested: «But it's not to the point of causing problems. I have no impulse to hit people like the baron».
It was good to hear it. But if he kept reacting like that and raising his voice, it wasn't going to be of any help.
«In any case, we can be sure that at least two of us present have a problem». I turned to the other party members. «Count, archbishop. And you two?»
They confirmed that although it would be difficult to say that they were normal, their condition was not bad enough to show externally.
«Hmm, so it's just a difference in spiritual ability?» i reflected.
The village chief was a monster who had lived for thousands of years, and the archbishop was a devout member of the clergy. It wouldn't be strange if his spiritual abilities were superior to mine.
Or perhaps the strength of the disadvantage differs depending on the role.
The evidence supporting that hypothesis was Erwen. Since she had received the role of witch, she was the only one who was not affected by the disadvantage.
Talking to myself, I said: «We'll have to move quickly».
«Fast?» Gahuin intervened again for some reason. «Are you saying we shouldn't try to fix this problem and just move on?»
«Yeah.» It wasn't like we had anything else we could be doing. Since we weren't going to get better just by taking a break, get our move seriously the-
«I really can't believe you! What are you going to do if we continue and one of us loses our minds and attacks someone?!»
«Don't worry. I have a solution for that». I didn't even need to test my theory.
«Wait... why are you picking up your hammer...?»
Ah, #eso?
«Since you're raising your voice, it seems like the problem with your head is getting worse... Oh, you're quiet again. I guess your mind came back».
The hammer could control people.
***
One day, two days, three days, four days...
We continue along the path towards the canyon. Unlike the fifth floor Great Demon Realm, the monsters here were at least rank four or higher, but the battles themselves were not too difficult. If we suffered any injury, our unlimited reserve of divine power could heal us.
¡Shocks!
My blows as a mercenary were lethal even to high-ranking monsters.
Slash!
There was also nothing to say about the village chief's elegant use of aura.
Adding Gahuin's ancient magic and Erwen's ability to enchant monsters and turn them into her servants, the battles were quite easy.
Well, that was just for battles.
[Control decreases.]
As we continued down the canyon path toward what looked like purgatory, we didn't say a single word. It was a rule we had established yesterday. We were prohibited from talking about anything that was not directly related to the cleanliness of the Chapter.
There was a saying that «every word you say is a seed». In other words, if no words were said, there was no chance of problems arising.
«How long are we going to maintain this farce?»
But with how big the world was, there had to be at least one person who wasn't satisfied with the deal... not that it was a big problem to deal with.
«Mr. Baron! I don't think doing something like that is...»
I breathed a high-pitched, hissing sigh as I raised the hammer with a frown, and the magician came to his senses as if he had finally come to.
«I'm sorry. I overreacted because of this damn curse... I'm so sorry. I will not do it again...»
«This will be your last warning».
That calmed him down for a second. «Understood. I'll be careful».
Maybe because of the beating I gave him yesterday, the speed at which his mind was returning to him was faster now. However, the aggressive words ended up escaping my mouth as well.
«Don't just be careful, do it right. Is it so hard to just shut up and walk?»
«Um... Sir...?»
After a moment, I said: «I exaggerated too. I'm going to shut my mouth now».
Hah, this was the reason we forbade talking. With how impulsive and sensitive everyone was at the time, eliminating all stimuli was our top priority.
I'm going to lose it.
I was going crazy.
My aggressiveness would escape if I lost concentration even for a moment. It made me wonder how the village chief and the archbishop could be so calm. Even if he could understand that the village chief could do it, the archbishop also did not seem like a mentally stable individual.
«Lord! It's that flower!»
«It was my turn this time, really?»
The moment Erwen pointed to a spot, I ran quickly and picked up the flower blooming on the edge of the cliff and put it in my mouth.
The reason was simple.
[Control increases slightly].
Consuming this flower helped alleviate the mental debacle we were experiencing.
Furthermore, it was I who discovered this fact. I found it suspicious how I kept seeing her from time to time, so I gave her to Gahuin to eat.
«Sir, are you okay?»
«Thank you for your words», I said, deliberately taking it easy, »but try not to talk to me now. I can't take anything positive in my current state».
«Ah... sorry».
Thinking about it, Erwen was also quite surprising. Before erasing his last essence, this is how he would have felt in every waking moment.
«Hey? Everyone, wait a second!» Gahuin screamed and stopped us. «Down! Can you hear that below us?»
«Now you're hallucinating too...» I let out a sigh.
However, the village chief stopped me. «Mr. Baron, put down your hammer for a moment. Sir Versilus is telling the truth».
What...? Did you really hear anything?
I looked at Erwen for confirmation, but she just shook her head. It seemed like he wasn't able to hear anything because his stats had decreased so much.
«Focus. You should be able to hear it too, Your Honor».
Listening to the village chief, I closed my eyes and concentrated, and indeed there was a faint sound floating in the wind.
[Over here...]
Something was calling me like whispering.
«We have finally found something».
It might have scared someone else, but for me, this was very welcoming. He had already suffered too many days here. I wanted to delete this Chapter now and get out of here.
«What should we do?»
«It's obvious», I said. «We should go see what it is».
Gahuin did not object this time. That grandfather was probably also looking forward to this Chapter ending as quickly as possible.
«Seguidme».
As the pace increased, the sound coming from below became clearer.
[Good...]
[Come here...]
[What a beautiful soul you have.]
I didn't like that we had to keep moving forward as if possessed, listening to those creepy words, but it couldn't be helped. If that were a deputy boss or the real boss, we would need to defeat him to do anything else-.
«By the way, Mr. Baron...»
At that moment, someone called me.
«Have you ever thought about serving more than just the spirit of your ancestors?»
Surprisingly, this time it was the archbishop who spoke, not Gahuin.
I couldn't help but laugh. I wondered how he had been able to hold up so well until now, but it seemed like this old man was also reaching his limit.
«Trying to evangelize a barbarian... You understand how rude that is, right?». When he didn't respond, I added: «But given the circumstances, you don't have to make excuses. I didn't get that angry either».
Since he was doing well until now, I tried to get him off my back without giving it much importance. However, as I did so, the archbishop just stared at me, his mocking smile.
Maybe that's why...
I arrived too late to notice the change.
We cart ...
I couldn't speak. I felt like something was halfway in my mouth and preventing the sound from coming out.
When I looked around to see how the others were doing, I realized I wasn't the only one who had that problem.
The surroundings remained silent. Too much.
Not just because the group couldn't speak anymore. No, even the sound of breathing, the sound of footsteps. Even the winds that had been blowing all this time.
[Over here...]
It was complete silence except for that unknown voice.
¡Boom! ¡Boom! ¡Boom!
The moment I realized this fact, a silent song began to accompany the tapping I could hear under my feet. The vibrations coming from under the cliff were getting stronger.
The other members of the group stood paralyzed, speechless, while their mouths opened and closed without making a sound. They seemed to be saying something, but I couldn't hear them.
I turned, approached the edge of the cliff and looked down.
¡Pum!
An infinite darkness stretched into the afterlife. I still couldn't see anything.
¡Bum!
But very soon, it appeared from the darkness, looking at me with its terrifying eyes as I climbed the cliff face.
Eh…
As soon as I found my eyes with him, my body froze like stone. I couldn't understand it.
¡Boom!
Before entering this place...
¡Boom!
The magicians who investigated the portal said that there would be a crack beyond the portal...
[You have entered the Cancellation area. All essence abilities are sealed.]
[Gigantization has been cancelled.]
So why was a Floor Lord here?