Ensnared by invisible hands, rising like phantoms from the undulating purple magic circle, I was pulled down relentlessly. An unseen force continued to drag me to the ground, shrouding my vision in complete darkness. Even though I was unable to see anything, the chilling sensation of spectral hands crawling on my body was undeniably present.
I had been trying to move my body, but it felt like I was restricted by some unknown force. I tried to use some spells as well, but nothing happened no matter how much I focused.
Thinking that this might be some forced event, I had no choice but to follow through until the end.
But just when I came to that realization, I found myself falling from the sky. The hands grabbing me had disappeared and I was left alone, falling towards the flat roof on top of some building in Proteus.
The thought of destroying the building crossed my mind for a bit, but I held back as I recalled there were still NPC's hiding inside. In a hurry, I used [Telekinesis] to slow down my descent. After a few seconds, I managed to prevent myself from turning myself into a flesh pancake and gently landed on the flat surface.
"...that was nerve wracking..."
As I heaved a deep sigh, I slowly looked around the area... until my eyes landed on a unique object hovering in the air.
The peculiar object... or rather, the bizarre person was none other than Be-Li, although his form grotesquely twisted and skewed unlike the Bailey I had seen before or his initial transformation. He continued to float ethereally in the air, as if trying to become the grim representation of the essence of chaos. His horribly distorted body sent an uneasy chill down my spine as I looked at him, my mind telling me that it was not how a human body should look like.
"...well, I guess there IS something that I could do..."
With my body now freed and no longer restricted from using magic, I attempted to cast [Fireball] and direct it at (what possibly could be) Be-Li's face. But to my surprise, I could not even form a single ball of fire. I tried using other spells as well and confirmed that my Mana was dropping, but I could not see anything I cast appeared anywhere around me.
Thinking that my magic might have been blocked in a weird way, I tried to take out the Warlord's Spear from my inventory. But to my surprise once again, I could not open or even access my inventory. Feeling that something was obviously happening at the moment, I tried to open the system message... but I could not even open the system interface.
"...so, I am being isolated from everything, huh?"
I spoke with a slightly louder voice on purpose as I tried to get Be-Li's attention. But Be-Li did not react or even say anything in response. I tried to approach him physically, but there seemed to be some kind of barrier preventing me from getting closer to him.
As I slowly traced along the wall, I finally realized that I was not only restricted from using magic and isolated from the system, but also confined within the transparent barrier around the rooftop's area.
[You are now a hostage]
"...yeah, that confirmation should have appeared much earlier."
I thought the appearance of the system window might have enabled me to open my system settings, but I was still unable to do that. I could not even attempt to log out and leave the game, so I was forced to do nothing but wait in this empty space.
Left unable to do anything, I could only sit down on the roof as I watched my surroundings... until my sight fell on the frozen mayor's house in the distance.
"...a pitiful action."
All of a sudden, a voice could be heard from my side... coming from Be-Li who was suspended in the air. (What seemed to be) his face continued to blur and distort abnormally, but what looked like a pair of eyes could be seen staring directly at me.
"...I have no idea how you found out about my Altar and managed to stop it, but there is nothing you can do anymore." Be-Li continued to speak, (what seemed to be) his mouth distorting into a bizarre smile. "With the system confining and forbidding you from doing anything, there is nothing you can't do."
"...Altar? What is that?"
"And you might have noticed it, but there are still two more altars that needed to be closed."
...I had no idea whether Be-Li ignored me just now or he could not hear what I just asked. And I also did not know whether he really thought I was rendered harmless by the system or he was just bored after floating alone for so long, as he began to talk about his plans to me.
"You may have toppled the narcissistic symbol of foolishness in the Northwest, but you still have not taken down the symbol of poverty at the North and the arrogance and antagonistic statue in the South. And with the monsters guarding those spots, it will be impossible for anyone to even attempt to stop my plans!"
"...and what are those plans, exactly?"
"I have to admit, you are much stronger than expected. Much, much more compared to most Adventurers I had seen before. You were the only one that had a chance to thwart my plan."
"...uh huh... I guess you can't hear me."
"But now that you are stuck here with no way out, I only need to make sure that every single Adventurers in here died... so I can finish my tribute to @#$%^@#^$!@#$"
...all of a sudden, (what was supposed to be) his face began to distort terribly, along with his voice that changed to incoherent screeches, which became inaudible to me. His distorted mouth continued to open and close as if he was still talking amidst all the screeches, but I still could not hear anything even when I tried to pay attention to his mouth.
Heaving a sigh as I tried to endure the screeches, I tried to look around the town from my current position, searching for the 'Altars' that he mentioned.
"...what was it that he said? Symbol of poverty in the north, and... arrogance and antagonistic in the south...?"
Considering the frozen building in the distance was the mayor's house and the 'symbol of foolishness', I looked around the area to find whatever it was that signified poverty.
But no matter where I looked, I could not find any building that looked unique there. All I could see was the decrepit buildings that looked like they looked poorly made and would easily collapse with a strong push.
"...he's not telling me to burn the whole slums down to the ground, is he?"
Shaking my head at that thought, I turned my attention to the opposite side, which should be the area where the entrance of the town was. But aside from the empty street and the arch at the entrance, there was nothing aside from a bunch of monsters loitering around in the area.
He did say that there would be monsters guarding the Altar, but I could not find anything that could possibly be the Altar that he mentioned.
"...well, it's not like there's anything I can do." I heaved a sigh before looking at the sky above me. "I am stuck here with no way out. Even if I wanted to leave, the walls that surrounded me from all directions..."
...all of a sudden, the roof began to shake under me. Whether because this building was taller than normal or that the tremor was strong enough to shake the whole building, I ended up losing my balance and hitting my head hard against the surface.
"...oww..."
[You had a terrible fall. You received 5 Damage]
[HP: 253↓/258]
"...huh..."
After reading the notification from the system, a certain thought crossed my mind. The fact that it even crossed my mind made me question my own sanity, but I decided to go ahead with this crazy idea.
And with that, I grabbed my own throat with both hands, positioned my arms nicely... and crushed my own throat.
In the next moment, I found myself standing in the black space, standing in front of a familiar system notification with the words [You Have Died] written there.
"......thank goodness I did not have to experience how it feels to die by crushed neck..."
As I said that... I felt an incredible sense of relief washing over me.
Miriande Gloralis – Character Information
Name: Regias Vitoru
Class: Mage
Level: 16
[XP to Level Up: 850]
[HP: 0/258]
[MP: 0/244]
[Attack: 102+50]
[Defense: 25+5]
