Dark Fantasy’s Extra – Chapter 51

Author: Dawn

On my way to the chapel in Vinears, I stopped near a plaza with a well.

There were too many undead Beasts and creatures gathered there.

They filled the area in numbers I couldn’t even fathom where they came from.

Though the numbers were too burdensome to break through directly, fortunately this was exactly like what I remembered from the game.

In the game too, the plaza with the well was quite challenging to charge through head-on due to too many Beasts.

Of course, in the game you could retry if you died, but there are no retries here.

Here I need to take the hidden path around.

I carefully observed the buildings around.

Houses where Decra Orthodox Church believers lived likely had secret passages or storage rooms.

And I spotted a house with the church’s emblem that, though worn, was still recognizable.

There was a skeletal corpse leaning against the wall – in the game, if you tried to open the door it would scream and attract enemies from the plaza.

Not knowing if it would be the same here, I stood before the corpse with my Raven Dagger drawn.

Even with me right in front of it, it showed no signs of movement.

I struck down at its skull with the dagger.

“Giii…”

At that moment, what had appeared to be a corpse suddenly raised its arms with a small cry.

But the sound wasn’t very loud, and its arms only lifted halfway before losing strength and collapsing.

“Hmph.”

I pushed aside what was now truly a corpse and entered the house.

It was an ordinary one-room house.

The first thing that caught my eye was a large Orthodox Church symbol taking up one wall.

Though similar to the crosses commonly seen in churches from my previous life, this one had a skull hanging from the head portion and was covered in dark stains that looked like blood.

Evidence that madness had filled the entire village before all its residents disappeared.

I carefully pushed aside a crude bed that was nothing but bones, trying not to make noise.

Inserting my dagger between floor gaps and twisting while checking each spot, one section of flooring lifted up.

When I pulled it all the way up, sure enough a secret underground passage appeared.

The underground passage had floors and walls carved from stone, making it look much cleaner and sturdier than the village above ground.

Making something like this underground would have been impossible with just the pioneer villagers’ abilities.

Someone external, naturally Charmol’s subordinates, must have built it in the past, and these passages and storage rooms they provided would have been useful for the fanatics.

Though there wasn’t a single ray of light in the darkness, I could see well enough ahead with a hunter’s night vision.

If my memory is correct, this passage alone won’t take me directly to the chapel, but only as far as the small chapel.

Moreover, with the believers’ houses connected like a spider web, the underground structure is very complex.

Fortunately the complexity was the same for those who used these passages, so there are markers pointing the way to the small chapel, and I can recognize them too.

Small altars placed on the passage floor serve as signposts pointing toward the small chapel.

I followed the direction the altars indicated and carefully cracked open the exit door.

“…”

Fortunately the room with the exit had no Beasts, just dampness and darkness.

This must be the basement of the small chapel.

I climbed the stairs and slowly opened the door.

Through the tiny door gap, I could see one undead Beast.

I couldn’t tell if there were any more beyond that.

In Blue Paper Moon, opening the door was a trap that immediately triggered Beasts to charge, but there were no other Beasts.

But would it be the same here?

Unlike the living, undead naturally lack sounds and presence they should make.

So even with enhanced senses, it’s hard to detect undead that are completely still.

Yet I couldn’t retreat either.

I took a short deep breath to prepare, then opened the door.

At that moment an undead Beast immediately pounced at me, but I calmly ducked low.

The Beast went over me and tumbled down the stairs.

And fortunately no other Beasts were visible ahead.

I threw my Raven Dagger at the Beast crawling back up from the basement.

The dagger struck precisely between its eyes, and it stopped right there.

I retrieved my dagger again and examined the small chapel.

Unlike the chapel at the village center that was open to all residents, this place was strictly only for fanatics to enter.

And in this world, what such madmen do when gathered is generally all the same.

“…”

In the center of the small chapel was an altar large enough for two people to lie side by side.

Countless skulls were neatly stacked like a tower on top of the altar.

Though it’s been 300 years so there’s nothing left to rot in these white bones, I had the illusion that the smell of blood would assault my nose at any moment.

On the wall was a distorted version of the Decra Orthodox Church symbol, surrounded by saws, knives, hammers and such used in their rituals.

I kicked over the skull tower on the altar.

As skulls clattered down, a small necklace that had been hidden underneath appeared.

In Blue Paper Moon, that necklace was called the ‘Cursed Necklace of Faith’.

Though I don’t remember the exact numbers, it should reduce blessing effects on the wearer while increasing curse power.

Of course I have no plans to have Hilde use such a thing, nor would I use it myself.

Still, it’s worth taking.

In Blue Paper Moon, there was an NPC who would give a reward for bringing this.

Of course that person wasn’t particularly good either, but at least they didn’t antagonize the protagonist.

I should look for that NPC sometime when I have the chance.

I hope they’re in the same place in Hilde’s story as they were in Noah’s.

I put the necklace in a pouch made of special materials that block curses.

Though the curse contained in the necklace should be stable enough to be used as equipment, I didn’t particularly want to wear it around.

Then I went up to the second floor and looked outside through the window.

Though dark clouds made it hard to see clearly, it was probably between lunch and dinner time.

Undead Beasts were still staggering around the streets.

If I wait until night, there will be more of them, and they’ll become more active.

I went back downstairs and searched around until I found an abandoned fanatic’s robe.

It was beyond shabby, almost rotted, and would immediately tear to rags if moved roughly.

However, being lightly infused with this place’s curse would help with disguise.

I carefully put it on and left the small chapel.

The undead Beasts all turned their heads to look my way at the sound of the door opening.

My heart dropped for a moment, but fortunately nothing happened.

The undead Beasts went back to their paths.

Being careful not to tear the robe while walking took quite some time to reach the chapel, but I managed to arrive safely.

Opening the chapel door, I couldn’t help but grimace at the expected sight.

Skeletal remains of victims who must have been hung alive were mounted on the walls.

The long benches that would have been neatly arranged had been pushed to corners creating an open space, and the floor was completely covered in blackened, dried blood.

And fixed in the center of that space with chains and stakes was the massive corpse of a Beast with only bones and skin remaining.

This is the ‘Unholy Beast’, the boss of this Vinears village.

A powerful boss between mid-tier and high-tier, but it won’t move unless attacked first.

I came to this village first because of this characteristic of not having to fight the boss.

And being the boss room, other Beasts don’t approach here.

I closed the chapel door and carefully took off the fanatic’s robe.

Now then, let’s find that item…

“Why are you here?”

“…!?”

I startled violently at the voice that shouldn’t have been possible and looked that way.

The Unholy Beast was staring right at me.

“Wh-what…”

The Unholy Beast can talk?

It didn’t even make howling sounds in the game…

No, wait.

That voice…

“…Yorick?”

“Yes. We meet again, mad hunter.”

One of Yorick’s abilities goes beyond simply controlling corpses to sending his own consciousness into them.

That’s what it was when we met in the cave with Kenken too.

“Now then, answer me. What brings you here? All alone at that.”

“That’s what I want to ask. Why are you here?”

“How impudent, answering a question with a question.”

“Why should I answer when you won’t either?”

Let’s buy time to think while exchanging words appropriately.

What should I do here now?

Neither Yorick being here, nor him speaking through the powerful familiar that is the Unholy Beast, were things I expected.

Of course this is the domain of Yorick’s master Charmol, but it’s a place that’s already lost his interest.

“Hmph… I’ll tell you since you’ll find out anyway. I’m watching you. That shouldn’t be so strange, right?”

“Why…”

Of course logically speaking, what Yorick said isn’t strange.

Though Charmol is a cold and calculating behemoth, his obsession with Blanc was enough to overtly let emotions take precedence.

Then naturally his watchful eyes would turn to me too.

But in the original game, Yorick watching Noah who Blanc had chosen like this happened much later.

And that wasn’t even related to Blanc issues, but purely because Noah had become quite an obstacle to Charmol’s plans.

Moreover, there was never a single instance of being watched through the Unholy Beast.

No… thinking about it, Noah never came to Vinears after being watched by Charmol.

Originally this place had low level enemies appearing, and since there weren’t any particularly important items or events, there was no reason to come in the late game.

Maybe if Noah had come to Vinears after leveling up and progressing the story, he would have encountered an event like this too…

…Now’s not the time to think about the game!

“…You must know about Blanc too. My master desires that woman.”

“If he wants her so badly, go ahead and take her.”

“Oh, of course my master will take Blanc when the time comes. But now is not that time. Though I somewhat understand how you feel.”

“Oh really?”

I see a chance to buy a little more time.

“Seems like you don’t particularly like Blanc either?”

“That’s none of your business. Now quietly…”

“Why not? I’m the human that Blanc wants. As far as I’m concerned, I wish Charmol or whoever would just take her away.”

“Don’t speak his name so casually, you worthless being. How did you know that name in the first place?”

“Read it in a book.”