NOVEL NEXT Chapter 992
<992 – Restored Purity (6)>
A single ghost was wandering around the cafeteria.
The ghost called “Fear of Activation.”
Every resurrector from the Tomb of the Sword dared not challenge this ghost and knelt down.
And finally, the moment had come.
It was the turn of the Ghost Warlord, Roseblim.
“Guys… you’re really going to help me, right?”
Roseblim asked in a shaky voice, unsure if they could actually be of any help.
“I can’t forfeit…! Facing Sword Saint Reinhardt is scarier than this!”
“Cooking Oknodie is right. Even this coward musters up the courage like this, so we can’t just back down. Right, Sister Sia?”
“…Yeah. We can’t run away with the enemy in front of us. A real woman… no, a true warrior would never do that.”
As Sing declared to be a true warrior, Jiang and Cooking Oknodie felt a surge of confidence, peeking out from either side of Sing’s legs.
Sing didn’t even complain about being the first one in line to be dragged in when the Gate of the Netherworld opened.
Cooking Oknodie’s sword mastery was higher than theirs, but they had a natural cowardice.
Jiang was a small, younger kid than themselves.
With a smaller chest, less feminine curves, and lower femininity.
It felt natural for the more mature ones to protect everyone here.
“I believe in you, Sister Sia.”
“Cooking Oknodie is relying on you too, Sister Sia…!”
In truth, they only blindly followed because they loved calling her ‘sister.’
As Sia nodded, indicating she was ready, Roseblim also tried hard to hide her anxiety and drew a card.
━━━
[Location] Warehouse
Activation condition – Overcome <Trial of the Card: Attack of the Warehouse Keeper>.
Activation failure penalty – Becomes the warehouse’s clutter.
━━━
A new dimensional gate opened.
Everyone who had jumped to conclusions, thinking every door led to the Netherworld, momentarily thought they should’ve taken on the challenge rather than being dragged off to the Netherworld… and such mixed feelings crossed through them right after.
They realized that the door kept growing and soon completely covered the ceiling of the cafeteria.
“Crazy.”
“What the hell is that?”
“That’s… neither the Netherworld nor the Material Plane. It’s more like ‘High Plane’ with even higher energy than the Middle Realm!”
An immense energy swirled in the High Plane.
But not a single person showed any envy.
The reason the dimensional gate was so enormous was simple.
It was because the one trying to pass through it was massive.
So how huge must the thing emerging from the dimensional gate be when the door was big enough to fill the ceiling of a cafeteria that could comfortably host hundreds of people feasting?
The answer revealed itself.
Initially, everyone thought it was the wall of the High Plane.
It was the hand of a giant.
As the hand momentarily retreated beyond the dimensional gate.
Everyone saw it.
On the other side of the High Plane, the remains of countless living beings, trapped.
Furniture. Frames. Dining Tables.
Entities distorted into the shapes of the objects.
Their forms were foul byproducts of the Chairman’s hobby of ‘preserving’ souls.
And that enormous hand, capable of making it all happen, was aggressively pushing into the cafeteria from beyond the dimensional gate.
“I don’t want this! Stay away!”
Roseblim panicked and unleashed her power.
The layers of sword tips scattered like flower petals against the giant’s hand, scraping its skin.
The first strike merely bounced back, but the next attack dug in just a little more, and so on, Roseblim’s swordsmanship finally made a scratch.
Drip.
Blood flowed from the giant’s finger.
As Roseblim sighed in relief, Sing rushed to unleash a sword dance above her head.
Kagakagak!
“Eek!”
Roseblim realized too late.
Because she struck the finger with such a sting, the giant on the other side of the dimensional gate, Warehouse Keeper, was incredibly annoyed.
Instead of a careful hand trying to harvest the prior masterpiece, the other hand showed up roughly, not caring if it got damaged.
<Warehouse Keeper – Artistic Giant>
It wasn’t even their turn yet, but Sadi Chocolate was struck by panic.
Who could blame the evil dragon for having a taste that rivaled the Chairman’s vile satisfaction, giving out cards directly connected to a giant’s warehouse!
Honestly, this was too much to bear.
In this game, attempting to complete the murder mystery, weren’t all the participants getting dragged off to the other side of the dimensional gate and wiped out at a terrifying speed?
If the Chairman had made the board game with a sly smile saying, “Let the students play freely if they want to have fun,” it just made her angrier.
‘We need to at least inflict some damage on the giant’s hand to chase it away.’
‘If we can’t defeat it with pain, Roseblim’s mentor will be taken away…!’
The giant’s fear had been sufficiently absorbed into Titosso, who had received the Giant Blood Serum.
Let alone a little giant infused only with the serum, they were up against a colossal giant that could fill an entire cafeteria for hundreds of people.
Without the luxury of gauging strength, everyone immediately unleashed their trump cards.
<Assassination Domain – Single Point Concentration>
<Clear Sight Clear Nose>
Jiang’s third extreme of swordsmanship, which could cut without allowing even the perception to settle, swiftly slashed the palm of the giant’s hand.
However, even after seeing the blood, the giant didn’t retreat.
Due to the Assassination Domain, it didn’t even realize it had been harmed.
‘This isn’t a mistake.’
Sing understood.
That if it weren’t for Jiang’s assassination skills, they wouldn’t have been able to inflict any damage on that giant’s hand at all.
What needed to be done was not to blame.
It was to widen the wound Jiang had made even further.
But that challenge wasn’t easy.
The steam rising from the giant’s blood and the sight of the mansion floor melting where the blood touched revealed how much energy was needed to maintain that massive body and how heated it had become.
<Origin Point Domain – Spatial Phase Shift>
<Super Compression Sword Dance>
Instead of backing away from the torrential blood, Sing let herself be pulled into the dimensional gap and charged forward.
“!!”
At that moment, an incredible force from the door connected to the Middle Realm dragged Sing in.
The dimensional gate that descended into the cafeteria.
It was a call from the giant wanting to manifest elements of the same kind within ‘the same dimension.’
‘Don’t hesitate. My swordsmanship has evolved beyond the Tomb of the Sword.’
Like running toward the mouth of a tiger to escape a wolf, Sing’s body was being drawn toward the dimension where the giant’s true self awaited, dodging the giant’s blood.
Even before witnessing the immense body of the giant whose very existence invited despair, Sing’s sword broke through the space.
<Origin Point Domain – Dimensional Leap>
<Super Compression Sword Dance>
Launching countless strikes as if ‘firing’ at the giant.
Using the recoil, Sing returned to their original dimension.
Just before the giant’s blood completely enveloped him, Cooking Oknodie, who had been following closely, quickly unleashed a sword barrier.
<Cooking Domain – Retrofitting>
<Fire Resilience>
Right after removing the heat, the super-compressed sword dance that returned from beyond the dimension pierced through the gaping wound of the giant.
As the burst of compressed blade cut through the flesh, an immense volume of the giant’s blood, worthy of being called a blood fountain, splattered everywhere.
Ghosts trembling and watching from under the tables screamed at the droplets splashing onto them.
GROOOOAAAAAAAAAW!!!
But the loudest scream wasn’t from them.
It was the giant’s, realizing it had sustained incredible injury to its hand!
The tremendous volume of sound, even after passing through the dimensional gate, had a powerful resonance that shook the very souls.
[1 minute of duration has passed.]
[The dimensional gate is closing.]
As the enraged giant’s arm was absorbed back into the dimensional gate, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
They’d survived.
Roseblim, along with Cooking Oknodie, Jiang, and Sing, all lived.
But the last sight of the giant, which seemed like it could burst through the dimensional gate at any moment, terrified everyone involved in the board game.
“I forfeit.”
“I want to forfeit.”
“I will forfeit!”
The numerous cries of the Ghost Swordsmen declaring forfeit!
Roseblim, as much as she wanted to follow, was torn about forgoing the others’ sacrifices.
‘Do it. Please.’
‘Just please forfeit!’
‘Hurry up and forfeit!’
Could it be that the desperate looks from the three conveyed that feeling?
Roseblim bit her lips tightly and steeled her resolve.
“I won’t forfeit. I can’t let the sacrifices everyone has made go to waste. Heh, it’s clear we’ve connected without words. Everyone, let’s fight together until the very end.”
‘No, just forfeit!’
Jiang couldn’t bring himself to yell like that in front of her determined expression, only feeling anxious.