VIP Chapter 552: “For Me, Die Once” (3k)
“You’ve always been so punctual. Sorry, sorry, I used a little bit of the Guild Master’s personal authority…”
Will even hopped a little as he walked towards the three people.
“Huh? Personal authority?”
“It’s already this time, what are you using your personal authority for?”
“I understand. It must be some prerequisite task that could only be accomplished by using the Guild Master’s abilities.”
As the three spoke in turn, Will had already circled around them and tossed a “badge” to each of them.
“Of course, it’s to give our team the most suitable new name!”
The badges were coated with a faint layer of gold, shining brightly.
These were exclusive badges made by the Adventurer’s Guild for teams ranked in the “Top Ten” of the annual summary – naturally, as the current Guild Master, obtaining these badges was effortless.
Furthermore, these badges were particularly “new,” with no scuff marks on the metal.
It was evident that Will had made them himself.
“Well… to be honest, I don’t like the name ‘Shining Star.’ Although after becoming Guild Master, you restored the team to me, I don’t want to have this name as our final dungeon clear team name.”
He explained his reasons.
“Especially, this might be… the world’s last ‘dungeon clear.’ So, first, please forgive my selfishness. I’ve decided on a new team name and had it engraved on it.”
“The team name is… Huh?”
“Are you serious?”
“Mmm…”
The three flipped open their badges and were stunned when they saw the names.
“That’s right, our new team name is—Will System.”
Will confidently announced the name.
“—Using the will born from this world to replace the system stipulated by Reviers. Hmph, what do you think? Pretty cool, right?”
“…”
“…?”
“…………”
After Will proudly (in his opinion) introduced his brilliant naming choice, he was met with silence.
“Huh? What’s wrong? This… this is a good name, isn’t it?”
“Mmm… Dear, isn’t this your own name?”
Iaar looked at the “Will System” on the badge and raised her hand to speak.
If there was any difference from Will’s name, it was probably that there was no “·” added between the two words.
“Cough, cough, my own name is also a genius name, right?”
Will spread his hands and spoke with great confidence.
“You couldn’t think of a suitable name, so you used this, didn’t you?!”
Although Liya said this, her fingers gently traced the name engraved on the metal, and she seemed to like it a little.
“Oh dear, I don’t know. I didn’t realize it was your name.”
“Mmm, isn’t it surprising that no one snatched the Guild Master’s name? Or was the so-called personal authority used to claim this name for yourself?”
“Treya, are you focusing on that?!”
“Hahaha… Even if it was snatched, Dear would surely change their names to ‘Rename’ and take it back for naming.”
“Yes, I agree. It’s very much like him.”
The three held their badges and chuckled at Will’s “bold” naming choice.
Under the warm sunlight shining in from outside the window, the letters on the badge were tinged with a brighter white than the surrounding gold.
It seemed to accept the method of having one’s own name engraved on the badge as the team name.
*Creeaak—*
Just as the three were leisurely admiring the new name of their team, and had almost forgotten that this was a “strategy meeting,” the sound of chair legs scraping the floor interrupted them.
“The atmosphere is quite relaxed, at least not as tense as before.”
Will sat down in the center of the conference room, in the position of “leader,” or one could call it the “master’s” position.
“!?”
Seeing his actions and expression, the three suddenly understood that Will had intentionally tried to ease the atmosphere.
“Actually, I hope everyone can relax a bit. Although it’s the final dungeon clear, there’s nothing to be nervous about.”
He looked at the three, took out his own badge, and placed it on the table. There were two other badges left on the table, one of which was for Shuna.
“Although this might mean ‘the end,’ and although our friend Shuna is still held hostage by her, it’s not something we should be sweating profusely and acting as if we’re about to sacrifice our lives for.”
Will’s tone was very gentle.
Although for a long time, his actions could rarely be described by the word “gentle.”
But the three could tell that Will, speaking here at this moment, wanted them to feel a little “relaxed” through this gentleness.
“Let’s try to clear it with the mindset of ‘bankrupting’ the Death Hall today just because the weather is nice, how about that?”
“Mmm!”
They nodded.
The newly named team, after separating and coming back together, seemed to recall their first meal together in their rented room in the “Novice Village” that afternoon.
After almost a year, having experienced so much, they had returned to the very beginning.
However, this ease was only Will’s way of having them face the “cruel” reality he was about to speak with such a mindset—
“So, let’s talk about the dungeon clear method Shuna wrote on the letter, risking her life and freedom—”
He placed his badge on the table, the metal and wooden table colliding with a crisp sound.
In the bright sunlight, he squinted, and his gold-rimmed glasses began to reflect the light.
At this moment, Will, having put away his sunshine-like “gentleness,” was about to reveal the “cruel” dungeon clear method they had to face—
“You’ve seen the letter, so you should understand.”
He spoke directly, without any preamble or reservation.
Just as he always did.
“To clear the Death Hall, I need you to…”
“For me, die once.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So, Miss Shuna, now, you don’t need to ‘die’ for me anymore.”
*Tick, tock.*
In the dim “prison,” one could hear the sound of water dripping from above onto the crystal floor.
Daisianwei sat on a chair, her legs crossed, revealing her white stockings and small leather shoes from beneath her long skirt.
Her leather shoe tapped lightly on the wet ground.
“Mmm, of course, I know, I understand very well…”
She reached out and held a glass of “red wine.” Just by turning it, one could see the viscous blood in her glass clinging to the glass walls.
“You never died for me anyway, as you said, you’ve never belonged to me for a single moment.”
This was the “back” of the Death Hall, in the place unreached by the light that seemed to lead to heaven, behind the statue built by Reviers with countless flesh and blood.
“But, don’t you want to stay here anymore? This ‘dark’ place?”
Daisianwei spoke to the wall in front of her, which seemed to hide something in its darkness.
“Indeed. The Death Hall always gives a ‘gloomy’ impression. Because words related to ‘death’ always imply a fall into an endless abyss, walking towards the ‘darkness’ after consciousness is extinguished.”
Daisianwei, sitting here, sighed deeply.
Then, she seemed to hear a heavy sigh echo from the darkness along with her own.
“What do you think constitutes ‘death’?”
Daisianwei did not drink the red wine. Instead, she held the glass and stepped on the wet ground—which might be dirty water in the darkness.
*Tap.*
“Is it the complete immersion of consciousness?”
*Tap.*
“Is it the body’s cessation of function?”
*Tap.*
“Or is it the complete disappearance of even the last trace in the world?”
Step by step, she finally stopped.
“Mmm… You don’t need to ‘die’ for me anymore, but you can still come to your own conclusion.”
At this close distance, one could see Daisianwei’s head bowed. Her long black hair, stained with blood, hung down, covering her entire face.
Beneath her right eye, bloodstains remained from where her eyeball had been gouged out, like long tear streaks.
She still retained the ability to “breathe,” but seemed to have lost her “consciousness.” Her hands were bound, and she was suspended like this.
“Come on. Miss Shuna, my child, the BOSS of the Death Hall named ‘Pourxin.’”
Daisianwei reached out and tucked a strand of Shuna’s hair behind her ear. This allowed Shuna to raise her head, revealing her black eyes and eye sockets like black holes.
Her eyes were devoid of any spirit, lifted blankly.
“This time, you will pursue your own ‘death’—show me once…”
At this point, Daisianwei paused, then snapped her fingers.
*Snap.*
The darkness in the entire hall vanished, bathed in a bright “holy light.”
It was a “radiance” shining down from above.
It was neither sunlight nor any kind of artificial bright light; it was the light that only the Goddess Reviers could cast upon the earth, a light from “God.”
Only then could one see that the ground was not dirty water, but clear spring water.
Flowing from the “statue” made of “flesh and blood” and “corpses” to Daisianwei’s feet was the spring water she had always used to seal the way to the next level.
Shuna had not been imprisoned in a “jail” from the beginning. She was located beneath that spring water, and behind her was the door to the next level that Daisianwei would never open.
“How beautiful you were when you died for him.”
Daisianwei tilted her head and smiled.
“Mmm… Mm…”
Then, for the first time, Shuna spoke more clearly.
She raised her eyes.
From her empty eye sockets, strange Lycoris radiata bloomed, and in the pupil of her other eye, a trace of red appeared amidst the blackness.
