Chapter 43: Before the Darkness

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Before the Darkness

[The god "Serpent That Bites Its Own Tail" bites its own tail.]

Victor let out a long, weary sigh. As if dealing with the supernatural horrors of this scenario wasn’t enough, now he had to stress over reading the nonsense of a trio of mysterious gods whose only apparent purpose was to invade his privacy.

The strangest thing of all was that, somehow, he already felt like this kind of thing was normal. The monsters, the scenarios, and all sorts of things related to survival.

If he weren’t thinking about how to save Brika, he could actually afford to take a break before moving on to the next stage of this scenario.

Staring into the void with absolute concentration, Victor raised the empty magazine from his rifle.

’I can’t believe I actually threw myself at the Penitents with nothing but a knife and a flashlight. Those bastards are more fragile than they look. No wonder they had to become intangible to pose a threat.’

The contrast between the weakness and strength of the Penitents of the Mist was far too pronounced. Although they didn’t seem particularly intelligent, since they attacked without any coordination, they were a real pain in the ass in large numbers.

Victor remembered his battle as if it had been nothing more than some crazy dream. Even he hadn’t known he was capable of taking on so many monsters, but somehow, it had been liberating: leaping from corpse to corpse, stabbing wildly, and venting his anger in the process.

’A calm mind is what you need when all seems lost,’ he thought.

It was one of the things the Boy Scout leader used to say. Maybe he was right, or maybe he had simply never suffered enough to understand that those words were nothing more than a pretty illusion about what everyone believed they would do in such situations.

And so, Victor took those words and silently questioned them. Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone.

[The god "Serpent That Bites Its Own Tail" is getting bored with your indecision.]

[The god "Fisher of Opportunities" waits to fish for an opportunity.]

[A nameless god watches you in silence.]

’They’re not going to leave me alone...’

Resigned to the silence of his own lament, Victor summoned the System window. His balance now showed one thousand coins and a Luck Value that had increased by 1 point.

’I guess I’ll have to ignore them. Besides, I couldn’t perform the sixth Summon earlier. Now that I have a thousand coins, I really hope I get something good. I can’t afford to keep carrying around nothing but junk.’

Any skill, weapon, or item that could help him fight the Wendigo was welcome. With the quest information glowing in the System window, Victor said:

"I’ll spend the thousand coins."

The orb materialized and, a moment later, began changing colors intermittently.

[The god "Serpent That Bites Its Own Tail" watches intently.]

[The god "Fisher of Opportunities" holds its breath.]

’They don’t seem very impressed by my power... Well, when I think about all the Paths that might exist out there, it makes sense that they wouldn’t even bat an eye. Maybe there are other gacha systems, but with differences from the one I have.’

Given enough experience, it was reasonable to assume that the gods—perhaps long-lived beings with complex ways of thinking—had already seen so many things that it wouldn’t even occur to them to ask who had created the Path Victor was using to survive.

A few minutes later, Victor was sprawled out on the floor. While the storm battered the scenario with its supernatural force, he was facing the harsh reality of the bad luck that had followed him for years.

’Common... Every single one was Common rarity...’

From toilet paper to a Magic 8 Ball, everything he had obtained by spending a thousand coins had been complete junk. He hadn’t even managed to get a box of ammunition for what might have been the only weapon capable of damaging the Wendigo.

’I knew it, but maybe I’d put too much faith in things being different this time. With my luck, I’m already surprised I’ve gotten as many good things as I have so far.’

He grabbed the Magic 8 Ball and threw it out the window.

"Go to hell!"

Even the gods had fallen silent in the face of such a pathetic display of human luck. Victor then sat down on the floor to think over his situation while eating the chocolate bar he had obtained from one of the Summons.

If the gacha system wasn’t going to give him anything useful right now, he might as well try not to waste his coins again.

’I don’t even know if there are any Penitents left nearby. Maybe a few hours of farming will get me something useful, but with a Luck Value of 5, I doubt I’ll get anything good anytime soon.’

Having to figure out what to do while being this weak gave him a headache.

Outside, the storm grew more intense as the darkness of the next stage of the scenario seemed to devour part of the area.

Amid the darkness, the Wendigo dropped Brika onto the ground in a vast area filled with black houses, moving like a living shadow. Its large, gleaming eyes trembled with excitement inside its cow skull.

Looking toward the area just before the deeper darkness, it said:

"Look how easy and fun this is going to be."

At the same time, hundreds of shadows crawled between the houses consumed and corrupted by the Black Veil. Brika, however, slightly opened her eyes so the monster wouldn’t notice she was already conscious, then secretly pulled a piece of white chalk from among her clothes.