Got Dumped and Became a Nerf Ability User

**Episode 85: The Ultimate Covenant**

– Ding!

[Warning! The effect of the ‘All Damage Reduction’ perk has expired and has been nullified.]

Thud!-

“Ugh… Damn it, I can’t believe I’m on my knees before a rookie like him…”

Beatrice clutched her stomach and knelt down.

It seemed she was no longer in a state to continue fighting.

‘How could this be? Didn’t I deal lethal damage to Beatrice after she was nearly out of energy? She’s not a tank, so what…’

‘Do I have to fight again?’

But I had already lost all my strength.

Now I had no remaining options or stamina.

Ignoring my trembling hands, I clutched my sword with both hands and aimed it at Beatrice.

‘The distance is a bit far… Can I slowly walk over and finish this? I’m not even sure if I can take a single step…’

“Traveler, you’re stronger than I expected… If I keep fighting, I might really die…”

Beatrice referred to me not as a rookie or an outsider, but as a traveler.

“When I first heard you call me that, I never imagined we would end up fighting like this. Do you want to fight more?”

“Don’t act tough… You look like you’ve already reached your limit.”

Her words were accurate.

‘Honestly, if I act tough like this, maybe she’ll get scared and run away… It would be a lie to say I wasn’t hoping for that.’

“Traveler, I’m not the type to choose only fights I can win… However, I won’t take fights I might die in.”

Beatrice retrieved two daggers that had fallen to the ground.

“Perhaps death itself might offer true healing.”

“Are you confident you won’t die?”

“No, I’m trying to run away.”

“What?”

Did I hear her wrong?

“Even though we fought as if we were trying to kill each other, I enjoyed the moments we shared as Triche. So if we can meet again, let’s meet again, you self-proclaimed crazy person from another world.”

Beatrice slipped the two daggers back into her garter belt and held up something like a strange pouch.

“Wait—!”

“Quietly, quickly, and surely. That is my principle.”

Bang!-

“What, what’s going on?! Cough cough!”

Beatrice detonated a smoke grenade.

“Cough! Ugh… What the hell, she disappeared. Did she save her means of escape and strength until the end?”

I stored my sword in the inventory and headed toward the cave entrance where Irlya would likely be unconscious.

The dark cave entrance looked like the open jaws of a giant monster.

The darkness penetrated deeply from the entrance, with barely a glimmer of light visible.

Even though Verdium was dead and the curse of the White Night had been activated, the cave remained dark.

‘But why hasn’t the quest been completed?’

I couldn’t tell.

Carrying the unconscious Irlya, I unfolded her parasol to protect her from the intense sunlight and headed toward Violet’s mansion where Harin would be.

“Ah… It hurts so much and I’m so tired.”

**********

Upon arriving at the mansion, Irlya happened to wake up.

“… What happened?”

She asked a question that seemed to imply many things.

“I took care of it. Verdium’s fate and the last battle.”

“Is that so… Thank you…”

Irlya climbed down from my back.

“… You came to find that woman, right?”

“Yeah… I heard she’s in the guest room, can you guide me?”

“She’s on the third floor, so follow me…”

We used the stairs to go up to the third floor.

As I climbed the stairs, I thought about my ‘will’ that I had considered during the battle.

“Here.”

Irlya pointed to a door that was locked with worn, shabby chains and almost completely rusted.

“… Where is this a steel chain… No, it is steel, but…”

Verdium wasn’t wrong in what he said.

“Can I break it just by using my strength?”

I took out my sword from the inventory.

Irlya nodded in response to my question.

“Good, since I have your permission… Hiyaa!”

– Crash!

I broke the weak lock and chains sealing the door in one go.

I put the sword back in the inventory and opened the door wide.

And inside…

“… Who are you…? Has the attendant changed again? I haven’t done anything too bad… No, is it really you?”

“Harin?”

Harin finally got up from the bed and was about to leave the guest room after a long time.

Her hair looked messy and unkempt, as if she had been a prisoner without seeing light for a long time because of her mental distress.

“… It took you a long time, didn’t it? You must have finished everything?”

She walked slowly toward me.

“Ah, I’m done with everything here… I’m just left to return.”

“I missed you… I thought you had forgotten about me.”

“Of course, I couldn’t possibly forget you.”

Though I was glad to see her after a long time, the presence of Irlya next to me made it a bit burdensome.

“Still, you’ve come quite late. I feel like I need to give you a punishment…”

“Punishment?”

Harin approached me.

Under her eyes, dark circles contrasted starkly with her hair color.

The hint of decadence in Harin made her grab my wrist.

“Please kiss me for the same amount of time we were apart.”

“… By this time here, or outside time-wise, at least over 24 hours has passed… Are you saying I should kiss you for over 24 hours?”

“Is that so? Are you planning to make me pregnant?”

“You can’t get pregnant from a kiss…”

“Of course, it was a joke… I’ll let you off with three minutes…”

“Ahem!”

Irlya, who was next to us, cleared her throat as if she couldn’t stand it any longer.

“… Ah, you’re not alone? I apologize for intruding.”

“It was enough to know that.”

However, I noticed the scars of cuts that were faintly visible on Harin’s left wrist, revealed by her slightly rolled-up sleeve as she held my wrist.

When did she get those?

I was sure she didn’t have such wounds before.

“Hey, Harin, did you get tortured on that wrist…?”

“No? It’s just a wound from personal circumstances.”

“Is that so? There’s no one like a torture attendant in our mansion, you know.”

Irlya turned her head away from us and said.

“Then… will you kiss me?”

“… Let’s talk about that after we return.”

“Yeah… I was really going crazy wanting to see you again… But first, we should get out of here… Afterwards, I can satisfy my own desires… Got it.”

“Selfish desires? I don’t know what that means, but let’s hurry and get out of here.”

“Uh, where are we going… Are you talking about leaving the mansion?”

Irlya looked at me with a puzzled expression.

**********

“Feeling this here means we’ve come out of the boss’s gate… Even if I can’t see it directly, I can feel it in my skin.”

Harin said.

We stood before the gate formed after Verdium’s death.

Irlya also followed along.

“By the way, it doesn’t seem like there are any people from our side among those who are captured here?”

“Yeah… I think so too. Where did the people who managed to escape go? Even if it’s the same red gate, it must be a different place… Let’s go out first.”

“Ah, wait a second…”

I called Harin to stop her.

“… It seems we’ve traveled together for quite a long time, so I’ll allow you to say your goodbyes… But keep it short, okay? I need to go up and report first. Once I’m done, look forward to it.”

Harin, who gave me time, threw herself into the gate first.

Gradually, her shape and silhouette distorted and ultimately disappeared.

She must have returned to the world we originally lived in.

“… Are you returning to the world you originally lived in?”

“Yeah. I’ve spent quite a long time here. It won’t be the same outside. I have to leave now, too. I can’t stay here forever.”

Irlya bowed her head, saying nothing.

“Then…”

As I was about to touch the gate to exit, she said.

“Hey! You know… Siwoo… or, rather, you… what in the world happened in our territory?”

“I only know that… the dragon tribe cursed your father with the curse of the White Night, which has now been triggered, resulting in this phenomenon where it never darkens even at night… Apart from that, I don’t know much.”

“Ah, so that’s why there was no one in the mansion. After all, the True Ancestors and vampires… All vampires must have become a minority race… The captured humans and those who volunteered must have all fled…”

“Irlya…”

“When you leave, I will truly be alone… I’ll be spending thousands of years alone.”

Irlya seemed to be fighting back tears.

“I don’t want to be left alone…”

“… So you don’t want to be here?”

“Leaving me alone in this place where everything has disappeared… Isn’t that too much?”

“I see, then do you want to come out to our world together?”

“Then you… will you give this body a chance?”

Her cryptic words. And Irlya’s eyes filled with transparent tears again, eventually streaming down her cheeks.

‘Isn’t this too readily accepting…?’

“Then try putting your hand into the gate.”

“Understood.”

– Crackle!

“Ah!”

“Irlya?!”

“What’s happening… It feels like that passage is rejecting me…”

“Why is this happening…?”

“… I cannot even follow you… not like this…”

I racked my brain.

Then I remembered the system message that appeared before me when I used the ‘nerf’ technique on Beatrice during our battle.

‘Irlya is a resident of another realm… because of that?’

If so, to bring Irlya outside, she should no longer be a ‘resident of another realm’.

‘The method is…’

The method flashed through my mind.

I remembered the ring I had on my left ring finger.

I had two rings in total.

The ring that was inconvenient to wear two of the same on one finger, so I had kept one in the inventory.

I took out one of the ‘Ring of Covenant’ from my inventory.

It looked like a golden ring with a ruby embedded in it… But the effect of this ring would surely allow Irlya to escape being a ‘resident of another realm’.

‘King’s Insight activated.’

– Ding!

[Checking the information of the item.]

[Information]

Name: Ring of Covenant

Type: For contracts

Feature: Blood contract

– Current Status –

Can handle noble beings. (They must be worn one each on the same hand, same finger for the effect to activate.)

Must be worn on the left ring finger.

==========

‘Left ring finger…’

This action didn’t inherently hold great significance, but…

It would allow me to handle noble beings.

Noble beings, True Ancestors.

“Irlya.”

“Why are you calling me…?”

“To get out of here and follow me… instead of me becoming your subordinate, you have to become mine… What will you do?”

Irlya was staring intently at the ‘Ring of Covenant’ that I had taken out from the inventory.

Then a smile appeared on her lips.

The silence was soon affirmation.

Without saying a word, she extended her hand towards me, positioning it to make it easy for me to put the ring on her left ring finger.

I didn’t really say anything.

I didn’t mention it had to be on the left ring finger.

Irlya instinctively understood.

That it had to be on this very finger.

“… Fine. Normally, such an impious act should not exist… but this time, it shall be special.”

I slowly approached and placed the ring on her left ring finger, which was in the same position as mine.

“I grant you the honor to take me, Irlya Violet, as your subordinate.”

– Ding!

[Quest completed.]

**Quest**

**Broken Paradise**

**Correct the flow of time by following the life that bloomed from death.**

**White Night. 1/1**

**Reward: A book written with secrets.**

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