I Became the Commander in a Trash Game Who Copies Skills

Chapter 59. Infiltration (3)

There was such a thing as standard play.

Like a model student who studies by the book, it referred to playing a game exactly as the developers intended.

Generally, standard play was the most straightforward way to clear a game.

However, as with anything, exceptions existed.

What if the developers' intention wasn't a 'straightforward game clear'?

What if their goal was to push the player's patience, creativity, and physical skill to their limits?

Playing by the book would only lead to seeing the game over screen dozens, even hundreds of times.

Such games could barely be cleared only by mobilizing methods that were closer to unorthodox strategies.

For the most part, the commonality of such unorthodox methods was a combination that defied common sense.

Like raising a hybrid character such as a strength-stacking archmage.

Or combining engineering with spiritism.

The combination of necromancy and miracles was a prime example.

To be precise, it was the combination of a necromancer who had learned the [Soul Absorption] spell with a paladin or a priest.

I once had to forcibly use them, even though just putting them in the same unit would stack a ton of morale debuffs.

The result was a great success.

It perfectly countered the 'The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons: East Wind' disaster event, which had been impossible to deal with until then.

The gist of that event, which would trigger randomly, was an invasion of millions of vengeful spirits.

Spirits would possess soldiers and mages, nobles and commoners alike, inducing violence, arson, and self-harm.

A village could be razed in 10 minutes.

A city would fall in three nights.

In front of the tsunami-like wave of the possessed populace, I deployed a unit of necromancers who had learned [Soul Absorption], a late-game skill of the vampire school.

The necromancers extracted the possessing spirits from the crowd.

The paladins and priests then executed the exorcised spirits with miracles.

It was the moment I found the solution to the event that had ruined my game dozens of times.

The only drawback was that the unit had to be treated as disposable due to the overwhelming morale debuffs.

But it was different here.

I didn't even need to worry about the unit disbanding due to morale debuffs or anything of the sort.

There was no need to operate two separate units in the first place.

I could do both.

[Activating [Soul Absorption].]

The tip of the staff.

The mana of necromancy germinated.

I checked on the way here.

There were no mages in the lord's castle.

The evil spirit possessing the Count had probably sent them away intentionally.

This also meant that since I omitted the incantation, no one would notice it was necromancy.

An attractive force that sucked in souls connected the Count and me with an invisible line.

Count Maenenwood, or more precisely, the evil spirit possessing him, opened its bloodshot eyes wide.

“That. It feels unpleasant. How in the world did you… ugh, ugh?”

Stagger.

The Count's body tilted forward.

The knights rushed to protect their lord.

To stop them, my Indika soldiers threw themselves in the way.

Count Maenenwood opened his palm.

Was it an attempt to resist?

But this game had a system of advantages.

[Soul Absorption] was a mere level 2 spell at best, but it held an almost absolute advantage against souls, especially those dwelling in objects or other people's bodies.

Since it wasn't processed into the form of a Soul Core, I wouldn't be able to absorb it, but it meant that at the very least, I could extract it from its target.

“This, you are a necro… kughhh!”

Before it could finish saying my second identity.

Something like a red aura gushed out of the Count’s wide-open mouth.

The red aura, which spilled onto the banquet hall floor like vomit, spread out squirming like an amorphous creature, then suddenly stopped expanding, rose upwards, and formed an elongated shape.

[Hooo-]

It was a person.

To be precise, a tall woman.

An elaborate necklace.

Bracelets and earrings, rings, a headband, ornate tassels on her clothes, high-heeled shoes.

Even thin and thick chains hanging from her long, flowing hair.

Everyone in the banquet hall stopped and stared at her.

The knight who had formed an aura on his sword. The spearman who had bolted the door. The Indika soldier with his curved sword. Everyone.

After gracefully glancing over them all, the red woman's spirit form fixed its gaze on me.

She spoke.

[Surprising. To pull me out. Now that it has come to this….]

“O Luark-!”

Of course, I had no intention of waiting for her to finish.

[Activating [Holy Aura].]

I shot forward.

I charged across the long table with pure white Holy Aura formed on my sword.

Food and dishes flew in all directions, creating a chaotic mess with a crash.

It was a fight against a caster.

I measured the distance.

20 meters.

My plan was as follows.

Extract the evil spirit from the Count with [Soul Absorption].

Reveal my identity as Ash the Paladin by vanquishing the fiend with [Holy Aura].

Finally, heal the de-possessed Count, secure his support, and pressure the Marquis from behind.

Of course, I didn't think the red woman would go down so easily.

I knew her face.

‘Chincharina Bahadur ul Jahangir,’ a legendary hero of Indika and a curse user.

She, one of the candidates I suspected was behind this, was a high-level curse user of level 8, on par with the Princess of Blood.

It would be impossible to win in a real confrontation.

[Activating [Warrior’s Insight].]

[Skill Acquired.]

[Chincharina's Physical Shackles (Level 3)]

Indeed, my body grew heavy, as if I were carrying the gear of several soldiers.

[Skill Acquired.]

[Chincharina's Gasping Breath (Level 4)]

My breathing was blocked, as if my lungs were filled with sand.

It didn't matter.

[Activating [Miracle: Steps of Faith].]

[Activating [Miracle: Purification].]

A holy light washed over my body.

I took a step, my body feeling slightly lighter.

I took a deep breath, even if it stung.

These were the miracles I learned for situations like this.

Besides, that wasn't her main body.

Chincharina's specialty and main trait was to project her soul across vast distances.

That blood-red form was a fragment of her soul, a spiritual body that was her avatar.

Her real body was far away in Indika.

And despite being in her avatar state, she was careless.

In that case, I could win.

10 meters.

[Activating [Tuivat High Priest's Swift Sword].]

I followed the steps of the swordsmanship that had cut down the Indika commander.

[A monk's swordsmanship…!]

A brief moment.

Several things happened at once.

First, Chincharina's avatar stepped back.

The pure white aura reached right under her chin.

At the same time, her hand covered my forehead.

I felt it instantly.

The sensation of souls connecting.

A strange, alien feeling of another will trying to possess my body.

Was it trying to devour me?

Was it trying to possess me after the Count?

It was useless.

[Activating [Lord’s Unyielding Mind].]

Ever since I fell to this land, my mind and soul had been absolutely protected.

[Ugh……!]

Her hand was repelled as if by a strong static shock.

I tried to move my sword to slit the red woman's throat.

And then I noticed.

The fact that my body wasn't moving.

‘……?’

It wasn't just me.

The movements of everyone else had stopped.

The Indika soldiers and the knights as well.

The Count, who had collapsed in a daze.

Even Chincharina's red avatar.

“……”

No. It was moving.

Just very slowly.

To the point where I could feel each and every step of the process: the command from my frontal lobe traveling through my nerves, my muscles contracting and relaxing, and the tip of my sword slowly moving away.

Was the experience of one's life flashing before one's eyes just before death similar to this?

But there was no time to analyze this sudden anomaly.

The subspace writhed.

Even though I hadn't used any specific trait, the entrance to the subspace ripped open beside my head.

And then.

Kuhwaaaak-!!!

Tentacles covered my vision.

* * *

It was a dark space.

An unreal space that felt like the inside of some beast's stomach, yet also like the vastness of outer space.

In the darkness, the banquet hall and the knights were nowhere to be seen.

There was only Chincharina and myself, with my sword at her throat.

[Activating [Lord’s Unyielding Mind].]

Considering this darkness didn't disappear even with [Lord’s Unyielding Mind] active, it meant this wasn't an illusion or a hallucination.

In any case, there were two beings moving perfectly fine in this space where time seemed to have stopped.

To be precise, they were two statues.

One was a candelabra with eight branches.

The other was a smooth octahedron supported by tentacles.

- ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■

- ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■

The two statues were having a conversation.

It sounded like nonsense, but it was true.

Strictly speaking, it was probably a conversation between the transcendent beings who had manifested using the statues as mediums.

- ■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■

- ■ ■ ■■■■ ■■

I listened in silence.

To the sounds that I could hear with my whole body and soul.

Now that I had confirmed I couldn't move, the best course of action was to assess the situation.

And if my greatest strength was concentration, then my second greatest strength was my analytical ability.

- ■■ ■ ■■■■ ■■■■

- ■■ ■■ ■■ ■

There wasn't much I knew about the statues.

That they were items added in the World Scenario 4.0 update.

That they were possessions of the Theocracy.

That only key members, considered named heroes even within the Theocracy, possessed them.

And that besides their basic function as a communication device, they had another hidden function.

‘Tribus said his statue seemed to turn emotions like pain and anger into thought-forms.’

That was what Alina had told me on the way back from Gunterburk.

Of course, I didn't know if it had only one ability or several.

In any case, looking at the current situation, I could probably add one more fact.

The statues were related to the gods worshipped by the Theocracy.

It was at the moment my thoughts reached that point.

- ■■■ contract ■■violation■

- ■ ■■owner ■seized ■■■

The content of the conversation began to enter my mind.

I still couldn't understand the vocabulary, the grammar, or anything else.

It felt like someone was running it through a translator and then forcibly cramming it into my head, but the meaning became clearer over time.

- I have chosen.

Along with a powerful, escalating emotion.

- A light that bewitches souls. You have broken the rules.

The tentacles swayed.

One of the candles on the candelabra flickered out.

- Begone.

Shatter!

The darkness broke.

Time resumed.

The messy banquet hall, the knights, and the Indika soldiers reappeared.

Chincharina's avatar, the red woman, seemed to have taken a hit.

Her lips trembled and her hands hung limp.

I had no intention of missing this chance.

[Activating [Warrior’s Binding].]

[Recalling summoned troops.]

I immediately unsummoned the troops and shouted.

“How dare you use the wicked arts of a heretic! Luark shall pass judgment upon you!”

With all the soul of a faith-filled paladin.

Slice-!

The Holy Aura slit her throat.

The body, formed of red energy, popped like a balloon.

Red smoke scattered in all directions.

The knights, finally coming to their senses, once again pointed their aura-clad swords, but….

“You bastard! What did you do to the Count!”

“Sheathe your swords! In whose presence do you….”

“Wait!”

Now that I had succeeded in the exorcism, I had an ally here.

“Everyone, stand down! I was the one who called him here!”

The Captain of the Guard.

The Count’s nephew.

“…Sir Melven, is that true?”

“Yes. I’m sure you’ve all felt that the Count has not been himself lately.”

“……”

“Now I see he was bewitched by some wicked art. You all saw it, did you not?”

Was it because a blood relative of the Count had spoken?

The tension seemed to have eased a little.

The knights, after a moment of thought, began to nod one by one.

It was only natural.

Everyone here had witnessed the red spirit emerge from the Count's body.

“Everyone, return to your posts. Sir Peanut! Attend to the Count. Sir Paul! Raise the city's alert to maximum. The fiends who bewitched the Count might use this confusion to launch a surprise attack.”

The Captain of the Guard, like a true noble, skillfully managed the scene.

After confirming that the Count was safely moved to his bedroom, he approached me.

“You really did grant my request. Although… it was different from what I had in mind.”

“I apologize for that.”

“What is there to apologize for? I am the one who is grateful. Let me introduce myself properly. I am Melven Maenenwood. You are Artur… no, that must be a made-up name. Were the Indika soldiers a trick as well?”

“Yes, it was unavoidable for the infiltration. My name is….”

“Wait. Let me guess. You must be the mercenary captain, Ash. The one who was appointed as an honorary paladin. Am I right?”

The Captain of the Guard smiled and extended his hand.

I'd felt it all along, but he was certainly sharp.

I shook his offered hand.

Was it because he was a member of a count's family and skilled at managing people?

Thanks to the Captain of the Guard's timely actions, the city did not fall into chaos even though the Count had collapsed.

A few days later.

Count Raman Maenenwood awoke.

After devoted nursing, his complexion had improved slightly, and he summoned the Captain of the Guard and me as soon as he woke up.