Chapter 198

I was about to shout “skip” once more but paused since I hadn’t actually heard this before. When I’d finished reading the text with impassive eyes, it scrolled automatically.

“But despite these efforts, the Mirror of Truth was activated.

The souls of the Laila were all sealed within the mirror.

However, there was a single Laila who escaped this fate.

This young Laila, hiding deep underground, shed desperate tears while knelt before her family and people.”

Suddenly, a wail echoed all around me. It was filled with rage and made the hair on my arm stand on end.

“Wh-what the hell?” My head jerked up in shock.

White lines began to form an image beneath the written letters. The drawing was a simple one, and easy to decipher. Some of the lines depicted piles of skeletons, while a stick figure was kneeling in front of them, weeping.

“The young Laila was determined to grow stronger so that she could have her revenge.

She assumed the shell of an infant, sometimes a young woman, and other times a dying elder.

As she continued to steal life from humans, however, she less and less resembled her original form.”

“I must go to the palace if I’m to be whole again,” said the same voice I’d heard before.

The text changed.

“She collected the scattered mirror fragments and used them to lure and ensnare her prey. This was not difficult, thanks to the curse cast by her people prior to their death, which had weakened the mages considerably.”

Another drawing appeared under these words. This time, a stick figure appeared wearing a cone hat, presumably to indicate this person was a mage. They were being strangled by another stick figure, and white liquid dripped and pooled at the feet of the mage.

It was no doubt meant to be blood.

“The young Laila lived hidden in the shadows for some time until she finally found a form she could use to gain access to the palace. She took over a young girl’s body and grew into a beautiful lady.”

My eyes widened in shock as I read on. The stick figure slowly grew more detailed, gaining color and form.

“Ivonne...”

An image as realistic as a portrait had formed and was floating before me. It was Ivonne.

“Like a hunting spider, she wove her webs and brainwashed her prey slowly.”

Several images of Winter smiling kindly flitted past, as if I were watching a cutscene. The letters shifted again.

“More time passed, and ‘Ivonne’ made it to the duke’s manor with the aid of one of her prey. There, she met Penelope, a girl who had the blood of the ancient mages flowing through her veins.”

“The blood of what?”

Two images floated in the darkness—that of myself and Ivonne. Before I could process this information, the text scrolled down.

“Penelope was instantly wary of Ivonne. She tried to kill the Laila, but a curse had been placed on her, causing everyone around her to despise her. It led her to fail each and every time.

Ivonne took advantage of the curse and the villain who kept trying to foil her plans, slowly taking over the manor.

Penelope, unable to awaken her powers as a mage, was easily killed.”

I stopped breathing. A fleeting image of Penelope, dying a cruel death in a cell, was shown. I read the rest of the story with bated breath.

“After taking control of the manor, she became engaged to the crown prince and entered the palace, where she recovered the [Golden Dragon’s Tooth], which made her immortal. She had gathered all the life she needed from her many victims and used the fragments to free her people from within the mirror and complete her revenge.

All living things on earth became nothing but food for the Laila...

And with no mages to stop them, the world came to an end.

- This is the end of normal mode’s hidden story.”

That was how the story ended. The majestic background music, reminiscent of Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 3,” faded away.

“What... that’s all there is to the hidden story?” I said.

The white window had disappeared and I was left stranded in the endless darkness. I looked around blankly.

So what am I supposed to do? I was already very aware that Ivonne was actually evil, different from the story I was acquainted with.

This isn’t what I wanted… I felt anger boiling in my belly.

“Do you think I came all this way just to hear that stupid story?” I shouted into the empty air.

“This isn’t what I want!” I suddenly stopped.

But what do I want? It was a very deep question to suddenly find floating about in my head. I wasn’t actually sure what I’d been hoping for. All I knew was that everything was pointless now, even attempting to escape. The background music resumed suddenly, loudly blasting in my ears.

Unlike before, the tempo was extremely fast, almost violent. It was the sort of music one would expect to hear during the climax of a movie.

“What the—”

A powerful gust of wind blew past suddenly.

“But a single mage managed to survive in that doomed world!”

A white window appeared again in the pitch black, and the image of a pale man appeared below it.

“Winter?”

The man’s face was hidden under a thick beard. I barely recognized him—his silver hair was coarse, and his eyes were murky and dim.

“This mage, freed from the effects of the Laila’s brainwashing too late, used all his remaining strength to return to the Mirror of Truth. There, he was able to see the truth. Realizing that Penelope, whom he and the others had killed, was the only person to try and oppose the Laila, he sacrificed his life to reverse time.”

He had wandered the endless desert and finally found the prison-like temple of the Laila, just as I had done earlier that very day.

“Everything happened because I was too foolish to see the truth... I will pay for my sins with my soul.”

Winter stood in front of the Mirror of Truth, tears of regret dripping down his face. He then climbed to his feet, shouting an unintelligible spell and raising his staff in the air. White light burst from his eyes like lasers, and the light formed an intricate magic circle surrounding him.

Winter’s body began to burn.

“The world was now trapped in a never-ending time loop of the mage’s making. The only way to return the proper flow of time was to stop the Laila from ending the world! But the loop continued endlessly because of Penelope’s stupidity.”

The countless deaths Penelope had suffered in hard mode flitted past. They differed from the game in that they were crystal-clear images, like photographs.

My face contorted in disgust as the system showed me Penelope’s many deaths in vivid detail. The images showed exactly how many times the world had been reset, just as I’d hoped to do not long after first arriving in this world.

“Because of her many deaths, Penelope’s soul was slowly crushed into nothing. Penelope didn’t return and time ground to a stop. An eternity passed and a tiny fragment of soul from another world found itself transported to this one...”

The music climaxed, a clamoring drum roll coming to an abrupt end.

“That soul was you!”

I was left stunned at the crazy scenario the game had cooked up this time.

“Ha... Ha ha...” I laughed, rendered speechless.

The game continued, ignoring my unimpressed reaction.

“You are the true protagonist of this story. You’ve managed to get this far without dying even once! Overcoming all odds, you will save this world from certain destruction!”

Above the cringy message, a new window appeared.

<SYSTEM>

~Main Quest: Hard Mode’s Hidden Route~

Proceed with quest [Who Is the Real Villain]?

(Rewards: [Hidden Ending], [Golden Dragon’s Tooth])

[Accept / Decline]

The quest was even more horrifyingly awful than the terrible plot reveal I’d just endured.