What I found was a ring on the right index finger of a dried and twisted corpse.
It was a silver color with a grayish tint overall, and the upper part had a complex pattern engraved on it. Even though a considerable amount of time had passed, it still had not lost its original color at all.
This is the item needed to progress through the next main story. That's why Arachnaine is a boss that must be defeated to progress through the story.
I held the withered, twisted hand of the corpse, trying to ignore the horrible feeling under my fingers. If I could just take it away, I would never have to come back here again.
'You can't take the whole body, right?'
Even in the game, if you press the interaction key here, the character will just take the ring away. Anyway, the story progresses well.
In addition, it was firmly fixed to the wall with spider webs. First of all, I couldn't remove it with my own strength, and although the knight commanders might be able to do it, there was a high possibility that the body would be damaged in the process.
It's better not to take it than to destroy it somewhere and take it.
'… … Rather than that, why isn't it falling off?'
I struggled for a long time to get the ring off my finger. I thought it would be easy since it was stuck to the dried, twisted corpse, but it didn't move at all, as if it had been glued on.
I put more strength into my hand. Then I felt the ring slowly slipping out. My arm was shaking. The ring was slowly slipping out, so if I put a little more strength into this state-
-Ppajik.
'Oh.'
The ring fell off.
The problem is that the corpse's fingers also fell off.
"...."
I stared blankly at the broken finger, then gently placed it back in the spider web. I decided to pretend I didn't see it.
After many twists and turns, I took the ring off my finger, put it in my potion pouch, and left the cave. I could see the knight commanders who had dealt with Arachnainera waiting for me.
Lize smiled brightly and waved at me.
"It's pretty late. What are you doing?"
Claudia was wondering what evidence she could take to subdue the beast, and in the end she decided to take the beheaded one, which was the classic decision. In her hands was the severed head of Arachnainera.
I took the ring out of my potion pouch and placed it on my palm. Three different pairs of eyes looked at my palm.
"Go get this."
"This is… … ."
Erica seemed to know something. Her eyes narrowed.
"Do you know anything, Erica?"
"Yes. This is the emblem of a noble family. Wait a minute. Which family was it…?"
The knight commanders were deep in thought.
Originally, this was an event that occurred after returning to the Knights and showing them the ring, but now that everyone has come together to subdue Arachnaine, it seems like it just started here.
Of course, I know which family it is. However, I couldn't rule out the possibility that the name had changed, so I waited silently for Erica to speak.
No, rather, looking back on what has happened so far, it would be more accurate to say that it has definitely changed. It would be faster to find something that hasn't changed than something that has changed right now.
"I remembered. It's a Platroid. It's definitely the Platroid family crest."
'also.'
It was a name I had never heard before.
"But… … why was the ring symbolizing that family found here?"
"Why would that be?"
I pointed to the corpses strewn across the wall. They were all dried out, their blood sucked out, and held tightly together by spider webs. Some of them were even swollen in places.
The expressions of the knight commanders who immediately understood the meaning hardened.
"… … I understand. I'll take this ring for now. I'll send a letter to the Platroid family later."
Erica spoke in a slightly lowered voice. Claudia tightened her grip on Arachnainera's head, and Lize bit her lip lightly.
"Okay, I got it."
The main story progresses as one of the knight commanders sends a letter to the Platroid family, and the player visits them in person to deliver the ring.
Since the exit itself won't open unless you acquire the ring, it's safe to assume that there's no chance that the player won't notice the ring's existence.
Even if there are players who haven't found the hidden passage, they will go around the boss room because they can't see the way out, and then they will find a cave and go in thinking that it is the exit.
"Ah, I'm finally going back to the castle—?"
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At that moment, Claudia stopped talking and covered her mouth with her hand. Our eyes were focused on Claudia. Claudia coughed harshly as if she was going to spill her intestines.
"Cough! Gulp, gulp!"
As soon as I heard that cough, a cold sweat ran down my back. The thought, "No way," crossed my mind.
"Claudia. What's wrong? Where does it hurt?"
"… … No. I just suddenly have a cough. It must be because the air here is not good. I'll be fine once I go outside."
"You don't look okay at all. Your complexion is serious."
Lize and Erica spoke with worried expressions. It was as they were worried. If my guess is correct, the current Claudia is absolutely not okay.
"What's wrong with you all? I'm really fine. I just need to get some fresh air."
Claudia tried to make excuses with a smile, but the cold sweat that was beading on her face showed that she was not feeling well at all.
"It's not okay, so give it to me first."
"Huh? Delta, you...."
He snatched the Spider Queen's head from her hand.
As soon as I took her head, Claudia fell to the ground helplessly, unable to finish her words. Her breathing became noticeably rapid, as if she had no more strength to hide it.
"Lize. Hold this for me."
"What the hell is going on? Why is Claudia acting like this all of a sudden?"
"Didn't I tell you that these guys' bodily fluids are laced with venom? And I told you not to touch them at all if you don't want to be poisoned."
"...no way?"
I nodded vigorously.
"That's right. It's an addiction."
Poisoning was one of the status abnormalities of the 4th level caused by common poisons and deadly poisons.
Once you are poisoned, your health will decrease by a percentage for the duration. In the case of normal poison, 50% of your maximum health will be lost for 3 minutes, and in the case of deadly poison, 85% of your maximum health will be lost for 3 minutes.
You might say that since it is proportional to maximum health, it is more advantageous to have lower HP, but since there is minimum damage, that is not necessarily the case.
In fact, because the duration of addiction is so long, it is difficult to find a situation where someone dies from poisoning unless it is really serious.
Based on the standard poison, 50% of maximum health is reduced for 3 minutes, so the damage per second is at most 0.2% of maximum health. Even the lethal poison deals a little less than 0.5% damage per second.
However, the real fear of poison was that it restricted the player's movements.
Once every 15 seconds, it causes the player to cough for 1 second if it's normal poison or 2 seconds if it's deadly poison, rendering the player unable to take any actions. If you start coughing during combat? You just die.
That's why the addiction lasts for 3 minutes.
"...I'm sorry. It ended up like this."
"It's something you have to do, so don't keep saying sorry. If you do it one more time, I'll tell Erica."
Claudia smiled weakly as she was carried, and kept saying sorry all the way out of the valley. She really seemed to be quite concerned.
There was a reason why I was carrying Claudia while leaving Lize and Erica behind.
In terms of sheer strength, Lize and Erica were much stronger than me, but their height was a hindrance. Claudia was incredibly tall, while Lize and Erica were not.
Erica was exactly the average height for a woman, and Lize was much shorter than Erica. Because of the height difference, when Claudia was carried, both of them ended up in an uncomfortable position.
So, I, who was taller than Claudia, had no choice but to take on this role. Even I was tall enough to lift a person.
We returned to where we had tied the horses and leaned Claudia against a nearby tree. She was drenched in sweat, her limbs were limp, and her complexion was seriously unsightly.
"Coolook, coolook!"
Then he started coughing so hard that it felt like his lungs were going to burst.
'I should have brought at least some items that could cure addiction before starting the boss fight.'
I thought that since I had already taught them how to deal with most emergency situations, they would be fine if they had the skills of the Knight Commanders, but that was the root of the problem.
Of course, in reality, there was nothing wrong.
That is, until a series of coincidences pile up and things go wrong. Who would have imagined that a situation that is difficult to plan for would occur at that precise moment?
'The symptoms should be exactly the same as the game.'
In the game, it just causes a cough and blows away some of your maximum health. But here? Will it end with you losing some health?
'I don't know.'
There was nothing we could be sure of.
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"Riding a horse in that condition… … ."
"You can't do it alone. Erica, you go back to the castle first and find a way. Delta and Claudia will ride together, and I will escort you."
Lize and Erica were talking with serious faces. The atmosphere was extremely serious.
"You're so, tall… … I'm sorry… … If Lize had been like this… … I would've fit perfectly into Delta's arms, cool, … ."
"Is this a joke, Claudia? We're serious, so keep your mouth shut."
Claudia laughed heartlessly and made a joke. It seemed like it was an attempt to lighten the mood, but it backfired. Erica let out a deep sigh.
"Is there any way, Mr. Delta?"
It seemed as if he was trying to cast his last ray of hope on me. There was a hint of anticipation in the way he looked at me.
"It's not that there isn't any."
Since Blizzard 4 is a difficult game, not an unreasonable game, in places where monsters that use poison or lethal poison appear, consumables that remove the poison status are often dropped as well.
'The problem is the mode.'
But the Darkest Light mode is unreasonable.
Normally, you could find a bunch of grass that acted as an antidote for poison around here. They even regenerated after a certain amount of time, so if time allowed, you could stockpile them indefinitely.
But that wasn't the case in Beulah mode.
First of all, all the ones near the Arakrainera boss room were gone, and I had to go a long way to get one, but it didn't regenerate, so I ended up eating it once.
If you have the skills to inflict status abnormalities on a boss in the early to mid game, you should just get poisoned and die.
'… … I don't know how far it will be.'
I knew the direction. What mattered was how far away it was from here.
"If you go this way, you can get the antidote pool. However, I don't know how long it will take. Maybe an hour, maybe two hours. Maybe more."
"Time doesn't matter. There has to be a way, right?"
As I nodded, Lize looked determined, as if her mind had been made up. Since I could easily predict what would come out of her mouth, I prepared to go find the antidote.
"Erika, get ready. We need to go find the antidote. If Delta is right, there should definitely be an antidote in that direction, so before we go back to the castle, let's—"
"It seems like you need help?"
A strange voice that I had never heard before was heard from somewhere. Rize and Erika drew their weapons like the wind and looked around cautiously. Flames blazed on the Japanese sword, and ice formed on the twin daggers.
I was the same. I had never experienced anyone else appearing here before, so I was very nervous and held the bloody sword.
"Who said that? Answer or show yourself. Otherwise, I will consider you an enemy."
"We're a bit short on space right now. If you don't want to fight, you'd better come out quickly."
A murderous atmosphere hung in the air.
Both of them might have acted a little more gently if it had been normal, but it seemed like Claudia was addicted and had to respond in a timely manner.
"Oh my, don't be scared. I said I would be kind and help you, so don't be angry, right?"
The standoff didn't last long. A woman came out from behind a nearby tree, pushing through the bushes.
She was a woman with blonde hair and green eyes.