The legend of the Crimson Demon clan started from Suqing

#323 - Alicia, here she comes

Zun Zun walked out of the shrine and met up with the two others.

"How was it? Did you encounter any danger? Are there any changes to your body? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"

The moment the elven girl saw him, she couldn't hide the worry on her face. She rushed over to ask questions, constantly circling him as if checking for injuries.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

Zun Zun waved his hand and said, "This is the Doludo Shrine, which represents knowledge. There were no combat sections. In fact, it was much simpler than expected."

Normally, a [Shrine of Trials] should sound difficult and extremely hard to pass.

But the trials in this shrine were simple.

Of course, simple is relative.

Locals who lack modern knowledge couldn't even pass the Rubik's Cube and chess sections; they didn't even understand the rules.

This shows that this shrine was specifically set up for people who have been transported from another world, a backup plan to help them survive better.

It's also understandable why no one comes here.

Because there are no benefits to be gained.

Moreover, the god of this world cares a lot about feedback. After clearing the trial, he even asked about the difficulty and whether they were satisfied with the level design, maximizing the user experience.

Compared to a certain idiot goddess—

"Then what's the reward for clearing it?" Yosuke Shima curiously asked, "These kinds of instances usually have rewards, right? What did you get?"

"I got this."

Zun Zun held out his right hand.

On the back of his hand was a golden mark, composed of three interconnected circles, with a special symbol inside one of the circles. Upon closer inspection, it was identical to the symbol on the Doludo Shrine.

"What's this?"

"Doludo's Blessing. It adds a magic source, essentially doubling my magic power."

"Hmm, not bad!"

"Indeed. Doubling one's magic power is rare even in games. Such bonus levels only appear during the final decisive battle. Ah, of course, there were some at the beginning too, like in Sega games…"

Hearing Zun Zun say this, the other two showed obvious expressions of surprise, clearly not expecting the gods to give transmigrators such good treatment.

"Yosuke, why don't you give it a try?"

"…Huh? Me?"

Yosuke Shima, who was suddenly interrupted, was taken aback.

"Yeah, it's such a good opportunity. Don't pass up a freebie. Plus, adding a magic source allows you to use magic without a fairy, a pretty good reward, right?"

"No, I'm fine. Things that seem too good to be true are definitely traps in the end. Whether it's in reality or in games, so-called gods are not to be trusted. That's right, even in games…"

Yosuke Shima harbored extreme malice and distrust towards the god who brought him to this other world.

"You really are…!"

"Midori, don't be impulsive."

Zun Zun stopped the elven girl from arguing.

After all, Yosuke Shima's words sounded like he was cursing Zun Zun to inevitably have something bad happen to him because of the god's reward.

"Besides, someone has to stop this kind of thing, right? If Zun Zun really loses himself because of the god's reward or something, I'll step in."

"…I'll leave it to you then."

Yosuke Shima was excited, as if he was looking forward to that happening so he could fight Zun Zun. As expected of a gamer, anyone who shows a health bar wants to have a hearty, passionate battle.

"Alright, let's not talk about that."

Zun Zun looked at the dilapidated Doludo Shrine, which represented knowledge, and said, "Next, let's destroy it."

"Eh, destroy it!?!"

"Yeah, after all, we need the berserk power of the god that appears in the end. We can't do it without destroying it."

"The lyrics clearly tell you to protect the shrine… Is it really okay to do this? Won't we anger the gods or something?"

The elven girl seemed unable to accept Zun Zun's actions and couldn't help but complain. When Yosuke Shima heard that it might anger the gods, he was already wielding fierce flames, as if he couldn't wait, and burned the shrine to ashes with a great fire.

The three of them stared blankly at the shrine.

The firelight illuminated their faces, each with different expressions, until the fire completely engulfed the shrine. By this time, the sky was completely dark, and the burning shrine was followed by a cloud cover that obscured the sky.

Tonight was a starless night.

Zun Zun called out to the two of them.

"Alright, let's go back."

"Wait, is that it?"

"Then what else do you want?"

"That… the berserk power of the god…"

"Ah, that's something that only appears after all three shrines are destroyed. We've only destroyed one so far."

"I-Is that so…?"

The elven girl didn't seem to accept it.

However, just in case, they waited for a while, and after seeing that nothing happened, they walked down the mountain.

"Speaking of which, I've seen the setting of three shrines in a game before. It was the ultimate challenging game produced by Sega Saturn…"

Yosuke Shima intentionally tried to find a topic to talk about.

Unfortunately, everything he said was about games, which the elven girl couldn't understand at all. Zun Zun didn't know much about Sega games either, so after they looked at each other, they quickened their pace at the same time.

"The setting is good, but having to return to the map every time wastes a lot of time. I can't help but suspect that Sega is deliberately trying to lengthen the game time—"

"Beast-man, don't even think about hurting people! Take this!"

"Puha!"

Yosuke Shima, who was still immersed in his own world behind them, was suddenly ambushed. A swift punch sent him spinning three and a half times in the air before he slammed heavily into the mountainside.

"Beast-man face!?"

"Yosuke!?"

Zun Zun and the elven girl were immediately dumbfounded. Everything happened too suddenly; neither of them could react.

"You two, are you alright!"

At this time, a man with red, choppy hair who looked like a martial artist said to Zun Zun, "I didn't expect to see a beast-man chasing after ordinary people! It's alright, don't be afraid. Leave the rest to me! Just a beast-man; watch me take care of him in no time!"

He was passionate and had a strong sense of justice. Anyone who saw this would definitely be moved to tears.

However—

"He's not a beast-man; he's our companion."

"What did you say!?"

The martial artist was immediately stunned.

Zun Zun ran over to check on Yosuke Shima's condition and found that he had completely fainted from the force of the blow. His cheeks were swollen, his eyes rolled back, and he looked even scarier than a beast-man.

He pried open his mouth and poured in healing potion.

Aside from contractors, the fairy Xiao Lan only heals women, let alone scary beast-men like Yosuke Shima. It seemed he would have to wait a while before he could wake up.

"Leica! Leica!!!"

At this time, a man and a woman hurried over from a distance. They seemed to be the martial artist's companions.

The girl with the baby face in the lead was wearing clothes similar to a priest and had an anxious look on her face. The man behind her was aloof and carried a large sword on his back.

Priest, martial artist, swordsman—

The combination of the three was both ordinary and not ordinary. Plus, with the name 'Leica,' could it be…

"How nice…"

"Hmm?"

The elven girl stared resentfully at a certain existence that was bouncing up and down conspicuously and said sarcastically, "That's so eye-catching; you care about it a lot, don't you…"

"No."

"Liar. You've been staring at it the whole time. You must think…!"

"That kind of thing doesn't matter. When you like someone, you shouldn't just look at the size. Besides, a mere F is not enough to make me lose my composure."

"I-Is that so… Size doesn't matter, hehe, hehehe…"

The elven girl smiled happily again. Although she didn't know what she had misunderstood, Zun Zun said that because he had seen something even more violent.

"Leica! You, you ran too fast…!"

"N-No, it's bad! Alicia, I accidentally killed someone!"

"Ehhh—!?!"

The priest girl who ran over was shocked and screamed when she heard her companion say this.

"D-Don't panic, Leica, Alicia!" Another swordsman who looked a little cold also stuttered, "Alicia is a sacred mage, she, she might be able to save him!"

"Y-Yes!"

Alicia seemed to just realize this and said, "I'm sorry, where is the dead person!?!"

"I'm here."

"Waaaaah—!?!"

Yosuke Shima stood behind her and spoke, looking like a ghost, immediately scaring the girl into screaming. When she turned her head and saw a beast-man face close to her, she screamed even louder.

They made a ruckus for a while.

Alicia, Leica, and Edgar knelt on the ground and apologized loudly to Yosuke Shima.

"I'm sorry! My companion accidentally mistook you for a beast-man and did something excessive! I'm really sorry! T-That… are you not injured?"

"It's fine, it's fine. It can't be helped since it's dark."

Yosuke Shima waved his hand with a smile.

He didn't seem to get angry at people who apologized to him properly, but this guy's smile really looked too much like a beast-man. However, Alicia didn't seem afraid, but Leica was still justifying himself.

"Yeah, it's because you look too much like a beast-man—"

"Leica, shut up!"

"Puha!"

His abdomen was struck by the sacred mage's elbow, and he fell to the ground, weak but honestly apologizing.

"T-That…"

"I don't want to care about this."

"Since Yosuke himself doesn't mind, I don't have the right to be angry."

As she spoke, Zun Zun held out his hand to her.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, they introduced themselves.

"H-Hello. I'm Alicia, and these two are my childhood friends and companions, Leica (martial artist) and Edgar (swordsman)."

"Zun Zun."

"Just… call me Elf."

"I am Kuroki Tenma."

—Are you kidding me!?