None of the people present understood what had happened. They only saw a beam of light shoot through the spot where Ai Yue had originally stood, piercing through Egrette’s heart.
“What’s going on?”
Because her position was neither too close nor too far, Bululu reacted quickly. She turned her head toward the source of the beam and witnessed an unbelievable sight.
Sonio, who should have been confirmed dead, had somehow stood back up. A strange light flickered in his eyes.
“How does he keep dying and coming back to life?”
Although she complained aloud, Bululu remained on high alert. It was clear that the current Sonio was not right.
‘Is it a resurrection, or has he turned into an undead…?’
Aside from being converted by others, there was another way for the Undead to be born: natural emergence. However, the conditions were generally quite harsh.
Specifically, the deceased and the Undead would emit a special kind of energy, and Necromantic Mana possessed similar properties. Once this energy reached a certain concentration, it would turn corpses into Undead. This was one of the reasons why the number of Undead would constantly increase.
However, she could not sense the aura of death typical of an Undead coming from the current Sonio.
“Something’s not right. That person doesn’t seem to be the same one as before.”
Perhaps due to her level and her intuition as a child, Kurimu was the first to notice the abnormality in Sonio.
“Not the same person? Could it be…”
“Tsk! I thought it would work.”
Just as Bululu was halfway through her sentence, “Sonio” spoke.
Unlike the original Sonio, his current tone was markedly more casual, carrying a coarse, thuggish vibe.
“Well, whatever. I didn’t expect it to work on the first try anyway.”
As he spoke, “Sonio” looked back at Bululu and the others.
“…Who are you? You aren’t the original Sonio, are you?”
Bululu asked while maintaining her guard.
From his tone just now, she could infer that the current “Sonio” was indeed as Kurimu had said. On the surface, it was the same body, but the inside was already someone else.
She just didn’t know if this was remote control or Possession. If it was the former, it would be manageable, as it wouldn’t just be the Domination of mental-type abilities; even Necromantic Mana could control a soulless corpse.
But if it was the latter — Possession — then the situation would be quite troublesome. It meant that someone had occupied a body that, while dead, still possessed a Demon King Level. Even if the Magic Power was depleted and most skills had vanished with the original owner’s death, the physical strength and the skills tied to the body rather than the soul would remain.
With all of them being quite injured, the situation was looking rather dire.
“Hmm? It’s talking?”
Facing Bululu’s question, “Sonio” felt confused. However, the point of his confusion wasn’t the question itself, but rather the fact that Bululu was speaking.
It was as if he didn’t believe they had the capacity for dialogue.
“Is this a boss fight performance? Or is this a special plot point? As expected of Unreal Garden, the content is truly rich!”
“Unreal… Garden?”
Hearing the man’s muttering, Bululu confusedly repeated one of the terms.
She understood the words he said, but she couldn’t comprehend them when they were put together.
At that moment, the man addressed Bululu:
“Since you’ve asked so sincerely, I shall show mercy and tell you. I am the Shadow Emperor of Fiendish Aura!”
“…What on earth?”
For a moment, everyone stared blankly at the man who had struck a pose full of “eighth-grader syndrome.” It was a comical sight because his behavior was completely mismatched with Sonio’s battered appearance.
Facing their gazes, the “man with the long name” didn’t feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he began to fill in the blanks himself.
“Hmm~ They even have different reactions based on the name. The degree of freedom and realism is just too high. I wonder if I can capture NPCs or enemies and keep them as pets.”
“NPC?”
Hearing this word, Bululu finally figured out the true identity of this “man with the long name.”
“Are you… a Player?”
“Hmm? I already knew from the forums that NPCs could distinguish Players, but it’s still quite impressive to encounter it in person.”
This sentence confirmed Bululu’s suspicion. The one who had seized Sonio’s corpse was a Player!
“How could a Player appear in a place like this? Shouldn’t they all appear in the Human Realm?”
Although the Demon Realm and the Human Realm were two different planes, it wasn’t that difficult to travel between them. In practice, it was similar to crossing an ocean to reach another continent. There were some Demon Race intelligence officers in the Human Realm, and the information they gathered suggested that Players appeared almost exclusively in the Human Realm. A few appeared in the planes of the Dragon Race or the Elf Race, but there had never been a case in the Demon Realm.
“Maybe it’s a bug… You probably wouldn’t understand if I put it that way, right? In short, I’m not too sure either, even though I did choose the Demon Race at the start. However, after learning a bit about this game, I realized I’m one lucky bastard. I actually spawned right in a late-game boss’s territory, and I don’t even have to compete with others for the Dungeon Instance.”
Whether he truly treated Bululu and the others as mindless NPCs or had simply gone too long without talking to anyone, the Shadow Emperor of Fiendish Aura began to recount his experiences since the server opened without even realizing it.
Bululu caught a keyword in his speech.
“Dungeon Instance? There’s only been one Dungeon Instance that appeared in the Demon Realm recently… Don’t tell me you went inside!?”
“That’s right. But man, the enemies inside were seriously strong. I could only rely on my Stealth skill to avoid combat. But because of that, I found something good — an item called a Mind Transmitter. At first, I was wondering what it was used for, but then I happened to run into this body collecting everyone’s spirits on a massive scale. I managed to use this item to hide inside this body.”
The words he spoke were like a bombshell, leaving Bululu and the others shocked.
However, there was one thing they were certain of: this Player was extremely dangerous.
“Well, I’ve said enough. This is a rare opportunity. I’m about to become the first player in the whole server to defeat two late-game bosses at the same time!”
“This is bad! Master Ai Yue, please take Lady Egrette and leave first! There is no telling what kind of inconceivable things a being like a Player can do. We must be careful!”
Even though she trusted Ai Yue, Bululu lost her composure when facing a Player. The people of this world had known just how abnormal the group known as Players could be many years ago.
However, at that moment, a hand rested on Bululu’s shoulder.
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