The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 527: The Trial Begins, You Madman

That was the language only Frostwhisper could speak.

The purpose of the birth of this language was to carry on the legacy of “Austere-Winter”.

It was the secret since the beginning of creation.

The body that belonged to “Job”, which Annan used, was gradually disintegrating.

The mortal’s body could not bear the mighty power of the secret of creation.

The scene resembled an old photo with dozens of holes burned into soots. Holes appeared on his body gradually, with the gray-white snow exuding from them.

The invisible and colorless blizzard blew in all directions, with Annan as the center.

Those were not snowflakes condensed through mere “water”.

Wherever the blizzard passed, utter silence came without warning.

There was not a whisper of wind, and there was not a hint of noise either.

Instead, the world turned into a pure and silent gray after the ancient words came to an end.

The surrounding seemed installed with a black and white filter with the sound volume turned off.

All sounds were swallowed up.

All colors were frozen.

Wherever the blizzard passed, color and sound were completely taken away.

The blizzard swirled endlessly in the sky, and it was impossible to determine its position with the naked eye.

Only Annan’s chanting resounded in the gray-and-white silent world.

“It was originally used to describe the stillness of the sky as a dying old man when the earth was born, and the earth’s hatred for the things that supposedly passed away but defied death.”

After Annan slowly chanted the creation knowledge, his dungeon avatar crumbled. Only half of the head remained, and the solitary left eye looked at the spider.

However, Annan still held the gun in his right hand. There were a dozen small holes in his right arm and three larger holes in his left arm. Peering into these holes, no flesh and blood could be seen but only dark and abyss-like things.

There seemed to be a pause button pressed upon this world.

A thin gray-white blizzard layer had engulfed the massive spider less than a few meters away from Annan.

Its chelicerae, raised high and lifted off the ground out of fear, had become still.

The narrow island beneath Annan turned into a raised iceberg.

The spider webs in the distance were also covered in ice.

Through a bird’s eye view, the place seemingly had a meteorite fall into the icy lake, smashing out web-like cracks.

The sun, moon, and stars in the sky were extinguished, leaving only darkness.

This was a world with only black, white, and gray left.

Even illusory “dreams” would be mercilessly frozen.

That defined the actual “Austere-Winter”.

*Crunch.*

The sound of boots stepping on the snow in the silent world sounded.

Annan, whose body became riddled with holes due to the chanting of forbidden knowledge, advanced slowly in the snow alone.

I can still move.

Annan was quite surprised.

His health value warned him glaringly.

[Health: -1545%]

The number was still dropping like an expanding hole.

However, Annan was inexplicably confident.

I will never die here.

*Crunch.*

In the gray-white world, Annan slowly approached the gigantic frozen spider.

It was not that he did not want to walk faster but that he had exhausted all his strength just by moving.

Annan, who was insensitive to pain, did not know the extent of his injuries.

However, his curse erased the pain.

It was really…

“—Awesome.” Annan grinned, revealing a brilliant smile.

Then, he saw an incomparably rare scene.

The right side of his face that was about to disappear made his smile look a bit hideous.

Annan could not cast any spells.

He did not possess a robust physical body currently.

There were no weapons available.

There were no items available for ritual.

Faced with a giant spider that was several stories high, it was [impossible] for a mere human to win.

That was why Grover ignored Annan’s threats, leisurely stood aside, and chatted with him.

Only the people of the past can see through the truth.

At that time, the protection of the [Fantasy] dungeon characteristic was absent. Although the nightmare was hostile to the nightmare challenger, it became easier to see through the truth and realize that “this was a nightmare under someone’s control”.

At that time, Grover must have done the same. It would incarnate a towering spider, humbly admitting the loopholes the challenger had pointed out, accepting all curses and prayers with a smile. Perhaps, the dungeon challenger would charge toward the massive spider with the poor little knife with a mortal’s body, just like Don Quixote against the windmills [1].

Letting the opponents taste the despair and pain before killing them.

Then, Grover would kill the prey in the nightmare, and it would repeat after the prey had respawned. The process ensued until the opponent was completely dead in the nightmare.

“I thought I was playing Accelerated World [2].” Annan sneered.

He raised his flintlock, which had turned pure white in the blizzard, and aimed at the spider.

Even until a few days ago, Annan did not think that the sacred bone of “justice” would recognize.

However, seeing such a disgusting person—no, such a disgusting spider.

Yes, this was the dream world with only the phantom image.

Alice was already dead, and no one would be saved even if the spider was killed.

However, from another perspective, his death could save more people.

“If eliminating evil is justice…” Annan murmured.

“Then, I am the judge of justice.” The corners of Annan’s mouth raised even more.

His smile grew wider.

There was a gleam in his eye.

His finger was on the trigger.

The wild laughter was almost unbearable.

He gritted his teeth and grinned, suppressing himself and trying not to laugh out loud. Then, he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

His voice sounded in the silent world.

“The trial begins—you madman!” A metal bullet was shot out from the muzzle in this black, white, and gray world.

The gunfire drew a trajectory composed of countless circles like the smoke expelled from an airplane, piercing through the spider’s body with incomparable precision.

It struck the head, traversed the body, and flew out from the back.

It was an ordinary projectile, but it did not meet any resistance.

However, it was not because of the weakening of defense but the suppression of “movement” through “stillness”.

In the next instant, a large area of web-shaped cracks appeared at the point of contact between the bullet and the spider.

—Snap.

It was like breaking the ice with a stone. Cracks densely covered the spiders.

—Snap.

The crack continued to expand, spreading to the stagnant air beyond the spider.

Colors began to become chaotic, and subtle sounds started to emerge.

Blue, purple, and golden blood flowed from where the spider was injured. The blood was like a rainbow, constantly flowing and changing.

—Snap.

The crack further expanded and spread to the entire nightmare world.

Only a tiny isolated island where Annan was located was safe and sound.

The next moment, the nightmare shattered with a bang.

The isolated island built on the spider web could no longer bear the weight and fell toward the abyss.

At the moment before the world finally reverted to its normal colors, Annan saw the spider shattered into tens of thousands of parts. It broke apart miserably in the air, and countless fragments of limbs covered in frost exploded like fireworks.

“Ahahahahahahahahahaha!“

Annan lost his consciousness blissfully amidst the wild laughter that could not be suppressed in the end.