Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 168: Chapter 168: Vase

How the mole, Jelas, and his "perfect girlfriend" were to be handled was no longer Lloyd’s concern. Since the Saint’s Grace Court had taken over, he could relax and leave it to the professionals.

Besides, Lloyd had worn himself out today, so he headed to the public baths for a quick shower, planning to get some rest early.

But as he lay in bed, he couldn’t resist taking out the amethyst pendant. He cradled it in his palm, turning it over and over, hoping to hear Weiya’s voice.

After seeing what had happened to Jelas, he felt a strange urge to talk to Weiya...

But the crystal gave no response; the distance between them was too great for it to work.

’I’ll have to find a way to get some more advanced communication equipment in the future...’

Lloyd mulled it over as he drifted into a deep sleep.

「Meanwhile, in a luxurious apartment far away in Radiant City, another beautiful woman was thinking of him.」

The woman had just finished her bath. Her hair was still damp, and she wore a translucent, gossamer nightgown, her alluring curves faintly visible beneath the fabric.

She sat at her vanity. The room’s lights were off, with only a few candles lit in specific places. The flickering candlelight cast its glow from different angles, throwing her shadow onto the wall in a bizarre shape.

The mirror before her reflected her lovely face. Beside it lay a golden handbell and an exquisite silver dinner knife. She picked up the knife and lightly sliced her index finger, drawing a few drops of blood.

She then smeared the drops of blood onto the surface of the bell and shook it gently twice.

With three chimes of the bell, the mirror before her suddenly went pitch-black. Then, a line of white text materialized on its surface:

"Have you found the one?"

The script was exceedingly messy, as if written by someone enduring intense pain, struggling and trembling. It flickered constantly, parts of the strokes occasionally vanishing, like an intertitle from an old film projector.

The woman lowered her voice, answering the "mirror’s" question:

"Through various inquiries, I have tentatively identified eight candidates. All of them meet the conditions you laid out: ’young,’ ’Veto,’ ’exceptionally talented,’ ’parents deceased,’ ’a passion for killing,’ and ’beloved by others.’ The one you’re looking for should be among them...

"But I still need time to verify each one. My lover is attempting to get close to one of them, though I haven’t heard from him today. I believe he is making good progress, however, as he holds considerable prestige among the youth of the Sect."

"Mm..."

The "mirror" responded, but the words immediately changed:

"I have seen your end in the Book of Destiny. Both yours, and your toy’s."

"What?"

The woman’s eyes widened in disbelief, as if she had just received terrible news.

She scrambled up from her vanity, trembling as she slowly backed away.

But the "mirror" continued to "speak":

"There is no need to flee. Offer your final faith to our god."

Even as just a line of text, it emanated a bone-chilling cold.

"No!"

The woman snatched a nearby vase, intending to smash it against the mirror.

But though she put all her strength into the throw, she found the vase was still in her hand.

She looked down and saw that her hand had fused with the vase, taking on a smooth, ceramic sheen.

She froze, all thoughts of resistance forgotten, and allowed the ceramic-like color and texture to creep up her arm and across her entire body.

Finally, her entire body transformed into a beautiful, humanoid vase, standing stock-still in place.

The vase perfectly reproduced every detail about her. Every strand of hair, every fold in her clothing, was preserved. The look of terror and defiance on her face was especially lifelike, frozen at the very moment she had tried to resist.

The mirror opposite her suddenly shattered, scattering into shards of glass across the floor. At the same moment, the flickering candles extinguished, plunging the room into absolute darkness.

About five minutes later, the lights in the room flickered back on. The door was then kicked open from the outside, and several Saint’s Hunters stormed in. They stopped short at the sight of the lifelike, humanoid vase.

The beautiful yet unnervingly realistic figure startled the Hunters, making the hairs on their arms stand on end.

After several seconds, one of them finally spoke.

"We’re too late. She’s been silenced..."

"Inconceivable. We acted the moment we received the coded message, yet we were still a step behind. Did someone leak the information?"

"What in the world is this malevolent power? How can it turn a person into a vase?"

"Wait? You said a vase? Is that what you’re seeing too? Not a statue or something?"

One of the Hunters spoke, moving closer to the vase. Mustering his courage, he gently touched its arm.

The next second, a web of cracks appeared on the vase’s surface and began to spread rapidly.

Simultaneously, a bizarre power surged from within the vase, threatening to erupt at any moment.

"This is bad! Fall back!"

one of the Hunters yelled.

But they were a step too slow. Before they could escape the room, the vase shattered into minuscule fragments. The bizarre power trapped within erupted, instantly sweeping through the entire luxury apartment.

The Saint’s Hunters froze where they stood, completely still.

Their eyes gradually closed, as if they had forgotten sight.

Their minds gradually ground to a halt, as if they had forgotten thought.

Their breathing gradually ceased, as if they had forgotten breath.

Finally, their hearts gradually stilled, as if they had forgotten their own beat.

Then, one by one, they collapsed, silently perishing...

...

Lloyd’s eyes snapped open, and he shot up in bed as if waking from a nightmare.

He tilted his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose, thinking back on the dream he’d just had. ’It was a good dream, wasn’t it?’

In the dream, he saw his sister in a magnificent white wedding dress, her face beaming with a sweet, blissful smile. She looked incomparably beautiful, incomparably pure.

She was holding his arm affectionately, her lovely face full of anticipation as they walked down a red carpet together.

Soft music played all around them, and white petals drifted down from the sky, adding a touch of romance to the scene.

But Lloyd’s heart felt empty. He couldn’t feel happy at all, and his face was etched with disappointment.

Then, Evelor gently tugged on his arm and asked softly:

"What’s wrong, Yi?"

"N-Nothing... I just can’t bear to part with you. You have to be happy, Sis!"

Lloyd said, his voice thick with emotion.

And then he suddenly woke up.

’So, that should count as a good dream, right? Dreaming of my sister getting married... no matter how I look at it, that has to be a good dream, right?’

’And as her little brother, it’s normal to feel sad about being separated from her, isn’t it?’

’It’s just a shame I didn’t get to see what my ’brother-in-law’ looked like. How strong is he? What’s his system? Can he protect her?’

At this thought, Lloyd smiled and shook his head. Since he was still sleepy, he lay back down.

’Hopefully, this time I’ll have a truly good dream.’

As it turned out, he didn’t dream at all. He slept soundly, and when he woke up, it was already six in the morning.

Lloyd got right out of bed. Following the Fitness Manual, he circulated his Spiritual Power and did a few simple morning exercises before preparing to head out for breakfast.

The moment he stepped out the door, he saw two Knight Commanders standing in front of the room next door.

Neither of them spoke. They just stood there staring at each other, not saying a word, as if communicating with their eyes.

After a dozen seconds, the Knight Commander with the speech bubble over his head nodded. A jumble of black lines appeared in the bubble, as if to express confusion. He then turned and walked away, brushing past Lloyd.

The other Knight Commander, the one who could speak, turned back and said to Lloyd:

"There was an incident last night. Jelas’s vase died violently in the high-end apartment they were renting. The Saint’s Grace Court lost a team of Hunters as well."

"Huh? Did someone leak the information?"

Lloyd asked, completely stunned.

He remembered that Jelas’s vase was...

’Huh? Wait!’

’Why a vase?’

Realizing something was wrong, Lloyd shook his head vigorously.

But the Knight Commander across from him offered some reassurance.

"Don’t be alarmed. Your reaction is normal. It’s the power of the Forgetfulness Taboo System. You’ll be fine in a couple of days."

"Forgetfulness?"

Lloyd quickly searched his memory of the butler’s PvP journal, but there was no mention of a system that could turn people into vases.

He then hurried back into his room, found yesterday’s transcript, and flipped through it.

Good heavens. On the page, every mention of a certain person had been replaced with the single word "vase."

"Such a bizarre power actually exists in this world? One that can affect everyone’s memories and cognition?"

A chill ran down Lloyd’s spine.

"It’s not quite that exaggerated. The discrepancies in memory and records appear because we only knew of this person through the transcript. We weren’t familiar enough with it, so it became a ’vase.’ We’ll have to wait two days before we can remember who it really was."

The Knight Commander followed him inside and gave a brief explanation of the terrifying Forgetfulness system:

"It’s an extremely rare Taboo System. The number of people who have mastered its power is probably only slightly higher than those who have mastered the legendary Twist. Its main characteristic is just as you’ve seen: it affects the memories and cognition of a large number of people over a short period, making them forget something and replacing it with an incorrect concept...

"It’s like forgetting a classmate you didn’t know well and misremembering them as someone else...

"Fortunately, it can’t affect just anything. There must be many limitations, otherwise those who’ve mastered this system would have taken over the world by now."

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