Mowing Down from the Herrscher

The screen kept flickering. An Yu tilted his head, somewhat surprised.

"Spend the rest of your life atoning for your sins."

Elysia was still considering whether she should find a rope and put on an act when a soldier's voice came from afar.

"Ma'am, do you need a rope?"

High-strength nylon rope.

Mark was still hesitating in the distance over whether to approach. After all, the power Elysia had displayed just now didn't seem like something an ordinary person possessed.

An Yu watched the elite monster rushing over from afar. Though he couldn't hear what that guy was saying, he saw the rope.

Then there was no helping it. After all, what people feared most in an open-world game was getting camped and killed.

He first selected Twin Familiars. Then every nanobot mimicked across his body dissolved. As the distant elite monster arrived, An Yu compressed his last remaining energy into a bullet and fired it through the air!

Although the boss caught it in one hand, the golden needle hidden inside the bullet accelerated a second time.

It seemed it hadn't killed her. She appeared to have dodged it.

The screen was simply too blurry, and An Yu couldn't be sure of the result. But the boss seemed to start talking again, her voice brimming with fury as it returned to that earlier noisy electronic distortion.

"Here, have these 15 levels, Miss Boss."

An Yu pulled into a silent smile as the level-four Replica Reconstruction's level-three creation began to vanish, returning a little Honkai energy to his restrained, broken body and allowing him to raise his head again.

"We'll meet again in the next cycle."

His half-mechanical heart shattered, and most of his body dissolved. Only the Herrscher Core representing level 15 fell to the ground, gleaming brightly amid the dirt.

Though he had died completely, two dazzling golden words popped up on the screen: Stage Cleared.

He immediately moved to click on the second stage, but the Start Game button had become Next Step...

"Don't tell me it's going to make me pay for microtransaction items?"

An Yu muttered as he clicked Next Step.

[Please select a skill to retain. Current slots: 1]

[Replica Reconstruction] (Unavailable)

[Twin Familiars]

[Artillery Support 3]

[Attack Speed 4]

[Skill Frequency 2]

"Ha, haha. So this is what the devs were waiting for. Still, there really isn't a microtransaction button yet."

He shook his head. Roguelike stage-clearing games were already a little lacking, and the sense of exhilaration in open-world games could easily drop for no apparent reason.

Still, retaining one max-level skill would at least make the beginning of the next stage much smoother.

"This is obviously a brainless pick: Twin Familiars."

Replica Reconstruction seemed to be exclusive to the first stage's character, while the other skills weren't maxed out. Besides... this game's experience pickup range was way too small. He had to choose familiars to make up for it.

[Twin Familiars]

Active: Gain a companion beast.

Passive: Initial scale increased by 1000 hw.

"Sta—"

Before he could say the word "start," An Yu abruptly ripped off the gaming helmet—a cold hand was stroking his neck. The force was light, but the icy touch was unpleasant.

"Sis?"

He didn't think much of it. His older sister's brain seemed to have gone wrong, and with the strength of an adult man, he easily pried her fingers apart.

He casually placed a hand on Elysia's forehead and checked her temperature.

"Not bad. It doesn't feel as hot anymore."

He sat by the bed and quietly met his sister's gaze. Come to think of it, her blue eyes were quite pretty too.

"Did I make you mad again in the dream?"

An Yu was the one who finally started a conversation.

Elysia: ...

With a sigh, she leaned against the headboard and lowered her head.

"I'll invite a master over in a few days. I suspect there's something unclean in this room." She lowered her stance and spoke first.

The dreams these past few days had been getting worse and worse. Especially after she'd finally managed to take revenge in the dream—after that guy made a harsh threat, he had simply stared at her and then killed himself.

"I don't have connections in that field. I'll need some time to look around."

An Yu had wanted to tell his sister to believe in science, but there was no need to show off at a time like this. Besides, inviting a master over wouldn't cost much.

If it really cost too much... he'd call the police and crack down on feudal superstition.

"It's fine. I know someone."

Elysia recalled an old friend from when she'd shared an apartment outside campus during university. She vigorously shook her head, barely gathering some energy as she forced out a smile.

An Yu: ...

"Then I think I've found the source of your mental problems, Sis."

He hurriedly grabbed the pink-cased phone beside him, turned on the screen, and pointed it at Elysia. The lock screen opened with ease.

Elysia hadn't reacted yet. After all, she really did feel like something had been wrong with her mentally these past few days.

But...

"Don't look at my chat logs!"

"A beautiful girl's chat logs are a secret!" She immediately pounced on him. An Yu didn't react in time and was easily knocked onto the bed.

They really should have been secret.

Pinned beneath her on the bed, An Yu wore a stiff expression as he looked at the thirteen-person group chat pinned at the top of the messaging app: Loving Family.

"...Uh, I can explain."

Elysia subconsciously averted her eyes.

Volume One: Chapter 10 — Prayer

"An Yu? Little Yu~"

"Little bro? Baby brother~"

"Bro? Good big brother~"

Elysia knelt by the bed and cautiously extended a finger, poking An Yu's tense cheek over and over.

She really could explain. The group chat had started because they hadn't gotten into the same university and had gone to different cities.

"Ms. Elysia, please watch your wording."

An Yu kept a straight face, his tone unusually serious. He had always been optimistic and carefree, but this group chat had genuinely broken him.

Loving Family. A family of thirteen. He hadn't even known it existed.

"No, I still can't get over it."

"Tomorrow, I'll find a girlfriend and kick you out of the house."

An Yu clutched his hair, unable to sit still.

This was a hundred times worse than back when they rented that tiny apartment, when Elysia secretly hid the air-conditioner remote and lied that there was no way to adjust the temperature!

Elysia timidly raised her hand. "Um... my name is on the property deed..."

"E! LY! SI! A!"

This time, An Yu was the one grabbing her by the neck. Elysia looked even weaker, pitiful and delicate.

It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to invite An Yu into the group. The main thing was that Kevin hadn't invited Mei, Sakura hadn't invited Rin, and even Griseo hadn't invited Blanca or Mark.

No one had invited their family members. They had silently maintained that shared understanding—the understanding between roommates.

Murder was illegal, murder was illegal! Even if she was his own sister, killing her would still be illegal. An Yu comforted himself like that, then let go after a moment, somewhat dispirited.

"Forget it."

"I'd expected this day to come eventually anyway."

There was often no need to get angry over this sort of thing, because others really were busy and really had their own considerations.

If you selfishly voiced your demands, others would instead feel confused, perhaps even complain that you were being overly sensitive.

Before encountering someone worth pursuing at all costs, most people didn't believe such a person existed. And for most of one's life, such a person really didn't exist.

"I won't argue with you anymore. Go contact your friend, then come to the hospital with me at six this afternoon. Let's get your head checked first."

An Yu calculated today's schedule, then prepared to go wash his face in the bathroom. But when his hand reached the doorknob, he still couldn't resist glancing back—

His sister, normally radiant and dazzling, was now sitting limply on the edge of the bed like a child who had done something wrong. She looked terribly pitiful as he spoke calmly.

"Also, go sleep in your own room."

Elysia sniffled. She felt like she ought to put a red clown nose on her face, though she figured it wouldn't look out of place on An Yu's face either.

[Loving Family]

Elysia: "Help! My little brother found this group and is upset with me. Crying cat.jpg"

Griseo: Bubble.jpg

Griseo: "Then, explain loudly! Kosma said that nothing can't be explained clearly! You can do it.jpg"

Kosma: ...

Kosma: "Speaking of it, is Senior Elysia's little brother still that An Yu?"

Kevin: "Can little brothers change?"

No, but Kosma had been having nightmares for several nights lately. The source of those nightmares was a ghost story Elysia had told over dinner when she had nothing better to do. The protagonist had been her mischievous little brother.

Fortunately, he had already gotten into university, so he didn't need to worry about it affecting his efficiency during his senior year of high school.

Kevin: "Still, whenever An Yu is involved, it feels like something troublesome is going to come out of it."

Kosma: "Senior Kevin has had nightmares about An Yu too, right?!"

Kevin: "No."

Everyone was slacking off, Elysia muttered to herself.

Elysia: Quiet little mouth.jpg

Elysia: "Everyone! You're getting off topic! Cat going crazy.jpg"

The issue now was that her little brother's mentality seemed completely shattered. He was going to cut ties with her.

Kalpas: "Why didn't he know about this group?"

Sakura: +1

Elysia: "He never used to look at my phone. And he didn't contact me during university either. Aren't boys all like that?"

Aponia: "They contact you when they need money."

Kosma: ...

Kevin: ...

Kalpas: ...

Kalpas: "Then why is he looking at your phone now?"

Elysia: "He thinks I made a bunch of bad friends..."

And An Yu seemed to have blamed her mental problems on that friend who performed rituals.

But Elysia felt the problem was with the feng shui. Otherwise, why would she have had so many nightmares lately?

Aponia: "And the group chat with these bad friends is called Loving Family, while between you and your little brother, there are only two of you and not even a proper group chat... Sigh.jpg"