Chapter 229 229 Ego Darkening
[El's POV: ]
Our Zero skills have become a little dangerous.
"Raz, end the stream."
<Hmmm? Nya? But all of them->
"Just end it."
There was no meaning left to this whole livestream anymore. The boss was dead already so there was nothing left for us to show them in this place anymore. Using the precious Relic would be a waste now.
<Nyaaaaa… alright.>
This dungeon run was over.
It was anticlimactic, certainly, but it was over now that the boss monster was dead.
Our sub tasks like retrieving the dimensional fragment from that place, winning over those last survivors, and breaking this dungeon were things that wouldn't be as fun as seeing a ruthless butchering of an <S> rank creature with the title of Queen.
It was unique kind of content, but unless they were at the rank of the fuckers directly watching us, it was of no use to them or us.
This was it for the new stream from us…
[[ Master… what he did just now- ]]
"I know, dummy. I understood what happened."
[[ Then you must also know what happens when someone who doesn't have physical capability to handle a sudden surge of insane power like that obtains it? ]]
"Hmm? No… what do you mean by that?
Something happens when your stats doubles and you can use your powers without any restrictions?"
[[ Ego Darkening… one calls it [Personality breakdown], a very rare phenomenon even in the higher realms. However, in the older days, the cases of personality breakdown were pretty common. ]]
Anna answered instead of Cary who had asked the question, and, right after her, with a concerned voice, he also added after her.
[[ When someone undeserving obtains an absolute power, their mental bodies are unable to cope with the kind of power they had obtained.
This kind of sudden strength makes them a completely different kind of person, something that applies to even the so called higher beings.
If their nature is 'demonic' they suddenly become a pure being that is completely against their nature or… they become much more evil. So much so that they cross the limits of just the 'evil' and become so mad that they start corrupting themselves at and things around them at a speed that could not be compared to the normal corruption. ]]
He paused for a moment, and looked at me with anxiety.
[[ Perhaps Anna doesn't know just how bad [Ego Darkening] could get however… I have seen the end of those who fall into this damned state… and, just like what we saw today, it has never been pretty.
Angeles become demons worse than the demon kings, demons lose their inherent nature and try doing things no demon would ever even think about, which ends up in disputes on the levels of 'realms'.
People die, innocent beings become one with nature before they are meant to, massacre, carnage, dread worse than apocalypse falls upon the worlds where a [Darkened Ego] appears…
It is a worse end than becoming a corrupted being, master. It is worse than becoming an anomaly the Worldline would want to get red of at all costs. ]]
I had never seen him that anxious.
The way he spoke… the emotions I was feeling from him…
'Looks like things were more serious than I thought.'
Lucy activated the power our new skills had earned. The power to double a stat and no cooldown time on our skills.
We had thought the skill would readjust the strength of our stats when it doubles it and ultimately, it would be just a super strong buff to all our stats even with one stat doubled.
It would be absurd to have that kind of power as well, but since this would be from a Zero skill, that much was acceptable according to the rules of the Worldline.
But…
'The skill did not adjust the strength of our stats.'
It actually doubled the original stat and, even though Lucy had only doubled his strength stat that was important for using his [Crimson sword] skill, the boost in power he received was fucking absurd…
'He got stronger than even the <SSS> rank creatures that have average stats of around 500's and, since the strengths of our stats was absurd in the first place, the boost became even more unfathomable.'
He got too strength for those few seconds, and, since his skills had no cooldown, the way he used his powerful Sword slash, was enough to kill even some of the strongest people in this world.
'Things would have been even more absurd if he had used his sword dance or, if he had activated his Aspect.
Perhaps, if he had activated his aspect skill, then, he might have slashed right through the space of this dungeon, causing a [Dungeon error] and all our efforts would have been for nothing.'
He used a skill independent from his aspect skill precisely because he might have alredy calculated this outcome, and, seeing how he used his Aura, he must have really wanted to just kill that thing as quickly as he could…
'I could tell just by looking at those cold eyes that he wasn't my Lucy bastard. That was not the person I loved. He could never make that kind of expression.'
Lucy was inherently a kind person. His pureness was an inseparable characteristic of his being.
But, that… thing, that killed this Queen boss monster, did not have even an ounce of warmth, or guilt, or shame when it killed her.
'Ego Darkening…'
I had heard about this phenomenon, however, even in the higher realms, there wasn't much information available about this thing.
There were no cases about someone falling into this state when we played it as a game, so, perhaps that might also be the reason that information about it was restricted from us.
But still, even as the creator of this world, I did not know much about this process.
'I didn't think it would be that bad of a thing if it was just affecting his character a little bit, but, the way using that power changed him, the worry in the eyes of my familiar, and the way my ever cheery Anna was looking at my quite Lucy… I did not like this.'
Lucy was trying to understand what had happened to him, understand the meaning of the things he did to this creature, contemplate why he might have done it, regretting his actions even though it was unintentional.
That was just like him… that was what I loved about him.
But the 'thing' he had become, was heinous.
[[ Master. Can you please… not use that power anymore?
It will continue to affect your mental body as you use it, and, I am worried if you use it- ]]
"You think I will become some monster that the Worldline would want to erase, right?"
I looked at my cute baby with a smile and shook my head while patting Anna's little head.
"Don't worry. We will try to not use this power unless it is absolutely necessary."
It wasn't written in the description, but, strong skills always have some kind of drawbacks.
There was no way using this skill wouldn't have one.
We had prepared for a strong aftereffect like physical or mental pain, or perhaps some kind of debuff or stat drop, or something similar. We had prepared ourselves for that. However, this power, this strenge ability to double the original stats and completely use any skill without restriction, was a much scarier ability.
<Nyaaaa… El. I don't want El to become even worse->
"Shuddup stupid Raz." I caught the floating kitten and hugged him, my round headed dragon, and cute little Anna together.
"Nothing will happen to us."
I did not fear death, we can revive people if they were dead in this world. But, losing him, or myself in exchange for mere power would be the second last thing I would want.
Lucy was the same, and, I knew he had heard everything we talked about and was finished sorting out his thoughts.
I could feel him returning to his normal, calmer state. So, we can wrap things up here and go to the place the two of them had marked.
"Alright then…"
Some skill was not going to take away us from ourselves. We belonged to each other and this was not going to change until the end of this world.
"Lucy, my crybaby darling. We will be leaving in three. Get up by then." I informed him with a calm voice, and he nodded his head without looking at me.
He had just been sitting in a corner this whole time, thinking, reflecting on his actions.
He was sorry for the way a magnificent creature like this Queen ended up.
She did not deserve it, even I agreed on that.
She was a queen, and a mother at the end of the day.
We had killed all of her children so, she at least had the right to a few last curses before she was dead because of us.
She rightfully deserved a proper fight that the viewers would have liked equally.
Lucy might also have gotten the chance to show his sword dance to the world though that… but, that wasn't possible anymore.
She was dead, butchered by the famous 'white sword swordsman'. And that fact was not going to change.
"So then Raz. How much for this dead Queen ant and all the other dead bodies?"
<Nyaaa?>
The rewards for killing this creatures wasn't here yet since we weren't done with everything we wanted to do here.
The dungeon was not cleared yet, so, the rewards would come at the end of the dungeon run.
So, at the very least, we should finish up with some cleaning and business before going into the so called 'last sanctuary' of the people that used to reside in this palace before it became an ant colony.
And, since I was bored of this shit anyway… Raz can have the spoils this time.
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