Chapter 36: Who Is The Real Villain

Harmony had wasted her turn. She spent the first portion of it trying to reason with him, but she spent the rest of it just silently giving up. No ideas nor solutions. came to her mind of what to say or do.

She couldn't bring herself to attack someone who’s life she had essentially ruined. She was not a friend in his eyes, nor was there a chance that view would shift. She was just the person he hated the most, and blamed for everything that had happened to him.

The most painful thing is, she couldn't blame him either. Part of her had blamed herself from the very beginning, but she kept this blame and guilt bottled up. Gray Dungeon’s second turn came around and he wasted no time. He manipulated his golem puppet to attack Harmony.

It backhanded her, and she slammed into a nearby wall. She got to her feet with difficulty and lost a chunk of her HP. Eunice called out to her. <“Felicia?! Are you okay?!”>

She shook her head. “Does it matter? I deserve this…It's my fault he's like this…”

Vault’s turn commenced. “You need to stop what you're doing! You could seriously hurt someone! If we go down in this world then we go down for real! There's no coming back from that! Are you okay with living with the dark consequences of your actions over your head?!”

Gray Dungeon glared at Vault. “I have to live with the consequences of her actions! Everything I've had to endure since coming here! The many nights I spent struggling to figure out how to move! Sitting alone in darkness for I don't even know how long…! Wondering if I'll ever see the light again!”

Vaults gave him a confused look.“She just arrived not so long ago, how could you have been here longer than her?”

Arret chimed in like a smug excited teacher “You mortals are not familiar with how the world transition works. There is a temporal distortion. What could be mere moments between one person being transferred over versus another, could be translated into days or even months. Really depends on how much of a time difference it makes.”

Vaults glared at her. “This is all your fault for filling his head with twisted ideas! How can you find any of this amusing?!”

He brandished his weapon at her. She held up her hands in a playful surrendering manner.

“Now now, if you strike me, then that counts as a disqualification for your patron. You don't want to face the consequences of a disqualification. It is truly an undesirable fate.”

He grit his teeth and clutched his weapon tightly. She continued giving him a mocking smile. “Now put on a nice show for this goddess. Go on mortal. Struggle for your little life and make it entertaining.”

Vault's voice was full of rage, but also reluctant acceptance. “I end my turn.”

The turn timer was completely depleted, and started up for their animal companions. They also bared their fangs at the minor deity, but otherwise took no other actions. Arret gave Harmony a curious look.

She addressed her with a giddy mocking tone. “Will you not express words of hatred towards me? Do you not blame me for what has happened? Will your so-called minor deity persona come to the surface in order to lash out?”

Harmony shook her head. “I am to blame…It's my fault after all…Gary, do whatever you have to to feel better…I'll take on all your rage, pain, and sadness. Spare the others, they had nothing to do with it. I'm the one you want after all right?!”

He got silent for a moment, as if he was processing how to feel in regards to her words. “Felicia…”

Arret’s face scrunched up with irritation. She turned her attention to her representative and scolded him. “I promised you that you would be able to get your revenge on Felicia Forge. She is right here. and you are free to act as you please towards her! Do you really think that her allies will just stand by, and let you wipe her out without a fight? No! You need to take care of all of them! That is the only way for you to get your revenge!”

His voice became soft and confused. Almost like he was a child afraid of disappointing their parents. “I don't want to hurt anyone else…I just want to get rid of her…”

She nodded as if she was pretending to understand. “I understand how you feel. Believe me, I know you are a merciful creature. It is a shame what was done to you, and what you've had to endure because of that wretched redhead. Have you thought about the fact that she has also brought others under her wing? Others she has corrupted? Possibly to the point of being irredeemable?”

She stood up as if she was giving a speech. “This corruption will continue to spread, like a virus unless she is taken out. If someone is being poisoned, you must remove its source, before you remove the poison from the body, right?”

She smiled at him with a proud look in her eyes. “I believe you are capable of understanding what the correct decision is. So again I will ask you. Do you think you'll be able to take her out if her allies will constantly revive her?”

His voice was full of dejection as he spoke. “I understand Arret…Thank you for looking out for me again…”

Harmony's eyes went wide as her turn ended and Gray Dungeon’s began. The humanoid body coming out of the wall opened its mouth, and released dust particles into the air. It covered the whole area except where Arret was standing. They all began coughing as the air filled with his attack.

A system notification emerged and blared in front of them.

“Status problem: Dirt particles have filled the air! All players will have slower movements and suffer minor damage every turn.”

Harmony's heart sank as she realized, even though this whole thing was her fault, now the rest of her teammates will also deal with the consequences. She had tried begging and pleading for him to focus on just attacking her, but now they were left with no choice.

If they didn't do something he would eventually take them all out for good. Is it possible for all of them to survive?