Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 91 : Sea of Blood – 2

Chapter 91: Sea of Blood – 2
I knew it.
He might have been my subordinate, but it wasn’t like I was asking him to kill himself — there was no way he’d refuse.
In a way, it was an absurd situation.
By using the doppelgänger that I’d ordered to extract blood as a disposable pawn, I had actually ended up obtaining my own blood.
Louis had unknowingly fulfilled his mission.
Not in the way he might have wanted, though.
“Now, I’ve just sent all the Louis entities to Bucklet Forest.”
“Thank you.”
“Then I’ll take it.”
Swish.
When Magireta gestured, the bucket floated gently into the air.
She carefully placed it by her side, then pulled something out from her robe.
It was an object I had never seen before, so I couldn’t even think of a fitting comparison.
While I blankly watched her, Magireta spoke.
“It’s called a dropper.”
“What sort of bizarre function does that have?”
“It’s just a tool for sucking up liquid. Do you think everything I take out is some kind of strange magical item?”
She dipped the tip of the dropper into the bucket and squeezed the rubber end, drawing up the blood.
I asked with suspicion,
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to look at it under the sunlight for a bit.”
“You could just float a drop of blood in the air and examine it. With your omnipotence, sister.”
“……I’d like to handle my little brother’s blood with more care.”
“Hmm. Well, suit yourself.”
Magireta studied the so-called dropper for a while, tilting her head slightly.
“I can’t tell much by just glancing at it. I’ll take the bucket back and study it properly.”
“Go ahead.”
“You’re done with your business here, right?”
“Yes. Thank you for your help.”
Magireta waved her hand lazily.
“If possible, try not to kill him — that Louis kid.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I’m only saying this because I’ve already figured it out, but to save your companions, you only need to get rid of about eighty percent of the mud. You don’t have to destroy it completely, right?”
“Still, I don’t want to. He stole my comrades, transformed into them… and in the end, deceived me with their faces.”
“Hm. Well, can’t be helped.”
Magireta lifted both arms lightly, as if she had only been saying it in passing.
And in an instant, she vanished.
I let out a sigh and pulled out my dagger.
Then I lightly slit my palm to draw some blood.
[When this is over, please make sure to eat foods rich in iron. Promise me, okay?]
‘What’s iron?’
[No idea.]
I looked down at the drops of blood flowing from the open wound.
Swish.
Then I opened the pouch I had received earlier and let the blood drip inside.
[What are you thinking, Mason?]
‘Diary Book, how many Louis entities do you think there are in total?’
[Hmm. Hard to say.]
‘That’s your default answer, isn’t it.’
A doppelgänger must cover the entire body of its target — from head to toe — with mud.
And that creature had come all the way to the Deut Territory.
Would it really have only covered our party in that mud?
‘If it were me, I wouldn’t have done that.’
Even when I went out separately from the group, wouldn’t he have wanted to keep watching me?
Of course, in the end, we stuck together all the time, but before he found us, he wouldn’t have known that.
[What are you suggesting?]
‘I think he probably kidnapped and replaced people from the Deut Territory too — so he could monitor me anytime, anywhere.’
[Hmm. That’s possible.]
‘Let’s assume, at most, he turned all his mud into the form of the territory’s residents. How many would that be?’
Heights vary, of course, but let’s take 1.5 meters as an average, including both adults and children.
Louis, after taking the first-place reward pill, was said to be 510 meters tall.
Then…
[Roughly 340 entities, I suppose.]
‘Right. I need to drench 340 entities in my blood all at once.’
[So that’s why you asked for that item — the one that doubles its contents every ten seconds — on credit.]
‘Exactly.’
[But will that really be enough? The pouch seems to hold only about ten drops of your blood. Even if it doubles every ten seconds…]
‘Hmm. Diary Book.’
You’re really terrible at arithmetic.
I waited generously — about an hour.
That should be plenty.
First, I hoisted Armelia onto my back.
Then, after taking a deep breath, I picked up the teleportation bead.
“I want to go to the rock that marked the arrival point for the First-Come Quest in Bucklet Forest.”
My vision instantly shifted.
I was now standing atop the same rock where Magireta had once sat.
Quickly crouching down, I carefully peered below.
There were over 300 doppelgängers gathered.
Each one wore a different face.
Among them, I even recognized a few.
‘That one’s the fruit shop owner. That one’s the coachman.’
Since I’d been staying in Deut Territory for quite some time — practically living there — I’d ended up greeting some of the locals.
Sure enough, he had transformed into the people of Deut Territory.
They hadn’t yet noticed me up on the rock.
The Diary Book spoke.
[That’s quite a number. To cover all those entities, you’d need an enormous amount of blood. Will what’s in the pouch really be enough?]
‘It’ll be plenty.’
[I’m not so sure…]
‘I did some rough math while waiting for that hour.’
[Huh?]
‘I started with ten drops, right? I gave up calculating because my head started hurting… but I managed to count up to 260 seconds.’
Two hundred and sixty seconds.
Four minutes and twenty seconds.
‘How many drops do you think there were after 260 seconds?’
[Hmm. Uh… two thousand? Three thousand?]
‘You really are hopeless at math.’
[No, I’m not.]
‘A total of six hundred seventy-one million eighty-eight thousand six hundred forty drops.’
The Diary Book fell silent.
Roughly six hundred seventy million drops.
In just four minutes and twenty seconds.
How much would it be now, after over an hour?
‘Honestly, I’m scared to even open this pouch right now.’
[……Me too.]
‘Still, it has to be done.’
First, I found a flat spot on the rock and laid Armelia down gently.
Then I stood up from my hiding place.
At once, one of the many Louis clones spotted me.
“Ah! Over there!”
The next instant—
Every single Louis turned toward me at the exact same speed.
Each one raised its head at the exact same angle.
Honestly, it was so creepy it made my skin crawl.
‘So, it’s a hive mind, huh.’
One of them spoke as a representative.
It was a face I had never seen before, but somehow, I just knew.
That was the real Louis Danahan’s face.
“Why are you up there?”
“Didn’t you hear? Well, I guess you couldn’t have.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your master sold you out.”
“……What nonsense.”
“No, I’m not trying to provoke you, nor is it a metaphor or a lie. Take it literally.”
Swish.
I untied the knot at the end of the pouch as I continued speaking.
“I made a deal. With Magireta.”
“……”
“I asked her to send all of you here. So I could wipe you out in one go.”
“Th-that can’t be. Why would Lady Magireta—”
“It just means she’s a master who doesn’t care about her subordinates. You really have no eye for husbands or superiors, do you.”
“Shut up! Don’t you dare insult Lady Magireta.”
“Sure. I’ll shut up. Not like there’s anything left to discuss anyway!”
Whoosh!
I flipped the pouch over and shouted inwardly,
‘I want to release all the blood inside this pouch!’
And nearly fainted.
Kwaaaaaah! Paaaat!
It was like a massive torrent from a great river.
Like an enormous waterfall crashing down from a high cliff.
Or perhaps, because it was red, it resembled molten lava erupting upward from a volcano.
“W-what is this?”
“Ugh… It’s his blood!”
“We have to run! Run away—!”
A moment ago, they had seemed like a collective, a hive—but now they were all in panic, screaming in chaos.
Surely, they had two teleportation beads among them.
Not that it would help much—each bead could only transport three, so at best, six entities could escape.
Not that I’d allow even that.
Still, they didn’t even seem to have the mental composure to use them.
Rumble…
The infinite stream of blood bursting from the pouch showed no sign of stopping.
My blood formed puddles, then a lake, and finally a river.
In the end, it became an ocean.
I muttered without realizing it.
“So this is what they mean by a sea of blood… literally.”
“Uuugh…”
“Kaaaagh!”
“Uweeeh…”
In an instant, the clearing was engulfed by my blood.
All the entities’ bodies began to melt away.
Some tried to use the others’ corpses as footholds to climb higher, but that didn’t last long either—
even those bodies they stood on were dissolving.
The remaining ones built new footholds atop their own.
Then, again, from among the survivors, more footholds.
And again, new ones from those who remained.
I didn’t know how much time had passed when—
“Ugh… Please… please save me. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die…”
In the end, just one entity barely survived.
I sat down on the rock and said,
“I’d guess that face is your original one, Louis Danahan?”
“Ugh… sob…”
“I said some harsh things earlier, but honestly, I do feel pity for your fate.”
“Please… please…”
“Farewell. There may be no next life, but if there is, I hope you’re reborn as a human again. And that you never meet trash like Edgar ever again.”
That was when—
A voice replied to my final words.
“How harsh of you.”
Edgar Tyler!
He appeared suddenly right beside the last surviving Louis.
Huh? Why is that guy here?
How?
He should’ve been as good as dead.
Even if he somehow survived my blood and revived, the accumulated deaths from the letter incident should still be dragging him down.
Louis shouted,
“Arcane!”
“Louis. Heave-ho.”
Edgar lifted Louis up in his arms.
Then, as if raising her in triumph, he held her high above his head.
“Wh-what are you doing?!”
“All the footholds have melted away. If we stay here, you’ll melt too.”
“You idiot! You’re no different! You’re melting as well!”
“Well, a husband can let his body melt a little for his wife.”
Louis looked at him in disbelief.
Before long, tears were streaming down her face.
“Why…? You betrayed me like that…”
“You won’t believe me, but I’ve always regretted it. Letting go of your hand that day. Turning away from you.”
“Don’t lie to me…”
“It’s true. And another thing I regret is that after our marriage, I never said this enough times.”
His lower body began to sag and soften.
His torso tilted to one side before collapsing.
His legs had completely melted away.
Even so, the arms holding Louis aloft remained firm.
I blinked at the sight.
‘What kind of ridiculous drama is this supposed to be.’
Edgar spoke.
“I love you, Louis.”
“Liar.”
“I love you.”
“It’s a lie! A filthy lie!”
Yeah. Just looking at it, anyone could tell it was a lie.
By the look of it, he was after Louis’s abilities—
or more precisely, the abilities she had stolen from my comrades.
Then Louis suddenly shouted, as if realizing something.
“T-the beads! The beads!”
“Hm?”
“There are teleportation beads somewhere in that sea of blood. Two of them. They were in the arms of my melted clones! We have to find them!”
“So you mean to dive bare-bodied into an acidic solution, hm? Not an easy task.”
“I’ll do it.”
“No.”
Edgar hoisted Louis up onto his shoulders.
Essentially, he gave her a piggyback ride.
“You idiot! You’ll really die like that!”
“Mason’s blood can’t overcome my undying body. You know that already.”
“But you were in agony! You couldn’t recover properly for an entire month during the Frozen Season!”
“Even so, I won’t die. But you, Louis—you certainly will.”
“……”
“Where was the clone that had the beads?”
What a pathetic pair.
I looked down at them with scorn and said,
“You really think I’ll just let you go that easily?”