Deus Necros

[You have encountered the presence of Eldritch Might.]

[You are still lacking the understanding needed to obtain Eldritch Mastery]

The notifications woke Ludwig from his stunned state and he coughed as he removed the mask.

[As an Undead, you have neutralized the blind effect of the item [Mask of the Blind Witness]

Ludwig leaned heavily against the inn's outer wall, his breath coming in short gasps as he tried to make sense of the strange vision. The image of the boy, radiant yet unnervingly sinister, lingered in his mind like a persistent shadow.

'I suppose this is one of the abilities of the Mask… and if I could take a wild guess… that's probably the guy that Hoyo spoke about, though I'm not sure, I'll have to ask him…'

The mask's abilities were as unpredictable as they were powerful. It showed glimpses of truths and lies, weaving them together in a way that made it impossible to discern one from the other. For all Ludwig knew, the vision of the boy and his celestial-eldritch staff could be pure fiction. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was important.

Ludwig focused on the task ahead, deciding to let the matter of this vision for a later time, So, he can't be too trusting of what the mask showed him.

Ludwig headed toward the table and sat next to the young woman, "You sure took your time," she said.

"It's you who is in need of me, not the other way around," Ludwig said as he placed his mask on the table and sat across from her.

"Dear costumer, what can I bring you?" the busboy appeared immediately.

"Beer," Ludwig said as he wanted to get another taste of alcohol in him.

The boy hurried up to bring Ludwig's order, while the two remained staring at each other.

"What?" Ludwig asked.

"You said you know something," she said.

"You're quite rude for a noble person," Ludwig said.

"What do you mean?" she said frowning.

"Do you even know who I am?" he asked.

"…"

"Right, you forgot the most basic thing in a conversation, it's greetings, you didn't even ask nor tell me your name and you're in need of something from me. Don't you think that you're being rude?" Ludwig asked.

Flustered and embarrassed, "I apologize, you are right, my name is Alva Urbaf, I come from"

Ludwig held his hand up, "I don't need to know anything else, just your name. I'm Ludwig heart," he replied calmly.

She nodded.

"As for your friend, he'll die in a couple of days at best," Ludwig said and that instantly made her slam both hands on the table and stand up.

"What do you mean?!"

The reaction caused the ambiance in the bar to die down a bit. But once the people looked at the two on the table, one of the people in the bar muttered, "Hah, lover's quarrel," and returned to his beer.

The atmosphere soon changed back to what it was.

Ludwig stared emotionally at her as she sat down, "I…"

"Quite the temper," Ludwig said.

"Tell me, what do you mean by he'll die?"

"Like I said, he will die soon. There is something going on here in this event. And apparently, your boyfriend there got hit with it," Ludwig said.

"How do you even know that? You could be just lying."

"You can believe me, or not, regardless of the matter I did the minimum required to assist you," Ludwig said as the beer arrived at his table, "Here's your Bear Deer!" the busboy once again said the same quirky phrase and left.

Ludwig took a good chug and placed the beer down as he enjoyed the taste that wet his old bones. "Remember, I come from the Black Tower academy, we can see some stuff like that, or at least understand a bit of it," Ludwig said, although he was lying without even blinking, he rather had her confused about the fact that he knows about the souls and the chains to be related to his background as a Black Tower academy student than explain how he could see them because his mask is an artifact.

Since his mask was something that even rulers and kings coveted back in the day, he'd rather keep its function hidden. And also it's less of a pain to explain it that way.

"You're a mage?" she asked.

"I guess it should be obvious…" Ludwig said.
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"Not really, you've been staring at my sword every time we met…" she said.

"Ah, consider it curiosity, regardless that's what I saw. And apparently, it only affected those who lost in the event of chess…"

"I saw several others that lost and weren't affected though," she countered.

Ludwig shrugged, "I noticed the same, but also none of those who won were affected either, I know it's a farfetched reasoning but…" just as Ludwig finished his words, the door to the in blasted open, Hoyo's face looked pale and right under his shoulder was Kassandra's limp body.

"Ludwig!" Hoyo shouted.

Ludwig stood up from his chair as he saw Hoyo rapidly moving Kassandra over.

"What's going on, what's wrong with her?" Ludwig asked.

"I don't know, he suddenly fell unconscious," Hoyo said.

Ludwig immediately used [Inspect] on her.

***

Character Screen:

Name: Kassandra

Race: Human

Title: N/A

Level: 12

Currently under the Status Effect: Cursed [Soul Effigy]

***

…

"She got it too…" Ludwig said, annoyed beyond belief. After all, he thought that he could just ignore all that was going on since none of his friends were harmed, but now, he was dragged right into this mess forcefully.

"You may be right, this is the same symptoms that Rudolph has… what the hell is going on in here…"

"Don't ask me, the whole town is in a state of chaos," Hoyo said.

"What do you mean?" Ludwig asked.

"The portal is out of service. And all communication devices are out of order…"

Ludwig understood immediately where Hoyo's words were going.

"Let me guess… the way outside the city is also blocked…"

"How did you know?" Hoyo said his eyes wide.

"Fuck…" Ludwig said, "We're trapped here…"