Chapter 679: Pouring Heavy Love Into an Empty Mug, Cheers!!

"Oooooh God! Please observe! See my faiiiiiiittttthhhh— GYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

One of the NPCs, a "Believer" who was supposed to be a good-natured young man that became your very first ally just a little while ago, was currently burning up alongside the corpse of the first floor boss—a giant, bipedal longhorn beetle-like monster called "Thorny King's Retainer, Rosel=Minister"—in order to erase its remains and clear the path to the next floor.

The color of those flames, an amalgamation of black and blue, was clearly anything but ordinary, and the state of the young believer being incinerated within them was definitely not normal.

".........Eeeh."

"Applaud! Mourn! Pay your respects to our brethren who paved the path for our God's march!!"

"""OOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!"""

"YAGYAAAAAAHH!! HELBBB!! BLLLBB!! BAAAAAHHHH......... AAAHhhhh.........!!"

".........Eeeh."

I'm incredibly put off. I am currently just as incredibly put off as when Deep Slaughter—formerly known as Nutcracker—started deploying "Whispering Bombs" in SpellCre.

By the way, a Whispering Bomb is a fiendishly malicious act of terrorism where a player infiltrates the enemy camp, sneaks up behind someone, and whispers a dirty joke (which serves as the chant for a self-destruction spell) directly into their ear, causing massive damage to both their physical body and their mental sanity. What was born to counter that was the equally infamous Death Metal Lynching...... Hmm, my history is dark, so very dark. It's the kind of thing that absolutely must not be passed down to future generations.

『Umm...... Sunraku-kun.』

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Rei-san...... to invite you, to invite you to a game like this........."

『N-No, umm! Well, it's fine! I mean, um, yeah, it's fine!!』

Calling this horror doesn't even cut it...... It's clearly a guaranteed event designed explicitly to inflict psychological damage on the player......

From what I learned later, no matter what kind of army you decide to build, that "good-natured young manswordsman returning a favor" who always becomes your first ally is always the very first sacrifice. To design a character with such genuine effort just to give them the role of dying instantly—are you the devil?

Stepping over the believer who had been reduced to a pile of ashes along with the giant longhorn beetle, the Sunraku Army—which had fully transformed into a cult—pressed forward to the next floor.

A group where every single member is wearing a beer mug with eyeholes large enough to cover their entire heads is probably quite bizarre even for a cult, but unfortunately, in the cult route, what they end up worshipping besides the player is completely random.

By the way, in our Sunraku Army, they worship an empty wine barrel, and me, their founder...... You probably don't get it, do you? Well, the founder doesn't get it either.

Whatever the case, the tutorial was cleared, and through it, the cause of the debate within the community...... namely, this game's core issue, became clear.

In short, this game is the type that absolutely demands bloodshed. And in an extremely malicious, cruel manner. Not to be rude, but I think the developers must be rotten to the core.

However, as a concept, it definitely gives off a "those who like it will absolutely love it" vibe. I mean, at the end of the day, what you're doing is playing through a dark fantasy.

Honestly, even though I didn't know beforehand, I'm starting to feel really sorry for inviting Rei-shi to this game. But despite witnessing the shocking scene of that good-natured guy turning to cinders, she didn't seem all that disturbed...... No, I can't let my guard down. Getting comfortable just by looking at the surface is exactly how you trigger the Pizza flag. I definitely need to show proper responsibility here.

"Now! Believe in our God! Those who believe shall be saved! The true form of our God resides at the very bottom of an empty wine barrel!!"

I'm pretty sure what's at the bottom of an empty mug is just the void and a thirst for the next drink. Anyway, from the second floor onwards, it's possible to meet up with other players......... The meeting spot is a tavern designated by Rei-shi, who cleared the first floor before me. Let's see, a signboard shaped like a tiger's face...... Ah, there it is.

"Heeey, Rei-shiii.................. you there?"

"Ah, um, please, give me a bit more space............"

"Don't say such things, Rei-sama~......"

"That's right, Rei-sama."

"Rei-sama, what a wonderful person........."

"Ah, Sunraku-kun........."

"......Yeah, looks like I'm interrupting."

"N-No, you're not! You're not, I don't really get it either but I'm sorry!!"

......

............

..................

Basically, just as my army—which had all its points dumped into the Devotion parameter—turned into a cult full of fanatics.

Rei-shi's army—which saved pitiful women in the back alleys and dumped all its points into Affection—turned into............ yeah, how should I put it, a bouquet of lilies dripping with thick, heavy nectar.

"How should I put this...... yeah,"

"You've got it wrong! I mean, it's not like I did this on purpose!! M-Midway through, all the male NPCs just kept leaving........."

Leaving, huh......... The glares practically trying to shoot me dead just for having a male avatar make it pretty obvious why. I don't think she intentionally allocated her parameters to cause this......... But wait, did she really not? I've heard rumors about Rei-san. I've never once heard a story about her dating anyone since middle school, so could it be she was actually into that? I mean, she's always been super close with Ema-san............ Is that what it was......?

"Are you s... still doubting me?"

"No, not at all."

"Your eyes are full of doubt!!"

Crap, I can mask my expression, but it's hard to hide it from my eyes.

"No, I mean, in this day and age, it's not that rare of a—"

"I said! You're wrong! I, I properly like gentlemen! I like them!! I li......... Lii!!?!?!?"

SLAM!!!!

"Rei-shi!!?"

I couldn't hide my own agitation as Rei-shi suddenly slammed her face into the desk and went completely still, looking exactly like someone who just passed out drunk. I mean, sure, I might have been pretty rude just now, but............

"A-Are you...... okay?"

"Idss fjine......... Dhe Fulll-Dibe syshdems iz aggding ub add mumble mumble......"

"What? Or rather...... umm, if it's acting up, maybe you should log out for a—"

"..................Please give me thirty seconds."

"O-Okay."

Thirty seconds passed......... Ah? How long are you scapegoats gonna glare at me? You wanna go? During the boss fight, I might just accidentally trigger some friendly fire, you hear me? Come on, Believers of the Come-On cult, go preach to these girls.

As the tension steadily escalated between the Mug-Heads and the Yandere Girls, Rei-shi, who had kept her face planted against the desk for thirty seconds, finally looked up.

"Umm............"

"I am fine. There are no problems. Yes, I am feeling extremely calm."

"......Are you truly okay? You don't have to force yourself to play if you don't want to, you know?"

"Hahaha, you jest."

This is bad. Rei-shi's brain is officially bugging out.

---

Author's Afterword

The heroine-chan bugs out harder than ever before (3 hours remaining).