Chapter 64: Ballroom of Temptation (3)
Just a few minutes ago.The ballroom.
Da-landan-dan, da-rala-dan
The rhythm became increasingly intense, beyond what human legs could keep up with.
However, even in the midst of that, Jecky was able to dance comfortably.
After all, she had a total of four legs.
It was already challenging enough to follow the dance with two legs, let alone four.
"What the hell is that...!" Flame looked at it and exclaimed, her face turning pale.
"Stop, Jecky! If you get consumed by the role of Duchess Aeron any further, there's no turning back!"
"Shut up!"
"Listen to me! If you get consumed any further, it will be irreversible!"
"What do you know?!"
Fueled by anger, Jecky’s dance became even more intense.
Her dance didn't stray from the boundaries of modern ballroom dance, but she alternated between waltz and tango offbeat.
She suddenly danced alone as if there were two people, intensified the rhythm, and chaotic patterns emerged haphazardly.
Jecky’s magic thrilled in all directions.
Sound waves vibrated, musical notes struck the air, and rays created by sound seemed to tear objects apart.
Yet despite the three girls enduring, two additional legs sprung out from Jecky, making a total of six legs.
"Ugh!"
One of the fallen students let out a dry heave.
From that point on, it was less beautiful and closer to a grotesque and terrible sight. However, the nobles still cheered and applauded to the rhythm of Aeron’s dance.
"As expected! How beautiful!"
"You're the best dancer!"
"Punish those foolish challengers, Duchess Aeron!"
"It's a dance so beautiful that it can't be compared to the foolish challengers!"
When Duchess Aeron stomped on the ground, fireworks exploded, lights shattered in a splendid display, and specks of light fluttered in the air.
The space folded, and a stage exclusively for Duchess Aeron rose up with red pouring down from the walls, creating a red carpet for her.
Jecky started dancing with her six legs, even claiming the surrounding terrain as her own.
Flame felt the intensifying offensive magic and bit her lip, her face turning pale.
‘This is too much of a stretch…’
The sensation at the tips of her toes was fading away.
Eisel’s legs were already tired, and she was barely standing.
Hong Bi-Yeon, driven solely by willpower and determination, had endured until now, but she too had reached her limit.
Seeing their state, Flame bit her lip.
'At this rate...'
From the moment the character named Jecky possessed Aeron, the story took a completely different turn from what she knew.
‘What on earth should I do...? I prepared so thoroughly for this day, but I can't seem to match her no matter what.’
Tatatang!
As three out of the six legs touched the ground and matched the rhythm, an enormous storm of mana swept Flame’s entire body. It became difficult to even move, let alone dance.
She was desperately resisting the seduction relying on her mental strength, fearing that she would succumb to it at any moment.
Kkaaang!
Suddenly, the sound of a collision reached their ears.
"Kyaaah!"
Jecky’s movements instantly froze.
"What...?"
"W-What's happening...?"
A gigantic and grotesque spidery figure appeared and disappeared on Jecky’s body.
It was for a brief moment, but the cheers of the NPC nobles paused for that instant, and the girls quickly caught onto the gap in timing.
'Now!'
They didn’t know what the situation was, but the girls didn't miss the sudden opening.
The three girls danced to the beat and swung their staffs. Yellow beams of light, icy shards, and fiery red flames struck Jecky’s body.
"Kyaaaah!!"
Jecky screamed in pain. Her lower body was frozen, her shoulders were pierced by light beams, and her face was horribly burned.
Then Jecky’s form gradually transformed into a more spidery appearance.
"Eek, these... aaargh!!!"
Kkaang!
With every sound of something shattering, the spidery figure seemed to grow from Jecky’s body.
The nobles no longer fervently praised Jecky’s dance.
"Duchess Aeron..."
"She’s no longer…"
"Beautiful…"
The condition to defeat Duchess Aeron was to dance even more beautifully and mesmerize the nobles.
However, to fulfill that condition, was it necessary to dance more beautifully than Duchess Aeron herself?
Since beauty was relative, wouldn't it be enough to strip Duchess Aeron of her beauty?
Crash! Bang! Crash!!
"Kyaaaahhhhhh!"
As the intervals of the sound coming from the clock tower became shorter, Jecky screamed in even greater pain. Her dance was no longer a dance but a convulsive struggle.
'What is that sound?’
Hong Bi-Yeon, Eisel, and Flame instinctively looked up at the ceiling while dancing.
Then, they gasped in astonishment, their mouths hanging open.
Through the ceiling, they saw the expansive passage of the clock tower where Baek Yu-Seol flew freely, engaged in a fierce battle with the grand blade spider.
‘I don't know why... but every time he attacks the spider, Duchess Aeron seems to weaken…’
Someone was helping them.
And it was Baek Yu-Seol.
The moment they realized this fact, confidence and urgency were infused into their dance.
Ta-da-da-dan da-da-da-da-dan~
The dance became more intense, and the magic engulfed and froze the stage fiercely.
Creak, creak!!
Jecky, or Duchess Aeron, reached her limit.
The whites of her eyes turned blood-red.
A sign of complete corruption by dark magic.
"Damn it, damn it... Damn it! Why, why, why, why, why?! Why do you keep interfering with me? Are you that jealous? Can't I receive some attention? Can't I be popular? Why, why are you doing this to meeeee?!!!"
At that moment, two extra legs sprouted from the ends of her skirt, making a total of eight.
Jecky herself still seemed unaware of this fact. Satisfied with the realization that her dance had become more skillful, she intensified her rhythm with all her might.
The music reached its climax.
A dance of death, giving a hint of the end.
'Almost there…!'
Only one blow was missing.
A decisive critical hit.
'Something…’
At that moment.
Swoosh!
Followed by an ear-piercing sound.
From the sky, a black meteor fell.
Thud!! Crash!
Precisely toward Duchess Aeron.
The ground cracked, fragments scattered in all directions, and the chandeliers completely shattered into dust.
"Ugh, ah!"
The students desperately spread their shields to block the fragments. Fortunately, they were not directly hit by the falling object, so they didn't suffer significant damage.
"What... What's happening?"
"I-I don't know. Something..."
As the fog that covered the stage cleared, the identity of the fallen object was revealed.
"That... Could it be…?!"
It was the grand blade spider, the one that Baek Yu-Seol said he would face alone.
"Is... Is it dead...?"
The grand blade spider remained motionless, cold, and lifeless.
Completely dead.
The students' facial muscles twitched. They couldn't even utter a word of amazement.
“A first-year student hunted a level 4 monster alone...?"
“What...?"
They couldn't believe what they were witnessing. It was said that when someone was extremely shocked, their speech system became paralyzed, and the students were experiencing that firsthand.
Twitch!
At that moment, the Grand Blade Spider suddenly twitched. The students quickly took a combat stance.
No, to be precise, something beneath the grand blade spider twitched.
Creak, thud!
Flipping over the black carcass, Jecky revealed herself, lying beneath it.
"Huuuh... You keep interfering... with me..."
One of the students was so shocked that they sat down on the ground. It wasn't because they were startled by Jecky’s resurrection.
"What... is that?"
Her complete transformation was that horrifying.
"Flame..."
Jecky slowly lifted her head and turned it in the direction where Flame stood.
Similarly struggling to hold onto her sanity, Flame took a step forward.
"Jecky..."
"Ha, ha! You couldn’t beat me with your dance, so you resorted to these tricks, huh? Because you can't dance more beautifully than me, right? How pathetic. Truly pathetic. You also feel jealous when someone more beautiful than you appears, right? Hahaha, I'm glad. I wasn't the only one after all. You're just like me, aren't you?"
She was not in her right mind. It was truly irreversible now. However, Jecky was still healthy, while the students had no strength left to face her.
‘Where is Baek Yu-seol...?’
They looked up at the ceiling, but they couldn't see him.
There was no choice.
They had to follow the method that Eisel used on Duchess Aeron in the original novel.
They had to do the same thing.
"Eisel, summon the ice mirror."
"... Yes."
Understanding the request immediately, Eisel swiftly swung her staff and tapped it on the ground.
Boom-!
A tall wall of translucent ice appeared and its surface smoothed out, turning into a mirror.
As Flame hurried toward it, Jecky blocked her path.
She stretched her lips up to her ears, forming a sinister smile.
"What kind of nonsense are you trying to pull again? Always resorting to cheap tricks. That's all you're capable of."
"That's right. I'm only capable of that much."
Flame admitted willingly and shrugged her shoulders.
"So would you like to look in the mirror?"
"Hmph, are you trying to compare who's more beautiful? Of course, there's no need to ask. Obviously, it's me..."
"But why is it so quiet?"
"...Huh?"
‘Come to think of it…’
Something was off.
Even if the music had stopped, why couldn't she hear the cheers of the nobles? Even after she resurrected as the most beautiful being in the world?
‘What... is going on...?’
Jecky slowly looked around the plaza. Some people avoided her gaze as if they were afraid, some retched, some frothed at the mouth and fainted, and some shed tears.
‘This... can't be happening, right?’
They were supposed to love only her.
It was instinct.
When she turned her head to look at the mirror…
"Ah."
Jecky’s pupils shook.
The woman in the mirror was no longer a woman.
Eight sharp legs, spider's eyes, unsettling horns of unknown identity, and a black sticky shell protruding from her skin.
She raised her arms subconsciously, hoping that the mirror was an illusion.
"What’s this...?"
That wasn't the clean and beautiful arm of a girl. It was more akin to the legs of an arthropod.
She lowered her head.
Now that she thought about it, hadn't she been naturally moving her body with eight legs at some point?
A spider.
Yes, she was a spider.
Her appearance, which she believed to be the most beautiful in the world, had transformed into the most terrifying form in the world.
‘Ah...?’
Jecky slowly but surely realized and acknowledged this fact.
It was the most horrific torment for her.