As soon as I faced the gazes of everyone at the plaza, there was no way for me to ignore the eeriness of it all.

All those people turned their heads at the same time and looked at me. It reminded me of a scene from a horror movie.

There were things that amplified the eeriness. There were some people who were standing at angles such that it would have not been possible to simply turn their heads to look at me. However, even those people strained their bodies and necks to turn and look at me.

As if they were programmed, or perhaps as if they were puppets on strings, they ignored the discomfort or pain and firmly executed the movement of turning to look at me.

What I felt next was their hostility. They came at me like tidal wave.

Each and every person glaring at me were burning with a vigorous hostility as if they were facing their lifes worst enemy.

Also, their emotions were delivered to me directly through the effect of Paramal.

[Talarias Wings]

[Blink]

I spread my wings and flew up to the sky.

To make it quick, I used all five of my Blink charges.

I did this because at that instant, I came to an immediate conclusion that I must draw distance from the surface where the people were.

My decision was correct.

An incredible wave of emotions, the kind that could not be handled by one person, came rushing at me.

Animosity and fury.

Frustration, hatred, fear, anxiety and disgust

All sorts of negative emotions were engulfing me.

With the flight effect of the Talarias Wings, I floated up far above in the sky. I was at a height where I could not even see the people very well any more. Staying in the air, I thought about things.

It isnt just the people at the plaza that are like this.

Everyone on AoAeo island are all pouring out their negative emotions at me.

The strength of the emotions isnt something thats possible with just the people who are gathered at the plaza, which appears to be around a hundred people.

Im this far away from everyone, yet the emotions I feel are so vivid. They are giving me headaches.

Uuuuuuuaaaaaak

From the sky, I threw up below me.

My head was pulsating. It was dizzying. As if those symptoms are not enough, now, I felt like my brain was going to melt into mush.

For the past few days, I had become used to the shared emotions through Paramal. Also, I had been feeling happy from it. In my current state, the negative emotions being poured at me were incredibly fatal.

The negative emotions filled my head. Soon, even I got swept away by the emotions.

The evil intents dyed my emotions swifter than good intentions could replace them.

I was feeling hostility, disgust and unpleasantness toward myself. My arm, full of mana, was flinching in the attempt to attack me.

[Perseverance]

Perseverance was G.o.d of Adventures power skill. It strengthened me in proportion to the number of enemies I faced and their power.

As soon as I used the Perseverance, the effects of the peoples negative emotions started to lessen on my mind and body.

I was not completely fine. However, I could avoid committing suicide from being swept away by the emotions.

One thing became clear now.

They were my enemies.

That fact broke my heart. I could not stop tears from welling up.

Kill him. Attack him. Hate him. He is your enemy. He is our enemy.

I threw up again and emptied my insides.

It seemed like the voice was controlling the people.

If I didnt have the Perseverance and Mental Corruption Resistance, and if I did not intentionally try to stay away from the Paramal, I may not have been able to escape the voices commands.

d.a.m.n it.

Again, towards the ground below, I emptied my inside.

Before long, my face became a mess with flowing tears.

Just until yesterday, they were the people who were laughing and chatting with me. They were happy.

Also, as I stayed with them, I was happy as well.

AoAeo island had become a place of rest for my heart.

Before I came to AoAeo island, I was in despair about one thing.

I had been grinding inside h.e.l.l to survive. Before I realized, my heart had become h.e.l.l.

I thought that the place I am at will always be h.e.l.l, no matter where I was or who I was with, even if I escaped the Tutorial. Such thoughts have always been revolving around inside my head.

It was the people of AeAeo island and the festival that healed me of those cancerous thoughts.

At this place, I thought that I would be able to finally get away from nervousness and obsession that was engraved so deeply in me for so long.

In fact, I had.

Now, the angels from the heavens were cursing me. Their condemnations chained my heart down inside the depths of despair.

I could not handle the fact that they despised me so much.

Facing the cruel reality, I screamed out. However, nothing changed.

The power of the curse only grew stronger with time.

Below my feet, the plaza was full of people.

Everyone from the island was gathering at the plaza.

There was no guarantee that I would be able to endure this headache. It felt like my head was going to shatter.

At this rate, my brain will get fried or I would end up giving up everything after my will is exhausted. Either way, devastation is inevitable if this continues.

I checked my bodys condition.

Slowly, I tried to calm my breathing.

Tears continued to pour out, and my sobbing hindered my breathing. However, I forced myself to suppress my crying and breathe in rhythm.

As I thought about the battle, even in this situation, my body was being controlled independently from my emotions. That fact saddened me even more.

I made up my mind after raising my hand to wipe off my tears.

I should descend.

As soon as I descend, I should kill that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, end this bullc.r.a.p, and free the people.

Once I kill the target, the clear condition would be satisfied. Naturally, I will have to leave the island. The thought zapped through my mind.

Even in this turmoil, I still had lingering regrets.

I was careless.

My obsession to move on and my foolish desire to stay at AoAeo island were combined, and I went ahead with a stupid idea.

As soon as I found the target, I should have attempted a clean a.s.sa.s.sination. Otherwise, I should have just confirmed the location of the target and retreated quietly without a trace.

I had chosen the worst possible option.

Everything that was happening down below was my fault.

It happened because of me. So, I must resolve it.

Also, for the sake of those people, I should do this as quickly as possible.

Ugh.

I brought out Trans.m.u.table Thousand Arms from the inventory. I formed one into a shield. I shaped the other into a long sword.

Lets go and end this.

I slowly descended from my alt.i.tude.

I will find the target, descend immediately and kill him.

The target was hiding among the people. He was hard to find. I looked for the target as I made my descent. However, negative emotions strongly resonated inside me.

In addition to the emotions I already had been feeling, the sense of pain, despair and fear were added.

I thought that the people must be feeling such emotions from watching me come down from the sky. Thinking about that made me feel terrible once again.

At that moment, I heard a voice echoing in my head.

It was incomprehensible.

After that, my sight suddenly brightened.

Hundreds of thousands of people tightly packed the plaza and the streets, and the people shouted at the same time,

Fire Arrow!

It looked as if the ground was coughing out flames toward me.

Several hundred thousands of Fire Arrows were launched toward the sky at once.

The sight was overwhelming. Also, the mana I felt was astounding. I could not help but panic.

There was no way for me to dodge all the Fire Arrows launched toward me.

I descended while covering my body with the shield and Talarias Wings the best I could.

I tried to avoid as many of the arrows as possible. However, the Fire Arrows tightly packed the s.p.a.ce above. I had to block most of them with my body and the wings.

Talarias Wings and great magic resistances effects

Also, thanks to Perseverance, which was currently demonstrating the far greater boost effects for combat abilities than anything before due to facing the most powerful enemies I ever encountered, I was able to avoid becoming a roasted chicken. Instead, I survived and was able to descend to the surface.

Perhaps because I was much closer to the people now, their emotions and suffering felt much more intense.

Their suffering felt as vivid as if they were my own.

No. Actually, it was more intense than my own.

How many of these people know how to use magic?

Probably not many. Most of them were ordinary people.

Despite that, they all shot flames into the sky.

I had no idea how it was done. However, as people used magic, people clearly felt their life energies fade away rapidly.

After that, they sensed that they were dying, and they screamed inside.

Not a single one of them showed this outside. However, everyone, these countless people, were suffering from pain.

With emotionless faces, in silence, they were dying.

I tried not to, but I could not stop myself from shedding tears again.

Just why.

Why, you rotten son of a b.i.t.c.h.

Everyone at AoAeo island was kind and innocent.

To begin with, they came to the island because they heard that they could live happily with everyone without ever having to find fault with others.

These people would have been kind and innocent even without the Paramal.

This place was a heaven built by angels.

AoAeo island was a fully-completed utopia by itself.

It was a perfect place, the kind of place that made me wonder if such a place could exist in another place in this world or even the universe.

However, this place was

Fire Ball!

This time, they poured out spheres of flame.

Several hundred thousand lumps of flame were thrown towards me.

Of course, the people who were near me had no choice but to get crucified in the flames.

Unlike myself, who had resistances to magic, the people who could not protect themselves from the flame were burned to death.

They didnt even struggle, even as they were being burnt to death.

They didnt flinch. They didnt even scream.

They just stared at me with empty faces. They died out as they prepared the next magic.

It seemed the next magic was ready. The mana in the area shook wildly.

Dont do it. Stop it now.

I used the Soul Steal.

I even used the Soul Cry.

Stop!

From mana running out of control, blood exploded out from the peoples eyes, nose and mouth.

It seemed that some were unable to endure it. They lost consciousness and collapsed on the spot.

However, there were some who still managed to complete the magic spell. The area around me was engulfed in flame once again.

In middle this chaos, through the gap between the flames, I saw the purple robe.

I vigorously kicked off the ground to charge forward.

I jumped up high and dashed toward the target.

The people had been just standing around like brainless scarecrows. However, they started to throw their bodies to grab ahold of me.

There was a woman who blocked the path in front of my eyes. I thought that

I thought she looked familiar.

Although it was a brief meeting, I think I had once cheered and clinked gla.s.ses together.

As if she was a broken robot, she stretched her arms all the way up and tried to block my path.

I saw the girls face, and then I saw that the target was running away behind her.

After that, in the end, I swung my sword.

Facing my sword that was struck down, the despair and sadness of her final moment was felt. While bearing her emotions, I charged forward.

Peoples limbs and legs scattered across the air in fountains of blood.

The people who were gathered here were not warriors.

Physically, they were close to being regular people.

No, they were regular people.

Every time I swung the sword, which was wrapped across its long length with Aura Blade, three or four people were chopped away to pieces.

When I pushed forward with my shield, several dozens of people were thrown off.

Many of the people who fell that way died where they collapsed.

I tasted blood in my mouth.

It could be the blood of the people that had rained down on my entire body. It could be that I was bleeding inside my mouth. I dont know.

Either way, Im sure it is not so different.

Like that, I pierced through the interference of the people and caught up to the target that was trying to run away.

The target rapidly turned around and tried to say something as he faced me. However, I wanted to end this situation as quickly as possible.

So, I swung the sword right away and cut him into two.

The target died like that.

By his death, one change occurred.

The people started to scream.

However, the clear message did not appear.

I confirmed that the hostilities of the screaming people were still aimed at me. I could understand the situation.

There wasnt just one target.

The people were controlled like puppets until a moment ago. Now, they became beasts who lost their minds. They charged into close-up physical struggles against me.

There were hands everywhere. They were trying to grab me from all directions. Feeling their fragile hands, I truly cursed at my current predicament.

That day was the 17th day since the beginning of the AoAeo islands Grand Paramal Festival.

That day, I didnt drink any Paramal.