How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game Chapter 754: Anomaly’s gift

~9 minute read · 2,193 words

Previously on How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game...

The protagonist discusses the nature of Divinity with Eris, who explains that his unique Divinity, stemming from his status as an anomaly and his possession of his sister's Divinity, lacks a fixed form. Eris advises him to continue training, explore his limits, and crucially, to leverage the faith of his followers to strengthen his Divinity. She details how personal appearances and rewards can bolster their belief, making them a valuable resource for future conflicts.

Should I really just wait...?

Vanessa paced back and forth in the hallway, her face filled with uncertainty as she kept glancing toward the closed door of the nun’s room.

She was only a few meters away.

Close enough that if someone unexpected happened to approach, she could notice them before they reached the room. She could always come up with some excuse to interrupt if she had to.

That was supposed to be her job tonight.

Wait outside.

Make sure no one disturbed Emilia and Riley while they completed the ritual.

Simple enough.

Except...

She couldn’t stop worrying.

It was her idea in the first place.

She was the one who had encouraged Emilia to go through with what she should do in the ritual, helped her prepare everything, and even pushed her to be a little more confident around Riley.

So technically, none of this should have surprised her.

But now that Emilia was actually alone in a room with Riley...

Vanessa couldn’t help but feel nervous.

She trusted Riley.

Honestly, she probably trusted him more than most people at the academy.

The problem was Emilia.

Her best friend was kind, innocent, and usually cheerful, but she could also be incredibly clumsy when she got nervous. And whenever Emilia became determined about something, her usual common sense sometimes seemed to disappear completely.

What if she messes something up?

Vanessa stopped pacing.

No... knowing her, she might somehow turn a perfectly normal ritual into something completely unexpected.

That was the real problem.

Emilia’s luck had always been strange.

Sometimes it was unbelievably good.

Other times...

It somehow managed to make everything much more complicated than it needed to be.

Vanessa couldn’t even tell what she was worried about anymore.

If something happened that helped Emilia and Riley become closer, then...

Well

She’d probably be happy for her friend.

That was the whole reason she’d encouraged Emilia in the first place.

But the question was how it would happen.

That was what bothered her.

There was a difference between Emilia finally being honest about her feelings and the two of them somehow getting carried away because of the circumstances.

Vanessa stopped again and looked at the door.

"...Hopefully, they’re just doing the ritual."

She sighed.

Of course, she knew Riley well enough to trust him.

But that didn’t stop her imagination from coming up with increasingly ridiculous possibilities.

And Emilia...

Emilia was Emilia.

"Please don’t do anything too crazy, Emmy..."

Vanessa covered her face with both hands.

She had encouraged this.

She had helped set everything up.

She had even given Emilia advice before she went inside.

Now she was standing outside the room like an anxious parent waiting for their child to come home.

"...Why am I the one getting nervous?"

She lowered her hands and stared at the door again.

A few more minutes passed.

Nothing.

That was probably a good sign.

Vanessa took a slow breath and tried to calm herself.

"Everything’s fine."

She nodded to herself.

"Emmy’s fine."

Another pause.

"...Probably."

She immediately shook her head.

"No. Stop thinking about it."

She turned around and resumed pacing.

For now, all she could do was wait.

...

Somewhere in the northern part of the continent, beneath a large mountain on its southern edge, there was a lone cave hidden deep within the rocky terrain.

The entrance itself was easy to miss. It was surrounded by jagged rocks and thick patches of vegetation, making it look like nothing more than a natural crack in the mountain. Yet, beyond that narrow entrance was a passage that stretched deep underground, far beyond where the light of the outside world could reach.

A lone man wearing a black hooded robe hurried into the cave.

He kept looking over his shoulder as he walked, as though he were afraid that someone might have followed him. His steps were quick and uneasy, and every few moments his hand instinctively tightened around the edge of his robe.

He continued deeper into the darkness until a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

The man stopped immediately.

Standing before him was another person dressed in a similar black hooded robe. However, unlike the nervous newcomer, this person’s presence felt far heavier.

He stood tall and broad, his figure almost blending into the darkness surrounding him. A large spear rested firmly in his right hand, its long shaft extending toward the ground.

The newcomer swallowed nervously.

For a moment, he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Then, after gathering what little courage he had, he lowered his head.

"...May the faithful be blessed..."

His voice trembled.

"M-May the unworthy become worthy... For the great anomaly will usher in a new era..."

The spear-wielding man remained silent.

He simply stared at him from beneath his hood.

That silence alone was enough to make the newcomer nervous.

But after several seconds, the man holding the spear finally moved aside.

The newcomer quickly bowed his head in gratitude before hurrying past him and continuing deeper into the cave.

The further he went, the darker it became.

There were no torches.

No magical lamps.

Not even the faint glow of crystals embedded in the walls.

Only darkness.

The newcomer could barely see his own hands in front of him, forcing him to rely on his hearing as he continued forward.

And that was when he realized something.

He wasn’t alone.

Whispers echoed throughout the cave.

Quiet conversations.

Soft murmurs.

The occasional sound of footsteps against stone.

There were people everywhere.

They were hidden within the darkness, standing along the walls, sitting in corners, or moving deeper into the cave. The newcomer couldn’t see most of them clearly, but he could feel their presence.

It made his heart beat faster.

He had never imagined that so many people would gather in a place like this.

He continued walking cautiously.

Then—

Bump.

"Oof!"

The newcomer stumbled backward after accidentally walking into someone.

"I-I’m sorry..."

He immediately bowed his head.

He couldn’t even see who he had bumped into. Judging from how solid the person had felt, however, he had expected an angry response.

Instead, a calm voice answered him.

"...Hm. It’s fine. Are you a newcomer?"

The newcomer froze for a moment.

It was unmistakably the voice of a woman.

He slowly looked up.

Even in the darkness, he could make out the outline of the person standing before him.

She was... surprisingly sturdy.

Her figure was much broader and stronger than he had expected from a woman, almost making him wonder if he had somehow mistaken her for a man.

But he quickly pushed the thought away.

It wasn’t his place to ask questions.

"Y-Yes. I’m new here..."

"Hmm..."

The woman seemed to examine him for a moment.

"Why have you come here?"

The question caught him off guard.

The newcomer hesitated.

He lowered his head again, his fingers nervously gripping the edge of his robe.

"...I-I just wish for a change in my life."

His voice became quieter.

"Those hooded priests who visited my village told me that I could change my life here..."

He paused before continuing.

"They said I could change the life of my family too..."

His voice trembled slightly as he remembered the words the priests had spoken to him.

A better life.

A new beginning.

A chance for his family to escape the poverty they had endured for generations.

That was the reason he had come.

He didn’t know what awaited him inside this cave.

He didn’t know who these people truly were.

And, honestly, he wasn’t even sure what the great anomaly they kept speaking about actually meant.

But the priests had promised him that if he devoted himself to their cause, his life would change.

So he had followed them.

Even if that meant stepping into a cave where the darkness seemed to swallow everything around him.

The woman remained silent for a few seconds.

Then she spoke again.

"...I see."

There was something strange about her voice this time.

The woman’s voice softened slightly as she looked at the nervous newcomer.

"Well, you don’t have to be so nervous. Everybody has their own circumstances for coming here. Whether they were good or bad... it doesn’t really matter."

The man slowly raised his head.

The woman continued, her tone becoming more reassuring.

"And if those priests invited you here, then that means you are worthy of being faithful. So hold your head high."

She paused for a moment before adding with a faint hint of amusement in her voice,

"You wouldn’t want to look down when standing before the Great One, right?"

The man froze.

"The Great One...?"

Before he could ask what she meant, something suddenly happened.

Voom!

A deep sound echoed throughout the cave.

The newcomer instinctively flinched.

Then—

Whoosh!

One torch after another suddenly burst into flames.

The fire spread through the darkness in an instant, illuminating the walls around them.

The man’s eyes widened.

Until now, he had barely been able to see anything beyond the people immediately around him. But with the sudden light filling the cave, the place before him was revealed in its entirety.

And it was nothing like what he had expected.

This wasn’t some ordinary cave.

The natural stone walls were still visible in certain places, but large sections of the cave had clearly been renovated. Smooth stone floors had been laid across the ground, while massive pillars had been built along both sides of the chamber.

Above them was a high ceiling.

Hanging from its center was a massive chandelier covered in flames, its warm light spreading throughout the entire chamber.

The cave had been transformed.

It felt less like a hidden underground passage and more like an enormous temple.

The newcomer slowly turned his head, staring at the people gathered around him.

There were far more of them than he had originally thought.

Men and women in black robes stood throughout the chamber, all of them silently watching the newcomer.

Some were praying.

Others simply stood with their heads lowered.

Yet despite the number of people gathered there, the room remained strangely quiet.

Then the newcomer’s eyes moved forward.

And he stopped breathing for a moment.

At the very center of the enormous chamber stood a giant statue.

It towered over everything around it.

The statue depicted a hooded figure completely covered in black robes. Its face was hidden beneath the hood, leaving nothing visible except darkness.

In its right hand, the statue held three enormous orbs.

Even without knowing what they represented, the newcomer could immediately feel that they were important.

The entire statue was grand enough to make him feel incredibly small simply by standing before it.

His mouth slowly opened.

"I-Is that...?"

The woman beside him followed his gaze.

"The Great Anomaly...?"

She nodded.

"Yes."

Her voice suddenly became much more serious.

"That is the being you will soon place all of your faith in."

The newcomer swallowed.

He looked at the statue again.

Something about it made him uncomfortable.

Not because it looked frightening.

But because it felt as though the statue was watching him despite having no visible eyes.

He then glanced toward the woman beside him.

Now that the torches had illuminated the chamber, he could finally see her properly.

And once again, he was surprised.

She certainly had a strong and sturdy build, but she was much leaner than he had imagined from their brief encounter in the darkness. She was also shorter than he had expected.

Yet despite her appearance, there was something about her presence that made the newcomer hesitate.

She didn’t feel like an ordinary person.

There was a strange pressure surrounding her.

A power he couldn’t understand.

The woman noticed his gaze but didn’t seem bothered by it.

Instead, she turned back toward the statue.

"Just pray."

Her voice echoed softly through the chamber.

"Be faithful, and change will come."

She raised her head toward the enormous statue.

"That is the great being you will place your life and faith into from this day onward."

She looked back at him.