Chapter 3: Error
As he had read.
The world of the heretic king, there wasn't any mention of a character that survived the city. In fact, the novel itself was barely 30 chapters and didn't have enough for context. But one thing Ciel was sure, was that the party only had three members.
At first, he simply saw it as the alteration done by the Web in order to accommodate for his presence. As such, he never bothered to discover how he looked. But now, there was a chance the web had made more alterations than he anticipated.
There was now the possibility that the scene would not follow as it was written in the book.
Unnerved by this realization, Ciel hastened his steps towards the party.
He couldn't predict the changes the web had made to the scene, and in the event of a problem he would rather stay beside the actual adventurers who could at least act as meat shields long enough for him to hide.
As if to answer his thoughts, a thundering noise rang from above.
And in the next second, a massive round silhouette came crashing down before the party, sending a tremor through the icy pavement, shattering the ground into shards of ice and smoke.
Startled by the commotion, the party of four including Ceil quickly recoiled back. Their eyes widened as deep fear and terror crept up within their hearts.
At first, the round silhouette looked like a bolder that perhaps fell from a far height. However, within the cover of the cascading smoke and icy shards, the creature unfolded its body and rose. Its height standing at a towering 3 meters, engulfing everything in standstill silence.
The creature had two large furry legs, a bloated stomach which jiggled in the slightest motion, and two irregularly long hands, each dropped
to the ground, pulling on the ice and tiny shards. Its back was hunched, and it's back spine visible from a thin layer of red flesh.
On its head were four red spiral eyes, a pair on the top of what seemed to be his forehead, and the other two, on the sides of a wide open crevice which was filled with countless sharp teeths, and secreting a yellowish pus. The thing looked to be covered in a thick black fur coat, its crimson spiral eyes looking as if anticipating a well prepared meal.
And finally on the top of the creature's head was a rusted crown, which on closer inspection looked as if it was once gold at some point.
'That must be the king!' Ceil thought, his heart quickly speeding up.
As if concurring with his thoughts, the familiar female voice announced in his ears.
{The Heretic King has appeared, Survive for an hour.}
'Well, thanks for the heads-up.' Ciel cursed Inwards.
As soon as Ciel had the thought, the creature moved, dragging its long arms, it swung towards him and the adventurers: Without wasting a moment, he jumped to the left - narrowly avoiding the crashing down arm.
The ground trembled, icy shards and debris rose from the ground. But unlike the novice ciel, the three adventurers were equipped and ready. They all quickly scattered, each taking an angle facing the creature.
The white robed priest clasped his hands into a prayer triangle and with the muttering of some indescribable words, his hands glowed with a golden radiance.
He then unclasped his hands, spreading the radiance into both palms. He nodded at his party and swiftly took a deep breath. And at that moment, he clapped his hands with all his might, sending a resounding echo through the icy surroundings.
Responding to his clap, a dent emerged in the dark clouded sky, a golden ray of light descending from above and into the monster.
Boom!
The ground quaked, waves of white smoke rose and spread out in all directions, hitting ciel, he stumbled on his feet and fell down. His vision was covered by a thick layer of snow-white smoke.
His vision eventually cleared and he saw the creature attacking the bald headed man. The golden radiance seemed to have dealt little harm to the creature, as it exchanged blows with the Baldhead. The other duo propped up, providing support in the battle.
Staring at the spectacle that seemed to come directly from a book, Ciel quickly discovered a problem.
'This isn't right.'
His remark was not as a result of the monster that was currently engaged in a battle with the adventurers. The conclusion came from the whole situation which literally did not concur on how the web did things.
At first he dismissed it as the web simply making alterations to the scene. But this level of change was far beyond normal for the web. In essence, this scene was no longer the same as it was in the novel. The priest who was the betrayer, was now fighting alongside his comrades, and the bald-headed man should have long died in the first few seconds of the battle.
Things were drifting way too far.
The web had rules for the scenes it created. The essence of the scene was that it followed exactly as the book stated it. But in certain situations, the web would alter certain facts in order to incorporate the presence of the reader, but the main point of the story remained the same.
But it wasn't the case for his situation. Everything was way outside what the book had written.
Was something wrong with the web?
Why were the characters drastically different from what they were written as?
He had many questions, but there was little time to think about them. And with a big monster in the fray, he didn't have the luxury of such thoughts.
Unjust as it may be, there was nothing left but to do but move forward, and now, the only person that could get him out of this mess- was himself.
Before Ciel could ready himself, the ground tore open! A figure sprung up from the snowy floor, a streak of light tore through the cascading smoke, hurling towards ciel.
Fortunately, Ciel was aware enough to quickly dunk to the side, a silver slash striking the ground - leaving behind a long scar on the icy floor.
His survival wasn't attributed to skill, but simply from the readiness he had amassed over years of envisioning his day within the scene. So in a way, he had already foreseen countless ways his trial could go. Each book he read, and all their scenes had been ironclad instilled in his mind.
He had spent his whole life waiting for this day, he wasn't going to lose it because of some error the web was experiencing.
So instead of freezing in fear, Ciel quickly acted..
He didn't know what had attacked him, but he wasn't going to wait to find out.
Stepping back quickly, he drew the silver dagger from the clothes, piercing into the silhouette that stood before him behind the still cascading debris and snow smoke.
A loud shriek echoed from the smoke, clearing up to reveal a thin monster which was the exact replica of the king, but at a smaller thinner scale. This monster was barely 1.3 meters, and less intimidating than the king, also its head had no crown on it.
The silver dagger was plunged deep into the crevice of a mouth, yellowish pus dripping from the needle like teeth and onto Ciel's hand.
The monster wriggled violently, its long arms crashing into Ciel's body. Each hit was like a huge stone was thrown on his body. He was nearly tempted to pull his hand away from the dagger.
However, gritting his teeth, he pushed the dagger deeper into the monster's mouth, yellowish pus splattering like a fountain.
'Just die. Die for God's sake!'
Sweat and blood were rolling down Ciel's face as he pushed the dagger deeper into the monster, his breath hectic as he used every ounce of strength he could muster.
Every passing second felt like an unending hour. His whole body ached from the beating granted by the monster and his stamina and strength which were beginning to fail him.
It seemed the monster had endless vitality.
However, ciel persisted. He gritted his teeth, plugged the dagger even deeper into the monster, his face now completely covered in the yellowish pus.
And then, finally, like a reward for his endurance, the thrashing monster went limp.
A moment later, the soft feminine voice rang in his ears.
It now sounded like the most entrancing voice he had ever heard.
{You have eliminated a student rank beast, a subject of the Heretic King.}
Ciel fell to his knees, panting for air. His whole body trembling as if he has been used as a punching bag for over one hundred boxers. His eyes widened, but among the fear he felt, there was also satisfaction and pride. Pride that he had defeated a monster with nothing but a trash silver dagger, and his determination.
He turned his head, seeing the party still engaged in combat with the king.
'Just keep him busy, so I can go and hide. At least 20 minutes should have already passed. Do well to survive for an extra 40.' Ceil genuinely prayed for the party.
He couldn't have them dying quickly, only for the king to target him. It was basic courtesy. If they were the strongest, shouldn't they also deal with the big bad monster?
In a slow moving manner, Ciel propped himself up. He now needed to find a place to hide until the time elapsed.
However, it seemed the web had the habit of giving him the middle finger. Because as he was about to stand up. Pillars of white smoke erupted around him.
Clearing up, they revealed countless monsters all similar to the one he just killed and they were at least 20 in number.
It was at that moment, ciel recalled what the web said when he killed the subject.
{You have eliminated a student rank beast, "A subject" of the king.}
'So not the subject of the king, but "a" subject."
Ciel looked around, realizing he was utterly surrounded on all sides by the swarm of monsters.
There seemed to be no way of escaping.
'Oh that's just not fair.' Ciel stared at the multitude of creatures that surrounded him.
'What better example would explain a plan that failed in the beginning.'
Looking at them with fear, he couldn't help but wonder if the web had any intentions of actively trying to kill him.
He had read many of the experiences documented by veteran readers, but his would perhaps be the greatest read, if he got lucky enough and survived to write it.
Looking at the creatures, Ciel gripped his dagger, now stained in yellowish pus, his surroundings drowned in silence, but then, a giggle suddenly resounded. It continued, multiplying and intertwining into a loud echo. The monsters suddenly had a strange curl on their faces, and Ciel only saw this as one thing: the monsters were laughing at him.
'Mocking the prey huh?' ciel thought while attempting to calm his head. His heart was beating so loudly that it seemed to be attempting an escape from his chest.
But as if responding to his desperation, the loud voice of the priest echoed,
"Get down!"
Almost instinctively to the voice, Ciel dunked down.
At that moment, a pillar of golden light descended into the fray!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone