In Another World, All Milfs Will Be Mine-Chapter 145: [ - - ] - System reboot

Bang!

The heavy wooden doors of the dungeon prison cell shattered into pieces by a single, panicked kick from Leo.

"Caelum!" he roared, his voice echoing down the damp stone walls.

But there was no answer, and Leo’s heart sank a beat. He grabbed a flickering fire torch from the wall and walked inside the cell.

"Malcom!" Leo shouted.

But again, all he got in response was absolute Silence.

He took a step forward, hoping the system was wrong. But he hadn’t taken more than two steps, when he felt something wet below his feet.

He looked down and saw a puddle of red liquid under his feet. It was blood!

Leo frowned. As his gaze drifted along the cell, he saw five bodies lying on the straw-covered floor.

Leo recognized them instantly. They were the Dregs tasked with making the stay of Caelum and Aliana comfortable.

They weren’t just dead. They were... husks.

Their skin was grey and papery, stretched tight over their bones like dried parchment. Their eyes were sunken pits of blackness.

Their mouths were frozen wide open as they tried to scream in agony, but no voice came out of their throats.

It looked as if every drop of blood, every ounce of life force, had been sucked out of them before the poor things could even cry for help.

"What the hell..." Leo whispered, stepping closer to the dead bodies.

Leo crouched and touched their skin. It was ice cold.

"Leo!"

Seraphine’s voice came from behind him. She was running, holding her skirts up, breathless. Belladonna was right behind her with her sword drawn for anything unexpected.

"He is gone," Leo said, not turning around. He stared at the withered corpses, "He is fucking gone."

Seraphine reached the cell. She gasped when she saw the bodies, "This? What happened to them? It looks like..."

"Necromancy," Belladonna finished, stepping forward to inspect the lock. She frowned, "The lock isn’t picked. The door wasn’t forced. It’s still sealed."

"Where is Aliana?" Seraphine suddenly remembered. Her eyes searched through dead bodies, "I don’t see her here."

"Caelum. He most likely too her with him."

"But how?" Leo could not pinpoint how they did it? There was no sign of any forced entry.

"Look at the back wall," Belladonna pointed.

In the corner of the cell, hidden behind a bucket, a section of the stone wall had dissolved.

It did not look like as if it was dug out with tools. The stone in the wall was melting, dripping like black wax onto the floor.

It was a deep big tunnel, pitch black and leaking a sense of malice that disappeared into the earth.

"Malcom?" Seraphine asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"He is not here," Leo said, "He either was not here, dead or..."

He didn’t finish the thought though.

Malcom was loyal to Belladonna just the way Bane is. He made sure to infiltrate the castle and rot it from within.

He was the one who handed Caelum in the silver platter to Belladonna and him.

Then why would he help him escape? Unless all those years of service and living in the warmth of each other’s embrace might have left a lingering longing difficult to shake.

Belladonna walked past Leo and the dead bodies and knelt by the tunnel entrance. She reached out a hand, hovering over the melted stone.

Zzzzt.

A spark of black electricity along with smoke jumped from the stone to her finger. It stung, leaving a numb sensation that crept up her arm.

"Dark Magic," Leo hissed, "High level. This person must be stronger than me."

"Caelum didn’t have magic," Seraphine pointed out, "He was a noble with nothing but his Lord’s status. So this couldn’t be him."

"Someone helped him," Belladonna said, sheathing her sword, "Someone powerful. This tunnel... it bypasses the city defences It goes deep underground."

"They were strong, but they still did not want to get drawn into a fight."

Leo stood up, but he could not help but feel a wave of dizziness wash over him.

The System interface in his vision was flickering violently, red static bleeding into the edges of his sight.

"Aiva," he commanded internally, "Track Caelum. Tell me where he is."

KRRR-SHT.

An unnatural sound like tearing metal shrieked in his skull. Leo flinched, clutching his head, "Ughh!"

[SYSTEM ERROR 369]

[Target Signal: UNREACHABLE.]

[Quest Logic Failure: Reward ’Lady Seraphine’s Vengeance’ claimed prematurely.]

[Validation Check: Quest still not complete.]

[Quest Duration: 291:57:33]

[System Resetting!]

[System Realigning!]

"Aiva!" Leo cried out loud in his head, as he stumbled back against the wall. Pain was starting to seep through his spine.

"Leo?" Seraphine rushed into the cell, grabbing his arm, "What’s wrong? Your eyes... Why are they red?"

"Get back!" Leo gasped, pushing her away. He felt like his blood was boiling.

The red text in his vision expanded, consuming everything.

[CRITICAL ANOMALY DETECTED.]

[The Host has accepted rewards for an incomplete objective.] [Violation of Causality Protocols.]

[Initiating Emergency Correction...]

’No,’ Leo gritted his teeth, fighting the paralysis spreading through his limbs, ’I earned it! I took the city! I won!’

’You gave me the rewards!’

’It is your mistake!’

[Negative. The objective was ’Vengeance’. The target lives. The contract is void.]

[Revoking Rewards...]

[Resetting Hosts Stats!]

[Resetting Hosts Quests!]

[Resetting Hosts Inventory!]

"Damnit!" Leo gritted his teeth.

It felt like a hook had been inserted into his chest and was ripping his soul out.

[Strength Stat: REVOKED.]

[Agility Stat: REVOKED.]

[Stealth Stat: REVOKED.]

[Charisma Stat: REVOKED.]

[Stamina Stat: REVOKED.]

[Intelligence Stat: REVOKED.]

[Attack Shield Discarded]

[Thunderbolt Card Discarded]

[Moon-Shade Herb...]

[Body Tempering Pill...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

Leo fell to his knees with a thud. Just a minute ago, he could have punched through the stone wall with a punch without feeling it.

But now even the cold floor hurt.

His muscles, which once felt like coiled steel cables, suddenly felt lump and soft.

The supernatural vitality that had allowed him to fight for hours and fuck for an entire night evaporated, leaving behind a crushing, mortal fatigue.

"Leo!" Belladonna dropped her sword and grabbed him by the shoulders, "He is collapsing! Seraphine, help me!"

"What’s happening to him?" Seraphine cried, terrified, "Is it a curse? Did Caelum leave a trap?"

"Aiva!" Leo wheezed as blood trickled from his nose, "Do something! Open the inventory."

Leo tried to access his Inventory to grab a healing potion, but a grey padlock icon flashed in his face.

[ACCESS DENIED.]

He tried to summon his Status Screen.

[USER PROFILE LOCKED. SYSTEM REBOOTING...]

And the pain intensified, a white-hot spike driving into his brain. He thrashed in Belladonna’s grip, and his vision started to blur.

[Initiating System Recalibration Mode.]

[System going Offline!]

[Offline Duration: 24 Hours.]

[Survival Mode: ACTIVE.]

Aiva’s voice, which was usually so calm and robotic, sounded distant and distorted, like a radio signal fading into static.

[I am sorry, Master. I must stabilize the core. You are on your own. Do not die.]

"Aiva!" Leo murmured one last time.

And just then the world went black.

[SYSTEM OFFLINE.]

"He is burning up!"

"Get water! And blankets! He is shivering!"

"First let us take him to your chamber!"

"Should we call Remus? Maybe a healing spell?"

"No! No priests. If the city finds out the Hero who saved them is down, the sharks will circle. Lock the doors. No one enters this wing."

Leo floated in a sea of darkness. Voices drifted in and out, muffled as if underwater. He felt weak.

Weaker than he had ever felt in his life. Even back on Earth, sitting in his chair for twelve hours a day, he hadn’t felt this fragile.

And it terrified him.

He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt like lead weights. He tried to move his hand, but his fingers wouldn’t obey. He was trapped in his own body, a prisoner of his own biology.

My stats, he thought, panic rising in the darkness. My skills. They’re gone.

Without them, what was he? Just a guy. Just a regular guy who had conned his way onto a throne.

Caelum escaped. The thought was a cold knife in his gut. He escaped, and I’m powerless.

He felt a soft hand on his forehead. Cool. Soothing.

"Stay with us, Leo," Seraphine’s voice whispered, thick with tears. "You promised. You promised you would be the devil. Devils don’t die like this."

"He is strong," Belladonna’s voice answered, hard and unyielding.

It’s not a fever, Leo wanted to scream. It’s a reboot. I just need time.

But time was the one thing he didn’t have.

The 24-hour countdown ticked away in the darkness of his mind.

[System Reboot: 23:59:45...]

Leo drifted back into unconsciousness, the image of the melted stone wall and the withered corpses burned into his memory.

The game had changed.

The tutorial was over.

And for the first time since arriving in this world, for the next 24 hours.

Leo Dragomir was a sitting target.

** ** ** ** **