I Slaughtered My Way Through a Horror Scenario with an Ovum - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

This scenario was called Contest for the Realm.

Judging by the name alone, it was hard not to assume that victory meant becoming emperor.

But…

Could it really be that simple?

Ascending the throne and ruling the realm were victory conditions in plenty of historical romance scenarios.

But winning this one meant a fifty-billion reward.

Could it really be as simple as becoming emperor?

What condition could possibly justify a reward that enormous?

I couldn’t think of one.

So perhaps I should turn my thinking around.

What if the fifty billion was a lie?

What if this game never intended to let anyone survive?

Then it would never actually have to pay out the fifty billion, would it?

What if the sole purpose of this scenario was to watch the players slaughter one another until they were all dead, and the game ended in total failure?

Then the fifty-billion prize would make sense.

No objective could possibly be worth the system paying a player that much.

If it never intended to pay from the start, there was nothing surprising about making the figure as outrageous as possible.

My palms grew damp.

If my guess was right, I was in grave danger.

If this scenario had never wanted anyone to survive…

Then I would inevitably die in the end.

It was only a question of sooner or later.

But I had never wanted fifty billion. I’d been dragged here without knowing what was happening. All I wanted was to live.

I had to find a way to survive.

I needed something to bargain with the system.

I opened the skill panel again and looked at Ovum.

At that moment, I was profoundly glad I had chosen it.

After the [Strength] player died, I used Ovum to break him down into his most basic substances and reabsorb him.

Because I had killed him, absorbing him only slightly increased my maximum health and energy.

But what about [Fusion]?

Ovum had a skill called Fusion.

I thought I ought to try it.

Once again, I released the attractant.

Before long, a richly dressed man walked into the rockery in the imperial garden.

“Strange. Why am I coming here…?”

Muttering to himself, he pressed uncontrollably toward the place where I was hiding.

At last, he saw me deep inside the rockery.

I hugged myself and trembled. “D-don’t come any closer…”

The instant he saw me, his whole body froze.

Then his eyes glazed over, and his feet carried him toward me against his will.

He embraced me and lowered his head to kiss my neck.

He held me so hard it was as though he wanted to crush himself into my body.

Where he couldn’t see, the corners of my mouth curled slightly upward.

I opened the panel and activated Ovum’s fourth skill: Fusion.

The man lying on top of me instantly became something like a slime.

He softened into a transparent mass, wriggling as he merged into my body.

It didn’t take long.

Soon, he was completely gone.

Only his clothes, shoes, and accessories remained on the ground.

I glanced at my panel and found a new skill: “Spend a Fortune.”

It had been his skill.

Now it was mine.

At the same time, I saw [Fertilized Ovum] appear on the panel, while all Ovum’s other skills turned gray.

That meant they were temporarily unavailable.

Hmm… interesting.

So Fusion came at a price.