SSS-Ranked Trash Hero: I Was Scammed Into Being Summoned-Chapter 60: The Moment Everything Went Wrong
Hiroshi’s head throbbed badly, as if someone had poured hot lava inside it. The pain spread through his skull, making it hard to even think clearly.
The moment Hiroshi regained consciousness, a series of system notifications began appearing in front of his eyes.
[ You have defeated Goblin – Level 10 ]
[ You have defeated Goblin – Level 10 ]
[ You have defeated Goblin – Level 10 ]
[ You have defeated Goblin – Level 10 ]
[ You have defeated Goblin – Level 10 ]
[ You have defeated Goblin – Level 10 ]
More messages quickly followed.
[ You have defeated ••••••••••• — Disciple of the 12th Dark Ancient Spirit — Level •••• ]
[ EXP gained: 1284629163637472826482 ]
The system screen suddenly flickered.
[ Error ]
[ Error ]
A new message appeared.
[ You have killed a dormant fragment of the Disciple of the 12th Dark Ancient Spirit — Level 60 ]
[ EXP gained: •••••• ]
More notifications stacked one after another.
[ Level Increased ]
[ Level Increased ]
[ Level Increased ]
Finally, a larger message appeared in the center of his vision.
[ You have leveled up to Level 30 ]
The notifications kept appearing faster than he could properly read them. They stacked on top of each other, disappeared, and then more appeared again. By the time the messages finally stopped, the last one remained floating quietly in front of him.
Hiroshi read it slowly.
He still did not fully understand it.
He closed his eyes.
Then he opened them again.
The notification was still there.
He dismissed the windows one by one until they disappeared completely. When the last one vanished, the only thing left above him was the cracked ceiling of the chamber.
For a moment, Hiroshi simply lay there breathing.
Breathing was the only thing his body seemed willing to do without pain.
After a while, he tried to sit up.
His right arm pushed against the floor, slowly lifting his body upright. The other arm—the one that had been burning since he woke up—remained close to his side. Moving it did not seem like a good idea yet.
The chamber around him was almost unrecognizable.
The walls were full of fresh cracks that ran in every direction. Some were wide enough to fit a hand into. Two iron torch brackets had been torn completely out of the stone walls, and the torches that once hung there now lay on the ground in opposite corners of the room.
The broken table was still there.
But the thin column of light that had once risen from the crack was gone.
In its place, a dark scorch mark spread across the ceiling above it, like the shadow of something that had once existed but had now completely vanished.
The bodies were gone.
The kobolds were gone.
Only the Shaman remained.
It lay on the floor beside the broken table, completely still.
And it would never move again.
Hiroshi looked around slowly, trying to understand what had happened. The feeling was strange, like waking up in a room and not remembering how you got there.
Confused and still in pain, he blinked several times and looked again at where the notifications had been, trying to piece everything together.
Then his gaze moved toward the door.
Elias was standing there.
He was still upright, which surprised Hiroshi considering the condition of the room. The door behind him hung sideways in its frame, one of its hinges completely torn off.
Elias was watching him.
But his expression was not the expression of someone relieved to see another person alive.
Something about the way he stood felt different.
Hiroshi could not immediately explain what it was.
So he simply said his name.
"Elias...?"
Elias did not answer right away.
He just looked at Hiroshi for a few seconds. His face was calm, almost emotionless.
Then he started walking toward him.
His steps were slow and steady.
At first, Hiroshi did not understand what was wrong. But something about the way Elias moved made his instincts react before his mind could catch up.
A cold sense of danger spread through his chest.
Hiroshi tried to move. But his body was still weak and slow. Elias suddenly pulled a blade from inside his coat.
It was short.
Hiroshi raised his right arm on instinct, trying to block.
But he was too slow. The blade flashed once. A sharp pain exploded through his body.
For a moment, Hiroshi could not understand what had happened. The burning pain in his left arm suddenly turned into something far worse.
He looked down.
His left arm had been cut clean from the elbow.
Blood spilled onto the floor.
Hiroshi stepped back in shock, grabbing the wound with his right hand.
Elias did not attack again.
He simply stepped back and stood there, holding the blade loosely at his side.
His face remained calm.
Like someone following a plan he had already accepted long ago.
Hiroshi looked at his severed arm lying on the ground.
Then he looked back at Elias.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Hiroshi’s mind struggled to process what had just happened.
Finally, he asked the only question that mattered.
"You’re not the Observer?"
Elias remained silent for a moment.
Then he spoke in the same calm voice as always.
"Yeah. I’m not the observer the guild sent."
He glanced at Hiroshi.
"I came here to kill you."
His eyes briefly moved toward the severed arm.
"Then why did you wait until now?" Hiroshi asked.
Elias looked at him quietly.
"You were never supposed to survive long enough to reach this place."
He paused for a moment.
"Everything that happened tonight went far outside what was supposed to happen."
He nodded slightly toward Hiroshi’s arm.
"That..."
"I did it to confirm something."
Another pause.
"Now I have my confirmation."
Hiroshi held the wound on his arm and stared at him.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he asked quietly,
"Who sent you?"
Elias shook his head.
"I can’t say the name."
Hiroshi gave a weak laugh.
"I’m going to die here anyway... so why not at least tell me the name of the people who sent you to kill me?"
Elias sighed slightly.
"To be honest, I would tell you if I could."
"But I can’t."
"Because I don’t know their names."
Hiroshi did not respond.
His vision was already starting to blur. The blood loss was becoming too much for his body.
"What happened to the Observer?" Hiroshi asked weakly.
Elias shrugged slightly.
"Oh, him?"
"Well... you know how it is. Can’t leave loose ends."
He casually ran his finger across his neck in a cutting gesture.
Hiroshi laughed.
The sound came out weak and bitter.
"This whole thing is cursed... seriously... screw this."
Why was this happening to him?
What had he done so wrong?
Why couldn’t the people trying to kill him give him even a moment to breathe?
His body was exhausted beyond measure.
And now he was about to die at the hands of the person he had trusted to survive this nightmare with.
Elias tilted his head slightly and looked toward the hallway behind him.
"Looks like they’re here."
He looked back at Hiroshi.
"Let’s end this."
He raised the blade again.
"And to be honest... I don’t really want to kill you."
"But once I accept a request, I finish it."
"No matter what."
Elias’s hand moved.
For Hiroshi, time seemed to slow.
The blade was already inches away from his neck.
Why did everything go wrong?
He asked himself.
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no way to escape this situation.
His mind began cursing everything.
The world.
The people in it.
Everything.
In desperation, he screamed inside his mind.
If there is anything... anyone... anything at all...
Please help me.
I will do anything.
Just save me.
Please.
But no one was there to hear him.
Everything around him had become strangely silent.
The moment stretched unnaturally long.
A strange stillness filled the air.
It felt like time itself had paused at the edge of his death.
Then suddenly...
A voice.
It was so faint that it could barely be called a whisper.
But the moment Hiroshi heard it, his entire soul trembled.
The voice felt omninus.
Just hearing it almost shattered his sanity.
A sharp pain struck his head, as if something had reached deep into his mind and touched his very soul.
The voice murmured something.
It made almost no sense.
It happened so quickly that Hiroshi could barely tell if he had really heard it.
But the words still reached him.
"Do you want to be saved?"
A pause.
"But can you truly afford the price of being saved?"
Hiroshi had no idea what was happening.
But he did not care.
There was only one thing in his mind.
Survive.
"YES."
Suddenly, system notifications appeared again.
[ Error ]
[ Error ]
[ The advanced phase of Adaptive Evolution is forcefully awakening ]
[ Adaptive Evolution – Advanced Stage 6: Devourer of the World ]
[ Searching for suitable power source ]
[ Suitable source found ]
[ Fragment of Disciple of the 12th Dark Ancient Spirit detected ]
[ Process starting ] 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
[ The fragment is resisting ]
[ The fragment is resisting ]
[ The fragment is resisting ]
[ Resistance failed ]
[ Resistance failed ]
[ Devourer of the World activated ]
[ New power obtained: The Unkillable ••••• ]
[ Error: Corruption spreading ]
[ Error: Corruption spreading ]
[ Error ]
[ Probability of becoming a Lost One: Extremely High ]
[ Do you wish to proceed? ]
Hiroshi did not understand what was happening.
But he could feel it.
A terrifying amount of power was beginning to gather inside his body.
Power he needed to survive.
No matter the cost.
Corruption.
Madness.
Anything.
He was going to die anyway.
So he answered.
"Yes."
A new message appeared.
[ You will regret using this ]
[ Do you still wish to proceed? ]
This was the first time the system had ever warned him like this.
Under normal circumstances, he might have hesitated.
But right now he was about to die.
So what was the point of hesitation?
"Proceed."
The moment Hiroshi confirmed it, everything changed.
His vision went dark.
His consciousness faded.
And something far more terrifying, Something ancient and monstrous,
Took control of his body.
