Land of the Heretic King

The scene unfolded.

Ragged and tattered, towers rose high, cutting through the clouded sky, the pale gray moon rising to the center.

Countless Arched buildings rose from the ground, blurry figures emerged walking through the streets. Chimneys puffed black smoke into the air, the chugs of trains and carriages drifted through the land. An inviolable dome stretched over, covering the city in a glassy vault. The city stood high, a testament as the Pinnacle of ancient civilization.

Suddenly, the glass dome shattered, raining down pieces of sharp glass on the city. Piercing and killing countless in the rain of terror. The moon grew pale, casting a ghostly glow on the land, followed by a strong wind blowing from the west. Violent snow fell on the city. Soon, in a matter of seconds, the city was drowned in a winter show. Ciel realized that this all was the ending scene of the novel, "Land of the Heretic King."

At that moment, the city turned into a frozen land, barely bearing a faint echo of its former glory. However, before he could immerse himself in the spectacle, his vision wrapped. His body hurled down from the sky, falling towards a party of individuals dressed in peculiar medieval attire.

Specifically, he plugged into a young man who laid face flat on the icy floor. But In the brief seconds before he landed, the familiar female voice spoke again,

{Reader! Welcome to a Scene of the Heretic King.

Prepare for his Arrival…..}

'Has it finally started?'

'Uuh, it kind of hurts…,'

The numbing arche spread through Ciel's head. He opened his eyes to see his face staring directly on the icy floor. His legs were engulfed in a sharp pain, specifically targeted at his ankles.

He grunted while gathering strength to stand up from the cold blueish pavement.

'So this is the ending scene of the novel?' Ciel felt his body tremble in excitement. It was either that or the severe cold that was slowly permeating into his body.

'But why exactly would the web be using a scene that was barely 5 lines long?' ciel could not understand the web, but he wasn't disheartened..

After all, no one could discern the web..

He looked up, noticing a beautiful lady who slowly approached him. She was clad in green tight robes, her brown hair reaching all the way to her back.

Standing in the background were tall buildings, towers and even cathedrals all covered either in a thick layer of ice or an encasement of snow. Among them was an eerily sight of hands reaching out from the frozen ground, as if beneath the surface of ice, were countless bodies buried under.

No matter how one saw it, the overall environment gave off a sinister air.

Ciel quickly composed himself, pushing through the cold and pain, he conceived an idea followed by a problem.

'Now how do I start? Should I first wait for the web to make an announcement of what my scene's boon is?

On that note, Isn't the first scene a little harsh?' ciel noticed the problem.

True, his circumstances were not what the first scene was supposed to be. Normally, new readers would find themselves in scenes that pose only a fair amount of threat to them- it was the way the web kept a fair amount of readers alive. But even in a situation where the scene far out threatened the reader, the web would compensate by granting them a powerful scene boon, which acted as a balance against the scene.

However, he had dropped into a scene with an injured leg and a possible chance of hypothermia. If this wasn't a severe disadvantage, he didn't know what could.

And worse, the web was yet to announce his boon: His gift or weapon that would aid him in the scene.

'But again, maybe it's one of those scenes that require some activation before the web can respond.'

Remembering the popular novels he spent all his money on, in hopes of becoming a reader, Ciel cleared his mind despite the pain being more than a distraction. And with his blank thoughts, he began repeating certain words- words like, "Status." "System." "Analysis" and a pretty famous one, "Arise."

Not really knowing which word did the trick, a swarm of shimmering silver threads emerged before his eyes. Swirling like tiny snakes they quickly took the shape of a square border, and in the next second, a holographic screen played in the middle.

The screen listed a few words that were in no way English, but through the speciality of the scene, Ciel quickly understood their meaning.

He read inwardly…

{Reader: Ceil Shadow

Rank: Unassigned.

Note: Unattained.

Boon: A Silver Dagger

Current scene: Heretic King

Scene Description: Originating from the Book, "The land of the Heretic King." The reader must survive a hour within the scene, or you can chose to to defeat the King- directly ending the scene. }

After reading the data, Ciel nearly lost his composure.

'What?! A silver dagger!'

Staring at the holographic screen, hoping to see something he perhaps missed the first time. He slightly opened his mouth, a scoff emanating from his lips.

'Is this some joke? 5 years of waiting to become a reader, and now that I have, you're telling me I have to survive an hour against a monster, armed with nothing but a silver dagger. Not iron, but silver!.'

'Just what's the difference between this and a death sentence.. The web always maintains balance. Who ever came up with that probably never experienced my current situation..:

As soon as he thought that, the lady who had been slowly approaching him, stretched out her hand with a warm smile on her face.

"Don't you think you've stayed down there enough? It's cold and we don't know when a monster might appear. The rest are already up-ahead, we better move fast and join them."

Ciel hurriedly dismissed the threads with a slight wave of his hand - it was a gesture that oddly imprinted itself to his mind the moment the threads appeared. A moment later, he sluggishly grabbed hold of the ladies hand and propped himself up.

In silence they walked for two minutes, reaching a duo who stood ahead, equally dressed in peculiar clothes.

"Shit! He's alive? I thought the cold must have already killed him.." A barbaric-looking man wearing tattered clothes made of what appeared to be fur spoke.

Among the duo, the bald headed barbarian clicked his tongue in disdain. He rolled his eyes before turning to the lady who stood beside ciel.

"Why bother healing him? His nothing but dead weight. I swear that before the expedition ends he will be long dead."

Watching the man hurl insults despite his presence, Ciel silently shook his head and thought.

'Even as NPC's they look really real. Even down to the white smoke puffing from their noses each time they took a breather.'

Despite being aware that the humans, except occasional fellow readers, were all illusions conjured up by the Web for the sake of the scene. Ciel remained stunned by the realistic interpretation of characters he only read in the pages of books.

'It's as if our ideas no longer require us to exist.'

It was a miraculous experience for him, but yet it remained strangely unnerving.

Replying the bald headed man, the lady smiled and said softly,

"Say what you must, but I didn't heal him. He was alive when I saw him. So please refrain from antagonizing the teammate."

Clicking his tongue, the bald headed man turned to his other teammate who remained silent, perhaps reluctant to join in the meaningless squabble.

"So should we get going?"

He asked the young man dressed in a white clergyman robe, with a star amulet hanging around his neck. He looked rosy and holy, like a light amidst the darkness. But to Ciel, the man was the greatest jackass he had ever seen. He was, after all, the architect that caused the death of the party in the novel.

The priesty man turned to Ciel with a sad look, almost as if he was looking at a child who had absolutely no future.

'Wow, doesn't this mean he basically doesn't care about me. In that case, I don't have to worry about being stabbed in the back, all my attention can be focused on staying away from this team once they meet the King. But just in case, caution wouldn't harm.'

With a single thought, Ceil made the silver dagger appear in his hands. And not wasting a moment, he quickly concealed it within his ragged clothes.

He had been waiting for this day for a long time, and he damn well wasn't going to let the Web's mistakes lead him to death.

No matter what, he will survive the scene and become a true reader. Ciel thought with a concealed malice and readiness.

.....

The novel Land of the Heretic King was one of the many fictional books Ciel had read, in hopes of one day being summoned to one by the Web. The overall setting was of a kingdom which fell into chaos after the king lost his mind.and the city was encased in a layer of ice. In any case, the current scene was of a party of adventurers who were sent to investigate the city in hopes of finding some clues about it, however, it all went wrong when one of them betrayed the rest for a simple chest filled with gold.

Recalling the summary knowledge of the book, Ciel walked a bit slower, falling back from the rest. He didn't know exactly when the priest would strike, since it wasn't expressly stated in the novel, he could only stay a few meters away, preparing himself to run when the situation enfolded.

On their walk down the icy streets of the frozen city. Buildings entrapped in ice stood at every corner. The eerily silence and soft hum of the wind, producing a strange spine chilling sensation, akin to the primal fear experienced by children.

For some reason, it was as if something lurked within the layers of ice.

In any case, the party, a few meters away soon began chatting away. The looming fear seemingly having no effect on them.

'The difference between an actual adventurer and a newbie?' ciel wondered with a stern expression.

"I don't see anything important on this frozen rock of a city." The bald headed man spoke annoyingly.

The priesty man dressed in white robes chuckled with his eyes still upfront.

"We aren't getting paid to see if anything good exists in the city. We are to simply investigate and report."

A few seconds in, he added with a smile:

"In any case, it's even better that there are no treasures to be found. Because if there were, then it's almost a certainty a big monster would be waiting."

The bald-headed man scoffed.

"Even if a monster were to show up, I would simply have to break their bones and feed it to them."

Watching the future betrayer and the boastful Baldhead mutter on without a care, Ciel couldn't help but sigh.

'What a compatible group. One betrays the rest and the other dies first.'

Soon after, the only female in the group chuckled with a soft smile,

"It's all well and good to have vigor, but shouldn't we slow down a bit, the kid doesn't seem to be keeping up."

'No no no, don't do that. I can't have you caring. That would just ruin my plan.' Ciel frowned his eyebrows at the unwanted help the lady was adamant on giving.

Turning his head toward Ciel who dragged his steps through the ice a few meters away, the bald-headed man clicked his tongue.

"What's the point? If he dies so be it. He's already dead weight. And it wouldn't change anything if a heretic like him dies. Am even betting that we might get extra pay."

'Hmm? Heretic?'

Suddenly intrigued by the mentioned words, Ciel propped his head slightly, listening to the conversation ahead.

"Why call him a heretic? Isn't he a human like us? And must I remind you that all things remain equal before the sun." The priest spoke in a soft pious tone.

The bald-headed barbarian cast a sneering gaze at Ciel, before looking back ahead.

"I guess you don't know. But that kid is a descendant of this city. At least the ones that weren't in it when it froze. He is a heretic, a person who is even lower than a slave. His former king worshiped the devil and brought curses upon various lands in the world, but maybe it was the grace of the Gods, but his kingdom eventually became a victim of one such curse."

Hearing this, Ciel narrowed his eyes. Some of the information didn't check out with what he knew about the novel.