Masquerade of Temptation (3)

Just a few minutes ago.

The ballroom.

Da-landan-dan, da-rala-dan

The rhythm became increasingly intense, beyond what a human leg could keep up with.

However, even in the midst of that, Jecky was able to

dance comfortably.

After all, she had a total of four legs.

"Well, what is that...!"

It was already challenging enough to follow the dance with two legs, let alone four.

Edna looked at it and exclaimed, her face turning pale.

"Stop, Jecky! If you get consumed by the role of Lady Aeron any further, there's no turning back!"

"Shut up!"

"It could become a terrible sight! If you get consumed any further, it will be irreversible!"

"What do you know!"

With anger-filled emotions, Jecky's dance became even more intense.

Her dance didn't stray from the boundaries of modern ballroom dance, but she alternated between waltz and tango offbeat.

She suddenly danced alone as if there were two people, intensified the rhythm, and chaotic patterns emerged haphazardly.

Jecky's magic thrilled in all directions.

Sound waves vibrated, musical notes struck the air, and rays created by sound seemed to tear objects apart.

Yet, despite the three girls enduring, two additional legs sprung out from Jecky, making a total of six legs.

"Ugh!"

One of the fallen students let out a dry heave.

From that point on, it was less beautiful and closer to a grotesque and terrible sight. However, the nobles still cheered and applauded to the rhythm of Lady Aeron's dance.

"As expected! You're beautiful!"

"You're the best dancer!"

"Punish those foolish challengers, Lady Aeron!"

"It's a dance so beautiful that it can't be compared to foolish challengers!"

When Lady Aeron stomped on the ground, fireworks exploded, lights shattered in a splendid display, and specks of light fluttered in the air.

The space folded, and a stage exclusively for Lady Aeron rose up, with red pouring down from the walls, creating a red carpet for her.

Jecky started dancing with her six legs, even claiming the surrounding terrain as her own.

Edna felt the intensifying offensive magic and bit her lip, and her face turned pale.

'This is too much of a stretch…'

The sensation at the tips of her toes was fading away.

Eisel's legs were already tired, and she barely managed to stand in a precarious position.

Hong Bi-Yeon, driven solely by willpower and determination, endured and kept enduring, but she, too, had reached her limit.

Watching their state, Edna bit her lip.

'This won't do…'

From the moment the character named Jecky possessed Aeron, the story took a completely different turn from what she knew.

'What on earth should I do...? I prepared so thoroughly for this day, but I can't seem to become her opponent no matter what.'

Tatatang!

As three out of the six legs touched the ground and matched the rhythm, an enormous storm of mana swept Edna's entire body. It became difficult to even move, let alone dance.

She was desperately resisting the seduction relying on her mental strength, fearing that she would succumb to it at any moment,

… Kkaaang!

Somewhere, the sound of a collision reached their ears.

"Eek!!"

Jecky's movements instantly froze.

"What...?"

"W-What's happening...?"

In a fleeting moment, a gigantic and grotesque spider-like figure appeared and disappeared from Jecky's body.

It was truly a momentary glimpse, but the cheers of the NPC nobles paused for that instant, and the girls quickly caught onto the "gap" in timing.

"Now's the chance!"

They didn't know what the situation was, but the girls didn't miss the sudden opening.

Three girls danced to the beat, swung their staff, and yellow beams of light, icy shards, and fiery red flames struck Jecky's body.

"Kyaaaah!!"

Her lower body turned to stone; her shoulders were pierced by the beams, and her face was horribly burned.

Jecky screamed in pain.

Then, Jecky's form gradually transformed into a more spider-like appearance.

"Eek, these... aaargh!!!"

Kkaang!

With every sound of something shattering, the spider-like figure seemed to grow from Jecky's body.

The nobles no longer fervently praised Jecky's dance.

"Lady Aeron..."

"No longer..."

"She's not beautiful anymore...?"

The condition to defeat Lady Aeron was to dance even more beautifully and mesmerize the nobles.

However, to fulfill that condition, was it necessary to dance more beautifully than Lady Aeron herself?

Since beauty was relative, wouldn't it be enough to make Lady Aeron no longer beautiful?

Kkaang! Kkang! Kkaang!!

"Kyaaaahhhhhh!"

As the intervals of the sound coming from above, that was, the clock tower, became shorter, Jecky screamed in even greater pain. Her dance was no longer a dance but a convulsive struggle.

"What's this sound?!"

Hong Bi-Yeon, Eisel, and Edna instinctively looked up at the ceiling while dancing.

Then, they gasped in astonishment, their mouths hanging open.

Through the ceiling, they saw the expansive passage of the clock tower, where Baek Yu-Seol flew freely, and engaged in a fierce battle with the Grand Blade Spider.

"I don't know what it is... but every time he attacks the Blade Spider, Lady Aeron seems to weaken..."

Someone was assisting.

And it was Baek Yu-Seol.

The moment they realized this fact, confidence and acceleration were infused into their dance.

Taran taran dan, taran taran dan.

The dance became more intense, and the magic engulfed and froze the stage fiercely.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Jecky, or Lady Aeron, reached her limit.

Her whites of the eyes turned blood-red.

A sign of complete corruption by dark magic.

"Damn it, damn it... damn it! Why, why, why, why, why!! Why do you keep interfering with me? Are you that jealous? Can't I receive some attention? Can't I be popular? Why, why are you doing this to meeeee!!!"

In that moment, two legs sprouted from the ends of her skirt, and eventually, they became eight.

Jecky herself still seemed unaware of this fact. She simply satisfied herself with the realization that her dance had become more skillful, and she intensified her rhythm with all her might.

The music reached its climax.

A dance of death, giving a hint of the end.

"Now, it's almost done!"

Only one blow was missing.

A decisive critical hit.

"Something..."

At that moment.

Swoosh!

Followed by an ear-piercing sound.

From the sky, a black meteor fell.

Kuwoong!! Crunch!

Precisely towards Lady Aeron.

The ground cracked, fragments scattered in all directions, and the chandeliers completely shattered into dust.

"Ugh, ah!"

The participants desperately spread their shields to block the fragments. Fortunately, they were not directly hit by the falling object, so they didn't suffer significant damage.

"What... what's happening?"

"I-I don't know. Something..."

As the fog that had covered the stage cleared, the identity of the fallen object was revealed.

"That... could it be...!"

It was the Grand Blade Spider, the one that Baek Yu-Seol had said he would face alone.

"Is... is it dead...?"

The Grand Blade Spider remained motionless, cold and lifeless.

Completely dead.

The participants' facial muscles twitched. They couldn't even utter a word of amazement. It was said that when someone was extremely shocked, their speech system became paralyzed, and the participants were experiencing that firsthand.

Squirm!

At that moment, when the Grand Blade Spider twitched, the participants quickly took a combat stance.

… No, to be precise, something beneath the Grand Blade Spider twitched.

Thud! Thump!

Flipping over the black carcass, Jecky revealed herself, lying beneath it.

"Huuuh... you keep interfering... with me..."

One of the participants was so shocked that they sat down on the ground. It wasn't because they were startled by Jecky's resurrection.

"What... is that?"

Her complete transformation into a 'spider' was so horrifying.

"Edna..."

Jecky slowly lifted her head and turned it in the direction where Edna stood.

Similarly struggling to hold onto her sanity, Edna took a step forward.

"Jecky..."

"Ha, ha! You can't beat me with your dance, so you resort to these tricks, huh? Because you can't dance more beautifully than me, right? How pathetic, truly pathetic. Edna, you're also jealous when someone more beautiful than you appears, aren't you? Ahaha, I'm glad. I wasn't the only one after all. You're just like me, aren't you?"

She was not in her right mind. It was truly irreversible now. However, Jecky was still healthy, while the participants had no strength left to face her.

"Baek Yu-Seol..."

They looked up at the ceiling, but they couldn't see him.

There was no choice.

They had to follow the method that Eisel had used on Lady Aeron in the "original romance" novel.

They had to do the same.

"Eisel, summon the Ice Mirror."

"... Yes."

Understanding the request immediately, Eisel swiftly swung her staff and tapped it on the ground.

Kukwang!

A slightly taller wall of translucent ice, larger than a person's height, appeared and its surface smoothed out, turning into a mirror.

As Edna hurried to move towards it, Jecky blocked her path.

She stretched her lips up to her ears, forming a sinister smile.

"What kind of nonsense are you trying to pull again? Always resorting to cheap tricks, that's all you're capable of."

"That's right. I'm only capable of that much."

Edna admitted willingly and shrugged her shoulders.

"So, would you like to see the mirror?"

"Hmph, are you trying to compare who's more beautiful? Of course, there's no need to ask. Obviously, it's me..."

"But why is it so quiet?"

"...Huh?"

Come to think of it.

Something was off.

Even if the music had stopped, why couldn't she hear the cheers of the nobles? Even after she resurrected as the most beautiful being in the world.

"What's going on?"

Jecky slowly looked around the plaza. Some people avoided her gaze as if they were afraid, some retched, some frothed at the mouth and fainted, and some shed tears.

"This can't be happening..."

They were supposed to love only her.

It was instinct.

When she turned her head to look at the mirror.

"Ah."

Jecky's pupils shook.

The woman in the mirror was no longer a woman.

Sharp eight pairs of legs, spider's eyes,

unsettling horns of unknown identity, and black sticky shells protruding from the skin.

Unconsciously, she raised her arms. Hoping that the mirror was an illusion.

"What's this...?"

That... wasn't the clean and beautiful arm of a girl. It was more akin to the legs of an arthropod.

She lowered her head.

Come to think of it, hadn't she been naturally moving her body with eight legs at some point?

A spider.

Yes, she was a spider.

Her appearance, which she had believed to be the most beautiful in the world, had transformed into the most terrifying form in the world.

"Oh..."

Jecky slowly, and surely, realized and acknowledged this fact.

It was... the most horrific torment for her.