Mythos Of Narcissus: Reborn As An NPC In A Horror VRMMO

Kuzunoha smirked and tilted her head, the fox ears atop her head twitching ever so slightly as if emphasizing her next point. "As for surviving, well—let's just say my methods are far beyond what someone who can't even perform an ohrtending could fathom~ Arcane anomalies aside, the lifeline I require sustains me more than sufficiently."

It seemed like she knew of my inability to perform an ohrtending, heh.

"And now you're lacking a lifeline, unless you have a lot of reserve ready to be savored?"

"Ah, worry not, my dear." Kuzunoha waved her hand dismissively, her tone dripping with casual amusement. "As you rightly assumed, I have quite the reserve prepared, ready for whenever I feel the urge to indulge my… beastly tendencies~"

"Sounds like quite the event."

A sly smile crept onto her lips. "If you're curious, darling, I'd be more than happy to let you savor that experience firsthand."

"No thanks."

"Feel free to talk to me if you change your mind~"

Depending on what she meant by that wording, I might be the thing she savored in this context.

"As for finding you. Hm, that's a bit of my own flair." Kuzunoha finished modifying the contract and now she was letting the paper gracefully fall to my arm as she continued her speech. "You do have a distinct presence, after all. One doesn't simply ignore a walking miracle—no matter how deep you bury yourself in this forsaken place."

"Looks like we will always eventually stumble upon each other then, regardless of time and place."

"Truly, a wonderful fate~"

With the new version of our contract in my hand, I scanned every detail that I could muster, ensuring that no more trickery could slip by.

While reading, I noticed that Kuzunoha was smiling anticipatingly.

"I'm expecting that this partnership will be the foundation to our ever-churning collaboration." Satisfied of the terms and agreement, I signed the contract with the floating magical pen that was included beside the paper. "Glad to have you at my side, Kuzunoha."

Despite my satisfaction, I still saw one glaring problem with the contract, something that Kuzunoha could abuse.

But I decided to give her the leeway and some confidence to not nullify our whole interaction.

A carrot and stick approach, I suppose.

In this case, the carrot is a ticking bomb.

"Likewise, it is my distinct pleasure to claim your body for my own purposes~" Kuzunoha purred, a sinister glint flashing in her eyes as she rested her chin elegantly on her folded hands. Her voice dipped into a velvety tone. "Narcissus, darling~"

It might sound a hassle to put a Kilnalan and an Animaphage under one bastion, but I believe that having Kuzunoha under my reach would benefit me more than just letting her loose to the wind and let her find a new thing to obsess with.

Not to mention, it also increases my chance of survival by a lot.

I also made a deal with Kuzunoha, separate from the content of the contract that we established.

From now on, she shall inform me of every finding that she uncovered related to my soul and body. From the littlest history of the flesh, to the detail of the bones. I want information on everything.

"Quite the domineering one, aren't you?" Kuzunoha giggled. "Or maybe 'greedy' is the right term?"

"I prefer the word 'cautious'."

"You're cautious of your own soul and physical vessel? A logical thing to do, I say, considering that your control for ohrtending is basically non-existence."

Another thing I requested from Kuzunoha was my genuine interest in the Xenogene Injector that she had already modified.

If I were to remove the sabotaging factor that Kuzunoha could do with it, which was something that she could no longer be able to do because of the contract—I found a great utility for it.

Outside of my fear of being the target of many future factions in Carcosa, the ability to heal your ally with your own bodily liquid might serve me more than it demerits me.

Not only that my existence would rise as some sort of an important figure in this world, something that I probably want to achieve when the Players started to sweep into the game, I will also have a full control of my bastion's member survivability.

It might sound logical to stay low if you want to have a peaceful and fun life in another world, but I live in a world of Carcosa, where there is always a chance for someone to die within a single night than any years living in the real world.

Because of that, presence in this world is actually much more beneficial.

This world is in a state where the Humanity is mostly united to fight and survive against the relentless horror of Carcosa, aside from the potential notable factions that I haven't mentioned—meaning that being one of the most influential people in this world would also mean getting a better treatment.

As such, I proposed the idea of letting the theonites swarm to culture inside my body as long as she removed all of the shady modification that she added previously.

I also promised Kuzunoha to be allowed to harvest some of my blood for both experimentation and recreation purposes.

"Are we sure that she can be trusted now?" Verina asked. She just arrived after a good round of telekinesis training. "What if she still lies and you somehow become her thrall for life?"

Kuzunoha, ever so composed, simply chuckled at Verina's remark. "My dear, do you honestly believe I would still be standing here had I such dull ambitions? There's far more to be gained from our partnership, I assure you~"

"Just know that I'm open-minded enough to trust you, an animaphage who's known to rampage and descate the bastion of humanity like a sunlight-immuned Calamity Object," Verina coldly scoffed.

Kuzunoha tried to hide her huge grin with her gloved hand. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to pretend I care?"

"... You won't even need to pretend after I put a hole in that skull of yours."

Before I even knew it, the two of them had already flinging spells at one another.

"Impressive. You managed to butcher a spell that a toddler could've cast in their sleep. Are you trying to be this bad, or is it natural?"

An echo of Kuzunoha's haughty laughter could be heard from afar.

"This bitch-!"

And also retaliating gun fires of spells at the opposing animaphage.