"That's weird."
Ilyas whispered from beside me, which prompted me to glance at him.
"What is?"
"You see, I have a sixth sense where I could sense someone's presence in this world. Everyone has some kind of life string connecting them with this world, including monsters."
He then raised his gaze to the boss, "But I don't sense anything from the boss which means the body standing in front of us is already dead."
"What?"
Confusion and surprise were clear on my teammates' faces. Of course, who would believe that someone who was perfectly standing and walking toward them just now was actually a dead corpse?
But regardless of the fact, we turned our gaze forward.
A showdown was still happening between my teammates and the boss as we gauged each other's movements.
But the stalemate between us was soon broken when the boss made their first move.
Opening their mouth, foreign words that sounded like a chant came out. My teammates immediately got alerted, thinking an attack would come soon.
But the moment I heard those words, my body froze.
It wasn't a chant nor was it an attack, it was an attempt to converse – in a language my teammates didn't know.
My hometown language.
[Do you want to know the truth of this world?]
That was what they said.
'Is this boss related to my world in some way?'
Doubt started growing in my heart. If we killed them now, when would I be able to gain any new leads to go back to my world?
The boss smiled when they noticed my hesitation, they held out their hand specifically toward me.
"Ethan."
This time they said my name in this world's language, making my teammates turn their heads toward me.
"Ethan…?" Ilyas cautiously asked, confusion on his face. He must be wondering why the boss knew my name. But because of this damn restriction, I couldn't say anything or else his memory might end up being wiped out.
Judging from how the boss could speak just now, it seemed like as long as the people of this world didn't understand the meaning of the word, we could have a conversation.
I clenched my fist, my curiosity had reached its peak.
If what Ilyas said was true, and the boss was actually dead, that must mean there's someone controlling that body right now. Something different from the mimic yet similar. Something foreign to this world just like I was.
The only one who could move the plot forward with their power and knew the existence of my world's language.
I slowly opened my mouth.
[Are you the author?]
My teammates' shocked face was apparent, they must haven't expected me to reply to the boss with the chant-like language.
But I kept my sight and ear open for the boss' reply. That's why I didn't notice Ilyas' gaze turning serious.
Upon hearing my words, the boss' smile faded.
[You're not the creation I manifested in this world, who are you to take 'his' place?]
I frowned, it was an accusation that I couldn't be responsible for. It wasn't me who chose to be here. I was forced to be here by someone else, to fulfill their hidden agenda, the one which I wasn't even informed of.
[Come out, it's time for you to take back your rightful place.]
They reached out their hand toward me and smiled.
"My precious Ethan."
At their words, I felt a sudden jolt inside my body as searing pain spread inside me.
"Ethan!"
Ilyas' muffled shout entered my ears as I dropped on my knees. My head spun and my eyelids felt heavy.
Endless darkness soon engulfed my consciousness.
.
.
"Ethan!"
Ilyas shouted in panic as the esper beside him suddenly staggered. He quickly helped Ethan and glared at the person causing this.
"What did you do?!"
A low chuckle was heard as the boss spoke in chant-like language again. The boss' face was one of pain, gazing at Ilyas like he was someone precious to them. But with no one to understand the language, Ilyas didn't know what kind of words they were conveying to him.
SSKKK!!
With a motion of their hand, thousands of humanoid creatures with split heads rose from all sides of the walls, trapping the six of them in the center.
It's not just humans from this earth that was turned into monsters, countless humanoid with different color of skin and body that looked like creatures from outside the planet was also among the crowds.
"This is a real bad situation isn't it?"
Patricia commented as she let out a nervous laugh.
With this many monsters inside a cramped space, there's no way for them to fight properly. Especially since one of them was now under the boss' mind control spell.
"Can you wake Ethan up Ilyas?"
Cedric asked as ice crystals already formed around him. The other also got into their stance, ready for battle.
They needed more manpower and more importantly, they needed to save their friend from the mind control as soon as possible.
A chuckle was heard from the boss. It was small at first, before it turned into full-blown manic laughter.
"Ahaha! Let's paint the world red!"
SNAP!
SPLAT!
"Huh?"
A snap of the boss' fingers and all of a sudden one of the monsters exploded, splattering its blood everywhere.
It didn't end with one.
Chain reaction from the others around it happened. Exploding one by one like a fountain of blood.
"Tsk! Come closer to me!"
Cedric quickly created an ice dome to protect his teammates from the blood explosion. Once they didn't hear any more sound, Cedric broke the dome open.
The smell of iron was strong in their nose, as ankle length amount of blood was flooding the castle.
The boss' laughter didn't stop. With a wide grin on their face, they held out their hand once more.
"Come Ethan, let the world have a taste of your true power."