It was quick.
The moment after the growl, he broke the door, and the wall separating us... I tried to run. Pinning myself to the farthest corner of the room.
'No. nononon... No... Not again.. Please... I can't take the pain anymore...' I thought as I saw the stone wall breaking and cracking.
I hoped that maybe the arrow activated by the trap would kill it.
But it simply bounced off its fur as he entered the room, and looking around.
That's when he saw me.
I didn't run that time as our eyes met.
As if something within me told me it was futile. I just froze as he approached.
Fast.
"URghh..!!"
And that's when he used his snout to pin me to the wall. In that moment, I realized just how stupid it was to attach Van's skull to the front of my body.
Because Van's skull caved in from the snout's force, piercing my femorial artery and my stomach... And everything around it.
"GRHHHH.. Ahh..." I screamed. But my voice's pitch went too high until voice stopped coming. People who don't get hit in the balls think it's a myth. Your voice never shrinks when you get hit, they think you just gasp or something.
But I know.
I got kicked a lot by Kazuya, of course he'd kick me there sometimes.
And I'll say... Your voice goes so loud, even a dog would reel. As proof, this rotten dog flinched just now from my scream.
But it's only for a moment.
After that, is when you gasp, and stop responding.
'No... No... Stop... Why are you... Doing this...'
As I asked that question, I then realized. My body... It wasn't in the room after I died.
That's why that thing's doing this to me again.
It's still hungry, because every time it kills me, my remains just... vanish when I respawn.
As my vision blurred, I lost sensation in my lower legs... And gradually lost strength.
"Wha..." I let out with a weak sigh.
It's similar to how you feel when you don't eat for over a day. You feel weak... And this was getting stronger by the minute. I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I lost sensation in my body...
I see.
Right.
The femoral artery.
I remember a memory from highschool. The teacher told us that when that thing's punctured or torn, you bleed out in one or two minutes.
I guess... I died even faster than that last times, and now I'm lucky that this rotten dog is curious enough to not bite into me just yet?
'Either way... This...'
'This is... Better...'
Blackness.
Once again that room.
I'm sitting on my bed facing my mom. Not looking at her.
"... Can I just ask..." I let out weakly.
"Why?"
A pause. I clench the sheets.
"Even if you ask, sweetie," She let out.
"Even if I answer you," She bent over to me, petting my cheek, "Just what are you going to do about it?"
My eyes widened slightly as I looked at her, she was in that bunny suit again.
"For whatever skill you acquire, Kazu-kun will acquire tenfold."
I blinked, my eyes weak. Still searching hers.
"You knew he was torturing you. You knew he was hurting you." She said.
"And you did nothing. You were hurting every single day, and told me nothing of it to... 'not worry' me." She chuckled lightly.
"Why am I like this? It's because you never came to terms with it, Makoto." She continued, stepping away.
"You never acknowledged that yours and mommy's connection... Is something Kazu-kun, or really anyone like him can take if he simply desired stronger than you did." She stepped into the darkness, being held by him again.
"Because the entire time, whatever Kazu-kun wanted, he took. And you did nothing."
I sniffled as I looked at her.
"Was it..." I gulped as she was further being pulled away, her expression getting sultrier.
"That wrong of me to believe..." My voice cracked, she stopped listening. He was kissing her too good, probably.
"That our connection is immune to people like him?" I let out, my voice echoing back at me as I opened my eyes; seeing the darkness of the chamber through the visor.
"Is it, mom?" I asked, tears emerging out of my eyes.
For now...
I decided to just lie down. I just wanted to sleep.
But... Even that I couldn't have. And I knew exactly why.
'Rotting Soul restores my body to prime condition.' I then stood up, removing Van's skull from my belt and opening my inventory.
'So, I need to survive more than a few hours if I want to get tired enough to sleep. You can't sleep without getting tired.' I immediately placed Van inside the inventory.
[Dungeon Mushroom x1]
[Human Skull x1]
The fact Van was merely called 'human skull' irked me. But that wasn't important. All that mattered was that he was somewhere safe, and I didn't need to worry about my femur anymore.
'How long have I been here, actually? Less than an hour? Several hours already? I explored the dungeon a bit... And it didn't have too many branching paths.'
I looked up at the corridor's ceiling.
'By now my classmates... They're sleeping in their barracks or wherever the fuck the kingdom put them, right? Do they train? I bet they get the best treatment and training, don't they? Eating a feast by now, perhaps.'
'Meanwhile, me...' I placed a hand to my stomach.
'I'm not even hungry. Or thirsty, or sleepy, at all... I guess that's the Rotting Soul I have to thank for, right? Restoring my satiety to its prime, it said.'
I shook my head as I began walking again.
Arriving at the same rubble-filled corridor, walking past it.
I eventually reached the room where I was last killed. There was no thudding noise or sniffing anywhere near. The monster was gone.
I took up more steps, reaching the room. And that's when I froze.
I saw it.
It was there.
The monster.
But...
'It's... Sleeping?' I could see it in its room, curled into itself like a normal mut. Its stomach rising and falling in cadence.
'.!!'
It just opened its eyes. Looking at me.
I froze even more.
It gave a low growl, and I then fell to my back and started running the opposite way.
I ran, and ran, and ran in the dark, waving my hand forward to make sure I don't run into something.
I then stumbled upon a crossway I've been to earlier, leaning against the corridor wall, huffing and puffing.
'It's not chasing me..?!' I gulped.
Ah.
Of course it won't.
I may not be able to read the monster's mind, but even I could tell at this point.
It doesn't see me as a threat. It just shooed me off while it caught some shuteye...
I bit my lip. I felt..
Humiliated all over again. As if this was Kazuya in monster form. Like the bully just got tired from beating my ass. The reprieve between schooldays...
'G-... good.' I straightened up.
'... I can now explore the dungeon in peace for a bit.'
I kept walking in all directions. All branching paths I could find. There weren't a lot; in fact, this... The dungeon was so small, I eventually narrowed the path to a single way a few hours later.
With a gulp, I walked down the corridor as I held the mushroom light to illuminate the path from my inventory.
The corridor ended.
Not in rubble, not in darkness, just a door.
A tall, iron-bound gate twice my height, carved with letters that glowed the same sickly blue as the mushrooms. The script I had never studied, yet every syllable slid into my brain like it belonged there; same as the note I've read earlier:
"The gate to the previous level will open only once the Warden of the Final Circle lies dead. May your sins forgive you."
I stared at the words until they blurred.
'Warden of the Final Circle...' My stomach folded in on itself.
There had been no other monsters in this place since I got here. Not a single goblin, slime, skeleton, nothing. Only that thing. The one that tears me apart every loop.
'The only monster left in the entire dungeon... is the boss... And what else... This door only leads to 'the next level' not the exit... Fuck... There's going to be stronger opponents.'
I took one step backpedaling until my backplate hit the opposite wall. The armor clanged too loud in the silence.
'So that's it.'
'It's not a random hunter.'
'It's the final guardian.'
'I have to kill the thing that keeps murdering me... or I stay here forever.'
My breath left me. I was sure I'd have gotten used to that part, at the very least...
But this feeling was new. Even with all the times I died.
My knees gave. Metal knees scraped stone as I slid down the wall until I was sitting, helm bowed, gauntlets dangling between my legs.
'No... no no no...' I laughed once, a dry, cracked sound inside the helmet. 'I can't even run from it anymore. There's nowhere left to run.'
I pulled the visor up. Cold dungeon air touched my face for the first time in loops. Tears were already there, sliding sideways into my ears.
'I'm going to die to that thing... hundreds of times... thousands... until I somehow win.'
'Or I never win... Yeah. This is the likely outcome. What can I even do? That trap hit that thing with an arrow and it bounced off...'
'And every time it will hurt worse than the last.'
My fingers dug into the gorget like I could claw the armor off and disappear.
"Please..." I whispered to no one. "I just want to go home... I just want to sleep... I just want Mom to..."
The word died.
Because even if the gate opened, there was no home. Only the bed where she wore the bunny suit and told me it was my fault.
I pressed the heel of my gauntlet into my eyes until sparks danced.
'I can't do this.'
'I'm not strong.'
'I never was.'
The despair was warm, almost comfortable. I could just sit here. Let it find me again. Stop fighting.
Then.
From far behind me, deeper in the corridors I had already mapped a few times in my head.
A single, low growl rolled through the stone like distant thunder inside my ribs.
My head snapped up.
It was awake.
And it was coming.
I stayed on the floor, breathing through my mouth, listening to the slow, patient thud... thud... thud... of something that knows the prey has nowhere left to run.
"...Come on then," I croaked. My voice cracked like a child's. "Come finish it."
The growl came again, closer, almost curious.
I closed the visor.
I didn't stand up.
I just waited, small and armored and empty, for the only thing in this world that still wanted me.
—--------------------
CLANG
[When you beat the steel with your hammer,
you must bring it to the edge of breaking.]
CLANG
[But you must know when to stop.
That is the hard part.]
CLANG
[The metal is still of unknown quality, after all.
Usually... it just breaks.]
"HYAHHH!!!"
CLANG
[But if it doesn't…]