Unexpected Crisis
A blinding white flash filled my vision. A massive space completely painted white from floor to ceiling and every wall. Not a single object existed within it. I stood alone in that vast interior. The pure white tiles, so flawless they reflected the light, made me feel as though I were floating in midair. Yet one feature dispelled that illusion: the pitch-black darkness dominating the front. An ominous void where not even an inch ahead could be seen. That space lay some distance from where I now stood.
The strange thing was that despite the bright lighting in here, no light reached beyond that boundary. It was as if an arbitrary line existed, splitting the room exactly into black and white. Standing in the center of the white zone, I stared uneasily into the suspicious darkness ahead.
This was the place I had reached after leaving the room with the capsule-shaped machine and moving a short distance. From the outside, it looked like a sizable laboratory. Yet with nothing visible around me despite its size, an indescribable chill hung in the air. If another dimension existed, would it look like this? The research facility I had passed through earlier already felt alien, but this place took that feeling to its peak.
‘Just wait here a little and you’ll see some big sister. All you have to do is watch her from afar. Nothing will happen~’
At that moment, her words from before I entered naturally resurfaced. It was clear that the “big sister” she mentioned was the same “her” they had been discussing. Judging by the circumstances, she had to be somewhere inside that pitch-black darkness.
Honestly, I still couldn’t guess her identity at all. The fact that they referred to her as “her” meant she was female, but what kind of ability did she possess that they would use her just for verification? Was she even human to begin with? It wouldn’t have been strange if some monster capable of reading people’s minds existed. This mysterious underground facility had already far exceeded my imagination long ago.
I just hoped her appearance, at least, looked like a normal human. No matter how adult my mind was, I wasn’t immune to fear or disgust. It wasn’t for nothing that I had suffered because of my weak stomach after getting this body. I had grown somewhat used to it by now, but anything worse than this would be truly unbearable.
Whether it knew my feelings or not, the situation inside unfolded rapidly. The lights in the black zone, which had been completely out of sight, began to turn on slowly. Darkness receded bit by bit from the nearest points, gradually revealing the entire space under bright illumination. Like pressing piano keys one by one, sections of the room emerged from the pitch-black darkness in sequence.
Soon, all the darkness obscuring my view vanished, and the scene in front of me became clear. My eyes widened. As expected, an unknown transparent wall stood between the space beyond and where I stood now. A mysterious barrier perfectly dividing the enormous room. Given that it blocked even light, it was clearly no ordinary wall.
And finally, something unidentified faintly visible beyond it. At first I couldn’t tell what it was, but as I focused my gaze, its identity became roughly clear. In the center of the space beyond the transparent wall sat a single chair. A woman was seated on it. Her head hung low, motionless as if dead. Disheveled long hair fell forward, covering most of her face and upper body. The outfit she wore closely resembled a lab coat. Her solitary figure in that bright white space looked truly grotesque. The bright interior softened the impression somewhat, but if I had encountered someone like her in a dark alley, anyone with less courage might have wet themselves on the spot.
While feeling a small sense of relief that the being over there had a human shape, I stared ahead with a puzzled expression. What reaction were they expecting by making me face this woman…? To begin with, her consciousness seemed uncertain. Even after the darkness had completely disappeared and all the lights had turned on, she showed no movement. The complete lack of even the slightest motion made her look like a lifelike photograph if viewed from one angle.
“H-Hello? You’re alive, right? If it’s not too much trouble, could you at least react somehow?”
In the end, I was the one who spoke first. Standing still in that uncomfortable silence felt like it would drive me insane. At least if she showed any movement from her side it would have been different, but since that wasn’t the case, I had no choice. I also wanted to check whether she was deliberately ignoring me.
Yet even though I had spoken loudly enough for her to hear, there was no noticeable reaction. Just as I began to suspect that this suspicious wall might be blocking sound as well, the situation changed abruptly. The woman who had been sitting motionless as if frozen suddenly stood up. Since her head was still bowed forward, her face remained hidden. Her long black hair, long enough to touch the floor, continued to cover most of her upper body just as it had while she was seated. I swallowed involuntarily at that spine-chilling sight.
Regardless, the unidentified woman began slowly walking forward in that same posture. It was like a scene straight out of a horror movie. However, I didn’t step back. I had experienced far worse, so this much was bearable. Moreover, the transparent wall blocking the space between us gave me added confidence.
In the atmosphere thick with bone-chilling tension, she eventually reached right up to the boundary. As the distance closed, her appearance became clearly visible. While there wasn’t much difference from what I had seen from afar, the increasingly distinct grotesque impression made me frown.
Had she finally realized that the path ahead was blocked? As she finally raised her head, my gaze naturally focused straight ahead as well. Her long black hair, which had been hanging forward, slowly parted to the sides. As the black curtain lifted, what lay beneath was revealed. Crimson eyes like blood with vertically slit pupils. The moment I met those eyes emitting an ominous glow, I froze completely.
I had felt that sensation just moments ago. A sticky killing intent that seemed to seize the opponent’s soul. But the killing intent now emanating from right in front of me was incomparably denser.
Physical damage confirmed. Components are leaking externally. …Residual is rapidly decreasing!
The drop in Residual. The moment I heard that term, the chaos in my mind cleared away completely. I remembered what he had told me before. If Residual dropped beyond a certain threshold while the body was damaged, I wouldn’t be able to maintain my original form. To preserve my human shape, I had to stop the decline in Residual no matter what.
The physical damage obviously referred to the hole in my chest, and the leaking components were clearly the blood flowing out because of it. In other words, to repair the damaged body, I first had to remove the woman in front of me who had caused all this.
Having made my decision, I desperately tried to push her away as she clung tightly to me. But no matter how much strength I used, she didn’t budge. Instead, the force with which she bit into my neck only grew stronger. It wasn’t some zombie, yet her bite force exceeded imagination, to the point where my flesh was being torn away. It didn’t take long to realize that these frail fists were useless.
Just as I was about to transform my hand into something sharp like last time without being noticed, something grabbed my shoulder firmly. Startled by the sudden touch, I unconsciously turned my head slightly. And at that moment, blue flames filled my vision.
BOOM!--- Whoooosh… CRASH!!!
An enormous explosion-like roar swept through the surroundings. When I came to my senses, the woman who had been standing in front of me just moments ago was no longer there. Instead, smoke I hadn’t seen before was rising from the opposite wall in the distance.
Once I felt I could finally catch my breath, strength drained from my entire body and I staggered. But my body never hit the ground. Someone right beside me had supported my back before that happened. When I slightly opened my eyes to look at the person responsible, it was indeed that mysterious figure. He was supporting my body at an angle, blue flames burning all over him. It seemed those were his abilities as an Awakener. He was clearly the one who had sent the woman flying to the opposite side when I couldn’t budge her no matter how hard I tried.
Residual decline is accelerating…
Even then, the crisis alerts continued to flash before my eyes. It was probably because her hand that had pierced my body had been pulled out, accelerating the bleeding.
“…!”
But at that moment, I froze like ice. I had seen the deep fear and terror in his eyes. The man was staring at my upper body with trembling eyes. While I stood dazed for a moment at that sight, I belatedly grasped the current situation accurately.
That’s right. Ever since becoming this body, my common sense had twisted somewhat, but for an ordinary person, an injury of this severity would mean certain death. Unless the series of events that had just occurred were intentional on his part, that reaction was only natural.
At the same time, I began to gradually feel how serious the situation was. Even if I quickly repaired my body with transformation right now, it would be impossible to avoid his eyes right beside me. But if I openly restored my damaged body, my true identity would be exposed. It was a true dilemma.
Moreover, time wasn’t on my side either. The rapidly decreasing Residual was like an hourglass showing the time limit for my choice. Him, falling into despair before the continuously flowing blood, and me, breaking into a cold sweat in a different kind of despair. If someone who knew all the circumstances looked at this, there couldn’t be a more comedic scene. Yet as the protagonist of that comedy, I felt like I was going insane.
[Shh! Calm down! Don’t get excited and settle your mind!]
What I heard at that desperate moment when no breakthrough was in sight was none other than his voice. I had never been so glad to hear him appear. But the voice that followed was enough to irritate my nerves.
[Aah~ Really! I can’t stand watching this anymore! What are you hesitating for! You need to restore your body right away. Or do you want to be hunted down by that man right here?]
He vented his frustration without hiding it. For the very person who had induced this situation to say such things. My anger exploded at that unacceptable advice.
‘Hey, you crazy bastard!!! Do you think I don’t know that? If I do something like that now, my identity will be exposed immediately!! Either way, it’s just a matter of being discovered sooner or later!’
Since I couldn’t say it out loud in front of him, I shouted inwardly. Just like in the dungeon last time, when repairing a once-damaged body, that part would temporarily transform into slime form. And as if he understood, he naturally continued.
[Well… that’s true. So you need to repair it differently from last time. If last time felt like roughly shaping clay, this time you need to carefully sculpt each blood vessel and destroyed organ one by one! Make it look as if the body is regenerating naturally. Then at least your identity won’t be exposed.]
Damn it, easy for him to say. Was that even possible? I barely held back the curse that was about to burst out at his unrealistic demand. But whether he knew my feelings or not, he urged me on urgently.
[You can definitely do it! If you just ‘focus’ a little, it’ll be possible. Besides, you have a clear map of the human body in your head, don’t you? If you don’t hurry, you’ll really die. Since you can’t recover the spilled blood, if you run out of Residual to repair with… you won’t even be able to attempt it.]
His final words carried a rare serious tone. It clearly showed how grave the situation was. Just how had things come to this point… Deep sighs and resentment welled up to my throat, but I had no time to voice them. Yeah, what could be worse than dying? Having steeled my resolve, I squeezed out every bit of concentration I could muster and began the gamble with my life on the line.