A Blade of Silence
He had known people could become monsters.
What he had never imagined was that they could become monsters the instant they died.
Minel had no time to think further. He squeezed the trigger again.
Bang—!
Flame blossomed from Noise’s muzzle. For a heartbeat the light was so fierce it felt as if sunlight itself had forced its way into the Backrooms, a blinding glare tearing out of the barrel. The report was loud enough to shake the walls. An invisible round punched clean through the monster’s body, leaving a hole large enough to fit an arm.
And yet—
“Grrrrrr…”
Darkness bled out of the air and sealed the wound as if it had never been there. Even the arm it had already lost filled with that same black mass and was restored whole. The Merchant had been right. Firearms were useless against monsters.
From the regenerated fingertips, claws burst forth—each one nearly as thick as a man’s forearm. The creature’s yellow eyes locked onto Minel.
In that same instant, Minel emptied Noise in a continuous burst.
Bang—!
Bang—!
Bang—!
Holes opened in its head, its shoulder, its gut. Darkness rushed in and closed them just as fast. Any one of those wounds would have killed a human three times over. The monster only stiffened for a second.
Minel used that sliver of time to put as much distance as he could between them and shouted,
“Hina. I’ll hold its attention—use the throwing weapons!”
He kept firing Noise as he leapt backward. The monster tracked his position with effortless precision, then dropped to all fours and charged.
Bang—!
Bang—!
Noise punched hole after hole through its body, but the creature moved like living black fog—untouched. Once it truly began to run, even the brief staggers vanished. It launched itself at Minel.
“Grrrrrr!”
Minel dove under the nearest desk. A claw skimmed so close it nearly took his head off. The long nails shrieked as they shredded the steel desk into scrap—the sound of metal being torn like paper. A human body would have been carved like soft tofu.
Minel planted his legs, killed his momentum, and bolted back the way he had come. The monster, still cutting through the desk, twisted after him at once and came down on him from above again.
Then a small jar burst above its head.
Boom—!
Oil wrapped in flame erupted from the shattered vessel and poured over the creature. It flailed in panic, thrashing to shake the fire free. Darkness welled up from within its body and began to swallow the flames, smothering them.
Minel confirmed the Merchant’s words with his own eyes and muttered under his breath,
“PVE is cold weapons…”
He drew Silence with his right hand. The moment the blade settled into his grip, the air around him turned cold. Minel stood still. The monster towered well past two meters, thrashing in agony—more than enough to freeze a man in place. His limbs trembled. His heart hammered. Every instinct in his flesh screamed at him to run, to move, to get out now.
But human speed would never outpace that thing. He had just learned that truth in his bones. The only choice left was to stand and fight.
When the fire finally died down enough, the monster began to search for him, head swinging side to side.
“Hina. Throw another!”
Hina forced herself calm, pulled the fuse, and hurled the jar with everything she had. Another vessel burst before the creature’s face. Fierce flame engulfed it from head to toe.
Boom—!
“Grrrrrr!”
It thrashed again—but the reaction was weaker this time. Having been burned twice in a row, it had already understood: fire did not truly harm it. The fear of flame was only leftover instinct from when it had still been human. Now that it was a monster, firearms and fire alike meant nothing.
Still, they had bought a little time. Minel used it to slip into the monster’s blind spot behind it. He looked down at Silence in his right hand. Cold had been forced into the blade; frost clung to the steel, and a blue light shimmered along its edge.
Can I actually do this?
The question was meaningless. He had to. One sweep of that thing’s arm would cut him clean in half. Even a glancing blow from that bulk would hurl him through a wall. Charging in blindly was not an option.
“Hina!”
She nodded and threw another jar. The monster glanced at the flying pot, a sneer twisting across its face, and reached out to catch it.
Boom—!
The jar detonated in its grip. This time the creature did not so much as flinch. Flame washed over its entire body, and it threw its head back and roared—almost as if daring them to throw another.
“Grrrrrr!”
That was when Silence’s edge arrived.
Once the monster started moving in earnest, Minel—who had no real technique—stood almost no chance. This stillness was nearly the only opening he would get. The creature felt a chill bloom in its chest and looked down. At the end of its gaze, Minel’s eyes—cold and full of killing intent—were aimed straight at its heart.
Thuk—!
The moment the blade sank deep near the heart, Silence unleashed a violent surge of cold. The monster’s body began to freeze from within; the darkness pouring off its skin lost strength and went quiet.
“Grrrrrr!”
It flailed at Minel. They were too close for the claws to rake him; all it managed were blows with the insides of its wrists. Even those hit like a sledgehammer, shockwaves slamming through Minel’s entire frame. He gritted his teeth, held on, ripped Silence free, and drove it in again.
“Grrrrrr!”
Sensing death, the monster howled louder and whipped its arms in wild arcs. Stronger impacts hammered Minel one after another, each blow rattling his skull. He clenched his jaw, stretched Noise out in his left hand, and fired at the arms swinging toward him.
Bang—!
Bang—!
Both hands flew off. Darkness rushed in at once to rebuild them. Minel had no intention of waiting.
Slash—!
Slash—!
He carved an X through the wrists, then buried Silence’s tip deep into the monster’s skull. His swordsmanship was crude—he barely knew what he was doing—but Silence was so sharp the blade seemed to pull itself inward.
“Grr… grr… grrk…”
With its mouth impaled, the creature could no longer scream. Its eyes closed. It toppled forward.
Black vapor erupted from its body in every direction. The blast of force threw Minel backward; he hit the floor hard. Hina sprinted to him. Thankfully, he was still conscious.
“Are you all right?”
“No.”
“…”
“But the bones are intact.”
Leaning on her for support, Minel forced himself upright. Everything ached, but it was bearable. The black smoke was still pouring out. He kept Silence and Noise clenched tight; Hina held her remaining jar ready to throw at any second.
Then, all at once, the black smoke vanished as if it had evaporated—and inside it, the man from before reappeared. He coughed a few times and collapsed to the floor. Strangely, the arm Noise had blown apart was whole again, but his entire body was stained a dark, unnatural red that looked nothing like healthy flesh.
Minel and Hina approached him carefully. The man looked up at them with a hollow expression—then suddenly vomited blood in thick, showy gouts. The sheer volume was enough that dying on the spot would have been no surprise. When he had finished coughing it up, he turned his head with the last of his strength. His gaze settled on Noise.
“Wh-what… the hell… cough… did I… turn into a monster?”
Minel leveled Noise at the man’s head and said quietly,
“Hina. Find the gun.”
Hina understood at once. Minel had shot the man’s arm specifically to claim his firearm.
“Got it. I’ll look right now.”
As she moved away, Minel picked up the Blood Crystal that had fallen in front of the man—dropped when the monster had reverted to human form.
“Answer my questions honestly and I’ll let you live.”
“You’re going to kill me anyway, aren’t you?”
“Then die.”
For a moment the man’s eyes flared bright.
“Ask whatever you want.”
Minel kept it short.
“Marksmanship. How did you learn it?”
The man’s gaze dropped for a second, then rose to meet Minel’s again.
“Why? You never even touched my gun—just took the arm clean off. That kind of shot isn’t easy for me either.”
“…”
Minel said nothing. The man’s smile grew even emptier.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know what marksmanship skills are. Unbelievable. No wonder the layout felt a little off. Damn it. I got careless. Beaten by a newbie.”
“Answer.”
The man shut his eyes tight.
“I was a soldier in the original world. I already knew how to handle a gun.”
“Through a skill?”
“Never seen a drink like that. You usually learn from other people. Or you pick it up yourself at the Arcade.”
Minel tilted his head.
“The Arcade?”
“Aside from learning it with your own body there, I don’t know any other way.”
So it wasn’t the kind of skill that simply activated the moment you drank something. Learning at the Arcade meant acquiring it through practice—through the body.
“Where is the Arcade?”
“I’ll pull a map out of my inventory. Don’t shoot.”
“…”
The man flicked his fingers weakly, then, with a trembling hand, managed to produce a map and hold it out. Minel unfolded it at once. It was a crude sketch on ordinary paper of the sort you could find in the Backrooms, but major landmarks were marked with a variety of symbols. And it wasn’t only the Arcade—the locations of other vending machines were there as well.
“You’ll let me live now, right?”
As if on cue, Hina returned carrying the man’s gun. Minel turned with her to leave—then the man spoke in a quiet voice.
“Hina. Why are you on that bastard’s side?”
She answered simply.
“Because he’s kind.”
The man let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
Once Minel and Hina were gone, the man slowly pushed himself up. Strength flooded his body in a way that felt wrong. Then his flesh began to swell again, ballooning outward. Despair flooded his face—and darkness crashed over him.
“Grrrrrr!”
From a distance, Hina heard the animal roar and understood exactly what had happened.
“He’s a monster again. Why did you leave him alive? You should have just killed him.”
Minel glanced at her. She was staring at the ground, anger burning in both eyes. He had known she carried a grudge. He had not known she could talk about murder so freely.
“I made a promise.”
“You don’t have to keep promises with people like that.”
“Doesn’t matter. I keep them.”
“…”
Minel kept every word he spoke. That, too, had been his father’s teaching.
Do not choose whom you keep your word for. That integrity becomes your reputation—and a shield more solid than any other.
Of course, idealism alone was not the whole reason. His father had also said never to chase ideals so hard you lost sight of reality.
“He’ll buy us time.”
“Time?”
“We let one get away.”
“Ah…”
Hina understood immediately. The lanky one who had fled would come back with the entire party. If a monster was waiting for them, they would never get a clean look at what had happened—or where the two of them had gone. And for a party that had only ever fought other people, a monster alone was already a serious problem.
Minel took out the Backrooms Compendium in front of Hina. The trust built crossing the line between life and death was already thick—but more than that, he was confident she could not take it from him even if she tried. Hina watched him with open curiosity. He opened the first page without hesitation, the fight he had just survived still vivid in his mind.
Hound — A common feral monster born when Wildness accumulates in a human. It runs on four legs and attacks with long, razor-sharp claws. Like all monsters, it will not die easily unless struck by a cold weapon imbued with frost.
Those with strong willpower sometimes revert to human form—but even then, they eventually live out their lives as monsters.
Wildness. So that was what turned people into monsters. Then the leopard-print woman had not transformed because not enough Wildness had built up inside her yet?
While Minel turned the thought over carefully, Hina found herself wanting to ask about the Backrooms Compendium. She closed her mouth instead. She doubted he would answer.
Minel chose a room a reasonable distance from the Merchant and set up a place to sleep. Five days of practice made the work quick. As he lay down, Hina spoke softly.
“So… you’ll party with me now, right?”
Minel turned his head to look at her. She was watching him straight on.
“Why do you want a party?”
“Because you’re kind, Minel. And strong.”
“…”
“Will you… party with me?”
He stared at her for a long moment, then turned away again.
“Still on hold.”
“…”
The next day, they set out early for the Arcade. Six solid hours of walking brought them there. The Arcade’s door radiated a heavy presence, like the entrance to an abandoned factory. The moment Minel turned the handle, metal groaned, and the door swung slowly open.
“…”
“…”
They had thought they were used to the Backrooms by now. The moment Minel and Hina saw the inside of the Arcade, both of them lost the ability to speak.