Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Melting Shampoo (10)
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Bang! Bang! Bang!
The first time the Mannequin Monster tried to smash through the house door, I was incredibly tense.
‘..Shut up, you bastard..’
Bang! Bang! Bang!
And the Mannequin Monster's attempt to break down the door had happened about an hour ago.
‘This isn't the Bellierd Library..’
Back when I worked at the Bellierd Library, the door the Mannequin Monster smashed beyond Shelf 52 was wooden, so it broke...
But this house didn't have some flimsy wooden door.
It was a steel door.
One with self-repair capabilities, no less.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
‘Its strength is definitely impressive, but since it can't smash through in one hit, it just keeps repairing.’
The wooden door I'd pierced with the awl made from Anonymous 10's Blue Monster tooth still had its hole wide open, refusing to repair.
So I'd thought this building's self-repair only worked on the floor...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
It's desperately trying to break the door... but every time the impact dents it, the steel door repairs itself right before my eyes...
‘It looks like it won't break even if it tries for a lifetime... why is it working so hard?’
Now I was starting to feel sorry for the Mannequin Monster.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
I'd grown so used to the constant banging that it barely registered anymore.
I decided to tune it out for the moment, regardless of whether it succeeded or not, and started scouting around the house interior.
‘Gotta ditch that wooden door.’
Thinking about it, I was absolutely set on returning to the community hub today, no matter what.
Whether by hitting the return button to avoid starving to death, or clearing this ghost story world like the Bellierd Library and heading back.
Either way, today I was definitely getting back to where the others were.
‘First things first, gotta grab the insecticide.’
While poking around for useful items to stuff in my inventory before leaving.
Suddenly.
‘Maybe I should yank the whole wooden door?’
It seemed like a good idea to take the wooden door intact, so I started unscrewing its hinges with the Phillips screwdriver.
‘..Does this self-repair too?’
Every time I loosened a screw just a bit, the hinge repaired itself on its own.
“No way... the door doesn't repair, but the hinges do?”
A chuckle escaped at the ridiculous sight.
But then I realized there was no way to take the wooden door without unhooking the hinges.
‘Can't smash the wooden door either... ha... whatever, forget it.’
Stab-
Out of sheer frustration, I jammed the screwdriver viciously into the center of the wooden door.
Shoving the Phillips screwdriver straight into my inventory, I stood up to hunt for other loot worth taking.
‘Fine. Can't take the wooden door? Grab something else instead. Let's see... candles seem useful—’
“..Huh?”
Without a doubt, the gash I'd just carved into the wooden door with the screwdriver... was flawlessly mended.
‘..Why did this one repair..?’
Startled by the abrupt self-repair, I checked the lower hole.
The puncture from the awl made of the monster's tooth was still gaping wide, so this door definitely shouldn't be capable of self-repair...
Seeing the stab wound I'd angrily inflicted now healed made something feel off.
Pulling the screwdriver from my inventory, I started jabbing the door all over again...
And sure enough.
‘..It repairs.’
The wooden door stubbornly kept self-repairing no matter what.
“..No way?”
Watching it, a realization hit me, so I whipped out the awl made of teeth right away.
Stab-
The moment I gripped the awl, I stabbed the wooden door without a second thought...
‘..Wow.’
The mark from the awl showed the wooden door refusing to self-repair—no, utterly incapable of it.
‘This thing... has an ability to block self-repair?’
Like those items in certain games that reduce healing.
When an enemy heals 100 HP, holding the anti-heal item limits it to about 60 HP...
‘Healing reduction 100%?’
This awl forged from the monster's tooth... completely nullified self-healing for any monster with regenerative powers, preventing even a single point of recovery.
And the effect seemed to last a good long while too.
See? The hole I'd made on day one was still wide open, unrepaired.
‘You... you're one hell of a tool, aren't you?’
To think a beast like this had its jaws muzzled just because its teeth loosened too easily...
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Leaving the Mannequin Monster still hammering away at the steel door behind me.
I stood there marveling at the awl's prowess...
‘Hang on... is this awl tougher than the steel door?’
The thought crossed my mind whether the awl in my hand outmatched the steel door in hardness.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Maybe I could inflict a permanent, unhealing wound on that Mannequin Monster with it. Seized by the idea, I snatched up the hammer and approached the steel door.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Mannequin Monster rhythmically pounding the upper section of the steel door.
‘Right here.’
Reaching the steel door, I pinpointed the exact spot it was targeting.
Bang! Thud!
Synchronizing with its strikes, I began hammering the awl in place.
Bang! Thud!
Bang! Thud!
Bang! Thud!
Bang! Thud!
Bang! Thud!
Bang! Thud!
My hammering blended seamlessly into its assault sounds, secretly driving the awl into the door countless times.
After some 50 or 60 full swings, I felt the awl plunge deep with a solid strike.
The modest thrill of finally piercing the steel door washed over me.
Bang!
Once more, the Mannequin Monster slammed into the steel door at the perfect moment...
Drip... drip drip...
“..?”
I caught a bizarre noise.
‘..What was that? Sounded like something clattering down?’
Definitely... something pattering and falling outside.
‘It's gone quiet..’
The Mannequin Monster, who'd been body-slamming the door for an hour straight, had suddenly fallen silent.
‘Did it collapse?’
The logical assumption was that the Mannequin Monster had gone down.
But I wasn't some death-wishing lunatic who'd fling the door open on speculation alone.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Pressing the awl to the bottom of the front door, I set about carving a fresh peephole to peer outside.
After repeating the full-force hammering another 70 times or so.
“Haa... now I really... gotta head back...”
Four days without a scrap of food had left me utterly drained; treating this as my final shot, I hammered the awl one last time.
Stab-
“Huaa...”
Thankfully, a hole punctured the steel door, letting me finally glimpse beyond through the tiny gap.
‘Let's take a look...’
Firing up the status window's photo function through the hole, I scanned every corner outside...
‘..Eh?’
The Mannequin Monster, identical to the one from the Bellierd Library...
lay sprawled in multiple severed chunks.
‘Dead..?’
Sure, I'd positioned Anonymous 10's monster-tooth awl at the impact zone...
But it died just from getting poked there?
‘..What the hell?’
In all the world...
no wimp this pathetic.
Like how a needle prick, even a hard one, doesn't kill a human.
To the Mannequin Monster, the awl was basically a needle, wasn't it?
‘..Suicide..?’
It was almost laughable that a monster croaked from a mere prick, so I kept watching intently for any twitch...
About 30 minutes of observation later, I was convinced it was truly motionless.
Creeeak...
Very, very slowly... I began easing the front door open.
Creeeak...
Even after swinging it halfway open, the Mannequin Monster showed zero signs of life.
I flung the half-open door wide.
Stab- Stab- Stab- Stab-
I started delivering coup de grâce stabs to every chunk of the Mannequin Monster's flesh.
Stab- Stab- Stab- Stab-
While methodically stabbing each piece, one particular hole caught my eye.
‘..Is this thing a total moron..?’
That hole handed me the instant answer to why this Mannequin Monster bit the dust.
Because...
the puncture in its head wasn't from my finishing blows... it was self-inflicted, from ramming its skull into the steel door and skewering itself on the protruding awl.
[This guy suicided]
(Photo)
For real.
The same bastard that tried to eat me in the Bellierd Library followed me all the way here.
No clue how this world's lore works, but how the hell did it track me down...
And how did it even know I was here?
Well, there are monsters that show up if you send notes. Didn't think of that.
Gonna have to avoid pissing off monsters from now on. Might trail me if I build a grudge.
Big Whale's pulling out mental attacks now lololol makes 'em suicide lololololol
No no, I just placed the awl there, but it rammed its own head into it. Thought it'd hit a hand at worst, but nope, full headbutt.
We call that a mental attack.
Told you, it's not that... I didn't use any mental attack..
lol now it's not even "couldn't" use it, but straight-up "didn't" lolol next thing you know, real mental attacks incoming lol
Fr lololololol
Kill the note monster, kill the Bellierd Library stalker monster. Still gonna claim no mental attacks?
I didn't use it, swear...
Sure sure~ That guy "suicided" all on his own! The monster! All by itself! Committed suicide, right?!
Lmao monsters are so scared of Big Whale they off themselves lolol
But seriously, does Big Whale actually know mental attacks?
? Why ask that?
No matter how we slice it, "note monster died from stress" doesn't add up.
We've trolled this guy for years, not once or twice... bottom line, "Big Whale did something that killed the note monster." That's canon.
But fr, I didn't do jack...? Just messed with it a bit...?
Sigh... Big Whale really doesn't know mental attacks, huh?
‘..If I say I can do mental attacks, am I getting banned..?’
Right after sharing intel on hunting the monster that trailed me from the Bellierd Library all the way here.
I glanced down at the Mannequin Monster corpses I'd dragged inside.
‘What can I craft with these?’
What I desperately needed right now was a ranged weapon, so I hoped the status window crafting bench would turn the Mannequin Monster body into something like a crossbow.
I'd prepped a makeshift crossbow, planning to merge it with the body to force a crossbow output—
“..Huh?”
My vision abruptly clouded over in a haze.
This was the telltale sign of hitting return, but I hadn't touched the button.
‘I cleared it..!’
The realization that I'd safely survived this world's ordeal lasted only a moment.
‘Wait, hold up..!’
Moving out like this would leave the Mannequin Monster body abandoned here.
‘Craft!’
Unable to stomach wasting such prime crafting material, I clutched the body and mashed the craft button.
As my vision hazed out and then cleared back to normal.
“Waa... why does it feel like coming home?”
I'd finally awakened in the community gathering spot.