Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Yours and Mine
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Shk, shshk, shshshk─
Mikurebi stabbed away at the demonic beast with two sharp wooden sticks gripped in its slippery pectoral fins.
For a fish, its movements were surprisingly nimble.
Thud, thud, thwack.
Every time the sticks pierced the beast's belly, dark red slime spurted out.
The demonic beast was already dead, but Mikurebi seemed to hold some absurd philosophy about confirming kills.
'What the hell were you even trying to fish for?'
Was it really after my heart? Or my lifespan? Or maybe it was genuinely trying to hook some doom that would devour me whole.
"Perfect."
'The worst.'
"I am perfect."
'No, you're not.'
Mikurebi nodded in satisfaction.
A moment later, it pulled out the wooden sticks and flicked off the dark red slime clinging to them.
And then...
"Shk, shshk."
It started stabbing the corpse's belly again, making even more excited sound effects than before.
Was its brain empty? Or overflowing? Impossible to tell.
'What are you doing.'
"Confirming the kill."
'It's already dead.'
"The concept of confirming the kill is important, human."
It wore an expression of unwavering conviction.
Probably just liked the ring of the phrase "confirming the kill."
'...'
I looked up at the chaotic scene.
A massive fish-shaped demonic beast lay sprawled on the cold dirt floor.
Dark red fluid—slime or blood, who knew—spurted from its mouth in rhythmic bursts.
"Shshshk."
And atop it, Mikurebi jammed the sticks in with gleeful abandon—shk, shk.
No mercy, no compassion, not even a shred of basic morality.
'Have your fun, then toss it away.'
"Got it."
Mikurebi nodded nonchalantly.
I had no idea if it actually understood, but...
At least it said "got it," so that should be fine.
I shook my head.
My bedding had to be clean... better make sure it cleaned up properly.
'Hm.'
I opened my inventory and pulled out a blanket and pillow.
Shh─
I spread the blanket over the rock.
Thud─
Pillow on top.
Right in the heart of the Great Forest, next to a demonic beast corpse splattering dark red slime...
Tonight's bed was ready.
'......'
I lay down slowly and looked up.
Of course, nothing was visible.
No moon, no stars, no sky.
The surroundings were a tangle of trees and vines...
My view was completely blocked.
'Ah.'
By now, the others must have noticed.
That I'd vanished.
Leaving just a single memo behind—naturally, they might be pissed.
'Hm.'
Still, I hoped they wouldn't search too frantically.
I just needed time to think, and I'd return eventually anyway.
Probably.
"Shk, shshshshk."
A bizarre sound effect came from beside me.
Not falling leaves, not an animal call─
Just Mikurebi making noises.
Nothing weird about it.
The thing only ever made weird sounds when it opened its mouth.
【.......】
"Hm."
Up in the tree.
Bahamut lay passed out on a ridiculously small branch, its massive Spirit King frame utterly mismatched.
Mikurebi stared at the broken wooden stick with a "why'd it break?" look.
And way off in the distance, spirits peeked at me from behind leaves.
In this setup...
Honestly, it felt safer here than back with the group.
"Human."
'What.'
"Let's play."
'Too annoying.'
"Why."
'No motivation.'
"Gasp."
Poof─
In an instant, Mikurebi's body shifted to human form.
"Unbelievable."
'What the hell is.'
What was so unbelievable?
That I had no motivation...
Enough to shock it from Mikurebi form to Leviathan form?
Trying to understand was a waste of time.
Its thought process was more chaotic than mixing fish and lowly human brains.
"Here."
Leviathan placed a sharp wooden stick in my palm.
Then nodded toward the pitifully limp demonic beast corpse beside us.
"Stab it. You'll get motivated."
'Pass.'
"......"
Leviathan froze.
Genuinely shocked expression.
Like a doll that had powered down.
And then... whoosh─
It vanished into thin air without a word.
'...?'
I worried for a split second where it'd gone, then dismissed it.
It was stronger than me—who was worrying about whom?
Wherever it vanished to—in this forest, the sky, whatever.
Leviathan could chew through damn near anything.
'Haa...'
I let out a long internal sigh.
The tangled thoughts in my head refused to unravel, only knotting tighter.
'Was I ultimately just an NPC in the game?'
The words "I" had said in the trial.
Created, and set.
If so...
Was I just a "part" designed by someone from the start?
Was this world a massive machine, and I merely a cog rolling like a stone in the game "Arca Disaster"?
'...Am I really.'
Have I truly lived as "me"?
Before the name Adel was attached, now that I couldn't even remember my real "self's" name.
That blank space felt like it was consuming my world.
'......'
Poke.
Poke poke.
My hand moved on its own.
Poking at the rock with the stick Leviathan had given me.
My messed-up feelings showed no sign of easing.
Each poke brought up more shitty emotions from deep inside.
'...The world has regressed hundreds of times.'
That's what it said.
So, which "Adel" was "I"?
It called me the "0th."
'The first and the last.'
But how was that possible?
It had existed longer than me.
It bore traces of living through hundreds of loops.
Why would such a being call "me" the "0th"?
'What the hell.'
Its words made no damn sense.
Hundreds of regressions, a version of itself with my face existed, everything was a constructed structure...
─"Our first and last 'me'."
It spoke as if it'd lived alone, yet used "our."
'You and me' would have sufficed.
Why imply plurality with "our"?
Too many interpretations—none I could be sure of.
'Ah, fuck.'
Really, the bullshit it spewed wasn't just one or two things.
─"In the end, we're just degraded copies of 'him'."
Degraded copy.
So, my original was someone else?
Then who was "he"?
And why were we the degraded ones?
Why must we repeat the same timeline over and over?
'Fucking hell.'
My head hurt.
Didn't want to think anymore.
I picked up the stick again and poked the rock.
'...Was nothing meaningful after all?'
All the paths I'd struggled down until now...
If they were just on someone's script, lines from a playbook, preset dialogue...
What the hell had I been living for?
Wearing "masks" every time, vomiting blood behind them—what was that life?
"......"
No answer.
Only the Great Forest's dark air drifting silently around me.
'Sigh... just fucking hell.'
Thinking led nowhere, and fruitless thoughts dug deeper.
This world wasn't designed to roll simply.
No formula to follow, no multiple-choice test with memorized answers.
Not even a pre-made equation—and I couldn't infer its shape.
"......"
In the end, I'd have to create the formula myself, judge if it was right or wrong.
That process was brutally exhausting, filthy hard.
And─
"Hyah!"
Suddenly, Leviathan's face popped into the center of my vision.
...It just burst up out of nowhere.
"Eat."
Whoosh.
Leviathan snatched the wooden stick from my hand without hesitation.
Thud.
And something new landed in my now-empty palm.
'What's this.'
"Meat."
Blunt answer.
The kind where you wouldn't know unless you asked what meat.
'What meat.'
"Knowing'll hurt, human."
Did it catch and roast some human-eating freak from the Great Forest?
It was the type.
...I sat up and examined the skewer in my hand.
Skewer.
A lizard impaled between the prongs.
"?"
I glanced across the river.
Bahamut still lounged on the branch, dozing indifferently.
'Hm.'
Good.
Not roasted Bahamut.
So, what was this?
'...Feels familiar.'
...Yeah.
The lizards Veronica snacked on when bored in the cradle.
Blue demonic beast, Bombadillo.
Asked why, and the horrific answer: "The popping texture's great."
Not crisp, tangy, salty─
Popping.
Calling that a texture was the problem.
"Eat."
...Leviathan kept insisting I eat.
Appreciated the gesture, but I unhesitatingly stowed the skewer in my inventory.
'Just the thought.'
No matter how grateful, human and dragon tastes differ.
Dragons could snack on exploding lizards; I couldn't.
Not at least right now.
My mental state couldn't handle this skewer anyway.
"Hm..."
Leviathan nodded like it got it.
Then grumbled, rummaging for something else.
"......"
What was coming out of that hand now?
I watched tensely.
And─
"Ah, there you are? Adel."
Whoosh.
Mine and Leviathan's heads snapped around simultaneously.
In the depths of the Great Forest, this reptile hangout, Kaden cautiously stepped in.
"Here──"
The moment Kaden opened his mouth toward me.
Gurgle─
The abyss writhed at Leviathan's feet.
Purple darkness flowing like the sea.
It stretched out like tentacles and...
"What do you think you're dooooing───?"
Bam!!
Grabbed Kaden's ankle and flung him into the air.
"Hm."
Gurgle─
The writhing abyss at Leviathan's feet settled quietly, as if nothing happened.
'?'
"Eat."
I stared blankly at Leviathan.
It rummaged again, offering something else.
This time... surprisingly normal.
But...
'Isn't this from my room?'
What Leviathan held.
Fruit preserves.
Definitely one in my dorm room at the cradle, and one in my Great Forest mansion room.
"......"
I quietly turned to Leviathan.
It quietly averted its gaze.
And softly─
"...Yours, mine."
'It was mine to begin with.'
"Ours now, human."
Says it does.