Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: 4th Floor
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“You saw it, didn’t you.”
The moment I heard that, I realized why I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Jortu and the two maids.
-21. Meals are replenished daily. Please eat as much as you like without burden.
It was because this mansion automatically refilled even the meals, so I wondered why it needed servants at all.
Of course, I’d seen ghosts or yokai pulling tricks like this countless times, so I didn’t feel particularly fazed as I replied.
“Who are you?”
“W-what do you mean?!”
Han So, standing beside me, panicked and tried to stop my rude question, but the maids reacted swiftly.
One split in half, revealing rows of grotesque teeth packed inside.
Her entire body looked like one massive mouth.
Meanwhile, the maid who had been carrying Jortu’s corpse slung over her shoulder bolted up the stairs with it.
She leaped five steps at a time, vanishing in an instant.
“Urk.”
Even our side’s reaction was a bit unexpected. Han So, called a martial god, had a weak stomach and covered his mouth at the sight of the grotesquely transformed maid.
“Get a grip.”
With a sigh, the blue flames hovering over both my shoulders shot straight at the maid.
A simple check.
As expected, she showed no reaction to the flames and charged right at me.
“...?”
It was just a probing shot.
I hadn’t planned to do much with it—just buy time to coordinate with Han So or chain it into another spell.
Yet the woman leaped forward as if nothing had hit her at all.
Her massive maw tried to swallow me whole, and just in case, I cast a protective spell to block her path.
But the maid passed right through the barrier and kept coming.
“Dodge!”
Han So threw himself in front of me, so her huge teeth missed me by a hair, but she quickly regained her footing, growling low as she prepared to charge again.
“Do you need this?”
I subtly offered him the Mengcheon Mubong I’d received as a reward, still in my hand, and he nodded excitedly.
“One of the lost treasures of the Han Empire. In the past, warriors used it when swearing to the heavens that they would uphold the path of martial arts...!”
“Here, take it.”
I handed it over casually with a toss, and Han So looked taken aback.
I jerked my chin toward the maid.
“In exchange, handle that woman for me.”
“Well, she’s clearly no ordinary human.”
Gripping the Mengcheon Mubong, Han So stepped forward. He took a deep breath, glaring at the maid, but their standoff didn’t last long.
Whoosh!
The maid lunged again.
But this time, she wasn’t much of a threat.
Han So’s staff came crashing down from above in a massive swing, smashing the charging maid into the floor, where she splattered green blood everywhere.
He stomped down on the writhing maid to finish her off.
But that’s when another oddity occurred.
Boom!
His heavy heel passed right through her and slammed into the floor.
“Hm?”
Han So yanked his foot back in surprise, but now I understood.
‘Can it only be killed with items from the Nightmare Manor?’
My magic hadn’t worked, and Han So’s heel had just passed through her, so it seemed these special beings could only be harmed by rewards from the Nightmare Manor.
Remegaton in my room immediately came to mind. If I used it to cast spells, I could minimize damage.
‘But it has no soul.’
Unlike other necromancers, I didn’t raise or use souls, so I naturally didn’t carry any around with me.
I hadn’t seen any souls wandering the Nightmare Manor either, so Remegaton was pretty much useless to me right now.
Which meant I was down to basic elemental magic—a pretty vulnerable state.
So what I needed to do now was...
“It seems my magic doesn’t work here.”
I tested the waters, and Han So, quick on the uptake, nodded and replied.
“If Deus Gong hadn’t given me this staff, I’d have been brutally murdered too. I owe you my life, so I’ll protect you while we’re here.”
He wasn’t called a martial god and praised across the Han Empire for nothing.
Sentimental yet straightforward, repaying debts clearly—he was easy to handle.
“Then come upstairs with me. We need to see where that maid took Jortu’s body.”
“Mm!”
As I said, Han So and I headed straight up to the second floor.
In the second-floor hallway stood a black necromancer tilting her head curiously, holding a single book.
The door behind her had a plaque reading “Library,” so she must have come out due to the commotion while reading.
“What’s going on?”
She looked like she wanted to blame someone for interrupting her reading.
No need for explanations—I just beckoned her.
“You come too.”
“What?”
“You don’t have anything better to do anyway.”
She scowled, clearly annoyed at being dragged along, but Han So and I ignored her and climbed another flight to the third floor.
Jortu’s bloodstains led up there.
“Hrm, this is troublesome.”
The trail continued past the third floor to the fourth, which was a problem.
“We’re only allowed up to the third floor.”
-4. Guests are permitted up to the third floor.
One of the Nightmare Manor’s rules.
The stairs to the fourth floor, unlike the elegant ones we’d come up, lacked ornate covers and were jagged and rough.
“What’re you scared of?”
The black necromancer, whose mood had soured, stormed up to the fourth floor in a huff.
Watching her go, I asked Han So,
“Do you know what happens if you break the rules?”
“...Hm? No, I’ve never seen anyone break them.”
With his answer, I followed the black necromancer up the stairs.
I needed to properly check what happened if rules were broken.
It was risky, sure.
‘But not knowing all the Nightmare Manor’s rules makes everything equally dangerous anyway.’
-20. Even if you don’t know the Nightmare Manor’s rules, they still apply.
Better to knowingly break a rule and step forward than unknowingly violate one and get caught off guard.
And if I was being honest...
‘I don’t want to send the black necromancer off alone.’
If the 18-year-old black necromancer died here, the one I knew would vanish.
‘Tricky.’
Still, the dilemma swirled in my mind.
The 18-year-old black necromancer had survived the Nightmare Manor and made it to Robern Academy, after all.
‘Never thought I’d be worrying about a time paradox.’
Sighing at the sci-fi movie scenario, I acted as I wanted for now.
Worrying wouldn’t solve anything here—it’d just lead to endless loops.
‘Better to follow instinct. It’s wiser.’
Acting on immediate desires might naturally lead to the right outcome, rather than overthinking.
“Ugh, what’s that foul smell.”
Han So, walking ahead a bit faster, pinched his nose and muttered.
Even the black necromancer coughed and quieted her breathing amid the stench.
“...”
It wasn’t just the smell. With each step up the stairs, sticky slime coated the soles of our feet, and the walls were damp.
It felt like being a cave explorer, but not in a fun way.
Upon reaching the fourth floor, we were greeted not by a hallway but a vast hall-like structure.
Even after our eyes adjusted to the darkness on the way up, we couldn’t see a thing, so the black necromancer at the front extended her hand, igniting a purple light.
There, at the far end, was a maid.
She was shoving Jortu’s corpse into a massive hole in the wall, which gulped it down greedily, undulating.
“Ha.”
It was grotesque, but the black necromancer scoffed like it was boring.
“That’s it?”
As if questioning why they built up the atmosphere just to show this lame thing.
Then, things erupted from the surrounding floor.
They looked human at first glance, but their lower halves were tentacles connected to the floor, suggesting they were all linked as one.
“Normal magic won’t work on them.”
I warned her, but she snorted in disbelief.
“I know that much.”
She pulled a small wand from her pocket—another reward item, it seemed. Only now did I realize she knew far more about the Nightmare Manor than I’d thought.
‘Can’t judge her by the black necromancer I know.’
She was younger yet sharper, which felt oddly disappointing.
“Rise, trash.”
An evil spirit flowed out along her mana, cloaked in purple energy. Less human than a shadow in form, it shot skyward.
Then charged straight at her.
“Haa.”
Crunch!
[Graaaah!]
With her sigh, its body twisted and wrung like a rag.
“You pull this every time.”
After a dose of pain, the spirit finally bowed to her and flew at the bizarre creatures around us.
Like a single sword of soul, it sliced through them, cleaving everything.
“...”
Watching that, I couldn’t help but shut my mouth.
Necromancers.
They fundamentally handled vengeful evil spirits.
Coaxing or soothing didn’t work. I’d heard and learned countless times that necromancers controlled souls through pain.
But I’d never actually seen a proper necromancer besides myself.
The evil ghost coiled up in the Griffin Kingdom was a special case.
This was necromancy textbook-style.
And the black necromancer was demonstrating it right now.
“You idiot, you’re the one I have to protect.”
[Graaaack!]
She warned, clenching her fist, and the spirit screamed, hurrying back to her.
Suddenly, I recalled my first encounter with Magan—the conversation between him and the black necromancer.
‘I’ve never treated a soul as human, not even for a moment.’
‘They’re just my magic, my tools.’
Now I truly felt the weight of those words.
Her method clearly clashed with my beliefs.
“What now? Fight?”
To Han So, waiting for my decision, I pondered briefly and summoned light in my palm.
A modest spell, even for something taught by Erika, the authority on light magic.
No destructive power—just a sphere to push back darkness and illuminate.
I rolled my shoulders and lobbed it inside.
The magic arced through the air and burst like a flashbang, flooding the area with light.
The human-shaped tentacles weren’t just rising from the floor—they sprouted from the walls and ceiling too.
And dangling from the ceiling was something like a massive wasp nest.
But amid it all, there was one spot with no tentacles, and I squinted at it.
New Nightmare Manor rules appeared in red text.
-27. Guest rooms go up to 110. There is no 111. If you find 111 and someone staying there, kill them immediately. An uninvited guest we didn’t call.
-29. The Nightmare Manor has no fourth floor.
The light faded.
Damp darkness rushed back in. Feeling a chill down my spine, I asked Han So,
“Did you see that?”
“See what? That dangly thing on the ceiling like a uvula, yeah.”
“...Uvula?”
Fair enough.
I’d first thought wasp nest, but yeah, it could look like a uvula.
The puzzle pieces clicked in my head.
The jagged stairs.
Damp floor and walls.
Overwhelming stench.
Rule 27 was suspicious, but first, rule 29.
The Nightmare Manor has no fourth floor.
Chomp!
I lunged, grabbing the black necromancer’s wrist and bolting back toward the stairs.
“Kyaa!”
The startled black necromancer got dragged along, her evil spirit hastily following. Han So ran up beside me and asked,
“Why, what is it?”
“The Nightmare Manor has no fourth floor.”
“Th-then where are we standing?”
Han So asked in panic, and I opened my mouth to answer—only for the words to stick.
Even I found it ridiculous.
The absurd guess that this entire fourth floor was some monster’s mouth wasn’t something I could voice lightly.
“You saw the rules?!”
The black necromancer shook off my hand but kept running. I nodded, and she gritted her teeth.
“This mansion is just full of crap that pisses me off.”
“It’s not just the mansion.”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean?”
The black necromancer and Han So pressed, but I held back. They’d figure it out once we escaped anyway.
‘No reward appeared.’
Even after learning rules 27 and 29, no reward popped up immediately.
Meaning someone had already seen the fourth floor and kept the info hidden.
The fourth-floor passage started narrowing. The two panicked, but it felt like the monster called the fourth floor was closing its mouth to trap us.
The human-shaped tentacles pursued with monstrous fervor.
“These things seem dead already?”
The black necromancer said calmly.
We could see the third floor, but at this rate, we wouldn’t make it.
But then—
White bandages made of mana shot out from the third floor, snagging us and yanking us up.
“Huh? Wha—?!”
“Uwooo!”
Amid their screams, I entrusted myself to whatever was helping us.
Our bodies floated up, and we reached the third floor in a flash.
Boom!
The fourth floor sealed shut simultaneously.
It groped around disgustingly, searching for us in its mouth.
But somehow, we’d escaped thanks to outside help.
‘That was close.’
Still, we’d gained something clear.
Steadying myself, I checked who saved us.
A blond little boy.
The kid who’d scurried into his room alone when we’d threatened Jortu earlier.
‘Definitely room 101.’
I remembered him as the occupant of the first room.
“Thought we were goners for real.”
“Thanks, kid.”
The grumbling black necromancer and grateful Han So.
The boy scratched his head shyly, but his hair and features looked oddly familiar.
I tapped him on the shoulder.
“What’s your name?”
The robed boy blushed, as if embarrassed, and answered.
“I’m Ruanes.”