Now Then, Who?
“Hah…! Hah…!”
Where the hell did she go?
Han Hye-yeon swept her light across the surroundings, gasping for breath. Purple Bunny, who had vanished only moments ago, was nowhere to be seen.
It was a straight corridor, wasn’t it?
She remembered the girl moving away at no great speed. At a full sprint like this, catching up should have been trivial — yet the tunnel around her was nothing but silence. Not even the usual ghouls or vampire bats were in sight.
Thud—
“…?”
Something snagged against Hye-yeon’s boot. She flinched and reflexively leveled her muzzle — only for a slab of something that looked like pressed meat to catch the beam of her light.
“This is…!”
Of course, the only kind of meat you found in a dungeon was one kind. Looking closer, it was a ghoul’s thigh, sliced paper-thin.
Hye-yeon spat a single curse and swung her light back and forth across both walls. Only then did the ghouls’ wretched remains come into view, crammed into the corners. They had been carved so finely you might almost have thought someone meant to grill them. If this hadn’t been a dungeon, she wouldn’t have dared guess what they even were.
“So you did fight. You idiot!”
It was unmistakably Purple Bunny’s handiwork. The image of her flinging dozens of playing cards was still vivid in Hye-yeon’s mind.
She took off at a run, following the trail of corpses. A fight had clearly broken out here. She didn’t know how strong a “Safety Guard” was supposed to be, but a dungeon was the kind of place where a single moment of carelessness got you killed. She had to catch up and make sure the girl was safe.
Disappearing with that sunny smile of hers — leaves a bad taste in my mouth!
All sorts of thoughts crowded in. Had she been too sharp with her earlier, and left the girl sulking? Had she gone off alone to collect herself and then run into trouble?
In truth, there was nothing Hye-yeon could reasonably call her own fault. Even so, once the ugly possibilities started, her heart only grew more frantic.
And then—
—Clang…!
…?
A faint impact, drifting out of the pitch-black dark. Hye-yeon skidded to a halt mid-stride and blinked.
Did I mishear?
—Clang!
“……!”
This time the sound was unmistakable. She clapped a hand over her rough, panting mouth on pure reflex and dialed her rifle light down to a bare glow. Whatever waited ahead… it was no ordinary situation. The violent demonic energy of combat was prickling across her skin.
Could Purple Bunny be fighting? But if so, why couldn’t she feel the girl’s mana at all?
Wait — come to think of it, has that unnie ever actually projected mana?
She wasn’t sure. Cards had simply started flying by the dozen. The whole thing had been so chaotic she couldn’t remember a thing about Purple Bunny’s mana signature.
—Claaang…! Clang!
—Kreeeeeee……
She advanced carefully, killing every sound. On top of the impacts, other noises began to layer in — thud!, crack!, and the like. Dozens of overlapping shrieks that could only be ghouls, and alongside them high-pitched battle cries: “Kyaang!” and “Peep!”
A baby? A cat?
Maybe a parrot. Not entirely unfamiliar, yet not quite familiar either — a strange sensation. One thing, though, was certain: that bright, lively energy had no business existing in a gloomy underground dungeon.
Hye-yeon’s eyes sharpened on the path ahead.
“Kyaaaaaah!! A woman! Eat her and recover—!”
“……!”
A humanoid shape came charging straight toward her.
A ghoul…!
Hye-yeon reinforced her mana rifle at once and settled into a stance.
Can’t risk a gunshot — I’ll have to use the stock……!
But in the next instant, she witnessed something so extraordinary she froze solid.
{It’s running! Catch it! Catch it!}
{The legs!}
Plump figures suddenly appeared behind the ghoul. With movements bordering on acrobatics they sprinted along the walls — thump-thump-thump-thump! — and each of them produced something glittering from its arm.
Thuk—! Thunk—!
Two steel needles punched into both Achilles tendons. The ghoul’s legs buckled and it pitched forward — and a steel club came down on its skull at terrifying speed.
Claaang—!
“Guhk!”
Blood sprayed from its head as it toppled. But before that head could even hit the ground, another Party Bear dropped in from somewhere and struck the exact same spot again.
Takang!
Was this what they meant by action and reaction? The baseball bat’s brutal blow sent the ghoul’s upper body rebounding upward — and the last Party Bear to arrive smashed a home run clean into its forehead.
Crunch!
Bone shattered. The ghoul went sliding backward. The three Party Bears, as if they’d been waiting for this exact moment, set upon its limbs with their bats in a merciless flurry.
Thudthudthudthudthud……
A group lynching, over in an instant. No matter how hardy a magic beast’s body might be, getting clubbed this stupidly hard was going to ruin it. With every blow the limbs folded along their joints, growing steadily more limp and boneless, until at last they stopped moving entirely. The bones inside had been pulverized.
……!
Hye-yeon clamped both hands over her mouth. Only then did the Party Bears start wiping the blood spattered across their bodies and fall into conversation.
{We made it. A cripple.}
{Not killing it?}
{I said make it a cripple.}
{Fun. Fun.}
{Anything else around?}
{Move aside a second — I’ve got something I want to try.}
Of course, all that reached Hye-yeon’s ears was a string of “kyuing” and “keuong” noises. Even so, she could tell exactly what emotions these unidentified teddy bears were speaking with. Arms flapping, bodies bouncing with excitement — they were clearly enjoying their own horrific work.
She was witnessing it: the true face of the magic beasts said to be the cruelest of any stage in Gate Apocalypse.
“Hic…!”
A hiccup burst out of her unbidden. She had managed to hide her presence — but the sheer biological reaction to that sudden psychological shock was beyond her control. At first she had been too stunned to run, and after that her legs had simply refused to stop shaking.
{{{……!}}}
She wasn’t the only one startled. The three teddy bears finally registered Han Hye-yeon’s existence. They stared blankly at the ruffian who had somehow stolen up behind them.
Scramble-scramble-scramble—!
Unexpectedly, the Party Bears moved first. Without so much as deciding who would lead, they all bolted.
In fact, the moment Pecia had created them, she had given two standing orders:
1. Do not harm a human unless attacked first.
2. Do not move in front of a human without permission.
Measures taken because the amusement park’s existence still couldn’t be revealed to the world. There were other finer rules, but those two were absolute taboos.
“Wh-what?”
Hye-yeon made a dazed sound, but the teddy bears paid her no mind, putting distance between themselves and the scene as fast as their legs would carry them. Each of them started kyuing in a panic.
{We’re in trouble!}
{We’re gonna get hit! We’re gonna get scolded!}
{Shut up! She doesn’t know!}
Urgent enough to abandon even the toy (ghoul) they’d been playing with. Left alone by pure chance, Hye-yeon could only blink stupidly.
Thud!
“What are you? Seriously.”
Her trembling legs finally gave out. What on earth were those things, that they could pound a terrifying ghoul into paste like a mortar and then flee in total panic the instant their eyes met hers? If they had simply charged her, she wouldn’t have been able to handle even one of them. She had zero confidence she could land a shot on something that agile — agile enough to run on walls.
Not enemies?
Hard to say. But one thing was certain: she had felt no hostility directed at a human.
A short while later—
“Urgh.”
She shoved herself upright with her rifle, breathing hard, then fixed the darkness with a look of resolve. Whatever they were, she wanted to find out.
“That about do it?”
I had beaten the Mad Mage into a reasonably tender state with my club. Preliminary work, so I could drag a party over later and hand Han Hye-yeon the finishing blow.
Poor bastard.
Worrying about his little siblings when he couldn’t even keep his own life together. I couldn’t exactly feed and house those kids myself — but I could at least leave him this much of a gift.
{I… I’ll kill y—}
“Still lively enough to talk, huh. One more, then.”
Thud!
I cracked his forehead with the baseball bat and blood sprayed. The Mad Mage twisted in agony.
“Safety Guard unnie?”
In that instant my eyes went huge and I looked sideways. At some point, Han Hye-yeon had been standing at the entrance to the boss room.
What’s she doing here?
She was supposed to be waiting at the temporary camp. I had no idea how this had happened. I whipped the baseball bat behind my back.
“Miss Hye-yeon.”
Thank god I’d already sent every last Party Bear away. I never imagined she’d get this close without me noticing. I’d been so focused on tenderizing the Mad Mage that I’d let my guard slip.
Meanwhile Hye-yeon approached, scanning the boss room. Ghouls with bones reduced to pure meat hung about like laundry on a line.
“…These are all elite ghouls.”
Elite meant stronger than their ordinary kin — usually the ones that stuck close to a boss. My brain thoroughly bleached, I answered:
“Yes. And?”
“‘And?’ Unnie — did you do all of this?”
“Well… when I got here it was already like this……”
Hye-yeon hesitated.
“That… thing you’re hiding behind your back. What is it?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s sticking up over your head. A baseball bat.”
“…….”
“How did you even do this? There’s no way you took all of them on alone.”
Hye-yeon kept glancing around. What had she been searching for so intently this whole time? It didn’t feel like she was simply looking at ghouls.
I wet my lips.
“I did it alone.”
“…….”
Hye-yeon narrowed her eyes into flat fish-stares and studied me carefully.
“A-anyway, why are you by yourself? You’re supposed to come with the others. It’s dangerous.”
Good thing I’d wiped out every magic beast just in case. That could have gone very badly.
But Hye-yeon shot back at me:
“Because unnie ran off on her own, and I followed?”
“Huh? Why me?”
“Because you might get hurt! I thought maybe you’d gotten all sulky because of me and gone off alone!”
“Huh? Why would I get sulky?”
Hye-yeon stammered.
“I-I don’t know! Anyway, unnie was reckless!”
“Well… I’m sorry?”
I’d only meant to help, so it felt a little unfair — but apparently I’d worried her. If I’d done something wrong, I should apologize.
I bowed my head without protest, and Hye-yeon’s mouth worked open and shut.
“Forget it. Wh-what’s an apology for. So — you’re alone?”
“Pardon?”
“I said, are you alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean are there any other magic beasts. Is it safe.”
“Ahhh, r-right! Yes, just me!”
Damn it. Getting flustered for no reason and stumbling over my words. Looks like I need to finish the boss right here. Too many variables keep popping up — staying any longer is making me nervous.
Planning to hand her the last hit, I grabbed the hair of the squid sprawled across the throne.
And right then—
“Kyuing—.” (Over here.)
…Kyuing?
“Kyuing kyuing.” (You idiot.)
“Keuang.” (Not my fault.)
Three little teddy bears came tumbling into the boss room, batting at each other with their fluffy arms. From the conversation, it sounded like they’d finished off the ghoul that had fled outside, then gotten lost on the way back.
“Ah……”
Yeah. That’s just how the world works, I guess.
I smiled brightly.
Whatever else happened — those guys were dead meat.