Chapter 336
Chapter 336
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 336
Chapter Title: S6. Long Escape March
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Deep into the night, one of the children couldn't suppress the burning desire to escape. Perhaps it was closer to a reckless abandon, a wish to end this miserable life once and for all.
"That red door looks dangerous, so let's hold off on going in and just watch for now."
Despite the unspoken agreement from yesterday, the child surrendered to impulse. Seizing the moment while the others slept, they crept forward stealthily and stood before the red door.
Heart pounding wildly, cold sweat trickling down. It was impossible to tell if this feeling was anticipation or dread. Then, the child pushed the door open.
Screeech.
Beyond lay a short corridor. An utterly ordinary one.
The child tossed a small dust ball they'd rolled from the grime piled in the prison corner. Thud. Roll roll. But there was no reaction.
Then... could it really be? Could they actually escape?
Guilt stabbed at their chest, but only for a fleeting moment. If they could just get out of here, nothing else mattered. In fact, it was the fault of the other cowards who hadn't mustered the courage first.
Yeah. I'm brave, so I deserve the reward. The child took a step forward.
About halfway down the corridor.
Bang!
The red door they'd entered through slammed shut.
Click. Creak.
From the ceiling of the corridor, a grotesque thing with hundreds of legs descended slowly. Each leg bristled with sinister appendages that looked like they'd hurt really bad.
"No, no, no...!"
The child whipped around instantly, racing back to the entrance. They yanked and shoved at the door, even kicked it, but it wouldn't budge.
Vreeee! Clank clank, grind grind.
It's coming. It's coming.
"No! I won't go! I won't even dream of escaping anymore! Just once, please let me live, I beg youuuu──!!"
Bang bang bang bang bang!
The child pounded on the red door like a maniac. The noise woke the other sleeping children. They stumbled out with bleary eyes. And what they witnessed was...
Vreeeeee──!
A horrific grinding sound, like something being pulverized.
Bang, bang bang... bang...
The shaking from beyond the red door, growing fainter by the second.
And then, silence.
Drip drip. Red liquid seeped from the door's crack. The children grasped its meaning immediately. Another child had been freed from this reality.
Everyone's faces turned pale.
It was a trap after all. A trap that gruesomely murdered anyone who entered. But at that moment, a mild voice echoed throughout the prison—the voice of the "Goat."
"What a pity. He succeeded in opening the red door, but he couldn't make it any further. He only managed half of that mere 10-meter corridor. Since no one has succeeded yet, the opportunity remains. Don't lose heart."
"......"
10-meter corridor. Only halfway. The chance is still there.
Thoughts grew tangled. No, clearer, actually. These wicked wizards wouldn't release the children without conditions. But... the offer to free them if they passed the murder trap?
It was exactly the kind of cruel wager those ruthless wizards would propose. Some children swallowed hard. Maybe they really would let them go. It'd be incredibly tough, but perhaps...
If I succeed.
Cold logic would tell them otherwise. Or maybe they already knew. Wizards who had crushed their hopes in every way wouldn't truly release them.
But they needed hope.
They couldn't accept the nightmare of suffering eternally here until death. They wanted to live. To live, they needed hope. Hope to escape this reality.
Even if it was false hope!
The eyes of some children changed. They glanced at each other warily. Who would "challenge" first? If someone else succeeded, they'd lose their shot at escape. But stepping up first and dying wasn't an option either...
This collective flight to delusion was blocked by.
"Don't go in. You all know it's a trap. No one should enter!"
Yuna Yurensuto stood in their way.
So that's how it was. Yuna blocked them.
I'd read this floor's memories using my colossal beast ability, mulled them over, and decided how to resolve the situation. Simple: my fist.
"Go in and you die."
I stated it plainly.
But the response wasn't plain at all. Like poking a hornet's nest, hostility buzzed from all directions.
"Hah, I don't know who you are... but mind your own business. We're going to 'Paradise' no matter what anyone says."
"Right, yeah! You're in cahoots with that brat badmouthing 'Paradise' as hell. If you're not interested, just scram!"
"Even if it's a real trap, we're willing to risk it. What business is it of yours! Who even are y──"
Kuuuung──!!
I pulled out the right arm of the "Armored Colossal Beast" and lightly knocked the ground.
"Looks like you are someone important. My apologies."
"Yes, we'll drop it."
"Thanks for the advice. We'll rethink this."
And just like that, they turned polite as if by magic. Changing attitudes with a single gesture—truly illusion magic.
Case closed.
As I dusted off my hands, Pero looked up at me with a peculiar gaze.
"......"
"What."
"I-is this... right...?"
"Not the standard clear route."
Because normally, I'd be in my frail demon state, unable to use magic and just flapping my gums. I'd have needed all sorts of tricks then.
People who walk into obvious ruin on their own... they do it when hope runs dry. That's why these folks clung to the blatantly trapped "Paradise."
In this apocalyptic world, with no hope for better days and death looming, hearing a sweet tale made them bet on that slim chance.
To lead them, I'd have needed to offer new "hope." Or convince Lea-ro, the one preaching "Paradise."
But why bother when I have power?
If resolving an issue feels tricky and complicated, check if you lack power first.
"......"
"Hey, your stare's piercing. Don't look at me like that. I don't like solving things this way either. But we're in a huge rush right now."
"God of Destruction..."
"And I'm not just threatening and leaving. From now on, call me God of Creation."
Just build a real paradise—a sturdy safe bunker—right here.
"Dreaming Mirror, 'Limited Transformation Release.'"
Shrrrrk─!
I switched only my arm to colossal beast mode and began reconstructing resources. Molding the wasteland sand into steel, snatching passing mutants for organics.
This is magic's true power. Feels damn good. If I'd had this strength while fleeing Abraham and the demons, I'd have crushed everything and started world normalization on the spot.
A bit of tinkering, and the bunker's done.
"B-bunker, 'Paradise' location... ughk."
Lea-ro was glitching, twisting in place. As a hostile NPC meant to lure wanderers to "Paradise," a real bunker appearing short-circuited her algorithm.
The wanderers, obsessed with finding "Paradise" moments ago, seemed glitched too. They stared blankly at the new bunker, then...
"Who are you to stop us!"
"I'm going to paradise, gaak. Going!"
"Kigik. Gigigik. Igik."
They surrounded and attacked me.
Pero jumped in shock, checking on me.
"G-god! Are you... okay. You're fine."
"Yup."
Even suppressed in transformation form, my output matched a 150-meter colossal beast. Their punches and kicks were mere tickles. I tanked them raw.
Then, a "Golden Door" shimmered open nearby. Perfect, floor 4 cleared.
Pero muttered with a reality-check expression.
"So the world really... is all about power..."
"Having it does make things easy. Pero, you've got work now. I'll leave some slime behind—spread it everywhere with these folks. Got it?"
"...Yes."
Whole thing took about 8 minutes. Basically a session speedrun. That's why it's best to follow the GM's character creation guidelines.
If the scenario's modern espionage and you bring a 9th-circle archmage, you'd smash the plot in 5 minutes and crash the session.
While lost in thought, I whipped up a slime tank and water guns. Pero test-fired a few at the ground, then asked about the visuals.
"Why spread the slime, though? It looks... gross, like mutants."
"To... infest the world. There's an evil witch up top holding Princess Yuna hostage. Essential prep to take her on."
"Is that sand dune part of the infestation too?"
"Huh?"
Pero pointed to a massive sand pile about a third the size of a colossal beast. It was being shaved away from the top at blinding speed.
Not wind or anything—it floated up like sucked into a UFO, then poof, gone.
"...Damn, she already noticed?"
100% Mirror Yuna's doing.
Seeing me claim the floor for my arsenal, she started reclaiming resources. The dune vanished in a blink, leaving empty white void.
Trying to play turf war, huh?
"Grab the water gun and follow, Pero. Finish the groundwork before heading up."
"Ah, yes...!"
I began the territorial tug-of-war with Pero.
Flying overhead in colossal beast form, dropping slime; sliding across the ground, embedding it—expanding my domain.
Mirror Yuna accelerated too. Steel structures, cacti—anything went poof into the void.
Slime and void both white, so the world bleached out. Somehow more apocalyptic than apocalypse vibes. Lock someone in a white room, they go mad, right?
This "overpainting" was basic grind, so Pero mechanically sprayed while chatting. Love advice.
"...You know I'm in love with the princess, right...?"
"Of course."
"Um, well. But she doesn't see me that way. So every night, I agonize. Maybe I should give up these feelings."
"I know a girl who'd say she can't quit love even if it hurts. But why bring it up now? Plenty of better listeners back at the bunker for love talks."
Pero scanned this world with an odd look.
"...This floor's about that, right? 'Hope' that kills if chosen... and wanderers deluded by it. I wondered what would've happened without you."
"And?"
"If you hadn't built the bunker instantly... their only hope would've been Lea-ro's fake one. Even without falling for her, life wouldn't improve."
A life doomed to ruin and death.
The more you think, the more miserable it gets. Amid that, a poisoned apple slyly offered.
"People unaware 'hope' is fake should be stopped. But what about those who know and choose it anyway? If they've accepted it knowingly, do I have the right to intervene...?"
"......"
"Is there 'hope' in this world we must abandon...?"
Declaring you'd endure love knowing it only brings pain.
And embracing 'hope' knowing it leads to death, because there's no other reason to live.
The two propositions mirror each other, leaving Pero torn.
I pondered briefly.
"...Not sure which is right or wrong. But I think I get how to take the question."
"How?"
"Ultimately, you decide for yourself."
Right and wrong vary wildly, shift with context, aren't clear-cut. No absolute duty to end their escapism.
So choice is hard. Equations cloud the view.
"You, me, everyone stands at crossroads and chooses. Gains and losses, stress and joy, sometimes conflict with others."
"......"
"But add all those vectors... your heart converges one way. So what we need isn't whether 'hope' must be abandoned."
Whether I can accept that "hope."
"...Couldn't accept it?"
"Yeah. Walking into obvious death voluntarily? What a pathetic way to go. Can't wrap my head around it. No matter what they say, I'll drag them back. I believe that's the path to everyone's happy ending."
That's how I've lived.
Changed princes' and princesses' hearts, redeemed dark wizards, gave assassins chances, raised boys to men, freed knights' burdens, threw myself for loved ones.
Same here. No different.
After flicking Mirror Yuna's forehead, I'll shatter her gloomy dream of happiness in a world without loved ones. Then bring Yuna back to me.
Because.
Smack─!
Punches and kicks rained down. Tender skin bruised instantly, lips split, nose bled. The girl, rolling on the floor from the beating, struggled back up with grunts.
This had repeated for ten hours now. Even the violent children panted, exhausted.
The kids desperate for their long escape snarled.
"Get out of the way! Only 10 minutes left!"
"No, I'm not moving. No one goes beyond this door...!"
"We know! We all know it's a trap! But it could be a real escape... If I'm throwing my life away, why do you keep interfering──!!"
"......"
The girl wiped her bloody nose, brushed away tears, and spread her arms wide again, blocking the path.
Why? Why emphasize unity to the kids, defy the tower wizards without submitting, fight on despite false accusations—all to save their lives? Why?
"Because..."
The girl shouted.
"...I believe this is right!"
"......"
The children flinched at her words. They carried an inexplicable power. She had conviction and courage.
But one hot-tempered kid, furious at being cowed by this little girl...
"Fine, I'll kill you to get past. Move or die──!!"
"Ugh, kek...!"
He shoved her down, straddled her, and strangled her slender neck with both hands. Her face paled from oxygen deprivation, turning corpse-like in seconds.
Her eyes began to glaze over, breath about to stop.
Crack─!
The strangler was knocked out by a chair swung from behind, collapsing. The girl coughed violently, gasping for air.
Through tear-blurred vision, she looked up. There stood another girl bravely wielding the chair with both hands.
"Idiot? Barely protecting your own life, and you stick your nose in this. You'll never die peacefully."
"Cough, cough cough... A-Alice?"
"You ruined my act. Reciting scriptures about black wings—what a pain. I'd fooled them perfectly till now..."
It was the moment Yuna Yurensuto gained her first friend.