Chapter 17. Trauma Penalty (2)
Chapter 17. Trauma Penalty (2)
3
[Penalty commencing.]
[Generating the trauma of the monster Hellfire Maiden.]
An elegant Western-style mansion.
Before I knew it, I was there.
No, maybe saying "I was there" would be strange. I wasn't there. Only my consciousness drifted like a ghost, watching the scenery unfold before my eyes in third person.
'What the hell?'
I was bewildered.
'What's happening right now......?'
-P-please, save me.
That was when I heard a voice.
A child. A child was bound in the corner of the mansion's first-floor lobby. At first I mistakenly thought the child was begging me to save them, but no. The child was pleading with someone else.
-Please, save me... I'm so hungry... food... please, just some food.......
-Hm.
A person dressed like a nobleman.
-Orphans like you are the plague of this kingdom.
-Food.......
-Left alone, you rot away at society. You don't work. You wander from village to village spreading disease. I am the warden who quarantines you from the kingdom, and the guard.
In an instant, scene after scene bored into my consciousness.
An era when food was scarce and vagrants were many.
The nobleman gathered orphans and locked them in the mansion. On the surface, he claimed it was an orphanage. To the outside world, the nobleman was a kindly rich man, a great businessman, a conscientious intellectual.
-Others would treat you as rotten seed from the root. I am not like that.
But inside this vast mansion.
-I will educate you.
The nobleman was simply a tyrant.
-A creature that covets the food before its eyes just because it is hungry is a beast. Of course, you were born in the fields like beasts, but must you grow up as beasts?
-I'm hungry... so hungry.......
-Endure it. Endure even hunger. Endure, and become human.
The nobleman said it with a smile. A kindly smile. He was a man who could smile down at a child whose ribs had hardened into gaunt ridges. Was there truly a world where such a smile was considered virtue, and had such an era ever existed?
-Repent!
The madman gathered other madmen.
-Aaaaah!
-Oh, children of the witch! Poison of Zurakua, disease of our kingdom! Worry not. God never abandons his faithful. And just so, I too never abandon my little lambs!
-It hurts... it hurts... it hurts.......
A priest of some god raised a hammer high.
-Pray!
An era when madness was packaged as virtue.
The screams never stopped in that mansion.
-So... hungry.......
Starvation.
-No... please forgive me... why... please forgive me.......
Torture.
-Ah. Thank you... kind nobleman, kind sir....... The reward for enduring the pain, the promise. Thank you. Thank you, kind sir.......
Brainwashing.
Orphans were dragged into the mansion like corpses and left the mansion as corpses. Lives that were soon to die merely became lives that had truly died, but the children never imagined that the gap between the two could hold such relentless agony.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands were in that mansion.
And there were dozens, hundreds, thousands of deaths.
'.......'
I was transfixed by the scenes flashing before my eyes.
'What in the world is this.......'
-Whoa, shit. What is this?
At least some bastard's voice snapped me back to my senses.
'You were watching too? I thought you weren't here.'
-I've been watching from the start. I'm the one who didn't know you were here. Couldn't see you.
'Hm. It seems both of us are just consciousnesses floating around.......'
-Don't care about that.
The guardian spirit spoke.
-What kind of insane bastards are these? Huh? Educate them to be human? What kind of subhuman shits talk about educating others to be human.
'...This is probably the original source of the 10th-floor boss stage.'
The voice had told me just before my consciousness flew here.
That from now on, [the trauma of the enemy who killed you will be reenacted].
The enemy who killed me this time... the real doll hiding somewhere in the Hellfire Mansion. In other words, the scene now playing before us was the trauma that doll carried.
'I had no idea.'
I whispered quietly.
'That a monster used to be a person.......'
-Not all monsters are like that. Mostly just bosses. Boss monsters are originally created based on things that actually happened in other worlds.
I heard the spirit click his tongue.
-Creatures that inhabit other worlds, or heroes who once made their mark there. Things like that. The tendency gets stronger past the 11th floor.
'What? Why didn't you tell me that until now?'
-You never asked.
'.......'
He was so shameless that I had nothing to say.
-But this is my first time seeing something like this too, tch.
'Seeing what?'
-The original source you mentioned. These scenes we're seeing now. I know boss monsters are taken from other worlds, but how would I know what they went through? It's not like I have a mind-reading skill.......
The spirit muttered.
-Feels like absolute shit.
I agreed.
'...Yeah.'
Somewhere in the world, things like that were surely always happening, and there were surely countless things even worse than that, but thinking about it in your head and seeing it with your own eyes were different.
They were simply different.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, I couldn't say.
-F-fire!
The [trauma] ended before long.
A servant accidentally knocked over a candle. Not realizing it had been knocked over, the servant passed by. Dark night. While people were in bed, the flames spread quietly. By the time someone noticed the fire, everything was already too late.
-Cough, hack. Cough!
-We have to get out.......
The flames blazed.
The ropes in the basement burned. The iron chains burned. The shackles that hung the orphans burned, and the orphans hanging from the shackles burned. The brainwashed child, the tortured child, the starving child burned. The flames seemed ready to burn away all the brainwashing, all the wounds, all the hunger.
-Ah.......
The children opened their mouths.
Red-hot iron chains bound the children's wrists and ankles. They could not move, as if they were dolls. They could only barely scream.
But I could hear it.
-I don't want to die.
Resentment.
-I'm hungry.
-I want to live.......
-Kind sir.
Grudges and grievances flowing directly into my consciousness.
-I didn't do anything wrong. I had no family. But I was okay. I wanted to play a little longer. Even so.......
-It's not our fault. It's unfair. It wasn't something I did.
-I'm hungry.
The mansion burned.
The first-floor lobby with its chandelier burned. The bedroom where the master of the mansion stayed burned. The splendid bed, the antique curtains, the deep basement reached by stone stairs—all of it burned.
-I don't want to die.
Crackle.
Crackle—
Sparks flew into the empty air.
Now all I could see was a single mansion blazing in the distance.
[Trauma reenactment complete.]
[Ending penalty.]
And then I returned to one day ago.
* * *
When I opened my eyes.
Neither the spirit nor I said a word. We both sat on the bed in silence.
It wasn't so much that I was shocked... I just couldn't grasp how to react.
-Hm.......
After a long while, the spirit scratched the back of his head.
-It's a truly tragic and sad story, and I watched it well, but there isn't much we can do, is there?
"Wow, that's the first thing you say? You really......."
-Yeah, sure. My personality is garbage.
The spirit scowled. Have you ever seen a gorilla get angry? It looked genetically quite similar to that.
-But the truth is always a bitch! That 10th-floor boss is nothing more than a monster, and the children who were its source already died in some other world. This is an incident from long ago, I'm telling you. You're a zombie—what the hell can you do!
"......."
-If it had at least happened inside this Tower, you could die and die and die again, 4,000 times or 5,000 times, and regress to the past. But that happened in another world, another era. Even if I were alive, I couldn't solve this! Even if I weren't the Sword Emperor but the Sword God, what can't be done can't be done.
He was right.
-Find the real doll and hunt it. Kill it.
The spirit said.
-And climb to the 11th floor. The 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th floors—clearing them all is the only way. If you've resolved to become the hunter who reigns at the very top, then solve this kind of thing yourself!
He was right again.
But.
"Flame Emperor probably thought the same way."
-Hm?
"Flame Emperor, that bastard, Yoo Soo-ha. The first human I ever hunted."
I got up from the bed.
I tied my sleeping bag to the top of my backpack. I slung the backpack over my shoulders. I strapped my sword to my waist. In other words, I finished preparing to climb the Tower. When I left the lodging, I was equipped—clumsily, but equipped—as a hunter.
"You know what? Yoo Soo-ha would have found the real doll with 100 percent certainty and blown its head off. Whether he saw the trauma or not. Without a moment's hesitation."
-So what?
"I don't want to become like that Flame Emperor bastard."
I climbed the Tower.
Just like the last run, I deceived the gatekeeper.
And once again, I stood before the mansion's front gate.
A Western-style noble's mansion that looked exactly like the place I'd seen in the trauma.
-Hey! You're not some little kid. You're not going to clear the boss just because you don't want to become like him? What are you going to do? To clear the stage you have to eliminate the boss, you zombie bastard!
"Who decided that?"
-What?
I placed both hands on the front gate.
And muttered.
"Damn it, I've been acting like an idiot."
-What are you talking about now?
"I said I've been acting like an idiot! You were just as much of an idiot, goddammit. 'Not knowing a sickle from the letter A'—that's exactly us right now."
The spirit furrowed his brow.
-Has this kid lost his mind? You being an idiot, zombie, is an eternal truth, but why am I an idiot too? I grew up being called a prodigy since I was little, you know?
"The skill card."
I muttered irritably.
"The S-rank skill card we didn't pick. Remember? Hellfire Barrier. You made a huge fuss saying we absolutely had to pick it."
-Huh? Of course I remember.
"Recite it."
-Hah, this zombie bastard, who do you think you're... fine, listen up.
The spirit recited it fluently, scowling. So the story about being called a prodigy as a child wasn't entirely a lie. The spirit recited the card skill without a single mistake.
+
[Hellfire Barrier]
Rank: S-
Effect: Grudge (怨恨). Grievance (怨聲). Resentment (怨望). Your unresolved rancor, your unheard voice, your unfulfilled wish. Burn them all. 'It's hot.' Is it hot? Turn the world into a pyre. 'I feel like I'm dying.' Kill. If you only wish it, a hellfire of aura will descend upon a 2km radius.
No one may leave this hell without your permission.
No one at all.
※However, you too must remain inside the barrier.
+
I listened quietly to the skill description and asked back.
"Sword Emperor, doesn't anything strike you as strange?"
-Ugh, how frustrating. So what's strange about it!
"The last part."
[No one may leave this hell without your permission.]
[No one at all.]
I said,
"If the boss monster doesn't permit it, no one can escape the Hellfire Barrier. No one at all. So how, by what possible means, have the hunters who challenged the 10th floor so far escaped alive?"
-Huh?
The spirit blinked.
-...Huuuh? Shit, now that you mention it?
There is a guild called the Black Dragon.
A guild that has reigned at the top ever since the day the Tower opened in this world.
The rank-2 hunter who commands the Black Dragon. The Black Witch challenged the 10th floor dozens of times. She failed every time. The rank-2 hunter was defeated, but she still brought back every hunter who participated in the raid alive.
She brought them all back alive.
"It doesn't make sense."
I put strength into both arms.
The front gate began to open slowly.
"If the boss doesn't permit it, escape itself is impossible. That's what the skill is from the start... yet they escaped unscathed without even killing the boss. All of them, at that. It doesn't make sense."
-Then... what actually happened?
"Goddammit, there's obviously only one conclusion!"
Creeeeak.
The front gate opened fully, as if spreading both arms wide.
"The boss permitted it! Told them to run!"
The 10th-floor boss.
A stage that no human had yet conquered.
The blazing hell-mansion revealed itself.
[You have entered the Boss Stage.]
[Challenger: Hunter Kim Gong-ja. 1 person.]
[May fortune be with you all.]
"If they let people run away as much as they want, doesn't that tell you? The boss, these kids, never treated hunters as enemies from the start."
-.......
[The Boss Stage begins.]
"They just wanted to play with the people who came to visit."
Candles.
All over the mansion, candles tipped over. Flames shot up from every place they fell.
-Kekekeke!
There were dolls among the flames. As if bound somewhere, the dolls could not move. They could only barely turn their heads to look at me.
-Will you play with us?
The dolls opened their mouths.
-Will you play with us?
-Freeze tag? Red Light, Green Light? Hide-and-seek?
-The ice melted, the flowers all got torn up. Let's play hide-and-seek!
-Yeah! Play with us! Play hide-and-seek with us!
-Kyahahaha!
The flames blazed.
The first-floor lobby with its chandelier burned. The bedroom where the master of the mansion stayed burned. The splendid bed, the antique curtains, the deep basement reached by stone stairs—all of it burned.
Within it, only the children, turned into dolls, did not yet burn.
"......."
I gritted my teeth for a moment.
"Fine. I'll play with you."
[Activating skill.]
The skill I'd gained from my last death. I cast the flame immunity skill on myself. The moment the skill activated, the heat I'd felt all over my body vanished as if washed away. My breathing eased. The scenery that had been hidden behind the fire demon became a little clearer.
I could see the dolls' faces.
-Huh?
-Mister, you're not burning.
Each doll had a different face. I could tell even though they had no expressions.
-Aren't you hot?
-Weird mister.
-Can you play?
-Will you play with us?
I nodded again.
"Yeah, hide-and-seek it is. Watch out. This mister never lost a game of hide-and-seek when he was little."
-Kekekeke! What a weird mister!
-Hide! Everyone hide!
The dolls laughed. They said to hide, but none of the dolls moved. They were all stuck in place, unable to budge. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of children laughed.
-Hide well, don't let your hair show. Hide well.......
The game of tag began.
"...Found you."
I walked around the mansion. As I walked, I caught the dolls one by one. When I stroked a doll's head, it lifted its chin with a creak. Each time, the doll opened its mouth and said,
-Ding! Not me!
The dolls laughed and vanished.
-Not me!
-Not me!
Wherever I turned my steps in the mansion, there were dolls. So many. I walked on, catching each and every doll.
-.......
One.
-Hey, this is.......
Another one.
-This is... a requiem.
The spirit muttered.
Requiem (慰靈).
Comforting the souls of the dead.
I silently made my rounds through the mansion. I saw the shackles that had hung the orphans, and the iron chains that had bound the children. Wherever shackles hung and chains lay, there was always a doll.
The flames blazed.
-Not me! Not me! Not me!
-No! Not, me. Not me... not... me... not.......
-Not... me.......
Time passed.
Trudge.
Before I knew it, my steps had stopped in the basement. My feet had carried me down the long, long stone stairs. There were dolls on the stone stairs too. The dolls lay collapsed on the stairs. As if they had been crawling up to escape to the surface and suddenly stopped.
"......."
After catching all the children collapsed on the stairs, I finally stood before the last doll.
The basement.
-Will you play with us?
The doll leaned against the heart of the mansion.
Around the doll lay hammers, awls, and coping saws.
-.......
I walked over slowly.
And stroked the head of the doll with no hair.
"Found you."
The head of the child who had created the hellfire was small. Small enough to fit in one hand.
"...Now you're it, little one."
There was silence.
The doll slowly raised its head. Like the other dolls, this child was expressionless. With a face that had lost all expression, the doll opened its mouth.
-Kind sir.
What flowed from the doll's mouth was not only a voice. Lips. Skin. Eyes. The doll's body melted down like candle wax. The flames swallowed the doll in an instant, and even as it was being swallowed, the doll muttered like a broken record player.
-Thank you.
And then it melted away.
-Thank you.
The doll burned. The iron chains melted and flowed down. The shackles, the hammers, the awls, the coping saws—everything burned. The hunger, even the traces of the hunger, all of it vanished, as if a flame that had spent its life was dripping away as candle wax.
Death left no trace.
I stood in the middle of the mansion's ruins, burned away without a trace.
"......."
Years.
[Congratulations.]
A place no human had broken through in years.
[Normal Stage cleared.]
[Hidden stage cleared.]
[Boss stage cleared.]
On that day, the Tower's tenth floor was cleared.