Chapter 34
Translator: True Detective
### Chapter 34: The Otherworld (3)
I made eye contact exactly with the giant eye scanning the playground.
'……Fuck, I'm screwed.'
The giant pupil discovered me and contracted bizarrely.
That bastard, he's laughing while looking at me right now.
Why me of all people?
"……."
Thinking about it, the answer came out quickly. This Ring of Words is also a Spirit Vessel after all.
In other words, I am currently advertising in the middle of these ghosts: "The long-awaited gourmet restaurant has arrived."
Agony was short. Judgment was certain.
I must run no matter what.
I dashed down the hallway without looking back. Because I was chased by the Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost, I had come in deeper than I thought.
'There's still a long way to the entrance!'
It was then, while I was running for a good while.
[Rihan, stop!]
At Eleanor's shout, I hurriedly stopped my body.
The moment I barely managed to stand still while sliding on the floor.
*KWA-AAAAANG—!!!*
With a tremendous roar, the hallway right in front of me disappeared.
It wasn't a metaphor; it was literally smashed to pieces and gone.
Beyond the thick dust, I could see the thing's giant fist that had pierced the building.
The path forward was completely cut off.
"Haa, haa…… how does this make any sense."
I had to get across somehow. The distance was considerable, but not impossible to cross.
The problem was that the thing's arm was holding its ground in between.
Should I use Kotodama?
No, I only had two uses left. If I used them recklessly, I might be trapped here forever.
"……Senior. What happens if I die here?"
[You become like the spirits here. Your physical body rots to become nourishment for the space, and your soul will wander through endless hunger.]
"……"
I told you I hate ghosts. To think I'd become a bastard who earned the chance to become a ghost.
I turned my body again and ran in the opposite direction.
This is the 3rd floor. There was no choice but to go down to the 1st floor and detour.
While heading down the stairs.
*Kooooong!*
A powerful vibration occurred on the floor above.
It seemed the thing's second attack had hit the upper part of the building directly.
I lost my balance and tumbled down the stairs.
Pain rushed in, but there was no time to rest.
Because the Academy building was being torn apart like some paper box.
[The surrounding spirits are swarming, perhaps because of the impact. Rihan, keep your wits about you!]
It was as Eleanor said. To make matters worse, I saw another building-sized monster walking from afar.
It was truly do-or-die.
In this case, I had to deal with this guy in front of me first.
I pulled my body through the collapsed debris and took out the coin in my pocket.
There was no need to worry about where this giant guy's weakness was.
Because it was fucking simple. It had to be that damn big eye.
I stretched my hand forward.
A technique with high penetration power.
Railgun.
There was no leisure to add stability with Kotodama. The power would be weaker.
The coin might even evaporate before it gained acceleration.
'But…….'
I layered mana coatings around the coin. A heat sink structure where the mana layers vaporized carrying the heat instead before the coin evaporated.
It's a principle similar to the heat shields used when a spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere.
"Eat this."
*Ting—!*
Simultaneously with the flick of my finger, blue current embroidered the hallway.
*Sizzle, sizzle—!*
The coin, having become a streak of light, was launched at high speed.
The coin, which broke through Mach speed, was embedded exactly in the center of the monster's eye.
*GOOOO-OOOOOO—!!!*
The monster screamed and jerked its head up.
Now is the time. While the thing was faltering, I scrambled over the debris with all my strength and climbed the internal stairs of the building where the passage was.
***
The moment I stepped onto the 3rd-floor hallway again, I stopped in my tracks.
'……What now, this time.'
My breath hitched at the presence of the things packed all the way to the end of the hallway.
"Looks delicious, looks delicious……."
"Hehehe, shall we play with us?"
Because monsters were stuck all over the hallway walls and ceiling.
One guy was scratching bizarre characters into the floor with his jaw hanging down to his chest.
Another was breaking his own ribs one by one to keep a beat.
Dozens of hollow eye sockets turned toward me all at once.
'They say humans are animals of adaptation.'
That was all bullshit. It's really fucking scary! I can't adapt to this.
"……No, why are there suddenly so many? Fuck, is this place some famous gourmet restaurant?"
[Rihan. Do not look into their eyes! If you are possessed, it is the end!]
There was no time to deal with these one by one. Hearing Eleanor's words, it seemed they had patterns too.
Now was the time to use my saved card.
I took a breath and poured mana into the ring.
"**All of you, kneel.**"
*KWA-ANG—!!!*
A massive invisible pressure weighed down the entire hallway. The dozens of ghosts blocking the way were slammed into the floor with a single word.
"Ugh……."
My head spun. It seemed I had overloaded myself by pressing down dozens of them at once.
My vision blurred, but I could see the connection point leading to the real world ahead. Just a little further…….
Just then, a giant shadow was cast over the collapsed wall.
It was the monster whose eye had been pierced by the coin. The thing was approaching, swinging its fists recklessly. That guy was a persistent bastard.
"**Break the boundary.**"
With the last Kotodama, I injected mana into the bracelet. Just a little more, I just needed to go a little further.
The moment I was about to reach the exit, the sky above my head was obscured. A giant fist was slicing through the air, plunging down.
I swung my hand forcefully from bottom to top.
Immediately, the space above shattered like a broken window.
*KUKWA-AAAAANG—!!!*
The monster's fist was sucked into the shattered space. Not missing the gap, I threw my body into the wavering dimensional boundary.
***
"Haa, haa……."
The tension snapped the moment I felt the touch of the cold floor. Simultaneously, a sensation of my stomach turning inside out surged up.
"Urp, uuuuurp!"
I stood leaning against the wall and retched for a long time. The headache, which felt like my brain was melting due to the excessive use of Kotodama, was a bonus.
I finally calmed down and slumped against the hallway wall. Since I couldn't tell how time flowed in the Otherworld, I had no idea if it was the middle of the night or dawn.
[……Rihan.]
Eleanor called me from inside the sleeve with a voice lower than usual.
[This lady is sorry. I did not expect the Spirit Vessel to be hidden in such a manner. My oversight pushed you, Rihan, into a deathtrap.]
An apology from the one and only Eleanor. The sun might rise in the west.
I let out a chuckle while clutching my throbbing head.
"Whoa, it's even more awkward when you apologize, Senior."
I roughly wiped the streaks of blood flowing down my cheek with my sleeve.
"You're human too…… ah, you're a doll. Anyway, I was the one who was tempted by the smell of the Spirit Vessel and wanted to go in. Let's call it even. Thanks to that, there was a harvest too."
[You talk quite smoothly. However, the trembling of your hands is felt even by me. ……You worked hard.]
"……Seriously, if it wasn't for the bracelet Senior Selene gave me, I'd already be a resident of that world. I feel like I should bow once a day toward the Duke's estate."
Suddenly, I missed Senior Selene's refreshing smile. She didn't smell like nauseating ghosts.
I staggered to my feet, my body exhausted. My clothes were torn here and there and covered in dust; I was a mess. Currently, it was the Academy's nighttime curfew. If I were caught by the patrol team in this state, it would be an immediate parent-teacher conference without any room for excuses.
I exited the building, pressing my body as close to the shadows as possible. I walked carefully along the dark road heading toward my accommodation on the outskirts.
Let's summarize. The conclusions gained from this reckless infiltration were clear.
First, someone intentionally hid the Spirit Vessel, and in a double-layered manner within a spatial rift inside the Otherworld.
Second, and I need Yuna to find it.
'My head is hurting more and more.'
I should have just stayed in the lab and researched magic formulas like in my past life. What kind of wealth and glory was I seeking to undergo this suffering in a romance fantasy world?
For now, let's go to the accommodation and rest well. Fortunately, tomorrow is the weekend. That meant it didn't matter if I overslept or stayed in bed all day.
I should just go in quietly. By now, Yveline should be in dreamland.
***
I barely managed to reach the accommodation building and opened the door. Now, all I had to do was throw myself onto the bed, and this long day would be over.
"……."
I felt someone's gaze in the darkness. The shadow sitting at my desk slowly turned its head.
"Why did you come back so late? What have you been doing?"
A face shining pale in the moonlight. It was Yveline, dressed in thin pajamas with disheveled hair.
"……You weren't sleeping?"
Yveline got up from her seat and slowly approached me. Her expression, having come right up to my nose, hardened in an instant.
"What is that wound on your face?"
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