Chapter 10: Puppet Play
I’m running through the labyrinth.
Every now and then, I stop for no particular reason.
Usually, there are a few adventurers around, but today there’s no one. Everyone’s in town for the Festival.
It’s the same path I took before, but the scenery has changed once again.
It doesn’t feel chaotic. The air flows naturally, pooling where it should and flowing where it needs to. I trample over it, leaving my footprints.
This is, let’s see, the fifteenth floor.
It’s like a cave. The walls are a dusty pale blue, with a high ceiling far above. It’s quite high. The dim light creates a perfect sense of enclosure.
“Ha!”
I try jumping.
I jump really high.
Oh, without thinking, I structured my code properly.
It seems I can maintain my enhancements seamlessly and naturally. Even as I think this, I haven’t landed yet.
My body feels light. So light, it’s almost strange. Like I’ve shed my limbs to become weightless.
“……Hehehe.”
I can’t help but laugh.
But I realize I don’t need to hold it back.
A weird, giggling laugh slips out. I stretch, then hunch over again.
“Fuhihihi……hihihihi!”
I could never let anyone see this face.
But it’s okay.
No one’s watching. There’s no one here.
“
“
“……Well, aside from this, right?”
Suddenly, I kick out my right leg.
I spread my legs wide, landing on my left foot, kicking out again, spreading my legs wide once more. I repeat this, jumping and jumping.
My body feels even lighter. I’m not sure what, but I’m shedding something, becoming weightless.
The scenery changes rapidly. Much faster than just running normally.
This way of running makes changing direction difficult. It’s dangerous unless you know the path and there are no other adventurers around.
It feels like I’m doing something bad where no one can see.
I try jumping and bouncing sideways. I kick the right wall, then the left wall–
–My left foot barely misses the wall. I overdid it without thinking. I fall unceremoniously.
“Oof.”
I roll and take a defensive stance.
It hurts.
I spit out the sand that got in my mouth.
But it doesn’t taste unpleasant. The pain isn’t so bad either.
“……This might be fun.”
I spread my arms and legs and lie down.
“Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”
I shout at the ceiling. My voice echoes down the corridor.
I’ve never shouted like this before, and it’s surprisingly hard to know where to put the power. I realize yelling takes practice.
“Aaaaaaah! Aaaaagh–cough!”
As expected, I choke.
Laughing, I get up and jump again, making sure not to misjudge this time.
Kicking off the walls and the ceiling, I advance. The scenery keeps changing. My body moves up, down, left, and right. The inertia pulls me, a chilling sensation brushing my skin.
It feels good.
I want to shout out this sense of freedom. What do you say at times like these?
“Y-Yahoo!? Ooooooooh!”
Does that sound right?
Maybe not. Something like a horse rider’s shout would be better.
“Hyah, hyahaa!”
That’s it. It doesn’t fit my throat, but it suits the situation. It’s comfortable, maybe.
I see a transfer circle. Adjusting my stride, I step on it.
The scenery changes.
Now, I’m in a passage surrounded by towering rocks.
This must be the twenty-seventh floor. The walls look like a well-maintained prison, and there’s more distance to accelerate.
Just like before, I kick off the ground, walls, and ceiling, advancing three-dimensionally.
There’s no need to rush; I’m accelerating aimlessly.
It’s so scary and fun.
“I came here! By my own will!”
I was prepared to run away. I decided to escape head-on.
Another me is watching me. Telling me to come to my senses.
I don’t look away. I declare openly that I’m fleeing. The other me is exasperated, but I find that face amusing.
I don’t deny feeling a pull from behind. There’s something beyond my back. And I can still reach it now.
But I won’t reach out for it.
I might have to, but who cares.
I’m getting faster and faster. It’s receding. It chases after me, but I’m faster. I leave everything behind, along with the loneliness.
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I arrive at the ninety-ninth floor.
As soon as I step on the transfer circle, the temperature changes, and my chilled skin gradually warms up. Water droplets form on the metal parts of my gear.
My brain welcomes the change in climate. It’s almost a conditioned reflex by now.
Coming here with a calm mind, being alone in the jungle heightens the sense of loneliness. But it feels just right as a kind of stimulus, a comforting loneliness.
I came here to fight. Alone.
My opponent, of course, is the floor master of this floor, the Horned Ape.
“I’m back to continue!”
I call out to the jungle. The trembling air is absorbed by the broad leaves of the trees.
I wonder if my voice reached.
It’s okay. We’ve crossed blades before as if by mutual agreement. It’ll come soon. And it will entertain me. It will give me a fight much more thrilling than I imagined. It will push me to my limits. It will come to kill me.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth it.
Oh, I should at least prepare myself appropriately.
“Transition: [Puppet–“
I start the symbolic chant and realize.
Again. Again, “it had already activated.”
I was just used to it, but the scenery had long been slowing down. My hands and feet were completely under my control, moving as I commanded.
Huh, since when?
Looking back at my movements, yeah, it must have been activated.
Maybe even during the fight with Chronos?
Or even earlier?
Did I stop it midway?
Did I chant the symbolic spell somewhere? Or did memorizing the main spell lead to unvoiced activation?
No, that’s not the problem.
The important thing is how much further I can push it.
How many times is it now?
It’s a lot more than one-thousand-and-one times.
But it should go higher. I was at a higher level during the last fight.
I have nothing to lose. Don’t think about spilling a bit from the cup. Turn the tap boldly.
The chant wasn’t necessary. It was a feeling of chanting within my mind, like drawing shapes in my head, and I recklessly increased the multiplier.
“Gah…hah…”
The processing increased all at once. My vision reversed. Memories kept flipping like a revolving lantern.
“……Whew.”
I exhaled deeply.
Let’s warm up around here first.
I had noticed a presence watching over me for a while.
“Hey.”
The overwhelming pressure unique to a floor master pricked my skin.
The Horned Ape appeared nicely through the gaps in the trees.
Its form unchanged, maintaining its transformed state, the ominous horns and white skin stood out among the trees. Its claws, sharper than swords, hung down limply like a reaper’s scythe.
We face each other.
The Horned Ape’s stance was calm. It wasn’t cold. It was brimming with hot fighting spirit, about to rise, without running wild.
I felt the same. But I had concerns.
Before, I was more naturally trying out unknown powers with all my might. It was inefficient, but that allowed me to warm up without thinking about it.
But now, I have a purpose.
To reach the same level as before. To warm up my body and mind to the point I couldn’t reach due to interruption.
I must sharpen myself to that stage again.
I exhale deeply from the pit of my stomach.
The slowly moving scenery sways meaningfully. Memories overflow and flow out from the back of my mind.
The Dragon’s Wings, the Night Dragonflies, and things from the past. Or the Festival of Conquest, and that demi-human girl–
–Oh right, Laura. Yes, the dark map.
Unpleasant memories. No, are there good ones too? The scenes and accompanying emotions float and flow, but not many connected words come up. They seem to be fragmentary.
After they all flow through, there’s a time of clarity. Then my mind starts turning again. Without stagnating, I must continue this while fighting.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
With that call, the duel began seamlessly.
The setting was an open area, free from obstacles or uneven ground, making it easy to focus on our weapons.
The first strike came from Horned Ape.
It was a diagonal slash, a straightforward attack that’s hardest to dodge, executed flawlessly without any preliminary movements. It was as if he was suggesting,
“Let’s start with this strike.”
I met his strike with my right blade, deflecting and countering from top to bottom.
Sparks flew as our blades clashed.
Because our momentum was in the same direction, neither of us could immediately retract our right arms. Our focus shifted to our left arms and legs, exchanging blows almost reflexively, repeating this process.
Horned Ape’s attacks were filled with feints. Nine out of ten strikes carried no weight.
The key was in this distribution.
Even feints had to be dodged or blocked lightly, as failing to do so could cost me a limb. However, a genuine strike required a forceful counter, or my blade would be knocked away. It’s impossible to counter every strike with full force, so I had to identify the real threats or risk dying.
By focusing on the twist of muscles and the flow of movement, I could discern the genuine strikes, though there was always an element of chance.
In other words, a moment of distraction could mean death, and even without distraction, death was a possibility.
“Haha.”
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Vim’s state is deteriorating rapidly…