Chapter 129 : Awakening - 1
Chapter 129: Awakening - 1
Kaid replied indifferently.
“Yes. Well, congratulations.”
“Now take this eyeball off.”
“……Huh?”
What do you mean, ‘Huh?’
“Did you think I’d risk becoming an idiot?”
“Of course I thought you would. You were giving off such a solemn atmosphere.”
“Now that we’ve located where the Thief is, we can just monitor him with normal vision from here on.”
“…….”
“He approaches once every two hours. From now on, he’ll only come from that direction every two hours.”
“Hmm.”
“When the next time slot comes, I’ll attach the eyeball again briefly to pinpoint the Thief’s direction. Once we confirm the position, we remove it again. You understand what I’m saying, right?”
Kaid nodded as if impressed.
“So there was such a method. If we do that, we can drastically reduce mental consumption.”
“Exactly.”
“Hm. With tricks like that, perhaps you really could stand against Master.”
Kaid obediently retrieved the Monster’s eyeball from me.
All the various images that had been flooding my mind vanished at once.
Hurriedly, I looked south with ‘my own original eyes.’
The Thief was still there.
‘Good.’
With a satisfied smile, I raised my voice beneath the Guard post.
“Everyone. We’ve secured at least two hours.”
“Mason.”
“The Thief is about 500 meters south. I’ll make sure he doesn’t come any closer, so please think calmly.”
“Mason…….”
What?
Armelia’s voice sounded somewhat pitiful.
As I tilted my head in confusion, Aina spoke.
“Another one just disappeared. A Doll.”
“……? What?”
“It disappeared. There are only eleven left now.”
What the—!
Shocked, I looked toward the Thief in the south.
He was clearly still over there.
“Ku-ku.”
At that moment, I heard Magireta’s laughter.
The instant I heard that mocking sound, lightning struck through my head.
“Ah…….”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Damn it. It was the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“I said it before. Boundary Duty was a Fake Quest anyway. There was no need to strictly follow the rules written in a Fake Quest.”
That was why we decided to ignore the rule that Sentries must rotate every two hours.
But from Magireta’s perspective, it was ‘the same.’
—Magireta also didn’t need to follow the rules of the Boundary Duty Quest!
After all, those rules were fake.
Seeing my expression, Magireta slowly floated up beside the Guard post and spoke.
“You noticed faster than I expected, little brother.”
“…….”
“Since both of you are Passers and your memories have properly returned, I’ll speak comfortably. The rules written on that Opaque Fake Bulletin Board no longer hold any meaning. Not for you, and not for me.”
She continued leisurely.
“All Participants have figured out the second hint. That Boundary Duty is a Fake Quest.”
“…….”
“Until then, I also conducted the game according to the fake rules. But now that everyone knows, there’s no reason for me to show consideration.”
“That means…….”
“In this case, I sent multiple Thieves to Coffins. The moment you mistakenly believed the southern Thief was the only one.”
So that was it.
It felt as if all the blood drained from my body.
Magireta had clearly said she would no longer follow the rules of the Boundary Duty Quest.
Which meant—
“Don’t tell me they won’t even approach once every two hours anymore?”
“That’s right. That was also a fake rule.”
“And the rule that a Thief can only steal one Doll at a time?”
“Of course there’s no need to keep that either.”
“……I hate to ask, but.”
I swallowed hard before speaking.
“Even the rule that a Thief cannot move if a Sentry is looking at him?”
Magireta smiled sweetly as she answered.
“That is meaningless now as well.”
In that instant, my legs nearly gave out.
What she had just declared was essentially, ‘I could end this game right now.’
Kaid, reading the mood, asked cautiously,
“Uh, then why not just steal all the Dolls immediately?”
“The rules say, ‘Until the Thief steals all 30 Dolls.’ But…… the deadline I personally set for the Sleepwalking Quest is separate.”
“…….”
“There’s still a little time left. I plan to send the Thieves at intervals matching the remaining time and have them steal the Dolls accordingly.”
There was no point in asking how many minutes were left.
Naturally, she wouldn’t answer.
Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I desperately forced my mind to work.
‘At this point, trying to protect the Dolls is meaningless.’
If Magireta decided to steal them, she would.
She would simply check the remaining time of the Sleepwalking Quest and leisurely steal the Dolls from time to time.
Then what?
“……Let’s go down, Kaid.”
“Yes?”
“There’s no meaning in acting as Sentry anymore. I’ll go down as well and put our heads together. We need to figure out what the third hint is.”
“Hm. Well, sure.”
“Are you really not going to tell me?”
Kaid answered firmly.
“No.”
“Kaid.”
“You probably won’t understand my heart.”
I was slightly startled.
He was smiling.
But his eyes were clearly filled with moisture.
The kind that looked as though it would spill over with the slightest touch.
“Since this is a Quest where Master cannot intervene or monitor, I’ll tell you at least.”
“…….”
“I hate Master. I want to break free. I’m sick and tired of living as a slave.”
He continued earnestly.
“So please give me your trust. The belief that you can free me.”
I climbed down from the Guard post and approached my Companions.
Then I briefly relayed the conversation I had just had with Magireta.
Of course, I left out the parts about the Sleepwalking Quest and the fact that this place was a dream.
After hearing everything, Karin let out a sigh.
“It’s a total mess now. She’s basically saying she’ll do whatever she wants.”
“That may be true, but strictly speaking, Magireta hasn’t broken any rules. She hasn’t violated a single rule of the ‘Real’ Eighth Quest.”
“What exactly is that Real Quest about?”
“As I said before…….”
“Ah. You said you’d be disqualified if you told us.”
Berseum spoke cautiously.
“There are eleven Dolls left. Assuming one is stolen every ten minutes on average…….”
“That’s meaningless, hyung. Now the Thieves can steal multiple Dolls at once.”
“So it’s impossible to estimate the time limit based on the number of remaining Dolls.”
He approached the Coffin with a gloomy expression.
Then, in a voice as though he had made up his mind, he said,
“I’ll cast a defensive spell on this Coffin.”
“Yes?”
“Until now, I refrained from doing this in case it might violate the rules, but since the fake rules no longer matter anyway.”
“Ah…….”
“Now that infinite Mana has become possible thanks to the Potion you gave me, it might work somehow.”
Having said that, he activated the spell.
Soon, a sturdy barrier was erected—one that could even withstand Kanesella magic.
I didn’t know whether that could overcome Magireta’s Omnipotence, but at the very least, it instilled a bit of psychological stability.
Armelia spoke.
“Then let’s think about it. What could the final hint be?”
“And based on that final hint, what is it that we must realize? That’s the key.”
“The first two hints were both related to the Mini Bulletin Board and the large Bulletin Board.”
“Then could the last hint be of the same kind? It might be related to Magireta.”
“Hmm. What if the Magireta floating over there is also fake?”
“If she were fake, she wouldn’t be using her Omnipotence so freely.”
Various opinions were voiced.
But none of them felt right.
Not only my Companions, but even the Participants clutched their heads in thought.
How many minutes had passed like that?
—Kuuung!
Suddenly, the ground shook.
It felt like an earthquake.
We barely regained our balance and checked the source of the tremor.
“Ah! That guy.”
It was the Thief.
At some point, he had approached and was striking the Coffin!
More precisely, he was striking Berseum’s defensive barrier surrounding the Coffin.
—Uooohhh.
We had never heard the Thief wail like that before.
But as if enraged that he could not freely take the Doll inside the Coffin, he opened his mouth wide and let out a ghastly scream.
A completely white body, like a ghost.
Something like smoke billowed from his entire form.
Where his eyes, nose, and mouth should have been, there were only hollow black holes.
A beat late, someone shouted,
“I-It’s the Thief!”
“He can’t steal the Doll. Is that magic?”
“Incredible. Doesn’t that mean there’s no problem now?”
At the last Participant’s remark, Berseum answered, cold sweat dripping down his face.
“Ghk. No, no. The defensive spell is about to break.”
“What? But infinite Mana…….”
“I’m still pouring Mana into it endlessly. But he’s not giving me time to reconstruct the barrier!”
The Thief was pounding the barrier at a speed like light.
The barrier was breaking at the speed of light.
But the speed at which it was being reconstructed was slower than light.
“I can’t hold it any longer…….”
“Damn it. Everyone, attack!”
At my shout, all my Companions rushed toward the Thief at once.
Aina and Sienne each launched needles and a sword strike.
Benjamin attempted to control him with Beramut.
Karin caused the ground to surge upward with spirits, binding the bastard’s feet.
But none of it worked.
“Huh?”
“This can’t be.”
“Our attacks aren’t working at all!”
It seemed our impression that the Thief resembled a ghost was not wrong.
Every physical attack simply passed straight through his body.
Unbothered by our attacks, the Thief focused solely on striking the barrier.
And then—
—Jjaenggeurang.
With a sound like shattering glass, the barrier broke into pieces.
The final punch the Thief threw not only destroyed the barrier…… it struck the Coffin with force.
Thud.
The solid Coffin cracked and shook violently.
At that moment—
“Huh? Ah.”
“Uh.”
“What’s happening?”
What?
Suddenly, one of the Participants collapsed to the ground.
As if dizzy, he staggered.
Another clutched his arm in pain, and someone else coughed up blood.
Among those displaying such abnormal symptoms was Armelia as well.
“……?”
Huh?
Wait, wait a second.
Lightning struck my head.
Could this be…….
Before my thoughts could fully connect, the Thief who had broken the barrier leaped into the Coffin.
Spreading his arms wide, he gathered the Dolls inside into his embrace.
And then he vanished.
As if a ghost had returned to Hell.
“He stole them again.”
“Calm down. How many Dolls are left?”
“That guy took several Dolls at once.”
We hurriedly checked inside the Coffin.
There was only one Doll remaining.
He had plundered ten Dolls in a single strike.
“It’s over. It’s all over now.”
“Waaah. I don’t want to die.”
“Damn it, what the hell is the final hint? What are we supposed to realize?!”
Despair spread among the Ordinary participants.
No—not only them.
Even my Companions’ morale had plummeted, their expressions unbearably heavy.
Armelia asked as well,
“Mason. Is this the end?”
I took a deep breath and answered.
“No. Not at all.”
“Huh?”
“I just figured out the final hint.”
“……! What is it?”
“Before that, just a moment.”
I approached Kaid.
As if unrelated to the commotion thus far, he had been standing back with his arms crossed.
When he noticed me approaching, he quickly uncrossed them.
“I’m sorry! How dare I take such an impudent posture…….”
“Kaid.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
“I know how you altered the final hint.”
His expression changed.
I whispered into his ear.
“Magireta said you didn’t change the hint into something completely different. She only said you decorated it.”
“…….”
“You also said you’d at least leave it functional as a hint. That you merely raised the difficulty slightly.”
I continued quietly.
“You changed the appearance of the Dolls inside that Coffin, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“The original Dolls inside the Coffin wouldn’t have had those faces, that form. You altered their appearance into identical, featureless Dolls.”
Kaid remained silent for a moment.
Then he grinned.
“Magnificent. Mr. Mason.”