Chapter 13: [Hazard] - (24 Years Before the Original) The Thread of Hope Within Reach. But- 1

Thump! Thump!

"This. is. the. place. where. I. used. to. repair. Cinderella. quickly."

"Ooh. At this point, it’s practically still in active service, isn’t it?"

"It. took. quite. a. long. time. I. tried. to. piece. together. the. damaged. memories. and. remember."

"Hee."

The place Grave had shown me as the lab was an underground bunker.

To be precise, it was a bunker-style research facility hidden behind iron doors and steel plates, then covered over with dirt and rock.

The inside was spacious enough for about twenty people, but it felt cramped because of all the machinery and devices that looked like surgical tables.

I took out the parts, batteries, and generator I’d stored in my inventory, and then Grave set down Cinderella’s sleeping incubator coffin and her armed [Glass Slipper].

"......A. few. days. ago. I. said. this."

"Ah. That....."

"....Hmm....."

On the day we left the factory.

I showed her the Grave Spare Body I’d presumably obtained from the first Tyrant Rapture I’d taken down and made my offer.

Grave accepted it carefully and turned the hexagonal device over and over, studying the spare body engraved with a face identical to her own from the past.

Then she handed it back to me and led me here without another word.

"I. can’t. help. with. the. repair."

"You have to at least try. You’re giving up without even attempting it?"

"What. matters. is. Cinderella. waking. up. I. am. not. needed."

"If Cinderella wakes up and sees you like this, do you really think she’ll be happy? If you’re going to meet again, you should at least meet in one piece."

"It. doesn’t. matter. This. is. a. new. story. I. will. rewrite-"

"So you’re going to write a happy ending, a beautiful story, with a body that’s practically dead and falling apart? Yeah, that sounds real beautiful."

Grave was stubborn in a different way.

Of course, I respected her opinion.

But her condition—especially her face, which was hidden by the helmet and looked fine at a glance—was actually creaking from the inside. Her face had been nearly stripped bare by the human bastards in the Ark, to the point where the robotic skull underneath was almost visible.

On top of that, while trying to fix Cinderella, she’d even torn off parts from her own legs, arms, and even critical internal components to use as spares.

"If you ask me, you look like someone who’s going to die before they even get to meet Cinderella."

"......"

"I understand the burden you’re carrying. But still... think about it. If Cinderella sees you like this when you meet again, do you really think she’ll be happy?"

"Don’t. say. that. so. carelessly--"

"I’m not saying it carelessly. Would she really feel grateful that you tore off pieces of your own body to repair her? Or would she feel guilt?"

"........"

"You know it too. Your condition is... really bad."

Mission, new story, beautiful story, happy ending, and Cinderella’s revival.

Grave had completely neglected herself, and she was basically on the verge of being scrapped.

If she were human, it would be like suffering from severe chronic illness and terminal cancer at the same time, with a death sentence hanging over her head.

"Cinderella waking up is important. But you need to live too."

"!"

"If you die, what do you think she’ll feel? Think about it. When Cinderella ended up like that, how did you feel?"

"........"

"You’d be a little scared, and you’d doubt it too. That’s why I asked you: 'How much can you trust me?'"

"......."

"I want you to survive. And I want to see you live long enough to properly catch up with Cinderella."

"Superhuman...."

I placed the hexagonal spare body into Grave’s hands.

She stared silently at the spare body that would become her new form, then finally spoke.

"......Then. give. me. a. little. time."

"....."

"I. believe. your. words. But. procedure. first. Cinderella. and. [Glass Slipper]. must. be. repaired. first."

"Really?"

"Yes. I. won’t. compromise. on. that. either. Urgent. things. important. things. must. be. handled. first."

"Got it. I’ll keep that in mind. Then what do you need me to do? Help from the side? Or guard outside?"

".....For. now, please. handle. the. Raptures. outside. I. am. sorry."

"No problem. So there’s nothing for me to help with inside?"

"Thanks. to. you, I. secured. many. parts. I. also. got. energy. There. will. be. very. positive. results."

Our roles were decided.

I would hunt Raptures outside, and Grave would repair Cinderella and [Glass Slipper] inside.

According to Grave, repairing Cinderella required a lot of parts and energy, and if she also repaired the weaponized [Glass Slipper], then not only would it take time, but the number of parts would be absurdly insufficient.

The replacement parts we’d salvaged from the factory, the glass panels needed to repair the weapon, and the electricity and generator needed for the work had all been secured in more than enough quantity.

Seeing her speak with a hopeful tone and a bright voice for the first time made me snort a laugh.

Then I went back outside, keeping some distance from the door and wandering around as if patrolling the area.

This place is really bleak. I hope things start going a little more smoothly.

I’d fallen into the world of NIKKE for reasons I still didn’t understand, and somehow ended up meeting Grave.

I’d been drawn in by her story-heavy, burdened-looking presence, and though we’d clashed and drifted out of sync a few times, in the end we’d worked things out and cooperated.

The skills of Eunwol from Maple Story shattered common sense far more than I’d expected.

And that power was more than enough to tear Raptures apart like toys.

"So the skills I can use right now go up to sixth job? I’ve only tried all of fourth job and fifth job’s [Ghost Gate Formation] so far."

On the way to find Cinderella’s parts, while moving toward the factory, Grave and I had encountered swarms of Raptures.

Just in case, and to test how far I could push my power, I’d used one of my fifth-job skills.

"The power was incredible."

What even Grave had jumped at was a giant gate.

Dark energy had poured out of it in a way that was honestly creepy even to me, and I’d frozen as the intense force crushed the Raptures all at once.

Some bizarre but cute little dark spirits had clung to the Raptures like children at play, then triggered a shockwave that shattered the Raptures beside them like Styrofoam.

"Come to think of it, I think something like a flash may have gone off... Well, whatever. If more come from somewhere else, the answer is to smash them all the same."

Maybe living here had made me a little brutally simple-minded, but there was no helping it.

Rapture technology could tear humans apart with ease.

Not only their optical tech, but their weapons themselves were designed not for people but for objects—focused on destruction, on smashing matter—and that kind of firepower could easily blow a person to pieces.

But for me, using Eunwol’s skills, the Raptures’ attacks had become useless.

Eunwol’s passive skills were full of stuff that boosted strength and defense.

Eunwol is a character in MapleStory who belongs to the Hero category, is in the Pirate job line, and fights in close combat.

Because he’s a character who makes constant contact with monsters, he has a lot of defensive skills focused on defense and HP recovery.

Oddly enough, because his damage wasn’t that impressive, he tended to be looked down on in the early days.

But as time passed and the game meta changed, Eunwol’s evaluation and remake ended up producing positive results.

He covers the weakness of warrior movement speed, crits surprisingly well, and even has a backstep skill—that’s a huge advantage.

Eunwol has a strong warrior-plus-martial-artist image.

The roughness of a warrior and the weight of physical attacks.

But there’s also the Pirate’s agility and Eunwol’s own movement skills.

On top of that, with buffs simplified into passives, by fourth job he basically has not just HP recovery but a whopping two survival skills.

He’s basically a zombie, through and through.

Though honestly, as a close-range character, the fact that he handles spirits and can also fight at mid-range or even long-range thanks to homing skills is kind of a drawback.

The damage is disappointing. But the survivability and utility are excellent.

That’s Eunwol’s defining trait.

Of course, in-game he’s a character with lacking damage, but the 'reality' I was in now was different.

It was the kind of thing that shattered common sense itself and broke the very foundation of this world—

"......Come to think of it, am I basically a walking disaster?"

This world is post-apocalyptic.

The invasion of Raptures—mechanical lifeforms presumably created by humans—destroyed human civilization.

With civilization collapsed, only a tiny number of survivors remained, and humanity regressed into hiding underground in the Ark.

Even then, after three failed attempts to reclaim the surface, the uglier side of human nature—its malice and greed—made the end of the world feel even more complete.

When humans die, no one knows where their remains go.

When women die, their brains can be used to reborn them as cyborg anti-Rapture weapons called NIKKE.

NIKKE are human, yet not human; to the people of the Ark, they’re nothing more than machines.

Even the NIKKE who fight for humanity have self-awareness, and with it values and beliefs.

And because they are 'human' yet also 'machines that are not human,' their sense of self collapses in contradiction.

The stagnated civilization of humanity.

The machines of calamity still roaming the surface.

Humans fighting each other over their own ideologies.

In the midst of all that, the existence called 'me' was...

I casually stomped across the surface, smashing the machines of calamity.

A monster who didn’t even flinch at the attacks of Raptures that could easily kill humans and NIKKE alike.

"......So that’s why Grave was looking at me like I was ridiculous."

I could understand Grave’s feelings a little better now.

============

About a week had passed since I started hunting Raptures outside and guarding the bunker research lab.

Grave, full of excitement, was focused on repairing Cinderella and her weapon, [Glass Slipper].

"Aaah....I’m. so. glad. Really. glad...hng...sob"

Even while repairing, Grave moved with tears in her voice.

For more than seventy years, she had clung to her ideal of fighting only for humanity.

Her hope, her dream, her masterpiece, and her 'child'—Cinderella—had been in pain, and now that hope was slowly becoming visible, she could only rejoice.

The beautiful princess who would bring victory to humanity was defiled by the 'red shoes.'

The defiled 'mirror' was eventually stained with blood, but after many twists and turns, it desperately struggled to correct the wrong story.

In the end—though it ended in parting, forgetting the 'foam' and the 'twins,'

it landed a blow on the Queen who had brought humanity defeat and calamity.

"I. have. a. 'friend'. I. really. want. to. introduce. to. you."

She struggled on with hope.

She struggled for a beautiful story.

The world was cruel, and humans were even more vicious and petty than she had expected.

She had been damaged, broken, and nearly swallowed by despair.

But she still clung to hope and struggled on.

"A. funny. idiot. who. breaks. common. sense. A. 'superhuman'."

The Heretic who betrayed humanity had targeted her 'masterpiece' and her 'hope.'

She had gone through all kinds of hardship to avoid the Raptures.

When supplies ran short, she even tore pieces off her own body to make up for them.

Her creaking, precarious life was steadily heading toward the dangerous end called 'death.'

"Still. a. good. one. though. Not. human. Different. from. humans."

In a 'trial' with no end in sight, no matter how much despair and ruin lay ahead...

While struggling through harsh reality, carrying a heavy 'coffin' with great difficulty...

before her, a 'hope wearing the mask of calamity' appeared.

"Aaah... so. fast. Too. fast. I. couldn’t. repair. it. alone. But. thanks. to. the. superhuman, it. finished. so. quickly."

Now overflowing with the hope and joy of being able to see Cinderella again soon, she finished repairing her dedicated weapon, [Glass Slipper], in just two days.

But there was something Grave had overlooked.

"......The. parts. are. weirdly. high. quality. It. got. upgraded?"

The glass panel parts we’d obtained from the factory, which was presumably a Rapture supply depot, had improved the performance of the existing [Glass Slipper].

"Ah... it. was. compatible? Why? It. has. 'self-repair'...? Huh?"

And a few more realities she had overlooked were revealed as well.

Once the repair on [Glass Slipper] was done, Grave was flustered by the unintended upgrade, and then shocked again when the factory parts turned out to be a perfect match.

Then, while replacing parts and checking the body, some of the nanomachines making up Cinderella’s body activated, and she was shocked yet again when the repair began to proceed slowly on its own.

"I. didn’t. expect. this. Ah...aah...aahhh!"

Grave let out something that was not quite a scream and not quite a cry—more accurately, a cheer.

For over seventy years, it had been difficult for her to repair Cinderella alone.

Of course, there had been a shortage of parts, and the overall environment had been extremely poor.

On top of that, the 'memories,' 'skills,' and 'knowledge' from her days as Abe—the so-called 'genius technician'—had been lost.

And to make matters worse, her body condition was truly terrible; even if she tried to rebuild her knowledge, ten years would not have been enough, let alone a hundred.

Even so, she had never given up, painstakingly repairing Cinderella little by little and struggling just to maintain her current state.

So when the repair and recovery suddenly began moving so quickly, she couldn’t hide her joy.

The soot-stained, damaged body was soon restored to a clean, smooth state.

A white tinged with blue. The pure white of untouched innocence.

Above all, her beautiful face was so lovely it could captivate men and women of any age alike.

"Cindere...lla..."

If there were angels, if there were goddesses, then this was the kind of figure that would make one feel nobility even while lying there unconscious, and Grave spilled out her joy.

It was the moment Cinderella’s treatment was completely finished.

All that remained was for her to open her eyes.

Grave steadied her happy heart and waited for consciousness to return, but...

".....Why?"

Even after a day passed, even after two days, even after five days, Cinderella still did not wake up.

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