Chapter 11: Don’t Nerf Me!!

Shiver!!

"!!"

Whoosh.

"Huh? What’s wrong with you?"

A chill ran over my entire body, a creepy sensation slithering across me like a snake’s tongue. I immediately turned my head and looked all around, but there was nothing there.

"...Was it just my imagination...?"

"Why... what is it? Don’t make me nervous."

"It’s nothing, Eclipse..."

Clatter, clatter.

I had felt something, so I trailed off, retied my blindfold, and poured the medical instruments, including the syringes, into the black bag I had brought.

I was in an abandoned hospital.

I had come here for the sake of the ‘plan’ to come.

"Hmm... More importantly, this thing called [Unchained] is fascinating, isn’t it?"

"What is?"

"It’s a substance that has never been discovered on Earth before."

Hovering in the air beside me, Eclipse was conducting experiments on the [Unchained] I had given her, examining it from every angle and even breaking it down.

Every so often, Eclipse would groan, rest her chin on her hand, then curse under her breath and mess up her own hair.

Honestly, that was the appropriate reaction.

[Unchained]—a special blood type possessed only by the protagonist of the original work and the Commander of the Goddess Squad. But why was Eclipse analyzing it?

"Huh? Rukh, Rukh, what the heck is [Unchained]?"

"Pardon?"

"I asked what [Unchained] is!"

While I was using [Haima]—regeneration—Eclipse had scanned my body. When she saw my black-and-red blood, she said it had [Unchained] mixed into it.

Holy moly guacamole, what the hell.

Was the Queen in her right mind?

And Eclipse drove home the fact that my blood type was none other than Rh-x: [Unchained].

It was not merely rare blood.

It could cure corruption and kill the Queen!!

That was why I had eaten Storm Bringer and come here—to draw my blood.

Ugh... I hate needles.

And apparently it was true that eating Raptures made me grow.

Sssss.

"Huh? Rukh’s status...?"

"I’m not Pok●mon."

The metal making up the lower half of my body was covered by something, then turned a smooth gray.

Eclipse let out an impressed, "Ooh," and then—

"Wait a second."

"What?"

Clang!!

She suddenly made a hammer out of a hologram in midair and brought it straight down on my leg AAAAAAAGH MY LEGS MY LEGS MY LEEEGS!!!!!

...But why didn’t it hurt?

"Holy shit, look at this!"

Eclipse waved the hammer in front of my eyes.

The hammer... was broken??

"Whoa, wait, this... This is crazy. Isn’t this titanium?!"

What the hell is that, you nerd? I voiced my confusion because that was not the behavior of someone trying to smash another person’s legs.

"Titanium, also called titan, is a silvery-white transition metal with atomic number 22. It’s about 5.5 times tougher than iron while weighing less than half as much—a ‘dream metal’ with excellent corrosion resistance, heat resistance, and biocompatibility. It’s used as a key material in high-performance industries like aerospace, automobiles, medical implants, and premium sporting goods—"

My head... my head is about to explode! The information is being injected into me...!

The information is singing to meee!!

"St... stop!! Keep it brief!"

"It’s a damn awesome metal, that’s what."

Thankfully, that awesome summary kept the CPU in my head from exploding. Whew...

But just how tough was it, then?

"Hmm... To put it simply, it could probably stop stuff like bullets or bazooka rounds without a problem?"

"The fact that you phrased that like a question makes me a little uneasy..."

"Ugh, why are you worrying so much? You’re the guy who gobbles up Tyrant-class Raptures."

"Yes, yes."

"Damn it, so Bippy got that personality from you?!"

Trust this super genius already!! Eclipse kept nagging me as she floated there, so I ignored her, retied my blindfold, and left the hospital.

Perhaps because evening was approaching, the sky had turned golden before I knew it.

Heave-ho. Maybe because I stuffed the bag as full as I could, it was kind of hea—

Bang!!

"What...?"

Something cut through the air and grazed past my hair. That sounded like a gunshot?!

I hurriedly lowered myself, and another gunshot rang out in the air. When I looked behind me—

Click.

"Don’t move, shall we?"

A pink-haired woman was aiming a gun at my forehead.

Pink hair completely unsuited to an apocalypse setting, and a dress as white as a pearl...?

(Doro...)

Do... Dorolong?? No, no, Dorothy?

Bang!!

Oh, shit!!

This time it grazed past my ear. I didn’t do anything?!

Ignoring me entirely, Dorothy began chambering another round, and in the distance, someone holding a spear...

Holy shit, Rapunzel too?

Dorothy and Rapunzel were both members of the Goddess Squad. But if two of the six had come here...

Did that mean I had become a target of Goddess??!!

.

.

.

. . .

Dorothy’s POV

Finding Sicarius had not been particularly difficult.

When the squad arrived, Storm Bringer’s corpse was lying there. Not far from the corpse, footprints led toward a nearby abandoned city.

We judged that he could not be too far away.

So we split up into pairs, but...

"Did you think we wouldn’t find those footprints?"

"Foot... prints?... Eek."

Judging from how flustered you are, those traces must indeed be yours.

The city had an abundance of sand, so Sicarius’s footprints had been imprinted clearly. Dorothy and Rapunzel, who happened to be passing through, found them first.

"Hahaha... I think there may be a misunderstanding here..."

"A misunderstanding?"

"I’m just a survivor..."

"Ha. A survivor whose—"

Click.

"Feet are made of steel?"

Steel? Why steel all of a sudden?...! She saw the upgrade!!

My outfit had deteriorated over time, becoming torn and riddled with holes here and there. The lower half, especially, had torn away from all the use my legs got, and...

Gleam, gleam.

"This is Dorothy. We have found Sicarius."

"Huff, huff, su-surrender!!"

Between the gaps in my clothes, that metal called titanium or whatever was gleaming.

I’m screwed...

And then...

Whirr.

Click.

Before I knew it, a gun barrel and a spear were aimed at me, both glinting menacingly.

"...Eep?"

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!!!!

.

.

.

.

.

Bang! Bang!

"So pathetic♡ So pathetic♡"

"Grrrrr!!!"

And that was how things had turned into this complete mess.

Dorothy narrowed her eyes and fired her handgun over and over, determined to hit me somehow, while Rapunzel—

"Haaah, haaah! Once I catch you, I won’t let you off♡?!"

‘Stop dodging and come at us!’

I think her thoughts and dialogue had gotten mixed up somehow.

But why wasn’t I attacking?

"You frustrating idiot! Why are you only dodging? Why?!"

‘Because they can’t get hurt!!’

Goddess—as the name implied, those who killed gods.

This squad’s objective was to kill the Queen, the final boss of the Raptures.

They couldn’t get hurt because of me here!!

That was why I was desperately avoiding fighting rather than fighting while avoiding them. And perhaps my vision had evolved as well—

Whoosh!

"Too slow!"

"An otter?"

I could see every attack coming.

Was this enough now?

Perhaps because they were exhausted, Rapunzel and Dorothy started panting heavily. See? There was a reason fleeing was the best of the thirty-six strategies.

To run away, I stretched one leg far off to the side and lowered my body.

"...! He’s escaping!"

Yep, too late~ Let’s never see each other again~

Crrrack, cr-cr-crack!!

The ground slowly began to break apart.

And then...

"Peekaboo~"

Booooooooom!!!

KRAAAAAASH!!!

"????????????"

Something red filled my vision, and I was embedded in a wall.

What the hell is this???

"Whoa, you took that? You’re pretty good, huh?"

Thud.

Fuck, who the... Re... ReReReRed Hooood???

I raised my head to see the face of the person who had sent me flying, and Red Hood—the game’s mascot and resident big sister—was looking down at me.

No... Why was she here...

"Red Hood!! You said we’d go together!!"

"Hey, Snow! You made it!"

And in the distance was the white-haired girl, Snow White...

Shing.

"I’ll finish this with one clean cut."

Scarlet stood to my left.

And then...

"Everyone, stay alert. He’s the one who has eaten more than ten Tyrant-class Raptures."

Liliweiss.

??????????

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

Who????

Liliweiss????

Why was the woman who turns Raptures into rapt/ures here??!!

Click.

Whiiiiir!!

The sounds of metal meshing and steel scraping rang in my ears from all around.

No... I seriously didn’t do anything, though???

I’m fucked...

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