[Lobotomy/Limbus] I became Yuri's coworker*

Craaaash—!

The enormous shears came crashing down toward the ground.

I instinctively threw myself to the side.

If that hit me, I was dead. One blow, without even a chance to use a K Corp ampule.

The floor struck by the shears split open.

The hard stone road that made up the village cracked apart like paper, and red petals burst from the gaps as if exploding.

"Wow~"

Nova stepped back and whistled.

"If that hits you, you really would get cut in two, huh~?"

"Obviously!"

"No~ I was just checking~"

"Checking what?!"

Boom!!

Before I could even finish speaking, the shears came down again.

This time, where I had been standing.

Then again—

Boom!!

Again—

Boom!!

The thing that resembled Deputy Team Leader Doyoon kept swinging its shears without the slightest hesitation.

Like cutting down trees, or trimming weeds, it brought the shears down with mechanical, emotionless precision.

"Nova, compared to the real Deputy Team Leader Doyoon, how strong is that thing? Do we have a chance of winning?"

"Ah~ It’s fine. Compared to the original, it’s not even half as strong. Still, a frail ranged shooter like me might die pretty quickly. Should I be grateful that it’ll kill me instead~?"

"Stop joking around. So if I can hold out, we can win, right?"

"Of course~~ Just hold on a little longer~ I’ve finished charging up my Enkephalin, so I’ll land a hit soon~"

Ha... I should’ve just accepted getting hit and brought Captain Mir. I could’ve gotten carried through this, damn it...

Our conversation barely lasted a moment before it charged at us again.

"The flower shop owner’s daughter must love flowers."

Boom!!

"The flower shop owner’s daughter is a good child."

Boom!!

"An actor must fulfill their role."

Boom!!

The stage was gradually being destroyed.

Debris flew everywhere, and flower petals whirled through the air.

I gritted my teeth and gripped Repentance.

"It really won’t listen. It just keeps repeating the same lines."

"Of course~"

Nova raised Abraxas.

"It has the face of someone with no intention of talking in the first place. Feels like a slightly more rigid version of Doyoon."

That isn’t just slightly more rigid!!

Bang!!

A golden bullet flew out.

It pierced the thing’s shoulder.

But it did not stop.

No, it did not even flinch.

The wound repaired itself in an instant, like branches growing back, and it merely repeated the same words.

"Wow~ This might be a little annoying..?"

Then—

Shraaaak!!

The sky was dyed red.

Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of petals rose into the air.

And every one of them turned sharp.

"Han~ Get ready~"

"I know."

"No~ Don’t you think we might finally get to die now~?"

Nova aimed Abraxas.

"This might be a little dangerous~?"

Shraaaak!!!!

The petals poured down like a storm.

Kagagak!!

Sparks flew across Repentance.

Each individual petal was as sharp as a razor blade.

They scraped against the blade.

They grazed my arm.

They sliced past my cheek.

Slash!!

A red line appeared across my right arm.

It stung. And it burned.

"That hurts."

"Don’t think of it as getting hit by flowers~"

Bang!!

"You’re getting hit by knives~"

The golden bullet burst through a cluster of petals.

But there were too many.

Slash!!

This time, my thigh.

Slash!!

My shoulder.

Slash!!

Beside my neck.

Fortunately, they were shallow wounds, not fatal ones.

But if they kept piling up, it would become dangerous.

I charged forward through the petals.

I had to reach Deputy Team Leader Doyoon—no, his imitation.

Then something wrapped around my ankle.

"...!"

I looked down.

Flower stems. I did not even know when they had risen up.

Dozens of stems were coiling around my legs like snakes.

"Ah... I’m fucking screwed..."

Crunch.

The flower stems tightened.

I could hear my bones creaking.

I could not breathe.

"Han~ Want some help?"

Bang!!!!

A golden bullet tore through the flower stems.

The stems burst apart.

I immediately retreated.

At the same time—

Craaaash!!!!

The enormous shears pulverized the spot where I had been standing.

"It really has nothing but murder on its mind~"

"Nova."

"Yeah?"

"Don’t Mindscape Dungeon bosses normally try to kill us anyway?"

"That’s true too~"

Even in the middle of all this, she was unruffled. Impressively so.

Then the villagers around us began to move.

The entire village was moving.

They walked straight toward us.

"Ah...."

Nova covered her face.

"I don’t like this. It’s disgusting."

Bang!!

The villagers’ heads exploded.

Their chests were pierced, and their bodies collapsed.

But they kept walking toward us, repeating the same words.

"An actor must fulfill their role."

"This is seriously grotesque."

I swung Repentance.

Slash!!

One villager split in half.

But behind it stood ten more—no, twenty, thirty. There was no end to them. They simply kept resurrecting and approaching us.

It was still repeating the same words.

Over and over, like a broken record.

And then the Mercenary spoke.

"...Why."

For an instant—

It felt as if everything had stopped.

"Why can’t I remember?"

It did not answer.

"The flower shop owner’s daughter loves flowers."

"Why?"

The Mercenary asked again.

"If I’m the flower shop owner’s daughter—"

"Shouldn’t I at least know what flowers I like?"

"..."

"The flower shop owner’s daughter loves flowers."

"Then."

The Mercenary’s eyes wavered.

"What was the flower shop called?"

"What was my grandmother’s name?"

"What did I do at the flower shop?"

"Why can’t I remember any of it?"

Its movements stopped for just a moment.

Only for a moment, but they stopped.

"The flower shop owner’s daughter loves flowers."

"No."

The Mercenary’s voice rose.

"Why do I love them?"

"Why can’t I remember?"

"Why?"

"Why?!!"

Crack.

A fracture appeared in Doyoon’s body.

Tiny, like a crack in glass.

"..."

"The flower shop owner’s daughter."

Crack.

"Loves."

Crack-crack.

"Flowers."

The cracks spread.

I understood.

Doyoon had not been persuaded. Of course not—this was not something that could be persuaded.

That thing was a device. A device meant to maintain the role of the flower shop owner’s daughter.

Its actual role in this play was, at most, that of a supporting character. It could never become anything more than that.

Which meant that when the Mercenary—the protagonist of this story, the protagonist of the play—asked a question that reached beyond what such a device could explain—

An error would occur. A causality that a mere supporting character could never account for.

She remembered the outcome.

She was the flower shop owner’s daughter, and she loved flowers.

But there was no process.

No memory to support it.

So it could not answer. It could not preserve the causality of this play.

"Why?"

The Mercenary spoke again.

"Why do I have to be the flower shop owner’s daughter?"

Crunch.

Cracks ran through the Deputy Team Leader’s body again. This time, a larger one horizontally across it.

"The flower shop..."

"Owner’s daughter..."

"Loves flowers..."

It could not continue.

A device that had lost its causality could no longer play a role in the performance...

So it kept repeating only the same part.

I gripped Repentance.

"Nova, you know what to do, right?"

"Yep~"

"I’ll finish it."

"Oh~ Very cool."

I ran.

Toward the thing directly ahead of me.

For the last time, it raised its shears.

Craaaash!!!!

I twisted Repentance and deflected the shears.

Already weakened, it was now far weaker than before—weak enough for me to handle.

The shears and sword collided, and a powerful impact surged through me.

But I did not give ground.

I remembered what I had learned fighting the Mercenary: focus strength into my grip, and when the opponent leaves an opening, cut in an instant with a powerful twist.

And in that opening, I swung with all my strength.

The enormous pruning shears split in half.

At the same time, its body staggered.

Then—

Bang!!!!

A golden bullet from Abraxas pierced its chest.

"The flower shop..."

"Owner’s daughter..."

"..."

Its body collapsed.

It shattered into pieces, becoming thousands of petals that scattered into the air.

And the village began to collapse.

The flower shop crumbled.

The villagers who had seemed impossible to kill melted away.

The flower field blackened and burned.

The emcee clapped from above the audience seats.

Clap clap clap.

"Excellent."

"Act One has ended. The supporting actor in charge has been lost."

"Then let us begin Act Two. Shall we call it The Hunter?"

At once, the world turned upside down. The flower field vanished, revealing a black forest.

A thick fog hung in the air, carrying the smell of damp earth.

And then—

Bang!!

A gunshot rang out.

Nova raised her head.

"Did you hear that~?"

"Yes. I heard it clearly."

High up in a distant tree, someone sat swinging their legs.

Someone wearing a hunter’s hat and cloak, holding a long rifle.

It was an extremely familiar face. The sort of face that looked like it would beat Yuri and me up every day after work under the pretense of training us.

"Huh?"

A woman smiled.

"Doyoon is dead already? That was way too quick."

She swung her legs, as if she had seen something entertaining.

"You’re better than I expected. You lot... look like you’d make hunting worthwhile."

Nova covered her face.

"Ah~ I didn’t expect to run into our captain here~"

Captain Mir—or rather, the thing that looked exactly like her—slowly raised her rifle.

Click. The sound of a round being chambered rang out.

Then the corners of her mouth rose.

"But do you know? From here on out, it’s going to get really hard. Look forward to it."

I’m really fucking screwed. How am I supposed to beat that...?

Chapter 16: The Dream Continues (3)

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Chapter 16: The Dream Continues (3)

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