Chapter 13
Of course I could see everything through his fingers, but I decided to pretend I hadn’t.
“If you’re going to say things like that, how about covering your hands properly first?”
“Ah, no… well, fine. I looked a little! I was just jealous because your muscles were so well-defined—any complaints?”
Since it had come to this, I chose to be shameless about it.
“What kind of nonsense is that? Whatever. More importantly, I should get out of here… ugh!”
At that moment the man, who had been awkwardly fastening his clothes with a flushed face, suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed to the floor.
“…Why all of a sudden?”
“Ugh, ugh… damn, already…”
Cold sweat stood out on his face as he muttered to himself.
What the—did he get embarrassed or what?
I grabbed a scrap of cloth to cover him and moved closer, when a dark red surge of magi rolled and sloshed over his body, and before I knew it an enormous miasma began to coat him from head to toe.
“W-what is this? Hey, are you okay?!”
“Guh…! Run. Run away from here. As far as you can!”
With those words, the man was swallowed up in the massive magi in an instant.
“Jooooeeeee—! What’s happening! Grrr!”
Ruby barreled into the room, growling in alarm, and the figure that had been wrapped in the magi began to reveal itself.
“…W-what is that?”
The man who emerged with a bright flash in his eyes no longer looked like an ordinary human I knew.
He was like a colossal…
“A monster…?”
Kiiiiiiing—
The low sound coming from him was unmistakably that of a mased beast—a literal “masu” (monster/warbeast).
But something about its appearance was strange.
Usually a masu takes on a definite animal or beast form, like Ruby. This one, however, looked like a lump of blackened, coagulated magi—just a mass of darkness.
Kreeeeek—!
The masu let out a beastly roar.
The shout was so powerful that it felt like space itself warped for a beat.
I, who had been frozen, snapped back to my senses.
“Why did he suddenly turn into a masu?!”
“Grrr! Joe—Get out! That thing is dangerous!”
Ruby bristled like a dandelion seed and warned me, and at the same time the system messages started flashing manically.
Beep! Beep!
[<SYSTEM> WARNING NOTICE! WARNING NOTICE!
Oxygen saturation is rapidly decreasing due to increased magi density.
Players must immediately evacuate this area!
※ CAUTION: Failure to leave quickly may result in death!]
“What? D-die from this?”
There was no time to panic over the blinking warning; the man-turned-masu was flailing wildly in a state of high excitement.
Ka-bang—!
The masu’s savage thrashing split open cracks in the already fragile walls.
This house was old and was already due for repairs, but seeing it fall apart faster made me wish I had fixed it sooner.
But that was only the opening to the chaos.
The masu’s flashing eyes fixed on the chair beside the bed and suddenly the chair was lifted.
“Hey, hey! I just repainted that!”
I watched in slow motion as the wooden chair flew through the window with a whoosh.
Clang—!
“Ugh! Oh my God!”
Seeing our stuff get smashed in an instant, I dropped to the floor as if I were the tragic heroine of some melodrama.
Three essentials in life: food, clothing, shelter.
Of those, the most important is shelter—your home.
What made me happiest about being stuck in this game world was this house.
No more tiny paycheck eaten up by rent, no more passive-aggressive messages from a landlord… It was my very own home, in my name.
I didn’t know when I might return to the real world, and even if it was a little worn, with some care it could be a cozy place to spend the rest of my life.
Kreeeeeeeek—!
But the masu trampled that dream in an instant.
While I writhed on the floor in despair, the wooden desk beside me was suddenly hoisted into the air.
Stop it, stop it, you crazy—!
I couldn’t take it anymore. I drew in a breath and shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Hey! You insane masu!! Stop moving!!”
My thunderous shout made the masu pause for a moment.
I had saved him from dying, and this is the thanks I get—what ungratefulness.
Angry at the man’s ingratitude, I hit on an idea.
He’s a masu now, after all—if I tame him with Attica, wouldn’t he calm down?
I stood and summoned Attica at once.
“If you come to your senses, you’ll owe me generous compensation. Temptation!”
Fwoom!
With tears in my eyes I cast the skill; Attica shone with brilliant light.
I thought with Attica’s help things would go smoothly.
I was sorely mistaken.
“What—what’s happening? Why is this—”
Attica’s form suddenly faltered and the summon broke.
“Huh…? Why am I falling…?”
At the same moment my body slid to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Ugh, b-breathe… I can’t…”
My heart pounded but my breaths grew short.
It felt as if I’d been thrown into a sealed room with no oxygen.
Wait—oxygen…?
[<SYSTEM> WARNING! Player’s HP is below 80%; skills cannot be used.]
The system voice reminded me, and I remembered the warning that oxygen saturation was dropping rapidly.
Thud!
“Ugh, Joe… huff, huff…”
Ruby, who had been staggering to keep standing, lost balance and collapsed to the floor. She seemed to be in the same condition as me.
“Ru-Ruby… ugh, don’t… pass out…”
No matter how hard I fought to stay conscious, my eyelids began to feel the pull of gravity.
[<SYSTEM> Remote control mode activated to protect the player.]
‘Remote… control…?’
The system voice grew faint as my consciousness drifted away, and then I blacked out.
Damn it.
The man who’d inevitably turned into a masu muttered curses alone in pitch-black darkness.
He couldn’t share the masu’s sight; his vision was complete blackness.
Following wherever the masu led, he had no idea why he had awakened here.
At dawn, when his body would return to him, he tried several times to crawl back into the royal cell where the sealing runes were engraved, but at midnight each time he lost consciousness and the masu dragged him back here.
“Why did I suddenly turn into a masu!”
At that moment a woman’s voice rang out, sounding panicked.
It was the woman who had saved him—Joe Blanche.
In the absolute darkness, hearing was his only way to communicate with the outside, so he focused on the voice.
He must have been shocked. He had transformed into a disgusting, monstrous thing.
He ground his molars together.
“When you come to your senses, you’ll know how to squeeze a fat compensation out of me.”
Contrary to what he’d expected—her to scream and run—her bold words cut into his ears.
Despite appearances she was a fairly tough person, but to talk about compensation in this situation… the man was momentarily left speechless by her audacity.
But then his expression darkened.
He knew how much destruction he had caused on the way here.
The beast that had taken over his body had no reason or cause; it fed only on destruction, and he instinctively felt that her bold voice would soon turn into a horrible scream.
“Ugh, b-breathe… I can’t…”
His prediction came true.
Joe’s voice, crushed under the massive magi, quivered thinly as if about to vanish.
‘I don’t want to hurt you. Please—run away from me!’
