IGPB 14

Chapter 14

The man screamed and screamed again, consumed by fury at his own helplessness.
Yet, cruelly enough, not a single sound escaped his mouth.

Desperate to save her somehow, he struggled to regain control of his own body.
If he could even move a finger, he planned to draw his sharp sword and drive it straight into his heart.

But no matter how much he tried, his body refused to move. Soon, her presence—her voice—vanished completely.
His face twisted into utter despair.

“…Tsk, you can’t even endure this much demonic energy? I really went too easy on you.”

The voice he thought had completely disappeared echoed once again in his ears.
At that sound, his heart—which had sunk to the bottom—slowly lifted in relief.

But only for a moment.
A strange sense of wrongness crept in.

It was her voice, yes—but mechanical, cold, and emotionless, utterly unlike her usual self.

“…What is this?”

Then he heard that same flat, detached voice—Zoe’s voice—once more.
From the icy tone, the man began to feel a chilling certainty.

Because of his frequent transformations into a beast, his hearing had become unnaturally sensitive.
He could detect even the faintest changes in her.
And right now, she was… different.

As he was piecing together the source of his unease, she spoke again in a disgusted tone.

“Hah. What is this? You’re no better than a mindless monster—unstable, incomplete.”

Kiiiii—!

The beast growled savagely at her.
Though the man couldn’t see, he could sense through the creature’s trembling that it was agitated—unsettled by her presence.

“How insolent.”

Kii—Kiiiing—!

Overwhelmed by Zoe’s overwhelming aura, the beast instinctively retreated a few steps.
The man could feel its heart pounding rapidly with fear.

“Sigh… What a nuisance. Why do these things always have to show up?”
“Aqua Mystica, absorb the demonic energy.”

Shuuuu—!

As Zoe muttered softly, the man felt something being pulled from his body—something deep and vital.
It was a sensation unlike anything he had ever experienced—
as if even his very soul were being sucked away, a strange, spiraling force wrapping tightly around him.

After what felt like an eternity, light began to seep back into his closed vision.
Slowly, he blinked his hazy eyes open and cautiously flexed his fingers.

That’s when he realized he had regained control of his body.
Dumbfounded, he ran his hands over himself.

“…Impossible. I’m back?”

According to all the data he’d gathered, he transformed into a monster at midnight and reverted at sunrise—an unbroken cycle.
But it was still the dead of night… and yet his human body had returned.

Confused, he lifted his gaze to the girl standing before him.

“Who… are you?”

She was looking at him with narrow, analytical eyes.
Aside from her hair—white instead of pink—her face was identical to the girl who had saved him.
But her gaze, her aura… everything about her screamed that she was someone else entirely.

“…”

She offered no reply.

The sudden change in her tone and demeanor, and more than anything, her incredible ability to break his royal curse—a secret known to only a handful even within the imperial family—left him completely unable to grasp her intentions.

“Answer me. Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know. Just sleep.”

As his desperate eyes pleaded for an answer, Zoe muttered lazily, stepped forward, and placed her hand over his eyes.

“Wait—what are you—”

Before he could finish, his pupils went unfocused, and he collapsed onto the floor.

After confirming that he had fallen unconscious, Zoe murmured coldly,

“Gather this world’s information. From the past to the present.”

[<System> Understood. Updating data for the continent of Verhaim.]

“Haah… Zoe! Zoe, wake up!”
“…Ugh.”

A soft voice whispered near my ear.
I ignored it, rolling over.

Then the owner of the voice grabbed my arm and shook me violently.
“Zoe—! Zooooeeeee—!”

Who the hell is this, and do they want to fight or something…?

Annoyed by the endless shaking, I spun my body away with a huff.
After spending so many days digging in the vegetable garden, my body was screaming with exhaustion.
When you’ve been that sleep-deprived for days, there’s just no winning against the pull of sleep.

I drifted off again helplessly.

“Zooooe! Wake uuuuup!”

But peace was short-lived.
A thunderous voice rang in my ears again, and I finally snapped my eyes open.

“Who are you!?”

“Zooooe! Hiiiing, I was so worried!”

“R-Ruby?”

The loud voice jolted me fully awake, and my hazy vision sharpened.
Slowly, my memories began to piece themselves back together—

How I’d barely managed to save that coffin-bound man, only for him to transform into a giant beast and wreck the house…
How I’d tried to use my Beast Taming skill through Attica but failed, then passed out from shortness of breath…

A wave of humiliation washed over me.

“Seriously, what kind of ‘legendary weapon’ doesn’t even work when you need it most? What a garbage game!”

Slapping my chest in frustration, I groaned.

“Right, Ruby! Are you okay?”

I recalled her lying limp on the ground before I lost consciousness and quickly looked her over.
If my Ruby had even a single scratch, I was not going to forgive that handsome jerk.

“Heeek—! Yeah! I kinda blacked out ‘cause I couldn’t breathe, but I’m totally fine now!”

Sure enough, she was perfectly unharmed.
And so was I, apparently.

See? Basic stamina really is everything. Muscles, you’re the best.

Still… how were we both okay?

I turned to look at the weapon in my hand—Attica.

Jiiing, jiiing—

“What the? Did Attica absorb the beast’s demonic energy while I was out?”

When Attica absorbs energy from a monster, it usually glows with that monster’s unique magical color.
But now, it shimmered with a dark, blood-red light—
the same sinister color that had pulsed from the man when he turned into a beast.

I was sure I’d seen a system message before I passed out—something about control…
But everything had happened so fast that I couldn’t quite remember.

“Wait… then what happened to the guy?”

I quickly scanned the area.

“He’s sleeping… in a soft, fluffy bed. Alone.”

Meanwhile, I was curled up on the cold, hard floor like a shrimp.
That guy was sleeping like a baby, dead to the world.

And he was back in his human form.

“…Ruby, did I dream all that?”

I muttered, staring at his peaceful face.

“No, you didn’t. That guy was really dangerous. Grrr—”

Ruby growled low, clearly still wary of him.
So, yeah. Not a dream.

And then—

“Ahh! The window! The walls! The floor!”