Chapter 111

Kwaaaang!

The mirage’s kick threw me to the back and I rolled on the floor, hapless .

“Hey, hey . I kicked a human being’s body, but it’s not the sound of flesh; rather, the sound of metal . What is it? I wonder what you are hiding . ”

Kwang!

My back was kicked again, knocking the wind out of my lungs .

I was protected by the armors, yet I was suffering this much shock . It meant I would have died right away if I had to take it without any armor .

“If you don’t pull it out, you are going to receive more beatings . ”

“Wait, wait! I’ll pull it out, I said I will! It is just the effect from my equipment!”

If that’s the case, why didn’t you just ask me to disengage it?

Why are you hitting me first and then asking later?

I took off the armor from my shoulder that was attached in invisible mode .

The armor only covered a part of my shoulder, but its magic effect enhanced my entire body .

Of course, this was not the only invisible item that I was wearing at the moment, but I hoped he wouldn’t notice .

The mirage observed the armor here and there and raised its leg again, threatening to kick me again .

“You have more, right? Disengage them all . ”

… Damn it .

I put down five pieces of armor equipped in invisible mode .

Of course, I still had many more items I was wearing .

“You have more, right? You hid some, right?”

I desperately shouted at the mirage .

“If you kick me in this state, I will really die!”

“Is that so?”

It seemed the mirage was considering his situation . It was not doing anything for a moment .

After a moment, the mirage seemed to finish organizing its thoughts . It brought out another potion from the inventory . It said as it drank the potion .

“If you do anything suspicious from now on, I’m going to attack . Don’t do anything foolish . ”

“…”

It was not like I never thought about the possibility of things coming to this, but I really thought it would not come to this .

Ugh .

Really, you are so strong . It’s sickening .

Are you human?

After my arm was cut off, the battle turned one-sidedly into his favor .

I tried to gain distance in any way possible, but the mirage just refused to give up and continued to chase me and attacked .

One of the mirage’s arms was neutralized and it could not use one of its leg, but to think such a difference resulted from it…

I was at a disadvantage, and I was being dragged around while giving up the cards I had one after the other . As the situation continued, I realized it would be better for me to just give up the battle .

Now that it came to this, I’ll go with the second plan .

First, the mirage tossed a potion bottle to me and told me to drink it .

“It hurts a lot, doesn’t it? Drink that . ”

“I’m all right…”

“Drink . ”

Judging from the engraving on the bottle, it is a type of pain medication .

A pain medication reduces pain, but it also dulls my senses, which is a drawback .

It could be a critical drawback in a situation like this .

I hesitated to drink the potion, and the mirage raised its sword .

Hopelessly and with a crestfallen expression, I drank the potion .

As I thought, it was a pain medication .

That was not all .

It even had paralyzing substance .

Poison?

My necklace was starting to detoxify it .

“Now, I don’t know how long we have left . I have much that I want to hear from you, so let’s get started right away . Answer honestly to all questions I ask . ”

As I thought…

Instead of killing me right away, the mirage wanted to get information out of me .

“… I have conditions . ”

Dumbfounded at my demand, it snorted derisively .

“Old hag, I don’t think you are in position to place conditions?”

I didn’t want to, but I flinched inside .

He called me old hag .

Does he have any idea of what my age actually is?

I know this is mister’s mirage from when he was young, but I am younger than the mirage version of mister .

Old hag!

I have never had been called that in my life .

I desperately strained to maintain facial muscles and tried to maintain the composed look .

However, it seemed that it didn’t work .

“Oh my, look at that expression your face . Hey . If I called you an old hag one more time, I think you will hit a human . I’m so scared that I don’t think I’ll be able to even stomach hearing your condition . ”

“I have two conditions to ask . First, give me back my arm . ”

I was talking about my arm that was slowly rolling around on the floor .

“I think not killing you right away would be enough?”

“I am well aware of the worth of the information I have . It is more than enough to get additional rewards besides being kept alive . ”

The mirage was going to say something, but it closed its mouth again .

The mirage thinks the clear condition for the 17th Floor is killing the opponent .

For it, the option for letting me live does not exist .

So, just now, it probably obtained false information that I am not aware of the clear condition .

It probably harbors a suspicion that I am not a part of the Tutorial system, although it probably won’t believe it completely .

“All right, let’s hear you talk for a bit and then I’ll think about it . What’s the second condition?”

“Help me pass this trial . ”

Since I’m tricking it, I might as well add more to make it certain .

I acted like a character who would appear in the 17th Floor stage .

It was such a bold demand, but the mirage will pretend to grant it .

Its goal is gaining information . Once it gains information, it will not give a damn about my trial and promptly kill me .

It will probably think that affirming a false promise is a good idea if it can get information from me in a more sincere manner .

“All right, but I don’t know much about the trial . ”

“It’s all right . I’ll explain it to you . ”

Afterwards, I started explaining about the background of the trial .

Over about ten minutes, I described the backstory to the trial and the goal of the character I was acting . The doubt in the mirage’s face faded .

You have no idea how many times I read the script to memorize this setting .

“If it is only that much, I think I can help . ”

“Well then, please give me back my arm . ”

“Why do you need it?”

“I want to treat it with magic as soon as possible . I can attach it back when I receive treatment . ”

The mirage was interested in the subject of magic treatment on the arm .

“I have many things I want to ask about that magic . ”

“Give me back my arm first . I’ll explain as I do it . ”

“I have another thing to ask before that . ”

What’s left?

Before he asked, I went over the projected answers list in my head as fast as I could .

“Tutorial… Do you know about the system?”

They were the key words .

How fast I responded would be critical to whether I lived or died .

First, I should put up a dumbfounded face as if I’m trying to say I have no idea what it is talking about .

Like that, maintain hardened face for one second .

After that, a blank face like a retarded patient .

Maintain that for four seconds…

After that, recover the original expression that I had before the question, and ask back as if there is nothing wrong with it .

“I am not sure . I never heard of such . What does it mean?”

There was a glimpse of sympathy in the mirage’s face .

Mister told me he felt sorry for the beings who appeared in stages .

Their fates were enslaved by the system, and their life and death repeated regardless of their will . Mister said he felt sorry for their fate .

I tricked him successfully .

As I thought, instead of becoming a professional archer, I should have become an actress .

One thing I was surprised a bit about was that the mirage did not ask how I knew about its skills and how I responded to them .

I thought it would ask me about them .

Does it intend to figure me out later slowly?

I wondered about this, so I asked,

“Aren’t you curious about how I knew about your skills?”

Having heard my question, the mirage’s facial expressions took a strange turn .

It was the same look that I made earlier .

If the mirage asked that question, then the theme of the answer was going to be about the true identity of the mirage and the 17th Floor stage .

It seemed that the mirage could wonder about them, but it was not allowed to actually converse about them .

Also, if the conversation lead to it, then the conversation was stopped by the system .

Its consciousness faltered for a moment . That thing is definitely nothing but a fake creation .

The mirage picked up the arm and handed it to me .

After receiving the arm, it felt really odd .

It was not everyday for anyone to hold and feel one’s own arm that was dismembered from the body .

Although, in reality, this is not my first time .

I placed the arm on the floor and drew a circle that was about 2 meters in radius with the arm as the center .

It didn’t really have any meaning .

I just wanted to put the mirage away from me even if it was just a little bit .

“Are you going to start?”

I nodded to the question and activated my magic power .

Watching this, the mirage took a step back .

It was as mister explained .

The mirage is definitely complacent, especially after the battle is decided .

Ugh .

It was a dangerous gamble, but it is working out more easily than I expected .

Taking a knee on the right, I placed my hand on the floor and recited the technique .

Of course, it was not the incantation for healing my cut off arm .

With my cut off arm as the sacrifice, I bring forth the Summon Spirit King!

It was such a tacky line, something that could be from the Yu-gi-Oh series . I shouted the line in my head and opened the link . As soon as it was established, the mana around me started to resonate crazily .

[The God of Nature is overjoyed by your action . ]

The mirage charged at me as soon as it realized the sudden commotion .

I calmly put my hand at the artifact I had equipped on my left knee .

White light was spreading to all over the place .

Its effect paralyzed all senses of the opponent for a moment .

In addition to all five senses such as sight and hearing, it even paralyzed the energy sensory .

It didn’t last long, but it was enough .

After that, I put my hand on my forehead .

I recited the activation word, and all wounds on my body were recovered completely .

It was not the kind that grew a new arm and closed wounds .

It literally reverted the body’s state to before it incurred any wounds .

Although the mirage’s senses were all paralyzed, it charged at me .

It remembered my location .

I took a stance and dodged its sword .

After that, I was going to punch the mirage’s face .

Kwang!

Instead, I got struck on the side of my face .

This is ridiculous .

Is this is even possible without any senses?

Impossible .

It remembered my position and came at me .

That alone is hard to believe .

It lost all of its senses . It means the mirage is not certain about where it is going and if it is going there properly .

Even in this state, the mirage baited my first response with its first attack, predicted my counterattack and even attempted the next attack .

On top of this, the second attack made a direct hit .

I gave up the battle right away and threw myself backward .

It didn’t matter what the condition was . Fighting that monster in close range was suicide .

However, it seemed the mirage even figured out my retreat path . It spread its wings open and chased after me .

I am already linked to the Summon Spirit King .

It will take a bit more time for the King to appear, but as the one who made the contract, I can borrow the King’s mana and use it .

I summoned spirits between myself and the mirage .

In addition to beast type spirits, I also summoned elemental types . I summoned anything and everything that came to my mind .

In just a brief moment, I summoned forty elemental spirits .

They were not just enough to stop the mirage, which lost its senses . They were too much .

As I thought, the mirage was unable to shake off the summon spirits .

It seemed it was regaining its senses little by little . It was starting to attack the summon spirits, but it was unable to charge at me right away .

Gooooooooo

With light, vibrating sound, the space was distorted .

The Summon Spirit King made the entrance .

The King made entrance as he revealed his mana, which could only be described as humongous . However, its existence felt faint to me .

I felt a stronger existence from the mirage, which was fighting desperately while being surrounded by the spirits .

Instead of feeling the sense of security from the Summon Spirit King’s existence, I felt a chill down my spine as I watched the mirage put up a smile as if he was enjoying vaporizing the summon spirits one after the other, eyes burning with flames .

* * *

[You cleared the 17th Floor stage . ]

Anyway, I cleared it .

I feel like that .

I cleared it, so that’s enough .

In the end, the mirage destroyed all summon spirits .

It dodged all the attacks I threw at it from the distance, killed forty summon spirits one after the other and tried to charge at me .

At that moment, the Summon Spirit King started to move, and the mirage tried to stab the King with its weapon . It immediately exploded from just touching the Summon Spirit King .

Phuuuuaaaaaa .

That was too much .

I felt like I just survived a near-death ordeal . However, after checking my condition, I realized that I was not in that bad of condition .

There were many items that I did not use yet . Moreover, I used the full recovery only once .

I thought I might die once, but I didn’t use the revive either .

The battle didn’t go as planned, but the end result was good, so all is well .

Giving up on the battle in the middle and leading the mirage on to let its guard down was the key .

I’m glad I memorized the script . When mister sent me the script and told me to practice memorizing it, I honestly questioned its necessity .

I think I handled it pretty well on my own .

I wonder if mister would praise me .

I organized my thoughts and looked at the Summon Spirit King .

He was looking down at the corpse of the mirage .

What are you doing?

It seemed the King noticed my question . He responded for me .

[I wanted to remember this man’s appearance . Contractor, I must warn you . Do not get involved with this man . ]

With that as his last words, the King disengaged the summoning independently and returned to his own realm .

I got to hear some unsettling words in the end, but today should be celebrated .

With happy heart, I got on the portal .

Soon, my body was transported to the green field .

“Kiri Kiri!”

After seeing me, Kiri Kiri hopped and hopped to run away from me . I chased her and caught her .

“Let me go! Let me go!”

Um . No .

I need healing today .

I tightly hugged Kiri Kiri who was struggling . I didn’t let her go .

As I held her like that for a long while, Kiri Kiri gave up trying to get away from me . She sat quietly .

I hugged her tiny frame from behind .

Ah… I can feel the healing .

It feels like hugging an adorable little puppy… no… bunny in my chest .

I wish the time could stop like this .

I placed my chin on top of Kiri Kiri’s head .

I could feel Kiri Kiri’s two long ears on my cheeks . They were tickling me .

“Hiiiiiing . I feel trapped . ”

Kiri Kiri complained, but I ignored her .

I have a lot of stress today .

I raised my hand and touched the back of her ears . They were soft .

I could feel the back sides of her ears .

She hated being touched in the insides of her ears .

I was like that for a while before I realized that I had not contacted mister yet .

I should tell him about this soon .

Thinking that, I opened the message window .

At that moment, Kiri Kiri said to me,

“Wait a minute . Before that, I have something to tell you . ”

The tone of Kiri Kiri’s voice became serious very quickly . I felt it was strange .

Kiri Kiri vacantly looked up the sky .

[Vote so far: In favor 2207, Oppose 196]

What is this?

I was dumbfounded by the message that appeared all of the sudden .

This kind of message only appears after clearing a stage . Why now?

“Hiiiing… I voted against it . ”

“What is this?”

Kiri Kiri’s long ears fell down all the way .

With gloomy voice, she started to explain .

“The gods want to make a special proposition to you . ”

“A proposition?”

Kiri Kiri didn’t answer right away .

She made scribbles on the ground for a moment, organized her thoughts and then started to explain .

“Hear me out to the end and then decide . What? What is it? Ah why! This much should do no harm . ”

Now, she was even saying things on her own .

Who is she talking to?

“First, what the gods can give you are power skills . Also, unlimited allowance for information will be added . There might be other gods who want to give you even more depending on your actions, but those are what I can promise at the moment . Also…”

I feel like her mood is getting darker by the moment .

I was hugging her from the back, so I could not see her face, but that’s what I felt .

“What the gods want from you is the information about the 60th Floor in Hell difficulty . ”

It was unexpected . My mind became vacant for a moment .

“Can you explain that a little more?”

“… Actually, we had been hiding information about him . ”

Him? We?

“It may sound like an idea that’s over the river now, but we were aiming for opportunities to monopolize him . ”

“Him? Who are you talking about?”

Kiri Kiri didn’t respond to my question .

“However, recently there was a bizarre phenomenon at the Hell difficulty’s 60th Floor, and other gods became aware of him too . ”

They were talking about mister .

I wanted to hear more of what Kiri Kiri was going to say, but I couldn’t help interrupting her to ask .

“Bizarre phenomenon? What are you talking about?”

This time, there was an answer .

“Recently, the link to the Hell difficulty’s 60th Floor was completely severed . I think it is because of his attempts at trying to escape the Tutorial . Although it seems he didn’t manage to escape . ”

Link was severed?

I got messages from mister even just before entering the 17th Floor . I even sent him messages too back then .

Also, what do you mean by escape?

“Don’t send him a message yet . Listen to the rest of the explanations first and we would like you to make a decision first . ”

“Before that, what do you mean the link was severed?! What do you mean by escape?! Explain those first . ”

I felt like I just swallowed a lump of flames . My body was heating up .

I felt like I won’t be able to hear anything else unless my curiosities were satisfied first .

“… He always had been trying to find a way out of the 60th Floor . He actually tried various ideas . This time, his attempt to leave the 60th Floor seem to have affected the system . ”

System?

“To escape the 60th Floor, no… To escape the Tutorial, he turned the 60th Floor into his private territory . ”

Hearing more explanations only added to my chaos .

What are you talking about?

What’s happening?

“Right now… in theory…”

Kiri Kiri took a moment to calm her breath and said,

“In this Tutorial, the Hell difficulty’s 60th Floor no longer exists . ”