Chapter 174 : The Ultimate Doll (3)

It was easy to tell that Panika had succeeded in disabling the defense spell circuit.

As soon as I struck the neck of the control unit director named Giuseppe di Pino, an intangible shockwave suddenly spread out in a circle from the control unit building.

The Legions that were about to charge flinched for a moment, and the other automata all stopped moving at once.

Their glowing eyes also flickered erratically.

“Hey! Over here!”

It was beyond the ranks of the Legions.

Panika shouted from the direction of the control unit building.

“Wait, danger……!”

There was no time to stop her.

Panika weaved through the Legions and was suddenly by my side, panting for breath.

“You’re fearless. Are you okay?”

“Yes. The defense spell circuit is broken, so the Legions won’t be in their right minds right now either.”

At those words, I looked at the Legions in front of me again.

How could I possibly judge the condition of those iron lumps just by looking at them, but…….

The Legions somehow looked fine.

Contrary to Panika’s words, they even seemed calmer.

The contrast with the other automata around them, which were even having seizures, was stark.

“Listen carefully. The time we have is just about an hour. The defense spell circuit repairs itself.”

“What? Why are you telling me this now?”

“I don’t know everything either.”

Panika explained the location of Manuan’s mansion, pointing with her hand.

It was quite far.

For a normal person’s pace, an hour was far from enough.

“That’s cutting it close.”

“Well, that’s true, but if you’re alone, you can get there quickly, can’t you?”

I shifted my gaze from the distance to Panika.

She plopped down as if exhausted.

“Could I ask you to get the diary for me? It won’t be hard to find.”

She was so bold, bordering on shameless, that I was left speechless.

Panika fumbled inside her coat and took out a signal flare.

She lit the fuse without any hesitation.

Pyishuk—

The signal flare, trailing a tail of fire, shot straight up into the sky.

Panika raised her head and silently watched its trajectory for a long time.

“……Our paths could get tangled coming and going, so I'll wait here. Okay? I'm asking a favor.”

She even closed her eyes, as if to say she was going to rest now.

It was as if she was saying her job was done.

***

I used Movement Techniques.

The scenery of the decaying and rusted fortress flew past before my eyes like an arrow.

In the streets, automata struggled as if they had broken down.

I glimpsed them flailing their limbs in the air and falling, or clinging to walls and rattling.

Between them, a swarm of grotesque creatures was moving busily somewhere.

Most of them were crawling out from underground, looking as if they were rushing as though this was their only chance.

I increased my speed even more…….

‘Is this the place.’

I was able to arrive soon enough.

‘It’s not as big as I thought.’

Doesn't the word 'mansion' itself imply a large house?

From that perspective, Manuan’s mansion was more like a large house with a garden than a mansion.

Rustle—

Of course, there wasn’t a speck of life in the garden.

The parched grass crumbled like dust, and the trees with broken branches revealed only their ashen skeletons.

The place that must have been a flowerbed was now just black earth, with even the weeds withered.

Creaak.

As the door opened, the view of the lobby was revealed.

Magic tools installed on each wall were emitting a soft light.

My gaze was immediately captured by a huge frame hanging right in the center.

‘…….’

It was a family portrait.

As if possessed, I walked over and looked up at the portrait.

Inside the wide, golden frame, three people sat side-by-side.

The man had sharp eyes and a stubborn set to his mouth, while the woman was strikingly beautiful at a single glance.

Sitting between them, a young girl smiled brightly.

‘Manuan, Rosaria, and Panika.’

The atmosphere was stern yet elegant.

They wouldn’t have looked out of place compared to any noble.

I tore my eyes away from the portrait and headed for the stairs in the corner of the lobby.

‘She said it was in the underground study.’

I slowly descended the stairs.

Here too, small frames were lined up on the walls.

‘……Panika?’

It was a familiar face.

Not the six-year-old girl from the portrait in the center, but a much older version.

One picture, two pictures, three pictures…….

As I went down the stairs, the girl in the pictures grew progressively older.

Around ten, around fifteen, and then a face not much different from her current one.

Halt.

I stopped walking.

Panika lost her parents at the age of five and left Grimlok.

She said she lived with relatives after that.

So why were pictures of her after that time hanging here, in Manuan’s mansion?

‘Unless she came and hung them up herself…….’

No, that didn't seem likely either.

A strange, unexplained sense of unease weighed down on the back of my neck.

Thud, thud.

At the end of the stairs, a long corridor stretched out.

The light was dimmer than in the lobby, and the air was thick with a damp, metallic smell.

I pushed the door at the end of the corridor to the side.

Drrrk—

A room that was neither large nor small was revealed.

Bookshelves lined the walls without a single gap, and they were crammed with bundles of parchment and hardcover books.

The strong smell of old paper wafted out.

Having only smelled metal for so long, it came across as particularly vivid.

‘So this is it.’

A desk sat in the middle of the room.

On it, under the light of a lamp, lay a single old book.

The cover was cracked, but anyone could tell it was an object that had been treasured for a long time.

‘Manuan’s diary.’

The moment I picked up the book, the paper crumbled and scattered.

In an instant, the dust spread through the air.

The fragments fluttered and formed a shape, and then, as if drawing a spell formation, a certain form slowly emerged.

Tzzzzzt—

As if each stroke was on fire, the pattern emitted light.

The light grew stronger and stronger.

I suddenly looked around.

The room was gone.

The bookshelves, the books, even the desk and the lamp had all vanished as if they were a lie.

Like a space of nothingness.

The light grew larger, and in an instant, my vision was engulfed in white light.

My consciousness was gradually fading.

I was engulfed by a strong sense of déjà vu.

‘This is……’

It was similar to that time.

The Phantom Demon’s sorcery.

·

There was a difference, though.

How should I explain this?

If the Phantom Demon seemed to forcibly drag and push me into its sorcery, Manuan seemed to be gently guiding me into something he had created.

As for how I was so sure it was Manuan.

It was because of the scene that appeared right before my eyes.

When the white haze of light cleared, the scene of the study I had seen earlier was revealed.

Manuan was sitting at the desk and a middle-aged man standing opposite him spoke.

“Manuan, this is our chance.”

Another difference from the Phantom Demon’s sorcery was that this time, I existed as myself, not borrowing someone else’s eyes, ears, and mouth.

However, they couldn’t perceive me, and it was impossible for me to intervene in any way.

Then and now, all I could do was observe.

“A chance? You, I’m truly disappointed. Are you suggesting we offer up this Grimlok and all the fruits of our labor to Deiron? How can someone who calls himself the lord say such a thing!”

Manuan lost his temper.

The personality I had guessed from the portrait was now revealing itself right before my eyes.

“Listen, Manuan. The real one isn’t that ruthless swordsman named Deiron.”

“What are you talking about now?”

The time seemed to be around when Deiron had just set foot in Grimlok.

According to Panika, Manuan and the Lord of Grimlok were close friends who got along well.

Seeing Manuan, who wasn't even a noble, speak down to him without hesitation, it certainly seemed so.

“I’m saying there’s something far more formidable behind Deiron. In other words, Deiron is merely his subordinate.”

The Lord of Grimlok had considerable insight.

If even he was saying that, it was probably true.

No, this confirmed it.

‘The one behind Deiron is the Phantom Demon.’

With those words, the study's bookshelves, desk, and even the lamp scattered into small pieces and disappeared.

The scattered debris swirled in the air before finding their places and interlocking again, reconstructing a different scene.

This time, it was the lobby I had passed through earlier.

The portrait of the three people in the golden frame occupied the wall.

And there was one unfamiliar and alien human who made me feel like an intruder.

‘Deiron.’

He was no different from when he died by my hand a short while ago.

With emaciated forearms and a sunken chest, only his belly protruded.

Below, a roughly draped piece of cloth was all he wore.

“Beautiful. Mmm, truly a beauty.”

Deiron licked his lips.

He was fiddling with the hilt of the sword stuck in his belt while looking up at the portrait.

“Rosaria, was it?”

Deiron took his eyes off the portrait and looked to one side.

My gaze followed.

There stood Manuan, Rosaria, and a young Panika.

“……That is correct.”

“Perfect. Even more beautiful in person.”

Deiron moved his lips with his tongue.

He was already dead by my hand, but I felt the urge to kill him one more time.

“Kekeke. Don't worry. I’m not in a position to do anything either. Though if I had my way, I'd like to take you as my toy.”

This time, he sneered while grabbing his crotch.

Rosaria, hugging Panika, turned her face away.

Manuan stood in front of them, blocking the way.

“……What is it you want?”

“Again. It’s not what I want.”

Deiron pointed upwards with his finger.

“‘He’ has chosen her. Your wife.”

“He?”

“I told you. I don't know his name either, so I just call him ‘He’.”

I looked back and forth between Deiron and Manuan, who were facing each other.

It seemed there was a considerable time gap from the scene I saw in the study earlier.

This was much later.

‘If it’s ‘He,’ is he talking about the Phantom Demon?’

Let's forget it. What’s important right now isn't the relationship between Deiron and the Phantom Demon.

The key is, ‘Why is Manuan trying to show me this scene?’

Later, Manuan would reach a level where he could perfectly replicate even the Phantom Demon’s sorcery, and this ‘illusion’ right now is a virtual world designed by Manuan’s hand from beginning to end.

In other words…… the truth that he wanted to show, that he had to convey, to someone who reached this point.

“It's because ‘He’ doesn't like the human body. Said it’s trivial and filthy or something. I heard he didn't even consider it as a vessel in the first place.”

Deiron muttered with a look of disgust.

“I don’t know why he’s so picky, geez. Anyway, it's His will. It’s useless to complain to me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he roughly pushed Manuan aside.

He immediately stepped in front of Rosaria and grabbed her chin.

My body flinched involuntarily, but it was only in my mind.

“He says he will only manifest through a perfect vessel. That's the one thing he wants.”

The corners of Deiron’s mouth stretched wide.

His eyes were bloodshot and glistened red as if they would burst at any moment.

“……The ultimate doll.”