Ch. 63 Giant Doll 505
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 63 – Giant Doll 505
“Hey, Mari. Can you wake up for a second?”
Yuika gently shook Mari’s shoulder and whispered.
Seeing her sound asleep, oblivious to the worries of those around her, made her want to just let her sleep. But she needed to hear what had happened.
At the gentle touch, Mari’s tightly closed eyelids fluttered open, slowly revealing her eyes. For a moment, she blinked blankly, as if unable to focus, before finally noticing Yuika looking down at her and mumbling,
“Yuika…?”
“Mari, are you with it? Do you know where you are?”
“This is… Ah?!”
“Whoa?!”
Just as she was about to reply blankly, Mari screamed in surprise as the memory hit her like a bolt of lightning, and she abruptly sat up.
She had risen so suddenly that she almost bumped her head, but Yuika quickly dodged, saving her from a bump on the forehead.
Mari seemed to realize this belatedly, saying with a flustered expression,
“S-Sorry! I suddenly remembered what happened before I fainted…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I dodged it, so, yeah. I was a little surprised, though.”
“S-Sorry…”
Even for Yuika, that sudden movement had been a bit alarming. The hint of that feeling in her voice made Mari’s head hang even lower. Yuika stroked her hair to comfort her, then asked what she was curious about.
“But what’s this about remembering what happened before you fainted? Don’t tell me, did you get beaten by a rabbit?”
“Yes… I’m ashamed to admit it…”
Mari couldn’t lift her head, as if truly ashamed. But Yuika wasn’t particularly surprised.
Of course, Yuika knew that Mari had grown stronger than in the past, to the point where she could easily stroll through the first floor.
But remembering how she struggled in the first floor, where even physical abilities alone were enough for easy hunting, Yuika felt more like, “Well, that’s Mari,” rather than surprise.
Of course, if anyone else had acted like Mari, she would have involuntarily let out a hollow laugh.
‘If it’s Mari, it’s totally possible.’
If Mari had heard that, she would have let out a gasp and made a pained expression, but Yuika patted her shoulder with an indifferent look and said,
“It’s okay. Things like that happen when you’re exploring dungeons. But, um, can I ask how you ended up fainting?”
“Ah, well, it’s faster to show you than to explain it.”
Mari looked around as if searching for something, then quickly ran to the dolls that had fallen nearby. After picking them up, she hurried back, looking to Yuika like a dog bringing back a ball.
Especially since she was covered in dirt from being trampled by rabbits just a moment ago, the feeling was even stronger. But with her looking so serious about showing something, Yuika couldn’t bring herself to laugh. While Yuika struggled to suppress her twitching lips, Mari drew out her mana threads and connected them to the dolls.
But something felt different than usual. Yuika watched the dolls begin to rise and asked with a puzzled voice,
“Huh, now that I think about it, you’re controlling two at once? Wasn’t it just one before?”
The doll Yuika knew Mari had was the one she named Doll 505. But now, two identical dolls were moving at the same time. At that, Mari wore a rare proud expression and said,
“It used to be, but now I can move two at the same time!”
“Really? That’s amazing. Since when have you been able to do that?”
“I haven’t been able to move them like this for long. I made the second doll a while ago, though. Um, I got help from Hosanna. Before…”
“The President? But when did he have the time…? Aha!”
Now that she thought about it, Mari had said that she met and talked with the President on the day U.P. ‘s forces went down into the dungeon to attack the 6th floor’s boss room. She had kept what they talked about a secret, saying she would tell her later, so this must have been it.
Only then did the puzzle pieces of that day’s mystery fall into place, and Yuika quietly canceled her plan to interrogate Hosanna.
‘I’m sorry, President. But it’s your fault for having a private meeting with Mari and leaving me out. You know that, right?’
While nonchalantly having thoughts that would have made Hosanna wear an absurd expression if he had heard them, Mari wiggled her fingers and moved the dolls.
The dolls moved their arms and legs stiffly and rhythmically, which honestly wasn’t that impressive. But it was hard to ignore the look in her eyes as she looked at her with such a proud expression, so Yuika smiled and clapped.
“To move the dolls so freely like that. That’s amazing.”
“Right?! You have no idea how much I practiced for the past ten days to get this good…!”
“Really? Was it that hard?”
“Yes! It’s like drawing a circle with one hand and a triangle with the other, but having to keep changing the shapes every time I control them…”
‘Is that hard?’ Yuika imagined it in her head as Mari muttered as if complaining.
Drawing a circle with one hand and a triangle with the other. Then switching to other shapes and continuing… Of course, she knew it was just a metaphor, but since Yuika also handled mana, she could roughly understand the feeling.
It was definitely a somewhat difficult method before getting used to it, but it seemed like she could get used to it in a day or two. It wasn’t as difficult as Mari had said, but Yuika wasn’t insensitive enough to say, “It’s not that hard once you try it.”
“You worked hard. Good job, good job. Mari is the best.”
“Hehe…”
Yuika repeatedly praised her and stroked her hair, and Mari’s expression relaxed.
She really is a transparent child. Yuika grinned and continued to shower her with praise, and Mari squirmed and became shy, as if she hadn’t been happy about it just a moment ago.
“U-Um, you can stop now…”
“Hehe, no need to be shy. Come on, good girl, good girl-“
“Ah…”
Eventually, Mari was able to escape Yuika’s praise after being stroked for a long time.
Yuika smiled contentedly as she watched Mari, who had become limp like a slime, and belatedly returned the story to its original course.
“So, you can control two dolls now, but how did you get beaten by a rabbit?”
“W-Well, the thing is… I’m not completely used to this method yet…”
Just then, the dolls that had been moving around collided with each other and fell over with a thud. Mari continued with an awkward expression.
“Sometimes, they don’t move the way I want them to and move on their own.”
“Aha, so getting beaten by the rabbits was also…?”
“Yes, that’s right… Just when the rabbits were attacking in a group, the dolls started moving on their own… And then, at some point, I felt a huge impact on my chin, and when I came to, I was here…”
Listening to her listless words, Yuika could roughly picture what had happened.
No doubt, she panicked because she couldn’t use the dolls, her only fighters, and the rabbit’s attack that happened to hit her chin accurately knocked her out.
‘But why were the rabbits just standing on top of the unconscious Mari…?’
Yuika didn’t know exactly about this part. Of course, because no one had ever been attacked by a rabbit and suffered a knockout or worse injury.
In the first place, it wasn’t a powerful monster befitting its appearance. At best, it was just a slightly more aggressive version of the rabbits she had seen in reality.
The monsters on the first floor weren’t killer rabbits from a certain movie.
Yuika was lost in idle thoughts when she remembered the statue that was standing by the side of the road… no, the giant doll 505, and said,
“By the way, before we came here, I saw a huge doll standing by the side of the road. Did you make that, Mari?”
“Ah, yes! It’s the giant doll 505 that I made to protect myself! Unfortunately, there are still too many restrictions on its movement, so I’m just using it as a signpost…”
“Using it as a signpost?”
“Once a doll has been activated with my mana, I can sense where it is even if it’s a little far away. Even now… Oh, uh? Why??”
“What’s wrong? What is it?”
Yuika urgently asked as Mari suddenly stopped talking and looked confused. Mari made a tearful face and said,
“…I can’t feel anything.”
“You can’t feel anything?”
“I can feel the presence of the dolls here… but I can’t feel where the giant doll 505 that I left by the side of the road is…!”
“…”
“How much did that cost!” Yuika broke out in a cold sweat inside as Mari added words she didn’t understand.
Don’t tell me it’s because I moved it?
Author Note
A/N (Author’s note):
Thank you for reading today!!This might seem random, but there’s an international tournament for a certain game happening in Busan right now.
The team I’m rooting for is playing tomorrow—please let them win. If they lose, I’ll be so sad I’ll probably mope around all day uselessly…
I’m psyching myself up, chanting: “Might not reach last year’s finals, but at least make it to the semifinals!!!”
Translator Note
T/N (Translator’s note):
Girlfailure loses to rabbits once more, and becomes their sacrificial offering for more rabbits!In another sense, she gets eaten alive.
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