What he did definitely fit his original self. Annoying bastard.

I ripped a part of my hood to cover the wound on my forehead. I already lost enough blood. However, when I searched for a wound, I couldn’t find anything. Blood dripping down my face was also gone. The pain in my palm due to striking him was also gone.

…

Okay, this is getting extra worrying.

“Brain in a jar.”

I thought to myself. In theory, our minds and perception were nothing but electrical signals. While that was a very heavy oversimplification, it was true. If someone managed to poke around and give the right signals they could forge a reality for you while you were just a brain existing in a jar.

I wasn’t in a jar. At least I want to think that for sake of my sanity and well-being. However, that didn’t mean someone couldn’t affect my perception or mind. In this new world, I knew not much about maybe someone could create illusions similar to this. Lupus’s fear effect started to show itself before we even saw him. So maybe what was causing this was this floor’s boss.

This created two questions:

1. My resistance towards this kind of stuff must been high as fuck. If it is affecting me this badly, others can’t be doing so hot.

2. How I am supposed to deal with this? If it were just my vision and hearing it would been doable but even my sense of touch and pain could be controlled.

Could I just walk while ignoring everything? That would only work if there were no monsters here. While I haven’t seen one since I entered here, there could be enemies. Also even if I reach the boss how I am supposed to defeat it? Even if I was at my best, defeating a boss by myself was impossible. Even with all of us defeating Lupus was only possible because we managed to push him out of the place where he was strongest.

“Poyraz! You are here.”

Blanche’s voice rang in my head. I paused my train of thought and turned around. She was limping towards me. I ran towards her, though calling it power walking would be more appropriate. She was wounded, her clothes were ripped and her weapons were nowhere to be seen. When I grabbed her she fell into my arms, nearly taking me to the ground with her. I managed to hold on.

“What happened?”

I asked. She was in a worse condition than the last time I saw her. My eyes traced her looking for her bag of holding so I can pull out some potions to heal us both.

But it wasn’t here. The only thing my eyes saw was her exposed skin and blood. A lot of blood. But no wounds. Suddenly with vigor, I didn’t expect from her she grabbed my throat. Her grip was tight but not tight enough to cut my airways fully. I tried to grab her wrist and twist it to free myself but I couldn’t.

“Funny how I thought you as loyal. Funny how I thought you cared for me!”

Panic rose from my chest but I quickly was able to shut it down.

It wasn’t possible for Blanche to learn about my loyalty. This was just another illusion.

Except, you know, I felt my face becoming red due to lack of oxygen.

“I thought you were a man of honor. Weren’t you ashamed when you behaved as if you cared about me? Told me stories? Were all of those lies?”

I stopped struggling.

“No. I didn’t lie. And yes. I did feel ashamed.”

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I felt her grip tighten.

“What about you? What about your lies? What about your cruelty? What do you think all of our group listens to me half of the time? Because you are not good enough.”

I kicked her, releasing myself. She turned into dust and I was alone again. With my own hands around my throat.

“Fucking hell.”

Those weren’t my actual thoughts… Mostly.

Okay, fuck this.

Ignore everything.

I ignored Percavel who screamed for help without his limbs.

I ignored Agatha who begged me to kill her and put her out of her misery.

I ignored Duncan who called me a traitor and useless.

I ignored the villager I saved then killed shumble towards me with a bleeding throat.

Countless faces, from this and my previous world screaming, shouting, begging, insulting, blaming me.

Some of them were close to me. Most of them weren’t.

I ignored all of them.

It was hard. Just like how I reacted out of reflex and habit when I heard Larve in that forest, it was hard for me to ignore their call for help.

Insults and blaming were easier to ignore. I lived with that kind of stuff for years in my head after all.

I walked for maybe minutes, hours, or maybe days.

(As a sign of your mental strength, you didn’t break down when faced with your past.)

(You conquered the tenth and last floor of Wolf King’s Tomb.)

(All of your stats increase by 1.)

(You will be teleported.)

(You are the first one to conquer Wolf King’s Tomb. Your rewards are being calculated.)

“Not this shit again.”

I said as I was teleported against my will again. My body hit the ground.

“Fuck! At least you assholes could be gentler!”

For some fucking reason teleportation was rougher than usual this time. My already aching body didn’t like it. AT ALL!

“Sorry about it.”

An unseen voice apologized.

“No, it is not that big of a prob- Wait, who are you? Show yourself!”

My eyes traced the place I was in. A heavy feeling rose up as I noticed that the place I was in was very similar to Lupus’s house. Okay, let’s look at it calmly.

Notification definitely told me I cleared the dungeon even though I haven’t killed or even fought the 10th-floor boss. Another hallucination? But I felt my stats rising with those notifications.

“You can relax. Your trials ended. You succeed.”

I pointed my sword toward the voice.

“I am sorry. My name is Interitus Ater. Son of the being you made a deal with. Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. You see, I have an ability very similar to yours. It makes me harder to detect. I assumed you would be able to detect me but…”

He existed out of the shadows. He was slightly taller than me, though that wasn’t the first thing I noticed. The first thing I noticed was the fact that his upper body was fully naked except for a golden silk shawl on his shoulders. Several runic tattoos covered his chest and arms. He was muscular but not overly so. His build looked very athletic. His face carried an androgynous beauty. Two straight lines went down under his eyes to his chin. His hair was the same color as Lupus’s fur and went down to his hips. Two canine-looking ears rested at top of his head. When I looked carefully I also saw a tail poking from his back.

“Congratulations, challenger. You overcame every challenge given to you. For your strength and endurance, you will be given rewards. But now, you should eat and drink. You have been walking for 1 and a half days straight.”

He stretched his hands to me which had a bottle with a clear drink(water?) and what I thought was dried meat on a plate. While just looking at them caused me to gulp I looked at him with suspicious eyes and didn’t put down my sword. I knew his name. He was Lupus’s father. You know, the guy I killed.

“Okay, I understand why you are wary of me. But I promise on my father, I am not here to hurt you. See, I am going to leave these on the ground and back away.”

He left the food on the ground just like he said. I slowly moved and grabbed the bottle while keeping an eye on him. I opened it with my hand and sniffed. Yeah, it was water. Could it be poisoned?

“It is not poisoned. Don’t you think I have enough strength to deal with you without tricks?”

He released his mana as he finished his sentence. I felt something heavy pressing down on my shoulders.

“Hah, you really are a special one, Outworlder.”

I nearly spat out the water I was drinking.

“How do you know?”

I asked.

“It is not that hard if you know where to look.”

He sat down on one of the couches. It looked soft and comfy. God, I am tired. But I can’t falter now.

“That didn’t answer my question at all.”

He shrugged his shoulders. Annoying.

“How did you know I had a deal with Wolf King?”

“From your smell. Just like how I also know you are related to another Calamity.”

“Let me guess, you won’t tell me who it is?”

He raised his hands defensively.

“Call it honor among Calamities. But I can answer your other questions if you want. I existed for thousands of years. I can answer the questions you have about this world, Outworlder.”

“What do you have to gain from it?”

“It is just my goodwill.”

“Bullshit.”