“Huh, huh, huh! Is this all your oh-so-mighty newest creation has to offer?” The orc’s onslaught continues as he talks. “I’ll crush all your plans. This time, I’ll be the absolute winner!”

I snicker but remain silent while calmly observing the HP bar of my monster. It’s below the half-mark right now.

It’s true he turned out to be stronger than I anticipated, but… he’s following everything I planned. I’m sure he thinks otherwise, but everything that happened so far was within my expectations.

Do you remember why I’m doing this? It’s to inflict as much pain on him as possible.

It’s his fault I had to suffer their madness, after all.

But, and this is a very big but, a normal defeat wouldn’t do. True despair is only achieved after all hope is lost, and this is why I prepared so much for today.

The first step was to incite him into action.

Declare a 1vs1 and make him angry because of ‘cheating’. The amazing thing is I didn’t need to cheat here, he reached this point on his own, which saved me some time and effort.

This was the most important step, as I didn’t want him to run away, surrender, or even worse, leave the dungeon. Now that he’s this angry and expecting to win, it’ll be easy to control him.

The second step is to drive him to the limit.

So far, he used his minion’s special skills to overcome the situation, failed horrendously, and was forced to use his trump card. To complete this step, he needs one last push. Don’t mind if I do it.

“Fufufu! Hahaha! Win? Crush all my plans? You have no idea what you’re talking about! Look, your minions are all dying!”

He turns his head and watches his last goblin dying to The Mountain’s retribution damage. “Noo…! My brothers!” He refocuses on his own fight but continues screaming. “What did you do now, Mad Rat!?”

“Me? I didn’t do anything…”

Hahaha, so foolish! He allowed his minions to run amok without supervision. And since he was fighting The River so ferociously, they ganged upon the only remaining opponent.

It was like watching eggs throwing themselves onto a rock, hoping to break it. Hahaha!

Poor goblins, they choose the wrong opponent. Now only two of his orc minions remain. But they’ll soon join their friends in the afterlife, they’re almost dead already.

“Don’t fuck with me! I’ll pay you back for everything you’ve done to me!”

“But I haven’t done anything… yet.”

I’m not lying. I haven’t ever messed with him directly yet. So far, it was always the minions I brought with me, the traps I manually opened, or the monsters I reallocated in the middle of his dungeon exploration. I haven’t directly attacked or even touched him a single time.

“I know!” I say in excitement. “I’ll attack you right now so that there’s something you can make me pay for, alright? Hahaha! Here I’m coming!”

I see him shuddering, but he continues swinging his axe around.

I can’t allow him to kill The River. For him to feel the maximum despair, he must be completely defeated. If he kills my monster, it’d be a partial victory instead and I don’t want it.

It’s time to put the last nail in his coffin. It’s time to finish step two of my plan.

The lightning I was channeling all along disperses as a more disturbing, unpredictable energy condenses around my hand.

You can even call that energy, Chaotic.

“Hahaha! Orc, for the crime of lying, I sentence you to a painful existence! Eat this! Divineeee Retribution!”

I shout the first random name that comes to mind. But instead of divine light, what comes out of my palm is a chaotic mix of energy of several colors, each one mixing and intertwining with the others. The beam comes out of my palm and passes through the single hole in the barrier.

He jumps to the side, but my beam still hits him on the back. This beam is too fast to evade like that. My older sister could have done it, but he isn’t as good as her.

Now there’s only one thing remaining: to pray that the beam applies one of the nastiest status debuffs.

The orc stops moving. Did it work…?

“Huh, huh, huh!” He starts laughing and looks in my direction. “Is this all you’ve got? I thought for a moment that I was done for, but… Did you actually do anything? It felt like a mosquito bite to me. Huh, huh, huh!”

So it didn’t work… but he did take the damage.

“Feel my wrath! I’ll beat your minion to a pulp. Take this, abomination!” He raises his axe up high and slashes downwards.

The thing is… why the hell is he swinging it at nothing? The River is two steps to the right, you know!? Are you blind–

Ah, I see… he’s blinded but pretending he isn’t.

“Fufufu! Hahaha!” I burst out laughing. “Fool! You’re a fool! You say you didn’t feel anything, but you’re blinded!”

He flinches. “N-no, I’m not. ”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… Can’t you see there’s nothing in front of you? Ah, yeah. You can’t. Because you’re blinded. Hahaha!”

“...so what!? What if I’m doing this on purpose?”

“...”

What is he, a little kid? Who’s he trying to deceive? Well… I don’t care. It’s funnier the sillier he acts. The audience – not the Stitched, the real one watching this in real-time – will also like it better.

“...even I am ashamed of your actions, orc,” I say while shaking my head. “You know what? Fine, I’ll allow you to touch my great persona. Let’s have a 1vs1, ok? My minions, stop fighting right now!”

I make a fake cough before continuing.

“It’s the moment everyone has been waiting for! The undefeated champion will make an appearance. It’s the Mad Rat! The craziest scientist! The great manipulator! The creator of life! The bringer of despair! It’s eveeeeeeeeryone’s faaaaavorite!”

I jump through the hole in the barrier and fall to the ground with a thump. Immediately after, the surrounding audience, the Stitched, start clamoring with their dull and agonizing voices.

Stolen story; please report.

“Oooowaaaaa!”

“Haaaaaaa!”

“Uuuuuuuuooooo!”

It’s more like a chorus of zombies than an actual clamoring, but I’ll take it anyway. You have to do what you can with what you have.

“Here I am. Come get me… if you can. Fufufu! Hahaha!”

I make a ‘come here’ gesture with my hand, taunting him. By now, the blinding effect should have ended so I’m sure he can see me properly. His skin has also returned to its original green tone.

Now that he’s all battered, close to dying, and about to surrender; now that he went to the extent of feigning being able to see to trick me; now that he made a fool of himself and reached the deepest point…

Now, it’s time for the third step: give him hope.

Hope to defeat me. Hope he can recover his ‘lost orc pride’... whatever that’s supposed to mean. Don’t ask me, this is something he’s always saying when diving into my dungeon.

“Huh, huh, huh! Huh, hah, hah, hah, hah!”

He starts laughing. His guttural laughter fills the now silent chamber. If we exclude the audience, there’s only me, him, and my two monsters here. All his minions are dead.

“You fell for it. Huh, huh, huh!” He grins like a fool. “It was all an act, and you fell for it, huh, huh, huh! You came down when you thought you had won, but it’s all a farce. I’ve beat you at your own game, Evil Mastermind.”

You beat me at what?

Wow. You’re so wrong. I’m not going to spoil your fun because I need you to act like this for my plan, but… oh, man, you’re sooooooo wrong.

“All those schemes and plans, for nothing! All those traps and gimmicks. All those tricky monsters and rooms. Do you know how much I’ve had to suffer because of you!? Huh, huh, huh! But, this time, I am the winner! Haaaaa!”

He rushes at me with his all. As he comes closer, his skin turns red one more time. So it wasn’t a single-use skill? Oh, well, who cares? It’s still within my expectations.

I start talking with the flattest voice I can. “Oh, no. What am I going to do now? You got me there. I’m going to die now… Not.” I open my hands and make a surprised expression. “Run if you don’t want to die…! Hahaha!”

“I won’t be fooled! Eat this!” His axe strikes the top of my head.

If this were reality, now I’d have two heads instead of one. It’s a shame it didn’t happen since this is a game. It’s an even bigger shame – for him, not for me – that I take absolutely no damage since I’m in the invulnerability phase of my Grand Finale right now.

This is also the third part of my plan. Or should I say fourth? Maybe three and a half?

Anyway, the complete version goes like this: give him hope, so that I can crush it immediately after, bringing him as much despair as possible.

I smile at him. “Tick, tock, tick, tock…” Every time, my smile grows bigger, until it almost reaches my ears.

He finally realizes what’s going on when light starts to accumulate around me. “Shit!” He starts running away.

“...Boom!”

*Booom!*

The light from the explosion fills half the laboratory. Did he die? I hope not. I need him to live for a lot longer as now comes the last and best part of my plan.

Enjoy his suffering.

“Ugh, that was close. I lowered my guard and he almost got me with one of his tricks…” I hear the orc’s voice coming from the farthest end of the room.

Was I worried about him? He’s fine.

“Fufufu! Hahaha! Nice job, esteemed guest! Nice job evading the explosion!”

“Fuck you, Mad Rat!” He glares at me. His skin returned to its green color somewhere in the middle. “I swear I’m going to kill you today, even if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Oh, so enthusiastic. Don’t you agree, audience?”

“Oooouuu!”

“Uuuaaaaa!”

“Mamnangan!”

…what’s wrong with the last one? Well, I don’t care.

“Since you’re so stubborn with killing me, how about one last little game? As you know, I’m weak after the explosion. So, let’s see… how about this? I won’t move from my spot. If you can reach me and kill me, you win. If you die, I win. But don’t expect it to be easy, I’ll use everything at my disposal to defend myself. Do you agree? Or are you too scared?”

I make sure to put on my most irritating smile.

“I’m no orc if I go back after all this humiliation. Let’s do it. I’ll beat you once and for all, Mad Rat! Huh, huh, huh!”

“Then, without further addoooooooo….! Let, the, games… Begiiiin! Fufufu! Hahaha!”

“Haaaaaaaaa!”

“Oooooyoooooo!”

“Bantranamaaa!”

…seriously, what’s wrong with the last Stitched!?

At my signal, my two monsters get ready for battle. The Mountain summons one of his boulders, and The River runs toward the orc.

“I won’t fall for their tricks anymore.” He declares. “If I beat you, it’s over. There’s no need to fight them at all.”

“Oho? Is that so?” I make a surprised face. “Are you sure about it…? Hahaha!”

He looks at me anxiously for a few seconds, intimidated by my words. But then, as if to shake all his doubts, he kisses his biceps and puts on a serious face. The kind of face you see in films when they resolve themselves to death.

Oh, yes. I like this so much! Come on, suffer more!

“Nothing will stop me! My muscles and I are invincible! Huh, huh, huh! Here I gooooo!” He starts running in my direction.

Something pops out from the ground close to him and zaps him with electricity. At the same time, from several spots around the laboratory, more lightning rods – the ones that usually appear in this room, plus a few more extra ones – pop out and start charging electricity.

The orc furrows his brows but says nothing. He ignores the traps and resumes his charge.

“Go, go! You can do it! Go, go! You’re the best player! Fufufu! Hahaha!” I cheer him.

At the same time, I press a secret button on the floor. Holes open in the ceiling and a glob of something falls right in front of the orc, forcing him to stop to avoid it.

*Shhshshhh…*

There’s the faint sizzling sound of something melting coming from the acid coming from the ceiling.

“Tch!”

The orc clenches his teeth and looks around, searching for a safe path to reach me. Not finding any, he decides to take the shortest path instead: the straight one. Well, the straightest path he can find while avoiding both of my monsters.

“Try your best or you’ll die! Are you going to fall like this? Such a pathetic death, void of honor… The worst death for a warrior like you. Are you going to allow such a thing? Fufufu! Hahaha!”

I keep switching between taunting him and cheering for him to make him angrier.

The acid blobs continue to fall from random places, the lightning rods zap him if he gets close to them, The Mountain keeps throwing boulders at him, and The River relentlessly chases after him in the middle of this chaos.

The orc does his best to reach me, filled with a mix of despair and anger.

“Come on, you’re almost here… One, no, two more steps and you’ll win…”

I signal for him to get closer and I even extend my hand to make it easier for him. But then, suddenly, the floor springs up and he’s launched far away.

“U-uaah…!”

“...hahaha! As if! Better luck next time!”

The last springtrap, the one I prepared for this exact moment, activated when he stepped on it, throwing him away from me.

Aw, he was so close! How bad for him I had everything ready… Hahaha!

As he lands, the orc looks around, confused. “W-what…?” then, he finally realizes the fact that his HP is almost at zero right now. “What’s this? Why’s my HP…? …the FUCKING BUTTERF–!?”

*Plof!*

The orc’s corpse falls to the ground.

“Ding, ding, ding! You’re right! It was the butterfly that killed you!” I cheerfully laugh. “But wooow, what a shame. Our dear contestant, you died. So you lose the game…”

I shake my head in ‘shame’.

“Fufufu! Hahaha! Well, this is all, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed this episode of ‘The Mad Rat’s Show’. See you in the next episode!”

Aaaah, I feel so refreshed. Hmm… why was I doing this again? I’m sure there was a reason behind everything, something I wanted to forget… Then, it means it worked! Yay! I’m free from whatever horrible things I experienced!

Everything went according to plan!

image [https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]

“Dear diary,

Today, I went into my brother’s dungeon after asking him if I could help him modify his dungeon. I sneakily took a few monsters with me and changed their voice patterns so that they produced weird sounds. I’m looking forward to his reaction when he finds out.”

- Extract from a certain girl’s diary.