So, in other words, that experiment was a bust. Since I can’t learn how the feeling of having magic power can be described, I can’t exactly tell when I have it myself. Isn’t that just a bummer?

Oh, that’s weird. Now that she’s dead, the gorgon’s skin is turning WHITE again. I wonder if the whole having-magic thing will make the flesh taste any different?

Disassemble Lv.8>

Let’s give this one a taste… Nomch. Hm. Hmm… Nope, it tastes the same. Maybe if I’d let the magic marinate in her for a while it might’ve tasted different?

…That sounded kind of weird, but my intention is good. Still, whether it’s magic-marinated or not, it’s still far yummier than snake meat. Snacking on this nice bit of gorgon-sashimi, I continue reading the book. And within time…

The entire mound of snakes beneath me, including the gorgon skeleton and the horse-sized snakes and the small cobras and the tiny snakes all explode into colourful smoke and I fall down approximately ten feet until I hit the floor hams-first, the distinct feeling of my tail-bone snapping in half making my body jolt up. Wh—wh—what the heck is—

<[Help has arrived.]>

I hear a door creak open and a stream of natural sunlight shines in, making a silver line around a person standing in the doorframe. My eyes train on the figure. Who the heck is this guy?

“Fret not!” the dude shouts, brandishing a sword. “Your ardent saviour is he—” As he boldly steps inside, his eyes fall on the room. Every single inch of it is RED, which is something I’m very proud of. His entire body is covered in armour apart from his face, which means that I have an excellent view of his prominent eyebrows furrowing. “Huh. Have I come to the wrong place?...”

But I’m not looking at his face. I’m looking at his armour. His horrible terrible awful dreadful lousy no-good abominable bad WHITE armour. My right eye twitches.

“N—nonetheless! Dear miss Kitty Princess, I am here to rescue you, and to assist you in killing the horrible Gorgon Medu—” and he can say no more, because like a raging macaque, I’ve already thrown myself bodily across the floor, hooking my legs around his armoured midsection. My claws wheel and scratch at his face, tearing it up within seconds, turning it into less of a face and more so fleshy strips of skin and meat.

Maul Lv.2>

A howl that might be considered a scream erupts from the torn-open cavity that used to be his throat and I take the opportunity to shove my entire arm into that same hole, down as far as it can go, until I hit flesh which I tear open, and further and further, until my clawed hand finally grabs hold of something hot and pulsating and I tear it out, holding the still-beating heart in my hand like a trophy.

He takes one step forward, and then one back before wobbling left and right and then with a familiar sigh his lungs give their final breath and he falls over. Not that I go down with him, of course, I’m used to this situation, so with an acrobat’s grace, I simply leap off, letting him fall as he pleases.

I look at the heart in my hand. Might as well, am I right? I take a chomp out of it like it’s an apple. Hm. Not bad. It tastes like the heart of a shade, so I guess this guy really was some sort of shade or human instead of a pinkish, discoloured goblin. Interesting. Chomping a little bit more, I finish off the heart. Hm. I’m not getting any pop-up message for his being defeated, but he should be dead considering that I literally just ate his heart. Maybe it has to do with the fact that he didn’t have a level? It seems like people without a level or without a status message at all don’t need to be killed to get a complete clear, but, I mean… Why wouldn’t you kill them?

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Leaning down, I touch my hand onto his armour, smudging it with RED. This armour will be sure to sell for a whole bunch. And his heart was pretty tasty, too.

sighs.>

groans and alerts

The God of Harvest

of the situation.>

silently surveys the situation.>

waves His hand.>

Huh? What the heck is happening now—

There’s a sudden shift and my stomach turns just a bit lighter, as if something in it was abruptly removed. I look down at my feet. The body of the knight is gone. It just—it just disappeared! That makes no sense. What the heck did those damn gods do this time?! That was my lunch and-or dinner! You can’t just steal a guy’s meal for no reason, it isn’t fair!

Damn these cruel gods…!

Hell Difficulty Ninth Floor

Boss Stage>

<[Clear Condition]

Defeat the Gorgon Medusa

with the help of help of

—…ppppppp—.11414>

<[Clear Condition]

Defeat the Gorgon Medusa.>

…Uhuh. Didn’t like me killing the NPC, did you?

But the floor hasn’t collapsed on itself or anything, so whatever. Let’s see, the time is…

<00:18:02

Day 205>

4:23:42:58>

I have five days left until the next attempt.

I’m not entirely sure how the final gorgon will appear, but I’ve got a hunch that the door half-hidden behind a curtain over there may just have something to do with it. It certainly wasn’t there a minute ago. Speaking of doors, that entrance the knight came in through just a few minutes earlier is completely gone now, almost as if it didn’t even exist, to begin with. Weird stuff.

Anyway, there’s nothing better for me to do with these last few days than to try to finish the book Moleman gave me. I’ve got a feeling I won’t learn anything, but I might as well try, right?

With that in mind, I hunker down on top of the softest rug I can find, with my back to a wall of soft velvet. No more snakes are appearing. I can’t tell if this is a good or a bad thing, but it also doesn’t matter that much. I just need to focus on reading. That’s all.

And read I do. Making absolutely no headway whatsoever.

The chapters are just as incomprehensible as they were the first time around. I never did have dyslexia or anything, but it’s almost starting to feel like I’ve developed it just by trying to read this thing. The words barely even look like words anymore. They’re just little squiggles and dots. I refuse to believe that aortic is a real word. That’s gotta be made up. I won’t have it.

Unfortunately, since there aren’t any more snakes, and that irritating guy transformed all the snake bodies into colourful dust, there’s nothing I can take out my frustration on other than my own body.

How lucky for me, then, that my prayer is heard. Right as I’m starting to consider the merits of auto-asphyxiation combined with cranial haemorrhage, the clock switches for the better.

<00:08:02

Day 210>

23:51:58>

The time has come. With only twenty-four hours of this attempt remaining, I have no other choice but to get going. Running my hand over the incomprehensible tome one final time, I put it into my inventory. Then, I stand up and face the door.

I walk over to it in three large strides, put my hand on the doorknob, and tug at it. And then I realise it’s a push door, so after dramatically pushing it open, I step inside.