Chapter 6

To repel intruders.

The monster had never once neglected that duty.

A powerful body taking only the advantages of various lifeforms, the diverse knowledge remaining in the human brain and flexible thinking ability could only be used to carry out the given objective.

It couldn’t think about anything else, nor was it able to.

However, one day a sudden anomaly occurred.

‘Why, must I, chase, intruders?’

A trivial question that suddenly arose in the monster’s mind as it was thinking, as always, about how to carry out its mission more efficiently and how to take down intruders more effectively.

‘Why can’t I leave this place, why must I not attack those who look different from me, because we share the same purpose? The being that told us, me, that purpose…’

And unlike its companions who only had instincts or low-level intelligence, the monster with a human head capable of high-level thinking was soon able to realize what had happened.

“Keeeeek!”

The monster ran with all its might, leaving behind its unknowing companions.

Though it didn’t know why this happened, moving was more important now than finding out the reason.

As time passes, the others will also realize what happened and start moving.

Revenge belongs to itself.

That witch must die by its own hands, no one else’s.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Though it was committing the absolutely forbidden act of disturbing the master’s rest, there was no sense of wrongness in its actions and thoughts.

Indeed, it was certain the witch’s spell had been broken.

This chance cannot be missed.

The monster that broke down the door with its orc arm capable of superhuman strength rolled its eyes scanning the room.

“Keeeeeeek!”

Though the room was empty, through the sharp yet sweet scent filling the room it could realize the witch was hiding somewhere inside.

And before long, the monster found where the witch was hiding.

“Kirik, kirik.”

The black dress hem peeking out between the wardrobes.

Though it could kill her instantly, it deliberately pretended not to find her while prowling around the room.

Just imagining what the witch inside must be thinking, what expression she must be making, gave it a base pleasure it had never felt before.

Though it wanted to enjoy this moment forever, not knowing how long this situation would last, the monster soon decided to do what it must.

Crack!

The werewolf’s claws pierced through the wardrobe too easily.

But moments later, the monster tilted its head.

All it could feel in its right arm was the dull sensation of piercing the wardrobe – no soft flesh or warm blood and organs.

Instinctively realizing something was wrong, the monster immediately tried to back away but it was too late.

“Kik! Kiiiik?!”

An intense pressure climbing up its neck.

Something was strangling its neck.

The panicked monster hurriedly tried to unwrap whatever was coiled around its neck, but the thick orc fingers made such delicate work impossible, and as the pressure grew stronger with time, it finally extended the claws on its other hand and swung them at its neck.

Slash!

Though a fierce spray of blood erupted as the neck’s flesh and major blood vessels were torn out, it could at least cut away whatever unidentified thing was strangling its neck.

However, the liberation lasted only a brief moment.

“Kagh…”

Without even giving time to breathe, something even thicker than what was just cut wrapped around its neck again with even stronger force.

The panicking and thrashing monster could only realize what had happened to it when it saw the scene reflected in the mirror hanging on one wall.

‘Witch?’

The witch clinging to its head was strangling its neck using vines.

Seeing the witch persistently strangling while barely dodging all attacks thrown in confusion, the monster realized it was truly in danger and immediately jumped high with its back facing the ground.

Crash!

An impact that momentarily stopped breathing.

Thinking the witch between them must have suffered worse, the monster unknowingly relaxed from the impact and relief.

The single opening shown by the monster that had been thrashing madly since its neck was first strangled.

And in that moment, vines began wrapping around its entire body at a terrifying speed.

“Kiik!”

If it were in normal condition, it could have easily torn off these mere vines.

However, the monster’s physical abilities had long fallen below half its usual level after moving non-stop without oxygen while suffering significant blood loss.

“!!!”

There was no room left to think about witches or revenge.

Unable to even groan let alone scream through its strangled throat, it could only desperately struggle for oxygen while clutching its neck, and Yuseong was clinging to the monster’s back pulling the vines with all his might.

‘This time for sure!’

Strangulation.

It was the only method Yuseong could think of to defeat a monster superior in strength, reaction speed, agility, and durability with a frail girl’s body.

Of course, strangling someone to death wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but Yuseong had infinite chances.

780th attempt.

Realizing it was impossible to find an opening through direct confrontation, he switched to surprise attacks.

812th attempt.

Finding that the monster caught even the faintest sounds no matter how carefully he approached, he chose to hang from the ceiling using vines and drop down.

844th attempt.

To lure the monster that wouldn’t come to the desired position, he deliberately left part of the dress visibly stuck between the wardrobes as bait.

999th attempt.

Methods to stay attached to the struggling opponent’s back without falling off, controlling the opponent’s movements by adjusting the force applied to the vines, reading attack trajectories from shoulder movements and muscle responses, minimizing damage and maintaining consciousness when receiving unexpected impacts.

Though it was a life-or-death situation where a single mistake led directly to death, Yuseong casually paid for mistakes with death and used them as stepping stones for the next success, and through accumulation of these experiences he was able to drive the monster to the brink of death.

“Ki…ik.”

As the monster coughed up bloody foam, Yuseong gritted his teeth.

Though he had succeeded in getting this far in the previous attempt, he couldn’t overcome the monster’s final struggle and had to make a 1000th attempt.

‘Now!’

Thorny Vine blooming from his fingertips.

Like moving a part of his body, he skillfully controlled Thorny Vine to begin wrapping around his target.

However, the target wasn’t the monster but his own arms.

“Kik?”

The monster couldn’t help but be shocked.

It had used its trump card skill Beast Transformation to escape mortal danger.

A skill that greatly increases all abilities and transforms the body for combat at the cost of massive life force consumption.

However, the situation wasn’t good now.

“Kiiiiiik!”

If it were just being bound by rope, it could have easily broken free with the power of Beast Transformation.

However, the magically created vines had surprisingly high durability and were pressing down on its entire body with terrifying force.

Of course, the monster wasn’t the only one suffering.

“Kuaaaaaah!”

Yuseong was also screaming his throat raw from the intense pain transmitted from both arms.

‘Endure. Endure. Must endure no matter what!’

The cause of failure in the 999th attempt.

It was because Alice’s body couldn’t exert enough force to properly restrain the monster’s growing body, causing the vines to slip loose.

To take that final step, he needed to exceed this body’s limits.

‘If I wrap vines around both arms…’

It was a simply insane idea of using the body as mere support to exert greater force, but Yuseong’s standards had long departed from normal after repeating hundreds of deaths and loops.

Crack!

A sound that shouldn’t be heard came from both arms.

The sound of skin tearing, muscles twisting, and bones breaking.

Though unimaginable pain shot up his arms, Yuseong couldn’t even feel the pain due to excess adrenaline and pulled both arms with superhuman strength ignoring the body’s limits while making an expression twisted like a demon god of slaughter.

“Die! Die! Please just die!”

“Kiiiiii!”

A girl begging her strangling victim to die and a monster struggling to survive.

And the end was anticlimactic.

Crack!

“……”

-Ah…

With a sound like a water-filled leather bag bursting, the monster’s body exploded into pieces.

The remains of what was once a monster piled up, flesh pieces thrown about and warm steam rising from fresh blood, body covered in gore and blood.

Yuseong stared at it all with blank eyes.

Though he had aimed for the monster’s death, now that it became reality he didn’t know how to react.

What brought the dazed Yuseong back to reality was a message window with new content.

[You have cleared the quest ‘Please Help Me, There’s a Monster!’]

[Analyzing clear process, please wait a moment]

[Fate Change Rate 100%, Otherworld Skill Usage 0%, Otherworld Artifact Usage 0%]

[Final Evaluation SSS Rank]

[Amazing! Han Yuseong succeeded in changing fate using only the client’s own abilities and items without using any otherworld powers or items! Rewards will be given!]

[Basic Clear Reward: 20,000 Karma]

[SSS Rank Clear Additional Reward: Title “One Who Makes the Impossible Possible”, 500,000 Karma]

[Return to original world will begin shortly]

“Return? Can I finally go back?”

-Huh? What do you mean by going back?

To Alice’s seemingly desperate question, Yuseong answered nonchalantly.

“Oh, well, to return to my original world I had to survive the unknown entity outside the door, right? And now that the monster is dead, that condition seems to have been met.”

-W-wait! Weren’t you supposed to help me survive?

“I did help you?”

-I mean helping continuously, not just once! There are countless beings even more dangerous than that monster outside, what am I supposed to do if you leave now?

Though he understood Alice’s desperate situation, Yuseong was just as desperate.

He had only started the device thinking to try a VR game, but suddenly found himself possessed in the body of an unknown otherworld girl endlessly repeating deaths.

It took 999 failures and deaths just to handle one monster – how many more deaths would it take to go further?

“I feel bad, but I’m just an ordinary human. Anything more is impossible.”

-P-please help me. I’m too scared alone. Besides, with these arms I can’t even if I want to…

“Hmm.”

Looking down at both arms, Yuseong let out a small groan.

Fingers twisted in strange directions and blood trickling between skin torn by thorns.

Though it was a sacrifice for victory, he felt guilty about leaving the fragile girl’s arms in this state and sorry for Alice who would have to survive other monsters and dangers with these arms.

But even if he wanted to help, he wasn’t sure if it was realistically possible.

‘Though it probably won’t happen, even if I could use the goggles again, could I come back here? If Alice’s situation doesn’t appear in that quest or whatever list, there’s nothing I can do. This isn’t something sympathy alone can solve.’

No matter how he thought about it, the possibility seemed too slim.

-P-perhaps you need compensation? I’ll give you anything you want! I’ll even give you my soul, so please, please help me!

“I told you I’m not a demon…”

[‘Alice’ has requested an additional quest from ‘Han Yuseong’. Will you accept?]

“Huh?”

A casually uttered response.

And its impact was enormous.

[You have accepted the additional quest. You have gained priority rights to challenge new quests continuing from this quest]

[You have acquired the title “Expert”]

“Wait! Accepted? When did I?!”

-*sob* Thank you, Mr. Yuseong! Thank you!

“Don’t thank me! I never agreed to help! This is…”

[Initiating Deus Ex Machina Program]

[Ariadne’s Thread tracking complete]

Before finishing his words, Yuseong realized he was being pulled out of Alice’s body and sucked into the brilliant light tunnel he remembered seeing once before.

[Initiating spirit particle transfer]

“Wait!”

Flash!