Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 110

I hurriedly turned around and grabbed the door handle to open it.

But the handle wouldn’t budge at all, as if made of steel.

Even shooting the handle with the rifle on my back didn’t leave a scratch.

“…Damn it.”

It’s a trap.

This is why I should have gone in alone.

I sighed and turned back around to survey the restaurant interior.

The ceiling had a common wooden chandelier, and torches mounted in the corners cast crimson flames that lit the bizarre space below, making the customers’ shadows dance erratically.

The air was thick with the smell of cooking and the warm, humid steam of something bubbling.

Every table and chair was occupied, with large plates topped with steaming food – not unlike a successful restaurant at first glance.

The food was, of course, stewed meat.

Hairless forearms, five long slender fingers, familiar shapes.

Several human arms were laid out like decorations on the floor, topped with someone’s steaming head.

And the customers were using forks to strip off the flesh, continuing their enthusiastic meal.

Though the customers resembled Cheshire Beasts, they looked more like children’s scribbles than living creatures – their appearance and even texture seemed wrong.

“Hah….”

I let out a sigh.

I had no idea what to do right now.

In Blue Paper Moon, this was just an empty restaurant.

Though there were signs of the residents being massacred, it was still just an empty restaurant with no one around.

But now it had transformed into a nightmarish space – no, a nightmare itself.

Nothing like this existed in my past life’s knowledge.

Honestly, the scene was so bewildering and surreal that it paradoxically helped me stay calm.

For now… those Beast-like things don’t seem inclined to attack.

Not only did they ignore me standing here dumbfounded, they stayed still even when I shot at the door earlier.

They were solely focused on the food before them.

Though they might not attack me immediately, I knew well enough that staying put wouldn’t do me any good.

There must be an exit somewhere….

“Oh no!”

As I was looking around for another door that might lead somewhere else, a voice rang out from the kitchen for the first time.

A voice I knew.

That voice I’d heard in Blue Paper Moon.

The one who should have appeared long ago.

“We’re out of meat!”

At those words, the Beasts eating humans all around suddenly stopped.

An ominous feeling pounded my heart and crawled up my spine.

“I wonder if there’s any spare meat somewhere?”

It poked its head out from the kitchen.

Sharp shark-like teeth big enough to swallow a human whole, each fang as thick as a forearm.

A cat with slit eyes and green irises.

The high-tier Beast ‘Grinning Cat’, boss of Cheshire Village.

But this doesn’t make sense….

The Grinning Cat shouldn’t have this kind of hallucination ability to begin with.

No, if this isn’t an illusion but reality, such space manipulation powers are far beyond a high-tier Beast.

Only a behemoth could wield such authority and power.

“Ah, there’s a new guest. Why are you just standing around?”

The Grinning Cat asked me.

“Perhaps there’s no seat?”

Somehow I found myself sitting at a table, though I had no memory of sitting down.

“First time in the neighborhood? Do you know what our signature dish is?”

“…What kind of trick is this?”

This was an opponent I had absolutely no way to fight against.

Though I don’t know why the Grinning Cat is using behemoth-level powers, I understand the current reality.

If it wanted to, I would be dead before I could blink.

Or perhaps something worse than death awaited.

“Oh my, trick you say? But of course! Where do you think this is? This is a restaurant!”

The Grinning Cat grinned with its mouth literally splitting open.

“Come, sit comfortably. And enjoy! Today’s special menu!”

A large covered plate appeared before me.

And at some point, a twisted Cheshire Beast wearing an elegant waiter’s suit appeared beside me and lifted the cover.

“…”

I met Sephira’s eyes.

The eyes streaming bloody tears were a deep red like Dominic’s, and the small hands decorating the surroundings must have belonged to Zepetia and Oscar.

“Go ahead, eat. It will have a very special taste.”

“…Your hospitality is terrible.”

I pushed the plate away slightly.

“…What?”

For the first time, the laughter disappeared from the Grinning Cat’s voice.

“Why should I eat something like this?”

“Are you saying… you don’t like my cooking?!?!”

The Grinning Cat’s neck stretched out from the kitchen until its head was right in front of me.

Blood vessels bulged in its eyes, foam dripped from its mouth, and every facial muscle expressed rage.

Though I flinched momentarily at the sudden movement, I instead crossed my legs and put them up on the table.

“That’s right. I don’t like it.”

“Tell me why…. If it’s some trivial reason, I’ll split open your belly and stuff it in myself…!”

“…You call that talking?”

I could stay even calmer as I organized what to say next.

“This is fake.”

I kicked the plate off the table with my foot, letting it crash to the floor.

I heard the plate shatter and when I glanced over, sure enough, it was an empty plate.

“Telling me to eat when you haven’t even served any food – that’s nonsense.”

“…”

The Grinning Cat stayed silent, staring down at that empty plate.

It was clearly surprised at first.

But when the theatrics are too over-the-top, it breaks the illusion, you could say….

“Lady Sephira wouldn’t have fallen to something like you already in the first place. Keep your bluffs within reason.”

That’s right.

I understand you’re trying to inflict psychological damage.

But while others might be different, the idea that Sephira had already been caught and turned into this kind of dish made no sense.

Even a behemoth couldn’t subdue a higher-ranked hunter that quickly.

Even Blanc, the highest-tier behemoth of this era, would need some time to kill Sephira.

Much less cook her up like this?

Say something that makes sense.

“…You’re no fun.”

When the Grinning Cat raised its head again, its face was completely expressionless without a trace of laughter.

For a cat, it sure has a wide range of expressions.

“You act like this even knowing I could swallow you in one bite?”

“So what? If you were going to do it, you would have done it already. I have no ability to stop you anyway. So you probably wanted to play with me a bit first, right?”

“…”

“…Are you that happy about getting behemoth powers? Did you think you were something special? You newborn chick.”

“Me? …Did you just call me a newborn chick?”

“Yes. It’s obvious from how you act. Real behemoths aren’t this clumsy.”

The reason isn’t clear, but the Grinning Cat probably gained behemoth-level power and authority recently.

An experienced and intelligent Beast wouldn’t pull such amateurish pranks.

If it wanted to destroy someone’s mind, it would use more thorough hallucinations that conveyed malice even toward concepts like goodness, peace, and dignity.

Though I may be a talentless lower-ranked hunter, I’m not going to fall for cheap tricks that so clearly reveal shallow thoughts of a powerful being wanting to toy with the weak.

I’m not even afraid of being killed by a Beast anymore.

“Sigh… you’re really no fun. You and that woman.”

“Who?”

“Really… this is too much. Isn’t this cheating?”

“What?”

At that moment, a nearly bleached white sword pierced through the Grinning Cat’s head and split it in two.

“…So this is where you were.”

Behind the bisected Grinning Cat, a human figure blackened like charcoal spoke to me.

A thick smell of burning flesh wafted from her.

“Lady Sephira?”

I stood up from my chair.

“Yes, it’s me. Though my current appearance might be… hard to recognize. This too is probably an illusion, or shallow reality manipulation.”

“How did you…?”

“…Because it was about finding you.”

“What?”

“The show isn’t over yet.”

The split fragments of the Grinning Cat instantly merged back together and swallowed Sephira.

“So this is the higher-ranked hunter the Creator spoke of? To break through the wall so easily.”

The ‘wall’ it mentioned was probably some kind of barrier or manipulated reality boundary created between me and Sephira and our other companions.

Sephira had broken through that physically impassable wall and crossed over to where I was in less than 10 minutes.

As expected, there’s no way she would have fallen to something like this already.

Come to think of it, the hallucination that Luna Sephirot showed Sephira at Vile’s old laboratory was also about burns – I wonder if she has some trauma related to burns from the past?

I don’t know that much since Sephira’s specific past wasn’t in the game or setting materials….

“But by Creator, do you mean Vile?”

“That was his name. That old man. The old man who created me.”

As I thought, Vile had definitely visited this village recently.

Moreover, he had twisted this place even more severely than the Cheshire Village that appeared in Blue Paper Moon.

From forcibly elevating the Grinning Cat from high-tier Beast level to behemoth class when that should have been enough, there must have been something I don’t know about.

Is this part of Hilde’s story only?

Or is it another effect of the story changing because of me?

“He suddenly came looking for me in a rage, saying something about plans changing….”

Plans changed?

…If he was angry, perhaps Blanc did something?

In the original, Vile had quite a bit of inferiority complex and persecution complex despite his appearance.

Especially his motivations and such would look quite ridiculous and unseemly to Blanc, a real behemoth.

Though there was no mention of them meeting in Blue Paper Moon, there was a point where Vile’s actions became more extreme – if that was because of Blanc, it would make sense.

Or perhaps he met a witch?

Vile is a threat even in the witches’ eyes.

That’s why there was always a quest to eliminate Vile in all routes where you fight on the witches’ side.

“When I become an even stronger being, I’ll kill that old man first. I’ll boil him in a pot and make him into steaming stew to feed to the dogs.”

What a dysfunctional family.

“But before that, shall I kill the annoying hunter first?”