Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 118

“Hah, hah…”

Hilde knelt on the ground, struggling to catch her breath.

Her clothes were in tatters, with bright red blood seeping from various places.

Before her lay the corpse of the high-tier Beast Brahms, a mess of flesh and metal mashed together.

Among all the opponents she had properly fought so far, high-tier Beast Brahms was the strongest.

But she won.

Though she had sustained injuries too severe for even the Ring of Deep Grace to fully heal, she had still emerged victorious.

“Amazing…”

“Is she really less than six months since joining?”

The people Hilde had been protecting each expressed their admiration or shock.

Of course, they knew many who were stronger than Hilde, but they had never heard of someone becoming this strong in such a short time.

Except for Sephira, who was called the Small Saintess.

“Hah… Is everyone alright?”

Hilde asked, using her axe as a cane to stand up.

“W-we’re fine. But you should rest first…”

One of the Workshop’s craftsmen said.

“This much is… nothing.”

“No, still…”

“…Ah.”

Hilde let out a dumbfounded sound as she slowly turned around.

Having just barely managed to defeat a high-tier Beast, she sensed another Beast approaching.

“Let’s walk around the rose…”

Everyone held their breath at that song.

“Pockets full of flowers…”

“N-no…”

“This is…!”

“Ashes… ashes…”

Another Brahms appeared.

“…Huh?”

But the most shocked of all was Hilde.

“They all fall down!”

While the Brahms she had just defeated had its cage packed full of humans like a mass, the one that appeared now had only a single person inside.

“I-impossible… Why…”

Hilde’s hands trembled violently.

“…Senior?”

Inside the cage was Eugene.

Though his face was hidden by his hat pulled low as he sat slumped against the iron bars, Hilde recognized him instantly.

It was unmistakably Eugene.

“Give… him back…”

Without realizing it, Hilde reached out toward him as she walked forward.

“…Stop.”

A small voice.

“Senior! Are you alright?!”

When Eugene spoke something, Hilde shouted loudly.

“Don’t come…”

Eugene said.

“I-I’ll help you! Just wait…!”

“I said don’t come!”

Eugene slightly lifted the brim of his hat and shot Hilde a sharp glare.

“Why…?”

“Can’t you see? This is a trap. I’m just bait… How foolish.”

Brahms struck down on its own cage.

With a loud clash of metal, Eugene’s body inside was violently shaken and collapsed to the floor.

“Senior?!”

Hilde screamed.

“I knew it would end like this.”

Eugene spoke while remaining collapsed, as if lacking the strength to get up.

“You must have known too… Right?”

“No… It can’t end like this!”

Hilde gripped her axe properly and took a stance.

“I said don’t come!!”

Eugene cried out desperately, squeezing out all his strength.

“Just protect those people behind you! They’re more important than me!!”

In front was one lower-ranked hunter captured by the Beast.

Behind were dozens of craftsmen and artisans who made the Order’s weapons.

There was no need to ask which was more important.

“B-but… but…”

Hilde froze in that stance at Eugene’s cry.

“This is the center of Order headquarters… Higher-ranked hunters are already outside. Everything will be fine soon, just wait. That’s all.”

“That won’t do.”

Just then, a new voice came from Brahms.

“You…”

“Pretty bold words for a puppet sacrifice.”

Brahms opened its own cage and took Eugene out.

Only then did Hilde realize Eugene’s hands and feet were bound by iron chains.

And at the same time, another chain with hooks descended from the ceiling.

“…Ugh.”

Eugene was hung on those hooks.

“Wh-what are you…”

Hilde asked with a trembling voice.

Eugene was hung by the hooks.

The sharp hook tips pierced through Eugene’s shoulders, and he was dragged away somewhere hanging like a pig.

As Eugene’s form disappeared, the largest number of Mechanical Beasts yet appeared, along with mechanical spiders and even several more Brahms.

“Let’s play a game.”

Brahms spoke in Pinocchio’s voice.

“If you win, I’ll let you all go. If not, I’ll kill everyone behind you.”

“How can I trust you?”

“If you don’t like it, you can all die right here.”

The horde of metal Beasts approached.

Hilde looked back.

Dozens of people from the Development Department were looking only at her.

Their faces were filled with nothing but desperation and fear.

“…Fine. As much as you want.”

Hilde turned back toward Pinocchio.

“But while we’re betting, don’t touch those people.”

“Good. Then come this way.”

The Beast horde split in two like the Red Sea miracle, creating a path in the middle.

Hilde walked without hesitation between dozens of Beasts.

“W-wait! Will you be alright?”

Someone asked.

“…”

Hilde turned her head one last time toward the person who asked, gave a small smile, then faced forward again and continued on.

Thus Hilde gradually disappeared, surrounded by Beasts.

“…”

She continued walking in the direction the Beasts indicated.

“You follow quite obediently. Was that human really so precious to you?”

The Beasts guiding the way each asked in Pinocchio’s voice.

“Yes. But that’s not all.”

“Then what other reason is there?”

“You must be Iron Hans, right? I thought we killed you.”

“I was called by that name. And as you can see, I’m still very much alive.”

“Then what you want is for me and Senior to suffer. Since the one who can’t escape here isn’t us but you, this must be your final desperate act. That actually reassures me.”

“Reassures you?”

“Yes. The desperate one isn’t us. It’s you, Iron Hans. Because Senior won’t move according to your will, you’re getting impatient and making this bet. Am I wrong?”

“You speak well. You trash.”

“A hunter is…”

“That’s not what I mean… Oh?”

Iron Hans’s voice changed to one of amusement.

“You don’t know who you are, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ahaha, this is quite amusing. What is that White Witch planning?”

“White Witch?”

“Haha, this is just too funny! Not even knowing who you are!”

At some point, Hilde stood before the final door.

Workshop 3.

The very place where Zepetia first created Pinocchio and was devoured by it.

Hilde carefully opened Workshop 3’s door.

“…”

The Mountain that Eats Young Sacrifices in Hameln village.

Deep in the cave where Iron Hans had hidden at that mountain’s peak was a place that created miracles to turn behemoths human, filled with all sorts of magic circles, various devices, and flesh.

Of course, it wasn’t a true miracle but rather, as the mountain’s name suggested, transferring the behemoth’s curse onto young children.

And now Workshop 3’s interior had transformed to resemble that place.

Unidentifiable mechanical devices turned throughout, and magic circles similar to back then glowed softly.

The difference was that flesh had been replaced with metal, and the sacrifices used were not young children.

“Senior… and Ms. Zepetia…”

In the center of Workshop 3, Eugene and Zepetia hung with their heads down and eyes closed as if unconscious.

Eugene was still hanging from the ceiling hook chain that pierced his shoulder, while Zepetia sat tied to a chair.

“Welcome.”

A massive brain floating between those two addressed Hilde.

But it wasn’t a healthy brain – it was frayed in places and leaking blood and fluid.

Hilde smelled the increasingly thick scent of death.

Not her own death, but that of the bizarrely-shaped being before her eyes.

“Iron Hans?”

Though its appearance was different, the essential cursed presence it emitted was very similar to the Iron Hans in her memory.

“Wrong… That’s not my name. My real name isn’t Iron Hans or Pinocchio. My real name is… I can’t remember anymore… But that’s alright. I’ll have a new name soon.”

Neural stems trailing like tails from the brain pointed toward Eugene and Zepetia.

“From now on, my name will be Eugene, or Zepetia.”

“You can’t do as you please.”

Hilde pointed her axe.

“Oh, of course. It’s not my decision but yours. Shall we start the game? You’re the protagonist, naturally.”

Pinocchio’s brain floated higher.

“Game? What kind of game?”

“Eugene and Zepetia. Choose one.”

“…What?”

“I’m telling you to choose. I will place myself into one of their bodies. Then I’ll become either Eugene or Zepetia. I’ll become human…!”

“Stop spouting nonsense!”

Hilde drew her gun and shot at Pinocchio’s brain.

But the bullet stopped midway and fell powerlessly.

“Tch!”

Seeing the gun was ineffective, Hilde grabbed her axe again and ran toward Eugene and Zepetia.

But this time several Brahms jumped out to block Hilde’s path.

She swung the Executioner’s Axe with all her magical power, but it was useless when facing multiple high-tier Beast Brahms that were inherently stronger than her.

“It’s useless. You must choose. Who lives and who dies! What kind of human I’ll become! Ahahaha!”

Pinocchio’s brain laughed loudly.

“Why are you doing this?!”

“This is all your fault! If you and that damned senior of yours hadn’t interfered, I could have returned fully human!”

“Then those innocent children taking on your curse instead wasn’t wrong?! You selfish trash!!”

“Shut up! What do you know?! What do you know about how much I suffered?! Just choose already! Someone has to die for me!”

“As if I’d make that kind of choice?!”

“Then I’ll just kill everyone! If I can’t become human, nothing else matters!”

“This is pointless! Even if you take their bodies, that won’t be you! Besides, do you think the Heresy Inquisition Department won’t recognize you?! And you’re about to die! Even if you wear a human shell, it will only be for a moment!”

Hilde clearly sensed that Pinocchio’s life was nearly over.

Proposing this game was probably because it could no longer hold on.

Just a final struggle.

But she couldn’t let Eugene be sacrificed to something like this.

“I don’t care! Even just for a moment! Even if it’s not truly mine! I will become human! Human, human, human!! I want to get out of this cursed body!!!”

An tremendous shockwave burst out from Pinocchio’s brain.

Even Hilde, who had been filled with rage, was forced to her knees by the overwhelming force.

“Wh-why do you want to become human so badly? Weren’t you a powerful behemoth…!”

“My life was perfect! Perfect I tell you!! I never wanted to become a monster!!! Give me back my life! Witch, give me back who I was!!”

Unknown waves radiating from Pinocchio’s brain struck Hilde’s head.

For a moment Hilde’s vision went dark and a new scene appeared.

It was the memory from when Pinocchio, and Iron Hans, were truly human in the truest sense.