Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 182

It just passes by.

Like a huge cloud, but faster than a bird.

Since it became an endless night sky, it’s too dark to see most birds unless they fly across the moon.

But anyone can spot it from far away.

Not only was it larger than a bird, its mere presence overwhelmed its surroundings.

Above all, its shape.

A grotesque form impossible to forget once seen.

A human head flying through the sky, as if molded from mud covered in moss until it turned green.

No wings, no limbs or body, just a lone head floating and flying through the air.

Though sightings of this bizarre entity have been reported here and there, it’s not that well-known yet.

It doesn’t destroy anything or chant curses that make you want to cover your ears.

It just flies while smiling.

But those with good hearing might be able to catch something very faintly.

“Meet friend. Meet kind friend. Meet kind hunter friend…”

A song both rhythmic yet somehow off-beat.

It keeps singing endlessly as it flies across the night sky to somewhere.

To meet that kind hunter.

And finally, it found where that hunter was.

When it sensed Eugene’s presence in the distance, Thumbelina’s smiling expression instantly twisted into that of a demon.

“Meet the kind hunter friend who betrayed me…!”

In a forest a bit away from Drang Basin.

Thumbelina descended into the middle of that forest.

“Where are you!?!? Come out!!!”

When Thumbelina shouted, the surrounding trees shook and the forest was crushed into silence.

Normally forests are filled with endless noise.

The cries of birds and insects, the rustling of leaves and branches, and all sorts of other small sounds of life.

But Thumbelina’s shout suppressed all that life.

Almost all creatures capable of making sound either fainted or froze in terror.

Small creatures like insects and field mice died just from the curse Thumbelina exhaled like breath.

“I said come out!! Why did you betray me!?!?”

Mud-like tears flowed from Thumbelina’s black eyes and covered the ground.

The tears spread out gradually, eroding the forest and turning it into a swamp.

Moss and mushrooms sprouted everywhere and the ground became soggy.

“I gave you my precious mushroom!! Why did you remove it?!”

Thumbelina remembered giving her Mark to Eugene.

But the Mark didn’t last long.

The response from the Mark left on Eugene was weak.

In other words, much of it had been erased, a betrayal against her who gave the Mark.

Feeling extreme resentment, sorrow and betrayal, Thumbelina flew straight toward Eugene.

“I don’t remember eating any mushroom.”

Eugene’s voice came from within the forest.

“Graah!”

Thumbelina’s face itself distorted and transformed into a giant wolf’s head as she flew toward where the voice came from.

Thumbelina’s maw crushed every tree it hit like bamboo stalks as she flew.

Despite her cute words, it was an incredibly vicious attack.

Eugene was crouched low beneath the flying Thumbelina.

For a brief moment, their eyes met.

“There you are!”

Thumbelina’s head that had transformed into a wolf writhed and clumped together before returning to its original form.

Then, when she opened her mouth, her tongue shot out like a whip toward Eugene, just like when she snatched Chris at Spider Castle.

“Not so fast!”

But Hilde jumped out from the side and struck Thumbelina’s tongue with her Executioner’s Axe.

“Urk!?”

Thumbelina’s tongue bounced to the side with a shallow wound.

It was barely more than a scratch, but still a wound.

For the first time, Thumbelina was injured.

“That! Hurts! You! Know!”

Sticky, tar-like tears shot from Thumbelina’s eyes toward Hilde.

Hilde dove to the side to dodge, but the trees and grass touched by the tears instantly corroded.

“She’s a complete monster…”

Hilde’s hands trembled as they gripped the axe.

The impact from deflecting the tongue earlier still lingered.

That power was possibly on par with Blanc.

At least stronger than the high-tier Beast Brahms she fought inside Pinocchio’s body.

“Hmmph!”

This time Thumbelina greatly puffed up her cheeks.

When she opened her mouth, cat-sized flying insects poured out toward Hilde.

One of Thumbelina’s patterns from Blue Paper Moon – [Insect Breath].

Each insect was an independent enemy that could be destroyed by attacks, but even with the fastest weapon it was nearly impossible to strike them all down without taking damage.

Moreover, since they were alive they had powerful homing abilities, making them hard to dodge too.

Of course, Eugene had already explained this technique to Hilde and they had countermeasures.

“Here!”

Gerda appeared from the opposite side of Hilde and threw a small jar.

Originally it was a white smoke bomb filled with silver residue, but Eugene had removed the silver dust and filled it with holy oil instead to make an oil bomb.

Then Eugene took out his Hand Cannon and hit it precisely with [Bullet Time].

A huge fiery smoke screen burst out, causing the flying insects to drop one after another.

While Thumbelina’s vision was blocked, Hilde crouched low and charged in with [Crescent] enveloping her axe.

“Kyaaaah!!”

Thumbelina immediately reacted to Crescent’s lunar power.

Her playful face turned infinitely cold as she turned toward Hilde and screamed.

The violent cursed scream shattered everything around.

While Hilde momentarily faltered and staggered from the cursed shout, flames rose from Thumbelina’s open mouth.

But just before the fire could spew from her mouth, Gerda drove her dual swords into Thumbelina’s cheek and turned them the opposite way.

Thumbelina’s head turned upward and a pillar of flame shot into the sky.

The flames were so intense that for a moment the dark forest night became brighter than day.

“Urgh… stop being so annoying!”

When Thumbelina showed genuine irritation, her hair transformed into snakes and stood on end.

Eugene’s group immediately ran in different directions when they saw that.

That was also one of the patterns Eugene knew – [Death Mist].

When used by players it came from their hands and had a very narrow range, but Thumbelina’s version sprayed poison gas over a wide area from the mouths of her snake hair.

The damage was also on a completely different level – even max level characters couldn’t survive more than 5 seconds.

The Death Mist devoured everything, withering all trees and grass.

As the mist gradually subsided, Eugene ran toward Thumbelina again.

Thumbelina always showed an opening right after using [Death Mist].

Of course that was only in the game and reality might be different, but they had no other viable options.

Even Hilde and Gerda couldn’t win against a witch-level being like Thumbelina, and to increase the chances of success with Time Rabbit’s watch that was weaker than Mad Hatter’s, they had to create an opening like this.

The plan for Eugene to run in and use the watch at this exact moment was extremely reckless and both Hilde and Gerda opposed it, but in the end they had to nod when Eugene asked them to believe since it had worked once before.

Though they worried for Eugene’s safety, they also trusted him.

As Eugene hoped, Thumbelina stayed right where she was.

She even opened her mouth wide as if inviting him in.

And just before he could dive in like before…

“…!?!?”

Eugene quickly threw his body backward and fell flat.

Muddy transparent blades passed over Eugene at the same time.

“Impossible!”

“That’s…!”

Eugene and Hilde were both shocked when they looked into Maia’s mouth.

There was a person inside.

Though covered in mud and only showing the upper body, it was definitely a person.

And they could even recognize who it was from the face.

“Sir Ozwald!?”

“…”

Ozwald who was in Maia’s mouth didn’t respond to their calls and just kept muttering something while holding out a grotesquely twisted staff.

“…! Dodge!!”

Hilde grabbed Gerda and moved away from Ozwald’s front.

Then a dark green beam shot from the staff.

It was [Light’s Wrath], a spell used by nearly endgame-build mages for long-range sniping in Blue Paper Moon.

Usually it was a single laser beam, but the current Ozwald seemed to have received Thumbelina’s influence and power as he kept pouring out magic chasing after Hilde and Gerda.

The magic eventually ran out and disappeared, but the aftermath it left was devastating.

Everything – ground, trees, rocks and all – where [Light’s Wrath] passed through had vanished as if evaporated.

Like erasing a drawing with an eraser from paper.

Hilde and Gerda instinctively knew they would meet the same fate if hit directly by that.

“Why in the world…!”

“Don’t tell me she ate him…”

Just like Thumbelina had eaten Chris, she must have eaten Ozwald this time.

And not just that, she was controlling him at will too.

“Refreshing!”

When Thumbelina closed her mouth again, Ozwald’s figure disappeared.

“What should we…”

An unexpected pattern.

No, this went beyond just a pattern problem.

The number of people they needed to save had increased by one.

“Senior! Let’s retreat for now!”

Hilde shouted.

“We didn’t expect anything like this! Let’s go back and make a new plan…!”

“…No! We don’t have that luxury!”

There was no guarantee they could escape from here.

Thumbelina was specifically targeting Eugene.

“We’ll hold her off, so Brother should run away!”

“That’s right. While we block her, please return to the lab.”

Gerda and Hilde ran to his side.

“If we want to save Sir Ozwald too we can’t waste time… We have to try. Buy me some time. I’ll approach again.”

“But…”

“Hurry!”

“Ugh… fine!”

“Senior is really so stubborn…!”

Gerda and Hilde had no choice but to stand alongside Eugene.

The group exchanged glances.

Hilde started running first, followed by Gerda and Eugene in sequence.

It was their best option for dividing Thumbelina’s attention.

Though Thumbelina’s target was Eugene…

“Over here!!”

When Hilde used [Crescent] again, Thumbelina’s gaze turned that way.

If nothing else, Thumbelina was wary of that technique of Hilde’s.

After Gerda moved forward supporting Hilde’s movements, Eugene poured maximum magical power into [Bullet Time] and made a wide circle behind.

Eugene ran in a world where everything suddenly slowed down.

Time Rabbit’s watch in hand.

For now he could only hope it would be as effective as Mad Hatter’s.

“Hello! Kind hunter!! Did you come to see me?!”

Then Thumbelina noticed Eugene approaching from behind and whirled around.

When Thumbelina opened her mouth, Ozwald’s figure appeared inside again.

Ozwald pointed his staff toward Eugene.

Probably [Light’s Wrath].

Eugene threw himself forward toward that mighty spell.