A performance!

Bang!

The monster struck the front door of 2 Kirk Street again, and Arthur was knocked back once more.

He looked down at the bleeding web between his thumb and forefinger, his eyes filled with disbelief.

With that impact, however, the monster broke free of its restraints completely. It looked at the knight's sword thrust through the firing port, but instead of striking again, it seized the doorframe with both hands and pulled backward.

Creeeak!

Amid the teeth-grating noise, the doorframe peeled away from the wall inch by inch.

Finally-

Bang!

The monster tore the door out, frame and all.

This time, Arthur could see everything clearly without looking through the peephole.

The monster shrouded in darkness seemed unable to check its momentum. Carrying the door, it staggered backward and only stopped after tumbling out of the courtyard of 2 Kirk Street.

It landed flat on its back, limbs splayed.

It looked terribly clumsy.

And that made its words seem more believable.

Arthur, standing in the hallway, paid it no further attention. He pulled back swiftly.

He wasn't running away. He was holding out!

"Three minutes!"

"Three minutes is all I need!"

Arthur muttered to himself, then activated the room's mechanisms and took weapons and equipment out of a hidden compartment.

He looked ready to do everything he could to stop the monster!

Deep down, he thought with absolute conviction-

Three minutes!

Stall for three minutes!

That's how I get out!

It's my only way out!

What Arthur said and what he thought aligned more closely than ever before.

Then, naturally, came action-

Huff! Huff!

Arthur steadied his breathing as he wrapped explosives around his body.

At the same time, he held his sword in his left hand and his gun in his right, looking ready to fight to the bitter end.

But just as Arthur aimed his flintlock at the monster and prepared to pull the trigger again, the monster in the darkness burst out laughing.

"Ha ha ha!"

"Without the 'door' protecting you, do you think your little tricks will still work?"

The fallen figure got up and ripped away the door still hanging from its body.

At that moment, Arthur pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Propelled by the gunpowder, the bullet shot out of the muzzle.

Arthur could see the bullet clearly.

Because it had stopped, frozen right in front of the muzzle.

Before Arthur could react, a mountain's worth of crushing pressure descended on him.

Instantly, Arthur was immobilized.

It took every ounce of his strength just to remain standing.

As he watched, the bullet suspended in midair began to shatter.

Then came 2 Kirk Street, where he stood.

It shattered!

Everything began to shatter!

The world around Arthur was like a smashed mirror. Everything broke into fragments, and beyond those fragments lay endless darkness.

It was identical to the darkness shrouding the monster.

As the two expanses of darkness touched and merged, the monster swelled rapidly, becoming as large as a small mountain in the space of a breath.

Arthur was sucked out of the remaining fragments and dragged before the monster. The flintlock flew from his hand and instantly shattered as well.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, scanned his surroundings, then clenched his teeth.

He wasn't enduring the pain. He was keeping himself from letting his thoughts wander. On the monster's home turf, no amount of caution was excessive.

So he had to stay focused!

Focused on the thought of lasting three minutes!

The fragments of 2 Kirk Street left wound after wound across Arthur's body. By the time he reached the monster, he was a bloody mess, his entire body pinned down at its feet.

"Come on, struggle!"

"Whatever you do, don't give up!"

The monster's mocking, taunting voice echoed through the black space.

But Arthur, pressed against the ground, seemed not to think about anything else. He braced his head against the ground and pushed with both arms, trying to get back up.

Every effort sent blood flowing from Arthur's wounds, while pain crashed against his nerves like a tide.

Pain like that was enough to break anyone.

But Arthur seemed oblivious to it. He simply gritted his teeth and tried to stand again and again, as though saying-

If I give up, I'm dead for certain.

If I don't, there's still a chance.

Even if every bone in my body is crushed, I won't give up. I'll find an opening.

I don't want to die!

After all, I only need three minutes!

Last three minutes!

Then I can leave!

"Ha ha ha!"

The monster laughed even harder. It made another subtle adjustment to the pressure it had been deliberately controlling, wanting to give Arthur more chances.

To let the insect before it feel more hope.

Only then could it enjoy itself to the fullest.

As for those three minutes?

A trap, of course!

More than anything, though, they were meant to toy with its prey.

Was there anything that delighted it more than prey sunk in despair?

Yes-giving that prey hope first.

Huff, huff!

Breathing heavily through his nose, Arthur could clearly feel the pressure on his body weakening. It was now slightly below the limit he had just displayed.

If he gave it his all, he could easily break free of these restraints.

But Arthur didn't rush.

He knew he had only one chance.

Now?

The opening wasn't ready yet!

Not enough!

Huff, huff.

His repeated struggles had drained a tremendous amount of strength, and he was still bleeding. Now Arthur was not only breathing heavily through his nose but also panting with his mouth wide open. He seemed utterly exhausted, lying there in a limp heap.

"Tsk. Is that all you've got?"

The monster swayed disdainfully, then lowered its head, ready to heap a few more taunts on the opponent who had caused it trouble.

It hoped Arthur would regain some energy.

And if he didn't?

That was fine, too!

It could simply eat him!

The monster brought its head closer!

Within arm's reach!

And this was the opening Arthur had been waiting so desperately for!

Whoosh!

Arthur sprang up from the ground and thrust the longsword clenched in his hand straight at the monster's head.

Fast-blindingly fast!

Shluck!

The blade plunged straight into the monster's eye.

"Aaargh!"

"You tricked me!"

"I'll kill you!"

"Die!"

The intense pain made the monster roar in a frenzy, but the real reason for its fury was that it had been deceived-it could sense the calm in Arthur's heart at that moment.

There was no determination, much less any struggle.

Only calm!

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

The monster clutched its eye, stamping and shouting. In doing so, its palm trapped Arthur against its eyelid. Under that immense pressure, every bone in Arthur's body began to break. Yet amid the crack after crack of snapping bones, Arthur calmly glanced at the bundle of explosives already hanging from the sword's hilt and the fuse that had burned to its end, then said softly-

"Dumbass."

That cold assessment alerted the monster that something was wrong.

Only now did it truly understand. Stabbing its eye had been another part of Arthur's plan, intended to obstruct its vision and keep it from seeing the explosives wrapped around the hilt.

No!

Arthur had begun misleading it the moment he started wrapping explosives around his own body.

"Aaargh!"

Finally understanding everything, the monster roared and reached for the explosives.

But it was too late!

Boom!

Fire flashed, and an enormous explosion reverberated through the space.

The darkness rapidly receded.

The mountain-sized monster began shrinking like a deflating ball.

Arthur, who should have been blown to pieces, stood there unharmed. Watching the monster shrink to the size of a palm, looking like a toad, he instantly understood what had happened.

"An illusion inside a dream?

No!

You must be exerting a little control over the 'dream'!

The monster I saw, the injuries-all of them were things you made me see. Only that unexpected explosion could hurt you, the 'core' hidden inside that enormous 'monster armor'!

Or, more precisely, stun you!"

Muttering to himself, Arthur seized the toadlike monster in his right hand.

"Wait, I'm not one of Them! I only came looking for Xiudik. You have traces of his 'serpent' bloodline in you, so you must be his descendant. We can sit down and talk. I might even have held you when you were little..."

The captured toad monster woke instantly and began speaking loudly.

Arthur ignored it completely and squeezed the hand gripping its body hard.

Splat!

As fluid sprayed everywhere, Arthur's nostrils twitched.

Then-

"Blech!"