I looked at Seren and asked, "How did you know?"
"His breathing and presence. It was this man who broke the wall. He wasn't being attacked or chased by anyone. Beyond the dust, there was no one else," she replied.
The dust settled, confirming Seren's words. No one stood beyond the shattered wall.
Seren turned to me and asked, "You?"
"I know Sir Kayan's muscles well. They can't be hidden, even beneath his suit." I nudged the fallen Kayan puppet with the tip of my foot. "This guy's muscles are pathetic."
I had also noticed the concrete on Kayan's gloves and knew the blood on his head wasn't from a wound. Above all, I was certain the Iron-Blooded Collector would never panic in a situation like this. In other words, this doll was sloppy in many ways.
Isn't it natural? II had heard it took a fair amount of time to make a puppet like this. There was no way someone could perfectly imitate Kayan's personality so quickly. The traps in this building were probably hastily assembled, just like this Kayan puppet.
For now, I didn't know if that was good or bad.
"There is a staircase over there," Evan said.
The space beyond the broken wall revealed a narrow stairwell leading upward.
Such an absurd appearance. It was ridiculous, but I kept the thought to myself.
"Let's go up," I said, taking the lead.
I climbed the unusually narrow stairs two at a time and asked, "How many floors does this building have in total?"
Charon, walking just behind me, replied, "From the outside, it looks like four floors."
"Then the princess must be on the fourth floor or the rooftop," I guessed.
"Any particular reason?" Charon asked.
"Just a feeling." Charon paused slightly, so I added gently, "She painstakingly set traps like these. There's no way she would greet us suddenly on the second floor. Maybe she's watching us climb, like a pervert, just like Dean Alderson with the Tower of Training."
Just then, the stairs ended, revealing Perist sitting at the far end of a spacious room. "Hello."
A tingle ran through my scalp, but I forced a neutral expression with ironclad patience.
The room had an odd layout, more like a lounge than a proper room.At the far end, a desk and chair sat beneath an unusually large window that framed the blood-red night sky and a glowing blood moon.
Bathed in that crimson light, Perist calmly enjoyed tea with the doll that was called Blackberry or Deathberry.
If this was a staged act, she was a masterful director. If she was serious, then she was simply insane.
I forced a stiff expression. "I can't really greet you back, Your Highness. Or have you given up your title as princess? Now that I think about it, what was your name again?"
Seren, standing behind me, sighed and answered for her. "Perist Scarlett."
I nodded. "Alright, Perist. I'm curious what drove you to cause all this chaos. Do you hold a grudge against the imperial family? Or is there some reason you had no choice but to side with the church?"
Perist gave a faint smile and lifted her teacup. "Ah. Should I start there?"
Something about that gesture grated on me. I flicked my finger, channeling internal energy into the motion. A fireball flared to life at my fingertip, and I shot it toward her, but it passed through her like smoke. She wasn't really there.
"W-what?" MMir muttered in surprise, but I remained unshaken.
From the start, I had suspected the princess before me was an illusion. Maybe her true body was on the fourth floor, the rooftop, or somewhere else entirely. This was just a projection she showed us.
Perist sipped her tea and smiled gracefully. "Not very gentlemanly behavior, Luan Badniker."
"This is gentlemanly behavior for a Badniker."
Throwing a fireball at a church member? The Iron-Blooded Lord would've given me a thumbs-up if he'd seen it.
Hmm. Then again, once he learned his son was actually a priest, I wondered if that thumb would snap right back down.
"Why am I doing this?" Perist sipped her tea, pondering the question. "My favorite word is if ."
"What?"
"I love the possibilities that word holds."
What nonsense was this lunatic about to spout now?
"How about this? Hyde Woodjack, the continent's greatest ranger, isn't really human." Charon's eyebrows twitched, but Perist ignored him. "Seren Goodspring is actually a man. Mir Giant isn't a giant. Evan Helvin is a traitor."
Her bright red eyes locked onto mine. For some reason, her shade seemed darker than Glenn's. "Luan Badniker is actually a church member... Hmm. Isn't that too much? A Badniker as a church member."
I looked at Perist, who smiled slyly. "What do you want to say?"
She placed a hand on her chest and declared, "I am a genius."
Oh gods.
"I'm beautiful and born into nobility. Got it? Appearance, intelligence, and status. Most people can get what they want if they have just one of the three. I was born with all three."
Mir stared blankly at her, clearly lost. Actually, it wasn't just Mir—I was just as baffled. But that was no surprise. If I had understood her reasoning, I wouldn't have called her a lunatic in the first place.
"Most things you expect are boring. The human brain is wired that way, big or small. It always craves something new."
"Some people don't like change."
"That's true of old people. Unfortunately, I'm still young," Perist muttered, her expression bored. "I never experienced a single twist in my life. That's why I tried my first act of rebellion."
I said, "If being a member of the church is rebellion, I dread to imagine what you'll do when true puberty hits."
Maybe she would stage a coup.
"I'm not asking for understanding," she said. "Explaining my situation is just a small amusement. I was curious how the future heroes would react to a princess who planned the descent of a demon king."
"I see. So you got so bored your mind snapped."
I summed it up, and Perist shrugged. "If you think like an ordinary person, that conclusion fits."
"So you waited here just to tell us how you went crazy?"
"That, and to explain the conditions for victory. You mentioned killing me first, then defeating the demon king. That's wrong."
"Wrong?"
"If you kill me, that's it. You win."
So, did this mean we wouldn't have to face the Blood Moon Demon King? I had no idea how we could possibly fight the moon hanging in the sky, but in this situation, it made sense to feel suspicious whenever the story suddenly took a favorable turn.
Charon asked, skeptical, "What happens next?"
"Next?"
"After we win. Can we make it back to reality without losing anyone?" he clarified.
Perist responded with a shrug, her voice flat. "Well, I guess so? I haven't really thought about what the world would look like after I'm defeated."
She didn't seem the type to consider what came after her own death. That reaction felt familiar. Most mercenaries reacted the same way. It was a common trait among those who never formed deep connections. Without family, lovers, or friends, they spent their earnings on food, booze, and fleeting pleasures, mocking anyone who saved for the future as a fool.
I found it strangely meaningful that a member of the imperial family shared the same outlook as a second-rate mercenary.
"Well, that's all I have to say. I'll wait on the fourth floor. I wonder how many of you will make it up here. Goodbye," Perist told us.
The moment Perist took another sip, her figure vanished. Immediately after, the floor shook violently, as if a great tree had fallen.
I turned around, trying to see what caused it, and spotted a massive doll breaking through the floor. Its head emerged first.
"T-this is...!"
"It is that monster."
I recognized it at once. It was the doll that had chased the hero disciples.
Seeing it in person, I understood why no one could quite describe it. Its massive body rose like an ominous full moon, filling the entire lounge. If I mashed a few trolls from the Jewel Mountains together with clay, that creation would probably be that size.
As they had described, it had only a head and torso. The neck was deeply sunken, like a carved-out boundary line. It was huge and bloated, but somehow, it still radiated strength.
"This..." Seren muttered.
Did she recognize the doll? Before I could ask, the doll sprang up and closed the distance between us.
To be honest, its massive body pounding toward us and its angry face would probably give me nightmares.
"Run!" Evan and Charon shouted simultaneously, a rare show of unity.
I followed their lead, kicking open the door on the left and sprinting down a narrower corridor than the one on the first floor. As I ran, I asked, "Why do we have to run? Can't we just fight it?"
"This doll is insanely tough! We attacked together and didn't even leave a scratch!" Evan said.
Is that so? That made sense coming from the ones who had faced it first. Still, I had to see for myself. I stopped moving.
"What?"
"Brother Luan?"
I ignored the panicked hero disciples and circulated my internal energy. The doll's strange appearance made it impossible to judge its true strength without striking it seriously.
I tensed my thigh muscles and cloaked my soles with internal energy. Then I infused my fist with Fire Qi and threw a straight punch.
An explosion rocked the room, and the doll froze. Hearing the crack, the hero disciples halted their retreat.
"Is it down?" Evan asked.
Evan spoke too soon. Something about the moment felt off. I didn't have a solid reason, just a gut feeling that it wasn't over.
Suddenly, fractures spread from the doll's abdomen like spiderweb cracks across ice. Shards burst in every direction, scattering like broken porcelain. Then, underneath the shell, a new doll appeared.
"A stacking doll," Seren muttered, then snapped out of it and shouted, "Run!"
We didn't wait for her to finish. Our feet were already moving.
As I ran, I glanced over my shoulder. "It's faster than before!"
"It's smaller now because one layer broke! That means it's faster!"
"Then why don't we keep smashing it?"
"It's too hard!" I shouted, drawing their attention. "After punching it, I realized there are at least a hundred dolls inside."
"Are you joking?"
I wished it was a joke too. I had probed inside with my internal energy to check. It was almost certain—there were at least 100 layers. The exact number could only be known by breaking through every one of them.
What is this, a demonic croissant? I grumbled inwardly.
Would it chase us all the way to the third floor?
Unlike the first floor, this floor had several doors scattered along the corridor. Naturally, we had no time to open or search any rooms. If one turned out to be a dead end, we'd have to face that unstable doll in a fight to the death.
We had no choice but to keep running—until we found the broken section of the floor.
"This..."
"Yeah."
We had returned to the place where the doll first appeared.
"We're back at the starting point. This corridor must be circular," I said.
"Then what should we do now?"
We could kill the doll, but we were barely on the second floor. I didn't know what awaited above, so I had to conserve as much internal energy as possible.
Since the doll's outer shell was tough, breaking through 100 layers to silence it completely would drain who knew how much internal energy.
I couldn't help looking at Seren. "Seren, can you freeze it?"
"I'll give it a try." She extended a hand behind her as she ran. A chill rushed from her forearm, then a wave of frost roared from her palm like a storm.
It looked stronger than before. Seren's growth was unusual. I stayed out of range, but the cold still sent shivers down my spine.
The blizzard-like chill swept over the doll's entire body. Frost formed on its massive frame, and it stopped moving.
Evan asked, "Did it succeed?"
Right then, ice cracked like glass under strain. The doll burst free and came charging at us again.
I glared at Evan. "You better keep your mouth shut."
"Sorry..."