Chapter 96 First Battle
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
A green Maggot writhed on her head. Just minutes ago, it hadn’t even been visible. It must’ve hatched from that tiny yellow thing.
Its body was no longer than five centimeters. It pulsed in waves from tail to head, each movement crawling beneath her skin, past yellow fat and down to the white skull underneath. It clung there—pale as porcelain, streaked with blood.
A monster I couldn’t see.
A chill crept up my spine. It felt like flipping a leaf and discovering something horrible hiding beneath.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
This wasn’t the same tatami room I’d seen before. The ceiling was coated in white dust, the walls patched together with rusted copper and exposed pipes, and a sticky membrane stretched across everything like spiderwebs. The tatami mats were nothing but rotted vinyl and something… organic.
Even the sliding doors and pillars were just illusions. Everything dripped with damp, meat-like warmth and smelled of rust. The floor sank beneath my feet like a thick carpet of fur.
It was more like one of those playhouses they set up for kids inside car dealerships. But twisted.
”What… is this?”
My breath caught in my throat.
Everything around me shimmered red and black. It looked like a slaughterhouse long forgotten.
”Where… where is this? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Flatty-chan and I were both lying unconscious—or at least it looked that way—on something shaped like a futon. We were the only things that appeared normal in this inverted, hellish world.
”It’s not just one thing that’s wrong,” I whispered. “All of it. What if… everything I’ve been seeing until now was a lie?”
My head throbbed. The truth twisted in my gut. I didn’t want to accept this.
Even the clothes I’d received here—robes that seemed ordinary—were made of something wet and raw, like freshly skinned hide.
I cut off my psionic power and snapped my awareness back into my body. In an instant, the horror vanished.
”It’s normal,” I said aloud. “Everything’s back to normal.”
The room calmed. A peaceful, traditional tatami room surrounded me. Moonlight shone gently through the paper screens. The orange glow of a lantern flickered softly, casting quiet shadows.
Outside the mosquito netting, I could almost hear the gentle hum of insects—like a summer evening back home. It felt warm, like a countryside visit.
But no. That wasn’t a mosquito net. It was flesh—oily and damp, like a membrane stripped from some animal’s stomach.
”No… this is the fake one.”
My hands trembled. I forced myself to activate my psionic power again.
And just like that, the warmth cracked and twisted. Everything pleasant distorted into raw red darkness.
I was back. Back in the world of blood and organs.
This was the truth. This was what things really looked like.
My psionic power canceled illusions. That meant everything I’d experienced up until now… had been inside the corpse of some massive creature, blended into a grotesque hellscape.
”Ugh… the smell… It’s just like the second layer. This place—it’s a living creature, pretending to be something normal.”
It felt like I was inside the ruins of a human-shaped beast.
I dropped to my knees and braced myself against the floor, fighting the nausea. My fingers pressed into something soft and wet.
It reminded me of digging through fish guts and brushing against half-digested bait fish.
I nearly passed out.
If I did, I wasn’t getting out of here.
”Agh! Ah—!”
A shape twitched at the edge of my vision. A pale, naked body convulsed on the floor.
”Flatty-chan!”
I ran to her.
Several green Maggots crawled over her skull. They were the smallest monsters I’d ever seen. But they were working together, pulling and chewing on the membrane over her brain.
It stretched thin, ready to burst.
Already it was tearing.
Clear fluid dripped to the floor, pooling around her head. Through the wet gleam, I could see one of the Maggots about to sink its tiny jaws into her exposed, defenseless brain.
”They’re eating her—Stop it! Get off! Leave her alone!”
I reached out in panic, trying to grab them.
But my hands passed right through.
”Damn it! No good. Right… I can’t touch them in this state!”
As a disembodied awareness, I could see threats. But I couldn’t touch them. They couldn’t harm me either—but that went both ways.
Flatty-chan was running out of time.
One of the Maggots was about to dig into her skull. If it got inside, I’d never pull it out.
”Where is it? I can’t see them anymore—why can’t I see them?!”
If they even nibbled her brain, it would be over.
Desperate, I snapped back into my body.
But in that state, the hole in her skull was invisible. I felt around her head—nothing. Not a scratch. Just her hair against my fingers.
I grabbed the lantern and held the flame close to her temple.
Then I jumped back into psionic mode.
The green Maggots had dodged me again.
”Ow—?! No… the bite mark’s already gone.”
”Pikik!”
My fingers had been bitten. I could feel it. But the blood, the pain, the wound—it all faded away like mist.
Now the Maggots rose together, raising their upper bodies. They turned to face me, twitching their antennae in eerie unison. They knew I could see them.
Worse, my own frantic movements were making the tear in her brain worse.
I screamed.
Cerebrospinal fluid poured out of her head.
”They’re fast. Too fast. If I try to swat them, I’ll just make it worse.”
One wrong move and I might shove my fingers into her brain myself. There was no way I could keep switching states and safely catch an invisible monster.
They were small. But strong. And fast.
”Think. Come on, think…!”
Their camouflage wasn’t just visual—it drowned out sound, smell, even sensation. It wasn’t just hiding. It was rewriting reality itself.
A pure denial of recognition. A living paradox.
Just like the mystical object from the second layer—the one that twisted how I saw the world.
”But I didn’t solve that one either,” I muttered. “I never found a way to see through it.”
Still… I had to try. If I didn’t find a way to pull the Maggots off, she would die.
The Maggots paused, pulling back their antennae.
Then they went back to chewing.
I jumped into my body again and tried to swat them.
Nothing. Not even a graze.
Flatty-chan whimpered in pain.
”Why didn’t they attack me?” I wondered. “Flatty-chan was fine yesterday too. It only started today. Someone… someone said something about Maggots, didn’t they?”
I should know this. I should remember.
These green Maggots—they hatched from that egg I found earlier. Most likely, they were larvae of those butterflies flitting around this level.
A flash of memory: a summer orange tree, infected by a real Maggot.
We teased it. We played with it.
And now, it’s playing with us.
I’d once squeezed grass juice into a bottle, thinking it might work as medicine. Flatty-chan hated it when I tried it. She pulled away, coughing.
But now—something clicked.
I knew these Maggot-type monsters. I’d seen plenty. I knew how to deal with them.
”Wait… yeah. Where did I put it? I’ve got to hurry!”
I leapt to my feet and tore through the cabinet.
To me, it looked like a kiri wood tansu—a proper chest of drawers. But that was just the illusion. In truth, it was a hunk of stained meat shaped into furniture.
Still, anything I’d brought from outside should’ve been properly preserved. As long as it wasn’t native to this floor, it should still work.
”Yes! The peppermint oil—my older sister gave it to me!”
I yanked out a small bottle.
Good. The illusion only masked the surface. The contents were unchanged.
She’d warned me—one of those strange attendants, a woman without her master. She said to keep this close. Said it was a Maggot-repellent.
I didn’t hesitate. I poured the whole bottle across Flatty-chan’s scalp.
The sharp, refreshing scent exploded into the air. She coughed violently, choking.
”Gah—! It burns—my eyes—!”
It was like pepper spray meant for creeps on the subway.
Peppermint oil in high concentration could blind people. But to Maggots, it was far worse—deadly.
Maggots weren’t animals. Their bodies were completely different.
Some toxins that would kill dozens of people barely affected them. Yet something as simple as plant-based oils—harmless to us—could short-circuit their nervous systems and kill them instantly.
This was that kind of poison.
”They’re monsters, but it still works. I used this on those potato Maggots in the first layer. It even kept the butterflies away all this time.”
My eyes adjusted again. I returned to psionic form.
There—they were still visible.
The green Maggots that had clung to her skull now writhed helplessly on the tatami. Just a few centimeters long, they were soaked in blood and clumps of her hair.
Their mouths weren’t like normal Maggots. They had human-like teeth, chattering as they thrashed, coughing up bits of meat and bone.
They even expelled feces—waste from feeding on her.
”You little—!”
I snapped back to my body and stomped hard on the spot.
Again and again, my heel slammed the tatami. I couldn’t feel a thing.
But when I switched back to psionic sight, I saw it.
Their bodies had burst.
Torn skin. Guts spilled. They were dead.
Even on my heel, I could see pieces of their flesh.
”…Hah… finally…”
Not a single one left.
I exhaled deeply. The stinging fragrance of peppermint filled my lungs.
”Thank god… it worked. Even for monsters like that, peppermint oil still hurts them.”
Now I understood. That’s why the butterflies had avoided us. Ever since I started rubbing this oil on, they steered clear during the day. They still hovered around Himawari and the townsfolk we came with… but not us.
The oil worked, no matter how deep the floor.
”Flatty-chan, hang on. You’re safe now. I killed them.”
My heart pounded like I’d run a marathon.
I tore a strip from a clean cloth I’d brought from the surface and wrapped it tightly around her head, propping her up so the wound faced upward.
I cradled her in the right angle to keep the fluid from leaking more.
Infection was a risk, but I didn’t have better options.
”You’ll be okay. You have to be… But with a wound like this—I don’t know how to treat it. There’s no medicine here. No mystical healing tools.”
I had no idea how to treat a hole in the skull.
I stayed still, trying to catch my breath, eyes scanning the ruined room.
It was awful.
A few more tiny green Maggots lay scattered about. I hadn’t noticed them before, masked by the illusion. But now they were shriveled, dried out—dead.
They looked like they’d died a while ago.
Maybe they were the ones that died last night when someone doused us in peppermint oil while we slept.
This place was dangerous.
Everything about it was wrong.
Through the gap in the paper sliding door, the grotesque world beyond stretched out.
The wind that seemed to flutter through green grass was brushing across cold, gray tile—like the floor of a community center.
There was no sun. No stars. Just a high ceiling lined with emergency lights blinking faintly.
This wasn’t the past. It wasn’t the future.
It was something dead, dressed up in a disguise.
The highlands, the blue mountains—none of it was real. Just a fantasy painted over rotting flesh.
It was a complete illusion. A lie for the senses. Not a dungeon full of traps like the second layer.
This floor itself was the trap.
Like an oasis in the desert, full of poison water.
”This isn’t a shelter. It’s a Maggot nest.”
A paradise built to lure in those who had survived the horrors of the second layer.
A lie. A final resting place disguised as safety.
Warm air drifted through the gymnasium-like space, brushing past walls that pulsed with blood and meat, hidden just beneath the illusion of skin peeled from a woman’s beautiful face.
I remembered what they’d said. Over three thousand people had come here from Isumi town.
Trash-san mentioned it too. Hardly any of them had ever made it back.
No one noticed for over half a year. How could that be?
But whatever the reason… that was reality.
”That was too close… We made it—just barely. At least she’s still alive.”
I touched Flatty-chan’s cheek.
Even a minute later, and I might’ve lost her.
If I’d hesitated, she would’ve been dead—and I’d be sitting next to her body, too shocked to do anything.
A small breath brushed against my skin.
A warm wave filled my chest.
”She almost died… had her brain eaten…”
Then I heard it.
A door creaked open across the hut.
That grating squeal of hinges. Someone was coming inside.
I froze, biting back a scream.
”There was a loud noise. Is everything alright in here?”
”No… it’s nothing. Just a bad dream.”
”I see.”
”Yeah, you can go back outside now.”
Sweat trickled down my forehead, cold as ice.
Whoever it was—they were already inside. Standing just beyond the door.
Probably one of the surveillance people. Someone I’d met outside.
Their voice sounded human.
But…
No.
I couldn’t be sure. Maybe it just looked like a person.
I had a way to confirm it.
”Actually… could you wait right there for a second?”
”Understood. Is something the matter? May I step inside?”
”No! Definitely not. I—I’m not really in a state to be seen right now. And hey, it’s the middle of the night. You can’t just open doors without asking. That’s incredibly rude. Just wait there, alright?”
I raised my voice, putting on the persona of an irritable man.
Then I left my body and slipped into my psionic form, circling the hut’s veranda to get a better look from behind.
And I was right.
The figure standing outside… wasn’t human.
It’s hard to describe. From the neck down, it looked perfectly normal—a woman in modest clothing.
But her head—her head was something else entirely.
It was wrapped tightly in layers of shimmering red and black silk, shaped like a cocoon. Like a Maggot’s pupa. It was about the size of a human head, sitting where one should be. The threads reminded me of those made by silkworms.
Instead of a neck, this grotesque cocoon was stabbed directly onto her shoulders.
And then it spoke.
Or tried to.
It faced the room, presumably speaking to my physical body inside. But the sounds it made…
”ka…##rrn–shhh//ta… v͟͠e͜n…”
Not Japanese. Not any human language.
Not even speech, really.
There was no mouth. Just a slow, breath-like pulse from the cocoon as it emitted that strange, incomprehensible vibration. Like a signal. Not words. Just sound.
The knocking began to quicken.
”rii—yek//rek-keh z͜an’ku? mya_aroq-yo//… yaa—no□ku…”
I couldn’t stall anymore. If I waited even a few more seconds, it would barge in.
What would that thing do if it saw Flatty-chan unconscious? Or noticed the bits of dead Maggot scattered across the floor?
Would it keep pretending to be human, like nothing had changed?
Since arriving on this floor, I’d never openly defied any of the “residents.” I had no idea what would happen if I did.
It was a monster. But what kind? I didn’t know.
I slammed my awareness back into my body, jumped up, and hurled myself at the half-open sliding door.
The wood banged shut with a sharp thud.
”I told you not to come in!”
”My deepest apologies. I was only concerned you might be unwell. Also, there’s a foul odor coming from the back room.”
”I’m fine. Just had some trouble sleeping. Please—just leave.”
Now that I was back in my body, her voice sounded normal. No more distorted noise.
That proved it wasn’t just illusion—it was full-blown auditory hallucination.
To my senses, she felt perfectly real.
”Very well. Then allow me to bring a small meal.”
Her tone suddenly brightened, like she’d come up with a great idea.
”You missed dinner after fainting earlier. Everyone was so worried. I’ll prepare something gentle for the stomach. A warm meal should help you rest better.”
”No thanks. I don’t need anything.”
”Oh but I insist! Please, just a bite. I’ll bring it shortly—do wait here.”
Even my fake temper didn’t shake her. She cheerfully walked away.
She gave off the air of a dutiful imperial guard—a kind, loyal woman who cared deeply. If I hadn’t known better, I might’ve believed she was just a good person.
And that… that terrified me more than anything.
I pulled Flatty-chan close and held her head against my chest.
”You’re okay now. I’ll protect you. I promise I’ll figure something out.”
I told her. I told myself.
Her breathing was faint, weak.
If she were a normal person, she’d need complete rest and a ton of antibiotics. A wound like that could kill someone. But all I could do was trust in the strength of her psionic body.
I steadied my shaking hands and gently laid her head down on the pillow.
First priority: hide her.
Second: find a way to treat her.
Just then, I caught movement.
Another face appeared at the far side of the room—through the opposite sliding door, leading to the garden.
Two large eyes watched us from the shadows.
”…Ah.”
We’d been seen.
One of the women assigned to watch me, no doubt.
She stood there in the night, staring silently. She’d seen everything—Flatty-chan unconscious on the futon, both of us naked, the forced dismissal of the other woman.
She said nothing.
It felt like noticing a stranger in a dark alley staring straight at you, unblinking.
She watched me through the door with cold, empty eyes.
”Uh… hey. How long have you been standing there?”
”…”
”Were you… watching the whole time?”
”…”
She didn’t answer.
My voice shook. I couldn’t even close the door between us.
If she was one of those things—like the cocoon-headed woman—I was finished.
If she knew I’d seen through the illusion, I’d be next. Just like Flatty-chan.
But I couldn’t run. The rescue hut was too far, and I couldn’t fight anyone with these arms.
Flatty-chan wasn’t waking up.
And still, the woman didn’t move.
Ten seconds passed.
Then—slowly—she collapsed.
Her body slumped sideways, falling against the sliding door frame.
”What—what happened?”
I stepped closer.
Blood poured from her abdomen.
Her clothes were neat, hair and nails clean. She wasn’t a townsperson. She looked high-class.
”…She’s dead.”
I recognized her face.
Eyes wide. Mouth slightly open.
It was the older attendant from Isumi—the one who’d stayed with me since day one. The one who kindly gave me the peppermint oil.
She was gone.
”I… I’m sorry. I don’t understand any of this…”
My hands trembled. My teeth chattered.
But I forced myself to reach out. Her skin was still warm.
A trail of blood marked her path. She hadn’t died here—she’d dragged herself to me.
I’d seen death before, but touching a fresh corpse still terrified me.
And yet… I brought my hands together and bowed.
It was all I could do.
Using my psionic power, I confirmed it—her head was still normal. No illusion. No Maggot influence.
Only then did I dare examine the body more closely.
She must have been dying and still chose to come here. Did she realize what was happening on this floor and try to warn me? Or… did she simply come to help?
Flatty-chan was still suffering behind me. If I didn’t act now—if I let fear win—she’d end up just like this.
That thought made my hands move on their own.
”…Forgive me.”
I gently removed the woman’s clothing.
Her wounds were brutal. A stab to the abdomen that pierced all the way through. Deep slashes across her shoulder.
How did she even walk this far?
Then I noticed something clutched tightly in her hand.
”…A… rusty lock key?”
I pried her fingers open. There was an old, crude padlock—like something from a foreign antique shop.
I remembered it. Himawari had one just like it. It was the key to that container guarding the red-haired baby—the only Western-style lock I’d seen down here.
I kept checking her body. From her sleeves came a few personal items: a handkerchief, makeup tools, a tiny peppermint oil bottle, and a few things that probably belonged to a man once.
I placed the keepsakes back in her hand and closed her eyes.
But even then, I still didn’t know why she was here. What had driven her to die like this?
”Y-Young Master… Ouch… I…”
Flatty-chan’s voice came from behind me.
I turned instantly.
She was trying to sit up on the futon, bracing herself with her arms.
She looked terrible.
A strip of cloth covered one eye, acting as a bandage. Her kimono was wide open, hanging from her shoulders to her thighs.
”…Huh?”
She reached up and touched the cloth around her head. Then her gaze dropped.
Her eyes widened.
The lower part of her body was stained with dried, sticky fluid.
She pinched a bit of it between her fingers and rubbed it with her thumb.
Then she looked at me.
I froze.
We were both naked. Neither of us had any undergarments.
Her face paled.
”D-Did we…? Did you and I…? W-Wait, what?”
”Flatty-chan—no, it’s not like that. You were dying. It was a crisis. I had to—”
”So it wasn’t a dream…?”
”No, it wasn’t. I had to check for injuries. That’s why your clothes are off. I swear, nothing happened.”
”Did I… do something to you?”
She wasn’t listening. Not really.
Her eyes flicked between my body and hers again and again.
We were both naked. Both covered in each other’s fluids.
”I ruined your chastity,” she whispered. “No… No, that can’t be. That can’t have happened. I’d have to die to apologize for something like that. I’d have to take responsibility as a member of the Imperial Guard.”
Her face drained of all color.
”If I die, it never happened. No one saw. If no one knows, your chastity stays pure.”
Even half-conscious, she could feel what had happened.
She looked worse than she had when she was writhing in pain. She was trembling so hard she didn’t even feel her wounds anymore.
For someone like her, a woman of status, premarital intimacy was a capital offense. Death was the only fitting consequence.
I scrambled to explain.
”No, no, that’s not it! Flatty-chan, listen. You were attacked by an invisible monster. My psionic power can only work on someone I’m close to. I thought—if we shared that kind of connection—you’d be able to use it too. I learned that… intimacy can build bonds between men and women…”
It was a weak excuse.
But it was true. We had no other way out.
Still, Flatty-chan wasn’t listening.
She began to cry.
Not a little. She sobbed. Big, wet, heartbroken sobs.
My chest twisted.
”She’s… crying.”
I tried to talk to her. She only cried harder.
”I’m sorry, okay? Did… Did you hate it that much?”
”Uuugh… guhh… gueeee…”
”Is there… someone else you liked?”
No one wants to be violated. I knew that.
And Flatty-chan—deep down, she was a romantic. Maybe she’d hoped her first time would be with someone else. Someone from her hometown. A man she truly cared about.
But she shook her head.
Harder. Louder.
”That’s not it! Why would you say something so cruel?”
”W-What?”
”That’s awful! I didn’t want to hear that. That’s the one thing I didn’t want you to say. If you say that… I won’t tell you anything!”
I had no idea what was happening. I was being scolded and I didn’t even know why.
Women’s feelings were beyond me.
Like handling a tower of cards, I kept offering soft reassurances, trying not to let her crumble more.
Finally, Flatty-chan hiccupped out the truth.
”I’m the worst. I ruined your chastity. Hurt you. I deserve to die. But… but even then…”
”Even then what? I’m not hurt. But—what?”
She spoke like a little girl.
And my chest ached with guilt.
”When I woke up, the first thing I thought was… Why can’t I remember it?”
”Uh…”
”I was thinking—what a waste. To share something so special with you and not even remember it… That’s just not fair.”
The tension left my shoulders. I exhaled in relief.
”Ahhh, I’m so messed up,” she moaned. “Why am I like this? Why is my heart so ugly? I hate myself…”
She curled into a ball, sobbing into the ocean of her own sadness.
”I like you, Flatty-chan,” I said softly.
”I hate me,” she whispered.
She kept crying, hugging her knees. I stayed by her, holding her gently until she calmed down.
Then—
”Ugh—geh!”
She coughed. Blood sprayed from her mouth.
”Guh… urghh…”
Vomit followed, spilling onto the tatami. Bits of undigested food. Sharp plastic shards.
Even the garbage and blood had been hidden by the illusion, but now I could see it all.
”What’s wrong!?”
I rubbed her back as fast as I could.
”Cough… ack… Ahh… You said you liked me… That makes me so happy… For someone as awful as me…”
”Now’s not the time to say that! Why are you throwing up plastic!?”
”S-sorry. I was just… so happy…”
Even while writhing in pain, Flatty-chan managed to smile.
Notes:
• Himawari – A one-eyed black oni girl/aberration-type psionic; town leader/face; asks for promotion help; apologizes for killings; sets 2‑day deadline.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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