Chapter 11: The Doll House

Jeanne tore apart the curtains to wrap several pieces of cooked animal meat while nonchalantly pulling out glass shards from her forearm, cheeks, and abdomen, gesturing the Dark wizard to provide her with healing.

As expected, after tearing the curtains, the other side was still a gloomy corridor, not the envisioned gray-white sky. Although it was unclear if this place had a concept of day and night, as time passed, the candlelight grew increasingly dim, making this old corridor resemble an empty morgue. The two of them stood in a more sinister side of the room corridor—transparent corpses, scattered pieces of wood and broken glass, the Inquisitor's torn curtains, overturned cabinets and spilled soup all over the ground, turning this once-dining area into a battered ruin. On the brick-red walls, several solemn noble portraits stared at these two intruders with their dead eyes, perhaps making this place truly a morgue now.

"Is the pursuit of flawless healing truly warranted?" Salser said, examining her up and down, pulling out glass shards stuck in her back with his rough fingers, "In this environment, might you entertain the thought of sparing my mana reserves?"

"Did the souls I snatched from those three I offed cover your needs?"

"Although less than half was burned, it's still just barely adequate."

"So quit whining to me; I ain't keen on scars on my face, and I couldn't care less about those so-called warrior marks."

She repeated, pointing to her cheek with a blood-red finger while her voice was intensely hoarse. Blood dripped from the Inquisitor like rain from a haystack, she bit into a piece of cooked meat mixed with her own blood, licked her blood-stained lips, and felt a foul metallic taste filling her mouth.

The smell of blood and cooked meat, human and animal, nauseatingly mixed together, drifting everywhere.

She stood in this morgue, her black clothes wrinkled and clinging to her body due to the crimson liquid, like a corpse that had just come back to life—the kind killed by sharp weapons.

"Is it because you audaciously profess to be a fair maiden? I was under the impression that you inquisitors didn't distinguish between men and women."

Salser said mockingly, and healed her messy wounds without further comment.

This body was taller than the Inquisitor by more than a head, allowing him to look down on the woman in front of him. Honestly, the gradually healing wounds on her shoulders made the Dark wizard feel somewhat dazed, after all—he couldn't remember how long it had been since he last used healing spells on someone else.

Perhaps it was since seven years ago...  when the Empress's troops, accompanied by the hounds of the Shadow Throne, smashed open the laboratory door?

At that time, no one could have imagined that Caesar would have established a connection with Ammanas—the deity worshipped by the Temple of Shadow. It was also around those days that the Empress threw all the leaders of the Senate faction into the Colosseum, letting them die in the mouths of the outer races left behind by dark wizards amidst the audience's cheers, also providing some entertainment for the nobles and commoners who paid for the tickets. And now, perhaps Hood will also catch the Empress's eyes?

The Ascendants of this world always like to meddle in human affairs, a most irksome habit. Gods alone know the extent of effort I expended in summoning that Deep One from another world.

Salser truly doubted whether the servants in the Colosseum had taken good care of his poor Rick—that's what the Dark wizard named his Deep One—since he accidentally damaged Rick's brain during an experiment, it then had only the intelligence of a wild boar.

"Hehehehe," Jeanne chuckled coldly after forcing down a few mouthfuls of food, "Is this another one of your corny jokes? Should I give you a warm round of applause for that?"

She probably meant my comment about 'inquisitors didn't distinguish between men and women' Salser thought, coming back to his senses.

"Generally speaking—"

Salser paused here for a while.

The gray lines spreading to the door and the corridor told him something. The Dark wizard smacked his lips and went silent.

"Ah—something's coming?" As she said this, the Inquisitor's expression worsen; being interrupted after hastily filling her stomach made her mood foul—she almost didn't need a reminder to understand from the Dark wizard's complexion what had happened.

"Yes," Salser replied.

"Tch—"

After confirming the situation, the first thing Jeanne did was to firmly tie the curtain containing food to her waist where the wounds had healed, "Is it too late to escape now with your concealment spell?"

Even an Inquisitor didn't want to face such intense combat without proper nourishment.

"The path is blocked, and my spell can't deceive the sense of touch," he explained simply.

"So, smash through the barrier on one of the paths and then skulk away like a rat—sounds simple, right?"

"If you deem it a simple task, then by all means, proceed to clear the path," Salser said with a peaceful smile.

"......"

"Hear the footsteps?" he added.

"All I'm hearing is you buzzing like a fly, and it's getting on my nerves."

Salser ignored her complaint, just casually picked up the black cat. He ignited the souls stored within him, as the magical energy flowing through his body—he began to construct some relatively delicate and not too energy-consuming spells, "Let us go back the way we came." After speaking, he quickly enchanted the swords in their hands with the ability to burn souls and constructed two simple attack deflection spells, enveloping their entire bodies.

"Why didn't you... forget it, I guess you couldn't predict I'd step on the glass on the table."

"You are most understanding."

Salser said sarcastically without sarcasm.

It was then that the sound of countless pattering footsteps began.

Jeanne snorted, no longer paying attention to the Dark wizard's taunting, just drew her sword, fixed her gaze on the door, took a deep breath, and dispelled the stiffness and fatigue in her limbs. An instant later, the wall exploded inward. The fragments seemed like bombs thrown by the Black Moranth, hitting the gray-white magical barrier erected by the Dark wizard, emitting a piercing scraping sound and vibration. The ceiling and walls behind the magical barrier also suffered, the old oil paintings falling to the ground, the windows shattering with a bang, followed by a thick, hairy arm as big as a cement pillar reaching in.

"......What is this thing?"

The first instant, she thought it was a bear; the second instant, she realized there was something wrong with the arm—the forelimb shape was very strange, like a loaf of bread, and the fur was rough, more like a handmade product; the third instant, a bear toy's face as big as a water tank poked in—its eyes were made of rubies, its wide-open mouth stuffed with a few unchewed fingers, its red-to-black nose connected by a rough thread hanging down from its face, swinging wildly in the flying dust like a corpse hanging from a tree branch.

"Ah... a plush toy belonging to a little girl?" Salser patted her shoulder, "Quite fitting for your style, so proceed, my fair maiden."

"How many times are you going to repeat that?!" Jeanne cursed, and in the midst of her words, the giant bear toy , two or three times her height, had already stepped in, its heavy footsteps shaking the entire floor.

The candles had been completely blown out, but with her magically enhanced eyes, she could see—in the dark corridor, more oddly shaped plush toys slowly walked towards the room.

"......Can we leave from the other direction?" Jeanne's expression stiffened as she took a step back.

"Look at the window behind you," Salser reminded her.

—A terrifying head filled the entire window, rotten human eyeballs stuffed in its faded eye sockets, slowly sizing up the two people in the room. This face belonged to a pink bunny toy, its mouth wide open, revealing almost human-finger-length deformed canine teeth, spewing a foul rotten smell.

Jeanne felt that her remaining shreds of maiden heart were about to shatter—I never want to see such things again in my life! Not even in toy stores!

⏴ Previous chapter 丨Main丨 Next chapter ⏵

🔮Discord