Chương 286: Bear And Coyote

The final trial fell to pieces, and as it happened, Gilepre breathed in and out calmly–Giving up was not in his nature. He had not survived despite the circumstances of his birth for no reason. It was in his blood to go against seemingly impossible odds.

Making use of a technique he had learned as an agent, when he woke up in his body, he did not open his eyes and controlled his breathing to fake that he was still unconscious, but he could hear and use all senses besides sight just fine, allowing him to know where the so-called 'bear' and 'coyote' were located. They were uncomfortably close to him, obviously ready to pounce at a moment's notice. The second it was revealed that Gilepre had left the nightmare and was now awake, they would strike without hesitation.

Now would be an excellent time for Gilepre to recover his spellcasting capabilities, but alas, things were not so convenient… He wouldn't be able to fool them for much longer. His physical capabilities weren't exactly at their best. He wouldn't be able to maintain the front he had put up. Thus, he had no choice but to act. Judging by the sounds the two beings were making, one of them seemed to be made out of steel, which meant that without magic, Gilepre wouldn't be able to do anything against this one for certain.

He couldn't know if his chances were actually better with the other, but he had no other choice than to take the gamble. Without any telltale sign, Gilepre rose from the ground, going from sitting against the wall to standing in less than a second as he immediately elbowed the non-steel attacker across the jaw–The surprise seemed to be more effective at making him step back than the actual force of the blow.

Gilepre then swiftly ducked down, nearly crawling up the ground to avoid the one made of steel, managing to make distance as he grabbed an old hammer left on the ground of the abandoned workshop, throwing it with impressive accuracy at the one he now understood to probably be the coyote. … Things were a bit backwards, as the steel monstrosity definitely had the elongated face of a canine, meaning that it was highly likely to be the 'coyote', but it was also much taller than the other one, which should be the bear.

It all made a lot more sense when Gilepre realised that the other one was a bearfolk. The hammer flew through the air with enough force to at least knock out an adult human male, but the coyote merely flung it away as though it were a mere fly. The bear growled as his hands went from looking like regular, human-like hands to horrifically long, bone-like claws. He stepped forward, and his entire form seemed to lengthen, widen, and flicker before he simply disappeared right before reappearing a few steps forward.

Gilepre cursed under his breath and grabbed a dusty, spiderweb-covered axe from a nearby table, all the while eyeing all possible escape routes. Unfortunately, this old workshop was picked by him all this time back precisely because it was a difficult place to get in and out of. All to ensure that no one could just wander in and find his cache by accident.

The windows were all tightly boarded up, with the gaps in the planks only allowing rays of sunlight to peer through, putting a spotlight on the floating particles of dust filling the whole of the room. Gilepre bared the axe, but his next move was to continue to move backwards, roll over a table that creaked in protest, and then kick at the two monsters. Only to watch it explode into a blast of splinters as the bear remanifested on top of the table's position.

Right now, his only advantage against these monsters was that their mistress wanted him alive for whatever nefarious plans she had. If they wanted him dead, he would already be dead without the shadow of a doubt, but since they were trying to snatch him without hurting him too badly, he had far more room to manoeuvre. In a corner of the workshop, there was a ladder leading to the upstairs. If Gilepre's memory wasn't failing him, there was actually a door that only needed a simple latch to be moved to open.

It was one of those large doors akin to some found in barns or farms used to lift heavy and cumbersome objects. He supposed that since this place was fairly small, the second floor had been the storage area due to the downstairs being completely filled up with all of the equipment and tools. However, climbing a ladder with those two monsters after him was easier said than done. If he tried it, one of them would just rush over, grab his ankles, and pull him down.

The more Gilepre tried to think of something, the more incandescent the blanks he came up with seemed. It was no wonder that they were taking their sweet time. They knew very well that he could do absolutely nothing, so they were calmly and slowly running him into a corner so as to ensure that they fulfilled their mission without a hitch. In this situation, Gilepre thought back to what the purple-eyed woman had told him…

If he died by the hands of either of those two, he would have his soul stolen and warped, but if they caught him alive, he would be warped as he currently was. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He didn't have any agency–At least, that's how it seemed at a glance. Gilepre exhaled sharply and suddenly brought the blade of the axe up against his jugular, pressing it down against his flesh.

The bear made a weird, guttural noise, while the glow of the coyote's mechanical eyes grew smaller.

"That's right! If I slice open my own neck, what are you going to do, huh? I refuse to be a puppet to your mistress! Do you want to tell her that you messed up? No? Then back the fuck off of me! I don't negotiate with monsters!" The two monsters looked at one another, but didn't move at all. The steel of the coyote ground against itself as it tilted its head.

"Try it. See if a measly cut with this rusty axe can kill you fast enough before I rush over and tear you apart. Let's see to which of us the system will attribute the kill. Will it be to you who slashed your jugular, or me, who will rip out your organs, split your ribcage open, and splatter your brains upon the floor?"

"... Are you not worried that your mistress will be upset that you failed to get me alive?"

"She would be upset if we actually took your empty threats seriously. Put down the axe… Put it down. Stop fighting back and stop fighting your chance at ascension. My mistress… Is a goddess! She can give you new life! She can breathe greater power into you than you could ever imagine! A loyalty can be changed, but not you! If you die, you will be nothing but a mindless drone""How am I supposed to believe that the alternative is any better?!"

"You'll find out" Just as the coyote said this, Gilepre found the axe in his hands to not want to move anymore. Something was pulling on it, and after a few moments, the axe was flung out of his grasp, launched across the room. Until it embedded itself into a wall. Gilepre turned around to see a blonde girl partly phasing out of the wall behind him, moments before the coyote ran up to him and knocked him out…

Well, I wasn't expecting this fucker to be rewarded with a freaking chance to run away, but all is well in the end. I have no idea where that nightmare creature ran off to, though. That thing got spooked by me because it failed to catch Gilepre and thought I was going to beat it up. Regardless, it is good to know that for some reason, people being stuck in my nightmares can cause genuine beings to be spawned out of thin air. They seem a bit independent, though. Not fully under my control like my spectral servants.

In any case, Gilepre was now captive inside the Gravescape, already caught in the process I intended to eventually put to use with Rose–I had tested the process on a few other people I had caught and dragged to the Gravescape, so I was confident that Gilepre would be the first successful one, but in the grand scheme of things, he was still just a test as the more important one remained Rose in my eyes. There was one issue, though.

After he was knocked out and imprisoned, a broken owl feather was found on the ground of the workshop near where he had fallen unconscious. The fact that he had headed to a seemingly random abandoned workshop alongside the feather made it pretty damned obvious that it was a way for him to send a signal to his master. This will send some trouble our way… Evidence was removed from the old workshop, but a lack of evidence hadn't stopped Lunovis before, so it definitely wouldn't stop him this time either.

He wouldn't be able to do much of anything at all, though. Unless he decided to forgo the rules altogether, but he didn't strike me as the sort to put things in jeopardy like this. For him to drop the pretence would require him to actually be certain of himself, which he could not be. I had pretty much erased Hulil when I assassinated him. His only lead was that he had been able to figure out that Leou had investigated him in the past.

Which was basically no evidence, as dozens of people had probably done the same thing… I frankly had no idea why he was so fixated on Leou in particular. Did he know something else? If so, why wasn't he using it to put more pressure? Lunovis was hard to figure out, but at least I now know some pretty incriminating things about him.

Not only did he cheat on his wife with his brother's wife, but he misled his brother into thinking that one of his sons was an absolutely deadbeat failure, when Hulil wasn't even his actual son. That is a truly evil thing to do. For now, I was going to wait for Gilepre to be ready to be converted, and perhaps I would be able to get even more dirt on Lunovis, and with enough of it, I could mess things up enough that he would have to focus on damage control instead of bothering Leou. …

Gilepre was currently fully immersed in a dark pool of liquid. A blank mask was stuck on his face, which was what was preventing him from drowning. The mask was one of the little products I had been working on. It was more than just something to prevent drowning, but in the initial steps of the process I had come up with, it was its main usage.

The pool was of liquid negative energy, made liquid thanks to the Melter, and then poured into this hole I carved into the ground of the Gravescape myself–Naturally, it was more than just liquid negative energy. I had added a bunch of other things to it to give it a more precise effect, refined over time and followed unsuccessful attempts. One of such attempts was actually hanging from the ceiling, bound by chains, not so far away.

He wasn't recognisable anymore since I had skinned him alive, and also because the mask had fused with his face, but it was Ganiel Kalersky. Still alive, but utterly useless now. His trip into an earlier version of the pool had successfully allowed him to survive, but he had lost all cognitive capabilities. The only reason he was still around was because he was useful as an experimental material, especially since he had truly become very resilient. Hopefully, Gilepre turns out successfully.