Chương 309: The Living Obstacle

Binibelle soon found herself alone in a room after they all returned to an inn for some rest. The disassembled remains of the forest-dwelling imitation were neatly gathered on a table in front of her… The halfling stood upon a chair to get a good view of the various pieces, finding herself unable not to rub her palms together.

Right now, she was debating whether to use everything in one big spell in an attempt to smash right through Mara's field of disturbance, or if it would be better to spread smaller amounts of pieces into several probes to gain as much intel as possible. She couldn't know whether the second option would truly function well, and she wanted to get as close to learning a real truth instead of an alternate truth, as was possible…

Mara's ability to passively interfere with investigative processes concerning her was not to be underestimated. If Binibelle had to use a magical term to describe such an ability, she would call it an Authority. An incredible, magical ability that was constantly active and thus always offered a benefit to the one who had mastered it. Of course, these were only similarities.

As far as Binibelle was aware, Mara's talent with magic was absolutely abysmal, so it was highly unlikely that this was literally what this was, especially since she had definitely had it from even before her monstrous metamorphosis.

"At this point, it feels like trying to be careful would be a mistake, therefore…" The detective slammed both of her small palms into the table, sending out her mana toward all of the pieces. Everything was here. The only parts that could be missing were minuscule bits of steel that had been shaven off during the confrontation. Several pre-prepared circles and arrays lit up as each individual piece of the automaton started to float.

The world within the largest of the circles turned mana blue, and a smile appeared on Binibelle's face as she felt remnant traces of the souls that used to inhabit the steel. It was small, and it had lost all identity, but these ridiculously small fragments were nonetheless valuable. The souls had most definitely been directly manipulated by Mara Nebulo herself. They carried a strong connection to her, which was exactly what Binibelle needed to establish a link and shatter her unseen barrier.

The halfling carefully breathed in and out… From the moment she realised that she stood a real chance of witnessing a real event that had taken place within this very world, within this very reality… It was like the invisible field of disturbance protecting Mara came to life in a way she had never experienced before.

"Damn… Feeling threatened, for once? You son of a bitch" The detective blinked, and she was no longer in the inn room. She didn't panic. Her consciousness had merely been transported, not her physical body. Nonetheless, she found herself in a place where the sky was nought but an endless mass of white, and where the ground rippled with every step as though it was water, but no matter what, the 'water' couldn't be made to splash or move in any other way than by rippling.

"Mmh… If I am not mistaken, this should be the Mind-All" A fancy name to refer to a place that all minds could reach. Such realms were present for all of the non-physical bodies that existed. One just needed to replace 'Mind' with the name of any other non-physical body, and you would get a real realm that actually existed. However, these realms were pretty much empty.

They were great to train the mind and whatever, but one wouldn't find anything unless they ran into someone else currently projecting their mind into it.

"Mmh… Is this actually the Mind-all?" Binibelle found herself doubtful of her initial assumption. The description was coherent with what she was seeing, and she could tell that she was currently present here as her mind, but something seemed off, and she knew to trust her gut. The very second Binibelle found herself questioning the reality around her, it started to crumble, soon revealing its true form.

This was indeed not the Mind-All, but something she did not recognise, nothing but a desertic platform floating in an endless black void between two spheres of bright white. She presumed that the larger of the spheres was the actual Mind-All, and that the smaller one was the representation of a mind, though it seemed way too big for a single being…

The detective heard the sound of wind being displaced and turned to see a giant bird land a distance away from her, a few of its large, black feathers fell to the ground as it stared right at her… With its eyes that contained far too many pupils and irises. It opened its beak, revealing dozens of pale arms reaching out for the halfling. Its chest was also opened with a bloody gash, revealing a beating heart inside and nothing else.

The sound of its heartbeat was incredibly loud, covering far beyond the floating platform itself.

"What the hell are you?" Binibelle felt compelled to try and get information out of this thing, though she knew that it was connected to Mara quite closely, on account of the fact that this thing's eyes were the same purple as hers, something that should mean that this thing was a direct part of her, somehow. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The creature spread its wings wide. It was like a giant crow, but with proportions that were wrong.

Its beak was too long, more akin to that of a vulture. Its legs were also elongated, but clearly strong, almost like those of some flightless birds. Its wingspan was also awfully wide, too wide…

"There are secrets you shouldn't look into, Detective" It spoke with a clear, feminine voice. It stood as tall as it possibly could, looking down on the halfling.

"As long as it doesn't make me look at one of those eldritch things, I don't think there are any secrets that I shouldn't look into, Bird" The corvid smiled–Its beak bent unnaturally, and it opened its beak wide as though Binibelle had said something absolutely hysterical.

"You complain of an innate ability that impairs your investigation, do you not? Well… That ability is me. I am the living manifestation of my mistress's first-ever ability, and if there is one who should complain, it would be me!"

"How dare you probe and poke at the secrets of my mistress? You do not have any right to do so, nor do you have the strength to justify your trespassing! The secrets of my mistress shall remain as such…"

"... Have at me, halfling! We shall decide what your little trick will reveal to you today!" The corvid lunged forward with a speed unexpected for something of its size, but Binibelle had since long noticed the aggressiveness of her monstrous interlocutor, so she had been ready to cast a plethora of spells. It also seemed like her current state, as nothing but a mind, was of great help, as she had never found it easier to cast spells before.

In fact, she had just dodged using a spell to enhance her speed that she never would have managed to cast so cleanly normally. The only downside was that her mana reserves were pitifully small compared to normal. She presumed that there was only a small amount of it normally stocked inside a person's mind. Regardless, she managed to hit the bird with an explosive mana javelin, but it took the damage with its wings without even flinching, its feathers barely hurt.

It replied with its own ranged attack, spewing a projectile made out of nothing but bones. It exploded into a blast of shrapnel that forced Binibelle to put up a barrier. Rather than closing the distance, the corvid opened its beak once more, allowing countless pale arms to stretch out far beyond what normal arms should be capable of doing, attempting to grab a hold of the halfling.

Most of them were shot down before they could get near, and Binibelle moved away from them once it seemed like the corvid had truly committed to the attack, hoping that she would be able to get an opening thanks to this, but the monster merely shut its beak, severing the remaining arms, slapping away a blast of several mana bullets aimed at its exposed heart.

This time, it decided to act in a way befitting of its avian nature, lowering its body before charging straight at Binibelle as if it were a giant, nightmare goose. Regular geese could already be devilish, so this thing truly was frightening, but Binibelle once again moved well out of the way, deep in thought. It was all fine and dandy, but she was just wasting mana that she couldn't afford to waste.

The bird was impressively resilient to magic, and its only weakness seemed to be the heart in its open chest, but it was clearly careful not to give any real openings that the halfling could exploit.

"Mmh…" Thinking, Binibelle tried to figure out if it had another, hidden weakness. The corvid had been quite clear about its true nature. It was literally Mara's ability to mess with investigations. In fact, it had spoken like it was truly sapient and had been actively messing with Binibelle's attempts at finding the truth. Unknowingly, she had been fighting this thing since the very beginning of the investigation.

"What else did it say…?" The crow had also mentioned that they were going to see what Binibelle's 'trick' would reveal this time around.

"Oh""I see. So this isn't an actual fight, huh?" The moment she said this aloud, the corvid stopped its charge and grinned once more.

"You can't actually hurt me, can you? You are just trying to win because it will allow you to fight back against my spell by giving you the chance to manipulate what I will see from it, is that right? But you can't actually stop my spell from working""Oh, and this is why you went at me like it was a real fight. You want me to spend the mana I have in my mind, in an attempt to prevent me from using it to further empower the spell? Aren't you quite the crafty birdie?"

"How annoying. It would seem that you've figured it out… But it doesn't matter. It might not be a real fight, but it is a fight nonetheless. Once I squash you, I will gain the advantage. What do you say I show you a funny alternative reality, Miss Halfling?"

"There are many of them, and you know what the best thing about them is? They hold no relevant information to your case! What do you say, taking a look at the reality where Leton is the one with the strong body, and my mistress has all of the gifts she was promised?"

"What about the reality where my mistress becomes a completely different kind of monster? There are so many of those… And they have very different stories, irrelevant to what you seek""... Even better! Why not the world where there is no monster, and my mistress simply lives her life as she originally intended? Where she marries and has children, where her parents are alive to tell her how proud they are of her? Where she and Leton remain inseparable siblings?"

"I'll show you something of truly no importance, and I'll show you all of it!" Binibelle scratched her face.

"Are you done monologuing?"

"Yes, but I can do another one, if you want. This is my first time speaking with someone from the outside, you know? I am feeling talkative""Someone from the outside? There are more of you?"

"Maybe, or maybe not…" The detective shrugged.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. I already won""I doubt you did""Really? I couldn't help but notice that there was an edge to this platform…"

"And what tells you that jumping off will help you? You think that if I am not the one to deliver the final strike, it will count as your victory? As a draw, perhaps? That is simply silly. We are in the endless void between the Mind-All and my mistress's mind. If you fall, you'll fall for all of eternity!"

"No, I don't think I will" Binibelle stepped off, maintaining direct eye contact with the crow until the platform got in the way.

"COME BACK HERE!"