“All those unexpected twists had me pretty worried, but it all worked out in the end, so no harm done.”
“Huh—?”
“Still, I don’t need you anymore. Get outta my sight, you damn delinquent.”
“Ugh...? M-Machina...?”
What we saw next shook us to our cores.
We’d barely relaxed after defeating the desert dragon when Machina suddenly attacked Godlord, slipping behind him without a sound and spear handing him in the stomach. I never imagined a sorcerer could do something like that...
The shock was so great that my mind went strangely calm. It didn’t feel real—even more so because I’d felt a sense of camaraderie with Godlord and Machina.
“I-I...can’t...move...”
“Stay that way.”
Machina kicked Godlord over and over as he lay, motionless, on the ground.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you. You’ll come in handy later!” she cackled.
Her face twisted into a wicked expression, one so different from before that I doubted she was even the same person. There wasn’t a trace of the shy, quiet girl left. A hysterical laugh escaped her warped mouth, her bloodshot eyes staring straight at us.
I recognized those eyes. They were the same as the lord’s eyes when he’d looked at Shiro and Kuro—eyes clouded with desire.
“Aha ha ha! You’re so cute...”
An evil smirk crept across Machina’s face as she licked her lips.
The moment I saw that, goose bumps shot up across my skin.
“Oh? Are you scared? You’re grimacing, you know?”
Yes, I’m afraid.
She wasn’t nearly as intimidating as dragons or Ares. Without cheats, she didn’t even look strong.
She was, however, terrifying. A shiver ran through my body. It wasn’t the fear of a powerful enemy. It was the kind of revulsion you feel toward a cockroach or a grotesque image—a horror born from sheer disgust.
I didn’t know what was happening, but one thing was certain: Machina had become our enemy.
The devastation hit hard because I’d started to let my guard down around her, but it wasn’t enough to freeze me. It was probably because I still had a sliver of caution left, thanks to Ares and Gailland deceiving me.
Everyone I meet in this dungeon’s got a hidden side to them! I’m gonna end up with serious trust issues!
Are Shiro and Kuro okay?
I checked and saw that they were collapsed just like Godlord, unable to move.
I remembered how Machina had approached them saying she’d heal them. She must have paralyzed them instead. I hope it’s just paralysis...
I wanted to get close and cast detox and purification, and help Godlord too, but with Machina standing there, even moving was difficult.
I just stood there in silence.
“You’ve been scared of me this whole time, haven’t you?” said Machina, pride smeared across her face. “You’d flinch any time I talked to you.”
I wasn’t scared; I was being cautious... That looked like fear to you?
She chuckled. “Come on, you already know, don’t you? That I’m the one who killed you?”
“Huh?”
She killed me? What is she talking about? Doesn’t she mean she’s going to kill me?
“You’re the boy I killed that day, aren’t you? You’ve gotten so much smaller... I’ve gotten younger than I was on Earth too, so I can tell! You were reincarnated into a younger body like me, right?”
Uhh, so this woman killed someone, and she thinks I’m the reincarnation of the victim? She’s clearly got it wrong. I mean, the guy that killed me was a man. Unless she went through a transsexual reincarnation.
“So you were a middle-aged woman before you were reincarnated?”
“I wasn’t middle-aged!”
Oops, I guess that’s a sore subject.
Her expression changed so fast it was like her face was made of slime. One moment she was smirking, and the next, the corner of her eyes shot upward like a furious demon mask.
“God dammit! Late forties isn’t middle-aged!”
“Ugh...!”
Machina took out her anger on Godlord and kept kicking him. I-I’m sorry, Godlord!
“Why did you think I was that child?” I asked.
She cackled and said, “Because both the damn delinquent and I died and got reincarnated together! Of course that kid would’ve been reincarnated too! And then you showed up! Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
I thought for a moment. “Godlord died with you?”
“Oh? You didn’t know? Well, of course not, I’d already killed you, hadn’t I? The feeling of your neck snapping under my fingers... Oh, what a delight.”
Machina spoke with a look of pure bliss.
“I just love tormenting children.”
What an absolute scumbag! But that was just the beginning.
“Smack them, pinch them, punch them, kick them, stab them, bite them...! I love watching their faces twist in fear! Just seeing their adorable little faces brings me so much joy!”
She’s not a scumbag; she’s a full-blown psychopath.
“So I was having a ball that day torturing you! But then this damn delinquent got in my way! He ruined my moment of bliss and started beating me! Isn’t that awful? Even after I stabbed him, he just kept going—what is he, a zombie?!”
It seemed Godlord, in his previous life, had tried to save a child from Machina, and they’d ended up killing each other. And now she believed I was that child reincarnated.
“You hit children, but you don’t like being the one getting hit?”
“Of course not.”
She was completely serious. The realization sent a chill down my spine.
Machina cared only about herself—her pleasure, her pain, her desires. It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand others; she simply had no intention of trying. Talking to her felt like speaking to a monster wearing human skin, and I felt goose bumps rising again.
“And even after I was reincarnated, I ended up with this bastard! Well, that geezer calling himself a god made me young, so at least the idiot didn’t recognize me! How stupid can he be?! What a moron!”
Just like how I’d become a child, Machina had also become young, so Godlord hadn’t realized who she was.
“He’s so dumb that he spills everything about his abilities! All I did was amplify his desires a little! I didn’t think he’d start calling himself the chosen one! And somehow he broke free of my control! I still don’t know how!”
Control? She didn’t have any cheats like th— Actually, there’s no way she’d just give out the details of her abilities. Well, it seems like Godlord really did, though.
She definitely used poison in battle, so that part was real. That meant her other cheats were probably lies.
What’s worse, it seemed to be some sort of manipulation type, although most likely not full control over one’s actions. She said she’d amplified his desires, so maybe she could influence one’s thoughts.
Godlord’s strange behavior earlier was likely because of Machina. When he somehow broke free of her control, his original personality—someone who actually cared about kids—came back. But even after breaking free, he’d still thought Machina was an ally, so her ability must have been the type that left the victim unaware they’d been manipulated.
“I’ll control him again—and I’ll be real thorough this time. His personality, everything about him will be gone! But before that—”
Machina spitefully drove her foot into Godlord, then turned her gaze toward me.
“I’m going to enjoy you to the very end!”
She raised her hand, and a cloud of white powder burst out.
“Purification! Detox!”
My magic erased the powder. So it was poison.