I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 46: Today is the day we head to the amusement park

“Now, there are only two relics left to install.”

I drew a simple map on the chalkboard and circled the two locations where the relics would be installed.

Following my hand, the gazes of James, Maria, the children, and the other team members shifted over the map.

One location is Piero’s stage—the circus tent. The other is Spider Lady’s stage—the department store.

We planned to seek consent to approach Piero, who is more likely to be on our side, and install the relic.

The fact that a key item of the same nature as the relic brought from the institution came from Mary is rather troubling, though I can’t help but wonder if installing all the relics would have any effect on the game’s hidden ending.

After all, if everything is shattered, a forced ending would surely occur.

“These two places are where two entities stronger than Mary appear. Among them, Piero is someone we might be able to negotiate with for the relic installation, but like Mary, he could end up in a fight. So, I’ll explain the strategy in advance.”

Honestly, even if I knew the strategy, I wouldn’t be confident of winning.

It’s not as if I could teach you the ancient art of “moving” like a veteran, and the patterns are highly irregular with many moves depending on one’s skills.

“Piero’s irritating points are his relentless barrage of attacks and the annoying circus performers, not to mention the sudden quizzes he throws in at random.”

Piero handles his circus creatures much like Mary does.

From monkeys to lions, elephants, and even octopuses—among many others, these four are particularly formidable among his troupe.

There’s the pattern where monkeys, wielding melee weapons, juggle around quickly and cause a flurry of strikes.

Then there’s the relentless lion that pursues you through a ring of fire.

The charging elephant whose impact is instantly fatal if you’re hit.

And the octopus pattern, which, if you get hit or even graze one of its protruding parts, retaliates with an area attack.

And as if those four weren’t enough, Piero himself taunts you with a mocking pattern on the side.

As befits the strongest boss-level monster in the game, he is incredibly aggravating.

“Piero loves a good show. For the sake of a fair match, he’ll ask a quiz—if you answer correctly, he takes damage; if you get it wrong, we take damage. Of course, from a human’s perspective, a wrong answer means instant death, so be careful.”

Of course, I know all the answers to the quizzes Piero throws out.

I planned to share them with everyone.

But what if he throws a different question?!

Or shows a pattern that deviates from the original even further?!

If we study the patterns and fight accordingly, it’s clear that he might catch us off guard with an unknown quiz and we’d end up getting hurt.

In a comic, it would be like some villain saying,

(Hmph, I already know all your techniques.)

and then, as the hero is foolishly overwhelmed by a new attack,

(What?!)

—which is such a cliché.

“I’m not a power-level meter!”

“Ella, what’s with you?”

Ah, am I getting too worked up?

Lately, whenever a formidable enemy appears, it seems like I always end up taking the first hit—be it a doppelgänger, Mary, or something else... I have a feeling I’ll be in a lot of pain going forward.

I quickly regained my composure and continued explaining the strategy.

Everyone took notes and jotted down memos. I was glad to have such enthusiastic students. Yes, exactly—if not, we’d be dead.

“Anyone have any questions?”

One of the team members raised his hand.

Oh, it’s the first time a team member has spoken to me directly.

I wondered what he might be curious about.

I felt a little hopeful—after all, apart from James and Maria, the team members rarely say anything.

“Spider Lady... was it? It seems best to know about that monster in advance.”

A very straightforward question.

Well, giving some preliminary information wouldn’t hurt. But since he betrayed my expectations, I decided to tease him a bit.

“Aren’t you more curious about Ella? Is that your first question for Ella?”

“...”

The team member seemed hesitant to speak up and shot a sidelong glance at James.

James gave a slight smile, as if encouraging him to ask whatever he wanted.

Usually, James is strict—or perhaps just makes them nervous—but eventually the team member spoke.

“I’ve heard you’re a demon... So, why do you help everyone? In other words... what’s your purpose?”

Hmm... Well, James said he trusted me because of the rapport we built over time, and Maria has seen me interact with the kids and even chatted with me occasionally, so they must have ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) some idea of who I am.

Team members, who rarely have a chance to engage in conversation, might find it hard to be fully convinced.

And yet, they risked their lives solely on James’s orders, so I must be grateful.

“To begin with, my pure purpose is to get these kids safely back home. That’s my number one priority. The additional goal is to make it outside.”

“I see...”

That goal of ‘getting outside’ was tacked on without much thought after returning the kids.

Honestly, I don’t desperately long for it.

But still—don’t you think that if I go outside, the institution might quarantine me?

I can practically hear the sound of eyes rolling.

If even a mere team member looks like they’re done for, it makes the higher-ups’ intentions all too obvious.

...Let’s not go there.

Even if the story unfolds such that we can’t return after the ending, I think it’ll be livable as long as I’m with the kids.

Please, just don’t make it a scenario where I’m quarantined by the institution as soon as I step outside.

Please. That’s not how it’s supposed to go, right? Yes?

“To be honest, even if I explain my purpose and the reasons behind it, it might be hard for some to believe in a monster that’s half demon.”

It’s not as if I find it shameful to pour out my heart in detail to the kids.

“From Ella’s perspective, whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter... After all, you all follow James’s orders, and Ella only needs to prove her worth with information.”

Whether they believe my words or not is beside the point.

Frankly, no matter what I say, they might not be able to trust it.

“Right.”

The response was curt.

The conversation, which I had intended to be lighthearted, had instead taken on a stiff tone.

Hearing such cold words brought back memories of the old me, and I felt agitated.

“But still... I mean, holding a position as a team member comes with its own beliefs and responsibilities. It’s not like all your hard work is automatically acknowledged. Hmm...”

“?”

When I rambled on, the team member wore an expression of puzzled concern.

I turned my head slightly, avoiding eye contact, and continued speaking.

“I do appreciate that you risk your lives for me... so, even if it’s just for a little while, I’d be happy if you could trust me. Ahem. Does that answer your question?”

After a brief pause, the team member glanced at Maria and James and nodded.

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“Understood.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Did my answer suffice? What exactly did you understand? The other team members seem to be convinced already. Enough, enough!”

I hurriedly moved on to change the atmosphere.

I drew on the chalkboard a sketch of a woman whose upper torso is that of a human and whose lower body resembles a spider’s, ending in a centipede-like form.

“Next up is Spider Lady. Piero apparently calls her ‘Arachne.’”

Spider Lady had had no direct encounters so far.

Occasionally, we’d seen spider-like minions eroding other monsters, or caught glimpses of her lackeys early on, but nothing concrete.

Piero described her as having already been “attacked by a demon.”

Just as Piero’s arm was eroded by a demonic assault, it seems Spider Lady suffered a similar attack.

The difference is that Piero is stronger than Spider Lady, so while she succumbed, Piero managed to hold out.

She’s the type who simply won’t be swayed by words.

That’s why I hope Piero remains our ally, to make the fight easier.

“Spider Lady’s main attack patterns are her massive body delivering wild, brutal strikes, her horde of minions—far more numerous than those of other bosses—and a curse that slows you down. Lastly, she employs her signature psychic attacks.”

Beneath my drawing of Spider Lady, I jotted down keywords: “Massive body, countless minions, slowing curse, psychic attacks.”

Unlike the other bosses, Spider Lady relies less on simple physical attacks and more on potent psychic assaults and curses due to her larger build.

Therefore, it’s essential to counter her using a purification artifact, assembled from items dropped by her spider lackeys.

The artifact Eun-jung is holding is precisely that.

Piero, too, has a psychic attack pattern—though it’s hard to say which is stronger—but when Spider Lady’s psychic assault hits, the player loses control of the character. How that will be applied is the crux of the matter.

I can’t help but be unsettled by the horrifying spectacle when it happens.

After explaining all that at length, I felt a bit exhausted.

Speaking at length like this drains both the voice and the mind.

“An hour from now, we’re going to meet Piero. Everyone, prepare yourselves well in the meantime.”

And an hour later, we stepped out of the school and headed for Piero’s circus tent.

Looking around, we noticed that there were even more monsters than last time.

As time passes, the monsters increase in number and strength.

On the 30th day—the day demons are born—that number reaches its peak, turning everything into a veritable hell.

“Scram!”

As we dispersed our energy, a few monsters retreated.

What can I say? I am the mirror monster boss, after all.

Unless you recklessly charge like a spider creature or are a trap-type, you won’t get caught in their barrage.

“Ella, what’s that over there?”

Ha-rim pointed to a distant, eerie ghost tree.

Since ancient times, trees have been considered vessels that can house spirits or ghosts.

An accursed tree possessed by a malignant spirit was once a favored motif in old legends.

It’s something like that—a monster of a certain unsettling kind.

From the branches of this towering tree, figures resembling human corpses hang as if to simulate bodies, exuding a nauseating stench and eerie atmosphere.

Ha-rim’s interest in the ghost tree was sparked by the tree’s sudden appearance in his view.

“That’s a ghost tree. Sometimes, it deceives you—making you think nothing’s there by dazzling your eyes with illusions. Normally, you’d only see it when you’re right in front of the tree, but thanks to my aura repelling its deceptions, you can see it from afar.”

“I see. But those ‘corpses’... are they real people?”

“No. They’re just monsters posing as corpses. Besides James and Maria—whom we summoned—none of you were here before. You’re the only ones.”

“...Then, the corpses at the Ella Mansion must have been monsters too?”

Huh? Well, that was my corpse. If you mistake it for that, I suppose I’m glad.

The ghastly past I’d kept buried suddenly resurfaced, and I felt a wave of shame. But what is this feeling?

I read the thought in Ha-rim’s beaming smile.

‘They used monsters to scare us with corpses! Showing off, aren’t they? How cute!’

He’s thinking the same thing!!!

“That’s enough with that notion!”

There’s a limit to even mistaken assumptions.

My overreaction to having my dark past exposed only confirmed it to everyone as an established fact.

“Did someone get pricked?”

“No!”

Sometimes, by repelling and overwhelming a strong monster that dares to charge at us, or by trapping it in a mirror, we manage to advance as safely as possible.

Eventually, we reached our destination.

It resembled more an amusement park than a circus tent—massive walls arranged in a circle barred entry.

At the center stood a gigantic door for entrance.

It seems we must go inside... yet no matter how you look at it, the door’s size makes it impossible for mere human strength to open—like a fortress gate.

“Very fitting for these times, isn’t it?”

It appears that Piero has reworked his stage.

Piero fought demons, and the scars of battle on these walls bear testimony that he wasn’t lying.

I approached the enormous door and knocked.

Knock, knock.

Then I heard Piero’s voice.

“Who’s there?”

“Ella.”

“Ella who?”

Do you know the Western “knock-knock” joke?

You knock on the door and when the other asks who’s there, you reply—not necessarily with your name—but then when they ask “Who?” you deliver a clever punchline.

For example:

Knock, knock!

Who’s there?

Delivery. It’s noodles.

What kind of noodles?

Enough with the cheesy joke already—just open the door!

Something like that.

It’s one of those classic wordplays.

“Just say ‘Ella’ and open the door.”

But that old-fashioned joke is too corny for my taste.

“Ella who?”

“Hey, you crusty old Piero. You’ve had quite the journey getting here, haven’t you? If you don’t open this door right now, I’m breaking it down—even if you bring that pathetic pun along.”

“Ah, fine! I understand! I’ll open the door. Must you be so harsh? A little wordplay wouldn’t hurt, you know?”

“Ugh. I don’t like it.”

“Then, perhaps you should read a book of jokes. There’s a wonderfully profound and entertaining one called ‘Alice in Wonderland’—full of wordplay.”

With that, the door slowly creaked open.

And with that, we stepped into Piero’s stage!