*BOOM!!*
All of a sudden – much to everyone's surprise – a thundering noise cracked through the forest, immediately followed by the land rumbling beneath their feet.
The soldiers, not expecting such a thing to happen, stopped their chase and immediately went into a panic trying to figure out what to do in response. Matthias, too, also slowed down at the unexpected occurrence.
However, unlike said guards, he resumed his run within seconds after the explosive tremor happened.
「おい,待って!」The guards shouted at his actions, only to be ignored as Matthias kept running.
After all, unlike them, Matthias definitely knew what was going on! He knew what this mysterious tremor was all about!
And it all had to do with—
'—Alice! Oh, you beautiful woman! You're really saving me with these coincidences!'
It was almost funny how she was helping him by just doing her role as the in-game character she was, although unintentionally.
But seeing that this had just happened…
'I guess she suffered the consequences of ambushing Ilias and was sent flying all the way here—'
'—Wait a moment.' Taking notice of an unusual silence in his surroundings, Matthias slowed down a bit and suspiciously glanced backward, only now noticing that he wasn't being followed anymore.
Did the soldiers give up on him due to the shock that just happened? Hopefully, that was the case, because he truly couldn't run any further now.
Just in case, however, the young man kept walking further into the woods at a slower pace, taking the opportunity to relax. The further away he got from them, the better it was for him.
However, even if the soldiers weren't giving chase to him anymore, that didn't mean he was still safe.
Far from it, actually.
"The story is progressing really quickly." Matthias couldn't help but notice how fast things were going, way too fast for him to make any actual preparation.
He didn't even have a proper mental script for his eventual conversation with the Goddess, too distracted with catching up to the story's progress.
And, unfortunately, he still couldn't catch a break.
He gazed in the direction where he assumed the thundering noise came from, deep in the forest; and, as he did that, he started to brood over his next course of action.
According to the game's storyline, Luka should be investigating the explosion just as he was about to return to Iliasville, after fending off the hostile Slime Girl.
Then, he would meet Alice, and from thereon, the boy's life would change for the better as they traveled the world together.
Now, however…
Well, Luka wasn't exactly free to do that…
…Not without a sword to defend himself from the grappling of a slime girl…
*Step…*
*Step…*
*…*
As one particular thought surged in Matthias' head, his footsteps gradually slowed down until he completely stopped moving; and while he let his body get its mostly needed time to recover from the recent chase, his face began to show an ugly frown.
Luka should be out of commission as things stood by.
And if that was indeed the case, then…
…Who was going to Alice this time?
"Goddammit…" Matthias grumbled with an annoyed tone as he began scratching his head in nervousness, once again lost in his thoughts.
His original objective was to rescue Luka, both because doing so would make him look good in front of Ilias, and because the alternative wasn't an option since it would affect him negatively on every level.
But if he still proceeded with that plan under these circumstances… What would happen to Alice?
As far as Matthias remembered, even though Alice had a very personal encounter with the Goddess' overwhelming hate and power, she didn't end up fatally hurt or anything as severe.
In fact, she even managed to stand up immediately with nothing more than a few complaints.
Taking that into consideration, without the presence of the aforementioned boy, she would most likely just recover from the terrible landing and leave for God-knows-where, doing her… Alice stuff.
She had no reason to stay in the crater, after all.
But for the sake of the world and his future in said world, he could not let that happen.
The consequences of that were just as severe as the ones behind Luka's defeat, maybe even more so.
Matthias had to somehow get Luka and Alice to meet, talk with each other, and get them together so that the story could finally begin; no matter what.
But if he tried to stop Alice from just leaving instead of looking for Luka – not even mentioning how he could do such a thing – he would basically hand over Luka to the Slime Girl that he was supposed to look out for.
The Slime Girls in this area weren't deadly, fortunately, but they could easily just carry the boy further away from the village and into the unknown lands beyond, making the task of rescuing him a thousand times harder than it already was.
And as if that wasn't enough, there was the Goddess too, who not only hated monsters in general, but also had to be harboring great hatred for Alice after their last "tussle" a few minutes ago…
If he appeared in her sight while being accompanied by Alice… Well, he might start getting in contact with religion, because the only thing that could help him at that point would be a miracle.
In summary, the available options in front of Matthias were three:
He could resume his search for Luka, abandon Alice to herself, and forever change and maybe even possibly ruin the future of the world, all while looking good in front of Ilias while doing so;
He could go assist Alice, letting the horny Slime Girl kidnap Luka and carry him to her nest, have his mission turn out several times more difficult, and later be in a disadvantageous position when trying to argue with the Goddess.
Alternatively, he could just return back and give up on both, waiting for Ilias' Soul Return Network to go into function and loop time back to when his future could still be turned for the better…
…But none of them were good decisions.
"At this point, I'm fucked either way, am I not?" Matthias mused, upset by the paths laid in front of him.
It didn't matter if he chose to either rescue Luka or help Alice, they would lead up to terrible consequences.
The only difference between them was whether he wanted to bet on Ilias's mood swings or his own fate.
And the worst part of all this was that he couldn't just avoid responsibility either.
What if the Soul Return Network didn't work as intended and instead just repeat this entire ordeal?
What if it didn't work at all?
And even if it worked as intended, that symbolized one step closer to the world's end. The more time looped back, the more stress the fabric of space time would undergo, and at that point it would be straight up impossible to defeat Ilias without risking the end of all.
There were way too many risks with choosing to let time loop back, meaning that all he could do was bet on the lesser evil, and—
"—Fuck, I better not get struck down for this…!" After grumbling a bit, Matthias prayed in his heart that Ilias would remain a spectator for longer, and then he rushed over to Alice's landing site.
He properly paced his running speed this time, not having to escape from anyone's clutches now, and yet unable to waste his time by relaxing on his way ahead. Of course, it was nowhere close to being called fast, but it was definitely quicker than simply walking.
And, all while dashing to his destination, he began to think over how he could pull Alice to his side.
To begin with, he had to find a reliable way to communicate with her that didn't involve speech.
Since she wasn't as dense as Luka, if everything went well, she should quickly notice the fact that they didn't speak the same language and – if she was collaborative too – find a way together to understand each other.
But if that wasn't the case… Well, he might try something like doodling on his phone for now, perhaps? That should work for starters.
However, the real problem came after communications had been established…
Of course, there was the issue of telling her about what she had to do according to the game's script, but the part Matthias was truly concerned about was how to prevent her from simply ignoring his pleas and leaving.
Needless to say, revealing his source of knowledge was a no-go.
On one hand, he'd rather not say anything of that degree until he was completely isolated from the rest of the world. While he trusted Alice enough to understand the gravity of the situation, there were also "certain" unsavory individuals who could eavesdrop on them.
On the other hand, even if it would definitely attract Alice's attention, it would also kickstart a long conversation that he wasn't remotely prepared or even equipped to deal with. Not to mention, he definitely didn't have the time to entertain her for each and every question she might pose him.
But he still had to come up with something convincing, something that was both easy to understand and could adapt to the course of the debate, whatever it may be.
'Maybe I could say I've come from the future…?' The young man's thoughts ran along those lines as he approached the landing site, all while praying that everything would go well.
The forest around Matthias began getting denser as he went further into the woods, with the trees becoming thicker and taller, and their verdant canopy casting a dark atmosphere on his path.
It felt as if nature itself was telling him that it was a bad idea to proceed further, that he should ignore everything and return to the village. He wasn't supposed to be here, and it would be better for his sake if things remained that way.
And, of course, Matthias promptly ignored the unspoken warning, if he even noticed it at all.
Without even noticing the change, he hurried within the depths of the forest, where no man had ever stepped into. Unfortunately, however, he was forced to slow down as the road was beginning to manifest obstacles in his way.
Large trees stood close by, momentarily stopping his way forward and forcing him to take the roundabout way;
Lively roots protruded from the ground, forcing him to be careful on where he walked lest he stumbled down in the mud beneath his feet;
Some spots also revealed large webs with spiders fitting their size, momentarily making him flinch as he carefully walked past them;
And that was not to mention the increasingly dark shadows festering across the woods, gradually obscuring his vision with their darkness and making it difficult to see where he was heading to.
Fortunately, that didn't last for long as Matthias soon found himself stepping into a more open space.
Unfortunately, the reason for that was that the scenery began to change significantly once again… And not in a good way.
This time, Matthias even went to a halt, feeling an unnatural chill coursing through his body as he stepped into "somewhere else".
The ground that was once filled with grass, dirt, and roots was now covered with dead leaves that fell from the dark trees.
And while the number of trees present in his field of vision was the same as before, the verdant roof of Mother Nature above his head was no more, replaced by lifeless branches that stretched like spider legs.
However, even under these circumstances, the sunlight that should have come past the naked branches appeared to be just as dim as it was before, when the leaves covered it all.
Gazing above let Matthias see a cloudy sky that wasn't there before, as if it was about to rain in a few moments. There was no thunderstorm, however, and not a single gust of wind blew through him.
Moreover, the trees surrounding him had changed too: they lost their colorful brown with green moss covering their surface, achieving a lifeless ash-gray color.
And not only did the tree just look lifeless, but they even took twisted shapes akin to suffering souls.
Everything… just died, all of a sudden. There was no other way to explain it.
Matthias didn't remember such a place being ever described in Monster Girl Quest, neither in the visual novel nor in the RPG sequel.
But he didn't deviate at all from his path toward Alice, meaning this should still be the right way…
Intimidated but not discouraged, Matthias resumed his walk, unconsciously raising his guard as he went forward. Alice was waiting for him further into the woods, and except for her, there shouldn't be any sort of real danger around this area.
At most, he might be able to find some monster or two, but neither slime girls nor imps could possibly intimidate him as much as the surroundings already did.
*Crunch!* *Crunch!* *Crunch!* The leaves beneath his feet crumbled into pieces as he took one step after another, walking through the cursed dead forest and past a few emerging roots.
Then, after an entire minute of slow walking, the scenery changed once again.
This time, a hopeful expression surfaced on Matthias' visage as he noticed trees that had actually fallen to the ground, eradicated by a mysterious force. Some were outright broken in half, laying at the side of their snapped trunks.
It seemed like Matthias finally reached his destination, as there was an empty spot ahead of him.
And yet, now that he had reached the place, the young man found himself unable to take any step further once again.
It was worth noting that the reason for his sudden stop wasn't because he was exhausted, nor was it because of the intimidating atmosphere surrounding him, or even for the eventual dialogue he would have with the person beyond this point.
It was due to a more amusing and yet relatable reason: eagerness.
Matthias couldn't help it after all, even with all the issues related to his arrival in this world.
He appeared in this world for barely a quarter of an hour or so, and here he was now about to meet a high-profile character that was not Evil incarnate: Alice.
The deuteragonist of the game that accompanied the player through their adventures as Luka; one of the most popular characters and the very first in-game crush he had in the visual novel; frequent sexual partner in the 18+ scenes presented across the story…
…He had all the reasons to be excited about this encounter! He was about to encounter someone he didn't even believe existed in the real world!
A smile graced his face at the thought, and with firm steps, he began moving ahead until he reached the clearing.
The eradicated trees disappeared from his vision, leaving behind only an empty field filled with dug-up dirt that made a wall in front of him.
It was as if a meteor crashed here, instead of a person.
The wall of dirt and rocks in front of Matthias was about as tall as him, and most likely even wider length-wise. Just by looking at it, he could see that it was going to be a bit hard for someone in his physical condition to climb it.
But he didn't let it discourage him, and with determination to get things done, Matthias climbed the tiny mountain range surrounding the crater and reached its short peak, pulling himself past the border with his two hands.
And then, he peeked into the crater, seeing the figure of the person he was both excited and worried to encounter in person.
But…
…Instead of Alice, a charred corpse lied in the middle of the crater.
It was a cadaver of inhumanly long sizes, albeit reminiscent of the person in question. It heavily resembled a lamia, except it lost any color from its tail and skin, all burned into black charcoal that took vaguely familiar shapes.
The man's face gradually twisted into pure horror as he processed the sight in front of his very eyes, unable to believe what he was witnessing.
Where was Alice?
Why… Why was a corpse here?
This wasn't what Luka saw when he came here within the game.
Matthias remembered it clearly: Luka was welcomed with the sight of a sleeping beauty in a field of grass; exotic but charming, dangerous but sensual.
She had pale purple skin – unusual even among her fellow monsters – with white silky hair and a long red snake tail that entirely replaced her legs. A lamia, one would call it.
He didn't see…
…This.
…
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS?!
Matthias mustered his remaining strength to push himself over the dirt pile, and dragged his body to the other side as he entered the crater's area.
"Nonononono…!"
As soon as he got a stable footing beneath him, he walked closer to the charred carcass while chattering away like a broken record. His expression further shifted toward disgust and horror as the view got clearer, and his steps got slower and slower as he got closer.
The only reason why he knew this was Alice was because he knew that she was supposed to be here, but otherwise, there were barely any features on her corpse that could help anybody recognize its true identity.
What was once a long and gigantic red snake tail was now shriveled up, ash-gray, and much smaller than what it theoretically should be proportion-wise.
The upper, smaller side of the monster girl somehow was in an even worse state, taking the consistency of rotten dark flesh and carrying a horrible burnt smell.
Her visage, meanwhile, looked straight-up nightmarish.
To begin with, the white hair that she should have on her head was completely burnt, leaving an ashen-black skull with a few scorched hairs standing out.
Her face was withered, darkened, and lacked all the features a human face should have: a pair of eyes, nose, lips… As if they all melted off.
But within this disgusting and bone-chilling view, there was something unnatural about it; esoteric, even.
Light, there was a bit of white light emanating from the liquefied flesh, resembling cinders from an exhausted fireplace.
"Hurk…" Matthias hunched over as the sight and smell were getting to him, and did his best to hold his bile inside before taking a few steps back.
"Ugh… You've got to be kidding me…"
Even though reality was finally dawning upon him, he still couldn't help but refute what he was seeing.
This couldn't be happening, this SHOULDN'T be happening…
It had to be a joke, someone's prank…
It… It just couldn't be real!
Alice shouldn't be dead! She was supposed to have barely a scratch, stand up on her own tail, cross her arms below her bountiful chest, and curse Ilias' insane strength before asking him what part of the world she was thrown into!
But then… What was he seeing right now if not her cadaver?
Matthias' thoughts blanked out as he tried to touch the rotting pile of flesh, and felt repulsed by the contact he perceived when his hand caressed the scorched tail.
The contact was real, the corpse was real…
…But it couldn't be…
…But it was…
…Why was this real?
Despite the shock this unexpected situation brought upon him, he was quick to make head and tail out of it. Although, it wasn't hard if one put their mind to the matter.
"Ilias…" Matthias muttered as he came to full realization.
Reminiscing on their last meeting, she didn't appear to be in a good mood by the time they talked.
She was so quick and easy to be angered, and even had to take deep breaths just so she wouldn't randomly snap off and kill him all of a sudden; an absurd sight, considering her general character of a tyrant with very little patience.
Clearly, Alice's ambush appeared to be her last straw.
It didn't help that there was also an insurmountable difference in strength between the two, so this was really the only outcome one should have expected under the aforementioned circumstances.
It was already a miracle that there still was a body left behind…
…But what the FUCK was he supposed to do with this?!
Even if, by some miracle, she still was alive… one couldn't possibly recover from this, there simply was no way for that to happen.
Alipheese Fateburn the 16th, also known as Alice, was… She was dead.
It was hard to believe it, but he couldn't say otherwise when he had her corpse laid in front of him. It didn't matter how much he denied it, the body wouldn't revive itself out of sheer will.
Matthias started to feel nauseated again as he kept gazing at the rotting corpse, but he never looked elsewhere for the entire time.
He couldn't find the strength to do that.
His mind was filled with the image of the monster's skull by now, and the gloomy atmosphere coupled with the burnt smell of decay merely engraved the memory even further.
It was only a dozen seconds later that he snapped out of his macabre trance, and the reason for that was…
「ふふふっ.」
…an even creepier giggle.
The young man perked up at the ghostly laughter echoing in the area, akin to a haunted doll. But he didn't care if the voice sounded nice or not, what truly mattered was that someone else was there.
And it clearly belonged to someone who shouldn't be here, to begin with. An outsider just like him, who shouldn't have any role in this part of the story…
Matthias' eyes gradually rose from the carcass, trailing up across the surface of the crater, and reaching the source of the ominous voice that sat right on the top of the dirt wall above.
And over there, he found…
…unfiltered and unadulterated terror.
"..." Whatever sound his mouth was about to make ceased immediately, any thought that was passed through his mind died just as it appeared.
Even the image of Alice's decayed head became a mere afterthought at that time.
And it was all because of a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a blue and white frilly outfit reminiscent of the tale Alice in Wonderland, and smiling in amusement as her blood-red eyes set onto him akin to a child that found a new toy.
It sounded weird for the not-knowing, but Matthias had all the reasons and justifications to act this way, especially because he knew… he knew who this person was!
She was a human-eating predator, blood-curdling wickedness taking the shape of beautiful innocence.
She was "Black Alice", A.K.A. Alipheese Fateburn the 8th, and one of the three big villains of the game alongside the Goddess Ilias and the mad scientist Promestein.
Needless to say, as her surname suggested, she's the sole other living member of the Fateburn family, along with the Alice that Matthias was previously seeking…
…No, at this point, it was more appropriate to say that she was the only living one.
According to the game's lore, she was the 8th Monster Lord and reputed to be the most tyrannical one in history. Her reign was one of absolute terror, one of which mankind had never seen anywhere else in the last thousand of years.
However, due to certain matters, she had to play dead and hand over the throne to another member of her clan, hence why the line progressed all the way to the 16th despite being still alive.
She was also described as a person who lived by her own whims, someone who did whatever she wanted: if someone gave her bad vibes, she would just swallow them whole; if someone amused her, she would throw them a bone and play around until she was bored…
…And of course, she would end up killing them too.
In summary, she was on the top rank in the list of people he wished to have a restriction order issued on them, even exceeding Ilias; because – unlike her – Black Alice was as manageable as a natural disaster.
At the very least, Ilias was still predictable in her actions due to her being the ultimate villain. There was plenty of information to work with when dealing with Ilias.
But Black Alice?
She was practically an unpredictable psychopath!
Whether he went along or against her, his chances of survival were as slim as a singular strand of hair.
Matthias would practically be dead meat if he ever caught her attention, and there was almost nobody capable of stopping her if push came to shove, not to mention willing to stake their life to help him out.
Unfortunately for him, however, that just happened.
While holding onto a teddy bear within her arms' grasp, Black Alice began her descent into the crater, albeit she appeared much more graceful than he was: gently skipping downward step by step until she reached the bottom.
And then, there she stood, about a couple of meters away from him and staring up with a smile.
「あらあら, 若い殿方はこんな所で何をしていますかしら?」
Using a soft and charming tone that didn't truly fit her real identity, she spoke to Matthias. But, needless to say, her words went unregistered in his mind.
Still, even if he actually understood what she just said, his next actions wouldn't have changed in the least.
It had been about a quarter of an hour since all of this began, and between being stranded in a different world, being tackled down the stairs, facing death disguised as an actual Goddess, physically exhausting himself from the soldiers' chase, discovering Alice's untimely death, and this "creature's" unexpected appearance…
…He had enough of it all.
Before Matthias consciously knew what he was doing, he was already taking steps back and marching away from her.
There… There simply was no reason for him to stay in the crater any longer, after all.
He would only risk his life if he remained here with Black Alice so close to him, and Alice was already dead. At this point, he had to locate Luka and rescue him from the Slime Girl.
But… He couldn't do that.
*Squeeze!*
Not without dealing with Black Alice first.
"...?" Something latched around his waist and arms, promptly stopping him from moving any further.
And that something… It wasn't anything that resembled or felt remotely human.
It was tougher than iron, yet it wrapped around him as smoothly as a soft rope. It was cold like a corpse, but the way it moved around him felt as lively as his body was.
Such a thing was… a purple tentacle?
Matthias slowly shifted his gaze from his waist to his back, seeing the tentacle replacing one of Black Alice's arms and protruding from her blue sleeve, all for the singular purpose of restraining him from afar.
The smile on her face never left, but her crimson eyes were wide open as her stare burned into Matthias' back.
Even someone as clueless as Matthias could see that she didn't take his decision to leave very well…
「どこへ行きますか? 私は,ただ少々貴方とお話したかったんですわ.」 Again she spoke, and again Matthias understood none of it. He simply ignored her words while trying to pry open her tentacle's grasp.
One should take note of the keyword "trying", though, as seeing how biologically different he and Black Alice were, his actions weren't any different from a butterfly struggling within a spider's spiderweb.
It just wasn't possible for someone of his cut to go against a man-eating predator like her, even if he was ten times stronger.
'Shit, shit, shit!' As Matthias' thoughts caught up with the gravity of his situation, his mind started getting overcome in panic and his heart began racing in terror.
He was about to die!
He had to get out! He was about to die! HE HAD TO GET THE FUCK OUT!!
'Fuck, let go!' Matthias did his best to force open Black Alice's tentacle grip, exhausting all of his strength for the task.
Ultimately, however, the tentacle didn't budge in the slightest, as if an actual iron bar was wrapped around his body instead of mere flesh.
'I NEED TO GET OUT!'
Even as he channeled his despair and fear into it, even as he tried to force it until it hurt his arms and shoulders…
'I NEED TO GET OUT!!'
…He simply couldn't do it, he couldn't escape.
'I NEED TO GET OUT—'
「こら,止めなさい.」
"..." Matthias' mind and body went completely still in that moment as he now faced Black Alice: eye by eye, nose by nose, mouth by mouth, face by face.
Before he realized it, during his futile struggles, the monster girl pulled him at an arm's length and turned him around, so that she could observe him from a better point of view.
And then, as they observed each other in a still silence, she licked her lips.
A chill went through Matthias' spine at the sight, with every single strand of hair from his body standing up in fear.
This was it, he was going to get eaten.
Devoured, chewed up, torn into pieces, ravaged, swallowed, crushed into paste, digested, and melted down until not even bones were left from his existence…
He was going to end up in a worse state than the poor Alice standing right beside them…
"…?"
Wait, "standing"?
Noticing something amiss, Matthias turned his head, an action that also prompted Black Alice to shift her attention to the direction he was looking.
Surprisingly, Alice's carcass was actually standing on itself, being supported by her own brittle snake tail. However, she clearly didn't look "alive" by any means.
Her face was practically falling apart, slowly revealing a skull behind her charcoal-like visage; crunching noise echoed from her body at each movement she made as her skin cracked apart, letting its ash fall off like smoke.
The bright glow that once covered her body like burning cinders vanished at once, but there was still no sign of life within her entire form.
It was as if she awakened as an… undead?
No, that term didn't feel right.
She shouldn't be able to support herself with the decadent flesh she had left on her being.
But if that wasn't the case, then…
"Class Three… Cross-World Contact confirmed… Proceeding with its… Immediate termination."
"..." Matthias blinked slowly as he elaborated the words he just heard.
What the corpse said, he could surprisingly understand it well. It was as if the words didn't just enter his ears, but reverberated within his very essence of being as well.
But as for the meaning of the words she just said…
Class Three Cross-World Contact.
That was another term that reverberated with his memory regarding Monster Girl Quest: Paradox.
That game, as mentioned before, involved concepts such as parallel worlds and dimensions, and the term "Cross-World Contact" was used to refer to activities involving two objects from different worlds, just like in Matthias' current situation.
There were different classifications depending on the influence said objects were displaying on the world around them, as one may reckon from the corpse's words, but that wasn't important now.
What was important, however, was the fact that only one particular group of people used such a phrase, a group bio-engineered by the world itself to take care of the termination of said influence.
And as for what those creatures were…
"...Apoptosis?" Matthias whispered with a trembling voice.