NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26: So, what are you doing stuck with me?
Alice picked up her hammer and looked up.
The dungeon's interior looked old and dark when she first walked in. A dark tower with a lot of pillars and bones of monsters that were far weaker than compared to others served as food.
'Guess they had their own feast before I got here.' was her thought when she set her eyes on the bones.
She had finally gotten to the fiftieth floor and it was once again looking like a dark tower and the above floors did not consist of different climatic environments either.
With this, she had hope of finishing the job and leaving sometime soon.
She looked up. It was a really long way up. Bet she would just jump all the way to the last floor. That would quicken things up a bit, right?
There were over fifty more floors to go but she knew she could handle it.
'Let's not rush things.' she told herself and nodded in satisfaction. 'It wants me to get strong so it can tell me its secret. As long as I don't get tired, I feel like I can go on for months.' she thought, and then like before, she got a deja vu.
She saw herself standing with her hammer and saying those exact words,
'As long as I don't get tired, I can go on for months.'
She touched her head.
What was that? Was there something missing in her memory?
She felt it before. Just after coming across that red gate, she had gaps in her memories. It was just from the moment she left the hospital to when she got back to Big Stach's den but after spending so long in her cell, she gave it a lot of thought.
There were dashes in her memory and it started when she stumbled on the red gate.
It might've looked like she went straight to hide but that wasn't the case, was it? Something happened before she saw the red wolf and hid.
But what was it? She squinted her eyes, wondering if she could squeeze the memory right out but she just couldn't get it.
*Are you okay?* The voice asked.
Ah, yes. She also started hearing the voice then too.
What was it? What the hell was it?
It controlled her body and the next moment she knew, she was doing what she would never do. It was giving her commands like it was entitled or like it was its role to give her commands, all the while keeping secrets from her.
It was her body, wasn't it?
What the hell was that voice?
Alice wanted to ask but it seemed like they would have to finish up in this dungeon first before she would get answers. It would not answer her, just like before.
"I just need to get more powerful, right?" She muttered. "Then, will you tell me what you are and why bits of my memories are missing?" She asked.
*...*
The voice couldn't answer. Or rather, it didn't want to answer and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Shit, just tell me you'll give me an answer. That's the only motivation I can get right now to keep at this, dammit!' she got angry, and that anger steamed up from confusion and fear. "I want to know what you are and how you can control my body at will! And also, why are you in my head, trying to make me a hero? I'm no hero in the first place. So what are you doing stuck with me?"
*...*
The voice once again didn't answer.
"What? Your battery died already? Or you just don't want to speak to me." She said, clenching the handle of the hammer. "You don't want to tell me anything, not until I'm strong enough, right?"
She set her foot, ready to jump up to the first floor, high above them.
*Alice, what are you doing?* The voice asked,
"Can't you tell? I'm going to head right up to the boss's room. If I defeat the big bad boss of this dungeon, I'll be powerful enough to get you to talk, right?" She asked.
*That is dangerous. You will not come out unscathed if you fight the boss now with your current strength.*
"I won't come out unscathed? Then, that means I'll win, just with a few bruises, right?" She asked with a provoking smile. "Maybe I'll lose an arm and a leg. But I'll still win so that's that."
*Alice, don't be reckless*
"My apologies, your highness. But you have pushed me to the edge and this is my last resort." She said and bent down, ready to leap up when a voice thundered and echoed throughout the entire tower.
"$#)#$$#?"
The voice sent shivers down Alice's spine and she gritted her teeth, feeling pressure directed at her. It was killing intent and from a being far greater than any she had ever come across in the dungeon tower.
"H-hey, that thing... That thing's the boss?" She asked. "What did it say? I couldn't understand."
*I'll activate a translator for you* it said and once again, the boss spoke, its voice thundering loudly.
"A tiny little human dares to challenge me, an executioner of the crooked beings." It echoed and then thundered laughter followed.
It was mocking Alice and whatever power she possessed.
"I will make sure to strip you of that pride and feed you to my children. And then I shall devour your soul."
That boss meant business.