I lifted my head and looked up at the sky.
The increased concentration of mana caused countless lights to descend from the air, so beautiful it felt like gazing at stars scattered across the night sky.
If this were happening at a festival, I’d have honestly marveled at it.
But this was a battlefield.
And such a phenomenon was never a good sign.
"What the hell…"
I’d rushed to the operation site, bracing myself for a scolding after oversleeping, only to find absolute chaos.
Everyone was frantically preparing something, their faces so desperate it was hard to believe these were the same people who’d been so relaxed just yesterday.
The reason for their panic was obvious even to me, who had just arrived.
…A swarm of spiders advancing like they were about to flip the entire city upside down.
It had to be because of them.
"…Author-nim? Did you do something again?"
But I didn’t panic. I just sighed.
After all, I’d already been through absurd situations like this far too many times.
So many monsters that the sight alone made me want to sigh in exhaustion.
If this many monsters appeared daily at the front lines, the world would’ve been destroyed long ago.
There was only one possible cause for something this ridiculous.
[Uh… uh…? What is this…?]
"…?"
The author’s voice was thick with bewilderment.
Wait—was this *not* the author’s doing?
A creeping sense of unease began to rise.
But that didn’t last long. Once again, the author’s absurd explanation left me clutching my head.
[N-No, that’s not it… Why are there so many?]
"What do you mean…?"
[I *was* planning to add a raid event… but this is way too much!]
Ah, damn it. Not again.
The author showed no signs of reflection, and I was getting sick of it.
We’d been together for nearly a year now, and yet nothing had changed.
They caused trouble every single day.
"I was starting to think you’d stopped causing disasters lately…"
[W-What?! Don’t make it sound like I’m *always* causing trouble!]
"…So you’re not?"
[…]
Since they couldn’t argue, it seemed they knew they were in the wrong.
Then again, the only reason they hadn’t caused trouble recently was because they hadn’t *done* anything.
I sighed in exasperation, and the author retaliated, clearly offended by the implication.
They must’ve been embarrassed by the way I was treating them.
[B-But…! This time, I set it up properly!]
"…What do you mean?"
[The spiders *were* the right setting, and I *did* adjust it to trigger a raid… but not *this* many! I just added a setting where the mother spider laid eggs before dying… but…!]
Maybe they thought that would be manageable.
Well, the idea of a raid triggered by spiderlings hatching from eggs laid by a dying mother wasn’t inherently problematic…
If there’s a problem, it’s the author’s fault for not considering that this many would come pouring out.
…Well, whatever. The way the author keeps insisting so pitifully makes it clear they did set it up properly.
So then… what?
Where did things go wrong?
[No matter how I think about it, there shouldn’t have been any issues… W-where did I…!]
The author started groaning in frustration.
…What’s done is done.
They say sighing shortens your lifespan, but that’s definitely a lie.
If it were true, I’d have died ages ago from all the sighs this author has forced out of me.
"…So?"
[Y-Yes…?]
"Roughly how many do you think there are?"
How do I clean this up?
There’s only one answer.
Sneak around and thin their numbers before anyone notices.
Luckily, with this many, the distance between the front and rear lines should be considerable.
Even if I go all out, no one will see a thing.
As for clothes… well…
…If I hide well enough, it should be fine, right?
Or maybe I could ask the author to lend a hand.
I glanced around—thankfully, everyone was still too busy to notice their surroundings.
No one had even realized I’d joined late.
If I slipped away now, no one would notice.
[Uh, that… I’m not sure…]
"…Sigh."
[…]
Even when I sighed openly at the absurd answer, the author didn’t protest.
They couldn’t.
It was obviously their fault.
Just look at those spiders—wasn’t that proof enough?
They’d already admitted to setting this spider attack in motion.
"Guess I’ll have to check each one…"
[Heh, hehe…]
"Be quiet."
[Y-Yes…]
Moving that many monsters to the rear without anyone noticing?
I could already see the suffering ahead.
…Or maybe it was just pitch-black.
"Yu Siwoo… seems fine."
I glanced over—he was rushing to rejoin the main force.
Then there shouldn’t be any major issues.
The heroes here are veterans among veterans.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this a gathering of humanity’s strongest.
People who’ve spent countless years cutting down monsters.
They’d struggle to take out this many without any losses.
After all, even they’ve never faced a horde this large before.
…But what if Yu Siwoo is there?
In these kinds of crises, the protagonist and his allies always pull off something amazing.
If I just take out a few monsters from the shadows, it should work out.
Luckily, my ability is perfect for mass slaughter.
Especially against low-intelligence monsters like these.
So it’s not beyond repair, huh.
"You should start reflecting on your actions too, Author-nim. You keep causing incidents every single day."
[Hiiing…]
After slipping away unnoticed from the main force so they wouldn’t realize I was gone, my mind grew heavy with the weight of what was to come.
I guess this outfit and I will have to part ways soon.
Even if no one was watching, the thought of having to run around naked outdoors made my head spin.
If only Yu Siwoo doesn’t notice…
As I absentmindedly fiddled with my bracelet—
A sharp pain shot through me, and my vision blurred as if I were watching the scenery outside a speeding train.
…What just happened?
Ah, I got kicked in the side.
Unable to withstand the impact, I crashed into a building.
That’s why it hurts so much.
"Cough, k-khah…!"
[…Reader-nim?! A-are you okay?!]
The Author-nim’s panicked voice faintly echoed in my ear.
This wasn’t the Author-nim’s doing.
If that idiot Author-nim had planned this, they wouldn’t be this flustered.
It wasn’t a Demon Beast either. If it were, it would’ve torn me apart.
They wouldn’t ambush me like this—blowing me away in one strike.
Gritting my teeth against the pain wracking my entire body, I forced myself to lift my head and see who had attacked me.
"Hello. Remember me?"
[…Huh? You’re alive…?]
"…!"
And then I froze in shock.
Because standing there was someone I definitely recognized.
That day.
The day Yu Siwoo realized he was the only human left.
The sole survivor of the Weaver Menace—the one I’d spared because I was too distracted by Yu Siwoo.
The last remaining executive of the Twelve, whose name I never learned.
She was standing right in front of me.
Her appearance was grotesque in many ways, but I still recognized her instantly.
I’d been sure she was dead.
"…How… how are you—"
"So you do remember me?"
"Answer my question! Why are you here—!"
"I’m just as surprised. I never imagined you’d be here. I was using spiders to escape this place when I spotted you."
"…!"
…Ah, that explains it.
The reason so many spiders appeared that even the Author-nim was caught off guard.
It was because of *her*.
Because the Author-nim had forgotten about her, the situation spiraled out of control.
"…You used to be pretty, but you’ve really let yourself go."
"Ugly? No way. I’m gorgeous. I love how I look now. …Don’t you think so, Annie?"
"Yeah, Mier. Everyone thinks so. Our comrades do too."
"See? Even Mier agrees."
…Who the hell is she talking to?
Has she lost her mind?
"You killed Mier."
"…I don’t know who that is."
"Hah, as if you wouldn’t know. Stop lying."
"···."
"Tell me. Why did you kill them?"
Someday.
I had always known this day would come.
If I kept killing the dolls, someone would eventually ask me this.
That’s what I’d thought.
I had even prepared an answer for when that happened.
···Ah, no.
The pain’s making it hard to think straight.
"···Because they were dolls."
"Dolls?"
"They were all dolls. Everything in this world is. Except for me and Siwoo, everything is just a doll."
That’s right. Everything is a doll.
As long as the Author keeps twisting this world to their whims, it’s no different from a grand puppet show.
So what else could the people moving within it be, if not dolls?
I had to believe that.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to endure it.
"···They weren’t just dolls."
"No, they were."
"···So Mir died because of a liar like you."
The survivor’s cold eyes burned with hatred as she glared at me.
···She saw through me.
She saw right through me.
Yes, I had known the truth all along.
They weren’t just dolls.
They were all real people, living and moving in this world.
What I had killed weren’t dolls—they were real people.
But I couldn’t have endured it if I hadn’t convinced myself otherwise.
That day.
The day everything changed.
The corpse split in half before my eyes, blood gushing out.
As I trembled in horror at the atrocity I had committed, the corpse vanished as if nothing had happened.
The disappearing bodies seemed to tell me I was blameless.
They seemed to say none of them were human.
So I turned a blind eye to my guilt, and so I killed the dolls.
The girl threw off her rags and stared at me.
Her face wasn’t the only thing twisted beyond recognition—her entire body was grotesquely warped.
Rat, sheep, cow, pig, rabbit, horse, tiger, monkey, chicken… and dragon.
Familiar, distinctive parts.
"···Hey, do you remember this?"
I remembered. How could I forget?
The executives of the Webermensch. Their bodies.
Every part of the Webermensch executives—except for the surviving girl and Spira—was now attached to her.
"···So you do remember."
I realized it then.
This final survivor, pieced together from the people I had killed, had come to judge me.
She had come to avenge them.
She had come to make me pay for the sins I committed here.
My karma had finally caught up with me.