Side Character Who Became the Pseudo-Protagonist

Chapter 27: Dead Men Tell No Tales

CRASH—!

From the far side of the arcade, the walls bust open, confirming my worst fears.

"Hieek!"

There, standing on the checkered floors of the playplace, stood none other than Beaver himself, an animatronic meant to play with kids.

It was supposed to look cute and friendly, but well, rotting in an abandoned mall for god knows how long made it look like a spawn from hell.

’How is that thing even moving?!’

But the luxury of trying to figure that out had already passed, as heavy footsteps that literally dented the floor came in my direction.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

It ran straight through everything, desks, tables, arcade machines, and swung at me with a big kitchen knife.

’It has that too?!’

Regardless, I managed to twist out of the way, realizing that there was a little something attached to the back of it.

A piece of Logicite had been haphazardly stuck onto its back, attached there with duct tape, but it somehow worked.

Someone must’ve placed a pre-loaded spell into the Logicite itself, commanding the thing to kill on sight, because well...

It was trying to do that to me.

But just as I was about to aim my barrel at it with [Overload] prepped, something came flying in from my peripheral vision, kicking my arm and knocking the gun out of my hand.

"Khhhkk—!"

I slid backward, gripping at my arm currently pulsing in pain before managing to take a look at what just happened.

Standing there was the woman from White Noise, her white cape bright even in the dimly lit arcade.

"Ah, ah, ahhh...please refrain from killing my pet. I had to go through many favors in order to get this thing, alright?"

A named villain associated with White Noise, nicknamed "The Shepherd". And looking at the thing on her right...the name didn’t come out of nowhere.

"You...where did you take Colette?"

"Don’t worry, the little princess is currently taking a nap. But well, you’ve got other things to worry about right now."

As soon as she finished her sentence, the beaver launched at me, knife raised in the air, fully intending to turn me into swiss cheese.

But I rolled to the side at the last moment, causing the attack to miss and slam straight into the ground, denting it and causing the thing’s hand to go straight through into the floor.

’That thing’s strength is no joke...’

I couldn’t marvel at it for any longer before the woman followed up with her own attack as well, delivering a kick at my chest.

The attack wasn’t particularly fast or strong, but when I grabbed her leg, my arm suddenly felt weak.

And using the opportunity, she pivoted, kicking me straight in the chest and sending me flying straight into one of the arcade machines.

"Ough...urgh..." I coughed, a bit of blood running from my mouth.

’How did that happen...?’

The sensation was similar to me getting hit with Logos Jamming, but...there wasn’t any present—

Was there?

She approached slowly with a grin on her face, heels clacking onto the ground. "You like what I did there?"

"You know, it cost me a fortune. Red Logicite isn’t exactly cheap, and getting enough of it to weave into thread and make clothes from...Yeesh, I could’ve bought a mansion with that money instead."

"Heh..." I grinned through the pain. "I didn’t know White Noise had a female philanthropist with parent issues in their ranks..."

"Who?"

"Never mind."

Standing up slowly and realizing my ribs weren’t broken, I managed to spot my Spell Driver not so far away.

Trying not to make my intention obvious, I spoke up first.

"So...why would someone like you, with so much money, be in cahoots with White Noise?"

"I can throw another question back to you," she said playfully. "Why is a Midgard even here? Shouldn’t you be clearing Gates and be in military meetings?"

"Ahh...I’m not good enough for that yet," I said, shifting slowly towards my Spell Driver, but making sure not to give too much away.

"Let’s cut to the chase, woman. I know you’re buying time."

"Hoh?" her eyes widened. "Seems like little guppy is more knowledgeable than I thought?"

"Thanks. But answer my question," I responded quickly. "What is White Noise actually after? Kidnapping a princess to make a statement is definitely not it."

The woman nodded her head. "Well, actually we’re after—"

"SIKE! HA! Did you really think that would work?"

"Ahh, worth a try, I guess."

I dropped low, snatched up my Spell Driver, and came back up with the barrel pointed straight at the yellow beaver.

The woman’s eyes widened, but it was already too late.

[Spell Sequence Initializing: Innate Structural Disruption Type—]

[Overload]

A beam of blue Logos blasted straight at the animatronic, causing its limbs to spasm uncontrollably before—

KRRRK—RAK!

The piece of Logicite behind it shattered, and the entire thing came crumbling down until it was just a heap of metal and fabric on the floor.

A wave of pain surged through my brain, causing me to almost drop to the floor.

I had subconsciously directed most of the load into my brain so that my Spell Driver wouldn’t turn into mush.

"My baby!" the woman cried out, rushing towards the heap. "You’ve asked for it now!"

Suddenly, the entrance shutters closed and something else opened. Lining the wall was a gigantic chunk of Red Logicite.

And just behind them, dozens if not hundreds of Logos Jammers were ready and waiting.

The true purpose of the room was undoubtedly clear.

It was a hamster cage designed to capture any Operators inside.

’Shit...’

VWHOOOP—!

With a press of a button, the waves crashed over me like a violent bout of seasickness. I dropped to my knees, the gun clattering uselessly on the floor right next to me.

This time, the woman managed to approach and kick the gun away, learning from her mistake the first time.

’Ah...this is bad...really bad. If I’m here for too long...I really could...die...’

I resisted the urge to throw up, barely able to keep my consciousness as the waves crashed against me relentlessly.

The sensation was similar to being in one of those human gyroscope attractions, spun around in all types of directions until you were dizzy and wanted to throw up.

But as my eyes were threatening to shut, I saw a figure move outside the window of the arcade area.

Forcing whatever Logos I could into my eyes, I activated [Principle Sight], managing to find out that a group of people was positioned outside the building.

One was set up on the opposite side, while a few others were on the ground floor. And in that same team, I could sense a familiar figure.

’Finally...I was...wondering when...he would show up.’

From the flow of Logos, I could tell the person in the other building was a sniper, yet they were definitely not ready.

So I had to buy even more time.

And it seemed the woman sensed something, too. She turned, starting to make her way toward the exit, but I called out first.

"Hey...can’t you...at least, spare a dying man’s...last wish?"

Well, they called it a cliche for a reason. But another proverb was made for the exact same reason: "Don’t fix what ain’t broke."

The woman turned hesitantly. I wasn’t really sure why, really.

Though one could guess that she couldn’t just leave such a handsome guy to die without taking another look.

Either way, I didn’t waste my chance.

"You’re not after the summit, and capturing Colette was mostly to buy time and have an insurance policy...Am I right?"

The woman stayed silent, practically confirming what I wanted to know. So I pressed my advantage once I had it.

"Tell me what’s next," I spoke as weakly as possible. "I mean, dead men tell no tales, right? If you could at least do this much, I won’t come back and haunt you."

I coughed.

"Deal?"

Really, I was lucky that this woman seemed to believe in the occult, because she hesitantly opened her mouth.

"We’re after the Mimir Database. Specifically, we’re going to make a copy of it...then destroy the original."

"I mean," she continued, smiling faintly, "why else would we have a student working with us?"

My stomach sank because I had realized this event had happened in the game.

Only...it was hidden from Leon.

After he had successfully raided White Noise’s base, the Triad and Asgard’s upper administration started acting strangely.

Was this why? Was it because the Mimir Database had been stolen?

It all made perfect sense.

Unable to contain my surprise, I asked quickly. "Tina Valentine...so she wasn’t your scapegoat?"

"Oh, she definitely was," the woman said with a nod. "It’s just that she had more jobs than just stirring up public outrage."

Her smile widened. "I mean, she really was an easy one to control. As we speak, she’s probably heading toward your school’s database under the intention of ’exposing the school’s secret oppression’."

"Well, at least in her mind."

[Warning!]

[Scenario has deviated and entered an Irregular State.]

[Please correct the course of the story.]

...Not again.