Chapter 192: What Are You Looking At?
Before them sat a woman who had clearly lost her mind.
A tangled mess of long, dark hair cascaded over her face, obscuring features that might have once been quite beautiful. She was perched on a chair, her hands slapping the tabletop in a frantic, unsteady rhythm. As she shouted, her neck—a full section longer than any normal person's—stretched forward, tilting her head at an impossible angle to peer at Haruto and his companions.
"You! Are you the ones playing with me this time? Let's be happy together!"
Watching that unnervingly long neck snake closer and closer, Haruto had to actively suppress the urge to pull out his brick and give her a solid whack. Instead, he calmly took a seat at the mahogany table. He didn't need to think hard to guess that this creature could probably twist and bend its neck like an owl, a party trick he had no desire to witness up close.
The Long-necked Woman pressed her palms flat against the table and leaned in, her head gliding across the surface, drawing nearer and nearer.
Youmu's hand was already resting on the hilt of her Hakurouken. She couldn't care less about the game or its rules. If this creature so much as touched a single hair on Haruto's head, or if Haruto simply gave the word, her blade would be unsheathed in a flash, ready to slay the monster where it sat.
The woman's face, now accompanied by a gurgling, eerie laughter, had crossed more than half the table. That was it. Haruto's patience finally snapped. He whipped out his trusty brick and slammed it onto the table with a resounding thwack.
"What are you looking at!"
Haruto's eyes widened in a glare. He raised the brick until it was a mere finger's width from the woman's forehead. "Get this close again and see if I don't slap you into next week!"
This exact scene was the first thing the woman with the high ponytail saw as she entered the tent. She froze mid-stride, her expression a magnificent picture of utter bewilderment.
She had already guessed that these three kids were bold, but she had never imagined they were this audacious. Threatening to beat a Circus member to death, right to their face? And this was the very creature hosting the game! Did this boy have no fear that the Imitator would be targeted for elimination?
She subconsciously glanced over at Kaguya, the teammate in question. To her astonishment, the girl—whether through sheer nonchalance or absolute, unconditional faith in her companion—was simply looking around the room, her eyes filled with a tourist's idle curiosity.
These three… did they genuinely not know how to spell the word 'fear'?
The high-ponytail woman's expression grew stranger and stranger.
The other teammates who filed in behind her also witnessed the standoff, and one by one, their faces filled with disbelief.
The Long-necked Woman was clearly stunned for a moment. She obviously hadn't expected Haruto to react this way, let alone have the gall to threaten her right back.
But the shock quickly melted away, replaced by an even more intense, feverish excitement.
"Hit me! Quick, hit me!" she shrieked, her voice cracking with glee.
"You bastard!"
Seeing the creature lean in even closer with a disturbingly lewd smile plastered on its face, Haruto was so startled he instinctively swung the brick he was holding, giving her a decisive whack across the cheek.
Smack!
The crisp, loud sound echoed through the silent tent. The team of players standing by the entrance was completely dumbfounded.
He… he actually hit her?
Was he really that brave!?
The Long-necked Woman, however, didn't so much as flinch. After taking the solid blow, her face contorted into an expression of extreme, intoxicated bliss, as if that one slap was the most exquisite pleasure she had ever known.
Smack!
Haruto delivered another strike with the brick, this time to the other side of her face to even things out. Then, with a light kick against the ground, he sent his chair sliding backward, putting some distance between them. His palm was already covering a talisman card. If this thing came at him again, he was done playing—he was flipping the whole table.
The Long-necked Woman, having been struck twice, only looked more enraptured, and she began to make strange, cooing sounds. Beside Haruto, Youmu remained silent, but the hand gripping her sword was now exceptionally tight, poised to slice the creature into countless pieces the moment Haruto gave the command.
Kaguya's gaze was subtle, analytical. She had seen sadists before, but this was the first time she had ever witnessed a true masochist with her own eyes.
Wearing a peculiar expression, the high-ponytail woman at the entrance turned to the teammate beside her. "Did this creature act like this the last two times?"
"She did," the middle-aged man answered, "but it was nowhere near this exaggerated. And it only started after the game officially began."
"Could it be… that you can clear the game like this, too?"
The woman's gaze grew even more complex. She looked from the Circus member, now writhing on the table while chanting "hit me again," to Haruto. She concluded in her heart that even if this was a valid method for clearing the instance, it was a strategy that absolutely could not be replicated.
Just as Haruto was steeling himself to unleash his power and end this farce—
A sudden change swept through the tent.
Massive, deathly pale arms abruptly burst forth from the inner canvas walls.
But before those arms could do anything, the Long-necked Woman sprang back to her seat like a startled bird. Her face was a mask of pure terror, as if she had just seen some primordial, world-ending beast.
Haruto raised an eyebrow. He used his peripheral vision to scan the expressions of the others. Everyone else was normal, at most just shocked by the sudden appearance of the giant hands. Only the Long-necked Woman was terrified.
Those arms were undoubtedly aimed specifically at her.
'Does it only target ghosts?'Haruto wondered.'Or does it target any participant who violates the rules, be they ghost or player?'
"Are the game rules clear?" the Long-necked Woman asked, her voice now trembling and subdued. "If not, you can look at the sign on the wall."
Even though the giant hands had already vanished, she still looked shaken, her demeanor becoming much more obedient.
A wooden sign hung on the wall, inscribed with several lines of text. They were, as she said, the rules. Haruto gave them a quick glance; they were basically the same as what he had already been told.
"Clear," he replied.
The Long-necked Woman forced another smile. She pressed her cheek against the table, her gaze falling on the glass room set up to the side.
"Imitator, enter the glass room."
Hearing this, Kaguya walked over and stepped inside as nonchalantly as if she were entering her own bedroom.
"And you?" Haruto frowned, noticing that besides the Long-necked Woman, there was no one else to play against her.
"Me? I play alone! Hahahaha—!" she suddenly burst out laughing, her eyes once again filling with that frantic excitement. A string of saliva even dripped from the corner of her mouth.
"Let's just start," Haruto urged, a strange look in his eyes.
The moment he finished speaking, the glass room locked with a sharp click. Inside, Kaguya merely raised an eyebrow, showing no sign of panic.
The Long-necked Woman raised her hand and began the countdown.
"Rock… Paper… Scissors!"
She threw scissors.
Haruto threw paper.
"He lost in the first round…" the high-ponytail woman's heart sank. She had been holding onto a sliver of hope, thinking that Haruto must have had some guaranteed way to win, which was why he had been so confident. She never expected him to lose right at the start.
"I won," the Long-necked Woman said, though her tone was tinged with a clear note of disappointment.
She walked to the glass room, casually swung her arm once in a simple arc, and immediately walked back out.
Haruto rubbed his fingers together. He knew the first two rounds were supposed to be simple, but he hadn't expected them to be this simple. He glanced sideways at the woman with the high ponytail.
She was also stunned. She clearly remembered that while the actions the previous two teams had to imitate weren't difficult, they were definitely not as simple and almost childish as "waving a hand."
Inside the glass room, Kaguya put on an expression of deep boredom, perfectly imitated the gesture, and casually waved her hand.
"Perfect match," the Long-necked Woman said impatiently. "Second round, second round! Rock… scissors… paper!"
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me!
Want to read ahead on our official home, or unlock 50 advanced chapters (plus an Ad-Free experience) to feed your addiction? Help keep this shameless translator alive here:
(P.S. Replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
🌐 Official Website: elysianreads[.]com
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters & Ad-Free): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]