I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 109: Red Riding Hood – The Place Where Battle Breaks Out

“Watch out!”

Soo-ho rushed forward with his shield raised.

He had caught the moment Red Riding Hood bristled her fur.

Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, she closed the distance from afar.

Red Riding Hood raised her claws high and slashed with a sweeping strike.

Soo-ho tried to deflect the attack with his shield—but that was a mistake.

Soo-ho’s shield isn’t strong enough to withstand the power of a Story’s Demon.

I pulled Soo-ho back just in time. The claws grazed the shield, leaving deep scratches in the exact shape of her talons.

It only ended this way because it had grazed him—if it had been a direct hit, he would’ve been sliced apart into as many pieces as the number of claws.

Now Soo-ho must’ve realized just how dangerous a hostile Story’s Demon could be.

“Kh...!”

Even if I ring the Sacred Chime for a buff, I won’t be as fast as the wolf. And she’s not weak enough to be restrained by chains. Damn it, she’s too strong for kids to handle.

Being a fellow Story’s Demon also made her difficult to nerf.

Annoying.

I quickly made my decision and stepped forward.

When she swung her arm lightly at me, I smacked it away with full force.

Red Riding Hood, pushed back by the impact, staggered as if surprised. Then she inhaled deeply and released something that shimmered like light—I held out the mirror.

“Reflect.”

“...!”

Her own attack bounced back at her, blasting her backward.

She didn’t seem intimidated, though.

The maddened endurance of those furious wolves clearly came from her.

“We need a strategy. If we just charge in with brute force, we’ll be torn apart.”

Kyung-min quickly analyzed the situation, and I told him I’d buy time, hinting for him to come up with something.

“Really? So what’s the plan?”

“I need an anomaly. Can you pull out that ghost bus again?”

“Sure.”

I expanded the mirror and summoned the ghost bus.

Even without using Brocken’s yokai, I could summon it if I wanted to.

Kyung-min gathered the kids and got them on board.

Just before getting on, I heard Soo-ho muttering:

“A shield that can’t protect... is useless, huh.”

“...”

The engine of the ghost bus rumbled to life, and a thick fog rolled in around us.

With her vision clouded, Red Riding Hood hesitated to attack, and in that time, the number of ghost buses increased to three.

“So it’s like that. Against a fast and powerful opponent, distraction is the only way to buy time.”

The ghost buses circled her, weaving in patterns to confuse.

Kyung-min clumsily took the wheel, trying to steer it somehow.

Though, in reality, the bus was mentally linked—physical controls weren’t necessary.

Still, he seemed to enjoy the thrill, so I kept my mouth shut.

Once everything was running smoothly, I asked Ha-rim about our next move.

“Being able to multiply them is a huge advantage. I bet we can do something with that.”

Ha-rim requested an anomaly from me—[The Painting That Kills After Three Views].

A classic horror cliché.

Exactly what it sounds like—any human who sees the painting three times dies instantly.

Ha-rim attached the cursed painting to the side of the ghost bus. The other ghost buses followed suit.

Just like bus ads, the death painting now circled Red Riding Hood.

When Red Riding Hood flipped one of the buses with a single punch—

[Grrrrrr!]

“That’s once.”

The first curse stack was placed.

This time, one of the buses rammed her directly.

It didn’t do much damage.

But as she reflexively looked at the charging bus—

“That’s twice.”

Red Riding Hood slammed her arm into the ground, altering the terrain itself. Only Kyung-min’s bus, driven unsteadily, tilted from the impact.

Red Riding Hood rushed at the most conspicuous target.

Ha-rim, realizing it wasn’t going to work, opened a window and jumped out—shoving the painting right in her face.

“That’s three.”

The curse activated. Sensing something, Red Riding Hood froze for just a second.

One second later, the curse surged at her in the form of a black lightning bolt.

The instant death curse was lethal—at least, from a human’s standards.

Not knowing how much damage it would really do, I added a bonus of my own.

“A grave should be dug for the exact number of bodies intended to enter it.”

Beneath Red Riding Hood’s feet, a massive pit opened.

She was dragged into the hole, dirt rapidly filling it in—and at the very end, a tombstone dropped on top.

“Otherwise, the living get pulled into it instead.”

Boom! The tombstone stood firm on the surface.

It would serve as a seal.

“Nice combo.”

I gave a small smile—but it wasn’t over yet. The ground began to tremble.

“Whoa!”

Of course, a Story’s Demon wouldn’t go down to just a few anomalies.

I began to wonder if I needed to summon something special.

It was then—

A foreign energy surged into the battlefield.

The ground rippled like water, and a giant fish-man with shimmering scales crawled up from below.

This guy—

“...Huh.”

“...He actually followed us?”

Our caretaker.

A high-ranking subordinate of the Sea King of Consumption.

Was he really that pissed we had mocked him?

His obsession could rival even the wolves.

Normally, having more enemies would be a bad thing.

But this time—it wasn’t.

“Red Riding Hood seems like she wants to smash that one even more.”

“...Oh?”

Red Riding Hood shifted her focus.

Since her fury lacked any real malice, she probably went for the larger, more visible monster.

We exchanged glances and smirked.

“Reverse charge!”

We thinned the fog just enough to open a path, letting Red Riding Hood and the high-ranking subordinate face off.

The subordinate, of course, came straight for us—but Red Riding Hood wasn’t having it.

Crunch!

In a blur, she charged at impossible speed and grabbed the subordinate with such force, his arm snapped.

So she had been holding back with the kids—maybe unconsciously.

The subordinate severed his own arm, plunged his remaining hand into the ground, and pulled out a spear-like weapon.

Fighting beasts meant maintaining attack range was crucial.

Swish swish swish—

He spun the spear quickly, even while under attack, but Red Riding Hood charged through the wounds and closed the distance.

Realizing this wasn’t working, the subordinate placed his hand on the ground again.

The earth rippled, and fish-men burst forth.

“He’s summoning lesser subordinates. Let’s send Alice’s minions back where they came from.”

“Heh.”

[!]

Using the mirror portal, we threw them back into their city.

Once again, we were reminded—sowing chaos is the most fun.

Just look at that guy’s face. Totally pissed.

Whack!

As he turned to glare at us, Red Riding Hood slammed him in the head.

His skull cracked, brain matter oozing out, his face split wide open with bone showing.

Even then, the subordinate turned the ground into sea, dragging Red Riding Hood into water.

He turned it back into land, trapping her—and began moving toward us again.

We got back on the bus and grouped all the ghost buses together, preparing to ram him at once.

Just as we were getting the timing down—

Red Riding Hood, still pinned in the ground, began to mutter something.

“...moonlight... pushing... my back...”

She reached behind her—and in her hand appeared a glowing spear... no, a massive arrow, glittering as if it had always been there.

Red Riding Hood grabbed it, pulled herself free from the earth—and charged.

“Looks like... she’s about to use a special move!”

Then all we needed to do was guide her correctly.

We immediately used all the ghost buses to ram into the high-ranking subordinate, and the massive spear pierced straight through him.

Beyond just the physical impact, the spiritual force must’ve been overwhelming too—

His scream was gut-wrenching.

Crkkkhhh—

Even with the arrow lodged in his torso, the high-ranking subordinate’s head exploded, killing him instantly.

Yeah, that was... some serious power.

“...Is it over?”

Red Riding Hood, who had turned the high-ranking subordinate into a fishcake skewer, no longer moved.

“So that’s it. She just needed to destroy something to calm down. Did it release her resentment? Or maybe after smashing everything around her, the regret cooled her head. Feels like the latter.”

We left Red Riding Hood there and quickly made our way to Maria.

Her face looked so worn and thin—it was painful to see.

She wasn’t moving. That could only mean—

“Miss Maria...”

We couldn’t hide our devastated expressions and bowed our heads.

“I... I’m not dead yet!”

“...I’ll get you out right away!”

I grabbed the tree wrapped around her and ripped it apart by hand to free her.

For some reason, I felt awkward, like I couldn’t look her directly in the eyes.

Maria brushed the dust off her body and smiled warmly as she spoke.

“It’s been a long time, Ella. No—should I call you Alice now? You came to solve Red Riding Hood’s problem, didn’t you?”

“I go by that name now. Yeah, it’s been a while. How have you been?”

“Not so great, honestly... I’m sorry, but before I explain, where is she?”

“She’s sleeping over there.”

I pointed with my hand. Red Riding Hood had returned to the form of a girl.

Makes sense—it would’ve been strange if she were the only one stuck in a monster form.

“I’m just glad it all ended without anyone getting seriously hurt. Since you came all this way to solve ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Red Riding Hood’s problem, I’ll explain what I know.”

Someone had gotten hurt, but it wasn’t our problem.

Hmm... I had planned to ask about how she’d been doing, but it seemed Maria intended to summarize what had happened to her first.

Well, we could save the personal talk for later.

I listened to Maria’s story.

“I used to be affiliated with the Church. But now, after helping Red Riding Hood escape and traveling around, I’m more or less unaffiliated.”

So that’s how it was.

I was just relieved we didn’t end up having to fight Maria as a member of the Church.

“Why’d you leave the Church? Though... I can probably guess.”

“Red Riding Hood was suffering after she was placed in isolation. I couldn’t just stand by and watch.

As her friend, I wanted to support her, so I helped her escape.

Of course, I couldn’t stay in the Church after traveling with a demon.

And to be honest, I already had doubts about many of the Church’s actions. I had planned to leave eventually.”

“For example... the time they tried to kill me—that was the last straw.”

“The red spear... yeah. If Peter Pan hadn’t been there, I’d be dead.”

Seriously, why do they hate only me so much?

It’s infuriating. Other Story’s Demons had been hunted or harassed, sure—but no one else had full-on assassination attempts.

“Especially among the Story’s Demons... only you, Alice, seem to trigger such hostility. Recently, they’ve even talked about targeting the organization that protects you.”

“...!”

They’re actually going to attack the Organization?

What kind of lunatic would challenge that kind of power gap? That’s no different from a suicidal terrorist.

I nodded silently, trying to suppress my shock.

What the hell is their problem?

“Maria, is it really okay for a priest like you to not be part of the Church?”

“Like how a monk leaves a temple if he hates it—I left the Church because I hated what it had become.”

Fair enough.

I wanted to ask if it was okay for her to travel with a demon, but we’d come too far for that now.

“I’ll explain about Red Riding Hood.”

“Please do.”

“To begin with, we’ve been traveling to destroy those who enslave and consume others like livestock. That was part emotion, part righteousness.”

From what Carol told us, Red Riding Hood had been tracking and driving out such entities.

“But wherever we went, we left behind forests full of angry wolves.

To clarify—it wasn’t intentional!

Red Riding Hood suffers from seizure episodes. When the symptoms worsen, she transforms into a wolf and uncontrollably turns her surroundings into forests and other people into wolves.”

“...”

Seizure symptoms, huh.

She really didn’t seem like someone who would commit acts that bordered on terrorism intentionally.

If she could control her powers properly, she wouldn’t need to turn everything into a forest, and she wouldn’t have left wolves abandoned in containment facilities.

“And still, by turning those already corrupted by anomalies into wolves and ‘freezing’ their condition, she tried to justify continuing her actions.”

“I see. Just keeping them from getting worse... isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

“At one point, we truly believed we could reverse it. We were working to eliminate the root causes.

But this time, the enemy was too strong. We couldn’t remove the root, her condition worsened, and she ended up trapped in Troie.”

The Sea King of Consumption and the Cosmic Bird.

Red Riding Hood had only achieved partial victories until now—but this time, she couldn’t even manage that.

According to Maria, ever since they clashed with those Dominators, Red Riding Hood’s seizures had gotten worse, to the point that she could barely act strategically anymore.

“So... we decided to make use of what had already happened. To block the two Dominators, Red Riding Hood turned the altered Troie into a seal that closed the gateways between their worlds and this one.”

That much I had already guessed.

In this state, no one could escape to the outside without my mirrors.

Rather than trying to capture Red Riding Hood, the Organization should be thanking her for sealing those gates.

...Assuming we can turn the wolves back into humans.

“Okay. So she really was trying to fix things. But from what I can tell, she... can’t turn the wolves back into humans, right?”

The enemies they fought and defeated weren’t only Dominator-class.

With that much firepower, there had to be some casualties.

But there were no reports from the Organization of wolves returning to human form after.

“That is...”

“...She can’t.”

A different voice cut in.

Red Riding Hood had awakened at some point and answered in Maria’s place.

“I can’t, Alice.”

She said it with a face full of self-loathing.

Maria immediately moved toward her, checking if she was injured.

“Red Riding Hood, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. And I’m sorry, Maria... It must’ve been stuffy inside that tree.”

“I’m okay. That was a special tree you made to protect me, wasn’t it?”

Maria treated Red Riding Hood with such warmth.

Watching them, I could tell—Maria really liked children.

Though their relationship was more like friends than teacher and student.

“I figured as much. But why can’t you turn them back?”

“...I don’t know. From the beginning, I couldn’t control the wolves, and I couldn’t return them to human form either.”

“Hmm... So the inability to control your powers probably comes from some kind of emotional issue. It was the same for me—and for Jack too.”

“Jack... is that the chatty boy in green?”

“Yeah. You’ve met Jack and Ariel?”

“They tried to recruit me into the Fairy Tail Tea Party...”

“Tried to?”

“But I was in the middle of a seizure... so I beat them up...”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

So the wolves’ rage is connected to Red Riding Hood too.

Even knowing that, a solution didn’t come easily.

The story Pig Mister told us back in the livestock pen didn’t mention anything about seizure symptoms... which meant we needed to learn more about Red Riding Hood herself.

I turned to her and asked again,

“You tried to fight the two Dominators, right? How did that go?”

“When I learned that the Sea King of Consumption and another unknown Dominator were trying to cross over into the current world from their nests, I sealed the entrance.

Even though I was weaker than them, I was able to trap them... because they were hostile to each other. They didn’t recklessly try to break the barrier.

They knew that if they got into a war of attrition with me, another faction would take the opportunity to strike.”

“So that’s how you managed to keep things stable without too much effort.”

“That’s right. Mm... If I were to face even one of them head-on, honestly, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“I remember this from social studies class. Separation of powers, or something like that.”

So locking up enemies who don’t get along with each other creates a weird kind of benefit.

According to what Jack O’Lantern told Ha-rim, they wanted to claim hell for themselves.

If Red Riding Hood had truly been a threat, it wouldn’t have been strange for them to get rid of her together.

They had enough intelligence for that, after all.

But they didn’t.

Maybe because Red Riding Hood wasn’t a significant threat to either of them.

They were afraid of the other side interfering if they made a move—but since she stayed neutral and didn’t affect their competition, they left her alone.

In fact, she may have created a more “fair” playing field for them.

“If we can help you fight those Dominators but still can’t turn the wolves back into people, that’s going to be a problem. It’s probably the reason the Organization is after you, too.”

I said it to urge Red Riding Hood to clarify her objective.

Turning people back into humans should be the top priority.

Red Riding Hood responded with a completely expressionless face.

“Then... I think I should just die.”

“...What?”

“Me.”

The air instantly grew cold.

Red Riding Hood, realizing the tension in the room, looked around nervously and shrank back.

Not literally—she just hunched down a little.

Kind of cute, actually.

“You really are an extremist. Sure, if you die, maybe your powers will fade and they’ll return to normal. But no one here is the kind of person who’s going to weigh your life that lightly.”

“My life... isn’t that important.”

“...”

She really doesn’t back down, huh.

That’s a bit different from what Pig Mister told me about her personality.

Maybe his version of Red Riding Hood was too fragmented to get a good sense of her character... or maybe she changed after everything she’s been through.

It looks like she’s really been through a lot.

Enough to develop seizure symptoms.

I wasn’t sure if now was the right time to dig all that up.

“Time out! I think it’s time we take a break!”

“Oh my...”

Ha-rim called for a break.

Red Riding Hood had shown signs of anxiety.

Even if we kept talking now, we probably wouldn’t find the answer without the right trigger.

I accepted the suggestion.

“Let’s cool our heads a bit!”

------

I once read online that when a friend looks depressed, instead of giving half-hearted encouragement, it’s better to inject happiness chemicals directly—like meat.

The kids took that advice to heart and were putting it into practice.

“Mmph...”

“Eat this too. And this one...”

“She doesn’t have wings like Jack either.”

Since Red Riding Hood said she couldn’t eat meat, they poured sweet, salty, and spicy snacks into her mouth instead.

It was borderline food torture, but since none of it was going into my mouth, I let it slide.

Red Riding Hood didn’t seem good at saying no—she just accepted whatever was offered.

Hmph... Maybe that’s part of why she bottles up so much anger. Just a guess.

“Here, I have a card.”

“Watch this... hyap!”

“Whoa, how did you do that?”

“I think he stacked two cards behind and flipped them front to back at the same time.”

“Correct! How’d you see that...? Even when I slowed the video on YouTube, no one caught it.”

“My eyesight’s really good.”

Red Riding Hood was playing along with the kids like she belonged there.

Maria and I found the scene heartwarming.

...Looking closer, Maria actually had tears of joy in her eyes.

“Really? That much?”

“Yes. I missed this so much.”

When she says it that honestly, I can’t really say anything.

Red Riding Hood’s seizures probably stemmed from a psychological issue.

If I were under that much stress, I’d lose my temper too.

The kids must’ve sensed that—and they were trying to lift her spirits.

“...Aren’t you scared of me? You’re all normal people. And I might turn into a wolf at any moment...”

“Come on. We’re way past the point of being scared of stuff like that! It’s like we’re on a non-stop train now.”

“Being ‘normal people’... doesn’t mean much anymore.”

Red Riding Hood seemed cheered up by their answers, wagging her tail wildly.

Eun-jung, trying to pet the tail, got whacked and knocked over.

“...I see. If you’re not scared, then maybe... you don’t hate me either.”

“Why? Are you already thinking of becoming our friend?”

“That was fast.”

“Who said it was easy...”

From where I stood, it already looked like they’d become friends... Isn’t it way too easy for these kids to get close to someone?

Are they planning to charm every demon like this!?

Feeling a little petty, I stormed over to the boys and asked if they just liked any girl.

They immediately objected, but the vote was three-to-two—the girls won.

Don’t ask why I’m taking my frustration out on the boys.

That’s just how the world works.

“...Friends, huh? Maria and now... could I even have something like that?”

“Why wouldn’t you think so?”

Why was her self-esteem so low?

Saying her own life wasn’t important... that too.

It’s often said that people who’ve never been treated as precious don’t believe they are.

Red Riding Hood might’ve been one of those.

“When I get angry... it always ends badly. And I don’t even know why I’m angry.”

That’s the part where you’d normally recommend therapy through a mental health clinic—but obviously, I wasn’t about to say that.

So instead, I asked sincerely,

“Hmm, is it hard for you to control your anger?”

“...Once the heat starts rising, my vision turns red, and then I snap out of it...”

Okay, that’s enough to tell—it’s definitely a control issue.

Don’t worry, Red Riding Hood. If you start going off the rails, I’ll beat you down myself to stop you.

“How about now? Are you angry with us?”

“No. Thank you. For being so kind to someone you’ve never even met before.”

Her heart was in the right place... She didn’t seem twisted inside.

When a person’s heart is truly warped, it’s like they go into auto-hunting mode—stress rolls in like thorny vines, and the chances of developing mental illness skyrocket.

Of course, having a mental illness doesn’t mean someone’s heart is twisted. Let’s not misunderstand.

Red Riding Hood seemed perfectly sane. So why couldn’t she control her anger?

...Maybe the problem wasn’t with the anger itself.

“Hm... I don’t think your anger is meaningless. Even if it led to bad outcomes, it must’ve had a reason.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you were angry. People usually get angry when they’re disrespected, or when something they care about is ignored. I don’t think your anger is some meaningless evil. There had to be a reason for it.”

“But you only spoke to me for a little while. You can’t really know that.”

“Maybe. But even from just a short conversation, I can tell—you’re a good person.”

“...”

“When was the last time you had a seizure?”

“...The underground city you visited. After I saw the wolves locked up in those cages... I got really angry.

But I didn’t want Maria to get hurt if I lost control, so I ran off into the forest—tried to calm myself and protect her at the same time.”

“Didn’t go so well, huh?”

“No... I did calm down after I met all of you, but... I almost hurt someone.”

If she hadn’t been traveling with Maria, she might have just smashed the fish-men nearby to release her rage and come back later.

Maria must be important to her.

Probably the only person who reached out when she was completely alone.

“You got angry for the wolves’ sake. That’s pretty admirable.”

“...It feels weird. Doesn’t seem like the right time to be praised.”

Tch. So she noticed my strategy to butter her up with blind praise.

“What I mean is—don’t only focus on the bad sides. Some things can only be changed if you get angry. There might be some good even in what you think of as your ‘evil.’”

She seemed to think that her anger was inherently evil.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is frёeωebɳovel.com.

I was pointing out that it didn’t have to be.

“Good in evil...? I’m sorry. I don’t really get it.”

“If our values are different, that’s fair. Hm...”

It was about time we started digging into Red Riding Hood’s past.

If we didn’t, there’d be no way to turn the wolves back into humans.

And to see herself clearly, the first step was facing her past.

“Hey... The way you hunt down those monsters who infect and enslave people—and how you had a seizure when you saw the wolves trapped underground...

Is all of that... because of something horrible you experienced in the past?”

“...! How... how did you know?”

“Because I—”

RUMMMMMMBLE...

Just as I was about to tell her, a massive sound echoed from the distance.

The ground shook like there was an earthquake.

When I looked up, even the moon in the sky was trembling.

“...Red Riding Hood’s barrier is destabilizing.”

“Why...?”

Red Riding Hood looked deeply shaken.

As for the cause—there were only two possible culprits.

The Sea King of Consumption and the Cosmic Bird. Those two.

“They weren’t planning to attack this place, were they...?!”

“They probably didn’t see you as a threat before. You weren’t interfering in their power struggle, so they left you alone.”

“Then why now?”

There was only one possible answer to that question.

“If there’s a variable... a variable...”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me.

“Don’t look at me like that!”

Why did I feel so wronged?

I hadn’t done anything—and yet it felt like just existing was somehow a crime.