I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 110: Red Riding Hood – The Place One Must Face

[Code K-5, alias: Signs of Activity from the Sea King of Consumption detected in Troie.

Anomaly detected.

Refraction rate spiking past 60%.

Type-D extinction scenario rapidly rising from 15%.

All department heads are to act immediately within their authority, prior to formal orders.]

The alarm blared, and department heads across the Organization were exchanging opinions inside the augmented reality meeting room.

At times, tempers flared and voices rose, clashing violently with the tone expected of a professional meeting.

“As scheduled, we’ve planted energy bombs beneath the Sea King’s projected path. The local residents have already been evacuated under the pretense of a seismic emergency.”

“On our end, we’re using a doll-type curse ritual to redirect physical damage. It’s our best effort to minimize structural impact.”

This wasn’t the first time the Sea King had manifested a physical body.

At first, its size had been smaller than a village, and they had barely managed to suppress it by discovering a usable weapon and detonating the surrounding area.

Even back then, it had swum freely, treating land and obstacles as ocean, nullifying their vaunted firepower. In its wake, environmental transformations occurred—monstrous sea-life-like creatures were born, causing secondary disasters.

But this time, the scale of its manifestation and the estimated damage were so far beyond comparison that no one could say with certainty that it could be stopped.

If the Organization failed, it would be nothing short of annihilation.

Preparations had been made.

But with every Dominator that appeared, they were backed further into a corner.

“Damn it! We said sending Alice alone was too unstable. And now it’s clear they’re trying to form another physical body. Why didn’t we go with a more reliable solution?”

A man, clutching a thick book under one arm, lashed out. The other department heads responded coolly.

“No need to shout. This was inevitable. What more preparation do you suggest? The method to eliminate that body is already in place.”

“Even so, why provoke it in the first place? Why not leave it be, instead of poking it into awakening?”

They shook their heads.

They held back from saying it aloud, but the frustration showed on their faces—was this man just too young to control his emotions?

The deed was already done. It was far too late for complaints.

They glanced toward Carol, as if asking her to offer an explanation.

“Carol, say something, will you?”

An older department head spoke gently, almost pleadingly. Carol paused before speaking.

“What good would waiting have done?”

“...What did you just say?”

“There was no benefit in delaying. Isn’t that what everyone here agreed on?

I might’ve been in the minority that objected, but I still helped push it through to the higher-ups when we voted. I knew we had no other choice, and I stayed quiet for that reason.

So why are you so pissed, acting like this wasn’t a decision we all made?”

Once the majority agreed, and once authorization came from the top, they should have mentally prepared for this outcome.

Carol’s tone carried that implication clearly.

She emphasized that this process was necessary.

“If we’re serious about handling a Dominator-level threat, sending Alice is the right move. That much is certain.”

Dominator-class beings are defined by a simple criteria:

They can trigger extinction scenarios as solo entities.

They’re either completely outside the scope of our control, or the best we can do is stall them—never truly stop them.

The Sea King falls into the latter.

Even if you destroy its body, it reemerges from the mental plane with a stronger body—this time adapted to the very attacks used previously.

Initially, they had some success. But in time, the Sea King would return in a form they could no longer resist.

If it hadn’t been for the relative lull in its attacks, it would have grown even larger by now.

“Delaying only increases the risk. Even if provoked, trying to deal with it now is the preferable move.”

So why send Alice?

Because Alice was a Story’s Demon.

Why not just blast the thing into dust?

Because that doesn’t work. That’s why it’s classified as a Dominator.

Some Dominators are immune to firepower.

Others nullify attacks through traits.

Some absorb power and become stronger.

Others come back stronger every time they’re defeated.

Each one is a monstrous cocktail of absurd abilities that render conventional logic useless.

Conceptual attacks using controlled anomalies?

They’re bounced off—just like a horror novel can’t physically harm someone outside its pages.

Carol didn’t say it aloud, but the comparison lived quietly in her head.

Then she continued.

“Story’s Demons are Mephistopheles’ trump cards for waging power struggles with them. If you’ve got a better solution, by all means—say so.”

“...”

From the moment they heard Alice was standing against two Dominators, and they didn’t order her back...

From that very moment, they had all silently hoped: Please, as a Story’s Demon—end them.

The man who’d raised his voice still hadn’t cooled down, but it wasn’t hard to understand why.

Everyone probably felt the same.

They just didn’t say it aloud.

“We’ve played the best card we had. It just doesn’t happen to be ours.”

Carol’s last words stirred even those who’d sat quietly.

It wasn’t ours.

The Organization had brought forth its best possible outcome not with its own strength—but with the strength of the very anomaly monsters they had been trying to control.

They’d always viewed those creatures as tools—tools wielded by human strategy and oversight.

Therefore, they considered their results their own.

But Dominator-class threats ignored even those tools.

They were enemies that rendered human-crafted strategies and engineered anomalies completely useless.

To those who believed that past successes had come from design and planning—Carol’s words were offensive.

It was hollowing.

Depending on something not human... was the same as leaving everything to chance.

And worse—it wasn’t an angel lending its aid.

It was a demon.

Anyone aware of the truth behind anomalous entities knew:

This dependence would only grow.

Even with memory-erasure devices, the people inside the Organization suffered a creeping sense of helplessness... because of this very question:

[Then what is the purpose of our existence?]

No one asked aloud.

No one answered.

They simply... watched.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

------

Red Riding Hood initially denied that the Sea King of Consumption had begun its activity.

She was clearly shaken—but denial wouldn’t change what had already started.

“There wouldn’t have been any warning signs!”

“There were, actually. We just didn’t recognize them at the time.”

The act Ha-rim witnessed—the destruction of the statue.

Combined with the chalkboard graffiti, it all pointed to a coordinated move to overturn the playing field and counter me.

Especially considering how the moon and natural surroundings were affected when the statue was broken, it wasn’t hard to deduce that this was all laying the groundwork to break the barrier and remove Red Riding Hood—whether intentional or not.

When I mentioned the statue, Red Riding Hood looked confused.

“A statue...? That can’t be right. I don’t remember creating anything like that inside my barrier.”

“Your barrier reflects you.

The livestock pens we saw in the forest? If those were born from your subconscious, then it’s likely those statues were also unconscious projections of your mind, helping maintain the barrier.”

A bit of a stretch? Sure.

But the situation was already in motion—this was the only explanation that made sense.

Especially considering those structures existed even though Red Riding Hood hadn’t created them directly.

“And you said your seizures got worse after encountering the two Dominators, right?”

“...”

She had mentioned earlier that she’d had symptoms before, but the fact that they worsened afterward was suspicious.

“Can you say with certainty that there wasn’t already groundwork being laid—behind your back—to remove you?”

“...I can’t.”

Red Riding Hood finally looked like she understood. At the same time, she wore a self-loathing expression.

As if blaming herself for not realizing it sooner.

I turned to her and spoke, to remind her we still had something more important to do.

“Whatever the reason, this is happening now—and if we don’t stop it quickly, it’s going to get really bad. I’ll help too. I’m part of this.”

A huge number of creatures were approaching, spilling into the forest’s territory.

Enough that it felt like the entire city’s population had mobilized for war.

“So it’s war, then.”

Follow curr𝒆nt nov𝒆ls on fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com.

No tanks or soldiers in military uniforms, so Peter Pan probably wouldn’t show up.

Still, maybe our defeat of that high-ranking subordinate made them feel threatened.

Honestly, we probably did provoke them.

But Red Riding Hood shook her head.

“No—you’re not responsible. The evil is clear now... and all we need to do is tear it apart!”

A wave of fury surged from Red Riding Hood.

Red energy flared around her, radiating raw menace.

Maria worried she might lose control again.

I reassured her—given the situation, even if she did, she’d probably tear through the fish-men and come right back.

Red Riding Hood burst out of the building and dove through the window.

<She’s fast!>

Faster than when she was in full beast form.

Just brushing against her would probably cause enemies to explode.

I loaded Maria and the kids into the Dream Monkey Train and followed.

That way, if things went south, we could retreat into the dream world.

Red Riding Hood slashed through the fish-men spilling into the forest zone, and even the nearly invisible enemies stood no chance.

When facing the transparent ones, her eyes glowed yellow—some kind of special ability, clearly.

“Our priority is the Sea King. It’s the one that causes the most widespread damage.”

“Got it. Do you know any weaknesses?”

“Not exactly a weakness... but I’ve learned something while fighting it.

The Sea King’s true body isn’t physical—it exists in the mental realm.”

I had suspected as much, considering how illusion-like its appearance was.

But still—

“We haven’t even located its physical form yet.

How do we invade the mental realm?”

We needed to find the body first.

The mind resides in the body, after all.

There might be other ways, but nothing came to mind right now.

Maria pointed toward the fish-men’s city as if to answer.

“The body... is being created right now.

This time, it’s using the entire city as its vessel.”

“...Wow. That’s one hell of a scale.”

Even the kids gawked, mouths wide open.

They’d seen big monsters before—but nothing like this.

And it was still incomplete.

If that massive thing started swimming through the land like the lesser subordinates had, it would become an unstoppable disaster.

“Even if we destroy that body, the Sea King won’t die. It’ll just regather power and reappear.”

“If it finishes forming, and we don’t destroy it in one blow, it’ll burrow underground and rampage.”

That would be catastrophic.

We needed to move. Time was not on our side.

“Alright. Then I’ll use the enemies that crossed into the forest... against themselves.”

“Alice, do you have a plan?”

To Ha-rim’s question, I smiled—and declared:

“It’s time to begin Walpurgis Night.”

The entity I summoned once again was a monster from Brocken.

The Brocken monster was born from ancient people fearing atmospheric phenomena and mysterious shadows.

Within my mirror, it acts as a bridge to summon other yokai linked to strange weather.

“Let’s smash some monsters!”

The Brocken monster’s effect began as a blinding light, and smog began to cover the area.

One ghost bus appeared... and started summoning many more.

They charged and struck the oncoming monsters again and again.

By the time the mist turned red with blood, the Brocken monster entered its next phase.

Fish-men charging the train caught fire, limbs tore apart, and a dragon-shaped shadow consumed the smog birds and fish-men alike.

These were yokai representing spontaneous combustion, whirlwinds, and waterspouts.

And it didn’t stop there—

A blizzard, lightning, and a massive underground catfish began to thrash and shake the earth.

The dazzling spectacle fascinated the kids.

“Whoa...! This is insane!”

“It’s amazing!”

“Fufufu... Just watch. The final stage is coming!”

The Brocken monster’s final form.

When the frenzy reached its peak—Walpurgis Night opened.

All the yokai that had raged until now turned pitch black, merging into one—a gigantic shadow in the form of a stereotypical witch—cackling madly.

[KYAAHAHAHAHA!!!]

A reenactment of one of humanity’s worst crimes:

The witch trials.

Where people, consumed by distrust and fear, projected all evil onto others, sacrificing the weakest among them.

The flames of hell now reignited—not as a symbol of order, but as the horror of injustice, reanimated.

The witches merged again... forming a single beast.

The very concept of witch trials—

Fear, betrayal, and scapegoating.

And this creature... I call it—

“Lizard Bill.”

As soon as Bill appeared,

the entire area erupted into brilliant, multicolored flames.

First effect of Lizard Bill.

The fire spread endlessly among those of the same kind.

It leapt from one to another, turning a group into a blazing swarm, even baring its fangs at their own king.

The fish-men fighting Red Riding Hood were consumed by fire.

When one of them hesitated and tried to step back, the next target was immediately set ablaze.

FWOOSH!

The flames spread uncontrollably.

Forming an army of the same race to fight us had been a grave mistake.

As every enemy before us burned, the fire—naturally—moved toward the Dominator.

“...So this is the power Alice holds.”

Maria murmured something, but I ignored it.

Bill advanced to its next stage.

Second effect of Lizard Bill.

The fire will not extinguish until the designated evil is completely eradicated.

The massive flesh of the Dominator ignited, stuck in a cycle of burning and regeneration.

This meant the Dominator could not complete its body.

But—this was not a mental attack.

The Dominator’s massive body was too large to be consumed all at once.

Instead, it continuously regenerated as it burned.

It was sealed from breaking free and moving—but that was it.

These flames wouldn’t be able to kill it outright.

And if it realized it had no chance of winning, it might even abandon the body and escape.

“The smog birds were caught in the fire too.

Which means their Dominator, the Cosmic Bird, must have been affected as well.

If neither of them can act, they won’t be able to pull any more stunts about conquering hell.”

“I’ll go! Let me go!”

Red Riding Hood, momentarily frozen by the blaze, called out to me.

“My claws and fangs don’t only hurt the body. I can deal damage to the mind!”

Whether her claws could actually reach the king’s core didn’t matter anymore.

If she was a Story’s Demon like me, she had the power to do it.

She was far more reliable than some half-baked apparition.

I loaded her onto the train and raced toward the Dominator’s body.

Red Riding Hood leapt from the airborne train, claws flaring red, and began her assault in areas untouched by fire.

Her method was simple.

She charged her claws with red energy, tore into the body, and infused it with mental damage.

Every time she lashed out in fury, black blood gushed from the wound.

From the still-unburnt parts of the Dominator’s body, subordinates began to emerge.

But she didn’t care—she erased them all in a single blow.

She really had been weaker during her berserk state.

Now, fueled by focused rage, she slashed and slashed without hesitation.

Eventually, even the Sea King’s immense body—until now quiet even while burning—began to shudder.

“...It’s working. But that’s exactly why...”

Something was coming.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZING—!!

Sensing the ominous presence, I gathered my strength and shielded the children and Maria.

A massive psychic attack surged toward us.

It meant the Sea King had not yet given up on this vessel.

I deflected the strike—and immediately checked on Red Riding Hood.

“...No.”

“...Ah...”

This was clearly a trap.

I should’ve realized it from the moment it used an attack that didn’t work on me.

Red Riding Hood had successfully resisted the psychic assault...

but a barrage of unknown syringes flew toward her and injected her with a strange drug.

It was the same injection used to forcibly turn wolves back into humans.

“Kh...!”

Scales began to creep across Red Riding Hood’s arm.

I had been careless.

Just because previous attacks hadn’t worked, I’d let my guard down.

All those past experiments—the inefficient trials of reverting wolves to humans—had been to suppress Red Riding Hood’s power,

to turn a /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Story’s Demon into a subordinate.

An unanticipated scenario.

If she’d appeared weaker, like Jack, maybe she would’ve been included under their protection.

But now—

There was no time to wallow in regret.

“Kh... grrr...!”

I rushed to her, trying to extract the curse.

If she wasn’t fully transformed yet, there was still a chance.

But the Dominator’s curse was focused entirely on her, far stronger than anything we’d faced before.

So this is what they’re thinking...

That if they can consume a Story’s Demon—they might find their breakthrough.

“You can resist. You do have the strength. If you push through—”

“...I can’t... my voice...”

“Your voice?”

This felt just like the black water that flowed beneath the fish-men’s city.

The water that had murmured with the voices of wolves clinging to humanity.

—I want to go home. I just want peace.

—I have no strength left to be angry... or to resist.

—Please... let it end.

—Were we ever protecting humanity? If every moment until now was just luck, why do we even exist?

—Monsters just keep appearing. Should we isolate them? Kill them? Maybe it’s better to just surrender somewhere else.

—Our god has abandoned us.

—I only wanted our efforts to mean something...

The voices flowing from the black blood were beyond fragile.

Even weaker than the first time I’d heard them.

I could even hear James’s voice—from inside the mirror.

Everyone connected to the Sea King—every infected soul—was mentally linked.

If I could find a way to use that... maybe I could trace it back to its core.

But for now—Red Riding Hood was the priority.

“Don’t listen to the voices from the black blood.”

“I... I can’t. I can’t ignore them!”

Her voice trembled with rage.

She had said before that she’d gone into a seizure when she saw the wolves trapped in cages in the city.

This must be tied to her past.

If she lost control completely in her fury—would she still be able to fight the curse?

“If you can’t shut them out...”

I opened the mirror—placing it right before her.

Then, I grabbed her hand—

and dove straight into her mental landscape.

“We’ll face it—together.”