Chapter 91

"Stop running already!" Arnan's voice reverberated with anger as he chased after Mincs. Relentlessly, he pursued her from room to room, from floor to floor, through the maze-like mansion. The randomized nature of the building made the chase a nightmare for both of them.

Meanwhile, Mincs had begun to unravel more specifics of the strange spell enveloping the mansion. It wasn't just any door that could transfer them somewhere—it was the frame. Stepping through the door frame triggered the transfer. Once, Arnan had destroyed a door before Mincs could pass through it, yet she still found herself transported elsewhere in the mansion. It became apparent that any sort of frame—be it a window frame or the frame of the attic ladder—as long as the frame was intact, it would trigger the spell's effect.

The problem with this was that while door frames reliably connected to other door frames, the other frames were entirely random in their placement—not in terms of where they would transport them, but rather where they would be located after the transfer. For instance, once Arnan had cornered Mincs in a bedroom. Desperate to evade him, Mincs had darted under the bed, inadvertently triggering the spell's effect due to the bed frame.

In an instant, she was transported to the middle of a guest room, hovering about two feet off the ground. She had almost sprained her ankle due to the sudden relocation, but she managed to land safely. However, Arnan's fate was less fortunate.

Transported nearly 10 feet above the ground, Arnan hit his horned head on the ceiling before gravity took hold, sending him crashing to the floor below. The impact left him dazed and disoriented, giving Mincs the opportunity to plan her next move. After that mishap, Mincs resolved to only resort to other frames as a last-ditch effort to escape Arnan's pursuit.

Now, Mincs panted heavily as she leaned against the wall of what seemed to be a luxurious, though old, bathroom. The room featured a large circular pool in the middle—an artificial hot spring of sorts. Covered in sweat, her legs burned from the constant running.

"A bath would be nice about now," she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible over her labored breathing. Glancing around the room, she searched for an exit but found none. Panic began to rise within her as realization set in.

"Uh-oh, this isn't good," she muttered under her breath, her heart pounding in her chest. She quickly moved to the other side of the circular pool, putting as much distance between herself and the door as possible, just as Arnan entered the room—or rather, got transported into it.

"Well, well, well, looks like this is the end of the line, monkey," Arnan said smugly, his voice tinged with anger despite his arrogant demeanor.

Black, scratchy mist formed within Arnan's palm as he held up his right hand in front of his face, his eyes gleaming with malice. "I'm going to enjoy killing you," he declared, his voice dripping with venom. Mincs felt her eyes welling up with tears as she braced herself for the impending danger, drawing her whip in her left hand and her rapier in her right.

"Why do you want to kill me so bad? What did I ever do to you?" Mincs asked, her voice trembling with emotion as she struggled to hold back tears, her words punctuated by sobs that bordered on theatrical.

"You annoyed me by existing," Arnan replied callously, his contempt for Mincs evident in his tone. With a swift motion, he hurled the black, scratchy mist from his palm toward Mincs.

"That's dumb!" Mincs cried out defiantly as she cracked her whip. Arnan's eyes widened in shock as he witnessed flames erupt from Mincs's arm, traveling down the length of the whip. With a sharp burst of flames, the whip vaporized the black mist before it could reach her.

"You're a magic user," Arnan growled, his gaze piercing Mincs as he observed her carefully. Mincs blinked in confusion, taken aback by Arnan's intensified anger. "Why do you sound even more angry? How did I make this situation worse?" she asked herself, her tearful tone disappearing.

Meanwhile, Arnan formed more of the black, scratchy mist in his palms, his mind racing with questions. *That wasn't normal magic. Did he infuse her affinity into her weapon? Or are those magic weapons? Also, what was that output? It didn't last long, but it was higher than any I've ever felt before.*

With a menacing growl, he unleashed the black, scratchy mist from both his hands towards Mincs. However, instead of responding with flashy magic, Mincs simply dove into the circular pool, the mist missing her entirely as she submerged underwater.

Arnan clicked his tongue in frustration. *I don't want to waste too much energy on a single monkey, but I don't want to waste any more time on a single monkey either,* he thought to himself.

Mincs resurfaced, her head poking above the water, which reached just slightly above waist deep. "Aren't you a bit too obsessed with me? Like, I know I'm good-looking and all, but this is a bit much!" she exclaimed, splashing the water around.

Arnan's face contorted in complete anger. *Another thing I don't like about this monkey is that she never once took me seriously. Everything she has said or done so far has been an act, like everything is a joke to her.*

"Eh?" Mincs questioned, her confusion evident as she watched Arnan's horns begin to glow ominously. "Fine, I'll make you feel true fear," Arnan declared, his voice dripping with malice.

As the black, scratchy mist formed all around him, Mincs's heart raced with panic. The mist squirmed and writhed, expanding in size. Now that it was larger, Mincs noticed arms jutting out from within, made of the same eerie mist. They seemed to be trying to crawl out, as if trapped and desperate for escape. Not only that, but she also noticed faces morphed into expressions of permanent agony and suffering within the mist. It was scratchy, likely due to the rapid movements of so many trapped entities. Mincs couldn't discern if they were people, creatures, or souls, but whatever they were, they certainly didn't appear friendly.

Panicked, Mincs dropped her weapons into the water and pressed her hands against her scale armor. "Hey, wait a minute, we can talk about this, can't we?" She pleaded, her voice quivering with fear as she tightly clutched her armor. "I'm sure you demons use the blood of virgins or something like that, right? So, capture me instead of killing me, please?"

Her words came out in a rapid stream, but as the black, scratchy mist grew more erratic and Arnan's anger intensified, Mincs realized the gravity of her situation. She quickly put her clutched hands above her head in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, bad joke, calm down. I won't do that anymore," she pleaded, her voice now tinged with desperation.

But Arnan remained silent, his right arm outstretched towards her, ready to unleash his wrath. "Agh! I said I won't do it anymore!" Mincs insisted, her voice rising like that of a bratty child as she grabbed handfuls of water and hurled them toward Arnan in a feeble attempt to defend herself.

Arnan ignored the water splashing against his clothes—why would he care? But then he noticed something from the corner of his eye—a glint in the water Mincs threw at him. "Scales?" he muttered, recognizing the exact same scales that covered Mincs's armor. Hidden from his view as he came to this realization, the scales in Mincs's hand started glowing with a hot orange hue. Arnan felt the same spike in mana output as before and realized what was about to happen.

Suddenly, the half-dozen scales Mincs threw at him exploded in a burst of magical fire all around him, engulfing him in a massive BOOM!