A monster that bestows trials upon challengers, the purple doll waited with its eyes closed for the next challenger to arrive.
After a girl wielding a magic sword that automatically defends against unexpected attacks passed through, and a little time had elapsed, the heavy door slowly began to open.
Ggrgk.
This challenger seemed to possess considerable strength, as they pushed the heavy door open with an incredibly light motion.
The moment the challenger entered the room, the purple doll sensed something was terribly wrong.
A stature of barely over 1 meter.
Two short swords matching their small height.
A completely unprepared gait for battle.
Despite appearing utterly harmless, when the yellow glowing eyes from beneath the helmet met the doll’s gaze, an indescribable emotion began to well up.
It was like staring into the eyes of death itself.
An unfamiliar feeling that turned out to be the human emotion known as “fear.”
As soon as the challenger’s gaze fell upon it, the purple doll desperately scratched at the walls in an attempt to flee, though it knew it would be futile.
But escape was impossible. The moment the challenger clenched their fist, the doll’s body shattered into pieces.
Though technically passing the trial through unconventional means, deep down the purple doll felt a sense of relief.
Because it would no longer have to face that terrifying creature.
Time passed, and the broken pieces of the doll and mirrors began reassembling themselves.
The trial had ended, and a new one was beginning.
Just as the perfect trial room was restored, the door began to open once more.
Ggrgk.
But mixed with the creaking sound of the heavy door opening were ominous footsteps.
Tubangtubang.
Unendingly light steps.
The nightmare began anew.
Over and over and over again.
Until the devil disguised as a challenger was satisfied.
***
The purple doll, now covered in grotesque eyeballs all over its body, swung its sharp claws and charged forward.
There was no longer any trace of fear in its movements, only desperate resolve.
The Black Reaper Armor’s auto-hunting mode unleashed elegant sword strikes while retreating backward.
Like a perfectly choreographed dance traversing the boss room, the battle concluded when I “accidentally” discovered and destroyed the mirror in the corner of the room.
With the mirror shattered, the purple doll trudged back to where it had originally appeared, collapsing in exhaustion.
Though lacking much expression, there was a palpable sense of “defeat” in its dispersing form.
I stood quietly in the center of what was now an ordinary stone chamber that had been the boss room, checking my checklist.
[Gray Reaper’s First Boss Room Scenario.]
1. Gray Reaper discovers the stationary boss upon entering the boss room for the first time. [Cleared.]
2. Gray Reaper belatedly notices the boss moving when looking away while exploring the mysterious room. [Cleared.]
3. A dazzling battle with the boss who moves even without eye contact after opening all eyes. [Cleared.]
4. Ending the boss battle by accidentally discovering and destroying the mirror during the intense fight. [Cleared.]
Perfect!
It was satisfying to have such an awesome boss battle experience with the doll that seemed to scream ‘Let me out of here!’ with its whole being.
At first, I was truly disappointed.
How could the much-anticipated first boss battle of the labyrinth end with just running away in fear?
I even considered summoning the Mini Reaper Garden to wipe everything out.
Right before summoning, I realized something.
I could just go back and try again!
Like saving and reloading in a game!
Even though communication with object-type bosses is impossible, sincerity always finds a way.
After repeatedly hitting it with heartfelt blows, the purple doll eventually understood my feelings.
Important labyrinth experiences are worth understanding, aren’t they?
Still, the destruction condition for this boss object seemed a bit different.
Every time it looked like breaking the mirror would kill it, it would merely disintegrate into powder and reform.
Which made sense since I could see the actual destruction condition.
The destruction condition for the purple doll and the purple room is [Destroy the Core of the 1st Floor Boss].
The mirror reflecting the doll wasn’t the core.
Since the doll is harmful, it’s probably better to destroy it anyway.
Using the ‘Shining Antennae’ to locate the core hidden deep within the boss room, I smashed it and started descending the stairs.
Hehe, that was a really fulfilling 1st floor boss battle!
***
The middle-aged man called “Dog Meat Man” by the girl was wandering aimlessly around the first floor of the labyrinth.
“Dog Meat Man!”
It still felt like hearing the cheerful voice of the girl calling out as she returned from the labyrinth around sunset, when the sun was setting.
Though given as a nickname due to his story trying to convince the girl not to return home after entering the labyrinth, the man actually liked the bizarre name.
It seemed fitting for someone who had abandoned exploring the labyrinth deeper due to fear of the power gained within.
However, no matter how much he wandered, there was no sign of the girl.
He had slipped the carefully drawn map from his labyrinth days among the items sold at the general store, so things should have been fine under normal circumstances, but this was an emergency.
The green flames burning on the torches were an unusual phenomenon he had never seen before.
And the swallows with blade-like legs were problematic.
Clearly, something had changed about the labyrinth, and not in favor of adventurers.
Corpse parts scattered about, left behind by the swallows.
A campsite strangely filled with belongings but devoid of people.
The twitching bodies of swallows cut cleanly by sharp blades.
There were many suspicious traces, yet no sign of the girl he sought.
Where could she be?
Then, he found a shocking clue.
Fragments of a sturdy bag made by layering tough leather.
Pieces of the deliberately shabby-looking bag designed to deter greedy hands, which had been sold cheaply to the girl.
“It seems she encountered a wolf here.”
Looking up at the ceiling, it was a room marked as dangerous on the map he had provided.
“Why did she come to such a place? Did she lose the map?”
Fortunately, it seemed the girl hadn’t been injured.
Though the thoroughly mangled wolf corpse was somewhat concerning.
It seemed very dangerous new monsters had been added to the labyrinth.
The man picked up the bag fragment and put it in his pocket before taking out the map to check.
“After checking every room… she’s not here.”
The only place left was the boss room.
The worst-case scenario.
With a dark expression, the man slowly pushed open the door to the boss room.
Upon opening the boss room, an unexpected scene unfolded before the man’s eyes.
A landscape resembling an ordinary labyrinth stone chamber.
Additionally, the staircase leading to the second floor of the labyrinth was already exposed, as if signaling the boss room had been cleared.
Suspicious that the boss might be deceiving him, the man carefully entered the boss room.
In the center of the boss room lay a distorted-faced doll.
A doll filled with resentment, as if shouting “You tricked me!”
“Could this be the boss? Why has this happened?”
The man was so shocked he didn’t even realize he was muttering to himself.
How could this happen when labyrinth bosses regenerate no matter how many times they’re defeated?
The green-flamed torches, and the permanently defeated boss.
The common sense of the labyrinth was collapsing.
***
Having conscientiously and successfully completed the first floor of the labyrinth, I slowly began descending to the second floor.
With each step down the labyrinth stairs, I could feel the space distorting.
And upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, I had been transported to an entirely different space, just like at the labyrinth entrance.
The overwhelming chill seeping through the gaps in my helmet.
Snowflakes rising toward the sky.
Despite the extremely harsh and fascinating environment, I had no time to focus on such things.
‘!!!!’
Far away, a mini reaper was clearly confused.
Their intentions, unable to coalesce into proper language, were spilling forth.
‘Mom!’
The black reapers also seemed quite bewildered, clamoring to rush to the aid of the confused mini reaper.
Small hands created inside the helmet furiously slapped my face.
‘Stop!’
After projecting my will to make them stop, I began sprinting towards the confused mini reaper.
As I ran across the snow-covered plain, the distant screams became increasingly clear.
Kiieeek!
A horrific scream of agony.
What I discovered upon rushing to the source was a giant black reaper torturing spiders while harboring a human within its body.
Long arms and sharp teeth.
Eyes roughly torn and pierced.
Legs resembling melted roots.
And white-burning firewood.
The black reaper, shaped like a corpse shrunk within an unchanging sphere, was extracting suffering from the object.
To think it could consume emotions from objects!
Something I couldn’t do.
But I wasn’t particularly envious.
Just looking at the shape of the emotions flowing in, it must be terrible.
Certainly, negative emotions multiplied hundreds of times, positive emotions diluted thousands of times, must taste awful.
So much so that it lost consciousness and couldn’t even speak properly.
It must be extremely harmful to the body, judging by how inflated the black reaper’s body had become after consuming the object’s emotions.
Definitely an object-mini reaper intolerance reaction.
“That thing is bad. Don’t eat it!”
Upon projecting my will, the black reaper turned its head and began attacking me with a large arm, seemingly confused and unable to recognize me.
Ack, what a deviant!
***
The battle between the deviant reaper and the armor reaper was fiercer than expected.
The armor reaper elegantly dodging massive swings from the deviant reaper’s huge hand.
The deviant reaper blocking the armor reaper’s twin swords with its remaining hand.
Both too defensively strong compared to their offensive capabilities, unable to land effective hits.
Meanwhile, I was deeply contemplating as I watched the battle.
What should I do about this deviant reaper?
I could probably tear it apart with spatial cutting, but using such brutal methods on children isn’t right.
Among my abilities, I don’t have anything suitable for a loving smack.
Apparently, there’s no answer other than spatial mastery.
“Puff!”
Upon projecting my will, the black reaper armor ejected in all directions like a scene from a mecha anime.
div>
Landing on the ground after discarding the black reaper armor, the deviant reaper attempted to crush me with its giant fist.
But at that moment, I grabbed and fixed the space with both hands.
The wildly thrashing deviant reaper froze instantly as if time had stopped.
A space-inept black reaper would have difficulty escaping.
Slowly twisting the space, I lowered the black reaper’s head to my eye level.
Then, I projected my will toward the black reaper.
“I am your mother!”
While projecting the will of “I’m your mom!” I began forcefully pushing in positively charged firewood.
div>
‘!’
“Beeeeeeep-!”
Realizing who I was, the deviant reaper began emitting startled will and sounds.
Emotions like “This can’t be!” or “No!” spewed forth as cracks began forming all over the deviant reaper’s body.
The white firewood gradually pushed out, and the large deviant reaper’s body began splitting and shaking as if about to break.
Then, the deviant reaper exploded in a burst of white flames.
The explosion of white firewood, lacking physical force, scattered like snowflakes, slowly falling and disappearing into the ground.
And at the center of the explosion.
In the heart of the snow-like white firewood explosion, a girl and a black reaper lay collapsed, tightly embracing each other unconscious.
![[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come](https://i3.wp.com/darkmtl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1737407792-8993-TS-The-end-of-magical-girls-has-come.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come")
