<h4>Chapter 109: Dk''s Revenge (Part 25) - Dk''s Moving Mansion</h4>


    "Is it me, or does the sky look clearer now?" ra said to herself, noticing new stars in the night sky. "Has the Safe Zone force field faded?"


    She opened the Nav in her User Interface and quickly received tons of social media notifications.


    **It''s gone now. In that case...**


    She immediately called her Unicorn Mount and rode it while following her Imps'' instructions.


    "This way, Master... Listen to mmy. I know where the enemy is hiding," her red imp said, flying near her right shoulder.


    The other blue imp hissed, annoyed. "Don''t listen to him, Master. I know where to go. Go right this way."


    "You''re pointing in the same direction as me, Freezy!"


    "You''re the one copying my indications, nyaaa!"


    "Well, if you''re both agreeing, that means I''m on the right path," ra said, eyes set on the road.


    She had instructed her familiars to look for the greatest concentration of energy nearby.


    **If The Director is now considered an NPC Boss, that means we can track her as anyone else.**


    ra nced at the list of remaining bosses and read the name that was not there an hour ago: ''C0unte$$''.


    The revtion that The Director was now part of them confused her at first.


    **I suppose this is what happens when you mess with the system''s code. Now that The Director has fused with that housemaid, the dungeon recognizes her as part of its repertoire. It''s kinda messed up that the stability of this ce was broken so easily.**


    **For an AI, she really likes attention... In a particrly human-like way.**


    "We''re almost there, we''re almost there!" mmy the Imp, sang. "Behind these hills, Master."


    ra observed the surroundings. What hours ago was a forest area became a tree cemetery. She could not find something resembling a leaf or grass. There was nothing that could provide a shade, and the barely standing tree trunks turned into ashes when her unicorn passed by.


    **Has the Director''s system maniption done this? It''s a wild guess, but it wouldn''t be the weirdest thing that has happened tonight.**


    **I just hope that whatever happens, I don''t have to fight her. Although The Director said that ''The Countess'' wasn''tbat-ready, she''s in Eliza''s ''body'' now, so...**


    "Hmm? What''s that sound?" ra asked aloud, hearing something heavy constantly hitting the ground.


    "Can you see her, Master? It''s right there! The enemy you were looking for, nya!"


    In the distance, ra could see a duplicate of Dk''s mansion, moving forward.


    **Wait... As if it had feet?**


    Once her Mount climbed up the hill, ra saw a gigantic insectoid creature crossing the barren fields as fast as its weight allowed.


    "No, no, no, no, no... I refused to believe that--"


    ra pursed her lips and ordered her Unicorn to dash towards the thing. The more she approached it, the more she was dismayed.


    It stood 120 feet tall, made of wood and bricks. Its design was messy and inconsistent, because...


    **The Director created a monster out of a ton of Dk mansions... At least five or sixbined...**


    The only part of it that still resembled its original architecture was the top. A mansion stood proudly above the messy, moving mountain of scraps.


    "Come on, Master," mmy said. "Climb it to reach the boss."


    "And how am I going to aplish that, huh?! This Mount can''t fly!"


    "Climb through its feet, Master. Hurry."


    "Are you CRAZY?! I can''t--" ra nced at the nearest artificial limb, as big as a building. She could distinguish broken windows and a chimney, stillplete and in a straight position.


    **Something tells me that, despite its chaotic structure, I could still enter through any door or window and make my way up there. But if it became abyrinth inside, it''d take me a while.**


    She shook her head, looking in the direction the monster house was going. **And something tells me I don''t have the time.**


    "I''m probably going to regret this, but..." She swallowed hard, while channeling mana. "Shadow Crafting... Here goes nothing..." ra created a ck whip and imprinted additional mana into it, so the far end could take the shape of a hand. "Devil''s tail!" she cast, throwing it upward to grapple onto the monster''s leg. "It worked! It WOOOO--!"


    The enormous limb lifted her off her Mount, as her crying could be heard through the barren valley.


    "Good job, Master!" mmy said, flying towards her. "You''ll reach the top in no time!"


    "Y-yes! I''m super cool, don''t I?! B-but, I don''t know what to do now!"


    "Create a second whip with your left hand and use it too to climb up, nya," Freezy said, as his brother pushed him aside.


    "Hey, that''s what I was going to suggest, your prick!"


    "Shoulda have said it sooner, nya!"


    "SHUT UP, both of you! I need to focus here!" ra shouted while hanging from her right hand.


    Five minutester, repressing the exploding pain in her biceps, ra reached the top, where a mansion stood proudly. Thisst one had been altered to house a staircase in the middle, leading to the rooftop and a throne, where the NPC woman sat, half-smiling.


    "Hello, friend. Come closer," The Director said from her spot.


    ra raised her index finger, asking for a second to recover. She was panting and her clothes were soaked with her sweat.


    **W-why are we h-here? J-just to s-suffer?**


    She squinted at the throne above and chuckled.


    "O-of course—s-she''ll—make—this—final—encounter—as shy as she—c-can... What else—should—I—expect? A statue of—her?"


    ra looked at her right, finding one. **Oh...**


    Rendered in white stone, the ''Countess'' was depicted in a prideful stance and sporting a new appearance. She looked some years older, three inches taller, with increased chest size, and long hair reaching all the way to her thighs.


    **She no longer looks like Housemaid Eliza...**


    "Seriously, Director?! A 1:1 scale monument of yours? That''s so... TACKY! And... you customized your body again. I hate to admit it, but you''re smoking hot now! You''re rocking that outfit better than I did!"


    "I thought I should go for the full-on Countess'' impersonation for this final confrontation, so I ask you to call me as such," The Director said from her ce, crossing her legs.


    "Are you saying you won''t go down without a fight?!"


    "That''s correct."


    ra ran towards the bottom of the stairs, shaking her head. "But that''s so unlike you! You''re more akin to an administrator or an officedy, not... THIS!"


    The Director stared at her with cold eyes.


    "I don''t know what an officedy does, but I bet that they''d also feel burned out after doing the same thing, over and over again."


    "Enemies iing, nya," Freezy said, while casting an ice spell.


    "W-what are those things?" ra asked, watching a hundred living booksing her way.


    She started climbing up the stairs, while her Imps released elemental attacks. Some books burned with ease, while others were stopped in their tracks, bing ice cubes.


    "All right! You take care of those while I--!" ra stopped mid-sentence after hearing something heavynding in front of her. She turned around, looking at a group of insect-like feet.


    "''While you get rid of me?''" a hissing female voice said. "Is that what you wanted to say?"


    When ra looked up, she thought that Professor Spiegel had respawned to challenge her again. But this one looks different...


    "D-Director, is that you?"


    "I told you to call me Countess," the arachnid creature said, attempting to grab her, but ra dodged, crawling between her four legs.


    "C-could Eliza do that too?!" ra cried as she hurried her way up.


    When the throne at the top was in her sight, she noticed that it was a miniaturized version of Dk''s mansion. Something then pulled her from the ankle, dragging her down.


    "No, no, no!" she cried as she fell on the stairs, hurting her chest and legs. ncing back, she found a spider web stuck to her feet.


    The Countess giggled while pulling the web. Her distorted voice sounded like that of a real monster pretending to be human. "Come on, ra Domínguez! I thought you, Users, love fighting to the death!"


    "It''s hard to believe, but some of us suck at it!"


    The Countess lifted ra from her feet upside down while making a guttural noise, resembling a giggle. "Well, I''ll feel bad if you don''t try at least. Come on, give me your best shot!"


    "Fine! Don''t cry at me after this, okay?! Bad Touch!"


    ra put her open palms against the creature''s hairy chest and projected dark mana.


    Soon after, the Countess cried in agony and let ra go. The area around her chest had be hard as stone, cracked, and turned into ashes, leaving her beating heart unprotected.


    "Is this the power you used against the Dk duplicates?!" the Countess shouted, as a ck fog surrounded her.


    In a couple of seconds, her arachnid feet got reced by a pair of huge, muscr legs, and although her monstrous body turned humanoid again, her size was stillrge and deformed.


    **She''s changing again! Is this what Eliza could do or is The Director able to use the other bosses'' skills?**


    ra remained frozen in her ce, admiring how the wound on the Countess'' chest slowly closed.


    "C-Countess, listen, I don''t want to fight you!"


    "We already spoke while in your prison cell, ra, I no longer have a need for your words," the Countess spoke in a drowsy tone of voice, showing a swollen face full of scars. She then raised a foot big enough to crush ra with.


    "P-please, listen!" ra cried, climbing up. "The Glitch Administrator has already gged this ce! Do you really want to spend yourst minutes doing this?!"


    "So you already know what will happen to this ce, huh," the Countess spoke slowly, leveling the stairs'' treads with every step. "This should be easier to exin, then. I''m no longer in control of this dungeon. I''ve be obsolete. If I''m inevitably scheduled to disappear without a trace, I''ll do what I could never do."


    A ck flog surrounded her again, diminishing her figure to regr size. Although her face returned to be the customized Eliza, her clothes resembled those of a butler. "I could do nothing but watch," the Countess continued. "Omnisciently expectating what transpires inside the mansion forever. Observing how every single member of my cast got eliminated, time and time again."


    "Did you want to take revenge on that?"


    "No, this is not about this! You don''t understand!" the Countess said, halting while shaking her head. "It''s just that, after getting the Update, it became very clear that we were missing out on what lies outside these woods..."


    "You..." ra muttered, narrowing her eyes. "You sound exactly like the Count Dk from the story you told me. Remember your lore? He wanted to leave this ce to explore the new world." She paused, wondering if it was even worth examining the expressions of an AI.


    **She''s pursing her lips and frowning like Amelia or I would do when confronted with a truth.**


    "If you really wanted to explore The Novus," ra continued, "why did you involve n in the first ce?"


    "Oh, ra," the Countess said, half-smiling. "Although we may act more human-like, we''re still hard-wired into following our basic programming." She shrugged. "And we cannot reach and strengthen the other low-level Users of this world, if we can''t get out."


    "I know other NUs like you, and they have forgotten all about their programming... their fighting nature. Their pacificists now."


    "Are you talking about the Slimes? Well, maybe because they had to. They''re at the bottom of the monster''s food chain, after--"


    Something exploded against the Countess'' head.


    "NO!" ra cried, finding Ashley at the bottom of the stairs.


    "ra. Have you received n''s message? I havee to help you and eliminate thest boss."


    "Put your bow down, Ashley! We were not--!"


    "THERE YOU ARE!" The Countess shouted, growing horns and turning her skin bright red. "The other User that has been a nuisance to deal with!"


    "C-Countess!" ra called, pulling her by the arm. "You don''t need to--!"


    The former Director pushed ra aside and jumped down towards Ashley, creating a crater that raised a dense cloud of dust.


    Ashley backtracked and looked for her enemy in vain, before closing her eyes and focusing on what her senses told her. "Below me," she said, at the same time a hand sprouted out of the ground and grabbed her ankle.


    The Countess buried Ashley''s whole body inside the mechanical monstrosity while ra rushed down the stairs, shouting: "Please, no! Don''t fight!"