episode_0532

A dagger that bounced off the hard leather of a neck and fell down.

Immediately after, the awkward atmosphere continued, and everyone in the room kept their mouths shut and looked at Belus.

“… You, you’re not human.”

“No, I’m human. …Not yet.”

-Whew!

Ethan, as if he would not listen to excuses, swung his sword towards Belus’ neck.

It seemed that he had realized that the person in front of him was a dangerous person, so his judgment itself was correct, but there was no way that a guy who had been revealed to be non-human would accept Ethan’s sword so easily.

-Whew!

Belus, realizing that it would be dangerous if he got hit, quickly flew his body backwards.

As I watched those nimble movements, my mind became even more confused.

‘What, this guy has never appeared in the original?’

A guy this strong should have shown up in the Luminor Academy in some way. Either as a leader of the Demon King’s army, or as a traitor on the human side.

Moreover, if you look at the evil deeds that have already been committed, they are not evil deeds that could be committed at the level of a mob. Experiments that turn people into monsters would not be permitted within the empire.

“I would have liked to study a little longer if possible… but it will be difficult to obtain materials within the academy now.”

“… Of course. Your fate will change here today.”

“Well, isn’t it you guys and not me?”

-Dudududuk!!

“What, what is it…?! Go, all of a sudden there’s a wall… !”

As soon as we pressed the red switch on what looked like a remote control, a wall came down from the air and blocked the entrance we had just entered.

It seemed like a trap he had set up in advance to prevent escape. As soon as I saw it, I could guess that he was much more thorough and strong than I had expected.

The very idea of being locked up with this number of people was tantamount to saying that he could win everything.

“Still, I guess I can do my research and leave after all. Since there are so many test subjects gathered here!”

-Bam, bang!

With those words, Belus took out five or six potions from his pocket and drank them all at once.

Since it was a scene that looked like a transformation part to anyone, I reflexively shot out the dagger first this time as well, thinking that I had to stop it somehow.

-Tingle!!

“Ah, oh my gosh!!”

A single piece of gunk stuck in my mouth and blocked it, breaking about half of the bottle I was drinking from.

At first, I was relieved to see that although the outer shell was hard, it didn’t seem to be hard all the way inside. In any case, it wasn’t like there was no way to kill it.

“Keuhp, ugh…! Wh, what are you doing! W-what are you doing! I, I was finally preparing to show you my true self… . Gulp… .”

What the hell is that? Anyone can see that it’s a pattern preparation movement, so if you can break it, you should break it.

If not, you should bring along a companion to protect you while you transform.

Belus’ body begins to swell little by little as he spits out the dagger stuck in his mouth and crouches on the floor.

And his scream-like voice echoed throughout the terrible laboratory.

“Urgent, ugh …

– Slowly, slowly.

Although it interfered with the intake in the middle, it was not able to completely block it, so it ended up trying to transform its shape.

I felt a sense of crisis when I saw the suspiciously swelling appearance, so I quickly hugged Mirif and bent down.

“Everyone, hide! That thing’s gonna explode!”

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

“Ppa, come here quickly, Princess Mezlen!”

Everyone seemed surprised by my unexpected words, but they seemed to know what was going on and hid under the study table like I did.

And soon after, dozens of sharp thorns exploded out into the lab with a loud cracking sound.

-Pfft!!

“Gyaaah!!”

“What, what’s going on?!”

-Hook, thud! Thud!!

An explosion of cone-shaped thorns that look like animal teeth.

As expected, the sudden swelling of the body was a sign of an explosion pattern. If I had touched it wrong, I might have turned into a reverse hedgehog before even starting a proper battle.

And at the same time, a high-ranking demon using that explosive pattern came to mind, and I cautiously raised my head to check the identity of the guy who had completed his transformation, hoping that my ominous imagination would not come true.

“Hoo, hoo… .”

-Stink, stink.

“It’s definitely refreshing to take off this stuffy leather after 20 years.”

…fuck.

Why is that kid here?

Giant tentacles writhing in place where a human’s head and limbs should be.

As soon as I saw the monster with grotesque limbs that looked like a leech’s proboscis rising from its seat, I could recall its name.

“Bertu, S… .”

“… Hmm?”

“Um, why is that here… .”

Bertus, the ‘scientist of greed’.

He was a leech beastman who led the beastman tribe in the Demon King’s Army, and one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s Army.

“Who is it? The person who just called my name?”

“… … .”

What the fuck.

What should I do with this?

If I were to meet the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s Army in a place like this, how would I deal with them?

It was on a different level from when I had met Noctis in the Kingdom of Defrin before. Back then, it was a fight worth ‘trying’, so I had won by firing a Mana Blast at her as she ran away, but now that I had met Bertus, there was no possibility of victory.

There are no warriors, no warrior parties, and no absolute luck from Queen Raini.

Even space is space, so you can’t use Mana Blast. Unless your goal is to kill that guy and be buried together.

The only combatants I can trust are Ethan and Lyria. Other than that, I don’t know their exact strength or if they’ll be of any help.

Although I have fought with the warrior party several times, this is the first time that I have fought with these members, excluding Antonio.

“Didn’t I ask you? How on earth do you know my name?”

“… … .”

… there’s nothing I can do.

It’s obvious that our forces are lacking, so we have no choice but to find another way to overcome the crisis.

“… Meet the great scientist of greed, Bertus.”

“… … What?”

“… Senior Release?”

“Lee, Sister Lily… ?”

Other people looked at me with bewildered eyes at my sudden appearance of kneeling down.

He calmly ignored the gazes of his colleagues and shamelessly showed respect to the leech in front of him.

“I never thought I would see you here. I thought I would never see you again after you left Suin Village 20 years ago.”

“Hoo, are you a survivor of Suin Village…?”

“Yes. I was worried because I hadn’t seen you since that day 20 years ago, but I’m so glad to hear that you’re safe.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

… the gaze is sharp.

Ethan, who knows a little about my past, seems to have already noticed that I’m acting, but I’m somehow scared of the gazes of other people.

In particular, it was hard to face the face of Mirif who was looking at me right now. I wondered how he would feel when he finally escaped from the person who had almost put him in danger of death, only to find out that the person he trusted the most was his colleague.

But here, I had to be even more shameless. If I acted half-heartedly because of my reputation, it would be worse than not trying at all.

“I sincerely apologize for attacking Bertus a little while ago. It has become a habit to always take the lead in order to blend in with humans.”

“Huh, there’s nothing you can do about it. Humans are cunning and selfish. Don’t they try to keep people around who aren’t beneficial to them?”

“I will make sure that you pay with your life for daring to harm Bertus.”

“Oh, you don’t have to go that far. Your life should be used for something more valuable.”

… were you fooled?

The reaction was still a bit subtle. That bastard Bertus always spoke like that, so it was virtually impossible to read his emotions just from his tone of voice.

As expected, Bertus began to have doubts about my being from the village of Suin because of my appearance that was too human-like.

“By the way… You look too human to be a merman. Are you really a merman?”

“I am not foolish enough to lie in front of Bertus.”

“Then what is the number?”

“It’s a black cat.”

“You say it’s a black cat… I can’t see its ears.”

“… The ears and tail were cut off. Long ago, in order to hide among humans… .”

“Oh my god… .”

“This headdress I’m wearing is to hide the scar from when I was cut.”

She made a suitable excuse while fiddling with the headdress she was wearing, and slowly approached Bertus.

“Please take away my headdress and make sure that I am a water spirit, Bertus.”

“… Come here, Miss Black Cat.”

-Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

In the quiet space, only the sound of my footsteps reached my ears.

After acting as if he was from Bertus’ hometown as much as possible until the end, he narrowed the gap with him to a close distance.

“Poor child. How hard must her life have been… .”

“… Is this a person!!! This fucking retard aaah!!!”

-Phew!!

“Gahaaah!!! Kkeuk, kahaaah!!”

I thrust my dagger into Bertus’s jaw with all my might, as he let his guard down.