Ch.226[Chapter 226] A Brief Ceasefire and…

After Slaton Vex was perfectly banished, the King of Slaughter and Sir Dominic silently ceased their attacks against each other.

The first floor of the dungeon was currently in a seriously disastrous state.

Walls and pillars from throughout the dungeon were scattered everywhere in corroded fragments, and the armor of guards and prosthetic limbs of maids that Slaton Vex had consumed were strewn about among the debris.

Of course, Sir Dominic and the King of Slaughter were veterans and masters of combat who could easily continue fighting even in these conditions, but they chose a temporary ceasefire.

The reason was simple.

They both wanted to fight in perfect conditions.

Without either one suggesting it first, they had come to the same conclusion.

“We need to continue our fight.”

The King of Slaughter rested his greatsword on his shoulder as he looked at Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic was currently sitting on the stairs leading from the lobby to the terrace, putting a few jellies into his mouth to replenish the energy he had expended through intense movement.

“Of course.”

After chewing and swallowing the jellies for a moment, Sir Dominic replied to the King of Slaughter.

“I dislike the feeling of this sensation cooling down.”

Sir Dominic was currently experiencing extreme happiness.

Of course, it wasn’t happiness in the form of a self-defense mechanism caused by stress.

It was something more instinctive.

The satisfaction of moving freely and going wild had manifested as a form of happiness.

Of course, victory against the demon race also played a part.

Sir Dominic wanted to continue feeling this happiness, but as his heated body began to cool, this sense of happiness started to cool with it.

To be precise, it was similar to the sensation of exhaustion after running with all your might toward a single goal.

Sir Dominic wanted to resume the fight before this happiness cooled any further.

“But in this state, we cannot fight properly.”

Sir Dominic said, looking at the ruined lobby.

“That’s true.”

The King of Slaughter awkwardly scratched his helmet.

If the maids and guards were here, they could easily resolve this situation, but they had been sacrificed to capture Slaton Vex.

“Perhaps you’d consider dying and coming back?”

The King of Slaughter asked Sir Dominic.

If a challenger dies, the dungeon resets.

Then this lobby would return to its original state.

“Are you mad?”

Sir Dominic replied to the King of Slaughter with unusually strong tone.

Currently, Sir Dominic’s senses were heightened, which meant his physical stamina was severely depleted.

If they were to start over, Sir Dominic would either lose this sensation or become completely exhausted.

He neither wanted to lose this sensation nor intended to maintain it for too long, so the King of Slaughter’s suggestion seemed absurd to Sir Dominic.

“Can’t be helped then.”

The King of Slaughter moved his enormous body and said to Sir Dominic.

“I have a room underground. If that’s acceptable, we can fight there.”

Sir Dominic looked at the King of Slaughter.

“If such a place exists, why did you choose to fight here?”

“Well, underground there are many gimmicks that neutralize me.”

The King of Slaughter said glumly.

“The battle I desire is one where we reveal everything and clash with all we have, not a fight where one side accepts penalties.”

Sir Dominic nodded at the King of Slaughter’s words.

As a knight and warrior himself, he understood that sentiment well.

Their respective skills or physical conditions didn’t matter.

What mattered was fighting with all their might.

“By the way, is it alright to tell me about this?”

Sir Dominic said to the King of Slaughter.

“What if I use those gimmicks against you?”

“You wouldn’t.”

The King of Slaughter turned a secret lever, creating stairs leading underground.

“I believe you are a knight. I’m certain that as a knight, you wouldn’t dare touch those gimmicks.”

The King of Slaughter descended the stairs.

Sir Dominic followed him down.

The stairs seemed designed for the King of Slaughter, with very large steps, forcing Sir Dominic to practically jump down each one.

“If you were to destroy those gimmicks… then I would have misjudged you. That would be my fault.”

The King of Slaughter said this as he stopped walking.

It was the point where the stairs to the underground ended, and there was a door large enough for the King of Slaughter to pass through.

“This is where I usually stay.”

The King of Slaughter took a key from under a flowerpot in front of the door and opened it.

Sir Dominic thought about System Industries’ security and thought, “Some things are the same everywhere.”

…

At the same time Sir Dominic and the King of Slaughter went underground.

“Ugh. Why is this place like this?”

Through the broken ceiling of the chaotic first floor lobby.

A pale spider girl with black hair, wrapped in white silk made of spider webs and adorned with six ruby decorations, descended on a thread.

It was Merry.

“Ugh, goodness. Was this place always such a mess? I thought it would be more classical.”

Merry shook her head in disgust as she placed her eight extended legs on the ground.

“Anyway, where did Sir Dominic go? And where did that monster go?”

Merry grumbled and muttered to herself.

“Since the contract hasn’t been broken, he must still be alive…”

Merry sighed.

Where could Sir Dominic be?

I hope he’s alright.

“I barely earned any points because I spent them on jellies. Right. This is for the points… Huh?”

Merry, who had been saying things that contradicted her true feelings, suddenly noticed the entrance to the stairs leading underground.

“…Stairs going underground.”

Merry looked at those stairs with a sour expression.

“Well, if that’s open, it means Sir Dominic went underground, right?”

Saying that, Merry began moving her eight legs to descend the stairs leading underground.

…

Upon arriving at the King of Slaughter’s room underground, Sir Dominic was left speechless with his mouth open at the enormous scale.

To be precise, it wasn’t that the underground area itself was impressive, nor was there any amazing giant facility.

What surprised Sir Dominic was… the enormous collection of photographs, portraits, and dolls gathered by the King of Slaughter.

All of those items depicted just one person, someone Sir Dominic knew.

It was Merry.

“…This is my gimmick.”

The King of Slaughter said to Sir Dominic.

“Actually, there used to be five times more, but intruders don’t know moderation.”

The King of Slaughter lifted a portrait hanging on the wall.

It showed Merry as a spider with a bright smile, her hands full of jellies.

In the corner of the portrait was a three-colored feather, which allowed Sir Dominic to recognize when this portrait had been painted.

It was from when Sir Dominic had given jellies to Merry.

“…These are my weakness.”

The King of Slaughter said with his back turned to Sir Dominic.

The King of Slaughter stroked a bisque doll of Merry and put his brush to an unfinished portrait.

In all these works, Merry appeared sometimes in human form, sometimes as a spider, and sometimes in forms Sir Dominic had never seen.

All the photos, paintings, and dolls had the initials S.K. and the phrase “To my beloved Merry,” suggesting that all of these were the King of Slaughter’s creations.

“To be precise, these unrequited feelings, these feelings of mine are my weakness.”

After hanging the portrait back on the wall, the King of Slaughter spoke to Sir Dominic without turning his head.

Above his head was a large painting of two people standing side by side—on one side was human Merry with a disgusted expression refusing something, and on the other was a man in armor kneeling and offering flowers to Merry.

The King of Slaughter picked up a brush covered in black paint and frantically erased the armored man.

Sir Dominic watched the King of Slaughter until the end.

The King of Slaughter erasing the man from the painting.

For some reason, the King of Slaughter’s back looked smaller than ever before.

“…Sir Dominic of Feralant.”

The King of Slaughter called to Sir Dominic.

“Do you understand now? Why I said you wouldn’t touch the gimmicks?”

Sir Dominic nodded at the King of Slaughter’s words.

Then he rubbed his brow as if he had a headache and shook his head.

The gimmick in this room was clearly the King of Slaughter’s weakness.

But it was not a weakness anyone could bear to exploit.

The moment this weakness was touched, the King of Slaughter would surely lose his reason in anger.

Sir Dominic finally understood why the King of Slaughter had said he wouldn’t touch this gimmick.

And he also understood why the King of Slaughter had avoided fighting underground and had come up to the first floor to fight.

It was obvious.

With so many precious things to the King of Slaughter here, how could he turn this place into a battlefield?

Sir Dominic sighed.

Though Sir Dominic had wanted to fuel his fighting spirit a little more, now, after seeing this sight, even that small fighting spirit had completely cooled.

The corners of Sir Dominic’s mouth turned sharply downward.

The smile disappeared from Sir Dominic’s face.

Instead, Sir Dominic, with a very tired expression, said this to the King of Slaughter:

“…Shall we settle this with chess?”

Sir Dominic had absolutely no desire to rampage in the King of Slaughter’s room.

The King of Slaughter, bewildered by Sir Dominic’s words, put down his greatsword and then nodded.

“Very well.”

The King of Slaughter brought out a table and chairs from somewhere and sat down.

For him too, settling the match with a board game was better than having this room thrown into disarray.

Sir Dominic sat on the opposite side.

The most static battle in the world began.