Ch.42A Rigged Gamble (1)

The time was about 5 minutes ago.

“I-It changed just as you said!”

“Wow… it’s exactly the same?”

So the Monster of Disappearance had disguise abilities in addition to invisibility, according to what the Monster of Weapons said.

The Monster of Disappearance had perfectly copied not only my appearance but even the clothes I was wearing. By the time I came to my senses, it had completely transformed into Kang Janghoon.

“How about it? Do you think everyone will be fooled?”

“I guess so… Wait, no! How did you even know the Disappearance had this ability?”

“Disappearance…!”

The Monster of Disappearance’s eyes sparkled at being called by a nickname for the first time.

Meanwhile.

I became suspicious watching the Monster of Weapons. This had to be their first meeting, yet it was offering strategy suggestions as if they already knew each other.

So I asked.

“Ah~. It’s nothing special, but I actually knew ‘Disappearance’ before its ‘reincarnation.'”

“Reincarnation…”

“You knew me before my reincarnation…?”

Before reincarnation, no less.

That meant the Monster of Weapons knew the previous incarnation of Disappearance—before it died in the monster realm and was reborn anew.

The Monster of Weapons explained that it was acquainted with Disappearance’s previous incarnation.

‘This is another piece of TMI that wasn’t in the original work… interesting.’

Come to think of it, Disappearance.

While it’s pretty much garbage both in its character setting and actual performance, it turns out it had been “reincarnated” once before in the other world.

Monsters who die in the human world get reverse-summoned back to the other realm, but monsters who die in the other realm are reborn from scratch like reset programs.

“By the way, Disappearance was incredibly powerful before its reincarnation~.”

“R-Really?! I was strong…?”

“Oh yes~. Back then, they hadn’t yet started treating all missing persons as presumed dead. The Disappearance of that time was so powerful, it even used to hang around with the ‘Monster of Death’~.”

“I-I used to hang out with the great Monster of Death?!”

“This thing?!”

So the Disappearance that had been responsible for my lower body in my twenties was actually exceptional in performance too?

Damn, if that pre-reincarnation Disappearance had been available as a playable character, I would have pulled for it until I maxed it out!

“Plus, its figure was much more ‘voluptuous’ than now.”

“Holy shit. You don’t happen to have photos, do you?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“Sigh…”

Of course, the current Disappearance was plenty good too…

*Glances*

“Horn Mask sir?”

But honestly, it would be a lie to say I wouldn’t want to see a voluptuous and powerful female Disappearance.

“Anyway, now that I’ve transformed Disappearance to look like me, what’s your plan?”

Back to the main point, I could hear commotion building at the men’s bathroom entrance.

It seemed a crowd had gathered, probably because I’d been in the bathroom for too long.

With things getting urgent, I wondered what I should do now that Disappearance was disguised as me.

“Simple. Janghoon just needs to fight with me from now on.”

“…Excuse me?”

As soon as I asked about my role.

“M-Monster of Weapons?!”

“Uh, hello…?”

“Now, get into position~.”

The red ogre charged straight at me, wielding a pointed rapier in its right hand and an executioner’s blade in its left.

***

Clang.

Ching.

Kang.

And so, back to the present.

‘Horn Mask sir… hang in there!’

Kang Janghoon, who had transformed into a monster just before being beheaded and burst out of the men’s bathroom with the Monster of Weapons.

The Monster of Disappearance, now transformed into Janghoon, was cheering for its “master” in its heart.

“Haeun! What are you spacing out for?”

“M-Monster of Weapons?”

“This is an unprecedented crisis with a monster appearing in the Hero Association building. We need to evacuate everyone immediately!”

“…! Ah, yes! I’ll do that right away!”

Meanwhile, the Monster of Weapons, who had “armed” itself after a long time, first took care of its dazed contractor.

Through Yoon Haeun, it made sure all the people in the underground research facility were evacuated.

That would make it easier for them to rampage freely.

“I’ll handle this one.”

“…!”

“So don’t interfere and just stay out of the way.”

“Y-Yes!”

At the same time, using its advantage as a monster allied with humanity, it took perfect follow-up measures to ensure Janghoon wouldn’t accidentally kill any humans.

Well, that didn’t change the fact that this was still a dangerous plan.

‘We need to fight moderately like this, then I’ll pretend to be exhausted and stop… and Janghoon will escape, ending the battle.’

The biggest problem was that this battle was taking place in the middle of the Hero Association.

With so many eyes watching, pretending to fight would immediately be exposed.

In other words, if both monsters were to safely see the sunlight after the research facility collapsed, they would have to clash with genuine sincerity.

‘Please hold out until then…!’

Still, our kid.

There were rumors that he had defeated the Monster of Swords.

Kang.

“Kruk?!”

I was worried if it was okay to go this far against someone who couldn’t even speak.

After dodging Janghoon’s clumsy slap, the Monster of Weapons swung the executioner’s blade at his left cheek.

But then.

‘?! …It’s hard?’

Indeed, the rumor about defeating the Monster of Swords seemed to be true.

I had been worried that he might have defeated my kid through sheer luck, especially since he couldn’t even speak.

But how long had it been since I’d seen something like this?

To think that a weapon I made would break.

“The weapon personally forged by Weapon broke?”

Yoon Haeun, who was evacuating researchers while watching the two monsters fight from a distance.

She was worried about the Monster of Weapons as she witnessed the rapier shatter after the executioner’s blade.

But.

“Wow…”

“Monster of Weapons?”

“Wooow…!”

Despite having lost all the equipment in both hands.

The Monster of Weapons’ face was filled with joy, curiosity, and the passionate spirit of a blacksmith who had discovered an “amazing whetstone.”

“You know, I’ve always just created weapons without being able to directly test their performance. Do you know why?”

“Kruruk?”

‘Um… I wonder?’

“The reason is that if I were to test each of my weapons one by one, there would be nothing left of Hero City.”

Even the executioner’s blade that took four days to make and the rapier that took two days.

If I had tested their performance in my usual deep underground workshop, the building might have at least gotten a scratch by now.

But to face those two weapons head-on and not only not feel pain, but actually break them—what a body!

‘Sword… you’re finally showing some filial piety to your mother…!’

Our kid.

In the end, you gave your mother this kind of “gift” as a sign of repentance(?).

The Monster of Weapons had initially planned to just pretend to fight with full power while being as careful as possible.

But from this moment on…

Shing.

“Kruk?”

‘…Huh?’

If we were to compare it to a man’s physical state, should we call it an “erection”?

My masterpieces that I had only created but never been able to test their performance.

There were at least hundreds of poor children that had been locked away in storage for hundreds of years because I couldn’t find the right “talent” to wield them.

But now.

At this very moment!

A vessel had come directly before me to test their performance.

“Heh, hehehehe… hehehehehehe!”

“Um… Miss Yoon Haeun? Does the Monster of Weapons always laugh so lewdly?”

“No… Even when she finished making all her weapons, she never laughed so vulgarly…”

Hugging her prominently protruding breasts tightly while twisting her body as if experiencing an orgasm.

Seeing the Monster of Weapons like that, Janghoon felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

Click.

“Kruk?”

‘A stick?’

After moaning seductively for a while.

Soon, the Monster of Weapons stood in a normal posture as if nothing had happened, holding a small palm-sized stick in her right hand.

Of course, there was no problem up to that point.

Such a small stick didn’t look like a “weapon” at all.

‘Could it be a throwing bomb?’

…I thought briefly.

But it didn’t seem to have a fuse or any ignition device to be an explosive.

If anything, it just had a switch like you’d see on a flashlight.

“May the universe…”

“Kruk?”

‘Universe?’

“Be with me.”

That’s when it happened.

Zzzing.

“Kruruk?!”

This is strange.

I was certain that <Monster Front>’s genre was apocalyptic monster + subculture + adult content.

While there was some fantasy mixed in because of the monster theme, it was still limited to “Earth” level.

But what on earth was that “lightsaber” that had suddenly turned into sci-fi all by itself?

“Wahaha! I’ve been keeping this stored away because testing it incorrectly might slice a continent in half, but I finally get to use it!”

“Is, is that actually a laser sword?”

“Was our scientific technology that advanced…?”

“Hehehehe…! It has a ‘minor drawback’ of immediately turning all the user’s cells into cancer cells when the laser is activated, but for a special-grade monster, that’s just a bit itchy.”

A side effect that turns all cells into cancer cells makes it just garbage level…!

I wanted to say that, but…

‘Ah, come to think of it, I also just felt spicy when exposed to radiation.’

It would be hypocritical, so I kept my mouth shut.

And so.

“Take this! The true power of this child that I’ve often used for other purposes because of its length!”

The Monster of Weapons charged at me, channeling her inner Jedi.

I prepared to catch her laser slash with both hands.