Ch.75Chapter 75 – Madman (4)

Beatrice charged forward with a speed that was hard to believe from someone who had just been hit and rolled on the ground.

Blue energy gathered in her hand just like before.

Then Beatrice threw her punch with all her might.

“Ah, please calm down.”

Somnus smiled kindly and waved his hand.

A blue barrier suddenly appeared to protect him, blocking Beatrice’s punch.

But Beatrice wasn’t one to stop attacking just because her punch was blocked once.

“Come out right now!!!!!!”

She clung to the barrier and began furiously pounding it with both fists.

Though she had clearly been hit all over and wasn’t in normal physical condition, she just kept attacking madly while screaming with rage.

No, perhaps the thread of reason she had been barely holding onto flew away the moment she saw her enemy.

In contrast, Somnus was completely at ease.

As if Beatrice was no longer a threat.

“…Hmm, it should be about time now.”

Somnus rotated his prosthetic hand back and forth.

The creaking sound mixed unpleasantly with the sound of Beatrice striking the barrier.

“Ugh!”

“See? Time’s up.”

Beatrice suddenly made a pained expression and quickly grabbed her waist.

Watching this, Somnus smiled.

To an ordinary observer, it would have looked like the warm smile of a countryside grandfather.

“Gambling everything on subduing that man at the end by abandoning your defense was an excellent move.”

He slowly brought his hands together as if praising Beatrice.

“Unfortunately, since your gamble failed, you had to take that man’s strike with your body. I wonder if your ribs are cracked?”

“Shut… uuuup!!!!”

Beatrice, who had been wincing while holding her waist, immediately began pounding the barrier again.

“You! Only you!! Right now!!”

“This is troublesome. I don’t know what I’ve done to make you want to kill me so badly.”

Beatrice continued to strike the barrier.

“Don’t play dumb!! I know you’re behind everything!”

“Hmm.”

Somnus rested his chin on one hand.

He looked deep in thought for a moment, then suddenly looked at me.

“…Oh right, your name was… not Subject 13… but Mr. K, correct?”

I didn’t remember telling this man my name.

Perhaps he heard it from Kara.

But somehow, I had a feeling he already knew.

“Judging by her accent, she seems to be from Florence or the Kingdom. Do you happen to know why she’s so fixated on me?”

“Are you going to pretend you don’t know?!”

*Crack*

Perhaps due to her continuous strikes, the barrier began to crack.

Seeing this, Beatrice began to shout fiercely.

Her face was bizarre, with crying and laughing expressions coexisting.

“Because of you!! My mother died!! My sister died!! My precious friend died!!!”

With each statement, her fist came down.

Eventually, her hands themselves couldn’t withstand the impact, and blood began to flow from her knuckles.

Still, Beatrice didn’t stop striking the barrier.

“You alone, you alone, you alone!!!”

“Beatrice… Beatrice… Ah, I remember now.”

Somnus smiled happily as if he just recalled something.

His bright smile made it seem like he had received a birthday present.

Even though Beatrice had nearly broken through the barrier while bleeding beside him.

It was chilling, actually.

“You were the ‘Shadow’ of the Florence royal family! No wonder you were so fixated on me even at the magic tower!”

“…So you knew all along and just pretended to forget!!!”

Finally, Beatrice broke through the barrier.

But even in this situation, Somnus just smiled brightly.

“Indeed, indeed! That man, after lending me soldiers to help with the assassination, to think he’d leave a survivor!”

“Die!!!”

Beatrice now stood right in front of Somnus.

Her fist flew toward Somnus’s head.

And was caught in mid-air.

Somnus had grabbed her fist with his prosthetic hand.

“But you know, Beatrice.”

A creaking sound came from the prosthetic hand.

Against this backdrop, Somnus addressed Beatrice.

His tone was like a grandfather admonishing a child.

“I’ve told you repeatedly, haven’t I? You cannot reach me.”

“Let go!”

Beatrice twisted her body and launched a kick.

Somnus released her hand and lightly spun around once.

“I even taught you the reason. Can you answer, student?”

Beatrice didn’t answer.

She was already trying to kick him with her other leg.

And Somnus was just smiling.

“Because you don’t know how to let go.”

*Swoosh!*

With those words, ice-like shards sprouted from Beatrice’s leg.

Then a sudden blast of cold air swirled from the ice, freezing her leg.

As a result, Beatrice lost her balance, and her kick turned into an awkward motion.

“…Kugh!”

Flames erupted.

Soon, the ice that had bound Beatrice’s leg melted.

At the same time, she regained her balance and tried to swing that leg.

“This is why you can’t succeed.”

Somnus smiled at Beatrice with a look of pity.

With those words, the melted ice suddenly grew rapidly again.

It clung to Beatrice’s leg and began to freeze her body.

“With blood rushing to your head, you’re easy to catch.”

“Ee…eek!”

Beatrice gathered her strength as if trying to create flames like she had done with her leg earlier.

However, the flames only rose weakly.

Instead, they were consumed by the ice and disappeared.

“Did you think you could nullify my magic with that level of power? My magic residue has been lingering on your leg all this time.”

Somnus spoke as if admonishing her.

“If you had cut off your leg yourself, you might have had a chance to land a blow on me.”

Blue energy flew from Somnus’s arm and struck Beatrice in the abdomen.

Her body, along with the ice, flew backward and crashed into a pile of debris nearby.

“…Cough…! Kugh…!”

Beatrice coughed up blood.

Then she immediately grabbed her waist.

Seeing this, Somnus immediately turned his head toward me.

His attitude suggested he no longer had any interest in Beatrice.

“So, I get the feeling you have a lot to say to me as well.”

“I do. In many ways.”

“I apologize for keeping you waiting. I said I would handle this quickly, but it took too long.”

Somnus said this while making a formal gesture with one hand.

In contrast, I was immediately tensing my body.

‘I didn’t expect him to subdue her so quickly.’

Although Beatrice wasn’t in normal condition, I hadn’t expected her to be subdued so quickly.

And now that opponent was standing in front of me.

“Ah, it’s alright. I don’t particularly want to fight.”

“Then what’s your purpose?”

“I simply want to express my gratitude to you.”

Somnus said this while clasping his hands together.

Conversely, I asked back in disbelief.

“Gratitude?”

“Yes. Gratitude, indeed. Gratitude.”

Somnus raised his hand and pointed at Beatrice.

Her injuries must have been quite severe, as she still couldn’t get up properly.

“Thanks to you, I easily subdued the mad dog that was always after my neck. I sincerely thank you.”

Somnus clapped his hands as if he wanted to praise me.

“…Stop joking around and state your business.”

“Ah, you need compensation. Let me tell you.”

This was hopeless.

After exchanging just a few words, I could immediately tell.

This guy wasn’t really conversing with me while talking to me.

He was just saying whatever he wanted to say.

“Very well. As compensation, I’d like to give you some useful information.”

“…Useful information?”

“You’ll like it.”

Somnus said with a smile.

Then he spread his hands wide and exclaimed.

“The big news! Finally! I’d like to inform you that a dragon is heading this way.”

“That’s completely useless.”

“No, it’s very useful to you.”

Somnus said with a smile.

“Because that dragon will surely target you!”

Somnus said with a bright smile.

“What do you mean?”

“Unintentionally, but still. You have become an excellent bait. That’s why I’m thanking you and giving you advance notice as compensation. The dragon is flying toward you.”

*Clap clap clap*

Somnus started clapping softly.

On the other hand, while I couldn’t make sense of his behavior, there was something bothering me.

‘…That’s a bit different from what the lich said.’

The lich had said there was a high probability I would become a target, but he didn’t say with such certainty that I would be targeted.

So why was this guy so confident that I would be the target?

“Hmm, you look like you’re wondering, ‘Why me?'”

Somnus held up one finger to me.

“Let me explain simply. You are the closest, and I’ve hidden the others from the dragon’s eyes.”

That’s what Somnus said.

Then he tilted his head as if puzzled.

“Oh? Aren’t you scared? A dragon is coming.”

“…It doesn’t feel real at all.”

“Well, with your current state, you might be torn apart and killed in one blow by that dragon, so perhaps there’s no need to be afraid. You can just give up and accept death.”

What the hell is this guy saying?

“Ah, but it’s a bit regrettable. I wish you would equip yourself with sturdier armor. Should I give you some money?”

“…I don’t need it.”

I’d rather meet that lich one more time.

It’s the first time I’ve thought a dead monster would be better than a person.

Or rather, I should first debate whether to consider this thing as human.

It didn’t feel like I was talking to a person.

“Hmm, strange. I thought you’d like money.”

Somnus said with disappointment.

“Can’t be helped. Then instead of money, let me give you one more piece of information.”

“What are you—”

“About Maria’s granddaughter.”

He started talking on his own again.

My hand went to the sword I hadn’t drawn against Beatrice earlier.

I had the impulse to charge at him rather than endure his irritating talk.

“Who is that?”

“Ah, you don’t know who Maria is.”

Somnus said with a smile.

“She’s the grandmother of that alchemist girl who travels with you, Miss Seraphina Medimaker.”

“…Sera’s.”

“Yes. The girl you’ve been protecting.”

Somnus spread his hands wide.

“Maria is a great person who synthesized the Philosopher’s Stone, and Seraphina is her granddaughter.”

A sense of unease began to rise within me.

I was distracted by the conversation, and suddenly felt like I’d been hit from behind.

“…So you were after Sera, don’t tell me.”

“Yes. Because of the Philosopher’s Stone. We need it.”

Soon Somnus put his hands together again and bowed his head to me.

“So we sent someone to ask about it, but instead of an answer, swords came flying. The beautiful silver-haired swordswoman is now protecting that girl.”

“You bastard!”

I charged immediately.

Eve and Sera were in danger.

I drew the sword at my waist and swung it at him, but he blocked it with his prosthetic hand.

“Oh my, I kindly informed you that they’re being attacked right now, shouldn’t you be grateful?”

“Grateful? You crazy bastard!”

“Crazy, huh. I hear that quite often.”

I applied force, intending to cut through his prosthetic hand.

But whatever material his prosthetic was made of, my sword wouldn’t penetrate it.

“This is troublesome. I expected at least a word of thanks.”

“You dare touch those two?!!!”

I felt like my eyes were turning inside out.

I forcibly shook off his prosthetic hand and gripped my sword with both hands, swinging it with all my might.

Perhaps because I put more strength into it than before, I felt the sword penetrate the prosthetic hand slightly.

“This is difficult. I kindly inform you, and you get angry. The other side resists, refusing to tell us anything.”

I ignored his rambling and continued my attack.

I will definitely kill him.

Kill him right now, then go to those two.

“Ah, right. I forgot something.”

“Shut your—”

“About this recent terrorist attack, I actually committed it.”

I stopped my sword for a moment.

Christina’s face flashed in my mind.

“…Are you saying it was all staged?”

“No. I utilized Beatrice’s plan.”

Somnus said with a bright smile.

“She thought just causing chaos would be enough, so she only placed bombs around the platform where our Saint would ascend, and even those were shoddy ones with big flames but little explosive power.”

Somnus smiled.

“Since I prefer something more spectacular, I placed more powerful ones everywhere.”

“…!”

I don’t even know what words came out of my mouth.

It was all because of this guy.

It was all his doing.

My reason was about to fly away.

“By the way, you really care about those people. Didn’t you want to leave this place? I thought you would have prayed to God for that.”

“Shut… up!!”

“Well, I suppose you would have also prayed for the well-being and health of those around you, so you must care about them. My mistake!”

“Shut up!!!”

I swung my sword with all my might.

I heard something being cut.

And Somnus’s body, cut by my sword, collapsed.

No, that wasn’t it.

It wasn’t cut by the sword.

It had turned into something like soil.

Somnus reappeared not far away.

“But those people must care about you too. Hmm, it’s going to get heated, I think.”

“You son of a…!”

I charged at him again.

An intuition that this guy shouldn’t be left alive echoed in my head.

And Somnus suddenly stopped smiling and caught my sword with his prosthetic hand.

*Screech*

The prosthetic hand made a sound as it slid along the blade.

“…Oops, I apologize. I just remembered one more thing.”

Somnus said with a smile again.

“If you care for each other, there’s one more way I can use you.”

Somnus forcibly lifted my sword upward and pulled it away.

After throwing the sword behind him, he looked at me.

“If I capture you as a prisoner, I might be able to learn the whereabouts of the Philosopher’s Stone.”

Blue light from his other hand—not the prosthetic one—that had been motionless until now struck my abdomen.