Chapter 78

Chapter 78

The Advent of Destruction.

***

‘I’m glad things went smoother than I expected.’

I breathed a sigh of relief and took a big bite of the skewer. After wiping out the inn and thoroughly obtaining the information, I planned to head straight west. I had heard that Noah’s organization, Nest, was located there.

Just as we were about to set off, Jess’s stomach growled. It was only then that I realized it had been a long time since we had eaten.

Not wanting to starve the kids any longer, we entered a skewer shop located quite a distance from the inn and started eating, piling up skewers like a mountain.

‘…Who would have thought I could win without even crossing swords?’

I took another bite of the skewer as I recalled the massacre at the inn.

‘To think I could kill so many people and then eat without a second thought, I guess I’m adapting well to this dark world!’

Although it was because the concept of ‘death’ was as light as a feather in this world, let’s just say I was adapting well.

“Jess, don’t eat the wooden skewers. Another 50 skewers, please!”

“Yes!”

Chwaaak, chwarureuk!

Jess’s appetite was so great that the shopkeeper was sweating bullets while grilling the meat without rest. At that moment, Iris swallowed the remaining meat in her mouth and spoke.

“Brother, who is this person named Noah?”

“Ah, come to think of it, I never told you, Iris?”

I put down the skewer I was holding on the plate, took a sip of water to moisten my mouth, and then began to recount the past.

I told her about meeting Noah and the kids at the place where I was held as an experimental subject, being taken in by Mia the black magician by chance, and meeting Iris after being half-kidnapped by Jiso.

I lied, saying I only did cooking and trivial tasks because I thought she might worry if I told her I was experimented on. Although the experiments weren’t too harsh, Iris was a very caring child, so I deliberately kept my words brief.

“Are you going to meet that… person?”

“Yes, I want to help.”

“Then I’ll help too. Because it’s something you want, Brother.”

Seeing Iris smile with her eyes forming half-moons, she looked so adorable that I couldn’t help but pat her head. Her face turned a lovely shade of red.

“Woof! Woof! (Master! Me too! Me too!)”

Jess, with her mouth full of skewers, ran towards me and stretched out her head. Her protruding ears drooped down, urging me to pat her head as well. Just as I lifted my hand to pat her head.

Clang! Crash!

A sharp dagger flew towards me but was deflected by Iris’s sword, shattering the table next to us.

“Tsk, you’re quite skilled for your appearance.”

A man’s voice came from a shadowy corner of the building, the same place the dagger had come from. The man, covered entirely in a black robe, spoke with a voice mixed with laughter.

“I’ll retreat for now. But next time…”

The man said, then began to vanish as if melting into the shadows.

‘Ugh… people of that sneaky type are so troublesome!’

The type of person who waits for the opponent to let their guard down, pops out, and makes lousy attacks before disappearing!

Thinking about how they might appear at inconvenient times, like while I was using the bathroom, just putting on clothes, or hopping around after stubbing my pinky toe, already made me exhausted.

‘I can’t have such terrible experiences!’

Even if I summoned the demonic sword to attack immediately, the man would disappear faster. How could I catch that man who had already vanished by 70%?

Instinctively, I picked up a wooden skewer from the table. I threw it with all my might towards the man and shouted.

“Jess! Fetch!”

“Woof!”

Jess, who had been growling at the man with wide eyes, suddenly widened her eyes like an innocent puppy and darted towards the flying skewer at an incredible speed.

“Huh…!”

The speed was so fast it almost looked like a truck speeding down a highway. The reason I compared it to a truck was because… the sneaky man flew away as if hit by a truck.

Crash! Crunch! Thud!

The man who flew through the building wall rolled over with blood frothing and fainted. He looked almost dead.

The skewer shop owner, who had been grilling skewers like a mountain, grabbed his head and collapsed to the floor.

“Oh no… The skewered meat shop that’s been passed down for five generations… the legacy my mother left me… I was going to confess to her after paying off all the debts…”

Seeing the skewer shop owner sitting dejectedly, spouting cliched lines, I felt like I had done something terribly wrong. I approached him, sweating nervously.

“Um…”

“Master, I’m sorry. I really am useless! Sob sob…”

As I was about to hand over some money to the sobbing skewer shop owner, who was crying his heart out.

Bang!

“Hey! Shop owner, come out!”

The shop door, which had been wide open when we entered, was now closed, and I saw it fly away from a stranger’s kick.

“If you borrowed money, you have to pay it back!”

“Oh, business seems to be doing well, huh? Look at all these skewers piled up.”

Without a word, I alternated my gaze between the two thug-like men and the man embedded in the wall, who I presumed to be an assassin.

‘Seriously… is no one going to care about the guy stuck in the wall?’

This was definitely… something that only happened in a gag world. The moment I realized that, I understood.

‘Ah, the authority must have been activated! But why?’

The authority was said to activate towards people who threatened me. That means, the skewer shop owner who was spouting cliched lines and the thugs ignoring the fallen man had threatened me.

‘But that doesn’t seem right… hmm…’

The thugs were only threatening the skewer shop owner and didn’t even glance at me. While I was bewildered by the situation, one of the thugs suddenly turned to me and shouted with his mouth agape.

“Whoa! Boss! Isn’t that the guy we saw in the wanted poster?!”

“What? Oh, it is! It really is!”

Wanted poster?

The gag filter affected guys kindly explained.

“He’s the crazy guy who disrupted Leviathan’s operation and escaped…. Wow, to be casually eating in Leviathan’s territory even after a bounty was placed… he’s really got guts, huh?”

“That guy’s bounty is ten gold coins, right?”

“Keh heh… We’ve hit the jackpot! And the girl next to him is quite pretty too, we could sell her for a nice sum!”

Only after hearing their conversation did I realize why this situation had occurred.

‘The Leviathan guys threatened me… so the authority activated over this entire area!’

My eyes began to shake madly.

‘Wait, does that mean everyone is in an immortal state?’

As soon as I had that thought, the thugs approached me and tried to swing their fists.

“Grrr!”

“Get lost.”

Jess bit the throat of the man who charged at me, and Iris, cursing, sliced the other man’s throat.

Chwaaak, splotch!

“Ah… so they’re not immortal.”

Seeing the two men turned into corpses, I sighed in relief. I almost made the Leviathan guys invincible.

“Ah, wait a minute.”

Suddenly, a realization caused my brain to buffer.

‘That means they act like Gag Residents, but their lives are finite, right?’

At that moment, I could foresee the destruction of Leviathan.

“…Guys, let’s head to the western area as fast as we can. This place seems too dangerous.”

“Okay.”

“Got it! Master!”

Jess nodded, hugging me around the waist. Her ears drooped, and she looked at me with sparkling eyes, wagging her tail as I patted her head.

“Let’s go, Iris.”

“…Okay.”

Iris, who had been quietly watching Jess, smiled like a blooming flower and took my hand.

Jess didn’t want to let go of me, but after coaxing her, saying we needed to separate for faster movement, she reluctantly let go with a sullen face.

We left money for the skewers and the broken furniture on the table and left the skewer shop.

***

“Uwaaah! D-damn it! Get lost!”

“You get lost! Whoa!? You’re falling!”

The butts of two burly men, who looked like bowling pins, were stuck together with glue.

The two men, in an awkward stance, got into a scuffle and eventually fell over. They began to roll down the sloped street.

“Uwaaaah!”

“Ugh… Save me!”

With ominous cracking sounds, the rolling men crashed into boxes filled with goods from other shops, breaking everything.

“Oh my! My shop’s goods!”

“Who the heck are they!”

Shop owners rushed out, swearing and trying to find the culprits, but they had already rolled away and couldn’t be found.

“Dammit… Hopin! It was you, wasn’t it!”

“Huh? It wasn’t me, it must’ve been you!”

Normally, they would have had a rational conversation, but now, with their eyes rolling back, they hurled insults at each other and started throwing things from the ground, fighting.

In a gag world, they would have ended up with just bruises, but since this was a dark fantasy world, blood started to splatter instantly.

“Hey there, miss. How about a cup of tea with me?”

“Hmph, no thanks.”

A woman working in the red-light district scoffed and hit the man’s face with her bag. The man’s neck snapped with a crack, and he fell over.

“Wow…”

Lian looked around and said.

“It’s a mess.”

End of Chapter