episode_0138
by fnovelpiaA few moments back in time, a middle-aged woman let out a piercing scream akin to a banshee’s wail.
“I wonder where I should go?”
Once again, Iris found herself lost. It wasn’t because her sense of direction was particularly poor.
Just as Lian accidentally shattered the old man’s heart, villains in the world of comedy, especially those harboring fake madness, often met their downfall through the mundane actions of ordinary people.
Iris’s inability to find her way was also influenced by the comedic filter.
Wandering aimlessly often led one to stumble upon the hiding spots of villains—a cliché scenario.
“Ah, a door. Maybe I can exit through there.”
Her steps quickened as she had wandered for quite some time. Just as she attempted to open the door…
Creak.
“…!”
A sharp pain surged through the door as if electricity flowed through it. Despite the comedic filter, the fact that the magic circle remained intact without being destroyed implied something crucial was safeguarded within. However, Iris neither needed nor wanted to know about such matters.
Quietly, she clenched her fist and struck the wall next to the door.
Crash!
If there was no door, she would break through the wall. It was a logical course of action.
“….? This isn’t it either.”
She scanned the room with unpleasant talismans clinging to the walls, wearing a disgruntled expression. A red string hung from the ceiling, suspending an unsettling mask in mid-air.
Thud.
Blood trickled down the mask. Even at a glance, it was an unpleasant sight, which only irritated her further in her already displeased state.
Snap, thud!
In an attempt to express her anger, she grabbed the string and yanked it forcefully. The mask, made of human facial skin, torn off like paper, fell to the ground.
“Sigh… Where on earth is the door?”
With an expressionless face, Iris lifted the mask. As she did, the mask began to emit a faint glow.
“Do you not wish to become beautiful?”
“Do you not desire to become the most beautiful woman and rule the world?”
“All humans will praise and love you!”
“Come, wear me! And become the most beautiful person in the world!”
The muddy voice digging into her mind on rainy days caused Iris’s expression to contort even more.
“To wear such a filthy mask…?”
[ … ]
If there was even a hint of desire to improve her appearance, the demon’s mask, capable of devouring its wearer, fell silent, unable to speak.
“Do you know the way out?”
“No, I -..”
“If you don’t know, then it’s unnecessary.”
Crack.
“Aaargh!”
Without hesitation, Iris exerted force and split the mask in half. With the strength of a warrior, the demonic item shattered easily.
Clatter.
She casually tossed the mask aside and proceeded to search for the door, passing the unpleasant room.
“Ah, here it is.”
Not long after, she found the door leading outside. The exit connected to a small house on the outskirts of the village. By the time Iris swiftly exited the dungeon, the sun had begun to rise. That was the result of wandering and breaking things inside the dungeon for a long time.
As soon as she emerged outside, Iris started running to find her older brother.
***
At that moment, Noah and Jess coincidentally joined forces while breaking the dungeon. With Noah’s excellent adaptability in various situations and Jess’s animal-like instincts, conquering the dungeon together was easier than pie.
“Over there!”
Given the lack of immediate information, Jess relied on Noah’s advice to head towards a place with a strange scent, moving forward by trusting his nose.
The duo discovered a passage different from where Iris had entered. This hidden pathway behind the maze wall was one of the routes connecting a middle-aged woman’s room to manage the dungeon. It was a passage that could only be found by destroying the wall.
Without hesitation, they entered the passage. Although it interconnected various spaces like an anthill, they headed towards the area with a human scent.
“Jess, how can you distinguish and identify the scent of a stranger?”
“Well, just like how the scent of a rabbit is different from that of a deer, humans have their unique smell. So when there’s a scent of an unfamiliar person, I can roughly tell. Of course, it’s only possible in situations where there are few people around or when I can focus.”
Upon hearing this, Noah shivered slightly, feeling as if Jess viewed humans as prey like rabbits or deer.
“Jyun-nim! Jjuin-nim!”
Of course, looking at that bright smiling face, it seemed otherwise.
‘Come to think of it, Jess rarely shows his ears and tail unless he’s with Lian.’
For some unknown reason, it was always like that. Their personalities also differed quite a bit. When with Lian, he felt like a lively troublemaker, but in her absence, he exuded a calm and amiable vibe. He became remarkably composed to the point of being scary during battles.
‘As expected… he must like Lian, right?’
Having even managed a large organization like Nestra, Noah had a keen sense for such things. She continued her complex thoughts with a puzzled expression before lightly nodding.
“For now, finding Pia and the kids is the priority.”
As Noah finished her thoughts, Jess abruptly stopped in a damp corridor resembling an underground prison. He then approached the door and sniffed the air.
“She’s here!”
“Good.”
Noah swiftly drew her sword after assuming a stance.
Clang.
With the sound of the sword returning to its sheath, the door split into exactly 16 pieces and fell to the ground with a thud. It was an astonishing display of skill.
“…Who’s there?”
“That person is…”
The two finally succeeded in a perfect team-up but found a man destined for NTR captured by a witch-like woman.
“Let’s try waking him up first.”
As the two began to awaken the man, the middle-aged woman rapidly aged.
“Ugh, gasp… This can’t be happening… This can’t be…”
Her hair turned white, and a mushroom-like growth sprouted on her face. Her eyes lost their vitality and turned a pale white. The jewelry adorning her body weighed her down like a prisoner’s shackles, dragging her, not a woman, but an old lady, to the ground.
“Me… I… It can’t… end like this…”
Muttering incoherently, the old lady took hesitant steps forward. Iris’s shattered mask lay before her, as she struggled to reach for it.
Her vision blurred with cataracts, making it hard to see clearly. Despite stumbling, she continued forward. However, she couldn’t discern where she was heading.
Thud.
How long had it taken? Her fingertips touched what seemed to be a door. She immediately pushed the door with a bright smile.
Beyond this door, ‘it’ would be there!
The mask that promised her eternal beauty. With that mask, she believed she could regain her youth. Of course, she would lose her mind until she consumed the blood of a hundred maidens, but as long as she could find her youth, it didn’t matter.
“If I can find my youth, I will kill that woman… Oh, and that sturdy man, Loren… I will make him taste it…”
She ignited the will to live a little longer. In a moment of lustful desire, her eyes gleamed obscenely.
Bang!
“Ugh…!”
Like a wok used for Chinese cooking, it mercilessly struck the old woman’s head. With only 1 durability left, her body crumpled forward in an instant. Judging by the deep dent at the back of her head, it seemed like her skull had shattered, causing instant death.
A cold breeze brushed past the old woman’s body. The door she opened led outside. The person standing in front of the door exhaled roughly.
“Hu… hu…”
The woman holding the massive wok glared at the old woman. Her eyes were swollen, perhaps from crying a lot.
She held the heavy wok in one hand and grabbed the old woman’s collar with the other.
“Where is my husband! Tell me now!”
Yes, she was the wife of the man kidnapped by the old woman. Following the cliché of the comedy world, from childhood friends to first love, dating, and marriage, she was supposed to be the happiest person alive.
As she dealt with the old woman, the comedy filter worked fiercely to maintain the romantic cliché.
“Tell me now!”
“Uh… down…”
Forcing the soul that escaped from the old woman’s body to answer, she grabbed her and threw her backward without hesitation as soon as the old woman finished speaking. The old woman flew out like a newspaper thrown out during a storm, landing on the ground weakly.
She was currently in an invincible state, almost godlike.
Crash! Bang!
She did not stop until her husband returned to her embrace.
***
Overnight, it was revealed that the substitute official had kidnapped children to satisfy his cannibalistic desires, and the priestess was exposed as a witch who kidnapped maidens for their blood.
These two incidents were so significant that they overshadowed the story of the chief of the guards. However, that didn’t mean the chief of the guards had a happy ending.
“What did you just say?!”
“Unfortunately…”
“I, I…”
“Due to both sides exploding… it was too late to take action.”
“Ugh…!”
0 Comments