Chapter Index

    Splat, she steps onto the floor.

    The damp and humid underground is all mud and dirt.

    Making it difficult to walk in many ways.

    Her boots getting dirty is also annoying, but she couldn’t complain.

    ‘Fog…?’

    While descending the dark passage that seemed like the jaws of a hell beast, not knowing how many floors it continued for, Spade barely noticed it.

    Fog thickly filling the corridor.

    As if to announce that it wasn’t ordinary fog, it clung to her skin with a sticky feeling.

    No, not fog… definitely a special gas…!

    ‘Why, did I only notice this now…!’

    Just what was she thinking about a little while ago as she came down?

    It’s impossible that she didn’t notice until it got this thick.

    “Club, we should go back–”

    『I will not run away. Immature heroes do not fear the fog and go forward.』

    Zzzzzzzzzzzzzing…!

    “Ugh…?!”

    Her head throbbed.

    And after a moment, Spade turned her head back to the front, which she had turned to Club.

    “Sunbae-nim? Just now….”

    “……No, it’s nothing. Is your vision okay?”

    “So far, yes. But this fog… seems to have magical power, so it’s hard to see through it like ordinary fog.”

    “Yeah. Me too. And it sticks to my skin… it feels like my senses are dulled overall….”

    Spade spoke as if complaining, but she resumed walking after only briefly pausing.

    Through this strange fog, she simply advanced forward.

    “So, don’t neglect the surrounding area.… You’ve been trained so far so that there’s no problem with this much, right? Let’s show our grit, Club.”

    “Yes, Sunbae-nim!”

    Spade encouraged Club with an almost arrogant force, and Club answered Spade’s decision without any complaints.

    Looking at Club’s expression, if Spade had suggested going back, she would have insisted on continuing to advance, even if it meant being stubborn.

    —Both of them were strange.

    Their mood was strangely elated, and they seemed to be driving themselves to the edge of a cliff, as if they had thrown their original style of ‘safety first’ to the dogs.

    ***

    And then, the anomaly came at that moment.

    Swish…!

    “Huh…?!”

    “Ugh…?”

    The floor the two were stepping on.

    The mud on the floor suddenly began to wrap around the two of them, as if climbing up their legs.

    Swish swish swish swish swish swish swish swish!!

    “Wait… what is this…!?”

    Mud sticking to their bodies with a squelching sound.

    The two of them were being wrapped up as their whole bodies were being covered, as if sucking up the mud from the floor.

    The mud that soared up in that way covered the two up to their heads in the blink of an eye.

    New mud stuck to the mud that covered them, covering it repeatedly.

    Splat splat, mud was added on top.

    Many layers, many layers.

    With the momentum to completely imprison the two, the mud gathered and stuck… finally, a coffin made of mud was created.

    『……!!』

    『……!』

    Mumbling sounds were heard, but there was no sign of escaping.

    Even ordinary mud becomes more solid than most steel plates when solidified firmly to this thickness.

    Furthermore, this mud is not ordinary mud either.

    It is mud imbued with magical power, mud that becomes harder than steel once it hardens.

    So, there is no way for the person inside to escape.

    No matter how powerful the hero is, they cannot escape from this mud coffin.

    The ability that suits the name 【Mud】 incredibly well….

    “…We’re caught?”

    Meow meow, the cats that followed Club scratched at the foot of the solid mud coffin.

    Meanwhile, someone approached from the other side of the corridor.

    The villains of the villain organization 【Mud】.

    Those who were waiting here under the instructions of the client Olivia, slowly approached, observing the reactions of the captured heroes.

    “Re, really? Is this the end?”

    “…It seems so.”

    “……”

    Unbelievable.

    That terrifying hero was caught so easily.

    Since the opponent was said to be a promising hero from Squad 7, they prepared the place with a pounding heart, making the entire corridor a mud pit and putting in a lot of effort.

    In addition to that, they had prepared several other plans in case this plan did not proceed properly.

    But in the end, it proceeded according to the first plan, and they easily captured the heroes.

    This can’t be happening.

    Originally, the mud they manipulated was slow to move, and if the first surprise attack failed, the second was impossible… that was the kind of method it was.

    But the heroes were strangely careless and foolishly came to the middle of the mud pit filled with magic power, which was easy to capture.

    They didn’t care about the 『Fog of Bewilderment』 that concealed the mud’s magical power and their presence.

    Furthermore, perhaps because they were so surprised, they couldn’t resist in the early stages when they could have escaped.

    A plan that would not have succeeded if even one of them had thought something was strange, or if even one of them had been wary and stepped back or tried to find another approach route.

    But it had succeeded.

    The fact was so bizarre.

    Too easy.

    Too smooth.

    It was frighteningly easy.

    They had already heard the story roughly, but they were half-doubtful.

    They didn’t think it would be this easy.

    “Ha, haha…!”

    One of the three villains, No. 13, the woman nicknamed Lively, burst out laughing without realizing it.

    This request is a jackpot.

    They captured the hero so easily, and they were promised a huge reward for this.

    When they thought about the large income they would get for taking on this easy task, they couldn’t help but laugh.

    “Haha, ahahahaha! I caught them, guys!”

    “It’s a success! It’s money! We’re getting money! For doing something so easy——”

    Smack.

    An arm emerged from the mud coffin that was covering one of the heroes, along with a terrifying sound.

    The solid mud coffin was made by stacking several layers of mud that had more strength than steel plates.

    But the arm popped out through the thick mud wall.

    “Ack…!”

    Grasp… Thump!!

    The arm that popped out grabbed Lively’s collar in an instant, who was standing nearby and congratulating them, and pulled her in.

    Lively’s slender body was slammed against the wall of the solid mud coffin.

    “Leader?!”

    Calm shouted, and Gloomy was surprised and gasped.

    Squeeze…!!

    “Ugh, ugh…!! Let go…!”

    Lively, who was stuck to the wall of the mud coffin with her collar grabbed, tried to pull out the hand that was grabbing her collar, but it was useless.

    Near her struggling ear.

    From beyond the mud coffin, from beyond the hole pierced there, a voice was heard.

    —『I’ll kill you.』

    Ooze…!

    “Hiiiiek?!”

    Lively felt chills all over her body at the voice filled with deep murderous intent and intense pressure.

    She was a human who had dipped her body in the darkness, but this was the first time she had experienced such intense pressure and murderous intent.

    And the next moment.

    Boom!!!

    “Ugh?!”

    The mud coffin, the mud wall surrounded by those several layers.

    And likewise, the villain Lively, who was grabbed by the collar and stuck to the wall.

    They were blown away at once as if exploding.

    Lively, who was blown away like trash along with the mud debris, rolled disgracefully through the foggy, muddy corridor beyond.

    Thud… Thud…

    “Tsk… Hooo… What is this. It’s all muddy… annoying.”

    The person who instantly blew up (爆散) the mud pile created with magic.

    Spade appeared, her whole body covered in mud.

    A strong-looking red energy was constantly soaring from her whole body.

    “Club, are you okay?”

    Spade nonchalantly reached out to the mud pile that was towering next to her.

    And with a force that was unbelievable to have come from that slender arm, she tore off the wall of the mud coffin in which Club was trapped in one fell swoop.

    Crack crack crack!!

    “Ugh…!! Cough, cough…! Sunbae-nim…! Thank you…!”

    Club grimaced and came out from beyond the mud coffin, half of which had been torn off.

    Like Spade, her whole body was covered in mud, making her feel uncomfortable and dirty in many ways.

    “……?! H, hey! Run away!”

    “Leader…! Quickly, get up…!”

    Seeing Spade and then Club escaping, the villains were terrified and ran away.

    The fog, which had become even thicker than before, quickly hid the villains.

    But they were not two people who would let them go with their eyes open.

    “Club! Let’s chase them!”

    “Yes, Sunbae-nim!”

    The two ran in the direction the villains had escaped.

    ***

    The fog was so thick that visibility was obscured, and the sticky fog that clung to the skin numbed the senses.

    In addition, perhaps because this fog also had a hallucinatory effect, they were often wandering around in the middle, such as going in the opposite direction from the road they were going on, without realizing it.

    They were simply walking through the basement of a building, but they even felt like they were trapped in a labyrinth in mythology.

    Also, in the middle, mud golems and mud walls rose from the muddy floor and blocked their path and tried to pounce on them.

    This basement was completely the opponent’s playground.

    All kinds of devices that the villains had prepared to intercept the heroes, bared their teeth of malice and tried to stop the two, or even overwhelm them as they were.

    But.

    Even so.

    “Kya, kyaaaaaaaak?!! Run awaaaaay~~~!!!”

    “Why can’t you just be reasonable… all your colleagues have been caught! Just get caught obediently! Please!”

    One person was knocked out by Club’s coin sniping directly hitting the back of their head.

    One person was knocked out by Spade’s fist hitting their solar plexus.

    Now that the fog and the interference of the freely moving mud were gone, as if the game of tag was over, Spade chased after the last remaining person, cornering them until just before she caught them.

    Spade, who had fully strengthened her body, was chasing after them with a terrifying momentum as if she were a fired bullet, even though the floor was all muddy.

    Just before Spade’s hand was about to grab the last remaining villain.

    “Yat…!!”

    Thump!!

    Thud!

    The villain squeezed out their last strength and threw their body, violently opening the heavy iron door and rolling inside.

    “It’s over now.”

    Club was left behind to inject anesthetics into the two people she had knocked out earlier and put on restraints.

    So Spade, who had been chasing after the villain alone, entered the wide space where the villain had jumped.

    Haa… haa… haa…

    ‘Here is….’

    Regulating her slightly rough breathing, she coolly looked around.

    The corridor from a little while ago was a dark space with almost no lighting.

    But this place was a little brighter than the corridor, and it was also very wide compared to the narrow and cramped corridor that was like a maze.

    ‘A meeting place with the mafia…?’

    Were they trying to meet and trade with the mafia here?

    It was troublesome in many ways to come down to such a deep basement and pass through that complicated passage, but it also seemed certain in terms of security and stability.

    Although it didn’t seem rational.

    It was a space that seemed suitable for doing shady things.

    Perhaps because the designated time had not yet arrived, there did not seem to be any mafia, known as the trading partner, in this space.

    But that didn’t mean that Spade could rush in to arrest the last remaining villain.

    “……Who are you? Are you a colleague of these guys?”

    The underground space where the villain had run away.

    From inside that space, a woman in armor like a knight from the Middle Ages was standing as if waiting for Spade.

    At least, not an Asian… a Westerner.

    American… or maybe European.

    She was not a person listed in the 【Mud】 data that Spade had received, but since she was in this place, she would not be an unrelated ordinary person.

    Thinking so, Spade tensed up and took a stance.

    “I’m a hero from Squad 7 of the Hero Association.”

    “You must tell me why you are here and what your relationship is with these villains.”

    “Please be aware that I may attack immediately if you do not answer truthfully.”

    “…Ah, I wonder if I have to speak in English for you to understand? What should I do?”

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