549

 [Chapter 149]

[Belphegor]

After several escape attempts ended in failure,

'He' gave up on escaping for now.

Though he really wanted to go outside right away from the underground where no light entered.

'He' still couldn't resist the combined attack of the Slayers around with his power.

Above all─

'─Sorry, but it's useless on me. I don't dream anymore.'

'...How... on earth...'

'Because I'm more satisfied with reality now. Is there any reason for me to dream?'

'What... nonsense...'

The mastermind who created the New Humanity Project, whom people bowed to.

The guy called 'Him' was impossible to deal with.

So 'he' planned to quietly listen and slowly build up strength.

Also─

─It's troublesome.

As experiments continued,

The souls of the original owners of the hearts entered 'his' body.

As the number of souls gradually increased, they became part of the overall personality called 'him'.

So sometimes opinions between souls frequently clashed.

As a result, 'his' personality became lazy and slothful.

Everything was troublesome.

He thought he'd just store up power and sleep comfortably like this.

Time passed like that, but─

─Violent Venom

'He' was in light sleep.

So while sleeping, he was also aware of the situation happening in reality.

Kling

One day, suddenly.

An attack from reality.

'He' wandering in dreams sensed danger to his body.

He awakened immediately and blocked the incoming magic.

"─I was having a good dream."

'He', Belphegor grumbled.

☆

After solving the surveillance camera problem,

<Floater > Twenty-five headed straight to the 1st Bio Center where Bruno would be.

Finding Bruno moving secretly wasn't a difficult task for him.

Gift <Shadow Stepping>.

A Gift that traces mana characteristics.

"─Ah, what. You were in a place like this?"

"Hmm..."

"Still, it's fortunate I wasn't late. If I came late, you would have taken all the credit alone, uncle. Hehe." "I don't care about such things."

"Oh? Then how about giving it all to me? I'll lie that I did everything alone, so I can get lots of praise from the master."

"..." "Ah, you don't like that either." "Talk."

"Yes?" "You're noisy."

"Tsk, how much did I talk for you to say that..."

"Mouth."

"Yes sir."

Unlike Twenty-five who had the Avenieres Cloak that could erase presence,

Bruno had to infiltrate the building interior independently.

But he had to move while avoiding the eyes of Players in charge of guarding the 2nd Bio Center.

So his movements inevitably became slower.

He was caught up by Twenty-five before reaching his target point.

"─This works out well."

"Huh? What does?"

"You catch one guy. I'll catch those two."

It was fortunate in a way.

The 1st Bio Center director's room was located on the 10th floor.

He climbed to the 8th floor via stairs and had to deal with three Players on the way up to the 9th floor.

Dealing with them wasn't difficult.

The problem was he couldn't handle three people at different distances simultaneously.

The moment he caught one person, another could spread news of his presence to Players guarding the building.

But Twenty-five came just in time.

"Uncle. Can't we just go by elevator? Those guys don't look like they'll be caught by surprise."

"Then we'd be spreading our presence all over the neighborhood."

"Hah... okay. I got it. So which one should I take?" "The man at the very front. I'll take the other two."

"Well, it's good that weak me takes one and strong uncle takes two. But that woman at the very end is too far away, can you really handle her?" "..."

"What. Why are you staring at me."

"..."

"I got it. I believe you can do it, uncle, I believe. Who wouldn't know your skills. Okay."

After discussing strategy with each other,

The two pledged to rush out simultaneously at the right timing.

Twenty-five would deploy magic to bind the feet of the person at the front and the person behind him.

Bruno would dash out like an arrow and take down the person positioned at the back.

"Alright. We go on the count of three."

"Hmm." "One."

"...Two."

They exchanged counts one by one.

Finally when the count reached 3,

The two quickly rushed out from around the corner.

Twenty-five unleashed the magic he had prepared.

"─Wh-what!?"

"...Kuk...! My feet won't move..."

As two people were bound by magic,

Bruno ran down the corridor making the stone floor thump.

The Player screamed seeing a bulky presence running from the darkness.

But even that was dispersed by magic Twenty-five prepared─

─Bestia feroce III

Fierce Beast III

A gauntlet with horns.

The gauntlet that caused friction with the air was soon engulfed in flames.

The fist like an enraged beast directly hit the Player.

With just one blow, the Player fainted.

"...How terrifying. That fist is just a weapon, a weapon."

Twenty-five shuddered.

While completely neutralizing the bound Player.

Meanwhile Bruno returned to deal with the remaining Player.

The Player was already scared seeing his colleague faint with the sound of bones breaking from being punched.

There was no resistance.

"Urk..."

Iron Claw.

Bruno knocked out the man with his bear-like hand.

"We've roughly cleared the 8th floor, so let's quickly go up to the 9th floor." "Hmm."

"Let's lock these guys in a room somewhere."

They secured the way up to the 9th floor.

Just as they were about to leave the unconscious Players behind,

""──!!""

Without any warning, suddenly.

A mana wave spreading like ripples from the source was transmitted.

""..."" 

An extremely powerful wave.

They approached the window and looked for the source where the wave spread from.

There was one building visible from the window.

The 2nd Bio Center.

Where Noh Eunha went.

"Huh... what on earth is this... Uncle. I didn't sense this wrong, right?"

"Hmm."

Even though they were quite far away, the intensity of the wave was unusual.

Though it was just for a moment.

They sensed a presence that couldn't be ignored.

"It seems like some commotion happened there..." "Hmm..."

Twenty-five made a serious expression.

Bruno also had a dark face and fell into thought.

If the mana they felt just now wasn't a lie─

"─This isn't an opponent the master can handle alone..."

"..."

"No, and what on earth were they making in that research institute? What did they make to create something that could easily surpass a 4th tier monster?"

"Hmm..." "Uncle, shouldn't we go help?"

<Floater > Twenty-five blabbering.

Meanwhile Bruno kept his mouth shut.

Twenty-five seemed very frustrated by his reaction.

But not long after─

"─We continue doing what we were doing."

"Huh? No, why?"

Bruno opened his mouth.

Twenty-five seemed to not understand at all.

"Because what Eunha wants isn't for us to go rescue him."

"..."

"So we should do what we need to do. Also─"

"Also what?"

"Players are moving." "...!"

As soon as he finished saying that,

Bruno roughly grabbed Twenty-five by the scruff of his neck.

Then he hid their bodies in the nearest room.

Soon after, Players came down from the upper floor making footsteps.

""..."" 

It wasn't just them.

Players who didn't meet the two on the 8th floor also seemed to be rushing down to lower floors busily.

There was only one direction they were heading.

The 2nd Bio Center where the huge wave spread just now.

"The guard is disrupted. So..."

"We take advantage of that gap to steal research data and ledgers, right?" "Hmm."

"And after gathering what we need to gather, we go rescue the master."

"Hmm."

"Well, it would be much more advantageous to surprise them later rather than going to rescue right away. Above all... we should go when the master is having a hard time so he'll be grateful to us."

"...Let's just go if you understand."

"Yes sir."

Though he seemed to want to say something,

Bruno soon shook his head.

☆

I want to curse.

Why on earth.

Why wake up suddenly when I could have just kept sleeping?

The moment Violent Venom was used,

The Mayin sleeping in the glass tube opened his eyes, and Eunha had to fly backwards hit by magic the Mayin deployed.

Though it wasn't an attack considering the barrier the Mayin created,

Eunha's magic couldn't deal any damage to Belphegor.

Meanwhile─

─Tap

Crack

Very lightly,

Belphegor landed on the floor.

The sound of stepping on glass was heard.

Glass was crushed.

But neither Eunha nor Belphegor cared about such things.

The two only looked at the opponent facing them.

"─Was it you who woke me up." "..."

An androgynous voice where you couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl.

However, the tone coming from the voice seemed to have years of experience.

That was Belphegor's characteristic.

A being constituting one personality with dozens, hundreds of souls as a result of the New Humanity Project.

A Mayin that transcended the vessel of humans.

No, he was still a half-demon (半魔).

Because he knew that─

─Uboshin

Mana Crasher

He won't give Belphegor time to grasp the situation.

Eunha immediately rushed forward.

Taking one step, he landed in a direction out of Belphegor's sight.

Landing in a lowered posture, he swung his blue-dyed blade.

Kiing

But the blade of Winter Blooming Coldly couldn't reach him.

Protective magic deployed just before reaching his neck.

It absorbed Eunha's magic.

He yawned lightly and─

"─It seems you have no intention of talking." "...!"

"Well, fine. I was feeling lazy anyway, so I had no intention of exchanging words with you."

"...Kuk...!"

Belphegor muttering as if sleepy.

When he waved his hand as if annoyed, Eunha flew backwards as if swept by a wave.

That wasn't the end.

"─Kek...!!"

"I'll thoroughly pay you back for waking me from my nap. I can find out who you are later."

Belphegor appearing faster than Eunha's flying direction, predicting where he would fly.

He yawned and made a motion of striking down with the opposite hand.

As if crushed by gravity,

Eunha was slammed to the floor from midair by an invisible pressure.

"Hmm... It's unusually quiet around today, is this all your doing?"

Due to the area being instantly crushed,

Glass tubes shattered with a crash, and their contents spilled out.

Machine devices fell over on top of that.

All of those piled up on where Eunha was buried.

"I was waiting for the time to leave this place... But it was faster than expected. It seems 'that guy' isn't here either... Now's the only time to leave. Damn it... even leaving is work. How troublesome."

Meanwhile Belphegor paid no attention to Noh Eunha's existence.

He sat on some unnamed machine device and just searched the surroundings of the research institute by deploying a detection net.

Just then─

─Platinum Cross

A flash of light.

Light that was thought to be just a small dot at first spread into a cross as it flew.

"──!!"

From Belphegor's perspective, it was mana as small as a hair.

So he didn't pay attention because it was troublesome.

But the launched magic wasn't magic that could be ignored.

Rumble!

Platinum-colored light greedily devours mana in the air and rushes in.

Belphegor made a pained sound for the first time and put strength in his hand.

"...You... What kind of guy are you."

Fortunately the magic's trajectory was off,

Belphegor was somewhat injured but could deflect the magic.

Of course, it caused one wing of the research institute to collapse.

"─Why. I thought you didn't even want to talk to me?"

And from the pile of debris,

Noh Eunha revealed himself.

He smirked.

─Platinum Cross

His blade was already dyed platinum.

This time properly,

Eunha swung down the magic dyeing Winter Blooming Coldly towards him.

Boom!

Splitting the iron ground,

Platinum-colored light flies straight at him.

Finally he─

"─I changed my mind."

Would it be appropriate to say he brought out his main body?

Red mana blooming from his heart.

It protected his body while forming some kind of half-body.

"I was planning to pretend not to notice if you just stayed quiet like a dead mouse, but that thought completely disappeared."

A giant with the horns of a mountain goat.

It blocked Eunha's magic by crossing its two arms.

Sizzle

The arms were dented.

But the body made of mana soon recovered the wounds.

"Even if it's troublesome, I can't leave someone who keeps being annoying like this alone. I'll find out what kind of guy you are."

"Will you be able to find out?"

Eunha immediately rushed at him.

He sheathes Winter Blooming Coldly and draws Winter Crawling with Snow.

Winter Crawling with Snow

Mana Drain

The giant's arm moves.

Pressure that makes you want to shrink back.

Nevertheless, Eunha put strength in his feet and ran forward to swing his sword.

Though it was a body made of mana that could never be called material,

The giant blocked the sword strike with its two arms as if putting up a barrier.

The blade didn't reach the giant's arms, and wrestled with an invisible repulsive force in front of the two arms.

Shiiik

But that's fine.

The pure white blade was absorbing red mana and filling its stomach.

A snake floating on the blade surface was opening its maw ferociously.

At the same time, Eunha absorbed mana.

Take this.

Eventually Winter Crawling with Snow absorbed mana to its limit.

Eunha was about to swing down the sword that turned red like the giant's arms.

Just then.

"─There's nothing I can't find out."

"What?"

From inside the translucent giant's body,

Belphegor yawned with a face like it was nothing.

Then he says.

Really as if it's nothing.

"─You are already asleep. You just don't know you're dreaming."

"...!"

Belphegor's eyes flashed.

Energy that couldn't be called magic shook Eunha's mind as their gazes met.

Thump thump

His head throbs.

His vision shakes.

His eyes try to close drowsily as if he hadn't slept for days.

But just before drowsiness pours in─

─Thump thump thump

A sound was heard.

The sound rang from his chest.

Heartbeat.

His heart pumped fiercely and awakened his mind.

Gift <Unknown >

Like a lie,

The drowsiness that seemed impossible to resist completely disappeared.

And Eunha─

─Winter Crawling with Snow

Gathering the magic that was being disrupted,

He unleashed the snake that had been clamoring to go out.

Kuooooo!!