Chapter 38
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Partner and Contractor
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There were no rules at all.
Bill Howard picked up a piece of floatstone from a pool of blood and thought to himself.
There were no rules in this world.
No damn foster parents.
No need to go to that ruined school.
No need to wake up early.
‘I can just do whatever the hell I want.’
That was him now.
“These bastards are complete idiots. Did they really think they could fool us with that fake Northern flag?”
“Easy, too easy. I’ve already got seven pieces of floatstone. Once I collect the ones from the sabertooth tiger’s den, I’ll head straight up to the fourth floor.”
Bill’s companions kicked at the sprawled corpses and cackled.
This was already their third party hunt. Bill and his friends were a separate team from the Western murder squad.
They were a small group of just five, but that small size kept them off the radar of the bigger groups.
Five people didn’t have the firepower to take on a team of nearly ten.
But they targeted parties fresh off boss fights, ones littered with casualties.
Using Bill’s ambush-specialized avatar, they crushed exhausted parties in one go.
“Move spots quick. Three of them got away, so they might call for backup.”
“Alright. Lady, fun’s for later.”
“Hnng...”
At the base of a tree sat a woman with both ankles broken.
She was spoils of war, captured alive from the party. Her eyes held a mix of emotions.
Resignation to her situation.
The lingering will to survive.
And terror of what was to come.
How did we look in her eyes?
Beasts without morals or ethics?
Yeah. In a way, we were beasts freed from our iron cages.
“We can do anything.”
“No. You can’t.”
A sharp silver blade grazed past Bill’s chin.
“Huh? Bill...”
“Yeah. He’s dead.”
[One Stroke, Two Cuts (C+) activated]
The 228cm massive blade traced a sharp crescent.
As the blade tip touched the ground, another murderer collapsed in a gruesome heap.
The spray of his comrade’s blood stunned them only briefly.
The three surviving hunters scattered at full speed.
Of course, one didn’t even get to take a step before his spine was cleanly severed.
Leaving his despairing comrade’s face buried in the mud, Donorov sprinted with all his might.
‘Goddamn it, why’d that bastard have to show up here?’
The blood-soaked dark red hood. The snarling hound mask with bared fangs.
The lone wanderer who could effortlessly wipe out one or two parties.
One of the top murderers on this uninhabited island.
The mysterious killer ‘X’.
‘Damn it! Stay away. Please don’t come this way. Buddha! Just save me this once! If you threw me into this hellfire, you can do that much, right?’
The Mongolian Donorov prayed fervently.
It was the first time he’d prayed so desperately since secretly dumping a body in the mountains to evade the cops.
Two sharp explosions echoed from behind. Then a shadow loomed over Donorov.
Crack!
“Gahk!”
As he ran, two solid feet slammed down on his back.
His muscles twisted under the pressure, his spine snapping out of alignment in an instant.
Overwhelmed by agony, Donorov face-planted into the dirt.
Splat.
In front of him rolled the head of the comrade who’d fled in the opposite direction.
Despite the pain, one thought dominated Donorov’s mind.
‘I’m dead.’
A snicker came from behind Donorov, for some reason.
Suddenly, the weight on his back vanished, and Donorov prepared his final struggle.
An item that paralyzed part of the body on contact and injected lethal venom.
‘Fang of the Dragonbone Spider’
Pulling out his murder reward from up to the third floor, Donorov whipped around with bloodshot eyes.
But the expected X wasn’t there.
The pain in his crushed back felt like a lie—no footprints marred the muddy ground.
“Heh, heh heh. He he he.”
Spinning around in a frenzy, Donorov finally burst into laughter.
He’d let go of prey that was as good as caught.
There were only two reasons for that.
A lunatic who treated murder like a game, or a lunatic who wanted his fear to spread far and wide.
Whether Donorov joined other murderers for a new hunt or hid his identity to join a safe mega-group, no one knew yet.
But his encounter with the mad monster would become valuable advice for his new comrades.
“Thank you so much for the help. This favor...”
“Sorry for interrupting.”
A silent thrust.
A trickle of red blood flowed neatly from between the woman’s eyes.
[Devil Realm Achievement ‘Uninhabited Island 50-Man Slaughter’ has been achieved]
[Your current uninhabited island kill ranking is 2nd place]
Several notification windows popped up before his eyes. But no rewards appeared.
“Oh my, is the Yata blade I gave you last time not suiting your hands?”
Lilianne, the third-floor succubus administrator, floated above Gonghyeok’s head.
“Yeah. Using it well.”
“Even hunters struggle with blades over 2 meters long. You wield it so effortlessly. The ‘Master of All Martial Arts’ trait isn’t for show, I see.”
Lilianne wagged her tail and tapped Gonghyeok’s shoulder.
“Hmm~ You kept your promise to handle a hundred up to the third floor. And you’ve been steadily racking up results... I’ve got nothing more to say. Here’s your reward.”
With a flick of her finger, a glow appeared.
[As reward for ‘Uninhabited Island 50-Man Slaughter’, you receive 50 indigo coins]
[Acquired title 「True Beast of the Uninhabited Island」. When equipped, agility +25, and bleeding damage against humanoid enemies increases by 1.5x]
[The lewd demon Lilianne adds ‘Lava Dinosaur’s Protective Charm’ as extra reward]
“This is a protective charm. Use it against that Tyrannosaurus, and it’ll create a defensive barrier in front, reducing impact by a certain amount.”
Handing over the small talisman pouch, Lilianne sighed.
“Ah, I’m actually so sad. I wanted you, big brother, to use us more than the angels. You took Azazel’s quest first. Even if you picked the massacre quest over the great hero one, I was ready to give plenty of rewards. Hng.”
Lilianne wrapped her arms around Gonghyeok’s neck coquettishly.
His resolve softened at her un-demonic sparkling eyes, and Gonghyeok replied readily.
“Oh? Then give me the massacre quest too.”
“Really? I knew that suited you, big brother. I’ll link it into a long-term chain quest all the way to the fourth and fifth floors with fat rewards guaranteed. Want me to cancel the great hero quest right now?”
In Babel, saving lives was far harder than killing.
Thus, most kill quests offered weaker rewards than salvation ones.
To hide that fact, Lilianne tried linking quests as a smokescreen, but he said to her:
“If you mess with the contract and sneakily cancel the great hero one, I’ll chop off all your fingers.”
At Gonghyeok’s blunt threat, a vein pulsed faintly at Lilianne’s temple, but she smiled and asked:
“Ah, dear sir. You can’t take both the great hero quest and the massacre quest together, you know?”
“Not that you can’t—it’s just that half-killing and half-saving gives worse rewards than acing one or the other.”
“...... Yeah, you’re right. That’s why I’m saying this for your sake. If it’s about insufficient rewards, I’ve got ways to fix that~”
Lilianne swam in a circle around Gonghyeok, looking down at him.
“Big brother, how about contracting with me? Every achievement you rack up gets you special abilities rivaling avatars, plus contractor-exclusive items—tons of enticing rewards.
And... well, no, I’ll keep that secret until the fifth floor. Saying it now would make me seem too obvious.”
Lilianne smiled with her eyes at Gonghyeok.
‘It’s here. The devil-hunter contract.’
A devil’s gift, usually offered to hunters whose sanity had snapped or who’d do anything to win.
What she kept secret was the ‘post-humanity extinction deal’.
Joining Babel’s demon clan and guaranteeing survival after humanity’s fall—a traitor’s bargain.
She swallowed it back, since Gonghyeok was still deftly conquering Babel.
“A contract... I actually came to talk about that.”
“Ask away, dear sir. I’ve got no secrets from you.”
“That bat-wing guy fighting the Tyrannosaurus last time. Devil contractor, right?”
Lilianne broke into a sweat and averted her gaze.
“Um...... That’s confidential per contract terms~”
“I’ll cut off that guy’s wings.”
“Dear sir~ It’s a contractor-exclusive item—it vanishes on death~ No need; just contract with me for a variety of items...”
“Aren’t you just a lowly succubus? You don’t seem like a Thousand Knight either. What kind of support could I even get from someone like you?”
Lilianne’s eyes sharpened in an instant.
She was Thousand Knight-level demon. But as a despised succubus among demons, she hadn’t made the cut despite her skills.
Even with about 120 spots open.
Gonghyeok’s words stabbed like a dagger into her complex.
“You know about Thousand Knights... Calling Sandalphon last time too. Your avatar seems connected to Babel’s system.”
“Lilianne. That’s not what matters.”
Gonghyeok brought his face close to hers.
“I’ll contract. Want to become a Thousand Knight?”
“......”
“Not just that. One of the top ones—Bel Marduk’s Forty-Four Spears. And...”
Gonghyeok spread his arms dramatically, gazing at Lilianne.
“Great demon archduke Lilianne. What a sweetly resonant ring.”
“...... Don’t talk nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense. While other Thousand Knights’ or Twelve Archdukes’ contractors flounder, wise Lilianne’s contractor shines in the great war between the four demon kings on the fortieth floor. Of course, the other contractors might need some ‘surgery’ to keep them in line.”
“How do you even know that...”
“Shh!”
Gonghyeok’s gesture to be quiet.
“Timid succubus Lilianne. That’s not important. You’re a devil. A devil’s rank depends on how capable a contractor you recruit. Right?”
“I know you’re capable. But......”
“No. You don’t know how capable I am. As proof, give me this quest first?”
Whispering a quest name lightly into her ear, her eyes widened.
“That quest in this situation? You’re completely mad. What are you planning?”
“Me?”
His lips curled in a sneer.
‘Wreak havoc.’
His hand snaked back and tugged her tail.
“Kyaa!” A short squeal escaped as her body went limp.
His other hand wrapped around Lilianne’s perfectly curved waist.
Their lips met naturally.
He’d targeted her weakness flawlessly—her lips fell before she could react.
Confusion filled Lilianne’s eyes. Yet her flushed cheeks clearly showed her pleasure.
‘Oh god, I’m not some girl who just turned a hundred. Is this the suspension bridge effect? Just an illusion?’
To Lilianne, her girlish heart blooming after so long, Gonghyeok said:
“Good. Partner Lilianne. Thousand Knight, demon archduke—it’s all up to your choice.”
At his following words, Lilianne let out a “Pfft.”
“Which path you take... depends on you.”