Chapter 237: There Are No Bad People
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 237: There Are No Bad People
Stunned by the sudden turn of events, Kanna and her attendant shouted at Grokk and Melt, who had already drawn their weapons.
"W-what are you doing, Grokk?!"
"Kanna Belfos. Just keep your eyes shut for a bit. We need to have some fun too, don't we?"
"What are you talking about?! W-why all of a sudden?!"
As a panicked Kanna screamed, Grokk pointed his sword toward her and spoke.
"We’ll take that bitch, and you can have the guy. How’s that sound?"
Of course, he had no intention of doing that. If he returned to the surface after letting his woman be taken, there was no telling what Yoo Eon would do.
In Grokk’s mind, Yoo Eon was currently just a mage. If he allowed those who couldn't even receive proper magic training without the Cartel to return safely to the surface, Grokk himself would be the one to die. He had to kill them before that happened.
"T-that’s a criminal act—"
"And manipulating scores isn't? If I report this, the Belfos name will be dragged through the mud, won't it?"
"Ugh..."
It wasn't long before Yoo Eon, who had been inspecting the remains left by the Snow Mountain Witch, discovered the situation. Melt was standing behind Iris, maintaining a distance from which he could leap in the blink of an eye. Grokk was with Kanna Belfos.
"Sigh, what is it this time?"
Yoo Eon let out a short sigh and looked around at the people gathered there.
"Iris, what are you doing?"
"I don't know."
"Hey, Aven. Sorry, but it looks like Iris is going to have to keep my lower half company for a while."
"Hmm?"
"In exchange, the Belfos lady says she’ll dote on you. Look on the bright side. Her face and body aren't half bad, right?"
Listening to Grokk’s words, Yoo Eon shifted his gaze toward Kanna Belfos.
"Lady Kanna, was this all planned?"
"..."
She remained silent. The one closest to her right now was Grokk, not Yoo Eon. Iris, who was supposedly out of mana, was already within reach of Melt’s sword. In a three-on-two situation against Grokk’s team—which included a Palladium Grade—they couldn't win.
Furthermore, her side consisted of three mages with no front line. Even if Grokk’s strength had been depleted during the fight with the Snow Mountain Witch... though it was unlikely to happen, if Grokk truly intended to kill everyone...
‘It’s obvious we’ll lose...!’
She had no choice but to go along with his plan.
"S-so what if it was? What are you going to do about it?"
"Sigh."
Hearing Kanna’s answer, Yoo Eon ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh.
"Fuck. You were just beasts after all."
He muttered the words lowly. Thinking he had misheard, Grokk asked again.
"What did you say...?"
"Melt."
Without answering, Yoo Eon raised his left hand and pointed his index finger at Melt.
"Go."
—Clang...
"K-keu-heugh...?!!"
Melt suddenly dropped his sword and clutched his throat with both hands. His stomach began to bloat rapidly, and his entire body started to twist.
"Aaargh..! Argh—!!!!"
His face turned a deep crimson. His limbs contorted in grotesque directions.
Before long, with a dull thud, Melt’s entire body exploded into a mass of meat.
—Splatter!
Organs, flesh, bone fragments, and blood sprayed everywhere, leaving behind a scene that looked as if a giant tomato had been dropped from the sky.
"M-Melt...?"
Kanna Belfos stared at the spot where Melt had been standing, but he had vanished without leaving even a trace of his form. His armor, his warm furs—everything was gone, leaving only his sword lying lonely on the ground.
"Grokk."
"H-heugh...!!!"
He had no idea what kind of trick had been played. What kind of profound mana had been used? How could a human... end up like that?
‘I’m going to die..! I’m definitely going to die..!!’
The voice approached like death itself. Grokk struggled to keep his trembling arm steady as he raised his sword higher toward Yoo Eon.
"D-don't come any closer! I am Grokk, a Palladium Grade!!!"
"Grokk, lately I’ve found myself utterly disgusted by bad people."
"No..! I said stay back—!!"
Grokk screamed in desperation, threw his sword away, and turned to run. Usually, his running speed was incredibly fast, but that was only when he was actually able to move.
"H-heugh...!!!"
A grotesque shape, reminiscent of a hexagonal honeycomb, was formed by countless overlapping eyeballs.
Thousands of Evil Eye pupils clustered together, placing a burden on Grokk’s body at varying intervals.
"Ghk, keu-heugh...!"
Grokk’s body froze mid-stride, and he tumbled face-first into the snow. Watching this from the side, Kanna began to vomit from the sheer stress.
"My Lady..! Are you alright..!"
"Blegh..."
As Yoo Eon walked slowly toward Grokk, something resembling a spider’s leg burst out from his back with a sickening crack.
—Thump!
The sharp tip of the spider leg pierced straight through Grokk’s stomach. It then dragged Grokk’s skewered body closer to Yoo Eon.
"Hmm, I wonder if there’s anything useful."
Even with his stomach pierced and blood leaking out, Grokk couldn't utter a single word. He only realized his stomach had been punctured through the sensation of pain, and he could only gather limited information about his surroundings through his barely moving eyes.
Grokk hung in the air, impaled on the spider leg like a piece of meat on a skewer.
"Well, I’ll have to eat to find out."
Following Yoo Eon’s ominous words—
—Rip...
The maw of the Megido Serpent swallowed Grokk whole.
Crunch!
Everything that wasn't human was consumed, and Yoo Eon spat out the useless parts from his fingertips.
A bloodless brain, a penis and scrotum that would no longer be needed, and various organs.
"Oh, there’s a decent skill here."
Then, as if it were nothing, he immediately stole and used the dead Grokk’s skill.
"A-ah...!"
"My Lady..! Be quiet...!!!"
Yoo Eon, who had been distracted for a moment while looking through Grokk’s skills, turned his head at the sound of Kanna Belfos’s stifled scream.
"Now that I think about it, you were here too."
"Heugh...!!"
Kanna shook her head violently while trembling all over, and her attendant desperately covered his master’s mouth to avoid provoking Yoo Eon.
"Come to think of it, did you say you planned this together?"
"No! That just now was Grokk and Melt acting on their own—"
"Attendant. Did I ask you?"
"Hup...!"
At Yoo Eon’s words, the attendant gasped and stopped speaking. When Yoo Eon gestured for him to take his hand off Kanna’s mouth, her lips were finally freed.
"Kanna, are you an evil person? Or are you just so stupid that you can't even control the people you hire?"
"No..! No! I’m not an evil person!!"
Kanna Belfos wailed piteously. She instantly fell to her knees in the snow, tears and snot streaming down her face as she pleaded that she wasn't evil.
"I was afraid Grokk would kill me..! I was too scared to say anything!"
"So you’re just stupid?"
"Y-yes!! I’m stupid! Please spare me! I’ll... I’ll beg like this! I’m begging you!! Please save me!!"
After staring at Kanna in silence for a while, Yoo Eon scratched his head and spoke.
"Kanna, I’ve thought about it for a long time."
"Y-yes...?"
"And it turns out, being stupid is also a sin."
"Aaah...!! Aaaaaah!!!! No..! Please..!!"
* * *
"Iris, you aren't hurt anywhere, right?"
"No."
"I figured as much."
There were no bloodstains on her. He had simply used Horus’s mana to compress the air and detonate it inside Melt’s airway. Since Grokk was a Palladium Grade, Yoo Eon had briefly scanned his mana circuits to see if there was anything useful.
"How about this?"
"Not really."
"True."
Most of the skills were things he didn't need. There was one amusing skill, so he kept that one at least.
"A skill that makes your eyes glow once a day... why would anyone have this?"
He could guess the reason. Explorers generally assigned pluses and minuses to a skill’s value, so they kept most of them unless they were fatal curse skills.
"It’s bright."
"I suppose I am."
"..."
"Just kidding."
It was a skill that made cross-shaped lights flash from his eyes; it was amusing, but utterly useless.
"You know it couldn't be helped, right, Kanna?"
"O-of course..."
He had said those words, but he hadn't actually killed Kanna Belfos. When he spat out Grokk’s brain, he had caught a glimpse of his memories, and it seemed Kanna had merely wanted to keep him as a toy.
"The sled seems a bit slow."
"R-run faster, you idiot...!"
"I’m sorry, My Lady...!"
The skill to summon sled dogs to pull the sled belonged to her attendant. It was quite amusing to see Kanna hounding her attendant with just a little bit of pressure from him.
"Let’s try to live with a kinder heart. Okay?"
"Yes!! I will, I definitely will! I’ll even donate every single day!!"
"Right, right. You should."
He used to be hesitant about killing people, but his mindset seemed to have changed recently.
"People who do bad things aren't human, are they?"
"You’re absolutely right! That crazy bastard Grokk! You were right to kill him!"
"Mm, yes."
They were a party that had reached the 55th floor by relying on Grokk, a Palladium Grade, but now both Grokk and Melt were dead. Kanna and her attendant had only two choices.
Either return to the surface from the 55th floor on their own, or wait patiently on the 55th floor and return with Yoo Eon’s group once they finished their business on the 60th floor.
"We’ll be waiting, Lord Aven!"
"If I don't see you when I get back to the 55th floor, I’m leaving you behind immediately."
"Yes!! I’ll stay right here!!"
He could have taken them up to the 60th floor, but that would have been a hassle. He probably would have done so in the past.
"Let’s go, Iris."
"Okay."
Lately, he didn't have the luxury to look after bad people.
No, that wasn't it. There were no bad people.
It was simply a matter of classifying them as either beasts or humans.