A Secret Operation with the Butler (14)
A Secret Operation with the Butler (14)
#
"Ungrateful wretches... fools who willingly made yourselves slaves to breeding... how dare... how dare you..."
-Whuum!
As Sivter spouted incomprehensible words, the Holy Sword vibrated its blade, radiating fierce hostility.
-Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
[The Holy Sword detects a foul and sinister aura.]
[The Holy Sword detects a foul and sinister aura.]
[The Holy Sword detects a foul and perverse...]
[Calm down!]
The Holy Sword was clearly behaving abnormally. Even earlier, it had activated Holy Fire on its own the moment I pulled it from the inventory.
Come to think of it, this had happened before. It had shown a similar reaction when it saw the altar in the Goblin Dungeon and the old man's corpse. At the time, I'd assumed it was just getting carried away burning through Divine Power, but that wasn't it—it had definitely sensed something back then.
Which meant this bastard wasn't just a simple pedo. Though that was already obvious from the tentacles alone.
But... his words bothered me.
"Slaves to procreation? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"...You truly knew nothing!"
His face went blank for a moment, then he muttered to himself. He must have thought he was mumbling under his breath, but his voice was loud—he didn't seem to have good control over his body.
"Yes. It would be a shame to give up such beauty. It's still not too late to turn back."
He flicked his tongue out while looking at my face.
Turn back? Turn back for what? The moment you brought out the tentacles, you were finished. Still, I wanted to hear what he had to say for now. It might give me a clue for the main quest.
I signaled Rebecca to stay put, and the bastard began to speak.
"Child. Do you truly not wish to be free?"
"Free? What are you talking about?"
"Behold."
He used a tentacle to snap a branch from the flower bed and extended it toward me. At once, buds began to bloom one by one on the branch that had held nothing but leaves.
"Look at this flower. Is it not beautiful?"
"..."
My mind went blank wondering what kind of insane drivel this was, but the bastard paid me no mind and launched into a long-winded encomium on beauty. Rebecca signaled me with her eyes, as if she couldn't bear listening any longer.
'Now is our chance. While he's distracted, we can finish him...'
Just as I was about to decide how to proceed, his voice suddenly grew heated.
"Yet however fair the form of a flower! In the end, it is merely ravished by insects and made a vessel for seed!"
He tightened a tentacle and crushed the branch to splinters.
"What reason is there to live merely because you were born! What meaning is there in a life that does nothing but repeat childbirth!"
He used the tentacles on his back to levitate his body into the air, then spread both arms wide. He looked like some kind of prophet.
"Do you not wish to break this vicious cycle? Come to me. Instead of that wretched life devoted only to repeated childbirth, I shall preserve your purity. I shall free you from the pain of reproduction!"
The moment I heard that, I remembered the bud-covered branch in the secret room. The stuffed baby animals. The half-frozen maids kept in Suspended Animation.
So that was it. Preserving purity and all that—that was what it meant. This guy wasn't just some run-of-the-mill pedo...
He was completely insane.
#
First, it was the Bone Fucker. Then the Goblin Fucker. And now something beyond a simple pedo. I felt like I could almost see a common thread. But... I couldn't quite draw a conclusion yet.
"So... what will you do?"
He spoke in a coaxing tone. He seemed to want to sound gentle, but saying it with those fucking disgusting tentacles hanging from his back...
He must have noticed my gaze, because he hid the tentacles behind his back again. Then a cloyingly sweet scent began to spread.
-Ding!
[「Sex Warrior's Performance (SS)」 activates.]
[「Apostle of Rumanis」 effect: 「Charm」 has been dispelled.]
...This bastard. He wasn't just spouting nonsense; he had a trick up his sleeve. No—maybe everything he'd said up to now was just a feint to distract me, and this was his real move.
Wait. Then what about Rebecca?
Rebecca's eyes were dazed. That idiot. Well, of course—she didn't have a passive like mine, so she could fall for a pathetic trick like this.
"?!"
I touched Rebecca with a Invisible Hand and removed the status effect.
Good. Now, to finish this bastard...
...Actually, this could be useful.
I thought for a moment, then spoke up toward him.
"Purity or whatever... I don't even know what that means. Can't you give me something else instead?"
He gave a greasy smile, apparently convinced his brainwashing had worked.
"Of course. I shall grant you eternal youth!"
"..."
Absolutely unbelievable.
Was this jackass stupid? Right now I looked practically like a kid, and he was going to offer to make me young? Maybe that would work on someone who'd lived a full life as an old person, but did he seriously think a line like that would fly?
"...No, not that. Something like money—"
"What?!"
Damn it, Rebecca—read the room! But the bastard just laughed louder, as if he liked me even more for it.
"Did you not see earlier? I can give you as much as you want!"
I nodded with a slightly stupid-looking grin, and he extended a single tentacle toward me.
A tentacle that literally looked like a dick came toward me. Then the tip unfurled like a flower, and nauseating slime dripped down from it. His tentacle was just about to grasp my hand, as if offering a handshake, when...
I swung the Holy Sword and cut the tentacle right off.
#
"Kieeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!"
The bastard screamed as blood gushed from the severed tentacle. A shriek that couldn't possibly belong to a human shook the ground.
"How dare you!!!!"
Sivter unfolded the rest of his tentacles from his back. The shape was vaguely reminiscent of the octopus doctor from that spider hero movie, but unlike that suave middle-aged man, this creep was just disgusting and repulsive.
"Die!"
He swung a tentacle with thick veins bulging along its surface, and the air split with a crack. Fuck, taking a direct hit from that wouldn't be a joke. Could I actually block it?
"Ack?!"
Rebecca grabbed me by the scruff of the neck without any warning and hurled me backward. Even as I was flying through the air, I thought that the way she dodged away looked as graceful as a deer.
"Be careful. For his size, his speed is considerable."
"Tch. I could see that without you telling me."
I spat out the mouthful of dirt and grumbled under my breath.
"Anyway, we cut one off. Now we just take care of three more and that bastard is done—"
"It regenerated."
"...Shit."
The tentacle I'd just cut off had already regained its original form, as if nothing had happened. Then what about the severed piece?
"..."
The dick-head-shaped severed tentacle was thrashing on the ground like a snake that had its tail stepped on. Looking at it for too long felt like it would drive you insane.
"You vulgar wretches dare do this? Then I shall make you slaves, just as you desire!"
As he shouted and aimed his tentacles at us, they opened like mouths, revealing gnarled tongues flicking within. Goddammit. I would never be able to watch tentacle porn again. It was too horrifying!!
"Yoo-jin."
Rebecca seemed oddly composed.
"Actually, this is for the best. If we dispose of him here, it seems several complicated matters will be resolved at once. It's all thanks to you."
"..."
Was she an assassin butler simply because she was a catharsis-hungry psychopath? Killing people was easier and more convenient than thinking through a problem...
"I'll draw his attention, so from behind—"
"Kieeeeeeeeeeek!!!!"
The bastard let out a shriek and charged at us. By now, his human body seemed to serve little purpose beyond making that squawking noise. He was moving on all fours using his tentacles.
Before he could reach me, Rebecca grabbed me and threw me aside again, then began to engage him just as she'd said she would.
"Ptoo, ptoo."
I spat out dirt once again as I got to my feet.
Rebecca appeared to have the ability to back up her own words.
The bastard kept swinging his four tentacles at Rebecca relentlessly, but she was somehow managing to sever them with that short dagger of hers!
"Kieeeeeeeek!"
The only problem was that his regeneration speed was extraordinary.
But I couldn't simply stand there watching. She had told me to attack from behind, right?
I picked up the Holy Sword and approached his rear—
-Craaack!
"Goddammit."
Something squirmed under his skin... and more tentacles sprouted out!
These new tentacles were thicker than the ones harassing Rebecca.
-Whuum!
The tentacle he swung was thicker than my forearm. The ones attacking Rebecca were agile, but this one packed enormous force into every strike! Had he adapted after observing my movements?
"Kh!"
I barely pulled back and deflected it with the Super Vibration Blade, severing the tentacle cleanly. We repeated that exchange a couple of times.
"?!"
But his regeneration was far too fast. Worse, the severed pieces crawled toward me, writhing as though they possessed wills of their own!
"Hngh!"
A groan from Rebecca. She'd been bitten by the surrounding tentacle fragments too!
"Give up. I'll go easy on you if you do."
No, you fuck—if you were going to try to sweet-talk me, maybe stop with that damned tentacle-whipping first.
It wasn't hard to guess what he meant by going easy on me. It was painfully obvious what this dick-head was implying!
If we just kept stalling like this, we'd get surrounded by his tentacles. And after that, it would be a complete and utter... We needed to stop his regeneration. But how?
"!"
I deactivated the Ultrasonic Cutter and raised the blade overhead, blocking a tentacle as it came crashing down.
"Kuh!"
The force was so immense my knees nearly buckled. With the vibration function turned off, the Holy Sword only managed to thinly slice the tentacle's skin. The bastard pressed the tentacle down even harder, as if trying to crush me into the ground.
Good. This standoff was exactly what I was aiming for.
"Kuoooooh?!"
I seized the tentacle firmly with a Invisible Hand, drove the Holy Sword into it, and activated Holy Fire.
"Kieeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!"
The tentacle thrashed madly. Just as I'd expected, however, it didn't cut off the burning part and regenerate. I didn't know the exact principle, but the Holy Sword's Holy Fire was this creature's perfect counter.
The stench of burning rotten meat stabbed my nose.
The tentacle no longer targeted me. It slammed itself against the ground frantically, as if trying to put out the fire, but Holy Fire didn't go out that easily.
Seizing the opening while his tentacle was neutralized, I lunged straight at his back.
"Die!!"
I drove the Holy Sword into his fat belly and released Holy Fire at maximum output.
"Graaaaagh!!!!"
Flames erupted from every orifice in his body.
-Crrrk.
I heard the sound of his neck snapping 180 degrees, and then our eyes met.
Those abyssal pupils, unfathomably terrifying. The moment I saw those eyes, I froze up completely.
-Ding!
[「Sex Warrior's Performance (SS)」...]
"Yoo-jin! Look out—!"
"Ah."
The tentacle that had been fighting Rebecca shot toward me, and I was hurled away as searing agony tore through my pierced abdomen.