60. Unique Ability (1)
60. Unique Ability (1)
"Huh... This is surprising."
The man nicknamed the Human Butcher at the Dark Auction House marveled at the massive cave beneath the most famous Orphanage in Medherun City.
It wasn't just the size of the cave that amazed him.
It was the scent of human blood, a smell he had grown accustomed to after years of butchering humans, that permeated the entire cave.
"To think that a place like this actually existed beneath that Orphanage."
"You've arrived."
Ttok-ttok. Ttok-ttok.
The Butcher, who turned his head at the sound from behind, gulped as he looked at the young girl in front of him.
Having already heard from Albert who this young girl was, the Butcher immediately knelt.
"Ah, hello!"
The Butcher immediately bowed his head low, staring at the floor.
Even he, who had never really known the word 'fear' until now, immediately averted his gaze to the floor because of the Creatures behind Lea.
'To think that monsters like these were settled here under this city. If people knew, how terrified they would be.'
"Hello. I'm Lea. Please take care of me."
"Please take care of me as well. I am Matthew... the one they call the Human Butcher."
When Matthew first received what was less of a proposal and more of a threat from Albert, he wasn't particularly shaken.
It didn't matter to him as long as he could touch humans while his own life was guaranteed.
Furthermore, the fact that he wouldn't have to worry about anyone watching him while he butchered humans was quite appealing.
"I'll explain it simply. If there's a need to butcher a human, I'll contact you through Albert. Whenever that happens, please come here and butcher the humans so they're ready for cooking. As a precaution, you must not be curious about anything else."
"Understood."
The Butcher didn't care as long as he could butcher humans.
He had no intention of stupidly provoking the being in front of him.
"And importantly, when the butchering is finished, please make it so that it doesn't even look like human meat."
"Yes."
"Do you have any questions?"
"Since I don't know much about this place yet, would it be alright if I asked questions if I have any?"
"That's fine. First, I'll let you know how we'll proceed."
"Ah, before that, the gift Albert sent."
"A gift?"
"I brought three humans who possess intuitive Unique Abilities."
"Oh! Three of them? Please tell Albert I'm grateful."
"Understood."
==
The new man in charge of human butchery, Matthew, was a more normal-looking man than I expected.
Since he was a human who performed butchering shows at the Dark Auction House, I thought he would look menacing, but he had an ordinary appearance, the kind you see often on the street.
I told Matthew everything: where to receive the humans to be butchered, how to transport them, and how to deliver them.
I intend to basically keep Matthew from entering the bedroom.
This decision was made because, as it happens, only female entities are currently living in the bedroom.
Since Matthew might do something strange, I naturally assigned a Creature to watch him. Without telling Matthew, of course.
Matthew seems like a smart human, so he probably wouldn't think of doing anything strange, but it's to prepare for the unexpected.
More than that, I was more interested in the three humans who possessed Unique Abilities.
I left Matthew to Yui and slowly examined the three humans Matthew brought.
They were wearing blindfolds, gags, and even earplugs.
First, there was one man and two women. I started by removing the blindfold of the woman on the far left.
"Oh."
She was a quite pretty human.
The fact that he gave her to me instead of putting her up for auction meant he wanted to increase his favorability that much?
Albert probably sent a human with good looks thinking I might use her as a maid or staff since I said I needed Unique Abilities.
In reality, I just need them for experiments.
"Mmph! Mmmph! Mmph!"
As soon as the woman opened her eyes after the blindfold was removed and saw me, she thrashed her body despite being tightly bound.
I ignored the woman and said to Amber, "First, cut off all her limbs and hang her in the air, naked."
"Understood."
"Mmph? Mmph! Mmmph! Mmph! Mmph!"
The woman, who started thrashing again as soon as she heard my words, was lifted with one hand by Amber as if it were nothing, and Amber hung the woman using Ners's spider silk that had descended from the air.
Then, just as I had said, she cleanly severed her limbs and stripped off all her clothes.
The bleeding caused by the severed limbs was stopped by Erina, who had been quietly standing behind me.
"Ugh..."
It's strange that Erina doesn't fear the Creatures anymore, yet she struggles to look at human blood.
I wonder how on earth she managed to work as an adventurer.
I touched the woman's body here and there.
What I intended to do with the humans who possessed Unique Abilities was to use the Unique Abilities myself.
Unique Ability.
It's a special ability that humans possess.
It's not magic or anything like that, but an ability that an individual has.
An ability that is determined from birth or received upon transmigrating to another world is a Unique Ability.
I cannot absorb such Unique Abilities.
The Unique Ability called Status Window, which most Otherworlders are thought to possess.
It would have been great if Narim had it... but Narim has a Unique Ability that allows her to cook delicious food, so let's move on.
Like this, Unique Abilities range from useless abilities to those with infinite power.
I thought of a way for me to use Unique Abilities in preparation for when I meet an Otherworlder, or rather an Earthling, who possesses the Status Window Unique Ability.
To verify if that method was truly correct, I needed humans who possessed Unique Abilities like this.
I carefully tapped the cheek of the woman whose limbs had been severed and who had fainted, and removed the gag from the woman who was trying to regain consciousness.
"H-huff! P-please, save me! P-please, save me!"
I smiled at the woman who poured out words as soon as the gag was removed.
"Hello. What kind of Unique Ability do you have?"
"P-please, if you just save me, I-I'll tell you!"
"Ha..."
As I let out a slight sigh at the woman who kept talking, ignoring the question I had asked, I felt Amber and Yui behind me flinch.
I smiled again and said, "What kind of Unique Ability do you possess?"
"P-please, saveㅡ"
Thump.
I covered the woman's mouth with my hand and said once more.
"I asked what Unique Ability you possess. If the words 'save me' come out again, I will peel off your skin right here and dismantle every single one of your organs. Do you understand?"
Nod. Nod. Nod. Nod.
I removed my hand as the woman shook her head violently as soon as she heard me.
Humans really only understand when you get angry. What stupid creatures they are.
"I, I, I have the a, ability to purify water...!"
That's a pretty decent Unique Ability.
The ability to purify water.
"How do you use it?"
"If water touches m-my body and I think about using the ability, it p-purifies."
"Let's check it. Amber."
"Yes."
Amber brought some water. It was showing a slight purple tint, as if she had intentionally mixed in Ners's poison.
I sprinkled that water onto the body of the woman hanging in the air.
Whoosh.
Emitting a faint light, the water that had been flowing over the woman's body, which had poison in it, turned clean.
"Oh..."
Good.
I've confirmed the Unique Ability.
Now, the problem starts.
A Unique Ability is an individual's ability.
It's not Mana or Holy Power, but an ability given to an individual.
It's impossible to absorb, so where exactly does the power of a Unique Ability reside?
Where does it receive power from to activate?
There are three possibilities in total.
The first is the body.
It's imprinted on the body, so the body uses it.
The second is the heart.
Like Mana and Holy Power, it's imprinted on the heart, which can be called the center of a human.
The last is the brain.
It's the most important place that reads and sends countless signals such as human spirit, personality, thoughts, commands, etc.
If it were before my head exploded from Gwen, I would have tried various experiments by killing and reviving this woman repeatedly, but it's impossible in my current state.
Yui can use Heal, but she says she doesn't have the power to revive a dead person.
So, Albert giving me a total of three humans this time was a really nice judgment.
Now, here's a quiz.
Which part of a human must be present to use a Unique Ability?
Body? Heart? Brain?
For now, my hypothesis is the heart.
Because both Mana and Holy Power start from the heart.
So, wouldn't the Unique Ability also start from the heart?
I placed my hand on the woman's chest.
And I made my hand sharp.
Swoosh.
It was so sharp that my hand entered the woman's body as if cutting tofu.
Having burst countless human hearts to steal Mana, I easily pulled out the woman's heart.
From here on, it's a race against time.
Once the heart is removed, the time a human can stay alive is very short.
Since I have to experiment with the brain before the woman dies, I quickly put the woman's heart into the water containing poison that Amber had prepared in advance.
The woman's heart was still beating strongly, perhaps because it thought it was still in the woman's body, but I could see its strength weakening with every beat.
I carefully watched the water containing the woman's heart.
Despite the water being dyed with blood, there was no change.
In this case, the hypothesis that the Unique Ability is in the heart has failed.
'Damn. It's not the heart.'