The Winter of Limbus Pit (2)
Chapter 21
Winter of Limbus Pit (2)
"Eri, do not rush."
"How can I not rush when lives are at stake!"
"But does anything change just because you rush? Anyway, at the point Mr. Otto was defeated, we can't go up."
"..."
"Above all, it's already too late."
"Still, quickly even now...!"
Kwang!
But before Eri's words finished, the front door was smashed inward.
The hinges were torn off and wooden splinters flew everywhere.
It hasn't even been long since I fixed that door last year because the hinges froze....
'Bad guys. Our clinic is running a deficit as it is.'
Of course, it didn't seem like those scoundrels would respect my pocket circumstances.
Through the dust, the shadows of the scoundrels flooded in.
One, two, three, four, five.
And adding one guy cautiously poking his head out at the very back, six.
Clowns characteristically all having lipstick marks continuing from the corners of their mouths to under their ears and
ridiculous wigs sitting on their heads.
As soon as I saw that appearance, the expression 'clown who failed in stocks' exactly came to mind.
In the midst of that, the man poking his head out from the very back was the only one whose makeup was different.
"Ihihi...."
Like the other clowns, he was wearing lipstick and a wig, but in addition to that, he had white powder on his face.
Even among those clowns, the white-faced one had an exceptionally small physique.
"Ahi... Ehihi...."
The white face laughed.
To be precise, it was closer to trying to laugh.
An awkward laugh to the point the expression 'the laugh is creaking' suits it.
Just poking his head out from behind the preceding five, he looked exactly like a rat poking only its nose out of a
hole.
"H, hello, Healer D, Doctor?"
I'm a doctor, not a healer.
Erica too, and Wangcho too.
Why do people here keep calling me a healer.
"I, I am... Weißgesicht (White Face) Karski of Die Lachenden Karneval (The Laughing Carnival)."
The clown bowing his head.
"D, Doctor is an outsider, so you can c, call me White Face too."
Die Lachenden Karneval?
Weißgesicht? White Face?
What is that you otaku.
Fortunately, Eri explained it without me needing to deliberately ask.
"Die Lachenden Karneval is an artist faction of H Sector."
"Artist?"
"Even if they equally trade in humans, how they process and trade them differs by organization. Among them, factions
that modify people and sell them in the form of artworks or spectacles like Die Lachenden are called artist factions.
That clown is one of them."
An Other World version freak show.
They were not a category I particularly wanted to associate with.
Then, there was someone who rebelled against Eri's plain evaluation like this.
"Clown you say! Insulting our mission to spread laughter in this barren world—"
Seeing him getting angry without stuttering his words, it seems she hit a nerve properly.
Eri ignored such a protest from Karski and continued the explanation.
"From the bottom, they are called Shill (Decoy) - Red Nose - White Face - King of Fools. You can consider White Face as
Wangcho's action captain class."
"Aha."
The hierarchy is thorough for a small/medium organization.
It seems he is at least a middle executive in that organization.
White Face, no, was it Karski.
"So, what business do you have?"
"W, we need you, D, Doctor."
"Is there a patient waiting for me?"
"There are c, comrades waiting for you, Doctor."
Looking at it, it seemed he came to win me over as a colleague.
"I will decline."
There was no hesitation.
I am the protagonist, a doctor protagonist at that.
Does it make sense to join an organization that does that kind of thing with people.
In the first place, what am I lacking to join the ranks of such lunatics.
White Face Karski also nodded his head calmly as if he expected that.
"A, a shame. Then inevitably...."
At that time, Eri cut off his words, and said pulling out a revolver.
"Sorry but our Doctor isn't someone who will go under anyone."
It was the gun I kept for self-defense.
It seems she packed it herself while organizing the bag just now.
Click.
Eri pulling back the hammer and aiming the muzzle at the middle of Karski's forehead.
'Wait. Is it okay for a 12-year-old child to hold a gun.'
I thought so for a moment, but shook my head recalling that this is a world with a more vicious personal firearm called
magic.
Right. At that level, it's a children's self-defense item.
"Hiiik?!"
Karski, with the muzzle aimed at him, screamed and hid behind his subordinate.
Standing one wig-wearing shill in front like a shield, he rubbed his two hands together.
"W, wouldn't it be o, okay to r, resolve this with a conversation...?! I, I just came as o, ordered...."
At White Face Karski's reaction, Eri frowned her brow.
I also leaked a scoff inside the crow mask.
Because he was too compared with Wangcho's action captain, who was said to be of the same class.
That human is a human who lives putting his liver out (living recklessly) to the point of getting scolded by me trying
to go drinking the next day after getting stabbed in the stomach.
This organization's action captain is putting his subordinates in front because a muzzle is aimed at him.
Perhaps this might be showing the difference in the class of the organizations.
As if Eri harbored the same impression, tension loosened from her shoulders.
Her muzzle lowered slightly.
And in that loosened atmosphere,
Karski suddenly burst into a maniacal laughter.
"Ihihi!"
Karski pushing his subordinate towards Eri.
The pushed 'shill' also had a surprised face.
An appearance of not imagining that Karski would do this.
Karski aimed for the gap when his subordinate became a meat shield, and lunged towards the gun Eri held.
His waist, which was bent subserviently, straightened like a spring, and a flashing jackknife popped out from the
bastard's bosom.
At that movement, I also panicked and shouted.
"Danger-!"
Bang!
But before I could shout properly, Eri pulled the trigger without hesitation with an indifferent face.
The head of the lunging Karski snapped back.
Dead center of the forehead.
Right above the red nose decoration, a pretty black hole was pierced in the white forehead.
"Kkwek...!"
Along with a ridiculous death agony, the body that couldn't overcome its inertia rolled on the floor.
I stared at Eri without realizing it.
Eri shrugged her shoulders.
"In Limbus Pit, the Doctor is probably the only one who believes in tears and weak appearances."
Hmm.
Thinking about it, this was the Gotham of the Empire.
It seems I looked down on Limbus Pit too much until now.
Huu-
Eri, who disposed of White Face Karski, blew the muzzle.
"Who's next?"
Her muzzle headed to the remaining five.
The five claqueurs (shills) with the muzzle aimed at them flinched and read each other's faces.
Even though their executive died, it was a reaction where bewilderment preceded anger.
"Hey, is that a gun? Did it really fire?"
"No, crazy... A gun fired here?"
"That guy calling himself a doctor was that rich?"
A situation where a 12-year-old girl overwhelms five adult clowns.
It was a quite unrealistic sight, but in a way, the reaction of the five was natural.
Whether it's a gun or magic, anyway a 0 Circle person goes straight to the afterlife if hit once.
Unless the opponent is a superhuman of 1st Circle or higher, the threat level of a gun was no different from my past
life.
"To think it's a working gun...."
"There isn't even a gunsmith near here."
"The A Sector bastards smuggle them, right."
"That's a different district, you retard."
"The Doctor was at this level of position? Didn't we mess with the wrong person?"
One clown swallowed his saliva.
A person holding a gun is no different from a Mage.
That's true in the point that they can kill a person with just a finger, but more so in the symbolic meaning that the
gun works.
In this city full of smog harboring sticky magic power, one basically needs financial power to have a gun.
Going further, one must have a social position to get permission for a gun, and the power to purchase ammunition
regularly.
Putting these together, perhaps a gun was an item that could be scarier wearing it on the waist than pulling the
trigger.
"Isn't that the end? Surely they wouldn't have bought multiple bullets...."
"Why? Want to check how many are left?"
Eri pulled back the hammer.
Click.
"The gun looks truly... e, expensive... shall we talk it out?"
"Right. It's a waste of bullets. If we sell that, we could all have a company dinner."
The clowns showing a polite attitude, nowhere to be found the rude appearance of smashing the door and entering until
just a while ago.
As expected, even if the worldline changes, the performance of the etiquette injector was certain.
But Eri couldn't pull the trigger easily either.
The inherent limit of a revolver - the magazine capacity was catching her ankle.
The clowns in front of her eyes right now are five.
And the bullets remaining in the revolver are also five.
She just needs to hit exactly one shot each, but if they lunge all at once, it would be difficult for Eri to handle too.
Whether she instinctively knew that fact, Eri chose to confront them instead of pulling the trigger.
"Doctor. Let's just wait like this until Wangcho comes."
The somewhat fortunate point is that time is on our side.
Because Otto went to call Wangcho right now.
Therefore Eri calmly waited only for Wangcho to arrive.
However, I felt the current situation was somehow unnatural.
'Strange. If it can be dealt with like this with one gun, there's no way Otto would be defeated.'
Otto also has a gun.
In addition to this, he is also escort personnel right before 1st Circle.
The fact that such a he was defeated bothered my mind.
With a somewhat uneasy feeling, it was the moment I was about to tell Eri to be careful.
Smack!
Suddenly the head of the guy standing at the very back snapped back.
As if he was hit by an invisible hammer.
"Uh...?"
Thud.
The shill collapsed powerlessly.
And right in the middle of the bastard's forehead, exactly the position where Karski was hit, a pitch-black hole was
pierced.
"Wh, what is it? We said let's talk it out!?"
"I didn't shoot?"
"Ihihi...."
An unpleasant laughter echoed in the consultation room.
"Ihi... Ugh. Hurts...."
Soon the White Face clown who had collapsed raised his body.
The forehead where a hole was pierced was smooth like a lie.
"It r, really hurt.... Too mean...."
Karski getting up grumbling.
Eri didn't even ask what happened, and immediately aimed for his chest and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Karski collapsed clutching his chest.
But Karski's clothes, which she thought would be dyed red, were fine.
"Keo-heok...!"
And at the same time, the chest of another clown who was behind Karski was dyed red.
At the reenactment of a scene similar to just before, Erica called me urgently.
"Wh, what is this? Doctor! The gun seems to be bouncing to strange places? Is it broken?"
"No. It hit properly."
"Then why is it doing this?"
"It's magic engraving. He's a guy who received enhancement procedures."
If it's this, the reason Otto was defeated was also understood.
Who would have guessed such a thing would pop out from Limbus Pit.
Magic engraving is like a tattoo that grants magical power to an ordinary person who hasn't understood magic.
Of course, unlike the magic used by Mages or Magicians, the magical power fuel efficiency is very bad, and the breadth
of magic they can use is also limited.
Nevertheless, it is enough to reign as a top predator among 0 Circles.
"Are the engraving effects and ."
The effect of the engraving is an engraving that acquires immunity to the damage one receives.
In theory it seems like a very powerful engraving, but in practice it is a very trash engraving.
In a game, receiving damage ends with HP decreasing, but in reality, receiving damage wrongly leads to disabilities.
Even the amount of immunity acquired at once is not that much, so to get complete immunity one must be beaten until
right before death.
But that white clown named Karski seems to have offset that penalty with .
can pass off the wounds one received to allies, and there is also an effect of automatically passing off wounds leading
to death.
Karski was combining the two by transferring the damages he would receive to his subordinates until he acquired
immunity.
'The reason Otto was defeated is understood.'
Comparing to a game, Karski is a gimmick-type boss.
Not powerful, but if you don't know the strategy, you can't win even if you bring a max-level character, that kind of
boss.
Eri who heard the explanation screamed in disgust.
"They call me rich for having a gun, but they use even more expensive things!"
The point of complaint is that part.
Eri once again aimed the muzzle at the collapsed Karski.
I dissuaded such a her.
"Eri. It's not that side."
The one to aim for wasn't Karski.
As said before, Karski cannot be defeated if you don't know the strategy.
In other words, it was easy if you just knew the strategy.
"Shoot the remaining three in the back. Wound Transfer activates in reverse too."
That strategy was to deal with the scapegoats first without drawing aggro from Karski.
Wound Transfer is a mutual engraving, so it wasn't necessarily that only Karski's wounds are transferred to
subordinates.
Conversely, if subordinates received wounds leading to death, they could automatically be transferred to Karski.
Furthermore, transfer has nothing to do with immunity, so it didn't matter how hard Karski became.
'It's not for nothing that the upper neighborhood calls them both trash engravings.'
If that combination was invincible, probably every dog and cow would use it around in the upper neighborhood?
There is a reason for everything why they don't use it.
"Got it, Doctor!"
Immediately Eri aimed for the three subordinates in the back and pulled the trigger.
But Karski, who had regained his senses before we knew it, threw his body as if to protect his subordinates.
And from the third shot, the lead bullets that hit Karski crushed flat as if hitting a steel plate and dropped to the
floor.
"What! Why did he already adapt?"
"... Is it because of Mr. Otto."
Damn it.
This is outside the calculations.
It seems he acquired most of the immunity against guns while dealing with Otto earlier.
Fainting at the previous two attacks was his acting to hide this.
"Hehe.... The Doctor's that escort.... was incredibly strong. I lost twenty subordinates on the way here.... Originally
I brought fifty to deal with Tao Chen, but with the remaining guys it seems we can only hold ankles (delay)...."
One sad news added.
It seems time is not on our side.
Wangcho is not a magician.
No matter how much of a 1st Circle he is, as long as he uses a knife and fists, if there are many enemies, he has to
carefully twist their necks one by one.
And if the opponents are determined and try to stall for time, that time will take double.
That time would be more than enough time for Karski to achieve his goal.
'Ayu. It's supposed to be a Misunderstanding work, but why does the opponent roll his head so well.'
Fatigue rushed in because he is unnecessarily cunning and strategic.
But there was a fact Karski overlooked.
That is exactly that just as he gained power with capital, I can also overwhelm him with greater capital.
"Eri. Hand the gun to me—"
"I, Ihihi! Tickles!"
But before I could finish my words, Karski burst into maniacal laughter and lunged at Eri.
Eri poured out all the remaining bullets to stop the lunging White Face.
But even after the sound of three shots ringing out, Karski was fine.
"You don't have bullets now, right? Right?"
Karski starting not to stutter his words as he becomes advantageous.
He closed the distance in an instant.
His jackknife dug in like a snake and grazed Erica's forearm.
"Ack!"
Along with Eri's scream, the revolver bounced off from her hand.
Following that, as Karski slapped her cheek, the little girl's body rolled on the floor.
"B, being annoying. Y, you are pretty, so I'll end it at this level. I, if the product gets damaged, Lord Narrenkönig
(King of Fools) will scold me again."
Karski withdrew his gaze from Eri, and met eyes with me.
In the meantime, the handgun that spun round and round in the air, coincidentally slid into my feet.
I bent my body and snatched the revolver.
Opening the cylinder and shaking out the empty casings from the chamber, I raised my head while pushing in one new
bullet.
Target is the middle of the forehead... seems hard to hit, so the torso.
"Hihi. V, vain effort, Doctor. A, anyway guns don't work..."
"This will be a bit different."
I retorted hooking my finger on the trigger.