Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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>Translator: Vine
>Chapter: 45
>Chapter Title: Don't Just Eat Anything You Find
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You shouldn't carelessly pick up and eat just anything.
‘Tsk, this is getting annoying.’
Bianca clicked her tongue inwardly and smiled at Rian, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression.
‘To think there'd be a guy who'd see the top floor and just want to go back. I never imagined it.’
Until now, every slave who had seen and experienced the top floor had, without exception, begged to become her disciple on the spot. The power of the top floor was just that sweet.
But Rian had said, without a moment's hesitation, that he would return to his own place. Bianca keenly realized it. If she let Rian go now, she would never be able to bring him to the top floor.
‘The chance is now or never.’
If he lived here for long, he would eventually hear the nasty rumors about her. For instance, the rumor that every one of her disciples had disappeared without a trace.
He wouldn't find out until he got close to the top floor, but conversely, once he did, it was only a matter of time.
With an incomplete powerhouse like Iris, she could buy some time, but Rian was already a complete powerhouse. He would reach the vicinity of the top floor in an instant.
Bianca licked her lips and said.
“Then, how about we check the armory one last time before you go? There's a weapon that might be useful for Iris, and I wanted to give it to her.”
“Oh, in that case, thank you!”
Just as she expected, Rian was easily swayed by anything related to his sister, ‘Iris.’
“You said you needed to get back down quickly, so let's go right away.”
“Yes!”
Bianca thought to herself as she walked ahead.
‘Foolish boy. You wander around showing your weakness in a place like this, so of course you get taken.’
Bianca sneered at Rian inwardly as she opened the armory door. On the armory floor was a magic circle, invisible to the naked eye. A magic circle that enhanced the power of shadows.
‘Well then.’
She turned, the corners of her mouth twisting into a bizarre arc. Rian was looking at her with an innocent face.
“I'll enjoy this meal.”
“What?”
Crr-ack.
The floor instantly turned pitch-black and split in two. The moment Rian's gaze dropped to the floor, a jet-black shadow monster had already risen from it.
Crunch!
Like a crocodile lying in wait in a swamp snatching its prey in an instant, Rian was swallowed by the shadow in a flash.
“Kyahahahaha! You fool!”
Bianca burst out laughing as she watched Rian being crunched up and swallowed, his eyes still open. She relished these moments the most—when a powerhouse who could have left a mark on history vanished into nothingness, becoming a part of her.
“Still, you're becoming a beautiful part of me, so don't be too upset!”
Cruunch!
With a final crunch as his head was devoured, Rian was swallowed without a trace.
‘Ahh—, what kind of ability will I get this time?’
She gazed at a leaning sword with an ecstatic expression.
‘The one he used last time was about the length of a dagger, wasn't it?’
She picked up a sword too short to be a longsword but a bit too long to be a dagger and grinned.
‘Shall I have a light test in the training grounds?’
Thinking she would stretch her limbs for the first time in a while, she left the room. Or rather, she tried to.
Smack!
The moment she tried to exit, her pinky toe, as if by fate, slammed into the corner of the doorframe. Normally, it would have just been a minor blow, but today, her toe was crushed, and a shocking wave of pain washed over her.
“Kgh, kehek...!”
Along with the pain, blood gushed from her mouth. Bianca's eyes began to tremble wildly.
“Wh-khuk... what is this?”
She'd only stubbed her pinky toe, yet blood was pouring out. This was impossible.
“Wh-what in the world...?”
Pale with fright at the sight of an amount of blood she hadn't seen since becoming a powerhouse, Bianca staggered backward.
Clang!
“Ah!”
While backing away, she bumped into a display stand where weapons were leaning. All sorts of weapons that had been propped up tumbled to the floor. The sound of sharpened weapons clattering on the ground snapped her to her senses.
‘R-right, it must be because I swallowed such a strong powerhouse.’
She tried to swallow her anxiety and put the fallen swords back in place. The moment she took a step forward, she just so happened to step on the tip of a sword, which shot forward, causing her to fall backward.
“Huh...?”
All the fallen weapons of various shapes were dangerously positioned in the direction she was falling, as if it had been orchestrated.
Puk!
The blade of a sword, bent at the tip like an L, pierced through the sole of Bianca's foot and protruded from the top.
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
She screamed and fell to the side. The hilt connected to the blade embedded in her foot swung and knocked over another display case. A huge lump of iron the size of an orc's head fell toward her.
“Wai—...kgh!”
The chunk of iron slammed down on her head with a thwack, and a nosebleed gushed out. Unable to comprehend the situation, she stuck her tongue out and barely managed to stop her eyes from rolling back into her head.
‘What, what in the world is happening?’
A series of incomprehensible events; she was right on the verge of going insane.
Thwack! Bam! Thud!
“Keok, kkuk... Kuaaak!”
As if on a prepared stage, Bianca was reduced to rags, stepping on or getting hit by each fallen weapon. She practically rolled around the armory before being thrown out of it.
“Heok, keoheuk...”
She was more wounded than when she had fought the champion, gasping for breath.
‘A-at this rate, I'm going to die!’
She staggered to her feet. She could feel pools of blood dripping from her body.
‘Wait... what is this...?’
Her gaze shifted from the pool of blood at her feet toward the armory. The inside of the armory was drenched in blood, as if ten people had been murdered and drained. This meant it made no sense for her to be standing here perfectly fine.
“What the hell...? What in the world is happening?”
Having swallowed Rian, and the Gag Filter along with him, Bianca couldn't comprehend the current situation.
To Rian, who was already used to the Gag Filter, this was no big deal, but to Bianca, every reaction happening to her body was incomprehensible. A lack of understanding was tantamount to fear.
“F-first, treatment... I need to treat myself!”
She shouted as if screaming and staggered toward the living room. A peaceful air hung in the living room, as if nothing had happened.
But to Bianca, even that tranquility felt like terror. It felt like something was about to happen at any moment.
“Before something strange happens, quickly, I need to get treated as fast as possi—...”
A special rule of the gag world: if you say what you're worried about out loud, it really happens.
Shwoooosh!
No sooner had her words finished than a tremendous sound was heard.
Thwump!
“Keok..”
A spear flew in from outside the window, piercing through her stomach. It happened in an instant.
“Kgh, kghh... Ahh... I don't, I don't want to die.”
Bianca picked up the blood and organs that spilled out from her pierced stomach and let out a scream. Then, it spoke. An organ.
“Hey, are you crazy? Touching me without any gloves on?”
A piece of an organ resembling Bianca's facial features cursed at her. Bianca stared at her organ with a dazed expression.
“There's another piece over there! Pick it up, quick!”
“I mean, we work hard inside the body, so isn't it the owner's job to protect the organs? What kind of management results in a hole in the stomach? I'm going to get compensation for all of this!”
“Hey, if you're going to bandage me up, can you use the highest quality stuff? I'm a bit sensitive.”
Bianca's mind went blank at the voices filled with arrogance.
‘What is this? Why am I not dead? And what's talking right now? An organ? An organ is talking? How? More importantly, shouldn't it be dead if it's outside the body? How is it talking? How does it even have a mouth?’
As one incomprehensible situation followed another, Bianca's mind creaked as if it were broken. Rather than expend energy trying to understand, her brain more wisely came to a conclusion.
‘A dream, it's a dream, right? Yeah?’
Otherwise, there was no way an organ could talk or that she could breathe so easily despite having a hole in her stomach.
‘Yes, it must be—.’
Before she could finish her thought.
“Ms. Bianca?”
“...?!”
A familiar voice was heard. Bianca's eyes quickly scanned her surroundings.
“Ms. Bianca, when can I get out?”
“Wh-where are you speaking from?!”
No matter how much she looked around, she couldn't see the owner of the voice, and Bianca's own voice began to tremble.
“Hmm? Well, inside your stomach, Ms. Bianca.”
“What...?”
Her gaze fell to her own stomach.
“Did you have chicken yesterday? It's melting over there.”
The voice... was coming from the pit of her stomach. And it was the voice of Rian, the one she had devoured.