The Plague Twitches (2)
"Die, you fucking bastards! Haaah!"
Ke-eeeeek-?!
Ke-eeeeeeek-!
I swung my sword wildly and unleashed every skill I had, sending monster limbs flying in all directions. Acting like a madman like this actually made the monsters panic and flee instead of attacking.
"Where the hell do you think you're running, you dog?! Am I that easy to take down?! What the fuck?! You think I won't say anything even if you raise your tribute to double?! You fucking worthless piece of shit!!!"
Ke-eeeeeeek-!
A fleeing monster thrashed wildly in my grip, trying to escape. That only fueled my already boiling rage, and I couldn't hold back. I bit straight into its neck.
Ke-eeeeeeeeek-?!
The monster's screams grew even more frantic as I bit down harder, my jaws crushing through its neck like it was nothing. In the end, the monster died with its throat torn out.
"Krrroooar..."
Kiik-?!
Ke, ke-eeeeeeek-!
"Krrroooar... woof! Kwoarrrrrwoalwoalcaoooooo!!!"
Ke-eeeeeeek-!
I chased after the fleeing monsters and tore into them like a rabid dog gone mad. Before long, the battle ended.
"....."
"....."
Once the fight was over, my party members scattered around the area, collecting monster loot and picking up the Growth Stones that had dropped on the floor. At the same time, they kept glancing at me, sizing me up.
"Krrroooar..."
"Time to calm down, already?"
Thud-!
"Kyaaok?! Krrroo... kuaaang!"
"Whoa! Sit down!"
Thud-!
"Wake up!"
Kanisia smacked my forehead and forced me to sit. I could have easily shrugged off her hand and pushed her away if I really wanted to, but I didn't. Some sense was still left in me.
"What's gotten into you lately? Why have you been acting like a complete lunatic since three days ago?"
It had been four days since the tribute to Uroboros had jumped from 3,000 gems to 6,000 gems.
And the very next day after the notice appeared saying the tribute had doubled, I paid Uroboros 6,000 gems.
Uroboros, you fucking snake bastard, had increased the tribute unilaterally the very day before I was supposed to hand it in.
Thanks to that, I had been sitting on about 5,000 gems of leeway, but now I had to top it up with another 1,000 gems in gold. Otherwise, the good class that had allowed me to exist in this world would vanish.
"Sigh... even if I told you, you wouldn't understand..."
"Haaah, really... I can't live like this."
Thankfully, Kanisia didn't press me for an explanation of why I was going crazy. She just let it go with a sigh.
"So are you going to keep doing this? You're making the kids uncomfortable because of it."
"Sigh..."
Ever since the tribute had been raised to 6,000 gems, I had been in a low-pressure state.
Because of that, the fairies naturally had no choice but to watch my every move. Even Oralisa, who was famous for not caring, was carefully observing me without any of her usual antics.
"Sorry. I won't do it anymore from now on."
I knew this state wasn't good for the fairies, and it certainly wasn't helping the party's combat strength. But every time I saw a monster, the image of 6,000 gems and that damned Uroboros kept flashing in my mind, and I couldn't contain the boiling rage inside me. Even the Lust Release skill hadn't been used yet, and I had still turned into a mad dog.
'Yeah. Even if I do this, 6,000 gems aren't going to turn back into 3,000. Just accept it... you fucking dog! You absolute piece of shit, Uroboros! You're finished. I'm going to use every single scale of yours to the last drop!'
The name at the very top of my kill list so far had been Montblanc's. Of course, I didn't actually plan to kill him—I just wanted to reincarnate him with the Flesh Revolver.
Anyway, Montblanc had been number one... but that order had changed this time.
Now my kill list's number one was Uroboros.
'I need to get strong fast and finish Uroboros off!'
Once I took out Uroboros, I wouldn't waste those precious gems. No matter how much gold I used to buy them, 6,000 gems a month was too much for a human to bear. Ah, maybe Uroboros wasn't even human, which was why it committed such atrocities?
Anyway, it didn't matter anymore.
Uroboros had crossed a line I couldn't forgive. From now on, Uroboros was my mortal enemy.
"Keep that in mind. And for a while, no kissing."
"What?! Why!"
No kissing?!
I couldn't taste Kanisia's soft pink lips anymore! That was a crime on par with Uroboros! It was a one-sided notification from the other side! This couldn't be happening!
I glared at Kanisia with an aggrieved look, but she refused to retract her words. Instead, she pointed at my lips and scolded me.
"So you were thinking of kissing me with that mouth that was covered in monster blood?"
"....."
Ah, that was true.
"Your mouth is covered in blood right now. Anyone would think you were vomiting blood. Anyway, no kissing. Got it?"
"Y-yes..."
I received the kiss ban with a dejected face and slumped my shoulders.
"Sonic, come here."
"Yes, Master..."
I called out to Sonic, who was far away collecting loot. She approached while carefully watching my every move.
"How's the battle going? Are you having a hard time?"
"I'm not having a hard time. Aquaril and Oralisa are helping a lot, so it's not that difficult."
"Really?"
Sonic, who had been leveling up by taking the finishing blows on the monsters I caught for her, had grown enough in just a few days to fight alongside me.
Of course, I wasn't strong enough to solo-kill monsters by myself. Sonic still lacked the stats and skills to fight one-on-one with monsters. She was only participating in combat as an assistant to Aquaril and Oralisa. But thanks to her solid base, she was able to fight without getting into dangerous situations.
"I wish I had skills. Fighting monsters without them is really inconvenient."
"I'll get you skill stones when we get back to Littleberry. I should have gotten them for you earlier... I was in a hurry."
"That's already enough gratitude. And I didn't even notice it myself?"
It was clearly my mistake that I hadn't obtained skill stones for Sonic.
I should have gotten them for her the moment I summoned her. I had been too distracted with other things and hadn't taken care of it.
'In my previous life, my lust wasn't this intense. I only jerked off once a week, and if I got really horny, I'd just go to an OP.'
Compared to my previous life, I had become a complete sex monster.
I was having sex almost every day without fail, and even before summoning Sonic, I would rotate between Kanisia, Aquaril, and Oralisa for full-day marathons when I got really horny.
But this was unavoidable.
Since there were so many women waiting to throw themselves at me the moment I reached out, my lust naturally increased. Plus, this body was still in its prime—twenty years old, when lust was at its peak.
... That was the excuse of the perpetrator.
*****
While I was focused on farming Growth Stones during the dungeon crawl, unaware of the situation in the eastern region, the eastern area was suffering from an untimely plague.
"How many mutated dungeons are there?"
"Four new mutated dungeons were confirmed today, bringing the total to fifteen. All F-rank dungeons have mutated, and E-rank dungeons are currently in the process of mutating."
"Fuck..."
One of the rulers of the eastern region, [Dark King] Barden Ormisio, spat out a curse at his subordinate's report.
Mutated dungeons were a first for this world, and he had no idea how to handle it.
He had learned about the mutation only about twenty days ago.
Barden operated the Hypos Academy, a training ground for novice masters and fairies.
Officially, he claimed it was to prevent promising talents from dying in dungeons unprepared, but in reality, it was to recruit more talented masters than any other competitor.
Barden was already a powerful figure called a king, but he had no intention of stopping there.
He dreamed of becoming the true ruler of the eastern region, beyond just being the master of a single city. To do that, he needed more than just loyal fairies, so he recruited many capable masters.
One of the ways he recruited talent was through the dungeon academy Hypos.
One of Hypos's courses involved taking students on field trips to F-rank dungeons with a single instructor to gain real combat experience.
Since the academy's instructors were all powerful beings with at least 4-star ratings, the students could safely gain experience.
Everything had gone smoothly until twenty days ago, when a problem occurred.
One of the instructors and two students had died in an F-rank dungeon.
The death of a 5-star instructor in an F-rank dungeon was so absurd that Barden ordered a full investigation.
The investigation team returned with shocking news.
The dungeons had mutated.
The monsters that should have been there had died, and countless rats had taken their place. They weren't monsters shaped like rats—they were just rats.
The monsters were being hunted by the rats that kept being born, fattening them up.
The investigation team had initially tried to exterminate the rats flooding the dungeon to investigate the deaths of the instructor and students, but they were overwhelmed by the endless wave of rats and had to retreat.
They also learned that this was happening in other F-rank dungeons.
All F-rank dungeons near cities ruled by Barden were now filled with rats, and the mutation was spreading to E-rank dungeons.
Moreover, the problem Barden faced wasn't just mutated dungeons.
"What about the plague? Have you stopped it from spreading?"
"We closed the villages where the plague broke out and prevented people from leaving as much as possible, but... it's so contagious..."
"What did the priests say?"
"They say they can purify the plague with purification skills, but it's only temporary. It seems to return after some time."
"Haa, haaah... this is ridiculous."
Barden let out a hollow laugh at his subordinate's words.
People infected with the plague had black skin and spat black blood.
But what was even scarier was that anyone infected with the plague would definitely die, and it spread with terrifying speed.
If they knew the infection route, they could prepare defenses, but since they didn't know how or how it spread, they couldn't do anything even if they wanted to.
All they could do was close down villages where infected people lived.
But even that wasn't enough to completely stop the plague from spreading.
"Have you contacted the other kings?"
"Yes, but... they are in the same situation as us."
The eastern region wasn't the only one suffering.
Other kings and queens who had settled in the east were experiencing the same thing—mutated dungeons and the spreading plague.
"Fuck..."
There was only one way to deal with this situation.
They had to ask for help from the center—that is, the Emperor.
Even the central priests were pouring all their efforts into stopping the plague, but it was still insufficient.
If there was anyone who could solve this problem, it would be the unique Emperor.
"... For now, we need to hold on."
To become the true ruler of the eastern region, Barden had to prevent the Emperor from interfering in the east. If the Emperor came under his control, even if he became the king he dreamed of, he would just be a puppet.
But that required having a territory to begin with.
Even if he became a puppet later, he had to protect what he had first.
"Request help from the Emperor. No, from His Majesty the Emperor."
Barden reached out to the Emperor for help to protect what he had.