126. Brutality (5)
126. Brutality (5)
- 1 -
"Keu-eo... euk...!"
Hwira Jul was a strong and excellent warrior. He was not only powerful, but tenacious as well, and on top of that, he possessed loyalty.
"All you had to do was open your mouth and say a single word. You've held out for quite a while."
"Heu-eok... hee, power...!"
In the darkness where they were alone.
Bound by my darkness, he was losing the spiritual power that was the source of his strength.
To be precise, I was absorbing it.
'A remarkable level.'
His spiritual power, the mana converted through sorcery, was of quite high purity.
『Attributes - ...Mana 72(◀ 67) Resistance 62(◀ 57)』
Enough to raise the mana stat of a dungeon lord, who is essentially a mass of powerful mana.
Although the efficiency was not high, merely possessing mana capable of increasing stats like this was remarkable.
The mana of other demon beasts I experimented on was almost entirely lost during the conversion process, after all.
"Please don't forget that I am being considerate of you. I am fond of loyal warriors like you."
Loyalty. Faith.
How beautiful faith and loyalty were.
Amelia, who rebelled against me risking her life the moment she thought her family was in danger.
Yurianne, who tried to protect her.
The Lizardman chieftain Jarax, who refrains from actively seeking vengeance in order to protect his lord.
Queen Echidna, who could even set aside her own safety to cherish such a chieftain.
The Arachne Queens, who laid bare all their humiliating pasts to protect their children.
"Tha, that... even if you... speak... I will never... surrender...!"
"Right... I see that now."
In my eyes, Hwira Jul, who was loyal to Zarkra without even properly knowing her affection, was a sufficiently valuable being.
It was regrettable to have met him as an enemy.
If I had just a little less leeway, or if I did not have those women who loved and respected the current me just as much, wouldn't I have tried to obtain him somehow?
However...
'He is unnecessary right now.'
"I will respect your wishes."
I did not forget my objective.
The reason I stepped forward here was solely to buy time for Shue and Evangeline's recovery, while breaking the enemy's will to fight.
For that, he had to resist a little more.
Teop!
"Keu... heo-eok... heo-eo-eo-eok — !!!"
He had to die more miserably.
Since cruelty was a means I disliked using, it had to yield an even greater effect when employed once.
"You will die like this. And your body..."
"No..."
Having sensed something in my words, countless dark emotions surged wildly in the eyes fixed on me.
It was exactly what I was aiming for.
"... I shall put it to good use."
"N, no...!"
There was no more mana or spiritual power left to drain from his body.
But if human emotions were energy, there was no reason the emotions of a demon beast could not become energy.
"It is regrettable."
Resentment. Despair. Anger. Hatred. Disgust.
The mana clinging to my fingertips became stained.
The colorless, transparent power was dyed with the colors of all sorts of emotions, and as they all gathered, it transformed into pitch black.
Peopeopuk — !!
It burrowed back into that body.
"「Summon: Bloody Knight」."
Bulge. Bulge.
Originally a zombie-type knight summon belonging to a vampire dungeon lord.
But its appearance, rather than being knightly like a Death Knight, was more akin to a golem or an ogre.
The body used as the sacrifice grew larger in size, tendons surged and rose all over its body, and its muscles developed to a much greater degree as well.
Additionally, over that swollen body, the flames he originally possessed took the shape of faint armor and covered it.
"Keuaa... aak...! Aaaak!!"
"That's about it."
An existing contract is broken upon death.
By using his body as a sacrifice to summon that being, I simultaneously severed the power at the stage before the 'contract'.
The mana absorbed from him caused the higher entity limit slot to increase by one space, but there was no need to use that here.
... Simply severing the contract was more than enough warning for our adversaries.
He would die as a wild demon beast.
Not as my possession.
Hwareureuk — !
Now, flames were surging from his body, rising high enough to touch the ceiling due to the mana I had forcibly stuffed in.
I seized that power back.
"「Ash, and Dust」."
The scarlet flames turned into purple fire.
The power blooming from my body became a dark flail.
And at that moment.
Huk!
"Aaaak!!"
"... Huh?"
I pulled back the veil.
- 2 -
"「Ash, and Dust」."
"Keuaak!! Aaaak — !!"
Seen from the outside without knowing the circumstances, that spectacle looked quite beautiful, yet also ridiculous.
Because one giant being, pouring flames from all over its body, was writhing with its head driven into the fingertips of a small woman.
However, if stems seemingly summoned from clotted ink were lodged all over that giant frame beneath her hands and feet, and if those stems were either absorbing or injecting something—from that point on, the scene ceased to be a comedy and became a horror creature feature.
"... What are you doing to him right now?"
"He is paying the price for daring to oppose you all. Zarkra."
She was still calm, and there wasn't a single unintentional waver in her movements.
Even though a giant mass, seemingly ten times her size, was thrashing about while pinned to her by 'darkness'.
That was not all.
Kwajik! Udeudeuk...!
The black power billowed up and crushed the massive body caught between them into small pieces.
Hwareuk, Hwareureuk!
The scarlet flames bloomed as if to fill the entire world, then turned purple, dyeing the surroundings beautifully.
The two forces were breaking him and burning him simultaneously.
For a long time. Slowly.
"Impossible..."
Zarkra had never once imagined such a scene.
No matter how much Libertas was beginning to gain fame as a super rookie, witnessing the strength of her summons inevitably led to a certain prejudice.
The idea that the summons were powerful, but the dungeon lord's own combat ability would not be high.
'That appearance was not a lie.'
'Good heavens...'
In the cases of the other two, they had at least tasted a fraction of that magical capacity, but Zarkra hadn't even managed that.
Also, the reason the other two hadn't warned her was now obvious.
'Combat ability is clearly something built over years, yet how can she be that strong...?'
Furthermore, combat was not something decided solely by magical talent.
Libertas had only been born for about half a year, and the battles she had fought in that time should, by all rights, be few, making her a 'young dungeon lord' in the normal sense.
It was common sense to think she could not possibly stand against a warrior who had already remained at the elite level for at least ten years.
"Let him go..."
But all those assumptions and common sense were destroyed at this very moment.
The sight before her eyes now showed 'half a year' pinning down and crushing 'ten years', and there was no choice but to accept it as it was.
"Let him go — !!"
Zarkra ended up acting on it in the most impulsive way possible.
Kung!
— Wait...!
Before Melzeros could even stop her, Zarkra dashed forward in an instant.
"「Zygra'then」!"
She summoned a curse to clad her hands and cast a beast's blessing on her feet to dash forward rapidly.
A gesture brimming with intent to intervene in the fight somehow.
"Stop. Lady Zarkra."
Naturally, that 'rule violation' was blocked by the employee of the Mammon Trading Company, who was attending as the supervisor and referee.
His position—in the form of a demon with thick horns growing on his forehead—was Deputy Manager.
It was the same rank as the Goblin Deputy Manager who had once visited Libertas's dungeon, Viscount Grimm Du Rol.
Therefore, he possessed a similar level of power—at least fully elite-grade or higher.
"This, let go...!"
"This kind of intervention cannot have a good influence on you, nor on your subordinates."
That ability was sufficient to restrain a baron or a high-rank dungeon lord, and at the same time, it was more than enough to clearly perceive what was happening before his eyes.
Because of that, he actually knew that Hwira Jul had already died.
He also knew what condition his body was in.
"Lady Zarkra. Calm yourself. He is already beyond hope."
Even so, he did not intervene in Libertas's cruelty.
He merely restrained Zarkra according to the rules the company had established.
In a demon realm duel, 'cruelty' or 'simple incapacitation' were not grounds for stopping the fight.
In this duel, even if one side died, it did not matter how the winner killed the loser—whether by incapacitating them and finishing them off, or by killing and defiling them.
"If he's beyond hope, then you can just end the fight!! Why do you keep going like that!!"
"Do you not know? Everything was already stated. These are all within the rules you agreed to."
Unless the loser speaks of surrender or expresses such an intent, and the winner accepts that plea and ceases their activity.
Therefore, his expression was utterly cold, and there was no hesitation in his movements restraining Zarkra.
The only thing was a glint of interest in his eyes as he looked at Libertas.
'Indeed, she is a talent worth Deputy Manager Grimm's observation. Even though she seems not to enjoy cruelty, her execution of it is so utterly without hesitation. On the other hand...'
Contempt settled in the demon's eyes as they returned to Zarkra.
'If one cannot be honorable, one must be wise. If one cannot be wise, one should have been strong.'
To a demon realm noble, these fledglings were fully worthy of contempt.
Having acknowledged their own weakness and attacked with numbers, yet failing to seize victory; and not completely discarding their honor, they were ambiguous ones who hadn't even employed sufficient stratagems before the battle.
'She must have been intoxicated by the title 'Baron', thinking they had truly become some sort of honorable nobles.'
Inwardly shaking his head at their clumsiness, the demon looked back towards Libertas once more.
She was arrogant from beginning to end.
And she knew how to wear a gentle mask to conceal that arrogance.
She even possessed the strength and subordinates to back up that arrogance.
Finally, she even had the boldness to sacrifice a certain degree of risk for the sake of 'strategy'.
'Excellent. If I were a subordinate, she would truly be a superior I'd wish to serve.'
That was what best aligned with the 'nobility' that a demon realm noble conceived of, so she could truly be called a noble person befitting the name of 'dungeon lord'.
'This appearance is just like... Yes. It is the same as the Demon King and the Grand Dukes of the demon realm.'
The figures of the seven Demon Realm Grand Dukes flashed through the deputy manager demon's mind.
The sun of the demon realm, symbolized by the Solar Eclipse.
And beneath it, the Grand Dukes of Greed, Wrath, Pride, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth.
'Like...'
Among their faces, the two that ultimately remained in the deputy manager's mind were these.
"Hmm."
'No. This is not for me to judge.'
If his speculations were correct, she could soon become a source of shame for one of the highest-ranking nobles in the demon realm. Conversely, she could become a source of pride.
But if he was wrong, even the assumption itself would be rude.
Either way, it was a fact that he must not dig into recklessly like this.
The deputy manager shook his head to clear his thoughts, then continued to observe the remaining 'match'.
"Keuaaaak — !!!!"
Through the treatment of the strongest warrior, who had already become a corpse, the morale of the other monsters was being chipped away.
The scene of that cruel torture, which had become a teabagging.
- 3 -
The duel... no, the torture ended like that.
To call even what happened at the end a 'duel'—honestly, my conscience wouldn't allow it.
"Aah. Jul... you...!"
Zarkra's mental state was completely broken.
As I had assumed, it seemed her attachment to the first subordinate she had summoned was quite deep.
"You...!"
At the very least, it looked certain to be more than an ordinary relationship.
If that resentment blazing as she looked at me wasn't sincere, wouldn't that actually be even scarier?
"I will definitely kill you... definitely...!"
"Right. Try it if you can."
"Keu-heu-eut...!!!"
Ppudeudeuk!
Seeming to take my calm attitude as a provocation, Zarkra ground her teeth murderously and returned to her camp.
I had earned someone's resentment, but I felt no particular worry.
'In a war, both sides surviving is the strange thing anyway.'
If one side had to die, that dying side could not be me.
Even if they drove themselves into a frenzy.
And their camp was already...
Murmur murmur...
"What becomes of us now...?"
"What do you mean what becomes! We prepare for the next battle!"
"In this state...? We're all going to die...!"
It had become a situation where it was difficult to incite that 'Frenzy'.
'It's over.'
The war was my victory.
Just as I had foreseen.