Descent of the Bio Device
Greenskins are rough-skinned by nature.
No matter how badly a human might abuse their own flesh, it could never compare to the hide of a greenskin. That was precisely why greenskins prized the smooth skin of humans above all else—the yielding give of soft meat under their teeth.
The two goblin riders who believed Kenneth was fleeing with Kaisent in his arms were already drunk on the thought of it: the tender flesh of a boy, the chewy resistance of a grown man’s meat.
Shriiik!
They struck first at Kenneth, the more threatening of the two in his heavy armor, hurling weighted cords studded with thick iron balls. The hunting bolas spun with centrifugal force, designed to wrap a man’s limbs and exhaust him in moments.
“How dare you!”
Kenneth, who had been treating even Kaisent’s struggling as part of the pleasure and looking forward to a delightful “lesson,” swung his sword in irritation at the filthy goblins’ attack. The thick cords, woven not to snap easily, parted like thread under the enchanted blade of a man who had reached the Expert rank.
Sweeek!
In that same instant Kenneth’s danger sense flared under a wave of pure killing intent aimed straight at him. He spun and cut by pure reflex—and found Kaisent already in the act of throwing an arrow snatched from a quiver, the shaft’s path twisting mid-flight like a living thing to slip past the sword stroke.
Danger!
The arrow flew true for the center of his brow. Kenneth flung himself backward as hard as he could and took the hit on his left arm instead.
Kwa-jijik! Thunk!
“Khuk!?”
Pain flared through his arm, but what rose first was not rage—it was disbelief.
How the hell did an ordinary arrow—!?
The mercenary company’s archers used only standard-issue shafts. He had checked the baggage himself more than once, just in case; not a single enchanted arrow existed among them. Yet that plain arrow had punched straight through his magic armor. It had not buried itself deep enough to cripple him, at least.
“Kyaha! Infighting! Infighting!”
“Idiots!”
Ignorant of the real situation, the goblin riders cackled at the sight of smooth-skins turning on each other. Whether it was their laughter or the arrow still lodged in his flesh, the perpetual smirk of the rapist finally froze on Kenneth’s face.
“Fine. I’ll admit it.”
Kwachang!
He yanked the arrow free and unlatched the side clasps; the enchanted armor fell away of its own accord.
“I’m the fool who didn’t look closely enough and made this harder than it needed to be.”
He had never imagined Kaisent possessed skill like this. Kenneth settled into a proper stance.
“Kyahahaha! Real idiot! Taking off his armor!”
“Die!”
The goblin riders charged from both sides, spears whirling. Unlike ordinary horses, the wolves they rode hungered for human flesh; their jaws snapped at Kenneth’s legs, turning the assault into a four-way pincer.
“Ssshh—”
Kenneth exhaled, deliberately emptying the strength from his body even as the riders closed in.
Shishishishik!
Afterimages bloomed and vanished so fast it looked as though his torso and arms had multiplied. When his form solidified again, Kenneth rolled his neck and walked forward at a leisurely pace.
Chwak! Puhwaak!
Goblin heads flew. Wolf skulls split lengthwise. The creatures’ own momentum sent them tumbling in bloody heaps.
Fast! He wasn’t just hiding his strength—he was hiding his swordsmanship from the start!
Until now Kenneth had used a balanced style of offense and defense, saving a burst of speed for the moment he needed to escape a hopeless situation.
“Now that the pests are gone, we can properly—”
“Hyaaat!”
Just as Kenneth turned on Kaisent, Wolf charged in, greatsword swinging. The goblin riders had cost Kenneth precious seconds; Wolf had closed the gap.
“Fuck! Will you quit it already!”
Irritation finally exploding, Kenneth slipped past Wolf’s blade and drove inward, aiming a cut at the chest. Wolf expertly opened distance and slammed the flat of the greatsword down to pin the strike. One exchange each, and they settled into a wary standoff.
“Kaisent! Are you all right!”
“I—I’m fine!”
“I don’t understand, Kenneth. Whose orders are you under to kidnap Kaisent?”
Having first confirmed the boy’s safety, Wolf demanded an explanation. The reasonable assumption was that Kaisent might be the bastard son of some noble house rather than a demi-human, and that Kenneth had been hired to retrieve him. Reasonable—except the man opposite was anything but.
“Orders? Khah! Yeah, I got orders! From my cock!”
“…What?”
“Even the softest noble boys are greenskins compared to this one! Look at him! That delicate, silky white skin! I want—right now—to enjoy every last bit of that boy!”
“….”
Wolf’s expression behind the helmet went blank with pure disbelief at a motive so far beyond imagination.
“This magic armor! It’s only low-grade, but it’s solid! I’ll give it to you! Just sell me the boy! Or hell, ignore me! One boy’s body for a full set of magic armor—if you turn that down you’re either a cripple or a complete moron!”
One step from finally violating Kaisent, Kenneth ranted like a madman, completely consumed by lust. Only then did Wolf understand everything—the reason Kenneth had joined the company, the cooperative act, the kidnapping, even cutting down his own allies.
“All of it… for something this filthy.”
Now that the man’s true desire was clear, Wolf had no intention of letting him walk away clean. The greatsword rose into a ready stance.
“I told you not to interfere!”
“You filthy bastard!”
A duel between a heavy greatsword and a speed-focused blade. At first glance the lighter sword seemed to hold the advantage, yet Wolf wove the principles of both swiftness and crushing weight together with exquisite precision, driving Kenneth back step by step.
Expert first-rank level. This isn’t enough to beat me!
Wolf was Expert fourth-rank, a blade tempered by countless real battles and burning vengeance. Kenneth’s light, purely sharp style could not break through.
Skilled. If I jump in clumsily I’ll only break the flow.
Kaisent judged that Wolf already held the rhythm; victory was only a matter of time. Still, he watched every exchange carefully, just in case.
There—should have stepped inside.
Ah, too deep.
That last cut would have been trivial if he’d shifted one step to the right.
Kaisent’s innate genius and insight dissected both fighters’ strengths and flaws, reassembling them in his mind into more efficient movements.
Damn it! Stronger than I thought!
Kenneth had expected a mercenary good only in chaotic melees; instead the man was equally deadly in single combat.
Why the hell is someone this strong wasting time as a mercenary captain?
Before his previous noble employer had cast him out for failing to “understand” his tastes, Kenneth himself had been a knight on the rise. Seeing a superior swordsman reduced to leading a free company was almost incomprehensible.
At this rate I’m finished.
Normally he would have fled already. But after seeing Kaisent, no other boy would ever fill the emptiness again.
Risky… but if I don’t use it now, when?
Years ago he had briefly worked for a certain organization and received a pill as a kind of severance. That group had been trying to manufacture Prana crystals from human materials in order to force rank advancement. Whether they still existed he had no idea, but at the time they had succeeded in creating a crystal that temporarily elevated a warrior’s realm.
“Khhaaat!”
Kenneth poured every ounce of strength into knocking Wolf’s attack aside, then leapt back and pulled a dark-crimson pill from his coat. Side effects varied wildly by user; he had no idea what would happen to him. A moment of hesitation—then lust crushed reason. He swallowed it.
Chiiiiik!
“Kraaaaaaaaaah!”
He forced his energy to circulate, accelerating the drug’s effect. Kenneth’s skin flushed scarlet; heat shimmered around his body like a mirage.
“Diiie!”
He charged at a speed utterly different from before.
Kaaang!
“Ugh!?”
The impact of Kenneth’s sword nearly threw Wolf off balance.
“Krgagagagagagak———!”
The roar that tore from his throat was no longer human. Reason had almost completely fled.
What the hell did he just swallow!? I’ve never even heard of a drug that boosts someone this much…!
Suddenly outmatched in raw power, Wolf was driven back, scrambling to reclaim the flow of the fight.
Kaang! Kwajik!
Kenneth smashed the greatsword downward and planted a boot on the blade. The thought of losing his weapon in this state meant death; Wolf poured everything into wrenching it free.
“Wolf! Dodge!”
At Kaisent’s warning, Kenneth launched himself forward off the pinned greatsword, sweeping his blade upward in a vertical cut. Wolf jerked his upper body back just in time—
Skak!
—yet the tip of Kenneth’s sword still split the helmet open.
“Wol… eh?”
Kaisent, who had been worried for Wolf, froze as deep ocean-blue hair spilled free and a face was revealed. The rough man he had believed Wolf to be was, in truth, a beautiful woman. For a heartbeat he simply could not process it.
“Kaisent! Run! I’ll hold this man off! I won’t last long!”
The clear, pure voice urged him to flee, but Kaisent had long since erased the option of abandoning her. Without Wolf’s help he would have starved or become monster food.
“Aaagh!”
Kenneth’s next strike carved a long gash across her right side; a scream tore free.
I don’t want to lose anyone else!
Even if she was not Dang Seol-yeong, if he lost the benefactor who had saved him, he would never be able to stand again. Her cry steeled his resolve. Kaisent decided to bring out everything he had been hiding.
At Kaisent’s voice the corpses of the slain goblins rose. Even headless, the undead stood by their own power, awaiting their creator’s next command.
“Attack!”
He poured mana into the order, directing them at the one he hated. The goblin riders charged Kenneth, still clutching their spears in death-rigor.
“Khh!?”
Though reason was nearly gone, Kenneth’s senses had grown sharper than ever. He met the spears thrusting from behind and sheared them apart—yet the goblin zombies simply obeyed Kaisent’s will and lunged bare-handed.
Mana floods the undead vessels, detonating them into shrapnel of flesh and bone.
Kwaaang!
“Kroaaaaagh!”
Mana-laced goblin flesh and bone fragments sprayed like grenade shrapnel, riddling Kenneth’s body. He hardened his skin by reflex, yet could not escape unscathed; strips of hide hung in tatters.
One more hit isn’t enough!
Wolf was wounded. Bare-handed, Kaisent could not hope to parry an Expert whose rank had been artificially raised. He had already used Soul-Chasing Arrow several times; Kenneth would not fall for the same trick twice.
"Magic Missile!"
"Fireball!"
⟨ Dual Cast ⟩
He mixed Soul-Chasing Arrow with pure magic, yet Kenneth simply swatted the arrows aside and kept distance from the spells. Without the twisted lust, this man would have been famous—an Expert of genuine talent, skilled even against magic. Kaisent’s attacks were only buying time.
At this rate…!
He had already thrown every arrow. Wolf’s portable potion had shattered during the defense; she clutched her side with one hand and raised the greatsword for a final stand.
“Heh… heh-heh… hahaha… kh-hihihihihik!”
Moving almost purely on instinct, Kenneth fixed a lecherous grin on Kaisent and charged.
Sweeеееееее———
A sudden, deafening whistle from the sky made him look up.
“Kh?”
Something was plummeting toward them at tremendous speed. Kenneth instinctively leapt clear to avoid the unknown object—yet Kaisent sprinted straight toward the impact point.
Just before striking the ground the object fired reverse thrusters, kicking up a thick cloud of dust and settling into a stable landing.
“Ah!”
A metal crate locked atop a sturdy triangular base radiated a familiar presence.
Father!
A box carrying his father’s aura. The moment Kaisent reached for it, the crate opened of its own accord as though recognizing its master. Inside lay a mechanical gauntlet shaped like an open-finger glove, and a syringe mounted on a stand, filled with translucent liquid.
Bio Device!
Understanding his father’s signal—to verify the glove’s functions through the Bio Device—Kaisent pressed the syringe to the side of his neck and triggered the switch. With a soft pshhk the liquid injected.
The long-broken comprehensive biological information terminal—the Bio Device—came back online. Kaisent slipped the right-hand gauntlet on.
Kirik— kiriririk—
The once-loose glove reshaped itself, molding perfectly to his hand.
Wuum!
As a family heirloom, he first poured inner energy into it. A translucent barrier unfolded from the back of the hand.
Armed with a new weapon, Kaisent turned toward Kenneth—who still stood frozen in confusion—and fixed him with eyes from which fear had finally vanished.