Auction Preparations (5)
"Then I suppose our business here is concluded."
"...!"
I spoke up, intending to wrap up my conversation with Puppet Master Batu.
Thanks to Batu spilling everything in such a short time, I had obtained all the information I needed.
The reason he came here. What he was targeting. And even the plan the Five Nightmares were concocting.
There was no longer any reason to keep this conversation going.
"N-No! Wait!"
"...?"
Suddenly snapping back to his senses, Batu frantically blurted out.
Desperation was laid bare in his trembling voice.
"O-On second thought, I can't. If I do, the others won't let me off. E-Especially..."
Gulp.
Batu swallowed hard, his voice trailing off.
Just looking at the distorted expression visible beneath his hood, I could easily tell how terrified he was.
He looked utterly paralyzed with fear just by thinking of whoever it was.
"H-Hand over the core..."
Batu barely managed to speak. His voice still trembled, but it carried a tone that bordered on a threat.
"...T-Then there won't be any problems. Really. It'll make things easier for everyone. Right?"
I didn't show any reaction to his words.
Instead, I leisurely stabbed a piece of food on the table with my fork.
The savory aroma of freshly roasted chicken drifted past my nose.
The moment I took a bite, juices flooded my mouth. It was the finest thing I had tasted since coming to this world.
...The game lore said this place was the best restaurant around, and it wasn't lying.
Clink.
I deliberately delayed my response, focusing on my meal.
At that, Batu's gaze began to waver anxiously.
Watching me casually enjoy my food must have been excruciatingly frustrating for him.
"U-Excuse me...?"
Batu stared at me.
His eyes shook. His expression was frantic, burning with an agonizing impatience.
Having dragged out the silence, I observed his reaction and finally spoke.
"You do know how precious the Storm Dragon's core is, right?"
Batu flinched.
He shuddered, startled by my sudden voice.
Though he let out a sigh of relief now that I was speaking, tension still lingered in his eyes.
I paid him no mind and continued.
"The core is the most valuable part of the entire beast. It's the source of power that allowed it to control storms and thunder."
"..."
"It'll probably fetch whatever price I name. Or perhaps I'll receive something far more valuable than mere gold."
I paused and looked at Batu.
Beneath his half-shadowed hood, a complex mix of anticipation and anxiety flickered across his face.
"Of course,"
I added, turning my gaze back to the food.
"since the ownership of the carcass belongs to me, it's not impossible to siphon the core off before the auction and hand it over to you."
"What? R-Really...?"
Hope seeped into Batu's voice.
"However,"
I looked back at Batu with a cold gaze.
"what can you offer me in return?"
"..."
A chilling silence fell over the table.
The trembling in Puppet Master Batu's body suddenly ceased.
When he spoke next, his voice was cold and bizarre, completely different from before.
"...In return?"
His long sleeve slid back from his bulky robe, slowly revealing a skeletal arm.
Pale flesh clung tightly to a frail frame.
With only a slight exaggeration, it looked like nothing but skin and bone, with dark blue veins bulging out in a grotesque display.
Soon, his fingers began to twitch in a peculiar rhythm.
Like a puppeteer pulling invisible strings—a true Puppet Master.
In the next moment.
"Bwahaha! Huh? What did the Earth Dragon look like? Well, it was... cough, ack!"
The loud voice echoing from one corner of the restaurant abruptly cut off.
As Batu moved his hand again, the screech of a chair scraping backward rang out.
Since it was happening behind my back, I couldn't see what was going on. But Adelia's stiffened expression told me everything.
She called my name in a low, tense voice.
"...Sir Gaon."
Though she sounded calm on the surface, there was an unmistakable urgency underneath.
A warning to be careful.
An intuition that something was terribly wrong.
Adelia gripped the hilt of the Meteor Sword.
This time, she was truly prepared to draw her weapon.
"D-Don't move."
"...!"
Suddenly, Batu snapped his head up.
His hood fell back, revealing the face that had been partially hidden.
Pale, gaunt skin. Deeply sunken sockets with eyes gleaming with madness. Hollow cheeks and parched lips.
An expression that made it impossible to tell if he was crying or grinning with joy.
The contradictory emotions swirling on his face provoked a deep sense of revulsion.
"If you twitch so much as a single finger..."
Batu's hazy pupils glared at Adelia.
"...you die. I'll rip you apart. I'll strip your flesh, sew it back together with thread, hang your bones like ornaments, and control you to my heart's content until you break."
Yes.
This was the true nature of Puppet Master Batu.
The malice that reared its head the moment he felt his opponent was weaker than him.
The cowering, terrified attitude was gone, replaced entirely by his cruel nature.
A textbook coward who preyed on the weak and feared the strong.
Yet, the power hidden behind that pettiness was not something to be ignored.
Your Mental Strength 'MAX' resists the opponent's pressure.
An immense, suffocating bloodlust began to weigh down on the entire building.
A presence equal to, or perhaps even greater than, the bloodlust Camilo von Taribas had exuded.
"...!"
Adelia's eyes widened in shock.
She was undoubtedly much stronger than before, but the pure malice radiating from one of the Five Nightmares was still overwhelming.
If even Adelia was struggling this much, the ordinary patrons stood no chance.
Thud!
One by one, people began collapsing to the floor.
Some vomited and lost consciousness, while others went into convulsions, their eyes rolling back.
The tavern owner dropped his plates and leaned against the wall, trembling violently. A warm liquid was already pooling down his pants.
Fear.
Pure, primal terror devoured everyone's sanity.
It was the instinctive warning humanity had carried since the dawn of time—the dread of a prey standing before its predator.
"...B-Behead."
Hearing a weak voice from behind, I slowly turned my head.
The drunk imposter who had been causing a scene was standing there, gripping his axe with both hands.
Amidst the chaos, the sight of him standing there so calmly was eerie and unnatural.
"I am... the Beheader... Beheading... the Earth Dragon..."
His eyes were completely vacant.
Hollow pupils with no focus.
Every time Batu's hand twitched, the man's body jerked like a broken doll.
"Behead, behead, behead, behead."
The muttering was mechanical and repetitive. But the blade of the axe was aimed not at the Earth Dragon, but at the man's own neck.
*Creak, creak.*
The sound of joints bending unnaturally. Like a puppet made of rusted wire, the man's arms twisted and moved.
Blood began to trickle down. As the blade pressed against his neck, the skin started to split.
Yet, the man did not stop. No, he couldn't.
With every micro-movement of Batu's fingers, as if manipulating strings, the man's body moved accordingly.
And then...
*Stop.*
Just before delivering a fatal, irreversible blow, the man's movements froze.
The blade had already dug deep into his neck, a hair's breadth away from nicking the artery.
"S-See?"
Batu slowly turned to me, showing off his power.
"I-I control people."
A hideous grin stretched across his lips.
"I can handle the living like puppets. Your companion, the disciple beside you, and even you, Gaon—I can brainwash and control you all at will."
"..."
"I can make them take their own lives, turn them against each other, or force them to commit even more horrific acts."
Batu shuddered, suppressing a rising chuckle.
*Heh, hehe, khaha!*
Excitement began to blend into his nauseating voice.
"Y-You asked what I could give you in exchange for the core, right?"
"..."
"It's simple. I will spare you... from the terrible things you would otherwise have to face."
His tone was deceptively soft, but the underlying meaning was chillingly clear.
It was a warning that if I didn't hand over the core, the "terrible things" he mentioned would become reality.
Coming from someone who could manipulate the living like puppets, the threat felt all the more repulsive and tangible.
"The choice is yours. You never know when the people around you will suddenly turn and try to kill you. So, if you don't want to live in constant anxiety every single day, hand over the core right n—"
"I've heard enough."
I cut Batu off with a cold voice.
I had waited, hoping he might slip some useful information if he kept babbling.
But it was a foolish expectation. I had only wasted precious time.
*Shring!*
I stood up and drew the Feather Sword.
Sliding out of its sheath, the Mokgwe, the blade gleamed coldly under the dim lighting.
"W-What...!"
Batu scrambled backward in a panic.
True to his cowardly nature, he instinctively recoiled the moment my sword left its sheath.
Yet, Batu's momentum wasn't entirely crushed.
He panted heavily. Though his face was pale with fear, he still seemed to have some ace up his sleeve.
"A-Are you going to fight me here? Do you think that will accomplish anything?"
"..."
"Y-You don't actually think the body standing in front of you is my real self, do you? This is just one of the many 'puppets' I've used for decades!"
Batu raised his voice, barking even louder.
But why?
To me, all of this sounded like the desperate struggles of a man trying to hide his terror.
"W-What do you think will change if you kill me now? It won't affect me at all! I'm hidden away in a safe place!"
"..."
"I-If anything, only the appearance of the puppet you have to deal with will change! Ha, haha...! Things will only get more annoying for you..."
"Enough. The choice is yours."
I cut him off once more, my voice freezing.
"No matter what form you take when you appear before me,"
*Step.*
I stepped forward, locking eyes with Batu.
He backed away as well, but the difference in our strides meant the distance between us was rapidly closing.
"even if you wear the 'shell' of someone close to me and put on the most cunning act,"
*Step.*
One step.
And another.
The gap between Puppet Master Batu and me narrowed to nothing.
"I will see through all of it."
"W-Wait a minute..."
"And I will trace the strings connected to that shell all the way back to the pit where your real body hides."
When the distance between us vanished completely,
I swung the Feather Sword, throwing his own words back at him.
"So, if you don't want to live in constant anxiety every single day, never knowing when I might storm into your hideout,"
*Slash!*
"never show your face before me again."
Batu did not dodge my sword. He didn't even seem to have the intention to.
He merely stood there, acting as if losing a single puppet meant nothing to him.
*Slide.*
Batu's head slowly tilted and slid off the clean cut of his neck.
*Thud!*
And at the very last moment, a faint murmur escaped the head as it hit the floor.
"I told you, fucker. Doing this won't do shit to me..."
"..."
No.
It will.
For anyone else, killing a mere 'shell' would indeed do nothing to you...
You have used the Authority Skill: Eternal Slayer Jin.
The effect of the sub-skill, Soul Kill, has been triggered.
...But at the very least, I am different.
A pitch-black room.
A gloomy space where all kinds of dolls hung in rows, and bizarre threads were woven across the walls like spiderwebs.
A basement reeking of rot and mold.
"...!"
Suddenly, the man's eyes snapped wide open.
Soon after, a blood-curdling shriek erupted from his mouth as he cowered in the corner.