The Black of Famine (2)
Bam! Crack! Crunch! Irua was pressed tightly against the door, listening intently to the sounds outside. Watching her, Lena spoke up. "Stop that and go sit down. You're making me restless pacing around like that."
Irua turned to look at Lena, displeased. Lena had used her Word Magic to reshape a pile of cargo into a clean, plush sofa, and she was leaning back comfortably. "Aren't you even worried? There are so many high-ranking Galactic Empire officers out there, and Zeo is fighting them all alone. This is a complete irregular situation. No matter how strong Zeo is..."
"He must have had a reason to lock us in here, trusting in his own plan. Worrying will only get in his way."
"You're so calm. Don't you think you're underestimating Zeo?"
"Quite the opposite. I can afford to be relaxed precisely because I trust him."
"How much do you even know about him to be acting so smug?" Irua grumbled.
"He is a man of conviction and charm. Any other information is just noise. Unnecessary things. It's a bit chilly. 'Tea cup, appear.'"
Since when did she start holding Zeo in such high regard? Irua felt an inexplicable surge of irritation. Lena was already enjoying a tea time, having conjured a tea set on a makeshift table and pouring warm black tea. Seeing that she had even deactivated her spacesuit, it seemed she had constructed an atmosphere in the surrounding space.
"Didn't you create a bit too much?"
"I've become capable of this much. Though, items requiring complex blueprints are still beyond me. Fufu. Every day is delightful when I'm with Zeo. I feel like I'm being tested every single day on how far I can progress." Lena traced her fingertips with an ecstatic expression.
Irua closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on Lena's presence. '...Word Magic Level 11. And I'm... Dark Matter 9.' The gap wasn't narrowing; it was only widening. She bit her lip lightly. 'Looking at Lena, it seems like going from 9 to 10 takes an eternity... What should I do?'
Irua’s anxiety had barely begun to settle when—BOOM!! A massive sound struck her ears. She pressed against the shielding again, trying to deduce the situation outside. "...Hasn't it been 30 minutes already?"
"Your memory is poor. Didn't he tell you not to open it until he speaks first?"
"What if Zeo barely managed to defeat the monsters and is in critical condition? What if he collapsed and can't speak?"
"'Rope, appear.'" Snap! Lena held a titanium alloy rope, the kind used to secure rockets. "Irua, I wish you had a fetish for being tied up."
"Ugh...! Stop saying stupid things! I might be right!"
"At this very moment, Emperor Ractor could be picking his nose and accidentally gouge his brain out, dying instantly. I could be right, too, couldn't I?"
"All you do is be sarcastic!"
"Do not open it."
Before Lena could even finish her sentence, Irua generated Dark Matter. She triggered the switch on the outside of the shielding. The door opened with a loud, mechanical groan. Lena sighed and equipped her spacesuit again.
"Zeo!" Irua immediately checked the situation outside. It was a disaster. It looked less like a field of corpses and more like a butcher shop that had been bombed. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in shredded chunks of meat. Of course, they were all what used to be Dark Kingdom combatants. In the center, Jung Eui-seok stood with his back turned. His body was drenched in blood, but he didn't seem to have any wounds.
"Zeo? Are you okay?" Irua called his name. Jung Eui-seok turned his head slowly. Irua realized something was terribly wrong. The 's face had no flesh left; only bone remained, wearing a vicious expression and radiating killing intent.
"Ze... o?"
The next moment, Jung Eui-seok let out a monstrous shriek and lunged at Irua. Irua couldn't even think to dodge. Squelch! Lena intervened between them. She used the rope she was holding to wrap around Jung Eui-seok's neck and shoulders, restraining him in the opposite direction of Irua.
"'Become sturdy.' 'Become even sturdier.' 'Rope, appear in abundance!'"
Dozens of ropes shot out from the ceiling and walls like projectiles, binding Jung Eui-seok's body. It looked as if his joints were being forced to bend, but at the same time, he snapped the alloy ropes like rubber bands. "'Harden.' 'Collapse.' 'Crush him,' 'Strongly,' 'Even more strongly!'"
The ceiling and floor collapsed, raining down on Jung Eui-seok. Reinforced chunks of iron crushed his body like a prison. He shattered even those like they were Styrofoam. Jung Eui-seok's skull opened its jaw in a terrifying display. He lunged to chew off Lena's small head.
"Divarion, Ain!"
Irua, regaining her senses, generated a massive amount of Dark Matter in Jung Eui-seok's chest. Jung Eui-seok couldn't move forward due to the powerful tension. He twisted his waist grotesquely. Then, his waist doubled, and a skull formed on the back of his head, lunging toward Irua.
"Hick—" Irua let out a wheezing sound, paralyzed by fear. The skull consumed her vision in an instant. This was it. She was going to be eaten. She braced herself for death.
The next moment, a large hand rested on Irua's head.
"I told you to come out only when I call."
Irua grabbed her trembling legs and slowly looked up. There was Jung Eui-seok's face, filled with worry. Seeing his face, a sense of relief washed over her, followed by the guilt of not trusting him. Perhaps it was a rebellious reaction to those feelings, but Irua lunged into Jung Eui-seok's arms and hugged him tightly.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Irua apologized to Jung Eui-seok, hiding her tearful voice.
"You both worked hard to hold him off. Famine is a dangerous skill if you get bitten."
"In the future, please give Lua an accurate warning before using such abilities." Lena stood up, dusting off her skirt. Irua pulled her head away from Jung Eui-seok's chest and looked at Lena with a red nose.
"I, I'm sorry, Lena..."
Lena looked at Irua and laughed lightly. "It's fine. You are Zeo's subordinate, after all. It's Zeo's fault for not training his subordinate properly, so I'll consider it a debt owed. It has become a good justification." Lena approached Jung Eui-seok and gently stroked his chin with her index finger. "You'll have to pay a high price for this."
"Understood."
"W, well, it was my fault, so I..." Irua resisted timidly, but Lena looked at her with pity. "Lua, if my subordinate had made such a mistake, I would have already blown their head off."
***
"So, what exactly is the ability of the Black of Famine?" Lena asked in the returning mecha.
"Simply put, it's a berserk state. You lose your reason and become stronger. However, it doesn't boost my stats significantly."
"Then how did you turn all those combatants into chunks of meat?"
"The era of famine is not something one experiences alone, but together. It's a contagious berserk state."
"Aha. So you mean the combatants annihilated each other?"
"Yes. And the one who survives until the end is, naturally, the strongest among them—me."
"It's interesting, but the situations where it's truly useful are certainly limited."
"We might be able to use it in the latter half of the battle with the Galactic Empire to thin out the numbers inside the ship. But the problem is, if they aren't bitten, they don't go berserk, and since I can't control it, there's a high chance Ractor could escape."
"Hmm. Then how about in a case like this? It doesn't necessarily have to be the Galactic Empire. For instance..." Lena gave an example. It was quite a compelling idea.
"Indeed. As expected, I can't keep up with the ideas of the #1 ranked villain."
"Thank you for the compliment."
The conversation with Lena was harmonious. There is quite a lot to learn from her as a villain. The way she operates her organization, for one. Seeing Lua so quiet, I turned my head. "Lua, are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah..."
"Don't be too depressed. You don't have much combat experience yet, and it's perfectly understandable."
"Yeah..."
Even though she answered, she seemed out of it. I decided to take care of her a bit when we got back.
***
Back at the hideout, I had her perform a deep dive to analyze the data. "Zeoo... even for me, this is a bit... The language doesn't even correspond, and the data storage system is completely different... They use base-128..."
She became a wreck within a day and declared she was giving up. In the end, though I wasn't thrilled about it, I used the companies I had taken over via my shadow agents to analyze it. I thought it was a decent method, as I could verify errors by bringing in results from multiple sources.
While catching the Galactic Empire's monsters, Vengeance leveled up smoothly. The shadow agents infiltrated throughout society were also a huge help for experience points. Now, Vengeance is a Villain Organization Level 8. With the Sacred Tree at 10 and the World Rank #1 at 15, there's still a long way to go, but it's proceeding roughly according to plan.
As I was leveling up, the results of the Dark Kingdom data analysis arrived. "Zeo, was what we picked up from the ship trash, or a gemstone?"
"I'm checking it now."
Lena sat next to my desk. I looked around. "Where's Lua?"
"She went out early. She's barely at the hideout these days." Emma answered in her stead. Usually, it would be Lua sitting there, not Lena, but I hadn't seen much of her lately. I checked the data. I excluded errors that were inconsistent among the various companies' results. I read the contents slowly. The reinforcement device in question. The operating principles and effects of that cursed machine that took Somi's life were written there. And as I read through them, I unconsciously ground my teeth.
"...Fuck."
"You didn't know. Zeo, were you always a kid who used profanity so provocatively?"
"Don't joke around."
I put too much force into my hand and ended up shattering the tablet PC I was holding.
"Damn it!"
Unable to contain my rage, I threw it away. Lena looked at me expressionlessly. I muttered to myself unconsciously.
"...That wasn't a reinforcement device."