Black Beetle (9)

Baut’s spy. When I first heard it, honestly, I thought it was nonsense. And yet something about the name lingered in my memory. I had seen the word Baut somewhere before.

At that moment, the information surfaced. It was the effect of Insight, now approaching 1,000. The higher the stat climbed, the more things I could see through, the more information I could pry loose.

"So the reason the choice appeared was because of one of the victims’ testimony. Not that it seems all that impressive. Still, I want to know what happened."

After a brief moment of thought, I chose the option. The bastard had already fled, but I could always chase him down and capture him. My purpose was to obtain information.

More advanced and detailed knowledge, the kind Insight alone couldn’t reveal, was something I needed if I wanted to pay attention to the situation around me.

I had to know what impact my actions were having on the world around me, how the backlash of those actions was rippling through this tangled, complicated place.

"As you might expect, Baut didn’t come to Brant’s aid. Are you planning to poke them as well? If you do, what then—what if they stop standing by and join forces?"

"I can decide that after I learn a little more. Whether I should provoke them, or hold back."

Agares asked whether I intended to attack another territory as well. It was a reasonable question, but timing mattered more than anything.

By nature, we couldn’t coexist with the local powers and had no choice but to make enemies of them. One wrong move, and we could be destroyed in a pincer attack. In any case, the local factions were too busy checking one another and fighting among themselves to pay us much mind, and if anything they were helping to stir the pot. I decided to make full use of that advantage.

While they still didn’t understand what the real threat was, while they failed to respond properly, we would remain hidden in the darkness, build our strength as much as possible, and wait for the perfect moment to reveal ourselves.

And by then, even if they all joined hands, they still wouldn’t be able to stop us.

"Very well. The choice is always yours. At present, your soldiers are moving according to that will."

Before long, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠screen changed. While the others were carrying out their respective roles according to my command, this was the troop movement ordered to capture Baut’s spy.

***

"Aren’t Baron Baut and Baron Brant on the same side?"

"No. Ever since their houses split off as vassals, there’s been a strange sort of rivalry between them. Of course, for the likes of us, the details are more than a little hazy."

"Hmm..."

"Is there any need to understand it? What matters is that he gave us orders, isn’t that enough?"

Somewhere among the countless nests of Ascalas that had spread throughout Brant Barony.

Robinson was explaining the balance of power between Baut and Brant to Lena, who was receiving nourishment through the tentacles of a Minion. When she frowned, apparently unable to follow his explanation, he let out a snort.

"You’re right."

Hearing his sneer, Lena didn’t get angry. Instead, she simply brushed aside her complicated thoughts and nodded.

I’m stupid and I never learned to read, but none of that matters anyway.

What mattered was only obedience to the Great Lord, to him—showing loyalty, fulfilling the mission.

There was no need to doubt it, no need to think about it. She only had to fight the enemy and kill them as the knight of the hive.

"I’ll handle it. So don’t get in my way."

"...Since there’s no special order on it, it doesn’t seem like a very important mission. Do whatever you want."

Lena bared her teeth and growled at Robinson. He gave a dry laugh at the sight of her, half his size, but he didn’t push back head-on.

Truthfully, this mission wasn’t all that valuable to Robinson in the first place. Lena would rush at anything the Great Lord commanded her to do, but Robinson had his own preferences.

"Right. This is it."

Right after Lena left the area, the information obtained from somewhere was shared across the entire communication network of Ascalas, all of it centered on the Great Lord.

According to that information, outside mercenaries had begun full-scale operations in the northeastern part of the territory.

Without hesitation, Robinson moved his fused body, shaped like a scorpion, toward the area.

A mission where he could fight the strong, crush them, and turn them into his own nourishment. That was exactly the kind of mission Robinson liked.

The target got rattled hard by the attack from our side and ran off, then hid in a nearby fort.

As Robinson moved to take the fight he wanted, Lena, who had already left ahead of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him, beat her wings and sliced through the sky at incredible speed.

And she was alone, too. Of course, if necessary, she could call on troops nearby. The Ascalas forces had already seeped throughout the entire territory and shaped the majority of it into their sphere of influence, so they could reach just about anywhere.

"Emergency...! Emergency!!"

"It’s a Black Beetle! A black wasp!"

The first people to spot her arrival blanched and hurried to take shelter inside the fort.

By now, word had already spread beyond the territory through the refugees. Especially with her distinctive appearance, Lena—despite her delicate, beautiful face—was infamous for her cruelty and madness, and people called her the black wasp.

"Do you think you can just run away?"

Lena snorted at the sight.

A sturdy fortress was useless against her now that she had gained swift mobility along with wings.

"O-oh, she’s coming!"

Lena easily vaulted over the wall, spear in hand, and drove straight down toward the ground. Mana flared through her entire body, and the thunderous shockwave scattered debris and clouds of dust in all directions.

If I kill them all, one of them will show up eventually.

In the thick black haze and the screams rising from every direction, her faint smile made it clear just how brutal her method of completing the mission was.

The objective was to catch the target hiding among them, but she didn’t have time to search one by one. So she meant to do what she always did: kill them all first, then pick out the target hiding in the middle of the carnage.

"Cough... everyone, get out of the way! Right now—"

One down.

A young man coughing through the dust, trying to evacuate the others, was pierced through the heart by Lena’s spear and sprayed blood across the ground.

"Run!!"

"It’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a monster!"

The scene turned into utter chaos in an instant. A merciless slaughter was unfolding ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there.

Amid the thick spray of blood, Lena showed no mercy to anyone in sight, whether they ran or not.

It didn’t matter if they escaped. Other soldiers from Ascalas were already waiting at the entrance to the fort.

They remained hidden until the very end, watching the people flee in terror from Lena’s rampage, and they cared only about whether the target was among them.

"H-hiiiii..."

And that target, right now, was trembling in an inn inside the fort, swallowing dryly as he watched Lena’s rampage from a distance.

If that kind of monster comes spilling into our territory...

Unaware that Lena was after him, he wiped the cold sweat from his face and stomped his feet in panic. He couldn’t decide whether to flee the fortress or hide.

Driven here after being pushed to the brink by sheer terror, he couldn’t bring himself to run outside, where enemies seemed to be swarming everywhere.

I can feel it. Through His eyes, I can see what I want.

Even as she ran wild, Lena kept scanning her surroundings, and little by little her search drew closer to him.

Her faintly glowing red pupils, like those of the other soldiers, shared the Great Lord’s Insight, and so she could identify the target.

"Aaaah!"

In the end, unable to endure the pressure as Lena drew nearer and nearer, he let out a scream, burst out of the inn, and ran off to blend in with the others.

But even as he ran, he was only feeling fear. He never once imagined that he himself might be the one being targeted.

"Found you."

That was his mistake. Seeing the people running along the road toward the eastern gate, Lena instinctively realized that her target was one of them.

"Aaaagh!"

"Ugh..."

A sudden explosion. The man who had been running wildly because he had been given the wrong mission, along with the others around him, was sent tumbling to the ground by the shockwave.

I have to avoid it somehow.

Shivering, he barely managed to open his eyes and gritted his teeth at the large spear lodged in the middle of the road. There was still hope. The spear had missed, and among so many people, there was no way he’d be singled out and killed.

All he had to do was get back up and keep running.

"Ku-ugh."

But that hope was crushed right then and there. The small foot that pressed down on the back he was trying to lift was cold and hard beyond belief.

The horrifying aura seeping through his trampled back raised gooseflesh all over him, and he trembled, his face going white. He couldn’t even get the words to beg for his life out of his mouth. It was impossible to summon the courage to twist his head around and see who was standing on him.