Chapter 98: The Traitor
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 98: The Traitor
"Shut up!"
Unable to endure the man’s incessant nagging any longer, the withered figure let out a frantic, crumbling shout.
"Moonlight’s Protection has its limits! You’re being so loud—what if someone hears us?!"
The massive roar echoed through the silent corridor.
For a moment, the lantern’s swaying intensified, looking as if it might fly out of his hand and shatter at any second.
Creak, creak. Even their shadows became frantic and distorted, resembling mocking demons.
The two fell into a tense silence, staring at each other.
After a long moment, Scarface broke the silence. He lowered his voice, his expression one of tragic indignation.
"You were clearly the louder one! If you want to die, fine, but don't drag me down with you, alright?"
"...You motherf—"
The withered figure felt a surge of fury get stuck in his chest. He desperately wanted to reach out and strangle Scarface right then and there.
But he couldn't. The mission came first.
A cold, sharp glint flickered across his gaunt, sunken-eyed face, but he quickly suppressed it.
"Enough talk. Move!"
"Oh? And where are we going?"
"To the deepest part of the Mercury Well, of course..."
The withered figure suddenly froze.
That voice that had just spoken... though it was just as punchable as the other guy's, it didn't sound like Scarface.
He whipped his head around, only to find Scarface with his mouth clamped shut, shaking his head frantically at him.
Could it be...
The withered figure’s pupils shrunk. Abandoning all pretense of stealth, he barked at the surroundings, "Who’s there? Stop hiding and show yourself!"
"Hiding? That’s a funny way to put it. You’re the rats who went scurrying into someone else’s house, aren't you?"
Accompanied by a lazy chuckle, a figure stepped out from the shadows of the passage... a pink bear.
A pink bear?
The withered figure stared, stunned.
What the hell is this? Some kind of joke?
"Who are you?"
"Ho ho. Looking at you, it seems your intel is a bit outdated."
The pink bear approached step by step, his feet making a strange squelch-squelch sound against the floor.
"Don't you know? I am the Pink Bear, the current Acting Dean of this academy."
"The Dean?"
The withered figure was shocked. He looked the pink bear up and down, but no matter how he looked at it, the creature seemed like nothing more than a mascot character meant to be cute.
However, the withered figure quickly regained his composure.
Even if their intelligence hadn't mentioned a pink bear—only noting Dean Hathaway’s sudden departure—the fact that he could appear here, at the very heart of the academy, meant he was anything but simple.
"What a shame. I really wanted to use more peaceful methods." The withered figure sneered. "Wouldn't it have been better to just pretend you didn't see us?"
"Pretending not to see would have been wonderful," the pink bear sighed. "I don't want to get mixed up in this kind of trouble either. Being able to hide in my office, smoking a cigar while flipping through adult magazines... that’s the second-best kind of life in this world. For the record, the best is looking at pretty girls' legs on a beach.
"But, well, since I’m taking the academy’s money, I have to do at least a little work. If Professor Prang gives me another one of his legendary ear-splitting roars, or worse, goes over my head to impeach me and cuts off my funding, the loss would outweigh the gain."
"So, it sounds like I’m the one interrupting your good time?"
"Exactly. You goddamn evil cultists... couldn't you wait until my stint as Acting Dean was over before starting trouble? You’re making me very annoyed."
"And when I get annoyed..."
The pink bear suddenly opened his mouth wide—a dark void like a black hole—and reached in, pulling out a massive, heavy mace.
His tone was no longer lazy. Instead, it carried a bone-chilling frost.
"—I feel like killing someone."
In an instant, a thick, pungent scent of blood saturated the air.
The nauseating stench was so overwhelming it felt as if they had been transported to a horrific battlefield, standing atop piles of corpses where blood flowed like rivers.
Yet, there wasn't a single drop of blood to be seen nearby. Where was the smell coming from?
Gurgle, gurgle.
The sound of flowing liquid echoed.
It was only then that the withered figure noticed blood was streaming continuously from the pink bear’s comical eyes, ears, and even his clearly decorative nostrils.
The blood was warm, radiating an unspeakable, gruesome terror.
"You... what the hell are you?!"
The withered figure’s voice began to tremble.
At this moment, even though he had long ago abandoned his living flesh to embrace the silence of death, he looked at the pink bear—who had transformed from a joke into a nightmare—and felt a spark of... fear? It emanated from a heart that had long since ceased to beat.
"You can ask that in hell. I’m sure plenty of people there know the answer."
The pink bear slowly raised the mace. In that moment, the withered figure’s vision turned red. His breath hitched, feeling as though he were drowning in a surging river of blood.
No, wait.
It’s an illusion.
The withered figure snapped back to his senses and raised his lantern once more.
The pale blue light within the lantern flickered, and his shadow wavered along with it, looking like a beast lurking in the dark, ready to pounce.
As the shadow expanded, the pink bear seemed to sense something. He stopped in his tracks, hesitating to move forward.
"Ha—Haha! Do you see? I am a child of the Moon! How could a lowly mortal like you ever hope to compare?!"
Seeing the pink bear stop, the withered figure laughed maniacally. He was completely oblivious to the fact that as the blue light grew brighter, his already skeletal frame was becoming even more desiccated.
It was as if an invisible entity was sucking away his remaining life force, bit by bit.
"So, you really are just a moron who’s been tricked by an Evil God until you can't even recognize your own mother, huh?"
The pink bear’s tone held a hint of mockery.
He scratched his head, thinking that dragging this out wasn't a good idea. He decided to just push through the Evil God’s power and beat the guy to death.
It would cost him, but the price wasn't unacceptable.
However, just as he was about to strike—
Pfft.
The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh rang out abruptly.
The withered figure’s mad laughter stopped instantly.
Even the pink bear’s comical face registered a look of shock.
Holy crap, what just happened?
"Why...?"
The withered figure slowly looked down at the large blade protruding from his chest.
His sunken eyes were filled with utter confusion.
"Aren't we... partners? Aren't we both... believers of the Great Deity?"
Why did you backstab me?
"You have the nerve to ask that?!"
Behind the withered figure, Scarface looked absolutely indignant.
"The thing I hate most in this life is a useless piece of trash like you—no plan, no backup, and you can't even win the fight!"
With that, he kicked the withered figure away and tossed the blood-stained blade aside. He then turned to the pink bear with a fawning, sycophantic smile.
"Um... Big Brother... I mean, Great Lord... is it too late for me to leave the darkness and join the light?"