Overlord Volume 6 - The Men in the Kingdom Part II

“We have to subdue you with force and kill you. Otherwise we’ll be in a bad
state.”

“Look over there.”
As the members of Six Arms took turns addressing him, Sebas pointed to the
third floor of the building.
“There are bigwigs from all over gathered there. They’re here to watch us toy
with you until you die, old man.”
“Is the man called Zero there?”
“Ah, yes.”
A scornful expression appeared on one of the four. Sebas extended his finger
and pointed again at the third floor. He then put his hand down, paying no
attention to the confused looks on the Six Arms’ faces.
“What are you doing? Taunting them?”
“Please do not worry about it. Then, where is she?”
“Who’s she?”
His opposition was still sneering at him as they answered his question with a
question. Sebas calmly replied:
“The woman you snatched from the house. Her name is Tsuare.”
“—And if I said she was dead?”
“Would you be that kind?”
“Hahaha! That’s right. We aren’t that nice. That woman is a present for Cocco
Doll. She’s being well taken care of.”
“I see… I see.”
Sebas saw one of the four people shift their line of sight towards a certain
location in the building. However, what caught his eye was the fact that it was
not the place where he heard Tsuare had been held — that being the case, all he
had to do was verify the location.
“This is a rare occasion, so why don’t you all come at once? Letting Zero
escape would be troublesome, and it would just waste time.”
“…You talk big, human.”
“You must be feeling cocky because you had an easy time with the mooks,
huh? But have you seen real power before?”
“Very well said. I wish to take these words and return them to all of you.
However… may I ask a question? Why do you think I am weaker than Brain-
sama?”
“Don’t look down on us. Warriors of our level can tell an opponent’s strength

on sight. And you look far weaker than us, old man.”
The other two people, Davernoch aside, nodded in agreement.
“I see…”
Sebas could gauge his opponent’s strength by the potency of their Ki.

However, much like his other ability, it would be difficult to tell if his opponents
were concealing their power with skills or magic.

“That’s why we’re giving you a chance. We’ll come at you one at a time, so—”
“—I am very strong, you know.”
Sebas flexed his fingers, beckoning them to come at him.
“Like I said just now, coming one at a time is troublesome. All of you should
attack me at once. That way, you ought to be able to last about ten seconds.”
“Don’t underestimate us, human.”
Davernoch’s shoulders trembled.
“Underestimate you? You are the ones underestimating your opponent. My
name is Sebas. The person who gave me that name was the strongest warrior.
The master whom I serve is the supreme ruler of… well, there is no point telling
you low-lives. Alright, I tire of dealing with you. Let us end this.”
Sebas stepped forward. He approached the person whose title most
displeased Sebas.

●

“Undying King” Davernoch.
His true identity was a naturally spawned Elder Lich. The undead were born
from mass death. They were creatures who hated the living and often desired
only to end their lives. However, some intelligent undead could rein in their
hatred and build relationships with the living. Davernoch was one such undead
being.
The aim of his false life was to ably harness the power of magic and to learn
techniques beyond the spells he could use since his genesis.
However, even if he wanted to learn said techniques, he could not find anyone
to teach him, given that the undead were seen as the nemeses of the living.
Perhaps if there were other undead like him — in fact, there was a secret society
formed of undead magic casters — things might have been different, but
unfortunately, Davernoch had never encountered such beings.

Therefore, he thought of accumulating wealth, and using them to pay the
price to have people teach him magic.

At first, he had begun by killing and robbing travelers, but then he had been
defeated by adventurers who had come to hunt him down. Now painfully aware
of his foolishness, he considered a new way to earn a living. Therefore, he
concealed his identity and joined a mercenary band.

However, someone else learned that he could continuously launch [Fireball]s
and his identity as one of the undead came to light. He was then forced to flee
that mercenary band.

After that, when he had once again lost a way to generate income, someone
found him. That person was Zero.

He introduced Davernoch to someone who was willing to teach him magic,
and paid him appropriately. In turn, he asked Davernoch to use his magical
powers under his direction. That was exactly what Davernoch had hoped for.

As long as he could steadily accumulate more magical power, an undead being
like himself with an unlimited lifespan might eventually become a being that
could eradicate all life. Zero might have been lending aid to a future disaster for
mankind.

However —
—Sebas closed in like a storm, his right hand clenched into a fist which he
threw in a straight punch. Unable to defend against the strike or evade it,
without so much as the time to move, Davernoch’s head went flying.
Davernoch’s unlife was thus extinguished. It vanished without him knowing
why or how he had offended his opponent.
Unlike how he usually was, Sebas disdainfully said:
“Only one person in this entire world deserves to use that title. That person
commands incomparable majesty. An inferior undead being like yourself ought
to know your place.”
Sebas flicked his right hand, shaking off the bone fragments stuck to it. As
Davernoch’s body vanished, the many magic items he had equipped clattered to
the ground.
Even when everyone was frozen in shock, the Six Arms could still move. As
expected, they were capable warriors; only people who had been through
numerous life-or-death battles could do such a thing.
Indeed, that was worthy of praise. That was because it proved that their
reputation of being the equals of adamantite-ranked adventurers was not for

show.
After that, Sebas stalked towards that woman.
“Dancing Scimitars” Edström.
There was a certain magical item property called [Dance]. As the name

suggested, it was an enchantment which allowed a weapon to move as though it
were dancing, allowing it to attack independently. Thus, it was commonly
regarded as the best way to increase the amount of one’s attacks.

That said, this enchantment only allowed for simple movements, and thus it
was not suitable as a primary offensive method. At the very most, it was good
for sneak attacks or to hamper a foe, and during fierce clashes between warriors
of her level, all it could do was get in her enemy’s way. Since there was a limit to
how much one could enchant a weapon, it was a sensible choice to pick some
other effect instead, rather than the [Dance] enchantment. For instance, Blue
Rose’s Gagaran used a weapon whose enchantments only increased the damage
it dealt.

That said, there was no better enchantment for her than the [Dance] property.
Dancing weapons moved in accordance with their masters’ will. However,
when their master was involved in a fight for their life, it was very difficult to
order a weapon that one was not holding and which was in a completely different
location to attack an opponent, unless there was a tremendous difference in
fighting strength. Therefore, most dancing weapons could only make simple
motions.
However, that was not the case for her.
She could easily and naturally manipulate her weapons as though they were
being held by an invisible warrior — one whose skills were equivalent to hers.
The reason for this was due to the unique makeup of her brain. This was because
she had been born with a pair of natural abilities.
The first was an excellent sense of spatial awareness — bordering on the
preternatural.
And then — some people could have their right hands act with complete
independence from their left hands without training. However, her ability in
that field was greater than that; her mind was gifted with an unnatural flexibility.
That was her second ability.
It would not be unusual for someone to describe her as having two brains.
This was her ability.
If she had only one of those abilities, she would not have been able to control

her swords as freely as she did. However, these two abilities were united within
her. One could call it a miracle.

In all likelihood, there was nobody else within the Kingdom’s nine million
souls who had the same abilities as her.

Her scimitars left their sheaths on their own, in accordance with her fighting
spirit. All she had to do was focus on defense, while the five other swords
launched attacks on their own.

This was a barrier of blades. Stepping into this cage meant certain death.
However—
Before the scimitars could begin their attacks, Sebas had already entered his
attack radius, and he threw a chop with impossible speed.
In the next moment, her head fell to the ground. Wreathed in Ki, his knife-
like hand was sharper than any blade.
Fresh blood spurted from her neck, and her body collapsed a beat later.
However, the five scimitars still hung in the air.
That was because Sebas’ chopping hand had been too sharp and too fast for
her to feel her own death. She might not even have felt pain.
The five scimitars — still obeying her will — sliced through the air towards
Sebas.
However, Sebas ignored those swords, drawing himself and standing in place.
He tenderly addressed the fallen head with honest praise:
“To think you would continue to fight even with your head severed… I salute
your fighting spirit.”
Her mouth opened and closed.
What are you saying?
I don’t understand.
However, she had probably sensed something from those words. Her eyes
spun madly, and then realized her body was missing its head. Her expression
distorted wildly. She blinked several times, and then her eyes went so wide it
seemed as though her eyeballs were about to roll out of her head.
Impossible. It can’t be. It must be an illusion. I couldn’t have been defeated. He did
nothing to me. I can’t move because of some kind of magic. Somebody say something!
And then, she finally accepted reality, and despair colored her face.
Her mouth opened and closed, and the swords headed at Sebas fell to the
ground, never to move again.
“Come on, attack with me! Let’s get him together!”

A voice which sounded like a shriek came from the man in full plate armor.
However sturdy it was, his armor could not protect him from his fear.

He had realized — not with his logical mind, but with his heart and soul —
that Sebas had been telling the truth, and that he was currently facing a creature
he should never have fought, which should not exist in this world.

“Take, take, take my, ta—take my V-Void… [Void Cutter]!”
He already knew. He knew he was about to die. He knew that no matter what
happened, there was no possible way for him to defeat the man called Sebas.
He had not fled because his instincts told him: you won’t make it more than a
few steps before he kills you. You’ll die if you advance. You’ll also die if you retreat.
That being the case, at least…
Those thoughts proved that he was still a warrior.
The man confronting him — Sebas — narrowed his eyes.
That was because he was thinking, perhaps this might be the first enemy whose
abilities I have to watch.
The person who made Sebas was the World Champion known as Touch Me,
whose trump card was a strike that cleaved through the very fabric of space-time
itself. Of course, there was no way the person before him could reach that level,
but even an imitation of that technique might be able to hurt Sebas.
“Void Cutter” Peshurian.
His nickname was derived from the fact that he had a mysterious technique
where he could draw from a one-meter-long scabbard and bisect a foe over three
meters away. In truth this move did not actually cut through space.
The secret lay in the sword.
There was a type of sword called the urumi. It was a long blade made from a
flexible metal which bent easily. The weapon Peshurian carried was an urumi
which had been so finely sharpened that it could be called a sword of cutting
string. Perhaps a metal whip might be a more accurate name.
A high-speed draw-cut with such a weapon could kill a foe without leaving a
mark, only a lingering arc of cold light, thus leading to his nickname.
Compared to the rest of Six Arms, this move was more of a trick, but the fact
that he could skillfully use a weapon which was so difficult to master proved his
incredible warrior skills. If one handed the same weapon to Gazef, even the man
hailed as the mightiest warrior would not be able to wield it as well as Peshurian.
In addition, its power was not diminished even if one saw through the trick.
The frightening aspect of the whip lay in the ridiculous speeds its tip could

reach. Seeing and then avoiding it was very difficult — no, it was almost
impossible.

It was an ultra-high-speed slash. What difference was there between an attack
which humanity could not respond to and cutting through the air itself?

However—
The tip of the sword, the leading edge of that high-speed attack was caught
between two fingers. So casual was that movement that it looked like something
which had been picked up off the ground.
Sebas carefully examined the metal between his fingertips, and arched an
eyebrow.
“What is this… and to think you called it cutting through the void…”
“Yeeart!”
With a strange, bird-like cry, a rapier lanced out at Sebas.
“Thousand Kills” Malmvist.
His main weapon, Rose’s Thorn, was enchanted with two magical properties.
The first was [Fleshgrinding]. In the instant the sword struck its foe’s body, this
fearsome magic would twist the surrounding muscle and tissue. The effect was
to rip and tear at the flesh around the injury site, leaving hideous wounds. The
other was [Master Assassin]. That enchantment enlarged wounds and made
even the slightest scratch a severe injury.
Those two abilities were vicious enough, but there was one more ability on
top of those. It was not a magical power — but poison.
The tip of Rose’s Thorn was smeared with a lethal concoction of many
poisons. Malmvist had prepared this because he was not originally a warrior, but
more of an assassin. Since he wielded his sword to slay his foe, he had assembled
this combination with the objective of killing his enemy within a short period of
time, by any means necessary. Indeed, even a single scratch could be fatal.
Without the proper countermeasures, even Gazef Stronoff and Brain Unglaus
would perish beneath his blade.
However, there was a weakness among all this.
Since he relied on his ability to win by causing a single scratch, Malmvist’s
swordsmanship was subpar. However, his lunges were the real deal; his lightning
thrusts were arguably superior even to those of Gazef Stronoff.
In other words, this was the strongest stab in the Royal Capital.
And then this move was further augmented by many martial arts, almost as
many as the former Black Scripture member Clementine.

However—
Sebas did not dodge it. He did not need to dodge it.
“…!”
Malmvist, who had made that thrust with all his might, could not bring
himself to speak.
Rose’s Thorn — a vicious weapon that could kill with the slightest scratch. He
saw Sebas blocking it with his finger.
Indeed, Sebas had halted the tip of the rapier with the pad of his index finger.
“…Wh-what?”
Malmvist blinked repeatedly, so much that it seemed unnatural. Only after
that did he realize that it was not an illusion, that he was not dreaming, and then
he managed to gasp a few words out. That was the only thing he could do.
This made no sense at all. His experience told him that the fleshy pad of a
finger could not possibly stop a thrust which could even pierce steel. Yet, what
he saw before his eyes was reality.
Malmvist could not budge an old man’s gently raised finger with all his
strength.
Rose’s Thorn bent.
He tried to pull the rapier back to try and strike somewhere else, but before
he could do so, Sebas had pinched its tip between his thumb and index finger.
That immobilized the blade.
Before him stood an immovable mountain. He saw that his colleague was also
desperately trying to pull his own sword back.
Amidst this situation, a voice of iron rang forth, cutting through everything.
“Alright, my turn.”
In the next instant, Peshurian’s head exploded.

●

An attack like this could be considered quite rare coming from Sebas. Until
now, he had been using proper technique, but this blow had been born of
thoughtless anger, punching off his opponent’s head with sheer brute force.

He shifted his gaze to the right hand which he had extended toward the now-
disintegrated head.

His white glove was flecked with spots, and the stench of rusted iron wafted

forth.
“What a gaffe…”
He let go of the rapier and used the fingers which had held it to peel off and

discard the bloodstained glove. The instant it hit the stone floor, Malmvist
hooked it away with the tip of his slender blade, snatching the glove away.

Perhaps Malmvist was very confident that he had been as swift as a shooting
star in the night sky, but to Sebas it was so slow that he wanted to yawn. He
could have shattered the rapier, or stepped forward and explosively decapitated
his opponent, or done many other things to take his glove back. However, he
simply could not understand what his opponent was aiming for. Confused, Sebas
did not make a move, but directly asked:

“What… are you trying to do?”
“This is it!!! This must be the magic item that’s making you stronger!!!”
It was merely a glove made out of cloth.
His voice sounded like a broken gong. Foam flecked the corner of his mouth.
His eyes were bloodshot. Malmvist’s mind was probably half-lost in a world of
madness. Having witnessed an unbelievable sight, he was desperately scrabbling
for some reason to explain what he had seen.
“You need only acknowledge my strength; why are you thinking like this…
although you may do so if you wish.”
Sebas threw a punch at the man whose face was split by a grin.
After Malmvist crumpled to the ground, his head blown to smithereens, all
that remained was silence.
Sebas blew on his fingertip, as though it had been stained with something.
However, the protection of his [Iron Skin] had prevented him from taking so
much as a scratch.
“In any case, I could have settled it in five seconds if that ‘Void Cutter’ title
had not put me on my guard. Being able to last 20 seconds is quite praiseworthy.”
After that Sebas gave an order to the predator who was preparing to seize the
people within the building — the ones which he had pointed out just now, who
had witnessed this tragic scene from the window:
“Solution, I imagine they possess useful information, so do not kill them. Now
then…”
He glanced icily at the people surrounding him, all of whom were frozen in
place.
“Ten seconds for the rest of you.”

3

Lower Fire Month, 4th Day – 22:13
Climb ran through the empty corridor. Thanks to the enchantment on his
helmet, he could see the two people running with him, despite the [Invisibility]
spell on them. He even wondered if the spell had been cast at all. However, upon
closer inspection, the two of them looked a little washed-out, so there was
nothing to fear.
He was careful not to make too much noise, but neither could he slow his
pace.
They had to rescue the kidnapped girl while Sebas bought them time. Even if
Sebas was a powerhouse which even Gazef Stronoff and Brain Unglaus together
could not defeat, his opponents were still the members of Six Arms, who were
said to be on par with adamantite-ranked adventurers. If they surrounded and
pounded him, things might get dangerous. Therefore, they had to immediately
rescue the imprisoned woman and escape with Sebas.
After several more turns and rushing down a staircase, the man at their head
suddenly ground to a halt.
Climb stumbled in place for a few steps, and then the thief quietly apologized:
“Sorry for the sudden halt, leader. This is it. The cells are just beyond this
corner, and there’s a woman in the innermost one.
It was purely by chance, but the [Invisibility] spell wore off as he spoke — as
though it were keyed to his voice — making them all appear vibrantly-colored
once more.
Heeding the thief’s suggestion, Climb peered around the corner. There he saw

a dark passageway, with several large cells in a row.
“…There’s nobody around, the same way it was when I came here just now.”
There were no captives, or even sentries. This lack of precautions was terribly

suspicious. It was as though someone was trying to lure them in. However when
one thought about it calmly, nobody would be suicidal enough to infiltrate a
building where the strongest members of Eight Fingers — Six Arms — were
gathered. Climb and the others would not have taken that risk either, if not for
the fact that Sebas was serving as a decoy and another woman was locked up
here.

The others probably thought the same way too.
This casual attitude and the openings they had left were a great boon to
Climb’s team. This was what people called “pride goes before a fall.”
“Then let’s move in quickly and rescue the hostage.”
Perhaps it was because they were on deadly ground together, but the thief’s
tone had become a lot friendlier than just now. Brain asked him:
“Before that, can I ask a question? What’s with those double doors all the way
inside?”
Looking down the corridor, there was a set of double doors, just as Brain had
said.
“Ah — well, given what I’ve seen until now, these aren’t jail cells lined up here,
but animal cages. I think the doors in there lead to a place where the beasts can
be… led into something like an arena.”
“I see… indeed, I can smell beasts from those cells. I heard that in the Empire,
they allow magical beasts to fight in their arenas…”
Climb sniffed at the air like Brain did. There was the odor of animals —
carnivorous beasts, to be precise.
“However, there’s a difference between taking them for training or using
them for public executions. I don’t really want to think about what other things
you could use them for… but I guess they might have put on a monster exhibition
or something. Ay, look at how far I’ve drifted from the topic. Shall we?”
Climb nodded to Brain’s question, as did the thief.
The thief led the way, followed by Climb and Brain.
The three of them reached the innermost cell without encountering anything,
and then the thief began inspecting the cell door.
The magic activated, and there was the sound of the cell door lock
disengaging. The thief looked unhappy, but there was no time. All Climb could

hope for was that he would not mind a small thing like this.
“Is that Tsuare-san?” Climb called out to the woman in the cell. The woman

lying on the floor propped herself up. Her description was an exact match for
the one Sebas had provided, and she was dressed in a maid’s uniform. They
probably had the right person, given that she had probably been wearing the
same thing when she had been kidnapped.

That calmed Climb down greatly. Their first objective had been achieved.
Next was their second objective of getting her safely out of here.

“Sebas-sama asked us to rescue you. Please, follow me.”
The woman — Tsuare — nodded as Climb spoke to her.
As Tsuare emerged from the cell, she looked at Brain and then the thief. She
looked a little surprised. In particular, her eyes lingered longest on Brain.
“There’s no noise from behind this door — the one which might lead to an
arena. Still, it’s too risky to enter a place we don’t know anything about. We
ought to stick to the plan and retrace our steps.”
Climb and Brain approved. Or rather, they were both warriors, and they knew
this sort of decision was best left to a professional, hence their ready agreement.
Climb looked down at Tsuare’s feet and made sure that she was wearing
shoes. That way, she ought to be able to run.
“Then, let’s get out of here before the enemy arrives.”
“Right, I got it. I’ll lead and you follow, like just now. However, there’s no
invisibility magic this time round. I’ll be advancing while keeping an eye open,
so don’t miss my signals.”
“Got it… what’s the matter, Brain-sama?” Climb asked Brain, who had been
studying Tsuare intently.
“Hm? …Oh, no, it’s nothing, Climb-kun.”
Brain wrinkled his brow, but said nothing else. Climb glanced at Tsuare, but
did not see anything which particularly drew his attention. She looked like
nothing more than an imprisoned maid.
“There’s nothing, right? Then, shall we?”
The thief began running, followed by Climb and Brain. Tsuare was at the rear.
After running past the cells, the thief slowed down before he turned the
corner. He was probably checking out the situation around the corner.
However, someone turned the corner, as naturally and casually as though they
were taking a stroll, standing in front of the thief. The man had been prepared
for someone to get in their way, but he was still hard-pressed to react when it

actually happened.
Just as Climb froze in place from the sudden development, the thief made use

of the reflexes a former orichalcum-ranker ought to have. He readied his dagger
and stepped forward with murderous intent.

And then — there was a tremendous crash as the thief flew back, as though a
bull had knocked him away. Fortunately, Climb caught him. Given that the thief
could not brace himself, he might have been badly hurt just from hitting the
ground in this state. However, although Climb caught him, he could not fully
absorb the impact, and the two of them rolled to the ground.

Climb was worried about the thief’s groan as he tried to fight back the pain,
but he was more concerned about the man who had appeared before them. That
was because he was most definitely an enemy.

The person who stood in their way was a bald man. His body bulged with
muscles, his face looked like a boulder, and he was covered in animal tattoos.

The man’s name flashed through Climb’s brain, and his surprise took physical
form as a sound.

“Zero!”
This man was one of the Six Arms, and the leader of their Security Division,
the mightiest being in Eight Fingers.
“…Indeed, kid. You’re that whore’s slave, aren’t you? Hmph! To think there’d
be ants crawling in here. Just leave a bit of bait out and you’re everywhere. It
pisses me off.”
Zero spared only a glance for Climb and the thief on the ground before turning
his stern gaze onto Brain. He sized the man up from head to toe, evaluating the
worth of Brain the warrior.
Climb was grateful that this mighty person had not bothered to take him
seriously, and then he checked on the thief.
“Are you alright? Do you have some way to heal yourself?”
He asked quietly for fear Zero’s attention would turn on them.
There was no answer, just the sound of unimaginable pain. The shocking thing
was that there was a fist-shaped dent in his breastplate. It clearly illustrated the
power of a single punch from Zero.
After shaking his head several times, the thief finally came to his senses. Climb
did as the thief asked and felt around his waist.
“I’ve seen your face before. You’re Brain Unglaus, aren’t you? The man who
fought on par with Gazef Stronoff. Your name’s not for show; none of your

movements expose any weaknesses. By the looks of that, you must have been
training yourself after that tournament. Now I understand. Succulent didn’t lose
because he was careless, but because he faced you head-on. He lost because his
foe was too strong. I have to forgive his failure just this once. Alright, you made
me lose face, so normally I’d have to kill you. However, I’m a generous man. On
account of your peerless sword skills, I’ll give you a chance. Kneel before me and
swear to be my subordinate, and I’ll spare your life.”

“You won’t stinge on the money, will you?”
“Oh… are you interested…?”
“Why not hear you out? I did beat Succulent, so I should be able to look
forward to good treatment, no?”
“Hahaha! Your desires do run deep. You’re talking money before begging me
for your life. You can’t take it with you, you know.”
“Oi oi, what the hell. You mean you can’t pay? I didn’t expect you lot to be
that poor. Or are you pocketing all the money yourself?”
“The hell you say?!”
Zero’s knuckles cracked with tension.
“You’ve got a mouth on you, Unglaus. A lot of people talk better than they
fight; are you one of them? Or did you get cocky because you beat Succulent?
Then here’s a sincere apology for making you so full of yourself despite only
beating the weakest member of Six Arms.”
Brain shrugged, as though he was only kidding. He had been trying to draw
the conversation out because he was thinking of the wounded thief and Climb.
In that case, why had Zero played along with Brain? He was probably confident
of beating them three-on-one. Or was there some other reason?
…Huh?
Tsuare had slowly shifted behind Brain. If she wanted to be protected, then
she should have hidden behind Climb for safety’s sake. There was no need to
savor the thrill of danger by moving behind the man staring down Zero.
Brain worked his shoulders and glanced behind himself. It was a very subtle
movement, and Climb was not certain of it. However, his gaze had been directed
at Tsuare, and there was no goodwill in his eyes. No, that was most certainly the
way in which he would look upon an enemy.
Eh? Why move there? Was he looking at me? No, that’s not it.
Something had happened. Climb rose uneasily to his feet.
“Hmph, so the ant stood up? Bought enough time for him, haven’t you? It’s

about time to tell me what you really think. No, there’s no need to speak. Kneel,
or don’t kneel! Show me, Unglaus!”

Brain snorted.
—This was enough.
“Then die!”
He extended his left hand straight out and pulled his right hand back,
clenching his fist as he did so. He lowered his waist straight down, but his body
was rigid and unmoving. The way his muscles bulged almost made one think that
they were creaking. At this moment, Zero was easy to describe. He was like a
massive boulder, or no, perhaps it would be better to say he was like a raging
bull.
In contrast, Brain lowered his stance as well. His movements were the same
as Zero’s but there was a world of difference between the two of them.
If Zero was like the roaring rivers, then Brain was like a gentle brook. If Zero
was the attacker, then Brain was the defender.
“I ordered them not to kill the old man, but the ones greeting him are a bunch
of hotheads. They might go too far by accident and end his life. That would be
troublesome. I have to kill the old man personally, in order to let everyone know
how stupid it is to oppose us.”
His face twisted wickedly. It was as though to demonstrate how hatred could
make a person ugly.
“Unglaus, I will make you the foundation of my reputation as the strongest
warrior. I’ll use your tombstone to show everyone the fate of anyone stupid
enough to challenge Six Arms! As for the whore’s slave, I’ll pretty his head up
and mail it back to her.”
A wave of bloodlust washed over them from the front. However, it was
nothing compared to what they had experienced from Sebas back then. Climb’s
eyes sharpened and he stared back, leaving Zero a little disappointed.
“Really now? I understand. Then, I shall be your opponent, Zero. Climb-kun,
I’ll leave the enemy behind to you!”
Climb did not understand what he had said for a moment. But it was only
Climb who did not understand. The thief hurled a throwing knife at Tsuare.
The flying blade which the former orichalcum-ranked adventurer threw was
swift and sharp.
Tsuare barely managed to evade it. According to Sebas, Tsuare should have
been an ordinary maid. This was far too skilled for it to be a mere coincidence.

“So you already saw through it!”
The speaker was still Tsuare, but the voice belonged to the “Phantom Devil”
Succulent.
“So you didn’t ask your rescuers anything because you thought they’d
recognize your voice? Still, circling around behind my back was too suspicious.
Well, I’d been guessing that you were either the real person under mind control,
or someone transformed into her shape.”
Brain did not look back — still staring down Zero — as he unraveled the
mystery.
“After that, I took a guess from the way you ran, but I couldn’t be sure until
the end… fortunately it really was you. It’s not like I could tell him to throw
carefully and only graze you.”
The thief’s face hardened for a moment. Then, he seemed to be directing an
expression of gratitude at Succulent.
“Hmph. Based on what he’s saying, he saw straight through that little charade
you suggested. That being the case, there’s no need to rely on it. What comes
next will be decided with pure strength! … Succulent, kill those two mooks
behind you. You can do that, right?”
“Of, of course, boss.”
Tsuare melted away into nothingness, and in her place stood Succulent.
However, he was still in the maid’s outfit.
“When I think about it, I went out of my way to get you out. If you can’t even
do a small thing like this…”
What Zero would do after that was so abundantly clear that the man hurriedly
nodded, and then he turned to glare at Climb.
“We meet again, kid.”
His words were stiff, laced with a tension that he, as the previous victor,
should not have.
Eight Fingers was not a compassionate organization, and naturally, they
would not forgive a second failure. Succulent was now fighting an uphill battle,
and the composure fled from his face.
“Eight Fingers can bail out someone imprisoned in the Princess’ name?!”
Though he had witnessed the power of Eight Fingers, he nevertheless raised
his sword.
“…I can’t lose this time round.”
Brain had helped him defeat his opponent last time. However, not even Brain

Unglaus could guarantee an easy win against Zero and Succulent, who were both
members of Six Arms.

My enemy is stronger than me.
If he clung to that cowardly line of thought, all he could do was await death.
I must win!
With this unshakeable determination in his heart, Climb pushed his foot
forward — he slid it forward — and advanced a step toward Succulent.
“It’s okay — it’s okay — I’ll help you too.”
The thief voiced his encouragement from behind. His casual tone was
probably a kindness on his part, calculated to ease the tension in Climb’s heart.
Since he was more skilled than Climb, it was good to be able to count on his
support. However, he had taken a blow from Zero, and he was not fully recovered
even after drinking his potion. In addition, they had never fought side by side
before, making Climb worry that they would not be coordinated.
The thief sensed what Climb was thinking, and Climb in turn sensed him
smiling thinly.
“Don’t worry. I’m just here to support you. Thieves fight differently from
warriors — I’ll show you that we don’t just clash swords.”
“Thank you.”
He was more experienced than himself. Therefore, it was not that Climb
should match himself to his partner, but that the thief would match himself to
Climb. All Climb had to do was fight Succulent with all his strength.
Climb stared at his opponent, a determined look in his eyes. Succulent was
generating clones of himself like he had last time. Now there were several
Succulents, and he could not tell which was the original. A bitter taste spread
through his mouth.
Just as both sides closed in on each other, a bag flew out from behind Climb’s
back.
“This is how a thief fights!”
The bag burst at Succulent’s feet, and powder burst out. Succulent covered
his mouth, thinking that it was poison. But that was not the case. It was not
poison, but a magic item.
“Will o’ the Wisp Powder!”
The effects were immediately visible. Of the five Succulents, only one glowed
with a murky bluish-white light.
Succulent’s eyes went wide as he realized this.

Will o’ the Wisp Powder was used to reveal invisible opponents or those who
were skilled at stealth. However, it is ineffective against the unliving.

[Multiple Vision] reflected the condition of the original, so even if one threw
ink at the original and got it dirty, the illusory doubles would all get dirty as well.
Unless applied with great skill, it was still very difficult to tell apart the original.
However, when it came to magic items, changes in the original did not affect the
illusions.

Perhaps a high-level illusion spell might have been able to replicate the effects
of a magic item, but Succulent — who had studied as a fencer and an illusionist
at the same time — could not use such high-level illusions.

Climb’s sword hacked down at the real Succulent.
“Dammit!”
Succulent leapt away. It was a splendid dodge, but seemed a little unsightly
owing to the fact that he was in a maid’s uniform.
They went back and forth like this over a dozen times.
Climb had the advantage. This was not a ploy by Succulent; it was simply due
to the difference in their combat prowess.
Humans could not suddenly become more skilled in the space of a single day.
The difference in their respective combat abilities had not changed since their
previous encounter. However, there were exceptions to all things. Simply put,
Climb had become stronger while Succulent had become weaker.
To begin with, Climb was equipped with his enchanted armor, his shield, his
sword, and other pieces of his gear. His muscular strength had improved, his
defensive power had increased, and the most important thing was that he could
use the fighting method he was familiar with. In contrast, Succulent had been
arrested, all his equipped magic items had been confiscated, and on top of that,
he was forced to dress in a cumbersome maid’s uniform in order to disguise
himself with an illusory transformation.
Their equipment had shrunk the gap between them, but naturally, that was
not all.
One reason why Succulent had become weaker was because his fighting style
had been seen through. In addition, the thief supporting Climb from behind was
providing him with timely and accurate advice.
Even when Succulent used illusions, they were countered one by one through
the thief’s alchemical or magical items. The way the thief had responded to
Succulent was as though he had specially prepared to face him. In fact, the thief

had estimated the abilities of Six Arms from prior information and prepared
countermeasures against all of them. The startling thing was that he even had
countermeasures for Succulent, who should have been in jail. This was an
obsessive degree of preparedness.

“Son of a bitch!”
Succulent’s voice was more worried and panicked than he had been before the
battle.
He glared at the thief. Climb moved to block his line of sight. He could not
allow him to be attacked.
Defended by a frontliner, the thief deliberately aggravated Succulent.
“Oi oi, why the fierce face? Aren’t you one of the Six Arms who’re supposed
to be on par with adamantite-ranked adventurers? What’s wrong with a little
handicap?”
Succulent’s face twisted in hatred. The wounds he had taken in their exchange
of blows wept fresh blood, making him look even more vicious.
“Shit!”
Succulent cursed, and prepared to cast a spell. As a warrior, Climb should have
rushed up to stop him, but he did not. This was because he had executed over a
dozen tandem maneuvers with the thief, and they had developed an unspoken
understanding with each other. Therefore, he decided to trust the thief.
A bottle flew out from behind Climb in a parabola and it shattered at
Succulent’s feet. Climb saw a colored, asphyxiating gas spread out from it.
“Kahah! Koff! Koff!”
Succulent coughed several times, clearly in misery.
This was merely petty interference with an alchemical item. However, it was
quite effective, and Succulent ceased his spellcasting.
Trickery like this would have had no impeding effect on a specialized magic
caster, but Succulent had trained as a warrior as well as a magic caster. Thus,
even this trivial hindrance had interrupted him, wasting his mana.
Climb charged forward with all his strength at the distracted Succulent. This
was not the same measured strike in their exchange of blows until now, but an
advance that did not allow for retreat. Some people might have felt that this was
a rash action, taken in the hope of gaining a speedy victory. However, Climb’s
warrior instincts were screaming at him:
This was the moment of truth, when victory and defeat would be decided.
Indeed, Climb and the thief currently had the upper hand, but there was no

telling how long their superior circumstances would last. The thief’s supply of
thrown items was not inexhaustible either. He ought to make the best of this
favorable moment and press the advantage.

Climb activated the unique martial art he had mastered yesterday.
This move did not have a name. If he had to pick one on short notice, he might
call it [Limit Breaker – Mind]. Its effect was simple enough; it released the
human brain’s limitations on the human body. Through this, all his attributes —
from his senses to his physical abilities — reached the next level.
Extended usage of this technique would lead to physical strain or muscle
tearing, so it could be considered a double-edged sword. However, he would not
be able to beat Succulent if he did not end the battle as quickly as possible.
As the martial art activated, Climb sensed something switching on in his
brain.
The raging emotions racing through his heart were vented in the form of a
ferocious cry.
Succulent looked shocked, as though he had recalled something.
Accompanying the surprise was something which might have been called fear.
This was not a feeling which he — a man who was on par with an adamantite-
ranked adventurer — ought to have when facing his lessers.
Climb brought his sword into a high stance and brought it down in a mighty
chop — and it was blocked. Being able to block a magic longsword with an
unenchanted dagger was truly worthy of praise. However, the fact that Climb’s
blow could force Succulent the fencer to select a defense he was not skilled with
was also quite admirable.
But that was not the end of the attack. Climb immediately thrust his foot
forward in a kick.
Succulent immediately made to protect his abdomen — and his face
contorted severely.
“Abbaahhhh—!”
His face was pale, his cold sweat flowed like a river, and he was practically
hunched over as he backed up in a bow-legged gait.
Climb glanced back and saw the thief wincing in sympathy.
Succulent had been kicked in the groin by an iron boot. While he had
apparently been wearing a cup of some sort, Climb could still feel something
soft deforming inside it.
And then, he finished him off with a cleaving strike to the head.

Fresh blood spurted forth, and Succulent collapsed heavily to the ground with
a thump.

Climb did not dare let himself get careless, and so he surveyed his
surroundings. He was particularly watchful in case an enemy tried to circle
around behind him to where the thief was. After a while, he finally allowed
himself to be certain. That was probably not an illusion.

This was a great accomplishment. Even if it had been two on one, it was a
significant victory.

Climb turned to Brain. For a moment, he thought that he might be able to
help — but then that enthusiasm vanished.

Their battle was on a completely different level.
The first thing was that it sounded different. What was supposed to be a clash
between blade and fist produced the echoing of crashing metal all around. There
was no pause either. The intense exchange between them made Climb wonder
if either of them had time to breathe.
Zero, in particular, caught his attention.
His fist scooped a trench out of the wall. It was a smooth, flowing movement,
like digging through clay, and it gouged a scar into the wall’s surface.
“Oi, oi… they say first-rate monks can make their fists as hard as steel, but
that guy’s fists aren’t just that. Are they as hard as mythril… no, orichalcum?”
The thief was watching the same scene from beside Climb, and he murmured
to himself.
After a minute’s worth of exchanged blows — after an intense battle which
would have seen Climb lose his life if he were in there — both sides were
unharmed. As a result, a look of genuine respect bloomed on Zero’s face.
“Unglaus… You’re pretty good. You’re the first man who’s endured my attacks
for this long.”
Similarly, Brain had a respectful expression on his own face.
“Same to you… this is the second time I’ve met such a skilled monk in my
entire life.”
“Oh?” Zero’s face twisted in interest. “To think there’s another monk with
skills like mine. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of something like that. Tell
me his name. I won’t be able to ask you when you’re dead.”
“He ought to be heading here, once he’s done taking care of your Six Arms.”
Zero’s eyebrows wrinkled, and he smiled.
“Hmph! You mean that old man? Sorry, but I sent four of my people to

welcome him. They’re not like Succulent over there. They might not be as good
as me, but they’re not bad either. How could that old man make it?”

“You think so? I’d find it easier to picture him strolling leisurely around that
corner.”

“Well, that’s pretty scary. In that case, I’d best get a little serious.”
Climb was dumbfounded by those words. The fact that Zero still counted that
intense back and forth as taking it easy made Climb imagine just how
unattainable he would be if he fought in earnest. The fact that Brain did not seem
surprised at all also shocked him.
Could it be neither of them were fighting seriously? This is the true pinnacle of
mankind, a battle between people on par with adamantite-ranked adventurers!
“Let’s do it, then. Those two have wrapped things up on their side, so I don’t
need to draw this out anymore. Fall to me here and let’s have an end to it, Zero.”
Brain sheathed his sword and lowered his stance. Climb had seen that posture
before; it was the same stance Brain had assumed when he had taken down
Succulent in one hit. Before Climb could wonder if Zero would be similarly
defeated in one strike as well, the man had already leapt well back. He opened
up the distance between them with superhuman agility.
“Edström can deploy a sword barrier. Your move isn’t exactly the same, but
it’s also a barrier of blades, no? Enter casually and you’ll be cut in half, am I
right?”
Zero had probably not seen through Brain’s self-innovated martial art, but he
had still sensed the nature of the move, proving his warrior’s senses were
exceptional indeed.
“Still… from what I can tell, that move of yours only allows you to respond to
your opponent, and you can’t use it if you don’t take a stance.”
Zero punched the air. It seemed to be a meaningless move, but that iron fist
actually generated a shockwave which buffeted Brain’s body.
“So all I need to do is attack you from a distance and I win. Or do you have
some way to cut a distant foe?”
“No, I don’t,” Brain answered honestly. “If you’re going to fight like that, then
I won’t use this move.”
Zero calmly — with an expression that some might say did not suit him, one
that brimmed with motion like the surface of a lake — asked Brain:
“Brain Unglaus. Is this your ace in the hole?”
“Indeed. This trump card of mine has only ever been… defeated once, from

the front.”
“How boring. So someone else already defeated it once? Then this will be the

second time.”
Zero slowly pulled his fist back, taking a stance of his own.
“I will punch straight through you from the front. I’ll shatter that move you’re

so proud of and attain victory. First I’ll defeat Brain Unglaus, and then someday
I will have Gazef Stronoff kneel at my feet. That way, I’ll be the strongest man
in the Kingdom.”

“And instead your ambition’s going to falter at the first step of facing me.
Zero, you really do have too much time on your hands, don’t you?”

“You really are all talk… no, you put up quite a fight, I can’t say that talking’s
all you know. That said, I’m still better than you. Go to hell knowing this, and
regret the fact that you dared stand against the almighty Zero. Here I come!”

Zero’s body was covered in animal tattoos, and those tattoos began to glow
faintly. Brain, on his part, remained still. While Zero appeared to be as still as a
statue, Climb could sense a tremendous power accumulating inside him, longing
for the right moment to be unleashed.

None could interfere with this violent clash of strength against strength.
And then suddenly, a nonchalant voice cut in.
“—So you gentlemen were here after all.”
Everyone turned to look at the unexpected arrival, as though they had
received an electric shock. Even Zero and Brain — who should not have turned
their eyes away from the powerful foe before them — did the same thing.
There they saw an old man, Sebas. To Zero, he should not have been here.
“What? What’s this? The Six Arms should be dealing with you now… Did you
sneak in like these people?”
Sebas gently shook his head.
“No. I defeated your colleagues and then I came here.”
“…Nonsense, utter nonsense, enough of your bullshit! They might not be a
match for me, but they’re still warriors whom I gifted with the title of Six Arms.
How could you have made it here unscathed?!”
“As the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction.”
“Sebas-sama! The Tsuare-san over here is a fake! Succulent took her form
with an illusion! You need to go rescue her!”
“Ah. Thank you for your concern. However, it is fine, Climb-kun. I have
already rescued her. She was elsewhere in this building.”

Sebas turned to look behind him. Climb followed his line of sight and saw a
girl wrapped in a blanket at the room’s entrance.

“Ah!”
Climb hurriedly looked down at Succulent. The maid uniform he wore was
soaked in blood and there was a huge rip in it. He could not possibly take it off
and give it to Tsuare, and she would surely refuse it too.
“Pay it no heed, Climb-kun. The maid uniform is merely a cloth outfit. There
is nothing to regret.”
Sebas smiled bitterly as he spoke, and Climb relaxed a little.
“Oi oi oi, you’re actually ignoring me for idle chit-chat… you lot are pretty
relaxed, aren’t you?”
Zero had been facing Brain since just now, and so he could not move
carelessly. Now, he finally changed his position and glared hatefully at Sebas.
“Old man! I’ll ask you again, what happened to my people!”
“—I killed them all.”
His tone was as casual as though he were picking a wildflower by the road, but
his words were merciless beyond compare.
“It, it can’t be! How do you expect me to believe that!?!”
Zero’s furious cry only drew a smile from Sebas. All that benign smile did was
make Zero’s instincts realize that Sebas was telling the truth.
“…Brain Unglaus. I’ll fight you later. I’m going to show this man the power of
Six Arms!”
“Mm, got it. Try not to die right away. Still, I don’t think there’ll be anything
left for me to do.”
“Bullshit! …Old man! You’ll pay with your life for that nonsense you spouted!”
Sebas smiled bitterly. That smile was unbearable for a man who prided
himself as the strongest warrior.
Zero’s tattoos glowed.
Head of the Security Division, leader of the Six Arms, “Battle Demon” Zero.
Even mighty warriors like Gazef Stronoff or Brain Unglaus would instantly
lose to him in unarmed combat. The outcome would still be in doubt even if they
had weapons in hand.
One of this man’s careers was a vocation called Shaman. That vocation had a
skill which allowed one to be possessed by animal spirits, through which he
could gain those animals’ excellent physical attributes. It could only be used a
limited number of times in a day, but once used, it would allow a human to boost

his physical abilities into the realm of wild beasts.
A physically superior animal using the fighting arts of a human being — surely

nothing was more frightening than that.
Zero activated his skill.
Normally, he would conserve his strength by only activating the power of one

animal at a time. However, Zero understood that Sebas’ strength could not be
underestimated.

That said, he did not believe that Sebas could kill four of the Six Arms by
himself. However, if he had broken through in a direct assault instead of
sneaking in, that meant that there were others besides him, which made more
sense.

It was more likely that he had been accompanied by Blue Rose.
Before he had more detailed information, all he could do was use his full
strength to defeat Sebas and then fight Brain Unglaus some other day. He had
to show the people around him his overwhelming power as a threat before
temporarily retreating.
He decided that this was the best way to do things, and he began preparing his
most powerful move.
The leopard on his feet, the falcon on his back, the rhino on his arms, the bull
on his chest, the lion on his head; he activated all of them. He felt an explosive
power gush out through his being and it felt as though his entire body had
swelled up. For a moment he was even afraid that he would burst.
“YEEEEEEEEAAAAARRRTT!”
He expelled the burning power from inside him — and stepped forward.
This was the attack of Zero, the mightiest warrior of Six Arms. It was a straight
punch with just a fist. There were no feints or fancy moves here; it was just a
simple punch with an Iron Fist. However, the power within that fist beggared
belief. In addition to his shamanic skills, it was also enhanced by numerous other
skills from monk-type jobs and then by many magic items which granted his fist
overwhelming speed and destructive power.
It was so fast that even Zero had a hard time controlling it. It barely qualified
as a technique because it relied on stepping into the opponent’s reach and
slugging them with all the strength he could muster. However, Zero was not at
all hesitant about letting his opponent see his ultimate move. This technique
was simple and invincible. He had the utmost confidence that nobody could
defeat it with petty trickery.

Zero’s heart cleared as he cast everything else behind him. His senses seemed
to slowly distend, and he stepped forward, feeling as though his body was
stretching out behind him.

“—Ah!”
Someone shouted.
It was too late.
Zero reached Sebas in the blink of an eye. The power within him moved
perfectly, fully accumulated and focused, and he threw a powerful straight punch
with his right fist.
Zero saw Sebas frozen in place — probably because he had been too fast for
the old man — and smiled. It was as though to say: Go and regret making an enemy
of me, the strongest warrior of Six Arms!
“—Huuu!”
The fist connected with Sebas’ vulnerable belly. It was a perfect, immaculate
strike.
Explosive power rampaged like a violent gale, and Sebas flew lightly through
the air like a doll, into the distance. His corpse hit the ground, but even that
could not dissipate the power of the strike and the body continued rolling
violently across the ground.
He did not move. He had died on the spot.
No, that was only to be expected. One could imagine how all his internal
organs had been ruptured into a sticky paste. He only looked human on the
outside.
This was Zero’s most powerful technique. It was a fiendish move which
incarnated the principle of the one-hit kill.
—At least, that was how it should have been.
Instead, Sebas — did not move at all.
He blocked the punch which Zero had thrown with all his might head-on,
using nothing but his belly — his own muscles.
Nobody who saw it dared to believe it. One could say the scene before them
was unreal.
The difference between their bodies was obvious at a glance. However, the
outcome had been completely the opposite of what was expected.
The person who could least believe it was naturally Zero himself. This was the
most powerful blow he could muster. He could not believe any living being could
take it and remain unharmed. That was how it had always been until now. That

was what he had always thought until now, but then this scene had unfolded
before his eyes. Thus, he did not react even as a black object flashed before his
eyes.

Sebas raised his leg to the air. The foot raced past the tip of Zero’s nose — like
the motion of a flying swallow.

And like a thunderbolt, it fell.
An axe kick.
That was the typical name for a move like this. However, its speed and power
were anything but typical.
“…Who are you…” Zero muttered, and the corner of Sebas’ mouth curled up
slightly.
A gruesome sound of cracking filled the air. Zero fell to the ground, his skull
pulverized and his neck and spine shattered, as though he had been crushed by
a several-hundred kilogram weight.
The room was silent.
In a word, everyone in this room was transfixed. Sebas shifted away from
where Zero’s smashed skull was gushing fresh blood and patted at the place
where Zero’s fist had struck.
“Whew, that was close. If not for your timely warning, I would probably be
dead.”
Are you kidding me? What warning are you talking about?!
The three people present — perhaps even Tsuare thought the same way as
well — did not speak, but they shouted the same thing inside their hearts.
“You saved me, Climb-kun.”
“—Wha… ah. Er… yes.”
Climb’s mouth was still wide open as if to go “Ahhh,” but he nervously
accepted Sebas’ thanks. His mind had been so overloaded that he had no idea
what to say.
“It seems I was just a little bit stronger than him.”
Sebas indicated a small distance between his two fingers. The gap between
them was probably the difference between Zero and himself which Sebas was
implying, but naturally, nobody agreed with that assessment.
How could that be a little bit?
Just like before, everyone present thought the same thing.
“In any case, since we’ve rescued her, I think it might be best to retreat now.”
“Ah, no, ah, are the other members of Six Arms… really…?”

“Yes. I killed them all. There were too many of them and they were all expert
fighters, so I could not go easy on them. I somewhat regret that now.”

“Is, is that so. Well, there’s nothing to be done about that. Ah, please don’t
beat yourself up about it.”

The three of them simultaneously looked at the corpse of Zero on the ground.
None of them could bring themselves to say, “You’re lying.”

“In, in any case, let’s get the troops to search this building.”
They had originally come to search this building. Gaining Sebas’ help and
being able to make a clean sweep of an important enemy stronghold was a
miraculous stroke of luck. In addition, if Sebas’ words were to be believed — and
they looked to be one hundred percent truthful — they had even achieved the
amazing result of destroying the strongest fighting force of Eight Fingers.
One could say they had done better than any other group. The only
imperfection was that Zero — a man who knew a lot about the organization —
had been killed, but that was merely a calculated loss since they could not have
taken him alive anyway. Only a fool would be unhappy with that.
As they heard Climb’s excited words, approving looks appeared on the face of
Brain and the thief, and they nodded. However, one person seemed unhappy.
“What’s wrong, Sebas-sama?”
“Ah, it is nothing. Just that something caught my attention… let’s not talk
about it right now, the air here is not good. Shall we head outside?”
“Mm, indeed.”
Everyone took turns looking at Zero’s corpse and then Tsuare before
expressing their approval of Sebas’ suggestion.
Sebas walked up to where Tsuare was standing at the entrance and scooped
her up. Her pale, slender, almost fleshless legs dangled in the air. They saw how
tightly Tsuare clung to Sebas’ clothing with her emaciated arms.
A butler and a maid. The mood between them did not seem like that was all
there was to it.
It would be boorish to ask about their relationship. Does it matter what’s going on
between them?
“Right, let’s go, then.”
After saying so, Climb led everyone out without waiting for them to reply.
The other three followed behind him. They could conduct their investigations
after Sebas and Tsuare left, and he remained alert. If someone ambushed them
along the way, he intended to fight on behalf of Sebas — whose arms were

occupied with Tsuare — although there might not be a need for that at all.
However, his worries were unfounded.

They had sensed people within the building on their way in, but now it felt
like it had been abandoned.

When one thought calmly about it, once Sebas defeated the Six Arms, there
was no way anyone would be brave enough to remain in the building and fight
him. In all likelihood, they had probably fled. If that were the case, hopefully the
people waiting outside could arrest them. Climb pondered those thoughts as he
left the building.

That sense of liberation took a great weight off his shoulders.
Someone tapped Climb’s relaxed shoulders. Looking back, he saw that it was
the thief. The man’s eyes were fixed in a completely different direction. The
wide-eyed look on his face was much like the one he had when Sebas had slain
Zero.
Climb followed his line of sight, and then his own eyes went wide.
“A wall of fire?”
Climb unconsciously nodded as he heard Brain mutter to himself.
Flames would rise up if a house caught fire. Climb would definitely not be
shocked by such a blaze. However, that was not what he was looking at; it was a
wall of fire over 30 meters tall, encircling a district of the Royal Capital. It looked
to be hundreds of meters long.
“Now what could that be?”
Sebas’ surprised yet relaxed comment brought the three of them back to their
senses.
“What should we do, leader? I think that’s the warehouse district, who’s in
charge of that?”
“Blue Rose’s leader, Alvein-sama… I’m judging this as an emergency, so we’ll
abandon all our objectives and fall back to the Royal Palace as directed. After
that, I’ll be counting on you all for advice on how to proceed.”
“That’s probably the best course of action… ah — Sebas-sama…”
“I will take her to a safe place to prevent something like this from happening
again.”
“Understood, Sebas-sama. Thank you for your help yesterday and today.”
“Please pay it no heed. We shared the same objectives, so all I did was render
a bit of assistance… I shall strive to repay you all for your attempt at rescuing
her. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I will be taking my leave.”

Chapter 9 Jaldabaoth

Chapter 9 | Jaldabaoth

1

Lower Fire Month, 3rd Day – 21:10
Feeling thirsty, the woman stirred lazily from her slumber.
She squirmed slowly on her king-sized double bed and reached out for the
pitcher of water by the bed, but the fingers only found air.
It was then that she remembered that she had not set out a jug of water, and
she clicked her tongue.
“Huwaaaah…”
She could not stifle her yawn. She slept like an old person, early to bed and
early to rise, but she had only gone to bed just over an hour ago. She had not yet
slept her fill.
The woman swallowed and placed a hand on her throat. There was a dry,
sticky sensation there, and she got off the bed to get a drink of water. She threw
on a long, thick robe to cover her nude body, slid her feet into a pair of slippers,
and exited the room.
This was her— Hilma, head of the Drug Trafficking Division’s— home base in

the Royal Capital. Logically speaking, there should have been dozens of lackeys
bustling about, but the interior was now dead silent, like it was empty.

Surprised, Hilma walked to the corridor. This mansion was always quiet when
there were no nobles around, but this was too quiet.

She invited nobles to this place in order to build connections and
relationships.

Among nobles, even legitimate heirs would need to wait a long time before
they could succeed the family estate. It was quite common for them to only do
so after the age of 30.

During this period, they could only ask the head of the house — that was to
say, their father — for spending money. The same applied even if they were
mature adults who were married with children. This was why Hilma invited
these people to parties at this mansion.

Hilma provided drink, women and drugs, all the while whispering sweet
nothings into their ears designed to play on their pride. She allowed them to
meet others in the same situations as themselves to build a sense of closeness.
Hilma would entertain them and build friendly relations with them.

Once these nobles inherited the estate, it was time for her to reap the harvest.
If they dared sever ties with her, she would make sure they suffered for it. If they
helped her out, she would reward them. In this way, she made further inroads
into noble society.

She walked along the quiet hallway, looking for water to drink.
Silence was not a bad thing. She preferred the quiet to the noise of people.
Though she did not show it on her face, she was actually very annoyed when she
had to drink and hobnob with the nobles. However, the present circumstances
were far too abnormal. This dead silence made her hair stand on end, and it even
made her feel that she was the only person in this mansion.
“…What’s going on?”
It was impossible that even the guards had left their post without telling
Hilma. She wanted to shout for someone, but if something abnormal had
happened, it would be a very bad idea to let the enemy know where she was. She
also considered just going back to her room and burrowing under her covers, but
she might simply be awaiting her execution.
People who don’t move when they have to become food for others. This was a belief
she subscribed to, and by adhering to that principle, she had risen from a high-
class hooker to where she was now.

She checked both sides of the empty corridor several times and only moved
ahead after verifying that there really was nobody there.

Trusting in her sixth sense, she headed towards a secret room which only she
and a few others knew. There were several magic items and gems there, as well
as an escape tunnel. This might have been her home base in the Royal Capital,
but she had several other safehouses in the city itself. Perhaps she ought to flee
there.

As she tiptoed along the hallway, Hilma realized something was off.
“What… is this?”
The whisper escaped her mouth unbidden. Hilma had discovered the oddity
outside the window.
The window, made of sheets of thin glass, were covered in several layers of
vines. As a result, almost no light could get in. She tried to open the window but
it would not budge.
She hurriedly studied the other windows along the hallways. Each of them was
choked with vines.
“What happened? Who could have…”
The windows were most definitely not like this before she had gone to bed.
This could not have happened naturally in the space of an hour. That being the
case, it was probably the work of magic.
Who could have done this, and what was their aim?
She had no idea about those points. Even so, she understood that her situation
was very dire.
“Dammit!”
She cursed, and then she jogged ahead. She no longer cared about how her
robe swayed here and there. All she wanted was to get into her secret room.
She reached the staircase and looked down. It was still silent.
Navigating by what little light managed to filter through the vines, she
carefully descended the stairs. At the same time, she was grateful to the thick
carpeting for masking her footsteps.
“—!”
When she reached the first floor, she was so shocked that she suddenly sucked
in a lungful of cold air.
There was a person in the hallway staring at her. That person seemed to blend
into the shadows as it stood there, but it was not because they had shadow-
melding abilities like thieves or other related jobs. Rather it felt that way because

of their dark skin, which gave the wrong impression. That was a Dark Elf, and
their mismatched eyes seemed to sparkle against the black cloth wrapping them.

The Dark Elf let the black cloth wrapping them fall to the ground. Below it
was girls’ clothing. She held a black-colored magic staff, and she looked up to
Hilma.

The secret room was behind this mysterious girl.
As she recalled the inner layout of the mansion, Hilma steeled herself and
nervously approached her.
If only she were a playmate brought along by some noble.
However, Hilma immediately discarded her naive conjecture.
When she heard that Cocco Doll had been captured, she had prepared to flee
to a safe place to hide since she did not know how the higher-ups would react.
Under these circumstances, there was no way her people would bring in
outsiders, or fail to report such a thing to her.
“Say, little girl…”
After calling out, Hilma wrinkled her brows in suspicion.
She had seen all sorts of people in her past profession as a high-class
prostitute. Her experience told her that this was not a girl, but a boy.
Her clothes were exquisite and not the sort which ordinary people could
afford. For all Hilma knew, even she might not have something of that quality.
The Dark Elves had once lived in the Great Forest of Tob, and they were
practically nonexistent in the Kingdom. Yet here was one now, wearing
expensive clothes intended for another gender.
If not for the sinister atmosphere, Hilma would have concluded that this child
was a slave to satisfy some noble’s degenerate lust.
“…Hey little boy, what’re you doing here?”
She approached slowly and carefully, trying not to arouse his suspicion.
“A-auntie, are you the most important person in this place?”
She was not displeased to be called an auntie. To a young Dark Elf like him,
women of her age were probably all aunties.
“No—”
She stopped halfway. She had a bad feeling about this.
To date, she had relied on her instincts more than anything else. She had
always believed that her instincts were superior to common sense. Where
common sense might have betrayed her, only her intuition had never failed her.
“Yes! That’s right! I’m the most important person in this mansion.”

“Is, is that so, that’s good then.”
The boy smiled. His smile was so pure that even under the present
circumstances, it almost managed to ignite the desire to defile his purity within
Hilma’s heart.
“Ah, well, er, I asked those people, and they told me that too.”
As if in response to the boy, a nearby door opened. A girl slowly stepped out
from within. She looked like a girl wearing some kind of bizarre maid uniform,
but what surrounded her was not the scent of perfume but the stink of blood
and gore.
Hilma covered her mouth and swallowed a scream.
The maid’s lovely little hand clutched a man’s arm. It looked like she had
ripped it from his shoulder socket, given the torn fibers of muscle.
“What, what’s she…”
“Er, um, ah, it seems someone wanted to attack this mansion, so we decided
to finish up some things before those people came. Therefore, er, I asked her to
come along.”
“Please pay me no heed. It has been so long since I ate my fill, and I am very
satisfied.”
She was able to address Hilma without moving her mouth. That was quite
strange, but there were more pressing questions than that. What made Hilma
shudder was the question of what exactly she had eaten to fill herself up. She
could guess, but she did not want to believe. With those thoughts in her heart,
she asked them.
“Then, then what, what about me? Are, are you going to eat me too?”
“Eh? Ah, er, no. You have other uses, auntie.”
She could not relax. That was because her intuition told her that a more
horrific fate awaited her.
“—Then, then how about this, my boy. Want to have some fun with me?”
She let the clothes draped over her body slide from her shoulder.
This was her body, her pride and joy. When she had still been a courtesan, it
would have cost a fortune just to spend the night with her. After that, she had
kept any excess fat off her frame and maintained her sensuous figure. She was
confident that she could fill anyone with all-consuming lust for her, even if her
target was a child.
However, there did not seem to be any unusual emotions in the boy’s eyes.
She could admit that her charms were inferior to that maid over there. Even

so, she had been a pro, despite the fact that she was retired. Even if he did not
swing that way, she could still arouse him—

She elegantly worked her body in a serpentine fashion and slowly drew close,
careful not to alarm him.

She could not sense anything like desire from the boy.
Therefore, she chose another course of action. She slowly extended a hand
and put it around the boy’s neck — and activated a magic item.
It was the Viper Tattoo.
The tattooed snakes on both her hands came to life, raised their heads, and
sprang out to bite the boy’s body. Anyone bitten by the serpents and their
powerful neurotoxic venom would die in spastic twitches. This was the ace in
the hole for Hilma, one who did not otherwise have a way to fight.
However, the boy nimbly extended a hand and seized the whip-like snake as
it struck, then proceeded to crush the life out of it without hesitation.
The Viper Tattoo whooshed back onto Hilma’s arms. Since the summoned
snake had been killed, the tattoo could not be reactivated for a full day until it
recovered.
Hilma was now in the worst-case scenario of having initiated hostilities and
having nothing to show for it, and so she stumbled back unsteadily. However,
what most frightened her was the fact that the boy’s expression had not changed
at all during this string of events. He was not worried at being attacked, and
neither did he show any hostility.
“Th-then, so, er, let’s go.”
Go where? Just as Hilma began to wonder about his words, intense pain shot
through her kneecap at that very same moment. The unbearable pain left her
unable to stand and she collapsed to the ground.
“Abbbbaahhhhh!”
She wailed in anguish, breaking out in a cold sweat because of the pain, and
then she looked down at her knee. She then regretted doing so.
“My, my, my leeeeeeeg!”
The kneecap of her left leg was twisted in the other direction, and bone
protruded from her blood-red — from her flesh.
Hilma wept and made to squeeze her leg, which was in unbelievable agony.
However, she hesitated. She did not dare touch it.
The boy grabbed Hilma by the hair and then walked out.
Hilma was dragged away by an arm-strength that she could never have

guessed at from the way he looked. Dozens of strands of hair were wrenched out
with a quiet snapping sound, but the boy did not seem to care.

“It hurts! It hurts so much! Don’t do this!”
In response to Hilma’s wailing, the boy merely glanced at her, but did not halt
his pace.
“I, I have to hurry up and get there!”

2

Lower Fire Month, 4th Day – 22:20
Having completed the attack on the mansion, Entoma Vasilissa Zeta headed
outside.
She peeled a paper strip off her leg, wadded it up and threw it into the depths
of the building.
The original plan was to wipe out all the humans within the mansion, recover
all important documents and valuables, and then retreat. If possible, they should
try to avoid leaving any traces behind, but they did not have the time to sort the
gathered information, so they ended up taking whatever they saw, and it looked
like they had finished robbing an empty house.
However, that itself was not a problem. That was because Demiurge — who
had sent Entoma and Mare here — had indicated that a development like this
was a possibility. The problem was more that they had exceeded the allotted
time by too much.
Mare and the demons who had accompanied her were no longer here. Mare
had taken the most important person in this mansion to the rendezvous point.
The vassal demons had departed this place with the reason they had exceeded
their time — piles of goods.
Indeed. The reason why their timing was completely off was because they had
discovered a basement while they were retreating. And that basement was piled
high with contraband items and forbidden drugs.
The task of recovery had proceeded slowly.
To begin with, there were several underground rooms heaped high with

miscellaneous items, and the high-value items were salted and concealed among
the dross. As the saying went, the best place to hide a tree was in a forest. Even
Entoma and the demons could not have brought all the goods away with them,
and so they had to sift through said forest for the trees in question.

Perhaps it might have been resolved faster if the human which Mare had taken
away was still around. However, it was too late to say that now.

Entoma and the demons decided to inspect each and every item, and they
threw everything they judged as worthless into a room. This was a tedious task
for the gathering party, whose strength far exceeded those of human beings.
However, their hard work had paid off, and they had recovered everything
valuable from the basement.

As the person in charge, Entoma had stayed behind until the end. With the
attitude only found on those who had completed a great labor, she looked up at
the night sky and made to wipe the sweat off her brow. In truth, she had not
sweated at all; she only felt like she had.

“All right~ Then, hurry up and move it all, everyone.”
In accordance with Entoma’s orders, the insects which were bigger than a man
took wing into the night sky, carrying a large quantity of cargo. These Giant
Beetles had been summoned by Entoma’s entomancer abilities.
The insects flew straight toward the prearranged meeting point, their wings
making a deep bass sound as they flapped.
Entoma watched the insects move the cargo, and she remembered that she
was still holding something.
“Ah, I haven’t eaten it yet. How silly of me, how silly.”
She playfully knuckled her own head, and then brought the severed man’s arm
under her jaw. There was a shakashaka noise as the flesh of the man’s arm was
torn away. Entoma’s throat moved in time with the sound. Then, with a cute urp,
the stench of blood spread through the air.
“While the fat of women’s meat makes it tender and children’s meat tastes
good despite having less fat, eating the meat of a muscular man is best when
trying to lose weight.”
She deftly avoided the bones, and once she was done, she chucked the rest of
the arm into the mansion.
“Thank you for having me.”
She bowed to the building, and finally made to go to the point her superiors
had ordered her to travel to. However, she had only taken a few steps when

someone called out to her and stopped her in her tracks.
“Yo, this is a pretty nice night.”
“…Is it? I don’t think it’s nice for you at all, is it?”
Entoma had trouble telling whether the human who was slowly emerging was

male or female. It seemed female, but judging by its muscular frame, it also
seemed male.

“What’re you doing in a place like this?”
“Taking a walk.”
“…What were you eating so happily just now?”
“Meat.”
“…Human meat?”
“Yup. Human meat.”
The manwoman’s tone was icy cold, but it did not bother Entoma at all. She
did not care at all how humans felt. If they got in the way, she would trample
them. If they stayed out of the way, she would ignore them. If she was hungry,
she would capture and eat them. It would be strange if she was actually
concerned about such beings.
“I see. So the monster makes an appearance. I didn’t expect Eight Fingers to
rear such monsters. But by the looks of things, they didn’t train you properly.”
The manwoman slowly raised its spiked warhammer. As Entoma saw this,
exasperation crept into her tone for the first time.
“I say. Could we just pretend we didn’t see each other?”
A strange expression appeared on the manwoman’s face. It probably had not
expected the person opposite it to say something like that.
“You see, I came here to work too, and dealing with you would be very
annoying. The most important thing is that right now, my tummy’s stuffed fit to
burst.”
“…Sorry, but I’m one of the top adventurers in the Kingdom. I can’t let a man-
eating monster go just like that. Besides, leaving something like you in the world
would cause me a lot of problems.”
“What a pain. Still, you say you’re strong, huh? In that case, I’ll use you as
emergency rations, then.”
Entoma looked directly at the manwoman for the first time.
It appeared to be a pure warrior.
Mm — it ought to be pretty strong.
Entoma was not a pure warrior, and so she could not estimate her opponent’s

strength. However, she did not feel that her adversary was stronger than her.
“Yeeart!”
The manwoman ran at Entoma. Then it raised its spiked warhammer high and

smashed down at her.
Entoma gracefully evaded that blow. However, her opponent refused to let up

and suddenly changed the direction of its swing, bringing the warhammer at her
in a murderous blow. It was not a graceful movement utilizing centrifugal force,
but using brute muscle power to forcefully change the direction of the strike.

Entoma evaded once more, and then activated a skill.
“Ah? Is running all you can do?!”
The manwoman swung its warhammer at Entoma, and the gale in the wake of
its blow whipped past her head, stirring the strands of her fake hair.
“Mm — you really like swinging wildly, don’t you?”
Her mockery was met by the clicking of a tongue. Entoma used her skill once
more, and at the same time she easily avoided the plunging smash of the spiked
warhammer. Having missed its target, the hammer crashed into the ground with
all the force which had been meant for her.
Entoma sneered at her opponent’s simple, repetitive attacks. Her face did not
change at all. However, her opponent could keenly sense the mockery coming
from her as they fought.
However, Entoma then realized in the next moment that her opponent was
waiting for this — for the hubris that only the overwhelmingly powerful
possessed.
“[Break]!”
The earth shattered where the spiked warhammer had struck it. No, the stone
floor had shattered. It was like a localized earthquake. For the first time, Entoma
lost her footing. In contrast, her opponent had used some kind of magic item to
remain as stately as a mountain.
Entoma watched as her opponent raised its warhammer once more, its head
stained with dirt and debris.
I underestimated my opponent.
Entoma scolded herself.
Evading that move was easy enough. Indeed, if she had been human, she would
have lost her balance when her footing was destroyed, and the shockwave of the
ground fracturing under her feet would have reached her legs and acted as a set
of shackles to bind her in place, making escape very difficult. However, Entoma

was one of the Pleiades Battle Maids, and the magic items she wore were all of
superior quality. Such conditions did not bother her in the slightest.

There was only one problem.
She would have to jump in order to evade, but that would dirty the maid
uniform she wore.
Would such a thing be permitted? This was a rare and precious treasure
handed down to Entoma from the Supreme Beings.
That was enough — no more playing around.
For the first time, there was genuine hostility on Entoma’s face under the
mask.
No more playing around.
—I’ll kill it.
Entoma turned to face the falling spiked warhammer and raised her left arm.
She no longer felt like a human flicking away a bug, but the actual desire to kill.
Perhaps it would be different if she were a Floor Guardian, but for someone of
Entoma’s level, it would be very difficult to survive unscathed if she were to
block that attack with her defenseless left arm.
In the very next moment, what rang out was not the sound of steel pulping
flesh, but two hard objects colliding.
At this moment, a shield clung to Entoma’s left arm. “Clung” was not a
metaphorical term — an insect with over eight legs gripped Entoma’s arm
tightly and refused to let go.
“What, what’s that?”
“You see, I’m an entomancer. So I can call out bugs like this and command
them as I like.”
She waved her right hand and out of the night flew a long insect shaped like a
broadsword, which attached itself to the back of her right hand.
“These is a Sword Bug and this is a Shield Bug. I’ve decided that I’m going to
kill you. I hadn’t intended to take your life at first, but now you cannot be
spared.”
Entoma advanced on her opponent and slashed at it.
She ripped through the manwoman’s breastplate and fresh blood spewed out.
However, it was not a fatal blow by any means. Her opponent had not been able
to avoid a serious attack from Entoma, but she had only been lightly wounded.
It would seem calling itself one of the top adventurers in the Kingdom was
not pride or exaggeration. However, if that was all she had, she was not worthy

to be Entoma’s opponent.
She was not a pure fighter like Yuri Alpha, but Entoma Vasilissa Zeta was still

a member of the Pleiades, and she possessed power entirely incomparable to
that of mankind.

She swung again, and blood spurted once more, splashing her face.
Thanks to the injury she had taken just now, this wound was deeper than the
last, and it could no longer be considered light.
“You actually changed your movements on me! Did you get serious?!”
The spiked warhammer fell on Entoma with a furious cry, and Entoma
deflected it with her Shield Bug. She felt a tremendous impact race through her,
but she stood firm, determined not to budge so much as a step. In truth, nothing
would have happened if she did move, but this was an expression of her pride,
and her determination to not move for a mere human being.
The manwoman rode on the flow of battle, continuing her fluid combination
of attacks. Her fast and furious assault was most likely augmented by the
“Martial Arts” which were unique to this world. However, Entoma skillfully used
her Shield Bug and her Sword Bug to block the series of fifteen continuous
attacks without so much as a scratch.
Entoma did not know that this was the trump card of Blue Rose’s Gagaran,
her super combo made by simultaneously activating many martial arts. Each hit
of that crashing wave of attacks was made with all the strength her steely arms
could produce, and they could even break through the [Fortress] martial art.
Only the defensive technique known as [Invulnerable Fortress] — which only a
few geniuses could master — could hope to fully defend against it. However,
Entoma’s innate muscle power had blocked every single strike.
This was the disparity in their levels, the overwhelming difference in the
physical abilities of their respective species.
The beginning of despair began to appear in her opponent’s eyes, but Entoma
felt nothing for it. All she wanted was to kill her adversary.
“—Puhah!”
She heard what sounded like a swimmer gasping for air as their head crested
the water’s surface. The combination attack had also stopped. Entoma cocked
her right hand — the one with the Sword Bug — back like she was drawing a
bow, and then stabbed forward like loosing an arrow. She was aiming for the
chest of the manwoman.
Her foe raised its warhammer, but it was too slow. Entoma’s strike was faster

than it, and it pierced it chest —
—Or at least, that should have been the case.
The thrust missed. The insect blade struck nothing but the night air.
Entoma’s head swiveled. She wanted to see who had interfered with her

attack.
There was a black-clad woman several meters away. Behind her was the

panting manwoman.
“Sorry about that, Tia. I thought I was a goner.”
“So your blood is red too, Gagaran.”
“What are you acting all surprised for? It’s not like this is the first time you’ve

seen me get hurt.”
“I thought you’d start to bleed blue by now. Like a power up.”
“That’s not a power-up, that’s becoming another race entirely!”
“A class change, then.”
As she heard the two of them bantering, Entoma grew angry. She was the

strong one here. Only she was allowed to act so casual. They needed to know
where they stood.

“—Are you quite done yet? Have you said your farewells to each other?”
Entoma grew cautious for the first time. The manwoman — Gagaran — was
nothing to fear. The problem was the newcomer — Tia. If her clothes were not
just for looks, then she ought to be a ninja. That was a job class which required
a minimum character level of 60 to take.
If that were the case, then the teleportation technique which had allowed
Gagaran to escape Entoma’s attack was ninjutsu.
If she were a real ninja, then even Entoma would not be able to win easily. She
had thought to conserve her strength and eliminate her opponent, but things
being as they were, she could no longer afford to hold back.
“Shikigumo Talismans!”
Before her opponents could act, Entoma had already thrown out four
talismans from her right hand.
The talismans landed on the ground, and instantly transformed into huge
spiders.
These spiders were comparable to the monsters conjured by [Summon
Monster – 3rd], and they were hardly powerful creatures, but they ought to be
enough to gauge her opponent’s strength. They would also buy her time to
prepare herself.

Entoma was doing this because entomancers’ insect weapons were very
powerful, but they had a few weaknesses. One of them was the fact that
summoning the insects in question required some time.

“[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu].”
As Tia activated her ninjutsu, her shadow writhed and birthed another Tia.
Entoma paid no attention to it. The clones generated by the [Kage Bunshin
no Jutsu] were only a quarter as strong as their creator. Their evasive ability
varied in proportion to how much of their creator’s mana had been allocated to
them, but that was all. Perhaps they might be considered formidable opponents
for the Shikigumo, but they were hardly a challenge for Entoma.
Rather, the more important thing was how skilled the original was. Entoma
called out her trump cards; her Bullet Bugs and another kind of insect. At the
same time, she pasted talismans on herself to further strengthen her abilities.
A swarm of Bullet Bugs gathered out of nowhere and covered her left arm.
The three-centimeter-long insects gleamed with a steely radiance, and the
fronts of their V-shaped bodies were sharp, bearing a strong resemblance to rifle
bullets. No, that resemblance was only to be expected, because these insects
were used exactly like rifle bullets.
The shadow clone was running ragged just trying to evade the attacks of one
Shikigumo, while the original was dealing with two of them. The fact that she
had only killed one after so long suggested that her foes were most definitely not
high-leveled. That being the case, victory ought to be easy even if one factored
in Gagaran’s fighting power.
—As if, I’m not going to think that way.
She was not going to show them any mercy. She would quickly end the battle
with overwhelming force.
The weight on her left arm pleased Entoma, and she extended the finger of
her left hand at Tia.
The bugs had encrusted Entoma’s arm until they had practically doubled its
diameter. As one, they crawled to the front of her arm and then took wing from
her extended finger, one after the other. The incessant buzzing of wings called
to mind the image of a Gatling gun. The path of the Bullet Bugs meant that they
pierced through her own Shikigumo, but in total, 150 of them flew downstream
at Tia.
These bugs could punch holes in steel, and even a large tree would be riddled
full of holes and sawed in half if it was hit by 150 of them. However, in the face

of the fatal projectiles, Tia used another ninjutsu technique.
“[Fudou Kongou Tate no Jutsu]!”
A scintillating rainbow-colored shield sprang into existence in front of Tia.

The bugs slammed into the gigantic wall of light that cut through the darkness,
which was shaped like a six-pointed star. Within a few seconds, the shield
shattered with the crisp sound of breaking glass. However, the fusillade of
insects had stopped as the shield broke, revealing an unhurt Tia behind it.

Entoma had no tongue, but she clicked it anyway. However, the fact that she
could force her foe to use one ace in the hole after another was like lighting the
path to her victory. So far her foe could withstand Entoma’s attacks, but once
Entoma’s offense surpassed her opponent’s defense, the flood which washed
over their protections would surely consume them too.

Entoma deflected the kunai flying from the front with the Sword Bug — then
she blocked Gagaran’s plunging mid-air strike with her Shield bug. She must
have jumped down from quite a high place, because the Shield Bug had to take a
lot of pressure, and it squeaked like it was wailing in pain.

If the dazzling lights of the [Fudou Kongou Tate] had affected Entoma’s
vision, she would not have been able to block Gagaran’s leaping attack from the
darkness. However, Entoma’s vision was not affected by such petty trickery. In
addition, her field of vision was much larger than that of a human, even when
she wore “that.”

Perhaps she sensed that following up on the attack would be dangerous, but
Gagaran skated away — her legs remained still, but the distance between them
opened up. The fact that she was moving so nimbly despite her massive frame
proved that her wounds were completely healed. She took her place beside Tia
and crushed the Bullet Bugs’ corpses underfoot, making a clear pachipachi noise.

“This is terrible, I don’t feel like we can win at all. How did she do that, her
timing was too good, don’t you think? She barely even saw me but she blocked
me anyway.”

“Maybe she has a wide field of vision?”
“It should be something else. I think it’s more likely that it’s an entomancer
ability, or some kind of magical sense… that said, everything’s in her favor, so
why didn’t she attack while we were talking?”
“A beast will size up its prey’s strength, and then strike at its vitals.”
“I see. In other words, she’s studying all our moves. That’s completely unlike
our shorty, these careful types are really hard to deal with.”

“It wouldn’t be good to look down on you because you’re humans, no? Ah,
although there was another reason… there we are, it’s here. Now then, I won’t
need this anymore.”

The insect clinging to Entoma’s right arm fell to the ground and vanished into
the night with a scrabbling noise.

“And in its place… come here.”
Another insect crawled onto the now-vacant arm. It resembled a centipede.
No, it practically was a centipede, if one disregarded the fact that it was ten
meters long and the sharp fangs at what passed for its face in front.
This was the most powerful insect her entomancer abilities could summon,
the Thousand Lash Bug.
Entoma began channeling her strength into her legs.
She had learned the attack speed, destructive power, defensive strength,
evasive ability, and movement abilities of the two humans before her. The only
unknown was Tia’s adaptability, but there was no need to worry about that.
“Oops.”
Entoma touched her chin. Her fingers made contact with a clear, sticky fluid.
“I just ate my fill, but after a bit of exercise I’m hungry again.”
She had touched her saliva. It was the expression of her desire for humans as
food.
Although her favorite food was humans, until now she had only been able to
sate her cravings using green biscuits as a substitute. Of course, she did not
resent the Supreme Beings because of that. In fact, Entoma felt that the Supreme
Beings were quite generous for allowing her to eat the arms which had been
severed during the experiments on the humans captured from a certain village.
Even so, she had still been repressing herself, and now that there were two
excellent specimens of humanity — the highest-grade of cuisine — before her,
she could not bear to dispose of them without taking a single bite.
The two of them shuddered, exposed as they were before Entoma’s hungry
gaze. They were not afraid of the killing intent she emitted, but this was a
trembling born of the revulsion any living being had when a carnivore set its
sights on them.
“Kiiiiiyeeeeeart!”
This was the first time Entoma had gone on the offensive in the battle, and
her attack was accompanied by a shrill cry that sounded like two pieces of foam
rubbing against each other. Predators pounced their prey in a straight line, and

at very high speeds.
By the time she had deflected the six consecutive kunai coming at her, she had

covered the distance between both parties.
Seeing Gagaran the frontliner raise her weapon, Entoma decided on the first

person she would incapacitate, and she swung the whip in her right hand.
The longer the whip, the slower its tip would move. The same applied even to

Entoma, who possessed superhuman muscle power. However, that was only true
if the whip in question was a normal one.

Entoma was now using the most powerful insect that she, as an entomancer,
could summon —

The whip which should have followed the motion of Entoma’s arm in a lazy
arc moved in a completely impossible fashion. It launched out like an extension
of Entoma’s arm at Gagaran, its razor-sharp horns and teeth leading the way at
lightning speed.

This movement was only possible from a creature that was a fusion of weapon
and lifeform. Even a veteran of a thousand bizarre encounters like Gagaran had
probably never seen or experienced this sort of thing before. It was only natural
that she would be surprised by witnessing something like that for the first time.

The fact that she could avoid such a strange attack was why she was called an
adamantite-ranked adventurer — the highest-ranked of all adventurers.

Gagaran evaded the attack by the narrowest of margins, and as the insect-
whip flew past her face —

“Watch out!”
—Following Tia’s cry, Gagaran’s body was blown away. This was Tia’s
ninjutsu — [Bakuenjin]. The suicidal explosion enveloped the two of them, the
Thousand Lash Bug passed through the place where Gagaran’s head had been,
having turned a full 180 degrees to attack from behind.
If not for that suicidal explosion, the Thousand Lash Bug would have pierced
her skull. It had been well-dodged. However, Entoma’s attack did not stop there.
The Thousand Lash Bug suddenly turned as though it was on strings, heading at
Gagaran’s blackened body.
At the same time, Entoma cast a talisman at Tia.
—It was a Thunderbird Talisman.
The talisman transformed into several birds of bluish-white electricity in mid-
air, and winged towards Tia.
If there were two opponents, then all she had to do was let her bug deal with

one of them. One could say that was an advantage that entomancers possessed.
The lightning strike exploded, and actinic blue-white light burst out to cover

the surroundings, illuminating Tia — who was trying to withstand the pain —
and Gagaran — who was trying to fend off the Thousand Lash Bug.

“Motherfucker! I hate these squirmy things!”
Gagaran weighed down the head of the Thousand Lash Bug with her spiked
warhammer and gripped it under her left armpit, trying to keep it from moving.
However, the insect used its ten-meter-long body to coil loop after loop of itself
around her body.
Tia stepped forward and threw a dagger, which struck Entoma’s Shield Bug
with a metallic sound.
“Thunderbird Flurry Talisman.”
Entoma cast out many talismans with her left hand. They transformed into
birds that were slightly smaller than before and converged on Tia. However, Tia
vanished, and bereft of a target, the thunderbirds flew on.
Tia emerged from the darkness behind Entoma, where she should have been
outside of her field of vision. This was a short-ranged teleport through the
medium of shadows. However, Entoma had long since spotted her. Much like
certain insects had antennae, Entoma could sense movements in the air currents
through a similar organ, which was another facet of Entoma’s sensory abilities.
The few remaining Bullet Bugs shot out at Tia as she stepped out of the
shadows.
“Guwaaargh!”
The stink of fresh blood accompanied a cry of pain, but Entoma sensed that
her opponent was still able to fight, and so she followed up on her attack.
“Explosive Talisman.”
An explosion more intense than the one Tia had previously made shattered
the nighttime silence. Tia was blown away, rolling along the ground, and more
talismans continued flying after her. They were Keen Slice Talismans and
Buffeting Gale Talismans. Tia could not find a chance to get to her feet, and she
left a trail of bloodstains in her wake as she rolled further and further away, all
the while being slashed and blasted.
“Tia! You insect bitch!”
The insect whip had already wrapped up Gagaran, who was cursing from
inside the spherical mass.
They had probably planned to have Gagaran weigh down the Thousand Lash

Bug while Tia attacked Entoma herself.
Entoma chuckled under her mask.
All she could say was that they were utterly foolish. Entoma was one of the

Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick’s Pleiades battle maids. Humans of their
level could not possibly hope to defeat her. The wisest course of action would
have been to ignore the fact that Entoma had eaten someone and run with all
their might. They had chosen poorly, and these were the consequences of that
choice.

“…The sequence of events is kind of wrong, but oh well, I guess I can’t do
anything about that. In any case, I’ll probably be able to eat my fill since there
are so many muscles, and it looks tasty too.”

Entoma summoned more insects. These ones did not possess any fearsome
fighting ability; they resembled syringes, which injected a paralytic venom.

Entoma grabbed the bugs and stepped lightly towards Tia.
This was a nice souvenir. Many creatures in the Great Underground Tomb of
Nazarick ate human beings. They would surely be very happy to receive a present
like this.
“Hm? What’s that?”
Entoma’s exceptional senses warned her of a long, cold object plunging down
on her from above, and she leapt away. At that moment, a long lance stabbed
into the ground where Entoma had just been standing.
It looked like a cavalry lance made of crystal. However, that was no ordinary
lance. That was because the cavalry lance which had pierced the stone floor was
made of fragile crystal, yet it did not have a single crack on it.
“Is that a spell…?”
As a spiritual magic caster, Entoma could sense certain common qualities
which all magic-using careers shared from the cavalry lance.
“Indeed. This is a fourth-tier arcane spell, [Crystal Lance].”
The person who answered her descended slowly upon the butt of the cavalry
lance. She was a diminutive, masked girl in a robe with a childish voice.
More helpers? Even Entoma was starting to get annoyed. She had thought she
was about to enjoy a tasty meal, but then she had been surprised by an
unexpected development. Her frustration was only to be expected.
“That’s enough from you for now.”
“…From who? I can still let you off now, so could you please leave? Children’s
meat is tender and I like it very much, but the portions are just too small. I’ll