Episode 404
If I could do magic or sorcery, wouldn’t it feel like this?
In other words, it is an omnipotence that allows you to control phenomena just by twitching your nose.
‘Honey, honey. Those wizard bastards… … .’
Of course, I didn’t use magic.
I have no talent, aptitude, or interest in this field, but I do understand the mechanisms by which magic manifests.
The ‘words’ I just uttered had no power whatsoever, and my mana did not fluctuate.
Then why did this guy’s tongue suddenly break and fall to the floor?
[Don’t move.]
“… … .”
[No. You can move, but don’t lift your feet. Just stand still. Are you listening? You’re not dead yet, are you?]
The voice I heard again was, as expected, familiar.
It’s Seren.
How is this guy’s voice heard in the comms fix?
The communication crystals in the communications room will be connected not only to the workhouse headquarters, but also to various other locations.
To avoid confusion, where each crystal is connected is written on the nameplate originally… … .
Now, the room was a mess because of the commotion caused by Tangtata, so I couldn’t tell.
Anyway, I don’t have enough free time to open my mouth.
Tangtata took her gaze away from me and looked around.
‘Can I talk as long as I don’t lift my feet?’
I don’t know, but if we keep going like this, we might all die. I shouted, “Let it be.”
“Say ‘ice!’”
“Yes, yes?”
“hurry!”
“Uh, ice?”
“ice……!”
One by one, those who had been standing there blankly began to shout, “Ice.”
Then Tangtata turned his gaze elsewhere, not paying attention to them as if they had disappeared from his sight.
Pfft pfft!
“Ugh… … .”
“Ugh!”
The sight of the guards running away before they could even hear my voice being pierced by my tongue in an instant was quite grotesque.
It was almost as if they had made a human cocoon using their tongues as skewers.
Swish… … .
Tangtata put the human skewer in his mouth in one bite.
Crunch, crunch. This time, I can hear a chewing sound, so it looks like he’s not swallowing it right away.
He chewed his food slowly and swallowed the tang tata as he looked around his intestines.
“… … .”
He slowly took in the sight of us standing there motionless for a moment, then left the room.
“… … .”
“… … .”
After Tangtata left, we stood still for a while, unable to open our mouths.
I focused on the sound of the moving Tangtata, and sighed when I judged that it had completely left the first floor.
“He went.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yes. At least there is no more noise on the first floor.”
“Phew, phew… … .”
One of the guards collapsed, his legs giving out.
I saw that sight and said quickly.
“Wait a minute, you can’t lift your feet-.”
My words didn’t end there.
Because then something ridiculous happened.
Damn it!
Ice sprouted from the skin of the fallen man.
Ice was sprouting from my skin.
I don’t know what I’m talking about, but that’s the only way I can see it.
The ice that rose from his skin instantly crystallized and soon wrapped around the guard’s entire body.
Oh, that’s what happened the moment I did that.
“… … !”
The guard was instantly trapped in the ice.
The ice was so transparent that the wide-open eyes were clearly visible, but depending on the viewpoint, they looked like mosquitoes trapped in amber.
Crunch… … !
Cracks quickly appeared in the ice.
I was so startled that I unconsciously reached out my hand, but the crack spread before I could respond.
The ice shattered with a sound like breaking glass, and the shards flew away.
It is a dazzlingly beautiful sight.
Except that there are people mixed in there.
‘crazy.’
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The guard disappeared without leaving a trace.
Is that a penalty for breaking the ‘rules’?
My body freezes solid, then shatters into pieces and disappears without leaving a trace?
If that’s the case, then shouting ‘ice’ is a handshake to me too.
Even if you can avoid engaging Tangtata by using ‘Ice’, nothing will be solved if you just stand still.
Of course, I could hope for someone else to escape, but honestly, there is no one in this punishment cell I can trust more than myself.
I clicked my tongue and spoke to the crystal.
“You seem to know the rules well.”
[Ah… you’re safe.]
Seren sighed in relief.
“Should we just stay like this? Until the ‘game’ is over?”
[That’s not it. There is a way to release the ‘ice’ state.]
“What is that?”
[A healthy participant comes and touches it, then calls ‘ding’.]
Oh. So that’s why you’re craving ice cream.
It was only then that I understood the rules correctly.
The rules themselves are easy, but… … .
The question is, in the current situation, would another guy with his limbs intact have the luxury of coming here?
The way to escape from the punishment cell is not to go to the first floor, but to the top floor.
The chimney over there is the most likely exit for now.
In other words, if you are smart, you would not have bothered to go all the way to the first floor, which is a death zone.
“… … .”
I stood there, contemplating the first floor with my senses raised, but I felt no movement.
Because it was so quiet, I started to have slightly negative thoughts, which is unusual for me.
The worst thing that can come to mind right now is not being abandoned like this.
All the other participants, except for us here, will die to Tangtata.
So what will be the fate of the contestants who are left ‘frozen’?
Tangtata would come smiling and say, “Ge, the game is over, so you can go back now… …! Joe, be careful on your way back… …!” There’s no way… … .
It’s just my feeling, but I have a feeling that I’ll meet a similar end as the guy who just turned to ice and shattered into pieces.
Then one of the guards spoke in an anxious voice.
“Should we really keep going like this? If there’s a time limit or something and I die like that guy just now-”
“quiet.”
I silenced the guard who was babbling. Then I looked toward the door and said.
“Someone is here.”
“Huh? Seo, could it be that the Demon King has returned-.”
“That doesn’t seem to be the case.”
The feeling is clearly different.
It feels secretive and quiet. It also seems cautious.
I thought of the most trustworthy person in this tower.
That’s Verita.
He’s also the kind of guy who’ll come running to me as soon as he finds out I’m in danger.
But life never goes as planned, so the person who showed up was a rather unexpected person.
‘That guy… … .’
The man in prison uniform with a face as pale as a corpse had a familiar look to me.
Vampire Beric.
He is a very evil criminal who is called the blood drinker or something.
Beric looked around and said with a bewildered expression.
“What… …? I thought everyone was dead, but there are more people alive than I thought.”
“… … .”
“What the hell happened here? What was that monster just now? How did you guys survive?”
“Okay. Come here.”
“… … ?”
“Come here. Come here to work.”
As the situation is what it is, the line between Luzard and Luan seems to be blurring more and more.
Perhaps because the situation was urgent, no one seemed to care that my attitude had changed.
Beric flinched and came towards me without saying a word.
“What is it again?”
“Touch me and say ‘ding’.”
“huh?”
“hurry.”
“… … .”
Beric frowned and reached out his hand, but stopped just before it touched my body.
And I looked around.
“You guys… why are you all just sitting there?”
“… … .”
Come to think of it, this guy was a notorious criminal in a big city like Airu, and he was the one who created countless victims.
There is one thing that is peculiar about this guy.
It means using your brain well.
Beric, who had been thinking deeply, smiled with his fangs exposed.
“… I get it now. You guys, you were under some kind of curse from that monster earlier and couldn’t move, right? And the way to break that curse is for me to come in contact with you and shout “ding” or something.”
Although I got it slightly wrong, it’s a guess that’s close to the essence.
“Heh heh heh. It looks really good?”
Before I could say anything, Beric seemed convinced, probably because he saw the expressions on the faces of the other guards around him.
‘Those guys, they don’t have any control over their facial expressions.’
I couldn’t help but sigh as I saw Beric’s expression turn pale as soon as he spoke.
“… Beric, now is the time for us to work together. You don’t think you can take on that monster alone, do you?”
“You don’t plan on fighting me? I’ll just run away from here. Vampires have a technique called bat-turning. The building’s security features also seem to be completely broken, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”
“The punishment cell is virtually isolated now. It won’t be easy to get out.”
“That’s something I’ll consider, huh? Lizardman. Your tongue has suddenly gotten longer.”
Beric came closer and began teasingly examining my face, then started to really tease me.
“No. Do lizards originally have long tongues? Why didn’t you treat them better in the past? Huh? We’re fellow prisoners. When are you going to tease me about being a model prisoner or something?”
“… … .”
“You guys are worse, you guards. What’s wrong with vampires eating people, that you drag them to a place like this and force them to do forced labor? What’s wrong with predators eating their prey? How many pigs or chickens are slaughtered in the Empire every day, you ask?”
Beric, who had been grumbling, tapped my cheek.
“Anyway, since that’s how it is, I’m going now. Whether you get killed by that monster or not, it’s none of my business, so do your best.”
“one thing.”
“huh?”
“There is one thing wrong.”
I looked at Beric and said.
“The only thing that can’t move is my feet, the rest of me can move.”
“… … .”
“… … .”
“… … !”
The moment Beric tried to hastily distance himself, my claws grabbed the bastard’s collar like a hook.
“Now, just a moment!”
Wait a minute, you son of a bitch.
My fist landed on Beric’s jaw.
* * *
The top floor of the punishment cell.
Damn it.
A nun in black, who had arrived at this place alone and without an escort, walked through the darkened room.
Even Luan could not see through this pitch-blackness without leaning on the divine, but the nun’s gait was free of hesitation.
This was because it was possible to detect it through golden eyes that sparkled as if they had absorbed moonlight.
My footsteps, as I was walking around looking around, stopped when I came across a huge hole.
“… … .”
Verita saw the huge hole that had formed when Tangtata fell.
It was especially dark here, so much so that even the bottom of the Veritas could not be seen clearly.
The gaze that had been looking straight down for a moment now turned in a different direction.
The detention cell.
There are five vicious criminals imprisoned on the top floor, and one of them is Gustav… the green-tongued demon king, Tangata.
The remaining four are all black cult leaders.
Verita went into the nearest cell, and soon came back out into the hallway.
I went into the next room, then came out a little faster than before, and repeated this a total of four times.
The longer I stayed in the room, the shorter the time I spent in it became, and I left the last room almost immediately after entering it.
Verita’s lips twisted into a mocking smile as she checked all the rooms.
“I knew it.”
Verita’s gaze turned downward again as she hummed softly.
For a moment, the golden eyes looked down.
Verita soon disappeared down the dark hole.
