Chapter 246 – Roar

000

With an explosion, a powerful blow that flew like a comet and pierced it.

There wouldn’t have been enough of an attack to take the minds of the thieves who were already terrified.

Merca’s attack seemed to fly away without thinking, and their captain was blown away in one blow.

Watching the big man collapse against the wall, the thieves could do nothing but freeze on the spot, screaming, “Aagh!”

“It’s reckless, but… I made sure to take the initiative.”

Obviously, it was exactly one minute after I said that I would be behind Ascaron, so it made me lament what the promise was.

What though

I blew away the guy who seemed to be the captain with one blow, so that part was extenuating circumstances—

“Keugh… What a… Dog… Bitch…!”

When a large man who staggers up gets up, groaning and groaning like that.

Not only Merca, but also other thieves who were instantly in despair because of her look forward to the resurrection of their captain.

However, it was not without shock, but with his hand on his chest his, there was blood on his mouth his.

That kick must have broken his ribs.

Chilling, spitting blood, and then standing up with his hands on the wall, it didn’t look like he could fight any more.

That’s why Merca says ‘hmm’ with a slightly admiring voice.

“It’s a big price to pay. To get up after getting hit by that kick just now.”

“You guys… Where did you bastards come from…”

“I don’t have any obligation to answer that. Kingdom Special Investigator. My name is Merca Arcadias. If you’re a member of the thieves’ guild, you’ve probably heard the story, right?”

Upon hearing Merca’s words, the captain of the thieves had no choice but to frown at once.

That would be too. Because Merca Alcadias was one of the people belonging to the kingdom who had to be most careful within the Thieves Guild.

The fact that the numerous high-profile thieves she caught were all rotating away in the northern labor districts.

Indeed, in the thieves’ guild, he was feared and at the same time, he was one of the enforcers of public power that should not be violated.

However, since I usually work mainly in the provinces, if it is within the royal capital.

Mixed with her her criminal optimism that she’d become somehow, her her young thieves’ vigilance her against her was a little blurry.

However, when she kidnapped her child from her, she was on the royal road, and when she heard the story of this incident, she came directly in front of them.

No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t feel like a coincidence.

Even, the situation with a man who seems to be an adventurer in the back.

Only then did the master thief understand.

The fact that they kidnapped the child, and the situation in which murder was inevitable in the middle.

Everything is a small incident that can be summarized as a single sentence in a large script drawn up by the people who commissioned them to do this work.

Or, a small cog, a screw, in a mechanism in which large gears mesh and roll.

The thieves said they were ‘consumed’ there.

The first thing I felt was anger.

However, there is a limit to the emotional line that humans can feel anger.

Anger beyond that part cools down the fire-like anger accumulated in reverse and makes people cool.

Now, the captain of the thieves had such an experience in that brief conversation.

Therefore, he had no choice but to let out a dry laugh instead of the same wrath as before.

“Haha… I see she. She’s the kingdom’s investigator… She expected this from the beginning and made us do all of this… She’s that woman…”

`That woman?`

Cleon’s party listens to the words that come out of the man’s mouth at the same time.

In particular, for Cleon, the word ‘that woman’ was a very suspicious line.

“Dae, Captain…! What should I do?”

When the thief, who was close to where the man was standing, raised his voice like that, the man called the captain took something out of his pocket and held it.

Cleon immediately reaches out and uses magic to stop the man.

The Captain calmly—or instinctively—reaches out his hand and catches the thief who has spoken to him and uses it as a shield.

“Aagh!”

When the thief who became the shield screamed, the man’s actions were so natural that the thieves as well as the party instantly went blank.

Then, the vial containing the black medicine the man took out, and pouring the contents straight into the man’s mouth came into view.

“What… !? Wait! That’s-“

The contents were something Cleon knew well.

Just a while ago, when he cut down and buried his alumni in the mountains.

The pitch-dark drug that plunged him into the abyss.

A powerful doping drug created by the Empire that turns humans into weapons.

‘Black Maker’.

“Kuh, uhhh…! Ghhhhh! That woman…Was serious…! It doesn’t matter if I kill you all…! Ghhhhh!!”

The drug administered showed its effect immediately.

For a moment, the captain seemed to feel pain as his blood vessels were exposed on the skin of his, his muscles were expanding, as the drug’s efficacy increased.

Within a short time, black spots gradually eroding the skin and the appearance of eye light that dyes the eyes red.

The sight was reminiscent of a scene in which a ‘person’ was changed into ‘something that was not a person’.

A man who grew to about 1.5 times his size his, made a sound like a beast from his mouth his, and threw away the subordinate he had used as a shield as it was.

Merca seemed slightly taken aback by his change of his, but he still held his fists and stance.

“Merka! Step back!”

Saying that, Cleon immediately pulled out Galatea and jumped forward to stand between Merca and the man.

“It’s a dangerous opponent at first glance, but I can’t leave it to you alone.”

However, Merca takes a stand at Cleon’s words…

Booung! When the thick arm his swung and collided with Galatea’s sword, it created a huge shockwave.

“Kuh…!”

Obviously, the quality of this drugged man was not that high.

He was, at best, a thief at the level of a thief who could catch even an Albein who had defeated his former self in a duel with all his might.

However, the explosively increased physical ability the moment the drug was taken, it easily surpassed the level of strength by several levels and was endowed with the user.

`More than the previous medicine… It’s more effective… ?`

In the flow of magical power that spreads as swords collide with fists, Cleon felt that fact while facing him.

While holding on like that, Merca swung her prosthetic arm at the man’s jaw.

Fuck! There was a dull sound, but the man glared at the woman with saliva dripping from his mouth as if his head her had just turned and no further damage had been received.

“Miss!”

“Kuu…!”

And, from Askaron’s voice his, if he hadn’t backstepped quickly, he would have taken a lot of damage from the arm that swung behind him.

Cleon somehow pushed away the man’s arm that he was holding down with his sword, and immediately moved like flowing water.

Taking a big step forward with his foot, he crouched down and slashed the empty man’s side.

Then, instead of the red blood that should have spurted out originally.

What protruded from the man’s body was something contaminated, black and sticky.

‘I’ve already eroded my body like this… As expected, someone improved ‘Black Maker’-‘

The moment he glanced back to check the spilled liquid, Cleon clicked his tongue as he watched the part he had cut regenerate.

Also, dealing with these regeneration monsters was irritating no matter how many times I went through it.

But the next moment, Cleon heard another scream of pain and turned his attention there.

There, his men see the strength the captain has gained from drugging.

He decided that taking medicine was the fastest way to survive, and each person was seen taking medicine.

Excluding the one who passed out as a shield a moment ago, 3 out of 5 subordinates. It transforms its body just like the captain and strengthens itself with medicine.

The other two succeeded in stopping them by breaking the vial before the drug entered her mouth as the blades of the Holy Sword, which Aruru swung swiftly, scattered.

At the same time, the fact that they were surrounded by a crystal wall would also serve the purpose of protecting them from their former colleagues who lost their reason and made it easier to interrogate them later.

“Good work Aruru!”

“You can focus on the enemy in front of you, Cleon. I’ll take care of the rest!”

And the indomitable sword of the blue crystal. Aruru, the hero who caught Arondite, immediately swung his sword at the user nearby.

Kagagagak! Aruru’s crystal sword rips off one side of the alien’s arm with a popping sound.

Not to lose to that, Mercado swung her leg towards the arm of the possessor who approached her.

Booung! Rather, it was a sharp pangong sound that was closer to ‘Shaak!’

The booster attached to the prosthetic limb her slammed open, accelerating her leg explosively, and a powerful blow, like lightning, shattered Lee Hyung’s arm her to the point where it made a loud ‘crack!’ Sound.

Although the blood spurts when the shattered bone fragments pierce through the arm and jump out.

Even those wounds, overflowing black magic wrapped around them, as if they had been forcibly put together, and they were restored to their proper places.

“Kuh… What kind of regenerative power… And, this physical ability is already at the level of a troll, not a human…!”

When Merca saw the monster’s abnormal regenerative recovery unfolding before her eyes her, she let out such a sentiment.

Thanks to the storm of crystals that raged, it hadn’t completely shattered her arm her, whether there should have been a few more numbers yet.

Aruru also stepped back for the time being, facing Merca and the back her and looking at the other servants.

Askaron was also in the middle of a confrontation with a user who jumped at him, emitting electricity intermittently from his hand.

“Kuh… Ugh… It’s killing me… I thought this drug… Was chosen as a throwaway… But with this, it’ll be enough to kill you all…”

The captain, who had been pushing Cleon by punching him, speaks like that.

Then, Cleon looked at him and answered.

“No, you guys are right to discard. Because that medicine made you cross a river of no return.”

“A river of no return, you already crossed it when you committed the murder!

The more intense his emotions are, the more the drug transforms the man’s body.

The man’s swollen muscles, which he thought were the limit, swelled up once more, and as a result, the man’s hair fell out.

If that huge chunk of meat, which had changed into an even more hideous figure, swung its fist once, it didn’t even raise a weapon, but with just one magically wrapped fist.

It was enough to inflict a sharp pain on Cleon’s arm his, who had blocked it by lifting Galatea.

“Kuh…!”

[Don’t overdo it, avoid it, Cleon. Taking it over and over again is not a good idea.]

“I know…!”

Cleon raised his voice like that and sent magic power to Galatea.

“Grant fire.”

When one of Layla’s magics, a spell that imbues an object with elemental magic of the fire attribute, is cast.

Above Galatea’s beautiful silver blade, red flames appear.

And, from many experiences, Cleon knew that ‘Flame’ was the most effective against this infinitely regenerating type of enemy.

The flames that use mana as ignition material were left intact, and just by pouring in a large amount of mana, Cleon burned up.

It reminded me of Quon’s holy sword, Galatine, that I had seen just a while ago.

However, unlike Galatine’s, this one is a pure flame with no divine mana mixed in.

“KRaaaaa!”

Something like an intense beast’s cry that couldn’t be felt by humans anymore rose up.

As Cleon expected, the hand of the one caught on fire would regenerate and burn repeatedly, but even so, the speed of burning felt a bit faster.

Then, Cleon quickly took a step back, opened up the distance, and took the next moment after refining his breathing.

Once again, holding a flaming sword, he dug into the gap and swung the sword a total of 5 times.

First, once from the guy’s right shoulder down the left oblique line.

As if the first swing was over and continued almost simultaneously, it was swung horizontally at the belly button.

And, this time, as if crossing the first cut, cut upwards to the left.

Driven by that momentum, it leaps into the air and cuts down in an instant from the top of the head to the groin—

A thrust that pierces the center of the body, stepping back and then lunging forward.

Each time, the elemental magic of the flame leaves a red trail.

The man’s entire body was soon engulfed in flames and began to burn.

“AAARRRKKK!!”

The body’s forced recovery and burning overlap, resulting in endless pain.

Staggering back, the man fell to his knees and fell forward, lying on the ground.

A cooing sound was heard, and the form of dark magic attached to the man’s body disappeared along with the flames.

Thanks to black magic regenerating the body, the pierced body remained intact, but it was fainted and lost consciousness.

“Whoa…”

Cleon sighed and looked in the direction where Aruru and Merca were.

Aruru’s crystal sword shattered every time it collided with the user’s fist, scattering fragments around.

Already, the pieces were stretched enough to create dozens of holy swords.

Then, Merca’s side her calmly took a stance and let go of the fists of the attacker who swung her body her irrationally and attacked.

One room, one room. Accurately striking the critical position, the impact was building up in her body.

“Aruru. Your crystal sword, it seems that the pieces have been enough.”

When Merca said that and glanced at Aruru, Aruru nodded her head.

“How about your side? Can you take it down?”

“…Can you not underestimate me? But I have a trump card.”

“I didn’t underestimate it, but… I like it.”

After looking into each other’s eyes and exchanging glances, Aruru and Merca step back and face each other again.

During this fight, they seemed to sense something about the abilities of the servants who slowly began to respond to their attacks.

The takers that Aruru faced were concentrating her body’s defenses into one point, and she was trying to block the series of blows of Arondite’s storm-like crystal sword with low attack power.

The user on the side of Merca was attempting to give reverse damage to the attacking Merca by covering the vital parts of her body with a sharp, thorn-like outer shell.

‘Yes, this drug seems dangerous…`

When Merca glanced back at Askaron, Askaron was pushing through her lightning her in her own way, preventing the regeneration of her opponent.

The next moment, the two servants, who thought that Merca and Aruru had stopped moving, moved their bodies at the same time like instinct and attacked them.

He must have already thought that the analysis of the behavior patterns of the two women had been completed to some extent.

As before, one side is in a one-point defense posture.

The other side covers vital points with something like thorns.

But, next moment.

Aruru and Merca go round and round right away. And moved as if exchanging positions with each other.

“!?”

The servants of this form were taken aback by the sudden movement, but they couldn’t do anything with their bodies that had already accelerated.

“Haha!”

When Aruru swung her sword, the crystals scattered around her changed their shape at the same time and pierced the body of the user who created the thorns in her body her, turning them into a hedgehog-like form.

“Plasma, Burst!”

And. Merca’s fist. As it is, avoid the user’s defense and enter-

At the same time as it pierced the vital part, it caused an explosion that burned the entire body of the user by generating intense high-temperature plasma.

Both servants scream simultaneously, and fall forward like their captains.

And, the transformation covering the entire body was canceled, revealing the fainted thieves.

“Whoa…”

Merca lets out her weary sigh, followed by the splash of sparks hitting her ears her.

Looking back, it was seen that Ascaron had succeeded in defeating the user by pouring electricity into the body of the person he was dealing with and burning it, peeling off the outer skin of the dark magic power.

“This is the end…”

Asuka Ron also spoke with a slightly tired expression, and Cleon nodded his head.

“For now, tie these guys up… Let’s find the child.”

When Cleon says that, Merca pulls out a rope from her bag, ties the arms and legs of the fallen thieves, and puts them away in a corner.

In the meantime, Cleon opened the door to the hiding place one by one and…

Soon, he finds a restrained boy lying in the dark with an eyepatch on.

When Cleon pays attention to Aruru, Aruru nods her head and approaches the boy, loosening her restraints and removing her blindfold her.

“I’m sorry…”

As if blinded by a sudden light, he let out his voice.

However, as soon as she saw Aruru coming into her field of vision, she opened her eyes wide.

“Ah, isn’t that Aruru Trome!?”

“Oh. You know me.”

Aruru said that because they didn’t know the boy, but the boy nodded and replied with a little excitement.

“Yes, of course! I’ve met you from afar when I went to take the entrance exam for the academy before… So, I can’t believe that the hero who came to save me is Aruru-sama… “

The boy seemed to be a little thrilled, as if he were a fan of Aruru.

“For now, calm down. Let’s go home. My parents are worried.”

Aruru tapped the excited boy on the shoulder her, raised her body her, and grabbed her boy’s hand her to pull her up.

“Can you walk?”

“Yes, yes. Of course…”

Cleon, who looked at that figure from a distance, put on a somewhat relieved expression.

And Merca, who is looking at Cleon with her arms crossed next to Cleon.

“Why did you yield to Aruru?”

“What…? Ah. Rescuing that child?”

“Well… There are things like that. A chance to be that kid’s ‘hero’.”

Cleon shut her mouth for a moment at Merca’s words, then let her smile bitterly.

“If I was the one who saw a child who had such a scary experience the moment she took off her blindfold her… Isn’t it a bit pitiful?”

“Because you are from the dark horse clan?”

At Merca’s words her, Cleon slowly nodded his head.

“Well. And I’m a magic swordsman to the end. It’s up to the hero to save people.”

“…”

Upon hearing Cleon’s words, Merca put on a slightly complicated expression, but then she shook her head.

“If you want to do that, I don’t think we need to talk about this anymore.”

“That’s right. Come on. Let’s take those guys and get out of here.”

“Oh, are you leaving already? Isn’t something a bit bland?”

At that moment, when Cleon and his party simultaneously look in that direction at the sound of a woman’s voice that should not be heard here.

There, ‘Ishtar’ in a translucent state appeared.

Perhaps, like her one day at the academy, she appeared remotely through her vision of her.

As always, with a smoking pipe in her hand her.

“Ishtal…”

“That’s the head of that group of prostitutes called Astarrote…?”

Looking at Merca, who was pouring out unstoppable words, Ishtal raised the corner of her mouth her.

“Quite outspoken for a nobleman? But I’m not wrong, so I’ll admit it.”

“Can I assume that this time… You made it up?”

When Merka said that, Ishtal shrugged her shoulders.

“Half right, half wrong. It wasn’t me who commissioned them. However, I did lend her a hand to help a little.”

`Black Maker…`

“Don’t look too serious. It was only a clinical trial.”

When Ishtal talks while looking at Cleon, he frowns.

“What those guys used was more effective than anything I’ve seen before. What the hell are they trying to do by sacrificing people like that while researching medicine?”

“Well? Let me tell you one thing… My ultimate goal is not that different from yours, Cleon.”

“…What?”

Ishtal smiled lowly and sinisterly at Cleon, then snapped her fingers.

Then, the magic circle engraved in intaglio on the floor of the hideout turned red.

“This-“

“The magic circle of demon summoning!?”

When Merca grasped the true nature of the magic at once, Ishtal blew a whistle.

“Because I think it’s a little lacking. The gift I prepared for you guys. Water. This is it.”

“Are you going to summon a great devil of this size!? But without a sacrifice—”

“If it’s a sacrifice, there is. A fresh creature picked in dark magic.”

At Ishtal’s voice her, Cleon’s gaze immediately turned to the thieves they had tied up.

Burning chains cling to the bodies of the thieves who took the Black Maker.

I could see them dragging them under the magic circle.

“Aaaaagh! What is this! Captain! Save me!!!”

“Fuck…! That woman, from the beginning…! No, no…!”

Men screaming and uttering excruciating pain were absorbed into the magic circle.

The boy Aruru rescued sat down in shock at what he saw.

As if to protect such a boy, Aruru pulled out an arondite and looked at the center of the magic circle with her sharp eyes.

There, a black gate like a cocoon had already appeared, ready to extract the demon from within.

Ishtal stood in front of the gate with light steps, then bent down and spoke in an exaggerated voice.

“Then, everyone. Please welcome them with a big round of applause. A greedy demon with a cow’s head who wants a sacrifice. The lord of Purgatory standing in the 21st position…”

Next moment, bang! There was a thump and a huge hand jumped out of the gate.

And what appears is, as Ishtal said, similar to the Minotaur, with the upper body of a cow, and with bat-like wings on its back.

A flaming sword in hand. Ferocious demon.

“This is Morax.”

After saying that, the illusion of Ishtal disappears.

[Kaaaaa!]

That and the demon’s roar erupted almost simultaneously.