Chapter 38
Swish-!
A sharp shadow cut through the air as it advanced.
The pitch-black became a thin line, slicing through an instant, and only an elegantly continuing trajectory embroidered the air.
Before he knew it, the sword tip was cutting flesh.
Slash-.
Following that, the head of the charging monster split in half.
It couldn't even leave a moment's scream. Pieces of the beast that had lost its breath scattered on the floor.
Black rotten blood splattered at his feet.
The slit eyes were quietly staring at such death.
"Hmm."
A short nasal sound escaped.
Before he knew it, wolf corpses cut into dozens of pieces were rolling around.
They all looked mercilessly sliced up.
The boy shook off the residue stuck to his sword.
Though the laboratory was dirtied with blood splatter, not even a small stain had gotten on the snake's clothes.
It was truly an overwhelming scene.
A chilling killing intent spread along with the cold air.
"My, my... Have they gotten scared?"
The mutants hesitating to attack.
Seeing the wavering monsters, the boy smiled as if enjoying it.
It was the mockery of a terrible predator.
Screech-!
Perhaps falling for this provocation.
A few at the front leaped in while swinging their tentacles, but a slash came flying as if it had been waiting.
The shadow devoured the monsters' ugliness.
Whack...
Behind a somewhat weak bursting sound, holes were simultaneously pierced in the wolves' chests.
A strike that only carved out their hearts.
The beasts that had lost their unique life beat soon collapsed.
He was truly handling them like toys.
"As expected of failures, their completeness isn't very high."
Chimera creation based on beasts.
Usually, the focus was on extreme vitality, so it was basic to modify them to stay alive even if their heads were cut off.
Because the goal was to create undying magical beasts.
But the current wolves were different.
They clearly had ferocious power, but their vitality seemed noticeably lower than normal cases.
Should I say it felt strongly like they were arbitrarily combined without following orthodox methods.
It seemed close to someone's idle amusement.
"If they were bored, they should have just read books... I never understand heretics."
The snake clicked his tongue quietly.
He who had been wearing a regretful expression for a while suddenly turned his head to look towards his companions.
There were girls struggling against the mutants.
Bang-! Whack, crack-!
The somewhat savage sounds ringing out were impressive.
The two were responding calmly.
A flow where Emilia checked those approaching closely, while Regia intercepted with basic magic.
If there was one disappointing point.
"Hey commoner! Can't you summon that great beast of yours this time either?"
"I-I'm sorry. I've been trying since earlier but..."
"You're completely useless!!"
"I-I'm sorry!"
"Forget it! Just get out of the way if you're going to be a hindrance!"
It was that summoning was causing trouble again.
Perhaps because her heart was shaken by the sudden attack, her incantations kept failing.
Regia finally gave up and prepared basic magic.
"What on earth are you trying to do with such attacks...!"
Perhaps thinking it useless?
Emilia harshly rebuked while deploying mana.
Dense snowflakes bloomed in the air.
The boy who had been quietly watching the scene soon muttered with a bitter smile.
"...It still seems difficult after all."
It seemed there was still a long way to go until awakening.
The snake calmly moved his steps. At the same time, he snapped his fingers towards the mutants threatening the girls.
A bursting sound brushing past an instant.
Tak-!
"Now."
The wolves baring their teeth floated into the air.
As they were struggling hideously while dripping slime, soon ice arrows flying from somewhere pierced their bodies.
The gazes of the snake and the vain one crossed.
Emilia breathed heavily as if tired.
"Haa, haa... They really keep coming endlessly."
"You seem to be struggling."
"I understand you want to provoke, but could you refrain in this situation?"
"I was sincerely worried, but."
"Yeah right."
Her brow furrowed beautifully.
Deep irritation was evident in her blue eyes.
"Those monsters. They seem to have been made in this basement?"
"I think so too."
"Chimera experiments... It seems we've gotten involved in no ordinary matter."
"It was knowledge long forbidden in the empire. It seems they were conducting research in a space where no one could find them."
"It's the worst in many ways."
"Huhu."
Though it was a troublesome situation.
It wasn't entirely hopeless.
"But at this level, we can manage."
"Because only very skilled people are gathered. Miss Regia seems to be adapting gradually too."
"Anyway."
The wolves were simply large in number.
Their individual strength wasn't high.
It was a level that any decent Galimar student could calmly resolve everything.
Emilia loaded mana at her fingertips.
"We should quickly clean up and look for an exit."
"I'll draw the wolves' attention."
"The commoner and I will support with ranged fire. It seems inefficient to clash directly after all."
"I'll be counting on you."
Tak-!
The snake leaped long behind a short laugh.
As the boy jumped into the mutants, the two deployed magic from afar.
As they were continuing the subjugation like that again.
Rumble-!
Suddenly a huge vibration dyed the basement.
"...?!"
Had an earthquake occurred?
It was a heavy shaking to the point where maintaining balance was difficult.
The sudden bursting roar made their ears go numb.
Boom-! Rumble-!
The sound came from the laboratory ceiling.
A bursting sound as if something was breaking and being crushed.
The children raised their heads, unable to hide their bewilderment.
The next moment.
Crash-!
With an intense impact, part of the ceiling collapsed.
A hole opened with a wide diameter, and something of unknown identity fell through the gap.
A huge silhouette.
Below it were the mutants and.
"Oh my."
The slit-eyed boy was positioned there.
Before there was time to react, it flattened the surroundings.
Rumble-!
Thick dust rose.
Broken fragments scattered in all directions.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The children who had been standing in a daze soon screamed, dyed with shock.
Towards the unseen boy.
"Y-Young Master...?!"
"What is this all of a sudden...!"
The children stared at that spot.
A space spreading with distant confusion.
The two who had been desperately searching for the boy's figure soon met gazes with 'something' looking down at them.
Their breath caught.
"......"
It wasn't a coincidence that they closed their mouths simultaneously.
A sticky alienness flowing down. It felt like actual pressure was choking their necks.
Their breathing trembled involuntarily.
<Wooaa... Aaah>
A movement writhing like a jellyfish.
As if it had been made by suturing animal intestines, its surface was entirely covered in light pink.
A disgusting size easily over 15 meters.
Tentacles branching into hundreds.
Large and small eyeballs were densely embedded all over its body.
<Aaah...>
A mouth located in the center.
As its body opened in five parts, the interior covered with tightly packed teeth was revealed.
An unpleasant breath swept through the entire basement.
The characteristic rotten smell of corpses wafted.
The monster was twisting its body while making strange crying sounds.
<Aaaaaaah... Aaaah!!!>
The entire laboratory shook following its screaming.
[EP5. Midterm Exam]
-Abandoned Laboratory, Monsters That Can't Laugh-
A monster that can't laugh.
It was the appearance of the boss monster.
***
Emilia stood frozen while holding her breath.
What appeared in her vision were countless eyeballs glaring at her.
And writhing tentacles.
<Aaaaaaah... Aaaah!!!>
The monster screamed with its mouth open.
Tightly packed teeth could be seen between its split body. It looked like it would grind everything up at any moment.
Emilia couldn't show any reaction.
"......"
A fear crushing her existence.
Just facing it made her consciousness go blank. It was truly an overwhelming aura.
If she let her guard down and lost tension even for a moment.
It felt like her whole body would be crushed.
Regia standing beside her was the same.
With a face turned pale, she was frozen, unable to move even a finger.
The two sensed they were on the threshold of death.
<Aaah... Woah?>
Should it be called a moment of luck?
The monster having a fit turned its gaze elsewhere.
The mutants flattened on the floor.
It seemed interested in those that had become lumps of meat.
It moved its tentacles.
Slurp, slurp-!
It peeled off the wolves stuck to the ground one by one and put them into its huge mouth.
It fully chewed the barely remaining shaped flesh.
Crunch, crunch-!
The sound of bones that hadn't been crushed being ground rang out.
It seemed nauseating just to hear.
<Aaah... Uwaah>
Was the Young Master's body in there too?
It was unknown. Among the corpses clumped like meatballs, it was difficult to find the boy.
Death had been instantaneous.
There was no possibility of being alive.
With something like that falling directly on his head, he probably departed without even feeling pain.
Emilia couldn't take her blank gaze away.
Crunch, crack, munch-!
The meal continued greedily.
Seeing the scene of blood and flesh splattering, reason gripped by fear grasped her mind.
Only one thought spread in her head.
'I have to escape.'
It was instinct.
The instinct of a life form craving survival.
Blue eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.
Searching for a way to live.
'If I run a little, I can get out to the corridor.'
Emilia glanced at the exit located nearby.
The monster had a massive body.
Though it was a wide laboratory now, with that body it would clearly get stuck at the door leading to the corridor.
It seemed the route with the highest probability.
'The problem is...'
The monster wouldn't just stand by and watch.
Based on her current position, it would take about 10 seconds to reach the door.
More than enough time to be caught by the disgusting tentacles.
That's why it was needed.
Bait to buy 10 seconds to reach the door.
"......"
Emilia quietly stared to her right.
There was a pink-haired girl there. Shoulders trembling as if terrified.
She had been annoyingly holding her back since earlier.
'Bait.'
If she froze Regia's legs like this.
While she couldn't move, if she escaped alone, couldn't she secure some time from the monster?
She didn't know if she could reach the door.
But it was worth trying.
For her, surviving always came first.
'It can't be helped.'
Green eyes wavering pitifully.
Though Regia's expression half in tears weighed on her mind, Emilia decided to ignore it.
She muttered as if hypnotizing herself.
'Someone has to be sacrificed anyway.'
Someone had to take on the role of bait.
To save the other one.
Then naturally the role of sacrifice should go to the more useless, lowly being.
Emilia bit her lip tightly.
'I'm a special person.'
Unlike this commoner with no background.
She was born with Beniti's grace, a person in a position praised for her noble bloodline.
There was an unbridgeable difference from the roots.
'I'm special... Because I'm special, it'll be okay.'
The girl rationalized her ugliness.
By praising herself she created a reason to live, and by putting others down she created a reason to use them as bait.
She gathered mana at her thin fingertips.
-I dare ask... why Lady desires to be at the top so much.
Why was it?
A question the Snakers Young Master had thrown brushed her ear.
At that time, the girl had answered like this.
-Because I'm excellent.
-Unlike a fool like you with no qualifications, I'm someone who rightfully should be standing in that position.
Her thoughts hadn't changed since then.
Emilia thought of herself as a qualified person.
The girl opened her eyes wide.
A venomous light shone brightly over her blue pupils.
'I will survive.'
She deployed magic.
Following the temperature dropping chillingly, fatal frost flowers bloomed in her palm.
She felt Regia's bewildered gaze.
-Emilia.
-You can forget everything else, but you must remember this one thing as you live.
Because I'm a special person.
Because I'm a valuable person.
She steeled her heart.
-Light... is only valuable when there are people to illuminate.
Even if she had to throw the person beside her as bait, she would survive no matter what.
Yes.
That's certainly what she had decided.
She had certainly resolved to do that, but...
"Commoner."
"Lady...?"
Why couldn't she act as she thought?
"Run out the door right now."
The villainess spoke sharply.
Towards the protagonist standing with a hardened expression.
"I'll try to buy time here... At least you survive and get out."
"Y-Yes...?"
"I won't be able to hold out for long."
A voice ringing calmly.
The sharp tone was a means to erase the trembling.
Shing-.
Before she knew it, a spear made of ice was held in her hand.
The girl twirled it and moved her steps one by one towards the monster.
A faint winter scent wafted behind her.
"It's okay."
Emilia muttered again as if hypnotizing herself.
"Because I'm a special person."
Right after.
The girl charged at the monster while swinging her spear.
Meanwhile,
The slit eyes had been watching all these scenes.
As if finding it very interesting.