【You should wake up, neighbor.】
In a daze, Lynch's consciousness was gently awoken by a voice.
‘This is the first time you've ever called me neighbor,’ Lynch chuckled in his mind.
【You must wake up, or irreversible harm will occur, Lynch.】
‘You called me neighbor, didn't you?’
【The irreversible harm is not to you, but to another person.】
Huh? Lynch's consciousness gradually cleared, and an excruciating pain radiated through his entire body.
“Lynch!”
A clear shout echoed across the factory ruins.
The tone remained steady and stern, but the silhouette swaying amid the swirling smoke and dust bore a trace of anxiety.
With the crunch of crumbling debris underfoot, the tall, slender figure of the woman in men's attire burst through the veil of smoke, briskly rushing to the epicenter of the explosion.
She was uninjured, merely disheveled and covered in soot and grime.
Behind her in the haze lay countless fallen monster overseers. Those unkillable monstrosities were now completely motionless, radiating wisps of black mist as their forms slowly blurred.
The hundreds of slaves had also collapsed across the square, though unlike the overseers, their bodies did not dissipate, lying motionless on the ground. Meanwhile, the five factory executives suspended above the blood pool continued to wail at the top of their lungs from the lamp posts, their shrieks full of vigor.
Officer Natalie could not care less about that; she rushed straight to the explosion site, her heart clenching tight.
The workshop had been reduced to complete rubble, flickering with flames left behind by the blast. The scene was an utter mess of mangled, ruined metal and shattered masonry.
In such carnage, no one could have survived—not even a low-level Soul Severer.
The female officer clenched her fists, a wave of grief and ache washing over her chest.
“You bastard... I told you to blow up the steam engine room, not blow yourself up with it! Couldn't you run out beforehand?!”
Natalie muttered with a trembling voice, fiercely heaving away a shattered steel plate covering the top, yet achieving nothing other than stoking the flames higher.
Scenes from the past few days flashed across her mind. The thought of never seeing that clever, resilient guy again pricked at her chest like needles.
At this rate, even if he hadn't been killed by the blast, he would be crushed or burned to death. Such a massive blaze... Huh? Fire?
Natalie suddenly realized something was amiss. There hadn't been any fuel in there just now, so where did such a huge fire come from?
Could it be that self-harm ring of his?
Right—flames weren't afraid of physical impact. That bastard was smart; he definitely would have reacted before the blast and put the ring on in time.
Yes, that had to be it. He must be knocked unconscious right now, unable to remove the ring himself. Which means I...
Remembering Lynch saying that failing to take it off meant death, Natalie glanced at the raging flames, gritted her teeth, and reached her left hand straight into the fire.
Maybe I can reach your hand. Maybe I can help you take it off. How can I not try? I won't give up on your life this time.
Flames scorched her flesh, a searing heat coursing through her hands.
This wasn't soul-burning that passed after the pain subsided; this was real burning of the physical body. Yet Officer Natalie endured the scorching heat, closing her eyes as she plunged both hands into the flames, bracing herself to bear the agonizing pain.
“I still owe you three favors! You're not allowed to leave—come back to me!” Her hands plunged fully into the fire, sharp pain flaring instantly, yet her palms remained empty. The female officer growled through the agony, “You bastard, if you come back, I'll add one more favor!”
In the next moment, her hands seemed to grasp a scorching body—a pair of burning hot hands.
“Really? No taking it back.”
The muffled growl of pain cut off abruptly, and the air froze for an instant.
The next instant, her hands tightened with all her might, fiercely clutching the hands she had thought she lost.
“Ow, ow, ow! It's broken, my fingers are broken!”
In truth, Lynch was rather innocent in all this. In the split second before the explosion, he had slipped on The Passion of the Blazing Lady. Just as he turned into flame, the shockwave of the blast hit. Stunned first by the sonic concussive wave, the subsequent blast wave swept harmlessly through his transformed fiery body, allowing him to survive. As soon as Lady Luna woke him and his senses returned, he saw the female officer reaching into the fire, which frightened him into quickly removing the ring.
“That response was just an instinct, truly just an instinct!”
Still steaming all over, Lynch began flusteredly explaining himself. Watching him puff out wisps of white steam with every movement of his mouth, the female officer's lips curved upward slightly, though she did not let go of the tightly clasped hands.
Lynch's hurried explanations gradually softened and eventually trailed off. The two of them held hands, silently gazing at each other, their faces drawing closer and closer, nearer and...
“Heeeelp!”
A bloodcurdling scream in the distance snapped them out of their daze. Releasing their hands in a panic, both stepped back simultaneously, their eyes darting around. Only then did they remember they were still inside the mystery relic's memory, where danger lurked everywhere and it was hardly the time for anything else.
Hmm, why did those people suddenly scream? Did something happen at the blood pool?
Remembering there were still a few living people hanging over there, they exchanged a glance and gave a subtle nod.
Let's go check what happened.
The monster overseers had all dissolved into black mist, and the slaves lay inert on the ground. Facing no further obstacles, the two easily hurried over to the blood pool.
The pool was bottomless, filled with dark red blood. The viscous, sticky fluid gurgled and bubbled. The moment they drew near, an overpowering stench of iron and rot hit them, making them gag.
“Help! Officers, you're finally here!”
Suspended above, the executives had been frightened out of their wits by the explosion without understanding what had happened. Seeing familiar faces at last, they began screaming at the top of their lungs, writhing with tears and snot running down their faces:
“There's a monster! Help!”
“Get me down, quickly! There's something in the pool!”
“I have money! I'll pay! Ten pounds—no, twenty pounds—no, no, no, fifty pounds! I'll pay whatever you want! Help me!”
Yet aside from someone casting a glance upward upon hearing Lande pounds mentioned, neither stepped closer recklessly. They maintained a distance of several meters, watching the surface from afar.
“If those slaves were transformed from the missing workers, then the overseers are the manifestation of their fear. Hanging people up to bleed them is the transformation ritual. Each of the hundreds of victims had to endure this agony, ultimately feeding the relic with flesh and blood steeped in fear and despair, turning them into its slaves. This thing is called...”
“The Devourer's Flesh Workshop,” Lynch replied.
“Then that explains it. That's an evil god with a craving for devouring flesh and blood. It seems that once they're drained of blood and their corpses are tossed down, the ritual is complete, and the selected victims' existence is thoroughly devoured by the relic, making them one of those slaves.”
“I see. No wonder the second suppression condition is destroying the core within the blood pool.” Lynch gave the five executives an odd look. “If we toss them down, will the core of the blood pool expose itself?”
“No! Please don't! I'm the chairman's confidant!”
“I can still make money for the chairman! Don't throw me down!”
“Actually, we might not need to go through all that trouble.” The female officer tilted her chin toward the blood pool. “Look.”
Gurgle, bubble... More and more bubbles surfaced in the pool, as though the liquid had begun to boil. The bubbling grew increasingly violent, periodically splashing blood into the air and showering the five sacrifices, eliciting even more terror-stricken shrieks from them.
The next moment, blood surged violently, and countless tentacles formed of gore erupted from the pool, flailing wildly toward the air.
The five executives stopped screaming altogether, their eyes rolling back as they fainted dead away in terror.
The female officer's expression shifted suddenly. Grabbing Lynch, she pointed toward a nearby rooftop. Her ability activated, and in a flash, both were safely perched atop the roof.
Only then did Lynch notice movement behind where they had just been standing. As if responding to a sudden summons, the motionless slaves stirred, groaning in low rasps and shambling like the living dead, converging toward the blood pool.
Splash! Splash!
Without hesitation, the living dead approached the edge of the pool one after another. They were dragged into the pool by the flailing tentacles, submerging and surfacing for a few moments before being spat back out. Covered in gory pus, they slumped to the side, their faces and bodies appearing even blurrier than before.
【Pay attention to the core inside the blood pool.】
‘You mean those blood tentacles? I'm watching them.’
【Not with your eyes—with your inspiration.】
‘Huh? That works too?’
Lynch pondered for a brief second and did as instructed. Fixing his eyes on the tentacles, he cleared his mind and entered an unconscious state, gradually gaining deeper insight into what he perceived.
The core's actions inside the blood pool were actually manipulating the existence of the surrounding slaves, transferring a portion of their lingering existence within the relic into itself—the so-called devouring.
And one of his own abilities, lurking, was also a form of manipulating his own existence, merely hiding the most fundamental aspect of it: his visible form. Lynch realized that as he gradually comprehended the entity's behavior and linked it to his own authority, his understanding of his authority and abilities grew sharper and clearer.
No wonder they said actively engaging with mystery was the best way to deepen one's comprehension of authority.
Furthermore, watching the blood pool feed sparked a sudden inspiration in Lynch. Focusing intently on the pool's actions, he reasoned: the entity transferred the food's existence into its body to slowly devour it. While he lacked the capacity to devour, he could completely rely on his own abilities to temporarily conceal that existence. Wouldn't that mean...
The moment he realized this, Lynch's inspiration snapped back from the blood pool. His thoughts swirled in turmoil, making it impossible to return to that meditative state. Yet when he turned his attention toward his soul, he found, not at all surprised, that a fourth point of light had appeared within the Concealment authority.
Presence-masking: Uses authority to shroud the target's presence for three seconds. If the target is a living being, the higher their trust in the user, the higher the success rate.
To think I gathered all four abilities so quickly; now all that's left is deepening my comprehension of the authority itself. Thanks for the tip, neighbor. Still, not a single offensive ability in the bunch... Am I doomed to walk the path of petty stealth forever?
【Yes.】
‘I wasn't actually asking you. You didn't have to answer.’
Rumble.
A slight tremor in the ground snapped Lynch's attention back. Refocusing his gaze, he noticed most of the slaves had already been swallowed and soaked once. The gore in the pool churned even more violently with the writhing of the tentacles.
“Careful. It's coming out. Judging by the commotion, it's a big one.”
Having waited for a while, the female officer held her sheathed sword firmly:
“When we charge over, protect yourself first. I'll find a way to deal with it. Hopefully, it won't be too much trouble.”
Before her voice faded, a massive crash echoed as blood erupted from the hundred-square-meter pool. A colossal figure surfaced, dragging viscous blood into the air that cascaded down its massive body like a waterfall, allowing Lynch and Officer Natalie to glimpse its true form through the gory sheets.
It was a gigantic mass of flesh that nearly covered the entire pool. Its surface bristled with thick, twisted scarlet tentacles coiling and thrashing around its body. Embedded across the tentacles were eyeballs the size of human heads; hundreds of them rolled in every direction, greedily scouring every angle of their surroundings.
The top of the flesh mass had neither head nor face, only a gargantuan mouth. It suddenly split open, unleashing a deafening roar toward the factory executives hanging in midair.
The unconscious executives were fortunate enough not to realize their fate, but in the distance, Lynch and Officer Natalie saw everything clearly. Exchanging a glance, both saw the shock in each other's eyes.
“Did you see that?”
“I saw it. It's a person.”
Yes. Through the monster's gaping mouth, a person could be clearly seen embedded inside its body. Much like the steam engine earlier, a pulsating flesh tumor grew over the heart, sprouting countless blood-vessel-like tissues that wrapped around the body, leaving only the head exposed.
Recognizing the person in the monster's mouth, Lynch suddenly gripped the female officer's wrist, his face turning grim. “I know her.”
“Huh?”
“Little Janet, my client's target,” Lynch said, taking a deep breath with a dry voice. “Her body was still lying at home at noon. How could this be...?”
“No, this isn't the complete her. This should be her soul; what you saw at noon was her physical body. Only half of her was pulled in, so the transformation wasn't completed, and she ended up fusing with this monster instead.”
“I see. She left early that day and exited the relic's range ahead of time, so no one fed the relic, causing it to lose control. Afterward, even when she returned, it was already too late.” Lynch came to a sudden realization, finally connecting all the dots. “No wonder she drew those things while in a trance. That was what her soul saw—she was drawing herself.”
The more Lynch thought about it, the more it made sense. Little Janet's soul was like a bug in a program. Because the devouring was only half-finished, the memory's progression within the relic became stuck, preventing any subsequent devouring from completing. As a result, more and more people were sucked in every day, yet not a single one was successfully devoured.
The female officer's eyes widened, a vein throbbing at her temple as anger flared in her gaze. “So she's the source of the relic losing control? We have to destroy her soul to complete this suppression? Damn it, she's innocent! Are we supposed to kill an innocent person with our own hands?”
“I'm not sure either. Why don't we try pulling her out of the monster's body? For the monster as a whole, that should count as a form of destruction too.”
Before his words could settle, the little Janet inside the mouth snapped her eyes open and unleashed a piercing scream toward the five executives in the air.
“Alright. Let's see if we can save her.”
Gritting her teeth, the female officer activated her ability, grabbing Lynch as she charged toward the monster above the blood pool.
Rate on N.U.
