Humanoid

【You should wake up, neighbor.】

In a hazy state, Lynch's consciousness was awakened by a gentle voice.

‘This is the first time you’ve called me neighbor.’ Lynch smiled in his consciousness.

【You must wake up, or there will be irreversible damage, Lynch.】

‘You called me neighbor, didn’t you?’

【The irreversible damage doesn't refer to you, but to someone else.】

Hmm? Lynch's consciousness gradually cleared, and he felt intense pain spreading throughout his body.

“Lynch.”

A clear shout echoed through the factory ruins.

The tone was as calm and serious as ever, but the figure swaying amidst the smoke and dust carried a hint of anxiety.

With the sound of gravel being trampled, the tall, upright figure of the lady in men’s attire broke through the clouds of dust and hurried to the site of the explosion.

She was uninjured, though she looked somewhat disheveled and covered in soot.

In the dust behind her lay countless fallen supervisor monsters. These monsters, which had seemed impossible to kill, were now motionless, exuding black gas as their forms gradually became blurry.

The hundreds of slaves had also fallen in the plaza, though their bodies did not dissipate like the supervisors; they simply lay there, unmoving. The five factory executives hanging from the pool of blood, however, were still screaming incessantly from the streetlamps, their voices full of vigor.

Officer Natalie couldn't concern herself with that. She rushed to the explosion site immediately, her heart knotted in fear.

The factory had been completely reduced to ruins, and flames from the explosion flickered within. The scene was a chaotic mess of twisted, discarded metal and masonry.

In such a disaster, it was impossible for anyone to survive, even a low level Soul Severer.

The officer clenched her fists, feeling a wave of sorrow in her chest.

“You idiot. I told you to blow up the steam engine room, not to blow yourself up with it! Didn't you know how to run out first?”

Natalie shouted in a trembling voice, exerting force to pry up a shattered steel plate covering the top, but achieved nothing except causing the fire to burn more fiercely.

Images of the days they had spent together flashed through her mind. At the thought of never seeing this clever, resilient guy again, Natalie felt a stabbing pain in her chest.

If this kept up, even if he hadn't been killed by the explosion, he would be crushed or burned to death. Such a large fire... Hmm? Fire?

Natalie suddenly realized something was wrong. She hadn't seen any fuel inside earlier, so where did such a large fire come from?

Could it be that self mutilating ring of his?

Right. Flames aren't afraid of physical impact. That jerk is so smart, he must have reacted before the explosion and put on the ring in time.

Yes, that must be it. He must be knocked unconscious and unable to take the ring off himself, so I...

Remembering Lynch saying that if you don't take this thing off, you die, Natalie glanced at the intensifying flames. Gritting her teeth, she reached her left hand toward the fire.

Maybe I can touch your hand. Maybe I can help you take it off. I have to try. This time, I won't give up on your life.

The blaze consumed her, and a scorching sensation traveled from her hands.

This wasn't a burning of the soul that would fade once the pain passed; this was real, physical burning. Yet, Officer Natalie endured it, closing her eyes as she plunged her hands into the flames, mentally prepared to bear the agony.

“I still owe you three conditions. You aren't allowed to leave. Come back to me.” Her hands were fully submerged in the fire, and the intense pain arrived, but she felt nothing in her grasp. The officer growled through the pain, “You jerk, if you come back, I’ll add another condition.”

The next moment, her hands seemed to grasp a scorching body. It was a pair of searing hot hands.

“Really? No going back on your word.”

The growl suppressing her pain stopped abruptly. The air froze for an instant.

The next moment, she tightened her grip, clenching firmly onto the pair of hands she had feared she had almost lost.

“Ow, ow, it hurts! It’s broken, my fingers are broken.”

Actually, Lynch was quite innocent. He had put on The Passion of the Blazing Lady in the moment before the explosion. As he turned into flame, the shockwave hit; he was stunned by the sound, and the blast wave passed through his flame form, allowing him to escape unscathed. Just as he was awakened by Ms. Luna and his consciousness recovered, he saw the officer reaching into the fire and was so startled he quickly took the ring off.

“That answer was just an instinct. It was really just an instinct.”

Steam was still rising from Lynch's body as he began to explain in a panic. Seeing white smoke puffing from his mouth as he spoke, the corners of the officer’s mouth slowly curled up, though she did not let go of the hands she was gripping tightly.

Lynch, who had been explaining anxiously, gradually lowered his voice until he stopped entirely. The two stood hand in hand, staring at each other in silence, their faces drawing closer and closer, closer and...

“Help me~~”

A scream from the distance suddenly startled the two out of their trance. They released their hands in a panic and stepped back, their gazes darting everywhere, only then realizing they were still within the memory of the mystery relic. The crisis was still everywhere, and this was not the time for other things.

Hmm, those people suddenly screaming—did something happen over at the blood pool?

Recalling that there were still a few living people hanging there, the two exchanged a glance and nodded gently.

Let’s see what’s happening over there first.

The supervisor monsters had already vanished into black gas, and the slaves lay on the ground motionless. With no obstacles left, they easily ran to the side of the blood pool.

The pool was bottomless, filled with dark red blood. The liquid was thick and viscous, bubbling as it churned. As they approached, a heavy, fishy stench assaulted them, making them nearly retch.

“Help! Officer, you finally came.”

The few executives hanging above were terrified by the explosion. Not knowing what had happened, they finally saw familiar faces and shrieked at the top of their lungs, tears and snot streaming down their faces as they twisted their bodies.

“There’s a monster! Help me!”

“Take me down! Quick! There’s something in the pool!”

“I have money! I’ll pay you! Ten pounds, no, twenty pounds, no, no, fifty pounds! I’ll give you whatever you want! Help!”

However, aside from a brief glance when someone mentioned Lande pounds, the two did not rashly approach, maintaining a distance of several meters while watching the calm liquid surface from afar.

“If those slaves are the transformed remains of the missing workers, then those supervisors are the manifestation of their fear. Hanging people up to bleed them out is the transformation ritual. Hundreds of victims each have to experience this pain, ultimately feeding the mystery relic with the flesh and blood of fear and despair to become its slaves. This thing is called...”

“The Devourer's Flesh Workshop,” Lynch replied.

“Then that’s it. It’s an evil god that loves to devour flesh and blood. It seems that once the blood is drained and the bodies are tossed in, the ritual is complete. The existence of the chosen victims is completely devoured by the mystery relic, becoming one of those slaves.”

“I see. No wonder the second suppression condition is to destroy the core within the blood pool.” Lynch gave the five executives a strange look. “Does throwing them in expose the core of the blood pool?”

“Don’t! I’m a confidant of the Speaker!”

“I can still help the Speaker make money! Don’t throw me in!”

“Actually, it might not be that much trouble.” The officer tilted her chin toward the blood pool. “Look.”

Bubble, bubble. There were more and more bubbles in the blood pool, as if the water were starting to boil. Moreover, the boiling was becoming increasingly violent, with blood splashing into the air from time to time, splattering the five sacrifices and causing them to scream in even greater terror.

The next moment, blood surged, and countless tentacles formed of plasma erupted from the blood pool, waving frantically into the air.

The five executives stopped screaming and simply rolled their eyes back, fainting from fright.

The officer’s expression suddenly changed. She grabbed Lynch, pointed to a nearby roof, and activated her ability, whisking them both away to the rooftop.

Only then did Lynch notice that movement had appeared behind them. The slaves that had been lying motionless seemed to have been summoned by something; they began to moan and crawl like walking corpses, converging toward the blood pool.

Plop. Plop.

The walking corpses didn't hesitate. One after another, they approached the edge of the blood pool, were swept in by the waving tentacles, and after floating and sinking in the pool for a moment, were spat back out by the pool. They lay on the side, covered in pus and blood, their faces and bodies appearing even more blurred than before.

【Watch the core in the blood pool.】

‘Is it those blood tentacles? I’m looking at them.’

【Don't look with your eyes; use your inspiration.】

‘Hmm? That works too?’

Lynch pondered for a moment and followed the advice. He fixed his gaze on the tentacles, emptied his mind into an unconscious state, and slowly gained a bit of understanding regarding what he saw.

The actions of the core in the blood pool were actually manipulating the existence of the surrounding slaves, transferring a portion of the existence they had left behind in the mystery relic into itself—that is, what is known as devouring.

And one of his own abilities, lurking, was actually a form of control over his own existence, just hiding the most basic existence of his image. Lynch noticed that as he gradually understood the other’s behavior and linked it to his own authority, his understanding of his authority and abilities became clearer.

No wonder they say that striving to contact the mystery is the best way to deepen one's understanding of authority.

Moreover, as Lynch watched the blood pool feed, a sudden thought struck him. He focused on experiencing the behavior of the blood pool. It transferred the existence of its food into itself to slowly devour it. While he didn't have the function to devour, he could completely rely on his own ability to temporarily hide this existence. Wouldn't that be...

Realizing this, Lynch’s inspiration abruptly broke away from the blood pool. His mind was in chaos, and he could no longer return to that state of insight. When he turned his attention to his soul, he was not surprised to find a fourth dot of light within his concealment authority.

Presence: Utilize authority to mask a target's presence for three seconds. If the target is a living being, the success rate increases the more they trust the user.

To think I gathered all four abilities so quickly. Now all that’s left is the understanding of authority. Thanks for the reminder, neighbor. However, I really don’t have any offensive capabilities. Am I going to go down the path of petty theft and never return?

【Hmm.】

‘I wasn’t asking you. You don’t have to answer.’

“Boom.”

The slight tremor of the ground recalled Lynch’s attention. His gaze refocused, and he noticed that most of the slaves had been swallowed and soaked. The blood plasma in the pool surged even more violently as the tentacles twisted.

“Be careful, it’s coming out. Based on the sound, it should be a big one.”

The officer, who had been waiting for a long time, gripped her sword by the scabbard:

“When it rushes over, protect yourself first. I’ll find a way to deal with it. I hope it won't be too troublesome.”

Before she could finish her sentence, there was a splash. The hundred-square-meter blood pool suddenly erupted, and a massive figure emerged from the liquid. Viscous blood was carried into the sky by the giant object, sliding down its body like a waterfall, allowing Lynch and Officer Natalie to see its true form through the blood.

It was a giant mass of flesh that nearly filled the entire pool. The surface of the mass was covered in thick, twisted, blood-colored tentacles that coiled and writhed around its body. The surface of the tentacles was covered in eyes the size of human heads. Hundreds, thousands of eyes twisted in every direction, their greedy gazes scanning every angle around them.

The top of the flesh mass was faceless and headless, possessing only a giant mouth. The mouth suddenly opened, emitting a deafening roar toward the factory executives hanging in mid-air.

The unconscious executives were fortunate enough not to realize their fate, but in the distance, Lynch and Officer Natalie saw it very clearly. The two exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.

“Did you see it?”

“I saw it. It’s a person.”

Yes, through the monster’s open mouth, one could clearly see a person embedded in the monster’s body. Just like the steam engine earlier, a pulsating tumor had grown from the heart area, and countless blood vessel-like tissues had grown from the tumor, wrapping the human body within. Only one head was exposed.

Seeing the person in the monster’s mouth clearly, Lynch suddenly grabbed the officer’s wrist, his face turning extremely ugly. “I know her.”

“Hmm?”

“Little Janet, my target for the commission.” Lynch took a deep breath, his voice dry. “Her body was still lying at home at noon. How could she be...”

“No, this isn't the complete her. This should be her soul; what you saw at noon was her physical body. She was only pulled in halfway, so the transformation wasn't completed. Instead, she fused with this monster.”

“So that’s it. She left early that day, departing the mystery relic’s range, so no one fed the mystery relic that day, causing it to go out of control. It was useless for her to appear again afterward.” Lynch realized, finally connecting everything. “No wonder she drew those things while in a trance. That’s what her soul saw; she was drawing herself.”

The more Lynch thought about it, the more it made sense. Little Janet’s soul was now like a bug in a program. Because the devouring was only half finished, the process of the memory within the mystery relic was jammed, and subsequent devourings could not be completed. As a result, more and more people were sucked in every day, but not once did it successfully complete a devouring.

The officer’s eyes widened, the veins on her forehead throbbing, her gaze filled with anger. “So she is the source of the mystery relic’s loss of 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. How about we try to pull her out of the monster’s body? To the monster as a whole, that should be a form of destruction, right?”

Before he could finish, little Janet in the mouth suddenly opened her eyes and let out a piercing scream at the five executives in the air.

“Okay, let’s try to see if we can save her.”

The officer gritted her teeth, activated her ability, and grabbed Lynch, rushing toward the monster in the blood pool.