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Chapter 6

Thump! Thump! Thump...!

My heart pounded violently.

I had expected them to return, but not this soon—far too soon.

Danger.

Yes, I was in danger.

The moment I realized that, my mind cleared, and everything became calm.

I started to think rationally, as I always had in situations like this.

What should I do first?

I glanced down at my right hand.

In it was [Blink Stone] I had retrieved from the safe.

There was a way out.

If I used it, I could teleport to wherever I wanted and escape from this danger.

But then—

I turned my gaze to the side.

“Oh, wh-what should we do? Are they already here?”

Kayla was panicking and anxiously pacing in place.

Seeing her like that made me abandon the thought of using the stone.

In a game, I wouldn’t have hesitated to leave her behind. But… this wasn’t a game.

...I can’t just save myself.

I felt pathetic for giving up the most rational path to survival, but I couldn’t help it.

If I escaped alone, I knew exactly what kind of situation she would end up in. It was all too clear.

And I wasn’t ready to live with that guilt.

“Hey, are you even listening?”

I needed to find another way.

But what…?

Nothing was coming to mind.

“Hide, for now!”

“W-Where?”

This room with the safe was too risky. They’d probably tear the place apart looking for us.

“Follow me.”

I grabbed Kayla’s wrist and led her to the adjacent room. We crawled under the bed and hid.

At that moment, a terrible thought crossed my mind.

...Damn it, did I pick the wrong spot?

In horror movies, this is always how it happens—they hide under the bed, get found, and then die.

I shook my head, trying to push away the stupid thought.

What choice did I have? There weren’t many good hiding places.

Kayla seemed just as uneasy.

“Do you think hiding here is safe…?”

Please, don’t say that... I’m already nervous...

“...Don’t talk. Quiet your breathing.”

“...”

Kayla gave a slight nod.

We stayed perfectly still, holding our breath.

Then—

Step, step, step…

The sound of multiple footsteps echoed through the building.

Even without listening closely, there were more than ten voices.

The men were laughing and chatting loudly, as if they were having the time of their lives.

Their voices were so loud, I could hear everything from this room.

“Hahaha! It’s been ages since we had a raid this big!”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see the boss\'s reaction when he hears about it.”

“If things keep going this well, we’ll be back in Sector 6 in no time!”

“Haha! Now that’s the kind of talk I like to hear!”

A raid, huh…

So, this place wasn’t a shelter or a lodging facility. It was a filthy hideout for ex-mercenaries who were now indulging in all sorts of criminal activity.

Did I just walk into a tiger\'s den willingly...?

I wanted to go back in time and beat myself senseless for blindly following that old man just a few days ago.

What was I thinking, acting so recklessly?

...No. I had to stop regretting it.

What mattered now wasn’t what had already happened, but what was about to happen.

I listened carefully, hoping for even a small piece of useful information. Anything that could help.

“Hey, why’s our hideout so clean all of a sudden?”

“Huh? Now that you mention it... you’re right. Did the boss have it cleaned in a hurry?”

“...Could it be because of an important guest?”

“A guest? Who the hell would visit our hideout...?”

Suddenly, the gruff man’s voice cut off.

Then he shouted.

“Boss!”

It wasn’t just him. The others started yelling too with shock in their voices.

“...B-boss?”

“...Why the h-hell… the boss—?”

I could hear their footsteps as they scrambled somewhere in a hurry.

I didn’t need to see to know what was going on.

The men who had just come upstairs must have seen it.

The bodies.

The corpses of their comrades.

“Wait, isn’t that Garon...?”

“Garon’s dead too!”

Bam!

The sound of a fist slamming into a wall echoed through the building, followed by a furious voice.

“Damn it...! Who the hell did this?!”

“Captain! The blood’s still fresh!”

“That means they couldn’t have gone far, right? Everyone, move! Round up anyone lurking around the hideout!”

“Let’s go!”

Thud, thud, thud!

The men rushed out of the building with terrifying speed.

So, they really were ex-mercenaries. Their quick judgment and reaction time proved that much.

Too bad they completely missed the mark.

We were still right here.

Good. At least we’ve bought some time...

But then—

From a distance, I heard the voice of the one they called the captain again.

“Hey, rookie! Search the building! If you find anyone, tie them up securely! You can handle it alone, right?”

“Yes, I can!”

...Damn it, things aren\'t going as smoothly as I\'d hoped.

But, it wasn\'t all bad.

At least most of them had left.

Now, only one person remained in the building.

And judging by the orders, it was the weakest one—just the rookie of the group.

I didn’t understand why they’d leave this task to the rookie, but…

One person, huh.

If Kayla and I worked together, we could easily take them down.

The most important thing was choosing the right moment to make our move.

Thud, thud.

Ssssh, sssshhh—

...What’s that sound?

One sound was the footsteps of someone.

The other... I wasn’t sure. It sounded like something being dragged.

Then, I heard a voice filled with irritation.

“Useless piece of trash. I told you to quietly play the lackey, and you couldn’t even do that before dying?”

As the angry voice spoke, a man appeared at the door, which I hadn’t closed properly.

He was dragging a body by its ankle in his right hand.

It was the corpse of a man with slicked-back hair.

“Why the hell is this body so heavy?”

It wasn’t hard to figure out who this person was.

There was only one person left in the building—the rookie.

But still…

What the hell is he talking about...?

Even though I knew it deep down, it confused me.

To be honest, I didn’t want to acknowledge it.

Useless? Lackey...?

A chill ran down my spine.

Everything pointed to one conclusion.

That so-called rookie was actually the real boss who had been hiding all along.

Which meant...

The one who created this space with magic…

It was him.

Just as I came to that conclusion, the man lowered the corpse near the door and knelt down.

His face came into view as he crouched.

He had wild, red hair and sharp eyes.

With a calm expression, he reached out his hand.

That hand—

Thwack!

—pierced through the left side of the corpse’s chest.

Moments later, he pulled something soft and slimy out.

It was the slicked-back man’s heart.

An old man\'s words echoed in my mind.

—A mage’s heart fetches a high price, you know.

It had always been a mystery to me.

In all the Demon Fantasy lore I knew, there was no such concept.

But now I understood the reason.

It was all because of this man.

“Hehehehehe…”

The man’s grin stretched so wide it looked like it would tear his face in half.

Then, he brought the heart to his mouth.

And—

Crunch!

Sluuurp, slurp.

He began tearing into the heart, gnawing at it greedily.

Like a starving demon, he was devouring his meal.

As he did, a dark energy began swirling around him.

I could feel its malevolent presence from where I was hiding.

“...”

I’d seen this sight before.

Though it was only in the game.

But still, it was exactly the same.

And so, I knew.

That man… was a servant of a demon.

More specifically, a servant of the Demon of Greed, Valefar.

“Yes… this… this is it! Hahahahaha!”

There was only one way for Valefar’s servants to grow stronger.

By consuming the hearts of others.

The more mana the heart contained, the more powerful the servant would become.

That must have been the reason he was eating the slicked-back man’s heart.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

My own heartbeat sped up.

More violently than ever before.

Any thought of attacking him had long disappeared from my mind.

Only one word echoed over and over in my head.

...I’ll die.

If he found us, we’d die.

There was no way Kayla and I could take down a servant of a demon.

All I could do now was pray.

Please… just pass by…

But it was a pointless hope.

Thud. Thud.

The man finished his meal and started to walk toward us.

I held my breath as I listened to his footsteps.

My mind raced with questions.

Why was he coming this way?

Was it a coincidence?

...Did he somehow sense us?

At some point, the man stopped right in front of the bed we were hiding under.

And—

Whoosh!

He bent down and peered beneath the bed.

Our eyes met. My heart froze.

He wore a sinister smile with blood-stained lips and he spoke.

“Enjoying the show, little rats?”

…Yeah. He knew we were here from the start.

***

It was extremely rare to encounter a demon\'s servant this early in the game.

Maybe, if you raised 20 characters, you might meet one once.

But for some reason, that unlikely event happened to me now.

"...Talk about bad luck."

The only saving grace was that he didn\'t kill us on the spot.

—You\'re... awakened ones, huh?

Saying that, he locked us up in an underground prison and left.

I had no idea what he was thinking, and the future seemed bleak... but at least we were still alive.

And that was something, right?

"...I\'m locked up again. Locked up, again!"

On the other hand, Kayla couldn’t contain her anger.

From her perspective, it was as if she had returned to the same underground prison we were just in, so it made sense.

"...Let\'s calm down for a second and think. We need to figure out how to deal with that bastard."

"...Deal with him? That monster?"

"We have to."

Kayla bit her lip and let out a deep sigh.

"...It’s all over. Everything’s over."

"...."

She sounded like she had given up.

Honestly, I could understand how she felt.

I was on the verge of losing it too.

If only I had magic... or at least a spellbook...

That was the biggest issue right now.

I hadn’t learned any useful magic yet.

I had copied that slicked-back guy\'s fire magic, but basic spells like that were nowhere near enough to take him down.

In the end, I needed to learn stronger magic...

...Damn it.

No matter how hard I racked my brain, I couldn’t think of a solution.

Even with a Mythic tier trait, I couldn’t just create magic from nothing.

To escape here safely...

“...”

My gaze flickered to my pants pocket.

[Blink Stone].

Should I use it?

I was seriously torn.

If it had been earlier, maybe I could have held off, but now... we were completely out of options.

Morality, conscience—none of that mattered when you were about to die.

It seemed Kayla noticed my internal struggle because she spoke up.

"...Use it."

"What?"

"That thing you’re hesitating over. Use it. One of us needs to survive."

"...."

"...I was going to die anyway. You were the one who gave me a chance. But now that things have turned out like this... there\'s nothing more to do."

As I kept my mouth shut, she added.

"Let’s be clear. You\'re not abandoning me; I\'m letting you go. Don’t forget that."

"...."

My chest felt heavy.

It wasn\'t because I thought she was afraid of being left behind again.

I couldn\'t bring myself to speak, and that frustration weighed heavily on my chest.

At that moment—

Creak...

A sliver of light seeped in as the locked door slowly opened.

The red-haired man stepped in, holding a lantern.

"Have I kept you waiting?"

He exuded a sense of superiority as if he were looking at toys.

Anger boiled inside me.

Not just because of him, but because of my own helplessness in this situation.

I was furious at myself for being so weak.

"Whoa, calm down. I\'m going to give you two a chance."

"...A chance?"

"Yeah, a chance."

Thud.

He tossed something at my feet.

A book was bound in blue with a complicated magical circle on the cover...

"A... book?"

Kayla muttered under her breath, and I responded.

"...A spellbook."

"Oh, you\'ve seen one before?"

The red-haired man crouched down looking in my eyes. Then he smirked.

"Think you can handle it?"

"...So that\'s why you didn\'t kill us. This was your plan all along, huh?"

"Yeah, I just thought it would be a shame to waste you right now."

Now I understood everything.

He wanted to teach us magic.

Like feeding livestock to fatten them up before slaughter.

That way, there\'d be more for him to consume later.

I see... that\'s how it is.

I smiled back at him, not backing down.

"Of course I can handle it."

This servant of Valefar made two mistakes.

The first was trusting in his own power too much, letting his arrogance blind him.

The second was underestimating his opponent.

And those mistakes would be the reason he dies.