Chapter 138 : Chrysalis - 2
Chapter 138: Chrysalis - 2
I accepted the bead and the Shoes he held out to me and asked,
“Setting the Shoes aside, are you really okay handing over the Teleportation bead? This is an incredibly useful item.”
“I don’t need it. I’m not the type to run rampant all over the place. More importantly, please make sure you keep your promise.”
“Of course.”
I immediately put on my Shoes.
And then.
‘I want to block the function of the First-place reward Shoes.’
I muttered that and stomped my foot firmly.
Nothing visibly changed, but from this moment on, the item known as the Shoes no longer existed.
The one I had just obtained.
And any that someone might obtain in the future as well.
For some reason, the act of stomping my foot felt like the conclusion of everything.
Sienne opened her mouth.
“What are you going to do now, Mr. Kaid?”
Before answering, he first secured the Cloak.
Then, as if it were obvious, he replied,
“I’ll lie low.”
“You won’t come with us?”
“I told you when the last quest ended. Master is targeting Mr. Mason.”
“It doesn’t matter. You can just wear the Cloak and move around.”
“I refuse. I don’t want to leave even the slightest possibility.”
I let out a faint chuckle and cut in.
“Do as you please. I won’t bother stopping you.”
“You wouldn’t be able to stop me even if you tried.”
“Later, when I kill that MVP, come find me. At that time, let’s have a drink in peace.”
Kaid looked at me with slightly surprised eyes.
Soon, he gave a faint smile and answered,
“That sounds nice. I’ll look forward to it.”
“Yeah. Now put on the Cloak and get lost.”
“Wasn’t the atmosphere warm just now?”
“I’m a bit bad at expressing sincerity.”
“You’re really a strange person.”
He was about to pull the Cloak fully over himself.
But just before that.
“Cough.”
Suddenly, Kaid coughed up blood.
His blood splattered across my face.
……
What?
There was a gaping hole in Kaid’s chest.
The thing that had pierced through his chest was a slender arm.
Kaid collapsed.
Behind him, a figure came into view.
“Y-You!”
Armelia’s scream was filled with shock.
The figure looked down coldly at the fallen Kaid and spoke.
“You’ve completely gone astray, Kaid Bel.”
“M-Master…….”
“I’ll deal with you later. Return to Hell and wash your neck while you wait.”
The figure waved a hand lightly.
At once, a hole opened, and Kaid was sucked inside.
Along with the Cloak in his hand.
“Uwaaah. Save me. Please save me, Mr. Mason!”
With that final shout, he disappeared completely beyond the hole.
Faced with this sudden situation, my Companions and I could not react at all.
Something that absolutely should not have been possible had just happened.
What had Kaid just said?
‘Master?’
Was this bastard in front of me the Third MVP?
But……
“You’re Louis Danahan.”
I muttered blankly.
Yes. The one who had just pierced through Kaid’s chest was Louis.
At least outwardly, there was no doubt it was Louis.
What in the world was going on?
Step. Step.
At that moment, footsteps were heard from behind Louis.
My eyes widened to the extreme.
Could it be?
“E-Edgar?”
“Yes. We meet again.”
“Why are you there…? You should be melting away in the cave.”
“Keuk.”
His eyes gleamed as he replied.
“I took out some insurance.”
“What?”
“The one who first encountered you was not Edgar. It was Louis who had transformed into me.”
My head rang with a dull buzz.
Right. Edgar had Doppelgänger Louis attached to him.
Louis could transform into anyone he covered with his own mud.
Without us knowing, Louis had already made Edgar a replication target.
Perhaps Edgar had ordered it first.
“You can read the future. You must have known that I would seize the Cloak and kill you all.”
“…….”
“In that case, you would naturally have set up a trap, wouldn’t you? I couldn’t know the specific details of the trap, but I could easily predict that ‘there would be something.’”
“So you sent Louis. Had him transform into you.”
“That’s right.”
Louis could transform into multiple people simultaneously.
The ones who met us back then were not Edgar and Louis, but Louis and Louis.
Edgar had never even appeared at the scene.
‘And of course…….’
The ones currently melting away in the cave were not Edgar and Louis either.
Just Louis and Louis.
I had been completely outplayed.
He had flawlessly avoided my trap.
Edgar spoke smoothly.
“It was truly an impressive trap, though. I never expected you would have formed an alliance with Kaid in advance.”
“…….”
“Although I failed to retrieve the Cloak… well, it’s fine. I suppose I can only trust that the MVP will return it later.”
“The MVP will return it?”
“Yes. I only learned about the concept of an MVP this time as well. In any case, we seem to understand each other fairly well.”
He continued leisurely.
“When I saw Kaid put me—more precisely, Louis transformed into me—to sleep, I realized it. ‘Ah, this is Mason’s trap.’”
“…….”
“At this rate, starting with the Cloak, it was obvious that all the First-place rewards would be taken from me. So I honestly admitted my own shortcomings and asked the MVP for help.”
At that, he turned his head toward Louis.
“Isn’t that right? Mr. MVP.”
He called Louis the MVP.
Louis crossed his arms and replied.
“You should’ve fed Louis the maggots from the first time we met. Back then you made such a fuss about what I was trying to do to your wife.”
“Mm, my apologies for that.”
“To be honest, I thought you two were quite the admirable couple at the time. I’m very disappointed.”
“Regardless, thanks to that, you’re standing here now, aren’t you?”
“That’s true. Now get lost.”
He waved his hand lightly.
At once, the Black hole that had just swallowed Kaid was created again.
“Go back to Hell. Kaid will be there too, so step on him in my stead.”
“I’d like to stay here and watch a bit longer.”
“You won’t have the leisure to watch. If you remain here, you’ll definitely get swept up and die as well.”
“It seems you’re planning to make quite a grand spectacle. I don’t mind dying… but, well, if I can’t watch anyway, I’ll withdraw gracefully. I’d rather not offend your temper.”
He slowly walked into the hole.
As soon as Edgar completely disappeared, the Black hole closed.
“…….”
From their conversation, I was able to grasp the situation to some extent.
Aina asked in a trembling voice,
“Y-You’re not really Louis after all, are you?”
“For now, the physical body is indeed Louis, that Doppelgänger. I’m simply the one controlling it at the moment.”
“How in the world. By what method?”
Naturally, the MVP did not answer.
But from the conversation between Edgar and the MVP just now, I inferred one fact and spoke.
“You fed him maggots, didn’t you.”
“Oh? How did you know.”
“How would I not? You two were babbling about it just a moment ago. ‘At first, Edgar stopped you from feeding maggots to Louis.’… But after realizing my trap, he changed his mind and cooperated.”
After hearing that much, there was no way I wouldn’t realize that you were controlling Louis through those maggots.
Suddenly, my conversation with Magireta came to mind.
It had clearly been about how to deal with the Third MVP.
What had Magireta said back then?
Well, think it over slowly. At the very least, that one doesn’t descend to the surface like Helena does.
Come to think of it, why doesn’t he? He’s perfectly willing to commit acts that ruin the quest.
His true body is honestly quite weak. It’s impossible for him to travel between Hell and the world by his own power. Instead, he interferes with the world through a special method.
And what is that special method?
That much I cannot tell you.
That special method was this.
Controlling a Monster through maggots.
And then sending that controlled Monster down into the world.
‘What do I do.’
At this rate, was fighting the MVP my only option?
I anxiously looked around.
My Companions had already taken up battle stances.
Sienne spoke.
“Mr. Mason, Your Highness. Please step back.”
“But.”
“At this point, a direct confrontation is the only answer. Neither of you specializes in combat.”
“……Please take care of it.”
“Yes. When a good opportunity arises, it would help if you could just scatter some blood.”
I nodded and stepped back.
Louis—no, the MVP—spoke.
“No. There’s no need to be so fired up about fighting.”
“What?”
“This isn’t a fight. What’s about to happen here.”
“Then…?”
The MVP smiled faintly and replied.
“A massacre.”
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, Louis’s body began to change.
The first visible change was the veins surfacing on his face.
Veins covered the surface so completely that no bare skin could be seen!
Their color turned pitch-black, so grotesque that merely looking at them made nausea rise.
‘What is he doing.’
Soon, Louis’s entire body was covered in enormous veins.
Aina spoke in a trembling voice.
“Something is crawling inside the veins.”
“What? I can’t see anything.”
“My eyesight is the best among us. Ugh, it’s truly disgusting. It’s like…”
She swallowed hard.
“It’s like those maggots from earlier have laid eggs.”
A chill ran through me, and I couldn’t speak.
The veins tangled and twisted together, forming a single massive lump.
The mass of veins rooted itself into the ground and sank down.
I described it like this.
“A chrysalis….”
“Heh heh. A fine expression.”
The MVP’s voice came from inside the chrysalis.
Wiping the cold sweat from my brow, I said,
“What exactly are you planning to do.”
“This chrysalis will hatch soon.”
“And?”
“The world will perish.”
“……Isn’t that skipping a few steps in between?”
The MVP let out a chuckle.
“That may be true, but there’s no need for me to painstakingly explain the process by which the world will perish, is there?”
“…….”
“This inelegant method isn’t to my taste either, but I had no choice. You possess the Teleportation bead, after all.”
“…….”
“The only option is to erase the very places you could flee to. Well, if nothing else works, you’re welcome to run to Hell. I’d actually be delighted if you did.”
As if that would ever happen.
Hell was his domain.
There was no reason to voluntarily step into the tiger’s jaws.
‘More than that, I can’t just let the world be destroyed.’
Meanwhile, the chrysalis continued to grow larger.
Karin spoke.
“Let’s attack.”
“Huh?”
“If that thing bursting means the world ends, then we should strike now. It’s just stuck in the ground doing nothing. It doesn’t look like it can counterattack, so let’s hit it from long range.”
Simple, but reasonable.
I looked at my Companions.
They nodded and simultaneously charged toward the chrysalis.
Taat! Thud.
Sienne swung her sword.
Benjamin and Aina each hurled needles.
Berseum unleashed quite a vicious attack spell, and Karin summoned every spirit she could to attack.
But.
-Kagang.
The chrysalis was horrifyingly sturdy.
It had clearly started from Louis’s flesh and blood, hadn’t it?
Yet not a single attack left even a scratch on it.
From inside the chrysalis, the MVP’s voice echoed.
“For humans, those are rather fierce attacks. But it’s useless.”
“…….”
“Shall I tell you? How many minutes remain until this chrysalis bursts.”
His frivolous tone suddenly made anger surge within me.
I shot back sharply.
“Hey! Why the hell are you doing something like this.”
“That’s because you are my….”
“Love Rival?”
“Ah. Ahem. Did you hear that from Lady Magireta? So she was listening to my words after all, even while pretending otherwise.”
My head hurt.
Pressing my forehead, I continued.
“Listen carefully. I am not your Love Rival.”
“What nonsense is this?”
“Let me make this clear while we’re at it… I don’t even know why I have to explain this with my own mouth.”
“……?”
“I have absolutely no interest in Magireta. So I’m not a rival!”
Suddenly, the MVP fell silent.
Did he understand?
Just as a thread of hope began to form—
“How dare… how dare you.”
“What now.”
“How dare you claim to have no interest in her. In such a charming existence, and you utter such blasphemy!”
Ah, damn it, what the hell am I supposed to do.