Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Lloyd’s words made the five Miss Xiebeileidas in the room lock onto their target simultaneously. Even though they couldn’t see anything, they swarmed toward Lloyd’s position with perfectly synchronized movements.

But Lloyd just gave a disdainful smirk and activated the new skill he had just comprehended.

In truth, he hadn’t even had time to read the skill description and had no idea what its effects would be. But in this situation, that strange Intuition in his mind was urging him to use this newly acquired skill.

In an instant, immense Spiritual Power poured out, spreading and surging through the air before starting to condense. It then began to Twist, change, and form into spiral spears. They crisscrossed the small room, like a forest of Spiral Towers standing tall.

Spiral-shaped wounds appeared on the Miss Xiebeileidas’ bodies. They were completely pierced by the spiraling Spiritual Power and lifted into the air, unable to move, like grasshoppers skewered on a string.

They all possessed extremely high combat power and should have been invincible existences below Tier Five, but they couldn’t bring any of it to bear. Their solid defenses, terrifying brute force, and the constant Spiritual Contamination they emitted all seemed utterly pale and feeble at this moment.

Skewered in mid-air, they still tried to struggle and resist. Their cold, stern faces began to churn and squirm, their limbs tried to extend and Twist, and various parts of their bodies burst open, spewing out fine tentacles.

This was a sign of their impending descent into madness.

Perhaps this description wasn’t entirely accurate, because ’descending into madness’ is a transformation unique to humans.

But these maids before him...

"To think you’d dare try to control the power of a Karmic Demon? You’re all a bunch of... ignorant, foolish lunatics!"

Lloyd cursed under his breath.

These words weren’t meant for the Miss Xiebeileidas, who couldn’t understand human speech.

They were meant for the manipulator behind them.

Unfortunately, Lloyd currently lacked the ability to communicate directly. Even Elolo couldn’t hear what he was saying.

So, Lloyd had to switch to a method everyone could hear. He declared in a resonant voice:

"That which is great cannot be profaned."

The Miss Xiebeileidas, who had still been trying to break free in mid-air, all froze for a moment. Then their entire bodies began to Twist madly. Every inch of skin, every muscle fiber, and even every cell instantly took on a spiral shape.

Their supposedly indestructible bodies began to disintegrate. Their physical structure was completely destroyed, and they gradually turned into piles of cell-level debris.

But this entire process happened in less than a second. To a bystander, it was as if the Miss Xiebeileidas had simply vanished into thin air.

"Huh? Where’d they go?"

Elolo asked cautiously, seemingly not understanding what had just happened.

She was hiding under the covers, with only her head and the curly, upturned lock of Dazed Hair on top visible. Her big eyes blinked continuously, making her look like a cute little caterpillar.

"Are we safe now? Lord Uther, are you okay?"

she asked again, anxiously.

Then, she felt a large, gentle hand softly ruffle her hair and pinch her cheek.

Although she couldn’t hear what he was saying, Elolo could vaguely feel that he was telling her not to be afraid.

And that tomorrow morning, he would come to take her away from this place she had lived in for sixteen years.

So, Elolo nodded obediently.

"Mm... I’ll be waiting for you."

With that, she lay back down on the bed, pulled the covers up properly, and closed her eyes, planning to get some rest to save her energy for her departure tomorrow.

She wasn’t frightened or uneasy about the night’s events, nor did she try to leave just because the door was open. Instead, with a sweet smile on her lips, she peacefully drifted off to sleep.

’There’s no need to be scared, and no need to hurry. All I have to do is wait for him to come get me, just like this.’

’And I don’t need to worry about someone coming in to drag me away.’

Although Elolo wasn’t entirely sure what had happened earlier, she was certain of one thing: tonight, her room would be the safest place in the world—untouchable, unsearchable, and inviolable.

* * *

"What’s going on? What in the world is going on? Did [Elolo] lose control?"

"What happened? What happened? What happened?"

"Where are the Miss Xiebeileidas? Our Miss Xiebeileidas?"

In the hidden control room, various instruments and gauges were fluctuating wildly. The most important long, narrow test tubes seemed to have come alive, writhing crazily. The multicolored liquids inside had all turned a uniform dark red, and were pulsing with an ominous light.

Even more frantic than the equipment were the scholars present.

A very important experiment had just been conducted today, so they had to stay on duty through the night to monitor the various readings from [Elolo]. As a result, the control room wasn’t deserted like last night, but bustling with activity.

There was even a Crystal Ball placed in the center of the room. A beam of light was shone on it, projecting a scene from Elolo’s room right in the middle of the control room.

Just ten-odd minutes ago, [Elolo] had been lying quietly and motionlessly on her small bed. Although the various readings from the instruments were far less optimistic than yesterday’s, her overall condition was still leaning toward stable.

This further proved that their line of thinking was correct: [Elolo] possessed the power to withstand Forbidden Knowledge.

"We were right! We’ve won!"

"The former administrator was such a bastard, treating a treasure like [Elolo] as his own daughter, trying to monopolize her."

"She does look a bit pitiful, I admit, but for the future of humanity, she’ll just have to endure this for now."

"Alright, everyone, stay sharp. The experiment isn’t completely over yet. Don’t celebrate too early."

Further results from the experiment would have to wait until daytime tomorrow. If [Elolo] could recover her vitality as usual, then the plan would be considered a perfect success, enough to forge a new future for all of humanity.

But that didn’t stop them from celebrating their success prematurely.

Amidst the celebration, only the team leader, the core of the group, remained calm. Although the various tremors in her limbs betrayed her inner excitement, still...

...trembling can also signify awe.

’Can we humans truly seize the power of a Saint?’

As if she had a premonition, she muttered under her breath, then removed her monocle and silently wiped it on the corner of her lab coat.

The next second, the previously quiet instruments erupted into a frenzy. The crucial, long test tubes looked as if they had come alive, instantly chasing away the cheerful atmosphere in the control room.

"Is this... an enemy attack?"

"Damn it! The protective Orbit hasn’t been repaired yet!"

"What’s going on? Where’s the enemy? Why can’t the monitoring crystal see anything?"

"Where’s the Team Leader? Team Leader?"

Everyone’s gazes immediately focused on the cold and serious team leader. But they saw that she, who was known for her calm Rationality and for being unscrupulous, was just staring blankly at the monitoring projection, completely motionless.

But there was nothing unusual in the projection. They could only see [Elolo] sleeping with a pained expression on her face.

It wasn’t until someone gathered their courage and gave her a hard shove that the team leader snapped out of it as if waking from a dream. She hurriedly began to issue commands:

"Activate the Orbit! All functions, activate them all!"

"How many [Miss Xiebeileida] units are battle-ready? Deploy them all!"

"Set the Consciousness Lock on [Elolo] to maximum intensity, and be prepared to destroy her!"

The scholars immediately carried out her orders.

In the darkness, one [Miss Xiebeileida] unit after another snapped their heads up. Their bodies trembled mechanically as their eyes lit up with an eerie green glow. They entered a combat state and began to close in on [Elolo]’s room.

"Five [Miss Xiebeileida] units are available for combat. At this rate, even if the intruder is a Tier Seven or even an Eighth Tier expert, it’s enough for us to hold out until reinforcements arrive."

"But... where exactly is the enemy? I can’t see anything, not on the monitoring projection or the detection Orbit!"

"Stop worrying about that! Hurry up and send a distress signal to the city!"

"No! Don’t! Stop!"

The team leader suddenly shouted, personally stepping in front of the scholar who was about to send the distress signal.

"Team Leader, what are you...?"

"Don’t drag anyone else into this. If we can’t resolve this crisis ourselves, then..."

The team leader spoke, placing the monocle back on her face before finishing her sentence:

"...then we alone will bear the price of [Blasphemy]."

"But... but..."

"There are no ’buts’. When you joined this project, weren’t you mentally prepared for this?"

The team leader said, raising her head again to look at the monitoring projection in the center of the room.

On the screen, [Elolo] had woken up. She wore a worried expression as she tried to reach out to some unseen existence.

Then, a relieved smile appeared on her face. She squinted her eyes slightly, as if someone were patting her head and she was enjoying the affection.

"This... How can this be? How did she break free from the [Consciousness Lock]? We already activated it at maximum strength..."

"She seems to be in pretty good shape? But who is she interacting with?"

"There seems to be... something in front of her..."

Seeing this unplanned anomaly, the scholars all turned to look at their team leader, hoping she could offer some kind of explanation.

But the team leader was standing before a control console, twisting several valves and pulling levers, sealing the control room door completely shut.

Only then did she answer in a low voice:

"That should be... a great will that has descended upon her..."