Chapter 140
It was a nightmarish scene.
The time goes back roughly five minutes from now……
Abyss Fang was known in Lindblum as a group with the most impregnable, untouchable stronghold…their iron-clad defenses were infamous.
They managed the Underside’s black market dealings, handled illegal goods, and carried out acts that are more underground than the very Underside, befitting the name of the deep Abyss.
For that reason, their danger level far outclassed the surface’s underworld broker Curseface Company, and their brutality had long been said to be unmatched in Lindblum.
Inside that hideout.
Members chatted, played, drank together, and reported what had happened aboveground during the evening hours.
There, a low-ranking member frantically appealed toward the group playing cards:
“I’m tellin’ you it’s seriously bad! Three of the guys who were with me got taken out! That wasn’t normal! We gotta gather more men right now and crush him!”
“Alright, alright, I get it. Damn… Even though we’re already using people to keep watch on Curseface. Who the hell is that old man, anyway?” “No clue…but I already sent more guys to tail him. None of ’em are back yet.”
The superior paused their game and listened.
But their card game opponent lost patience…
“Hurry up and draw your card. You’re stoppin’ the game for some stupid re… hu… ah…?”
His words suddenly slurred.
The last thing the man saw was his opponent, still holding his cards and wearing an expression of shock…and then his vision rotated 180 degrees, turning upside-down.
…The one that actually flipped upside-down was not the room, but his head as it rolled off his neck.
“Hiih…! What the hell!? Hey, get over here! Something’s— ghaa…”
Another object rolled.
A lone Ashura strode casually across the hall near the hideout’s entrance.
Walking between people, unnoticed by anyone.
“……Such low quality.” (Rue)
Only numerous heads rolled behind Rue’s path.
There wasn’t even a scream…only the dull thud of heads rolling along the floor, and the sounds of bodies collapsing across the ground and atop tables.
He wasn’t even fast. He was merely walking, and yet corpses piled into mountains…an abnormal sight.
For those who were next in line, watching heads suddenly drop without warning within the same room was nothing short of a living nightmare.
—————–
“……Upstairs, huh.” (Rue)
Time returns to the present.
Confirming that no one remained alive on this floor, Rue quietly ascended the stairs.
And once again he entered a lively evening feast…the members above, unaware of the slaughter below.
There were tables overflowing with food…no doubt acquired through dubious means…and for the sake of fulfilling one of the three major human desires other than food and sleep, there were women clearly “procured” from somewhere.
“Hey! Hurry up and give her to the next guy! She ain’t any fun if she ain’t fresh!”
“Bwahaha! You’re so damn impatient! Chill, I’m almost done!”
“Refugees actually ain’t that bad when you look at ’em like this!”
A different kind of scream mixed in among their vile acts and the cacophony of noise.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
“Hey, shut up, woman!! Stop whining and move your h— what the…”
Their lives were extinguished while one act of life was being forced.
One after another, the men’s lives “rolled away.”
“……Sorry for startling you. Put on some clothes and run-ja. Knights of the kingdom are patrolling the underground too. Go seek help-ja. Can you manage that?” (Rue)
Rue wiped away the beastlike ferocity from his expression in an instant and spoke gently to the women -most likely refugees- who had been used for pleasure.
“H-Hiih…!”
“……My apologies. Right, I am a man as well. Even an old man like me must be unpleasant to look at right now. Forgive me.” (Rue)
He covered his face to avoid frightening them further as he directed them to escape.
But then…he suddenly swung his blade.
“You die.” (Rue)
“Gah…!”
One woman abruptly lost her life.
Her head and body split apart, blood spreading across the floor.
The room, filled with headless torsos, turned into a swamp of red.
“She’s the one, isn’t she? The one who tricked you into coming here.” (Rue)
“Y-Yes…”
“Mm. Then hurry and get changed, then head outside-ja. If you walk a little, you’ll find patrolling knights. Escape safely-ja zo.” (Rue)
She had been hiding among the chaos of the orgy.
Rue already sensed something wrong in her heartbeats, breathing, the way she moved her eyes, and her behavior “during the act.”
And the rescued women had clearly been afraid of her.
That was enough for Rue to execute her without hesitation.
“Um… Won’t you come with us, Oji-san?”
“I can’t yet. The one who created this rotten place is still above. I must defeat that one-ja yo. For the sake of the people of Golda who fled here to live peacefully. Listen well…all of you must report today’s events to a doctor. Understood?” (Rue)
“Yes… Thank you for saving us…”
After watching the women, wearing the bare minimum, escape the hellish hideout, Rue’s expression twisted with fury, bloodlust pouring from his entire body.
“……Scum. Don’t think you’ll get an easy death.” (Rue)
—————–
The internal space wasn’t wide because the hideout itself was built into a massive foundation.
However, because of its size, small hallways had been installed inside the foundation for movement during construction, and rooms were built outward along them, serving as waiting rooms for members.
Rue’s swordsmanship was unleashed in all of them.
The next one was already severed before even a death cry could form, before a head could hit the floor. By the time the first head rolled, every person on that floor was already dead.
His sharpness increased.
Rue’s immense arsenal of martial knowledge sank deeper into his body with each kill.
He stepped beyond anything reachable by humans.
Eventually…
“……Two figures. One is…a prostitute, or perhaps a victim…” (Rue)
His grip on the sword tightened.
Rue quietly opened the door to the topmost room, where the leader would likely be.
Whether because he was absorbed in his act or because of Rue’s skill, the man didn’t notice his entrance.
A rugged man in his early thirties, somewhat resembling Shilent, all muscle and savagery…was slamming his body and lust against a woman.
“Yeah…! That’s it! I like that! Ain’t many beastkin in this city…! C’mon! Squeal! Cry like an animal!”