Chapter 38
I explained my thoughts to the group.
Upon hearing this, Linia tilted her head and expressed her doubt.
“Why though?”
“What do you mean? They might not have come here with good intentions.”
“Whether they’re good or evil, we can save them first and hand them over to the knights if they’re bad.”
For once, Linia made a valid point.
I didn’t really disagree with her either.
After all, seeing people die around me, no matter who they are, isn’t exactly pleasant.
“I’m not against saving them, but we need to be more cautious.
Linia, don’t rush out until I give the order.”
Linia nodded with a slightly displeased expression.
What’s there to be unhappy about, you blockhead!
I felt the urge to smack the back of her head, but I knew it would only hurt my hand, so I let it go.
“Like before, I’ll take the lead. But this time, we’ll move more quietly.”
Everyone nodded at my words, and I carefully checked the map as I moved toward the intruders.
According to the map, there was an intruder and one four-eyed creature marked.
From what I could tell, it seemed like three people were struggling to deal with a single four-eyed creature, which was a bit ridiculous.
‘Well, I guess it’s possible if they’re ordinary people unfamiliar with monsters.’
Thinking that, I moved toward them when—
“What’s that?!”
As soon as something caught my eye, I immediately hid behind a nearby rock fragment.
The group following me also quickly hid, and we all held our breath as we observed something ahead.
“What the heck is that…?”
We hid and watched it.
The intruder wasn’t the problem now.
Grooooooar!
The problem was the four-eyed creature.
A four-eyed creature, easily ten times the size of a normal one, was roaring.
“How is it that big?!”
“Ugh, the small ones were already creepy, but this is on another level.”
“R-Raniel? You’re not planning to get close to that thing, are you?”
The others were also startled by the giant four-eyed creature.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“H-Help!!”
From the screams and the bio-signals on the map, it seemed the humans over there were still alive.
‘How did we not notice that thing?!’
[Hey, that’s unfair! It’s ridiculously huge, but its bio-signal is the same as a normal four-eyed creature, so I thought it was just another one!]
I need to fix this sensor soon.
If it couldn’t detect something this big, it must be seriously malfunctioning.
Since I can’t fix it right now, I turned to the group to come up with a plan, but—
Linia’s eyes looked strange… no, they looked dangerous.
“Grrrr.”
“C-Calm down, Linia.”
Why is she growling like a gorilla possessed by a fighting dog?
“I can’t hold back, Laniel. Give me the order, right now!”
She sounded like she was about to rush out and get herself killed.
“Hold it together, you idiot. You should be scared right now.”
Earlier, she was all about chivalry, saying we should save people regardless of whether they’re good or evil, but now she’s acting like a bloodthirsty beast.
It feels like she’s getting weirder by the day.
No, wait. She’s always been weird, hasn’t she? Seriously, there’s no normal person around me.
Anyway, that’s not important right now.
‘That thing… it’s an eye, right?’
[A really big eye, yeah.]
‘It’s not just a decoration, but an actual eye, right?’
[Yeah, it is.]
It’s a giant eye, but it’s not much different from a human eyeball.
Moreover, if it's that big, it would be extremely vulnerable to sudden, intense light.
‘Light? A bright, shining light? Then…!’
As soon as a plan flashed through my mind, I immediately handed the Master Box to Linia.
"Take this."
"Krurururu, what's this?"
"Don’t go messing around with that eyeball. Just hold this in front of it, channel mana into it to activate it, and then close your eyes immediately."
"This feels really suspicious."
"Have I ever led you wrong before?"
"Well, that’s…"
Linia seemed to have a lot to say, but she took the Master Box I handed her.
"Alright, go, Linia. Make sure to follow my instructions."
"Got it! I’ll do as you say, so stop nagging! I’m off!"
Honestly, this is why they say raising a daughter is pointless. Linia got slightly annoyed at my concern but immediately dashed toward the giant eyeball.
* * *
Linia ran.
She leaped over the collapsed terrain, scaled steep walls, and sprinted at full speed.
Kreeeeeee!
The closer she got, the more the monster that Laniel called the "Four-Eyed Eyeball" came into view, its massive body filling her sight.
It was grotesque even when small, but now that it was gigantic, its grotesqueness was magnified.
Despite frowning at its hideousness, Linia kept running, closing in on the giant eyeball.
‘It’s grotesque, but it’s not scary, is it?’
Linia wasn’t exactly the type to be exceptionally brave.
But after awakening her Aura, her sense of fear had diminished significantly.
In short, she felt more daring.
Of course, her experiences—like breaking through a train window with her bare body and getting shot but remaining unscathed (?)—probably played a role too.
In truth, this was because Aura energy itself helped maintain a calm state of mind.
‘Was I always this fearless? Eh, whatever! I’ve always been braver than that coward Raniel!’
Of course, Linia, unaware of such facts, simply acted on instinct and threw herself forward.
Swoosh!
Having sorted out her thoughts, Linia arrived right in front of the eyeball monster.
Though she hesitated slightly at its massive size, she immediately charged toward the front of the giant eyeball.
For a moment, she considered stabbing her sword into the eyeball, but remembering Laniel’s instructions, she instead held out the box Raniel had given her and pointed it at the giant eyeball.
Then, she channeled mana into the box.
The flow was the same as the usual magical tools Raniel made, so activating it wasn’t difficult.
As soon as the box activated, Linia closed her eyes as Raniel had instructed.
And then.
"Voluntary overtime is not illegal; it’s a reward.
Let’s all make voluntary overtime a part of our lives… Ahhh! What the hell is this?!"
"Kreeeeeeee!!"
The voice that followed, along with the monster’s scream, made Linia open her eyes.
"Ahhh! It’s the giant eyeball monster!!"
Gaechu, startled by the monster staring at him with its mouth wide open, flipped out.
The Four-Eyed Eyeball monster screamed as if its eyes were burning from the dazzling, intense rainbow light emanating from Gaechu’s entire body—especially the even more intense light from his bald head, glowing exactly as the developer had intended.
"Kreeeeeeee!!"
"Kwaaaaaaang?!"
What Linia saw next was a bald man in his underwear, screaming at the giant eyeball monster while emitting a strange light from his entire body.
"Kyaaaaaaah! Pervert!!"
Linia immediately panicked and threw a punch.
"Guhk!"
Linia’s devastating straight punch landed squarely on the glowing bald Gaechu’s solar plexus.
"Kyah! Kyah! Kyah! Kyaaaaaah!!"
"Ugh! Stop! You are damaging the assets of the Levantessia Workshop! Ugh! This is a matter for which you can be held legally responsible for the damages later... Ugh!!"
Linia didn't stop and continued to throw punches, pummeling the man.
As a result, Geichu's head swayed back and forth, scattering a dazzling rainbow light in all directions, as if it were a karaoke light show.
Thud! Thud! Thud!!
Under Linia's rapid barrage of punches, Geichu was sent flying into the air.
"Die, you pervert!!"
Linia jumped up, grabbed the man's legs, tucked his head between them, and flipped him over, slamming him down to the ground.
Crash!
"Oof."
Geichu was driven vertically into the ground by Linia.
"Ugh, what the hell, where did this pervert come from? Why do perverts these days have to be so flashy? You really scared me!"
Linia wiped away a tear that had formed in her eye with her finger and muttered as she looked at the glowing Geichu, who was now stuck vertically in the ground.
"Ah! Right! This isn't the time for this!"
Linia suddenly remembered why she had come and quickly looked around.
First, the giant eyeball monster.
"Kyaaaaaaah!!"
As if it had seen something it shouldn't have, it closed its eyes, with all its tentacles covering its eyelids, and rolled around on the ground.
Given its massive size, just rolling around was dangerous, but since it had fallen backward, it seemed to have created some distance, so it didn't appear to be an immediate threat.
'Whatever it is, it seems to have been subdued, just like Raniel said!'
That's good enough for me!
Feeling somewhat satisfied (?), Linia quickly scanned her surroundings.
"Where are the people?"
As Linia swiftly turned her gaze away from the monster and looked behind her, she saw three people filled with terror.
They were so frightened that their mouths were hanging open, unable to even scream.
Linia, feeling deeply sorry for them, immediately asked,
"Are you okay?"
At that, the fear in their eyes deepened even more.
"Gasp! P-please save us!!"
"Yes! I came to save you!"
"Don't kill us! Please, spare our lives...!"
Linia was puzzled by their reaction but quickly understood.
'They must have been so scared.'
Filled with pity, Linia decided it would be too difficult to explain the situation, so she quickly approached the three and forcibly grabbed them by the scruff of their necks.
"Ahhh! We're going to be eaten! Our whole bodies are going to be ground up like minced meat and eaten!"
"I'm not going to eat you!! I'm not going to grind you up! What on earth are you talking about?"
Linia, who had no idea that she was the source of their fear, simply thought they were panicking and shifted her gaze.
'Should I save that pervert too?'
She hesitated for a moment as she looked at the shiny bald head sticking out of the ground.
'No, no! No matter who it is, we have to save people!'
Although she really didn't want to, Linia grabbed the bald man's feet and pulled him out of the ground.
Pop.
'It might get dangerous, so let's get out of here quickly.'
With the three people in her left hand and the bald man's feet in her right, dragging him along the ground, Linia quickly moved toward where her companions were.
* * *
While waiting for Linia, various screams echoed in the distance.
It was too far to see with the naked eye, but just by the sounds, it was clear what was happening.
Seeing the giant four-legged eyeball monster rolling on the ground, it seemed my plan to blind it had worked perfectly.
"Ra... Raniel... I'm back."
"Welcome back."
Linia returned shortly after, looking slightly exhausted.
There's no way she should be tired from something like that, right?
Puzzled, I observed Linia and noticed she was holding the nape of three unfamiliar humans in her left hand and dragging a bruised and battered Gaechu with her right.
'Looking at this, it seems Gaechu wasn't beaten by some four-eyed monster, but rather by Linia herself?'
[Human violence is truly dangerous!]
'Yes, they say habits formed at three last until eighty. Dangerous habits like violence need to be nipped in the bud, or they become uncontrollable!'
Therefore, concerned about Linia's future, I felt the need to say something.
"Animal abuse is a serious crime."
"I beat up a person, though?!"
"I see."
Fortunately, since it wasn't animal abuse but rather human abuse, we probably won't hear any protests from animal protection groups.
"Well, that's alright then."
"That's alright?! Really?!"
The black-haired guy next to me was muttering something, but it's probably fine to ignore him.
Grooooooan! Grooooooan!
Although a bit distant, the giant eye that had been eye-beamed was rolling around on the ground like crazy.
Staying here doesn't seem like a good option.
"Let's move."
"What about that? Just leave it?"
Linia pointed at the giant eye and asked.
Is she really doing this out of pure sense of justice? Or is she just intoxicated by her inherent violence and wants to beat it up?
Either way, there's no reason for us to engage.
"This isn't our neighborhood, and there are knights from the Cliché territory here. Do we really need to catch it?"
"Even so, isn't it dangerous to just leave it? What if it comes out of the dungeon?!"
"If it comes out of the dungeon, there are plenty of unmanned forces in the Cliché territory. Wouldn't that be more dangerous for it?"
"Ah, that's true."
"Convinced? Then let's move again."
Just as Linia was convinced by my words and we were about to move.
Screeeeeeeech!!
Until we saw the giant four-eyed monster getting up.
If it had just gotten up, we would have moved immediately, but something clearly abnormal caught our eyes.
"Why is it all lumpy?"
"Ugh, I, I really hate this..."
The giant four-eyed monster, as if stabbed by some invisible needle, became lumpy and then...
Pop!
It swelled up like a balloon and then burst.
"Whoaaaaaah!"
"Ughhh! Bleh!"
The grotesque scene made my companions bend over and retch.
However, having seen such things many times in my past life, I was more puzzled than anything.
'What on earth is going on here?'
The absurdity was sky-high.
So much so that my brain, which usually runs at full capacity 24/7, just stopped.
In short, I was dumbfounded.
Thud!
"Another earthquake?!"
Just as I was momentarily stunned by the unexpected event, the ground began to shake again.
What is this, an island nation? Why are there so many earthquakes in a dungeon?!
Fortunately, it was milder than the previous one, so it was manageable.
"Ugh."
Not that I didn't fall, though.
If I could still gather my thoughts after falling, it wasn't that big of an earthquake.
The problem was.
"Huh? Over there, something seems to be coming out?"
At Linia's surprised voice, my gaze followed hers and stopped.
Far away, where the giant eye had burst, the space was shimmering, and something red was pouring out from it.
Once again, my thoughts came to a halt.
It's far away, so I can't see clearly, but something feels eerily familiar.
A humanoid figure in red, and a massive claw-like weapon attached to its right arm.
It's hard to tell from this distance, but still.
"Raniel?!"
"You! Where are you going?!"
I hurriedly rushed toward the direction where the red figures were pouring out.
It's highly likely that I'm mistaken because of the distance.
There's no way that thing could be here.
"Ugh, ugh, damn it! This damn body!"
My stamina was failing me, but I kept running without stopping.
Finally, the red something became clearly visible to the naked eye.
"Hahaha, what the hell is this insane situation now?"
Seeing it up close, I felt both confused and utterly drained.
The red thing—no, the red powered suit.
The 7th-generation powered suit, Red Crab, which I had seen in a nightmare not long ago, was pouring out from a twisted space in the sky.
