Welcome to Hell!

Chapter 27: Long Night in the Capital (4)

With a giant sword made of sand, I attacked the intruder—or was it a holy knight? I had cleaved them in two, but it didn’t bring me any satisfaction. I had thought I would feel happier after defeating the holy knight, who had probably killed the slave and avenged her death, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

The last holy knight alive had been babbling something incoherent as he lay dying, but I hadn’t bothered to listen because I was too angry. He had been talking about justice or something, so I engraved the word “justice” onto my sword, which shocked them. I wondered why that was, but it wasn’t worth worrying about.

For some reason, my legs felt heavy as I walked out of the mansion’s grounds. I saw black smoke rising from various places in the noble district, where large mansions were lined up. It seemed that not only this mansion but others had also been attacked. They claimed that I was their target, but it seemed that I was just one of many.

“Uaaaaaah!”

As I stood there, staring blankly at the burning city, something flew towards me from a nearby mansion. I dodged back as it was aimed directly at me, and it landed where I had been standing. It turned out to be a female human holding another young female human species, both of whom seemed to be from the Furu race.

The young one had tightly closed eyes and shrank in fear, while the one holding her was armed like a holy knight. Clad in heavy armor with a large round shield and a short single-edged sword, she could be a warrior protecting the young one.

However, her armor was in tatters. The helmet was twisted, and much of the armor was shattered, with countless scars and cracks running through the shield. She must have fought fiercely while protecting the young one.

“You’re doing whatever the hell you want! I won’t forgive you, you bastards!”

The warrior took off her useless helmet and revealed her face, swearing with vulgar language while wiping the blood from her forehead. She had short, neatly trimmed light brown hair and seemed ready to fight on. I didn’t dislike her attitude of not giving up and trying to survive.

This warrior hasn’t noticed me behind her. Perhaps it was because I was doing a good job of concealing my presence, but it was not good to focus too much on the enemy in front of them and neglect the surroundings. What would they do if I were the enemy?

“Chase them! Don’t let them escape, even if it’s a child!”

“Exterminate the evil race!”

Three holy knights jumped out of the mansion where the two had flown in from. Their target was the young female. They appeared to be in rough breathing but stopped in their tracks when they saw me behind the two. Ah, they had found me.

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The warrior seemed to notice that the holy knights were looking past them, not at themselves. As she turned around slowly, her eyes met my compound eyes. The warrior let out an inaudible scream and moved her mouth frantically.

“What the hell! Why is it here!? What happened to the Kendil squad!?”

“Don’t panic! They must have used dirty tactics to escape! Let’s kill them all!”

Unlike the stunned warrior, the holy knights were quick to act. They attacked from the front and both sides at the same time. Their coordination was impressive, and their blades would almost certainly slash through all three directions simultaneously. Though I knew they were enemies, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

The warrior finally came to her senses and, while still on the ground, quickly raised her shield. I’ll leave the front to her. I caught the swords from the left and right with my two pincers and pierced my poisonous stinger into the holy knight in front of me. The knight’s sword was blocked by the warrior’s shield, making it impossible for him to defend against my attack. So the needle went through the gap in the helmet and pierced through his eye and into his brain with ease.

“Na…ga…”

“Leader!?”

“What!?”

I didn’t inject poison through the stinger I stabbed; instead, I stirred his brain with the needle. The liquid, mixed with blood and brain matter, oozed out from the gap in the helmet, staining the warrior’s shield and my tail red. The holy knight muttered nonsense and collapsed on his knees, unable to move.

The remaining two holy knights, who never expected that one of them would be killed, were left stunned and forgot to draw their swords. The warrior in front of me didn’t miss this opportunity. She threw the sword she held in her right hand towards one of the holy knights, and she smoothly drew the other sword hidden behind the shield and threw it towards the other holy knight.

“Guuah!?”

“Gwaaah!?”

“Damn! I messed up!”

The first sword she threw penetrated the helmet of one holy knight, but the curved surface of the other’s helmet seemed to have deflected the second sword. Nevertheless, it was uncertain whether this was due to luck. Because the warrior in front of my compound eyes turned out to be a much better fighter than I expected.

As soon as the sword left her hand, the warrior realized with a sinking feeling that she had botched the job. As a result, she quickly grasped the situation and launched a sweeping kick at the holy knight, knocking him down before the sword could be deflected by his helmet. The warrior then wrapped her legs around the fallen knight’s neck, strangling him in the process.

The holy knight struggled and flailed his legs in a desperate attempt to break free, but the warrior’s grip was too tight, fueled by her fierce determination. Gradually, the knight’s resistance weakened, and with a dull snap, his neck was broken, and he fell lifeless to the ground.

I suppose that was a more painful way to die. If he had been struck on the head with that sword, he might have died instantly. After surviving for a hundred years, if death were to come, I would prefer a painless one.

“Phew…phew…can I consider myself lucky to have survived?” The warrior’s breathing was heavy as she kept a cautious distance from me, her eyes fixed on me with wariness. Despite our inadvertent collaboration in the fight, I was a creature of a different species, not even human, and incapable of communicating with her. It was clear that she had no reason to trust me.

I could understand the warrior’s sentiment, but I wasn’t bothered by the fact that a stranger like me couldn’t be trusted. I turned on my heel and tried to distance myself from the two of them.

“Please wait,” the young female called out.

“Young lady?” the warrior was taken aback.

“Thank you for helping me, even if it was by chance. I will never forget this debt,” the young female said, gracefully bowing towards me. She seemed like an unusual noblewoman, younger than the slain slave.

Although there was no need to feel indebted since there was no opportunity to repay it, I decided to accept her gratitude. I turned my back to the two and began to walk away.

Now, how should I escape from here? I had three choices. The first was to destroy all obstacles in my way and flee the city. Although this was the fastest way, it would undoubtedly lead to discovery and conflict. I preferred to avoid this option if possible.

The second choice was to travel underground, turning the ground into sand as I went. This was less likely to be discovered, but it made it difficult to see the situation above ground. It was possible that I could emerge in front of the enemy, thinking it was safe. While my senses were sharp, they were not omnipotent.

And the third option was to quietly move forward on the ground, while concealing my presence, and make my way out. The roads were difficult to navigate due to the large mansions, but I had been taken to the arena many times before, so I knew how to get out of the noble district.

On the other hand, I had no idea what lay beyond the arena. That was the only concern, but well, I would deal with it somehow.

I concealed my fighting spirit and spiritual power and ran through the shadows of the noble district, being careful not to make any sound. As usual, there were intense clashes of fighting spirit and spiritual power in various parts of the district, causing chaos and damage all around the area.

However, I had no obligation to get involved in the conflicts of the human species. I had already avenged my benefactor, and dealt with the encounter that I couldn’t escape from. There was no need to risk my life any further by fighting.

(And there it was, visible beyond the turn…the arena…is it really that big when seen from outside?)

I proceeded cautiously and finally arrived at a position from which I could see the arena. The massive sculptures of warriors on either side of the entrance were majestic, and the surrounding walls and pillars were finely decorated. Although I had only seen it from the inside before, as a scorpion, it was still an impressive building.

(Let’s aim for that place first and move forward.)

However, just as I made up my mind, I sensed multiple presences from inside the arena that began to rapidly increase. Before I could even fathom what was happening, a sudden explosion rocked the interior of the arena!

(What was that?!)

It was a tragic sight to see the arena crumble, but multiple creatures emerged from beneath the rubble. Each one was not only large but also incredibly strong, with a fighting spirit and spiritual power far beyond those of the typical battle beast. They were on par with the creatures brought in as my opponents. The source of the strong presence that had swollen up in the arena was undoubtedly them.

There was also an unsettling feeling that could be felt even from a distance, a strange sensation as if multiple spiritual powers were seeping out of a single entity. I knew the true identity of that sensation, having encountered it many times in the arena.

(A synthetic beast? Why would something like that be in the arena? They’re only brought in on the day of the match… Ah, I see. They must be involved in this chaos.)

It was decided long ago that battle beasts would be brought into the arena on the morning of the match. In the past, they used to accept them the day before, but the manager explained that there had been incidents where the beasts were poisoned while in captivity, causing them to fall ill.

I wasn’t particularly interested in the history of the arena, so I just brushed it off at the time. However, I remembered this one fact. That’s why there shouldn’t be any battle beasts in the arena late at night.

On the day when the incident occurred in the noble district, a battle beast that shouldn’t have been present in the arena had gone berserk? I didn’t believe in such a coincidence. It was obvious that they were somehow connected with the attack.

Those synthetic beasts began to move out radially from the arena. They weren’t just moving; they were advancing while destroying both buildings and residents. They were making quite a scene… I wondered how the attackers intended to put an end to this chaos.

“For the sake of justice, we help the people! Charge!”

“For justice!”

It was the holy knights clad in white armor who challenged the synthetic beasts. They bravely charged towards the beasts, with impeccable coordination that was nothing short of amazing. They moved together as if they were one organism.

Truthfully, there was no hesitation in their movement. They didn’t seem to be trying to figure out what kind of attack to use or searching for an effective attack. Their movements seemed as though they knew everything.

Actually, they probably did know everything. They were the ones who caused this chaos, after all. It was their own creation, so it was best to assume that they knew its weaknesses and everything else about it. I didn’t understand why they were doing this, but it was their problem. I should make my escape quickly.

“Gyuiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”

“Don’t let them escape! Chase them!”

As I was in deep thought, a particularly large synthetic beast started running towards me. Hey, if you keep going straight, you’re going to crash into the grave I just made with all my efforts, you know?

I really did seem to have bad luck. Oh well, I readied my pincers and prepared to fight if necessary, waiting for the creature to approach.