Chapter 739: Something Stronger

“It looks like the blood’s been let out almost completely.”

Zagu swept his gaze over the surroundings.

It was still that same kind of cleanliness—without a single trace left behind. All the Flayers who’d gone to track them down were dead, with not even a corpse remaining.

It was very similar to the scene left behind last time, except for one difference—

Zagu walked to a patch of pitted holes, crouched down, and lightly brushed his fingers over them.

This area of holes didn’t look like something left behind by combat, and it didn’t look like natural erosion either. These neat, yet differently sized pits looked as if something had been forcibly gouged out.

Like in the blazing heat of summer, using a spoon to scoop—scoop by scoop—the juicy flesh out of a watermelon.

Combined with the blood scattered about, Zagu could practically see his prey bleeding in agony, already so weakened they couldn’t even control their own power anymore.

“So Lord Zagu is finally going to take action personally?”

Shenyi’s Grand Duke’s maid appeared again at some point without anyone noticing, and spoke respectfully.

“I thought you’d burn through even more Flayers first.”

“Heh. In just these few short hours, more than thirty Flayers have been killed. Even if they’re prey, I still have to offer those two humans a little bit of respect.”

Zagu’s tone was calm.

“But it ends here. Exactly as a display of that respect, I feel it’s necessary for me to go personally and put a period on this hunt.”

“I really can’t understand Lord Zagu’s thinking. The one using such a vile, cruel hyena tactic is you yourself,” the maid said.

“Methods and respect are two different things.”

Zagu flicked a sidelong glance at her.

“Speaking of which—why have you come again?”

“Lord Shenyi very much wants to know the news of Muen Campbell’s death. He specifically sent me to ask again,” the maid said.

“It’s rare for Lord Shenyi to be this fixated on such a small matter. Does he really hate this Muen Campbell that much?”

Zagu looked surprised.

“That isn’t something a mere maid like me can casually speculate on. But as things stand, if Lord Shenyi can receive the news that Muen Campbell is dead next, he’ll be very happy.”

The maid lifted her head and looked seriously at Zagu.

“So—can you do it, Lord Zagu?”

“That question is really asked at just the right time.”

Zagu suddenly chuckled.

“At just the right time?”

“Because look.”

With a casual gesture, Zagu made the chain that recorded Muen Campbell’s soul information float up, pointing it in a certain direction.

“Muen Campbell seems to have lost even the strength to run a little farther.”

This chain didn’t only indicate a general direction—it could point to Muen Campbell’s precise location, with an error of only a few dozen meters. So following the chain’s guidance, Zagu could see very clearly that Muen Campbell hadn’t gotten far.

No—he simply no longer had the strength to get far.

Up on the tower, he’d fought Shenyi’s Grand Duke using power that far exceeded his own realm. He’d managed to save his life through teleportation, but Zagu hadn’t given him any chance to recuperate, sending Flayers at him at any cost to grind down his strength.

Now he’d worn through more than thirty Fourth- and Fifth-tier Flayers.

Even if those two really were some kind of monster incarnations, by now they should have been completely driven into a corner.

“Come. Follow me and take a look.”

“Me?”

The maid hesitated.

“My realm is low. I might not be able to keep up with Lord Zagu’s pace.”

“Relax. No need to move too fast—take it slow.”

Zagu waved a hand, unconcerned.

“Do you know there’s a kind of Modo giant lizard in the swamp region on the western side of the Abyss?”

“I’ve heard of it. A highly poisonous lizard, right?”

“That’s right—highly poisonous. But even Modo giant lizard venom can’t kill a magical beast in a short time. So after it ambushes a target and takes one bite, it won’t keep fighting to the death—it will follow from far behind.”

“Waiting for the poison to take effect?”

“Not just waiting for the poison. In a place like the Abyss, most beasts have strong poison resistance. So even when the poison acts up, they still have a lot of fighting strength.”

Zagu paused, then said, “The Modo giant lizard waits for the target to collapse completely. It will tail the target for three days—or even longer—until the target, in the enormous agony of poison corroding every limb and bone, has not even the slightest strength left to struggle.”

“So that’s how it is...”

The maid thought for a moment.

“So we’re moving forward slowly, and at the same time waiting for Muen Campbell to completely lose the ability to resist?”

“Exactly.”

“How despicable...”

The maid’s tone was strange—unclear whether she was mocking him or praising him.

“Just now, Lord Zagu even said you’d personally put a period on it.”

“I also said methods and respect are two different things.”

Zagu shrugged.

“I don’t want to come into direct contact with that strange black fire of Muen Campbell’s. Look at those Flayers—there isn’t even a speck of ash left. I don’t even know whether their souls might have been swallowed too.”

“I see... yes. If the soul gets swallowed, then there really is nothing left.”

“Since you understand, don’t keep talking about whether it’s despicable or not. Let’s go.”

Zagu lit a torch and walked deeper into the cave.

His pace really was slow—like taking a stroll in his own backyard.

But because this underground cave system was too complex, the two of them soon reached the first fork.

Zagu lightly sensed with the chain.

“This way.”

“Hm?”

The maid suddenly made a different sound.

“But Lord Zagu—there’s blood and footprints on the ground, and they clearly go the other way.”

Because of the water dripping in the cave, the path was a bit muddy. You could clearly see a scattered line of footprints, accompanied by specks of blood that appeared now and then, leading into a tunnel completely opposite the one Zagu had indicated.

“That’s a feint.”

Zagu only gave it a sidelong glance before letting out a disdainful snort.

“A cheap trick.”

“A feint...?”

The maid exclaimed in surprise.

“It’s so lifelike. I didn’t see any flaw at all.”

“Don’t underestimate these crafty humans. There were similar traces on the earlier path, too.”

Zagu raised his hand, letting the chain float before him. It naturally flew toward the tunnel entrance that had no traces at all.

“See? This direction is the right one.”

Sometimes, even Zagu had to admire these humans’ stubbornness.

They knew their position had already been locked, yet they still insisted on using such a useless method. Did they really think this could raise their survival odds?

Or did they simply believe in themselves too much?

That relying on their own methods, they could overcome external misfortune?

How ridiculous.

Zagu shook his head. He didn’t linger long, and continued forward.

No one spoke along the way.

After walking at an unhurried pace for a little over an hour, Zagu lifted the torch a bit higher and said in a teasing tone:

“Look. We’ve found them.”

The maid followed where Zagu indicated.

Sure enough, deep in this narrow cave path that looked as if no one had ever set foot here, there was a figure, slumped against the wall.

That person’s head was lowered, completely unaware of the two of them arriving.

“A dead end?”

The maid blinked and recognized that it was Muen Campbell disguised as a woman. And on his back, he was still carrying a woman.

But if you looked past the woman, you’d find there was no road forward at all. The tunnel ended here.

“No movement? He’s already exhausted himself to death?”

With a clang, Zagu drew his long spear.

“Be careful, Lord Zagu. There might be a trap,” the maid warned.

“Heh. Do you think I’d be ambushed by a dying man?”

Zagu sounded extremely disdainful.

But even as he said that, when he walked toward Muen Campbell, he was very cautious.

Someone who, despite knowing the other side wasn’t their match, and knowing both of them were already badly injured, still didn’t hesitate to burn through so many elite demonfolk lives—just to bleed them out and make them completely lose the ability to resist—naturally couldn’t be reckless at a time like this.

So with each step, Zagu’s senses were fully open, moving with extreme care.

Until he reached Muen Campbell’s side.

“No trap.”

Nothing happened. Muen Campbell in front of him didn’t move either.

The chain still floated in front of Zagu, clearly pointing toward Muen Campbell at point-blank range.

“It’s over.”

Zagu finally stopped suppressing the overly restrained curve of his lips.

Sure enough—just like prey bitten by a Modo giant lizard. Muen Campbell, already on his last legs, after a fairly impressive struggle, still collapsed here in the end.

Exactly as he had predicted.

“Looks like Lord Shenyi can be happy once tonight.”

The long spear trembled. Zagu twisted his wrist and without hesitation thrust it into Muen Campbell’s heart.

Whether or not Muen Campbell was completely dead, he had to make sure—

“Hm?”

Zagu suddenly froze, then frowned, his gaze dropping to his spear.

The feel... seemed wrong.

No—not just the feel. Even though the spear had pierced Muen Campbell’s heart, not a single drop of blood splashed out.

“Don’t tell me...”

Zagu violently flung the spear outward!

A sharp, cold flash streaked past. A massive slash-mark appeared on the stone wall behind Muen Campbell, and countless clouds of dust billowed up, instantly filling the entire tunnel.

But...

Muen Campbell was still completely unharmed.

No, not completely unharmed—because in the instant the spear swept past, Zagu sharply caught Muen Campbell’s figure... twitch?

An illusion?

No.

The Early-Dream Bell should only be usable once. And the intelligence said Muen Campbell didn’t know any illusion-related magic. He was from the human empire’s House Campbell—an oaf among oafs, the Lion King’s son. Being able to use a basic spell like Light would already be impressive—

Wait.

Light?

Zagu’s pupils constricted. The moment those words surfaced in his mind, he abruptly realized that Muen Campbell in front of him...

...really did seem to be formed from a mass of twisted light and shadow. It was just so vivid that for a moment he hadn’t noticed.

“No. That’s even more impossible...”

The veins at Zagu’s temples jumped. He drove the spear down again into “Muen Campbell’s” body—or rather, into the stone wall behind him.

“Smell, aura, the differences between mana and battle energy... there’s no way any of that could fool me. There’s even a chain that tracks soul information. How could Muen Campbell possibly—”

How could he possibly fool him with nothing but a mass of light and shadow?

“Lord Zagu, look at that.”

The maid at the side suddenly spoke up.

“What?”

Zagu forced himself to calm down and looked where the maid indicated.

And then, in the gradually dimming light-and-shadow, within Muen Campbell’s flickering “body”...

He finally saw it.

A scrap of paper, like a torn page from a book.

“What is that?”

A paper scrap no bigger than a fingernail, yet it was unmistakably emitting Muen Campbell’s smell, aura, mana, and battle energy... even fluctuations on the level of the soul.

And at that moment, as if it sensed Zagu had noticed it, the scrap suddenly flipped over. On the blank surface, two clear red characters appeared:

【IDIOT】

Then, the scrap seemed to cross a thousand years in the blink of an eye. It rapidly disintegrated before Zagu, turning into powder and vanishing into nothingness.

Everything happened so suddenly, yet Zagu didn’t recover for a long time.

So he had been...

Toyed with by Muen Campbell, using a weird little scrap of paper?

“Ah...”

The maid at the side couldn’t help covering her face and sighing.

“Looks like tonight, Lord Shenyi won’t be able to be happy.”

“...”

Zagu didn’t speak. His entire body was like stone, not moving at all.

But in his chest, a fierce anger rolled like flame.

It was a familiar kind of anger—the anger of being played, despite being cautious in every way.

Déjà vu.

Because not long ago, he’d been toyed with like this by another human.

Just two short days.

Toyed with twice—and both times while he held absolute advantage.

At that moment, he suddenly began to understand the Enchantress Grand Duke.

Face...

It really hurts.

...

...

“Ugh...”

Deep in another part of the cave, the culprit who’d made Zagu’s face hurt so badly was sighing nonstop.

“Too tragic. This is just too tragic.”

Muen endured the pain as he moved forward quickly, patting Ariel’s knee as he lamented.

“Look at other people’s cheats—those are the kind that insta-kill heaven, earth, and immortals. The moment you pull them out, you’re going on a slaughter spree. Even if it’s not majestic and domineering, at least it’s some kind of badass tool for showing off. But mine...”

He’d begged and begged in his head for ages, and what he got was a scrap of paper the size of a fingernail, used to “record” his information...

Couldn’t it give him something awesome?

Even another Evil God crest like Withery ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Bro’s, so he could farm a little profit off it, would’ve been fine!

Damn it.

【......】

In the consciousness space, the Black Book heard this and its “bear body” shook violently, and it immediately... flew deeper inside.

“Ugh!”

After another long sigh, Muen turned his head to look behind him and muttered to himself:

“But even if it’s just a scrap of paper that records information, paired with my Light Art—Modified—Fifth Form, Zagu will still fall for it, right?”

You could tell from this whole string of calm, unhurried planning...

He believed in himself too much.

Myriad-Age Cycle was powerful.

A chain that could lock onto soul information was powerful, too.

But, Zagu-chan...

You might not know this, but in this world, there are plenty of things even stronger than those two.