Chapter 68 - Birds of a Feather
What’s the difference between humans and animals?
It’s the ability to use tools.
From flaked stone tools to bronze, iron…
Even just opening a Korean SAT textbook, human evolution has always been in line with the development of tools.
If humans are the lords of all creation,
Then guns are the kings of all weapons.
And gun-fu is the ultimate martial art.
That’s how it should have been.
It was a most regrettable fact for the robots.
In this game world ruled by pseudo-physics, such rules didn’t apply.
“Woof!”
The muzzle of the rifle held by the robot spewed fire, and bullets rushed towards Lumi.
But since it was at a speed I could identify with my own eyes,
Lumi’s fist shot out and collided precisely with the bullet’s trajectory.
Fist VS Bullet.
The result was a victory for the former.
Crack!
Lumi’s elbow cleanly slammed into the solar plexus of the robot that dared to fire bullets at her.
And then, as naturally as water flowing, she linked it into a joint lock.
Pop!
“Ow…”
Giving me goosebumps just from watching,
The robot’s head was cleanly ripped off.
《Error occurring, error occurring…》
Oil gushed from the neck.
Increasingly faint mechanical sounds repeatedly flowed from the severed head that had become a Duracell robot.
Lumi tears apart Terminators.
Tears them apart with bare hands…
Of course, the combat patterns of the other heroes weren’t much different.
Clang───!
It’s a well-known fact that even machines can be repaired by hammering.
0-level blacksmith Saha personally crushed the insolent scrap metal heaps that dared to deny the Three Laws of Robotics, hammering them bit by bit.
“Kyahaha, so slow!”
Not only shooting arrows faster than bullets, but as if to show off her accuracy, Ari’s arrows destroyed only the robots’ crude rifles.
“Repent, repent.”
As if she had quit being a saint and changed jobs to exorcist (physical),
Yohena, who would dash out at every opportunity with her +7 Enchanted Bible of Exorcism (the enhancement stuck particularly well) and bonk their heads.
Proper combat specialists.
They had grown splendidly into killing machines that wouldn’t be embarrassed anywhere.
Can’t lose!
Of course, I’m no pushover when it comes to gun-fu either.
A former top-class marksman, that’s me.
The ultimate gun-kata technique I’ve been practicing hard in secret, away from the heroes’ eyes.
It was starving.
It’s a bittersweet memory I don’t particularly want to recall right now, but.
When I first encountered gun-kata at that passionate age of 14, it was truly revolutionary, cool, stylish…!
The muzzle of my gun shines.
The trigger passes judgment.
Gladly taking revenge on the enemy.
Repaying hatred with hatred…!
“Cry, cry and prove your innocence!”
The fruits of securing financial stability through the “Grow, hair hair” business.
My Black Dragon-Equilibrium-Revolver, with its spirit energy faintly returning, spewed fire.
Bang──!
The crisp sound of hitting scrap metal rang out.
Because the heroes wasted money on luxuries like decorating the guild house, buying snacks, playing dolls with Tinya and Neb, and whatnot.
The firepower was still a bit lacking.
Even though I deliberately aimed for the weakest one, I couldn’t land the finishing blow…
《Priority elimination target conf──》
Crunch──!
“Myeong!”
Lumi, who had all her senses on high alert for my safety like a dedicated bodyguard, quickly flew in and finished off the weakened robot with a Lumi-jet kick.
I felt bitter.
Isn’t there a way to spend less money and modify for stronger firepower?
The treasure chests that Lucia took away flashed before my eyes…
Still, I have to do what needs to be done.
“I think we can get out soon. Gather all the bodies, and let’s set off again. This time, let’s hurry so we don’t get chased.”
We diligently collected the robots’ remains and swept them into our inventory.
As I had boldly declared to the heroes,
The end of this underground passage will probably come soon.
If it’s Elise, she would have perfectly prepared the escort by now.
Usually, she’s just a big-breasted pervert who spouts sexual harassment,
But when you see her occasionally use her wits, she’s quite smart.
Although she didn’t know the exact details,
Ark’s inference had actually hit the nail on the head.
Elise is smart.
Smart enough to proudly declare “I’m smart, you know.”
Within the tower divided into 5-floor sections, apart from the Demon King directly in charge of the 50th floor, only 9 chosen high-ranking demons could be appointed as managers.
In other words.
If you were to list the top 10 masters of the demon world, the Tower of Wishes was where all the names that could come up excluding the Demon King had been mobilized.
Of course, there were limits to the abilities they could exert depending on the tower’s floor, so they eventually had to kneel before the Revelator’s advance.
True masters kneel to gain momentum.
The Revelator, who usually had her magic manifestation forcibly bound by the “conversion contract,” was not around,
And there was no need to wear the magic suppression necklace that always had to be worn in the city inside the tower.
The true face of Elise, the Demon of Deception, began to shine.
“Hmm, a handsome man. I wonder if you’re talking about my master?”
Subtly imbuing her voice with the power of deception, she enthralled the listener’s heart.
[-_-?]
《Affirmative. …Master? Are you seriously forming a master-servant relationship, not as a joke?》
“That’s right. Not just me, but all those children are our master’s faithful slaves. Ohoho.”
Elise made an inference close to the correct answer, that the changing light patterns on the surface of Duiju No. 38 might indicate the object’s emotional state.
[oOo!]
《This Duiju No. 38 cannot understand. Then, why did the master abandon the slaves and disappear? And why don’t the slaves run away?》
“Hehe. Why are you curious about such things?”
Elise, who had added confidence to her inference and opened the conversation, naturally picked up the floating Duiju No. 38 and held it to her chest.
Then, while subtly flowing magic to grasp its internal structure, she changed the subject.
“Hmm, that outfit over there is really pretty. I want to try it on. Don’t you think so?”
[?_?]
《Suddenly? However, negative. This Duiju No. 38 cannot see it. Request to face forward.》
“Aha. Well, how about this?”
[>0<]
《Affirmative. It’s a very trendy and flashy outfit.》
What might seem like meaningless girls’ talk.
Only an inorganic voice flowed from the small sphere, but.
Elise could clearly feel fragments of emotion in it.
Her brain works quickly.
The sphere’s field of view is limited to the front only.
The internal structure is estimated to consist of a small tube with several pieces of glass overlapping, presumably providing vision, and one magic core. And small magic cores predicted to be responsible for movement.
The interior, devoid of senses other than vision, is inorganic itself.
What’s controlling this small sphere is a human, a woman at that.
Not voluntary surveillance, but bound by some contract. And the conditions are unfavorable to humans.
Deception── To deceive others, it was necessary to closely grasp the other party’s thoughts, consciousness, and current emotional state.
And, now.
Elise had almost perfectly analyzed Duiju No. 38.
About 20 minutes later.
[V_V]
《This Duiju No. 38 evaluates that Neb is about 18% cuter than Tinya. This is based on strict aesthetic criteria, and this Duiju does not accept rebuttals.》
“Eek…!”
“Haha, stupid Tinya. Where do you think you’re rubbing?”
Before they knew it, Duiju No. 38 had forgotten its duty of monitoring ‘temporary refugees’ and was roaming the streets, joining the devastating chain of chatter unfolding among the three women.
And Arachne following behind with small steps.
She didn’t particularly want to join the chattering group in the first place, being less talkative.
Elise had secretly given Rene a mission, avoiding Duiju No. 38’s gaze.
Her ability of predation.
Although she was currently hiding her demon form with the power of magic, she could use that ability without any problems.
Very fine spider webs swayed and spread along the hem of her skirt and between her ankles.
And the selected victims.
Only men among the passersby were gradually enveloped from their shoes to the hems of their clothes.
It was a clear anomaly, but no one expressed any sense of discomfort.
Instead.
“Wow…”
“Such a beautiful young lady…”
“I’ve truly been enlightened today…! They say the best among bread, breasts, and hips is hips, and that saying wasn’t a joke!”
Mainly towards Tinya.
Or Neb.
Those with strong resistance looked at Elise.
Men using animalistic expressions in archaic speech.
Elise’s venom, granting pleasure to the victims.
And the very existence of Tinya, the Demon of Seduction, said to make viewers fall into temptation, stirred the heartstrings of many men.
So no one.
No one noticed the situation where thin spider webs were discreetly rolling up money from inside pockets and stealing it.
“Ha, if only I wasn’t on patrol duty, by now this billy club would… hehehe…”
“Hey, you fool. Don’t you see that Duiju attached over there? Do you want to be locked in a Duiju too?”
Even the public security management team──
Even the local constables were enthralled by the charm exuded by the three women.
If there had been a few more women on the street.
They would have felt uncomfortable seeing the men collectively half in heat and growling.
Unfortunately, the Great Imperial Empire was a place with such unstable public safety that women of high status refrained from going out, so even that came to nothing.
Therefore, a perfect crime.
They purchased train tickets and ‘circulated’ enough local currency to fill Rene’s ever-hungry stomach.
Elise, who had even succeeded in transforming the watchdog Duiju No. 38 into a ‘friend’,
“Hoho. Climbing the tower was more fun than I thought. This country called the Great Imperial Empire is quite interesting too.”
She scattered a refreshing smile after exercising her aptitude after a long time.
At the very back of the group.
Behind Rene.
The last conscience of the Ark Thief Gang, Renatel.
Having witnessed scenes of violence and destruction on one side,
And scenes of deception and theft on the other,
Her pupils alone continued to spin in circles today, unable to find their place.
It seemed that.
The ‘heroes’ outside the Great Forest were somewhat different in meaning from the ‘heroes’ in the fairy tales she had read as a child.