NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 86
86. Beast Friends (2)
The moment Crudy ordered the clerics to kill half the criminals, Chandler had already lost his mind.
In fact, it was only natural for him to end up this way, given the transformation of the criminals into monsters.
Thirty years ago, after the fall of Helheim, Chandler was left with no parents or place to belong.
Even more so, being the child of the Helheim leader meant he was unwelcome anywhere.
He had to choose a life of hiding in the shadows.
Chandler simply couldn’t understand.
The Demon King’s army, as he knew it, was the divine messengers who descended to correct the wrongs of the world.
To rebel against them would be seen as breaking the taboos of this world.
He had grown up hearing this since he was born.
Even after thirty years, Chandler’s thoughts hadn’t changed.
Despite living through all those years, he made no effort to understand the hearts of people.
Rather, he regarded killing like the Demon King’s army as a divine revelation, going around committing murder casually.
He even extended his survival through goods he stole during his attacks.
Chandler firmly believed the voices he heard in his sleep were divine messages.
The voices urged him to kill the candidates for the future saint.
Doing so would make humans regret breaking the taboo and face their doom.
The only remaining aspect of his life was the voice of the deity.
To fulfill that purpose, he spent an immense amount of time gathering and persuading the scattered members of Helheim.
Failure was not an option.
He couldn’t let the time he struggled to gain over the last thirty years go to waste.
“Don’t interfere… Don’t interfere with my plans!!”
Director Gamur stabbed Crudy in the back.
The audience froze, their expressions turning stiff at the sudden act.
Gamur was always a charismatic and strong paladin.
With a bright face that shone like the sun, he was loved by the followers.
As the leader of the First Order, he had always fulfilled his duties, but suddenly he had become a different person.
Far from being bright, his expression was closer to that of a grotesque bug crawling out of a sewer.
His face was filled with deep wrinkles, as if he were entranced by something.
“W-What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“I… I can’t finish this. It can’t end like this!!”
“Director…?”
Before anything else, he didn’t seem human, making it impossible to communicate.
The paladins and priests thought he must be under someone’s control and slowly approached him.
“Cough…!”
“Stop it! Director!”
“Do you see me as a director?”
“Yes…?”
The clerics widened their eyes in shock.
It was a disaster.
Due to Chandler’s sudden outburst, Crudy was on the verge of death. Thankfully, the critical points had missed, but it would be dangerous if left alone.
Essentially, without a leader, the line was effectively lost; if Crudy really died, their guide out of this snowy wasteland would be gone.
He could navigate the foggy road, all thanks to his knowledge.
Just one more day, and they could reach a place illuminated by sunlight.
If he disappeared, the line might lose its direction and take a wrong turn.
“Die!”
“Vice Director!”
As he tried to plunge the knife deeper, intending to sever Crudy’s lifeline—
Swish!—
A staff flew by Chandler’s head.
If that was an ambush, it must have been incredibly foolish.
If it were a sword, that was one thing, but a blunt object wouldn’t do much more than leave a bruise.
Not only would it fail to inflict harm, but it would also result in a wasted effort by casting away the weapon.
“Such a fool!”
“You’re the one who’s foolish.”
“What!”
As the staff brushed past the back of his head, someone whispered from that spot.
Teleporting to the trajectory of the flying staff, Senior Trisha stabbed Chandler’s shoulders with her fingers.
Being a wizard and a martial arts master, Trisha could perform pressure point techniques.
“My, my arm…!”
The strength of the arm wielding the sword drained away.
Then Trisha delivered a kick directly to one of his eyes.
In addition to martial arts, it was imbued with fire magic, making her leg look as if it were burning.
Chandler, who had allowed the surprise attack, flew a few dozen meters away in that state.
He thought he had foolishly discarded his weapon, but who would have known it was strategy?
“Bring the priests over here.”
“What…?”
“Quickly!”
Senior Trisha shouted at the bewildered paladin while poking Crudy’s bleeding wound.
Just a few pinches of her fingers caused the blood to gush forth. Jenny, showing an expression of surprise, asked, “How did you do that?”
“It’s acupuncture. It’s a technique that influences the body by targeting the blood. Though there might be differences with other experts, it can temporarily stop bleeding.”
Whether it was magic or martial arts, thanks to Trisha, Crudy’s life had a chance to be saved.
At that moment, the priests arrived, checked Crudy’s wound, and began channeling divine power.
However, they questioned Trisha’s actions.
“Thanks for stopping the bleeding. But did you really need to hit the director so roughly? He could be under someone’s control, you know.”
“No. He’s just the enemy.”
Trisha firmly stated, leaving them even more puzzled.
“How do you know that, senior?”
I asked the same question since I was curious too.
“I’ve been investigating numerous people’s identities and faces during my time in the Newspaper Department. So, when I see someone, I can instinctively tell if they’re an enemy or ally. If that man had looked fine like yesterday, it would be different, but witnessing him suddenly make a distorted face like that gave me a feeling.”
“Senior, if we’re talking about that, I’m from the Newspaper Department too, so why can’t I distinguish?”
You might have the ‘Maan’ but that doesn’t mean much.
“Well… maybe because I’ve trained in ambush tactics since I was a child, differently from the other members. To respond to an ambush, you need to read the enemy’s expressions.”
So, you’re saying I’m far from the magic division!
“If he was under someone’s control, would he really need to explode in such a way?”
Chandler was rising again, looking beast-like.
It wasn’t the bright and benevolent figure of the director they knew, and the clerics concurred with Trisha’s words.
Awooouuu!—
In the middle of the snowy field, the howls of a wolf pack echoed beneath the full moon.
Finally, the monsters that had bent the iron bars and escaped began to confront the clerics.
They were still only a horde of monsters.
Though they expected it to be easy to deal with the beasts driven only by instinct, the lycanthropes voiced their thoughts.
“Finally gotten out!”
“Why have we turned into this? Didn’t these guys transform?”
“Damn it! Did it all go wrong?”
Surprisingly, their human intellect had been fully restored.
The one responsible for that was a shaman who had blended in among the criminals.
“If it weren’t for me, you’d have turned into monsters even at the soul level. You owe me.”
Among the pack of lycanthropes, one emerged retaining his sanity.
His name, in human days, was ‘Geromarin.’ He specialized in controlling dog-related monsters.
Thanks to that, he had become a lycanthrope while keeping his senses. He applied that to his companions, restoring their sanity as well.
Smack!—
Geromarin suddenly jumped close to where we were standing.
As his large body grew, the ragged clothes he wore tore away, revealing his back.
Seeing the large claw marks on his back, Jenny was horrified.
“Are you the one pulling the strings?”
“From your tone, it seems you know me.”
Turning his head, Geromarin looked down at us.
His gaze landed particularly on the blue-haired Jenny.
“Wait… You’re from the Chain Silver Family…!!”
“That means… you were the one who…!”
Geromarin cautiously eyed Jenny as they locked eyes.
Beyond her accidental killing intent, it seemed he had witnessed something he shouldn’t have.
“Damn it! To meet you so soon!”
“Tell me honestly. Were you the one who released the lycanthropes to ambush the carriage?”
“Do you think I’d tell you that?”
As Geromarin raised his hand, a storm brewed above.
With torrents of lightning pouring down from above, Jenny formed an ice ceiling to block it.
Even in her monster form, she wielded magic as effectively as she did in her human days.
“Damn it. I only need to kill that vice director!”
If Crudy disappeared, the clerics would lose their morale.
Regardless of their intentions, Jenny’s mind was racing.
“Mary, take on the lycanthropes with the priests.”
“Leave it to me!~”
“Senior Trisha, please continue healing Sir Crudy.”
“Alright, but wasn’t I the leader?”
“And Luska is…”
“I need to deal with that guy as well.”
Luska raised her bow, pointing it at Geromarin.
Jenny, unwilling to let her target slip away, pressed.
“What are you saying? He’s related to my mother’s death. So…”
“Then can you handle it alone?”
In that moment, Jenny was rendered speechless.
From the nearby forest, monsters resembling canines were charging toward them.
Geromarin’s shamanic range was vast. While she wasn’t keen on it, she had to accept Luska’s suggestion.
“And Radon…”
Slash!—
Just as Jenny was about to speak, a bloodied blade rushed forth, carving a sinister trajectory.
Right as it was about to draw red lines across her neck, a serpent’s tail swooped in to block it.
The sound of tough leather colliding echoed.
“I’ll take on that thing.”
I pointed at Chandler, who was ambushing with his sword.
The Muto, having blocked Chandler’s sword, used its tail to shove him away.
Quickly closing the distance, it bared its fangs, but upon clashing with his sword, it cracked.
『This one’s tougher than expected.』
Not an incorrect statement.
Despite its appearance, his swordsmanship was at the 5-star level, thus I was barely able to handle it with my skills.
However, the offensive wouldn’t be too hard.
That was because I had already laid down a plan when we first encountered.
“Are you a spirit sorcerer? But, it’s hard to differentiate whether it’s a spirit or a demon snake.”
“Curious about this little guy? Let me tell you an interesting feature.”
Muto seeped into me.
As if sinking into water, Muto allowed for communication on my behalf.
“This snake can easily modulate its voice. Mimicking a woman’s voice is no problem at all.”
“What does that even matter?”
Chandler shouted, dumbfounded by the nonsensical conversation.
It was absurd to battle with mere words.
“Do you remember this voice?”
“Hmm?”
But as I feminized my voice, his expression hardened the moment he heard it.
It wasn’t merely being flustered by something so trivial.
“That voice… Where have I heard it before…”
It was a voice he had heard frequently, but nobody stored every sound in their brain.
A trigger to activate the memory was needed.
“Right. You remember? How was that elixir and steroid I gave you?”
“Wha…??”
The moment those words were said, a hazy memory came rushing back.
It was the voice that came from the alchemist from Doomsday.
“How did you know…?”
“Well, I know because I was the one who gave it to you.”
Finally, they were liberated from the mysterious prison where the criminals had to experience the monster transformation.
“Did you really think I would allow your plans to proceed smoothly?”
“…It was you, wasn’t it…?”
I could feel him gritting his teeth.
Naturally, he would be furious.
A plan prepared over many years had just gone to pieces.
“Before you kill me, let me ask. How did you figure out my plans…? How did you know that I’m not Director Gamur, but Chandler?”
“Well, how would I know?”
“Gahhhh!!!”
[Crisis Rate Drop: -120]
[+12000 Credits]
As I snarked and evaded his question, he charged at me in a frenzy.
I anticipated he would leap around in fury, but in any case, he wouldn’t touch even a hair on me.
Swoosh—
I gathered aura in my hands and swung it toward the back of my head.
At that moment, my long hair, which made me appear feminine, was cut off, and Muto regained its original color as it blocked Chandler’s sword once again.
Due to the loss of the head that was maintaining the Ceremony of Flash, my spirit power returned.
This allowed my power to recuperate, and the curse I had enforced earlier would spring back into action.
“Ugh… Why all of a sudden…?!”
Suddenly, Chandler began to clutch his head, staggering.
He wore a pained yet utterly baffled expression. Yes, he must be curious.
“When I handed you that potion, did you think I just handed it to you?”
“What…?”
“From the point you touched that potion, you had already become cursed. It’s just that it hadn’t manifested until now because my spirit power was weakened.”
I had infused the potion with a curse that induces dizziness.
He, unaware of anything, transformed his companions into monsters, but he himself had fallen under the curse.
[Crisis Rate Drop: -70]
[+7000 Credits]
The fishing was a massive success.
“There’s a way to escape. Within 30 seconds, you need to say, ‘I was wrong!’ while stripping naked like a beast and bowing 100 times. Simple enough, right?”
“Don’t make me laugh! Who in the world would bow 100 times in 30 seconds, especially in the middle of this snowy field naked!”
“Now, one second… two seconds… three seconds…”
I began to leisurely count down to thirty, ignoring his protest.
No need to understand the words of a beast.
Surviving as an Academy Scammer.