Chapter 18: Monster Hunting Part 4

“Phew. This has crossed the line by far.”

The words of Daira who was spewing out a brilliant white flame-like aura settled heavily in the basement.

Perhaps she was crushed by that incredible weight,

A thud was heard, followed by the sound of Dilaila fainting and falling down.

“…….”

Shane did not blame Dilaila. The force that Daira was emitting was tremendous after all.

It was clear that Dilaila who was still not fully matured was facing a challenge too formidable for her to handle.

“How dare you utter the word ‘cat’? You seem to have some skill, though. And it looks like you already know who we are.”

“It’s not that common for people to smell like incomplete trash, so it wasn’t a really difficult task.”

“Hahaha, incomplete trash… You, you’re quite good at provocation. I can hardly remember the last time someone dared to speak such words before me.”

“Who would be afraid of an old cat?”

“Well then, let’s see if you can withstand this old man’s sword. I hope you survive. It seems I have much to discuss with you.”

How long has it been since I’ve encountered someone who could make me this heated?

Shane’s provocation was not the only source of his anger. He was furious about the pointless death of Sallier, whom he had nurtured for a long time to tame the underground city.

Because of this, the underground city would undoubtedly experience significant turmoil.

The Empire had been neglecting the underground city because it could still exert some influence over it, but now one of its major stakes has been brutally destroyed.

Driven by this, Daira had summoned the full power of the White Lion’s aura from the beginning.

Soon, the white flame aura bursting from his entire body transferred to the sword he held, and at one moment, it began to condense into a single point.

The energy was terrifyingly refined.

Probably, this single attack contained enough power to obliterate even the mansion in an instant.

However.

Shane remained calm even in front of such formidable power.

Rather, the eyes beyond the mask illuminated by the light of the white flame were full of greed.

“Though it’s just an aura that resembles the ambers of burned-out remains, the destructive power it contains is… yes, I want it.”

“……?!”

The moment Shane spoke those words.

Daira experienced an immense amount of anxiety unlike anything he had felt in his life.

This was not just the tension of facing a powerful enemy.

It was an instinctive warning that he should not swing his sword at all. This was a first in his life.

Was it because he couldn’t see any weakness in his opponent?

No.

It wasn’t someone else, but he himself, who had reached the level of a third-rank master. He was a true superhuman.

He was skilled enough to easily discern the truth and bluff in his opponent’s movements.

Despite this, his instincts were loudly warning him not to swing his sword, or more precisely, not to unleash the aura of the White Lion that he possessed against the being before him.

But Daira trusted his experience over his instincts.

“I don’t know what sorcery this is… but it’s just a trick.”

Yes, it was nothing more than a trick.

As a knight of the Empire, he had faced countless enemies, many of whom used ridiculous tricks and his instincts had always warned him.

Yet he had been able to overcome such crises and crush his enemies because he had both the aura of the White Lion and his sword.

When all energy was finally concentrated in Daira’s sword,

“……?!”

That immense power that was capable of splitting even part of a mountain vanished as futilely as pollen scattering in the breeze.

Faced with this unbelievable situation, shock appeared on Daira’s face and Shane lifted the corners of his mouth behind his mask.

After his regression, Shane had spent time reflecting on his mental world whenever he could.

He did this both to guard against corruption and to find a way to harness the power of corruption that the organization had used in his previous life.

Through his dedicated reflection, Shane had managed to produce quite the decent results.

One of which was understanding the principle of corruption.

The principle of corruption was simpler than he thought.

It involved imparting “self-awareness” to the emotions that a person harbors.

In my case, it was like creating an incarnation of envy in my body.

So the self-awareness imbued with emotion was granted the ability to exert physical force on reality and influence it.

The power of emotions.

This ability which Shane had named “Origin” was of a completely different nature from the conventionally known manipulation of magical power.

Moreover, since it derived its power from emotions, not magic, it possessed an unlimited force as long as those emotions existed.

That’s why humanity was utterly helpless against it.

Therefore, now that he understood the principle of the power of corruption, Shane began to think about other concerns.

To use the power of emotions without going through the process of corruption, Shane needed to resolve two problems.

One was the lack of a conduit to channel and release emotional force externally; the other was the safety of the emotion itself which would serve as the Origin.

After much deliberation, Shane finally found solutions to both problems.

For the conduit, a dark spirit that fed on others’ emotions and grew stronger from them proved to be an excellent substitute.

The remnants of the rotten wood spirit that was vanquished by Shane.

And the “Source of Magical Power” brought from the Academy.

The spirit created from these two materials was created solely by and for Shane, so it became the perfect tool for channeling Shane’s emotions to the outside world.

However.

The second problem: the emotion to be contained in Origin is not something that can be decided right away.

The power of envy.

Unlike the emotions held by other legion commanders, the “envy” possessed by Shane was uniquely powerful but conversely, it was unstable.

Even the consciousness of Shane, the owner of the body, was driven to envy which almost eliminated his original consciousness until he was almost dead.

Using envy recklessly might lead to a disaster where the spirit is devoured.

Moreover, now that Shane had eliminated all his envy towards Klein, he had no desire to revive that emotion.

In the end, I have no choice but to use another emotion…

Various emotions surfaced and subsided within Shane.

After some time had passed,

At the end of numerous thoughts and dilemmas, one emotion emerged.

An intense emotion that was infinitely closer to envy, but which immediately filled up Shane’s lack of strength.

It was “greed”.

“What, what…”

“Mhmm, indeed.”

Daira’s eyes shook as if there had been an earthquake. As if he witnessed something impossible.

Just when he was about to swing his sword, the surrounding scenery had completely changed.

What is that?

“Teeth…?”

This place was still a basement.

But the basement was no longer just a basement.

Walls built of ordinary bricks were now filled with sharp, protruding teeth and writhing tongues, and the floor was a darkness so deep that it clung to his ankles like a swamp.

In that horrific and bizarre scene, Daira momentarily lost his calm.

Then Shane’s calm voice reached Daira’s ears.

“It’s not enough to satisfy me, but for now, anything more would be too greedy.”

Shane dramatically raised one hand.

“Ho-How can this be!”

Above the hand Shane raised, an aura of pure white that Daira had honed all his life blazed fiercely.

It shone with brilliance unlike any aura Daira had ever seen!

“This can’t be…”

After watching the aura for a moment, Shane clenched his fist and gathered his strength before turning his gaze back to Daira.

Daira wore an expression as if he had been betrayed by the world.

And Shane offered him a faint smile.

“It’s incomplete trash, but it seems it has its uses after all.”

“What did you say…?”

Just as he was taken aback by the incomprehensible words, a huge mouth opened from the dark floor.

Daira sensed the danger and tried to summon his aura, but…

“N-No! Why isn’t my aura…?”

The White Lion’s aura wouldn’t move at all.

The aura that had always moved at his will is now betraying him?

Before he could even despair, the huge mouth swallowed Daira whole in an instant.

“Uh?!”

When did I lose consciousness?

Dilaila suddenly opened her eyes as if she was having a seizure and instinctively looked around.

The familiar pattern on the ceiling and the subtly soft bed.

This was unmistakably her dorm room.

“Was it all… a dream?”

“How could that be?”

“Eeeeeek!!”

Upon hearing a voice, Dilaila experienced another seizure-like reaction before bouncing up from the bed to scan her surroundings.

Soon, a figure appeared from the darkness beyond the window.

“You, you are!”

“Have you come to your senses?”

“It wasn’t a dream.”

Dilaila faced Shane, the man in the mask standing amidst the flickering darkness, and a shadow fell across her face.

“To think it was a dream after such an experience, are you that naive? Or do you wish it was a dream? Either way, it’s best not to run from reality.”

“Ugh…”

Dilaila groaned at his words, which cut straight to the heart.

He was right.

She had hoped it was a dream.

She didn’t want to see that dark side of humanity.

It was an instinctual defense mechanism.

“Wait, how did you escape from there? You were clearly there…”

“A half-cat had shown up.”

“Yes, right! That’s it, the Knights of Judgment, right? The imperial knights!”

“That’s right.”

“How did you escape… from that unbelievable monster…”

“There was no need to escape.”

“Huh?”

“If I couldn’t handle a mere half-breed, I wouldn’t have gone to save you in the first place.”

“…What on earth?”

What was this being in front of her?

Dilaila was confused.

The Knights of Judgment.

This was a name revered almost to the point of sanctity within the empire.

During the Great War, they had saved the empire from numerous crises and were hailed as the right hand of the emperor.

Each of their strengths was beyond those of an ordinary knight.

The most important aspect was their aura.

Their aura was said to possess something more than just magical power.

Even among masters of the same rank, a member of the Knights of Judgment held incomparably greater power than a regular knight.

And he had killed such a being?

“Believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. You’ll find out soon enough.”

“……?”

Realizing it was futile to ask further, Dilaila changed the subject.

“What about the people in that mansion?”

“They are no longer in this world.”

“Ah…”

Dilaila made a face as if something bothered her.

“What is it?”

“That little kid too, he must be dead, right?”

“… Interesting. You know what he did, yet you’re concerned?”

“It’s not exactly concern but… well.”

He was just a child. Of course, Dilaila knew very well what had happened in that mansion.

And what that child she had once taught had done.

It wasn’t that Dilaila felt sympathy for the son of Count Salier.

It was simply the fact that a young child had died.

And that he was a child she had known well.

It was a fundamental bitterness that stemmed from there.

In fact, the first person Shane killed upon entering the mansion was Count Salier’s son.

By killing him and retrieving his soul, Shane broke Warnard’s spirit.

“… you’re the same in many ways. To that time.”

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing.”

Before everything happened, Dilaila had the will to believe in other beings even after experiencing numerous betrayals.

Not just humans, but she had faith in other species as well.

Shane did not entirely dislike such a weak side of Dilaila.

In this life, Dilaila wouldn’t be the betrayer of humanity but someone who would fight alongside them.

“May I ask one more thing?”

“What is it?”

“Why did you save me, even taking such a risk?”

“Because you’re worth it.”

“Worth…?”

“You’ll find out eventually. You still don’t know what your talent is.”

“…….”

Talent.

Dilaila wondered what talent she supposedly had but didn’t bother to ask.

It didn’t seem like the person before her would tell her, and if it was her own talent, she would have to realize it on her own.

“I’ll come back someday. Until then, take care of yourself.”

“Come back? But why—”

“What is it?”

“It might be a pathetic thing to say, but… what should I do now…?”

“…….”

Shane noticed the thought that crossed Dilaila’s mind with that question.

She seemed alright for the moment but she had just been kidnapped.

And she took in those terrible emotions in the basement too.

She hadn’t reached hatred for humans yet, but distrust was deeply ingrained in her bones.

Dilaila was still alone, nothing more than a fragile girl with no one to rely on.

“If you can’t trust others, you must find.”

“Huh?”

“Find someone you can judge to be trustworthy on your own.”

“……!”

Dilaila’s eyes widened at Shane’s words.

It might sound cliché, but these were words she had heard from the most important person in her life.

She never thought she would hear such words in a similar situation.

Dilaila could do nothing but nod her head; she was unable to say anything else.

“You all know this, but there will be a rank examination in four months.”

The students’ eyes lit up at the words of Benjamin, the senior professor of the Command Department.

Rank examination. This test revolves around the class system established by the empire.

This test, which can be applied for after turning 20 or upon entering the fifth year at the academy, was naturally the most important test for all students.

After all, the class system was equivalent to one’s social class.

“Unlike external rank examinations, the one at the academy varies according to department scores. Of course, you’ll also have to take tests that suit your aptitudes.”

Particularly in the Command Department, scores are so highly regarded in the rank examination that even if you make mistakes in the written part, the evaluation score is so high that you have the advantage of being able to pass.

It was no wonder that this department was considered the gathering place for the elite.

“So you understand why it’s important to find companions to join you for the dungeon ability evaluation score, right?”

“Yes!”

“We understand!”

From the moment the students joined the Command Department, they were given the freedom to enter dungeons at will.

This meant they could form their own teams and venture into dungeons.

Fired up by this, the students responded in unison, and amidst them, Shane began to calculate alone.