Chapter 95
“……”
My mind went cold.
<What do we do?! From that height, even an aura user…!>
“Oh, right.”
<…Huh?>
Something came to mind.
“The Harpy Queen’s five-colored feather.”
<…Ah.>
A one-time-use item we got from the previous dungeon—one that prevents death from falling. He must have trusted that and jumped.
[‘The Architect of Worlds’ scolds him, asking if such an extreme performance was really necessary.]
[‘The Cynic Who Balances Equilibrium’ says they were terrified, thinking this would lead straight into the 18th cycle.]
<Haah, you really scared me!>
“I know, right? Honestly… just wait till he gets back.”
<What are you going to do?>
“I’ll make him eat a sparrow-dropping-flavored nutrient supplement.”
<That’s a fitting punishment.>
While I was planning my brutal revenge, a flustered voice came from behind.
“Y-you, you! What are you?!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be an alchemist?!”
“How did you escape the vice-captain…?!”
Vice-Captain Lecto was considered an ace within the Radiant Knights.
The knights who had surrounded me were now full of wariness.
<What will you do, Ailet?>
“I’ll deal with these guys first.”
Even to my own ears, my voice sounded cold.
“Deal with us? That’s our line!”
“Kill the woman! Don’t leave any witnesses alive!”
They weren’t even pretending to be knights anymore—they were attacking in a group.
“I need you alive to testify at the Holy Court. Be grateful.”
I drew Serpens, coating it in white light.
“An aura user…!”
“I thought she was an alchemist!”
“Even so, she’s probably just a beginner—”
That misunderstanding was disappointing, so I immediately unfolded my segmented blade.
With a sharp metallic cascade, my sword spread out like a devouring serpent, whipping through the area and scattering blood.
“AAARGH! My leg—my arm…!”
“What—what is this absurd swordsmanship?!”
“S-she’s not a beginner! An aura expert—no, high-level…!”
“Hiiik! We can’t handle her! Call—call Tesilid…!”
Panicked out of their minds, they were now calling for the very person they had pushed to his death.
Annoyed, I lashed my blade even more viciously.
“AAAAAGH!”
“KUH—!”
There were fewer than twenty of them—hardly a coordinated group.
It didn’t even take five minutes to render them all combat-incapacitated.
I focused on cutting or breaking their legs, leaving them unable to move.
“Ugh… w-what are you…?!”
The captain, Gedvil, writhed pathetically on the ground, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Click.
Serpens slid back into its sheath.
“I’m Tesilid’s temporary guardian. Why?”
“Wha—kgh!”
I couldn’t kill him, so I beat him with the sheathed sword instead—infused with just enough aura.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Reflect while you’re getting hit.”
“Ugh! Agh! P-please spare me! I—I was wrong—!”
Thud!
“What were you wrong about?”
“Ghk! T-Tesilid—kgh!”
Thud! Thud!
“Yes, Tesilid—what about him? Why’d you stop talking?”
“P-please, mercy—!”
“Mercy?”
A dry laugh escaped me.
“This is mercy.”
“……?!”
I carefully regulated my aura.
Don’t get carried away. Don’t kill them.
Perhaps because I calmed myself, my voice turned even colder.
“Do you know what I saw in the Burst Dungeon?”
“Ghk—!”
“The pain Tesilid went through there—”
“Khk—!”
“Even divided among all of you—”
“Gha—!”
“Still wouldn’t compare to this.”
“Ughhhh—!”
“So this is mercy. Don’t you think?”
“Uuugh…”
The protagonist of the 17th cycle, bound by rules, would never dream of taking revenge with his own hands.
So now that I’m his guardian, isn’t this level of intervention acceptable?
No—if not me, then who would do it?
Thud!
“Ghk…”
Unfortunately, Captain Gedvil didn’t last long and lost consciousness.
I grabbed him by the collar and tossed him aside—right next to Vice-Captain Lecto.
“H-hiiiik!”
He scrambled backward in terror.
<Don’t forget—you said you’d beat this one twice as much.>
“Twice is enough?”
I added deliberately:
“He held a blade to my throat.”
“Hiik!”
I looked him up and down.
“In the original story, you were the main tank, right?”
“P-please spare me! I won’t do it again—AAARGH!”
He endured well.
Which was good—I could beat him to my heart’s content.
“Stop! Please stop!”
Then suddenly, he raised his head, face swollen and twisted with desperation.
“We—we were just trying to survive! Would you have done anything different?!”
“……”
I paused.
<Even now, he’s justifying himself?>
My gaze turned cold.
I lowered my sword.
Mistaking this as agreement, Lecto smirked.
“See? You admit it—!”
“Why do you think I’m keeping you alive?”
“What?”
I lost interest in matching my level with an insect.
“To have you testify in court. But you—”
“……”
“Don’t seem like you’ll say anything useful.”
In other words:
“You’re useless.”
“……!”
I raised a finger and pressed it against his forehead.
Whiiing—
“W-what are you—?!”
“Shh.”
Using the aura technique I learned from my mother, I began controlling his body.
Starting with hearing, then touch—everything except sight became hypersensitive.
“Ha… haa… haaah…!”
“V-vice… captain?”
“Ghhhaaa…!”
Already covered in wounds, I didn’t need to do anything more.
“Gghrk…”
His eyes turned bloodshot as veins burst.
Foaming at the mouth, he collapsed.
“W-what did you do to him…?!”
“He won’t die.”
“……”
“He’ll just suffer more than death.”
“……!”
For him, death would be a release.
But as a tank-type aura user, dying from shock was difficult.
Left like this…
<He’ll become a wreck.>
[‘The Eye That Observes All Chaos’ covers its eyes in fear.]
[‘The Heavenly Inspector’ clicks its tongue, asking why I’m doing the Inquisition’s job.]
‘I think bringing Lecto to court would backfire.’
In the original story, Lecto drove Tesilid to his death.
At his core, he was malicious—and his inferiority complex wouldn’t change.
A man with nothing to lose would gladly drag others into ruin.
If that’s the case, why give him another chance to commit evil?
[‘The Creative Economy Manager’ praises the decision to leave no future trouble.]
[‘The Architect of Worlds’ says punishment should be thorough.]
[‘The Scales That Judge Souls’ agrees professionally.]
Then—
I sensed movement.
Some of the knights were secretly trying to use healing magic.
I muttered:
“Silence.”
Light fluttered from my fingertips like butterflies and sealed their mouths.
“Mmph?!”
A high-level debuff.
No chanting—no healing.
“Try experiencing what it’s like to be powerless.”
Soon—
“Cough—!”
“Khk—!”
They began vomiting blood.
“Why’s that happening?” Agnes asked.
“Their immunity is low. Even stage-one plague is affecting them.”
“They could resist with aura or holy power—but they’re too weak.”
“What about Tesilid?”
“…At best, he had mid-level beginner aura.”
“That gives him 20 minutes. With potions, 30.”
“Fifteen minutes have already passed.”
I wanted him to close the dungeon on his own.
But—
Time passed.
<…Ailet.>
“……”
<It’s been 30 minutes.>
“…I knew it.”
<Yeah… me too.>
“Let’s go, Agnes. Time to find our lost child.”
I turned toward the black archway.
And then—
Whoosh!
<Ailet! Are you insane?!>
[‘The Architect of Worlds’ screams at the extreme development!]
