#Chapter 30
—
Thanks to the potion, Jeannie barely managed to stay alive, clutching at her stomach.
The hole in her abdomen had been closed by the potion.
But because she had lost so much blood, her body had no strength left.
It was then, once again realizing she had nearly died for real, that Jeannie lifted her head.
“Oooh… the taste of blood is pretty good.”
Arthur’s muttering reached her ears, carried by his heightened hearing.
Startled, Jeannie’s shoulders shook violently.
‘That lunatic… That absolute lunatic. Why the hell is he drinking blood?’
Odd behavior once or twice might be tolerable, but when it became continuous, fear turned into terror.
Meanwhile, Arthur licked Jeannie’s blood from the corner of his mouth, lips curling upward.
\[Wait… Arthur. How did you do it?]
\[Huh? You evolved?]
The gnome and the undine had evolved from lesser spirits into intermediate spirits.
No longer tiny fairies, they now stood as a boy and a girl.
Arthur smiled at the clear change and asked,
‘Undine, Gnome-ssi, how do you feel? Okay?’
\[Yes. It feels really great, but… how did you do it, Arthur? My strength suddenly skyrocketed!]
\[Right. How did you do it?]
As the spirits clamored, Arthur brought a finger to his lips.
‘That’s a secret. Anyway, congratulations. You’re intermediate spirits now.’
The gnome and undine tilted their heads, puzzled.
But instead of pressing, they carefully came forward and each took hold of Arthur’s hands.
The gesture reminded Arthur of Irene, and he let out a quiet chuckle.
‘Hmm… At this rate, saving Jeannie was worth it.’
Naturally, the difference between lesser and intermediate spirits was immense.
Until now, Undine and Gnome had only stirred changes in nature, but from now on, they could bring about miracles.
‘Now that I’ve returned to my senses, I can even make gains like this… You’ve grown, Arthur Bayern.’
With that thought, Arthur turned his gaze to Jeannie.
Catching his eyes, Jeannie stiffened in alarm.
“Uh… Jeannie-ssi?”
“Y-yes?”
“…”
“P-please, go on!”
Arthur, a little taken aback, asked,
“Uh… your way of speaking suddenly changed?”
“…”
“Are you really Jeannie-ssi?”
Jeannie couldn’t answer right away.
Of course, inside her head, she was spewing every curse she knew.
But she didn’t dare voice her complaints.
This lunatic who carved up corpses while laughing…
Thinking that far, Jeannie answered with extreme politeness.
“On reflection, I think I’ve been speaking far too rudely…”
“…”
“A-and! You might be… older than me.”
Arthur blinked and answered,
“I’m 17, though?”
“…?”
“You can speak comfortably with me.”
At that, Jeannie blinked too.
Then, furrowing her brows, she quickly came to her senses.
Seventeen? What kind of nonsense was that?
‘This bastard… is he picking a fight so he has an excuse to kill me?’
She racked her brain furiously.
But she couldn’t figure out why Arthur would say such a thing.
What reason did he have to claim he was seventeen years old in this situation?
So Jeannie laughed.
Recalling the saying: *You can’t spit on a smiling face.*
“Haha! That’s a funny joke!”
“…?”
“I won’t ask about age! Everyone has secrets they want to hide!”
Arthur scratched his head in silence.
‘Something’s… really different, isn’t it?’
He couldn’t put it into words, but Jeannie seemed like a different person altogether.
In many ways.
The sudden change made him wonder, but Arthur nodded soon enough.
Because this Jeanie was definitely better than the one just a moment ago.
With that thought, Arthur spoke again.
“Then, Jeannie-ssi.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“There’s something I want to ask. Are we… comrades now?”
Jeanie’s eyes widened.
“C-comrades?”
“Yes. Comrades.”
She let out a hollow laugh.
Comrades? With the guy who just put a hole in her stomach?
But since she didn’t want another one, Jeannie smiled brightly.
“Of course we’re comrades, Donn-nim.”
“….”
“I thought so from the beginning—”
Arthur exclaimed,
“Oh, that’s great. Then could I ask a favor?”
“A favor?”
“Yes.”
Arthur pointed toward the office.
“From here on, we’re escaping this place. Please take charge of protecting the client, Jeannie-ssi. I don’t know how things will play out, but we still have to complete the request, right?”
—
—
When Arthur broke into the office, he found President Tartan collapsed.
But examining him, Arthur realized it wasn’t just from shock.
“He took poison, this one…”
His airway was abnormally blocked, his breathing ragged.
Signs of poisoning.
‘Was there an intruder? Or did he take it himself?’
After a moment’s thought, Arthur leaned toward the latter.
Because there were no signs of forced entry.
“Can you heal him, Undine?”
\[Leave it to me, Arthur!]
At her reply, Undine used her power.
The moment a refreshing energy brushed Arthur’s nose, President Tartan’s complexion improved drastically.
Arthur marveled at Undine’s ability, which expelled the poison at once.
“Wow… Undine. Your powers got amazing, huh?”
\[Hehe, it’s thanks to you, Arthur!]
At her words, Arthur gently reached out and covered her eyes.
Undine tilted her head at the sudden gesture but soon smiled brightly and clung to his arm.
Turning his body that way, Arthur looked at Tartan.
Then he slapped him across the face.
*Smack!*
With a harsh sound, Tartan’s head whipped to the side.
But he didn’t wake, so Arthur slapped him again.
*Smack smack smack!*
The sharp sound rang out repeatedly, leaving Gnome and Jeannie gaping.
‘T-that lunatic! Why is he suddenly slapping the guy’s face?!’
\[Sc-scary…]
Even as Tartan’s cheeks swelled, he didn’t wake. Arthur clicked his tongue.
‘Hmm… troublesome. I need to ask him about the necromancer and hear what happened.’
But looked at differently, there was an upside.
After all, they had to get out of this building, and for a noncombatant like President Tartan, being unconscious was actually safer.
With that thought, Arthur entrusted Tartan to Jeannie.
Her face was pale, but she managed to carry him easily.
They stepped out of the office again.
Staring at the blood- and flesh-smeared hallway, Jeannie asked carefully,
“Uh… Donn-ssi?”
“Yes, go on.”
“If I’m carrying President Tartan and giving cover fire, I might be a little slow… Is that okay?”
Without turning, Arthur replied,
“Oh, that’s fine. Actually, that’s why I asked you to carry him.”
“…Excuse me?”
“In my experience, people who’ve suffered like you tend to act recklessly for revenge. But if you’re carrying Tartan-ssi, you can’t, right?”
Jeannie’s mouth fell open.
Arthur, still explaining, smiled.
“Though, honestly, you don’t seem the type, Jeannie-ssi.”
Watching that smile, Jeannie rubbed her goosebump-ridden arms.
At the same time, she made a firm vow.
‘Even if I give cover fire, I must *never* aim at his back. If I do, he’ll just use that teleport-like ability and slice my head clean off.’
Muttering under her breath, Jeannie swallowed hard.
A heavy silence settled.
Arthur sharpened his senses, recalling what he knew of Adventure Pharmaceuticals.
The company, led by President Tartan, had its HQ in Zone C-44, on the outskirts of the commercial district.
But it occupied an entire large branch, so its HQ was unusually massive.
‘If I’m lucky, we can slip out unnoticed… but I don’t know the way.’
He could solve it quickly with Undine and Gnome’s help, but he hesitated.
Now that they were intermediate spirits, their presence was so strong even non-spirit-affine people could see them.
Not wanting them to get hurt, Arthur decided to ask Jeanie instead.
“Jeanie-ssi? Could you guide us?”
“…Guide?”
“Yes. Our mission is to escort President Tartan, right? No need to fight enemies unnecessarily.”
Jeannie nodded exaggeratedly.
“An accurate assessment, Donn-nim.”
“….”
“There’s no need to face that necromancer. Fortunately, I have a knack for finding ways. I’ll guide you.”
Arthur blinked at her excessive politeness.
But then he let it go.
‘Seeing how her attitude keeps flipping, Jeannie-ssi must also have a screw loose somewhere.’
Trying to understand such people only gave you a headache.
How could the sane understand the insane?
Jeannie led the way.
As soon as she did, their sluggish pace picked up.
A few undead lunged at them along the way, but before they could even scream, Arthur’s blade cut their heads off.
“Let’s go.”
Arthur answered flatly and kept walking. Jeannie swallowed dryly.
‘Willet sir… when will you arrive? Please save me from this monster…’
She fiddled with the mana transmission device Willet had given her for emergencies.
Just then, Arthur gestured from up ahead.
Jeannie stopped, startled.
“The entrance…”
“Yes, it’s blocked.”
Arthur scratched his chin.
A wall of a hundred undead blocked the exit.
He could force his way out, but with President Tartan behind him, Arthur turned.
“Is there no other way, Jeannie-ssi?”
“According to the plans I saw, that’s the only exit. To use another, we’d have to destroy the outer wall.”
Arthur hesitated.
He drew his sword and started forward, when Jeannie shouted,
“Y-you’re going to fight?”
“Yes. That’s the only way out. And if we break another wall, the necromancer will notice and chase us anyway.”
“….”
“So we might as well settle this here. I’ll need your support, Jeannie-ssi.”
Jeannie pressed her lips shut.
Meanwhile, Arthur drew his meteoric iron sword and advanced.
From above, a voice rang out.
“So you came, swordsman.”
Arthur lifted his head.
The necromancer he had seen earlier was floating in midair.
*Bang!*
Spotting him, Arthur immediately pulled the trigger.
But the necromancer had already cast a barrier.
*Clang!*
Watching the deflected bullet, Arthur clicked his tongue.
Unfortunately, that shot had been his last.
“Well now… Greeting me with a gun?”
“I didn’t think we were on speaking terms.”
“That’s true. We’re not.”
With that, the necromancer descended from the air.
Arthur tightened his grip on his sword, preparing to fight.
But the necromancer spoke.
“I told you, on the first floor you’d meet an opponent. Remember?”
“…Did you say that?”
“I did. So forget me—play with that one instead. You’ll find it very entertaining.”
With a vile laugh, the necromancer retreated.
At the same time, the hundred undead blocking the exit stepped back.
A heavy sound echoed. Arthur’s eyes widened.
*Boom!*
‘Huh?’
Alongside the thud, a warning bell rang in his mind.
The blood of Bayern screamed its warning, and Arthur unconsciously tightened his grip on his sword.
‘What is this? Why do I suddenly feel like this?’
His eyes narrowed.
A massive man entered the building, carrying a massive greatsword.
His appearance was plain except for his immense size.
But Arthur knew.
The rough, oppressive aura radiating from him.
“Fifth Circle…”
Arthur’s words trailed off as he blinked.
Behind him, Jeannie, who had been guarding President Tartan, also saw the man behind the necromancer—and couldn’t hide her shock.
“T-that man…”
“That man? You know him, Jeannie-ssi?”
Her jaw trembled as she answered,
“The Butcher… He’s the Butcher. One of the most infamous mad murderers in the underworld…”
At the familiar word, Arthur’s eyes widened.
‘Oh? So this swordsman’s a lunatic too?’
The necromancer shouted,
“You’ll find it tough! This one’s Fifth Circle, and like you, he carries blood in his veins! Ever heard of trolls? The monsters said to exist a thousand years ago? He carries their blood!”
Arthur tilted his head, asking,
“What’s a troll?”
“Simply put, they’re immortal—”
The necromancer’s words were cut off.
His head exploded, and both Arthur and Jeannie flinched.
“Running your mouth… so freely about my power.”
The Butcher.
Tacen pushed the necromancer aside and stepped forward.
The necromancer revived a moment later, rubbing the back of his head with a groan.
“Do these guys think my head is a toy…”
Meanwhile, facing Tacen, Arthur’s lips curled.
“This looks dangerous.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You. You’re really dangerous. I didn’t think I’d face someone like you.”
Tacen tilted his head.
“Yet you’re smiling.”
“Oh, that’s a habit.”
Arthur adjusted his grip on the meteoric iron sword and erased his smile.
“But with you, Tacen-ssi, even smiling feels like a luxury. For the first time, I’ll have to give it my all. Because this time… you really look dangerous.”
—
