Chapter 106
Jeffrey, a guard at the Kintne survival camp, could not make sense of the situation at all.
Elliot hadn’t come downstairs for several hours. This was the first time he had failed to appear even by the time the scouting party returned.
He’d heard that a female intruder had been confined to a room.
“I heard that woman was gorgeous. No wonder he’s not coming down.”
“Hey, didn’t you recognize her? That’s Cherry Sinclair. The famous heiress to a massive fortune in the capital.”
“I overheard someone say she was El’s partner. A partner from the past.”
“What? An ex-girlfriend?”
Jeffrey stood in the first-floor lobby, letting the guards’ gossip drift past him.
Just then, the lobby doors swung open and a member of the scouting party staggered in. The guards looked at him with confusion.
“What happened? Where are Yohan and Tide?”
The scout, his face pale as a ghost, shook his head. He was the only one who had made it back alive.
As he collapsed onto the floor, his bag fell and spilled its contents. It was filled with white powder and plants that looked like medicinal herbs.
“What is all that?”
The scout remained dazed despite Jeffrey’s question. Another guard standing next to Jeffrey asked again.
“Hey, I asked what that is.”
“I-it was El’s orders. He told us to get this from Jeremy’s apothecary… and to bring back any other useful herbs, but how was I supposed to know which ones were useful? I just grabbed everything.”
With a hollow expression, the scout rambled through the events he’d experienced. His eyes were unfocused; he looked severely traumatized.
“But once we left the shop, those crazy monster bastards just kept lunging at us…”
“Those things always lunge at people.”
“No, not like that. It was different from usual. You know how they are. If there’s food in front of them, they just charge blindly. They have no intelligence and can’t hunt like predators. But this time, it was like we’d been marked or something. They followed us like ghosts.”
“Man. You had a rough time.”
The guards offered him words of comfort, assuming it was just the kind of thing that happened during a scouting mission.
Peep— Peep—
Suddenly, the sound of a whistle echoed from somewhere.
“What the hell is that? Who’s doing that?”
“Damn it! It sounds like it’s coming from upstairs!”
“What crazy bastard is blowing a whistle?!”
Jeffrey looked around, startled. In an instant, tension sent sweat pouring down his body.
“The monsters are going to swarm us!”
While everyone was in a panic, the captain of the guards spoke up.
“Today’s sentries stay here and guard the entrance. The rest of you, follow me. There’s an intruder.”
The captain loaded his rifle and looked back at his men. He seemed certain that the person blowing the whistle was an intruder—or perhaps an internal spy. Jeffrey had heard rumors recently that survival camps from other regions were eyeing Kintne.
The guards followed the captain, sprinting up the stairs toward the source of the noise.
The sound was clearly coming from the fifth floor, but the men hesitated at the top of the stairwell.
“C-Captain… the fifth floor is…”
The captain also looked toward the fifth floor with a troubled expression.
“The sound definitely came from the fifth floor,” Jeffrey said.
The captain came to the same conclusion and issued a search order to the men.
“I’ll take the responsibility. First, we have to catch them. We have to stop that noise.”
El might punish them once he found out, but this was an emergency. If they didn’t catch the person blowing the whistle, the monsters would swarm the building and everyone would be in danger.
Peep—
This time, the whistle sounded right nearby. There was clearly no one in the hallway, yet the sound kept coming from somewhere. It almost felt as if it were coming from inside the walls.
Peep—
“Damn it! Where is it coming from? Find it, fast! The monsters are going to gather!”
Jeffrey tried the handle of the door at the end of the hallway, but it wouldn’t open. He shouted to the captain.
“This is the only door that won’t open.”
The captain and the rest of the guards rushed over to Jeffrey. The captain pounded on the door and shouted.
“Master El! Are you inside?”
“What are you asking for, you idiots?! Get in here and save me!”
Save him? It was now certain that an intruder was inside. Exchanging signals with the captain, the guards broke down the door.
Inside the room, they witnessed an unexpected sight.
The leader of their survival camp was tied tightly to a chair. Valen and Philip were in the same state.
Jeffrey and the rest of the guards stared at the scene before them, unable to believe their eyes.
‘Is that… broken?’
Jeffrey noticed that one of the rifles lying on the floor was bent at a bizarre angle.
‘How on earth…’
Cough.
Elliot spat out blood. Only then did Jeffrey notice the gunshot wound in Elliot’s side.
They were tied to chairs right in front of the balcony railing. The railing looked flimsy, and the way they seemed perched on the edge of falling was enough to make any observer’s blood run cold.
Standing beside them was a woman. She held a menacing axe that didn’t match her elegant, cute appearance.
This woman was likely the Cherry Sinclair the guards had been gossiping about earlier.
The heiress to a great fortune? Was she playing out some kind of lover’s quarrel here? No matter how he looked at it, Jeffrey couldn’t understand the situation.
“M-Master El! Are you alright?”
The guard captain called out to Elliot in a panic. Elliot spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the floor and looked up.
When the woman beside him, Cherry Sinclair, let out a sigh, Elliot flinched as if terrified. Elliot, being afraid of a woman?
There was blood splattered on her clothes. She looked like the villain that heroes have to defeat at the end of a fairy tale.
Watching the situation with bated breath, Jeffrey cautiously asked the captain.
“It looks like we can take her down easily. Should we really fire?”
“We follow Master El’s orders unconditionally. Even if it leads to the wrong outcome later.”
At the captain’s word, everyone leveled their rifles at Cherry simultaneously, waiting for El’s command.
But then, Cherry suddenly flashed a bright smile. She was looking right at them.
‘No, it looks like she’s looking behind us…’
By the time Jeffrey realized this and turned around, it was too late.
With brilliant blonde hair and a stiff police uniform, a handsome man with a cold, sharp impression was entering the room.
“W-what? A cop…?”
The moment someone uttered those words, three guards standing in front of the policeman dropped their rifles and collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain.
It happened so fast that Jeffrey froze, not knowing what had occurred.
The people of the Kintne survival camp had all received direct combat training from Elliot, but the duration had been very short, and since most of it was focused on fighting monsters, their interpersonal combat skills were pathetic.
The hesitating guards finally began firing blindly at the policeman.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But it was useless. The policeman dodged to the side, used the wall as a foothold to leap upward, flipped through the air, and landed behind the guards, disarming and taking them down one by one.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
“Ack!”
In an instant, all fifteen guards were neutralized. Watching the scene from a distance, Cherry clapped. Elliot was hurling curses at the guards who were being defeated so helplessly.
Jeffrey collapsed to the floor, barely able to catch his breath. The policeman had struck their pressure points with precision, ensuring they couldn’t get back up easily.
“We finally meet. I did exactly what you told me to, Miss Cherry. How was I? Did I do well?”
The policeman spoke to Cherry, who was standing next to Elliot. Jeffrey watched the scene while groaning in pain. A whistle was hanging around the policeman’s neck.
‘Damn it, who the hell are these people?’
Their martial prowess was formidable enough that these two alone could probably wipe out all the damn monsters that had taken over Kintne.
Jeffrey was certain of it.
Eden moved through the room like a whirlwind, neutralizing the guards.
Through the crack in the open door, I could see an open vent in the hallway.
“Who the hell is that guy?”
Elliot asked in a shocked voice. I smacked him on the back of the head.
“Be quiet. You can’t beat Sir Eden anyway. You can’t beat me, either.”
At my words, Elliot turned to glare at me with a murderous expression. He looked quite intimidating, covered in blood like that.
“Wait… Eden?”
Mulling over my words, Elliot suddenly turned to look at Eden with a startled face.
“Could it be… Eden Duncan Lancaster?”
He finally seemed to recognize who Eden was. He let out a shriek of despair, as if realizing he was doomed.
“Fuck, why is a big shot like that here…!”
Hearing that, I was reminded of Eden’s status once again. I usually forgot about it because he was a man who didn’t care for dignity.
Just then, Eden took down the last guard. I clapped cheerfully.
“I’ve been waiting for you. I didn’t expect such a flashy entrance, though.”
Turning toward me, Eden shrugged with a charming smile. His attitude was overflowing with confidence, without a hint of tension.
And with good reason. The reason we could afford to be this relaxed was thanks to the plan devised by Eden, who excelled in tactics. I recalled the conversation I’d had with him earlier.
“When we’re exploring the underground tunnels, we don’t know what’s on the other side. What if we get separated by an unexpected accident?”
“What do you mean, ‘what if’? We just meet up again.”
“Don’t joke. If there are monsters, we can just beat them up and meet, but what if there’s another group of survivors?”
“If they’re a threat to us, we’ll have to neutralize them.”
“How, when we’re separated?”
“Hmm… Then let’s think of it as a chessboard.”
“A chessboard?”
“I’ll go and take out the other pieces. So, Miss Cherry, you just take the Queen. Let’s go for the checkmate.”
