Chapter 96

Finding the Exit (3)

While Kairus was busy dealing with the Scarecrow and Lea combo, Irena took charge of Dublin.

“They say women like beastly men. What about you, miss? Do you feel a little drawn to my animalistic charm?”

Dublin grinned as he showed off the bear foreleg that had replaced his human arm.

“I like humans. Beastly men don’t appeal to me, and I hate actual beasts even more.”

Her reply was followed by a strike that clashed against the bear paw.

“But don’t you have a battle gear?”

“I’m not a weakling who relies on tools!”

Blocking the stained glass attack, Dublin pushed her back by flexing his arm.

Irena allowed herself to be pushed and backed off smoothly, giving him a long look from top to bottom.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about guys like you.”

They were rare, but not unheard of. Battle gear required a minimum level of talent to use.

“Guys who plaster illegal procedures all over their bodies and end up like stitched-up rag dolls.”

It was different from the procedures used by Featherwing or Lunaseeker.

Featherwing dramatically increased both the success rate and post-procedure stability by limiting procedures to direct Featherwing descendants.

Lunaseeker had a lower success rate but similarly high post-procedure stability.

Most other procedures didn’t offer such benefits.

“Do your nipples or ears start falling off after a while too?”

Without regular maintenance, the body could break out in ulcers and start rotting away, or the bones could weaken like glass and snap just from standing.

The nerves could slowly deteriorate, causing pain that felt like your whole body was being shredded by heated razor blades even when doing nothing.

You had to endure all sorts of side effects.

“You should’ve just gone for tattoos instead.”

Like procedures, one method used by those who couldn’t wield battle gear but still wanted power was tattoos.

“You think upkeep falls from the sky, you piece of shit?”

But tattoos lost their power over time, so they needed to be touched up regularly.

Naturally, tattooists demanded a fortune even for touch-ups.

“Seems better to burn through cash than wreck your body.”

“Health over money, huh. Just hearing that shit, I can tell you’re some highborn bitch who grew up eating well in a fancy noble house.”

Irena couldn’t argue with Dublin’s words.

Saying health comes before money was something usually said by people who already had enough money.

“People like you look at factory workers dying from soldering and say, ‘Health should come first. Fools,’ spewing bullshit like that.”

Irena, listening to him, clicked her tongue softly.

“If you’ve got a problem with it, how about being born rich next time? I can help with the dying part.”

“How about you get born again into a filthy, ragged home for my sake? I’ll help you die too, same as you offered.”

A brief silence, one breath.

Before the next breath could follow, over ten exchanges flashed between them.

The wind from their clashes followed late but roared with ferocity.

“This body of mine doesn’t need anything like battle gear! I grow stronger with nothing but my own flesh!”

“How’s that your body when it’s patched up with all sorts of enhancements?”

There was no real difference between swinging a battle gear and swinging a body filled with surgical modifications.

“In fact, if you don’t take your meds, your body’ll start rotting. That makes you worse off than someone with battle gear.”

“Shut your… damn mouth, you bitch! Before I rip that filthy tongue out and hang it on your ear!”

“If you’ve got the skills, then try!”

Irena had already been told by Melvin that the maze shouldn’t be seriously damaged.

‘Doesn’t matter.’

She hadn’t planned to hold back anyway. The wind she wielded grew fiercer every time she swung her sword.

“UAAAAAH!”

Dublin’s eyes turned bloodshot, veins bulging and writhing beneath his skin.

The two of them kept up a brutally honest and brute-force assault with no tricks involved. Like a carpenter hammering nails.

A relentless, full-force offensive, aimed only at crushing the other’s breath.

It was a fight where one of them inevitably had to fall.

“Not going to help?”

Watching the intense battle, Melvin turned to Kairus.

“Why should I? She’s holding her own just fine.”

Kairus had braced his left arm with a splint with Tanya’s help and was now watching Irena’s fight.

‘She’s becoming just like her captain. Well, it’s not like I was ever her goal.’

Irena’s goal wasn’t Kairus. Even though she was learning Swift Blade from him, she had never wanted to be like him.

Her aim was Dana Watson. Naturally, even if she learned Swift Blade, how she used it would differ from Kairus.

But that was fine.

‘It’s not a shallow sword art that weakens just because your style changes.’

A good sword style was one that opened paths to all kinds of destinations.

Swordsmanship without variety might show quick progress, but it often lacked something essential.

“The maze doesn’t look like it’ll collapse. Let’s just keep watching.”

Kairus swallowed a painkiller with water. Real combat wasn’t training.

It could never be training. What you learned in real combat differed in level, substance, and nature from any training.

Irena had found a valuable opportunity, and a teacher had no right to rob a student of their chance.

“We should prepare for treatment,”

Tanya said, laying out the necessary medicines and tools. Even as the entire maze seemed to tremble from the battle, her hands didn’t waver in the slightest.

“Still, that’s impressive. I didn’t know someone could get that strong just from procedures, not battle gear.”

At Melvin’s remark, Tanya responded.

“Most procedures were originally researched for medical purposes.”

“What difference does that make? They’re being used like that in reality.”

Tuktuk. A chunk of purple-decayed flesh fell off Dublin’s body. In place of blood, a brownish mucus oozed from the exposed tissue.

“Looks like he’s reaching his limit.”

“That’s what most procedures end up like.”

Except for a very small number of successful procedures, overusing anything implanted through these methods would result in that kind of breakdown.

“That’s… normal?”

In response to Melvin’s question, Tanya answered.

“It happens when an implanted organ is activated and maintained for too long.”

Even if not activated, the patient had to take medication regularly to suppress side effects.

“What happens if you fight while taking the meds?”

“Stabilizers weren’t made for that purpose in the first place.”

They were developed to suppress side effects for people who received parts from other humans.

Parts taken from animals or artificially created organs could only be stabilized while inactive.

“In short, if you slap on parts from non-human creatures and go berserk, you won’t last long.”

The match had been decided. From the start, it was a question of whether Irena could hold out until Dublin reached that state.

And Irena had succeeded in enduring. Dublin was collapsing.

Not metaphorically, but literally — his flesh and bones were falling apart.

“Ugh, at least die cleanly.”

Looking down at Dublin, who could no longer move and was gasping in pain, Irena swung her sword and shattered his head.

He would’ve died anyway, but she saw no reason why a dead man should suffer that much before the end.

“Well done. Beating a cannibalistic serial killer — that’s something to be proud of.”

At Kairus’s words, Irena widened her eyes and looked down at Dublin’s corpse.

“You’re talking about that bastard? He was a cannibal?”

Kairus nodded at her question.

“He replaced most of his body with carnivorous animals. How should I put it… Not sure this metaphor is appropriate, but it seems his taste shifted a little.”

Dublin was known to have eaten a total of 257 people. The dead Scarecrow was broken out of the police department’s holding cell; Dublin came from the Security Corps detention center.

“Human flesh was basically his main diet.”

Irena stomped her foot once and stared down at Dublin’s body.

“Should’ve just let him rot to death while still alive.”

“Father will make the judgment next.”

At Tanya’s words, Irena pulled an ambiguous expression, hesitated over what to say, then just nodded.

“Let’s treat your injuries first.”

Areumdri Pawnshop and Lukas’s Children were now out of the game.

Now, only three teams remained, including Kairus or at least, that’s what he believed.

‘These guys are the Rose Garden’s team.’

And Nora Galatea had continued to observe the fight just now. Originally, it should have taken longer to catch up, but once she spotted Dublin charging ahead, she had followed him too.

‘Melvin Istovan.’

After confirming Melvin Istovan’s presence, Nora let out a small sigh of relief.

“Anyway, we’ve got our direction now. If we just keep moving steadily, we’ll definitely reach it.”

Overhearing Kairus’s words, Nora subtly twitched an eyebrow, then smiled.

If she trailed them, she’d reach the entrance to Pontus.

‘I’ll try to convince them when the time comes.’

She didn’t want bloodshed. She had seen the fight just moments ago.

After watching for a while, Nora had come to a conclusion.

She was stronger. So if they didn’t give way, she’d have no choice but to use the method she didn’t want to resort to.

Either way, a mission that has a viable route to success must be completed.

Feeling confident there would be no immediate fighting, Nora sheathed her yataghan.

“…”

Kairus was still wary of the Lunaseeker agent.

But even with all his senses focused, Kairus wasn’t able to detect Nora Galatea.

There was only a faint, unpleasant feeling and a subtle sense of unease swirling like a phantom around him.

“What’s wrong? If you need to go, there’s a corner over there where you can take care of it.”

At Irena’s remark, Kairus scowled openly.

“Have you ever seen me look around like this when I’m about to take a dump?”

“True.”

Irena looked at him with a curious expression.

“Then what’s the issue?”

Kairus scratched his head for a moment, then suddenly fed extra output to his glowing add-on.

Fwoosh—the area around them lit up. At that moment, Kairus scanned the surroundings but found nothing.

“…Maybe I’m just tired.”

“You? Could be a side effect of the painkiller you took.”

Tanya replied to Irena’s guess.

“If it were indigestion or nausea, maybe. But anxiety isn’t a side effect of the medication Kairus took.”

“That’s what she says.”

When Irena turned back to look at him, Kairus shrugged after a moment of hesitation.

“Thanks for worrying about me, but let’s get moving.”

They’d just had a battle, not knowing how much farther they still had to go.

With time and stamina heavily depleted, they couldn’t afford any more delays.

“By the way, there’s something I’ve been curious about.”

How many hours had passed as they continued on—Melvin once again posed a question to Kairus.

“I’m listening.”

Kairus, finding the long, dull exploration tiresome, welcomed a question to pass the time.

“No matter how much you all agreed to it… Are the defeated organizations really backing off for good?”

Kairus snorted at Melvin’s question.

“Should I say that’s a good question…? Anyway, to answer it—of course not.”

He pointed upward toward the ceiling with his index finger and grinned.

“They’re probably scrambling like crazy up there.”

What Kairus said was true.

The organizations under the Operations Committee had agreed to withdraw from the matter if their hired team lost.

But none of them actually intended to keep that promise.

The guarantee offered by the Rose Garden didn’t carry binding force over committees of similar power.

A conflict between deceivers and the unwilling-to-be-deceived. A long-standing tradition in this city but not something Kairus needed to worry about now. Most likely, even after the owner of Pontus was decided, the disputes would continue.

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