Chapter 47

The arm being torn away.

The blurring vision.

The splattering blood.

The body, immobilized by the spiraling force being poured into it.

However, to slaughter the Origin's clones in front of her, one arm was more than enough.

“――――!”

Though her throat was crushed and no sound could escape, the intensity of Flamm's spirit made the surrounding air quiver.

Goooh!

With a silent roar, she swung the Zweihänder with one hand.

The sheer killing power of the sword, the added prana, and the shockwave that ensued.

All the power accumulated and the upper half of the corpse was blown away, scattering in the air.

“……haaah”

As her body finally regenerated and the pain began to subside, Flamm let out a deep breath.

The situation was dire even before she had just stepped out of the room, and the future looked bleak.

It was good that she had come out with such force, but now what should she do?

Flamm's goal was not to destroy this research facility, but to end the Necromancy project itself.

The Origin should not be trusted.

To reduce the power of the Church, she had to somehow persuade Dafiz to abandon the research.

Or, as a last resort, kill him.

Ah, but to kill a person who, for his own convenience, was not necessarily evil, felt like losing something important as a human.

Moreover, as long as Dafiz survived, she could obtain information about the Children, Chimera, and even the upper echelons of the Church.

What was needed now was time for him to cool his head.

Milkit was being held hostage, and Flamm was worried sick, but she believed he would not become a murderer.

Otherwise, he would not have thought of using the Origin's power to revive the dead for such a gentle purpose.

He was a warm-hearted adult who could respect the lives of others.

That was why it was difficult to make him give up his life with his family.

During the time it took for him to cool his head, Flamm had to think of a way to persuade him.

While taking a breather, the enemies were closing in again.

Flamm glared at them and once again swung her large sword, blowing away their bodies and clearing a path.

There shouldn't have been many people living in the facility.

So, the large number gathered here must have come from outside the Church— from the village.

She was worried about Gadio, Eterna, and Ink, but now was not the time to worry about others.

She dashed through the gap created by her previous attack, slipping between the outstretched arms, moving forward, forward.

She came to a T-intersection.

Checking left and right, the right led to the entrance.

Without hesitation, Flamm turned left and headed deeper into the facility.

Her goal was not to escape, but to buy time.

She confirmed two small shadows ahead.

The dead—no, infants.

Both were crawling closer, children so young they couldn't stand on their own—fleshy masses mimicking them.

Even so, they were still disgusting.

The dead were the same.

Flamm seemed to be mercilessly mowing them down, but her heart was worn down.

No matter how much they were just bodies controlled by the Origin, the sensation in her hands was the same as cutting a human.

Moreover, unlike Dain's subordinates, the original owners of the bodies were not Flamm's enemies.

Killing innocent people—just thinking about it made her head spin.

But if she didn't, she would be the one to die.

She had come to this conclusion many times.

With a sharp gaze, she watched the child, which began to contort with a sickening sound as it approached.

Looking closely, the floor they were touching was warping.

It might have been the same in Ruko's case.

These, like the dead, had the power to warp their targets and were directed at Flamm with malice—

“Huff—!”

She swung her sword and slammed it into the ground, exploding prana.

Goooh!

A storm of spirit blades erupted, and the infants, caught in the storm, were blown apart into pieces.

A unique odor filled the corridor, and parts of blood and bodies stuck to the floor and walls.

But the flesh fragments, still moving as if alive, twisted and continued to move.

Their direction was fixed.

Returning the way they came—Flamm, looking at the writhing masses, turned forward to see two women standing there.

“Infants... women... Could these two be the mothers?”

The flesh fragments might be trying to return to their mothers.

What would happen if they returned?

She had left Ruko's corpse behind, and she didn't know what had happened to the twisting, writhing flesh.

The only thing that was clear was that it wouldn't end well.

Because the Origin mocked.

Sometimes it proliferated eyeballs and killed people.

And now, it was mimicking affection and toying with hearts.

"Let me grant your wish," it said, giving power with a godlike, condescending gaze.

It must be laughing at the people who, knowing the end would be destruction, indulged in fleeting happiness.

So—this was the salvation of the souls grieving in the afterlife, she told herself—and she cut down the two mothers.

Flamm stopped and turned around.

The flesh fragments that had been twitching against the wall had fallen to the floor and were no longer moving.

Perhaps it was due to the mothers ceasing their activity.

“Their lives were connected… no, they were part of the same body. Not children, just separated fleshy masses…”

The Origin must have tried to reproduce the phenomenon of pregnancy in the human body.

It proliferated cells in the uterus, created fleshy masses, analyzed the genetic information of the mother and father, inherited their characteristics, and formed human shapes.

And then, it gave birth.

In other words, it was not a child, but a kind of tumor.

Even if the father was a corpse and the mother was alive, it was conceivable that the father's bodily fluids had similar functions.

In the end, what was born was not human.

To create new life, both parents needed to have normal souls.

Flamm, who had stopped to think, heard new footsteps approaching.

She spat and moved further into the facility, passing the corpses.

She arrived in front of a suspicious-looking door at the very end of the research facility.

It was locked, and the doorknob was wrapped with countless chains.

Without hesitation, Flamm cut the chains with Soul Eater, broke through the door, and descended the dark stairs leading underground.

◇◇◇

Clank—Dafiz's knife fell from his hand.

It was right after the sound of battle outside the room had stopped.

In other words, Flamm had left, so there was no longer a need to take hostages.

He freed Milkit, stumbled, and leaned on the desk, holding his head.

He seemed to deeply regret his actions.

Milkit glared at him through the gaps in the bandages, a rare display of intensity for her.

“Do you think that if Master dies, the current situation will be resolved?”

She really wanted to go out and follow Flamm.

But Milkit did not wish for a futile death, suppressing her desires and rebuking Dafiz.

“…I don’t think so. I understand that it’s only a temporary solution.”

“Then why did you drive Master away?”

“I’ve dedicated over ten years to this research! I got back someone important, I even had a family! Giving up here means I lose everything—my wife, my children, my life, everything! I can’t just accept that it’s wrong and say, ‘Okay, that’s fine’…!”

Even if it was an illusion.

The time spent with Suzy after her revival, the time spent preparing to be a good father after the joy of her pregnancy.

And the time spent as a family after Ruko was born—all of that was something Dafiz had actually experienced.

“Ruko… no, that wasn’t a child. It was a genuine monster.”

“Did you meet the child?”

“Yes. As soon as it approached us, its body began to contort. In the end, it didn’t even look human.”

Dafiz clenched his teeth and gripped the hand on the desk.

“I always… had a feeling. Was this really right? Was everything going too smoothly? Would it suddenly break down?”

“Then why didn’t you stop it until today?”

“As I said, the bait was too tempting. I couldn’t refuse. So I kept telling myself that there was nothing wrong with me, that I was perfect. If I didn’t have enough confidence in myself, the inconvenient images would start to appear in my field of vision.”

Until now, it had been fine.

At least until Flamm arrived.

“Dafiz, is there any other device to stop the Core’s function?”

“There isn’t. Even if there was, I wouldn’t activate it.”

“Why not!? You know that Master’s family is already gone!”

“To be myself… I need Flamm to die.”

The existence of his family and research was his identity.

Even if he was told the truth, giving it up was equivalent to his own death.

No matter how ugly he had to be, he had to cling to it, or everything that made up Dafiz’s personality would be destroyed.

Milkit was enraged by his ridiculous words.

She grabbed his clothes with both hands and glared at him up close.

Dafiz sulked, turned his gaze away, and said lazily,

“Even if you make that face, my answer won’t change. If you were in my position, you’d do the same.”

The reverse was also true.

If Dafiz were in Milkit’s position, he would probably scream even more violently.

He understood, which was why he couldn’t be harsh with her.

“What if Master defeats everyone in the village and survives?”

“That’s impossible. Unfortunately, this facility isn’t designed to create weapons like the Children or Chimera. But—my wife, Suzy, was an A-rank adventurer in life. And now, under the influence of the Origin, she can even use its power. Flamm can’t win against her.”

Flamm and Suzy had not yet met.

But if Flamm continued to flee, they would eventually confront each other.

“There’s Gadio and Eterna too.”

“They are on our side, not yours.”

Milkit fell silent in frustration.

She wanted to believe in them.

But they had disappeared without telling Flamm and visited Sheol.

They had shown a gentle expression when they touched the dead, something they had never shown in the capital.

Milkit could not fully trust the current Gadio and Eterna.

“Suzy won’t lose to Flamm. Absolutely not.”

Dafiz declared again.

“You trust your wife so much.”

“Yes, I love her.”

With a tragic smile, he said.

Seeing his expression and hearing his words, Milkit understood.

She had always felt something for Flamm that she couldn’t name.

She had tried various names, but none of them fit.

She wished to serve her endlessly.

She trusted her unconditionally.

The name for that feeling—she had finally found the perfect fit.

“Then, Master won’t lose either. She will definitely break through and come back.”

“Why… can you say that so confidently?”

The answer was obvious.

“If you call your trust in Suzy love—”

Milkit stood tall and declared boldly.

“I love Master even more than that.”

◇◇◇

While descending the stairs, Flamm thought about Milkit, who was left alone in Dafiz’s room.

She was confident that her life was not in danger, but she couldn’t help but worry.

She couldn’t return so soon and talk to Dafiz.

She could only believe in her safety and flee.

“What is this…?”

At the bottom of the stairs, a long, dark corridor stretched out.

Sturdy metal doors were installed on both sides of the walls, and light leaked from the barred windows.

There seemed to be another door deeper inside, but she started with the nearby ones.

Flamm approached and peered into the room.

“What…?”

She was speechless.

What she saw there was a human figure with a face that had become a fleshy spiral, similar to the spiral children.

The room was neatly arranged, just like where Flamm and the others had stayed, and he was sitting on a sofa, endlessly spitting out red bodily fluids onto the floor.

After observing for a while, he noticed her gaze and walked over to the door.

She instinctively backed away, her back hitting the door of another room.

Bju, bju.

Hearing the faint sound through the wall, Flamm turned around and saw a fleshy spiral staring at her from the window.

“No! What… what is this…!?”

There were several similar rooms down the corridor.

Upon closer inspection, red, writhing faces were attached to all the windows, staring at Flamm.

Her lungs trembled, and she couldn’t breathe properly.

Flamm opened her mouth, her shoulders heaving as she panted heavily.

She swallowed the saliva that had gathered in her mouth, moving her throat.

“Maybe… these are the people who failed to be revived…?”

Those whose resurrection had gone out of control and couldn’t be reversed.

But Dafiz treated even them as humans.

Although they were confined in this underground, he had given each of them a room and made sure they could live comfortably.

◇◇◇

Beep, beep, beep—An alarm rang in Dafiz’s room.

He looked at the small crystal on his desk and laughed weakly.

“What’s that sound?”

“Oh, it seems… Flamm has entered that place. In that case, she might not need to fight Suzy after all.”

“Answer my question properly, Dafiz!”

Ignoring Milkit’s raised voice, Dafiz placed his hand on the glowing crystal.

He then channeled magic power three times, with pauses in between.

The sound stopped.

This was a system to detect intruders in the underground, but different actions could be performed by channeling magic power in different patterns.

Once to stop the alarm.

Twice to initiate an emergency lockdown of the underground.

Three times to—

◇◇◇

Click!

As Flamm moved deeper down the corridor, the sound of locks opening echoed around her.

Then, all the door handles were violently twisted, and the failed dead began to emerge one after another.

Their appearances became more and more inhuman the further down the corridor they were, with some crawling at an abnormal speed with only one hand, and others moving like spiders with about ten limbs.

Moreover, the dead from the surface, who had been on the stairs where Flamm had just descended, were also coming down.

She crossed her sword in front of her and released a prana shield.

“Take this!”

She should have been able to clear out the dead in front of her—

But in reality, she only managed to take down one.

The second one stopped her powerful strike by sacrificing its outstretched right hand.

The failed experiments in the underground were clearly different from those on the surface.

They might have been failures in terms of human resurrection, but when viewed as weapons using the Origin’s power, they were overwhelmingly superior.

There were only about twenty of them.

But even so, they were a more than sufficient threat.

Shiver.

Flamm sensed the threat approaching from behind and jumped to the side.

Bash!

Immediately after, a high-speed force grazed her upper arm, peeling away the flesh.

This level of damage was almost painless.

However, if all the enemies used ranged attacks, it would be quite troublesome.

She raised her sword, aiming to reduce the number of the abominations deeper in the corridor, and kicked off the ground.

They lined up horizontally, and more dead climbed on top to form a second row, blocking the escape route.

Then, simultaneously—drawing back their fists, shaking their legs, and writhing their fleshy spirals—they unleashed a barrage of spirals.

Not a point, but a wall.

An overwhelming wall of destruction pressed toward her from the front.

“…Reverse… now!”

She held Soul Eater in front of her and poured the power of reversal into it.

But it wasn’t enough to cover her entire body.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

The spirals that hit the blade reversed direction due to the reversal magic, losing energy and disappearing.

On the other hand, the rest mercilessly stripped away Flamm’s flesh.

Her ear was blown off, her cheek torn, her right fingers holding the hilt shattered, and her left arm, unprotected by the sword, was riddled with holes.

Primarily on her left side—her torso and legs were neatly gouged out in circular patterns, but it wasn’t a fatal wound.

Flamm smiled.

She thought that the stray shots had reduced the number of