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I looked at the castle wall.

A large number of outsiders were climbing up the wall with bright smiles, looking down at Rondan.

From just their expressions, they seemed like pretty people visiting Rondan for fun.

However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that if they were humans devoid of any emotion and were friendly outsiders, they wouldn’t be climbing over the walls to get in here.

That meant those outsiders were here to massacre humans, and in short, they were dangerous foes.

As I reached that conclusion, I fell into thought about how to deal with them.

The Power of the Gardener?

Since this was inside Rondan, the bodies would be taken care of immediately.

I could use the Gardener’s power, but doing so would overstrain the Gardener, and I would also excessively drain my own vitality.

So, what remained were the Dragon Slayer and Bell, but I was already borrowing the Dragon Slayer’s power as a dragon.

That alone wouldn’t be enough to take down so many outsiders.

Moreover, Bell’s surveillance ability couldn’t be used as an area attack against outsiders.

As I pondered if there was any good method, I recalled the ability of the Interrogator, who could absorb pain from people.

When it came to dealing with pain, the application of that ability was very high, making it difficult to counter.

Could I perhaps bestow upon those outsiders the pain I’ve absorbed?

I had accumulated quite a bit of pain while passing by people.

Testing it out, I managed to channel the red energy towards the foremost outsider completely.

As the slowly moving red energy hit the outsider—

“…?”

First came confusion.

It meant they were starting to realize something was happening to them.

Then cold sweat began to flow.

“…Kyaaaaaah!”

Next, they collapsed to the ground, pulling at their hair with their hands, and it wasn’t long before they lost focus in their eyes.

They died.

Uh….

That was way too strong and cruel than I imagined.

To kill by merely inflicting pain…

…I should avoid using it too often unless it’s an urgent situation.

Just witnessing it was enough to send chills down my spine.

While I was thinking like that, two explosions went off beside the outsider I had taken down, sweeping away other outsiders.

The Hunter had fired his gun.

It felt like the power of bullets changed each time I saw him.

I glanced at the Hunter in surprise, only to see him let out a snort.

“Is that the ability of the Interrogator you just absorbed? Apparently, it’s possible to absorb through killing as well.”

“…Yeah, I guess.”

“Learn how to use it quickly. The situation isn’t good enough for you to be taking it easy like that.”

As the Hunter said, outsiders were still pouring in from behind like a tsunami.

If it continued like this, it wouldn’t be long before Rondan would meet its demise.

That absolutely couldn’t happen.

I blew the Party Flute.

The Hunter shot me a glance, annoyed by the flute’s sound, but after nodding as if he understood what I was doing, he went back to focusing on his own work.

Soon, I felt my shoulders grow heavy, and even without saying anything, I felt a sensation of biting down on my throat.

Winching at the faint pain, I then distinctly felt a tooth tearing out from my neck.

And the entity that had bitten my neck embraced my face.

“Handle it well, my lord.”

The Dragon Slayer said this, kissed my temple lightly, and then vanished.

I was surprised by the Dragon Slayer’s sudden action, but…

“That fox lady…!”

“Woof! I want to lick humans too!”

…My head felt even more complicated, so I decided to divert my attention for now.

Alright, the dragon resonance was also fully charged now.

Now, shall we go deal with them?

With my newly charged dragon wings spread wide, I took to the skies.

The Hunter also saw that I was ready and began to run forward.

Soaring into the air in an instant, I began to disperse the pain I had absorbed with the Interrogator’s ability among the many outsiders.

Red energy poured out like stars in the night sky, floating gracefully and attaching itself to each outsider, starting to absorb into them.

The outsiders that came into contact with that pain only felt bewilderment but continued to move.

This time, I sprinkled a lot of weak pain.

It wasn’t efficient to shock them one by one with pain.

So, I decided to utilize the ability the Interrogator had used before.

Reaching out into the air, I confirmed all the outsiders that had consumed the molecules of pain.

Closing my eyes, I focused my mind, imagining gathering all the outsiders feeling the pain into one place, then clapping my hands together.

Then.

Kaboom!

“What, what?!”

“Why is my body like this?!”

…Just like the Interrogator had done, their bodies gathered together in one place.

Unfortunately, maybe due to the sheer number, the outsiders were moving as if they were about to escape at any moment.

“Hunter!”

But I wasn’t alone.

The Hunter responded to my call with action.

Bang! Bang!

With two explosive sounds, the outsiders I had gathered detonated all at once, turning into chunks of meat.

Seeing several of them explode together made my stomach churn a bit.

Yet, there was no stopping now.

I couldn’t afford to repeat past mistakes.

“Gyaaaah!”

And through that, we grasped the key to victory.

The Hunter adjusted his combat style to match with the outsiders’ powers.

Tanton’s power was overwhelming.

Even in the early stages, the previously weak Leydan Tanton became stronger than he could ever imagine by absorbing the outsiders’ forces.

The toll of power must be considerable.

Lost in those thoughts, I began to hear footsteps approaching from behind.

“П̴̨̰̌̎̔͡о̷̙͈͎҇̓̓͐͢й̵̨̦͉̠̇̓͞м̴̨͍̬̬͋͋͞а̸̛͕̑̅͋͜л҉̢̛̣͔̮͌͐!”

“Damn…!”

The Hunter’s current attire wasn’t as resilient as before.

He wouldn’t die from such an outsider, but he could sustain grievous wounds if caught off guard.

So, I decided to give an arm, aiming to deal with the outsider.

“…!”

In that moment, the Hunter’s body moved sideways in an instant, dodging the outsider’s attack.

The outsider seemed to sense something strange and adjusted its stance to pounce on the Hunter again.

“…А̵̨͈̓̇̉̕а̶̨̘̜͙҇͐а҉̗͙̈͌̕͢a̴̡̟̱̗͑̌͡a҉̧̛͍̩̊̊̆a҈̪͉͒̈́͜͞a҉̥̯̄̕͢!̴̨̟̇̕”

With a shriek, it collapsed on the spot.

Seeing its immobile form confirmed it was dead.

The Hunter looked up at the sky.

Nonchalantly, he went back to collecting the outsiders, but it was impossible for him not to notice me looking at him amidst all the hustle and bustle.

Perhaps it was the power of gathering those outsiders that saved him.

Given that he could keep himself safe while collecting, was that done on purpose?

While the Hunter was thinking like that.

“…사҉̧̝̗̘҇͆̿̒,, 살려҉̢͍̑̍̏͠줘҈̢̛͓̥͊̍͊”

“…?”

Maybe it was just my imagination.

I heard the voice of an outsider far away, having been shot and with a part of its body blown off, suddenly speaking in human language for a moment.

“…Mental contamination, huh.”

The Hunter thought to himself as he ran forward to finish the job.

The synergy with the Hunter was optimal.

While I gathered them, the Hunter cleaned them up with his shotgun, not allowing even one outsider to approach a place with buildings.

Perhaps because of that audacity, the outsiders all looked terrified and were fleeing beyond the castle walls.

They couldn’t possibly ignore the signal of our victory.

Landing near the Hunter, I noticed he was watching me intently.

“…No.”

“What is it?”

“…It’s fine now.”

Look at how clueless he’s acting.

Ugh.

I felt like PTSD was about to hit me.

Anyway.

We successfully took down the outsiders together.

Just then, I heard the sound of hurried steps approaching from behind.

“Tanton!”

Agartha rushed in before Asti and began to check on my condition.

Huh.

Was he originally this kind of character?

Asti, looking miffed that her role was taken away, pouted and glared at Agartha with a dissatisfied expression.

After checking everything, Agartha let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m glad. You’re not injured.”

“…Yeah, well. Thanks.”

“If you’re grateful, buy me a meal later.”

With a playful smile and a thumbs-up, Agartha felt like classic Agartha.

Oh come on.

As I poked her forehead with a finger, she squinted her eyes and let out a squeak.

I thought about teasing her more because it was amusing, but given the number of onlookers, I decided against it.

Perhaps due to the chaos with the rebels and the invasion of outsiders disappearing, people hiding inside the buildings began to cautiously peek out to survey the area.

Once everyone confirmed that everything was over, they emerged and started doing their own activities.

It was a signal that small peace had returned to Rondan.

“…You did well, Hunter.”

“The work isn’t finished yet.”

As the Hunter said that, he suddenly shot me a fiery gaze again.

Ah, for the love of all that is holy.

After saying, “What is it!”

Feeling the threat to my life, I immediately took off running, only to hear rapid footsteps behind me.

“Stop, Leydan Tanton!”

“Do you think I would stop just because you said to?!”

I retorted, screaming at the absurdity of the Hunter’s words while continuing to run.

Yet, just as I hadn’t even taken a few steps.

Suddenly, my legs lost strength, and my body went off balance.

“Ah…?”

That was only the beginning.

Starting from that, all the strength drained from my body, and my vision started to blur.

Could it be that the excessive use of the Interrogator’s power was straining my body?

Oh man, this won’t do.

If I collapse now, the Hunter will catch me.

As those trivial thoughts ended, my consciousness gradually faded to black.

“Leydan!”

With Asti’s voice being the last thing I heard.

I completely lost consciousness.

 

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