Himel led us through each cold and gloomy step, carrying with it the old decay of an ancient era.
Each step felt as if it were dragging everything deeper into the core of sin, making even a corpse like me feel a chill.
Although the area was dark, Himel's strange mutated arms lit the way. The light came from the slimy substance secreted by what were called those hands, looking like some kind of radioactive waste.
"I will only lead you this far, I cannot go any further. Going down below, there will be something that you need."
Himel stopped, raised his strange hand, and pointed toward Janeus.
"I don't care what you do, but you'd better be careful."
After that, Himel left. He still had another matter to deal with.
Watching Himel's back disappear along with those bizarre arms, Janeus finally looked at me.
I carefully touched the gate leading deeper inside, then spoke to Janeus about the procedures to disarm the traps here.
Basically, it was just repeating everything that was in the original novel.
Then I opened the door, and the iron chains immediately fell down. Inside was a pitch-black space, hiding within it a gigantic bell made of pure gold.
I nodded toward the bell, then took out a coin and threw it inside. I had no intention of stepping into that oppressive darkness.
Clack. Clack.
Footsteps echoed from the void, and then the coin suddenly disappeared into the air.
Janeus watched this scene, her hand holding the lantern slightly twitching, itching to move, but she said nothing.
I looked at Janeus, then took out a handkerchief and handed it to her, signaling that sweat was flowing down her face.
Janeus stared at the handkerchief for a moment, then slowly reached out.
But what she grabbed was not the handkerchief, but my wrist.
My vision was instantly flipped upside down, and then I realized my feet were no longer on the ground.
BAM!
CRASH!
My head was grabbed and slammed into the ground, creating a terrifying impact. Janeus looked at me and smiled faintly.
"Next time, you should hide the killing intent in your words better."
Crack.
My neck was twisted and crushed in an instant. The last thing I saw was darkness.
"But…"
I grabbed her wrist, still managing to leave behind some words.
"Good luck dealing with 'it'."
I smiled at her, because everything was still within the plan.
'One-Eyed Imposter'
…
That was a few months before this place, when Lloyd and I were still in a café discussing the plan.
"So… what do you mean? Why do you want to lure the princess down into that underground place? And how?"
Lloyd asked me, and I calmly replied with a blank expression.
"Simple. Let me ask you this: if there's someone who knows your weakness and the secrets of the royal family and your lineage, knows about the terrorist attacks targeting you, knows the small details of your life, wouldn't you be afraid?
Besides, it's easy to understand that when it reaches the final step, the truth leads to betrayal, because it's a royal secret. At the perfect moment, everything can be buried down there. One person dying doesn't matter, she might even want to silence everyone."
Lloyd fell into thought for a moment, then sighed.
"So you're… planning to let her kill you? For what?"
"I have a mystical item. It's called One-Eyed Imposter.
It only has one ability, which is reconnaissance. But I've unlocked two more hidden abilities of it."
I smiled as I continued.
"Imitating a human through continuous observation."
…
Janeus felt as if the ground was overturning, unable to tell where to land.
Ron Irus rushed over, jumped up, and raised his right leg over Janeus's head.
BAM.
She curled her body, using both elbows and legs to block the sudden attack.
Janeus was knocked flying backward, landed on the ground, and jumped on one leg while her body spun horizontally to launch a kick.
Ron quickly closed in. A low kick was thrown but failed to hit as Janeus had already leaped over his head.
Janeus's kick collided with Ron's neck and chin, twisting his head backward.
But he quickly grabbed her ankle, squeezing tightly until blood flowed from it, and raised his other hand high, preparing to smash her bones.
Janeus placed both hands on the ground, used the momentum to spin her body, and kicked her other leg into his head, knocking him aside.
Her body seemed extremely flexible, as if her limbs were like a snake's.
She curled up and stood back up, taking a stance for close combat.
She recalled the person who once taught her the royal combat art, the exclusive Janeus style, one of the strongest warriors, who said: "Your mana is very special, Princess."
Ron stood up as if the dizziness from the previous blow didn't exist. He rotated his body while keeping his left foot planted, a classic stance for performing a famous leg-based martial art.
A 360-degree kick was unleashed, aimed straight at Janeus's liver, but then a strange sound rang out.
Crack~
She used her elbow to block the surprise attack, causing cracks to appear in Ron's leg bones.
'Mana Mutation. The weakest type of mana in long-range combat, yet nearly the strongest in close combat.'
Janeus accelerated toward Ron, launching claw-like attacks with her fingernails aimed at his groin, neck, and eyes.
Ron could only continuously switch martial arts to evade and retreat, but Janeus kept getting faster while Ron slowed down.
When Janeus accelerated again and attempted to punch Ron's chin, he curled his body and blocked the punch.
Crack~
Blood splattered, and it seemed his bones broke again, but the trade was necessary, because immediately after, he managed to grab her arm and her clothes.
In this world, where magic reigns supreme, close-combat strength is undervalued, and people prefer using mana to attack one another, so martial arts cannot fully develop or gain recognition.
The same applies to wrestling.
BOOM!!!
Ron threw Janeus's body over his own, slamming her violently onto the extremely hard and cold stone floor.
Dozens of meters around them were destroyed. The solid flooring collapsed and sank deeply from just that single move.
Not enough.
He raised his fist high and smashed it into her face, but she quickly blocked it with one hand.
'The reason is that this mana mutates the user's body, heals, mutates, reconstructs it, manipulates hormones in an instant. And it can mutate another person's body with just a light touch.'
Janeus's blood-covered eyes emitted a gentle glow as she looked at Ron, and then, one by one, parts of his body exploded, mainly the areas she had struck.
Blood poured like a waterfall, making Ron look like a zombie, especially since he didn't stop, instead retreating to gain momentum.
Janeus lightly stood up as well, almost without any wounds except the blood on her body.
Ron took a stance, his hands relaxed and slightly curled, forming a posture like a wrestler.
But Janeus did not approach. Instead, she kicked shattered stones toward Ron.
He deflected the stones continuously flying at him, until one extremely small fragment slipped through the defense and obscured part of Ron's eye.
Although he quickly caught it with his other hand, one second of lost information and blocked vision was enough for her.
Janeus charged straight at Ron like a raging bull, but she tucked her arms and clothes tightly to her chest to avoid being grabbed again by a wrestling move.
She rushed straight toward Ron, jumped, and curled herself up like a hedgehog, Ron tried to block with his leg but it was too late, Janeus was already very close, and then—
STAB STAB STAB.
Dozens of sharp spikes pierced through Ron, bringing him face to face with death.
But then Ron—more precisely, Ron as recreated by One-Eyed Imposter—recalled a piece of data it had collected in the past.
At that time, its former master, the Ron of the past, had brought a pile of drawings to Lunas, and then—
"You want me to look at this pile of childish drawings and… recreate its martial arts style?!!"
What Ron handed to Lunas was precisely the martial arts knowledge Ron had seen in his previous life.
Killing techniques of martial arts.
The pinnacle of martial arts is turning one's own body into the ultimate weapon.
…
Somewhere, there existed only a pale pink space.
There was only a single crimson-red bed.
And me as well, who had just awakened on that bed. Ah, and one more person. A blonde girl, around my age, tall, with a full and alluring body.
Her eyes radiated gentleness, coldness, and seduction at the same time, enough to stir lust in anyone.
Naturally, who she was needed no explanation.
"Sophia."
I spoke the first name I heard.