“Heok!”

Encasing the area with darkness, I couldn’t hear anything or see anything besides him… but… yeah… that darkness won’t do you jack shit… After all, I woke up in a damn cave…

“Whu- How!?”

As he so politely walked towards me, I decided to return the greeting… by grabbing him by the throat.

“That depends… which ‘how’ are you referring to?”

“Grrr! Enough!”

Looks like he got pissed as he suddenly exploded into a wriggling mass of dark blotches. This allowed him to “squeeze” out of my grip. It honestly felt like I was squeezing onto that play putty thing(*) that I played with when I was a kid.

“…you’re not a scalekin… are you?”

“…heh… what gave it away?”

I grinned as I replied sarcastically to the obvious, and it seems he didn’t like it as his formless self started shaking violently.

“I admit to… underestimating you… but know this… do not delude yourself into thinking that you’re in control. After all… you’re the idiot for surrounding yourself with potential hostages. And you, yourself, are not excluded from that…”

A sphere came out of him from… somewhere… and he lifted it before me. Hmm… now that I think about, that thing looks very familiar. If I remember correctly… yup, it’s that.

“Your servant requests your aid, O’ Lord of the Dark Ones. Gosphaem, Ruler of Darkness and Decay, may you grant your servant with the true name, Merikairos, your unending darkness!”

I actually heard him say something that sounded different from the usual language, but apparently even that gets converted by Origin of Words, hence I understood his little chant clearly.

“Dark Hold!”

Unsurprisingly due to how that spell was named, darkness soon wrapped my body, leaving only my head and hands, while hoisted in somewhat like a crucifix pose with my arms spread out. Looks like he’s smart enough not to seal a prisoner’s hands close to his pockets.

“Hehehe… you almost made that too easy. But no matter what your plans are, once you’re caught in my Dark Hold empowered by my master, there’s no hope for you. I can completely devour your soul, but where’s the fun in that without your friends being able to see you?”

I heard a snap as suddenly the darkness dissipated and I see everyone fighting off the bandits. But soon after seeing me, they all had a shocked and panicked look on their faces.

“Camus!”

Before I could say anything, ol’ tall, dark, and slimy got ahead of me and started getting annoying.

“Look at your scaly friend now! All helpless under my powers! All of you, surrender now and perhaps I may let you all live.”

“There’s no way you could have easily taken sir Camus! You also can’t fool us about not killing us!”

“Ah young Glenn… so childish and pathetic as always… the truth is before you and you would still choose to deny it. Even if I say you all die, then what can you all do about it? Surrounded and beaten, is there even a point to all your struggles? It’s simply a matter of choosing either a quick violent death… a slow and humiliating one… or live in humiliation and despair… I really don’t care which you choose, but I recommend choosing soon. Otherwise, you’ll get to see me enjoy tormenting your friends.”

He suddenly turns towards me and points an… arm… I think. Anyways, I think it’s time to end his little fun since my friends looks genuinely worried.

“… is there something funny, ‘scalekin’? I noticed you’ve been smiling this entire time.”

“Haha… looks like I couldn’t hold it in… sadly for you, I just think your play was just too funny and typical.”

“… you think that this has all been a joke?”

“Joke? No, of course not. I mean I really know how serious you’ve been and I was just curious how it felt like to be on the receiving end of a villain’s monologue or speech, but… pfft… the fact that you honestly think you’ve had the upper hand all this time makes me laugh and I couldn’t hold it in.”

“Sigh… apparently you’ve gone delirious… the moment you were caught in the divine reinforced Dark Hold makes all escape meaningless… I mean not even a dragon could – *Riiiiiiip* – !! T-That’s impossible!”

Yeah, the moment he took out that orb, I knew I recognized it from somewhere. It’s one of those ‘eyeballs’ I found inside the remains of former Nabolros monster-pede.

I knew immediately that it wouldn’t work on me since the miasma from the one he’s holding isn’t as dense as the one I previously dealt with, so I let him finish his little spell to see what it would do, but to think it actually tried to tie up my soul along with my body. I would’ve intercepted the spell if I thought it was dangerous, but trying to tie up my soul fused with Old Soul who claimed to have once dominated this world? Yeah, you have better luck trying to teach a rock to play fetch… so in the end, I simply ripped off the miasma prison with my fangs and claws.

“Now do you understand? The one doing pointless things… was you.”

“Tch!”

I jumped and lashed at him with my claws before he moved to escape. The darkness surrounding him soon dispersed and his true form was revealed.

“!! …It can’t be!? That’s… a Mahjin-kai!”

A maji-what now? Anyways, instead of the wolfkin that he originally was, his hair’s dark purple and he has long ears – even longer than an elf’s – and has cerulean blue skin. Annoyingly, his face and eyes are pretty much the same, and he’s currently floating in the air. Oh, and there are also some black tribal-like tattoos printed across the left side of his face.

“Glenn, are you sure!?”

“If none of the recorded information from the Guild was wrong, then I’m pretty sure! He’s a Mahjin-kai!”

“What is one of the northern devils doing here!? They should currently be in a standoff between the Guran and High Dwarves of Korvstaag; not messing around in some backwater town!”

Northern devil huh… does that mean this guy is a representative of this world’s version of a demon race? But to think they’re called something like a majin… I don’t know if this is a coincidence, but I’m interested in how they were named since back in my world that word literally means ‘demon god’ or ‘devil.’

“… heh… looks like my cover’s been blown… and once again, it’s all thanks to you, lizard.”

“That’s what you get for underestimating me. Although I might have put everyone at risk by playing along with your games, I’m pretty confident I can deal with whatever you have to dish out.”

“Hmph… who’s the arrogant one now?”

“Perhaps… but it can’t be helped I think that way… after all, you may have already guessed as to what I really am, right?”

“…tch. Even so… I’m surprised you were able to break out of my spell. In other words… High Dragon. But I’ve neither seen nor heard of your ilk before... not once in the two hundred years of my life. What are you? A mutant? A crossbreed or hybrid?”

“Oi, that hurts you know… anyways, does it even matter?”

“No… you’re right, it doesn’t. If anything, you’re simply an irregular absurdity. This time, however, I won’t make the same mistake of underestimating you. You’ve clearly done enough damage.”

“Oh? What surprise do you have this ti – !?”

Not good. As he aimed at her; in a flash, I quickly move in front of Ellen.

“Heh… seems like she does matter to you after all. Too bad though… you won’t be able to save all of – !? Graaaagh!”

You should learn to stop running your mouth like I just did, asshole. You got lucky for dodging my fangs, but definitely not my claws.

“… Grr… to think I was only able to barely get out of the way of your charge and lost an arm… it seems you’re way more than I expected to handle. Very well…”

He started floating up in the sky… whatever the hell’s he up to, I’ll have none of it and quickly grew wings to give chase.

“Unfortunate for you, lizard, my real body was never here… but no worries... knowing you you’ll probably figure out where I am, but by then it’ll be too late. Now, you’ll have to excuse… my quick… exit…don’t worry… enjoy… my gift…”

Tch… before I got to him, he started fading away. Soon, more entities started coming out from out of the ground surrounding everyone… including the bandits.

“Gaaaaah!”

“B-Boss, what’s going on? Those guys are after us as well!”

“Tch… that bastard… knowing he revealed himself to us, he’s decided to kill us all off. Men! Forget the adventurers! Gather and focus on the enemies around us!”

“! Ellen, these are!?”

“Indeed… they’re the missing adventurers…”

That’s right… the ones surrounding everyone bore mismatched gear as well as plates representing their ranks. The only thing they had in common were completely black eyes with red dots and deadpan expressions. And right now… there are hundreds of them…

Tch… after what that bastard said, I can’t shake the feeling that something might happen to the town. I wouldn’t worry too much because of Old Gren, but that bastard probably has countermeasures for him since he’s kept him leashed for who knows how long. Alright then… two can play at this game.

[Fenril, can you hear me?]

[Clearly My King. Is there something you need?]

One of the benefits of the bond was this… a telepathic link to those bonded to my soul.

[I have work for you. How fast can you arrive at the town of Orgo?]

[The large place with many low races and structures? A day at the longest. Less than half if I go at top speed.]

[I need you to protect it. An enemy might come to destroy it. Can I count on you?]

[Hah! If it’s battle, then there’s nothing I cannot accomplish! Does this mean I can use all of my power?]

[I give you my permission. Go and rage to your heart’s desire… But remember, your main mission is to protect the town and its inhabitants. After all, it wouldn’t be fun if it was something as easy as crushing your foes.]

[Haha! Of course My King! Fenril, your greatest servant, shall make them worship you and tremble under your name!]

Heh… I’d retort that he still can’t speak common language, but it wouldn’t do to pour cold water over his spirit. Now, as for these guys… I’m in serious need of venting.

…

Back in Orgo, Bremv was currently fidgeting. Fear and anxiety colored his face as he paced back and forth in his office. He stopped as soon as he saw blotches of darkness form into a massive oval hole in the air. From it, appeared Merik.

“M-Merik! What happened to your Wraith Cowl? And your arm!?”

“… it appears I’ve made a terrible blunder. The enemy was a more dangerous foe than I thought.”

“M-More dangerous!? W-What do you mean?”

“I don’t know if it’s working as an agent of one of the Dragon Gods or if it was sent by Argodia, but the enemy we face is on the level of a High Dragon.”

“H-H-High Dragon!? W-What do we do!? You may be a Mahjin-kai, but even your kind can do nothing in the face of a High Dragon!”

“Ah but there’s only one thing we can do, dear governor, and that is to finally move to our prepared plans. One of those plans involves your assistance.”

“A-Anything to get out of this predicament! I’ve already joined in with your lot, but will you really keep your end of the bargain?”

“Why I feel insulted, governor. You know very well our kind never goes back on our promises, don’t you? You can be assured that you will have the greatest honor and a bright future as long as you assist me.”

“V-Very well, what do you need me to do?”

“First, consume this pill. It’s a safety measure that will grant you benefits once you’re in trouble or if the time comes. After that, gather as many of the people as you can in the town square for an important announcement. Quickly now, governor. Our lives depend on it.”

“R-Right away, Merik. A-And thanks.”

“Oh no trouble at all… ha ha… no trouble at all…”

Merik looked away as he said his last line while Bremv consumed the pill. If anyone were to have seen Merik’s face then, they would only have seen his warped smile as something so vile that he could be nothing other than an enemy of humanity… or the harbinger of the end…

…

In a familiar land of green and wood, Fenril was about to set off for his mission… until he got distracted by one of his errant thoughts.

'Hmm… although My King said I could go rage as I want while I protect this ‘town’, I doubt I’ll be able to go do about as I want since if I remember correctly, it was a really large place. No way I’ll be able to protect it all by myself if I'm to have some fun… hmm…'

Despite being young and having a straightforward wild nature, Fenril is also capable of cunning. Whether he acknowledges this as “strength” is another matter, but that’s only if he ever realizes that he can think in this way.

'I got it! My King did say I could do as I please as long as the town and those that live there are protected. If I remember correctly, this place has over fifty levels. What did Lord Father call this place again? A Labyrinth? In any case, I’ll just beat up the guys who think they’re in charge here and gather them up. That way, I can have them protect the big place called ‘town’ while I go and have some fun! My King will be so proud!'

Fenril soon entered the depths of the Labyrinth with high spirits. Whether his actions will be beneficial or detrimental, only fate can tell…

However, one thing is certain… what he will bring with him… is absolute chaos.