There Are No Humans in the Monster Company

Suddenly, a cold mass of metal closed around my neck.

“Kugh!”

Before I could even resist, the chain, which had coiled around me with the fluidity of a snake, abruptly yanked me up toward the ceiling.

My feet left the floor, and my body was helplessly hurled into the air.

Purely on instinct, I reached up with both hands and grabbed the chain digging into my neck, but that grotesque chain, capable of extending indefinitely, exerted a force no human could resist.

Flap, flap, flap!

Even in the middle of all that, Omniscient Incompetent enthusiastically fluttered his pages while making who knew what words appear.

Sentences that might have been encouragement or mockery appeared and disappeared, but with my oxygen cut off and my vision filled with flashes, they were nothing more than blurry images.

The chain continued tightening as though it intended to crush the cartilage in my neck.

With my windpipe blocked and my blood vessels compressed, unbearable pressure threatened to make my head burst as black spots began spreading across my vision.

“Ghk, khk……!”

A harsh, strangled sound escaped from the depths of my lungs.

My feet kicked uselessly through the air, unable to find anything to brace against.

As the blood flow to my brain was cut off, scorching heat concentrated in my face, and soon afterward, the horrible sensation of all the strength slowly draining from my body completely overwhelmed me.

Flap-flap-flap-flap—!

Even amid that chaos, I could hear the frantic turning of pages as something was being written across them, but with the pain making me feel as though my eyes were about to pop out of their sockets, it was impossible to read a single word.

The sentences, whether encouragement or commentary, merely flickered like reddish traces before me.

‘The… manual……!’

Clinging to the thread of consciousness that was about to snap, I forced my brain to recall the instructions I had memorized.

Keep the target within your field of vision at all times.

The moment it feels someone watching it, its ability to pass through matter weakens.

I forced my eyes wide open, my capillaries on the verge of bursting, and fought against the force of the chain crushing my neck as I twisted my head and jerked it upward.

Clank!

There it was.

Only the upper half of its body protruded from the concrete ceiling as it pulled on the chain like a fisherman who had just hooked an enormous catch.

Its grotesque face was completely devoid of skin, exposing red flesh and every one of its muscle fibers.

Amid the static distorting the space around it, the faded prison uniform it wore fluttered violently.

“―――!”

It opened its lipless mouth and unleashed a silent scream as it pulled even harder on the chain.

With my eyes bloodshot from ruptured capillaries, I forced myself to keep that horrifying figure within my field of vision.

As I burned its silhouette into my retinas through my red-tinted vision, the static coursing across its body began to visibly diminish.

Its incorporeal body, which until then had remained embedded beyond the ceiling, gradually became more solid until, unable to withstand its own physical weight, it began to fall little by little.

“……Ghk, hah!”

The force of the chain slackened slightly.

Only for an instant.

I didn’t waste the opportunity.

I twisted every muscle in my body and spun in midair.

My foot, which until then had found nothing to brace against, landed directly on Omniscient Incompetent’s hard, book-shaped head nearby.

I concentrated all the strength I had left into the sole of my foot and kicked his head with everything I had.

Crack!

Omniscient Incompetent went flying while fluttering his pages as though screaming, but I didn’t care.

The instant my body shot forward like a bullet from the force of the rebound, I twisted my waist with all my strength, grabbed the edge of the prisoner’s uniform, and hurled him straight toward the floor.

‘Now!’

Baaang!

Accompanied by the metallic stench of blood, that thing’s red body was ripped out of the ceiling and slammed into the cold floor.

With the violent impact reverberating through my back, the chain finally came loose.

I rolled across the floor and desperately sucked cold air into my burning lungs.

“Ghk, hah……!”

A red chain mark had been imprinted around my neck, and my vision remained tinted red, but I couldn’t stop now.

The Fugitive began crackling again, attempting to phase through matter once more.

I immediately drew Dark Spike and charged at him.

The dagger-combat techniques engraved into my body alongside my military discipline made my muscles move before my thoughts could.

The black blade devoured the light from the fluorescent lamps as it traced an icy trajectory.

Clank—!

The Fugitive swung the chain attached to his wrist like a whip.

With a whistle that tore through the air, the iron chain shot forward and struck me squarely in the side.

“Khk!”

The impact emptied my lungs as though I had been hit by a truck.

The force was so brutal that it wouldn’t have been surprising if my ribs had shattered and ended up piercing my organs.

Although Shadow Shell absorbed part of the impact, the dull sensation of my bones cracking shot through my brain.

I swallowed the pain and moved directly inside his reach.

In a fight between a dagger and a whip, the logical thing to do was close the distance.

To prevent the chain from reaching my head or neck, the areas Shadow Shell didn’t protect, I charged at him while keeping my body low and unleashed a barrage of slashes with Dark Spike across his red body.

Slash! Squelch!

Every time the black blade sank into his red flesh, metallic-smelling liquid sprayed in every direction.

The creature unleashed another silent scream and began frantically swinging the chain, mercilessly demolishing everything inside the containment room.

Crack!

When I raised my left arm to block the chain coming toward my head, I felt the pain of the bone breaking with absolute clarity.

‘If he pushes me back, I die.’

I swallowed my scream and used my broken arm as a shield as I lunged toward his chest.

One step closer.

Deeper inside.

Closer.

Stab! Slash!

Dark Spike’s black blade plunged deep into the Fugitive’s heart.

At the same time, his chain lashed across my back and tore away a chunk of flesh.

But I gritted my teeth, twisted Dark Spike, and completely tore apart the red muscles inside him.

Blood and chunks of flesh mixed in the air, filling it with a metallic stench.

His wounds began to rot and blacken as they gave off smoke, and the chain he had been swinging frantically gradually began to lose strength.

As long as I survived, there were plenty of ways to repair my body.

Even with my bones cracked and broken, I put more strength into the hand gripping Dark Spike.

“What are you doing? Come on.”

The metallic taste of blood suddenly surged up my throat.

Holding my broken arm, I pushed off the floor again and leaped.

As pieces of red flesh, blackened and charred, broke away and fell to the floor one after another, the creature hurled its chain at me once again.

“―――!”

Clank!

The chain struck my already broken left arm again.

The strange and horrifying sensation of my bones shifting shot through my brain, but I bit my lip until it bled, trapped the chain beneath my armpit, and twisted my body with all my strength.

“Got you, you son of a bitch.”

The pain made flashes burst across my vision, but I didn’t loosen my grip.

Instead, I pulled the chain toward me with all my strength, as though it were my own lifeline.

My body was lifted into the air by the chain and shot like a bullet toward the Fugitive, who was staggering as Dark Spike’s corrosion spread across his body.

Whoosh!

The instant our eyes met in midair.

For the first time, instinctive fear appeared in his empty eyes.

I switched Dark Spike to a reverse grip and concentrated the full weight of my fall and acceleration into the tip of the blade.

Stab!

The black blade pierced precisely between the creature’s eyebrows, right in the center of that crackling static.

Not yet.

Crack! Crunch!

I twisted the blade with enough force to nearly dislocate my wrist, and a grotesque grinding sound echoed throughout the containment room.

The creature’s head instantly blackened, burning and rotting, while the Fugitive opened and closed his lipless mouth and let out an indescribable scream of agony.

“――!!”

Suddenly, black blood gushed from his mouth like a waterfall.

The static coursing across his entire body rapidly weakened until, as though it had finally reached its limit, it went out completely.

Splat!

Finally, the Unstable Fugitive collapsed onto the floor, reduced to a mass of rotting flesh.

“Haa…… Huu……”

I remained slumped over his body for a few moments before driving Dark Spike into the floor and using it for support as I struggled to my feet.

There was a red chain mark around my neck, my left arm was bent at a grotesque angle, and it felt as though every bone in my body had been crushed, but even so, I deeply inhaled the air saturated with the metallic stench of blood into my burning lungs.

[Congratulations! What a beautiful and orthodox heroic tale! I pay tribute to your victory, Jeong Haeil! Even though you committed the discourtesy of kicking me in the head!]

Omniscient Incompetent’s enormous book noisily fluttered its pages as he showered me with praise, but at that moment, I didn’t even have the strength to answer him.

I sharply shook Dark Spike to fling off the Fugitive’s black blood and stared at his corpse.

I had survived.

Against a Class C Dimensional Entity.

Panting, I forced my battered body to remain standing.

Not just my legs, but my entire body was trembling like a leaf, yet a bitter smile formed on my lips.

“In the end, having good equipment really does make a difference……”

[Good equipment is the foundation of every great heroic tale! King Arthur’s Excalibur, King Högni’s Dáinsleif, Durandal, Lævateinn, Gan Jiang and Mo Ye! Why do you think people have always been fascinated by legendary weapons?]

What an obnoxious way to flutter his pages.

I lowered my gaze toward Dark Spike and Shadow Shell, the gifts I had received from the two Team Leaders of the Order Control Office.

If I hadn’t had this equipment, a chain would have pierced through me long ago, and I would already be a corpse.

Perhaps because the battle had ended and all the tension suddenly left me, my vision began flickering violently, and my body collapsed like a sheet of paper.

Just as I was about to slam into the floor.

“Oh my.”

A thick limb with a heavy, grotesque texture reached out and caught my body.

It was Assistant Manager Son.

With practiced movements, Assistant Manager Son slung me over his shoulder.

From there, I could see Deputy Manager Mok outside Omniscient Incompetent’s containment room, his green eyes blinking within the holes in his body, and Supervisor Shik growling restlessly.

“……When did you get here?”

At my hoarse voice, Assistant Manager Son wiggled the fingers on his head and answered.

“When Haeil was hanging from the chain? Just in case, I told Supervisor Shik to go get Deputy Manager Mok. Wow, you fought incredibly well. Whoosh, whoosh! Bam! Good job, Haeil.”

Seeing Assistant Manager Son wave his arms through the air while doing a terrible imitation of my dagger movements made a dry laugh escape me.

Soon afterward, Deputy Manager Mok took me from Assistant Manager Son’s arms and gently brought a slender stem to my lips.

“If you use your benefit points, you can also obtain better equipment. Although Dark Spike and Shadow Shell should be sufficient for Area C.”

“……Yes, thank you.”

I was about to lose consciousness with the stem Deputy Manager Mok had given me between my lips when, through my blurred vision, I saw Supervisor Shik stride into Omniscient Incompetent’s containment room.

At that exact moment, the Fugitive lying sprawled on the floor regained consciousness.

As though he had instinctively sensed a threat, he began violently swinging the chain attached to his wrist despite still spilling black blood.

The sharp chain shot toward Supervisor Shik, but.

“Grr!”

With a deep roar, Supervisor Shik’s enormous claws tore through the air.

Clang!

The chain I had struggled so much against was sliced apart like a sheet of paper with a single blow.

The bewildered Fugitive tried to phase through the floor to escape, but Supervisor Shik pounced on him, sank his teeth into the back of his neck, and began mercilessly tearing apart his red body with claws and fangs.

After being forced to fight a life-or-death battle while bones broke all over my body, it was almost ridiculous to see that, in Supervisor Shik’s claws, that creature was nothing more than helpless prey.

Thud!

Supervisor Shik lifted the unconscious Fugitive by the scruff of his neck and left the room while growling irritably.

“Supervisor Shik, be careful. If you keep that up, he’ll get so scared he won’t want to escape again.”

“Grrrr.”

The difference in strength was so overwhelming that I almost felt embarrassed to pass out.

As I sucked on Deputy Manager Mok’s sweet, refreshing sap, I could only think of one thing.

‘Fuck, there’s no way to live like this.’

“Once you have fully recovered, return to the office, write only the report, and go home. You did a good job, Employee Jeong.”