Book 8 Chapter 16

Chapter 190

"Ah, ah, ah……."

A desperate scream, enough to send shivers down one's spine, dominated the 8th floor of the Pyramid of Island No. 3.

A boy, pen and paper in hand, skillfully gave orders to the technicians in the 8th-floor laboratory with an emotionless expression.

"We can put one more in. Replace one of the spinal joints too."

No, it wasn't a boy.

He was an Ain (兒人; Dwarf).

Among all the races existing on this land, they were the ones who showed the most outstanding aptitude in science and technology.

"They might die from the pain."

When a technician voiced concern, the Ain glared at him coldly. The technician flinched!

"You humans just have to follow my orders. You things with absolutely no brilliance in your brains."

His name was Hermann.

500 years ago, he was an evil technician who harmed lives with countless monstrous creations and did not hesitate to conduct biological experiments.

During his lifetime, he had worked as a mercenary in the borderlands, all to gather research data on humans.

Hermann was more famous by his nickname, Engineer Slayer. Meaning, an Arc-Tier Slayer.

"Yes! Then I will further dissect and transplant one more spine bone from the Demon Slayer!"

In the middle of the laboratory, which could be overlooked at a glance from the research room, two operating tables were placed.

Whether there was no concept of hygiene, or if cleaning it up was meaningless, bloodstains and flesh splattered everywhere.

On one operating table, a boy who looked about ten years old was screaming, his limbs tied down.

"Begin."

On the operating table opposite him lay a woman, who looked about twenty years old, with a shabby appearance.

In her unfocused eyes, likewise, no light of reason could be found.

Even when the Butcher Slayer roughly tore open her back with a butcher knife and savagely twisted out a spinal joint, her expression remained the same.

"That is the Demon Slayer's substitute… Sister Milea."

Kora said, looking down at the scene from the darkness of the observation room.

"Milia doesn't know about this yet. This is why I said Milia was in danger. If that guy finds out about this……."

On the other side, two Master-Tier Slayers were collapsed, all due to Valensidis's skill.

Valensidis swallowed dryly, alternately looking at the core data he had brought from the archives and the horrific scene unfolding before his eyes.

'The power of the Demon Slayer can only be transplanted into those with Kasel Rinkan's genes…….'

Were the Slayerz trying to revive the Demon Slayer and then turn its lineage into an army?

'That's why they must have conscripted all the young Demon Slayer descendants living on the island who had combat aptitude.'

Individuals with inferior combat abilities were transported to reproductive facilities… What are reproductive facilities? Do they intend to breed them like animals?

'Why……?'

What do they intend to do by making all of Kasel's descendants into Demon Slayers?

If the goal was merely a mercenary business, there wouldn't be a need to go to such extremes.

Until now, they were content with dominating the underworld, but are they now aiming for something bigger?

"What exactly happened on this island?"

Just then, someone rushed in and reported something to Hermann. It must have been a report on the outside situation.

"Arthur, that bastard, has finally entrusted the Special Operations Division to me, Lord Hermann. Demon Slayer, Order-27."

At that, Milea, who had been lying still even when her spine was being removed, rose to her feet. With unnatural, machine-like movements.

"Order confirmed. I will proceed to eliminate the intruders."

"They are VVIP guests. Try not to kill them if possible. Killing them will only cause troublesome issues."

Before Hermann could finish his sentence, Valensidis was already urgently pulling Kora towards him.

In that instant, the situation changed drastically.

Suddenly, the moment Milea reached out to them, the entire observation room shattered, and a large hole was torn in the outer wall of the Pyramid.

"Hmm?"

Doran Slayer raised an eyebrow.

The surge of power was, of course, more clearly visible from outside the Pyramid.

He had just had the Special Operations Division mages capture two Master-Tier Slayers and about 27 other thugs.

"It seems there's something inside, after all."

Just as Doran was about to give orders to his subordinates, the Trickster Slayer, whose hands and feet were bound, began to laugh.

"Heh, heh heh heh, heh heh heh heh…… You're all finished too. Special Operations Division? That's hilarious. Now that monster woman will─"

His maniacal laughter could not be finished.

The next moment, his upper body was crushed into a bloody pulp. The Special Operations Division mage standing next to him met the same end.

The smile instantly vanished from Doran's always-smiling face, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

'What is this presence……?'

Clank, clank, clank…….

A dull metallic sound, like iron dragging on the ground, first pierced his ears.

After a brief moment of his heart pounding, the owner of that presence emerged from the dust cloud of the collapse.

"Target confirmed."

It was a shabbily dressed woman.

With rags loosely draped over her body, hair matted with blood and sweat, and skin discolored black with grime.

Though not livestock, she wore something akin to a gag in her mouth, and from the voice seeping between the gag, there was not a speck of rational light.

What astonished Doran was not her beast-like appearance, but the gigantic chains she dragged with both hands.

'She can materialize magic into a weapon?'

The chains, materialized from the bracelets on both hands, blazed fiercely with a blood-red demonic aura.

A few lines he had read in hero stories as a child came to mind. Were they verses about the chains wielded by the Demon Slayer?

A stunned voice emerged amidst a bewildering sensation that made his blood run cold.

"Surely that's the Demon Slayer's relic?"

* * *

- Milia, come here, dear.

When she was young, her father, no, Uncle Gin, was always by her side.

Uncle, who would always come to her when she cried and solve everything with a smile…….

But now, Uncle is not by her side. Because he died that day.

'Even if I cry for help, there's no one who will reach out their hand.'

Milia took a deep breath.

She threw away the knife matted with blood and fat and pulled out a short sword from the side of the Trap Slayer she had just defeated.

'I have to solve it alone…….'

That's what being an adult is, right, Uncle?

She quietly caressed the hilt of the Shaman Sword, Gin's keepsake.

Gin…… that longed-for resonance traced back fragments of memories from 11 years ago.

- Ugh, the smell! Mom! Sister! Dad came home again smelling all like filth!

- Haha, you rascal. Alright, want to take a sniff up close?

Gin always wore old armor. His main job was goblin extermination, which all adventurers avoided.

- Gin, honestly…… are you bothering Milia as soon as you get back again?

Gin was an adventurer.

It was an old custom for exceptional islanders to become adventurers and spread the fame of being descendants of the Demon Slayer.

- Milia is fun to bother, though.

The person who chuckled whenever Gin teased Milia was Milia's older sister, Milea.

- You shouldn't tease your sister. Gin, stop fooling around and take off your armor first.

The family was harmonious and happy.

Gin often went on business trips to the continent, but… the pain of such separation was nothing compared to the joy of reuniting like this.

- Dad, Dad, you know what? Why do you only catch goblins?

- Is it wrong to only catch goblins?

- The adventurers in the Book of Adventures all catch dragons and giants splendidly!

At Milea's snide remark, Gin looked at Milia.

- What do you think, Milia?

- I think Dad's cool. I want to be an adventurer like Dad someday and explore the world!

Hahahaha!

Gin laughed heartily and puffed out his chest.

- A long time ago, you know. Dad went to a bathhouse on the continent with Grandpa.

- What do goblins have to do with bathhouses?

- Listen. But there was a protruding stone in front of it. Someone almost tripped, and someone else did trip, but no one moved it.

Gin guzzled down the cold beer Linda brought him, then continued with his incomprehensible story.

- Then Grandpa stepped up and pulled it out. Even though no one was paying him. Even though he was only going there today and wouldn't be back.

- ……?

- I thought Grandpa looked so cool doing that. Goblin hunting is just like that. It's a job someone has to do, but no one acknowledges it, and no one else does it.

Milea pouted.

- Even so, it's not cool at all. An adventurer has to do cool things to be an adventurer!

- If you do good deeds like that, the gods will bless you, they say.

- What kind of blessing?

- See, I was able to rescue Milia from there and bring her back.

Gin, who was grinning with intoxication, instantly realized he had made a slip of the tongue and fell silent. Linda, who was happily washing dishes, turned pale.

- What do you mean, you rescued her and brought her back?

- Uh, well, yes, when Milia was young…… a goblin…….

- There are no goblins on this island! Dad said so!

Milia's body trembled as she stood up from the dinner table. Tears welled up in her small eyes.

- Is Dad…… not my Dad after all······?

- Milia.

- I, I…… the reason why only I don't look like Mom and Dad…….

- Milia, listen to the story.

Milia didn't listen to the story.

She just kicked open the door and ran outside.

Milia was quick from a young age, so neither the drunken Gin nor the sickly Linda could chase after her.

- Milea, Milea!

- Yes?

- Go after Milia and bring her back.

- But Milia is─

- ─No matter what anyone says, Milia is your sister. Understand? Answer me, understand?

Disappointment flickered in Milea's eyes, but she nodded maturely and then ran outside after Milia.

- Where are you going, Milia?

At that moment, Captain Dos, who was unloading cargo from a fishing boat, called out to Milia, who was running somewhere.

When the captured Milia finally explained the situation, he burst out laughing.

- What? You want a ride to the continent? What nonsense are you talking about? Gin's back, and you're not even eating with him.

- Gin isn't my dad! I'm going to find my real mom and dad! Give me a ride! That's why I thought Mom liked my sister more!

The expressions of the sailors, who had been chuckling at the tomboy's shouts, instantly darkened.

Only Dos knelt on one knee before Milia with a bitter smile.

- What do you think binds people into a family? Blood? Hmph, that's no help at all! Look at my second daughter. She left the island for a man and hasn't contacted me once.

- Then what is it?!

- It's the heart. The heart that cherishes each other more than their own lives! From that perspective, you truly are a real family.

- ……Why?

- Do you know how Gin brought you here, you little troublemaker?

The goblins were not subjugated in time, and their forces grew too large.

Over five hundred combat troops raided nearby villages.

That was Milia's hometown. The monsters killed all the living people and plundered all the livestock and grain.

- That battle seemed tough even for Gin, who had been through all sorts of hardships. How many wounds did he have pierced through his back and side? They all happened then.

- ……!

- Gin jumped in there to save you, who was a newborn baby. What reward could there have been for that battle? The village that would pay a reward was gone, after all?

Then the sailors wiped under their noses and recounted the emotion of that day.

- He almost died several times, but when we took Linda to the hospital on the continent, Gin was smiling like a boy.

- Oh, yes! Holding Milia!

- When Linda asked who it was, he said, 'She's our daughter'…….

Dos patted Milia's head with his fingers, thickened from long years of working on boats.

- And he raised her with love, just like real Milea. We are all witnesses to that. If such a guy isn't a father, then who is?

- I, I didn't know that…….

- Milia!

Just then, Linda rushed over and hugged Milia tightly from behind. Milea, who followed, panting, slapped Milia's head repeatedly.

- Why are you acting so willful! Hurry up and apologize to Mom and Dad!

- Sister, I'm sorry, it hurts! It hurts!

- Alright, hurry back. Gin will be worried.

It was at that moment that a true, bottomless despair arrived. Suddenly, a huge ship appeared beyond the horizon.

- Warship?

- Why is that ship so big?

- Isn't it an adventure guild's ship?

The ship approached at an incredible speed, and as its sails began to become visible, the eyes of a sailor, who often traveled to the continent, widened.

- Slayerz……?

On the day the Slayerz, resurrected after 500 years, landed on Linkland, the island crumbled into madness and terror.

- Dur-Morris. We are the Slayerz. My name is Arthur Brius. I am the leader of these ruffians.

- ……?

- That's the look that asks why I've come, isn't it? The central canyon of this island, there's a Demon Slayer's tomb there, right? I intend to revive the Demon Slayer starting now.