Inside An Ad*lt Game As A Former Hero - Chapter 65

In front of Behemoth’s corpse. With body close to that of a humanoid, but with the head of an octopus were K’Challa and Knella.

“This person is no less than a monster, whatcha think?”

K’Challa, the green-skinned bipedal octopus, felt his tongue slip as he traced the large scar on Behemoth’s neck.

To K’Challa’s admiration, the pink-skinned Knella answered.

“There is only one hero who can inflict wounds so fatal on a freaking Behemoth, right?”

“True.”

Frillite.

As the strongest of the heroes, she was also famous among demons.

Mainly, ’cause she was a constant source of fear.

K’Challa shivered.

“I heard she slayed an Ogre by herself last time… uh, she will not come back, will she? Knella, how much more time is it gonna take?”

K’Challa looked at the crystal orb that was slowly absorbing Behemoth’s soul and hurriedly asked. Knella looked at him with a disdainful gaze.

“Tch, see getting yourself scared by a human… now think about it with common sense. The main camp is under attack, so their priority will rest there, so why would they come back?”

“That’s true, but… can’t we just hurry up a little? To us, demons, the air of human world is like poison mist. I’m out of breath.”

“Hah, what? You’re not even a high-tier demon, you can’t choke on your breath just becau… Hik? Someone’s coming here.”

“Wh, What?! Fr-Frillite, she is here?!”

“Nope. Just a human male.”

K’Challa turned his figure to the direction Knella was pointing. As he said, the human walking towards the two demons was a male. That meant the person couldn’t be Frillite.

“Ah, just some human bug? Kinda scared me.”

K’Challa narrowed his sleek brows in indignation.

He morphed his hands into giant octopus tentacles and headed towards the human.

“Oh~ he’s so dead.”

“Do it in moderation. You know I hate human screams. Do you have any idea how annoying it was just because you were having ‘your’ fun?”

Behemoth’s corpse was guarded by three knights of the Duke. The corpse of a named monster is so valuable that it was only natural for knights to stay behind and protect it.

The three knights were killed by K’Challa.

His poison coursed from their skin to intestines, melting them bit by bit, making their death painful. Because of which, Knella had to tirelessly listen to annoying human screams.

“Okay, okay. This time, I’ll do it fast.”

K’Challa waved his hand, um, tentacle in the air.

“Anyway… don’t bother me.”

Knella grunted and looked at the orb that was absorbing the Behemoth’s soul.

An artifact that absorbs souls.

An important artifact it was. Entrusting this artifact to them meant—

‘I have finally earned my lord’s trust.’

Taking on this difficult task had been the right decision. After completing this mission safely, when he returns home, he will surely be promoted…

“Aaaaaaah!”

“Ah goodness! Hey! I told you to not let screams reach my ear… uh…?”

Knella, who zapped his head to the loud scream, was bewildered at the unexpected sight. He thought the screams were of the human.

But it wasn’t.

“Aaaaah! My tentacle…!”

It was K’Challa, whose tentacle had been chopped off that caused that scream. Blue blood dripped from the cross section of the severed limb. While K’Challa faltered, Cloud approached him.

“Don’t come, you bastard!”

K’Challa stretched out his left limb.

His large octopus limbs were divided into eight sections, resulting in eight octopus tentacles. Which were further branched into eight more, resulting in sixty-four slimy, octopus tentacles.

Each octopus tentacle had small and sharp teeths at the edges, secreting a toxic substance coating the tentacle in whole.

A menacing venom that will lead to fatal wounds with just a single touch.

“Tch, disgusting.”

Cloud frowned and drew his sword.

Unlike the transparent sword which he had used to sever the ogre’s tendon, the current sword was crimson-red in color.

This was the sword he found to match the level with the one on Lorian’s waist, in case, or whenever they were going to have a fight.

He held the sword in reverse and threw it like a lance.

Trrrng-!

The crimson-red sword pierced through the cross sections of the small octopus tentacles and darted into K’Challa’s head. K’Challa staggered, and then collapsed helplessly.

Cloud drew out his sword from the octopus’s head. He yanked it in the air, brushing the blue blood off his sword, this time walking towards Knella.

Seeing that K’Challa was defeated in an instant, Knella panicked.

He should have ran away then, but the crystal ball hadn’t fully absorbed the Behemoth’s soul yet.

If he didn’t bring the crystal ball with Behemoth’s soul filled to the brim, his lord’s wrath will take away his life. But waiting for the absorption to become completed? A hole will drill into his head before that.

While Knella was facing problem in making a choice, Cloud reached in front of his eyes.

Cloud extended his hand to Knella.

Knella stared at the empty hand blankly, and then carefully placed the crystal ball on top of it.

Cloud smiled in satisfaction.

Fortunately, he seems to have survived, at least for now. Just when Knella felt relieved to be alive. He was questioned.

“Can you speak human language?”

“Yes.”

“Great. What a smart octopus. So now tell me all about who you are, why you’re here, and what you’d been up to with this crystal ball. Don’t hide anything.”

“If I tell you, will you let me live?”

“Nope. You will die.”

“…then why should I tell you anything?”

“If you don’t want to say it, you don’t have to. Instead, you will have a fantastic experience of seeing your own internal organs, ‘alive’.”

Cloud’s smile widened.

Knella’s octopus eyelids fluttered wildly.

* * *

I looked at the corpses of the two demons with different gaze.

‘So, they were the servants of Four Heavenly King.’

Not wanting to experience his organs picked out alive, Knella confided in everything he knew.

Surprisingly, these were the demons following the Heavenly King, Kreas.

One of the Four Heavenly Kings—Kreas.

He was the first of the Four Heavenly Kings that appeared in the game ‘The Hero’s Party’ and is a demon that looks like a giant octopus.

Just because it looks like an octopus doesn’t mean it’s a real octopus. It has a lot more legs than a Kraken and no suckers. It can be thought of as being somewhere between a kraken and the tentacle monsters that can only be seen in Cthulhu mythologies.

‘But why do Kreas’ minions need the Behemoth’s soul?’

It felt surprising that these guys were the servants of a Heavenly King, but what’s even more surprising are the deeds.

Not theirs, but of the person acting above them.

Deliberately woke up the sleeping Behemoth.

Then gave orders to K’Challa and Knella in the name of Kreas.

To bring back the soul of the Behemoth in the crystal ball after it was subjugated by heroes.

When I asked for what was the Behemoth’s soul required, Knella said that he knew nothing more than this.

I stabbed him a couple of times with the dagger to see if he was lying, but the only words he cried out were slogans of injustice. He really didn’t seem to know.

Silly me, thinking about why the Heavenly King’s minions were ordered to collect the Behemoth’s soul.

There was no need to think long.

‘What else can be the reason when the minions of the Four Heavenly Kings’ are involved in something?’

Either working for the Demon King himself or for the Heavenly King they serve.

Proofreader: DreaMing

‘What else can be the reason when the minions of the Four Heavenly Kings’ are involved in something?’

Either working for the Demon King himself or for the Heavenly King they serve.

Considering that the next big event that will take place after the Behemoth subjugation was the battle with Creas, it will probably be used for the advent of this Heavenly King.

After reaching the rough conclusion, I turned my attention to the crystal ball. Right now, the soul of Behemoth was more important than any Heavenly King.

I shattered the crystal ball.

As the crystal ball splintered, white smoke leaked out through the cracks.

It was the Behemoth’s soul.

I motioned the glyph on my right hand towards the Behemoth’s soul.

Srrrr-!

White smoke from the crystal ball began to wrap around my right hand. The Behemoth’s soul was getting absorbed by the glyph.

‘It hurts more than the last time.’

Even when I absorbed the ogre’s soul, I had only felt a significant burning sensation coursing my upper left torso. I thought it would hurt that much this time too, but I guess I was wrong. The burning sensation coursing my upper right torso was more severe than the last time.

The Behemoth’s soul, which entered my body, raged much more fiercely than the ogre’s soul did.

No doubt, the quality of the Behemoth’s soul is much better than an Ogre’s.

I sighed in admiration, then crushed the Behemoth’s soul like a tin can and tossed it into a corner.

After that, the Behemoth’s soul was no longer running wild.

The glyph was successfully engraved.

* * *

[Active]

(Strength in Numbers)

-Strengthens a single entity or many for a certain period of time.

If the level is higher than the opponent’s, there is a certain probability that ‘fear’ status will be imposed.

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(King’s Sense)

– The senses are greatly expanded.

(Buffed)

– 50% reduction in accuracy.

– All stats are increased by 100%.

* * *

He took out information from the demons and absorbed the Behemoth’s soul.

Cloud returned to the city with supreme satisfaction.

However, the atmosphere in the city was a little strange.

As he walked down the street, all the citizens, soldiers, and guards were looking at him?

‘Ah, facial expression management.’

Cloud soon realized that the corners of his lips had risen slightly. They had lost a lot in one single day, so how could a hero not sympathize with them?

How dare he make such a stupid mistake.

Cloud seriously reflected.

“Hero…”

A guard with a cast on his arm came forward from among the crowd who were watching him, like everyone else.

“My name is Hans. It’s rude for a guy like me to talk with the hero, but…”

Cloud clapped his hands while he was cramping and hesitating to speak.

“You are the guard who fought together with us. I was really impressed how you fought bravely with one arm despite being injured. Did you say your name was Hans? I wanted to get to know you personally, but didn’t have the opportunity, glad to meet ya. I’m Cloud, you may already know, ha.”

“Y, You remember me?”

Hans asked, his eyes widening.

Cloud nodded his head as if it was natural.

“I cannot easily forget a warrior who fought so valiantly.”

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It was a sincere statement, not a pretentious one.

Cloud rarely forgot the faces of the warriors who fought alongside him.

No, he tried not to forget.

Because that was all he could do for the warriors who fought valiantly at the risk of their own lives.

“Haha, thank you…!!”

However, Hans felt differently.

He was only a mere guard, yet he was remembered by the hero himself. He even admitted that he fought bravely. As a warrior, what could be more honorable and glorious than this!

A tingle ran down Hans’ spine.

Because of which, he forgot his original purpose of thanking the hero for saving the city.

“Me, over there. Hero-sama. Do you remember me?”

A new person popped out of the crowd.

This time, it was a soldier, not a guard.

And Cloud remembered that soldier too.

“Of course I remember. Weren’t you the one who followed me in the fight against the wolf pack? I still vividly remember the sight of your sword piercing through those horned wolves’ heads. What was your name?”

“It’s James!”

“Alright. It was an honor to fight alongside a valiant warrior like you, James.”

“I, I am honored too! I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life!”

James clutched Cloud’s outstretched hand with his both and shook it up and down. He was too enthusiastic for a handshake, but that was the proof that he was excited.

“Hero, do you remember me? W-We were together in District 2.”

“I w-was with you in District 3, Hero-sama!”

“Dude don’t cut me out! I said first!”

Starting with James, other soldiers and guards raised their hands one after another and approached Cloud.

“Thanks to you, hero-sama, me and my son were able to save our lives. When would I even able to repay this favor? This gift is a small one, but it is our sincerity.”

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“T-Thanks to you, I survived, Hero-sama! I don’t have anything special to give, would you please like to have an apple?”

Not long after the soldiers, ordinary citizens also began to surround him.

From poor farmers to rich merchants.

All citizens of Robertton were grateful to Cloud. And they had wanted to express their gratitude.

However, Cloud’s identity as a hero was a barrier between them.

That status made it difficult for commoners to approach him on their own initiative.

Nobles would have frowned, they didn’t like commoners being near them, commoners’ smelled lowly, they said. They thought Cloud might also abhor being near them.

So they had decided to do nothing but keep a distance and watch.

But that wasn’t happening now.

Because Cloud showed his open side. Citizens expressed their gratitude to the hero and warriors who saved them.

“Isn’t District 2 the place where wild boars and harpies were most concentrated? There was a madman holding a harpy’s leg and chopping it, and that was you, haha! Good.”

“We were together in District 3, huh? Hmm, I can’t remember your face. You were fighting, right? And not hiding at the behind, um?”

“Why are you giving me money, sir? Please don’t. I won’t take it. Oh, thank you for the apple, ma’am. Mmh, this is so delicious. Hey, uncle, where do you see this being discriminatory? There’s a difference between a bribe and a favor, alright? No, no. I won’t. Uh..huh?? Man, stop! I said no money! Hey! Catch that uncle! Someone catch that uncle!”

And Cloud did his best to respond to the gathered citizens. Because of which, the square had a rather friendly atmosphere.

To the extent that one wouldn’t even think of them as the people who had just faced a monster invasion.

Watching him from afar, Frillite smiled.

Lorian approached her, taking his place next to her.

He clicked his tongue as he watched Cloud seamlessly getting along with the citizens.

“Frillite, I want to give you one piece of advice.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Don’t get too close to Cloud. Your dignity will get damaged.”

“…hm?”

The smile on Frillite’s face vanished.

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