Everything in this world needs to follow a tradition of reason. But, there are times when one loses that, and then it eventually becomes something that could bite them out.
As Astron had accepted Irina’s proposal of competition, the atmosphere returned to normal. Irina, who had just been saved by him, looked at the penthouse.
Because of the explosions that Danielle caused, several things inside the penthouse were blasted off across the place.
Seeing those traces, suddenly Irina realized something.
‘Explosions? The academy should be alerted?’
Even though Irina had no idea where they were, she knew that the explosions would alert the authorities. The reason for that?
Because of the death of the girl who kidnapped her, the artifacts that were concealing their presence would also be removed. That was the basic premise. And if that were the case, wouldn’t the academy that would be monitoring everything inside be aware of it?
They would. But, well, since they didn’t do anything wrong, they wouldn’t be accused of something.
“By the way, where are we?” Irina asked, looking around.
As Irina surveyed the place, her eyes fell upon the scattered remnants of the cleaning equipment, now broken and abandoned amidst the aftermath of the chaos. Puddles of spilled liquids shimmered on the floor, evidence of the recent struggle that had taken place.
“We’re in the penthouse,” Astron replied, his voice echoing faintly in the silent space.
Of course, it was easy to see with the evidence, but she wasn’t asking him the obvious.
“Penthouse? Penthouse of which building?”
“Girl’s dormitory.”
However, she felt like she heard something wrong.
“….Huh? What did you say?”
“It is one of the girl’s dormitory building’s penthouse.”
This guy said that this place belonged to the girl’s dormitories. That meant the demon contractor girl was hiding her acts under the academy’s nose.
‘How did she manage to even hide everything?’
Irina questioned, but then she remembered another thing.
This bastard was a man. A guy. And if the authorities were alerted, then they would be coming here.
“You! What are you doing, hurry up and leave.” Irina shouted, signaling him.
“Why?”
“Because this is a girl’s dormitory. Do you want to be labeled as a pervert?”
“….”
Astron fell silent for a second, hearing Irina’s words. But then he shook his head with a sigh. “Don’t you think it is kind of stupid to say after saying all those things to me and wasting my time here?”
Irina was momentarily left speechless by Astron’s response, her mind reeling from his blunt words. But as his reasoning sank in, a surge of frustration coursed through her veins.
“This is exactly why you need to hurry up and leave!” she exclaimed, her voice tinged with irritation. “You don’t have much time left before someone comes!”
Astron regarded her with a calm expression, his demeanor unwavering despite her agitation. “You’re still inexperienced, aren’t you?” he remarked, his tone gentle yet firm. “Do you think the academy would respond this late if they were alerted? If they knew, they would have been here already.”
Irina’s eyes widened as his words struck home, realization dawning upon her like a bolt of lightning. She had been so caught up in her own panic that she had failed to consider the possibility that the academy might not have been aware of the situation at all.
And it was very highly likely that this guy was already prepared for such a case. There was no way he wouldn’t after all. He was such a cautious guy.
‘But, he could have just told me.’
Feeling a mix of embarrassment and resentment, Irina glanced away, unable to meet Astron’s gaze.
“Why not just tell me?”
“I thought you could easily understand this. Aren’t you the great Irina Emberheart?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Astron waved his hand and then slowly moved toward the place that caught his attention. There was a small black dot on the wall,
As Astron approached the small black dot on the wall, he felt a sense of unease wash over him. Though the dot remained motionless, its presence seemed to emanate an eerie energy that made his heart beat faster, albeit faintly.
He hesitated for a moment, his instincts urging him to tread carefully. Whatever this dot was, it was clear that it held some significance, and Astron couldn’t shake the feeling that it was somehow connected to the demon contractor.
With a cautious hand, Astron reached out and lightly touched the dot, his fingers brushing against the smooth surface of the wall. But as he made contact, a chill ran down his spine, sending shivers through his body.
“What are you doing?”
“Wait.”
‘This definitely contains demonic energy. There is no doubt about that. Then, maybe?’
The dot didn’t move or react in any way, but Astron knew the method for that.
With a quick judgment, Astron made his way over to where Danielle’s lifeless body lay, his mind racing with possibilities. He knew that whatever secrets lay hidden within the penthouse were somehow connected to her, and he knew that she was using this place as an operation base.
SLASH!
Ruthlessly, he drew his dagger and swiftly cut off Danielle’s index finger, ignoring the gruesome task at hand. Gripping the severed digit tightly, he returned to the mysterious dot on the wall.
With a steady hand, Astron pushed Danielle’s finger into the dot, expecting some kind of reaction. But to his dismay, the dot remained motionless as if mocking his efforts.
But then Astron realized his mistake.
‘Yeah, I should have checked better.’ The finger he had chosen was too thin, and he had overlooked the angle of the previous touch. He activated his [Perceptive Insight] and saw the surface of the dot a little better, realizing that the dot was touching the thumb of his left hand.
Without hesitation, Astron returned to Danielle’s body and severed her thumb from her other hand, his movements swift and decisive. Clutching the severed digit tightly, he made his way back to the wall, his determination unyielding.
This time, as Astron pushed Danielle’s thumb into the dot, he felt a surge of energy coursing through his veins. The dot quivered slightly as if awakening from a slumber before suddenly enveloping Danielle’s hand in a pulsating mass of flesh.
Astron watched as the dot expanded, spreading across the entire wall like a living organism.
With a silent roar, the wall crumbled into a lump of flesh on the ground, revealing a hidden segment of the room that had been concealed from view.
“What?” Irina was the first one to react. She had been watching everything from the side, wondering what this guy was doing now. But never had she expected something to happen. She hadn’t even noticed the black dot on the wall.
She, Irina Emberheart, the third-ranked student of the academy, a prominent fire mage with strong mana senses, failed to notice that dot. That meant its stealth skills were quite high.
To see that he easily saw this from that distance was remarkable, and Irina once again witnessed how he could find these types of things easily.
It was like he was a living scanner. But aside from that, the fact that he easily found the method of entrance to that was a lot more interesting, though it looked abruptly simple.
“This is….”
However, the scene that had just appeared right before her eyes somehow made her want to vomit.
As the hidden segment of the penthouse revealed itself, the sight that greeted Astron and Irina was nothing short of horrifying. The interior scene was disturbing beyond imagination.
Lumps of flesh were scattered around the room, each one pinned to the wall in a grotesque display. The wall was categorized, with one segment featuring arms, another leg, and so on. It was as if the room itself was a macabre gallery of human anatomy.
Every body part was thin and pale-skinned, unmistakably belonging to girls. The realization sent a shiver down Irina’s spine, the gravity of the situation sinking in.
‘I would be in the same condition if he hadn’t come.’
But the most disturbing sight of all was the heads that hung from the ceiling, suspended by chains. Each head was missing its eyes, the empty sockets staring blankly into the room, devoid of life.
Irina’s hand flew to her mouth in horror as she took in the gruesome scene before her. The stench of decay hung heavy in the air, mingling with the metallic tang of blood.
“What…what is this?” she whispered, her voice barely above a horrified whisper.
Astron remained silent, his gaze fixed on the macabre display. His mind raced, and after looking at the heads, he put the pieces together in an instant.
At least, he had acted like he made so since Irina was looking at her. However, he was way too long aware of what had happened there.
Slowly, he turned to Irina, his expression grave. “Considering that most demon contractors are twisted individuals, this is not surprising.” He mumbled. “They all should be Danielle’s previous victims.”
‘Danielle? Ah, right? This girl was familiar, so it was her.’
Irina found the name unfamiliar at first, but then she remembered who it was. But the main focus wasn’t on her identity.
The fact that, there were at least five students whose heads were hanging down from the ceiling made it very disturbing. And what was more disturbing was how easily this demon contractor operated in the academy.
She even had a special operating room on her own, right in the noses of the academy.
“Aliya Shaw.”
At that moment, Irina heard Astron mumbling as his gaze was locked on the girl who was missing her eyes now.
“Do you know her?”
“I partially do. She was one of my sparring partners first.”
His gaze, looking at the lifeless head, was cold without any emotion. He somehow looked ‘used’ to it, though Irina dismissed that idea, thinking that her mentality was on the verge of collapsing.
“At the end, we need to report this to the academy.”
Astron said, looking at Irina.
“Ah…Right.”
And she understood the assignment. After all, this guy wanted to lay low; thus, only she could report what happened here, and naturally, she would be the one who had defeated the demon contractor.
“You should burn the corpse until nothing remains.”
“That….”
Even though the act itself felt disturbing to Irina, after seeing the heads hanging from the ceiling and the body parts that were dismantled, she narrowed her eyes.
“I will do it.”
After all, if not for Astron, who came to rescue her, she would be sharing the same fate.
‘These kinds of people….They don’t even deserve a proper burial. They will rather pollute the earth.’ She thought, slowly moving.
FOOSH! And in the penthouse, the flames swirled.