The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 115

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 115. Role-Play (2)

Before she could speak, words tumbled from his mouth.
“I understand the sentiment, but I don’t grant my back to just anyone. To be honest, it bothers me.”
Seol Jihoo raised his spear as he spoke.
“I won’t get in the way.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
“Give me a chance to prove it.”
At his quick riposte, Emotionless Woman raised an eyebrow slightly. Then, as if appraising him, her gaze swept the young man from crown to sole.
Earrings, gloves, bracelet, and the full figure wreathed in biting cold that radiated from the blue-tinged Ice Spear—the moment she took in all of it, something flickered behind her eyes.
Without a word, Emotionless Woman turned to face forward. Seol Jihoo accepted her silence as consent.
Snake Eyes, who had been watching with interest, finally spoke.
“Timing’s perfect. Two creatures loitering at the door. Eight more prowling inside.”
The instant her words ended, Emotionless Woman flung the door wide. Blade and spear shot out simultaneously, toppling the two waiting monsters, and the pair rushed in like arrows loosed from a bow.
“Hm?”
Snake Eyes, who had been watching with a smile, blinked. Her already narrow eyes became mere slits.
‘Not bad.’
The woman with the long sword was competent enough. But the man covering from behind—his skill was hardly something to dismiss. In fact—
‘What the hell is this bastard?’
Snake Eyes let out a gasp of astonishment, catching the roiling force that flickered at the tip of his spear.
‘Damn it. An Upper Rank? Not Level 4?’
That couldn’t be right—so she tilted her head, thoroughly confused.
With both of them in action, the time to clear the room cut in half. Snake Eyes, who had been watching the youth intently, clamped her mouth shut. She didn’t whistle, but the gesture spoke to her genuine surprise.
“…Well. It’s not unheard of for a Level 4 to have high Mana pools.”
Maria, who was preparing spells while keeping watch on Seol Jihoo, let out a silent laugh to herself.
After trying Seol Jihoo once, Emotionless Woman seemed to have earned some trust. She began delegating entire sections to him rather than merely having him cover.
Snake Eyes, for all her peculiar temperament, was genuinely skilled. Though she hadn’t engaged in direct combat, the fact that her readings were 100 percent accurate was unmistakable proof of her expertise.
With precise information, Emotionless Woman’s piercing assault, and Seol Jihoo’s support layered on top, their progress met no resistance.
The problem was that the end seemed nowhere in sight.
For reasons unknown, Emotionless Woman insisted on moving only forward. As if desperate to flee this place as soon as possible, she pressed on without pause, cycling endlessly between combat and march.
Her tireless pace finally halted after passing through forty rooms.
The fortieth chamber showed nothing particularly remarkable, save for one alteration.
“Huh? There’s no door ahead?”
As Snake Eyes noted, the number of doors had dropped from four to three. The others, sensing something amiss, began cautiously picking their way around the chamber.
Snake Eyes, who had been scribbling notes on paper, looked at Emotionless Woman standing motionless before a wall.
“Hey. Which way? Left? Or right?”
That was when it happened.
Thud.
A sudden crashing sound erupted as something fell and struck,
Crumble! Crumble!
The front wall and both sides partially collapsed, revealing dense rows of launcher mechanisms.
Snake Eyes saw dozens of spikes rising slowly from the three walls, and her face twisted for the first time.
“What the hell—!”
In a fraction of a second.
Whoosh, whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
A chilling, violent tearing of air scraped at their ears,
“Lushulia Shield!”
Boom!
The white barrier unfurled at almost the same moment.
Ting-ting-ting-ting! They managed to defend with mere fractions of a second to spare, but Maria had to exhaust every ounce of her Mana. The force striking the barrier from both sides was no jest.
Five seconds felt like five minutes before the room finally fell silent.
The floor was littered with hundreds of bolts scattered in chaotic disarray, and both walls exhaled pale steam in billowing clouds. Maria wiped the sweat from her brow—then froze.
‘Oh right.’
The trap had activated from the front as well. The three who had been in the vanguard had taken the full brunt of the bolt barrage.
Maria had done her utmost to extend the barrier, but the trap had sprung so suddenly that she’d had no time to shield the front lines.
“Maria! Are you all right?”
A familiar voice cut through the haze. Maria’s eyes widened. Through the pale steam still rising from the walls, a yellowish light gleamed.
The light came from a shield—a triple-circle design overlapping to form a triangular form. The moment Seol Jihoo realized the trap had sprung, he’d pulled Emotionless Woman into an embrace and triggered his bracelet.
Snake Eyes had cunningly positioned herself behind the pair, and had it not been for the Artifact, she’d have been pinned in place like a meat shield.
In any case, the attack came with no warning and no herald, which was why even Emotionless Woman’s iron composure cracked—though it was only a tightening of the pupils, quickly restored.
“…Wait.”
She pressed her palm against the young man’s chest where it met her cheek and pushed gently. Once Seol Jihoo, finally coming to his senses, hastily released his arms, Emotionless Woman gazed at the countless bolts scattered across the floor and sighed.
“…Ah.”
Annoyance flashed across a face that had been impassive throughout the raid, the first crack in her composure. Her expression plummeted below freezing in an instant, and only then did she turn to look behind her.
Behind them stood four people, looking as though they’d aged ten years, clutching at their chests.
Emotionless Woman opened her mouth.
“Who are you?”
The quiet voice hung in the air, and all three except Maria froze.
In truth, nothing had happened when they’d entered. But a trap suddenly sprung—the only conclusion was that one of them had triggered something by mistake.
Silence stretched on. When the quiet deepened, Emotionless Woman stared at them with half-lidded eyes and asked flatly.
“…Who, you bitches?”
The sudden curse. The short-haired woman, who’d resolved to let most things slide, doubted her ears for a moment.
“W-what did you say?”
“Want me to say it again?”
“That language is uncalled for, isn’t it?”
“One of you nearly got me killed. You think words are going to come out polite?”
The short-haired woman fell silent. She understood the sentiment, but still—it felt unfair. She’d barely moved since entering the room.
Emotionless Woman continued.
“Acting on your own, causing damage to others—why wouldn’t I be angry?”
“I understand your feelings, but… wasn’t it you who acted on your own?”
“?”
“Of course we’re grateful you cleared the path, but we were hoping to work together—”
“Look at this.”
Emotionless Woman crossed her arms and lifted the corner of her mouth. Her expression was pure mockery—’Is this girl actually serious?’
“You’re funny. When did I ever ask you to follow?”
“Listen—”
“You followed of your own accord in the first place, didn’t you?”
The short-haired woman clenched her teeth.
“I know you’re strong. But we’re not—”
“Right. We could work together.”
Emotionless Woman cut her off, as if she could already see where this was headed.
“But you only thought about it, didn’t you? If you’d truly wanted to help, wouldn’t you have attached yourselves voluntarily, on your own initiative? Like those three.”
Emotionless Woman’s chin gestured in turn at Snake Eyes, Seol Jihoo, and Maria. Maria protested loudly—”Who are you calling small?”—but her voice was drowned out by the short-haired woman’s rebuttal.
“That’s why from the beginning—”
“Right. Introductions. Are you stupid? This isn’t the Neutral Zone. Without talking, you can’t do anything?”
“We can at least mention Class and Level. For the sake of information-sharing.”
“Your Class is Archer. Your Level looks about 3.”
The short-haired woman found herself nodding.
“If you’re going to be an Archer, shouldn’t you have decent eye for detail? At minimum, unless you’re deliberately hiding it, you should be able to guess a Class just by looking at equipment.”
Watching Emotionless Woman dissect the argument point by point, Seol Jihoo let out a low whistle. She had a talent for laying out facts like weaponry. He almost felt sorry for the short-haired woman.
“Though, I’ll say—I’m busy cutting a path here, and getting cursed at for doing a good deed is a first.”
That was the killing blow. The short-haired woman squeezed her eyes shut. Her chest heaved visibly, then she exhaled long and slow.
“…I’m sorry.”
Emotionless Woman’s eyes widened slightly.
“I was short-sighted. My apologies.”
At the sincere admission, she let out a quiet laugh. Propping her chin on the back of her hand, she tilted her head. She’d been bored, and it was lucky timing.
“Well… quick apologies are nice, but my feelings are already hurt. What should we do about that?”
“……”
“Besides, I don’t trust words. I trust actions.”
The mocking tone carried clear intent to play with her prey. The short-haired woman swallowed her shame and spoke.
“I’ll show you through actions.”
“You’re not entirely stupid… How many doors have you broken through so far?”
Snake Eyes, who’d been watching with interest, suddenly found herself singled out and shrugged.
“How would I know?”
“You’ve been drawing a map.”
“Tch. Playing dumb when you’ve secretly been paying attention all along.”
Snake Eyes pulled a piece of paper from her pouch, counted carefully, and spoke.
“Exactly forty.”
“Forty doors.”
The Emotionless Woman spoke quietly, continuing the count.
“Fine. Given the level difference, clear twenty doors instead.”
“Twenty… doors?”
“Left or right—I don’t care which way you go. But I, her, and her won’t help you at all. Open the doors yourselves and clean out the insides just like we had to. You’ll manage it together.”
The Emotionless Woman stressed the words “manage it together” with particular force. Seol Jihoo, who had been wiping his spear, wanted to lodge a formal protest about being thrown into this arbitrarily, but when he saw Maria signaling frantically at him, he decided to keep quiet for now.
“You don’t like it? Then quit. Just don’t expect me to let you follow us anymore.”
The short-haired girl bit her lip. She had no choice.
“Understood. But once we clear twenty doors….”
“I’ll introduce myself like you want, and we’ll work as a team.”
The deal was struck.
The short-haired girl glanced back at the three before her. She’d have to skip the two priests. That left only herself—an Archer—and the woman with the shield.
Still, a warrior-archer combination could work.
“Will you help me?”
The brown-haired woman who had been watching quietly smiled softly at her question.
“Of course.”
She’d felt guilty just standing around watching, she said, and slowly extended her hand.
“Level 3 Shield Warrior. I’m Shale Sophie.”
The short-haired girl’s face went blank, then broke into a wide smile.
“Level 3 Sharp Ranger. I’m Lara Wolfe.”
For the first time since the raid began, a warm atmosphere settled over the group.
“Well, well.”
Snake Eyes let out a hollow laugh watching the two women clasp hands firmly together, while the Emotionless Woman wore a knowing smile.
Thus it came to pass.
Shale Sophie and Lara Wolfe joined forces and began carving their way forward.
Seol Jihoo found himself watching not by choice but by necessity, though inwardly he was cheering the two women on.
Truth be told, Seol Jihoo didn’t have a bad impression of Lara Wolfe. Certainly, if she’d simply trailed along and made demands, he would have lost all sympathy, but she’d admitted her mistake and apologized.
‘She even spoke up first about it.’
She disclosed her level and class, formed a formation according to the information, and advanced methodically. For someone trained in the basics like Seol Jihoo, the Emotionless Woman’s approach seemed almost unconventional.
He could admit that the Emotionless Woman had taken the lead and opened the path, but that had been for her own convenience. When they first tried to help, hadn’t she told them not to interfere? That meant the things she’d said while pressuring Lara Wolfe could only be seen as her changing her tune to suit herself.
So he quietly encouraged the two women as they pressed forward steadily, but unfortunately—as he’d felt during the rescue mission—reality was rarely beautiful.
The doors opened slower than they should have, and it wasn’t long before the two began to flounder considerably.
The problem was Lara Wolfe first and foremost.
“Beyond this way is… um….”
She wasn’t a scout. As a Ranger focused on combat ability, her reconnaissance skills were inevitably lacking.
But even accounting for that, one couldn’t deny the vast difference between her and Snake Eyes, who could rattle off precise information in just one or two seconds.
“…Priest?”
In desperation, she’d asked the priest to cast a barrier before opening each door, but Maria flatly refused. A priest’s spells weren’t infinite.
Stage 1 hadn’t even shown signs of ending yet, and if she used spells every time they opened a door, they’d run dry in no time.
With inaccurate information, the warrior naturally struggled too.
Shale Sophie had skills fitting her Level 3, but that also meant she had only that level of ability—no more. Moreover, her armor was relatively light, so her wounds accumulated as time wore on.
And that wasn’t all.
“Ugh~ Why is this taking so long~ At this rate, clearing just Stage 1 will take months~.”
…….
“Wow. How did you think you’d enter the raid with that level of skill? Banking on your team?”
…….
As they say, a scolding sister-in-law is worse than a hitting mother-in-law. They were struggling to get through as it was, and with Snake Eyes openly raking her raw in between, there was no way the heat wouldn’t rise.
Inevitably, in an atmosphere grown truly vicious, disaster struck. A monster’s descending axe shattered Shale Sophie’s shield to pieces.
“Aaaaaaah!”
She cried out sharply and collapsed. Maria’s barrier saved her life, but at a glance, her injuries were severe.
Her left arm was completely crushed, white bone visible to the naked eye.
“Not so easy, is it?”
A shadow fell over Lara Wolfe as she sat dazed. The Emotionless Woman looked down at her, running her fingers through the black hair that had fallen across her shoulder.
“Even if we can heal your arm—with your shield broken, your combat power will be cut in half.”
“…I suppose so.”
“What will you do? You haven’t even opened half of them yet. Only eight so far, isn’t it?”
“You.”
The Emotionless Woman, still running her fingers through the girl’s hair, smirked.
“Want me to help?”
“What?”
“Well, there are twelve more to open, but there’s no reason we couldn’t fill them differently.”
“How do you mean?”
Lara Wolfe spoke without much hope, and Emotionless Woman raised her index finger.
“Ask me politely.”
“Politely? That’s just—”
Emotionless Woman wagged her second finger back and forth.
“I said ask politely.”
Then she bent her index finger inward slowly, deliberately.
“First—crawl over here on all fours.”
At that moment, Lara Wolfe’s face twisted into an expression beyond description. Even Snake Eyes’ countenance contorted strangely.
“Hah… you’re quite the pervert. Your tastes are seriously twisted.”
Emotionless Woman’s lips curled. It was less a matter of personality than inclination. Each time she saw the confident and self-assured brought low, she felt a peculiar, exquisite pleasure wash through her.
Just now—when they’d sworn to combine their strength, it had been pleasant enough. But inevitably, things had grown precarious. What would it be like to watch them crawl toward her after clinging to such hope, only to be crushed by despair?
The mere thought sent a thrilling sensation through her lower abdomen, and her lips involuntarily peeled back in a grin.
“Well, it should at least serve as a tedious distraction from my melancholy.”
She swept her hair back and waited for a response.
“That’s alright.”
Yet the answer came, unexpectedly, from Shale Sophie. She continued speaking as Maria tended to her wounds.
“We’re already nearly halfway through. I’ll keep going.”
“…You will?”
Emotionless Woman, who had been quietly anticipating something more, let out a disappointed breath and clicked her tongue.
“Then do it faster. I’m starting to get bored waiting.”
“Yes. Once my injuries are healed, I’ll break through right away.”
Sophie spoke without losing her smile throughout. Emotionless Woman turned away.
Meanwhile, Seol Jihoo, who had been watching intently, was wrestling with a deep conflict. Somehow he’d ended up on a team with Emotionless Woman, but he couldn’t shake his disapproval of her methods.
This woman is literally bored. With no passage appearing, she’s entertaining herself by toying with those two caught in her web—like a spider with flies. Once she tires of the game, she’ll return to the strategy with renewed enthusiasm.
If the three of them pooled their efforts as before, they could likely escape quickly, but he had no interest in wasting time on her amusements.
‘What should I do?’
Emotionless Woman and Snake Eyes.
Sophie and Lara.
And Maria and….
‘Hm?’
As Seol Jihoo’s gaze swept across each person, it suddenly halted on a single girl.

(To be continued)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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