【Oscar Iris】
【Founder of the Iris Ducal Family.
Single-handedly subdued an ancient demon that once threatened humanity.】
Anna suddenly stopped in front of a framed picture hanging in the hallway.
The interior of the mansion dungeon was far from intact. Despite being called a ducal residence, traces of battle were scattered throughout, and occasionally, tumor-like growths formed on the ceiling.
Scratches marred the walls and floors, and in some places, hardened liquid resembling bloodstains could be seen.
Amidst all this, the frame remained completely untouched, drawing Anna’s gaze.
It was a photograph of a middle-aged man with an impressive beard, wearing a uniform that suited him perfectly.
His eyes were filled with justice and conviction, and although time had left its marks on the frame, there were no signs that anyone had tampered with it.
"Anna, did you find something?"
Vincent called out to Anna, who was standing still, staring at the frame.
"Oh, no… It just seems odd that this frame is so clean…."
"It doesn’t seem to be a gimmick or anything. But, yeah, now that you mention it, it is strange."
Vincent acknowledged Anna’s observation, his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.
"Still, investigating this comes later. Right now, retrieving our comrade’s corpse before Aurora does takes priority."
"Ah, I know that, but…."
Anna looked around, but instinctively, she knew that neither Laura nor Narin were here.
Vincent agreed with that assessment.
‘They’re too fast.’
That was the thought running through Vincent’s mind.
Currently, Vincent’s group was pursuing Laura and Narin.
However, there was no sign of them anywhere.
It made no logical sense.
While Vincent’s group had carefully avoided monsters and made their way up to the rooftop, Aurora and Son Narin had simply climbed the walls to reach it.
That should have allowed them to update their checkpoint without much trouble, but skipping all the challenges wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Because they had bypassed everything, Aurora and Son Narin wouldn’t know the structure of the mansion.
They wouldn’t even know what kind of monsters lurked within the dungeon.
Despite having zero information, they had somehow advanced far enough to shake off Vincent’s group.
Vincent considered three possible explanations for this.
One: They were simply lucky and encountered no monsters, allowing them to move quickly.
Two: They encountered monsters but ignored them and charged ahead anyway.
Three: They found a different path.
The first possibility required an incredible stroke of luck, and the second was recklessly dangerous.
Thus, Vincent’s group was working under the assumption of the third possibility and had been searching the area.
"Vincent-oppa, there’s no one around here~."
"This side’s empty too."
Shina and Noa approached, reporting that they had found nothing.
"Was there a hidden path?"
"Nope. It’s a straight shot up the stairs from here."
Shina responded matter-of-factly.
The mansion dungeon mostly consisted of hallways and rooms.
There weren’t many hiding spots, and the hallways were generally narrow corridors. While there were occasional forks in the path, there didn’t seem to be any in this immediate area.
That was why the group had split up to search the rooms, yet Laura and Narin were nowhere to be found.
‘A secret passage…? No, that’s unlikely.’
As an explorer, Vincent had the ability to map out the surrounding structures.
Yet, no matter how much he used his skill, he couldn’t find any hidden passages.
That meant the third possibility had to be ruled out.
‘…Which means those crazy women just brute-forced their way through.’
That was the only logical conclusion.
They simply charged ahead, ignoring the presence of any monsters.
Naturally, they would have drawn massive amounts of aggro in the process, but Aurora wouldn’t have cared in the slightest. Whether monsters chased after her or not, she would have just kept running forward.
There was no other answer.
‘The problem is… it actually makes sense.’
Aurora and brute force.
There couldn’t be a more fitting combination of words.
Honestly, she was the type of person who would somehow survive even if a tsunami came crashing down on her.
Though he didn’t know her that well, Vincent was aware that Aurora was somewhat unhinged, and Son Narin wasn’t much better.
It was just that Vincent alone was struggling to accept this unbelievable reality.
No matter how many times he ran through it, the same conclusion came up, leaving him with no choice but to acknowledge it.
"…Let’s pick up the pace."
With that, Vincent urged his party forward, now walking at a slightly faster speed.
It was still hard to believe that Aurora had run through the area, dragging every monster’s aggro along with her. But if that really had happened… it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for Vincent.
Because that meant all the nearby monsters had followed Aurora.
So this area was likely safe now, making speed more important than caution.
As Vincent quickened his pace, Shina and Noa followed suit. But only Anna felt a sense of unease.
‘It feels like I’m missing something.’
Having spent so much time with Laura, Anna barely managed to pick up on the feeling.
But even she wasn’t sure what it was.
Unfortunately, Anna wasn’t exactly the brightest—she was, after all, a Dyuttyai—and she wasn’t particularly detail-oriented either.
Thus, with no one realizing the truth, the group continued moving forward.
Before long, they came across Changyoung’s corpse.
It had been butchered.
One arm and one leg were missing, and the arm was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, one of his legs was lying a short distance away.
‘…Aurora’s not here.’
Vincent found that odd. There hadn’t been any side paths, so Aurora must have passed through here.
Yet the corpse had been left untouched.
‘If I were Aurora…’
I would have disposed of the body. I wouldn’t have let it fall into Vincent’s hands.
The fact that it was still here almost completely intact meant one of two things: either Aurora hadn’t even considered removing it, or she hadn’t had the time to.
Vincent assumed it was the latter.
If Aurora had been fleeing from monsters, she wouldn’t have had time to deal with the corpse.
With each new piece of information, the likelihood that Aurora was just a complete lunatic kept increasing.
Vincent sighed and gave Eleonoa an order.
"Noa, pick up that leg."
"Okay!"
Noa stepped forward to retrieve Changyoung’s severed leg.
And then Noa died.
—Puk!
"Huh?"
A hole was punched through Noa’s chest.
Neither Vincent, Anna, nor Shina could comprehend what had just happened. Even Eleonoa, as she was actively dying, didn’t understand.
A moment later, the blade withdrew from her body, and Eleonoa collapsed to the floor, lifeless.
"Ukufa okumnandi! Ngithumele omunye umuntu nawe!"
Once, she might have been a maid who worked for the ducal family.
But now, where her face should have been, there was only the head of a beast, speaking in an unknown language.
"…Shit."
Vincent clicked his tongue.
Had he been too careless?
He had assumed all the nearby monsters had been drawn to Aurora, but apparently, this one had been left behind.
He should have been more cautious, but it was too late now. Looking to Shina, he asked,
"Mashina! Skills?"
"I-I have one…."
"Then use it to buy us time! I’ll retrieve Noa!"
As a Survivor, Mashina could hold her own against monsters to some extent. Vincent planned to use that to his advantage and recover both Noa and Changyoung’s corpse.
Mashina understood his intentions and immediately charged at the monstrous maid.
—Slash!
Mashina died.
***
A scream echoed from somewhere.
Son Narin’s expression hardened upon hearing it.
"It’s about time we moved."
I got up and opened the window.
"You don’t need to follow me. Just keep an eye on the rope’s condition, just in case."
I did one last check of my gear. More specifically, I made sure my harness was properly secured.
A harness is a piece of equipment that connects my body to the rope.
If I just wrapped the rope around my waist, it would be uncomfortable in all sorts of ways. That’s why I needed a harness.
Once I confirmed that everything was in perfect condition, I jumped out of the window.
The scream hadn’t come from too far away.
As I approached the source of the noise, I saw Noa and Shina lying dead on the ground.
And there were Vincent and Anna, surrounded by monsters.
"Oh my."
This couldn’t be helped.
I smashed through the window and extended both legs outward.
With a firm pull, the beast-headed maid’s neck slipped between my thighs.
"Ukufa! Ukufa!"
She screamed something in a language I didn’t understand, but what did that matter?
I tightened my grip, strangling her.
Then, by pulling my body back, I successfully yanked her out through the window.
With one final push, I sent the monster plummeting.
Thud!
A sickening splatter of red erupted from the ground below.
"Things don’t look too good. Do you need my help?"
"…Aurora."
Still surrounded by monsters, Vincent let out a weary sigh when he saw me.
"……You’re still climbing the walls?"
"Of course. Why wouldn’t I?"
The mansion dungeon was mostly made up of narrow corridors.
If you ran into a monster inside, you had few places to run, and there weren’t many objects to take cover behind.
Moving through the hallways meant the chances of being cornered were high.
And as we could see, Vincent’s group had, in fact, been cornered.
On the other hand, traveling along the mansion’s outer walls was far safer.
If I knew how to use a rope, why would I ever move through the hallways?
Vincent was trapped in a dead-end corridor, but I could just climb up the rope and escape with ease.
"So, do you need my help? Of course, it won’t be free."
I flashed a sly smile and casually pulled out a flashbang.
Vincent let out a deep sigh.
"ASMR mic! I’ll give you an ASMR mic! Just—just save me! At least let me live!!"
Anna begged for her life.