Chapter 118 (1/2)

Disappointment (1)

While I was looking at Ray Chen’s body, I realized I made a huge mistake.

‘He turned into a rag.’

His body was in a terrible state after repeatedly being struck by sword energy and magic. The exploration team leader was the most suitable subject for my goal, but he was no longer usable for the purpose I had in mind.

I asked Nate and Hibiki.

“How is it? Are there some intact corpses?”

But the two shook their head.

“Really? Well, we can’t do anything about that. It’s not your fault. I became too arrogant.”

My order to secure the state of corpses while fighting dozens of hunters, who were technically SSS-Rank and SS-Rank, was too much to ask.

Even I couldn’t stop myself from putting his body in a heavily damaged state as I fought. In the first place, they were not unchallenging enough to be killed in a single blow.

“Ah, instead, there is someone who’s still breathing!”

“Really?

I was all ears to that statement. As I approached the place that Nate pointed, there indeed was a Chinese soldier who remained alive and breathing.

Although he was on the verge of Mana exhaustion, the blue light in his core was faint, but it hadn’t completely been cut off.

“Hmm.”

However, although he was still breathing, his body was a mess. His rib cages were broken, so the chest’s shape had collapsed, and below his knees, everything had been torn open and apart due to the ripping caused by zombies. It’s an injury that would’ve killed him long before it reached such a demented state if he weren’t an SS-Class hunter.

“Nate, perhaps you could do that in his state?”

He shook his head.

“Absolutely impossible.”

Hibiki asked a question.

“Are you planning to use healing magic? With my current Mana capacity, reaching the point of regeneration would be virtually impossible.”

“No.”

There was no need to contemplate which to consume between Mana resources, which couldn’t be bought with money, or item, which could be acquired with cash.

Having a hard time acquiring an Elixir applied only to typical guilds. From my position, as I already had a trade channel opened with the Senator, it’s not that precious of a thing.

After tying him up so that he couldn’t move even if he were to wake up, I took out a glass bottle from the snake inventory to forcefully feed the hunter. The contents of the top-tier potion, a single sip of which already cost hundreds of millions, slid down his throat and disappeared. Since I had more than enough money to spend, I couldn’t even consider what I did as nothing but a waste.

Shhhh!

His cut-off legs grew out again, and everyone could see the regeneration and rejuvenation that took place all over the entirety of his body.

“Ugh!”

The conscious man looked at his tied-up body as he must be analyzing what was going on. He gritted his teeth, realizing that he was healed back from certain death.

“Damn it! Don’t be silly. You’re all destined to die here! There is no way any of you can return to our world.”

He must have misunderstood that we planned to hold him hostage and return him to Earth to negotiate with the Chinese government.

“I won’t cooperate with anything. Just kill me already and be done with it!”

I replied calmly.

“I was planning to do so.”

“Huh?”

Puhk!

Without hesitation, I struck my sword down, causing it to pierce through his heart.

“Keup!”

His startled eyes, which were staring at me in vain, slowly lost their colors. His gaze was filled with questions that could not be hidden until he stopped breathing.

He must have been dumbfounded even at the very moment he drew his last breath. He must have wondered why I healed him if I would kill him just because I asked him to anyway.

Thanks to that, he died with his body remaining in a rather tip-top condition.

“Nate, please.”

“Okay!”

Woong!

The red Mana that emanated from his body seeped into the body of the dead Awakened.

“Rargh···!”

The hunter that turned into a zombie rose up from the dirt floor.

If the corpse was ruined beyond a certain standard, Nate couldn’t turn it into a subordinate.

The reason why I killed him after necessarily healing him was for that.

“Search his memory later on. For now, just put him in your shadow.”

“Roger that.”

*

“Eek!”

“Mmmp!”

Next, I approached the paralyzed hunters on the ground.

The three struggled to move their bodies but were unable to move.

The red Mana that the dead General had injected three days prior didn’t disappear. Rather, it all still existed in their bodies since it was maintaining the properties of paralyzing toxins.

“Now, listen up.”

I spoke to them.

“We can help you get better and help you to return to Earth safely.”

“…?!”

A light of distrust lingered around their eyes.

One by one, they forced their frozen tongues to move all for the sake of leaking a word of doubt.

“R… Really…?”

“N… Way…”

I shrugged.

“You’re saying it doesn’t make sense? Yeah, it should be hard to believe. However, you’re going to die here if you don’t accept our help anyway. Will there really be anything to lose?”

As they couldn’t grasp what kind of situation they were in, they only blinked their eyes to showcase how bewildered they were.

“In return, you all need to promise me one thing.”

“…?!”

“What you’ve seen so far and what you will see from now on will be strictly confidential. Do you understand? And I need you to help me with my work. If you keep your promise, there will be no harm done to you. I promise.”

They didn’t need a long time to think about it.

Since they had no alternatives, they all took turns nodding as hard as they could in agreement. But it seemed like they doubted what I could do in that situation.

“But for the sake of security, we can’t leave your promises only to your conscience.”

I took out a paper made out of unique materials and a pen from the snake inventory.

Swish!

I spread three sheets of paper tightly with psychokinesis and float them in the air.

I then picked up the pen and started to write on it without hesitation.

Hibiki opened her eyes wide when she saw the letters that she had never seen before.

“From which country is that language from?”

“It’s the devil’s language.”

“…?”

The texts I was writing down were textures from the demons I used when I signed the contract while subjugating the devil’s sword as a slave.

Those were components necessary for making an absolute contract with the soul as collateral.

Watching me write down with brushstrokes filled with certainty, the devil’s sword on my back muttered as if it were absurd.

‘What kind of life have you been living so far that you get to write down the contracts that demons use with so much confidence at that speed?’

I answered back with a small murmur.

“What do you think? Did I write it down properly?”

It replied in a tone that sounded like it didn’t want to admit it.

‘… The grammar and formats are all perfect. It’s enough to scatter to the young demons as textbooks.’

“That’s a relief.”

After I finished writing, I pushed the paper towards them.

A signature was not required. With mental consent, the contract could be concluded.

“What…?”

A contract was written using a language that wasn’t recognizable from their perspective.

“Repeat after me. I agree to the contract.”

They would be wondering what it was all about.

They seemed reluctant as they felt like they were being scammed, but they eventually repeated what I said since they had no other option.

Their mind had become bound to follow language intuitively.

Shhhh!

The three sheets of paper fluttered up into the air and glowed as Mana spread.

The contract was signed in an instant, and they seemed to have sensed that something had changed. Everyone’s faces turned pale.

They instinctively sensed the shackles that bounded their souls.

“What is this?!”

“Alright, the deal has been made. You’d better not think about breaking it. As you must have already felt it… it can lead to terrible consequences.”

I was planning on explaining all the details of the contract later.