Chapter 41

Right after Amon appeared behind the Beastman Crew,

the pupils of the cat beastman, Paul’s right-hand man, contracted.

The time he perceived slowed down.

Thanks to genetic modification, the cat beastman’s innate dynamic vision had reached the level of a military-grade neural accelerator.

Though his body couldn’t keep up with his vision, he could at least clearly see what was happening.

The sight of red rain slowly pouring down was somewhat dreamlike.

But soon, the cat beastman regretted his actions.

In the slowed-down time, he couldn’t help but see everything clearly.

Amon’s sword glowed,

and as a flash of light passed through his brothers’ necks,

he witnessed their heads being harvested.

‘What kind of monster is that…’

A human neck is tough.

So much so that a guillotine had to be specially designed to sever it.

Therefore, a human like Amon, who harvested necks like picking fruit, was undoubtedly a monster.

‘Boss. I think we’re screwed.’

In the slowed-down time, he drew his sword.

It seemed only the executives of the crew could react to Amon’s attacks.

The longer the cat beastman delayed, the more of his brothers would die.

Suppressing his fear, he charged at Amon.

Amon wasn’t looking at him now.

‘This is my chance.’

Even while running, the cat beastman’s footsteps were eerily quiet.

He stealthily ran behind Amon.

After carefully observing Amon, he swung his sword at the perfect moment.

But,

“Huh?”

Amon dodged.

It was an angle that should have been impossible to evade.

Not only did he dodge, but he also grabbed the cat beastman’s side.

‘What the…’

Was this some kind of mystical footwork?

In his slowed-down vision, Amon’s sword approached his neck.

His eyes followed the sword, but his body couldn’t keep up.

‘Boss. I think I got too greedy.’

The cat beastman closed his eyes as his vision spun.

***

It was raining.

Despite the clear sky, red rain poured down relentlessly.

Just as the rain seemed to ease, Amon’s sword flashed, and the downpour intensified.

Paul, drenched in the rain, muttered in despair.

“Ferdi, Louis, Kerron…”

The blood of his beloved brothers soaked his clothes and fur.

But Amon didn’t stop.

Countless beastmen’s heads flew, and red rain poured from the sky.

Paul wanted to resist.

He wanted to shoot, throw bombs, and set fires, just like he had done to others in the dungeon.

But he couldn’t.

Amon never gave him an opening.

Amidst the beastmen, Amon cleverly positioned himself so that any gunfire would hit another beastman.

Amon thoroughly exploited the beastmen’s camaraderie.

“No…”

The number of his brothers, once so many, had dwindled to just ten.

They had banded together to survive in this wretched city.

At first, they only wanted to survive, but over time, they dreamed of a better life with their brothers.

That dream shattered right before their eyes.

Unable to bear it, a rat beastman pulled the trigger of his shotgun.

But Amon dodged it with ease.

The missed shot turned the chest of another beastman into a beehive.

The beastman looked in shock before collapsing forward.

“No… this can’t be…”

The rat beastman who had fired was of the same species.

Not just the same species, but his actual blood brother.

The rat beastman’s face turned pale as he realized he had killed his own twin brother.

“I didn’t mean to…”

Sensing the mood, Amon approached the rat beastman and whispered,

“It’s your fault.”

That was enough.

The rat beastman offered his neck without resistance.

The remaining members watched the horrific scene unfold.

Silence fell over the alley.

As everyone lost their will to fight and lowered their guns, Paul, the only one who didn’t, shouted at Amon.

“Why are you going this far…?”

Paul knew his actions weren’t justified.

But as someone who didn’t believe in karma, he couldn’t accept this situation.

What he was facing now was nothing more than misfortune.

“Was it really necessary to go this far?!”

Of course, Amon found this ridiculous.

How could someone be so shameless?

Though Amon was an egalitarian who saw beastmen as equal to humans, he could say one thing for sure:

The thing in front of him was nothing but a beast.

Amon spoke.

“Do you remember how many parties you’ve sold to the Center?”

“How could I remember that?!”

“Then do you remember how many times you’ve sold the families of those party members?”

“I told you, I can’t remember!”

“Right. You wouldn’t remember. It wasn’t your first time.”

How many people had been sacrificed at this Center?

The thought that Sonia might have been among them made Amon nauseous.

Clenching his teeth to suppress the rising nausea, Amon said,

“It’s amazing how shameless you are after all this.”

“I had to feed my brothers.”

“There’s a line, though.”

“In this city, if it wasn’t me, someone else would’ve done it!”

“Then that someone else would’ve died by my hand.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, Amon charged at Paul.

Paul aimed his machine gun at Amon.

But then, Amon kicked one of the heads rolling on the ground toward Paul.

Startled by his brother’s head suddenly flying at him, Amon closed the distance.

Swoosh.

Amon’s sword took Paul’s eyes.

In the darkness that followed, Paul felt the sensation below his wrists disappear.

“Guys! Run!”

Even in this state, Paul cared for his brothers.

Paul’s ears were filled with the screams and cries of his brothers.

As the sound of bodies hitting the ground increased, Paul counted each one.

When he reached five, Paul knelt in despair.

“Guys… are you alive…?”

He groped the ground.

Paul’s arm touched the head of one of the beastmen.

Only by feeling the hard head under his arm did Paul accept reality.

A single tear of blood streamed down Paul’s cheek.

“I’m sorry, guys…”

The sight of the beastman searching for his brothers even in death was pitiful.

But Amon felt no sympathy.

Before Paul could curse at Amon, a flash of light passed through his neck.

Paul’s head rolled with his mouth open.

Amon picked up the head.

“I don’t know how much your bounty is, but use it to apologize to the victims’ families.”

Amon left the scene with Paul’s head.

A few hours later,

The article titled <Beastman Crew and Clinic Center's Human Trafficking> set the city abuzz.

***

The Beastman Crew’s human trafficking incident heated up the city.

The fervor didn’t die down for days.

[The incident at the Love Clinic Center was led by Paul’s crew, who infiltrated an explorer party-]

The news anchor was outraged by their crimes.

But her anger wasn’t driven by a sense of justice.

It was because it made money.

In a world where justice and virtue had become laughable jokes, hypocrisy still paid.

At least the police had to appear just, and public figures had to seem virtuous on screen.

People pointed fingers at the dead Paul and the beastmen.

Not out of a sense of justice, nor because they disrupted the city’s order.

Simply because it was fun.

Because they could feel self-righteous by legally condemning them.

So they just cursed.

Fortunately, the parties involved in this incident were dead and didn’t have to worry about the aftermath.

It was the perfect entertainment for the city’s citizens.

In the process, the issue of beastmen’s societal crimes resurfaced but quickly died down.

In a world where everyone, regardless of skin color, culture, or race, committed crimes as a matter of course, it was a meaningless discussion.

In that atmosphere, Amon went about his daily life.

Amon’s name didn’t appear in the news.

He was treated as a nameless mercenary this time.

Thanks to going through the broker, no one knew Amon’s identity.

If they had properly investigated the scene, they might have discovered the mercenary was Amon, but of course, that didn’t happen.

The police didn’t even start an investigation, and the building owner cleaned up the scene to quickly re-lease the property.

‘Yeah. This is the average police for you.’

It wasn’t for nothing that Amon found it suspicious when the police showed up at his house.

Thanks to that, the incident was quietly buried.

However, Amon took a break from mercenary and explorer activities until things calmed down.

There was a risk of being identified if he stirred up any trouble.

During that time, Amon replayed the day’s battle in the training facility.

‘I need to change my swordsmanship a bit.’

Footwork was the most important aspect of swordsmanship.

Not just in swordsmanship, but in all martial arts, footwork was fundamental.

There was a reason footwork was emphasized in martial arts novels.

In other words, changing footwork would naturally change the way one swung their arms.

A Sky Step user needed a swordsmanship style that matched it.

‘I couldn’t use it at all in the actual fight.’

Intellectually, he knew the swordsmanship that complemented Sky Step.

But in practice, he couldn’t execute it properly.

He dodged attacks and swung his sword as usual, but he couldn’t perform attacks that utilized Sky Step.

He hadn’t practiced enough.

So Amon spent his days swinging his sword in the training room until things outside settled down.

Then one day, as Amon was swinging his sword intensely, he heard the training room door open.

‘Who is it?’

It wasn’t a staff member.

In this world, individual combat skills were as important as life itself.

Just like in martial arts novels where only family members were allowed to watch training, this world was the same.

In some cases, heads could literally roll, so there weren’t even CCTV cameras in the training room.

Amon stopped swinging his sword and looked at the door.

When he saw familiar black hair peeking through, he remembered something he had forgotten.

‘Ah, right. Today’s the day I was supposed to check Cash’s posture.’

Going back and forth between the training ground, home, and church every day had made him lose track of time.

Soon, Cash fully revealed herself from behind the door.

Her appearance and demeanor had completely changed since they first met.

Initially, she used a pistol as her weapon, but after several missions, she realized a spear suited her better.

Her outfit had also changed dramatically to accommodate the spear.

The thick clothes that once covered her entire body had become thinner for better mobility.

As a result, her figure, which had been hidden, was now revealed.

Her voluptuous breasts, rivaling Sonia’s, were attractive, but her true charm lay in her thighs, optimized for wielding a spear.

Despite producing explosive speed that was hard to follow with the eyes, her thighs were incredibly smooth.

‘How can such power come from those thighs?’

Moreover, the shorts she was wearing were very short.

Her pantyhose did little to hide her healthy physique.

She ran toward Amon with two spears on her back, smiling brightly.

“Amon! You waited, right?”

“No. I just got here.”

“Hey, you’re drenched in sweat. Do you really think that’s convincing?”

“What does it matter? But sorry, can we take a break before we start?”

“Sure. I’ve got plenty of time today.”

“Thanks.”

Amon left her for a moment and wiped off his sweat with a towel.

He set the towel aside and started hydrating.

While Amon enjoyed the refreshing feeling after his workout, Cash’s gaze was fixed on one thing.

Amon’s sweat-soaked towel.

Her hand reached for the towel.

Just before her fingers touched it,

“I’m done resting. Let’s start training.”

Amon’s sudden voice startled her.

“Something wrong?”

“No. Nothing.”

She acted as if nothing had happened and headed to the center of the training ground with Amon.

As they walked, her gaze remained fixed on his towel, a fact Amon never noticed.

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