Total annihilation.
The demons were wiped out—shredded by the surge of monsters, their end even more miserable than Jack Gang's.
Yet their monstrous vitality refused to let them die. Even in scattered chunks of meat, the flesh writhed, desperately trying to regenerate.
Wade raised a hand, halting the monsters that wanted to keep tearing them apart. Over twenty stood before him—armored undead knights, with one towering figure among them: the Black Knight.
A force like this ensured anyone caught in the trap would be crushed in a single overwhelming strike.
[Black Knight(Dark Souls)]
[Mana Cost per Unit: 650]
[HP: C | Strength: C+ | Intelligence: D | Endurance: C | Speed: C | Overall Combat Power: C]
After a long, agonizing struggle, the demons finally knit themselves back into their original forms. Their bodies reformed—but their minds remained unconscious.
Wade studied them, picked out two that looked "a bit smarter," and ordered the rest tossed out of the dungeon through the exit gate.
.
..
...
Outside the gate, adventurers queued in a restless line, waiting for their turn to enter.
"Hurry up, people in front! I've been standing here forever already!"
Vilde barked irritably. He had come to challenge the dungeon again—he wouldn't rest until he saw Giovanni Sakaki.
After days of skirting between life and death, he had pushed his survival time in the swamp to a full thirty minutes. A tiny step for him… but in his mind, a step forward for all of humanity!
Unfortunately, the discovery of the Gourmet Zone had caused the dungeon's popularity to explode. Before, he had only needed to wait about an hour at most. Now?
He had been stuck in line since morning and still hadn't entered.
Inside his Poké Ball, Pikachu squirmed impatiently, complaining to be let out, but Vilde shook his head. This wasn't the time—he didn't want anyone here to see Pikachu.
The man ahead glanced back, irritation written across his face. He looked ready to start something, but the moment he recognized who Vilde was, he quickly ducked his head and shut up.
Another half hour dragged by. It was already past lunchtime when Vilde finally reached the front of the gate.
"Finally…" He inhaled deeply, bracing himself. "Today, I'll definitely find that man again!"
He stepped into the gate—only for something strange to shoot straight at him.
"Ah—what the—"
Splat!
A massive fleshy meatball of demons slammed directly into his face, blasting him clear out of the line.
"Whoa! That guy just went flying!?"
"Did something just come out of the teleport gate?"
"What the hell is that thing!?"
Vilde twitched helplessly on the ground, completely knocked out cold.
The culprit—a writhing ball of unconscious demon flesh—still squirmed on top of him. For the first time ever, something had come out of the teleport gate instead of going in. Sein Dungeon had two gates: one for entry, one for exit. They had never once mixed… until now.
The crowd swarmed to witness the once-in-a-century scene. But when they got a good look at what had been ejected, their faces paled.
"Wait… why do these things look so strange? Are they—demons!?"
"Quick! Notify the lord!"
Meanwhile, inside the dungeon, things were far quieter.
Two unconscious demons lay at Wade's feet. To be cautious, he had already taken the form of a Valiant Gargoyle. His transformation time hadn't run out yet, so why waste it?
Demons were notoriously difficult to kill outright. Their injuries had healed, but they remained in comas. In this state, interrogation was impossible.
Thinking a moment, Wade pulled out a plain healing potion—purchased from the outside world—and poured half into each of their mouths.
Almost immediately, color returned to their faces and their breathing steadied.
He bound them with heavy iron chains around their necks, then doused them with cold water. He slapped their faces and growled:
"Wake up already! Sleep any longer and I'll toss you into the pit."
The two demons stirred, blinking at him in confusion.
Wade had expected panic at the sight of his gargoyle visage. Instead, they just stared blankly.
"…Brain-dead?"
He waved a finger to the left.
Their heads turned left.
He waved right.
They turned right.
Back and forth, like broken dolls, necks wobbling until they looked like rattles. Not a word escaped them.
"These two are idiots!" Wade snapped, smacking them both hard across the face. Blood spattered from their mouths.
But that seemed to help. Their eyes flickered with a trace of clarity. One even raised his hand, fumbling at the chain around his neck as though trying to break free.
"Hey." Wade tapped him lightly on the forehead. "Where'd you come from? What's your purpose here?"
The demon ignored him, tugging at the chain with rattling persistence.
Wade turned to the other one—same response.
He exhaled through his nose. "So they weren't dazed earlier. They really are fools."
No matter what he tried, communication failed. Not only could they not speak—they seemed to lack language entirely. Perhaps even their intelligence had been stripped away.
"If only I had a mind-reading monster…" Wade muttered, flipping through his list of available creatures, searching for one with psychic abilities.
While he was distracted, the demons finally gave up fighting the chains. They slumped in place, unmoving.
Then faint steam began to rise from their bodies. Their temperature climbed.
And slowly—their flesh began to melt.
Like candles under flame, their forms sloughed away, dripping into bubbling puddles of slime.
Wade's brow furrowed. The scene was grotesque, sanity-draining. But at the same time… perhaps it could serve as inspiration for a dungeon monster.
As their twisted demon bodies dissolved, what emerged from within froze him in shock.
"…Humans?"
He crouched, plucking one from the slime between two clawed fingers, holding him up for a closer look.
No matter how he examined it, the figure was human—a scruffy young man with a greasy, thuggish air. His hands were pitch black, almost weightless to look at.
If Stella were here, she would have recognized him instantly: Morgan, one of the thugs who had once picked a fight with her.
The other demon melted into another familiar face—Morgan's lackey.
"Humans… that can turn into demons?"
At that moment, Morgan's eyelids began to twitch.