Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 106: "Sentinel"

"It's too late. How much time are you taking to choose the right equipment?"

When I returned to the room, I was greeted by Vertex's irritated voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I got into a conversation with this brother of mine. We're from the same town, so we've got a lot to talk about!"

"When you're done with your business, we have no more business here. Let's go."

Vertex clicked his tongue and was about to head for the door, but the head stopped him by grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Wait a minute. Take some time to relax."

His voice lowers.

Vertex looked up, as if he sensed something.

"Did some idiot just walk in here?"

"I guess there's nine of them. I'll do the cleaning as a service. They don't seem like a problem, so I'll finish while you're having some tea."

After saying that, he put the kettle and teacups by the sink and began to make tea.

[Other Pov]

The darkness of night has passed, and under a sky with the faintest hint of dawn, nine shadows leap over the fence.

Without exception, they are clad in black robes and watch their surroundings with vigilance.

There is no particular sign of human presence except for a large building in front of them.

They let their guard down slightly and proceeded.

Their mission was surveillance only, but just as the target entered the building, the order came.

It was to investigate the interior.

The order was questionable due to the nature of their boss, but an order is an order.

We, the subordinates, just had to follow the order without saying a word.

We approached the building cautiously, although we were concerned about the large number of statues in bad taste.

The man in command thought.

What is this building?

From the looks of it, it is probably some kind of warehouse, but since the target stopped by at this time, we should assume that there is something in there.

If this is where they are hiding the "parts" they took?

I had heard from the report I had received beforehand that he did not seem to be carrying them around.

The stolen "parts" were two "arms" and one "eyeball.

We have not been told the details, but it is said that they are among the most valuable items in Tuke's custody.

Otherwise, they would not have been so eager to take it.

To tell the truth, I don't like the people at Tuke's.

We understand that we are able to do what we do because of the weapons, tools, and funds they provide us.

That said, it is no fun to be used like an expendable commodity.

We should stay out in front and stay safe....

Such whiny thoughts were cut short by the screams of my friends.

...Where are you idiots coming from...?

As I turned around as if I had been knocked out of my thoughts, I saw that my companion was being held by a nearby statue.

As soon as the others noticed and moved to pull him off, all the other statues attacked at the same time.

A golem!? How did they manage to get that defective thing...?

The thought of a well-known but flawed and difficult-to-use magical weapon crossed my mind, but I would think about it later.

Now that we have been discovered, we must fight back.

"No, don't..."

He exclaimed.

All of us at Darzain are equipped with magical tools to suppress agitation, so we don't get shaken up by small things.

However, the fear in front of us was something that could not be prevented even with the tools we had.

The source of the voice was the fellow who had first raised his voice.

The chest of the statue that embraced him opened wide, exposing its contents.

Inside was filled with a large number of blades.

The statue forcefully pushed his companion into his body and moved as if to chew, biting and crushing him.

Immediately after, the evidence-destroying mechanism built into us was activated.

It explodes and a black corrosive mist spreads around us.

"Naa..."

...but the mysterious statue was attacking its next prey without a care.

Wasn't it working? That question was soon answered.

It was effective. Exposed to the corrosive mist, the statue had indeed melted.

Only on the surface.

The melted statue reveals itself.

The shape is barely human. The torso was covered with a device that had chewed up a fellow human being.

The head was like a doll, with only holes for eyes and nose.

The figure alone was bizarre, but what was most peculiar were its arms and legs.

They were the color of rusted metal with lines at regular intervals.

What was that?

The tips of the exposed arms came into view.

I hear a wet, unpleasant sound, and our eyes meet.

I quickly turn my head back.

The next moment, something passed by where the man's head had been.

They realized. It was a monster.

Their limbs are made up of monsters.

The man was able to evade at the last moment, but those who could not were bitten.

The statues around him stopped hiding their true nature and peeled off their skin, revealing their true forms one after another.

Some of them slashed at him with daggers, but not even a scratch was left on his apparently hard torso, let alone on the limbs of the monster.

Once they realized this, there was nothing they could do.

All the survivors thought about retreating, but there was nothing they could do about that either.

The bitten comrade was foaming at the mouth and convulsing, unable to act.

There were only two men left except for the man in command.

The two were also surrounded and there was no way for them to escape.

The man thought, "Is this it?"

I'm sorry, but I'm going to ask the two survivors to act as decoys.

At the very least, they should bring back some information, or else they would die in vain.

Thinking this, the man turned his back on his friends and ran away, but ...... it was too late.

Pain like a needle prick in the neck.

When he brushes off the sting, something is crushed.

When he looks at his hand, he sees that something that looks like a smaller version of the monster attached to the limbs of the statue has been crushed.

The man looks at his fallen companion nearby.

He is convulsing with white eyes and bite marks on his arms.

He looks at his fellow survivor with a ray of hope, but he sees that he has just been dismembered alive by the monster and exploded.

His convulsing companions exploded one after another as if following suit.

It was over. Giving up, the man looked up to the heavens.

He was trying to escape, but his body was no longer able to move of its own volition.

All he could do was watch the monsters that had been transformed into statues, licking their lips as they approached him.

[Mc Pov]

It was all over very easily.

After treating myself to a cup of tea, I left the building, or the "workshop," as Headman called it, and found that there were almost no traces of the battle.

If I had to guess, I would say that the positions and poses of the statues in the row were slightly different.

"I have fought with them before, but I don't want to fight with them more than once."

Vertex, who was walking in front of me, pulled his coat over his shoulder and muttered.

Hey, isn't that coat the same one as mine? Isn't that the same one?

I'd like you to stop wearing it, because we'll be completely matching....

Well, I guess that's impossible...

Let's talk about something else to distract me from the inevitable future of matching with this guy.

"So, ......? What are you going to do now? Do we go back to being holed up in the guild?"

Vertex snickers.

"Of course we're going to attack. That's why I went to the trouble of making you my companion. I'm going to make you as useful as possible."

Hey. What happened to the escort?

I had a lot of points to poke at, but for the time being, I asked specific questions to gauge how serious he was about it.

"Before you say it's useless, do you have any idea where these people are?"

"Are you an idiot? I wouldn't be running around for nothing for such a long time."

I guess he has some idea where they are.

I am uncomfortable with his superior attitude, but he is a client after all. Patience. Patience.

"...huh... I understand about the policy, but are we going soon?"

"Ah. The old man talks a good game, but he doesn't do a good job. Anyone who came here would have been killed. If we go now, at least we'll be in better shape for the attack. Besides..."

"Besides?"

"You want to try that thing you just bought?"

I was surprised.

I've been wanting to try it, but I'm surprised you could see through me. ...... Was it in my face?

Well, if anything goes wrong, the client will take responsibility, and I'll be allowed to rampage as I please.

"Roger that. Let's go."

I agreed and followed Vertex's back.

I looked at the sky and saw that the morning sun was beginning to brighten the surroundings.

"Nah! Hm! And! The guys I put on watch are all getting killed!"

I - Gerch - yelled at the subordinate in front of me.

I thought about putting up with it, but I couldn't.

If he had succeeded, I would have given him only a mild reprimand, but the result was annihilation.

As proof, the dolls lined up against the wall were broken.

This is a magic tool that destroys itself when the object it is paired with is broken, but the six people on watch and the three people placed in the back for insurance had all broken and there was no trace of them. We should assume that they were killed.

What are you thinking?

Nine people, nine dead? With yesterday's deaths, that's 15 people.

Do you have any idea how much we've lost? You can't buy members with money alone!

It takes money and time. Do you understand?

I don't really care about them, except for the girls like Helga, who have been with me for a long time, but they are still my men.

In other words, I am in charge of their lives.

I would not send my men to their deaths in vain, and I would make sure they followed my orders.

At least, that's what I was supposed to ensure.

And yet, here we are.

The subordinate in front of me was shrinking, sweating.

If you have found a place that you think is a base, you should either gather information or investigate it after they have left, instead of making the mistake of going into the place out of the blue.

I never ordered them to do that in the first place.

I don't know why they acted so arbitrarily....

"Should I just ask the ones hiding over there?"

"Oh, no? Did you find out?"

The space in the corner of the room distorts.

The voice seems to have come from there.

"It was you, wasn't it? Did you give these guys instructions over my head?"

"That's right. I saved you the trouble...was I wrong?"

I was uncomfortable with the way she spoke as if she was eating someone, but I put that aside.

Her voice suggests that she is a woman. Her age is somewhere between late 20s and early 30s.

Even though I look like this, I have confidence in my memory. At least, I don't remember hearing her voice.

"You. Who are you?"

This room is magically defended, so it's more secure than it looks.

The fact that she was able to break through it makes her a person not to be taken lightly.

I have a vague idea of who she is.

Perhaps they got tired of it.

"Oh my. I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm ...... uh ....... you can call me Stephanie."

"......? Stephanie? Who are you?"

"I'm an apostle of Tuke."

No surprise.

I had a feeling from her mannerisms that she was somewhat like that.

The somewhat throwaway tone of her voice was similar to that of the other apostles.

"I see. I guess you came all the way out here because we were working too slow."

"Yeah, well. I don't care about it myself, but the others are being very noisy. They want me to bring back at least one arm. I'm in trouble, too."

I swallowed down the urge to tell her to keep her mouth shut and watch.

It is true that things are taking too long, but it is difficult to challenge them head-on, so we are looking for an opening, and then they screw things up like this....

"You look like you don't want me to do anything I don't have to. But I'm running out of patience. So, I'll be in charge from here on."

"What are you doing?"

My rebuttal was interrupted by Stephanie's sigh.

"Hmm...I'm still looking out for you, you know? Not that I can't take control of your men after I kill you."

The way she said it made my blood boil.

"My people won't obey you even if you stand on top of them that way."

"Yeah? I'm sure if I do this ......... they'll follow?"

"What!?"

Stephanie's voice changed to mine in mid-sentence.

"What if I kill you and the guy who's holed up in there, and then Gelch is too sick to come out, But how about you just tell them what I want them to do?"

"...... this..."

Damn it.

So my men were fooled by this woman's voice.

"Fufufu. How do you like it? Are you ready to listen to my instructions?"

"I understand ....... However, depending on the content of the order, I may reject it."

I had no choice but to say so as if I was squeezing it out of my mouth.

This woman - well, as long as she can change her voice, it is doubtful that she is even a woman - cannot be trusted.

I am sorry to say, but since she is an apostle, it would be dangerous to fight her.

As far as I know, apostles are strong without exception.

And if I die, Helga and the others will surely be used up by her reckless orders.

I can tell by her tone of voice. She doesn't value our lives in any way.

They are the kind of people who would ask us to die, as casually as if they were throwing away trash.

I am the same kind of person, but I don't want to be in the position of being used.

"Hmmm. Good answer. Then I'll give you the first job. I want you to take out the guys who are approaching us right now. Oh, and don't kill the other one, because he needs to hear what I have to say."

Immediately after, an explosion and a scream echoed from below.