"Ugh…"
My head is throbbing.
'Where am I?'
A cold chill radiated from the stone floor against my cheek.
I reached out to grab hold of the floor, but my arm refused to budge. Then I turned my head to see that my arms were behind my back, tied tightly together with rope.
I immediately looked up from the floor and took in my surroundings.
'Zetto was right.'
All around me, young women were huddled in a corner, shivering as they were bound with ropes.
I heard footsteps descending a rickety staircase and soon saw two men descending into the room.
"Hey, didn't you notice the horns got bigger?"
"Uh, really?"
The men approached while talking.
One had an unnaturally green-skinned right arm, and on the crown of the other's head was some sort of horn.
'Chimera…?'
I thought human chimeras were against the law.
'That's an orc arm, judging by the green skin and bulging muscles… What is that horn…?'
Either way, they were haphazardly attaching non-human body parts to themselves.
"When I stepped up to kidnap the bitch you brought in earlier, it stood up! I've never seen a horn react like that before!"
The man with the horn on his head stroked the horn with both hands.
When he realizes I'm awake, he laughs in a mean voice.
"Bitch, you're awake already…"
"She's still a virgin with a body like that…? You bastard, you caught a noble?"
The orc-armed man's gaze landed on my chest and he freaked out.
"Dude, I know all the nobles around here by heart, even if they're traveling nobles, do you think they'd go out at night without a single knight?"
The horned man said as he patted the orc-armed man on the shoulder and the orc-armed man nodded his head in agreement.
"Hey… look at this, look at this. I'm still getting a reaction. Hmph…"
"Ouch…!"
The horned man took a seat in front of the fallen man and bent down to his knees, pointing to his own horns with two fingers, and the orc-armed man looked at them and let out an exclamation.
"How I wish I was a fucking unicorn or something… What's an orc…?"
The man with the orc's arm grumbled as he twirled his right arm, the orc's arm.
'Was that a unicorn's horn…?'
The unicorn horn was used to find virgins, that vampire's favorite food.
"Hey, but I thought the boss said never to touch women."
"Yeah. At best, it defeats the purpose of my selecting and bringing in virgins. If Mr. Varsum tastes the blood and realizes she's not a virgin, we're all doomed."
"That's why I say…"
The man on the orc's arm turned to me, the corners of his mouth quirking up in a sneer.
"…We can touch her breasts, can't we, just look at the size of them… Hmph…"
Suddenly, the orc-armed man was drooling and trying to reach for my breasts.
'You're out of your mind.'
I had no intention of letting that dirty, ugly hand stay on my chest and just before his hand touched my chest and just as I was about to break the rope, ready to deliver a blow but suddenly the man with a unicorn horn grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Hey, you crazy bastard, don't you see the way my horn reacts? She's an overwhelming virgin! If you touch her breasts and defile her in the slightest, her blood will be tasteless, and it's not the first time I've had my horn weakened by assholes like you touching them…"
The man with the orc's arm snatches it away and whips his head around to glare at the horned man.
"Fuck… I just wanted a little touch…!"
At that moment, the orc's armored man throws a punch to the horned man's face.
[Thud!!!]
The orc's arm, which was on the man's right side, is still an orc's arm, and the horned man's body goes flying and slams into the wall.
"Ugh…"
The man with the orc's arm turns his head to look at me.
"Heeheehee…!"
Drooling and laughing maniacally, his gaze is fixed on my chest.
'I'm going to break the ropes now.'
My bare fists were enough to deal with them.
My grandfather had taught me some martial arts, saying that a swordsman must consider all circumstances.
His green arm is about to reach for me, and I'm about to break the rope when I hear the sound of something being cut, and then a crimson line appears on the neck of the orc-armed man who let out a stupid yelp.
Drops of blood form on the red line and the man's head drops.
As his head falls, I can feel the women behind me shudder in horror. But none of them screamed.
'It's… Zetto…'
Soon after, I hear the sound of urgent footsteps coming from the direction of the stairs as a man with the white bandages around his eyes rushes to me and cuts the rope that binds my wrists.
Zetto's sword is smeared with blood. If it was a katana, there would be no blood on it.
The more I think about it, the more I can't figure out how it works.
"I'm sorry, I didn't come in fast enough....I'm sorry."
Zetto apologized in a sincere voice as he handed me my sword from his waistband.
"…It's okay, nothing happened."
Maybe I've been feeling it in the back of my mind, ever since the hollow words he told me became the truth….So maybe it was all a misunderstanding.
Handed the sword by Zetto, I drew it and approached the horned man slumped against the wall.
From the look in his eyes, he had already accepted his death.
***
I was able to follow Kaen to their home base then I infiltrated the base and showed up at the prison to give Kaen the sword.
Strangely enough, the door to the prison was open, so I quickly descended the stairs, only to see a man approaching Kaen, drooling, and I instantly realized that this was not good.
I remembered that he was supposed to be guarding the entrance to the prison, not going inside.
It was still too mana-consuming. Besides, it wasn't good to rely on it too much.
'Today, I shouldn't use Reverse Heaven anymore.'
This practical experience was important to me.
"To die at the hands of a flawless virgin… Hmph…"
Kaen's sword pierced the heart of the unicorn horned one.
"Ugh…"
Blood gurgled from the creature's left chest.
'He's becoming a chimera, and his mind is becoming similar to that monster.'
As I stare at the scene and ponder this, Kaen, who is now approaching me with blood on her sword, opens her mouth with a reddened face.
"It's useless, don't bother!"
I nodded to Kaen and calmly relayed the situation to the people in the cell.
"It shouldn't take too much time… I'll be right back."
There were quite a few of them, and it would take more than two of us to get them to safety all at once.
It seemed prudent to clear the place out completely and let them go.
I chatted with Kaen as we walked out of the building.
The area around it had already been cleared. The passageways were littered with the bodies of those who had been cut down without a single scream.
"Could it be that all of them here are chimeras…?"
Kaen asked me as we walked down the aisle, glancing at the corpses.
"…At least they don't seem to be normal humans."
"…I got the name of the vampire with a connection to them."
With a serious look in her eyes as Kaen stopped walking and suddenly grabbed my arm. She was suddenly very eager to cooperate, perhaps because she realized I was telling the truth.
"What's the vampire's name?"
"…Varsum. I know it sounds obvious, but it's the first time I've heard it."
"Varsum…"
I repeated the vampire's name unnecessarily.
Varsum was the name of the vampire who ran this crime syndicate full of chimeras, a combination of human and monster.
He was the one who created the chimeras in this place, so he must have some sort of power over them. However, he has never been seen in the game, and I have no intention of facing him.
Varsum is a high-rank vampire. He's no pushover, and there was no way in the game for him to know that this place has been robbed and attack the player.
It was simple and straightforward. You just had to kill every last one of the enemies here.
As for the women in the cell, Varsum has no way of knowing who was there so there would be no witnesses left.
Kaen and I walked down the passageway and stood in front of the stairs leading upward.
"Now, up here, they'll be gathering, and if you don't think you can handle a fight, you can stay out of it. You've done enough of your part."
"Hmph, now you tell me if there's anyone I should keep alive."
Kaen snorted at my comment, then spoke in a firm voice.
"I don't think we need to dig for more information, we just need to clean up here."
As soon as I'm done, Kaen heads up the stairs and as I follow her I see a huge hall filled with chimeras.
"…What are they?"
"Why are they out of prison?"
"Hey, call the kids!"
They spotted me and Kaen with our swords and realized that things weren't looking good.
Kaen and I answered their questions with blades as blood began to gush from everywhere, and the screams of our enemies echoed throughout the hall.
I slash at the one with the gremlin's nose in front of me and turn to Kaen.
"Are the other C class cadets as good at fighting as Ms. Kaen?"
On the other side of the room, Kaen was cutting them down with her swift movements. Fortunately, she wasn't using the Sword Saint sword art. It was something I'd seen in the game, that unless she was facing an opponent she couldn't beat, she wouldn't use the Sword Saint sword art.
Dodging the attack, Kaen slid across the floor and slashed horizontally at their ankles.
"…So, do the other Class A cadets use ridiculous, bizarre sword techniques like you?"
Kaen echoed my words as she rose to her feet.
"Help me, help me!"
Soon after, I heard the agonized groans of the men whose ankles had been cut off.
"What's going on?!"
A hulking figure suddenly shouted from the second floor of the hall.
Standing on the railing of the second floor, the gargoyle's skin covered his entire body, and he carried a large, long, double-edged axe on his shoulder.
"…What the hell is that?"
Kaen muttered as he slashed at the enemy and saw a large body.
"Boss, these guys aren't normal…!"
His shout was cut short as his throat was sliced open by my sword.
I couldn't remember his name, but I knew he was the leader of this organization.
"I'll deal with him."
I said to Kaen, splattering the blood from my sword on the floor.
I don't know about the others, but I can't concede the boss's experience points to Kaen.