Munch and the others came out of the building and of course, all of them wereughing eerily without exception.


    "Munch, you bastard!!!" roared Aku.


    However, Munch just ignored Aku as if he wasn''t even worth more than food stuck in his teeth.


    "How is the preparation?" Munch asked the old man with the long beard and grey hair, who was looking down at us from the top of the building with his ck eyes.


    "The encirclement isplete. Not a single bug can run away."


    "Understood."


    Munch raised his right arm, and in an instant, groups of several dozen armed men appeared out of the darkness of night, surrounding us on top of hedges and buildings.


    This group of ck-clothed men looked considerably well-trained. No, more than that—


    "You guys knew everything!"


    The adventurersing out of the building said nothing, except grinning eerily at the raging Aku.


    "It''s useless, Aku."


    This feeling of bugs squirming around their skins. It''s toote to save them.


    "Ugh....." Satori stared at Munch, but her lips were shivering, and blood drained from her face as if she had just seen a ghost.


    "Hey, Satori!" Aku called out to Satori, whose body was unusually trembling, but—


    "Aku, they aren''t the same Munch and our family members....."


    That was all she could squeeze out to say.


    "What are you saying!? No matter how you look at it, aren''t they Munch and the other family members!?"


    I was sure he had vaguely realised the meaning of Satori''s words, but he still called out to her out of ever-present desperation. He most likely didn''t want to believe it. In that case, I would forcefully make him aware of this worst situation.


    "Let me show you the proof!"


    I invoked [Explosive Thread], making the thread appear behind Munch, wrapping it around his neck, and pulling it with all my might.


    "Huh?"


    As soon as I did that, Munch’s stupid voice rattled in our eardrums. At the same time, Munch’s head slowly fell to the ground.


    "You bastard!!"


    Looking at this, Aku turned around to give me an ogre-like expression.


    "Idiot. It’s impossible for someone to get his head blown off without even a drop of blooding out. Look at the reality with your own eyes!" I pointed with my index finger and urged him.


    "H-hey—!"


    "You''re lying......."


    The adventurers behind me shouted in astonishment. It was natural. Because, the fallen head of Munch deformed, turned into purple poisonous liquid, and merged into Munch’s legs that had lost the head. Then, a bulge formed where the head had been and once again molded into his face.


    "Quite rude, you are," while grinning, what once had been Munch opened its mouth that split wide to its ears.


    "Grey, this is....?" Willy asked as his voice trembled uncharacteristically.


    "Well, it doesn''t look human at the very least," I replied while turning over my shoulder to look at them.


    However, not only the female receptionist, but even Gaius was frozen stiff with his eyes wide open. Good grief, things at this level shouldn''t be enough to shock you if you are an adventurer.


    So, we had been surrounded from all sides, but above all—


    "Hostage?"


    "Yes, you guessed it right. Poisonous Liquor!"


    When Munch looked up at the white-haired old man called Poison Liquor on top of the building, I saw that the ck-d men had carefully ced knives close to the throats of three gagged children.


    Good grief, it''s the same approach these scumbags always have.


    "So? Are you nning to kill these children?"


    "It depends on your actions."


    If I considered the petty thoughts of the mastermind behind this, the chance of saving them should be around fifty percent.


    But I wasn''t going to make the same mistake as Id'' made with Gill.


    "Grey, stay out of this. The children''s livese first," Willy reminded me intently.


    "Idiot, do you want to make a concession with terrorists? That would be a fool''s errand, wouldn''t it?"


    If we all died, we wouldn''t be able to save these children either. Besides, no matter where, there was only one measure we needed to take against these terrorists.


    I raised my right arm—


    "Care~ful, don''t move!"


    And snapped my fingers, ignoring the white-haired old man who called to keep tabs on me.


    The next moment. Multiple lights appeared out of nowhere, and the heads of the three ck-clothed men holding knives to the children''s throats were blown off.


    As expected of Calogero, he seemed to be doing fine.


    "Wha!?"


    The long-bearded, white-haired man promptly bent his body to evade and used one ck-clothed man as a shield.


    "Siege those brats. I don''t mind if you kill one or two of them!" he fired his instructions.


    They really are disgusting guys.


    Killing children and treating humans like they are animals. This white-haired man was one of the people I loathe the most.


    A ray of light shot out from Calogero, and again, the head of the ck-clothed man, who was heading to the children, burst into pieces.


    I also manipted the air around us using [Wind Maniption] to make them float, and pulled towards us.


    "Are you all right?" I asked the children, whose cheeks were wet with tears, as gently as I could.


    "Yes," a young boy, around 7 or 8 years old, nodded hesitantly.


    But, the next moment, they sneered, took out knives from their pockets, and rushed towards me and the female receptionist one after another with a speed that was unbelievable for children.


    As expected, it turns out like this.


    Although I restrained all three of them using [Wind Maniption] without hurting them, their abdomens began to glow.


    "Damn it!" I clicked my tongue, invoked [Sleep] with all my might and enclosed only a few centimeters away from their abdomen that were still freezing with [Cetus].


    The boys became weak like puppets that had lost their strings. This would buy us some time.


    In a way, I''m impressed.


    One after the other, these guys had easily ovee what I had considered taboo. Maybe they were prodigies in making me angry.


    "G-Grey-san, these children....."


    The receptionist asked me with a pale face while falling on her butt. After all, she was just about to be stabbed by the children we had saved. Of course, it was understandable.


    "It''s just like Gill. They have been brainwashed and even made into human bombs."


    "Human.......bomb.....?"


    "If we leave them just like this, they will soon go boom."


    "Damn, those rotten bastards!!!"


    Did he finally understand the situation?


    Gaius roared, his eyes turning sharp and his body shivering. It was the same for the other adventurers. Everyone''s face was glowing just like a raging beast, ring at Munch and the others.


    "What''s going to happen to those children?" the female receptionist asked with overflowing uneasiness on her face as she looked down at the childrenying on the ground alternatively.


    "Who knows. I can''t guarantee that we''ll be able to save them, but this will at least buy us some time."


    "I''m sorry for all this," Willy thanked me in an uncharacteristically manner.


    "Take these kids along and evacuate to Sagami Co. Willy, you know the location right?"


    Willy gave me a big nod while carrying the children over his shoulder.


    "I will also fight."


    Aku tried to stand up, but wobbled immediately. Satori helped him up.


    "Thest thing I need is a drag! Get lost!"


    "You should have known right! I have an obligation to do that!!"


    Obligation, huh.


    Aku''srades were just like Gill. They couldn''t be saved. Because, unlike those children, I could sense a disgusting stenching out of them. They weren''t humans anymore.


    "You are going to see something painful. Are you prepared for this?"


    Even for an instant, he was going to see hisrades die in front of his eyes. It was a scar that might continue to hurt him for a lifetime.


    "It doesn''t matter whether I''m prepared or not! It''s something I must do!!"


    "I see......"


    Just a bit, I thought I had treated him like a child. Certainly, I would make the same choice if I was in Aku''s shoes. I stared down at him for a while before pointing at him and invoking [High Heal].


    Aku was ovee with surprise as he watched his injury healing like rewinding a video.


    "Protect yourself."


    I only said that.


    "I will also stay."


    The green-haired girl also took a stance.


    "I''m staying, too. I don''t like the idea of just throwing everything to a bunch of kids and running away."


    A red-haired stern old man, Gaius, also unsheathed his sword from his waist and took a fighting stance.


    I could see it in their eyes. No matter what I said, they weren''t going to change their minds. They had that much conviction.


    "I''m leaving it to you, Willy. Myrades will cover your back. Go!"


    I was hesitant to use the teleportation in front of onlookers. It might seem a littlete to use it, but I should make every effort to keep it out of sight.


    Anyway, with Calogero covering them, they should be able to reach their destination safely.


    "I pray for your good luck."


    Willy carried the children like other adventurers and started running into the dark night.


    "Do you think you can run away!!"


    The old man with white hair and long beard, Poisonous Liquor, shouted. Soon, three ck-clothed men tried to chase after Willy and the other.


    "That''s my line."


    I captured all of them with [Explosive Thread].


    "Detonate."


    The entire bodies of the three of them shattered, obstructing my vision.


    "Wha!?" Poisonous Liquor opened his eyes wide, astonishingly looking at his subordinates exploding.


    "It''s really bad luck."


    "That''s right. This ce will be your burial ground, after all." Munch misunderstood heroically.


    [Those stupid bastards!]


    Mura''s furious voice echoed inside my head. His voice was filled with rage and a tinge of resignation.


    It is true that, normally, I would have considered the option of handing them over to the authorities, but these guys were [Laguna]. They were the ones with a certain level of cooperation with pure-bred aristocrats. If I had handed them over to the authorities, they would have surely been released forck of evidence. Unfortunately for them, I didn''t have the slightest intention to y the game of cat and mouse with them. And above anything else, I was already at my limit.


    That was why—


    "True, it''s really bad luck."


    For the first time, I exposed the emotions I''d been suppressing until now.


    "Hiiii!!"


    A small scream leaked out of the ck-clothed men.


    "Mo-monster!!" Poisonous Liquor began to gush out sweat like waterfall, and squeezed out these words.


    Bullshit. Did you step into our world without the minimum of preparation? They wereughably irredeemable.


    "Repent. You don''t need a single ounce ofpassion."


    Now, let''s begin. The scumbag who depicted this act, had touched my most loathed and hated taboo. He had sessfully awakened the sleeping monster inside me.


    "Begin the raid." I verdict my final sentences to these fools.