* * *

Cadel’s eyes nearly rolled back in his head.

“There’s mucus all over the inside. Be careful, Commander.”

The interior of every house they searched was filled with green mucus. It hadn’t been there when they first rescued the survivors.

‘We crammed all the survivors into one place, and the houses that were left were completely abandoned, so he took advantage of that and just kind of ransacked the place.’

He’d gotten to a safe spot while all but the least of them were busy tracking him down. Cadel gritted his teeth as he spotted a trail of blood through the dripping mucus.

The dark, faded blood had hardened into a crust. The thought of Lydon being captured by Ergo and dragged from place to place made him cringe.

“……Let’s go to the next house.”

There were too many traces and no obvious places to hide. It was most likely a set-up, he realized. As Cadel turned to leave.

Thump!

The floor rumbled. Stunned, Cadel looked at Van. Van straightened up as if he, too, had sensed the echo.

“Don’t move, Commander.”

Van drew his greatsword, his senses straining, when another ringing sounded.

Swoosh!

Van’s greatsword pierced the floor without hesitation. With an effort, he opened his aura, and the sword’s reddish aura stretched out sharply like a spear, slashing through the space beneath the floor.

Bang! Bang!

The house shook with the noise. The wooden planks that hadn’t withstood the aura’s violent struggles crumbled, revealing the hollow space below.

A storm of red auras intermittently illuminated the pitch-black underground. Cadel spotted a small shadow lying pitifully in the midst of the fierce aura that crashed down like lightning. Recognizing the pale blond hair in the aura’s reflection, Cadel hurriedly stretched out his arm.

“Lydon!”

With a terrified cry, a barrier of fire was created to block Van’s aura.

“Lydon……?”

Hearing the belated cry, Van immediately retracted his aura. As he peered into the darkness, he caught a glimpse of something writhing beneath the barrier of fire that Cadel had created.

“I don’t think the demon is here, let’s go down there.”

If Ergo had been here, he would have created a barrier. Even if he was trying to hide his presence, he would not have allowed Lydon to be attacked by the aura without warning, not when Lydon was such a coveted prey.

For some reason, Ergo had left Lydon here alone. Without hesitation, Cadel threw himself underground, and Van followed.

Cadel turned his head, instantly generating several fireballs to illuminate his darkened vision. It wasn’t hard to find Lydon in the narrow subterranean space.

It wasn’t long before he spotted the small boy crouched on the ground, and Cadel’s eyes narrowed.

Cadel lifted the fallen Lydon to his feet while Van was alert for any possible attack. His face was a mess in the small flames.

‘How many times has he had his way with Lydon? Is he out of his mind?’

Seeing how bad things were done made Cadel feel sick to his stomach. The white cloth covering his eyes was soaked with black blood, and his exposed cheeks and forehead were scratched here and there with sharp objects. In addition, his cheeks were puffy and swollen with whatever it was that had bitten him, and his mouth bulged.

“Umm! Uhmmm!”

“It’s okay now, Lydon. You can relax.”

Cadel pressed Lydon’s cheek, as he was about to say something over and over again, and opened his mouth. It was an action to take out what was inside, but the moment he discovered the identity of what Lydon had been holding, Cadel was frozen in place.

“Ptooey! Tooey!”

Lydon spat out the thing that made Cadel’s stomach churn.

Wrinkled joints, long, blunt skeletons, tattered flesh beneath the torn cross-section. There was nothing more to look at. Those were fingers.

Cadel shook himself convulsively at the dull sensation of three thick fingers rolling down his thighs.

“Uegh, it tastes horrible.”

“Why, why were you biting the fingers!”

“Cadel, untie my arm. I’m suffocating to death!”

Van untied Lydon’s bound arms for the panicked Cadel and then tiptoed over to the fingers that had fallen around him, scowling.

“Are those your fingers, Lydon.”

Instead of answering, Lydon stretched out his ten intact fingers, then roughly untied the white cloth that covered his eyes.

The red eyes that followed.

‘That…….’

Cadel’s eyes narrowed at him.

“He kept touching me, so I bit his hand as soon as it touched my mouth, and it came together like that. He hit me with the intention of killing me, but he just walked away as he couldn’t kill me! Ahaha!”

Lydon’s eyes were covered in blood. The broken veins stained the sclera red, and the wounds of the obvious purpose were edging narrowly across the eyes.

Cadel cupped Lydon’s face. Upon closer inspection, the shape of the pupils, which were subtly misaligned along a thin oblique line, stood out.

“Your eyes…….”

“Yeah?”

“Can…….can your eyes see? Can you see me? Lydon, can you see what I’m doing…….”

At first glance, they appeared to have suffered serious internal injuries. Cadel’s heart sank, fearing that Lydon might be blinded forever.

Fortunately, Lydon’s gaze was straight on Cadel. Smiling his usual mischievous grin, he placed his hand over Cadel’s.

“You have a funny look on your face, Cadel. Were you worried about me?”

“……So you can see fine.”

Cadel let out the breath he’d been holding and bowed his head. Lydon kissed the top of his head briefly.

“You were very worried.”

And with a tickle of laughter, the system window popped up.