Overgeared

Hundreds of thousands of eggs wriggled like slime. Agnus looked at the eggs, each one bigger than himself, and remembered the conversations he had with Chepardea. In fact, these were the words that Chepardea used to say.

His Highness Baal is great. I believe only in His Highness Baal. Even if I am abandoned by him, I will sing hymns for him.

What was the scope of the 'abandonment' he was talking about? Being murdered, having the memory of being murdered erased, being resurrected, living as a plaything, being killed again, forgetting, resurrected, killed…

Could Chepardea accept even this terrible reincarnation with a happy heart? He was sure this wasn't the case.

"Crazy bastard…"

Agnus stopped breathing for a moment before letting out a curse. He wasn't feeling compassion for Chepardea. He was a demon who shouldn't be sympathized with. In the first place, Agnus had no loyalty to Chepardea. It was just that Baal was too disgusting.

He imagined it spontaneously in his mind. The moment when Chepardea was in his most important phase.

Baal, who came to him as if he had been waiting, suddenly violently attacked him and slowly and painfully killed him while telling him the truth. Baal would speak very slowly while savoring it.

You have been betrayed in various ways by me. How many times have you been killed? You will be born again and forget this moment.

Then it would repeat again from the beginning. The reason? There was no need to think about anything like that. It was because giving meaning to Baal's choices and actions was the most meaningless thing in the world. He was merely seeking pleasure and the form of pleasure he desired was usually cruel.

That was all. It was like the ordinary neighbors who bullied the weak.

"It is Baal. He is going to keep killing Chepardea."

"That's right."

Betty confirmed Agnus' conclusion. What was Chepardea that he hatched and resurrected endlessly? Why did he lose his memory, what exactly was his relationship with Baal, etc.

Agnus had many questions, but he didn't bother to express them. It wasn't good for his mental health to be curious about Baal's affairs. The one thing he did want to confirm was none other than Betty's identity.

"You… who are you? Why do you know about this place?"

The road leading to the cages where the memphis were trapped—it was also the place where Chepardea's eggs were stored and it was a very secret area even in hell. Yet Agnus and Betty, who would've been teleported elsewhere, showed up here. She also knew about the relationship between Chepardea and Baal. The implications were great.

"Are you perhaps a former Baal's Contractor?"

The girl who hadn't taken her eyes off him from the first moment they met—Agnus asked while feeling it was a possibility and Betty nodded gently.

"That's right."

An abandoned toy. A failure who wasn't interesting.

Just then, Betty took off the robe she was wearing. Her bare body was immediately seen. It was a body with severe ossification from below her clavicle to her pelvis. Her condition was more serious than Agnus' one.

"I am your senior."

"…You are bragging."

Agnus looked at Betty with a confused expression for a moment before clicking his tongue.

Betty was as expressionless as usual as she threw away the robe she had taken off. She took for granted the reaction of people who showed their displeasure with this disgusting body. She just chose a quick and effective method of delivering information. She was picking up her clothes when her round eyes widened slightly.

"Are you crazy? Why is a girl so badly dressed…?" It was because she heard Agnus' dissatisfied complaints. The tone was quite harsh, but it resembled that reaction that Grid had shown. He perceived her as a human being, not a hideous monster.

She thought she knew his nature. As expected, there was a reason he was abandoned by Baal.

Betty's heart was at ease and she was convinced that she could pass her knowledge onto Agnus.

"You are my successor."

"What? What nonsense are you saying with no notice…?"

"Baal is cruel and thorough."

"Who doesn't know this…?"

"It is more than you know."

"……"

"We have to keep in mind that the moment the contract with Baal is broken, it is the soul, not the body, that has been captured."

A body that lost its soul was nothing more than a shell. The reason why Agnus suffered from the ossification was that his soul was slowly escaping from his body. It was a phenomenon caused by the loss of life in the process of his soul departing.

"Even at this moment, your soul is seeping into Baal. You will completely enter Baal's grasp one day and your body won't belong to you."

They would start to be controlled by Baal. They would be used regardless of their will. In the case of a player like Agnus, it would be in the form of forced quests. They were quests that would give a large penalty if they weren't completed within a certain period of time.

"It isn't like you have to be a priest. You just have to inherit my knowledge. Then you can stop your soul from leaving."

A fated encounter—the moment that every player dreamed of came to Agnus. Anyone would welcome it with open arms. However, Agnus wasn't pleased at all and showed wariness.

"Why look at me?"

Agnus wasn't doubting Betty, he was doubting himself. He had been wandering for many years after his twist of fate with Baal and he clearly recognized how pathetic a human being he was. He was afraid he would repeat the same mistake again after recklessly relying on someone else's helping hand.

Betty cocked her head. Her messy, short hair matched her innocent expression well. "You were abandoned by Baal."

Wasn't this enough? Agnus read the meaning of Betty's words and fell silent.

"I will find you later."

Betty made a promise about the next time before moving forward. There wasn't much point to getting rid of Chepardea's eggs, so she just passed by them and headed into the depths of the canyon. It was the direction where the memphis were.

'As expected, my judgment is right.'

The most effective way to weaken Baal's power was to kill the memphis. The memphis was a very powerful and demanding demonic creature with the fraudulent movement skill of Fluidization, the ability to steal the target's stats, and the ability to release a barrier of electricity. The memphis were monsters who lost their sense of reason after being abused by Baal. They were much more aggressive and able to withstand pain compared to Noe. Their damage to their side would increase if Baal released them in all directions.

"……"

Betty took the lead and Agnus walked behind her. Agnus thought that Betty's steps seemed heavy. Younglings who had suffered from the moment they were born—it must be painful to know she would have to hurt the memphis.

"My steps aren't heavy."

"……?"

"You are projecting your heart into my steps," Betty spoke while looking at Agnus' face that was reflected in the obsidian.

"Stop talking nonsense." Agnus was inwardly startled before turning his head away. He was unable to meet Betty's gaze through the obsidian and avoided it.

Then silence came again. They walked along the obsidian rock wall for some time before arriving at a large dungeon. The structure was like a labyrinth. There were heavily intricate, intertwined paths that caused disorientation. There seemed to be some magical power.

Agnus was confused even though it was a place he had followed Baal to a few years ago. There was a foggy sensation in his mind. Agnus hesitated a few times, but Betty just moved forward. "It isn't that you don't know the way. Your heart is hesitating."

She was still talking nonsense…

It happened as Agnus was ignoring her—

"Nyaaaaong!"

The sharp cry of a cat quickly approached. Was it a memphis that escaped?

Agnus had a shaky expression on his face as he made a shield out of bone. He couldn't quite understand himself why he made a shield instead of a sword.

The memphis came all the way to in front of his nose before stopping. It was because his head was caught in Betty's small hands, which was an amazing sight given that the memphis was in the Fluidization state.

'Did she attach magic to her body?'

Agnus admired it slightly before tilting his head. The memphis' fur was fluffy. There wasn't even a small scar on his pretty, round face. Every single memphis abused by Baal looked horrible, while this one was completely fine. It was obvious. The memphis currently captured by Betty was Noe, not the memphis captured by Baal.

"Don't harm my people, nyang!"

The memphis' hometown was hell. It was only in hell that they exerted full power and their authority to be free of any restraints was strengthened. This meant they could act independently and away from their masters.

Noe, who met a good master and acted without much restrictions, gained even greater freedom in hell. It was when he arrived in hell and was affected by the teleportation. He overheard the sad cries of his kin and flew all the way here. Grid naturally allowed it.

"G-Go back, nyang! You can't go any further, nyang!"

Noe was terribly frightened of Betty, who had decorated her room with an anatomical specimen of a memphis. Even so, he somehow squeezed out the courage. He trembled while showing signs of transforming into an adult. It was the willingness to fight. Betty stroked his round forehead. "Don't worry. I'm here to help."

"……!"

Noe and Agnus flinched.

They thought that Betty was naturally going to hurt the memphis. In fact, there was no answer other than this. The memphis who had been trapped here for a long time had long lost their minds. It was not beneficial to release them. It was more likely that this would grab them in the ankle later.

Betty explained to the two of them who were puzzled, "I can save them thanks to the sacrifice of another child."

The child naturally meant the memphis in Betty's laboratory. The memphis became a specimen of dissection. Through that child, Betty gained a lot of knowledge and information. She figured out how to calm the frenzy of the memphis trapped in the cages and restore their sense of reason.

"Huu, nyang…"

Noe was moved to the point of tears. He wasn't aware of it, but he had grown tremendously.

A demonic creature who rebelled against instinct and overcame fear—in the future, he would be able to endure it a bit better even if he met a dragon. Just then, Betty reached a certain location. She chanted a spell and the door to the stone chamber opened.

The huge communal landscape… it didn't enter their eyes properly. It was too dark. A stench filled the dark space without a single point of light. They wondered if it would be like this if meat was rotting, but the sight they saw when they gradually adapted to the darkness told them the truth.

The flesh of the memphis who were trapped in iron bars were rotting in many places. They could see one who was dried up like a mummy and the two eyeballs that were plucked out were rotting. There were some who were literally hanging from the iron cage they were in because their mouth and limbs were tied.

A youngling without a few limbs was a normal thing. Younglings with arms and legs of other creatures connected to their ears or necks couldn't even rest properly because these limbs wriggled against their will.

"……"

"It will be okay," Betty whispered to Noe, who had forgotten what to say and was trembling in the air.