"Wow, that’s a spectacle…"
[Ahh, it’s such a shame I can’t put this in a novel. It’s so damn cool!]
"…Cool? That?"
The moment they stormed the Webmen’s stronghold, the battle began.
From the sky above, the one thing that undeniably stood out was Investigator I Haryul.
No, what the hell *is* that?
[The ability to turn your entire body into mist? How is that *not* cool?! I’m so glad I spared her!]
"Well, it *is* cool…"
Yeah, fine. It *was* cool.
An ability that turns you into mist? That’s romantic as hell.
But that… that’s a little… uh… *too*…
"Wow… I don’t think that’s ‘cool’ so much as it’s just straight-up terrifying."
He’d seen a movie like this before.
A horror film where an unidentified creature lurking in the fog attacked people.
…Now that he saw it in person, he almost wished the monsters *were* there instead.
"Grrrr…"
Thud.
Another villain collapsed.
Amid the sheer panic, one by one, the frantically moving figures dropped like marionettes with cut strings.
No blood. No wounds. They weren’t dying from injuries.
"I wonder what it feels like to have your lungs fill with water…"
[Beats me?]
As the people around them suffered respiratory distress, writhing in agony, the remaining villains tried to flee—but it was useless.
The mist had already spread everywhere.
Even if they ran, their lungs would slowly fill, suffocating them until they thrashed and drowned.
…No matter how much of a superhuman you were, conditioning your internal organs was another story.
These were people who’d used their superhuman status to torment ordinary, ability-less civilians—and now they were dropping like flies, just like ordinary people, without even getting a chance to fight back.
How ironic.
"Spira’s fighting as well as ever, and Lira’s doing better than I expected. Guess I didn’t need to worry."
Spira moved through the hideout like it was her own home, and Lira was holding her own surprisingly well.
He’d had his concerns about both of them.
With Spira, he’d figured she might hesitate, given her history with the place. But she showed no signs of reluctance.
Suddenly, he remembered the desperate way she’d clung to him for survival back then. …Well, she *had* betrayed him, so what did it matter?
As for Lira… hmm.
He’d assumed the “underachiever” label would hold her back, but she’d completely changed her style.
Now she fought with overwhelming strength and speed, crushing her opponents under sheer force.
She’d had some technique before, but it looked like she’d abandoned it entirely.
"Since everyone’s doing fine, maybe I should go meet the executives early!"
He leapt down from the thread—then immediately regretted it.
Sticky blood splattered all over him.
"Ugh. Shouldn’t have come down. Ruined the mood."
He’d just put on fresh stockings, and now they were already filthy.
Grumbling, he stepped into the building where the villains had emerged from.
Leaving the fallen puppets behind.
"…What do we do, guys."
"I dunno. Are we screwed?"
"Holy shit. They’re getting slaughtered out there."
···Far from any sense of crisis, they acted as if it were none of their concern.
"Do you even have the will to fight?"
"Of course we do."
"Yeah, yeah. We’re obviously planning to fight."
"But think about it. If we go, won’t they just get caught up and die?"
"···"
"Right? You can’t argue with that, can you? Wouldn’t it be better to drain their strength as much as possible?"
-KWANG!
Unable to contain his rage, he slammed his fist onto the table.
What the hell are these guys thinking?
They had clearly discussed this in the last meeting!
"You know that the fewer people we have, the more dangerous it gets!"
"···We know. That’s why we’re cutting numbers, Mino."
"What?"
Where had their carefree attitudes gone?
At some point, they were staring at the CCTV with icy glares.
"Look, Marmo’s location was easy to spot, so that’s one thing. But how did they notice us here?"
"You thought it was weird too, right? I did. This place doesn’t even have people walking around. How did they figure it out?"
"W-What are you talking about?"
"Also, over there—see that CCTV?"
"···That’s!"
"Ah, you see it? Good. I was worried dull Mino might miss it. Lucky you found it fast."
This was strange.
No, it was beyond strange—it was impossible.
Hadn’t she died?
"···Spira, why?"
"Who knows. Wow, you’re quick. The way you pop out of the ground is impressive."
A woman whose lower half was a serpent’s tail.
Her appearance was reminiscent of a lamia straight out of mythology.
There was no mistake. No other woman but Spira could look like that.
"Sh-She wasn’t dead?"
"Technically, she went missing."
"We all thought she was dead!"
He was confused.
A comrade he thought was dead had returned alive.
Naturally, he should have been happy.
···But that comrade was killing their own.
"H-How… why…"
"Betrayal, Mino. What else could it be?"
That word—one he had forced out of his mind—rolled off his tongue with ease.
He couldn’t believe it.
Her carefree laughter made it even harder to accept.
"How, how could…!"
"Who knows. Maybe she defected, or maybe she was playing us from the start. …The only thing we know for sure is that she’s the enemy."
Even as betrayal shook him to the core, they continued their discussion with cold detachment.
"Listen, Mino. We don’t believe it either, but there was a traitor. And not just any traitor—one in the leadership."
"···"
"If there’s even one more traitor in the leadership, that’s the end of the Weaver Men. If we catch the traitor, we’ll never trust each other again. If we don’t, they’ll sabotage us at every turn until we’re ruined."
"Excluding the worst-case scenario, there’s only one conclusion we can reach. …There’s a traitor among the members."
"···I see."
He couldn’t argue with the rabbit beastkin Rabi or the monkey beastkin Habi.
Just as they said, there had to be a traitor among the regular members. There was no other way to interpret it.
"Of course, it’s a painful loss. Even if only we survive, it’s still dangerous. We can’t be sure if the plan will even succeed."
"But think about it, Mino. What if we spare even one person, and that person turns out to be a traitor the enemy deliberately left alive? The plan won’t even get off the ground."
"Yeah, I get it."
"Good. It hurts us too, but it’s all for the plan. They’ll understand."
He looked back at the CCTV.
The screams had faded, and now only a few people remained standing.
…All of it was for the plan.
"…But why do they hate us so much? Is it because we’re villains?"
"Unlikely. If that were the case, they would’ve attacked us long ago. Why now?"
"That’s true. Then why?"
"Maybe they just don’t like our goal. The Human Transcendence Plan."
"…Hmm, that’s the only possibility."
The teacup he’d picked up to calm himself was crushed in an instant.
Right. The Human Transcendence Plan. That was their organization’s objective.
The invisible discrimination and injustices between Awakened and ordinary people.
The front lines, struggling to advance because Awakened were too few compared to the human population.
Their organization, Weaver Mensch, had been created to solve those problems.
They’d even reached the point where ordinary people could be turned into Awakened if their animal factors suited them.
And just a little more time would’ve been enough to achieve their goal.
But now, it was all in ruins.
The goal that had been so close had slipped far away, and it was unclear if they could ever reach it again.
"…I can’t forgive this."
"Huh?"
"Ah, you’re angry."
"UOOOOOOO—!"
Unable to contain his rage, he punched straight through the wall.
"My name is Minos! Where are the intruders?! Come at me!"
"…Sigh. He’s such an idiot, right, Harvi?"
"Yeah, Ravi. Hey, wake up. You lazy bastard. How can you sleep through all this noise?"
"Huh…? Wh-what? What’s going on?"
"Everything’s going wrong, that’s what. Intruders. Get ready to fight."
"What?!"
"Everyone we sent to stop them is dead. Keep that in mind."
"WHAT?!"
"What the hell is that sound?"
BOOM. BOOM.
A strange, thunderous noise suddenly echoed from somewhere.
It sounded like a construction site.
…What is that? What’s making that noise?
It wasn’t coming from just one place.
The source of the sound was moving.
And it was getting louder—almost as if it was coming this way…
"No way…"
It wasn’t just *sounding* like it was coming closer. It *was* coming closer!
Sensing danger, he tried to move, but it was too late.
Something was collapsing at an incredible speed, and before he knew it, the sound was so close he couldn’t even tell where it was coming from.
-KWAAAAAANG!
"…Found you, intruder!"
"Too late… Oh, hey. You’re huge?"
Rai stared blankly at the man who had burst through the wall.
He had to be nearly three meters tall.
His bulging muscles, the fact that he’d crashed through a wall without a scratch—his strength and durability were monstrous.
…And on top of all that, he looked *pissed*.
Rai realized he was in deep trouble.
"I’m screwed…"
"DIE MOTHERF—!"
An enraged bull charged at the wolf.