Chapter 79: Practical Dungeon Exam (XII)

A few minutes earlier…

Gray’s body looked lifeless, sprawled on the stone, blood coloring his lips. His chest barely rose, his eyes closed.

To anyone else, he was out cold.

…Except that he wasn’t.

[You’re really just going to lie here and let them suffer?]

Gray’s lips twitched faintly, unseen beneath Selina’s trembling hand.

’They need to break,’ he answered her straight away.

’If I save them too early, they’ll never understand what it means to fall to the bottom.’

Jasmine chuckled softly at his words, but if anything, she sounded delight that Gray was back to his cruel methods.

[Cruel… you’re enjoying this.]

’They hated me. Spat on me. Treated me like filth. Yet when the pain comes, where do they crawl? Right back to me.’

“Please… wake up…” Claire whispered, her voice trembling with despair.

Selina, broken and bloody, lay across his chest, clutching his clothes so hard her nails tore the fabric.

“Don’t leave us like this…” she sobbed, her tears dripping onto his face.

“I… don’t want to… die like this…” Mira pressed her forehead against his leg, trembling, her body shivering with pain.

Jasmine hummed sweetly.

[Ohhh, that sound. Their despair is beautiful. Are you ready to answer them?]

’…Not yet.”’

His fingers twitched slightly, curling against the dirt.

He forced them still.

’They need to believe they’re about to lose everything… only then will the moment carve itself deep into them.’

He listened as the fanboys’ boots crunched closer and then started laughing loudly.

“Well, well… look at them now.”

“Heh… weak little girls. So desperate they’re hugging a corpse.”

“Guess we’ll break them in before we finish him off.”

The words sent a shiver down Claire, Selina, and Mira’s spines. Their sobs grew louder, their hands clutching Gray tighter, their tears spilling onto his shirt.

Gray’s heartbeat slowed as he patiently waited.

He wanted the terror to reach its peak, to burn into their bones.

And then, through Jasmine’s voice…

[Now~]

Gray’s teeth bared in a faint, cruel smile.

GRIP!

Gray’s hand shot up, clamping around the spearman’s wrist before it could touch Selina’s cheek.

“…What…?””

The fanboy froze, and his grin shattered into panic.

And then…

BAAAM!

Gray’s other hand shot up, grabbing the first swordsman’s face and slamming it into the stone floor with such force that the ground cracked apart.

CRAAASH!

The man’s head bounced off the ground, his body twitching from the impact.

At the same instant, Gray dragged the spearman down by the arm and smashed his face beside the first, grinding them into the stone until their skulls left bloody cracks.

The girls flinched in shock, their tears halted by sheer disbelief.

And then, slowly, painfully, terrifyingly, Gray pushed himself up, blood still running down his lips, his black eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

“Who… the fuck…” His voice was extremely hoarse and dead tired, but even still, it contained an enormous amount of killing intent, “…touched… my girls?”

[Phew~, ten stars!]

Jasmine clasped her hands as she said happily.

Maelis’s red eyes widened for a second when she saw him move.

The shock broke her perfect little smile, and for a split second, she looked like a child who had just seen her nightmare crawl out of the dark.

But almost instantly, her lips twisted back into a sneer.

Thrum…

“Tch… You’ve got to be kidding me,” her fingers twitched as the air around her started to distort with gravity pressure.

“Why won’t you just stay down like the trash you are, Gray?”

The stone under Gray’s boots cracked as her power pressed against him.

Dust fell from the cavern ceiling, pebbles skittering across the floor, but Gray didn’t move an inch.

His head lowered, his bangs covering his bloodied eyes, and he still held both fanboys’ skulls pressed into the dirt.

And just at that moment, the third fanboy, who was also a swordsman, moved.

“Agh, dammit! Just fucking die!” He shouted idiotically.

At the same time…

THRUUM!

The gravity around him increased by at least ten times, causing his movements to be much closer, but looking at the swordsman coming towards him…

’…He’s fucking slow.’

Fwip!

The swordsman thrust forward in a straight line, blade aimed for Gray’s chest. Under the crushing weight of gravity, Gray’s hand moved almost lazily, tapping the sword’s tip aside.

“W-what?!” the boy gasped.

THUD!

Gray’s fist drove straight into his temple.

“Guhhh—!”

The boy dropped instantly, collapsing like a sack of meat.

“Tch, those useless idiots!” Maelis gritted her teeth, looking at Gray, who was under her pressure without even sweating.

And as if to joke around, he turned his back towards her and looked at the three girls.

All of them had a happy expression along with some relief, but their faces quickly changed at Gray’s next words.

“Ahem…” he coughed, blood dripping from his lips, “…shouldn’t this be the part where the three of you promise me your bodies for saving you?”

Their faces instantly twisted into anger.

“You damned bastard! We were fucking worried about you, and that’s the first thing you say?!” Selina cursed out loud.

Next was Claire…

“Fucking atmosphere killer…” she surprisingly cursed.

“You took your sweet time… bastard.” Mira averted her gaze slighly… and didn’t exactly say harsh comments.

Maelis, however, wasn’t touched.

Her nails dug into her palms as she shouted loudly.

“PATHETHIC!”

Her foot slammed onto the stone, and the cavern shook violently as waves of gravity surged outward.

The air thickened, pressing down hard enough that the three girls gasped, their bodies straining just to stay upright beside Gray.

“You’re filth!” Maelis snarled, pointing a trembling finger at him.

“You don’t deserve their tears, or their faith, or anything at all! You should have rotted in the dirt where you belong, step-brother!”

Gray finally raised his head, his black eyes gleaming under the dim glow of the dungeon crystals.

His lips curled into a bloodied grin.

“…You sound jealous.”

Those words made Maelis’s face twist in rage.

Her whole face went red as she suddenly started spewing a lot of curses towards Gray.

“Rot in the dirt, you bastard! Crawl back into the hole you came from! You’re nothing but filth! Parasite! Scum! Thief! Disgrace! Vermin! Garbage! Leech! Monster! Dog! Pervert! Worm! Beggar! Liar! Traitor! Trash! Deadweight! Curse of our house! Stain! Bastard son!”

Her voice cracked from the sheer force, spitting out words from her lips.

This… was something that Maelis used to do when they were younger.

But Gray only listened in silence, his head slightly tilted, as if he was waiting for her to finish her tantrum.

And then…

Fwip!

Gray’s body vanished in a flicker of black threads, replaced by a loose stone. In the same breath, he reappeared at her side, his figure rising over her shoulder.

His arm draped lazily across it, his lips hovering near her ear, hot breath brushing her skin.

“…Doesn’t that make you remember the old times?” he whispered.

The sound of his voice that close made Maelis jolt.

For a brief, yet fragile moment, her mind went back…

She saw them as children again… two small figures running in the manor gardens, laughing, chasing fireflies. Back when her hand used to reach for his, not to strike, but to pull him along. Back when his smile wasn’t bloodied.

Back when they were happy.

Her chest tightened, her eyes quivered slighly…, but then her rage snapped the memory apart like glass.

“SHUT UP!” she screamed, twisting her body and throwing her fist toward his jaw.

Swish!

Gray tilted his head slightly, her punch cutting through empty air. His hand clamped around her wrist like an iron shackle.

Before she could blink, he yanked her off balance.

SLAM!

Her body crashed into the stone floor, the impact echoing through the cavern.

Dust jumped into the air.

“Kugh—!” Maelis choked, spit flying from her lips as her body curled in pain.

Gray stood above her, black eyes dull, his lips curling into nothing more than a cold sneer.

“Too bad it’s over.”

Thump!

Gray pressed his boot down hard on Maelis’s massive breasts, forcing the air from her lungs.

Her body arched against the stone, and her face flushed red, not from embarrassment, but from the pain of being pinned like prey.

“You should just cut these breasts of yours,” Gray muttered, looking down coldly.

“These lumps of fat are weighing you down.”

“Y-you bastard—!” Her lips twisted in fury.

But before she could spit more curses, his shadow loomed closer, voice low and sharp enough to chill her blood.

“But now that I remember… the professor said killing wasn’t allowed.” His grin cut across his bloodstained face.

“But he didn’t say anything about breaking you apart… piece by piece.”

Maelis’s eyes instantly widened as the rage was entirely replaced by fear.

Fwip!

Threads lashed out from Gray’s gloves, coiling around her slender arm like black serpents.

“N-no—wait—!” Her breath caught.

He only tightened them slowly, deliberately, letting her feel the pressure bite into her skin.

“Big brother, don’t!” she screamed suddenly, her voice trembling, desperate.

In that instant… Gray froze.

Her plea, those words, shook something inside him. Her eyes lit with hope, as though she’d found the Gray she remembered from childhood.

But then…

“…Keke~”

He laughed out loud in a unhinged manner, dragging her hope into the dirt.

Grip!

The threads tightened, causing blood to seep out as the wires dug into her flesh.

“Aaaaghhh! Stop! It HURTS! LET ME GO!” Maelis shrieked, thrashing around, her nails scraping the stone until they broke.

At her words, Gray leaned down, whispering coldly:

“That’s the point.”

RIP!

With a savage pull, the strings tore through.

SPLURT!

Blood sprayed across the stone floor.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”

Maelis’s scream ripped from her throat, her body twisting in shock as her arm was basically ripped free.

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