YEAR 1549 OF THE THIRD CALENDAR

  MORNING

  9:25

  Bones snapped, flesh split loudly, and steel groaned–Someone should have been more careful about what was behind their back…

  I have been walking around for a little while now. I was in search of a treasury or something of the sort, but all I kept finding were invaders, guards, and servants… Naturally, I was slaughtering and eating them all as I went, but some of them were actually quite strong. I either needed to sneak up on them or simply choose another path.

  Nonetheless, I was making good progress amidst the chaos–It was frankly impressive how swift the response had been to my little nightmare invasion with Beelmart’s assistance… Clearly, they had managed to figure out where the teleportation array was hidden, had cracked the cyphers needed to activate it, and stormed the palace in a rather brazen manner.

  This plan was… So simplistic that it swung back around to being absolute genius. Finding the teleportation array was actually quite the difficult affair. That thing had been hidden very well and secured with convoluted cyphers, too. Though that was where the plan stopped being impressive from a technical standpoint, just rushing into the enemy’s den with knights and warriors was as basic as it could get. Perhaps so basic that no one would actually think anyone would try such a thing.

  It really was just like this story where two chess grandmasters played a game, but one decided to throw out all conventions, techniques, and advanced logic, and played as though he only had a surface understanding of the game… It threw his adversary off so much since he was absolutely incapable of predicting a thing that he lost his focus, and was crushed by plays a child could have made.

  Honestly, it took some balls to try something like this, especially in such a scenario. If the assault wasn’t successful in bringing Beelmart down, then this would be a severe declaration of war. If anything, this was definitely the sort of action that had the potential to create a domino effect…

  …Good thing I don’t give a damn about who wins and who loses! I am not just a fence-sitter. I am a proud vulture crossed with a rat. I have no ties to either party, so I can only benefit from this–Now, where the hell is this treasury? I have been following a pull leading me to a bunch of steel, but all that has happened is me going in circles… It must be hidden in some way.

  Why would they need to hide the way to the treasury inside a royal palace guarded by countless guards and two enforcers, when all of the servants were magically enslaved? That’s some ridiculous level of security. Just put a big, locked door like normal people! Big, heavy doors are almost always made out of steel. I could have easily eaten my way through it. Can’t people think about little old thieving me?

  Nara! You always remember everything, right?

  Of course!

  Then, map out the area I went through trying to find the treasury. There is probably a whole lot of empty space that I circled around that suspiciously does not have any doors leading into it.

  …Indeed. Take a look at this–You probably merely need to shatter a wall to find the treasury… There is, without a doubt, a normal way to get into it, but it will be faster to just go through a wall

  Thanks, Cutie Pie.

  I reeled my right arm, activating the hydraulics within it before beginning to ruthlessly punch away at the wall in front of me–I could already tell that Nara and I were correct by the durability of the wall. Everywhere else, fighting was dealing damage to the surroundings, but here, this random wall could just take several direct, empowered punches from me? I would need to be a fool not to notice the discrepancy.

  As solid as the wall may be, it didn’t seem to be made out of exceptionally resilient stuff… Or rather, this was only the outer layer of the treasury. It was coated in a material meant to conceal the secret room from prying senses. Alas, it could not conceal itself from common sense and logic.

  Once I got through this first layer, I got to something far tougher–My strength wouldn’t allow me to pierce through it… But it was made out of steel. So I didn’t need to actually be strong enough to break it. I could just eat it directly, and when it came to eating steel that wasn’t wielded or worn by an actual being? I could eat that stuff with ease.

  Now, it still proved itself rather resilient, but once I was able to make a hole wide enough for me to show my head and maw through it, I was able to bite larger chunks out of it at once, eventually making my way inside the treasury–And oh boy!

  This place was stacked with valuable and rare steel! In the form of coins and ingots for the most part. There were also weapons, which I assumed were enchanted. Jewels were also present, but I was greatly disappointed in the stocks of cursed and haunted items. They didn’t have nearly as much stocked as I had hoped, and the quality was about on par with what I had been delivered in the past.

  Well, this is still a nice haul… This steel appears especially scrumptious…

  Much of it is not only valuable, but also enchanted or otherwise charged with large amounts of energy–It seems like the rarer and more uncommon the steel, the more attractive it appears to your senses

  I rubbed my steel palms together. It’s time to dig in.

  My teeth sank into a silver chest of gilded gold, which was itself filled with old, shiny coins which were no longer in circulation in the current age… It all went down into my imaginary belly.

  I feasted and devoured like a devil of gluttony at a buffet. Everything that was edible to me ended up disappearing from the treasury–It actually still left quite a lot of items, but I had no use for them, and I didn’t really have the means to carry much anyway. I only packed some small gemstones… Who knew? Perhaps they would come in handy.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Naturally, the steel shell of the secret room was also on the menu. By eating it all up, I ended up finding the intended way into this place–Quite the well-made stuff, I must say. Unfortunately, it had not stood a chance against me and my appetite.

  When I stepped out, the castle had grown much quieter than before. It seemed like most of the skirmishes between invaders and defenders had come to a close. Only the distant booms told me that the big dogs were still locked in conflict… I wouldn’t want to be insulting or anything, but I had been expecting that the strong fellows would quickly end their fights.

  Weren’t they strong enough that a single mistake was enough to result in grievous consequences? Those fuckers had been at it for a while. I doubt that no hits had landed during that period… I guess they are just cockroaches as well.

  Regardless. I don’t really sense anything else of interest around anymore. The treasury was well furnished with riches, so I doubt there was any other apart from this one.

  I could continue roaming the halls to scavenge victims and pick off the wounded, but the longer I stayed, the more likely it became that I would run into an unfortunate encounter. I guess I’ll just exit the castle and terrorise the people of Beelmart for a while. I can just warp back to Rootriska once everything has settled down.

  The only real loss is that I will no longer be able to spread my nightmares nearly as easily without Beelmart’s assistance, but that is fine. The current ‘Remember Me?’ currently in place will stay around for a while, and the panic won’t settle down instantly. I should still get plenty of victims to add to my numbers, even with this little snafu.

  Now… Where the hell is the exit of this place? Or the entrance… Or a window for that matter…

  You know this stuff better than I do, Nara. You should have a better idea of the layout, where should-

  Before I could complete my question to my adorable, lovable little sister, the ceiling collapsed, and something heavy crashed upon the ground in front of me.

  “Mara Maeve Maya Nebulo. You could not run away from me forever. You could not run away from the consequences of your actions. It is now time to face the logical conclusion of a being as foul as you”

  “As I was created to do… I—WILL—DESTROY—YOU”

  “...How l–long have you be–been waiting outside–side the castle?”

  “One month. Seventeen days. Twelve Hours. Forty-nine minutes. Fifty-five seconds”

  “This long? You are one f–fast motherfucker–er”

  Try me. This place is filled with allies of your dear creator. Let’s see if you dare use any destructive method. If not… I know your main tricks already! And more importantly… I have a get-out-of-jail-free card. I can pull the same bullshit as last time right in your face again!

  SHLAD-01’s engines activated, his sickle-equipped arm flexed into an aggressive stance, and soon, he surged straight at me–The same deal as last time. He may be fast as hell, but speed was far less threatening when the motions of the swift thing were predictable.

  I stepped aside to his left. There, his sickle could hardly reach me, and his other limb wasn’t nearly as good when it came to melee strikes. It was clearly more geared toward launching ranged attacks.

  He came to a sudden halt before his momentum took him far away from me, while his lower body didn’t budge, his upper body spun nearly a full one hundred and eighty degrees, allowing him to take a swing at me.

  Rather than avoiding the attack, I went straight for it, biting down on his arm–Naturally, I avoided the sharp edge as that would slice right through me… Also, I allowed my maw to stay stuck on the arm whilst the rest of me was flung straight through a wall.

  SHLAD attempted to remove my beartrap-like jaw, but his left limb wasn’t shaped properly for him to manage it with ease, especially since the combination of ‘Crushing Bite’ and ‘Hydraulic Bite’ meant that it clamped down hard.

  It was still a part of me as well, so it wasn’t going to lose strength any time soon.

  Before he could try something else, I rose from the rubble with a large piece of debris lifted above my head. I launched it straight at him. The piece of wall was easily shattered into pieces by a swat of his arm, but it was enough for me to close the distance.

  The fool tried to attack with his sickle, but right as he was preparing to deliver a powerful blow, my maw opened, and closed right back onto his arm, completely throwing off his swing, and allowing me to punch him straight in the head with my hydraulic-empowered right arm.

  The murder bot was thrown through a wall as well, but just like last time, my own fist suffered damage. It was fine.

  Energy blast incoming

  Thanks to Nara’s warning, a mana bullet as big as my head was easily avoided.

  My blood-soaked violet cloak fluttered slightly as I rushed through the dust without worry. Why? Because my detached jaw was doing a magnificent job. It had opened for a moment again, only to close again while the automaton was still on the ground, biting both into his arm and into the ground, leaving him pinned for a few moments.

  I stomped down onto his chest repeatedly before striking him again with my right arm. Over and over again, to the point that my fingers and hands seemed to fuse together in a mesh of steel.

  He attempted to emit a burst of steam, but such an attack was wholly ineffective. I was way too heavy to be shaken off by just that–It did leave scorch marks on my clothes, but that was about it.

  Right as I landed yet another punch, I noticed one of his legs had folded onto itself.

  The ground shattered beneath him under the weight of my final blow, right as he kicked me right into my chest, sending me flying into the ceiling.

  The impact made me bounce against the ceiling, so before I could get back onto my feet, I felt my maw being destroyed… I couldn’t bite anymore, and my chest had been caved in by that blow just now–But overall? I was in good shape.

  I wasn’t certain about SHLAD-01, though.

  He crawled back out of the hole in the floor.

  His sickle arm had been damaged, but it was not enough to severely impair its function… However, as he attempted to get his engines running, it sounded like there were several small explosions inside of him, and apart from some smoke, nothing happened.

  I did well going for his chest area rather than the head. His steel skull was actually tougher than the rest, and I didn’t feel confident about being able to damage it enough to achieve anything.

  Now, however… He had lost his trusty rush.

  His red scan-things covered the surroundings for a brief instant, and his sickle positioned itself to attack.

  I don’t know what this means exactly. I doubt this guy understands the concept of ‘tactical retreat’. I don’t think he would ever consider leaving to attack another day, so I truly had no idea how much he still had to offer…