Amon grumbled, clutching his warm side.
“He said he would slit my throat, but just killed me instead.”
The demon disappeared into ashes, mocking his declaration to throw him to the wild beasts as food.
Anyway, from the moment it appeared to the moment it died, the demon was unpleasant.
Separately from the declaration, after venting his anger and calculating with a cool head, it turned out to be a completely unprofitable act.
If he had calmly left the boss room, farmed diligently, and come back after about a year, how much easier it would have been to defeat this boss.
At least his side wouldn’t have been so superficially burned.
No, are both the outside and inside moist because the burn marks are sticky?
”Auuuh…”
When fighting, he was okay thanks to adrenaline, but after it ended, it hurt to the point of death.
He doesn’t have medical knowledge, but roughly, it should be second-degree burns.
First, blisters are popping up, which anyone would say are not first-degree burns.
From what he picked up, third-degree burns burn all the nerves so it doesn’t hurt, so by elimination, it must be second-degree burns.
”Should I like this or not…”
It’s better than third-degree burns, but since it’s the side, without exaggeration, just a little negligence and he would lose consciousness.
Even just breathing causes the pain to spread through his spine and throughout his body, driving him to madness.
”Next time… really… Ugh…”
Amon fanned his side to cool the pain.
[Lessons learned from the pain: Even if you have to get a blow to the head, make sure to take into account the opponent.]
Moreover, apart from the pain, this challenge itself was very reckless.
Thanks to the uniqueness of Amon’s sacred power, the demon couldn’t regenerate and he won, but if by chance the demon could regenerate normally, it would have been Amon who died.
Besides that, there were many scenarios where Amon could have died.
A beam just brushed by, and this is the extent, but if he had been hit directly even once by mistake, it would have been game over.
After all, it was nothing but tightrope walking.
Looking back, Amon’s win rate was around just below 40%, but he somehow survived.
”No matter how you think about it, it was a crazy move.”
This time, it wasn’t that Amon did well to survive, but he just got lucky.
He repeated reflections and self-criticisms.
Although Amon seemed to have a lot to reflect on today, if he didn’t address these things timely, they’d naturally repeat later.
While he was reflecting on today’s incident, some object fell in front of his eyes.
”Huh?”
It was some kind of orb.
Amon seemed to know roughly what this was.
”This is a drop.”
In game terms, it’s a drop item; in this world’s terms, it could be called loot or essence.
It’s a lump of sacred power or mana that bosses or monsters leave upon being defeated, which can later be used to imbue abilities onto some equipment.
This essence, along with the Megacorp’s technology left in the deepest part of the dungeon, was the factor that led mercenaries to seek out the dungeon.
Amon examined the orb carefully.
As per the series’ tradition, the higher the concentration of sacred power or mana, the color of the essence changed, allowing estimation of its grade.
Bright yellow.
”Oh, legendary.”
It was a big catch.
But he wasn’t jumping for joy.
Higher grade means it’s more powerful, but that refers to damage or accuracy, not that the effects are special.
In a world overflowing with all sorts of unique magic and implants, what’s important is not overwhelming output, but compatibility, cost-effectiveness, and variables in output.
Overwhelming firepower can be compensated by other means, but unexpected special properties cannot be substituted.
Therefore, the content was much more important than the grade of the essence.
The problem was that he still didn’t know if the content suited Amon.
If the essence had abilities related to bows that Amon doesn’t even use, it would become pretty trash.
Therefore, he couldn’t be happy until he confirmed the specific contents of the essence.
Amon put the essence into his pocket and stood up.
”I’ll check it later.”
***
It was time to leave the dungeon.
It was an incident where a mega-corporation was turned into a dungeon.
The president and executives inside were still unable to escape, and the police would just be patting their feet at the dungeon entrance.
Before that, Amon had things to do.
Amon took out his phone and contacted somewhere.
“Yes, Father. It’s been arranged. Actually, the plan has changed. Yes, yes. I’ll send you the map, so could you secretly come over there? Yes, and please bring a lot of bags and paladins. Yes~”
Amon ended the call and immediately stood up, beginning to organize the bodyguards’ weapons and hard drives.
”I can’t resist looting.”
It was time to start looting.
Amon couldn’t have imagined that the boss would be defeated on the day it was born, and the police didn’t even have the guts to enter.
Honestly, it was inevitable.
They said a nuclear power plant had exploded, but what police officer could enter there?
Thanks to that, Amon and the paladins could enjoy farming time at the Hexen Group without any interference.
After all, it was a distribution company, so there were no endgame-level equipments like a military supply company, but the high-speed, low-cost 3D printers and various rights that could be considered the pride of the Hexen Group were a big harvest.
After the exciting looting time at the Hexen Group ended, Amon didn’t head straight to the cathedral but went to the church’s affiliated hospital.
It was a hospital recommended to him where the paladins and the priest also seemed to have looted well, telling him to get his side treated without worrying about hospital bills.
Thanks to that, new skin was already starting to grow on Amon’s side.
”Finally, I think I can survive now.”
He pretended not to be in pain while grappling, but moving the loot and the way to the hospital hurt so much he felt like dying.
Only after painkillers were administered and a cream-like substance was applied over the wounds did the pain finally begin to subside.
-“This isn’t addictive, is it?”
Before receiving the painkillers, when Amon asked that question, the doctor went berserk, calling him a money-hungry bastard.
There was also an incident where Amon and the priest looked at the doctor as if they had discovered a mythical creature, but apart from that, the hospital was peaceful.
When the television was turned on, breaking news about the Hexen Group being turned into a dungeon flooded all channels, the streets were in chaos with descendants of Jean Valjean shouting “Liberty, Liberty, Liberty!”
Public authorities, including the police, fell into chaos without the king who had held the reins.
But the hospital where Amon was remained quiet.
“Ah… so quiet-“
***
[Room 502, Building 5. Cardiac arrest patient admitted. The attending doctor, please come quickly.]
[Emergency Room, Building 1. Multiple trauma patients admitted. All doctors, please come down immediately.]
Before he could finish speaking, two incidents broke out.
Correction.
Only Amon’s single room remained peaceful.
Hearing the sound of medical staff rushing down the corridors, Amon thought, ”It must be because of me.”
After all, the single mega-corp that dominated the area suddenly disappeared without any warning, so this chaos was inevitable.
When a tiger dies, other wild beasts naturally fight fiercely to take over its den.
From now on, it was a battle between whether the police would regain control first or if the hyenas would expand their influence to fill the void.
The hyenas would consist of smaller companies and gangs than the Hexen Group, and if they seized power first, they could become the second Hexen Group.
It wouldn’t just be a problem for gangs and corporations.
Citizens would rise up as a group, and among the protestors, there would be criminals trying to loot stores amidst the chaos.
Moreover, with countless people becoming unemployed, public safety would deteriorate.
All these situations were the result of Amon toppling the mega-corp in just one night.
In the cyberpunk world, mega-corps were the embodiment of evil, but their existence was a necessary evil.
They employed countless people while also causing mass unemployment, maintained public order while arbitrarily controlling it, and allowed people to survive even as they killed others.
Knowing that many would die or get injured the moment they disappeared, neither the government nor the people dared to interfere with them easily.
Amon closed his eyes and fell into thought.
Honestly, he didn’t feel any guilt.
To sacrifice himself and Sonia for the sake of the city’s stability was absurd.
Moreover, in such a world, blaming each tragedy on oneself would make it impossible to maintain sanity.
He was a good person by the world’s standards, but at the same time, he was extremely rational.
Therefore, he didn’t feel a great sense of responsibility for this situation.
But.
”The director and the kids…”
He didn’t really care about the city’s public safety.
To him, the city was already sufficiently corrupted, differing only by a few bloodstains on the stains.
However, if his siblings or the nuns got involved in something bad because of this, he couldn’t stand it.
With his eyes closed, Amon fiddled with the hard drive he had brought from the Hexen Group.
Finally, after making up his mind, he contacted the priest.
“Yes, Father. I’m sorry to trouble you. I would appreciate it if you could do me one last favor.”
The chaos that had been ongoing all night was quickly suppressed.