Chapter 9 : Level Up in the Underworld
“Huh? My level has gone up! I didn’t expect that defeating a straw man would level me up. This is an unexpected gain.”
Iris looked down at her whip.
It had become slightly thicker.
When she struck the bare ground with it, the soil was dug up deeper than before.
Teresa, who had approached Iris, clapped her hands.
“Amazing. You’ve reached this level in less than a day since awakening your ability! I’m looking forward to what you’ll achieve in the future.”
“Thank you.”
“By the way, has your ability evolved further in the meantime?”
Teresa said, fixing her gaze on the whip.
She had noticed its slight increase in thickness.
“Indeed, she has the eyes of a hero-turned-exorcist. Her perceptiveness is remarkable.”
Iris’s eyes widened for a moment before she nodded.
“Yes. It seems so. The whip has become thicker.”
“Using skills feels like organisms evolving. But Iris seems to be evolving at an unusually fast pace. I wonder if this is typical for object-awakening ability users or if Iris is just exceptional.”
“I’m curious too. If I get the chance, I’d like to meet other object-awakening heroes.”
“Well, that won’t be easy. We met by chance, but most ability users are reluctant to reveal their existence.The risks outweigh the benefits when one’s identity is exposed.”
That made sense.
Meeting Teresa by chance and receiving guidance so smoothly because she was a hero, not a villain, was an incredible stroke of luck.
Now that she thought about it, it was quite a risky situation for Iris to have awakened her ability in front of others.
If Teresa had been a villain with ill intentions or an unscrupulous antique shop owner, Iris would have been in a very difficult situation.
“Is this what it means to enter the plot of a comic? Heroes get into trouble, but they don’t die. At least not in comics.”
Of course, there are comics that break the cliché and kill off heroes.
Fortunately, the comics Iris had read didn’t belong to that category.
However, they were an endless series without a conclusion.
The story seemed to progress, but similar events kept repeating themselves.
Even after reading more than ten volumes, Chat City was still a hellhole swarming with criminals.
“Does entering the plot of a comic mean that, unlike other heroes in Chat City, I will survive until the end? If I’m a supporting character, I might die, but the protagonist won’t. That means I can bring peace to Chat City… Hmm, but first, I need to worry about making a living.”
It had been 22 years since she was reincarnated into the comic.
Now that she had awakened her ability and realized she had entered the “plot,” it was a rather significant message.
But it was still too early to worry about the peace of Chat City.
She had awakened her ability, but she was still a novice hero.
“Umm, I think that’s enough training for now… Haven’t you awakened any other skills yet?”
“Umm, well…”
“No.
There’s no need to reveal all your powers to me.
Remember, the moment you awakened your ability and decided to use it as a hero, Iris, your chances of dying became higher than those of an ordinary citizen.
Don’t trust anyone easily and try to keep your identity hidden as much as possible.”
“Yes. I will keep that in mind.”
It was a relief that Teresa had said that.
Iris had been hiding the fact that she could see a status window and had a detection skill.
Teresa, having judged that Iris’s ability was sufficient, said that they would go on a mission tomorrow.
She also promised to assist her in case of any unexpected dangerous situations.
Iris’s face brightened at the thought of earning money by selling the items obtained from the mission to the trading post.
“I was worried about whether quitting my part-time job at the bakery was a good idea. But it’s a relief to know I can make money. I just hope I don’t run into any strange people tomorrow…”
“Ugh….”
In the dimly lit basement, the thug who had fled in terror from Iris’s tentacle skill was tied to a chair.
His front was damp and he was exhausted.
He was trembling while wearing a blindfold.
Suddenly, he felt a foot tapping on the chair.
Then a bucket of water was thrown over his face.
“Gasp!”
A dark shadow loomed over him.
A low voice echoed.
“Saw a tentacle human, did you?”
“N-no. It was a m-mechanical human…! A mechanical human, I tell you.”
The thug was in an awkward predicament.
He had tried to teach the antique shop owner a lesson by ambushing him and dragging him to a secluded spot.
But he had lost him because of a chained human.
He had mentioned this in a pub where criminals usually gathered and talked.
On his way home, he was hit on the back of the head.
He woke up to find himself blindfolded and being tortured.
He had experienced threats and kidnappings a few times while living as a criminal in Chat City.
But this time it was different.
Although he couldn’t see anything with the blindfold on, he could tell that the man in front of him was very strong just by his voice and tone.
After living as a back-alley thug, he had developed a keen sense of perception.
After a brief silence, the interrogator’s voice was tinged with anger.
“A mechanical human? Do you think this is Cyber City or something?!”
“Eek! Ugh.”
A man named Laika, dressed in a green suit and a colorful fashion shirt, exploded in anger.
His outburst made the others standing behind him flinch.
They checked their earplugs before letting out a sigh of relief.
The thug’s front was damp again.
Not because he was scared, but because of Laika’s unique skill.
Without specially made earplugs, hearing Laika’s voice would induce a sense of overwhelming fear.
The thug trembled like a deer facing a lion.
“P-please, have mercy. I beg of you….”
“Enough.”
A man named Abelus, sitting on an iron chair behind Laika, uncrossed his legs and spoke indifferently.
He was wearing silver-rimmed glasses and a white lab coat.
It seemed out of place in the dim basement.
Like the others standing behind him, he also wore specially made earplugs.
They could nullify auditory skills while still allowing normal sounds to be heard.
Although he was a high-capability individual and could withstand Laika’s voice with his bare ears, he had no desire to experience that chilling sensation.
“There can be mechanical humans if there are heroes and villains.
It doesn’t seem like a lie.”
“This guy keeps changing his story.Is there a hero who uses tentacles?”
“Well, we don’t know all the ability users… As far as I know, there’s no hero in Chat City who uses tentacles. Look at this guy. He’s trembling even from a minor skill. Maybe he just saw wrong.”
“Minor?”
Laika bared his teeth.
Abelus shrugged.
Laika, who had momentarily frowned, clenched his fists so hard that his veins bulged before smiling.
There was a movie shoot in a few days.
It would be a loss for Laika himself if he got hurt in a fight for no reason.
This guy’s nonsensical ramblings were nothing new.
He calmed himself down and muttered quietly.
“A woman using tentacle machinery… A woman in white clothes.”
Laika’s eyes widened.
He took off his sunglasses and stuck them in his suit jacket.
He narrowed his eyes.
The combination of his fiery red hair and piercing blue eyes was striking.
His slightly upturned eyes gave off a fierce impression even when he was expressionless.
He was recalling the outfits of the heroes and villains he had met.
There were way too many ability users with white-themed costumes.
Moreover, the guy in front of him didn’t wear white clothes when using his ability.
This guy, on the other hand, liked to wear white clothes.
Not just any clothes, but a lab coat.
It was as if he was trying to show that he was fundamentally different from the brutish villains who just fought and the researcher who worked in the lab.
“Well, never mind. It doesn’t seem like a big deal… My interest has waned.”
Laika, with his red hair slicked back with pomade, tousled it carelessly and kicked the thug.
The thug, still tied to the chair, fell to the floor with a thud.
His hand was crushed under a boot.
“Aaaah, aaaaah!”
“Ow, shut up. It’s annoying!”
“Ugh, ugh!”
Laika irritably dug his ear and kicked the thug’s shoulder.
There was a crack.
The thug’s arm bent at an odd angle.
Despite having a broken arm, he clenched his teeth and endured the moans to avoid further harsh treatment.
Torturing him quickly became boring.
Laika turned his attention to Abelus.
“Hey, take this guy to the research institute.”
“Not interested. This kind of thing is useless. It has zero value.”
“You could use it as food for the chimera.”
“Ha, give such junk food to the chimera? I’d rather decline.”
“…You’re picky.”
Laika clicked his fingers at the men behind him.
They dragged the thug away.
Sensing his miserable end, the thug let out a piercing scream.
“Save me, please! Aaaah!”
“Ow, shut up.”
Laika covered his ears with both hands and frowned.
It was contradictory that he used his auditory skill to instill fear in others but frowned at a scream.
Abelus, with his arms crossed, observed the scene before speaking.