Chapter 15 : Monsters and Level-Ups (1)

The hand holding the phone was gradually soaked with sweat.

Why won’t it come out when I call it—especially when I’m struggling like this?

If the chastity belt were a person, I would’ve already beat it up.

“Go!”

“What are you doing? I said, what are you doing?! Come out, search, search! Use your senses, slither out and grope his back!”

“Looks like it’s working now?”

Just as Laika’s body was about to fall away, Iris waved her hand.

The phone flew behind the sofa.

She hadn’t come all this way just to retreat empty-handed.

“Oops, the phone slipped behind the sofa.”

“Hmph.”

It seemed the chastity belt was afraid of being discovered and wouldn’t come out.

Well, that made sense.

If it got exposed here, in a two-person waiting room, it might get pulverized.

Compared to Laika, Iris was a pretty pathetic hero.

Quick-thinking, considerate chastity belt.

At this rate, she’d have to sneak around his back and use her scanning skill.

Iris quickly stood up and went behind the sofa.

She needed to use her scan skill after retrieving the phone.

As she bent down to pick up the phone and stood up again, her eyes met Laika’s.

She hadn’t expected him to turn around.

Iris bared her teeth in an awkward smile.

“Haha…”

Laika’s gaze was sharp.

He looked her up and down, tilted his head, and opened his mouth.

“You. Just now, what did—”

Boom—Crash!

“Somebody help me!”

“Save me!”

Before Laika could finish, a deafening boom and screams rang out from outside.

It was the signature background noise of Gyodam City—rarely a day went by without it.

Laika shifted his gaze from Iris and sprang up from the sofa.

“What the hell?”

Iris let out a sigh of relief in her head.

Whoever it was, thanks to the villains working even on weekends, she’d avoided a crisis.

Even though there were explosions in the distance, it was far better than dealing with that grim reaper-looking villain in front of her.

“Whew, that was close… Whoever you are, thanks. Time to run.”

She would’ve been mortified if someone found out, but right now, the sound of explosions was a blessing.

As she clutched her chest in relief, the door slammed shut with a loud bang.

True to his villainous nature, Laika had vanished without even grabbing the fan he came with.

“What the hell?! He ran off alone? At least he’s consistent—damn bastard.”

Well, what else was she expecting?

Grinding her teeth, Iris stepped out into the hallway.

As expected of Gyodam City survivors, even the staff who had been standing in the hall were all gone.

Every man for himself—that was the survival rule in this city.

With a pout, Iris quickly ran toward the exit.

Once outside the building, she saw the bakery café’s outdoor tables engulfed in flames.

The garden statues were half-destroyed and toppled everywhere, and people who hadn’t yet fled were scrambling into cars.

“Huh?”

“Hurry, get in!”

Among them, she saw some familiar faces—people from the film crew climbing into a car.

Iris was about to ask them to let her in, to escape together, but she hesitated.

“Wait, I’m a hero. Can I really just run away like this? Ugh, but that looks seriously dangerous…”

She had always run whenever there were explosions and screams, so this was her first time sticking around this long at a disaster site.

And beyond the thick smoke, she saw suspicious creatures moving.

Monsters—creatures second only to villains in horror within Gyodam City.

“They’re only supposed to appear in remote outskirts… Why are they right where all the people are?”

Technically, the black crayfish she had caught was also considered a monster.

In comics, heroes often fought mysterious monsters, but their origins were never clearly explained.

“Judging from the lack of activation, the comic must not have revealed the monsters’ origins. Whew, anyway…”

Iris hesitated.

Meanwhile, the cars were already driving off, quickly disappearing from sight.

Everyone from the café seemed to have escaped safely—shouldn’t she just run away too?

At the very least, if she just used her speed to get out of here—

At that moment, a scream that seemed to tear the air rang out.

“Ugh, someone help me! I’m trapped under a statue!”

She turned her head toward the voice and saw a man pinned under a fallen statue, sobbing and crying out.

Left like that, he’d become a monster’s next victim for sure.

Everyone else was too busy fleeing to even acknowledge his cries for help.

As Iris hesitated, the faces of the antique shop owner and Teresa flashed through her mind.

The antique shop owner, who gave her a bracelet and said someone like her was fit to be a hero.

Teresa, who gently promised to help her walk the right path.

If she ran away now, it would betray their trust.

“Sigh, fine. If not me, then who else will help? If I ignore a good citizen in danger, I’d be no better than a villain.”

Iris hid behind the building and transformed.

Just like Teresa advised, it was to protect her identity.

After carefully checking her mask, she dashed toward the man trapped under the statue.

“A hero?! You’re a hero, right?! Please help me!”

The man burst into tears at the sight of her.

She nodded silently and tried to lift the statue with her hands.

Unfortunately, it barely budged.

Lifting it was beyond her strength.

“I thought I’d gotten stronger with this… but I guess not much changed. Do I need to level up to get stronger?”

The man’s hopeful expression darkened as the statue refused to move.

Seeing the flicker of doubt in his eyes made Iris momentarily want to give up, but she steeled herself and thought quickly.

“I’ll use the whip skill.”

As soon as she decided, a whip extended from the chastity belt.

Ignoring the man’s wide-eyed stare, Iris swung it.

“What? I thought it’d split in half—it just chipped?”

With a crack, the statue fractured slightly.

She had underestimated it.

Unlike the straw dummies she trained on, marble statues were extremely tough.

“Ugh, I should’ve trained more!”

Her hands were slick with sweat.

What if this wasn’t a statue but a monster?

The thought alone was terrifying.

“Groarrr!”

“Grrr!”

Just then, the monsters’ growls drew closer.

They weren’t especially fast, but there were a lot of them.

Some banged on nearby statues, making them collapse instantly.

One monster even used its long tongue for ranged attacks.

It wasn’t as absurdly long as Iris’s whip, but it could stretch to about half a person’s length.

“I really, really don’t want to get hit by that tongue. Just thinking about a monster’s tongue touching me… Ugh. I’d end up like this statue.”

Luckily, the monsters didn’t seem to have good vision or hearing.

Maybe because this area had already been hit once.

In a way, the man under the statue was lucky not to have been caught.

But that relief didn’t last long—apparently the monsters had good noses.

Some started sniffing around and headed toward Iris and the man.

Panicked, Iris began swinging her whip like crazy.

After several cracks, deep fractures split through the statue, and finally, it broke apart.

At last.

At that moment, a welcome message popped up in front of her eyes.

“LV.2 has become LV.3. Sharp thorns sprout from the whip.”

“Ooh, skill level up!”

“Chastity Belt Girl has leveled up. Your strength increases. Your body becomes more agile. Your stamina rises. A mysterious energy fills your body.”

“Huh? I leveled up too!”

It was her first level-up ever.

Judging by the message, her overall physical abilities had improved.

Iris was about to cheer in excitement when she looked down.

This wasn’t the time for celebration.

She quickly cleared the statue debris and helped the man to his feet.

“Ah, thank you for saving m—ahhh!”