Iris glanced at Laika and, as if to threaten him, sprayed webs from her backside, looking remarkably like a skunk warning off a predator.
There was no time to check how dire their situation was—they were about to be caught by villains after all.
She moved with lightning speed and touched the teleportation device attached to the truck.
Meanwhile, Laika quickly gestured upward with his palm, signaling her to escape, making Iris flinch.
At that moment, she didn’t have the luxury to interpret what his gesture meant.
She spoke aloud the potion truck’s original destination, withdrew her hand, and immediately used the <Escape Tome>.
Everything happened in an instant, all in a blur.
Wooong—.
“…Ah! Wait, Laika! Hold on!”
With a strange sound, the two trucks equipped with teleportation devices vanished, followed by the disappearance of the two heroes.
Abellus, coming to his senses too late, dashed over and stopped where the trucks and heroes had been moments before, now empty space.
Standing there with a hollow expression, he soon spat out a rough curse and kicked the cleaning robot nearby with all his might.
“Hah, damn it… What the fuck!”
“Beep beep beep. Please do not charge. Please do not charge.”
“Who left this thing here? Move it right now! Damn it!”
Abellus, a psychopathic, sociopathic, and perversely sexual man with anger management issues to boot, was indeed one of the city’s top-tier villains.
The cleaning robot hurried away to avoid more blows, and Abellus shifted his violent rage to the nearby barbed wire.
Laika watched Abellus’ rampage with amusement, but as soon as Abellus turned around, Laika closed his mouth and covered it with his hand, putting on a serious expression.
If his act was exposed, the crazy bastard might direct his anger at him.
Pretending to be bewildered, Abellus repeatedly swept his bangs aside and then shook his head as if witnessing all sorts of ridiculous things.
“Wow, Angel Girl? So that hero’s name is Angel Girl, huh? Angel Girl’s skill is incredible, shocking even. Too fast, and just… well, you know? I can’t believe I lost her even after watching right in front of me. Such a waste.”
“…Right? They only took the truck—or rather, just the truck. Would’ve been better if they’d taken that useless piece of trash along with it.”
“What do you mean? Oh, you mean you? The idiot who lost her while doing perverted stuff right in front of her? Or maybe the low IQ moron who just won’t stop calling Laika ‘Laika’ even though he said not to? Ah, that bastard’s you too.”
Abellus sneered, and Laika shot back without backing down.
A hostile atmosphere hung thick between them.
Abellus, having vented his anger on the cleaning robot and barbed wire, gradually calmed his breathing.
Despite his anger issues, Abellus wasn’t so out of control as to start a fight with someone with whom a fight would serve no purpose.
He rolled his eyes and looked up at the sky, letting out an exasperated sigh.
The White-Clad Hero, Angel Girl. Watching her videos countless times and being dumbstruck the moment he saw her skill, then standing there blankly and missing her—he felt pathetic.
The idiot babbling beside him was, needless to say, a complete mess.
“Phew, better stop talking.”
“Why stop? I saw you getting excited watching Angel Girl. Seriously, you shouldn’t just stay cooped up in the lab—you should go out and meet some women too…”
“Hah, I said stop. Like you, I was caught off guard by a skill I’d never seen before, and that’s why I messed up…”
“Are you saying you didn’t lose her because of your own perverted antics?”
“Shut up.”
Abellus’ face darkened. Laika bit his lip to hold back a laugh.
There was no way he wanted to shut up—not when he had such a perfect opportunity to tease the bastard.
“Fine, I’ll shut up. But only when you’re around. I’m gonna tell Father that Abellus got turned on and lost the potion truck.”
“Ah, then you’d better not leave out your own story. Like the idiot who just stood there stupidly watching a hero spam skills in front of the truck. That’d be your son―or so I’d say.”
Unwilling to lose, Abellus jeered again.
Laika angrily brushed the webs off his face and snapped,
“Damn it… How can you stay calm when someone’s shooting webs from their ass at you?”
“Hmph… It’s better to stop this pointless argument.”
He had been yapping all this time, and now suddenly acted all serious.
Laika swallowed a bitter laugh and crossed his arms.
Abellus shook off the webs clinging to his body with a frustrated expression and straightened his laboratory coat.
“This settles it. She really is an Awakener-type hero. Angel Girl—it looks like we have to capture her. I have a hunch she’ll be the key to Project X.”
“And while you’re at it, you can fulfill your perverted desires too.”
He almost said, ‘The way you were rubbing her butt and sexually harassing her—’ but held back.
Blue veins bulged on Abellus’ forehead.
He twitched his mouth as if wanting to shout at Laika but soon returned to his usual expressionless face.
Then, adjusting his rimmed glasses, he looked remarkably calm for someone who’d just been throwing a tantrum.
“…Laika, you’re going to have to help me. You know Kaisar is paying close attention to the Relic of the Goddess.”
“Hah, yeah. That relic made me stronger, and if we uncover its secrets, I’ll be able to use more of my latent power. But look—Angel Girl’s pretty strong, right? I don’t know if we can kill and bring her back, but capturing her alive is going to be tough. She must have realized we’re villains now, so deceiving her to bring her in is out too.”
“Then we have to lure her outright. With money. How many times have you seen a hero become a villain just for money? If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to kidnap her.”
“Hmm, so either way, we have to catch her alive.”
Does that sound like it’ll go your way?
Laika’s blue eyes glinted coldly.
He couldn’t just hand over Angel Girl, who might be the key to unraveling the relic’s secrets, to Abellus.
That bastard, who pretends to act in the company’s interest, would stab everyone in the back the moment he got the relic’s power for himself.
Even Abellus didn’t expect Laika to help so willingly.
Since they’d both seen Angel Girl, he had no choice but to demand surface-level cooperation.
He would capture Angel Girl himself—without Laika or even Kaisar, the CEO, knowing.
He only reported part of the research on the relic to the company.
In addition, he continued his investigation into the relic.
Recently, he learned that a godlike being hiding deep within the Enrakakyo sought the relic’s power.
The cult was already known to possess one relic, but apparently, that wasn’t enough.
That being also wanted the Awakener-type hero who could amplify the relic’s power.
This secret was passed on by a priest of the Enrakakyo with whom he had made discreet contact.
‘The puzzle pieces don’t all fit yet. First, we need to capture Angel Girl and research her to find a clue.’
Awakeners were extremely rare, and his collection of gifted individuals didn’t include one.
There was no information about her at all.
Abellus grimaced and wore a vile smile.
Not just because of the relic’s power, but his desire to collect Angel Girl burned fiercely within him.
What would her blood taste like? What was inside her?
If he dissected and reassembled her body, what kind of being would she become?
The mere thought sent thrilling chills down his spine.
Laika watched Abellus’ face in horror, fully expecting more strange thoughts to come, but Abellus paid no mind.
If he gained great power, Laika would merely become another piece in his collection.
A collection to be ground into powder and used as monster feed.
“Hahaha ha ha ha!”
“Crazy bastard.”
Abellus burst into ecstatic laughter, echoing through the air until Laika, wearing a grim expression, shook his head and left.
***
“Wow, how long has it been?”
Meanwhile, at Iris’s house, she checked her bank account on her phone and grinned from ear to ear.
Not only had the mission failed and nearly cost her her life, but she’d overcome everything and succeeded—she had the money!
And on top of that, an incredible amount of Fame.
The Fame displayed on her vanity mirror was 5,500.
She figured it must have been because they’d safely retrieved the stolen truck and escaped two major villains from the manga.
‘The criteria are random, but as long as I got the Fame, that’s what matters, right? Hehe.’