C185: Jack the Ripper (2)
"What, what is this!"
"What have you done?"
A black tentacle crept down through the ceiling. It's not just one but dozens.
Carlone's elite escorts trembled with goosebumps running down their spines. They don't know what that black thing was, why it suddenly appeared through the ceiling, or when it started.
But if there's one thing they were sure of it was that they should never touch it.
"You punk!"
A knight-turned-guard who was quick to judge the situation swung a knife at Rudger. His intuition was saying that if Rudger died, this strange phenomenon would be over.
As expected of a knight, that movement was made in a split second but before his sword touched Rudger the black tentacles from the ceiling touched his shoulder quickly.
"What?"
It was the last word uttered by a knight who tried to wield his sword.
His body, which was touched by the tentacles, twisted like a vortex and began to be sucked into the tentacles. The terrible sight of ignoring the laws of physics froze the guards who were preparing to provide support in case the attack failed.
Carlone, who had been relaxed all the time, was starting to get tense.
"What is this?"
The person twisted like a breadstick and disappeared.
"What the hell is that?"
Carlone has killed many people so far and he didn't blink an eye to the extent that a person died and blood splattered because it was his routine.
Carlone prided himself on being closer to violence and death than anyone else and it was the same with his men here. Nevertheless, Carlone could not accept the present reality.
The scene that unfolded now was far from his mon sense.
"What the hell have you done….?"
"Didn't I tell you? I didn't do anything."
"Don't make me laugh!"
At Rudger's words, Carlone exclaimed in fits. Meanwhile, a tentacle reached another escort and soon sucked him in like a vortex. The once-promising knight couldn't even resist.
"Do you believe in God?"
"What do you mean all of a sudden?"
Carlone was dumbfounded when Rudger suddenly asked if he believed in God.
"How much do you know about the existence of God?"
"The existence of God? Are you telling me to repent now? To God?"
"No way. I just let you know. This black tentacle you're looking at is the one you call God."
"What?"
At Rudger's words, Carlone became as absent-minded as a person who was hit in the back with a hammer. His trembling eyes now represented his feelings.
"This awful tentacle is God?"
"Yes. She is also a goddess who loves humans very much."
"Dog, don't talk nonsense! This can't be a god!"
"It's just your personal judgment."
Rudger raised his hand lightly. A tentacle, which was fluttering from the ceiling, approached Rudger and rubbed itself against the back of his hand.
Rudger's arm, which touched the tentacles, twisted and was sucked in but Rudger didn't mind.
Carlone trembled.
"How can you?"
"The owner of this tentacle is a goddess who lost her name due to someone's betrayal a long time ago. Humans no longer remember her."
Rudger opened his mouth, ignoring Carlone's reaction.
"Rather, she was criticized as an evil spirit and lost her symbolism but she loved humans so much."
How much did she love them?
"To the point where all of her body was made up of human beings."
Screams rang out everywhere.
A knight, who was frightened by something difficult to perceive and tried to run away, was touched by tentacles and disappeared. The other knight swung the sword vigorously, but the tentacles were simply not cut by the sword. It was as if he was trying to cut through running water.
Eventually, the knight who resisted disappeared, swallowed by the tentacles.
"Hee! This is a dream. This is a dream!"
The wizard, who laughed at Rudger, collapsed and cried, saying, "This is not reality."
He, too, was quickly absorbed by the tentacles.
More than 20 guards disappeared in an instant and only Carlone and Rudger were left in the room.
Carlone stared at Rudger with trembling eyes.
What was this man who acted naturally even after seeing the tentacles overflowing everywhere?
He couldn't believe that he was fine after seeing that. No, maybe that man was already crazy.
"Her abilities are quite helpful because she is more familiar with the human body than anyone else, she will heal any wounds as long as the person it's alive."
Even if an arm is cut off, a lot of blood is lost or one's body is rotten, as long as the person it's alive she can save it because it's the miracle of God.
"The only downside would be that appearance."
Rudger lightly shook off the tentacles that touched his palm and the tentacles slowly approached Carlone.
"Ugh! Ugh!"
The moment the tip of the tentacles touched Carlone's forehead he saw something.
It was a huge figure standing still in the dark, a horrible monster that looked like a mixture of thousands and thousands of people.
"I love humans, but the feelings of the gods are hard for a person to understand."
Rudger's voice was heard over the shocking sight seen by his eyes.
"Because she loves humans, everything is made up of humans, but she doesn't care at all about what people call an aesthetic sense."
At the same time the vision disappeared and Carlone came back to reality and clapped his teeth in a cold sweat. He only saw a part of the figure, but he felt nauseous.
Carlone prayed to Rudger, the only one who was fine here.
"G, Help me. Please. Please. I beg you. I, I was wrong."
"Unfortunately, I can't do that. I already made a deal. I will dedicate the people here to her."
It was Rudger's reward for keeping Deon alive.
Carlone's face turned white at the declaration.
"You don't have to worry. Didn't I tell you? She cares about humans so you won't die."
"Ah, ah, ah."
Carlone was swept away by greater despair when he was told he would not die. In other words, it meant that he would be taken alive by that monster. Perhaps he will live with the monster without dying for the rest of his life.
"Kill me! Please! I want you to kill me!
"Didn't you ask me to save me a while ago?"
"Ah! Please! Please kill me!"
Carlone immediately pulled out a knife and tried to kill himself, but it was too late. As soon as the tentacles touched the wrist holding the knife, Carlone's arm began to twist.
"Argh! Please! Kill me!""
He didn't feel pain in his hand even when it was twisted but that stimulated his fear even more. However, even his cries turned into silence as soon as his vocal cords were twisted.
Carlone, whose everything was twisted, soon followed his tentacles into the goddess' arms.
* * *
After Carlone disappeared, a bunch of black tentacles fell throughout the mansion and collected the remaining bodies. The blood splashed on the hallway and walls was sucked into the tentacles and so were the bodies of Silver Sun members who fell on the floor.
Soon the tentacles disappeared into a black hole in the sky and there was nothing left in the mansion.
The next day the Leathervelk Police confirmed that a missing persons case occurred at the mansion where Silver Sun members gathered.
At first, it was judged to be a fight between organizations, but there were no bodies left and no traces. However, there was a sense of alienation since so many people disappeared like a mirage and it was also the notorious Silver Sun.
Eventually, the case ended without making any significant progress and people started talking.
Someone said that all the members of the Silver Sun had secretly fled the city.
Another said that Silver Sun was attacked and disappeared.
However, the ordinary citizens were relieved or delighted that all the bad guys had disappeared.
That night, one person who happened to pass by claimed that there was a huge black hole above the mansion and something came down from the sky. It was a dark night with nothing in sight, and the man was very drunk at the time, so no one believed his words.
The notorious organization that dominated one of the city's pillars disappeared in a night leaving behind countless questions.
* * *
The night Rudger broke into Carlone's mansion there was a fight between 200 people and 5 people on a dark street.
One side had 40 times more members than the other but surprisingly the side with 5 members won.
"They don't even count as a warm up."
"They were not disciplined."
Alex was glad things were easy, but Pantos seemed to be quite unhappy that the fight had ended blandly.
"Now we have to deal with this mess."
There were signs of a fight so intense that it was hard to believe it was only a gang fight.
The members who contributed the most to this were Seridan and Violetta. Violetta's wind magic and the bombs Seridan used had too much aftermath.
Fortunately, no one lived near here because it was an area that will soon be redeveloped anyway.
In case of an emergency, it was easy to destroy evidence before the police came in.
"It's a house that needs to be demolished after redevelopment anyway, should we just blow it up?"
Seridan was muttering scary words next to him.
Alex recalled Seridan, who had been throwing bombs at Silver Sun members a while ago while laughing wildly and driving red flames. She was simply a lunatic.
"Leader, you are back."
Rudger, who headed alone to Carlone's mansion, returned and found members of "U.N. Owen" standing on the street.
"Are you done?"
"Of course, leader. There was no problem because they were all ragtags anyway.
"Good work. However, it must have been difficult to deal with the large numbers. How did you do it?"
Alex shrugged his shoulders.
Instead, it was Violetta who answered.
"Owner there's a saying in Leathervelk. Don't bury the dead bodies flowing through Lemzier River."
It was kind of like an unwritten rule and the police also hushed when they found the bodies flowing along the river. This is because most of the bodies drifting away from the river were related to vagrants in the back world.
Since all the bodies were spilled into the river, there was virtually no reason for them to question it.
"That's a relief."
"Owner what happened to Carlone? The fact that the owner is here like this……."
"I've taken care of everything."
"Weren't his guards there, too? Everyone must've been strong."
"That's why I said it. I've dealt with everything."
Violetta was surprised to hear that Rudger had dealt with them all by himself, but was soon convinced that he could do so if he came back.
"Oh? What? Is the leader the only one who had fun?"
"Was there a strong man there?"
When Alex and Pantos asked with interest, Rudger shook his head.
"Most of the knights neglected their training for money or retired. They weren't that great."
"What is this? Boring."
"Oh, and Violetta."
"Yes, owner!"
When Rudger called her name, Violetta answered immediately.
"With this, Silver Sun is annihilated. The remaining ones are subcontractors."
"Yes, I think so."
"The business establishments that Silver Sun had. We can take them from here, right?"
Violetta nodded as if it were a matter of course.
"There is nothing easier to eat than an empty house without an owner. Of course, if it's as large as the Silver Sun was we'll need some funds to digest it."
"It doesn't matter how much money it costs. The funds that Silver Sun had will also be ours anyway."
"That's enough then."
Actually, the business is progressing step by step now. On top of that, if they eat the business sites operated by Silver Sun, it was like adding wings to a tiger.
Of course, most of their businesses are in the dark, so it was a problem to swallow them as they were.
"How's Deon doing?"
"He's fine. Thanks to the owner."
"Is there anything strange?"
"He looked stronger than before."
"Is that so?"
Rudger responded pretending to not care but Violetta could tell that if he wasn't worried he wouldn't have asked about Deon in the first place. No matter what, the owner was a man of passion.
It was then that a new crowd appeared in the distance. At first, he thought it was the remnants of the Silver Sun, but it wasn't. The people who showed up were men and women of all ages.
"It's our people."
Rudger recognized them right away.
Everyone heard that Silver Sun was ing in, so they came to fight.
"……I told you to stay away because it's dangerous."
As soon as Violetta was about to say something, Rudger stopped her.
"Aren't they all people who came forward with a proud heart?"
Violetta stared at Rudger with an unexpected gaze while he was smiling softly at the people.
"Yes, they are."
Violetta also smirked. She, who unknowingly smiled, was surprised and smoothed her lips with her hands.
She has always pretended to be strong and lived with a mask but now she could laugh sincerely.
After playing the ideal human for so long to survive she thought that a sincere smile was just a luxury in her dreams. It was the same for other U.N. Owen members.
Everyone smiled proudly at the sight of the people ing forward.
"Owner."
"What's wrong?"
Violetta replied with a smile.
"On behalf of the abandoned people, I will say something to you. Thank you for everything."
Rudger smiled and replied.
"It's no big deal."
* * *
At the entrance to Carlone's mansion, which was virtually closed a black vehicle stopped and soon the Nightcrawler Knights in their black uniforms got off.
"Leathervelk. Finally, I'm here again."
One of the most notable of them is a steel woman with long silver hair up to her waist.
Trina Ryanhowl.
"I just left and another serious incident happened."
What the hell was going on in Leathervelk?
Next to Trina was Enya Joyners, who remained in Leathervelk.
"Nya what the hell happened here?"
Trina shook her head as she asked.
"Who are the people involved in this incident, have you found out anything?"
"Yes."
Enya nodded with a firm face.
"The slum side of Leathervelk is the most likely to be related to this case."