How to Survive as a Genius Spy in the Game Chapter 247 - Portlak (5)

The explosion wasn’t particularly large. From what I’ve unintentionally observed several times, it was enough to collapse part of the mansion.

However, regardless of the size of the explosion, there was a high possibility that something had happened to Terka.

Terka and Meito’s conversation would have taken place inside the mansion. Since Terka didn’t have a bomb, this must have been their doing.

Perhaps Terka fought better than I had anticipated. Maybe they set off the bomb when the fight turned unfavorable for them.

‘Hurry.’

I increased my speed. Since I was already close, it took less than 10 seconds to arrive.

The left side of the mansion was half-collapsed, engulfed in flames.

In the garden, I could see Terka and the devilized Meito. Behind them, the count was lying face down, still unconscious.

He looked to be in bad shape, likely having taken the full brunt of the explosion. Next to him were several charred corpses.

“You should have come faster.”

Terka grumbled upon seeing me, though he wasn’t in great shape either. The right side of his clothes was blackened as if burned, and there was dark soot on his face.

What looked more serious was his hair. Terka’s hair originally came down to his shoulders, quite long.

Though he hadn’t suffered burns and wasn’t severely injured, the hair on his right side was almost completely burned away.

It contrasted starkly with the relatively intact left side.

“I came as fast as I could.”

I said that as I rushed forward. Terka was also in poor condition from the blast’s aftermath.

Moreover, we should avoid lingering here in the devil worshippers’ territory.

I charged at full speed. The devilized Meito, a beat late, came running at me with his red eyes glowing ominously.

The first time I faced an enemy using devilization was Pelia. This one was stronger than him, but still looked pathetic to me.

A lot has happened since then, but it hasn’t been that long. It’s just that my skills have improved greatly. Moreover, the Devil’s Blood was reacting.

I raised Moonlight, positioned below my right thigh, to the upper left and slashed.

Then, putting strength into my wrist and rotating my arm, I slashed down from the upper right to the lower left. In the dark night, the silver Sword Energy moving along the sword path created a moon in front of the burning mansion.

“Gack!”

The devilized Meito couldn’t even scream for long. His black body and tentacles, cut by the Sword Energy, fell to the ground.

I walked steadily and thrust my sword into the body of the count, who couldn’t pull himself together.

“You’re insanely strong.”

Terka said with a frown.

“Them?”

“No, I mean you. I had quite a hard time.”

He’s not the type to brag about combat, after all.

“By the way, is your hair okay?”

“Hair? What hair? Ah!”

At my words, Terka grabbed his own hair and seemed quite shocked, opening his mouth and then letting out a scream as if wailing.

“Damn it. How am I supposed to maintain my hair now!”

I can’t empathize, but I understand. This guy was quite meticulous even while traveling with me. Considering the hygiene standards of this world, it was an aspect I appreciated.

However, his meticulousness wasn’t limited to just bathing.

He kept applying some herbal oil he had prepared to his hair. He even bought one more on the way to Portlak.

“Ah… This is driving me crazy.”

Terka muttered some curses. As it wasn’t really my concern, I used winds to scan the inside of the mansion.

Despite the explosion, there were quite a few presences. They just hadn’t approached due to the sudden incident.

The same went for the knights. I suspected it was less because of the devilized Meito’s appearance and more because of me, who had summoned the moonlight Sword Energy.

The pressure exerted by a Sword Master is considerable. There are 7, no, 8 including me, on the continent.

Even mages and ordinary people are intimidated, so it’s natural for knights holding swords. I thought a few devil worshippers might rush out, but…

Either their faith wasn’t that deep, or they were startled by the pressure I exerted. I asked Terka.

“Anything else to finish up? Should we take care of that Mino Leoble too?”

“No, she’s already dead.”

It seemed she had been caught in the explosion.

“Is that so? Any problems with moving?”

“No.”

“Then let’s get out of here for now.”

At the point where we killed the count, his daughter, and Meito, there was nothing more to see. It was important to escape quickly first.

I wrapped winds around Terka’s and my bodies. I planned to rendezvous with Rina, who should be outside the south gate, and then hide.

The count’s knights came out with their swords when they saw us trying to move. However, their attitude wasn’t very aggressive. I inwardly sneered.

They were doing this because they didn’t want to be accused of just standing by later. We ignored the cowardly knights and headed south.

***

Thanks to the winds, it wasn’t difficult to find Rina in hiding. After meeting up with Rina, we moved non-stop for about 2 hours and hid in a cave in the mountains.

We judged that since the count, the lord of the city, had died, our enemies’ response wouldn’t be very prompt.

Even if the search came this far, I was confident we could escape again. Only after entering the cave did I ask Terka.

“By the way, what was that explosion earlier?”

“Oh, that? It was because of that crazy woman.”

“Crazy woman?”

“I mean Mino Leoble.”

I thought it was strange that he was missing something, but is she really crazy enough to call her that?

In fact, Terka had easily seduced women before. However, I couldn’t understand how a woman was related to the explosion.

“What happened?”

“After that attendant Meito revealed he was serving the devil, we were talking for a while. Then suddenly the atmosphere became a bit strange, maybe because of something you did.”

I nodded. Terka continued.

“The situation seemed fishy, so I prepared to draw my sword at any moment. Sure enough, when I pretended to let my guard down a little, they attacked immediately.”

“Not that, I mean about the explosion.”

“No, it’s related, that’s why I’m telling you this. After exchanging about two sword strikes, that crazy girl next to us suddenly started screaming and ran to the middle, asking why we were fighting.”

“…She seems slow to grasp the situation.”

“Even when Meito called me an unbeliever, she kept blocking his way. She was yelling at him to check again, insisting it couldn’t be true.”

I tilted my head.

“Was Meito just listening to that?”

“No. He immediately tried to cut that woman down. The count blocked Meito to protect his daughter.”

Listening to the story was making me dizzy. I thought a typical devil worshipper would have killed the daughter first.

Hmm. If the count had joined their side for profit rather than devil worship, it could be possible.

There’s also a possibility that Meito hadn’t told the count about the importance of that sphere and the mission.

“When the count took her side, that woman became even more brazen and started shouting. ‘You can’t kill Terka!’ she yelled.”

While it might be trolling from the devil worshippers’ perspective, it was good for us. Well, was it really good?

“Anyway, when that attendant said something to the count, he shoved his daughter far away. I immediately fought with my sword. Then, with an unbelievable expression, he muttered something and disappeared somewhere.”

“That’s when he brought the bomb?”

“Yeah. Suddenly he came back with a bomb, saying he’d detonate it if we didn’t stop. Wow, I’ve met quite a few women, but I think she’s the craziest one I’ve ever seen.”

If Terka says something like that, it seems that this Mino Leoble woman wasn’t normal either.

Well, no matter how capable Terka is, there was that incident on the first day too.

Anyway, the presence of a bomb here itself wasn’t strange. Count Leoble was a powerful figure in the Portlak Kingdom.

There are mines nearby, adjacent to the northeastern mountains.

More than that, I couldn’t understand this Mino Leoble. Even thinking of her as crazy, it didn’t make sense rationally.

No matter how insane… does it make sense to show such an attitude after just 3 days?

‘Terka did seduce a high-ranking devil worshipper in the game.’

That was actually more understandable. I don’t know what happened, but at least Terka didn’t seduce that woman in just 3 days.

“Do you perhaps have the ability to control or brainwash people?”

Unable to understand with my mind, I had to ask such a question.

“Well, maybe it only works on women, since it doesn’t work on men?”

I know he’s saying this because it’s so absurd, not because it’s true. But it’s equally nonsensical for a woman he met for 3 days to detonate a bomb in front of her father because of a man.

It’s 3 days, not 3 weeks.

Moreover, Rina and I were beside them most of the time. No particularly unusual situations unfolded. Is there really some kind of mental deficiency?

“Well, you could say my very existence bewitches women’s hearts.”

Terka seemed to take my words as a compliment, puffing up his chest and shrugging his shoulders.

Rina snorted, but Terka ignored her and winked at me.

“How about it, want me to teach you how to bewitch women’s hearts?”

“Never mind that, worry about your hair.”

“Ah, damn.”

Terka frowned at my response. After cutting off the burned parts, there was almost no hair left on the right side.

I had spoken to him while he was in the middle of trimming his hair with a small dagger.

“By the way, what did you do out there? Why did that guy far away suddenly change?”

In response to Terka’s question, I told them about what I had experienced. Both Terka and Rina were shocked.

“You say it’s like a Great Devil?”

“It’s just a guess, but it was slightly different from the devils I’ve met so far. My blood reacted too.”

I showed them the wound on my right arm. The scar, with dozens of parasitic-like darkness clinging to it, looked quite gruesome.

It was like a scar where the flesh itself had rotted away. Terka and Rina frowned.

“Oh, shit.”

“Carlyn, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. There’s pain, but I can move fine.”

“That’s good then. What do we do now? If it’s really related to a Great Devil, shouldn’t we look for the rest?”

Terka’s question was also my concern. Now that there’s a high probability that the sphere is related to a Great Devil, the best course of action would be to find and destroy the rest.

However, the possibility itself is low.

The moment I eliminated one, they would have moved to hide the others and increased security.

Even if the latter problem could be solved using the amulet, it would take a long time to find them.

It might be possible if this was the continent, but it’s difficult to search in the east. It would be hard even if we brought all the Imperial Intelligence Agency personnel.

Not knowing how the northern front is progressing, I was also inclined to think it might be better to head north.

‘That side is a bit dangerous too.’

Since we didn’t have information on how the northern front was progressing, we also didn’t know how many devil worshippers were in the northeastern mountains.

But even if we had to detour a bit downwards, it seemed better to join up that way.

‘It’s better to move together than to search alone.’

There’s only one normal devil left anyway. If things go well in the north and we manage to kill the devil of domination, it would be even better.

It would be much easier to deal with if we investigate the east together with the three Sword Masters and Erendil.

We took a short rest in the cave and then headed north. However, while stopping briefly in the capital of the Portlak Kingdom to replenish our camping supplies, we had to receive some bad news.

It was the news that a Sword Master had been defeated by the devil of domination in the northeastern mountains.