We were heading deeper into the place, passing by grotesquely twisted corpses.
"Don't they look similar to the ones we ran into earlier?"
"If you mean the people with insect heads, then yes, they do. Were they a group?"
"Shh, quiet. Contact ahead."
At Mr. Otis's words, I looked across the corridor and saw several shadows there.
"(Contact... what? What does that mean?)"
"(It means... a suspicious person. Might be an enemy.)"
"Hmm..."
Was that... the [Abnormality] Faust had mentioned?
If [Abnormality] was the name for the unknown monsters that existed in the [Lobotomy Corporation branch]... I didn't know the details, but they probably weren't something an ordinary person could handle.
"...Looks like we have no choice but to face them."
Right after Mr. Otis said that, a voice came from the unfamiliar shadows.
"Hey! Who's there?!"
The shadows turned out to be people.
Three of them were people with insect body parts, just like the ones wandering near the old [Lobotomy Corporation branch].
Of the two who seemed willing to talk to us, one was a man and the other a woman.
Whether meeting them was lucky or not... I still couldn't tell.
"What? I thought this area was just ours."
"Did they fail to clear the entrance? Looks like some other rats got in."
"Hey, bugs! Were those corpses from earlier your friends?"
Wait, Mr. Heathcliff, if you provoke them like that...
"Corpses?! You bastard..."
"Hold it."
At the woman's restraint, the man beside her slowly began to speak.
"...I don't know where you scraps came from, but listen."
"You're here for [Enkephalin] too, aren't you? If you go down just one more floor from here, you can get [Enkephalin] easily."
"We'll let you have that area. Let's each take what we need and part ways peacefully..."
As he spoke, his expression stiffened unnaturally.
"G-go, ha, haha."
"Tch. Looks like they recognized him."
Just as Mr. Gregor said, the man's attempt to smooth things over collapsed the moment he saw Mr. Gregor; he couldn't hide it anymore.
And the woman who had stopped him earlier twisted her face and said to Mr. Gregor, "You traitorous bastard..."
"Ah, so you were with the front line. How is it? Still, I'd say the real thing looks better than the poster."
"Cut the crap! It disgusts me that I ever saluted a piece of trash like you."
"My, now. No need to be so harsh when I wasn't even talking to you in person."
At that, she seemed so dumbfounded she lost her words.
"You probably lived on with no side effects from the procedure thanks to that ridiculous special treatment of yours..."
"We weren't so lucky, you lying bastard. We were abandoned the moment we lost the war."
His words, spoken in her place, carried a deep hatred and jealousy that made no attempt to hide itself.
"...I was abandoned too. Aren't all soldiers the same?"
"And yet you people chose to live on like abandoned bugs?"
"Hey! There's no point in provoking the enemy!"
Mr. Otis's words should have been perfectly reasonable, but...
"You know this too, if you were military."
"Whether we'd end up fighting the ones standing in front of us or not."
As Mr. Gregor said, the moment they saw him, it seemed they had no intention of letting us pass.
"...We were going to let you go quietly."
"We'll cut down that traitorous bastard with the rest of them."
"What a bunch of idiots. They'd have stabbed us in the back the second we brought them [Enkephalin]."
"Th-that was the plan?"
...Was Sinclair really too innocent for his own good?
"Do you think people who've sunk all the way to the bottom still have any sense of loyalty left?"
"Even the ones with something to lose are backstabbing each other. Why would you expect something soft like that?"
"Mr. Heathcliff, if they're still inexperienced, that's understandable. Let's leave it at that."
"Tch..."
My restraint didn't seem to please him much, but he still didn't ignore me.
Still, it feels nice that he listened at all.
"Hey! Enough chatter and focus on the fight!"
At Mr. Otis's words, we took our battle stances.
"I'll go first!"
With those words, Mr. Heathcliff charged in, and the battle began in earnest.
I quickly followed after Mr. Heathcliff.
Whoosh, thud!
"Hah! How's that?"
Thrust
My stab followed right after Mr. Heathcliff's attack landed a solid hit on the enemy.
Mr. Heathcliff usually rushes in first, quickly takes one down, and then gets beaten senseless, so backup is mandatory.
"I'll show you what art is."
"I'll be right back~"
And the moment one of the three was taken down, the prisoners who charged in next butchered the rest.
That's usually how it goes when it's 3 against 13.
"Haa..."
Seeing that, Mr. Gregor lit a cigarette and exhaled smoke longer than usual.
"Even if they'd gotten hired by some other security firm, it would've been better than this..."
Ms. Ishmael said that, apparently feeling sorry for their situation.
"They lived their whole lives as soldiers. Starting over in another job would've meant too many things to adapt to and change."
"And being from a fallen Wing is a huge mark against you. If anyone took you in, you'd have to lick their boots..."
"..."
Yuri's expression darkened at that.
"Ah... Sorry. I was being thoughtless."
"No, it's fine. G Corp or L Corp, the situation would've been similar."
"...A Wing breaking is that much of a chaotic event."
...We kept moving forward.
"This way, please."
Following Ms. Yuri's guidance, we passed through what looked like a lobby...
Until strange creatures that didn't look human at all suddenly burst out in front of us.
"What... is that?"
How should I put it...
At the very least, they looked so grotesque they couldn't be fully described in human language.
"Everyone, stay sharp!"
At Mr. Otis's words, the first person to steady himself, the prisoners' confusion eased a little.
Crack!
The moment I regained my senses, I swung my spear and smashed one of the things that seemed to be [Abnormalities].
"
Attack them all!>
Only after Dante's many commands, once everyone realized what needed to be done, were the prisoners able to subdue the enemies quickly.
Man... this is mentally exhausting, seriously.
By the way, does Ms. Yuri know what this is?
"Do you know what these are, Miss Yuri?"
"I've never seen anything like them before..."
Yuri said that while looking at the monsters we had dealt with.
"You don't know?"
At that, Mr. Hopkins's expression turned cold in an instant.
It was so different from the expression he'd shown in front of Mr. Vergilius that it was almost chilling.
"Ah, n-no... I mean..."
"You know why we bothered picking up the feathers of a fallen Wing, don't you?"
"To make the L... L Corp branch request a little safer to handle..."
"You know it well enough. I wasn't expecting much from someone from the lower management ranks anyway."
"To guide us. And to tell us how to deal with that [Abnormality] or whatever it is."
"But if you say you've never seen it before, then what the hell are we supposed to do, huh?"
"Oh dear, Hopkins, are you getting hungry? Take it easy~"
"..."
Only after Ms. Aya intervened did Mr. Hopkins stop harassing Yuri.
...Had she lived hearing that kind of thing all the time?
"If it's true that Yuri has never seen one before, then this entity is something else born from [Abnormality]... or maybe even another species."
"That corporation may not have been managing every [Abnormality] after all."
"If Miss Yuri hadn't neglected her studies, there'd be no need to blame herself."
"Ahem..."
Hearing that, Mr. Hopkins coughed awkwardly.
"...Thank you."
"Why are you two chattering so sweetly? Just go beat them up, wouldn't that be easier?"
Mr. Heathcliff said, pointing his bat at the remaining strange monsters.
"If I'm told to do it, I'll do it."
With Mr. Meursault's calm words, we advanced toward the monsters.
After seeing the monsters we had dealt with, Mr. Hopkins said with a friendly-looking expression, "As expected... your subordinates truly are no joke, just like [Red Gaze]'s."
Subordinates... we're not, though?
"...Subordinates?"
Ryoshu bristled at the word.
...That's dangerous.
"Oh dear, our Hopkins misspoke... I'll apologize in his place~ Hehe."
Fortunately, Ms. Aya's quick apology let the matter pass without incident.
"But why are you fidgeting so much, Hopkins? Did your hemorrhoids flare up again?"
"W-what are you talking about? When did I ever..."
After fidgeting in place for a moment, Mr. Hopkins got to his feet.
His pocket was bulging.
What a world. Not a single person you can trust.
Leaving behind Mr. Hopkins, who had clearly pocketed something, we continued down into the underground.
...Even though the unease that had been building since the entrance kept crawling up my back, I forced myself to ignore it and kept going.