At Ina’s words that the doors were not locked, Terlo stepped through the iron-barred gate.
He saw that the latches fitted to every door had been undone.
‘Could they all be empty?’
That could not be the case when four members of the organization had been guarding this place.
There was no reason for four people to remain somewhere with nothing to protect.
‘They wouldn’t have gathered here just to fool around.’
Tilting his head, Terlo approached the nearest room.
Just as he was about to open the door,
PLIP.
HSSSSS—
Something fell from the ceiling to the floor.
Terlo’s gaze naturally dropped toward the ground.
‘What is that?’
A viscous substance was smoking as it evaporated on the floor.
Before he could consider what the slime might be,
PATTER.
HSSSSSS—
An even larger amount of green slime fell beside it.
Terlo hurriedly snapped his head up toward the ceiling.
‘…!’
The moment he realized what had entered his vision, his body went rigid.
Ina approached when she saw him standing that way.
“Why are you just standing there?”
She indifferently followed Terlo’s gaze to the ceiling, then sucked in a sharp breath.
A gigantic caterpillar was clinging to the ceiling.
Its plump body covered the entire ceiling and was studded with countless eyes, while its slime-dripping mouth was densely lined with barbs.
PLIP.
PATTER-PATTER.
HSSSSS—
The caterpillar rolled its countless eyes and poured out slime as though drooling.
All while staring at Terlo and Ina.
‘Why is a magic beast here…?!’
Hook’s plan had certainly made no mention of a magic beast.
That was why Terlo had been able to count the likely variables on one hand, yet an enormous variable like this had been waiting for them.
Now it would be impossible to leave no traces behind.
If they wanted to inspect the rooms safely and get out, they would have to deal with the gigantic caterpillar.
HSSSSS—
Terlo regained his composure and gathered dark mana.
Then he shouted to Ina,
“Ina! I’ll hold it here, so check the rooms.”
“……O-Okay. Got it.”
Ina hesitated briefly before moving.
A considerable number of the caterpillar’s many eyes turned toward her.
Facing those revolting eyeballs, Terlo calmly chanted a spell.
<Prickle.>
SWISH—
SWISH— SWISH—
Blunt spikes flew toward different eyes.
The caterpillar’s remaining eyes tracked them.
Then,
SPLAAAAASH—!
It spat out a massive quantity of slime and dissolved every spike Terlo had fired.
At the same time, the doors touched by the slime began melting as though they were corroding.
Fortunately, Ina had already entered one of the rooms.
‘I’ll have to do something about that mouth first.’
Terlo decided to put something Hook had taught him to use.
Hook had recently told him something about skeletons.
‘The weapons your skeletons currently possess are not bad, but your compression is powerful, Young Master. If you focus more power into their weapons during the summoning, you should obtain far better results.’
Just as Hook had said, when Terlo poured more power into their weapons while summoning them, the skeletons displayed greater strength.
Whether they could demonstrate that strength in actual combat was something he would have to test.
HSSSSS—
<Vitalize.>
At Terlo’s call, two skeletons rose from within the smoke.
As much effort as he had poured into them, they held black, blunt weapons.
One carried a long sword with a rounded point and edges, while the other carried a bow with a blunt-tipped arrow knocked upon it.
The two skeletons moved their weapons as though ready to attack at any moment.
CLATTER! CLATTER!
Meanwhile, the gigantic caterpillar had begun wriggling forward.
Its movement made it seem as though it were following Ina into the room.
‘Not a chance.’
WHOOM— WHOOM—
BOOOOOOM.
Terlo fired several black spheres and blocked the caterpillar’s path.
The caterpillar faltered briefly at the obstruction.
But it soon wrapped its body around the spheres lodged in and protruding from the ceiling, then began moving again.
Seeing that it had no intention of stopping, Terlo commanded the skeleton with the bow.
‘Keep shooting at the caterpillar’s mouth!’
CLACK! CLACK!
Arrows formed continuously from dark mana upon the bow.
Following Terlo’s command, the skeleton drew and released the bowstring without pause.
FWIP— FWIP—
Black arrows flew through the air without end.
The caterpillar’s countless eyes turned toward the incoming arrows and the skeleton firing them.
After identifying its target, the caterpillar began moving its barbed mouth.
Then,
HSSSSSS—!
Unlike before, it fired a straight stream of slime.
The stream was faster and more powerful than the spray it had used earlier.
Terlo raised a curtain before the skeleton just before the slime could strike it.
Then,
<Teleport.>
WHOOSH—
He instantly moved to the opposite side with the sword-wielding skeleton.
The caterpillar’s eyes followed them almost immediately.
The eyes embedded throughout its body were frantic as they watched both sides.
It appeared to be struggling to decide which side to attack.
As if to prove that, its mouth repeatedly turned forward, then backward.
Terlo responded by unleashing black magic at tremendous speed.
<Prickle.>
Blunt attacks flew along several different paths.
The caterpillar’s eyes rolled in every direction as they followed the attacks.
At last, the caterpillar opened its mouth as though it intended to spray slime everywhere.
SPLAAAAAAAASH—!
The slime scattered like a fountain around the caterpillar.
But because it was attached to the middle of the ceiling, it failed to harm Terlo or the skeletons standing on either side.
There were also gaps in the spray.
The attacks it had failed to dissolve flew through them.
SQUELCH!
SQUELCH!
WHIRRR!
The caterpillar lost several eyes in an instant.
Even so, it did not appear badly injured.
There were still an enormous number of eyes embedded throughout its body.
Perhaps because it had lost several eyes, the caterpillar ignored the skeleton firing arrows and focused only on Terlo.
It began wriggling its body and shooting streams of slime at him.
HSSSSSSS—!
No matter how many times he dodged, the stream of slime continued pursuing him.
The caterpillar’s countless eyes and single mouth were all fixed upon one target.
It appeared to have realized that Terlo was the one controlling everything.
But even then, it was gradually losing eyes on the opposite side.
The skeleton with the bow was steadily firing arrows.
Terlo teleported away from the slime and commanded the sword-wielding skeleton.
‘Cut down the eyes on its body!’
CLATTER! CLATTER!
The sword-wielding skeleton began running the moment it received the command.
Then it kicked off the ground and swung its long sword at the caterpillar’s body.
WHOOOOOSH—!
The eyeballs and body split helplessly beneath the blunt blade.
The skeleton did not stop after one attack.
Like a moth flying into a flame with no fear of death, it charged again and again.
Perhaps because of that, the caterpillar changed its target from Terlo to the sword-wielding skeleton.
But the caterpillar had already been sliced open in several places, and slime was streaming from its entire body.
It was no longer capable of attacking properly.
‘Just die already.’
<Prickle.>
THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK!
Terlo poured blunt spikes into the remaining eyes.
With that final attack, the caterpillar sagged while still clinging to the ceiling.
The slime flowing from it was no longer dangerous.
Unlike before, it no longer smoked or corroded whatever it touched.
‘Hmm. I managed to kill it somehow, but….’
Cleaning up afterward was the problem.
Their next operation was still several days away.
If their objective was exposed before then, the plan would be disrupted.
‘They already know someone broke in.’
We need to make sure they don’t realize it was us….
Just then, Terlo spotted something suitable.
The stone statue in the center was still gleaming without having lost its light.
So much of the caterpillar’s slime covered the bizarre statue that he could not tell whether it depicted a person or a monster.
‘That’s it.’
If they took the shining statue, they could make the intrusion look like a simple theft.
They would have stolen only a statue without killing or freeing anyone.
The plan was perfect.
‘You two. Carry that outside.’
CLACK! CLACK!
Just as the two skeletons picked up the statue covered in slime,
“Are you finished?”
Ina emerged after opening one of the doors.
Then she saw the skeletons carrying the bizarre statue and gave Terlo a strange look.
Terlo answered her gaze calmly.
“There’s a reason for it. What about inside? Did you check?”
“Yeah. Let’s get out first. Those people are starting to move.”
Just as Ina said, the four sleeping members were beginning to twitch their hands and heads.
They were moving only that much because they had been overcome by poison. Had they merely been asleep, they would have awakened long ago.
Even so, Ina had returned at precisely the right time, allowing Terlo, Ina, and the two skeletons to leave the basement without rushing.
***
Hook’s office in the tavern district.
They had just returned after completing the operation safely.
“So there was a caterpillar magic beast inside the prison? And you defeated it alone, Young Master?”
“Yes. It was my first time seeing a magic beast too. I never expected a variable like that….”
“I truly owe you an apology. My information was incomplete because I only learned of the place after seeing many people being dragged into the building…. I am relieved that you are safe.”
Hook had explained the plan as though he had investigated everything perfectly.
Yet it turned out that he had formed the plan merely by drawing conclusions from what he had seen.
Terlo found it absurd, but it was difficult to criticize Hook when the man had confessed and apologized of his own accord.
“Yes. Let’s make certain next time.”
“Thank you for understanding. Ina, did you inspect the rooms?”
“Yes. Thanks to the time the Young Master bought for me.”
‘Here she goes again.’
Ina used formal language with Terlo only when Hook was present.
The moment Hook disappeared, she would flawlessly revert to casual speech and become cold toward him.
As Terlo watched her pretend to be well behaved, she continued.
“There were too many rooms to inspect all of them, but I found a common trait.”
“A common trait? What was it?”
Hook urged Ina to continue.
“They all worked in shops. There were owners and employees, and they said they were abducted while working.”
Hook muttered at her words,
“Are they targeting the commercial sector…?”
It was a reasonable thought.
Perhaps words had failed, so the organization had decided to seize it through force.
If so, the abducted people would likely have worked in similar areas.
“You asked which shops they worked at, did you not?”
“…No. I only asked what they did before being abducted. I thought it was more important to learn about as many people as possible….”
“I see. Once you noticed that they all had shops in common, it would have been natural to ask.”
“…….”
When Terlo pointed out the problem precisely, Ina secretly glared at him while Hook was not looking.
Hook, who had been lost in thought, spoke.
“We cannot assume the abductees are limited to the Krauber Territory. That organization has spread its reach throughout the kingdom, so people from other territories must be among them as well. Still, this operation revealed signs that they are targeting the commercial sector….”
Hook seemed convinced that they were targeting commerce.
The fact that shop workers had been captured, as well as the attacks on his tavern district, had probably reinforced that belief.
He said they had gained something worthwhile and began discussing what came next.
“Since you disguised today’s operation as a simple theft, Young Master, there should be no particular trouble…. As I explained beforehand, the next operation will take place in several days. Beginning with that operation, we will disrupt the work handled by the organization’s small fry.”
‘Oh?’
Now that Terlo had confirmed the organization was More, he felt the need to understand everything in detail.
Doing so would make it easier to capture them.
Yet he could not understand when they were supposed to take down the organization if they only interfered with the work of its small fry.
“Is there any point in striking the small fry?”
“It may seem insignificant because important work is handled by those higher up, but the role of the small fry is vital within an organization. The tasks they handle are generally basic ones. But when those basic tasks fail to be completed, the organization inevitably suffers.”
“That’s right. In our organization, the newest members manage the goods needed for business. If they cause a problem, the business suffers. Other people have to step away from their own work to clean it up….”
“Yes. The principle is similar to what Ina described. If we continue disrupting their work even while their superiors step in to resolve the problems… eventually, the organization will have no choice but to concentrate its strength at its main building. They will realize that someone is targeting them. Then, at that moment, we will strike the main building after making every possible preparation.”
When Hook finished, a sound of admiration escaped Terlo.
If everything proceeded according to plan, they would be able to capture the black-robed organization More without fail.
‘So this is what it means to be a leader.’
As befitted a leader, Hook understood organizations in detail.
He had even used that knowledge to devise a plan for attacking another organization.
Terlo struggled to keep his face expressionless.
The corners of his mouth kept twitching at the thought of placing his spoon upon the feast Hook had prepared.
After calming himself, Terlo spoke evenly.
“That’s a good plan.”