The Lazy Boy Is, In Fact, the Strongest and Most Brutal Assassin. - Chapter 23: No Life King: Part 3

No Life King: Part 3

In the face of such a situation, Hiluluk stood frozen, speechless. Haiker casually shoved him aside and turned his gaze toward the other woman behind him.

“A-Ah, N-no…”

The woman, her back arched in panic on the couch, struggled. As Haiker’s shadow fell over her, blocking the light from the spirit stone, she tensed, her face contorting in terror as she shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

“Death is scary, isn’t it? I understand. But why do you think it’s scary? Because it hurts?”

“A-Ah, no…”

“No, that’s not it. Even if I said I’d kill you painlessly, you’d still be scared, right? The fear comes from not knowing what happens after death. If you knew, it wouldn’t be scary at all.”

“Help… help me!”

“That’s impossible. You’ve seen too much. The Nocturnal, the creatures of the night, are meant to be just urban legends. Don’t worry, after you die, it’s really not so bad. Trust me, I’ve seen it hundreds of times. You can relax and go.”

Hiluluk, completely drained of energy, watched as the full plate armored figure raised his short sword in the background.

The armor’s back splattered with blood as the woman’s arm jerked unnaturally, then hung limply like a willow branch.

A sudden silence.

Then, the full plate armored figure slowly turned to face Hiluluk, a gentle smile in his eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be with you until the very end.”

“Ahhhhhh!”

Hiluluk screamed at the top of his lungs, throwing aside the severed head of the woman he had been holding. He bolted for the door. But in that instant, a violent shock struck him at the back of his head.

“Ah… guh…”

The taste of iron, the smell of rust filled his throat as his consciousness began to fade.

In his fading moments, Hiluluk locked eyes with the severed head of the woman, lying on the floor. Her eyes were wide open, frozen in an expression of fear and shock, the light of death already settling in her gaze.

He realized then that, in his last moments, he probably had the same expression on his face as she did.

That was the last thought to pass through Hiluluk’s mind.

***

“Hmm~”

The room, now a sea of blood. Haiker tossed aside his helmet and stretched, raising both hands high above his head.

The noise outside had been growing louder. It seemed that the guards, having received a report, were surrounding the brothel. It was unlikely they’d break in immediately, but it was probably time to get started.

The sound of Haiker discarding his armor echoed through the room with a thud, thud.

“Now then, which one shall I choose…?”

Haiker hummed as he glanced around, his gaze eventually stopping at the corpse lying face down near the doorway.

***

“Hey! Wh-what the hell is this?!”

The guards who entered the brothel were left speechless at the horrific scene before them. Piled up bodies, a swamp of mangled flesh. The thick, suffocating stench of blood must have made their stomachs turn. The younger guards began stumbling out of the hallway, retching as they went.

“Tch, pathetic…”

Boardwan shrugged in disbelief, then collected himself and surveyed the room.

In the back, crushed head first, lay Hiluluk, his body twisted like a frog’s.

“Can’t help it. Even if he’s a thug, I don’t want to see someone I know like that,” Boardwan muttered with a furrowed brow.

Beyond Hiluluk’s corpse, on a sofa, sat the body of a man dressed in full plate armor, his posture slumped as though sitting.

“Hey! Take off his helmet.”

Boardwan motioned for one of the younger guards to remove the helmet from the armored corpse. Underneath was the face of a man with a grotesque, dog-like expression, the back of his head crushed. Boardwan recognized that face.

“This guy… He’s one of Hiluluk’s lackeys.”

“Does that mean it was an internal conflict?”

The young guard muttered, and Boardwan picked up on the thought.

“I don’t know… but with a scene like this, it must be something like that.”

Boardwan’s expression remained uncertain.

“Make sure to write the report as an internal dispute among the gangsters. The higher-ups won’t care about something like this. Just keep it simple. Also, call the old gravekeeper and have him clean up the bodies by tomorrow.”

“Got it!”

In the end, Boardwan didn’t notice the strange tattoo on one of the corpses. One of the dead bodies, stacked among the others, bore a tattoo that Boardwan himself had seen before.