“Wait…”
Before Manuel could even speak, a blood blade swept past him at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.
Manuel only felt numbness in his right arm, followed by warmth, then burning heat, and then—his entire right arm fell to the ground with a splat.
“Ah!!! It hurts!”
With a thud, Manuel dropped to his knees, howling in pain as he pressed his hand to the bleeding wound on his shoulder.
“What are you all standing around for!? Kill them, now!”
Manuel screamed at his subordinates, his expression twisted, ordering them to attack Liyakade.
Moments ago, everyone had been stunned by Liyakade’s overwhelming presence after she instantly defeated the Shadow Reaver. Only Manuel’s scream and order snapped them back to reality and made them counterattack.
However, compared to the Shadow Reaver’s unpredictable moves from the shadows, Liyakade’s response was even more domineering.
Liyakade calmly flicked her tail, setting Field gently on the ground behind her, then tossed Alice to Field as well.
“Liyakade! Incoming attack!”
Field caught Alice and shouted a warning.
Before them, elemental missiles of various colors were about to rain down.
“I know.”
Liyakade only caressed the tip of her gun, letting scarlet blood drip onto the black barrel.
Then, gripping the weapon with both hands, she swept it in a wide arc.
A black-and-red shockwave rippled out from Liyakade, expanding outward.
All the elemental missiles were shattered instantly upon contact with the wave, the explosions of light and sound filling the dim battlefield.
In that moment, everyone on Manuel’s side felt their hearts sink.
They stared, frozen, at Liyakade—she looked more like a Demon than the Boss of the labyrinth’s deepest floor.
Against the Shadow Reaver, maybe they’d have a sliver of hope.
But with Liyakade, their survival depended entirely on her mood.
Only now did they realize what kind of existence they’d provoked—and even insulted.
Even if they begged for mercy now, it probably wouldn’t matter.
The black-and-red shockwave obliterated the incoming magic, but it didn’t directly strike the attackers.
Instead, the scarlet blood sprayed like paint onto their bodies and the ground nearby, crawling like living creatures wherever it touched.
It was Liyakade’s own blood, still warm.
“Keep attacking! If we don’t kill her, none of us will survive!”
Seeing morale crumble, Manuel—sweat pouring from his bare forehead—frantically shouted at his men.
He lifted his giant sword with his only remaining arm and staggered toward Liyakade.
But Liyakade didn’t even glance at him.
Her dark tail snapped at Manuel’s wrist, knocking the sword from his grip, then the tip morphed into a blood-red claw and swept again, slicing off his left leg.
“Help! Help me!”
“A demon, she’s a demon! The Demon Race is invading!”
Seeing their boss so easily brought down, nearly turned into Human Swine, panic spread among the crowd.
They scattered in all directions, desperately hoping that by spreading out, Liyakade wouldn’t know whom to attack, buying themselves a slim chance of survival.
But Liyakade had foreseen this.
Anyone who followed Manuel and harbored filthy thoughts about Alice and Field—there was no escaping death.
“Trying to run? Scarlet Thorn!”
Liyakade snapped her fingers.
The blood splattered on the crowd began to writhe and grow like wild thorns.
Crimson spikes pierced through chests, arms, thighs, calves—mercilessly pinning everyone in place like stakes.
Every single one of their Magic Cores was pierced.
Desperate screams and wails filled Liyakade’s ears.
Some lucky ones died instantly as hearts or brains were skewered.
The unlucky ones had eyes, tongues, or internal organs impaled, left writhing in scarlet thorns like twitching maggots.
“L-Liyakade… Miss Liakade is this ruthless…?”
Set down from Field’s arms, Alice was clearly shaken by the bloody scene.
She trembled at the sight of spilled innards and blood, a wave of nausea rising in her stomach.
“Alice, don’t look.”
Field gently shielded Alice’s eyes, preventing her from witnessing the horror, then spoke softly.
“Liyakade did the right thing. Do you know who these people are?”
“I don’t…”
Alice shook her head.
“But you and Field said they were wanted criminals.”
“Yes. Not just criminals, but among the worst of the wanted.”
Field explained their crimes to Alice.
“These people have lurked in the Underground Labyrinth for years, originally teaming up with other adventurers, but after finding treasure, they would kill and steal it for themselves.”
“Even after being reported, they became even more vicious. They’d kill treasure-hunting adventurers and capture female ones as playthings—when bored, they’d kill them too.”
“Eventually, the Kingdom issued a Wanted Order against them. They went into hiding, wearing human-skin masks and continuing their crimes. Their real reason for joining our group was our bodies. If we weren’t strong enough, our fates would have been far worse than theirs. Such people deserve no mercy.”
Hearing Field’s story, Alice felt a chill run through her.
She hadn’t realized just how vile these people were and understood Liyakade’s ruthlessness—but she still found the bloody sight hard to accept.
“Clack clack—”
“Jingle jingle—”
Perhaps intentionally, Liyakade’s footsteps echoed loudly amid the screams, each step stomping on the crowd’s hearts, while the collar bell’s chime no longer sounded pleasant, but rather like a death knell.
She ignored the fallen Manuel, instead approaching the other side—where a thin, monkey-faced man was impaled but still alive.
The spike had missed his vital organs—clearly, Liyakade’s doing.
“Kh… My lady! Spare me! I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way! Manuel forced me!”
The thin man begged for mercy, his voice hoarse with pain.
“Tsk tsk tsk. Weren’t you acting filthy earlier? You almost had your hands on me. Let’s cut off those restless hooves.”
Liyakade shook her head, a streak of blood trailing down her delicate face as she smiled sweetly, her eyes shining with twisted pleasure.
“By the way, didn’t you want to know how I usually play? Let me show you.”
As she spoke, Liyakade’s tail arched behind her, its tip wrapped in crimson.
It whipped down hard, lashing the thin man.
He screamed, red welts blooming across his skin, even bones breaking beneath the blows.
Listening to his miserable cries, others nailed in place wished for death, but with their Magic Cores destroyed, not even suicide by magic was possible.
“Scream.”
Field watched Liyakade continue her whipping, remembering her earlier words.
She shivered.
“…Princess Field.”
Alice, though unable to see, could guess from the sounds what Liyakade was doing.
“Did we… ever play like that?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Yeah…”
“Does this mean… Miss Liakade is actually interested in that kind of thing?”
“Not necessarily… Hard to say…”
“Speaking of which…”
Watching Liyakade’s trance-like smile, Field pinched Alice’s cheek.
“Did you notice that after Liyakade Demonized, she seems a bit crazed? Before, she was all soft and passive—a bit of an M. Now she feels totally S.”
“I think so too.”
Alice nodded.
“Maybe next time, we could let Miss Liakade try Demonizing with us… What do you think, Princess Field?”
“I’ll pass. I prefer being on top.”
As their casual banter went on, the thin man’s screams grew weaker.
Liyakade soon lost interest.
At first, whipping the man made him twitch and cry out—almost fun, like squeezing a screaming chicken.
But now, no matter how hard she hit, he barely reacted.
So, the crimson at her tail’s tip morphed into a bloody blade.
With a final swing, she sliced the thin man in half, red guts and blood splattering everywhere.
Now, only the main culprit remained—Manuel.
Manuel crawled weakly on the ground.
Seeing Liyakade approach, he tried to beg for his life.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, Liyakade stomped a foot into it.
“Big brother, just shut up. Your voice is as unpleasant as a dead duck.”
With his mouth blocked, Manuel could only groan, his terrified eyes pleading for mercy.
“Hey, if we’d fallen into your hands, would you have spared us if we begged?”
Liyakade seemed to see through his thoughts, smirking as she removed her foot.
Able to breathe again, Manuel gasped for air.
But before he could recover, two blood blades sliced off his remaining arm and leg.
“Ahh—!”
Now, Manuel had truly become a Human Swine.
“Alright, I’ll give you a chance.”
Liyakade pointed to Alice behind her.
“She’s a Light Element Holder. If you let her heal you, not only will you live, you could even regrow your limbs. My weapon’s a bit dirty, so if you lick it clean, I’ll let Alice heal you. How about it?”
She aimed the black gun at Manuel’s mouth.
“As long… as you spare me… I’ll do anything…”
Manuel’s face twisted with pain, his bald head shining, features contorted and streaked with blood and tears.
He struggled to lift his head, placing the gun’s tip in his mouth, licking the blade with his tongue.
Humiliation washed over him, and tears flowed freely.
“That’s enough.”
After Manuel had licked for a while, Liyakade finally smiled in satisfaction.
“But I was lying. Hehe.”
She shoved the gun forward, piercing Manuel’s throat.
Now just a limbless torso, he could only writhe in agony, unable even to scream, as his life ebbed away.
After killing Manuel, Liyakade snapped her fingers again.
Scarlet thorns blossomed anew, finishing off any survivors.
Crimson blood unfurled like devilish flowers under Liyakade’s control.
“It’s over. They’re all dead. No need to hide anymore, Alice.”
Liyakade turned to the other two.
Alice was puzzled, while Field removed her hands from Alice’s eyes.
Though blood was everywhere, after Liyakade’s carnage, the scarlet human-shaped flowers standing all around had an eerie beauty—no longer as nauseating as before.
“So this is… Miss Liakade’s Magic?”
“That’s right.”
Liyakade nodded, explaining.
“Blood Magic can control my own blood, and after killing someone, I can control theirs too. So I gave them a makeover.”
“I mean, I’m pretty kind, right? At least I didn’t leave their bodies rotting in the wilderness.”
“Uh… That’s… kind of kind, I guess…”
Alice replied, her lips twitching.
“Say, Liyakade…”
Field stepped forward, her face close to Liyakade’s.
She noticed blood smeared on Liyakade’s cheek.
“Why do you seem different after Demonizing? Don’t tell me you’re possessed by a Demon?”
“Hehe. What do you think, Field?”
As Field reached out to wipe away the blood, Liyakade unexpectedly caught her hand, then gently pressed a finger to Field’s lips with her other hand.
“Eh?”
“I told you, I can control my own blood.”
As Liyakade spoke, the blood on her cheek faded.
“Field, you’re beautiful.”
“Ah? Wh-what’s happening!?”