## Chapter 97 – #25. Uninvited Guest #2
Anxiety about the unknown terror takes precedence.
Like a clergyman holding a cross to ward off the darkness consuming his heart, #25 tightly gripped the feather charm on the necklace Lowe had given him, driving away the fear rising from within.
“Hello…? Is anyone there…?”
With a trembling voice, he flung the tent entrance open to the side.
Contrary to #25’s worries, inside the tent, there was only a small lamp emitting the light that had been luring him, and no one else was present.
However, there were definite signs that someone had been inside the tent.
Scattered food crumbs, a water bottle, a simple blanket, and a man’s penis left alone on the floor…?
#25 sighed and entered the tent, picking up the bizarre object with his hand.
“What is this…”
The grotesque swaying back and forth with each movement of his hand made the corners of his mouth twist involuntarily.
The entire phallus, including the part #25 was holding, was damp and sticky, as if it had just been used.
#25 casually tossed the phallic replica into the corner of the tent and immediately wiped the sticky liquid off his hand by rubbing it on his shirt.
Backing away, #25 nodded and resolved.
Let’s forget about this tent.
He didn’t know what kind of crazy bitch was responsible, but forgetting it would be much better for his mental health.
However, that resolution didn’t last long.
From behind #25, who had just emerged from the tent, came the sound of rustling bushes and the heavy thud of shoe heels sinking into the muddy ground.
‘Footsteps…’
Seeing as they brazenly brought a masturbatory tool into the forest of District 2, they must not be normal, but if they happened to get lost and ended up here, he would guide them appropriately and send them to another district. With that thought, #25 headed towards the sound.
With each step closer to the sound, a glimpse of red hair and a faint silhouette confirmed that it was definitely a person.
#25 raised his voice towards the person twitching between the trees.
“Hey!”
Even though he called out, straining the thin veins in his neck, the person didn’t turn towards #25.
Rather, as if to mock #25, they were slowly moving away from where his voice was coming from.
It was too dark to see properly.
What was certain was a rather large physique and red hair vivid enough to pierce through the darkness.
Could it be a subspecies of ogre?
More than that, wouldn’t they usually turn around at least once if you called out this loudly?
Even a monster that couldn’t understand words would usually check if someone was shouting like this.
The reaction, which couldn’t be seen as either human or monster, filled #25’s tender heart with fear once again.
‘A ghost…? Nah, there’s no such thing…’
While shaking his head briefly to shake off the fear, the red trace disappeared.
He was definitely keeping it in his sight, but it vanished without a trace.
It’s a ghost.
There’s no other explanation other than it being a ghost.
Everything becomes silent.
Silence brings thoughts.
He recalled the scary stories Charlotte used to whisper in a gentle voice by his bedside until he fell asleep back in District 7.
A different kind of fear than monsters, like Wraiths or Banshees. #25 sat down on the ground, clutching the feather charm in both hands, and clasped his hands as if in prayer.
The sound of rustling bushes grows closer, cutting through the silent forest.
The wind touching his skin felt like the grasp of the dead.
Right behind him, he could feel a presence.
As #25 closed his eyes and muttered repeatedly, someone’s hand was placed on his shoulder.
At the same time, an unsightly scream escaped from #25’s mouth.
“Eek!”
But something was strange.
The sensation was too real to be a ghost.
#25 cautiously opened his eyes, lowering only his gaze diagonally downwards.
What he saw was a thick hand covered in scars wrapped around his shoulder.
A different kind of unease washed over him.
‘This is…’
Anxiety always becomes reality.
“Wow, I’ve been looking for you for ages.”
A familiar voice. No, an unforgettable voice.
#25’s body began to tremble like a puppy in front of a tiger.
Denying reality, he slowly turned his head, and waiting for #25 was a terribly dreadful reality.
Orca.
The trash who drugged #25 and left him with the worst sex. An incorrigible, personality-flawed, worst-of-the-worst demon king.
Orca, not caring about #25’s feelings, groped and fondled his body here and there, wearing a satisfied smile.
“You’ve gained some muscle and become quite manly, haven’t you? I can’t call you a kid anymore like before.”
From #25’s tightly clenched teeth came a harsh voice, like a beast growling lowly.
“Orca…!”
He suppressed the fear he was feeling and shouted with as much hatred as possible, but in Orca’s eyes, it probably only looked like a cute puppy desperately barking.
As proof, Orca ruffled #25’s hair as she pleased and laughed heartily.
“Now you’re even calling me by my name… I like it.”
Orca looked around, confirmed that there was no one nearby, and said with a lewd smile.
“Alright, alright, let’s not stand here, let’s go somewhere comfortable and have a nice chat.”
Orca grabbed #25’s collar and dragged him into the tent. #25’s will was not considered in that act.
Thrown into the tent by the rough hand, #25 glared at Orca with a venomous gaze and raised his voice.
“What do you want from me this time?”
“We’re meeting after two years, you don’t have to be so cold, do you? And I don’t particularly intend to mess with you.”
That was like saying a cat would just walk past a fish store with no owner.
#25 didn’t drop his suspicious gaze and said sarcastically in a coldly indifferent tone.
“How can I trust you?”
Orca swept her face up with both hands as if washing it, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head, making it look like she was wearing a headband.
“Haa… Honestly, if I could, I’d want to fuck you up right now, you know? I enjoyed having sex with you quite a bit, too.”
Goosebumps rose all over his body at the gaze of a beast eyeing its prey.
#25 asked Orca in a trembling voice.
Orca sighed deeply as if she was disappointed, and occasionally licked her upper lip with her tongue as if savoring #25.
“I know you’ve gone under Lowe. No one wants to mess with the things that old hag cherishes.”
After finishing her words, Orca opened a brown pouch next to her, took out a piece of jerky inside, and put it in her mouth.
It was a rather tough jerky, but watching the jerky disappear beyond Orca’s sharp, shark-like teeth, he felt an unknown chill.
“Want one? You look hungry.”
#25 waved his hand and shook his head.
He wasn’t so forgetful that he would eat the food she prepared and forget what happened.
#25 subtly moved his position back and asked again.
“Then?”
Orca dug into her ear, blew on her finger, and answered.
“Didn’t I clearly say it last time? That after being properly done in by you, I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Orca tore off the remaining jerky at once, swallowed it with a mysterious liquid in the water bottle, and made a refreshing sound of “Kyaa-!” before wiping her mouth with her sleeve.
“About a year ago? I went to Aser and asked about your whereabouts…”
“To the Demon King?!”
The moment Aser’s name came out of Orca’s dirty mouth, #25 reacted reflexively.
He leaned his upper body forward and asked back in a loud voice, so much so that the seat he had moved was rendered meaningless, right in front of Orca, whom he hated so much.
“Yeah, but I didn’t really get anything out of it. I didn’t even know you were here then.”
Orca put the water bottle to her mouth again and kept gulping down whatever was inside.
Seeing her face gradually turning red like her hair each time it went down her throat, it seemed that the liquid in the bottle was alcohol.
Orca roughly put the water bottle down on the floor and tilted her head with a “Hmm-” as if recalling past memories.
“Oh, right. I should continue what I was saying earlier. I went to Aser to ask for information about you… but he was half a wreck and had abandoned all the state affairs he thought were so important, so I couldn’t communicate with him at all. Charlotte and some mutt were trying their best, but even those two didn’t seem to be quite right in the head, so I was a bit hesitant to talk to them?”
After finishing her words, Orca stared intently at #25’s face.
Orca’s eyes, which had been burning so hotly, held a chilling sharpness for a fleeting moment.
“But here you are, flirting with Lowe and mixing bodies with her day in and day out… Anyone who saw it would be appalled.”
#25, who had already retreated behind Orca, muttered in a small voice.
“…This isn’t my will.”
After spitting out the words, #25 felt a guilt that tore at his heart.
Not my will?
Had there ever been a time when he didn’t enjoy having sex with Lowe, responding to her feelings?
Could he confidently say that he had never erased Aser from his mind while having sex like that?
No.
He couldn’t be sure.
He was annoyed by the conversation with Orca, but what she was saying was all correct.
He hung his head and clenched his fist.
His slender fingers dug into his palm like awls, and drops of blood formed on his fingertips and fell to the floor.
As if she hated the gloomy atmosphere, Orca scratched her head, jumped up from her seat, and shook her hands.
“Aser, Charlotte, Lowe, all that trivial talk is over. There’s only one reason I came to see you.”
“What? What is it?”
If it wasn’t for sex, there was no reason for Orca to come looking for him.
Orca grabbed #25 by the collar, lifted him up, and grinned, revealing her white teeth.
It was the first time he had ever felt a human smile so ominous.
“Of course, I came to fight.”
He wanted to tell her not to joke around, but the words were stuck in his throat and wouldn’t come out.
Orca’s eyes, which he inadvertently looked at, were endlessly serious.
Red eyes mixed with amber, burning with fighting spirit.
She’s serious.
No, there had never been a time when Orca wasn’t serious.
A demon king who was strangely honest and strangely faithful to her instincts.
Wasn’t that the portrait of the demon king Orca?
“I’m going first. Come out when you’re ready.”
Orca patted #25’s shoulder as if to give him strength, then went out of the tent.
Left alone in the tent, #25’s mind was incapable of proper thought.
It doesn’t make sense.
A fight with a demon king who is clearly the strongest in one district.
Hadn’t he already seen Aser and Orca clash before?
There was no space for him to intervene in that fight.
And now Orca’s sword was pointing at him.
He had been taking lessons from Lowe and hunting monsters, so his skills had improved, but that was only by the standards of an ordinary person.
It was a strength that wouldn’t work against a demon king with extraordinary power.
Moreover, he could feel it even more clearly now that his skills had improved significantly.
The ominous atmosphere emanating from Orca, the smell of gunpowder exploding, and the smell of death with blood and flesh splattering.
She was definitely an opponent he couldn’t win against.
There was only one way.
It had been quite a long time since he had left the tower.
If he could somehow buy time, Lowe, sensing something was wrong, would definitely come looking for him.
A kind of time attack in which he had to survive the fear of death that was tightening around his neck every moment.
Giving up on everything, Orca’s expression brightened when she saw #25 come out of the tent.
“I thought you were going to run away, but you’ve got some guts, huh? Good, you have to be that good for me to have come all the way here. Now, make it as thrilling as it was back then.”
At that time, his mind was filled with only the thought of protecting Aser.
He was so out of it that he couldn’t even remember what happened properly, but it seemed that Orca had a clear memory of that day.
The two people with contrasting memories faced each other about 5 meters apart.
There was no way to break through.
All he could do now was pray to the heavens.
That he could survive the hellish time that awaited him.
