CHAPTER 1345: BOXED IN

[Enemy lord has entered the center. I repeat, enemy lord has entered the center,] Springerdermain informed his fellow kaijin.

[Acknowledged. Alerting the cave-in squad, now,] Nepherage relayed before directing her attention elsewhere. [Doll Twins, are you done running distraction.]

[Just about,] Porcelain Doll reported.

[I think one group managed to get back into the main cavern, but that should be fine,] Corpse Doll added.

[Wait, is it the group that Arbalest is a part of?]

[Think so.]

[That might be intentional, then.]

...

Where is everybody?

The [Mines of Malevolence] were never silent and never empty.

Ever since Dante first established this accursed place all those years ago, it was never silent.

Whether it was slaves switching between their day and night shifts, kaijin throwing their weight around in order to make themselves feel better, or those same kaijin going on a killing spree, there was always some kind of noise, some kind of presence, apparent somewhere in the mines.

As such, when Dante and his expedition kaijin entered the main area, and noticed that not only there were no slaves working at this time, but that none of their fellow kaijin were milling about, the former became noticeably perturbed.

[Hey, how come nobody’s here?,]a member of the hunting expedition kaijin asked one of the Kaijin that had appeared to greet them earlier. [Did you guys plan an additional surprise or something?]

[No, I don’t think so,] the other kaijin answered. [We were just told to set up the welcome gate.]

[Then where the hell did—]

[Where the fuck did those weird tiny kaijin go?!]

[I don’t know.]

[I think I can sense them...over there!]

Immediately breaking the tension that had had established itself due to the strange silence befalling the place, a group of kaijin suddenly ran across Dante’s palanquin.

’Okay, looks like things are about to pop off soon,’ Zhen Liu realized as soon as he saw this particular group of kaijin.

Amongst this group, Zhen Liu could immediately identify that the traitor he created, Arbalest, was amongst their number.

The two of them briefly shared a glance that was immediately hidden. After all, the stage wasn’t quite ready yet.

[Ho there, my dear monsters,] Dante interrupted the running kaijin before they could scurry to wherever they were headed. [What has gotten you all so riled up? And why are the mines empty?]

[Boss Dante!]

The moment they were called the group of kaijin stopped their running, with Arbalest putting in extra effort to make sure everyone stopped in time in order to properly greet their maker.

[Apologies for our rudeness,] the lead kaijin of the group, one that resembled a bulldog with bugbeyes, stated while immediately bowing his head. [We were just chasing an unusual enigma that has utterly baffled us.]

[Oh? What kind of enigma?]

[We’re not entirely sure what it is, but it resembled a shrunken human and radiated Chaos, just like us,] the Bug-Dog explained. [We were hoping to secure it in order to deliver it to you. So that we could determine whether or not it was something we could extract power from.]

[Yeah, yeah,] another kaijin nodded, this one resembling a strange bird covered in fur. [But all of the slaves moving about were making it a bitch and a half to track those little freaks. So, someone had the bright idea to have them all go back to their caves until we secure the little fuckers.]

[And to make sure they didn’t do nothing while they weren’t working, we made sure there was at least two to three kaijin per group.]

[I see...wait...]

As soon as Dante finished registering these words, he suddenly presented one of his hands and began to release a burst of [Chaos] in the form of colorful flames. However, the [Chaos] that Dante was emitting at this time didn’t feel like his own brand. It felt like Zhen Liu’s.

[What the fuck?!]

Evidently, this display was so shocking that Zhen Liu couldn’t help but actually vocalize his inner thoughts for once.

Thankfully, Dante’s arrogant nature helped to misinterpret this outburst.

^Impressive, isn’t it?^ Dante asked with a smug look. ^After we had fought so many of those zakos, I noticed that they all seemed to radiate a fairly similar aura of Chaos. After parsing away some details, I figured that this was the same wavelength in which that rival of mine uses to make his zakos and kaijin. I can’t use it the same way, but mimicking like this is a child’s play.^

’This... motherfucker...^

Zhen Liu couldn’t complain too deeply about this imitation, because he technically did the same thing too.

Over the last few months, Zhen Liu had made it his goal to analyze everything about Dante to the point of being able to somewhat replicate how his [Chaos] was expressed.

It felt absolutely disgusting to him, but it was vital for him to understand this.

One could only slay their enemy if they knew them inside and out, after all.

[Now then, did this strange little doll have an aura similar to this flame?]

Dante asked the kaijin before him.

The group of five or so kaijin stared at the flame with interest before giving their answers one by one.

[Uhhh...yeah! Well, it felt kind of similar.]

[The one we were chasing felt...darker? Like we were chasing after a ghost.]

[I think a zombie is a more accurate term.]

[You’re both wrong and stupid, it was like an embodiment of this land’s fury.]

[...]

[Arbalest. You’re unusually quiet,] Dante noted. [Do you not think that this aura is similar to whatever you were chasing?]

[It...feels close to it, but...something is missing,] Arbalest answered.

[Well, yeah, it’s missing all that shit we just described. Are you stupid?]One of the Kaijin that Arbalest was working with commented. [That’s not what I meant,] Arbalest fired back. [I mean the boss’s display is...]

By the time Arbalest realized he was about to say something stupid and stopped himself, it was too late.

Dante had already picked up the subtle implications of his words.

[Arbalest...come up here.]

Compelled by the [Chaos] in Dante’s voice, Arbalest had no choice but to leap on to the palanquin and approach.

It didn’t escape Dante’s notice that his usually cruel kaijin looked oddly pained in causing the slaves carrying the palanquin to groan in pain.

That definitely wasn’t normal.

[Arbalest,] Dante repeated, his words sounding sweet yet vicious like poisoned honey. [What do you think is missing from my replication?]

[That...]

There were one of three ways Arbalest could approach this question.

First, he could be honest.

He could spill out his non-existent guts and expose Zhen Liu for the fraud that he was. However, Arbalest was incredibly against this idea because he liked being able to feel something beyond rage and [Disgust], and refused to betray the man who made it possible.

Second, he could lie.

Arbalest could life through this teeth, for the first time ever, against his progenitor and probably suffer a horrible punishment as a result. Hell, he’d probably die in the process.

But at the very least, he’d be able to go down with his newly found honor.

Third, and this was something he didn’t think about until he was forced to stare his maker face-to-face, he could strike him down.

This was a treasonous thought, beyond treasonous.

Arbalest, and the kaijin that composed him, were used to killing and consuming their kinsmen, but they had never thought about pointing their fangs at their maker...until now.

[Well?]

Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to answer this question.

[That...]

BOOM!

^What the hell?!^

Before Arbalest was forced to make a choice, a loud explosive sound rocked through the mines, signalling a collapsing tunnel.

The concussive blast didn’t illicit groans of fear from the kaijin, only annoyance.

[Oh joy. We’re going to have to force the slaves to clean up this accident and—]

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

[Oh, what the fuck?]

The first explosion was shocking, undoubtedly so.

Loud noises, especially booming ones in an echoing cavern like this, was unsettling.

Several dozen explosions going off in staccato of one another, causing multiple tunnels to suddenly collapse inward and boxing in Dante, his kaijin, and Zhen Liu in the central cavern was downright unnerving.

[Wait a minute...this isn’t an accident... IT’S A TRAP!]

Realizing that these collapses were a well-coordinated attack, the Kaijin and Dante immediately began to ready themselves for the inevitable.

Amusingly, to Zhen Liu at least, the kaijin and Dante began to ready themselves in time with the explosions.

’If Hurricroak was here, she’d probably be adding some additional beats...’ Zhen Liu mused.

At his point, he noticed that the kaijin and Dante were too focused on the explosions and not at his person, so he figured that now was the best time to disappear for the next part.

’Or...’

Then again, this could be the best time for a sneak attack.

’Well...let’s wait for a monologue.’