The brown-haired shaved-head man was in the middle of reaching his right hand, swarming with countless bees, toward Lumine.
And then—
"H-He... lp... Big Brother Kai—!!"
Lumine let out a piercing scream. Big Brother Kai, was it? Come to think of it, that was what she used to call me in the past. How nostalgic.
Roman was only unconscious and seemed otherwise unharmed. We were saved by the bastard's sadistic streak. If he were the type to kill in a single blow, it might have already been too late.
Still, I wondered why. My outrage this time felt somewhat different in nature. It was fierce, intense, and utterly uncontrollable.
Well, whatever. These bastards thoroughly pissed me off. In that case, there was only one thing to do.
I drew Raikiri from my Item Box and shredded the countless tamed bees swarming his right hand along with the limb itself.
Glancing at the brown-haired shaved-head man as he let out a grating shriek I had heard all too often, I scooped Lumine up, carried her to the base of a nearby tree, and spoke to her.
"Rest for a while."
When I said that, Lumine lost consciousness with a look of relief.
"Wh-What the hell are you?!"
Clutching his mangled, crushed right wrist, the brown-haired shaved-head man wailed annoyingly.
"I'll give you plenty of attention. So just wait a little longer."
I gave him that firm command, walked over to Roman, lifted him up, and carried him over to Lumine's side.
"Damn it! Bees, kill him!"
He tried to sick the bees hovering around us on me.
However...
"Wh-Why aren't you listening to my orders?!"
The bees didn't move, merely drifting in the air. He was probably binding them with some magical contract, but at the end of the day, they moved for compensation, didn't they? No reward could ever overcome the rawest instinct for survival.
I swept my gaze around.
"I do not mind. I shall spare you. Go wherever you please."
I granted them an indulgence. Instantly, the countless bees scattered in every direction like baby spiders.
"Huh? W-Wait, bees, come back!"
Sighing faintly at the brown-haired shaved-head man as he shouted noisily with spit flying, I laid the unconscious Roman down next to Lumine.
"You damn bugs!"
Bellowing in rage, he pulled a small vial from his chest with his uninjured left hand.
"Hey, Taikouhou! Wake up!!"
Prying the stopper open with his mouth, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Crimson smoke billowed from within the vial, and a giant bee bearing the face of a white-haired old man manifested.
"What is it? So noisy!"
The human-faced bee glanced listlessly at Lumine and Roman sleeping off to the side, then fixed his gaze on me.
"Do not tell me you lost to such a weak-looking, inferior-species brat and called upon me?"
As the human-faced bee snorted derisively, the shaved-head man vehemently retorted with immense fury.
"Sh-Shut up! That guy uses some incomprehensible power!"
"No matter how weak this fellow may be, I shall properly claim my reward. Understood?"
"I know! If you kill him, the authority over those two will transfer to me. Once that happens, I can do whatever I want. You can do as you please with the woman sleeping over there."
The human-faced bee fixed his eyes on Lumine, his old man's face warping hideously with pure lust.
"Come to think of it, I have not eaten the flesh of a maiden lately. If I turn her into meat dumplings with my special digestive fluid, it makes for quite the feast. Very well. I shall accept this as a special favor."
He declared smugly.
This human-faced bee, seemingly the shaved-head man's trump card, had been talking big for a while now, but I didn't get the impression he was strong at all. In fact, how was he any different from the bees that had just fled for their lives? If anything, the ones that ran away were far better combatants simply for having the instinct to gauge their opponent's strength.
They were so dull it was disheartening.
"I shall offer you two beasts one final mercy. Quietly confess the full background behind this and take your own lives. Or, sit down quietly on the ground there. I shall cut you down swiftly and painlessly."
I proposed the best possible option for the shaved-head man and the human-faced bee.
Given who I am now, offering such a concession was practically a miracle. Of course, it was definitely not because I found any value in them. Quite the contrary. I realized they were so utterly beneath notice that even dealing with them was a chore. In short, it had just become a hassle.
"I see. It appears this inferior-species brat does not know his place."
Knitting his brows, the human-faced bee attempted to intimidate me.
"I return those exact words right back to you."
Honestly, with that meager level of power, how could he possibly be so conceited? In a way, I was almost impressed.
"What a foul-mouthed, inferior-species brat!"
As the human-faced bee spat out his shout, I replied.
"It seems you fail to comprehend human speech. I shall tell you once more. Confess the full background and take your own lives, or sit down on the ground there. As a special favor, I shall act as your executioner so you feel no pain."
Once again, I offered them what was, for them, words of salvation.
"You insolent fool!"
Enraged, the human-faced bee began buzzing frantically around me.
"How is this?!"
"Even if you ask how it is..."
What on earth was this human-faced bee trying to accomplish?
"Kukaka! You cannot even catch an afterimage of my form!"
Flitting around me, the human-faced bee boasted triumphantly.
"Oh, so you wanted to compete in speed?"
Kicking off the ground, I took his back and sliced off his noisily buzzing wings with Raikiri.
"Huh?"
Letting out a comically absurd yelp, the human-faced bee plummeted to the ground.
"I-I-Impossible! You cut the wings of the Taikouhou?!"
Ignoring the clamoring shaved-head man, I stepped on the face of the wingless human-faced bee rolling on the ground and pointed the tip of Raikiri at him.
"So? What will you do next?"
"Why...?"
To the human-faced bee muttering in a trembling voice, I asked back.
"Hm?"
"How did you cut my wings?"
He asked about an utterly obvious fact.
"I approached from behind and snipped them off."
"Do not speak utter nonsense! There is no way a sluggish human could ever catch me, the possessor of supreme speed!"
"You're fast? Are you saying that seriously?"
With speed of that caliber, a B-rank hunter could easily catch him.
"You dare mock me to the bitter end?! For a mere inferior species to look down on my supreme speed—"
Growing annoyed, I thrust Raikiri into his mouth, pinning him to the ground and cutting off his words.
To the human-faced bee writhing and screaming in agony, I stated my frank impression.
"A frog in a well knows nothing of the great ocean... That saying truly exists for someone like you."
Then, shifting my gaze from the human-faced bee to the shaved-head man, he froze with a violent flinch.
"Who... are you?"
Pale-faced and stumbling backward, he squeezed out the question.
Curling the corners of my lips, I moved behind the retreating shaved-head man, grabbed his right shoulder, and whispered into his ear.
"Did you honestly think you could escape? The answer is no. After all, you two rejected my final mercy."
"Eek!"
To the shaved-head man who leaped back with a tiny shriek, I declared with an upturned grin.
"Rejoice. As a special treat, I'll play by your rules."
From the human-faced bee's words and conduct, melting people into meat dumplings with his digestive fluid to eat them was certainly not a first or second occurrence. Furthermore, the shaved-head man had attempted to murder Roman and turn Lumine into food for that human-faced bee. Judging by how practiced they were, they had probably done similar things countless times before. Truly villainous deeds.
These fellows tried to commit heinous acts against people I knew. And yet, they had gone and rejected the mercy I graciously offered them once.
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since someone picked a fight with me so head-on and thoroughly. When someone was this oblivious to their own station, it was almost refreshing. Including the idiot who instigated this fool, I decided I would deal with them thoroughly and without an ounce of compromise. Conveniently enough, I knew of an utterly malicious fiend who possessed no concept of the word compromise whatsoever.
"What... are you planning to do?"
The brown-haired shaved-head man asked timidly.
Without answering his question, I opened to the page of the final chapter in the Subjugation Compendium and called out the name.
"Come forth, Beelzebub."
At my voice, a bipedal giant fly wearing a crown on its head suddenly manifested. The fly was clad in a bright red cape, wore a bib around its neck, and had a pacifier in its mouth.
"Supreme Great One-chama, did you call for me-dechu?"
Dropping to one knee, he placed a hand over his chest and bowed.
This fellow was Beelzebub. The hidden boss of the 950th floor, and practically the only entity beyond the 900th floor who had managed to wound me. In every sense of the word, his very existence was like a cheat. In the end, I beat him to a pulp, but ever since then, he had taken a strange liking to me.
Regardless, I knew of no being more malicious than him. And what made it truly nasty was that the guy himself was completely oblivious to it. In fact, Girimehkala and the other merry companions in the Subjugation Compendium never approached him. They refused to get involved. Since he hated appearing in front of people anyway, he had been thoroughly enjoying a good insect's life inside the compendium's world.
Though surprisingly, he seemed to be old acquaintances with Asta, who was a neat freak, and the two apparently met frequently.
"As long as they remain alive, you can basically do whatever you want. Wring out every scrap of information those two idiots possess. Afterward, deliver them to the one who instigated them. Naturally, following your own style, in the absolute lowest, most utterly wretched manner imaginable."
"As you command-dechu~♫"
Making clacking noises from around the pacifier in his mouth, he nodded vigorously. That was definitely him being delighted.
"..."
The shaved-head man gaped soundlessly with a face completely drained of blood, while the human-faced bee, who had frozen the moment he laid eyes on Beelzebub, let out a beast-like screech.
"See ya. You'd best enjoy your nightmares."
Well, considering Beelzebub's malicious nature, I seriously doubted you would remain yourselves afterward anyway. Though really, I couldn't care less about their fate.
Amidst ear-splitting screams, a black mist arose around Beelzebub, carrying the brown-haired shaved-head man and the human-faced bee away.
Now then, I couldn't just leave these two like this. I also needed to explain the situation to the headquarters staff. Guess I'll head back to the plaza for now. Roman and Lumine would probably be disqualified at this rate, but matters had long surpassed that level of concern. There was no way Roman and Lumine being attacked was a mere coincidence. I had to investigate the background behind this immediately. Oh, don't worry, I'll be thorough about it. After all, that was just the kind of mood I was in right now.
Hoisting the two of them up, I began running toward the plaza where the exam had started.