The Babysitter Wants to Stop Dying

Chapter 38: Clue to the Apocalypse

Romero, who had confirmed Arsen's departure, let out a light, hollow laugh.

“You’re pretty good, aren’t you? Good friend.”

A babysitter in combat.

She hadn't even expected it in the first place. But he had that level of skill?

He didn't have any remarkable physical strength, but his movements seemed as if he could 'see' them. Dodging was his main tactic, but at the same time, he was also dealing a considerable amount of damage to the enemy.

‘Arsen Neroro……. There’s something about him.’

Romero, who was watching Arsen deal with the undead, suddenly turned her body. She no longer paid any attention to the clinging corpses.

This distance was enough.

“Reinforcement, First Isle.”

Romero muttered under her breath and straightened her upper body at the same time. A black shadow began to flicker at her feet.

Kieeeeee!

The undead that were biting her shoulders and clinging to her legs screamed and let go of Romero.

The purest physical force in this land.

The moment a power akin to black smoke billowed out, Romero shot forward as if a bullet had been fired. The terrified Marvas immediately formed a defensive line with the undead he had summoned. But,

Kaaang-!

A sound like metal shattering rang out clearly in the forest. At the same time, a shockwave like a bomb exploding vibrated the area, and a huge wind whipped up like a small tornado.

“Phew. I'm using too much strength today.”

Romero’s hand slowly withdrew.

Marvas’s remaining half-face, which had been miserably crushed without even being able to make a sound.

She looked over Marvas, who was pinned to the ground. Then she looked at her own fist with a slightly disappointed expression.

“He's not dead.”

Well, since he’s alive, I might as well ask him some questions.

Romero muttered and crushed the eagle carcass at her feet.

***

“If you had woken up a former Ranker, I might understand, but you tried to do something to me with just these civilian corpses? You even took out a little rat?”

Romero picked up a palm-sized mouse carcass from the ground and tossed it away. It flew at the speed of light and disappeared from sight with a flash.

After Marvas was subdued, all the undead seemed to have lost their strength and were staggering.

My ability's activation time seemed to have run out, as I could no longer use 'premonition', so I took the opportunity to return to Romero, and I couldn't help but be a little surprised at the sight before me.

After subduing Marvas, Romero was trampling all the undead that had crawled out onto the ground.

The way she grinned and kicked a rabbit undead like a ball, smashing ten human undead in one go, was enough to give me the chills.

And on top of that, a crazed laugh that was more devilish than a devil's. Even though she was an ally, Romero was twice as scary as Marvas lying over there.

[You are of the same kind! We are practically of the same roots, how can you be so cruel!]

Marvas, sprawled on the ground, let out a desperate cry.

His face, which had been about half-intact, was now a pulp thanks to Romero, and it was so gruesome that it was an ordeal just to look at.

“Same kind?”

Romero, who was poking at the head of a deer with its ribs completely exposed, turned her head. I saw Marvas's body flinch.

“How dare a devil like you treat me as one of your own?”

Romero, genuinely annoyed, trudged towards the devil.

Marvas, whose magical power was completely depleted and whose limbs were all broken, couldn't even run away and just trembled, shouting as if vomiting everything out.

[Traitor! Traitor! Traitor! The Demon King will never let this betrayal stand!]

“Why am I a traitor.”

[The Demon King will soon avenge me! O ----! Your subordinate and servant earnestly desires, that when you one day descend upon this land, you will punish that traitor! That traitor……!]

Marvas's desperate cry, as if something had been muted.

The devil rambled on like a madman in his final struggle. And the moment his prayer to be punished reached its climax.

“Sorry. It's too noisy, I can't listen anymore.”

Puk!

“……jushi, keoheok!”

Marvas let out a final death rattle as if his windpipe had burst.

“Tough.”

“-, ---- nim! ---- nim! Please, please……”

The devil's final struggle, which had been shaking the mountain, ended like that. Romero's right hand had instantly pierced through his chest, and judging by the crunching sound that followed, it seemed she had crushed something.

“This is the first time I've seen such a talkative devil. The Demon King, does something like that really exi…… Ah! Found it.”

Romero, who had been rummaging through the chest of the collapsed Marvas like a chopped log, smiled brightly and pulled out her hand. Thick, black, gooey blood splattered on the ground.

‘A demon stone!’

Something sparkling in Romero's hand.

It looked like a red gem the length of a finger, and at a glance, it was emitting a sinister light.

Romero immediately put it in her pocket and then circled the area as if to check if he was completely dead. Then she stood still near the back of Marvas's head.

Even for the strongest who saw everything in the world as not even a small threat, the words Marvas had been spouting all this time seemed to have left a bad taste in her mouth, as Romero scowled and kicked the devil's head.

“Spouting creepy, strange words. And, where would a Demon King be?”

I stared blankly as Marvas's head shattered without a trace.

“Hey, Arsen! It's okay. It's all over.”

Shall I help you up?

I couldn't readily extend my hand to Romero, who was suddenly standing in front of me with a bright smile.

It wasn't because of Romero's chillingly cruel actions, nor was it because of her disposition, where she could kill an opponent so indifferently and then bloom into a smile.

A notification window that had appeared in front of me for the first time in a while.

[You have acquired a name fragment of ****!]

[Circumstances: The protagonist killed a high-ranking devil who worships ****!]

[However, due to the penalty for invalid contact, the acquisition amount of the name fragment is reduced by 50%.]

[A certain amount of fragments must be collected for the name to be revealed!]

Current fragment acquisition amount 1/99

[Additional information!]

[Other notifications have reached 100.]

[Please note that past notifications will be deleted if not checked.]

[It is recommended to adjust the ON/OFF at the bottom left of the notification window!]

So this was the muted part of what the devil had shouted.

****.

The blank space in the main quest.

**** was the Demon King.

I stood up without taking Romero's hand.

***

“She’s really tearing up the mountain.”

“Our Vice-Captain seems to be having a flashy catch. Poor devil.”

The shockwave that spread from the rumbling mountain made even the clothes of Phillip and Delphi in the village flutter.

“Kkeuaaaaaak!”

“Hey, hey, stay still. You might not be able to use it at all. Do you want to be one-armed?”

The bald man, one of the people who had thrown the Knights and Arsen into the pit, let out a breathless scream.

“Well, if you're going to die anyway, what does being one-armed matter?”

Phillip's arm, which was finally breaking from his cheerful smile. Oh, well, it wasn't so much breaking as it was already broken, forcibly bent in half.

“Kkeuaaaaaak! Let go! Let, goooo!”

The man, who had seen his own white bone sticking out of his skin, foamed at the mouth and thrashed around, but that was after he was already tied up by Phillip.

The other villagers were no different.

Most of them had already lost their minds and fainted, and the few who were still awake were just blankly peeing themselves in pain and disbelief.

A few trembled and shouted that they had nothing to do with the devil, but they were lightly ignored by Phillip, who waved his hand as if it were nonsense.

“Sunbae! What's the total count?”

Phillip, who had let out a satisfied breath, turned to look at Delphi, and she, who was tidying her blood-stained pink hair, lifted her head.

“Let’s see……. Forty-one. Unfortunately, two of them died, so I guess it’s thirty-nine?”

Delphi, who had counted the people tied up in a half-bloody pulp, shrugged her shoulders.

As she said, next to a large tree stump, two people were sprawled out, dead with something stuck in their backs. They were the ones who had struggled with all their might despite the sincere advice to be caught quietly.

What could she do? Devil worshippers, of all things, were running amok with long knives, saying they would kill her.

Delphi simply cut off their breath without any further advice.

“Just stay still! You're so heavy.”

Phillip dragged the struggling bald man to the place where the people were gathered. Someone was hit by the man's flailing leg and came to their senses.

“W-who are you people!”

It was that old man from before, so scared that he had wet his pants. He had been happily gathering the people and was just about to perform the sacrificial ritual when he was knocked out by a rock that had flown from somewhere.

And when he opened his eyes, this was the situation.

“You're awake, old man?”

“Who on earth are you to do something like this!”

A ridiculous shout, mixed with fear and resentment. At that, Phillip's head turned completely towards the old man.

“Us?”

Phillip, who had suddenly thrust his face in front of the old man's nose, smiled brightly.

“We're hunters.”

“Wh-what did you say?”

The one who asked back instead of the old man was Emma, whose hair was a mess from being hit by Delphi next to him. Phillip, still smiling, repeated himself.

“I said we're devil hunters. And we're also kind volunteers who clean up trash like you on the side.”

“Th-then……”

Not just Emma and the old man, but all the people who were awake turned pale.

“That's right. You're all going to die.”

Phillip, who had said that, added kindly.

“Very miserably.”

***

After completely killing Marvas, we headed to the village where Phillip and Delphi were.

On the way, Romero was engrossed in examining the demon stone, and I felt like my head was going to explode from the flood of information.

The word Marvas desperately chanted before he died.

Demon King.

The king of all devils, the lord of hell who stands at the pinnacle above even the archdevils.

The Demon King was commonly known as the religion that devils believed in.

In other words, the meaning of the Demon King was about the same as humans believing in God. Although he was called the lord of hell, at the same time, it was a question of whether he really existed.

However, Marvas spoke of the Demon King as if he really existed. No, didn't he say he would appear soon?

And I had no choice but to believe this.

The name fragment of ****.

The thing I obtained when Marvas died.

Contextually, this was definitely a fragment of the Demon King's name.

My mission was to lift the curse that **** had cast on Astava. If I failed to accomplish this goal with the help of the protagonist, the world would be destroyed.

Then, seeing that I obtained a name fragment here, does that mean the Demon King's name is needed to lift the curse?

‘Otherwise, there would be no reason for a high-ranking devil to drop a name fragment upon death.’

I have to collect the name fragments of **** to complete the Demon King's name. Good. A plausible deduction. Then the next point to consider is…….

As I brought up the system window again, the part that had been bothering me so much came into clear view on the blue background.

[However, due to the penalty for invalid contact, the acquisition amount of the name fragment is reduced by 50%.]

Invalid contact. The notification that appeared when I met Romero after collecting only 3 of the 5 clues about her.

I was wondering what it meant that a non-standard encounter would be nullified, but it seemed to affect the amount of name fragments I could acquire.

‘In that case, I need to find the protagonist's clues quickly too.’

This thing had popped up at unexpected times so far, so there wasn't really a method……. Ah. Should I look for people related to the protagonist?

Just like I have been doing so far.

“Hyung-ah-a, I peed.”

“Okay, okay, let's go quickly. I'll change you into something fresh and clean…….”

As I waved my hand to dismiss the system window, I heard Lottie's whining. But looking at Lottie's face, I realized one thing.

‘There’s no backlash this time?’

Even though I used premonition, there was no particular damage to my body.

No dizziness or throbbing. Just as I was thinking that this amount of ability use was no longer a problem, a booming call was heard.

“Arsen, what are you doing! Hurry up!”

I had been walking with the system window up, and in no time, I was quite a distance away from Romero.

“Yes! I'm coming now!”

I immediately picked up my pace.

I felt like I was finally getting a clear grasp of what I had to do from now on.