novelhk Chapter 87 : Cave-In
Chapter 87 : Cave-In
Chapter 87: Cave-In?
Lilia leapt on the spot like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, retreating three meters in rapid steps.
Her back slammed against the cold rock wall.
The two pitch-black short blades in her hands were trembling.
She wasn’t afraid of death.
She was genuinely disgusted.
The visual impact of this was a hundred times worse than being thrown into a trash bin full of maggots.
“So this is…”
Lilia’s voice was dry as she pointed at the writhing mass.
“A miner?”
“It’s not over yet! It’s not over yet!”
Batori knelt on the ground, completely ignoring the slime all over the floor staining her leather outfit.
Lilia couldn’t even bear to look.
This one was beyond saving.
Later, she absolutely had to have Hera drag this pervert off to get her brain washed—or just toss her straight into magma for disinfection.
“Roar—”
A low, hoarse growl came from deep within the eggshell.
It didn’t sound like something produced by vocal cords.
It was more like two rusted metal plates grinding against each other.
Immediately after—
A head emerged.
No hair.
The bald scalp was covered in bluish-purple veins, pulsing with each breath.
No nose.
No ears.
Where the eyes should have been was covered by a layer of grayish-white translucent membrane.
And that mouth…
Occupied nearly two-thirds of the lower half of its face.
Inside, it was packed with dense, backward-hooked fine teeth.
Lilia’s stomach churned violently, and the compressed biscuits she had eaten not long ago almost came back up.
This was basically a teenage version of a Licker from Resident Evil!
“Th-this… was this transformed from a human?”
Covering her mouth, Lilia forced the words out through her fingers, unable to hide the fear in her voice.
She had long known the Demon Realm wasn’t some law-abiding place.
She had already mentally prepared herself for the complete lack of moral boundaries here.
But this was way too much.
If these were made from that entire cart of human slaves…
“Human?”
Batori had been admiring the monster’s “heroic form” in intoxication. Hearing Lilia’s question, she was clearly stunned for a moment.
She turned her head.
Her face, smeared with black slime, was filled with confusion.
“How could it be human?”
Batori wore an expression of “are you looking down on me?”
“Master, what kind of joke are you making?”
“A delicate species like humans—how could they possibly withstand this kind of modification?”
“And besides, humans are expensive!”
Batori even looked a bit aggrieved.
She pointed at the half-emerged monster rolling on the ground and started calculating.
“An adult human slave can sell for at least fifty gold coins on the black market!”
“If they’re good-looking or have some special talent, they can even sell for five hundred gold coins!”
“And if it’s a top-grade one like you…”
Batori greedily swept her gaze over Lilia’s thighs and swallowed.
“That would be a priceless treasure!”
Lilia broke out in goosebumps from that look.
She kicked an empty rack beside her.
Clang!
A loud crash rang out.
“Get to the point!”
Batori shrank her neck and immediately put away that perverted expression.
“The point is, how could we possibly afford to use humans for this kind of consumable!”
“There are thousands of eggs here!”
“All using humans?”
“Even selling the entire Batori family wouldn’t be enough to buy that many!”
Lilia: “…”
This damn reason.
She couldn’t even refute it.
It even made her want to laugh a little.
So in the end—
It wasn’t because of conscience.
Nor because of technical limitations.
It was simply because… they were poor?
The capitalists of the Demon Realm really were just as familiar as ever.
However…
As long as they weren’t made from humans, that was fine.
Lilia let out a breath of relief.
The tension in her muscles relaxed slightly.
As long as it wasn’t cannibalism among her own kind, her psychological burden wasn’t as heavy.
After spending so long in the Demon Realm, killing ghouls or magical beasts was something she could accept.
After all, survival of the fittest.
“Then what about that batch of ‘goods’?”
Lilia hadn’t forgotten that part.
That captain at the entrance had been very clear.
“Oh, those are reserved for Duke Camilla.”
Batori didn’t dare hide anything.
“The human side has been investigating strictly lately, so it’s hard to smuggle across the border. They asked us to help transfer them.”
“After all, this is a mining area—no one checks slave transport carts.”
Lilia rolled her eyes.
That seductive fox again?
Looks like she’d have to have a proper “chat about life” with Camilla later.
Since they weren’t being used for biochemical experiments, that made things much easier.
Just then—
The freshly hatched monster suddenly moved.
As if it had smelled some ultimate delicacy.
It lunged toward a large iron barrel nearby.
The barrel was rusted, filled halfway with a black, sticky sludge like mucus.
It emitted a stench like a dead rat soaked in a sewer for three months.
“Urgh—”
This time, Lilia really couldn’t hold it in.
She gagged.
But the monster acted as if it had seen a royal feast.
It shoved its entire head into the barrel.
Squish, squish.
The sound of it gulping echoed through the cavern.
It ate with extreme relish.
Black sludge dripped from the corners of its mouth onto the floor, even bubbling slightly.
“Th-this… what is that?”
Pinching her nose, Lilia asked in a muffled voice.
“Feed.”
Batori answered matter-of-factly.
“This is what I was talking about earlier—just a bit of biological waste is enough to sustain them.”
“It’s made from leftover swill from the mining area cafeteria, rotten mushroom roots, and some processed… ahem, excrement, fermented together.”
“High protein!”
“High calories!”
“One barrel is enough to keep them working for three days and three nights!”
Lilia looked at that still-bubbling “high protein.”
Then looked at the monster eating with great enjoyment.
Suddenly, she felt—
Her earlier tantrum in front of Hera over snacks had been an extremely wise decision.
Was this something a carbon-based lifeform could even eat?
Before, she had mocked Hera for eating only refined magical beast steaks every day, thinking she was just putting on airs.
Now it seemed—
That was Her Majesty’s final stubborn dignity!
If she had to eat something that looked like a biochemical weapon every day…
Lilia shuddered.
She would rather starve to death.
Or just smash her head into a block of tofu and die.
“Thank goodness…”
Lilia patted her chest and muttered softly.
Otherwise, if she stayed in this hellhole long enough, her taste buds would probably degrade to the level of a sewer rat.
“Um… Master?”
Seeing Lilia in a daze, Batori cautiously leaned closer.
“You see… I’ve already given you the account books, and you’ve also seen the production line.”
“So, could you…”
She pointed at her own face.
Her expression full of anticipation.
“Reward me with another slap?”
“That punch earlier was strong enough, but since it didn’t hit my face, it feels like something’s missing.”
Lilia: “…”
She took a deep breath.
Forcibly suppressing the urge to draw her blade and cut this thing down.
“Get lost.”
One word.
Simple and direct.
But Batori reacted as if she had heard heavenly music.
Her entire body trembled, and a blush that made one want to call the authorities spread across her face.
“Yes!”
“I’ll roll right away!”
She actually dropped to the ground and rolled to the side like a ball—twice.
Lilia pressed a hand to her forehead.
Hopeless.
Truly hopeless.
This Demon Realm was full of lunatics.
Was there not a single normal person?
“Rumble—!!!”
Just as Lilia was contemplating life—
A world-shaking explosion suddenly came from above.
The entire underground cavern began to shake violently.
Stalactites from the ceiling rained down with crackling sounds, smashing several unhatched eggs.
The monster larvae let out piercing screams.
The ground trembled.
As if an earthquake of magnitude eight had struck.
Lilia almost lost her footing and grabbed onto a nearby stone pillar.
“What’s going on?!”
She shouted loudly.
“Did it cave in?!”