Masson looked at the man lying on the floor. He was covered in bandages as far as the eye could see. He sighed inwardly; luckily, this time no one would get in his way.
He didn't even bother responding to Ininise, as if she weren't even there with them.
"Elijah, we don't have much time. Why don't you help the man lying there? I'll take care of the young lady."
Ininise's warnings kept coming, while Uriel focused on looking as helpless as possible. "They're hunting anyone who isn't your kind, Uriel. They're monsters—they're enjoying this."
Uriel was more concerned about the man named Masson. If possible, he wanted to ambush him first and then deal with the man called Elijah. While it would be much harder to fight him, he was taking into account that, the moment Masson—being a ranged class—kept his distance, there would be no way for Uriel to harm him.
But life never follows the course one wants. Right now, the only person he could hope to hurt was the warrior named Elijah; even so, facing one was still better than facing both under any circumstance.
Blood rushed through his body, preparing to take advantage of any moment of weakness. But there was a problem: how would he protect Ininise?
"Don't worry about me. I can keep my distance from him, as long as he doesn't grab me."
"What the hell are you playing at?"
Elijah's expression made it clear he had no patience for wasting time in this situation.
"Cut the crap. Viviane told us to kill any demon from another world, as long as it's possible."
Uriel's face twisted with anger. His expression was all part of the act—though only half of it; he genuinely felt anger toward those men. Who knew how many people like him they had killed?
"Bastards… what the hell are you talking about?"
Masson pulled out a knife. It seemed that everyone who chose the ranged class had one, which made a certain amount of sense.
"Look, I wanted to do this in the least painful way possible, but my bastard of a friend ruined everything."
Masson approached the body. Still, it wasn't time yet. But suddenly, with the knife, he made a small cut on Uriel's skin.
"Aghhh."
Uriel had already grown used to this kind of injury; in fact, he noticed his class gave him a certain resistance to pain. But the others—especially the ones trying to hurt him—had no reason to know that, of course.
"Listen to me, miss. How about this? Every time I tell you to take something off, you'll do it, or this guy here will get a new wound."
Elijah looked at Masson in disbelief. The man was really doing whatever he wanted at his expense. His surprise quickly turned into anger, his hand moving to his sword.
But Masson didn't stop.
"Come on, my friend—we've been doing Viviane's dirty work this whole time. We deserve a reward."
At those words, Elijah was about to say something; he even opened his mouth slightly. But before speaking, he glanced at Ininise for a moment. Her dress revealed glimpses of her beautiful gray skin and her very generous features.
For a few moments, he found himself staring at places no one would look at if they knew they were being watched—but at that moment, he didn't care.
"Do whatever you want, but make it quick."
It was no longer clear whether "make it quick" meant he wanted to get back to work or that he wanted the twisted game Masson had planned for Ininise to begin already.
Uriel abandoned any trace of hesitation about killing those men. They were nothing but scum.
"Alright, now we're getting somewhere. See? It's not that hard to go along with me, and no one's died, right?"
Masson shamelessly enjoyed staring at Ininise's tempting silhouette.
"Why don't you start by taking off the top of that dress?"
Masson smiled. Both he and Elijah had nothing but lust in their eyes.
Even Uriel was growing impatient. He didn't want Ininise to be humiliated like that, so he had to adjust his plan a bit—he would make them come closer to him on their own.
"St… stop, please…"
Uriel crawled forward to touch Masson's foot and get his attention, but what he received was far worse than he had imagined.
Thud!
Suddenly, a powerful kick sent pain surging through all his ribs. Elijah struck him with a kick loaded with all the strength of someone with the warrior class. Fortunately, Uriel was still a tank, so he could endure it well—though that didn't make it any less painful.
"Why are you sticking your nose into things no one asked you to, you damn idiot?"
"Uriel!" Ininise shouted. Honestly, he didn't know whether her concern was real or part of the act.
But Uriel wasn't going to miss this chance to look as miserable as possible.
"Cough, cough!"
The coughing was strong enough to make anyone wonder if something inside Uriel had broken.
"Why are you doing this…? Aren't we all human?"
It wasn't just part of the lie. Uriel genuinely wanted to know why these people behaved this way. They kept mentioning Viviane, which, if true, would be a huge disappointment. After all, Viviane was a symbol for climbers all over the world. Uriel had heard that, the day before all of this first began, Viviane had been giving a press conference.
Of course, Elijah ignored him, as if he were trash unworthy of his time.
But the question had been aimed at the most irrational man in the group. Uriel was sure Masson had taken the bait without much trouble.
"Oh, it's nothing personal against you, you see… You just chose very poorly who to associate with. These beasts are a danger to humanity—a danger that must be eradicated. My partner and I make sure they don't trouble the rest, people like you or me."