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“After all, I’ve been given one hundred things from heaven.”
Shion let out a laugh when he heard that.
“Hahahaha. You did? With that face?”
“Leave my face alone.”
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a cheat that could change your face into a hunk.
That’s a lie. There’s technically a 《Transformation • Extreme》 skill, but it’s just for disguises.
《I don’t think there’s much difference.》
It didn’t change much for me though. I basically looked like the same person – just with a different coat of paint.
Well, even if I could actually change my original face, I don’t know whether I’d go through with it or not. It would essentially be like going for plastic surgery, so I’d feel uncomfortable for some reason.
“You have a lot of self confidence, but you can’t beat me!”
A strange scream came out of Shion’s mouth when I closed the distance in an instant and slammed my fist into his face.
《Aren’t you a bit too jealous of good-looking guys? Why do you always suddenly go for the face?》
Oops. Looks like I had broken his nose when I punched him. He had been blown all the way back to the wall and was bleeding from his nose. Damn.
“Shi, Shion-sama!”
”No way! Shion-sama just got destroyed!
The bandits under his command were astonished.
“B, my beautiful face….?”
Apparently the state of his face was more concerning than the pain. Shion’s lips quivered as he fearfully touched his broken nose.
“Ge-get the potion, quickly!!!” Shion shouted, urging his subordinates, and one bandit hurriedly went to try to get him a potion. That touching scene didn’t escape me. I decided to destroy the potions with some pebbles formed by earth magic.
“Come and get me, punk! I don’t think your face is going to get any better than that!”
Ha-ha-ha! I’m going to beat you until you can’t even make out the shape of your face!
”You plebeian! How dare you hurt my beautiful face!”
Shion leapt at me in a burst of rage, sword in hand.
This guy has the 《Swordsmanship • Extremity》 skill.
But it’s only a sword.
He can’t be my enemy with his meagre skill. That puny level of skill can’t measure up to me, the master of all arts and crafts!
He’s outmatched in terms of status, too.
It’s probably a good idea to evade Shion’s sword with the agility that surpasses even the most advanced of angels.
”Bollocks! I can’t believe my sword can’t hit you!”
I weaved between sword flashes and brought my fist to his face again.
“Oi, can you stop aiming at my face!?”
“Huh? What did you just say?”
“St-stop aiming at my face!?”
“I can’t hear you.”
《…Master Scumbag.》
After some time, Shion’s face was puffed up and bright red, as if he’d been attacked by a swarm of angry bees.
“Hey, you’re looking pretty good, aren’t you?”
“Huff, huff…”
I’m sure he realised that he couldn’t win no matter what he did, so Shion turned his back and ran away to a small passage at the back.
Well, there’s not really much point in him trying to escape. As long as he’s within range of the 《Locator • Extremity》, I’ll instantly know where he is.
I left Ouka, Thira and the others to deal with Shion’s minions as I went after Shion.
It was quite a narrow passage.
It was so narrow that a person could barely fit through it.
There were lots of intersections and forks in the path, making it feel like a bit of a maze. It’s probably a great place for people to lose pursuers.
But I know the direction where Shion went.
As I followed his trail, I eventually came across a steep descent. This path seems to go pretty deep underground.
If we keep going like this, we’re going to end up running into a fiend’s nest.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.
His father, a bandit chieftain, had raped a nobleman’s daughter who had been kidnapped from the capital, leading to the birth of Shion. To be perfectly blunt, his father was an ugly old man with a figure befitting a bandit’s boss. Fortunately, thanks to his mother, who was so beautiful that people in the city talked about her on a regular basis, Shion was born as beautiful as his mother.
Shion was relieved when he found out about his heritage.
He was glad he looked nothing like that ugly bastard.
As he grew up, there was a steady increase in the bandits who grew obsessed with him, eventually leading to his rebellion against his ugly father and the taking over of the group when he turned fifteen.
It was so simple. But it was a given, he thought.
Because he was so very beautiful.
Because in the presence of a beautiful being, everything else feels colourless.
”Hah, hah, hah…”
Shion rushed down the dark slope, puffing as he went.
“Damn it… Turning out like this… This isn’t beautiful at all!” He spat out with venom.
Why am I being hounded by such an ugly man when I’m so beautiful?
Shion was really quite puzzled by this.
It was because of this.
It had been a mistake to set up a base in the most dangerous dungeon in the world.
Before Shion knew it, he came out in a large open area. He was relieved to have left that ugly man far behind and let out a sigh of relief. It was then that something suddenly plucked him off the ground.
”Huh!?”
Before he knew it, he was suddenly upside down in the air, with something tangled around his right leg. Something white and thread like.
‘Is that spider thread…?”
Shion looked up with a start, and saw a myriad of spiders, wriggling, writhing and laying down thread walls and ceilings.
”Ughhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Shion couldn’t help letting out an ugly scream at the sight.
They were demons. Spider demons with a body length of at least a meter. But the demon that was suspending Shion by a thread was a large spider with the upper body of a pure white woman growing out of its back.
It was an Arachne, a top-tier spider-shaped monster.
It was more than two times larger than the other spiders.
“Deli… cious.”
Arachne, who speaks in more than one language with a bewitching voice.
At first glance, it looked like a beautiful woman riding atop a spider. But the fact that it is connected to that ugly lower body makes it much more grotesque.
Shion definitely didn’t want to be eaten by this monster! It would be such an inelegant way to go.
He swung his sword to slash through the threads entangling his legs.
Fortunately, Shion’s slash managed to break the thread comparable to steel string. But it was only momentary.
Threads spurted out from the other spiders in unison, probably under Arachne’s control, to completely cover Shion’s entire body.
He tried hard to escape. But the more he tried, the more he got stuck in the sticky threads, and the more he was unable to move. After a point, he couldn’t even swing his sword anymore. Then when he was completely paralyzed by thread, the spiders jumped onto him all at once.
“Hiyyyyya! No, no, no, no, no, no! I don’t want to die this ugly way!”
In the next moment, nothing happened to Shion even though he was swarmed by spiders. A sudden gust of wind blew away one of the swarms of spiders, sweeping them away.
In the face of the gale that forced him to close his eyes, he heard a voice.
“What the hell are you doing…?” said a stunned voice.
After some time, Shion opened his eyelids and saw the owner of the voice. It was the ugly human youth from earlier.
The spider demons were suspended in mid-air, along with Shion, restrained by a string.
A Level 50 Tarantula and an Arachne over Level 70 were his opponents. This was the level of one of the most dangerous dungeons out there.
Immediately afterwards, countless magic circles appeared around the human.
“This guy can use magic?” Shion asked in amazement.
“Annihilation start.”
A thunderous lightning storm broke out.
Blinding lights stained his vision and the roaring whip crack of thunder dominated his ears.
“Wha-”
Shion was stunned. All those damn spider demons had disappeared without leaving a trace.
“Oops, I missed one. Did you use your men as shields to protect yourself?”
The last survivor was the Arachne from earlier. Smacking a spat string aside, he rammed into it in a beautiful, frighteningly furious pace.
It’s no use.
But the young human swung his right hand, and split the Arachne’s upper body and lower body in two. The young man then thrust out his left hand. A shockwave emerged that blew Arachne away, sending it into a slump against the far wall.
That was it.
It was such an overwhelming display of power that Shion could see that he had clearly not taken Shion very seriously in their fight earlier. That was the frightening truth displayed in front of Shion’s very own eyes.
“Oh, how beautiful…!”
He thought admiringly.