Dungeon Overlord: Monster Girl Harem!-Chapter 126: The Last Fool...

Jack followed the disgusting murderers with his hand grasping his sword.

He couldn't mask the anger in his heart from how the young child died. Despite knowing that this made him a hypocrite because of his work, the Last Call only killed those they deemed dangerous and a threat and never killed children.

'Well, it's probably because of Enzo's daughter...'

"Why did they enter that store?" Jack muttered to himself as he hid in the shadows.

He hid on the ledge above the Veinlance store because he expected them to head towards the Last Call and not enter the dirty brothel instead.

People passed by, unaware of the assassin hiding in the darkness. His blade half drawn, ready to take a life instantly, before the store's velvet curtain opened with a jingle, causing many people to look towards the store.

It was a famous place in the city, for young female nobles to buy special potions and items to improve their nightlife or... to enjoy the body of a young lover.

'Dirty pigs.'

Jack snorted, watching the women all gazing at the door with dreamy eyes the moment they saw Leonhardt.

He didn't have thoughts about other men and only liked women. But he couldn't deny that the monster in front of him was beautiful, and the same for his companions. Leonhardt himself was dangerous—his charm was like an incubus.

'Boss thinks that the kid is harmless, that after beating him once he shed the monsters skin and clipped his claws.'

Leonhardt stood outside the shop, looking back with an emotionless face.

The moment he wasn't with that woman or other people, he became different. Cold, inhuman, eerie. Yet, people seemed oblivious to his dead gaze, as if viewing other humans as nothing, not even accepting their existence.

However, as Jack observed his target, it became clear how strange he was.

'Boss, you are my brother but this thing cannot be left alive, I won't allow him to sneak into our group and destroy us from the inside.'

"Zafira is taking her time, I say. Should I just deal with you now?"

Leonhardt tapped his wrist before looking around with a sigh. Jack took a breath before removing his gaze to adjust his position to attack.

"Huh!? Where did he go?"

Leonhardt's body vanished in the blink of an eye.

Jack took his eyes off the monster for a moment and was gone, with no scent or aura...

Then—a cold sensation travelled up Jack's spine.

THUD—! Leonhardt's hand smashed the black-haired man's face against a stone wall, shattering two of his teeth, while his foot stepped on the hand holding his katana, driving it back into the sheath with a click and forcing him to kneel.

"That's no way for a gentleman to act, hiding in the shadows like a rat."

"Urgh!!! You... *THUD* Argh...!"

"Silence, worm... why have you been following me like disgusting vermin from the moment I entered this district? Answer what I ask, or I'll crush your hand." Leonhardt grabbed Jack's hair, tearing clumps from his head before smashing his face into the wall each time he made an annoying noise or spoke about irrelevant things.

"Now then, tell me why you are here, did Enzo betray me?"

"T-There's no way he would! *Thud* Ngh...!" Blood poured from Jack's nose and mouth, but Leonhardt's expression didn't change. Rather, he looked more serious, narrowing his eyes before gripping Jack's head in a vice grip.

"Then why are you sneaking after us and releasing that paltry killing intent and spreading your sour and disgusting scent?"

Jack's mind raced, trying to think about how he could escape. His magic didn't seem to work, nor would his aura gather the moment Leonhardt touched him. His stomach churned with a nauseating feeling spread through his body.

It felt as if something was sucking away his strength.

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"I..."

'NO! Why should I grovel to this bastard, this disgusting monster!' Jack's inner voice screamed as he hit his head off the wall with a crutch, using the momentum to roll back out of Leonhardt's grasp and draw his sword.

Leonhardt stepped back and leaned to the side, like taking a bow, avoiding the quick slash before his eyes shone with a bright blue light, activating his arachne sight.

"So you really want to die, human?"

"Heh! A monster like you wearing human skin doesn't have the right to ask me, or that nauseating bitch beside you—"

A blazing claw cut through the air, creating flickering ember trails as Leonhardt's arm slashed through the air, carving Jack's face.

Without time to avoid the attack, Jack's body dropped to the ground from Leonhardt's immense strength, with deep gashes across his flesh. Because using magic would trigger an alarm, Leon chose to just use his claws of fire skill.

A simple ability gained from his Djinn bloodline.

However, thanks to his constant evolutions, it became stronger, like his muscles and bones, and different from a static weapon. It evolved!

Crack—! Leonhardt stepped on Jack's wrist. Then used his heel to grind his bones as they creaked and snapped under the pressure. Forever damaging Jack's future as a swordsman well, if he had one.

"Please...P-Please...."

'Anything... to survive, I must trick this monster!'

Fear and terror feelings he detached to survive in this world, killing humans, monsters, elves, whoever the client wanted to kill, Jack killed. Yet, this fear a long forgotten sense of dread, helpless and forced to watch as others suffered in his place, before he too endured.

"Hmm...?"

Leonhardt's focus switched because Zafira had just finished her purchase and seemed to be in a good mood, almost bouncing with each step as she approached the door. "Well it looks like you got lucky this time..." With one last look at the convulsing human, Leonhardt lowered his body and pierced through Jack's right shoulder with his searing claws.

The stench of melting flesh was disgusting, but with a small crack, a smile came to Leonhardt's lips before he vanished.

"Are you finished, what did you buy, anything good?"

"Hehe~ I bought some interesting things."

Jack's body convulsed on the ground, the feeling of sweat covering his body as his crotch became warm and damp. The terror he felt was nothing compared to the day he met Leonhardt a few weeks before. It was like staring at a bottomless pit of darkness.

When he reached out for his fallen sword, his right shoulder suddenly made a loud pop, and his arm dropped.

"Ngh...? No... what has he done!?"

Jack screamed out in anguish. His right arm wouldn't move or shift even when his aura gathered—it just remained limp. The monster crippled his arm, took away his only weapon.

'No...no...no...no!' Jack's pale, bloody face distorted in mental and physical agony.

Leonhardt damaged Jack's right shoulder blade, cracked it so that when he tried to move, the bones would all shatter into pieces.

"You monster... you fucking monster... I'll kill you... No matter what!" Frenzy, anger and insanity filled the man's eyes.

His sword was his life, his medicine and path.

"Haa... this is why I told you to stop." A plump, middle-aged man stood in the distance, watching the crawling Jack while shaking his head. His face filled with concern and sorrow until he faced the back of Leonhardt and Zafira, who swung around his body and spoke with a bright expression and sparkling eyes.

"Enzo... I fear you've awakened the abomination, rather than tamed him."

Ace hopped across the buildings, towards the fallen Jack with a grim expression, because the Last Call had a promise and oath to each other and Enzo. An oath that meant should they become useless or want to retire from the business...

They would have to kill every other member.

Now that Jack couldn't lift his arm, let alone a sword and with his face deformed, the man who was adept at spying and gathering intel now became worthless. Not to Ace, but in the eyes of the group, and this wasn't Ace's first time dealing with this situation.

When he landed on the same balcony as the fallen eastern warrior, he called his name... softly, and with the lingering affection of brothers in arms.

"Jack..."

"A-Ace...? Why are you here?"

However, the calm and fair Ace didn't answer, his face covered by his noble style bowler's hat. Ace stepped forward and twirled a small vial through his fingers before placing a small cover over his mouth.

"If you want to hold a grudge, I accept it. But this is how we work. The monster has broken your sword."

Jack's body trembled when hearing Ace speak in a low and monotone voice.

"A-Ace... I can still fight—it's just a flesh wound, right? Look!"

The grey eyes of the man seemed brighter than usual. When he fought against Asuka, he started out docile before they shone with a vibrant glow. He gazed down at the fallen Jack, his close friend and companion.

Yet he couldn't do anything.

"Don't make this harder for me. You know why I cannot save you and that I warned you multiple times..."

Jack tried to stand, desperate, but he slipped on his blood, as he fell and rolled onto his back staring at the cloudy sky now changing into night.

"The boss said not to touch him, or bother him... Jack, from this moment on, you are expelled from your role as Jack, and banished from the Last Call."

"Why?" Jack's eyes dripped with tears at his friend from the past ten years.

"Because I am the executioner, and this— is your last call!"

Ace opened the vial's cork and dropped the black liquid into Jack's mouth. The poison seeped into the warrior's blood and turned his veins black, which bulged and writhed under his skin before the man known as Jack died.

***

Ace sat atop the tallest building in the Fist Ring of Silver Veil, holding a small bottle of eastern alcohol and filling his bowler's hat as the sky began to pour, rain covering his face and body as his sharp gaze watched Leonhardt, who headed to their hideout.

"Enzo, it might be me you are burying tomorrow."