Dungeon Overlord: Monster Girl Harem!-Chapter 129: The Foolish Human Beyond His means

Leonhardt didn't flinch.

He stood in the haze, letting the smoke curl around him like lazy ghosts.

"She tried," he said, brushing off his sleeve. "But she's not the threat she thinks she is. Pretty, though. I can see why you keep her around."

Enzo chuckled. "I don't keep anyone around, Leonhardt. If she's still breathing, it's because she knows her place."

Leonhardt tilted his head. "You sure that's not just what you tell yourself?"

A flicker. Just for a heartbeat, something in Enzo's gaze tightened. Then it was gone—replaced by a smirk that was all teeth.

"Let me guess," he said, "you're here to negotiate again. Ask for another favour. Or maybe trade something—information, blood, that smug monster pride you wear like a crown."

Leonhardt didn't take the bait.

He stepped forward just once. "I'm here to talk about the one who gave you the job."

Enzo gave an exaggerated sigh and leaned back against the couch again. "You're so stiff. Like a funeral dressed up in armour. You ever smile, Leon?"

"I'm smiling now," he replied flatly.

Enzo laughed again, this time low and honest. It was the kind of laugh that made men uncomfortable—because it never quite reached his eyes.

"I still remember the sound you made as your ribs cracked," he mused, swirling the drink in his hand, though he hadn't offered it again. "When you pushed your body to the limits just to nip me, like a dog. You screamed like a butchered animal. Couldn't walk for a week."

Leonhardt nodded once. "Still landed the blow."

"Oh yes. A poetic one. A pretty little cut to my thigh—made me limp for two days. You? You couldn't piss standing up for ten." Enzo flashed a grin. "But I'll admit, you've improved. These days you're more careful. Less of a rabid hound."

Leonhardt's gaze hardened. "And you're still a coward pretending to be a gangster."

That did it.

The smile on Enzo's face stayed, but his eyes lost all pretense. They weren't amused anymore. Just cold and empty.

"You really think I'm playing peacemaker for you?" Enzo asked. "You're not even human. You're just a weapon someone left on the wrong shelf."

Leonhardt said nothing.

"Erina doesn't know, does she?" Enzo murmured now, voice softer, almost wistful. "What you really are? What you've done?"

Leonhardt stepped forward again, slowly, and this time, Enzo didn't laugh.

"She knows enough."

"That's not a no."

"She'll know everything when she's bouncing on top of me, like a common whore. Human."

There was a beat of silence.

"I should've gutted you in that cave!" Enzo said, standing now. He didn't draw a blade. He didn't need to. His presence alone—sharp, cutting, precise—shifted the air like a drawn wire. "Back then. Before you had your claws in her."

Leonhardt didn't move. "That's not all I have in her."

"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Enzo growled, tossing his glass at the wall as it splintered into a thousand pieces. "Before I wanted to know why my daughter smiled like she had a secret. And it turns out, you were the secret. That was your mistake Leon, touching my daughter and thinking a monster like you could live to tell the tale."

He took a step forward, now standing only feet away. The smell of sweat and steel and aged tobacco filled the space between them.

'Good, this shows that Erina and Dia have sent the false information.'

"I'll play nice. For now. Because I owe her that."

Leonhardt raised an eyebrow. "But not me? Are you an idiot?"

Enzo's smile returned—but now it was dead behind the teeth. "Oh no. Not you. You're just a loose end wrapped in a temporary promise."

A sound echoed behind the door, before BANG!

It slammed open, and suddenly footsteps entered, heavy and hurried while filled with anger as the plump old male with grey hair appeared.

"Ace?"

The doorway shuddered as Ace shoved it open with his shoulder.

His round frame was heavier than most in the guild, but every pound was built from bulk, not laziness. There was a violent edge to the way he walked—like he'd already decided someone was dying, and the only question left was how messy it'd be.

"Ace," Enzo said again, slower, more cautiously.

The older assassin looked at Enzo. His grey eyes burned with the dull, cold rage of a man who'd lost control and stopped holding himself back. His stare locked onto Leonhardt immediately.

"You've got a lot of nerve," Ace spat. His voice was thick and low as if he had swallowed gravel. "Standing here. Like you belong."

Leonhardt didn't answer him. Just turned to face him fully, hands relaxed at his sides with a wide grin on his lips. "You want to talk about belonging?" he said finally, calm as water. "I'm not the one that killed that useless piece of trash."

Ace's fists clenched. His face became bright red, and his nostrils flared.

"You crippled him. You left him with nothing. A swordsman with no hand? You made him worthless."

"I gave him plenty of chances to live," Leonhardt replied lazily. "He shouldn't have followed me when she was beside me."

"You gave him no choice!" Ace roared, stepping closer. "You think I wanted to do it? I had to end him. Like a fucking dog."

His voice cracked, just for a moment, but enough to show his moment of weakness. "I was his executioner," he said, quieter now, "because of you."

Silently, Enzo watched without a word, arms crossed, with his mouth sealed. He wouldn't stop it, at least not yet.

Leonhardt's gaze sharpened. "If he'd walked away when I killed that kid. He'd still be breathing. I gave him that mercy. You pulled the blade."

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"You don't get to talk mercy, monster," Ace hissed. "You don't even know what it means." He stepped in close, closer than most dared.

"You play the part well. The coat. The sword. The pretty girls who don't know what you really are. But I see it. You're just hunger in skin."

Leonhardt smiled thinly. "And yet here I stand, in your boss's office. Uncut. Unkilled. Maybe that says more about you than me."

Ace shook, body tense like a string about to snap.

Then—he turned. Started to walk away.

And stopped.

His voice came low but full of venom.

"Your little lizard bitch... just you watch."

He looked back over his shoulder, grey eyes glowing with something bitter and cracked.

"I'll kill her. Slowly. I'll have you on your knees, begging for mercy."

Instantly, a sudden pressure pressed down on his shoulders like a falling building.

CLANG! The sound of blades clashing echoed behind Ace.

His eyes trembled, a hot sensation throbbing beside his cheek. Crimson dripped down his face, followed by a dull ache. When he turned back again, a huge black blade trembled less than an inch from his neck, stopped by Enzo's sword, who grunted, trying to control the force.

Enzo stepped in, finally.

"Enough," he said. His tone left no room. "Ace, get out!"

Ace paused, still staring at Leonhardt, his body trembling. Despite clenching his fists, he couldn't stop his body from reacting to the aura of Leonhardt. Those empty red eyes, void of human warmth, were watching him like prey.

Stumbling back, he cupped his ear, noticing a burning heat the moment he touched it... wet, sticky and painful. Then he saw the fleshy object on the floor. It was his ear.

His gaze lifted to Leonhardt, lips trembling, eyes shuddering... before he turned and rushed out the door, muttering something under his breath.

Then, silence remained in the office that now smelled of fresh blood and steel.