Summoned to a Fantasy World With a Modern Military System-Chapter 81: Aftermaths Of a Monster

"Put me down now! There's no one following us!" Ed said, protesting.

"Fine fine, there you go," Akumi said and then let go of him, putting him down on his feet.

We had managed to escape from the underground rouge area. It seemed like the news of Ed's sighting hadn't reached the entrance from where you entered the underground area or it might have caused a problem since there was a chance of it getting blocked.

I certainly wasn't in the mood of getting trapped underground.

Right now we were still in the rogue area but on the surface. Picking up a safe spot we had entered an alleyway and went deep enough that there was no one here besides us.

"So, what do you think? Still thinking that it'll be a problem for us to guarantee your safety?" I asked Ed, he was currently sitting on the ground resting his back against a wall.

"Well..no. I don't think so, but still! Doing that was reckless," he said, huffing.

"Not really. I wouldn't have caused that ruckus if I wasn't able to get out of there," I replied. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

I was kind of lying here. While it was true that in terms of power, Akumi and I had a clear advantage as I said it would've been troublesome if they had blocked the entrance of the underground area.

"You're a madman," he said, still trying to catch his breath. In response I said nothing.

"Now, what is your response? Are you going to work for me?" I appealed.

He didn't reply immediately and took some time to think about it. Then after a few minutes, he spoke.

"You'll guarantee my safety?"

"Yeah, of course," I replied. "If things go according to the plan I might even be able to remove that bounty from your head."

"Seriously?"

"You still think I'm kidding?"

There was silence once again, but this one didn't last that long.

"Fine," he said.

"Is that a deal then?" I asked, and at the same time offered him my hand.

"A deal it is," he replied, taking my hand he stood up to onto his feet.

Internally I felt a little relieved, finally, the first piece was in its place. But there were still a lot of things that I needed to do and a lot of people I needed to get on my side.

"So what do I need to do?" Ed asked.

"Well, I'm happy to see that you are motivated to work so soon but you have nothing to do as of now," I replied.

"Huh? What do you mean?" he questioned, seemingly confused by my response.

"What I mean is currently I want you to keep a low profile. And regarding your work, I want you to meet me at the restaurant in front of the Silver Garden Academy," I explained.

"Wait, but isn't that place unsafe for me?"

"Yeah it is, that's why there is less security there. No one will be expecting a wanted criminal to walk right into a place where he has the highest chance of getting caught. Besides, cover your face and come in disguise. That will be enough."

"I see. What about my safety though? How are you going to protect me till then?" he questioned.

"About that," I said as I created an oval-shaped stone in my hand using my elemental magic. "Take this, whenever you feel like you're in danger or are being attacked break this stone. We will come for you immediately."

He took the stone from my hand and inspected it. It looked just like any other stone after all. However, there was no lie in what I'd said there.

Since the stone was created from my mana I could detect it no matter how far it was from me. And when it breaks the mana signal coming from it will disappear. By going to the location where the mana signal disappeared I could easily pinpoint his location.

"And since we're at it, take this as well," I said, handing him a small icy pebble. "Swallow it."

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's a magical artifact. The moment you try to betray me it will break and expand inside your stomach and shred you from the inside," I said, and my expression was completely normal as I did so.

Perhaps that was what caught him off guard since Ed had a surprised look on his face. But on second thought I realized that he would've had the same look no matter how I had said it.

"Is…this necessary?" he asked.

"Come on, you know how much of a risk I'm taking by protecting you, right? Can't have you double-cross me. Even if he and I are physically capable of protecting you if the government finds out about us we can be thrown into prison or exiled from Havenreach. In the current situation, you know what the means right?" I explained.

"Also don't worry about that artifact, it won't do anything till you try to betray me," I clarified.

He went quiet again and was probably considering his options. After all, what I'd told him to do was no easy task. If for example, I was someone who wanted to trick him into obeying me I would be able to do that very easily once he swallowed that pill.

Now that I think about it though, wasn't that exactly the reason I had told him to swallow that pebble? Sure I was offering to protect him in return but my intentions weren't any different.

And what I had told him about the artifact wasn't the complete truth either.

In fact, it was no artifact. It was a pebble that I had created from my elemental magic. It couldn't kill him after right he tried to betray me as it didn't have any sensor but it did give me the ability to kill himself whenever I wanted—or sensed that he had betrayed me.

It worked the same as the stone that I'd given him. Sure keeping it from disappearing will continuously eat away a little amount of mana but it wasn't that much of a hurdle.

"Have you decided?" I asked once again, pushing him further.

Ed looked at me and then back at the pebble in his hands. He closed his eyes, and then a second later opened them again.

"Fine. I'll decide to trust you," he said and then swallowed the pebble.

'Good,' I thought to myself.

I'd just gained the ability to kill a person anytime I wanted. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but I didn't dislike the feeling.

The monster which Randolf had turned into let out a loud scream.

Or well, it was not a loud to be fair. It was rather a high-pitched shriek, like a low and guttural groan. The sound itself was almost quiet.

However it sent intense vibrations through the ground. Allen felt the vibration in his teeth and it rattled his bones, and it wasn't just him but the whole camp seemed to shake with the vibrations that one could almost feel within their bodies.

The monster's slimy and brown tentacles writhed in the air as they whipped back and forth like wild snakes and they lashed out, smashing into the ground and sending up dust and pieces of stones.

The soldiers fighting Luna stopped dead in their places upon hearing the scream and looking at this demon spawn that had just appeared before them.

Their panicked charge ended and they stared at the new monster while the golden fire from the burning tent lit up the horrifying scene.

It was a nightmare given form. Luna turned, her sword still ready as her eyes landed on what Randolf had become. The blood drained from her face as soon as she realized what had happened.

She was no stranger to this, she had dealt with these things before.

Soon her gaze fell on Allen who was standing just a few feet away from the monster, also dazed by the sudden change of events.

A raw and terrified scream ripped from her lungs when she saw him near it. It was a sound Allen had never heard her make.

"Allen!" she shrieked. "Get away from him! Get as far away as you can!"

But it was useless. It was too late.

Randolf's cheek was pressed flat against the cold hard ground. It was much colder than one'd expect, for perhaps it just felt that way for him.

He could feel the warmth of his own blood pooling under his chest as he tried to move his legs but couldn't do anything. They just didn't respond.

He tried to push himself up but his arms wouldn't obey him either. A terrible and paralyzing numbness was spreading throughout his body, it was a pain he'd never felt before.

The sounds of the fight, of Luna's sword and the screams of his men, all of it seemed to just fade away in the background.

They became a distant and muffled roar as if his entire world was narrowing down. It was shrinking down to this single small spot with him lying in his own blood.