“…….”

The guard gulped at Esther’s cold words.

He slowly asked again.

“T, then, what do you think he’s planning?”

“This isn’t the doing of an ‘individual’.”

“What do you mean?”

“As he showed his powers himself, he’s a monster. That’s for sure. But if we get caught up in that thought, we’ll just be chasing after a monster. That would be a factor that would take us further away from him.”

“……W, what do you mean?”

The guard still didn’t understand what Esther meant.

Esther thought that she had been too sparing with her words, so she naturally understood it.

"He's in league with humans."

“……!”

“That’s why, the more he acts like a monster, the safer he knows he is. The more we turn our eyes outside, the more he can just go into hiding inside.”

The instructor understood only then. His pupils trembled.

He was beginning to understand, little by little, what kind of creatures monsters from the outside are.

Meanwhile, Esther let out a small sigh.

‘I should contact the main body.’

Since she probably hasn't arrived at the Constel yet, it’s not too late.

On that day, Morion's reputation was deeply tarnished.

An intruder had stolen Renzo's corpse.

A shameful reality, unworthy of the empire's most prestigious prison.

This was all the work of a single monster. It was a feat hard to believe was not done by a human, and it caused even greater unease among the empire's citizens.

However, the person responsible for this remarkable feat was...

"…Renzo, please listen to me."

Kraken looked at the man before it with immense tension.

"Oh, I'm listening?"

Renzo smiled slyly at Kraken.

Kraken was also smiling, but its face was unmistakably tense.

Renzo said,

"Once, the Empress of this empire told me not to bark. At first, I was furious when I heard it, but then I thought about it and realized that I am indeed a beast. She was absolutely right."

Renzo fiddled with his ear. It seemed awkward for him to scratch the opposite ear with his left pinky finger.

"So, I listened very carefully to what you, what was it, you? Anyway, what you just said. Being a beast, I thought I would understand if I heard another beast's noise."

However, Renzo's demeanor changed immediately after he recited those words. His murderous intent shot towards Kraken. It was so intense it could burn one alive. Kraken thought so, at least.

"What was that you said? That you hold the power over my life and death? Fool. Didn't you just say that?"

"…Your heart is now replaced by my core. If I wish..."

"Ha. How interesting."

Renzo shook his head slowly, as if he truly couldn't understand.

Indeed, Renzo's heart had been replaced by Kraken's core. The owner of that core was Kraken, and it was not so much that Kraken could 'if it wished' stop that core and kill Renzo.

"So, why don't you try it? I'm really curious how fast you can 'decide'?"

"…"

"I, Renzo, have been revived by you giving me your core, and you talk about holding the power over life and death? Fool. You invaded Morion."

"…Morion wasn't so impressive, was it?"

At Kraken's words, Renzo inhaled sharply.

Then, he burst into a grand laughter. "Hahaha!!"

"What's so funny?"

"Not impressive, you say? Indeed. Is that all the information that reaches the monsters outside?"

"…What do you mean?"

"You seem to think that you have successfully escaped from 'Morion' just because you have just escaped from that 'building', but that's a big mistake. You have just rung the bell of your life. Do you not know what happens when you get marked by the warden there, why the vicious prisoners inside that prison are silent?"

Among the sinners of the continent, Renzo undoubtedly knew the most about Morion. The world's worst criminal naturally had a deep connection with the world's strongest prison.

"Are you trying to threaten me, after whining about needing my power and risking your own life? You should have heard what happened to all the guys who tried to mess with me before coming to me. You ignorant octopus."

"?!"

Kraken's face hardened.

Octopus. The nickname itself was unpleasant, but the fact that it was mentioned...

"...how do you know?"

"What, that you're an octopus?"

Renzo chuckled. Kraken felt its momentum was unusual.

──Perhaps if Kraken had been Frondier, he would have seen it.

The purple haze emanating from Renzo’s body.

"He told me. Ares did. He said that if I died, you would definitely come to save me."

“Ares? No way, you mean the god Ares? You’re saying you met a god?”

“It’s more like he did all the talking while I just listened.”

Kraken was speechless in response to Renzo’s brazen remark.

Of course, Kraken wasn’t in a position to be talking back, but even so, calling the god who gave him his powers “talkative.”

“……So you knew that you would be resurrected, and you pretended to die?”

“Hey, the Ares guy told me.”

A nonchalant tone still came out of Renzo’s mouth.

“When I die, the octopus head will come and resurrect me, and since my purpose and Ares’s are aligned, he will lend me ‘proper power’.”

“……Your purpose?”

“Yeah, isn’t that obvious?”

A gleam flashed in Renzo’s eyes. The flames of his passion were now gurgling like lava as they rose.

“I will kill Frondier. It’s going to be the most enjoyable event of my life.”