Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 137: Chapter 137: Is This Really Just an Accident?

This giant hornet was over a meter long, large enough to easily snatch Evelor away. As soon as it saw Lloyd, it let out a BUZZ that split the air. It flew in a perfect inverted figure-eight pattern, its stinger hardening into a sharp spear as it dove toward Lloyd.

Then...

It slammed headfirst into the adjacent wall. With a sharp CRACK, the spear-like stinger snapped in two.

But the great hornet was undaunted. It flapped its wings again and lunged toward the Lloyd it saw with its compound eyes.

THUD~

After another muffled thud, the great hornet was a bit dazed. It pulled back again, tilted its head slightly, and scratched at it with a foreleg, seemingly unable to comprehend why this human was so hard.

But it still didn’t give up. It pulled back a third time, mustered all its strength, and dove toward the Lloyd in its sights.

It moved so fast it left afterimages in the air, letting out a piercing shriek like a cannonball as it tore through the atmosphere.

BOOM!

The entire cell trembled slightly.

Then, the great hornet was seen sliding limply down the wall to the floor, where it passed out.

The impact had been so forceful, it had nearly flattened itself into a 2D image...

Lloyd watched from the side, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

It was surprising that it had broken free from the suppression of the Orbit, and its speed and power were indeed impressive. And while a Demon of this level didn’t yet possess the conscious thought of a high-risk Demon...

...it seemed unable to cope with the perceptual distortions of the Twisted Realm, and had been locked in a battle of wits with the wall.

And Lloyd had personally tested the durability of this wall before. A bullet would only leave a faint scratch. The hornet’s frantic ramming hadn’t even scraped the plaster. Its hardness defied the common sense of Materials Science.

In any case, with his knowledge of civil engineering, Lloyd had no idea what process was used to construct such a wall, but it certainly couldn’t be broken by a Demon of this level.

He walked over, drew the Short Sword from his waist, and put the great hornet out of its misery. He then collected the spine and stinger that it had broken and tossed them into the nearby recycling bin.

’I’m not sure if there’s still a bounty for broken parts...’

After dealing with the great hornet, Lloyd walked to the wall and picked up the white steel spike and chain that were normally used to restrain Demons.

He had handled this equipment several times before, so he was quite familiar with it. The moment he picked it up, he noticed something was wrong.

The Spiritual Energy on the spike and chain was gone...

They also felt lighter than usual, light enough for a Demon to easily break free.

But this equipment was designed to be strong enough that not even a Danger-Level 6 giant cicada could break free by force. To escape, one would have to weaken the Orbit and use Corrosion on the inscriptions carved into it.

But the spike and chain in Lloyd’s hands showed no signs of wear or Corrosion on their inscriptions; they were even still shiny and new.

That was because Lloyd had polished them himself just yesterday...

Meanwhile, the Orbit patterns carved into the floor were blurry, as if they had weathered away naturally from age and disrepair.

But Lloyd had executed a Demon Ghost in this very cell just yesterday, and everything had been normal.

’So... what’s going on here?’

’Is there a mole in the Eighteenth District? Trying to screw over ’Senior Lloyd, hater of evil’?’

’That doesn’t make sense. If this mole had even half a brain stem, they’d know that ’Senior Lloyd, hater of evil’ deals with the things on Floor -3 as easily as drinking water. Going to all this trouble to sabotage this part of the process would be less effective than just shooting me in the back.’

Besides, the maintenance of the cells down here was handled by a team of professional Priests. The use of these chains and spikes, as well as the subsequent processing and recycling of corpses and organs, all followed a strict procedure and was under constant supervision.

No matter how clever the mole, it would be extremely difficult to tamper with this system.

’But it couldn’t possibly be an accident, could it?’

After some thought, Lloyd returned to the first floor to tell Weiya what had happened.

"What? The Orbit suddenly failed?"

Weiya shot up from her desk, hurried over to Lloyd, and asked anxiously:

"Are you hurt?"

"Of course not. I may be humble, but I’m also excellent."

Weiya: "..."

After a two-second pause where she seemed to be holding something back, she switched to a professional tone, asked for the full details of what happened, and then said:

"I need to report this to the Chief of Staff immediately."

But just as she finished speaking, a knocking sound echoed in both of their minds, followed by the voice of the Chief Judge:

"Lloyd, Weiya, in the last half hour, there have been seventeen ’accidents’ of varying scale throughout Radiant City. If we include those that haven’t been reported yet, the number could be even higher..."

The Chief Judge then briefly described the situations of these ’accidents’.

The incident locations ranged from highways and stations to factories and mines, and even residential buildings and schools. Most of them appeared to be normal accidents that could plausibly happen in such areas, like car crashes, pipe leaks, gas explosions, and so on.

But according to the preliminary investigation, a large portion of these ’accidents’ were not normal at all. Similar to what Lloyd encountered, brakes that had just been inspected suddenly failed; pipes that were fully compliant with safety regulations suddenly sprang leaks, and so on.

"So far, these various incidents have resulted in two deaths and over a dozen injuries," the Chief Judge concluded.

The result was surprisingly optimistic, and both Lloyd and Weiya breathed a small sigh of relief before quickly reporting their own situation.

The Chief Judge, however, seemed to have anticipated it and replied:

"As I thought. You encountered one too. But it’s good you weren’t injured."

"These aren’t normal accidents at all, are they?" Lloyd quickly pressed.

"That’s right. This is the power of the [Calamity] system."

"[Calamity]?"

Lloyd was taken aback.

’If this is [Calamity], then the current number of casualties seems... surprisingly low?’

But the Chief Judge immediately added in a grave tone:

"Do not underestimate the power of [Calamity], and do not let your guard down. This is the characteristic of this Taboo System. It links together a series of seemingly insignificant, minor incidents, until one small accident becomes the flap of a butterfly’s wings, stirring up a terrifying storm."

"There’s actually a Taboo System that works like the ’butterfly effect’? Doesn’t that make it impossible to guard against? Is there anything I can do to help?" Lloyd asked, his voice tight with tension.

He feared this kind of large-scale destruction most of all. ’What if my older sister gets caught in it?’

Fortunately, the Chief Judge’s response put him at ease:

"Do not worry. By so recklessly unleashing [Calamity], they have already given us sufficient clues."

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