Episode 323 Underdogma (3)

… Bang!

Vikir ripped the chains around the necks of Highbro, Midbro, and Lowbro with his bare hands.

The Commoner students, who had been pushed in the chest, look dumbfounded.

Dogma, the leader of the Commoners, asked.

“……What are you doing?”

But Vikir didn’t answer. Only.

“If you despise the powerful, why do you copy their behavior?”

“What?”

“Isn’t it true that you didn’t despise them, but rather admired them?”

Dogma’s brow furrowed.

His gaze remained glued to the chains in Vikir’s hands, even as his words hit home.

‘You must have a pretty high Strength stat to be able to rip through that thick chain with your bare hands. What’s it, four or five? No…… I’d say ten, judging by the way you’re acting.’

With a strength stat of 10, it would be difficult to subdue him even within the lines of Dogma.

Moreover, there are more than twenty Commoner Faction students on this side!

“Don’t be stubborn. If you refuse to join hands, I’ll have to cut off your hands.”

Dogma’s words changed the mood of the commoner students.

Unlike the aristocrats and barons student who were only looking to take advantage of each other, the commoner students were quite quick and united.

It’s like the grass roots of a weed are intricately intertwined.

“……Hmm.”

Seeing this, Vikir’s thoughts were subtle.

‘It’s all in your power, and you’re rewarded fairly for your efforts. You can get things you weren’t born with. A land of reversal, a land of opportunity, a new world!’

Vikir gave a small sigh.

‘……What are they thinking?’

He wasn’t quite wrong. At least on the surface.

In fact, Vikir had met quite a few humans who had changed because they liked the world the demons had created before regression.

Surprisingly, quite a few people with great talent and potential for Great Heroics joined the Demon Army during the War of Destruction.

…… However, of the humans who eventually joined the Demon side, there was not a single one who was okay with it.

The New World, the land of opportunity, the land of reversal, was hell.

Most of their bodies had been demonized, and they had lost their minds.

Those who managed to retain their human memories and reason were forced to spend a horrifying amount of time in loneliness, solitude, and pain.

“Demons are monolithic creatures, devoid of any sense of homogeneity or kinship between individuals. Humans can never understand the culture and way of thinking of this creature, which exists only as an individual before God.’

Demons basically live alone. No parents, no children, no friends. If they do, they’re just mimicking them, for obvious reasons.

In other words, from the time they are born into the world, demons are monospecies, and they do not have intimate relationships with anyone else.

Diaspora.

As a tribal and social creature, humans can neither understand nor be understood by demons.

And a human being who becomes a demon with human memories, reason, and thinking is bound to spend the rest of his life in solitude and loneliness, belonging nowhere, without purpose and without hope, drowning in his own life.

‘…… I’ve seen a lot of great heroes on the demonized or demonized human side take their own lives in their later years, regretting their choices.’

There’s a short period of time when you can hold on to what you’ve never had and rejoice.

After that, there’s an eternity of nothingness, anguish, regret, and longing.

This is why Vikir is forced to take a complex look at Dogma, a short-sighted hegemony of opportunity and reversal.

Soon, Dogma and the commoners under his command surround Vikir.

All of them were armed with low-grade weapons that could have been picked out of a random box.

“Hey, you’re Vikir, I recognize you, you’re a commoner, join our side.”

“I don’t care how great you are, you can’t take on all of us.”

“How many stats do you have? I’ll eat the candy that drops when I kill you.”

“Bullshit- the guy who kills him gets to eat it.”

When they’re casually confident of victory.

“Raise your hand.”

Vikir said briefly.

All eyes turned to Vikir’s half-raised hand.

“I am a third-generation reader.”

“……?”

“There is a single mother, a single father to take care of.”

“……?”

“I have an old lover or am getting married soon. Or I’m already a newlywed.”

“……?”

Everyone looked puzzled at Vikir’s continued words.

Finally, Vikir said something short.

“If you want to do it, leave it to one side.”

Then, laughter erupted from the crowd of commoners.

Dogma chuckled and opened his mouth.

“Where have you been reading so many fantasy novels that you think you’re cool now?”

“…….”

“Are you a high level, do you have a big stat, or do you have some rare items? Just looking at your arm, it looks like you’re just bluffing…… What do you have the nerve to believe?”

At that moment, one of the commoner students who was wearing special glasses spoke up.

“He’s level 1, I can see it through these ‘level peeking glasses’! I can’t see his stats, but…….”

Dogma burst out laughing.

“…….”

Vikir silently raised his fist, but no one paid it any mind.

“Ohhh, you’re going to use your fist?”

“Akumusherra! Hehehehe-”

“Hey, little guy. My strength stat is over 5. Won’t your fist just break for nothing?”

“Forget it. I know you were quite famous outside the tower, but not here.”

Just then.

…Boom!

A loud explosion erupted.

It was heard not from the ground, but from the roots of the Hell Tree.

“What, what!”

All the students looked up in unison.

There was an incredible sight.

Sap, the island’s only food. A cloud of dirt was rising from the hole where it was coming from.

And emerging from the dust was a large creature, its entire body coated in a black exoskeleton.

“…… Oh. That’s the ship’s owner Decarabia was talking about.”

Vikir stared at the creature, which was sticking its head into the pool of sap and sucking up everything inside.

It had the appearance of a human being, covered entirely in the shell of a rhinoceros beetle.

Insect King. A legendary race that once existed in the distant past.

However, due to their voracious appetite and warlike nature, they are said to be extinct now.

To think that such an ancient creature could be found here.

Meanwhile, there was a stir among the commoner students.

“Hey, that guy is over level 10! I don’t know his stats, but…….”

“If he’s over level 10, that means he’s got a ton of stats. Oh my God!”

“Ouch! That guy is draining all our sap!”

“Well, more than that, that…… is trying to rip us apart, right?”

Then, Dogma, the leader, drew his sword.

“Let’s defend our pool! Follow me, I’ll lead the charge!”

He was quite impatient. It was the sap pool that allowed him to rule like a king on this tiny island.

With that, Dogma drew his sword and charged at Insectking.

Boom-

A sharp swinging slash.

but.

… Taaang!

The sword broke too easily against Insectking’s back armor.

Ppajik-

A vein appeared on Insectking’s forehead.

Pugh-

A heavy black fist flew out, knocking Dogma to the ground.

“Ugh! What kind of strength!”

“Huh! The sword won’t penetrate! The skin is so hard!”

“Help, help! I’m dying!”

All of the commoner students who rushed in after them were cut down by the Insectking.

An out-of-size monster. Suddenly appearing from above the roots of the tree, Insectking beat the entire group of twenty students to a bloody pulp.

It was as if he wanted to remind them of the true owner of this sap pool.

Just then.

“Step aside. Let’s talk.”

One man stepped forward.

It was Vikir.

Dogma gritted his teeth and shouted.

“You’re crazy! You can’t talk to a monster like that! You won’t understand a word.”

” ……I know the common language.”

Vikir’s answer gave Dogma a blank look.

“Common language? Is there such a thing?”

“Was he…… good at foreign languages?”

“No, there’s no way he could talk to a humanoid monster in the first place…….”

When all the students were looking at him in disbelief.

Tsk-.

Vikir stood in front of the Insectking.

“Let me ask you something.”

[…….]

But the King has no answer.

He just stretched out his giant arms and tried to blow Vikir away.

‘Look! It’s just a dog’s death!’

Dogma bit his lip tightly, knowing that he would soon see Vikir’s limbs disintegrate before his eyes.

……However.

“I guess I’ll need a translator after all.”

Vikir muttered something short, then pulled a great ‘translator’ out of his pocket.

It was his fist.

Boom!

A single, short punch.

The effect it created was quite shocking.

Wududududuk!

The black armor that had casually deflected the attacks of the commoner students crumbled like a soggy cookie.

The King’s eyes widened, but he was unable to scream.

He fell upside down on the floor, spitting out everything in his stomach.

“Now, do you feel like talking?”

[……Yes].

Insectking replies in a very humble voice.

“Did you know how to speak human?”

“……That works.”

“No, but you caught that monster with a single punch?”

The commoner students all have a blank look on their faces.

Then they remembered what Vikir had said earlier.

‘If you want to do it, leave it to one side.’

What would have happened if they had ignored him and charged in?

Creepy.

An unseasonable chill runs down everyone’s spine.

Just then.

“You idiots, what are you freezing, That’s the last hit!”

Dogma incited the other students.

“That bastard must have caught something we let slip, otherwise it doesn’t make sense!”

One by one, the students nod in agreement.

“Yeah, right, we’re in the same level 1!”

“Even if you ate a bunch of strange candies, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

“You cowardly bastard, stealing the last hit!”

“Ooh, we’re not too late, let’s get it!”

At this point, all the students from the Commoner faction were in motion.

Insectking who had fallen to the ground, was crouching on the floor, trembling and being hit by numerous kicks.

Dogma stepped in front of Vikir and said.

“Hmph. This must have been the boss monster guarding the sap gland, and I suppose you’re not unhappy with the way things turned out, since you stole the last hit from us too.”

The reply came from Vikir’s side.

“You shameless bastard, you are trying to steal the last hit!”

“It is!”

“It is!”

Highbro, Midbro, and Lowbro, they stood guard by Vikir’s side, glaring at Dogma.

But.

“……I have no complaints.”

Vikir said briefly, dismissing the triplets.

Then he turned his gaze upward.

“……?”

Dogma looked up to where Vikir was staring.

“Huh?”

His complexion quickly turned pale.

And so did the other commoner students, who were assaulting the King on Dogma’s orders.

Bung bung bung bung-

A loud flapping of wings.

It was the sound of countless armies of Insectking race descending from the roots of the Hell Tree.

“……It, it wasn’t a boss mob?”

The blood drained from Dogma’s face like a tide.

The commoner students began to tremble, not even daring to resist.

……and.

“Raise your hand.”

Vikir’s voice came again.

“I am a third-generation reader.”

“…….”

“There is a single mother, a single father to take care of.”

“…….”

“I have an old lover, or I’m getting married soon. Or I’m already a newlywed.”

“…….”

“Otherwise, there’s a ‘humanly’ reason why people should not be killed in this place.”

“…….”

“Outside to one side.”

No one snickered this time.

All of the commoner students began to slip away, looking away.

“…… is gone?”

Eventually, everyone left to one side, and Vikir ended briefly.

“Then let’s begin.”