“……”
Silence, yet again.
Even the Pink Bear, who prides himself on having seen many of the world’s troubles, feels somewhat at a loss at this moment.
After all the crazy Evil Cultists he has encountered, this is the first time he has seen someone surrender and defect. What should he do?
“Are you saying you don’t trust me, boss?”
Seeing the Pink Bear’s silence, the Scar-faced Man assumes he is being distrusted. He then picks up his large sword and approaches the Skinny Shadow, which he had kicked far away, raising the sword and slashing down several more times.
His ruthless and uncompromising demeanor raises suspicions about whether the Scar-faced Man has some deep-seated grudge against the Skinny Shadow.
But in fact, this is the first time these two have met, and until recently, they were allies.
“Stop, stop, stop. That’s enough.”
Watching the Skinny Shadow nearly chopped into minced meat, the Pink Bear finally calls for a halt.
“I’ll trust you for now, but don’t chop it up so finely. It’ll be a hassle to clean later.”
“Really?”
The Scar-faced Man immediately brightens up.
Then, he excitedly rushes to the Pink Bear, grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously:
“Thank you, boss! Your kindness to me is like that of a parent reborn…”
“Stop, stop, stop…”
Disgusted, the Pink Bear retracts his paw and glances at the Scar-faced Man.
“To clarify, I don’t fully trust you. I’m just sparing your life for the moment. If you give me any trouble, I’ll be the first to…”
“Huh?”
As if suddenly realizing something, the Pink Bear grasps the Scar-faced Man’s shoulder and feels something carefully.
Moments later, he expresses astonishment:
“You’re not tainted by the Evil God?”
“Huh? Tainted by the Evil God? What do you mean?”
“You’re not one of those disgusting Love God’s followers?”
“The Love God?”
The Scar-faced Man scratches his head in confusion, and after a moment, he seems to remember something and exclaims:
“You mean the High Priest who’s always nagging us to worship? Why would I believe in him? He doesn’t even give me money.”
“But if you’re not a follower of the Love God, why are you hanging out with those guys?”
“Oh, that’s because I bumped into them on the road while wandering around. They handed out flyers saying they could help me find true love, so I went along.”
At this point, a hint of anger appears on the Scar-faced Man’s face:
“Then I realized they were just a bunch of con artists. They made me recite some holy scriptures, hold trial meetings, and now they want me to do something as dangerous as invading the academy, yet I still haven’t found my true love!”
The Pink Bear is even more shocked: “You’ve actually entered the lair of the Evil God. Whether you believe or not, it seems like it’s not up to you anymore!”
“Wait, could it be…”
The Pink Bear suddenly recalls something and examines the Scar-faced Man closely, stroking his chin:
“You don’t have even the slightest twisted love? So the Evil God’s seduction doesn’t work on you?”
“What twisted love!”
The Scar-faced Man is furious. “Even you can’t defile my pure feelings. That is true love!”
“……”
The Pink Bear remains silent for a moment, then suddenly asks, “I remember that so-called true love cult is the famed male association from Bairland, right?”
“Yeah, it’s male. Why else would I join them?”
“May I ask, who is your true love…”
“It’s him!”
The Scar-faced Man suddenly pulls out a portrait from behind, unfolding it in front of the Pink Bear, showing a look of bliss on his face.
“The man I will eventually bring home as my bride.”
“……This is.”
The Pink Bear leans in to look at the portrait of the vividly handsome blonde man and cannot help but feel puzzled:
“Strange, this person looks familiar. Isn’t he someone very well-known at the academy? And doesn’t he seem to have a bit of a connection with little Celicia…”
As he speaks, the Pink Bear glances at the Scar-faced Man, who has a shy expression reminiscent of a young girl, and his bear mouth begins to curve into a smile:
“I seem to have… discovered something interesting.”
“Hmm, does the boss know him?” The Scar-faced Man’s eyes light up. “His name is Mu’en Campbell. Do you know where he is?”
“Well…”
The Pink Bear’s smile carries a profound meaning. He pats the Scar-faced Man’s shoulder and says, “If you stick with me and do well, you will surely encounter your true love.”
“Sure!”
The Scar-faced Man stands tall, resembling a devoted follower.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“Kolen.”
“Alright, Kolen, go clean the ground.”
“Understood!”
Kolen takes the tools that the Pink Bear has produced from his dark and deep bear mouth and scurries over to the corpse of the Skinny Shadow, ready to clean up the remains.
However, just as he prepares to act, he suddenly feels a bone-chilling coldness.
It feels as though some malicious gaze is fixating on him.
Kolen instinctively turns to look and finds the Skinny Shadow’s remaining head intact, still alive, staring at him with a frigid look.
“Damn, what’s going on?”
Kolen jumps back in surprise, instinctively reaching for his large knife to strike again.
But just then, he hears a commanding voice.
“Bow your head!”
Without much thought, Kolen obeys and quickly lowers his head.
A gust of wind rushes over, causing his scalp to tingle.
Meanwhile, the Pink Bear, having appeared next to the Skinny Shadow at some point, raises his wolf fang mace — smash!
In an instant, the Skinny Shadow’s remaining half of the head is smashed to smithereens, blood and brain matter splattering grotesquely.
Yet, the remaining half of the head is still alive, casting a mocking gaze at the Pink Bear.
“Caw… it’s too late… actually… my appearance here… is enough to confirm the existence of that thing…”
The Skinny Shadow grins with half an open mouth, producing a sound as piercing as metal scraping, and frantically shouts:
“Moon… immortality!”
In that moment.
From the dismembered body of the Skinny Shadow, the little blood it had began to move on its own, gathering into a strange pattern.
At the same time, the lantern that the Scar-faced Man and the Pink Bear had oddly forgotten about materializes next to the pattern.
The light on the lantern suddenly goes out, and a deep blue glow sparks to life from the pattern, resembling moonlight, outlining a sense of death and chill.
The blue moonlight flickers rhythmically, seemingly resonating with some distant existence.
“This is… the Evil God’s positioning coordinates?”
The Pink Bear’s pupils constrict. He can no longer consider anything else, and with all his strength, he slams the wolf fang mace down, shattering the pattern along with the ground surrounding it!
But, as it seems the Skinny Shadow had said, it’s already too late.
Forget the consequences of smashing such an enormous pit into the precious metal ground and how furious Professor Plon would be after all this, the Pink Bear raises his head in horror.
Even through hundreds of meters of heavy rock overhead, the Pink Bear feels that, in the infinite sky above, there seems to be a terrifying presence slowly casting its gaze down upon this place.
That gaze is so frightening, as if there were an absolute crushing force of life, making the Pink Bear tremble at the very core of his soul.
Above the heavens, a giant blue moon hangs high.
“Damn, damn, there really is a Plan C?”
Kolen, who feels something similar, pales visibly, beginning to rethink if his swift defection was a bad decision.
He wonders if turning back again now would lead that boss of the moon to forgive him.
“Wait.”
Ignoring Kolen’s worries, sensing something once more, the Pink Bear turns his head again, looking in another direction.
That direction is… the student dormitory!
And his tone grows increasingly grave.
“Could it be… more than one?”
