When I Cleared the Death Game World, I Reincarnated as a Villainous Noble Even if They Talk About Doom Flags, I'm Actually Immortal. - Chapter 40

Chasing after the fleeing scouts, Lior emerged from the forest.

As soon as he stepped out, an abandoned village came into view.

At the center of the village stood Ren, but right before him lay a monstrous creature resembling an ogre.

For some reason, its body had been completely cleaved in two.

“W-What the hell is this…? Is it one of the ogre’s allies…?”

“W-Where’s our leader…? Don’t tell me he was the only one who ran away…?”

The scouts who had arrived at the village before Lior were just as bewildered.

Their leader, the swordsman, was nowhere to be seen, and their unease grew.

“H-Hey… help me…”

“T-That voice…? Could it be… you…?”

Even though the ogre-like monster had been split in half, it was still alive.

Yet, its groaning voice sounded eerily familiar.

Could the swordsman have transformed into this creature due to the cursed dagger?

The scouts seemed to realize the truth as they hesitantly approached the grotesque form that had once been their leader.

“Did… did he use two of those daggers!?”

“No way… Just one was enough to change us this much…”

“If he used two, there’s no other explanation for this monstrous transformation!!”

Apparently, the swordsman had used two daggers.

Because of that, he had mutated into something far worse than the scouts.

Keeping an eye on the scouts, Lior rushed over to Ren.

Ren looked exhausted, but at a glance, he had no major injuries.

Even though the swordsman had turned into a monster, Ren had managed to defeat him. As expected of an A-rank adventurer.

“Ren, I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Lior, you too. I’d love to hug you and pat your head right now, but… we need to deal with this first.”

Ren pointed his sword at the split-in-half swordsman and the scouts.

The scouts and the mage, already exhausted from their fight with Lior, had completely lost their will to fight after seeing what had become of their leader. Their knees buckled in surrender.

As for the swordsman, his body had been severed in two—he was in no condition to move.

The fight was already over.

“You know you’ve lost, don’t you? Where is my sister?”

“…She’s in a house at the back of the village. She should be waking up soon since the drug’s effects are wearing off.”

At Ren’s question, one of the scouts muttered in resignation and pointed toward a house deeper in the village.

“Good. Lior, can you go check on her?”

“Understood.”

Lior turned toward the direction the scout had indicated.

As he passed by them, heading toward the abandoned house—

One of the scouts, keeping his movements hidden from Ren, reached into the swordsman’s coat and pulled something out.

It was a vial, the kind used to store potions.

But inside was something far more sinister—a black flame, darker and more malevolent than the magic the sorcerer had wielded.

Just looking at it sent a chill through the air.

“!? Ren, step back!!”

“What—!?”

CRASH!

The scout slammed the vial onto the ground.

In an instant, black flames spread across the ground.

Lior and Ren barely managed to leap away in time.

They weren’t caught in the flames, but the fire quickly rose into a towering wall, forming a perfect circle around them.

It was similar to the fire trap that had caught Lior earlier—but this wall was much higher, nearly impossible to escape.

“H-Hell yeah…! There’s no way they’re getting through this! Good thing we kept this little secret weapon!!”

“A-Alright… I’ll heal up, and then we’ll escape…”

“We’ll return the hostage… but we’re not getting caught!!”

The swordsman’s remaining allies cheered at their newfound advantage.

From their safe distance beyond the flames, they sneered at Lior and Ren.

But the fire did not behave as expected.

“H-Hey… isn’t the fire closing in…?”

“It’s not just your imagination…! The wall is shrinking! And we can’t get out either!!”

The wall of flames began creeping toward them.

Unlike the sorcerer’s previous magic, this fire trap had no safe exit.

Like a battle royale’s shrinking combat zone, the flames forced the swordsman’s group into a tighter and tighter space.

And then—

“AAAHHH!! IT’S HOT!! IT’S BURNING!!”

“NOOOO!! MY BODY—IT’S MELTING!!”

“HELP ME!! HELP ME!!!”

Screams of agony filled the air as the flames swallowed them whole.

Their bodies sizzled and oozed, melting together like molten wax.

Their liquefied flesh congealed and expanded.

A grotesque form took shape—

A bloated, hideous creature with limbs sprouting from its doughy body.

It stood on two legs.

As the transformation settled, the black flames lost their intensity.

When the fire completely vanished and the air cleared—

What remained was a single, revolting monster.

Its body was swollen like a drowned corpse.

One of its arms was abnormally large, completely unbalanced with the rest of its body.

Three grotesque heads protruded from its rounded torso.

The faces belonged to the swordsman, the scout, and the sorcerer.

The scout and the sorcerer had lost all sanity.

Their vacant, unfocused eyes stared into nothingness, mouths half-open, murmuring incomprehensibly.

Only the swordsman’s eyes retained their light.

With a gleam of twisted clarity, he scanned the surroundings—

And then—

BOOOOM!!

The monster moved in an instant, ripping through Lior’s body.

Bl00d splattered.

Organs flew.

Lior’s body was split in half and sent flying into an abandoned house.

The impact was too much for the old structure.

With a loud crash, the house collapsed.

“L-Lior…?”

Not even a second had passed.

Lior had been killed in an instant.

Like a cruel nightmare, his life had been snuffed out before anyone could process it.

Ren’s eyes widened in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.