Noid emerged from the cage, with a scattering of doom corpses behind him, their blood and slime covering his body. But the four people weren't afraid. On the contrary, they observed Noid with a mix of curiosity and admiration.
The sight they had just witnessed was simply too cool, too fierce!
"Hahaha... our noble hero seems to be enjoying himself too much, doesn't he?"
"I hope you can maintain that resolve next time."
Toriel's voice was no longer hysterical but had a sweet tone. If not for what had happened before, everyone would have thought it was the voice of some radio host.
No matter how beautiful Toriel's appearance was or how pleasant her voice was, Noid only felt a shiver down his spine. It reminded him of fruit that had been stored for too long in chemicals before being sold, beautiful on the outside but rotten on the inside.
Noid found the door out of the room and opened it, revealing another corridor. After the intense battle, he had already swallowed a healing capsule, but his body was still sore.
He increased his speed and after a while, reached the end of the hall.
...
Charles didn't know why his life had turned out so wretchedly.
On the very day he was accepted into university, the doom invasion occurred, and the whole world plunged into an apocalypse. He was the only one left of his family.
Overcoming the pain of losing his family, Charles strived to survive and finally lived to the moment when the new world government's rescue planes came to pick him up. After that, he was assigned to Orna city.
Living, working, and saving for several years, Charles was just a little short of buying his own house. He met a girl with a beautiful and sweet appearance. He was enchanted by her at first sight. The two of them gradually grew closer, and after a week, she invited Charles to her private residence.
His material life was not lacking, and his emotional life was on the rise. He had thought that from this moment on, his life would flourish, but no. What awaited Charles was not a hot girlfriend, but something even more terrifying than hell.
Charles was captured by the Doom Cult. He only knew a little about this organization because when he was rescued and settled in Orna city, it had already been a few years since the purge of the Doom Cult.
Regarding what the Doom Cult had done, Charles didn't feel much besides pity. After all, the Doom Cult had been wiped out by then. It was like seeing a natural disaster causing a lot of damage or killing many people; one could only shake their head and sigh before going back to normal life. This couldn't be blamed on him. It was very difficult to truly understand someone else's situation unless you were in it yourself.
But here, Charles felt why humanity had purged the Doom Cult. Because these fanatics couldn't be considered human. They were even more terrifying than devils. Devils were devils by nature, but these people, in the guise of humans, did things that made one tremble just thinking about them.
A large and vibrant city harbored a deep hell within it.
Charles saw innocent people, just like him, being kept by the followers like livestock. Then, they became food for the disgusting monsters. His initial anger was replaced by fear, and finally, by extreme helplessness and mental anguish.
Charles also met the girlfriend who had caused all of this. She seemed to have a very high position in the cult, which was why he was still alive even though he had been there for a long time. Meanwhile, those who came after him had already become meals in the mouths of the dooms.
He frantically asked why, why she would do this. She used the exact same gestures and tone as when they first met.
"Charles, you once helped an orphan, didn't you? You're so kind, willing to give him your lunch and even give him your points."
The gentle face of a beautiful woman and her praising and longing voice could melt any man's heart. But in this situation, it was horribly indescribable.
Just... just for that?
Just because... he helped an orphan?
Charles couldn't remember the exact feeling at that moment, only that he felt very cold, as if he had been thrown into an ice cellar. It seemed to have been so terrifying that his brain didn't want to recall it.
Charles lived his days in a daze and stupor, until today. He was taken here and tied to a chair. He wasn't alone. Another person was tied to a chair opposite him, but that person was completely covered by a cloth.
The room was terrifyingly silent, but not long after, the door opened. Charles saw a black figure walk in. Along with... the haunting voice of that follower.
Noid stepped into the next room. Toriel's voice once again came through the loudspeaker.
"The two chairs are connected and can move. If you move the chair forward to the red line, the person in the chair will be released."
"But!!!"
"If you move a chair forward, the person sitting opposite you will be pushed back. And the prize for the person who gets pushed back will be..."
Toriel's voice rose, followed by the sound of chainsaws appearing. At a distance behind the two chairs were two chainsaws placed parallel to the chairs. Seeing the sharp blades continuously cutting through the air, anyone who touched them would be cleanly sliced in half along with the chair.
Noid could see that a young man was locked in the chair. However, his face was haggard, and his beard and hair were tangled. Most notably, his eyes seemed to have lost all life, replaced by only fear and despair.
Although there were no visible injuries on his body, it was hard to imagine what he had gone through to become like this.
Noid immediately rushed forward to stop it, but Toriel's next words forced him to stop.
"Man in black, this time you won't be able to intervene."
The familiar sound of a cage opening came from Noid's left, and a doom appeared. Its height had reached 1.6 meters and its length was 1.8 meters. It was definitely the largest doom he had ever seen in the Doom Cult. He checked its stats. Its stats were as high as 1.3!
"Play with it!"
The two girls and the mother and daughter who had just arrived were immediately frozen in fear. The doom opened its four mouths and lunged toward the four people. But before it could get halfway, it was blocked by the black figure.
At this moment, Noid had injected himself with the madness drug. His physical strength instantly surged to 1.2. Although he had protected the four people, he was also knocked back and slammed onto the floor.
"Get out... of here!!"
Noid said hoarsely. The four of them immediately ran away to avoid getting in his way. He struggled to his feet, receiving a strong bite from the doom on his arm. He used his robotic arm to block, but the immense pressure still caused Noid a lot of pain. A spherical object appeared in his other hand, and he stuffed it into the doom's mouth.
"Eat this, monster."
The paralyzing bomb exploded with a shockwave. The doom spat out his arm and retreated. Flashes of electricity ran across its skin. Noid couldn't miss such a good opportunity. He plunged his paralyzing baton straight into the center of the doom's mouth, activating its "burn" mechanism.
The doom's miserable roar echoed through the room like a storm, then turned into a series of bizarre sounds. Its throat had been grilled by Noid. However, it still wasn't dead.
Because of the close distance, its bone spikes hit him like a drill, knocking him to the floor. Noid almost directly shut down, but fortunately, he had just injected the madness drug, which allowed him to maintain consciousness.
One man and one doom began a life-and-death struggle.
On the other side, Charles had also regained his senses. Before he could be shocked by the battle between a man in black and a monster, Toriel's voice appeared in his ear.
"Charles, are you still there?"
"Charles?"
Only now did Charles realize he was wearing a small earphone. Through the earphone, Toriel's voice was like sweet nectar poured into his head.
"Charles, do you see the person opposite you? Kill them, and you'll be set free."
"Don't worry, the person opposite you has been drugged. They can't resist."
"Charles, I know you're a good person, but this is just for survival. You're not wrong. This is just for survival."
"You must have gone through a terrible time. I'm sorry, but all of that was just an act. Otherwise, they would have killed me, too."
"Charles, as long as you escape this time, I'll leave the cult, and we'll run away together. We'll have a happy life."