CH 152

Chapter 152

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : The Archfiend Workshop, Part 7 — Master Of The Workshop

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

「Well, it made me laugh a lot. I guess it was worth it just for that.」

Elsa and Eliza couldn’t help but get the impression of ugliness when they saw the face of Anomaly, who was smiling with a wry smile on his face. The black robe obscured his body, but the distorted parts of his face, the pimples that smelled strange even in this room reeking of blood. Furthermore, he had the appearance of an old man and spoke with the voice of a child, so they could only assume that he had pieced everything together to create a physiological aversion. Anomaly didn’t miss Elsa’s unintentional “ugly” remark at the sight of him.

「Ugly? Are you saying that I’m ugly!?」

「…Yes, you’re ugly.」

Elsa hesitated for a moment how she should respond, fearing that it might be a poor provocation, and once again clearly affirmed, but Anomlay started laughing, his body trembling slightly at his words.

「Fufu, fufufu. Nice, that’s nice.」

「What’s funny?」

「It’s not funny, it’s entertaining! Come on, ladies. Keep up the good work, and keep on taunting me!」

Anomaly opens his arms and urges them to come together. Elsa and Eliza have been full of surprises since entering this cave, and although they thought they’re prepared for most things, they didn’t expect this kind of surprise. The boyish old man in front of them was demanding that they「abuse him.」

When Elsa is fed up with this very vulgar request and holds her head in her hands, she spits it out as if to say

「You must be out of your mind.」

「Oh, yeah, keep it up! More, more!!」

「…You crazy son of a bitch.」

Elsa unexpectedly reverts back to her slum-era tone. Deciding that it is no longer filthy to even hear her speak, Elsa grabs a fistful of mithril. Before she hear any more, she’s going to crush him. That was Elsa’s conclusion.

「Now, now, now! Curse me more please!」

「Eliza, you stay here.」

At the same time as she said that, Elsa kicked the ground without waiting for Eliza’s reply. She didn’t want Eliza, who is still young, to have to deal with such a pervert. Then Elsa approaches Anomaly and takes a fist-fighter-like stance, but he is still very defenseless with his hands outstretched, as if he is still comfortable. Erza’s fist mercilessly catches him in the face.

Elsa’s left hook strikes Anomaly right on the cheek. In addition, Elsa twists her fist even more the moment it hits, and combined with mithril fist, the power is so powerful that it is hard to believe that she is a woman. Anomaly spewed nosebleeds and sloshed blood from a cut on the inside of his mouth. Elsa’s left fist still had the firm feel of Annomarie’s shattered cheekbone.

Anomaly also retreated backward after the unexpectedly powerful blow. But even with that much shock and injury, his face remains as grimacing as ever, and he shows no sign of defending himself. Elsa felt an unpleasant sweat down her spine, but she didn’t care, she was going for it. However, just to be safe, she left out the torso, which was hidden from view by the robe.

「More, more!」

「Sei!!」

Again Elsa’s left hook hit Anomalie. This time, however, she hit it grazing the tip of the chin, a strategy that shook Anomalie’s brain. Anomaly, suffering from a mild concussion, crumples to his knees.

「More… huh?」

「I’ll beat the shit of you!!」

A dazzling barrage of elusive strikes from Elsa. She has no intention of giving Anomaly the chance to counterattack. Before he know it, Anomaly’s face is deformed beyond recognition. It may be hard to say that Anomaly’s face is more or less intact from the original. When Elsa felt that Anomaly’s skull was roughly crushed, she clenched her first-class fist and swung it.

「It’s the best!」

「Ah… huu…」

Without seeming to pay any attention to Anomaly, who is about to say something, Elsa swings her fist from top to bottom and slams Anomaly’s head into the ground. Anomaly’s head was completely destroyed, taking on the appearance of a shattered piece of fruit.

When Elsa confirms that Anomaly has stopped twitching, she regains her breath and pulls back to Eliza. Eliza couldn’t help but express her admiration for his ruthless fighting style and superb body language.

「It was impressive.」

「Not really. Come to think of it, I never even heard his name. I wonder who he was, this lowlife.」

「Well, that’s just rude of me, intruder ladies. I apologise, my name is Anomaly.」

Suddenly, the two were completely caught off guard by the words coming from the entrance. In the direction where the voice came from, the man they had just defeated was standing there with a condescending bow.

「Eh!?」

「Are you his twin?」

Eliza blurts out something unintentionally, but more Anomalies appear in a gaggle behind the Anomalies that have once again emerged.

「T–That’s…」

「6, 7, 8… How many siblings do you have?」

「Funny you should mention that, you know.」

Chuckling, the leading Anomaly laughs.

「Unfortunately though, we are the same person. Well, I guess you could say I copied myself.」

「What? How is that possible?」

「I can do it. With my super genius brain.」

Anomaly proudly pats himself on the head and shows it off.

「By the way, we can share our experiences. Well, it’s inconvenient that we have to stop the life activity of each individual.」

With that said, Anomaly, in a brilliantly quick action, unleashed an explosive magic on the individual that Elsa had just beaten to death. If he had released it at Elsa or Eliza, it would’ve been impossible to avoid at least. Then, when the individual that had just been completely shut down, the other Anomalies began to laugh, as if they were having fun.

「I see, I see～ I had such a good experience just now～ This is definitely something we all need to share, right, me?」

「Right. It’s not often these days that we get to take a beating like this. Fighting among friends is basically forbidden, and there are few opportunities for us to be on the battlefield, right, me?」

「But from now on, maybe some of us should go outside to get materials. There was a beautiful woman there, but let’s just get beat up and come back, right, me?」

「「「Approve～!」」」

Elsa and Eliza were dazzled by the laughing Anomalies. Elsa was even more convinced. These people are the masters of this workshop. With a maniac like this, it’s no wonder that he has been experimenting with the Archfiends they hear about and the insanity they see here.

They will beat them all to the punch. As Elsa took a step forward with this resolve, the Anomalies stopped laughing. Elsa was startled by the transformation and stopped in her tracks, but Anomaly held up one finger and slowly waved it to the side, winning Eliza over.

「Well, well, take your time. You two have come all this way. I can answer a few of your questions. You’re a hand from Arnelia anyway, aren’t you? Now that you have seen us here, there is no way we can return you safely, and you can’t go home empty-handed either. But I’m not a fighting maniac like the others. I’m a person who likes to enjoy conversation, even with my enemies. Especially with beautiful women like you.」

Elsa, while repulsed, calmly and often tried to figure out the true meaning of Anomaly, but if she could really get an answer, it would be the best. Or, if it was a lie, some hypothesis could come to mind. Miriazar has asked them to bring her whatever information they can. If the man in front of them is an enemy officer, there is no better source of information than this.

Wary of the anomaly with plenty of time to spare, Elsa was ready to go.

「…So let me ask you. I’d like to hear your…」

「Oops, I can’t answer everything before that, and I can’t answer more than once. I can’t answer more than three questions. And depending on the subject matter, I may bail. Is that okay?」

In short, she was told not to answer anything that was inconvenient, but anomaly seemed to be testing Elsa. Elsa often pondered over this condition again, but she has a lot of experience when it comes to scaremongering. After a few moments of distress, Elsa suddenly asked Anomaly.

「Okay, I’m going to ask you the first question. May I?」

「Do you as please.」

In contrast, Anomaly has plenty of time to spare. He probably doesn’t think that the woman in front of him is smarter than he is.