I Became the Cute One in the Troubleshooter Squad-Chapter 106: The Enigma Auction Showdown (7)

It was a given that the conditions were in our favor.

They were two. We were three. They were the ones in a hurry. We were the ones with time on our side.

On top of that, we had holy magic, the ultimate anti-undead weapon.

It was only natural that, at some point, the Vita sisters, growing impatient, would expose a fatal opening.

And there was no way that Alice and Tamamo, both possessing genius-level combat sense, would miss that moment.

Tamamo broke through their sturdy defense. Alice deflected their sharp sword strike and, in one swift motion, sliced straight toward the neck.

There was no need to see any more—the battle was decided right then and there.

“N-no way... I... lost... to such inferior beings... Mor—te... sir....”

Vita's eyes widened in disbelief as a thin white line formed on her neck.

And then, her head slipped off her shoulders, rolling helplessly across the floor.

Even if Morte himself, the necromancer, were here, he wouldn't be able to reattach it. It was a decisive and irreversible strike.

Maybe it was because she had confirmed the victory with her own two eyes—Tamamo’s ears perked up as she shouted joyfully at Alice.

"Alice! We did it!"

"Huff... Huff... Yeah, we did."

It was said that beastkin expressed their emotions clearly through their tails.

And right now, Tamamo’s thick fox tail was shaking so wildly that it looked like it could take off at any moment.

Well, considering how she had just witnessed her precious childhood friend showing off such an incredible feat after almost a year apart, it was only natural she’d be overwhelmed with emotion.

And honestly, things were a bit complicated on my end, too.

‘Wait, now that I think about it, I have a tail, too... So... does that mean...?’

A sudden thought crossed my mind, and I turned my head slightly toward my lower back.

There, my tail was raised high, swaying gently at the tip, as if questioning what I was looking at.

What the hell does that even mean? No, hold on—just stay still. This is distracting.

As I stared at my long, sleek tail, engaging in some kind of silent standoff, Verita, still standing there as if she hadn't fully processed what had just happened, murmured quietly.

“I never imagined it would turn out like this. That my sister and I... would lose.”

It wasn’t surprising that she thought that way.

An undying knight and a mage with infinite mana—in a world without holy energy, the Vita sisters were practically an unbeatable, broken combination that could take down even higher-tier opponents.

There was no way they ever imagined they’d get stuck like this in such an absurd situation.

And to make it even worse, it wasn’t some famous fixers like Victor or Raven who defeated them.

It was just two high school girls—mere "promising rookies."

The shock must have hit her twice as hard.

But even so... she still wasn’t giving up, huh?

Verita pointed her sword at Alice, exuding killing intent, ready to continue the fight.

"Ha, you still don’t want to give up? It’s three against one now!"

"That’s something you only know after trying."

Was she planning to avenge her sister?

She sharpened her blade and lunged at Alice.

But even when Vita was still here, they weren’t at a disadvantage.

Now that it was just Verita alone, she ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ stood no chance.

Still, Alice didn’t let her guard down. She deflected Verita’s strike with full force, determined to finish her here and now.

"Fine! Let’s see—Huh?!"

But then, something completely unexpected happened.

Just as their swords were about to clash head-on, Verita suddenly dropped her weapon and leaped back!

Alice, caught off guard by the abrupt move, ended up slashing at empty air.

Meanwhile, Verita dashed toward Vita’s severed head, cradling it in her arms, and widened the distance between us.

...What was she planning to do with a head that was already severed?

Alice furrowed her brows and aimed her sword at Verita, watching her with suspicion.

“...The head?”

"I admit it. Even with holy magic, losing was because of our own weakness. Right now... you are stronger."

Verita spoke in a monotone voice, like she was reading straight from a book.

Was she planning to retreat?

The killing intent that had been so overwhelming just moments ago was completely gone.

That made it difficult to finish her off.

Verita’s physical abilities were monstrous, comparable to a Death Knight.

If she fully committed to escaping, stopping her wouldn’t be easy.

And more importantly—while all the civilians had been evacuated, there were still unconscious and injured fixers left in the area.

If we chased too far after Verita, we wouldn’t be able to respond in time if another attack happened.

...So in the end, we had no choice but to let her go.

Alice and Tamamo stood tense and silent, watching as Verita prepared to flee—when, all of a sudden, the lifeless head cradled in Verita’s arms suddenly opened its eyes wide and shouted.

"Ghh... Don’t accept this! There’s no way we—Morte’s creations—could lose to such inferior beings!"

"Y-you spoke?!"

A severed head talking—it was a nightmarish sight straight out of a horror movie.

But wait. If the head was separated from the body, wouldn’t that mean it no longer had vocal cords?

How the hell was she even speaking?!

As I stood there, baffled by this bizarre phenomenon, Tamamo, rather than being shocked, calmly gave her assessment.

“...So, that redhead was an undead mage—a Lich. That explains it. Since it’s already a corpse, it can still talk even if its head is cut off.”

"Ugh... Liches can survive even after being beheaded? That’s insane."

Alice stared at Vita, utterly disgusted by the sight of her talking despite being beheaded.

Usually, zombies or ghouls controlled by vampires stopped moving completely when decapitated.

This was probably her first time experiencing the sheer persistence of a true undead, created by a proper necromancer.

But for some reason, Vita seemed furious about something.

Still just a head in Verita’s arms, she yelled out furiously.

“Hey! You over there, you flat purple fox! I’m not just a Lich! I’m a High Lich! Are you seriously comparing me to some lowly pile of bones?!”

“W-who are you calling flat?! I-it’s average! AVERAGE!”

“Sis. You’re squirming too much. You’re hard to hold.”

“T-Tamamo?! Calm down!”

Vita’s words must have hit Tamamo’s nerve hard.

Her tail puffed up more than usual, and her expression turned dangerously fierce.

Gone was the usual calm and composed Tamamo—she was visibly pissed.

Well... to be fair, Tamamo wasn’t exactly on the bigger side.

But she was cute and beautiful, so what was the big deal?

I silently shook my head as I watched Tamamo, who looked ready to unload every spell she had onto Vita.

‘Well, aside from that... this pretty much wraps things up here. Vita lost her body and is completely incapacitated. And since Verita adores her sister, she won’t be trying to fight anymore.’

So ultimately, the situation hadn’t changed.

The enemy lost the will to fight, and we still had more than enough strength left.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the fixers had won the battle at the Enigma Auction.

I wasn’t sure what was going on in other areas, but this outcome should have a significant positive impact.

That meant my role here was finished. Time to leave before my identity got exposed.

I had made up my mind and was about to slip away—when suddenly...

BOOOOM!

A chilling sensation, like I was suddenly weightless, ran through my body.

The ceiling collapsed!

“Wha—?!”

“T-the ceiling!”

“...!”

Fortunately, my reaction wasn’t slow.

With the last bit of holy energy I had left, I quickly spread it out, forming a protective barrier over myself and Tamamo.

In that split-second prayer, I wished for protection from the danger.

Razor-sharp debris bounced off the barrier and scattered around us.

If I had hesitated even slightly, we would have been buried under the rubble.

Tamamo, eyes wide with shock, quickly bowed her head in thanks.

But unfortunately, I couldn’t return the gesture.

Because something terrifying had fallen along with the ceiling.

‘No way... this timing...!’

There was only one dangerous enemy who could possibly appear in this hotel right now.

A cold sweat ran down my back as my instincts screamed in alarm.

Just sharing the same space as this entity made it feel like my heart was being crushed.

“...This foul sensation... It has been far too long....”

Beyond my sharpened beastkin senses, I heard a deeply unsettling voice.

It sounded inhuman, like something trying to mimic a human’s speech—it was suffocating just to hear.

And then, as the thick, ashen dust settled after the ceiling's collapse...

A towering figure, well over two meters tall, emerged—a gaunt and skeletal monstrosity.

My worst fear had come true.

The moment I saw its form, my memories from the original story flooded back.

There was no way I wouldn’t recognize it.

‘That’s... Plaguebringer Morte!’

One of the Septenary Guard of the Liberation Army of Non-Human Races—the infamous Plaguebringer Morte.

The greatest necromancer, the one who personally created the Vita sisters—and an absolute nightmare.

And unfortunately... he immediately noticed that I had been using holy energy.

His grotesquely thin fingers slowly pointed at me, his voice a whispered command.

“Die.”

CRACK.

Something shot out from his fingertips.

No—I couldn’t even see it.

Of course not.

Morte’s abilities were at a completely different level.

Even among Double Number fixers, he was among the strongest.

And I was barely Triple Number tier.

The difference was insurmountable.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

This was death.

My sharpened beastkin instincts screamed the truth.

No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t escape this fate.

“That’s not happening.”

But just as certain death was about to reach me—

Something intervened.

Something faster than sound—a shadow-forged bullet.

CRACK!

A violent tearing noise rang out—as if reality itself had been forcibly ripped apart.

...Or maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me.

Because a split-second later, the deafening roar of a gunshot shook the air.

And then—thud.

Something dropped from the ceiling—a figure with a mischievous grin, turning to look at us.

“...!”

“Jin!!”

“Yo. Am I late?”

In this chaotic disaster, standing amidst the wreckage, was the one person I wanted to see the most—

The protagonist of this world.

Raven.