3 idiot chapter 140

 Episode 140. Succubus

It had been a few more days since we entered the dungeon.

The number of people we saw around us had noticeably dropped.

Actually—there were almost none.

Then, as we descended another floor—

"From this point on, seriously be careful, okay?"

—came a warning from the top authority of this country.

When we opened the door, what we saw was a nighttime cityscape.

But this was still inside the dungeon.

There was no way this could be a normal town.

I glanced at the elves to confirm, and both of them silently nodded.

In that case, everyone here must be “enemies.”

I bumped my fists together, psyching myself up—

"This area is home to the Succubi. So, um… no matter what you see, don’t hesitate, alright?"

"“““Did you just say Succubi!?”””"

We all instinctively whipped our heads around in unison.

Succubi. You know—those kinds of monsters.

Big boobs, slim waists, big hips, and dressed in scandalous outfits.

They attack you while doing… those kinds of things. They're seriously dangerous.

Naturally, we had to be on guard.

"Master… it might not be the best idea to scan the area while staying ‘on full alert’ like that. Is something wrong?"

Even though Minami chimed in like that, there’s no way we couldn’t be curious—as men.

Where are they? Where are the Succubi?

Just once is fine. Let us see one!

That was basically everyone’s mood as we slowly crept forward.

"Be careful. They read your memories and ‘mimic’ people. If you see someone familiar, and there’s no chance they’d be in this dungeon—it’s definitely a succubus."

"…Huh? So what about the sexy ladies in skimpy outfits?"

"…Well, I mean, yeah. The high-tier ones can look like that. But normally, they lure you in with illusions. Do you get it? They take the form of someone important to you. Someone you love, someone you want to protect, a comrade—whatever they can use."

They gave me some seriously exasperated looks, but wait…

Aren’t succubi supposed to be… you know… sexy?

Big sighs came from three directions.

And then—suddenly—we heard a voice ahead of us.

"Kou… so this is where you were."

I felt like I forgot how to breathe.

That voice—familiar, comforting, nostalgic—lingered in my ears.

"Come on, let’s go home. Dinner’s almost ready, and you’re going to help, remember?"

I turned to look.

"That person" was there, reaching a hand out toward me.

"Kou-chan, don’t fall for it. That’s not real."

"Ahh… I see. This could get bad."

Even as my friends warned me, “it” kept speaking.

"Kou, what’s wrong? Come here. Let’s go home."

That warm, nostalgic smile…

“Shut up.”

Don’t talk to me with that face.

Don’t speak in that familiar voice pretending to be her.

"Kou, come now. I’ll cook something tasty tonight. Help me out, okay?"

That person slowly approached, that smile exactly as I remembered it. One hand reached out, resting gently on my shoulder.

So this is what a “Succubus” is.

If I were alone, I might’ve taken that hand.

Might’ve leapt into her arms in joy.

But no.

Screw that.

"Minami. Spear."

"Aah… I’m washing my hands of this, just so you know."

"Yeah… this isn’t going to end well."

"Um, uh… Here you go, Master."

Minami, still flustered and unsure what was going on, handed me two spears. I gripped them tightly—hard enough to creak.

"Kou? What’s wrong? Why that scary face?"

"Shut up."

"Huh?"

The next instant, her head flew off.

The tip of my spear had slashed clean through her neck.

And then—

"Kou… why?"

"Kou, that hurt…"

Voices—dozens of them—rose around me in unison.

Ah. I get it now.

I really understand the difference between magic beasts and monsters.

These monsters could actually think.

They understand what hurts their target the most, what methods will give them an advantage.

They plan, calculate, and attack.

"Don’t any of you interfere. If you try to stop me, you’ll just make me hesitate. That’s why I’m going to take them all out."

With a spear in each hand, I dropped into a low stance.

"You don’t have to push yourself, Kou-chan. That thing’s a fake. Let us handle it."

"If it comes down to it, you can close your eyes. We’ll take care of the rest..."

Their concern was clear in their voices, but I just lowered my stance further.

"It’s fine. I will do this. If they’re monsters, then I can kill them—don’t worry. It feels like I have to kill them... for real. Damn bastards."

I clenched my jaw and took the first step forward.

The ground beneath me shattered as I surged into the crowd, right in front of the nearest one.

Now, my vision was filled with that person’s face.

Dozens of them. All the same.

Each one a succubus. A monster.

So there’s no reason to hesitate.

I’ll kill every last one of them.

No doubt. No fear of hitting a real person.

Because the one they were copying—

My grandma—who had died right in front of me.

"SHAAAAAA!!!"

"Tch… he’s not gonna stop for a while, huh..."

"I’d love to stop him… but after what they pulled, I can’t blame him. Still, this is hard to watch."

I went berserk. Utterly berserk.

Cutting down everything in front of me.

Skewering, cleaving.

Sometimes kicking them to death—just rampaging.

Don’t screw with me.

You don’t get to imitate someone like that just by copying their looks.

She meant the world to me.

And you dare—you dare look like her, sound like her, and try to deceive me like that...

…………………

……………….. (for earlier part of this, Kou saw himself as “IT” not as himself , though it’s still his POV)

"Aaaaaaaaah!!"

Even when his body was pushed beyond its limits, even when the spears in his hands shattered—

He kept rampaging.

Like a beast.

When his weapons were gone, he still had fists, teeth, claws.

He tore through buildings, smashed heads into the ground.

Drenched in all sorts of fluids, he raged on.

Kill them all.

They were all fakes anyway.

"Zuaaahhh! Dieeeee!!"

His fist pierced the face of a fake—no, a mockery—splattering not just blood but brains across his armor.

Who cares?

They brought this on themselves. They were the ones who chose to shapeshift.

So die. Don’t you dare show that face to me again.

That’s all I could think as I thrashed about.

Die. Just die.

Stop smiling at me with that face.

"Master!!"

In the middle of a battle so intense it threatened to break my mind—

One person clung to my armor.

"You must stop—any more, and you’ll break! She was important to you, wasn’t she? Even if those were nothing like the real thing, watching her die over and over, seeing her break… it’s too much! You shouldn’t have to witness that! Please… just stop already. Please, stop crying. You always bottle everything up. I hate it. It’s okay to show weakness sometimes!"

Saying all that, she hugged me tightly to her chest.

Back off. I still need to—

"It’s okay to run away sometimes. You don’t have to face every painful truth. You don’t need to attack everything head-on. You’ve done enough, you’re already hurting. So when it’s really too much… lean on us. Please, Master. It’s too painful to keep watching. Please, don’t cry anymore…"

As she whispered those words, she held my helmet close.

As if to cover my eyes and ears.

"I'm sorry, everyone. Could you… handle the rest?"

"…Yeah. We’ll take over. I can’t watch this anymore."

"Sigh… we can stand by his side, but we can’t exactly hug him. He’d just call us creeps."

I heard the clatter of steel nearby.

"I don’t fully get it, but… understood. I’ll take them all out."

[You’ve shown quite the pitiful side, Kitayama. But still—you stood in front of everyone. That was really cool. Leave the rest to us.]

A hand patted my back, and the voices slowly faded.

I couldn’t see anything. I was still being held tightly.

"It’s okay to look away sometimes. You’ve got reliable comrades here to carry the load. So… please, stop now. I don’t want to see you cry anymore, Master."

There I was, kneeling in disgrace, being held by a girl way younger than me.

She gently patted my helmet like she was soothing a child.

It was pathetic. Embarrassing.

What the hell was I doing? I’m a grown man.

Still…

"But I… I have to—those things—"

"Because you’re the leader? We’re human, too. There are plenty of things we can’t do—plenty of regrets from our past. That’s why we rely on each other, right? You were the one who taught me that. There’s no need to carry it all alone."

Saying that, Minami removed my helmet and covered my ears.

Even so, I still heard one final voice, from right beside me.

"Make it quick—forty seconds should do. I don’t want Master to hear another second of this."

"You got it, Minami-chan. Kou-chan’s in your hands."

"No holding back, okay? These bastards chose exactly the worst way to pick a fight."

"I’ll use every enhancement spell I have. Even if I burn out… this leaves a bad taste. Kana, you’re up."

[I’ll use my full breath. Let’s erase this whole town.]

Their voices were edged with fury.

……………………..

…………………….

I couldn’t help but laugh.

What the hell are these people?

Are they really “human”?

The first to go berserk had been the black beast.

He swung two spears until they shattered, kept killing until he was soaked head to toe in blood.

And when the spears broke, he tore monsters apart with his hands and feet.

Succubi aren’t particularly powerful monsters—but mentally, they’re brutal.

They must’ve dug into the Hearty Eater’s leader’s memories.

That’s why they took her form.

To us, she just looked like an old woman in strange clothes.

But her bright, radiant smile… carried the same air as him.

She must’ve been family.

The way that beast howled—he wasn’t just angry. He was grieving.

Then she stopped him—and after that...

"H-Haha… The world really is vast, huh?"

"Humans who can slay dragons… that’s already hard to believe. But this…"

My grandfather and I both let out dry laughs.

It looked like war.

The number of enemies was absurd—yet only three people faced them.

The succubi gathered from all over the floor, shapeshifting as they came.

They must’ve read more than just his memories—others too.

Their appearances changed, reflecting our allies' loved ones.

But before we could even register who they’d become, the beasts tore them apart.

One of them yanked a massive pillar from a building and mowed down enemies like grass.

Another had disappeared completely, but judging by the decapitated bodies everywhere, they must’ve been the one moving at insane speed.

And the last—the horned beast—stood atop a building, scanning the surroundings.

"Area-wide buffs… enhancing and amplifying offensive magic. Twice—no, triple stacked. Kana, let’s burn it all."

[Ready anytime. Let’s incinerate this whole city.]

"[BREATH!!]"

At her shout, light swallowed the world.

A horizontal wave of it surged outward, turning everything it touched to ash.

The wind howled, the heat seared our skin—and we could only watch, stunned.

"H-Hahaha… You’ve got to be kidding me."

"This is… the power of a dragon?"

Just moments ago, this had been a night-lit cityscape.

And now?

Nothing remained.

Everything that had once stood on this floor was obliterated.

Except for one building.

The one where the horned girl stood.

That alone remained standing.

Far in the distance, we could see the staircase leading down.

Everything else was rubble.

"Let’s get out of here. This place is finished."

The beastkin girl spat the words like venom.

We followed her lead, heading toward the stairs.

No one even glanced at the magic stones we’d normally collect.

This was Hearty Eater.

The “Walkers” who even dragons feared.

Until now, every time we found something rare, we got excited.

We wanted to poke and prod, get involved.

But not this time.

This was something else.

Their level—their very nature—was too far removed from ours.

It’s fine when they’re smiling.

But if you ever seriously piss them off, not even a country could stop them.

No matter what strategies you think up, those beasts would tear right through them.

"I think… we may have invited something really dangerous."

"Best not to anger them. But if we act too submissive, that might annoy them too. Best to just… act normal."

With a sigh of resignation, we trailed after them.

These people—

They might actually clear this dungeon.

PREVIOUS || TOC || NEXT