Chapter 30: Borksen’s Breakdown × The Man-Eating Fish

It should be ending soon, right?

Momoze sat beside Dia, her eyes unfocused and vacant. She seemed distracted, glancing at him occasionally before quickly looking away. She had successfully won the auction for the item she came for, a set of antique knitwear, an item she had been brimming with anticipation for before she arrived.

But now that she had it, she didn't feel the satisfaction she expected.

Why? Is there something else I want?

And what was Borksen thinking, sitting to Dia's right? She was practically sitting on pins and needles.

Her two incompetent teammates had used the excuse that "the auction house is safer" to push the brooding, silent-for-days Borksen into being their bidder. But they hadn't told her that the very scoundrel who had cheated a naive young girl out of her life savings was sitting right here!

And…

Did something happen between this guy and the Prince?

Borksen sat stiffly, eyes fixed forward, pretending not to see the oppressive atmosphere radiating from the seats nearby. When she first sat down, she had let a flicker of resentment slip toward that scoundrel. The 12th Prince, somehow, had caught it, and then… she had fixed Borksen with a hollow, empty stare that made the guard break out in a cold sweat, as if asking, "Why would you look at him like that?"

No way.

What has this guy been doing the last few days? Even the gentle Twelfth Prince can make a look like that?

Borksen started to regret not paying attention to anything but her two million Jenny the last few days, which left her completely in the dark. Although, as a private soldier for a high-ranking prince, Borksen held a certain political status, that didn't mean she could provoke a member of the royal family! Without orders from a high-ranking prince or queen, not just anyone could be disrespectful to even the lower-ranking princes. If a prince simply mentioned that "that soldier was disrespectful to the royal family," it wouldn't necessarily mean an instant execution, but "social death" was the absolute baseline. 

Especially for someone like her, who aimed for a quiet, bureaucratic career, that was completely unacceptable. Furthermore, given the 4th Prince's temperament, if he truly found someone who disrespected the royal bloodline, he wouldn't spare her life just for the sake of their old university friendship; he would likely be the first to skin her alive.

After successfully winning the item the 4th Prince desired, Borksen sank into her seat and let out a long breath. She glanced at the person sitting next to her, who looked bored out of his mind, and her large eyes instantly turned into deadpan fish-eyes.

Nothing good ever happens after meeting this guy…

Hm?

Borksen watched in confusion as the expression of that insufferable man suddenly grew grave, his body tensing instantly.

What happened? An enemy attack?

Her first thought was an attack, but when she subconsciously scanned the room, she saw nothing. She was confident in her observation skills; if there were truly signs of an ambush, it was impossible she wouldn't have noticed.

So… what did he find?

"Your Highness, Borksen, we're under attack. We need to leave, now."

Dia's deliberately lowered voice cut through Borksen's musings. She reflexively turned to look at him, but he was already on his feet.

An actual attack? And why is this overly familiar guy calling us so affectionately…

Borksen blinked, internally grumbling about his choice of address, but she decisively rose to follow him. Her mission was already complete; it made no difference if she left now. Momoze, hearing Dia's words, followed him instinctively, preparing to evacuate before she even fully processed what he had said.

Several well-dressed guests nearby had heard Dia as well. Whispers of hushed, confused conversation erupted instantly. A middle-aged woman's face grew anxious as she turned to the man accompanying her.

"What that person said… is it possible there's an attack?"

The middle-aged man sneered, his expression mocking. "I've already got my bodyguards and escorts stationed outside the auction house. If anything happens, they'll call me. They haven't found anything out there, yet you're telling me that some green kid found something inside the venue?"

He had seen it clearly: the young bodyguard hadn't made a single phone call or sent any signal before dropping that statement. "Unless he can see through walls!"

The man scoffed. The woman beside him hesitated, wanting to say something more, but the man, growing impatient, pulled out his phone. "I told you, if there's a problem, my guards outside will…"

He suddenly froze. The phone in his hand lit up with an incoming call. His guard was actually calling him.

A sense of ominous dread enveloped them. The man hurriedly turned his head toward the exit where the man and two women had just departed, only to discover that in the short span of time, the three had vanished!

Could what he said be true…?

As other guests received similar alerts, exclamation after exclamation rang out. Panic spread through the small, crowded auction hall like wildfire. The decisive ones bolted for the doors the moment they got the news. At the front of the pack was a tall man with slicked-back hair. He was sweating profusely, not daring to stop because the high-priced bodyguards he had hired had all gone silent!

The last message from his head of security had been: "RUN!"

But just as he reached the door, he stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes widened, as if confronted by something beyond human comprehension. Behind him, a similarly drenched, stout man was on the verge of cursing him for stopping, but when he saw what lay at the threshold, he too froze.

A gargantuan shadow silently loomed over the open doorway.

They stared, eyes narrowing, as a three-meter-long, monstrous black fish with long whiskers poked its head out! The creature hovered in mid-air, floating forward silently as if it didn't even notice them. Both men went rigid, their minds blank, not daring to even draw a breath.

Unfathomable terror flooded their brains. Time seemed to congeal.

Suddenly, a shout from behind them struck the men like lightning: "Why are you blocking the way? Get lost!"

The creature's aura shifted instantly. Its massive, circular pupils exuded a savage, bloodthirsty intent. It whipped its whiskers around, turned toward the person who had just shouted, and lunged!

Despite its enormous size, the fish was unnaturally fast, closing the distance of several dozen meters in mere heartbeats. As it reached the man who had yelled, it opened its colossal maw. Inside, nearly a hundred rows of razor-sharp teeth were densely packed, spiraling from the lips deep into the throat!

The man who had shouted was paralyzed by fear, unable to move a muscle, as the fish swallowed him whole, his body torn to ribbons in an instant by the forest of teeth.

Nearly a hundred people in the hall witnessed this horrifying spectacle. A cacophony of screams and panicked wails erupted. As the man vanished into its stomach, the monster's body bloated violently, appearing to reach its limit, and then, a second grotesque fish head sprouted from its abdomen!

The new head thrashed, and the single fish split into two, charging toward the remaining guests in the hall!

Those who had been near the door tried to scramble away while the beasts were busy with the others, only to discover in horror that the exit had sealed shut. It was as if it had been welded closed; no matter how hard they pushed, it would not budge.

The desperate crowd could only watch as the fish repeated the cycle of consuming, growing, and splitting, until death finally found them. A gruesome tragedy of man-eating fish began to unfold in every corner of the sealed auction hall.