“……”

aside’s body turned mechanically as it raised its head toward Lilith.

It hesitated, turning its face to glance at the honeycomb scattered across the ground, not yet fully congealed.

As if it had made some kind of decision, it raised its mechanical arm toward Lilith, seemingly ready to fight.

“You’re a false god with nothing but borrowed memories, yet you think far too highly of yourself.”

“You mistook your obedience to Eve for love, and your loyalty for affection.”

“You’ve spent too long among humans. I’m afraid you’ve forgotten your place—and who stands above whom.”

“Allow me to teach you a lesson…”

The moment aside finished speaking, a rapid flash streaked across the tunnel ceiling and dove straight toward it.

Lilith fluttered twice in the air like a butterfly, then plunged down and slammed a flying kick into the top of aside’s head.

“Teach me a lesson?! You’re not fit to!”

Unexpectedly, aside neither dodged nor raised a hand to defend itself. It stood rooted to the spot, allowing Lilith to hit it.

Lilith’s leg, packed with explosive force, was like a steel bar as it drove straight into aside’s drooping mechanical head.

The terrifying force shattered aside’s upper body in an instant, scattering tiny parts through the air.

At the same time, the mechanical deus ex machina at aside’s core was exposed. Like a human heart, it was tightly connected to the center of aside’s body by various blood-vessel-shaped mechanisms.

But just as Lilith was about to destroy the core with a punch—

a sudden change took place.

The codechecker hidden inside aside immediately erupted from its core, swelling wildly.

Unnatural branches; endless green, rushing upward like a waterfall in reverse, straight to the tunnel ceiling, where they pinned Lilith firmly in midair.

Like Merka’s little gears, these thick branches were also codecheckers, with a toughness that made them almost impossible to destroy.

Trapped among the hard branches, Lilith couldn’t move for the moment.

Just then, a dense gloom fused with the shadows on the ceiling suddenly stirred.

It leapt down from the ceiling.

Its two enormous feet, wrapped in tentacles, slammed into the ground, cracking the entire surface.

The massive club it held crashed down as well. The railway tracks in the tunnel seemed unable to bear the weight; they snapped apart in sections.

The enormous flail, tens of meters long and attached to the end of the great club, swung down wildly from above. The clash of steel erupted at once, echoing through the tunnel with a deafening roar.

As the dust settled, Lilith got a clear look at the monster.

It was a gigantic monster with the head of a bee.

Pinned in midair by the branches, Lilith widened her eyes and smiled as if everything had finally clicked.

“Actually, I’ve been curious about this for a while…”

“How did you manage to make both the ice bees and the killer bees obey your commands?”

“By now, you could say I’m practically the ruler of the smokeless zone.”

“And even I can’t do that.”