Why did it become like this?
Lancer also doesn't know, and even now he still cannot give a perfect answer to his master's question from back then.
But after experiencing several worlds, Lancer feels like he has grasped something.
He wanted to help Mado Kureo, so after obtaining the Holy Grail, he made a wish that was 'meaningless' to himself;
He clearly could have passed the 'mission' safely but chose to continue fighting, only to prove that the choice his teacher made was correct;
He hoped his disciple could have a bright future, so he decided to walk into the darkness;
He yearned to change the future that was destined to be a tragedy, so he did not hesitate to let his hands be covered in blood;
Four times, Lancer could have chosen a better, simpler path, but in the end, he gave them up. He chose the more difficult path.
It is not to say that he no longer cherishes his own life. After all, he still follows his combat habit of prioritizing defense, looking for the enemy's weakness, and delivering a fatal blow in battle, completely different from his two teachers' fighting styles. The reason he chose to do this is probably because he felt he had to.
To him, the grace of saving his life was something he couldn't repay; a mere 'wish' was too much of a bargain;
When his teacher used his 'life' to show him a strike called 'surpassing the gods,' he naturally had to follow the other party's path;
If the world's misunderstanding and fear could pave the way for his disciple to advance, then he would probably hope for this path to be wider and smoother;
Even if he was just an ordinary passing Lancer, his hands getting stained with blood was too cheap compared to the thousands, or even tens, hundreds, or thousands of innocent people;
He clearly told himself countless times that 'living' was the most important thing, yet he was always attracted by others and unknowingly ended up on another path.
Maybe he is an idiot?
But perhaps this is the Lancer fate. A true Lancer will never steal a life in ignominy. When needed, they will still choose to thrust the spear in their hand.
Because------this is the path they chose when they clenched the spear in their hands.
Although the underground space was not pitch black due to the strange substance on the walls, it was still somewhat dim compared to the sunny outside. In this dim space, a cold light flashed from time to time, followed by a chilling scream.
And Lancer also extracted a lot of useful information during the slaughter.
For example, three of the ghouls he killed were thinking in their minds right before they died: "Boss/BOSS/Big Brother, save me!"
Lancer never expected to get Furuta Nimura's location from these small fry from the start, but he figured that the local bosses here, even if they didn't know about Furuta Nimura's situation, would know enough information, right?
Of course, as far as Lancer was concerned, he thought direct blasting would be better, but unfortunately, Aru refused him. According to Aru, blasting in underground caves is much more dangerous than on the surface.
However, just as Lancer was about to find the so-called 'boss' to inquire about the situation, an 'accident' occurred.
When Lancer was attacked earlier, he noticed several ghouls hiding in the dark. Since they chose not to attack, Lancer decided to let them go, as he had more important things to do. But in the northeast corner, a scream suddenly came out, and then the upper body of a ghoul flew over.
"Smack~!"
Lancer couldn't help but narrow his eyes after knocking away the corpse that might have hit him with a strike of his spear.
"Sure enough, they are here too..."
The blood-red appearance with everted muscles and a human-like shape made people frown, and the blood on the opponent, whether their own or a victim's, was nauseating.
"Amon! We'll break through to the northeast corner! Those guys seem to be emerging from there."
"No problem!"
After moving the hammer away, there was a ghoul on the ground whose seven orifices were bleeding from being smashed. Amon Koutarou was now basically accustomed to the method of using the hammer. As a heavy weapon, although its attack is slow, it has stronger lethality, which puts a greater test on the user's eyesight and strength, and these are undoubtedly areas where Amon Koutarou excels.
After using the 'Dark Hand,' Amon Koutarou's combat power is even more exaggerated than before. Once hit, it's basically either death or serious injury.
The 'BOSS' that the ghoul was thinking of had no idea that he had just escaped a disaster, but at this moment, he was running for his life with his two subordinates.
In fact, he was not the real boss; he was just ordered by his big brother to lie low in the 24th Ward and collect intelligence.
Although the 24th Ward is somewhat chaotic, it is not entirely without order. Specific areas are conventionally agreed upon as no-combat zones, but today, it seemed a bit chaotic. Crimson monsters suddenly appeared and killed a large number of ghouls who had no time to react, and the powerful ghouls responsible for maintaining order naturally took action immediately. However, no one expected that those S-rank ghouls at least, would be directly eaten by a pack of several red monsters.
Realizing that the 24th Ward was undergoing a change, he immediately fled with his two trusted aides who had been brought up from above.
But when he reached the periphery of the 24th Ward, he unhesitatingly pulled out his phone.
Although it was still underground, there was still a weak signal because it was near the sewage system.
"Beep~ beep~"
"Hello!"
"Kaneki! Something bad has happened! The 24th Ward is in chaos! A group of red monsters are preying on ghouls everywhere. I and the 'Ichimi Brothers' have temporarily withdrawn. What should we do next?"
He poured out a long paragraph like pouring beans almost the instant the other side connected, and the other side seemed to be silent for a while after hearing his words.
"Banjo, how many of those red monsters are there that you mentioned? Are there many?"
"Many! I've seen dozens of them just along the way. What's wrong?"
Banjo Kazuichi was once a small leader of the Aogiri Tree, and now one of Kaneki Ken's most trusted subordinates. He also noticed Kaneki Ken's abnormality, so he asked back.
"Something has happened, and I'm sorry, Banjo, can you please wait for us at the entrance? We need to find the mastermind who created those red monsters."
Kaneki Ken's words made Banjo Kazuichi silent for several seconds. He was only an S-rank ghoul, not weak, but he had seen several S-rank ghouls being devoured, so it was impossible for him not to be afraid, but...
"Is it very serious?"
"Yes, if we don't solve it, it's possible... we will all die."
After Kaneki Ken finished this sentence, a somewhat heavy breathing sound came from the other side. Kaneki Ken did not rush the other party but waited quietly for his answer.
"Okay, I'll wait for you at the old spot."
After hanging up the phone, Banjo Kazuichi's originally tense expression gradually became resolute. Only then did he look at his side.
"Ichimi Brothers, why don't you go first?"
"Big Brother!"
"Boss!"
Neither of them expected Banjo Kazuichi to send them away at this time, but having followed him for so long, they probably guessed his intentions. However, this time, Banjo Kazuichi was unusually serious and waved his hand.
"This time is different from before. You saw it earlier. Even I can barely deal with two of those monsters. If three appear, I might not survive. You guys go back to our secret base outside first. I will find you after the 'Leader' and I have dealt with the matter."
As if knowing they were worried about him, he smiled and rubbed their heads.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen."
Lancer and Amon Koutarou had killed dozens of monsters along the way. Although Lancer strength was much stronger than Amon Koutarou's, with the other party's cooperation, the two still achieved an effect of $1+1 > 2$.
These monsters have no special abilities; they are just tough, durable, and very strong. Even Lancer cannot kill several of them in an instant. His only solution is to deal with them one by one, but with Amon Koutarou's help, he can perform other coordinated actions.
Facing the three 'Dragon Remnants' charging head-on, Lancer did not charge directly as usual but held his spear horizontally in a defensive stance, blocking the three 'Dragon Remnants.'
When the 'Dragon Remnants' that rushed the farthest approached, Lancer decisively thrust his spear and hit the opponent's heart. However, he knew the opponent was not dead. Although these monsters are humanoid, they are different from normal humanoid creatures. The simplest method is to decapitate them directly, but there is another way.
"Hah!!"
With a low shout, Lancer suddenly bent over, and at the same time, Amon Koutarou, holding the 'Dark Hand' behind him, suddenly jumped up and smashed it down fiercely from top to bottom.
"Squish~"
Accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound, the 'Dragon Remnants,' originally taller than a person, was directly reduced to half its height.
The price of powerful attack power is the inability to quickly counterattack after an attack, and those 'Dragon Remnants' naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity and rushed towards Amon Koutarou.
"Did you guys forget about me!"
Because of Amon's attack, Lancer and Amon's positions were exchanged. At this moment, Lancer, standing behind Amon Koutarou, first used the shaft of the spear to knock away the one rushing from the side, then the spear blade in his hand drew an arc and pressed against the neck of the 'Dragon Remnants' directly in front of him. "Smack~!"
Amon Koutarou, crouching there, also swung the 'Dark Hand' and fiercely smashed it towards the knee of the 'Dragon Remnants' in front of him.
"Smack~!"
Perhaps because they lack vocal cords, the Dragon Remnants will not scream even if they are severely injured, but its wide-open mouth looked as if it was crying for help. Unfortunately, no one here could save it.
"Squish~"
The Dragon Remnants that had lost its mobility was a sitting target and was smashed into a meat patty by Amon Koutarou. When he recovered his strength and stood up, he saw that Lancer had already pinned the last ghoul to the wall, and countless ice spikes erupted from the ground, thoroughly piercing it.
"Phew~"
Amon Koutarou couldn't help but let out a breath. Compared to Lancer, who needed to pay attention to the enemy's movements and defend, he only needed to simply swing the hammer, but even swinging the 'Dark Hand' had consumed a lot of his stamina.
But just then, a hand reached out to him.
"Can you still walk?"
"Of course, no problem!"
Amon Koutarou, grasping Lancer hand, stood up without hesitation. Although there was a gap between him and Lancer, he would not give up.
"How many of those monsters have we killed?"
"37."
Lancer answered Amon's question very quickly. After all, unlike others, Lancer could see a system prompt every time he killed a ghoul, so he could intuitively see their results. He had earned quite a lot of points along the way, but Lancer knew that such 'good days' were probably coming to an end. After all, he was getting closer and closer to the 'Mark.'
Moreover, at first, they could still see traces of killed ghouls, but now the two had not seen similar traces for some time...
But just when Lancer was about to say something more, he suddenly froze, and this strange reaction naturally caught Amon Koutarou's attention.
"What's wrong?"
"The 'Mark' I set... has disappeared."
"Disappeared? What happened?"
"There are only two possibilities for it to disappear: one is that it was dispelled, and the other is that the main body of the mark no longer exists."
There is no doubt that there are no people who use magic in this world, so the only possibility is the second one. However, Lancer felt even more bizarre.
Furuta Nimura died? Did this guy die so simply?
'Not normal! It's really not normal!'
"Amon! Let's speed up!"
"Okay!"
A few minutes ago...
What exactly did Furuta Nimura want to do?
There is no doubt that he wanted to destroy the entire Washuu family, and there is no doubt that he had done it!
So, what was the thing he most wanted to do? Obviously, it was to be with his 'goddess.' He had endured for so long for this.
That's why he didn't spread the 'Dragon Virus' but mainly used it to restore Kamishiro Rize's kakuhou.
Is this situation strange?
No, actually, it is not strange, because there was already an 'experimental subject.'
Noro.
This most mysterious ghoul in the Aogiri Tree was initially entrusted by Yoshimura Kuzen to take care of his daughter, Eto Yoshimura, but was later killed by the 'V organization' controlled by the CCG, or rather, the Washuu family, and finally turned into a monster composed entirely of 'kakuhou.'
And the technique Furuta Nimura was using was precisely this.
The 'Dragon Virus' was used by him to resurrect his goddess, so there was no surplus to spread, and even the ones spreading outside were merely to divert the CCG's attention.
And his efforts finally paid off!
In the sealed room, countless kakuhou writhed indiscriminately, and the corpse of 'Kamishiro Rize,' lying quietly in the center, suddenly opened its eyes.
Seeing this scene, Furuta Nimura suddenly let out a sob, and as the sobbing became intermittent, it finally turned into loud laughter.
"I succeeded!! I succeeded!! Haha!! Rize! I'm here!!"
Excited, he spread his arms, wanting to welcome the rebirth of his goddess, and then------
The randomly writhing kakuhou swept towards him, and he did not resist at all; instead, he showed a 'happy' smile.
"Smack~!"
The kakuhou completely submerged the entire room.