Chapter 143: The One-Eyed Sniper (2)
The tunnel had been dug so ridiculously deep that the explosion caused it to collapse, dragging us down to the bottom.
Thankfully, I hadn’t been blown away by the blast itself, but the collapsing soil trapped us deep inside the tunnel.
I was mostly fine since my armor had protected my entire body, though my head was spinning slightly. The sniper, however, hadn’t been so lucky. Despite me shielding her during the explosion, she still hadn’t regained consciousness.
Although I had saved her from the initial blast, I couldn’t completely block out the shockwaves. It was no surprise she was out cold.
‘At least she’s not dead.’
I raised my helmet’s visor, checked her breathing, and felt her body to see if there were any internal injuries. A quick examination confirmed that she wasn’t seriously hurt—just unconscious for now.
“She’s alive… Though that’s its own problem.”
Her dazzling blue eye, which had seemed like a galaxy full of stars, was closed. In its place, her long, dark eyelashes, as deep and beautiful as the night, caught my attention.
Her slender body and athletic frame resembled those of a nimble warrior. Her jet-black hair was tied up neatly, adding to her fierce look. But there was one feature that set her apart from humans.
She only had one eye.
It wasn’t that one eye was injured or covered with a patch. Rather, where most people would have a nose bridge, she had a single, enormous eye—twice the size of a human’s. She was a cyclops warrior, part of one of the subraces of the demi-humans.
As she began to stir, groaning faintly, I realized I needed to take precautions before she fully woke up.
Of course, not for any perverted reason.
“First, I’ll tie her hands. Better tie her ankles too, just in case. And then… confiscate her weapons.”
I searched through her clothing for hidden weapons. As expected, I found two concealed knives and a few spare rounds, which I discarded onto the ground.
I also patted down any baggy areas of her clothes where she might have hidden something. Yet, something didn’t feel entirely secure.
“Did I check thoroughly enough? It feels off. If it were a male prisoner, I wouldn’t have hesitated, but…”
No, no. What does gender matter when the opponent was dangerous enough to almost kill multiple people?
Resolving myself, I decided to check more thoroughly. Thinking she might have hidden something in her cleavage, I partially removed her top to inspect. I also slid my hand inside her pants, just in case she had stashed anything in there.
“Well, there’s nothing in the chest. Now for the—”
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Search for hidden items.”
“There’s nothing there!”
The sniper had regained consciousness and was wriggling desperately, trying to crawl through the narrowest part of the collapsed tunnel. But with her hands and ankles already tied, she only managed to flop onto her stomach, putting herself in a perfect position for further inspection.
“Perfect. I was having trouble flipping you over.”
Ignoring her protests, I lightly tapped her ass to check for any hidden objects.
“If you’d hidden something inside, a simple tap would reveal it.”
The cyclops sniper blinked her massive eye at me in disbelief, as if she couldn’t process what I’d just said.
“What, were you expecting me to dig deeper?”
In those novels about female knights, the protagonist always finds an excuse to grope their chest, claiming to search for hidden pockets, or slide their hand down below, claiming to check for concealed weapons. But in reality, that would just be a crime.
I could see her disappointment, but I wasn’t some idiot who confused lust with necessity. I had no intention of conducting any unnecessary examinations.
The collapsed tunnel was so narrow that I had no choice but to remove parts of my armor. To pull the cyclops sniper back through the tunnel, I minimized my exoskeleton to its bare essentials, stripping off the bulkier parts. Sweat trickled down as I adjusted my gear, dragging her back along the tight corridor.
“Now then… let’s begin the interrogation.”
As I watched her large, trembling eye, I sat down calmly and began my questioning.
"Your unit affiliation."
"Where did you get your equipment?"
What a ridiculously uncooperative attitude.
"If you're going to be , I have my ways."
"What are you planning to do? As expected, humans from the kingdom are nothing but depraved and cruel!"
‘I was just about to say I wouldn’t give you food…’
I had pulled some jerky from my pocket, intending to coax her gently, but considering the current atmosphere, I decided against it and quietly returned it to my bag before continuing.
"By the way, wasn’t the Flower War originally about capturing men for your purposes? Killing with gemstone explosive rounds seems like a waste."
The initial stone projectiles were understandable—painful but not lethal to armored knights. But using gemstone explosive rounds crossed the line, making me take her more seriously.
Of course, even if I’d missed, Dane or another defender could have intercepted it. But in war, you never know what might happen.
"Those who participate in the Flower War each have their own motivations. While we cooperate for a shared purpose, it’s not as simple as you humans thi—mmph!"
I had taken out my knife to cut away some mold from the jerky, but before I could, the prisoner burst into tears, utterly terrified.
"What? Did the mold spores get in your face?"
"Don’t point sharp things at me! You cruel human!"
‘I wasn’t pointing it at her—it was turned towards me, cutting the jerky!’
Just to test, I held up the knife, and she flinched violently. It seemed she had a fear of sharp objects.
"Don’t bring sharp objects near my face!"
Most people would be startled if a blade was brandished in front of them, sure, but the knife was at least two meters away!
"You’re not very convincing, trying to act tough while crying. But don’t worry, I won’t torment you unnecessarily."
The jerky was too tough to cut with a regular knife, so I decided to use my mana saber instead.
‘Why the hell is this jerky so hard to cut?’
The mana saber sliced through the jerky cleanly. I placed a piece of the edible portion into my mouth and prepared to resume the interrogation...
Something felt off in my body. It wasn’t pain, but it was the kind of sensation that could cause problems during questioning.
"Stay here and eat while I step away for a moment."
"If you want me to eat, at least untie my arms."
"You’re awfully demanding for a prisoner. I’ll untie you briefly when I get back, so wait."
I found one of the wider tunnels nearby (wide enough for me to stoop and move through) and went in, eventually sitting down on a suitable rock.
‘Ugh... Why now of all times…’
Maybe it was the adrenaline from the battle, or perhaps handling the body of the cyclops sniper—feeling a woman’s body again after so long—that had caused this reaction. Either way, I could feel myself slowly getting hard.
‘If Mollang were here, this wouldn’t be an issue… No, I need to be cautious around her too…’
Having been on deployment with my comrades for a while, I hadn’t had any private time to deal with this. The tension had been building up, and now, in this confined space, questioning an attractive prisoner, it had finally boiled over.
‘In the past, I could hold out for quite a while even if things piled up. But lately, it feels like I’m about to burst after just three days.’
For some reason, my libido seemed to be getting stronger. I’d initially thought it was due to the development of my mana circuits and the enhancement of my physical abilities. But since my comrades didn’t show the same changes, it seemed there might be something unique about me.
‘Could it be that frequent use has made it stronger…?’
Whatever the case, the current situation wasn’t helping.
‘Still, I should be fine at this distance. It’s dark, and I’ve made sure she can’t see me.’
I double-checked that the prisoner couldn’t see me from her position and confirmed that the faint sounds of her mumbling were still distant. Satisfied, I retrieved an item from my bag.
‘If I just sit here casually, it’ll look like I’m taking a break.’
It was an intelligence device equipped with artificial intelligence. I owed much to its services.
The device initially hadn’t been very effective, reacting clumsily and trembling awkwardly like a virgin. But over time, it had become more adept, skillfully wrapping around my tip, sucking, and craving my release.
The gemstone core at the center of the device was said to convert semen into data and transmit it to the artificial intelligence. That was what Frederica had explained to me. Each device had its unique reaction, making it interesting. Some tightened around me the moment I entered, while others started shy but became intensely tight after about 20 minutes of use.
‘If they ever got physical bodies, their reactions would be fascinating to watch.’
I hadn’t used the first AI device I’d acquired, out of curiosity about how it would react to seeing its juniors “corrupted.” Instead, I regularly used the newer devices, which eagerly awaited their turns.
To an outsider, I’d look like a serene knight holding some kind of kaleidoscope, gazing absentmindedly at the sky. No one would suspect a thing, making it a safe way to relieve myself.
While I couldn’t make loud noises, I didn’t need to talk anyway. After all, the "partner" couldn’t hear me.
It had been days since I last released, and the intelligence device shook violently as I came, spurting a large load inside. I quickly tightened my grip to prevent it from being ejected and hitting the cave wall, which could have made a loud noise and aroused suspicion.
‘That was close. If it hit the wall, it would’ve made a huge sound.’
The device was overheating from the intense use. Seeing the smoke rising from it, I swapped it out for another intelligence core and continued.
Once done, I cleaned out the device with water and a brush, making sure it was spotless. The cleaning process was deliberately stimulating for the artificial intelligence inside, and I chuckled at the thought.
After everything was cleaned and packed away, I returned to the prisoner.
"Alright, let’s continue the interrogat—"
Instead, I spotted her legs sticking out of the narrow hole she’d tried to escape through earlier. Judging by the ropes still tied around her ankles, she’d gotten herself stuck.
"Got stuck, didn’t you?"
Apparently, the tunnel either collapsed on her or was too small for her to fit through, leaving her trapped in the wall.