Meanwhile—
In the pitch-black tunnel beneath the elevator hall, Bullseye rolled across the floor, his body battered by the shockwave. The moment he propped himself up, he violently coughed up a mouthful of dark red blood.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he forced himself to his feet.
He had to get out of here immediately.
If the explosives planted in the elevator hall detonated, and this tunnel collapsed as a result, he could end up buried alive.
As he thought about the soon-to-be obliterated elevator hall and the sealed passage he had destroyed behind him, a flicker of complicated emotion passed through his eyes.
"Kingpin..."
But just as quickly as it came, Bullseye pushed the thought away.
Gripping the wall for support, he limped deeper into the darkness of the secret passage.
The tunnel should have been well-lit, each section illuminated by rows of overhead lights.
But now—
Everything was pitch black.
Did the explosion short-circuit the electrical system?
Luckily, Bullseye's heightened vision allowed him to see faintly in the dark. Otherwise, he wouldn't even know where to place his next step.
"Zzt… zzt…"
A strange electrical crackling suddenly echoed behind him.
The noise came from a small button-sized device attached to his back.
The moment he heard it, Bullseye's entire body tensed.
He was certain he didn't have anything on his person that should make that sound.
A split second later, without hesitation, he whipped out a razor-sharp knife from his belt and slashed at the area on his back.
But—
Before his blade could reach the button-like device—
A bright spark ignited from it.
A blazing flash lit up the tunnel, casting a brilliant glow over everything.
Bullseye only felt a slight heat on his back, as if something had scorched him lightly.
That was all.
But when his peripheral vision caught what the fire had illuminated behind him—
A small twitch ran through the corner of his eye.
The cold gleam of his knife flashed—
He skillfully sliced away the portion of his clothing where the strange device had been attached.
He made sure to cut only the fabric, not a single millimeter of his own skin.
The torn cloth dropped to the ground, still faintly smoldering.
Bullseye frowned.
"That's it?"
He had expected a high-powered explosive attached to his back.
But instead—
It was just some cheap trick to startle him?
Just as he was processing this—
In the flickering firelight—
A tall shadow solidified behind him.
The glow from the flames cast a twisted silhouette onto the floor.
Bullseye immediately noticed the figure through its reflection.
Without a second thought, he thrust his silver knife backward.
But this time—
"Bind!"
Before the knife could reach its target, a silver thread shot from Eren's fingertips.
Like a serpent slithering through the air—
It wrapped around Bullseye's body in an instant.
A second later—
Bullseye found himself bound in an intricate, humiliating rope formation, completely immobilized.
His muscles bulged, straining against the binding threads, attempting to break free with raw strength.
But—
The harder he struggled, the tighter the Venomous Threads dug into his flesh.
Within mere moments, deep gashes appeared on his body.
The worst injuries were on his arms, where his struggle had been the most violent.
The threads had cut so deep, they were embedded in his muscle tissue.
Had Eren not disabled the threads' devouring ability—
Bullseye would have already been consumed alive.
"Stop struggling. It's useless."
Eren's voice was calm, almost amused.
He had already noticed how Bullseye was subtly moving his fingers toward one of his hidden knives.
But with a mere flick of his wrist—
The Venomous Threads tightened, extracting every single blade hidden within Bullseye's combat suit.
A dozen knives, of various sizes and designs, clattered together and were lifted into the air.
Eren inspected the collection with mild amusement.
"You sure can hide a lot of knives."
He chuckled.
But before Bullseye could respond—
A deafening explosion shook the entire tunnel.
"BOOM!!!"
The impact was so massive, it sent stone dust raining from the ceiling.
For several long seconds, the tunnel trembled violently.
Even Eren had to dig his fingers into his ears, irritated by the ringing sensation.
When the explosion finally subsided, he glanced at Bullseye, who looked just as dazed from the blast.
"With explosions that powerful, aren't you afraid of collapsing Fisk Tower?"
"This is your headquarters, after all."
Bullseye's ears were still ringing painfully, but he forced a smirk.
"Heh… if anything, I think we didn't plant enough explosives."
"If we had just a bit more, we could've buried this entire escape tunnel—"
"And taken you down with it."
Eren snorted, clearly unimpressed.
"Pfft. Don't act like you're some martyr."
"If you really wanted to go down with me, you wouldn't have run in the first place."
"If you had stayed up there, maybe I really would've been blown to bits."
Eren gave Bullseye a pointed look.
"But you ran."
"And because you ran—"
"Now you're mine."
A sinister smile curled on Eren's lips.
With a mere thought—
The Venomous Threads tightened once more.
Bullseye winced as they dug even deeper into his wounds.
His mind was racing.
He needed a way out.
But—
For the first time in a long time—
Bullseye felt something unfamiliar creeping into his chest.
A feeling he hadn't experienced in years.
Fear.
Eren's Venomous Threads, manipulated by his spiritual control, shifted the row of throwing knives to the side.
Glancing at the weapons, he flicked his fingers again—
The threads tightened, forcing Bullseye's head upward, locking his gaze onto the clown-masked figure standing before him.
After a few fruitless struggles, Bullseye realized his strength was completely useless against these bizarre threads.
So he stopped resisting.
Instead, he stared directly at Eren, his eyes filled with resentment.
"Who the hell are you?"
Eren met Bullseye's glare, expressionless.
"That's none of your concern."
In that instant—
The Mind Field surrounding Eren silently expanded, creeping into Bullseye's consciousness.
His mental defenses began to erode.
And soon enough—
A flicker of confusion appeared in Bullseye's eyes.
But before Eren could begin his interrogation—
Bullseye snapped out of it.
His pupils burned with rage and shock.
"Was that… hypnosis? You filthy bastard, you tried to hypnotize me?!"
Eren ignored his insults.
He merely observed—amused.
Even after direct exposure to his Mind Field, Bullseye had managed to break free.
He shook his head.
"I see… So even in this world, villains with actual names can't be manipulated so easily."
"Hypnotizing people with purpose and will… is far harder than controlling nameless cannon fodder."
Eren sighed.
"In that case…"
"Look into my eyes, mutt."
[Dread Gaze].
It was the first time Eren had unleashed this enhanced psychic spell since his mental ascension.
And the result—
Was instantaneous.
A colossal six-eyed dragon materialized within his pupils, its wings eclipsing the sky.
Carrying a force of apocalyptic dread, it descended from the heavens.
The weight of its presence alone was enough to crush the air.
The sheer mental pressure caused Bullseye's breath to stop.
And when the dragon's image pierced into his soul—
His entire mental landscape was obliterated.
"CRACK!"
A sound like shattering glass echoed.
Bullseye's eyes burst, blood gushing from the ruptured vessels.
Eren tilted his head slightly, sidestepping the splattering filth.
He observed his captive—
Bullseye was now barely alive.
His face was drenched in blood, thick crimson fluids seeping from his eyes, nose, and ears.
Had it not been for the Venomous Threads still holding him up, his body would have collapsed like a lifeless husk.
"Hssssss…"
Eren sucked in a theatrical breath.
"Damn, that was strong."
Compared to his previous Dread Gaze—
The power increase was drastic.
What once merely shattered the opponent's mind—
Now, it could annihilate their soul.
It had become a weapon that could alter reality itself.
"If an enemy doesn't have some kind of mental protection, just one stare could make their eyeballs explode."
Eren chuckled.
"Not bad."
"But I should probably tone it down next time…"
His initial plan was to hypnotize Bullseye for interrogation.
Instead, he overdid it—
And destroyed him.
"Well… that was inconvenient."
Eren approached the dying assassin, rubbing the back of his head in mild annoyance.
And—just as expected—
The interrogation yielded little information.
While Eren was able to hypnotize what remained of his mind—
Bullseye's responses were disjointed, fragmented, incoherent.
Before Eren could extract any meaningful details—
Bullseye exhaled his last breath.
Dead.
"Tch. What a waste."
Eren flicked his hand—
And the Venomous Threads lunged.
Bullseye's corpse and the fragments of his shattered soul were devoured whole.
The moment the feast ended—
The Venomous Threads shivered.
Almost like they were… evolving.
Eren squinted.
"…Did they just get sharper?"
He stretched out a hand, grabbing one of Bullseye's knives from the suspended row of weapons.
A finely crafted black throwing knife.
Without hesitation, he stored the entire collection into his Ring of Greed.
At the same time—
With a casual gesture, Eren gathered a floating sphere of fire from the still-burning debris.
The small orange flame hovered at his side, casting flickering shadows down the darkened tunnel.
To keep the flame burning, he casually tossed in a solid block of alcohol he had acquired from… somewhere.
The fireball brightened.
And with it—
Eren advanced deeper into the tunnel.
But as he ventured further—
A foul stench began permeating the air.
A putrid mixture of blood and rotting flesh.
"Hachoo!"
The overwhelming stench of decay made Eren sneeze multiple times.
"The hell? Why does it suddenly stink like a corpse pit?"
He raised the fireball, letting its light flicker across the tunnel walls.
That was when he noticed it.
The stench was coming from cracks in the tunnel's walls—cracks that had split open from the explosion earlier.
A creeping thought surfaced in his mind.
"Did Kingpin… build this tunnel over a mass grave?"
"Is that why the smell is leaking out through these cracks?"
But as Eren ventured further inside—
That theory quickly changed.
Because the deeper he went—
The tunnel ahead started to transform.
(End of Chapter)
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