"...Guess what? I actually can."
The flames in Murder's hand dissipated, and he took the device from Lust.
Suddenly, a tremendous roar rang out. It seemed the two of them had been discovered.
Magic began surging in Lust's hand, a clear sign that he was ready to strike.
Fortunately, Murder reacted fast enough, drawing the surrounding magic into the device in his hand. It began running at 200% power in his grasp.
It enveloped both of them completely.
The monster charged up to them just then. Its heavy breathing and low growls seemed to proclaim its desire, strengthening Murder's resolve never to let himself get caught.
The device Lust had hastily put together was remarkably effective. The monster sniffed around for ages but seemed to find nothing.
Seeing that Murder had reacted in time, Lust pulled a flashlight from his clothes and shone it in the monster's face.
An exceedingly ugly black creature appeared before them.
It had stubby limbs, a swollen belly, and a grotesque face. It looked like some kind of pig.
"Is this... what those monsters look like after mutating?"
Murder asked Lust quietly. Since these monsters sensed desire, neither sound nor light would put the two of them at risk.
"...That's right. What do you think? Disgusting enough for you?"
Lust led Murder carefully around the monster, heading deeper inside.
The farther they went, the more disgusting the monsters looked.
They seemed to have been affected by the human soul with the desire trait farther inside.
Fortunately, there really weren't many of these monsters. So far, they had only encountered three.
"But... I have a question. Didn't this universe's Gaster extract the soul's desire trait already...? How come..."
"...These things get more heavily mutated the deeper we go?"
Lust finished Murder's question, then answered it.
"Honestly, we haven't figured that out either. My guess is that the human soul restores itself as desire builds up. After all, Gaster nearly drained that soul dry last time."
The two continued onward.
After they had walked for who knew how long, the maze suddenly opened up.
The soul was imprisoned in a container inside this large room.
Strangely, the soul's color was extremely vivid. It didn't look as though anything had been extracted from it at all.
"Anyway... we just need to draw a little from this soul."
Murder stepped forward, pulled a small syringe from somewhere, and handed it to Lust.
Lust pressed his hand against the soul container, and its barrier slowly opened.
Just then, a tremendous roar came from the direction they had come from.
"Uh... Lust, could you hurry up?"
"Stop rushing me! Almost done!"
Lust looked a little panicked too. He hurriedly finished the extraction and sealed the container again.
But it seemed they were a moment too late.
Something enormous smashed through the opening they had used to enter the soul container's room, revealing its hulking form.
Well, it wasn't exactly hulking. Just incredibly disgusting.
It had mutated to the extreme. All its unnecessary parts-arms, legs, and feet-had retracted into its body, leaving it to move entirely by dragging itself along.
Countless tentacles writhed frantically over its body. It looked like one of those, uh, tentacle monsters.
"Okay, Lust, I have to admit your Amalgamates are more disgusting than ours."
Murder took a fighting stance, his eyes fixed on the gigantic creature.
"Buddy, I think we're going to die here."
Lust's words did wonders for morale. At least he himself had already lost all hope.
Before you continue