Chapter 25: The Solitary Cleaner
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: PlumSauce
It isn’t a demon… Coraci thought quietly, tightening his grip on the knife handle.
The creature was a Cave Lizardman — a supernatural species, not a demon, and immune to the effects of the bewitching charm. Its eyes were completely blind; it relied on air currents, sounds, and scents created by moving objects to track prey.
The mud-demon growled angrily at the Cave Lizardman, which responded with a series of clicking noises as it lunged. The two creatures, similar in size, tumbled together, biting and clawing each other.
Coraci pressed himself against the wall, too afraid to move, silently cheering for the demon. If it managed to kill the Lizardman, it could return to basking in the charm’s effects. But if the Lizardman won, it might discover there was a human in the room.
What you fear most is what happens. The Lizardman suddenly extended its tongue, which was over a meter long, wrapping it tightly around the muddy demon’s neck and biting its head clean off.
The Lizardman chewed contentedly, producing a grinding sound. It twisted its head subtly, as if it had already sensed something wrong in the room, searching for where the prey might be hiding.
Coraci held the Spanish ham slicing knife firmly, still pressed against the wall. The Lizardman moved with incredible speed; any movement by a human would instantly reveal their location, and no human could outrun it.
Slowly, cautiously, the Lizardman crept closer, sniffing the air and flicking its tongue out to sense its surroundings.
It stopped less than two feet from Coraci and bent down slowly.
“Why aren’t you moving? Are you hurt?” the Lizardman asked in halting English.
Coraci stared in surprise. Books had said Cave Lizardmen possessed a certain intelligence, but none mentioned they could speak English. Even more shocking was the voice — it sounded like a young girl.
Apparently noticing no response, the Lizardman repeated the sentence, adding, “I’m from Ecuador. My pronunciation is not good. Do you understand me?”
“Uh… I…” Coraci never imagined he could communicate with such a creature. “I understand you. Your pronunciation is very good. And no, I’m not hurt. Thanks for asking.”
“Do you mind if I eat first?” The Lizardman’s tender voice indicated the demon corpse nearby.
“Go ahead…” Coraci replied.
There were no clocks here; it was hard to estimate time. After an unknown interval, John emerged, panting, from around the cabinet corner.
He saw Coraci sitting against the wall next to a tall upright lizard — taller than a person — chewing on a gray leg.
The Lizardman nervously turned its head, muscles tensing. Coraci said, “Don’t worry, my friend is here. I asked him to come find me.”
John stood rooted in place, his mouth wide open like a ping-pong ball, showing sharp little fangs.
The Lizardman finished chewing the demon leg quickly, then nodded at John. Because her eyes were blind and John remained motionless, her nod was slightly off-center.
“My name’s Mariana,” she said. “It’s the name Sidov the demon gave me.”
John pointed at Mariana and looked at Coraci.
Coraci explained, “This is my friend John Lockland. We’ve never met a Lizardman before, so he’s just a bit overwhelmed.”
Mariana nodded again. “Let’s go. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous it gets. Some demons are very powerful, and I can’t fight them.”
“Coraci, this…” John circled around Mariana and stood beside Coraci, staring at her swaying tail.
“Can you believe Sidov and Mitchel once traveled to South America together? Not just traveled — they kidnapped a Cave Lizardman girl. The strangest part is they flew back by plane. I wonder what spell they used to get past security.”
Coraci had already heard Mariana’s story. Their kind lived in underground tunnels where no sunlight reached, so none of them had eyesight. Lizardmen were rare, with their own isolated civilization. Mariana had no concept of demons until Sidov brought her here.
She said she had encountered humans when she was a child — one of them had gotten lost while exploring the caves with companions. She had led that lost person out of the tunnels and back to the surface, where she then turned and ran. She explained that it was because the elders in her clan had told her that Lizardmen looked different from humans (though she had never actually “seen”), and humans would fear them. But at that time, the human hadn’t screamed or attacked. Instead, from far behind her, the person had called out, “Thank you! I won’t tell anyone I saw you!”
Later, she learned that humans had a tool called a “lamp” that let them see in the dark. That human had already seen her true appearance. From that moment on, she had quietly harbored a faint fondness for humans — which ultimately led her into the demon’s trap.
For a bone-winged demon like Sidov, summoning low-level demons from the Abyss was no challenge. His “home” was filled with strange and grotesque servants and guards — many bound by power to obey only him. Mariana, however, was the “cleaner”. Lizardmen liked to feed on things with a rotten smell, and with her remarkable strength and agility, Sidov had trapped her here, forcing her to survive on whatever scraps remained.
The Lizardman girl didn’t know the exact location of this place because she had never left. She said she had seen the exit once, but it was protected by powerful magic and guarded heavily — she couldn’t get out. Being blind, she couldn’t describe what kind of room it was, only that it had doors and windows leading outside, with wind and warmth — the feeling of sunlight.
“How about we leave through the kitchen?” Mariana stood in front of the double doors. “But we have to stick close together, like one person. Otherwise, these random doors might… tear us apart. Uh, I mean, the three of us could end up in different places.”
“It’s ‘break us apart,’ right?” Coraci gently corrected her, and she nodded happily. “So how close do we need to be?” he asked.
“We have to hug,” she said.
The Lizardman girl was the tallest of the three. She wrapped her claws around Coraci and John’s shoulders, holding them tightly in her embrace.
John kept trying to turn his head away. When Coraci asked why, John said, “You know, my father taught me that when others know we’re bloodkin, it’s best not to lean your head toward their shoulders or neck.”
“Because it scares them?”
“Something like that. It’s polite to keep a distance. We don’t usually hug humans unless they don’t know who we are…”
“As long as I agree, isn’t that enough?” Coraci pressed close to the Lizardman girl, and also tightly against John.
“Coraci…” John took a deep breath. “You’re bleeding.”
Earlier, Coraci had cut himself making that bewitching charm. John meant to warn him about the strong scent of blood, but instead Coraci thought of his simple makeshift charm and asked Mariana to wait a moment. He returned to the cabinet, carefully capped the pepper bottle, and slipped it into his pocket. Maybe it would come in handy later.
The Lizardman girl tightened her embrace again, pressing her chest almost flush against John’s. They all held onto the others’ waists, while John continued to tilt his head sideways.
The three of them stepped through the door, ending up in a very cramped bathroom inside a suite. Coraci didn’t want to stay here long — especially since an Abyss Mastiff blocked the doorway.
From The Unthreatening Creature Protection Association’s Guide to Unscientific Monsters:
Cave Lizardmen
Cave Lizardmen primarily live in tunnels under South America. Their groups are stable but small, with their own language and civilization. Their skin comes in various colors, and they walk upright as massive lizards. They are taller than the average human but have limbs far more flexible, making them excellent fighters. They enjoy foods with a decayed aroma, though ordinary food is also acceptable.
Cave Lizardmen have no eyesight, but their hearing and sense of smell are extremely acute. They can also detect others’ positions by sensing vibrations in the air. Encountering human cave explorers is common, and Cave Lizardmen cleverly hide pathways leading to their homeland.
They are oviparous, laying many eggs at a time. The eggs are no longer hard-shelled but instead thin, semi-transparent, and lightweight. Their lifespans are shorter than humans, rarely exceeding thirty years.
This Title is available for faster chapter releases through paid Patreon membership. Any proceeds go to keeping the website running. Check it out HERE.
