Chapter 29
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: What He Truly Desires (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The soul string, created by the app's function, was crucial to both the player and the unit.
Not only did it make them one in mind and body across the dimensional wall, but it also allowed them to exert a strong influence on each other.
Although the effect was faint for the units, as they had to share a single string with many others, the player was different.
In fact, some players actively used it as one of their abilities.
"This is..."
[This is a catalyst to aid the player's spell. Use it in the heat of battle. It is an item that will allow you to forget fear and unleash the potential engraved upon your soul.]
Cha Ji-yeon received the bestowed item.
At a glance, it was an ordinary, transparent potion.
"Looks like he wants to turn us into junkies now."
A sturdy-looking white man standing beside her scoffed.
Her colleague was a unit, just like her.
He, too, had received a potion.
[The objective is to annihilate their stronghold in a short amount of time.]
The date was already set.
Alarmed by the recent turn of events, they planned to join the allied forces of several nations that had decided to cooperate, cross through the Gate, and strike the home base of the monsters that were constantly launching raids on Earth.
"It's literally a war. Whew... To think I'd end up fighting a war against monsters."
"You have to get used to it, Chris. There's no telling how many times this will be repeated."
"You think it's easy to get used to war? This isn't just some defensive battle."
He scoffed.
He wasn't wrong.
Cha Ji-yeon herself was only forcing herself to stay composed.
[Being connected by the soul is a tremendous thing. That fear, that hesitation. Through the potion, you will realize what kind of being you are connected to, and you will be able to overcome it all.]
The voice echoed in her head, as if it had sensed her anxiety.
'Connection.'
She was rather displeased by that wording.
Even though she shared that string with over a hundred colleagues, it felt as if even her most private parts were being exposed.
[Can you feel it?]
Given the circumstances, the feeling shared between the only two beings connected by a single, undivided string was all the more powerful.
[What he truly desires. Now, it would become clear.]
The Legion, having understood what a soul was, struggled to comprehend the flood of information.
The most significant information pouring in through the string—the soul connection—was the other party's emotions.
Even more so because it was a single, undivided thread.
[He is anxious and afraid. He fears losing something precious and blames himself for still being weak. He is so weak... both in body and in mind.]
The entire Legion flinched.
It understood his emotions and deduced the situation he was in.
[In any case, he is a very important being to us. Without him, we cannot grow stronger. He is our parent.]
[Therefore, we must help him.]
[The way to do that is, first and foremost, to become stronger.]
The more it developed, the more meaning it could find in his actions.
When its thoughts finally reached the conclusion that he had been providing food and specimens 'for' them, the Legion redefined its definition of him.
[He has given us much. In return, what can 'we' give him?]
After sustained thought, the Legion's thinking reached this point.
And as if waiting for that thought, a new function activated.
[Your will has been confirmed. Activating the Tribute function.]
A glowing sigil formed in the dark nest.
What should it give?
The Legion flinched as if testing the waters, then hesitantly offered its own tentacle at first.
A small tentacle was placed squarely on the sigil.
[Further analysis required. Living things cannot be transmitted via the Tribute function.]
As if embarrassed that nothing had changed, the tentacle was stealthily withdrawn.
When the tentacle failed, the Legion tried many other things.
Various Legion soldiers, fragments of the nest, eggs, and so on.
And finally, it succeeded in transmitting something.
A flash of light erupted, and the sigil where the object had been placed vanished completely.
*
"Ughhh."
Morning. I twisted and stretched my body before getting out of bed.
I sat on the bed, half-asleep.
I got up to wash my face and headed for the bathroom.
My body felt heavy, probably from fatigue lately, but I grabbed a handle conveniently located next to the bed and pushed myself up with a grunt.
"...A handle?"
Startled for a moment, I fumbled with the object in my hand.
Something like a smooth, polished stone, right next to my bed.
This wasn't here before.
"Aaaaaah!"
I saw what it was, shrieked, and fell on my butt.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
Of course I couldn't—the thing I had only ever seen on screen was now stuck in the floor in front of me.
"What in the world is this?!"
[It is the Legion's way of repaying your grace.]
I opened the app and shouted.
The reply that appeared made my mind go blank for a moment.
"This is... repayment."
I pulled the object out of the floor of my rented apartment.
It was a sword.
An object forged and honed by the Legion, made from its hardest carapace in the most durable way.
[It is a tribute to you.]
At the sight of its obsidian-like gleam, I swallowed dryly without realizing it.
"How did this even happen?"
[...It means the Legion has grown that much.]
"Is that really all there is to it? What was that moth, anyway?"
[The moth was a kind of clue. By disassembling and absorbing it, the Legion understood much more and grew even further. For example, the creature's attack, emitted as a flash of light, had the power to disrupt our command structure. We concluded that it was a power related to, and capable of interfering with, our soul.]
"How did it grow to the point where it could send me this?"
I smiled bitterly, picking up the sword to examine it more closely.
This thing, a sort of single-piece carapace, was heavy and sharp.
"Still, receiving something like this makes me want to give more, but I don't really have anything right now."
[That is sufficient. Already... the Legion is receiving much.]
"Receiving?"
His words today were particularly cryptic.
For now, I hid the sword in a corner.
Kang Do-yeon might not notice, but it wouldn't be good if my mother saw it.
"I wonder how long this daily routine will last."
I left my room.
Although my day was starting as usual, having now experienced a direct attack myself, I was still anxious.
[Analysis of the Guardian Spirit specimens has revealed an anomaly.]
"An anomaly?"
[It seems we may now understand why they've been behaving so strangely. They possessed genes that had been artificially imprinted.]
It was a fresh shock.
If the Guardian Spirits were artificially created lifeforms...
Then what in the world was this labyrinth?
"Is, is that all?"
[All we know for now is that their genes have been manipulated. However, the nature of that manipulation can be inferred from their irrational behavior thus far.]
"Who on earth would do this?"
[The answer, as always, likely lies above.]
Right. It must be above.
The screen shifted upwards.
It showed the passage to the next stem.
My heart suddenly started to pound.
Why am I like this all of a sudden? Of course, it could be because I feel like I'm getting closer to the labyrinth's secrets.
[The Legion has begun to regroup. One of our advantages is that we require no rest.]
The Legion intentionally left much of the vegetation on the newly conquered floor.
It was a different approach from the past, when it would devour everything.
It might be for reserve food, or perhaps it was because even the time spent digesting was considered a waste.
[No Guardian Spirits. It seems they were all killed in the last battle.]
For all my tension, the conclusion was anticlimactic.
There was just ordinary vegetation spread out before us.
The Legion's scouts quickly fanned out, searching through various hollows and passages.
[Ah, what is this?]
But then.
A scout at the forefront seemed to have discovered something.
"That's definitely not natural, is it? So what is it? In this labyrinth, besides us, the only unnatural ones are..."
[It must be the work of the Guardian Spirits. It seems quite some time has passed.]
It was a collection of what looked like remains, gathered on one side of the grand floor classified as a 'branch.'
Most of it had long been decomposed and rotted away by scavengers.
They were about the size of a human palm... vertebrates, at least.
[The damage is so severe that a genetic sample cannot be identified. Based on this information, the Legion has drawn a reasonable suspicion.]
"...Units?"
Even I could figure that much out.
After the rat-like creatures I'd met before, I had found another trace.
It seemed they were unlucky, however, and had been annihilated before they could develop much.
"Come to think of it, I wonder if those rats that escaped last time survived."
[The fact that they are not in the sections we have conquered so far means they started fresh somewhere higher up. There's a high probability they failed to make a comeback.]
"Right."
The Guardian Spirits, not to mention the increasingly diverse and massive flora and fauna, were on a level incomparable to the lower floors.
We had grown immeasurably larger and more sophisticated since then; if those rats were dropped into a place like this at their previous level, they wouldn't have survived.
[We must go higher.]
The questions only grew.
So, after a brief assessment, the Legion immediately sent its scouts up to the next floor.
It was from there that a faint change could be observed.