Chapter 55
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Legion VS Legion (9)
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"Uh..."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I'm Lieutenant Yoon Soo-ah. Though I'm not really a soldier. I just joined the special forces to participate in the expedition."
Taking off her beret, she let out a soft laugh. Her short hair, tied in a net, swayed.
I, on the other hand, was so flustered that my tongue wouldn't move, and I just mumbled.
A cold sweat broke out as I worried what would happen if she realized I was a Player.
"Were you, by any chance, leaving a voice recording? Don't worry, I only heard the last part."
"Ah... a voice recording?"
Fortunately, she didn't seem to be 'in the know.'
Instead, she saw the phone I had placed on the small desk, and her eyes sparkled as she jumped to the wrong conclusion.
"Yes, well, something... similar..."
Of course, from my perspective, such a misunderstanding was a blessing.
Suddenly, I had become the sentimental type who leaves audio journals on the battlefield.
While I was dying of embarrassment, her eyes were twinkling with interest.
"It's a bit embarrassing."
"Not at all. I think it's quite nice. That sort of thing."
"But... Lieutenant, what brings you here?"
Come to think of it, this woman had entered without knocking.
Or maybe she had, and I just didn't hear it.
"I just came to see you. We were in the middle of a fight, but you left quite an impression."
"The same goes for me."
The memory was still vivid. The way she fought that monster, the Demon World mole cricket.
"I was just doing my job. But I'm a good judge of character. I know from experience. Saving people is always harder than fighting."
But she was looking at me, her eyes shining.
It was a bewildering and unexpected interest I hadn't anticipated at all.
"You're a Hunter, right? Which corporation were you with? Or are you freelance?"
"...I just started my activities recently."
"So you came here right after awakening?"
She had approached me first with interest and was quite talkative.
Faced with this unexpected connection, I responded calmly for the time being.
I couldn't rule out the possibility that she was a Unit or a Player in disguise.
"Why? Ah, is it too rude to ask like that?"
she said with a smile, perching on the edge of the desk.
Still, talking to her like this, she seemed to be a bit of a free spirit but not malicious.
"If I had to say, I was seizing an opportunity."
I used my public excuse of avenging a past grudge.
Surprised, she glanced around cautiously like Chris had and moved her lips to speak.
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine. Isn't that the case for most people here? Even the regular soldiers are all volunteers."
"...You're right. Actually, me too."
Her expression darkened for a moment.
I kept my mouth shut.
Come to think of it, Yoon Soo-ah, who was said to be an ordinary B-rank Hunter, had also volunteered for this expedition.
"I lost my family to those monsters, too."
"My condolences..."
"No! They're definitely alive. It hasn't even been a week since they were taken!"
Her eyes flashed.
The fierce aura she momentarily radiated was palpable even to me.
"So... I'm going to save them, no matter what."
"Yes."
I nodded. I couldn't offer any words of hope, nor could I say anything negative.
After that, she smiled again to lighten the mood, chatted a bit more, and then left, saying she'd see me later.
"I was happy when you said I was helpful."
Her final words carried a certain weight.
I sat there, dazed.
I had decided to act for the Legion, and I had done so.
And as a result of that action, a new connection had been drawn to me.
With a troubled mind, wondering if this was truly okay, I opened the app again.
[The Legion has offered you a tribute.]
But before I could open the app, something arrived in front of me, as if it had been waiting for me to be alone.
"The Legion's power source."
[To be precise, it is akin to a divine stone used by the moonlight fairies.]
I picked up the red ore that had appeared before me.
It was smaller than what I'd seen in the app.
They were usually the size of a fist, but this one was less than a quarter of that.
However, unlike an ordinary power source, it was engraved with a complex pattern.
"Why this? What's its purpose?"
[The basis is Soul Weaving. Have you not learned it already?]
"Right."
I had already learned how to handle mana stones from Cha Ji-yeon.
I moved my power and infused it into the ore.
At the same time, the ore showed no change.
"It's not a failure. It's just designed this way."
[It is an item that can appraise Players and Units. The principle is String. When you inject power, it detects the faint strings of the soul and emits light. At the same time, it can also block any power attempting to scan you.]
"...This is amazing."
I couldn't help but be impressed.
It was exactly what I needed, an item of the highest utility.
"Then I should give something in return. What should I give?"
[Is there a need to give anything?]
"Yes. Before, I would have hesitated, but not anymore."
The intention was obvious. Its primary goal was the Legion's growth.
Having used me well so far, it probably now hoped the Legion would abandon its obsession with me and just become a predator consumed by madness.
But I couldn't be cast aside like that. Now, I wouldn't let the Legion go.
It didn't matter if the Observer tried to pull another trick.
I had already confirmed that in the end, the will of the Player—my will—was what mattered most.
"I feel like I've neglected you too much."
Thinking about it, I felt a little sorry for making it so conscious and concerned.
So, maybe it was about time I offered a carrot.
*
"Hey, I'm not going to take it."
"...I know. I'm not particularly on guard."
"You're driving me crazy."
In the Legion's Nest, the two were munching on something.
Kang Do-yeon, who had been sitting casually, spat out the snack she was chewing.
The snack that fell to the floor dissolved and was digested.
And it was the same for the Legion, which was currently chewing on snacks with only its mouth exposed.
However, the Legion was also tightly hugging something else besides the snacks.
'What on earth is my brother thinking?!'
Kang Do-yeon couldn't say it out loud and groaned internally.
The cause was Shin-woo's attitude; the person who had felt burdened by the Legion's obsession had suddenly changed his tune.
'At this rate... it's really like he's raising a daughter.'
She looked with a troubled expression at the gift, the 'present' the Legion was holding.
It was nothing special. Just a small doll, and she couldn't fathom how he had gotten it in a place like this.
Of course, what he gave wasn't the important part.
'He gave it to me to give to you' was what mattered.
Kang Do-yeon scratched her head, unable to comprehend.
He gave her a doll to give to the Legion. And the Legion didn't question the act in the slightest.
'He definitely knows.'
But she wasn't so sure.
Her intuition told her that her brother had realized the Legion had created a body and was hiding it.
That meant the Observer, acting as the intermediary, had sided with Shin-woo over the Legion in this matter.
That made his intentions even more of a mystery.
Because what he was doing now was an act that would shake the still-unstable psyche of the Legion and strengthen its obsession.
For now, she was suppressing her curiosity, thinking there must be some meaning behind it.
[The scouts have discovered something.]
"How very interesting."
Just then, the Legion's scouts, who had been investigating the upper floors after the battle, found something.
[Logically, there was a contradiction. The variant Ruin Fungus is powerful. That's natural, as it was born from consuming other Ruin Fungi. If so, it shouldn't have been suffering from an energy shortage. There are still many Ruin Fungus-infected creatures, and this labyrinth is vast. But their behavior was strange in some way.]
"The same Ruin Fungi must have occupied every area, yet they acted as if the way up was blocked. It was also strange that they were concentrated on the 45th floor."
The Legion had noticed the oddity beforehand and had kept it in mind.
And when it had exterminated the variant Ruin Fungus and finally made the area below the 45th floor completely its own territory...
It found it on the stem of the 46th floor.
"No way..."
Kang Do-yeon covered her mouth in shock.
[Of unknown identity, but powerful.]
"It is definitely a Ruin Fungus. A variant. But it's different from the others."
The creature was clearly alive, but it didn't bother the Legion's scouts.
It was like a giant lump of flesh.
A variant of the Ruin Fungus, created from countless infected creatures clumped together.
But it had a different appearance from the Ruin Fungi on the lower floors, which had formed packs and evolved into even more powerful and ferocious variants.
"It's not hostile?"
"Communication might be possible."
The Legion could also sense something from that massive body.
For a moment, curiosity overcame its instincts for war and gluttony, and the Legion injected its own infectious cells into the giant variant Ruin Fungus, infecting it.
And the creature did not reject it.
[Infectious Proliferation Variant Ruin Fungus Hive: 6N0987]
The creature's information was registered in the Legion's database.
The existence of a being they had anticipated might exist—a Variant Ruin Fungus Hive—was proven.
'It has no intention of being hostile.'
Partially assimilated, the Legion could interpret the other's intentions.
A colossal being formed from the fusion of hundreds of Ruin Fungus colonies. But this massive entity was now dying.
In the end, it was for the same reason as the variants on the lower floors: a lack of energy.
Indeed, withered tissues were scattered around its massive body.
[The creatures that became a Hive had the ability to forcibly control and draw in nearby Ruin Fungus colonies. It was only natural that the variants on the lower floors were terrified. In a way, it could be called the ultimate king of cannibalism.]
It wasn't the first, but it had soon grown to be the strongest.
But ironically, the strongest variant Ruin Fungus, which had drawn in and unified all the Ruin Fungi except for those on the lower floors controlled by other variants, was now choosing to die.
'Why?'
The Legion, having read a part of their thoughts, could not understand it.
Especially for the Legion, which considered survival and evolution in any situation to be the ultimate truth.