Chapter 70
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Monster of the Abyss (9)
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[That was the vow it made the moment it first saw the world outside the cave. Can you handle it?]
"I... I pretty much expected this."
I had said I turned off the screen, but I was secretly still watching, and now I was tearing my hair out.
It was true that I’d relaxed a little after seeing it try to make a video to inform me, but I hadn't let my guard down.
This was the Legion's innate nature, an unstoppable force.
I transferred the video lecture on the Legion's Mind Method and Resonance Method, which my sister had filmed and sent to a spare phone, over to my own, then focused back on the screen.
"So. The Legion, upon seeing the world for the first time after leaving the underground, declared it would devour the world. And to do that, it would act how, you said?"
[Look at the screen. The highest priority is information, and it is acting now to acquire it.]
The Legion does not hesitate. There's no need for debates or discussions to decide on military movements. And once a decision is made, it pushes forward without a single moment's pause.
A few special flying units split into small groups, cutting through the darkness and traversing the floors.
The view from the scouts watching the magicians also appeared in a corner of the screen.
The golems they controlled directly seemed to be moving about busily, unlike the others, but in the end, weren't those magicians the ones who had to watch the feed from those CCTV-like golems and make a judgment?
"＠#%~₩."
"&%^~＠? #####."
But seeing them now, ignoring the scrying orb and just chattering and laughing amongst themselves, I felt I didn't need to worry, even if I couldn't understand their language.
Just how lightly were they taking this labyrinth to be so relaxed?
"Praying for their souls... is that a bit hypocritical?"
I didn't know how strong they were yet, but I predicted their end wouldn't be a pleasant one and smiled bitterly.
"＠%?"
[The Legion's small flying units have successfully infiltrated the ceiling of the 100th floor without them noticing. They still haven't realized a thing.]
The small flying units the Legion dispatched this time looked exactly like bats, from their fur to everything but their stinger-tipped tails.
This Legion unit, with its four pairs of membranous wings, crawled upside down across the ceiling.
Then it opened its maw wide and began to silently release a biological gas.
[The gas contains an infectious agent, modified to its limit through the Legion's battles with the Ruin Fungus. The Moonlight Fairies shared the power of the Divine Tree and were immune to airborne infections, but what about humans?]
"Zoom in."
Glancing nervously outside the barracks, I magnified the screen.
When the view became microscopic, I could see the bacteria-sized Legion units floating in the air.
They scattered through the air and naturally began to adhere to the magicians' respiratory tracts and the mucous membranes of their eyes.
"Achoo!"
The body's defense mechanisms, like sneezing and tears, immediately kicked in, trying to expel the bacteria-sized Legion units that were secreting toxins to attack the surrounding cells.
Of course, that wouldn't be enough to stop them.
[It seems that due to the special power they possess, infection through such a convenient method is impossible.]
Suddenly, the bacteria-sized Legion units began to die off.
The magicians, startled, all clutched their chests at the same time and exchanged glances as if they had noticed something.
[In that case, there is no other way but to directly inject a large quantity of powerful, heavy infectious agents into their bloodstreams.]
Of course, for the Legion, this was just one of many plans failing.
The flying units positioned on the ceiling stealthily aimed their tails at their respective targets.
"＠?%."
"%..."
The magicians didn't seem to be paying much attention and went back to what they were doing.
And in that instant, the aimed stinger-tails burst with a pop, and the stingers within shot out at incredible speeds.
"Huk!?"
The stingers embedded themselves deep in their necks. Thicker and longer than a syringe needle, and most importantly, with reverse-barbed serrations that dug into the flesh like hooks, making them difficult to remove.
"＠%^~!"
They rushed in panic to their dozen or so comrades who had suddenly collapsed, clutching wounds where they'd been struck in the neck, head, and shoulders.
[These agents, injected directly instead of being airborne, are different. Stronger, larger. They will not be defeated by a Form Power as faint as a heartbeat.]
"Kuhh..."
The wounded areas of the victims, who were foaming at the mouth, rapidly changed color as black veins began to spread along the surrounding blood vessels.
Warfare at the cellular level was now the Legion's specialty.
The eyes of the victims, whose every cell was being destroyed and devoured while they were still alive, rolled back, and their bodies trembled and twisted grotesquely as if in a seizure.
The magicians who should have been making a decision were in such a panic from the sudden attack that they did nothing, letting the golden hour slip away.
"Kuaargh!"
Soon, the Legion units spread to the central nervous system and the brain, completely seizing control of the bodies.
The victims shot up to their feet and lunged at the comrades who had been tending to them, sinking their teeth into them.
"Ah... Aaaaargh!"
"Gyaaaargh!"
The horrific screams made me instinctively frown.
The gore, worse than any zombie movie where people were eaten alive, was hard to watch with composure. Especially since this wasn't some film.
[They are not fools, so of course, they resist.]
In the midst of the chaos, one man seemed to come to his senses particularly quickly. While his other comrades were being brutally torn apart, he threw a fireball from his hand at the colleague rushing toward him.
The power was considerable. The explosion that followed the *bang* was on par with a decent grenade.
Moreover, the man traced a complex gesture with his hand and then created and threw a dozen such fireballs simultaneously.
[The Legion is measuring their power.]
"...Honestly, he looks strong."
I was a little taken aback. For one, it was stronger and faster than any magic I had imagined.
Now alone, he began to take down his charging comrades one by one.
"He's going to get away at this rate."
Muttering something, he cast another spell on himself. His movements quickened, and he smashed his fist into the face of a colleague who was baring its teeth and lunging from the side, crushing its nose.
While fighting, he was slowly backing away and was now on the verge of exiting the cave.
After finally taking down the last of his comrades by blasting his upper body apart with a flaming spear, he turned with a terrified expression and began to run.
[No, it will never let him escape.]
But he did not escape. A single spear, tearing through the air, shattered the translucent barrier around his body and pierced through him.
The spear, shimmering with a dark red aura and made entirely of a crimson-black ore, had been thrown by a high-ranking Legion unit that had reached this place before I even noticed.
"Wh-When did..."
While I was muttering in a daze, this high-ranking Legion unit folded its wings into its back armor and strode over to retrieve its spear.
[Now that everyone has been neutralized as planned, all that remains is to acquire information.]
"＠..."
The Legion unit grabbed the head of the man, who was coughing up blood and muttering with a trembling voice.
I sighed inwardly. Now that he was in the Legion's grasp, he wouldn't be able to die even if he wanted to. The wound where the infectious agents had been injected was already crudely healing.
[The Legion will use them to learn about this world and about themselves, then it will begin to move in earnest.]
"...Turn off the screen. And be sure to let me know if anything unusual happens."
I turned off the screen there. The scene that would unfold next was obvious, and I had no desire to watch every last detail.
"Shin-woo. Are you in there?"
"Yes. Come in."
Besides, I couldn't watch anymore right now anyway.
I let in Cha Ji-yeon, who had made her presence known outside. But she wasn't alone.
Her colleague from Evolution, Chris, was with her.
*
"The Guardian Union."
"It's honestly a bit funny, but yeah... I don't want to curse them. They're still incredible people compared to us, after all."
Chris snorted and took a sip of his coffee.
The news the two had brought me was none other than a collaboration between Evolution and the Guardian Union.
Knowing that the core of the Guardian Union was Players and Units, the choice was a bit surprising to me.
I thought their Players were incredibly arrogant and reclusive.
"They're incredible people, but they're also crazy. At the same time, the situation isn't great right now. As you know, the monsters are uniting around the Units and acting like total bastards. You think it's good here? I heard one of the Eastern European allied forces' legions was just wiped out."
"Wiped out?"
"Those cow-headed freaks we used to call Minotaurs? Turns out they were Units."
Chris finished his sentence with a smirk.
Muscular monsters with the heads of bulls.
A-rank monsters, three meters tall, whose physical strength could crush an orc, were Units. A shiver ran down my spine.
"Because things are getting so serious, public opinion has turned toward the Guardian Union. They promised to give aid without any conditions, and many Hunters and ordinary people have already joined them. They have only one goal: to gather and save people."
"That's why I said they're crazy. Those guys don't give a damn. The Middle Eastern terrorist groups that the world powers had been publicly turning a blind eye to? They were wiped out overnight by their hands. They're pushing for global unity, it feels like I'm watching some kind of religious cult."
Chris added with a shudder to Cha Ji-yeon's words.
I couldn't say anything, my mouth shut tight. For a moment, Ji Chang-hyun's face flashed through my mind. Did he and his Player truly consider this more important than a game?
"Things are getting complicated. Even apart from this goddamn death game."
Chris tossed back the last of his coffee.