Chapter 71
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Monster of the Abyss (10)
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"Are you sure he isn't watching?"
[I am certain.]
"Then it doesn't matter."
In a dark corner of the cavern, Legion first confirmed the most important thing.
Indeed, Shin-woo, who was currently conversing with Chris and Cha Ji-yeon, was not looking at the screen.
Of course, there was a reason why he, who could watch everything on a screen others couldn't see, had deliberately turned it off.
"Hnngh... Kuh..."
"A little longer. Let's talk."
Legion grabbed the man trembling against the wall beside it and grinned.
The captive himself, however, couldn't believe the situation—a monster in the form of a human female, its eyes glinting from behind a mask as it whispered to him.
It was already well-versed in interrogating prisoners.
It spread the infection fungus throughout his body, seizing control and manipulating his nervous system at will.
It was a method it had favored ever since realizing that the sword of pain was an efficient tool for forcing out the truth.
An excruciating pain that not even the proudest of elves could endure for a single hour, a torment so severe it would make one bite off their own tongue in an instant.
"Tell me everything. Down to the smallest detail."
Even their language systems were different, but that was meaningless.
With just a few clues, Legion had instantly learned the human tongue, and its learning speed was accelerating.
"Everything."
"Keoheuk... Guk..."
This was why Shin-woo wasn't watching. Overwhelmed by this unimaginably horrific pain, the victim, half-mad, trembled as he spilled everything he knew.
Legion memorized every piece of information.
It knew cross-verification was necessary, of course, but for now, it began its calculations assuming the information it had just obtained was the truth.
'It would be better if I could analyze the brain and extract the information within.'
It wasn't without its regrets. It was well aware that extracting information through torture like this was hardly a sophisticated method.
The current Legion possessed the ability to perfectly replicate a target's brain cells, but interpreting the information held within was still impossible.
Unlike language, which allowed it to communicate and gather clues through external means, brain cell analysis offered nothing to reference at its current level.
[So. Have you decided on a course of action?]
"Of course."
Having finally extracted all the information, Legion rose to its feet.
At that moment, a faint glimmer of hope flickered in the eyes of the victim, who could now escape this horrific pain.
"Ah... Aaaargh!"
But the controlled infection fungus, its purpose served, now completely devoured the victim, shattering his brain and utterly destroying his ego.
The victim, who had been thrashing wildly with terrible screams, slowly went still.
With one final tear rolling from his eye, the victim, now completely consumed by black veins, would remain a living slab of meat until Legion's nest reached this place, at which point he would be digested and turned into nutrients.
'It's over. Move out, Legion Commander.'
Legion commanded Kang Do-yeon, who was waiting in her mask, to move.
Now that it knew where it was and who its enemies were, there was no reason to remain coiled up.
'I'm going to devour them all.'
The calculations were complete. Legion decided to act immediately. Just in time, movement was detected at the entrance.
"Hey, Boris. Why aren't you answering your comms?"
"These slackers have all gone off the rails. I told them to report in before the shift change..."
Around sunset outside the cave.
A group of mages, completely unaware of the incident that had transpired here hours ago, entered the cave.
They had come for the shift change and were thoroughly irritated. The previous shift was supposed to report in periodically that all was clear, but not a single one of them had made contact.
Even for a dead-end post, there were basic regulations to at least pretend to follow.
"...What the."
"Why is no one here?"
However, they were flustered to find the cavern completely empty, devoid of even the slightest sign of human presence.
It had been decades since this place was established.
Not expecting such a variable in this quiet, out-of-the-way corner where they thought they'd seen it all, they hurriedly checked the crystal orbs.
But it wasn't true that no one was there.
They just hadn't noticed the countless eyes already watching them in real time.
"What... The connection to the golems has been completely severed."
"Same here. It looks like there's a problem."
After checking the crystal orbs, they instinctively tensed up.
The atmosphere changed in an instant. This cave, which had been just a boring and tedious workplace cluttered with desks, crystal orbs, papers, and books, now reclaimed its old, gloomy and desolate air.
The sound of water dripping from the stalactites seemed unusually loud.
"Hey, rookie. Report to headquarters right now. We need to investigate. Dammit, we should've just ignored the regulations and brought a communication orb."
Among them, a balding, middle-aged mage who seemed to be a veteran of sorts commanded a younger man, his voice trembling slightly.
As if used to such treatment, the man nodded hastily at the serious tone and quickly turned around.
"Huh...?"
"You're not leaving."
But just as the man started to run toward the entrance, someone, who had appeared from nowhere, blocked his path.
Clad in black armor over a slender, curvaceous female body, the being stood silhouetted against the deepening blue of early evening. Its long, dark hair cascaded down to its hips, and a red glint shone from behind its mask.
"What the..."
"Idiot! Duck!"
While the man who had come face-to-face with Legion stood bewildered, the veteran who had given him the order quickly assessed the situation and instantly summoned and launched an ice spike.
However, the ice spike was blocked by a crimson, translucent barrier that had suddenly appeared.
For a moment, everyone fell silent. Amidst the quiet, Legion raised a finger and pointed at them.
'Kill them.'
The order was given to the waiting Legion units.
The flying-type Legion units, which had been on standby on the floor just below, began to pour out like water from a dam whose floodgates had been opened.
"Ugh, uwaaargh!"
"Barrier! Now!"
Terrified by the massive winged beasts swooping down on them, a few mages failed to react in time and fell, spraying blood as they were torn apart by sharp talons and poisonous stingers.
Since the decision was to kill them all anyway, there was no need to bother with infection.
The few survivors who quickly gathered huddled in a corner, erecting a defensive barrier and firing off various spells to fight back against the Legion units.
'Staff of the Labyrinth Management Office. Mostly low-level mages.'
But Legion's reaction was indifferent, as it already knew their identities and the magic they were using from the information interrogated out of the prisoner.
While a new way of handling Form Power was certainly interesting, it judged that their level was not worth learning.
"There are too many..."
"Help me!"
Completely swarmed by the flying units, they struggled to resist from within their single-layered barrier, their vision filled with the black monsters.
But the barrier was not infinite. And there was no one to help them.
Moreover, the ferocity of the monsters before them was of a different nature than that of ordinary beasts.
Countless monsters that didn't see humans as prey, but as targets to be thoroughly eliminated, charging with only that purpose in mind.
The mages sensed that thick killing intent and fell into a panic. As their minds grew anxious and wavered, the barrier they had conjured with their spells grew thinner, and cracks began to spread across its surface.
'The Academy, and the city.'
Watching them get brutally torn to death as they failed to maintain their barrier, Legion was already thinking about its next plan.
According to the information it had obtained, there were humans in this world who were incomparably stronger than these low-level mages.
Power of their caliber seemed worth learning.
[Nesting will take some time.]
"It doesn't matter."
Legion first began to build a nest here, on the 100th floor.
Legion units resembling giant toads regurgitated a sticky mucus they had stored in their bellies, and from that mucus, flesh walls and tentacles began to grow, covering the ground.
The nest had not yet even fully consumed the 70th floor deep underground, so for now, it only needed to create a connection to share nutrients from the main nest and establish a means for the troops here to digest and supply their own nutrients.
"There is plenty of food. We will grow in scale by devouring everything."
Standing at the cave entrance, Legion spread its arms.
A vast forest stretched out before it, with all the plants and animals living within, and in the distance, a rather large city was visible.
There was no shortage of things to eat. This was different from the labyrinth, which had been nothing but stone, stone, and more stone.
Everything now laid out before it could become its energy.
Legion stepped out of the rocky cave, its own body setting foot on the soft, grassy earth.
Though they were the rough feet of a monster, complete with sharp claws, it could feel it clearly.
Kneeling on one knee, Legion brushed the soil with its hand and then grinned.
An ant, fearlessly climbing onto its hand, crawled around curiously.