Chapter 31
Chapter: 31
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 031
>Chapter Title: Channeling (1)
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Thud, boom, thud—
Thick tentacles burst out in all directions, slamming against the stone walls. The larva, having lost its prey and suddenly stabbed with a blade, had switched to maximum attack mode to eliminate the enemy.
Whoosh.
Seongjin swiftly ducked under a horizontally swung tentacle and clicked his tongue.
In his prime, he could have closed the distance in one step and shattered the creature’s core with a single punch, but in his current state, even getting close to the larva was no easy feat. The roots, now shaking even more violently, made it hard to plant his feet properly.
Seongjin spun his body aside to deflect a tentacle flying right at his face, then dodged the next one while sliding backward in a backflip. The anxiety hit him that if he kept chipping away like this, the thing might actually attempt an incomplete metamorphosis.
If only he could figure out where its head was.
He rolled sideways to evade the relentless tentacles and grimaced.
It looked like chewed-up and spat-out gum, but surprisingly, it had basic digestive organs and a nervous system. It had a mouth and eyes, and even something resembling a head. And at the back of that head was the vital organ he needed to destroy first.
Bartosi. Its official name was the Bartholomew organ.
A mutated nervous system organ commonly found in swarm-type magic beasts.
In the early days of the Gehenna Gate incident, there had been some active research—dissecting magic beasts and analyzing samples.
Of course, once it became clear that superhumans smashing them was the only solution, the research fizzled out. The deaths of the intellectuals capable of systematic study didn’t help either.
Anyway, after it was discovered that the transparent, tube-like crystal at the back of a magic beast’s head was the channeling organ, hunters learned its location and how to smash it as their first lesson before heading out to hunt.
Because once magic beasts started linked attacks through channeling, the hunt’s difficulty doubled.
‘For now, let’s shave off as much of that covering flesh as possible.’
Seongjin resolved as he sliced through two extended tentacles in one stroke. Once most of that rubbery mud-like flesh peeled away, he’d at least be able to make out the head.
The good news was that the blade he held cut nicely, posing no issue for slicing the larva’s outer skin.
Of course, the knights’ supplies were high quality, but plain metal couldn’t have sliced through such thick monster flesh so easily. It was possible because aura coated the blade.
Seongjin hadn’t fully realized it yet, but he was instinctively channeling the magic beast’s essence to coat the blade with aura.
‘Huh, my swordsmanship feels a bit sharper than before?’
Was it the effect of formal sword training?
Lost in vague thoughts like that, he neatly trimmed the larva’s stray roots when urgent footsteps echoed from afar, and Masain burst into the room.
“Your Highness!”
Masain’s eyes went wide as saucers. The prince was leaping around amid the writhing black doughy mass, swinging his sword.
Sir Kurt, rushing in behind, spotted Seongjin and the larva and gaped like a fool, jaw practically on the floor.
Seongjin dashed toward the room’s entrance. The larva, sensing new intruders, thrust out a massive tentacle with all its might.
Slice.
Fortunately, the tentacle wasn’t too fast, so he cut it down easily before it reached Masain and Sir Kurt. Standing in their way, Seongjin warned them.
“Try not to touch those black things if you can help it. They’ll drag you straight into its body in an instant.”
Suddenly, his body jerked backward. Masain had grabbed his robe hem and yanked him back.
With a rigid expression, Masain wedged himself between Seongjin and the larva, drawing his sword.
Sir Kurt, snapping to his senses, drew his own and reflexively slashed a tentacle, asking,
“…What the hell is that thing?”
“Bantra Moss larva! It’s a magic beast!”
“A magic beast? What’s that? Different from sea beasts?”
Probably. Magic beasts weren’t native to this world, after all.
As he raised his sword to charge again, a strong grip seized his shoulder, spinning him sideways. Masain had turned him around, face fierce as if about to yell.
“What the hell were you doing here for something like that to pop out?”
No, why assume it’s my fault, Sir Masain?
I’m innocent! Kenneth Digoria was raising this thing! I don’t even know where it came from!
Meanwhile, Sir Kurt bravely charged the larva, shouting,
“We just need to hack it all up, right, Your Highness?”
“Ah! Careful there…!”
Dodging tentacles, Sir Kurt rushed toward the center, then recoiled in horror. A round mouth had suddenly appeared in the torso’s middle.
A huge maw with double rows of hook-like fangs snapped shut with terrifying friction. Snap!
Sir Kurt, who’d nearly leaped right into its mouth, muttered like a groan.
“Lord Almighty…”
Masain dashed to Sir Kurt’s side and slashed a tentacle lunging at him. Meanwhile, the larva’s mouth vanished back into the black flesh as if it had never been.
Seongjin peeked out from the stone wall entrance, offering belated advice.
“Sometimes a mouth pops out from the torso middle! If it bites you and gets even a little nutrition, it might pupate, so watch out!”
“…That thing has a mouth too, Your Highness?”
Masain asked, face pale.
What’s so surprising about a mouth?
Seongjin suddenly wondered what their reaction would be if he asked them to precisely target and smash the 5cm-diameter organ at the end of the central nervous system running through the larva’s rear skull.
The larva’s resistance was tenacious. Though noticeably slower than at first, tentacles still flew at them without respite.
Feeling itchy all over, Seongjin tried sneaking back into the room amid the chaos, but Masain’s sharp eyes caught it and glared fiercely.
Ugh, fine, fine. I’ll stay put.
How had humanity’s last hunter, Lee Seongjin, ended up like this?
Though it was surely their first time facing a magic beast, were they really senior knights? Masain and Sir Kurt quickly adapted to the erratic tentacle assaults, wielding their swords with skill.
Distinct aura visibly cloaked their blades—clear even to Seongjin’s eyes—so their strikes packed far more power than his clumsy swings.
One sharp swing sent three or four tentacles flying, and chunks of the larva’s distant torso began slicing off with clean cuts.
But that seemed to trigger the magic beast’s crisis instinct. Seongjin swallowed hard seeing the larva twitch like it was electrocuted now and then. That was the sign of an impending incomplete metamorphosis!
“We need to find and smash its core fast! Sir Masain! Sir Kurt!”
At Seongjin’s shout, their faces twisted in bewilderment.
Huh? Pick out something from that rotten dough and attack it?
No time for a full explanation, though.
“Can you hit it with a strike strong enough to blow off that outer skin all at once?”
The thick, elastic skin made it hard to distinguish, but strip away one layer, and the larva had a fairly defined structure.
If a powerful blow exposed the head even briefly, Seongjin was confident he could smash the Bartosi instantly. Even better if it shattered the core too.
“Strong… you say.”
Masain’s face grew serious. He halted his movements, and quick-witted Sir Kurt stepped in to cover him against the larva.
Whoooong.
As Masain focused, his blade began humming faintly. Aura crept up from the edge, growing clearer until the cloaking aura intensified.
Then it revealed itself: a radiant golden aura blade.
Stretching about an inch beyond his sword, the aura formed a gleaming, pristine blade.
As rumored ahead of the Decaron Knights, he was among the elite of the imperial knights.
Holding the long golden blade, he took one step forward.
Swoosh.
It slashed horizontally so fast it seemed a yellow line appeared in an instant. A silent strike, soundless.
KABOOM!
As Masain sheathed his sword, a belated shockwave roared in. The stone walls shook as if crumbling, and severed tentacle chunks flew everywhere.
It rivaled a prime Seongjin’s punch in power. The thick monster skin peeled back instantly, revealing the larva’s contours wrapped like in thin rubber film.
It wasn’t just the skin. Masain’s attack had sliced off the hideous maw and about a third of the torso in one go.
Unfortunately, the long horizontal cut narrowly missed the core. Without a clear target, it was inevitable.
And Seongjin didn’t miss the light starting to blink brightly near its head. He charged with sword raised.
“Your Highness!”
Ignoring Masain’s startled cry, Seongjin leaped atop the head and thrust his blade precisely where the body segments met the rear skull.
The peeled-back skin snapped back, covering the blinking light instantly, but his vast experience pinpointed the Bartosi.
Crunch.
The familiar sensation of the blade tip hitting a hard tube transmitted through.
But the strike wasn’t deep enough to shatter it completely. Likely due to insufficient aura output.
Another blow to Lee Seongjin’s pride today.
“Sir Masain! Smash its core!”
Crunch.
Seongjin poured aura into the embedded blade, driving it deeper, and shouted. He felt a crack in the Bartosi, but it was too soon to relax. To fully stop channeling, they had to destroy the core and kill it outright.
Luckily, with part of its torso gone from Masain’s attack, the skin couldn’t fully hide the glowing core. Sir Kurt instinctively plunged his sword into the faintly shining spot inside.
Crack.
The larva went berserk, thrashing wildly.
“Your Highness!”
GRRAAAAAHHH!
Masain’s scream-like cry and the larva’s death throes shook the stone chamber.
Seongjin gritted his teeth atop its head, forcing the embedded sword. Would the Bartholomew organ shatter first, or the core deactivate? He couldn’t let his guard down until it went completely still.
Sssslip.
Something began coiling around Seongjin’s body. The roots, activating as pupation progressed.
Squeeee. A bizarre ringing accompanied the skin’s violent shudder.
Roll. Suddenly, a round eye emerged from the skin, fixing solely on Seongjin.
The impaled Bartosi blinked.
The faint blue light on its core blinked too.
Blink. Blink.
And then.
The larva stopped completely.
Silence enveloped the space in an instant, like a lie.
“…Hah!”
Seongjin exhaled the breath he’d held.
That was close. The channel had nearly opened.
His legs buckled, nearly sliding him off, but ironically, the Bantra roots coiling from all sides held him up.
“Your Highness!”
“Are you alright, Your Highness!”
Masain and Sir Kurt rushed to him. Masain’s face was ghostly white, looking like he might collapse first.
This guy really can’t handle the sight of blood despite his size, Seongjin thought, waving him off lightly.
“I’m… fine.”
That’s when Seongjin caught a strange sound in his ear.
[…Seongjin… Lee Seong…]
‘……?’
At first, he doubted it. Who in this world would know Seongjin and call his name?
[Lee… Seongjin…]
But there it was again, someone calling his name from somewhere.
Seongjin looked around, then glanced down.
Right at the Bartosi where his sword was embedded. The magic beast’s channeling organ, swirling with hazy light.
[Lee Seongjin…]
From beyond the faintly glowing Bantra organ, something was calling to him.