Chapter 121
Chapter 121
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Star Fall (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
****
Deep into the night.
Mute, patrolling atop Pellas's walls, thought it had spotted something odd. Every living thing in the vicinity had been shredded and fed to the Queen's clones, yet something like a strangely shaped orc had flitted across its vision.
“Kraaak! Kaaak!”
When the cat-like creature's eyes reflected something shimmering faintly beyond the walls, Mute leaped from the ramparts without hesitation. This was mother's domain, held by her limbs. Not even the tiniest sliver of a threat could be allowed past those walls.
It was strange that none of its brethren followed despite its full-throated warning cry, but Mute kicked off the ground powerfully, eyes fixed on the receding shimmer. Its legs, a chimeric blend of various animal forms, propelled it elastically across the earth, and with every bound, Mute felt a surge of gratitude and reverence for the mother who had crafted such a body.
‘For mother, mother’s enemies. Kill!’
The walls vanished in an instant, branches snapping against its body as it crashed through, but for some reason, the oddly shimmering orc toyed with it, staying just out of reach of its claws.
‘Grrr! Just a bit more. Grab that freak, rip it to shreds, swallow it whole—’
Slash!
That was Mute's final thought. Silver claws, waiting silently behind a tree, severed its head without a sound.
Borca, its silver fur gleaming in the moonlight, wiped the blood from its claws and spoke.
“Eight. More entertaining skills than expected, troll.”
“Gruk. Fishing fun.”
“With the perception disruption spell in effect, that one with the keen eyesight should be the last. I could hardly believe the Professor's report at first... but they're no mere monster horde. The surveillance is remarkably systematic. Eight bright-eyed ones patrolling the walls that Notum and you took out. And...”
At Aldritch's gesture, a cluster of dazed Mutants appeared from the underbrush, staring blankly at the sky.
“No idea how they knew, but every time one died, eight of them shuddered and fled. If Nel hadn't been sent to round them up, things might've gone sideways from the start.”
“Wooo. Ghost geezer. Don't pull that out. Scary.”
“Hm? Oh, don't worry. Nel's as kind and gentle as they come, despite appearances...”
Crunch!
Crack, crunch! Crraaack!
At that moment, one of the stupefied Mutants was yanked into empty air and devoured bite by bite, like fruit. Blood dripped from the remains—or what little was left of a corpse—as the Mutant’s two feet dropped to the ground with a thud.
“...as can be.”
“Grooo. Liar.”
“...The old man's gotta relearn how to talk.”
“Ah, we've still got seven left, so the plan's fine! Nel's probably just eager after so long out—time to start!”
The soul jar at Aldritch's neck shook, emitting a bell-like chime that echoed softly.
Souls without flesh began infiltrating flesh without souls, and the seven limp Mutants slowly turned toward the city and shuffled forward.
****
“Borca's set to move when the moon peaks. Give the Mutants time to swarm this way—let's get started. Mage Ottoman, ready?”
“I've been ready ages ago... but you really think it'll go as planned? Fail, and we're dead before we can blink.”
“Don't jinx it. Spells won't manifest without conviction, right? Let's go in believing it'll work.”
At the south gate, directly opposite the north where Borca, Notum, and Aldritch waited, the Professor stretched.
[Shell, just in case: your body's muscle has grown steadily as you've taken damage. Don't swing like old times—'Era whatever, heart punch!'—or you could lose not just your arm, but shoulder, ribs, collarbone, the works.]
A body saturated with infection factor, fully healed yet plagued by erosion. They'd pushed through travel with skin splitting and bones breaking. On days without margin, he'd begged Borca to rake his back raw.
[Heh heh. Your face was priceless.]
‘Told 'em I'm used to pain, but they wouldn't buy it. Finally grabbed a rock and started smashing my thigh myself, then they helped.’
Honestly, he'd worried at first login. Constant play had acclimated him to the eyeball-popping agony, but after so long outside, starting over? Surprisingly, enduring hurt more easily now than before.
‘[Pain Reduction (Mid)] or whatever, but open fractures feeling like a sprained wrist? Doesn't add up... Could Dome experience carry over into the game?’
He had a hunch. His real left arm. A dissociation beyond finger numbness—something alien fused into his flesh. Focusing on detaching the sensation from the injury halved the pain, it seemed.
[Told you: you treat your body too 'human.' Remember that feeling. It'll help master your body.]
Clack! Crack! Snap! Clack!
Idle thoughts end. Ottoman tied mudras behind him.
‘Asked for the biggest, flashiest show—retire after, but give it your all. Let's see a rank-5 mage's worth without attack spells!’
“[Aura, my love.]”
As Ottoman's incantation began, humidity choked the air.
“[Great sea, some feel vastness in you, some humility, some courage. But I felt love. The love that never ceases kissing the shore, no matter how far pushed. The world's oldest love, incomparable—my heart is utterly stolen.]”
Roooar—
A sound echoed. Waves, impossible in Lordric North's plains ringed by northern snowpeaks and western Blueline. Salt-laced wind.
Ottoman's spell was less incantation, more heartfelt serenade.
“[Love embraced by earth's bosom. For this lovesick old fool, a small mercy. A single kiss to shine in the soul until the grave—one step, O radiant sea.]”
Roooar—
Deep night. Full moon bathed the city, forest, and colossal wave surging between.
“[Ottoman Baudelaire's, Life of the Water Mage.]”
Arms trembling skyward as if to embrace the wave, Ottoman addressed the Professor.
“You did say... draw their eyes?”
His gaze on the endless watery barrier held affection bordering reverence.
“Young, first beholding the sea, I realized: I'd wander life entranced, solitary in that joy. I'll share that with them—the awe of encountering the world's most beautiful.”
Mana flowed from Ottoman like a gentle brook, then torrent, surging skyward.
The tsunami crashed over the city.
****
“Ah, no... I said biggest one-shot, but...”
Didn't expect *that* big.
Catching the blissfully fainted Ottoman after repelling the surge, the Professor gaped at the surreal scene.
Moonlit night. A shimmering tsunami devouring the land, swallowing the castle whole.
Even by GG's logic, pure fantasy.
Distant speck-like Mutant swarm swept away. Swallowing walls, village, still surging toward the plains beyond the lord's castle—
“Grrraaaah!!”
Boom!
Splaash!
Several Mutants burst forth, halting it.
House-sized rocks plummeted in the wave's path; a corner turret collapsed, forming a breakwater.
Three black Mutants with long-bladed spears shattered the wave's crest with each swing, scattering it, momentum fading until—
Roooar—
It collapsed before the barricade, seeping into the earth.
Despite the spectacle, the lord's castle with its Chamber Maid unscathed.
‘Grade 3... no pushovers.’
Elite specimens: superior strength, skill, combat intellect. Mutants with flawlessly optimized traits from amassed genetic data.
From the writhing heap of debris, waveswept mutants, and tangled mess, the true guardians emerged one by one.
- Jokasss: Speedwagon! Teach me what that is!
+ Player ‘Speed Wagon’ is currently away.
- Jokasss: Wait, why's the community ghost suddenly MIA?
- takealook: Think he chatted with Professor earlier and dipped.
+ Player ‘BDSM3기공채합격자대표’ has entered!
- Number Three: Invited someone from that ‘Follower’ room who knows stuff!
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Ooooh! Main room! I'm in Professor Park's personally vetted main room! I did it!
- Deer Drug Please: That ID's primal af.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: End times... Professor stans everywhere...
- Jokasss: Nice to meet ya—info on those if you know.
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Yes sir! I'll spill every scrap of knowledge before the main room seniors!
First, that black hell-ant-human hybrid! The spear one’s super famous! Top fame in grade 3! Nicknamed ‘Zhao Zilong x3’, or Chevalier!
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: That's the guy? Looks different, thought variant.
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Varies by seed. Skinny ant-like legs version, white ant, axe instead of spear. But that chitin-human glow on sleek muscles? Unforgettable charm! Wields weapons ghost-like. Even hero combat units need backup against five. More infamous for massacring grunts than assassinations. Takes knight-top to block.
- takealook: Eight of those? Then the ones beside?
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: The door-swinging ones? Uh... not sure, but those tusks, snout, beard scream orc-based brute mutant. Non-named spawn new per seed. No clue how they got southern bunker orcs, but yep, orc. Tusks don't mean troll/ogre—no beards. Definite grade 3. Mutants strict hierarchy; lowers can't stand shoulder-to-shoulder with highers. Weapon means min grade 4.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: Yo, weren't those corpses? Wave-swept rising?
- Jokasss: See the torches moving? South gate ones out; those are north gate holdouts. All heading here.
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Infection bodies to grade 7 are twigs, but Mutants make grade 6+ tough baseline. Swept and broken, but neck/waist intact recover soon.
- Deer Drug Please: Ooh, knows his stuff? Useful af.
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Thanks! War's end, never left bunker, scarfed stores, just community posting!
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: Uh, huh...
- Jokasss: Er... hang in there...
“That's the type, huh...”
Having tucked the fainted Ottoman deep in the woods (seemed safest), the Professor strode toward the beast-eyed Mutants approaching the south gate.
“Our goal was eyes on us anyway. At least nailed that.”
Ottoman overdelivered. Strong ones mostly intact, but some grade 5-6 with snapped necks dead, lowers combat-ineffective.
Entering the gate, low-grade torch-bearers from north ringed the entrance.
“Intruder... krrk, detected...”
Voice scraping like metal on metal. Turning, one spear-wielding atop rubble twitched its jaws at the Professor.
- professor: Hey, uh... rep?
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Hiii! P-Pro! Professor! Real deal!
- professor: Yeah, me. Rep, does that thing talk?
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Aaaah#@*(&!&*^!#(* He's here! Same chat! Communing!
- takealook: Yo. It's calling you.
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Huh?
- takealook: Rep. That's you.
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Hiiiijghwhaaaat!!! Sp-speak!
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: No, speak! Typo srs!
- professor: No time, quick. That Zhao Zilong Chevalier Mutant—normally talks?
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Nope. Combat genius, but no human speech. Rumored telepathic among Mutants! No human talk?
- professor: Then what's that.
“You... krrgh! Why... krrk! Here... don't know you... but... truly... one-in-a-lif-krrk! etime... luck...”
While the Professor inferred in chat, the voice grated on, like forcing vocal cords.
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: That's it! On the talker's head! Slightly bumpy, greenish glow!
- professor: Oh, yeah, different.
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: No doubt! Chevalier: command-combat Mutant. Brainwave open, so implant special Mutant part-like on head, beam waves to speak human! No exact case, but Rank 27 Runaway Train stream had similar...
“So, Mutants managing us via brainwaves?”
Intuition hit. Keen-eyed on walls, even torches—human-level systematic watch. Too polished for non-named grade 3 design; makes sense with remote direction.
High Mutant head-transmitter puppetry, pulling strings from behind.
The bastard who screwed me.
“...You've been busy hopping east-west?”
“Krrk... krrgh... krk, krrk krek...!”
Catching the Professor's snide tone, it twisted laughing.
“You say... hard work... krrk! to me. Useless humans for-slayed... couldn't, so you move yourself.”
‘...Awful friendly?’
Voice grating aside, tone pitied them, sympathetic.
Whoosh!
Bug-headed Chevalier spread arms like party herald.
“Wanted... battlefield meet. But this... krrgh! fate. Wanted to see you... once.”
“Yeah, wanna squeeze ya tight, ram ya full of steel—”
“Father.”
.
.
.
.
.
.
“...What?”
- takealook: Wha?
- Heung An Mandu: Father?
- Nutria Pass: What... Darth Vader callback? I’m your son?
- Deer Drug Please: Queen! Bear human child!
- BDSM3기공채합격자대표: Gaaah
One word panicked the Professor; the Mutant placed hand on chest, bowing nobly.
“From now... humbly, Morning Star's Palcatu will serve... Fath—”
“Uwaaaah! Shut it! [Blood Shot]![Blood Shot]![Blood Shot]!”
Bang! Bang! Baaang!
“...Talk later... plenty time.”
Spear-sweeping black Mutant deflected bullets, ordering the encircling legion.
[Subdue politely. Unharmed if possible.]
Thud!
“Gwaaaargh!”
As if awaiting, hate-fueled Mutants lunged at the Professor en masse.
“Damn it! Creepy! No stalling—gonna kill that bug-head at least!”
- Deer Drug Please: Y'know strong denial is...
“Bullshit! Didn't! I didn't!”
Slaaash!
Facing the Mutant horde filling vision, Professor raked claws down forearm. Skin tore, deep gash bled profusely.
Blood-soaked hand formed mudra.
Thumb for core instinct—one bend.
Index encircles thumb, commanding instinct.
Remaining fingers straight: shield form. Primal survival magic.
‘Mudra mere frame. Spell manifests from caster's insight, imagery!’
First try, but conviction: doable.包容 insight enabled blood in spells.
Blood. Strongest life memory. Magic as heart's manifestation—not coincidence.
Slaaash!
Per will, blood fountained from forearm.
Insight-infused blood misted, settling over right arm, shaping.
“Origin Spell. [Blood Armor]”
Max magical capacity: blood gauntlet to elbow.
Clack.
Flexing right hand, Professor spun, smashing a lunging Mutant’s fang-bared face full-force into dirt.
***