Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Star Fall (8)
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Kwaaak!
“Uwak! I almost died!”
The Professor grabbed the black spear flying at him from his blind spot and wiped the cold sweat from his chest.
Unlike his relief, the situation wasn’t great.
What set this one apart from the other low-grade specimens was that while it flung attacks wildly, almost none had landed solidly. At best, they’d shot off like cannonballs, smashing into the walls and toppling wooden buildings like dominoes. Its durability was on another level compared to the ones he’d fought before.
‘Maybe I should just use my right arm for defense and grab them one by one, snapping their spines. That’d be way more efficient…’
Ulluk!
“Urgh… ugh! This sucks! This damn side effect is insane! I can’t control my emotions!!!”
As blood surged once in his forearm, the rationality he’d summoned in his moment of crisis was swallowed by a massive impulse, and the thrill of battle consumed his mind.
The principle behind Blood Armor was simpler than it seemed.
Using ‘repulsion’ to disperse impacts.
In the battle when the black mage became a Demon Lich, the Professor had used a spell called Floating Water that Ottoman had created for him.
Thinking back after the fight, something hadn’t added up physically. His body mass had steadily increased to nearly 250-300kg, yet it had propelled him at such high speed without his legs shattering or any shock to his body.
‘I had Hide tweak the footage from that day and analyzed it. When it repelled my body, the water disc burst in the opposite direction. It wasn’t just repelling me—it could redirect the impact transmitted through action and reaction!’
That’s how Blood Armor was born.
Pwaaaang!
“Kwauuuu!”
A red gauntlet slammed into the side of a Grade 4 mutant spewing fire from its mouth, bursting something—lava or blood, who could tell—from its jaws.
A small wave-like vibration rode the fist pushing into its crumpled flank, flowing from his fingertips up his arm to his elbow,
Pang!
And the moment it reached the end of the gauntlet, the back burst apart entirely, spraying a storm of blood behind his arm.
The armor took the impact and shoved it out the opposite side, exploding to scatter it all into the air—a perfect spell for both offense and defense, if he said so himself.
The arm spraying blood backward with every swing evoked the image of a rocket propelled by red thrusters.
The problem was reforming the exploded gauntlet using blood from his wounds…
‘I thought I could just patch it with mutant blood, but since it’s magic, it has to be my blood!’
Even without berserk mode, he could regenerate blood with his vitality alone. When attacking or defending, the Blood Armor burst, sucking his blood out in a spray. His body, saturated with infection factors, instinctively absorbed the mutant blood to aid regeneration. Then it was consumed again, absorbed again.
This bizarre blood dialysis repeated, swinging his brain between anemia and high blood pressure. On top of that, the infection factors caused agony by wringing every capillary for regeneration during anemia, then rampaged toward his head when blood pressure spiked from overflow, making it impossible to keep his sanity. It was like his whole body had turned into a pumping heart.
“The thrill! The thrill won’t stop rising!”
Thud thud!
Amid the overwhelming euphoria from sensations swinging between heaven and hell. The tension from the mutant claws grazing his nose. The chill, the release when smashing a fist into their faces! That bizarre emotion hovering between pain and pleasure obliterated his usual cool reason and judgment, turning him into a joyful berserker!
Kwang! Kwang! Kwak! Ujjuk! Chulpeok!
As the mutant heads—half insect, half human—plowed into the ground, blood sprayed from his right arm until everything looked bright red, and his body pulsed harder with every spurt.
Reason had flown, but his senses sharpened like a beast’s in return.
And those senses picked up something on another level from the horde charging mutants. A thrust that also sliced. An attack from an angle leaving no room to dodge.
Chwaaaak!
The black cross spear sliced straight through the huge mutant he’d hurled, carving through the high-grade mutant’s tough flesh without losing momentum as it flew at him.
Kwak!
“Hey now, didn’t like the show? Why just watch from afar?”
“Traitor…! Even if the whole world changes… you can’t!”
Kaang!
The mutant with something weird on its head—which had been relaying orders from a distance—charged at the Professor.
Kwak! Kagaak!
“Different software, huh? It’s got some bite!”
The other Grade 3 mutants weren’t slouches with spears either, but this one was the real deal. That Chevalier Grade 3 mutant could even fly; it unfurled wings and swooped from every angle, stabbing relentlessly. The Professor’s strength overwhelmingly outmatched it, but shaking it off wasn’t easy. It felt familiar…
“...Edeorna?”
“You remember! Yes! Sister’s spearwork isn’t something you forget easily after seeing it! Imperfect though it may be, I was taught by her!”
The black cross spear repelled the Professor’s arm once and lunged fiercely.
“You were my mirror, my idol! Proof that even this wretched body could wield greater powers and change the world! You were!”
Chwaak!
“You shouldn’t appear before me in such a… pathetic state!”
“Urk!”
In the blink of an eye, countless clashes exchanged, and struggling to handle other mutants closing from behind, the Professor took a shallow slash to the chest and leaped back.
‘The one controlling it isn’t ordinary. It’s adapted to the vocal cords that aren’t its own; the speech went from slurred to clear fast. Was there a named controlling allies?’
Information gained from the exchange flooded his mind. It felt like his normal state, but unfamiliar.
‘Huh? My head’s suddenly clear? Crisis bringing back reason? Nah, it’s still the same guy.’
He’d allowed an attack, but only a graze while minding the mutant hurling an entire wagon from behind. A wound gone without trace in seconds. No poison or other threats.
Thudump! Thudump! Thudump. Thump—
The rhythmic pumping shaking his whole body subsided like a lie. The magic was fading.
Seeing the Blood Armor losing its luster, Palkatus—hovering in the sky on wings—spoke with a sneer.
“Did you really think I was just watching, Father? Watching our forces take losses? Have you dulled that much?”
Flap, flap.
High above where attacks couldn’t reach, Palkatus tapped his right arm with the spear shaft.
“To abandon the intellect needed to stand against Sister’s hunt for that paltry power. Magic. Humanity’s greatest strength, even if we haven’t unraveled its principles yet. No reason not to prepare for it.”
Kkuduk, tuk!
Palkatus yanked something from the spear of the Grade 3 mutant he controlled and tossed it at the Professor’s feet.
A small gem shard. Glowing purple…
“Anti… mana stone?”
“Yes! Another lesson from you! The only way we, who haven’t set foot in the discipline of magic, can counter it! I learned the method you personally showed in the mage tower and made it ours! Magic can’t take form without mana as its material! With this simple knowledge, your pitiful power is sealed! See! There’s no shortage of replacements for physical might! Those attacks you blocked so easily!”
Seogeok!
“Now you can’t block them anymore!”
“Kuuk!”
The cross spear thrust like lightning, fused with its body. Without defenses, he couldn’t stop it. He barely avoided vitals but had to yield his right arm.
Tuk, hududuk.
The severed right arm sprayed blood in the air and hit the ground.
No matter how perfectly the image lingered, Blood Armor without mana was just crusty blood. It crumbled away with the severed arm.
“Damn. Already short on mana, so I limited it to my right arm, and it’s got an anti-mana stone weapon… Whoever your mom is, you’ve got a brilliant head.”
“Unlike you, who gave up, I pursued knowledge endlessly. Now… die. I’ll remember you as the father from Turan.”
Palkatus shook off the last lingering attachment, staring at the Professor through the head of the Grade 3 mutant he controlled. His father, motionless in the air, either abandoned or lost in thought.
Clap!
Suddenly, applause from that side.
“Father in Turan… you’re that one from back then! Man, how’d I miss it! The blood Edeorna took from me!”
He smacked his fist into his palm as realization dawned.
“No way, no way, but you really spawned a mutant with my traits! Judging by your speech, you’re the real deal ‘talking mutant’ named! Wow, you must’ve had it rough! Glass Body, Mental Fragility—no one can just handle that!”
‘A hand…? When? I definitely cut it off!’
The mood shifted.
Looking down in panic, the severed arm was definitely there. He’d felt it catch on the spear tip, seen it fly through the air with his own eyes! It was cut! So what’s that down there, and what’s this intact arm now?!
‘No substance… an illusion! So the mage had another trick!’
Palkatus grinned viciously and gripped the spear again.
“…Illusion magic. Bluffing! Yes, using your head only after losing all power! If you’d done that sooner, things might’ve been different!”
Chwaak!
The Grade 3 mutant’s wings flapped, and once more, the spear severed his right arm. No matter how realistic the illusion, it would scatter on contact with the anti-mana stone. No variables. The true nature of that wretched magic would soon—
Tuk, degurur—
“…Huh?”
The arm fell. Blood dripped, dirt puffed from the stump—a real arm. Now two arms on the ground.
“Wh-what the hell…”
“Ta-da! No tricks, no lies!”
Palkatus backed away slowly from the approaching Professor, who waved the severed stump. He was giggling like it was hilarious.
“So, if the mutants created you based on my data, that makes you biologically my son…”
“Wh-what’s that mean! How…? I can’t understand! It’s impossible by common sense!”
“Son. Looks like you’ve never met a proper opponent. You think Daddy here charged into a horde of Grade 3s and 4s relying on just Blood Armor, which uses limited mana?”
Blood Armor offset his Glass Body weakness, but limited to Rank 2 magic, it could only manifest on his right arm, not at full power. No matter his superhuman strength, he couldn’t survive among so many high-grade mutants with that alone.
Blood Armor just needed to buy time as bait. He had a way to escape with his life if needed.
“Heh heh heh heh. Son, want Daddy to show you a magic trick—?”
Puhwak!
Blood mist erupted from the Professor’s body, muscles and bone sprouting instantly from the stump until a perfect hand returned.
“Ma-gic!”
“D-don’t come closer! I confirmed no mana! A human, not even kin… no, none of us brothers have regeneration like that…!”
“Don’t come closer? Oh man, saying that! Son, Daddy’s hurt. Don’t tell me… you’re scared of Daddy?”
“N-no way! I’m the son of the great Mother, a mentally complete being! I, who pursue the highest intellect, wouldn’t feel something like fear—”
“Oh dear. Hide, looks like your little bro doesn’t know what fear is.”
Shuuuuk—
With every step the Professor took, nearby mutant blood was absorbed into his body, his muscles swelling larger.
Shuuuuk- kkuduk, kkuduk, kwaduduk!
His entire body ballooned like a monster’s in mutation berserk mode. With an innocent smile, he raised his fist.
“If you don’t know, time to learn. Pursuit of new knowledge. Isn’t that what you seek?”
“D-don’t come! Monster!”
“Monster? Love that! Alright, number three. Ready? Since you don’t know fear, Daddy’s gonna make you the star of the scariest story—one you’ll remember every time you snore, every time you lie down!”
Kwaak!
The Professor crouched like a track athlete, his feet digging into the ground.
“Ever after!”
“Uh, uwaaaak!”
Kuaaaang!
With a cannon-like boom, his body launched just from pushing off, shattering the road and houses behind him.
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