Chapter 124
Chapter 124
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Star Fall (9)
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‘What the hell? What's going on?'
Palkatus was confronting a situation he couldn't comprehend for the first time in his life.
The Shvaliye under his control had been flying high enough to see clearly beyond the walls. Then, in an instant, his father's body swelled up, and a shoulder bulging with veiny muscles loomed right in front of his face....
Bam!
When he snapped back to awareness, his consciousness had returned to his main body.
'Died? My meticulously selected high-rank specimen for external ops, taken out in one blow?'
Power. The overwhelming power he'd always dreamed of. That primal shoulder tackle stood in direct opposition to everything he'd preached about the power of knowledge.
'I want it.'
Saliva gathered in Palkatus's mouth. Inside the symbiotic body his mother had crafted, he never felt hunger or thirst, but right now, a burning thirst scorched him.
'I want to know. I want to learn it too! How did Father, with a body as frail as mine, transform into that perfect physique!'
That battlefield insight. Those razor-sharp eyes. Father hadn't abandoned intellect entirely. He'd simply succeeded in finding a different answer, in his own way—one Palkatus couldn't have imagined! Just like always!
The affection for his father that had withered surged back, igniting Palkatus's will.
'From the rout in Turan, I learned combat through knowledge and strategy. From losing a precious puppet in Tobrun, I learned how to counter magic! Defeat stings, but if it yields something new, then defeat equals victory! If I can uncover the secret of Father's body....!'
Anticipation left him gasping. Palkatus hurriedly focused his consciousness. Diving in directly without a reception worm risked affecting his main body, but he couldn't pass up this chance. If I gain a body like that, I could race across the plains like Sis and the brothers....!
'Good eyes on this one. Yeah, this guy's it!'
Eyes closed, and his consciousness shot from the northern hub straight to Pellas.
'Combat! Perfect chance! The body moves with the most finesse! I'll etch every muscle twitch, every bone into my eyes, nothing missed!'
Palkatus steeled himself inwardly and rushed to burrow into one mutant's consciousness—
.
.
.
Wham!
“Gaaah!”
He got flung right back out. In the split-second his eyes opened, he glimpsed his father's massive fist—drenched in mutants' blood and fluids—hurtling toward him with a whoosh.
“I-it's fine! No damage to my body! Hurt a little, but I felt Father's fist power firsthand! Got valuable data. Keep at it, keep....!”
Concentrated again. The frontline fighter was too risky, so one attacking from range. At this distance....
“Kyaaak!”
A long-range mutant spewing bone shards got smashed in the mouth by what looked like a house beam.
“Ha, one more!”
Crunch!
“Grah! Damn! Again!”
Crack!
“Huck! Gahk!”
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ah, I'll find out....”
Crunch, splaaat!
“.....”
Bursting, shattering, ripped apart alive and mangled. Father doggedly hunted only the high-rank mutants that could handle his consciousness, smashing them dead.
His body throbbed everywhere, but sharper than pain in Palkatus's mind was something far worse.
'Not touching but eyes keep rolling—you, huh? Son. Nice learning posture.... But Dad's short on time today. Just one lesson today?'
'N-no. Don't. Don't! Kyaaaa!'
Eyes. Those eyes staring through the mutant's where his consciousness hid. Terrifying. Jet-black pupils like Father standing before him in the north, glaring down—flashing vividly every time he tried another mutant.
'Th-this won't work. First, pull back the ones around Chamber Maid and her area. Yeah! Priorities! Stick to priorities! Intel's great, but recovering assets matters too!'
Normally he'd rank that raw power intel above all else, but after six brutal deaths in seconds, Palkatus was already rationalizing.
****
'Ten, eleven, twelve. Good. Lord's castle seems unraided.'
Confirmed all Chamber Maid sentinels intact, slipped into one.
A far cry from Pellas streets he'd just left—Chamber Maid's room lay silent.
But not peaceful silence—from the cold corpses strewn about.
“Ow, my aching back. Didn't Professor say that maid freak had zilch combat power? After seeing it whip thorn vines thick as house posts?”
“Plant-looking thing with absurdly tough tentacles. But.... seeing that, I get rating the maid as no-threat.”
The spire-top room was splattered red with blood from severed Chamber Maid vines everywhere. Atop the shredded vines—where a woman's head should've been—sat a clean slice.
Werewolf tucking the head (thorn vines for hair) under his arm, black mage—both window-gazing at Professor's fight.
'Must've held back against me.'
'Held back? Overrating yourself? Matching that monster one-for-one?'
'Humans gotta nitpick to feel good?'
That casual vibe told Palkatus this front was already mopped up.
'....Decoy op! Planned from jump. Father didn't ditch brains for brawn! Infused brawn into genius brain-body! How'd he know? Where from? That savage brawl to rattle me emotional? Predicted me here? How, what trick....!'
Shiver—
'Hm? Black mage. One woke.'
'Nonsense, Borca. Soul's yanked into my jar—how.... Huh? Real?'
Werewolf and elder closed on Palkatus's mutant. Only then did he clock his view too high.
'Floating midair, nothing there? Mage? No mana though!'
'Peculiar. Soul-extracted shell with foreign soul inside? You. Weird sorcery.'
'Staring right at me. Monsters everywhere! Pellas lost. Bail. Wasting psyche dying pointless....?'
Boing!
Wrong. Tried again—stuck, couldn't revert from floating mutant husk!
'H-how.... What'd you do to me!'
.
.
.
.
'It speaks.'
'It speaks! Jackpot!'
Palkatus thrashed full force. Limbs worked fine, but no shaking that unseen airborne bind.
'Talking mutants pack wild talents. Weirder than thought. Consciousness invasion....'
'Capture possible? Talking mutant = brass, big scalp. Might trade for church intel net.'
Werewolf eyed thrashing Palkatus like fine booze or knickknack. Black mage slammed fist into werewolf flank.
'Same crap! Told ya no sweat! Ogre-goblin chief'll handle. Caught already. Soul-twitching before soul-sorcerer. Begging capture.'
Ssssh!
Spiderweb-thrashing Palkatus felt icy frost-breath on nape sudden.
White-clad girl hovered. Fingertips trailed threads linking him, twelve mutants—cutely mouthing at elder.
'Huh? Wants it? New soul looks yummy?'
Nod nod.
'Oh, Nell.... Pigging out today?'
'Eating.... That again?'
Fur-bristled werewolf got Aldrich's dry laugh.
'Ugh.... Sorry. Nell fixates, won't quit. Less than capture, but kill counts—don't sweat. Confess-spell proof, she'll track your kids.'
'Gonna split. No rewatch.'
'Downstairs wait. Feed fast, follow.'
Werewolf bolted. Elder nodded girl. Spring-sun smile bloomed.
Girl's hand grazed shoulder—instant, Palkatus's mind blanked to one thought.
'Dying.'
Death-feel leaked from prior six mutants' brains flooded him. Dying. Dying! Worse than brothers' pathetic ends—utter horror!
Girl neared, thrashing body locked rigid.
'Move! Move damn it! Please!!!'
Craaaack—
Mouth ripped side-to-side, fang-jaws bared!
Stab!
Crunch!
Hand pierced own heart—exploded—beat fang-rip on mutant skull.
Thump!
'Hahk! Hahk! Hahk! Hahk!'
Rocky digs. Green goo. Northern pad. Palkatus patted head trembling—intact. Beat soul-munch ghost out!
'Ha, haha, lived. Lived, ngh, lived.....'
Symbiote green-fluid tank, Palkatus tears oil-floated up.
No guts left probing Pellas mutants or barking orders.
[Just one lesson today?]
Father's chill words looped ears.
That day, Palkatus learned fear.
****
Ding-!
[Info Update: Mutation Rampage: Termination Imminent]
'Termination imminent! This garbage system full rogue! No minutes now?'
[Over 4 mins ago. Physique boosted, duration too.]
'Game! Skill-up should spec performance! Measure manual?'
- Speed Wagon: System precision player-varies. Goldman Sucks: pure facts eternal. Levit Professor-like. Thousand Stream Emperor: zero system sight.
Rrrrrriiiiip!
Last presumed-son mutant shredded, Professor glimpsed red-blink msg, bolted Pellas full-tilt. Culls ~70% grade-3/4s rampage-time, but leftovers too thick sans Blood Armor/rampage.
- Nutria Pass: Wooo. Hotstill. Boss back-showing, disgrace disgrace!
'Disgrace? Honest? Did my damn job! Not solo-survive dip! Right?'
- Jokasss: Job done? Bad deeds too.
- Gunpowder and Blood: Boiling chest eons later! Warrior pure, Professor!
- Highway Nacho Man: Macho! Muscle! Macho! Muscle! Power! Power! Awesome! Awesome!
- Take a Look: Fuck what'd I witness.....
- Deer Drug Please: Ahhk! Stim overload! D-don't show thaaat!
- Holy: Uh.... Um.... Quite.... Dynamic.....
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: Freak beast.
- Deer Drug Please: Prof left-arm monster-3rd variant? Inner freak matches?
- Speed Wagon: Viable hypothesis.
47th District Chat Room (1) norm—tamed to my lunacy.
And,
========
- D.Asset3315 : Notice - ‘professor’ Professor district chat. Excess agitation/defamation risks Dome Broadcast Support sanction. Heed.
========
- Mad Marx : Fuck sick.... Juice past, guts grandeur!
- Shu Yeoni : Whoaaa, mega-strong dude! Too cool!
- Somewhere Hellmi : Professor single, confirmed?
- Life Direct : Quit. Civilian-grade can't bag him.
- Husk : Ahh, madness. Old pal.... Went that far?
- Papua Newtype : Knew abnormal, but legit psycho....
- aiosye2222 : Apocalypse needs no Dome tech, Raptor muscle! Barehand live-rip charisma! Mad world's peak psycho! Professor! Glory!
-
- arms5275 : Heh heh. Overkill reacts? Who?! Trio'd berserk mega-3rd Old Picture! Lone battlefield plunge, Raptor dreams cleaved! Epoch superman! Professor! Edge-keen, brutal game raw—like icicle blade! Him!
+ D.bioTeam : [Broadcast saved.]
+ D.bioTeam : [Broadcast saved.]
+ D.bioTeam : [Broadcast saved.]
+ D.bioTeam : [Broadcast saved.]
- Tax Call14 : Leader decrees fear-know: face frailty sans-turn harsh-world easy-survive. Violence prime lesser-evil sometime, heed—gun-import slack not today-
+ Tax Call14 banned from chat.
- Adagio : Fucker back.
- Andello : Post-stream sure. BDSM HQ migrate—public coords?
- White Smith : DM'd. Play nice, neighbors maybe^^
47th District Chat Room (2)—cultist cage.
'Feels official psycho now....'
- Take a Look : Hoped otherwise? Post-that?
'No, wasn't on purpose....'
Crackle—
[Hohoho, son, Dad magic show—?
[Pffft! Ma-gic!
[Son fears Dad?
[Fear-ful tale's! Hero maaaake yooouuu!!!]
.
.
.
.
- Take a Look : Teach 'psycho' to Korean-blind? This vid, no hesitation.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar : Sullivan rival, strike-trainer.
“Fuck.”
No denial. Mine eyes too—rolled psycho wasteland gang pure.
****