Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: In the Name of Glory (19)
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***
Shhhk—
“W-whoa, Aldrich! That thing, it’s vanishing!”
“The time limit’s up. We were already forcibly holding together a fragile soul that was on the verge of shattering, and with it acting so emotional on top of that. All the power left in its soul has been depleted. Seems the mutant breaking free from the Black Mages’ control really pissed it off.”
“Damn... It still seemed to have a decent amount of info we hadn’t tapped yet. Can’t we summon it back?”
“Impossible. Its star’s gone out. That means it didn’t return to the spirit realm—it’s completely annihilated.”
Tsk.
Professor smacked his lips in regret. For some random guy they’d beaten down on the way, he’d spilled a ton of heavy intel, so they’d squeezed him for all he was worth. Guess this was the best they could do.
“The mutant broke free from the Black Mages’ command. This is the end of year 124, and their influence is already waning...”
Professor mulled over the info from the soul’s mouth, then pulled out a few sheets of parchment, a pen, and charcoal from his bag and started busily jotting things down.
Scratch scratch.
“What’re you up to?”
“Filing a report. Wasn’t intentional, but we kinda pulled off a ‘hero of the Radiant Church’ move, right? Gotta claim the reward for it. Plus, there’s intel we need to pass on over there anyway.”
“Hmm. You’re diligent. Didn’t know you could draw maps too.”
“Can’t do pretty stuff, just this kinda thing.”
Professor sketched a rough map of the local area to attach to the report as he replied.
In the west, all-out war between the Lordric/Hevrahim alliance and the mutant homeland. Up north, infighting between the mutants and Black Mages. And threading right through the middle of it all, our party—hostile to the mutants while keeping an eye out for the Radiant Church too.
Major events popping off simultaneously in multiple spots, and we’re tightrope-walking between them. One slip could snowball into a disaster, so better to lay it all out neat and methodical if it gets messy. There’s a big difference between thinking it through in your head and writing it down to judge.
‘Most importantly, once it’s all sorted clean like this, the chat room’s hive mind will gossip it up, analyze the info, and spit out solutions on their own.’
======
[Hero Mission Progress Report]
Operation Area: Northeast Tobrun, Danglter
Reporter: Hero Professor
Objective: Infiltration, Extermination, Assassination
Key Developments:
1. Confirmed orders at Radiant Church Tobrun branch and received holy relic ‘Light of Nelphia’. Linked up with prepared hero squad post-supply and set out the next day.
2. En route via infiltration path (Attachment 1: Professor Hero Squad Ops Map), spotted signs of heresy in a village; considering western front situation, entered solo with hero squad sans support.
3. Corruption via black magic confirmed across Danglter region. Engaged multiple undead and Black Mages.
4. Slayed high Black Mage ‘Ulman von Lastea’, destroyed corruption source structure, and killed summoned demon (Attachment 2: Rough sketch of demon and corruption structure).
5. Post-slay of ‘Ulman von Lastea’, interrogated soul for intel:
1) Confirmed three total Queen’s Kin, ‘Talking Mutants’: White Death Edeorna, Morning Star Palkatus, unknown.
2) Mutation Blood born as black magic creations but now fully independent from Black Mages’ commands due to rebellion led by third Kin ‘Morning Star Palkatus’. Per soul testimony, most Black Mages (high ones excluded) forcibly infected with mutant parasites; emphasized mutual destruction with mutants if no cooperation against humanity, securing semi-coerced alliance.
3) High Black Mage capable of demon summoning building power in east, away from main battlefields; based on testimony, hypothesize infighting between mutants and Black Mages.
4) From above circumstances, third Kin ‘Morning Star Palkatus’ judged extremely cunning, highly intelligent, with deep grasp of ‘war politics’. Note potential for espionage ops.
Conclusion:
* Infighting split enemy into two factions with mutual distrust preventing cooperation; surmise most magic forces not committed to western front. Boosting magic warfare could seize advantage.
* No clerics in hero squad makeup, preventing full purification of occupied areas. Request purification teams for Danglter region.
* Deem some mages impaired for ops due to black magic mental corruption; recommend exclusion. Need replacements.
May radiance fill humanity’s future.
Latura, Ro Haram.
=======
Scratch scratch, thump!
“Kyaah, a masterpiece! Hey, Borca! Whaddya think? Even the Radiant Church headquarters can’t deny our results with this!”
Borca had nothing to say to Professor, who’d written it himself and was now singing his own praises. Even to Borca, who didn’t know much about worldly affairs, the report in Professor’s hands looked pretty solid.
“...Boss, do heroes these days learn this stuff too? Even to my clueless eyes, it doesn’t look like beginner work...”
“Not from the Church—just picked it up messing around during my old military days.”
Professor proudly scanned the finished report once more. Ah, memories. Back in 14th Special Ops, he’d crank out dozens of these versions daily, begging for rations for his guys. Bastards kept skimping on supplies.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: Report’s clean as hell. Got me drooling. No thoughts on joining Dome for real?
- Heung An Mandu: Said you couldn’t draw pretty, but the sketches came out nice?
- professor: Yeah.
Maybe thanks to his artistic trait, the attached map and sketches turned out pretty decent.
The party, who’d gathered around unnoticed to watch him work, piped up with flushed, excited faces.
“Master, isn’t this super important intel? Didn’t click at first, but this could flip the whole war! If we pass it on, the Church’s view of us...”
“Hmm, yeah. Enemies tearing themselves apart from the inside? Couldn’t ask for better news. Heaven’s aiding humanity!”
“W-well... I’d hold off on that.”
Professor looked like he wanted to sigh at the complicating mess with no easy answers. Couldn’t tell yet if it was good or bad.
For now, definitely good. Right as Lordric threw everything into all-out war, the enemy fracturing and unable to focus their power? Perfect. But long-term, a massive headache.
Because the Queen’s weaknesses Professor knew mostly stemmed from Black Mages suppressing her. If they got crushed quick, those crutches vanished.
‘Forcibly bloating the Queen’s body to ramp up Kin production. Output stayed same, but she got too huge to leave the nest. Overuse of forced mental links via black magic stalled her brain growth for good. And above all, keeping her heart—nah, her core life source—out of her body so long left it badly weakened. If Ulman’s right and Black Mages lost full control, most those weaknesses are gone.’
More precisely, not infighting. Just minor friction as the two internal enemy factions merged into one.
‘If we don’t capitalize on this brief window, it’ll only get harder.’
Now truly unpredictable ahead. Queen could move herself toward resource-rich—weak, populous nations, set up new nest, switch from elite few to mass production. Or prioritize her own growth. Variables mounting over time.
[In short, doesn’t it just mean you gotta step up?]
‘Yeah. Shit.’
Boils down to hitting them hard while they’re briefly weakened bulking up. And from that angle, hurling the hero squad like a dagger into their half-empty lines? Masterstroke. Church sent them to die, planning to puff up their rep and slink back—but now too pivotal to half-ass.
Professor ran a what-if: successfully reaching eternal tundra with party, raiding Queen’s nest.
‘7th-grade or lower mutants? No calc needed—I can solo. 6th-grade plus with skilled fighters swarming? Might outpace blood regen losses, but those are all westbound. Edeorna’s surely on western front too—been burning grudge against Charlotte since Turan siege. Second one unknown, but if built from her genes, excels at army battles—so western front locked. Third, this ‘Morning Star Palkatus’... key.’
“Named based on my data... Hmm. Status.”
Ding-!
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+ Name: Professor
+ Race: [Human/Mutant]
+ Gender: [Male]
+ Age: [Prime (20)]
+ Appearance: [Hulking / Muscular / Pale / Rough / Infected Human]
+ Starting: [World 3 / Lordric North]
+ Origin: [Bastard Son of a Fallen Knight Family]
+ Job: [Hero - Radiant Church]
- Traits:
1. [Curiosity]
- Endless fascination with new worlds. Positive impact on skill growth speed.
- You feel curiosity toward ‘secrets of the world’.
2. [Mana Aptitude]
- You sense an unknown energy. Positive impact on mana-related growth.
- Comprehended water magic, 1st tier ‘Capacity’.
3. [Sparkling Gaze]
- You see the world a bit more beautifully. Bonus to art-related activities.
- Additional art correction for player-made items.
4. [Extreme Regeneration] (Glass Body + Mutation Blood Regen Boost + Mutation Blood Epidermal Boost)
- Durability fixed at 120 / Max natural recovery / Crisis: Expend blood for ‘Mutation Berserk’ / Failure to replenish over-regen blood loss leads to death.
- Successfully synced with deep-rooted infection factors. Still vying for your body, but control’s easy now. Won’t die easy.
5. [Honorable Soul]
- Inherited father’s valor. Choices lock to ‘honor’ in specific situations / Positive impact on ‘knight’ unit affinity. / ★ Unique ‘knightliness’ generating from player actions. Confirmed keywords so far (loyal, brave, no-holds-barred, cunning, shrewd, vile) - Knight.
6. ★[Overcome Mental Fragility]
- Faced and accepted your trauma. No longer fearfully scanning world or isolating self—strongly resists external intrusion. / Provides ‘keen observation’ and ‘steel will’ effects.
7. [HIDE]
- Out of data / Out of data / HIDE stays with you. / [Molting]: Now you’re with HIDE.
8. [Sorcery Tattoo: Gaze of the Ancient Silk Spider - Ancient sorcery said to have woven black silk for the night sky long ago. Their lifelong monogamous love echoes in bards’ tales; this tattoo born from that legend.]
+ Realistic Mode ON
======
“Kek.”
First check in ages—tons added. New trait intel, and... headaches galore.
First, knightliness. Forgot about it. Some uptight knight still cross-legged somewhere, judging me real-time.
‘Courage, loyalty, cunning, vile... At this rate, gonna end up true medieval knight trash, not fantasy.’
Overall eval of my actions—no denying. Just pray completion skips harsh penalties.
Other traits tweaked too. The ‘???’ one now ‘HIDE’—probably from it revealing name. [Curiosity] shifted... influenced by my thoughts? World secrets? From all-clear grinding? Dunno. Water magic, whatever.
“What’s this?”
[Sorcery Tattoo: Gaze of the Ancient Silk Spider]
Brand-new trait too.
“No way alarm didn’t ping for a trait pop. How’d I miss? Hide, did I black out around Anaya?”
[Anaya? Uh... yeah?]
‘Huh? When?’
[That time. Right before parting, she grabbed your face, tongue slithering snake-like—]
‘Ah.’
Made sense—both me and Hide shut down.
Probably spawned when they tattooed near my heart. No effects yet, but’ll reveal in play. Whatever.
Hits different seeing it all. From trapper in merc band, giggling over ‘tree branches tougher than my body! Scrap metal galore!’ to ‘won’t die easy.’ Human victory, no cap.
[Why reminisce outta nowhere?]
‘Oh? Right, you can’t see status. No biggie—just pondering how screwed I am since Palkatus is a named built from my old traits.’
Chat derailed from long-overdue check, but this status? Forged through blood, sweat, shit. When bleeding Edeorna, it was Glass Body, Mental Fragility, basic mana trash sheet. Palkatus born inheriting that.
Inherits traits, not knowledge. Mutants clueless on muscle mechanics—no hulking freak like me.
Regen covers weak body, but Mental Fragility? Near-impossible overcome. I barely scraped by on luck—fresh-hatched mutant? No way.
‘So, with trait halting complex thought via killer headaches, it shook off Black Mage checks, orchestrated wars, politicked too?’
Know from experience—Mental Fragility makes impossible. Unless...
“This an all-in build?”
Queen schemed to patch flaws.
Trait mix at her discretion. Palkatus probably skimped hard on physicals, dumped resources elsewhere.
‘Not much left to skimp physically... but actions scream it.’
My guess: not combat standout.
Most forces pinned west, proven 1st/2nd Kin absent, unconfirmed 3rd near-zero combat...
“Nest’s empty for real?”
Just infiltrate Queen’s nest—could lop her head easy.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: Hold up. This isn’t just opportunity—jackpot?
- Speed Wagon: Minus wonky timing, comp, circumstances—hard to top.
- Jokasss: Here it comes. Actually happening, dude!
- takealook: Nooo! Clear now and Anaya’s done! Charlotte too! Can’t end like this!
“Hey, wait... Not kidding, clear vibes for real...! Unlucky Madley Professor char finally catching lucky wind!”
Chat buzzing as half-joke ‘clear and it’s jackpot, right?’ turned real.
Professor’s heart buzzed right with it.
***
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