Chapter 111
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Accomplice
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Can't eat anymore.
The priestess and the sky squirrel declared as much by flopping down onto the dirt floor. It was a reaction Woojin found a bit hard to understand.
"Why leave something this precious behind?"
Drake's inner core.
It might not measure up to a hydra's, but acquiring one of this caliber wasn't easy. It was a tonic you couldn't get even if you had the money.
To give up halfway through without finishing it? It just sounded like an excuse for being full. When he pointed that out, the priestess replied from her prone position.
"I really am full."
"...Yeah, fair enough."
He'd chosen his words poorly.
At a loss for words, Woojin awkwardly chuckled and ate the inner core. Seeing his steadfast determination, the priestess added an explanation, as if making excuses.
"It's a shame to leave such a valuable inner core, but... eating more at this point wouldn't make a difference."
Even if you ingested an inner core, absorbing its energy was a whole other matter.
Just as some people stayed skinny no matter how much they ate, those with small vessels couldn't inherit power from even the most precious inner cores.
Pouring water into a full vessel was pointless. The priestess and the squirrel had consumed several powerful inner cores in a short time, so further intake wouldn't yield meaningful results.
Instead, the priestess grew curious.
"Lord Jin, you've taken in an enormous amount of inner cores. Can you really absorb them all?"
Woojin thought for a moment before answering.
"Who knows... maybe? The more I eat, the stronger I feel. So I've always scraped up every last one without leaving any behind."
It had always been like that.
The priestess blinked at his words.
"...Does that mean your vessel is infinite?"
"No way, probably not."
I'm not some monster, after all.
Woojin muttered to himself as he finished off the inner core. Then came the post-meal drowsiness. After all the hardship of the day, fatigue was finally setting in.
Woojin lay down as well.
"Let's spend the night in this cave and head out once our stamina recovers."
"Yes."
They all settled in to sleep.
Before long, Woojin and the squirrel fell into a deep slumber. Listening to their steady breathing, the priestess tried to drift off too...
'...Shouldn't I just run away now?'
The thought came to her belatedly.
Everyone was asleep, so slipping away would mean freedom. But she lacked the will to do it. She'd lost everything in a single day and even committed blasphemy against her faith.
The priestess yawned contentedly.
'Ah, whatever... It'll work out somehow.'
She was too lazy to think further. The priestess closed her eyes and surrendered to the wave of exhaustion.
The next day.
Woojin woke up and sluggishly sat up. Feeling languid, he massaged the back of his neck to shake off the sleepiness.
'...Haven't dreamed in a while.'
It was to be expected. He'd devoured inner cores from several Dark Cultists.
The high priest, Number One, and a bunch of other small fry.
The problem was that multiple inner cores led to a chaotic dream. He'd become one guy, then another, or seen conversations from two perspectives at once...
It was like mixing a bunch of colored modeling clays into a jumbled mess. Woojin tried to recall the details but gave up.
'All low-level guys, so no useful info. Just gives me a headache.'
A waste of effort.
As he thought that, he looked around. The sky squirrel was still fast asleep, and the priestess was dozing off while sitting by the fire.
She must have been tending it all night to keep it from going out. Woojin got up to lend a hand.
As he approached, she noticed and lifted her head, having been half-asleep.
"Good morning."
She said with a yawn. Woojin sat across from her and asked about the time.
"How long was I out?"
"It's noon now... about 14 hours?"
"Really?"
Earlier than expected.
Hunting the hydra had forced him to spam lightning strikes, so he'd figured it'd take at least three days to recover from the backlash. Surprisingly, his body was nearly back to normal after just one.
He must have inherited the hydra's regenerative ability, speeding up his recovery.
'Better than expected. The burden from using Lightning Bolt feels much lighter now.'
They could head out right away.
After a simple meal of jerky, the group hit the road again. They chatted idly as they headed north.
And so... two days later.
While scouting from a tree as usual, he spotted unfamiliar lifeforms.
Three bipedal bulls. They were massive. Around 4 meters tall, with boulder-like trapezius muscles bulging over broad shoulders.
Intimidating enough already, but they wielded ridiculously huge double-bladed axes. Each swing uprooted two or three trees.
Their gleaming axe blades sent a chill down his spine. Woojin narrowed his eyes.
'...Looks like steel weapons.'
Probably an alloy of frost steel and regular iron. Custom-made for bulls. And they wore shorts with gold necklaces around their necks.
Too worldly for Demonic Realm natives. Where had these guys come from?
'Hard to sneak past.'
The bulls had clear-cut the forest. Trees lay felled in rows, forming a barricade like a beaver dam.
To keep heading north, they'd have to clash with the bulls.
'Need advice.'
He climbed down and described the scene to the priestess.
"Bulls logging the forest. Weirdly, they're dressed like people and using steel tools."
"Really?"
As if she had an idea, the priestess spoke without hesitation.
"Sounds like... farm sentries?"
Farm.
A faction from Dark Cultist Number 308's memories. He already had a rough idea without explanation.
A place raising livestock like cows, pigs, and chickens, while also farming crops. That's what they called a farm.
This one was no different. Just twisted at its core.
'Where humans and beasts have swapped roles.'
The Demonic Realm's power flipped everything.
After the northern ruins' gate opened, some Karma-corrupted beasts gained human-level intelligence. That's how orcs and nagas were born.
Curiously, it happened in northern farms too. Livestock like bulls, pigs, sheep, and chickens absorbed Karma, reborn with immense strength and intellect.
And what these reborn beasts chose? Settling old grudges.
They captured nearby humans and turned them into livestock in the farms. Just as humans had done to them.
Those bulls were a kind of shepherds.
"Like humans guard sheep from wolves, bull monsters—taurus—mostly protect humans from beasts."
"Then why are they here?"
"Who knows..."
The priestess pondered before continuing.
"...Doesn't feel good."
"Why?"
"Taurus are powerful but hate leaving the farm."
Taurus avoided going out. For them to come this far for construction work was odd.
What was the reason? Only way to find out was direct contact.
"How do you talk to bull monsters? Sign language or something?"
"No, nothing that complicated. They speak human language to begin with."
"They do?"
Taurus could use clothes, tools, and even human speech.
Not surprising. He'd seen a talking pig in 308's memories. A pig with a monocle, speaking human fluently like a gentleman.
Communication was possible.
"Shall we try talking?"
The farm was allied with the Dark Cultists.
Frequent trades and shared language made alliance natural, like man and woman meeting.
The priestess was a high-ranking Dark Cultist. She could probably extract info easily.
But her reaction was negative.
"Dangerous. They love eating people. They'll charge blindly."
Woojin raised a doubt.
"Why? Aren't they your allies?"
"By that logic, the high priest was my subordinate."
"...True."
Irrefutable.
She'd nearly died by her subordinate's blade. Betrayal among kin was bad enough; between species, worse.
Time for another approach.
"Guess we'll capture one and interrogate."
Woojin muttered. Hearing it, the priestess worried.
"Wouldn't detouring be better? Three powerful foes..."
"It's fine. We've got three too."
One each.
The priestess blinked.
"...I fight too?"
"You gonna just watch? You ate valuable inner cores. Time to earn your keep."
Woojin stated it matter-of-factly.
She tried to retort but couldn't find words. It was true she'd eaten plenty.
'...Should've just run.'
Too late for regrets.
Three enemies, one each—easy cleanup.
3v3 duel.
...Or so he said, but he had no intention of clashing that stupidly. Just a joke.
"This good enough?"
Woojin checked.
He wore an iron mask and full-body robe. The priestess circled him, inspecting, then nodded.
"Yes. Looks like one of us no matter how I look."
"Good."
Time to execute the plan.
He had the priestess and squirrel wait, then headed toward the forest alone. His role: envoy and bait.
'Talk, gauge reaction.'
Their response would dictate next moves.
Noises grew closer as he approached. The taurus were scattered, logging three directions simultaneously.
A bull swung his axe, toppling trees. Feeling peckish, he stuffed a young sapling into his mouth and chewed.
Crunch, crunch—
The bull munched the tree like fodder. Dark sap dripped from his angular jaw with each movement.
Woojin called out.
"Could you spare a moment?"
"...Gruk?"
The bull turned at the voice, glaring piercingly.
Woojin tried again.
"Are you busy?"
"..."
No words from the bull.
But it moved. Striding toward him, axe dragging a long line in the dirt.
Fierce glint in the bull's eyes. Intent clear.
'He wants to eat me.'
Priestess was right.
Confirmed, Woojin turned and bolted back.
Thud, thud, thud!
Dull footsteps behind. The bull charged. Distance closing fast.
Caught soon.
Sensing it, Woojin veered sideways. The bull followed but was too bulky, turning slowly.
But it had an axe. It swung down like swatting a fly.
Boom!!
Deafening roar. Dust billowed. Bull thought he'd got him, but Woojin burst through the cloud and kept running.
Axe missed narrowly. Enraged, the bull bellowed.
"Moooo—!"
Tag resumed.
Calling allies would've made it easy, but the bull didn't. Sharing a rare snack? No way.
...That greed was his downfall.
Swoosh—!
A silver beam from nowhere raked both eyes. Bull halted in agony.
Squirrel appeared behind. Woojin charged from front.
Slash, slice!
Two cuts simultaneous. Woojin's blade on one ankle, squirrel's tail on the other. The massive body toppled helplessly.
Crash!
Bull face-planted. Priestess rushed out.
She grabbed its nose with both hands. Pink particles flowed from her sleeve.
Charm pheromones. Bull's eyes glazed over, unfocused.
"Gr... grr..."
Snorting dreamily, drool poured. Charmed taurus half-unconscious.
Woojin grinned satisfied.
"Well done. You're an accomplice now?"
"Ha, haha..."
One more ally.