Chapter 187: Why Is That Here?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 187: Why Is That Here?
It was like a thunderclap.
—KRA-BOOOOM!!
Following the impact, a colossal roar surged forth. It was exactly like the lightning strikes she had seen before in her life.
The problem was that this wasn't actually lightning.
"Agh... A-aaaaah!!"
Shuela’s eardrums ruptured. Though she was a Cobalt-grade explorer, her defensive stats weren't particularly high.
"—! — —! —!"
"What are you saying?! I can't hear you!!"
* * *
In truth, before joining this plan, she had known they were walking into a trap set by the Antonio Brotherhood. She hadn't told the others, but she possessed a fairly high-level mental defense skill.
‘There are traces of a mental domination skill being blocked.’
There was a man who constantly followed Mystery Antoinette, the head of the Antonio Brotherhood. He was a handsome man dressed in a sharp suit.
Setting aside his favorable appearance, she noticed her mental defense skill activating every time he spoke.
‘Is it a Word Command type? How persistent.’
But even though she realized it, she had no intention of speaking up and ruining the plan. Her clan was already in a position where they had to repay a debt, and following the Antonio Brotherhood’s orders was the only way to resolve it.
The plan involved eleven Cobalt-grade explorers from the Small and Medium Clan Alliance. Including herself, that made twelve—a significant force.
Wasn't this a level of power comparable to the 5th full party of the Mayerbridge Union, a Great Clan? Furthermore, their target was merely a single explorer who had just reached Cobalt Grade.
It wasn't a crime so heinous that it violated human morality. This was the Labyrinth City, after all, where people were occasionally "taken care of" to protect one's own interests.
She would just feign ignorance, finish the job, and then claim she had accidentally broken free from the brainwashing during a routine mental purification session. That would be the end of it.
At least, that was how it was supposed to go.
* * *
"Perhaps."
Her eardrums were torn, so most sounds reached her as muffled echoes. She couldn't distinguish human voices at all; she could only feel slight vibrations transmitted through her body.
"Is there anyone willing to tell me the reason? Raise your hand."
But for some reason, his voice alone was crystal clear, as if it were being hammered directly into her skull.
"The faster and more people raise their hands, the better."
—Thud.
‘Please! Tell me it’s not true!!’
They were right. The other four Cobalt-grade explorers who had participated in this mission had returned as nothing more than severed heads. Their eyes were still open, frozen in the moment of their sudden deaths.
"I don't particularly enjoy killing."
A pitch-black exoskeleton covered his massive frame. A long tail looked ready to lash out at any moment, its tip flickering with a violet flame that seemed to be a type of aura.
And in his hand was a wicked blade, even longer than his massive body. It burned with a beautiful blue light, enveloped in a pure Aura Blade of immeasurable depth.
‘I’m going to die!’
Fighting in this open space meant certain death. While the monster was still at a distance, the other survivors—veteran explorers that they were—quickly exchanged glances and scattered in six different directions.
Shuela also twisted her body, launching herself in the direction that seemed most likely to offer survival. She hadn't earned her Cobalt Grade by spreading her legs with her pretty face; she activated the functions of the Battle Attire she had spent a fortune on.
—Snap.
As she forcefully tore away the sleeve garter wrapped around her right arm, the mana dormant within the equipment seeped into her body, healing her wounds. She hadn't suffered a major injury that prevented movement, but if she couldn't hear, she would be dead soon enough.
‘To the blind spot! He still doesn't know the 4th Stratum well!’
As her eardrums were reconstructed, sound began to return. She skillfully slipped into a position far away, choosing a spot where the guards were intentionally heavy.
However, one question lingered in her mind.
"It's strange... He shouldn't have been able to bypass the surveillance of the 4th Stratum. How did he take out those four in an instant?"
Furthermore, they hadn't heard a single alarm while he was approaching them.
Even putting that aside, what on earth was his skill? They had severed his limbs and pinned him to the stone floor, so how did he pop up somewhere else and create this situation?
* * *
‘Who the hell are these people?!’
Yoo Eon, who had been suppressed in an instant by a swift ambush moments ago, thought to himself. This was the know-how of veteran Cobalt-grade explorers. How on earth had they bypassed the heavy security to reach him?
And how was he going to overcome this situation?
Every time he tried to move even slightly, he was suppressed by a powerful attack. Against eight Cobalt-grade explorers in peak condition, he had no chance of winning with his limbs severed.
His body was firmly restrained to the stone floor by two skills. The first was a gravity enhancement, pressing down on him with immense pressure. It was so strong that even the movement of his lungs expanding to breathe was difficult.
The second was a chain that had erupted from the floor, crossing over his stomach and anchoring itself into the ground on the other side. It appeared to be a binding magic derived from a skill.
Since he couldn't get up...
‘I’ll go down!’
The area was filled with noise, as the security golems he had been fighting were still active.
After shedding part of the exoskeleton on his back, he thinned out his muscle fibers and pierced through the stone tiles to enter the ground. Knowing that escape was the best option, he tunneled northward, intending to cross over to the 36th floor.
After gaining some distance, he moved his brain deep underground to protect it and sent his muscle fibers further north through the earth.
To prevent pursuit, he painfully severed the connection with his original body and began constructing a new physical form with the remaining materials. Since the limb-severed torso would still be at the ambush site, they wouldn't realize he had escaped.
Along the way, he detected vibrations from the surface. He formed auditory organs to monitor the sounds and heard their voices.
"Looks like they caught him over there."
"I heard he's completely suppressed. That was easier than expected."
"It's actually a bit disappointing. If eight people could handle it, why did they call twelve?"
"It was weird to have this many Cobalts moving against a brat in the first place. Four would have been plenty."
Summarizing the conversation, there were twelve Cobalt-grade explorers moving to kill him. From this, he could deduce that this was the work of the Small and Medium Clan Alliance.
‘These bastards are really going all out.’
But why go this far? He could understand the logic, but he couldn't accept it.
The body that had been ambushed was one where he had reduced various parts and muscle mass for caloric efficiency. He hadn't used wings because flight was difficult, and he had plenty of exoskeleton thanks to Queen Arachne’s massive size.
Judging that they wouldn't have accurate information, he replaced all the eyeballs in his face with unused eyes from Orcs and Direwolves.
Because the 4th Stratum’s detection was more sensitive to higher mana levels, he had kept all the mana cores of the high-ranking monsters in reserve.
He was in a state where he could reconstruct a new body at full power.
‘Let’s start with these guys.’
Positioning himself beneath the four moving Cobalt-grade explorers, he intended to create exoskeleton blades coated in aura, burst through the tiles, and skewer them in an instant.
—Screeech!
‘Damn! Only two?!’
Well, two was better than none. Based on the sensation at the tips of his blades, one had narrowly dodged, and the other had blocked with their defense.
But that was enough. Judging by how they were quietly traversing the heavily guarded 4th Stratum, this area was a blind spot.
—Cr-cr-crack...
As he burst through the stone tiles, he formed a body for combat. A form much more aggressive than before.
—Squish, squelch!
Naturally, from the perspective of the Cobalt-grade explorers, it was a scene of pure horror. They had been told the target was suppressed far away and that they only needed to regroup there.
"Aaaagh... Aaaaaah!!!"
Two of the explorers running alongside them were suddenly impaled by black skewers, dying instantly as blood dripped down. A skewer had also lunged toward where Shuela stood, and though she had dodged with her sharp instincts, she had suffered a deep wound to her thigh.
The remaining one seemed to have blocked the damage once using a powerful skill, but it was unlikely there would be a second time.
And then, something began to form in front of them.
Something crimson was writhing and crawling up through the holes in the stone tiles. Pure white bone fragments filled with yellowish marrow rose up, and using them as a framework, muscle fibers wove together like climbing vines.
Pure white ligaments pulled taut over them, anchoring joints and bones, and a hideously wrinkled brain took its place atop the rising spine.
—Grind, crunch...
Accompanied by a bone-chilling sound, a pitch-black exoskeleton began to sprout and latch onto the squirming red muscle.
"A-ah... Aaaaaah!!"
Flash—
As a violet cross-shaped light leaked from its face, the monster they had seen before appeared.
"P-please, spa—"
Without being able to leave even a single word of testament, their vision spun two and a half times before coming to a halt.
—Thud.
The two Cobalt-grade explorers left this world without even being able to close their eyes.
* * *
Due to the massive blood loss, the effect of Bleeding Berserk had reached its limit. Yet, for some reason, his magic wouldn't activate.
‘Something is blocking it.’
As Yoo Eon, who had decapitated the four Cobalt-grade explorers, began to scan the surroundings with his wide sensory range, he found the source of the unpleasant sensation that was obstructing his magic.
‘What is that giant golem?’
Since it was the 35th floor, he had expected a mid-boss entity, but he hadn't expected it to possess such a vast amount of mana. And to have such a powerful effect that suppressed the use of magic.
Of course, this was because the entity had undergone a forced irregular transformation due to the skill used by Aelmeri of the Antonio Brotherhood. Yoo Eon, seeing an Anti-Magica Colossus for the first time, had no way of knowing that.
‘A mana core like that... I’ll take it.’
Creating toxic mists, firing destruction rays, or the fireballs of Skeleton Mages were mostly classified as magic. While it didn't stop the use of "skills," it was a nuisance nonetheless.
Yoo Eon decided to kill it first and immediately put his plan into action.
Not being able to use magic didn't make combat impossible, but most of his long-range attack methods were considered magic.
—Whoosh!!
The Anti-Magica Colossus moved slowly and clumsily to match its massive, heavy frame. Though dozens of automated defense magic turrets—the ones that had been annoying Yoo Eon—were mounted on its large body...
Aside from the Gargoyle wings, which couldn't be covered by the exoskeleton, the attacks did nothing to Queen Arachne’s exoskeleton.
—Rumble!
Yoo Eon retrieved the mana core from the center of the bisected Anti-Magica Colossus and shoved it into his stomach.
"It's an artificial mana core, but can I eat it?"
Surprisingly, he could. Though the core itself was man-made, the materials used to create it were parts of high-ranking monster mana cores.
Thus, Yoo Eon gained a new ability.
"Magic is finished."
As the Anti-Magica Colossus’s mana core took its place in his chest, he was able to move while neutralizing the nearby automated defense turrets and security magic golems that operated on mana.
* * *
—Boom! Crash!
Shuela, hiding in a safe location known only to her, had no way of knowing the current state of affairs. She simply stayed hidden, listening intently to the distant, faint sounds of battle.
‘At this rate, it’ll be far away soon! I have to get to the surface and leave Calax immediately!’
As a Cobalt Grade, she had plenty of money saved up. She didn't know if the Antonio Brotherhood would be on the surface, but they wouldn't be able to commit murder openly during the festival.
She planned to return to her hideout, grab all her emergency funds, and flee to a quiet, distant village to live in peace.
"Huh...?"
Something shattered that fantasy in an instant.
"W-why is that here...?"
A massive mass of eyeballs, about a meter wide. Hideous violet tentacles squirmed beneath it as it floated in the air.
The whites around the purple pupils were bloodshot with a web of bright red veins.
It didn't move at all; it just floated there, staring intently at her.
"N-no...!"
She quickly pulled a dagger from her waist and threw it at the Evil Eye. It struck the center of the eye perfectly, and the Evil Eye fell to the ground.
"I have to get out of here—"
CRASH!!
"Gah, k-keff..."
"The reason."
The stone wall of the ruins that had been shielding her collapsed, and she felt something hard and long, like a serpent, seize her throat.
Yoo Eon’s long tail squeezed Shuela’s neck tightly, lifting her to eye level. Dangling in the air and struggling due to the height difference, Shuela finally lost control of her bladder out of sheer terror.
"I'll tell you everything! Please... please spare me!!"
—Trickle...