Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Something Feels Wrong
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"Ignite!"
Ignite
-Roar!
The red tentacles wriggling toward Fey rolled across the floor, charred black as charcoal.
The repulsive smell of burning flesh assaulted her nose.
"Ugh."
It was horrific in every way.
Under normal circumstances, she might have broken down crying and quit the test like the other participants—or bolted outright.
"I'm really glad... I have this."
Fey fiddled with the slime attached behind her ear.
The black, slimy mass Regen had given her.
Surprisingly, attaching it to her ear blocked out the vibrating stench from all directions.
'It seems like part of a leech organ... Maybe it has a mild numbing effect on the senses.'
Leeches secrete anesthetic fluid to suck blood without the host noticing.
Judging by its shape, it was just the anesthetic-secreting organ detached and attached to her ear, dulling her senses and bolstering her stomach.
A technique only a veteran could pull off.
'Looking at this gruesome scene still bothers my eyes a bit...'
But it was bearable enough now.
"Alright, then let's get to my mission..."
That was when it happened.
-Splash!
'...Enemy?'
An anomaly rippled through the faint mana she'd spread around.
Something unnatural, alien to nature.
Focusing on the direction it came from, she spotted movement amid bushes with long, dangling black strands like human hair.
"If you're human, call out and come out. If you're a monster, back off."
As Fey tensed and aimed her wand at the bushes,
"...You noticed quick. Guess that elite talk wasn't bluffing after all."
Regen emerged with a look of disbelief.
He seemed perfectly fine, impossible to believe he'd been drinking with them just yesterday.
"Regen? Were you tailing me? Why are you here...?"
"...Got a request to find a body."
"...A request?"
"Yeah. Wasn't planning to come, but the reward was too good to pass up."
It couldn't have been more coincidental.
No way,
"You came here drunk and we were worried...?"
"...It's work."
He strangely avoided eye contact.
"I'm not done talking yet..."
"You know why you're asking. Imagine croaking the day after drinking all night. How do you think I'd feel as the one who bought the rounds?"
"Pfft."
"Look at you laughing. If you think about it, it's your fault."
"Mm."
She had no rebuttal, so Fey shut her mouth.
"Anyway, where's your boyfriend? Didn't he join up?"
"Hah, Will is... Wait, boy...friend?!"
"Yeah. You two are always together. Not lovers?"
"Of course not!!! If we were, do you think I'd have let you call me pretty without saying anything?!"
"Nah, no one's calling that mug pretty for real. Common sense."
"Well, that's true... Ah, no! I think it's fine...!"
Fey stammered, realizing her slip.
"Heh, whatever. We both know. That guy's the weird one."
Regen brushed it off with a laugh.
"Anyway, we gotta find him quick. This ain't a place for weaklings like that guy—at least not if you're clueless."
"Weak...ling?"
"Yeah. From how he moves, his skills are meh, and getting drunk like that? He's at best a regular guy who can throw a decent punch."
A regular guy who fights well? That guy?
Doubt spread across Fey's face—
"Ah."
But only for a moment before her signature smug smile appeared.
"Heh heh, even a veteran like you couldn't tell. That guy's impressive. And so am I for noticing."
"What're you on about?"
"Normally I wouldn't tell, but just for you... Will is hiding his power. He's a terrifying powerhouse."
Fey briefly explained Will's suspicious behaviors as she saw them.
In summary: he was hiding his strength, and it was probably beyond imagination.
"...Looks like coincidence to me. Didn't look strong at all. Can't even use mana, right?"
"That's all camouflage! I can tell. That he's hiding his power!"
Fey spoke with firm conviction.
'She's fallen for the bravado.'
Regen clicked his tongue inwardly.
A top-tier veteran who'd clawed his way through the underworld.
No way he'd miss concealed power.
'Nice young guy. Nothing more, nothing less.'
After a decade rolling in the gutters with every type of scum.
If there was even a hint of funny business, he'd have snapped the wrist by now.
'Saved her life, apparently.'
According to Fey, he'd rescued her from certain death—which seemed to inflate his image.
'These kids are hopeless.'
Nice guy pleb and naive pushover with poor judgment.
The perfect combo to die in a dungeon.
'And lately, this place has been... extra dangerous.'
The forest heart, a ruin off-limits except to the permitted.
Recent ominous signs at the so-called 'altar.'
The Association claimed it was nothing and proceeded with the test, but veteran explorer Regen disagreed.
'Monster habitats shifting, stench enveloping the whole forest worsening. And above all...'
-Twitch.
His cursed, twisted left face twitched on its own.
As if thrilled by the situation.
'No way... Like ten years ago... That bastard...'
Either way, things were bad.
"Anyway, link up with him quick. You got some signal planned or...?"
That was when,
-Rumble!
An earthquake shook the entire forest.
"Huh? Earthquake?"
Fey looked around in confusion.
"..."
Regen's face, by contrast, froze solid.
This vibration, and its direction. Impossible to forget.
It was the handiwork of the culprit who left him like this.
"The seal... broke?"
Regen's face twisted.
At that moment, at the Altar of the Red Moon.
"Jeez, creepy as hell."
Ilail of the eastern forest, probationary member of Blade of the World Tree.
Whom Will had dubbed 'Iljin Kkanpeu.'
He was stuffing a skeletal corpse into a supplied duffel bag.
"All packed. Erwin, how about you...?"
"Urghhh— the smell, the smeeeell..."
"Sigh, has this guy done nothing but puke since we got here? Useless, totally useless."
The three from Blade of the World Tree who'd clashed with Regen were retrieving bodies from the forbidden ruin the proctor had barred.
"This is why they banned it. Total corpse field, a field I tell ya."
Collapsed marble pillars contrasted with the black obsidian altar.
Bodies encircled it.
Unlike Threshold explorers' gear, they wore native garb—like the forest's original inhabitants.
Huddled as if in prayer.
"Th-this okay...? If we're caught, we're disqualified."
The scrawny elf nicknamed Iljin Kkanpeu said worriedly.
"What else we gonna do, wander the forest slaving for one body? Seniors did the same. This is the golden ticket for the test."
They'd come following the guild's 'lineage' tips from seniors.
The forbidden ruin full of black-robed corpses.
Normally blocked by Association barriers, but lately cracked—tweak it and slip in.
Grab one, strip it, submit. Faster than hunting unknowns.
Seniors passed the secret to these promising juniors, and...
"Good, three bodies. All packed."
Thus the three elves set foot on the altar.
"Top spot's ours now."
Iljin Kkanpeu grinned in satisfaction.
"Unless someone drags in a Blood Rafflesia or something."
No legit method could catch their cheat sheet.
As the three turned to leave lightly,
"Then over here~ set mana stone to reopen the hole~"
But,
"Huh? The barrier..."
Was gone.
The massive barrier they'd snuck through.
Vanished without trace.
"Hey, what the hell? Why's it gone?"
Did they touch something wrong?
The ominous vibe chilled their spines.
"Sh-it..."
Something was wrong.
And likely their fault.
"Bounce first. Play dumb after."
Decision made to dodge blame, the three bolted toward the proctors.
However,
-Wobble.
"Huh?"
Sudden floatiness enveloped him,
-Thud!
And his face hit the ground.
"Gah...! What, what happened...?"
Iljin Kkanpeu panicked at the freak occurrence.
And,
"Wha... wha... Illian... y-you...!!!"
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
Screams from his comrades behind.
Why the freakout?
More importantly, why'd I trip?
The questions surged until he turned and looked at his legs.
"Ah?"
His legs were gone.
Precisely, his lower body severed from the upper.
As if giant shears snipped it clean.
"Uh... ahh..."
Comrades fleeing, abandoning him with screams.
Gushing blood.
Fading mind.
Beyond, atop the altar, a massive silhouette.
"M-mon...ster..."
Ape-like, yet cross-legged on the altar incongruously.
Bone crown on its head, writhing tentacles behind eclipsing sunlight like a halo.
Inverted saintly visage.
"When I receive the offering, rejoice greatly and glorify me; the lambs exult as his wife and children prepare him."
⟨ Distorted Prayer ⟩
Incongruous deep, solemn male voice chanted the bizarre prayer.
"Sp... spare... please..."
Begging mercy from the horrifying form, but
As its words ended, his body was mere minced meat.
Freshly revived, it finished the grotesquely twisted human prayer and slowly rose.
The blood-red sky, screams from the forest resounding like hymns.
I had a dream.
Of becoming a million-sub YouTuber and receiving a broadcasting award from Elon Musk.
Details were off, but whatever, overthinking loses.
Delicious food.
Thunderous applause.
For some reason, Fey was handing me the trophy.
Whatever,
I basked in the sudden flood of headpats,
-Blink.
And woke up.
"Ugh, slept great."
This was the exam waiting room where rejects gathered to return.
As the sole passer, I'd napped in the corner to avoid aggro from the failures and shake my hangover. Just woken now.
"Feeling refreshed."
No headache, stomach settled.
Though hangover soup sounded good.
"Hm? Why's it empty?"
The room bustling with sobbing examinees when I slept was deserted.
'No way, did the test end while I slept?'
I got left behind?
'Staying way in the corner to avoid the rejects was a mistake?'
What now?
As I wandered looking for anyone left,
"Woof!"
"Hm?"
A familiar dog bark.
"This sound..."
Turning at the familiar noise—
Pant pant pant—
"Huh, you... Myangmyang?"
Myangmyang from the black forest was wagging its tail at me.
"You're something else."
How does it keep tracking me?