Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Shadows of In-su Village (7)
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“Seventy percent of Earth’s surface is water.”
So why the hell are these things crawling up onto this dry land, kicking up such a fuss?
“Hah, shiiik. Hoo…”
Ah, I’m dying. Damn it. I’m exhausted.
I stopped walking for a moment and looked around.
A dark, damp night where even the moon was nowhere to be seen. An endlessly sticky mountain path.
Bare trees lined along that path.
‘The fog is getting thicker.’
The fishy, sticky humidity clinging to my skin. Murky water droplets trickling down the hem of my loose hemp sleeves.
“Haa, hoo… Sigh. Damn it. I should’ve just swum here. What is this?”
There were plenty of tree-like things around, but no green in sight.
The trees bore brown moss and gray mold instead of leaves.
No mountain beasts or birds. There were some bug-like things, though…
Chirrurrr—
Bugs?
They weren’t the kind you’d see in a forest or mountain. Seeing clusters of multi-legged creatures resembling lobsters made my stomach churn.
It was a place you’d call a mountain or forest, but it felt like the sea. A polluted, rotting, dead sea.
‘It’s just like Tanhyeon.’
No, more precisely, Tanhyeon resembled this place. Even so, things were better here.
If I kept heading north from here, up and up…
What was there again?
“…”
Damn it. My memories are a total mess. I can’t stop. Time’s running out. In the worst case, I might even forget who I am.
I started walking again.
‘Maybe add another spell…’
I began gathering mana to enchant my body but changed my mind.
[Gale]
Bwoooong!!
A wind that precisely pushed me along. It even blew away the humidity—perfect.
Even if my mana reserves were overflowing, piling too many spells on this frail body wasn’t wise. Better not add more.
Give me back my artifacts, you bastards.
My vision suddenly blurred.
‘Looks like you still can’t trust me, huh.’
Words from Kim Shin-hwa in the past.
This was a relatively recent memory. My conversation partner… The village head’s face comes to mind.
In this memory, the headman wore a sinister, serious expression utterly unlike the one I’d seen earlier today.
The headman said he couldn’t trust me.
Past Kim Shin-hwa replied with a laugh in her tone.
‘How about we do it the usual way and put up some collateral?’
“Gruk, grrruk. Collateral?”
‘Yes. Take a look at this.’
‘This is…?!’
‘Not something you see every day around here, right?’
‘What do you plan to do with it?’
‘I’ll leave it at the shrine. If I betray you, you can have it after the festival.’
The headman’s eyes gleamed with greed.
“…”
Am I in a situation where they think I’ve betrayed them?
The big commotion from earlier today must’ve reached the headman’s ears.
Ah, whatever. I said they could have it after the festival, so I just need to recover everything before then.
“Besides, they don’t have another sacrifice to replace me with anyway?”
They can’t kill me. For the mountain sacrifice to fulfill its role, it has to stay alive at least until the day of the festival.
At least that’s one advantage.
“There it is.”
I’d finally arrived.
A massive building emerging suddenly from the thick fog and darkness. It was so enormous it was hard to take in at a glance.
‘Looks like a warehouse.’
Not the shrine. I’d need to climb a bit further for that. There was a ship inside that warehouse.
‘How did they manage civil engineering on this scale in a place like this?’
And what? Build a ship?
A combination of human labor and Deep One technology? Or did they kidnap construction experts from somewhere?
‘Ah, probably the latter.’
The old folks I’d seen in the village. More precisely, the elderly human slaves.
To be cold about it, if this village was established purely for breeding Deep One hybrids, there’d be no need for the elderly.
Yet they’d kept them around, giving them fancy houses and even decent appliances. That meant they had uses beyond breeding and laying eggs.
“Anyway, that aside.”
An ominous noise came from inside the warehouse.
“Gruk, gruk.”
“Grrruk, grrrruk.”
Not just one or two. Quite a few.
“The fog will reduce efficiency, but no choice.”
I projected my detection through a window in the warehouse’s outer wall.
[Heavenly Eye]
‘Can’t see well, as expected.’
The interior appeared blurry, as if shrouded in fog. Still, I could confirm the necessary info.
“Frog bastards, why are they all gathered like this?”
Deep One hybrids. Hard to gauge the exact number, but at least thirty of them.
Far more grotesque in appearance than the ones in the village. Near-adults? They’d be stronger than the village ones.
“More than I thought. And is that a harpoon?”
Harpoons, spears, and arrows held by the Deep One hybrids.
Even the Joseon era had cannons, yet their weapons were archaic cold arms. No room for complacency, though. The reason they carried spears was the same as why I didn’t carry a gun.
Plus, the potent mana they harbored.
‘Hm, should I just charge into that frog den like this?’
Even so, taking them out quietly would be tough. There were surely more Deep One hybrids gathered at the shrine atop the mountain.
If things went loud and chaotic, enemies would swarm from both the village and the shrine.
‘How can I handle this quietly?’
I briefly reviewed the spells I could use and the strategies at my disposal.
I had some items too. Mana stone bombs, for instance.
“Hmm… But there’s a safer way.”
I pulled out the item I’d kept hidden in my bosom. Not the mana stone bomb.
A red sphere hardened from my own blood.
‘There are impurities mixed in, but it should be fine.’
Reddy had consumed the Deep One curse dwelling in the old man’s body. Essentially, Dagon’s mana. But it shouldn’t be beyond control.
I raised my hand, bringing the red sphere to my lips, and whispered softly.
“Come on, Reddy, wake up. Be reborn.”
[Bloodstained Tracker]
“Kiiiii… Krrrr.”
The surface of the red sphere split open like a rose blooming, transforming into a pair of red wings. The bottom split to form a large mouth.
I stroked Reddy’s body, gauging its condition.
“Dagon’s mana has taken root, as expected.”
Whether I worried or not, Reddy wagged its body side to side in delight. It liked my touch? Contrary to my fears, it seemed in great shape. Good.
“Kiiiii!”
Ugh, yeah, but let’s keep it quiet for now.
In this state, it was worth a shot.
I pulled out another item from my bosom. Truth be told, I didn’t have many things on me.
[Ocarina of the Deep Sea].
An artifact infused with Dagon’s mana, just like the rest. I said to Reddy,
“Here, look at this.”
“Kiiiii?”
As expected, Reddy approached the ocarina with curiosity. It even poked at it without any instructions from me.
“Kii…”
It glanced at me cautiously. It hadn’t figured out what I wanted yet.
“Go ahead and eat it.”
“Kraaang!”
Reddy’s mouth gaped wide—much larger than its own body.
Chomp, slurp. Crunch. Crackle.
The Ocarina of the Deep Sea vanished straight into Reddy’s maw.
‘Eats well.’
No need to feel bad. It wasn’t made for humans anyway.
It conflicted with my other artifacts in terms of properties, so using it through Reddy was far better.
“Kiiiiii…”
Shwaaaak!
It had already absorbed Dagon’s mana.
Now, taking in an artifact infused with Deep Sea mana on top of that, dramatic changes rippled through Reddy’s body.
“Yes. Grow big and strong.”
Crunch, slurrrp.
It even grew a large single eye and a tail-like appendage. A hefty tail with round fins top and bottom. Could pass for a wing, but…
“More like a tadpole’s tail.”
Was it Dagon’s influence that shaped it this way?
Even so, Reddy wouldn’t grow into something resembling a Deep One.
‘Made from my blood, after all, so its growth ceiling is way lower.’
Wonder how long its lifespan will be?
“Kiiii.”
Reddy stared up at me with its big eye. Suddenly brimming with energy. Hyped up. Waiting for orders?
“Alright. Let’s have some fun.”
I gave it a quick peck near its eye and issued a new command.
Flap flap flap!
The moment the order dropped, Reddy shot up at tremendous speed.
“Kiiii!!”
Quietly… Nah, doesn’t matter now.
I watched Reddy fly toward the warehouse, taking a deep breath.
“Hoo…”
I focused my mind and sent out mana.
[Heavenly Eye]
A red glow gathered in my left eye.
My right eye still saw the rotten branches, mold, and massive warehouse around me, but my left eye showed what Reddy saw.
“Yeah, carefully climb onto the roof. There’s a vent, right? Yes, go in there.”
Reddy slipped into the filthy vent. For a moment, its mind veered toward something else.
“Ugh, ignore the bugs and keep going. Food later. Yes, good job.”
Looks like growth brought desires beyond mere obedience.
I barely coaxed Reddy past its bug-snacking urges and guided it deeper into the warehouse.
“Wow, it’s huge.”
Even from outside, the warehouse was enormous. And inside, a truly gigantic wooden sailing ship filled the space.
Three masts with sails, no less.
‘The day it comes, the Dragon King will board this ship.’
‘The time of the Great Flood is nearly upon us.’
‘All land will become our territory.’
‘The chance lasts only one day. Miss it, and we wait another 1,000 years. So absolutely no mistakes!’
Reddy briefly lost its bearings, circling above the ship. ‘Kyaaa—’ A growl echoed through our link.
“Calm down. Don’t get excited.”
It was the mana emanating from the ship. Sails or not, this wasn’t wind-powered. Immense mana pulsed from within.
“You’ve got work to do, remember? Look over there. Your master’s enemies.”
Deep One hybrids swarming around the ship.
Far more menacing up close than my earlier scan.
But Reddy steeled itself, thinking of them as its master’s foes or whatever.
“No, Reddy, calm down. I didn’t send you in to fight them.”
Eager was good, but overkill. I sent another mana-infused command.
“Remember the gift your master gave you.”
The Ocarina of the Deep Sea.
No research done, so no tooltip, but it was an artifact with various functions.
Reddy hadn’t just merged with it—it had even ingested a bit of Dagon’s mana.
“Yes. Begin. Sing a beautiful song.”
A sharp headache stabbed me.
Reddy was drawing massive amounts of my mana. To activate the swallowed artifact’s property.
[S-grade magic tool ‘Ocarina of the Deep Sea’ unique function ‘Call of the Waves’ activates.
Call of the Waves: Plays a melody of the waves that exerts powerful control over things originating from the deep sea.]
[Effect reduced due to unmet prerequisites.]
Prerequisites were having the Performer trait and twelve fingers. But Reddy had a free pass right now.
[‘Lord of Murky Waters’ authority temporarily waives prerequisites.]
Perfect.
From Reddy’s mouth flowed a eerie, beautiful song no human could utter.
『H- OO-OO- O- OO- H- OO- OO-OO-』
And from somewhere, the sound of waves. A magical melody evoking sorrow and longing in things born of the sea.