#22 The Stirring of Evil (6)
#22 The Stirring of Evil (6)
The paladin—no, Seong Dae-woon—had never imagined a human being could be that enormous.
'Ah.'
Physique-wise, the man was less human and closer to a wild bull. The veins bulging across his body stood out like steel cords. The head that had seemed so massive at first glance now looked small compared to a midsection that had swollen grotesquely—muscles compressed to their absolute limit.
'He's just lifting it?'
He hadn't even swung yet, and the pressure alone made it hard to keep his eyes open. When the wind died down, those monstrous muscles were visibly rigid. Maximum tension. Anyone could see at a glance he was gathering power. No—the air itself was changing.
'......!'
And the moment the atmosphere stopped moving, the paladin watched a mountain shift.
***
[Level 10 achievement conditions met.]
[Experience Points at maximum. Lv.9 → Lv.10]
'I leveled up?'
I'd already hit Level 9, but I hadn't stockpiled experience all the way to the cap. So how—?
'Ah.'
Come to think of it, I'd seen the same message before the Budding Evil appeared. Right now I was something incomprehensible called the Budding Evil, but my core trait as a chimera apparently hadn't changed.
'...I see.'
My stamina recovered at the same time. I barely cleared the wall of flesh and landed on the ground. The hunter with his fist still extended—Jeon Woo-taek. The punch he'd thrown had torn through the tentacles and opened a path.
'And most likely.'
The reason was Hong Yuri. His sunken eyes met mine. His whole posture said he was certain I was carrying her.
'Hand her over—that's what he's telling me.'
Truth was, I was still wrestling with it.
Like it or not, being threatened—not by a monster or an animal, but by a person—felt genuinely awful.
Even when, in the big picture, I was out here sticking my neck out for them.
'The first one was.'
Hong Yuri. She'd mistaken me for the monster Wolf that fought Lee Eun-ha. When all that had happened was the circumstances lining up that way.
That's probably why I'd felt that unwarranted sense of betrayal. The resentment I nursed despite being a monster myself was nothing but selfish irrationality. Hong Yuri had only been doing her job.
'I understand that logically.'
But feeling something is a different matter.
Some might call me petty, narrow-minded—and honestly, I was still debating it.
'If I devour Hong Yuri.'
I might hit Level 20 in one shot. No—I definitely would.
'And.'
If I could take down a battered Jeon Woo-taek too, I might even reach my next evolution...
[......]
I smiled bitterly under someone's anxious gaze.
'As if I could do that.'
Pulling something like that would only speed up the apocalypse. I withdrew the tentacles covering Hong Yuri's form, and Jeon Woo-taek's eyes locked on her.
"......."
His expression seemed composed at a glance, but he couldn't entirely hide the flicker of unease in his eyes. He was worried about Hong Yuri, bleeding as she was. Gu Jin-ha had wrapped the wound with cloth, but she'd been jostled around plenty—her condition couldn't be good.
'That part's not my problem.'
The moment I set Hong Yuri down, Jeon Woo-taek scooped her up.
'One wrong move and he might kill me.'
He shot me an odd look, clearly weighing whether or not to put me down. Calculating if his current state could manage it, and whether he even had the time. Then he turned his back.
'...Saving Hong Yuri comes first.'
The right call. And more importantly—
'Kang Tae-ho.'
The colossal battle hammer looked like a toy tool-hammer in his grip. The instant those muscles compressed to their limit began to release, Jeon Woo-taek flinched and fled.
Kang Tae-ho hadn't done anything yet, but the Budding Evil's attention was fixed entirely on Geohan.
'Ah, I get it.'
The threats that could kill it—it was going after those first. It had decided that Kang Tae-ho, who could end it right now, was a bigger threat than a half-dead Hong Yuri. There might be other reasons, but that was as far as my speculation went.
'.......'
Spikes, tentacles, whips, bombardment. And sheer mass, a presence of violence in its own right. The Budding Evil threw everything it had at Geohan, trying to stop him. And every last bit of it lost all meaning the instant before it could land.
"Grrrrr, grrrk!"
Its claws were driven deep into the ground, and still it slid back several dozen centimeters. The hammer he swung after drawing power to its absolute limit—created a typhoon.
'Seriously...'
A man who might well be the strongest of all hunters in raw power alone. The moment Kang Tae-ho's hammer connected with the Budding Evil, the thing was blown off its feet.
'Blown off its feet?'
A hollow laugh escaped me. The thing was the size of a small mountain, with a little exaggeration—and a single strike had moved it.
Ridiculous, monstrous strength. And yet Geohan—Kang Tae-ho—clicked his tongue as if disappointed.
"Ah, my apologies. The hammer broke... Hmm? What are you doing over there?"
He tossed the hammer to the paladin, who'd been blown aside by the pressure, and the stunned man caught the now-ruined weapon with a dazed look.
Since when did hammers just break?
"Ah, no. This is the least of my worries."
The paladin, about to ask whether he'd be alright without a weapon, shut his mouth. Geohan had reached into empty air and pulled out an absurdly enormous greatsword. It was less a sword and more a siege weapon in size. A slab of iron larger across than Geohan's own torso—and the man stood easily over two meters.
'The Conqueror's Great Sword (Conqueror's Great Sword).'
Calling it a sword was an embarrassment, but that very blade had silenced every swordsman who saw it and earned the title "Voice of the Sword." No one could argue.
"Step back. You'll be in danger if you get caught up."
At Kang Tae-ho's warning, the paladin retreated far. And when he finally swung that monstrous blade, the Budding Evil—split apart?
'I could barely sever a single tentacle...?'
He gave the cleaved Budding Evil no time to regenerate, the Conqueror's Great Sword crashing down again and again. Each swing reshaped the terrain, split the earth.
'Is this guy even human?'
I'd struggled just to run away, but Kang Tae-ho was driving the thing back without allowing a single attack through. The unreal spectacle had me staring blankly before I snapped back.
'I've got my own work to do.'
The moment I activated C-rank Stealth, the paladin's head whipped around. He couldn't find me, vanished without warning.
'Ah. Good.'
Stronger hunters might have seen through it, but it worked on the paladin. No wonder he was baffled—I'd disappeared the second he turned his head.
I slipped away and ran back through the forest. Retracing the same route I'd taken while carrying Hong Yuri—I'd apparently come quite a way. The path ended where I'd shaken off Gu Jin-ha.
'Still here, I see.'
[Swamp Dragon consumed. Experience Points and Satiety increased.]
[Appetite (D) Lv.3 proficiency at maximum. Appetite (D) Lv.3 → Appetite (D) Lv.4]
[Experience Points at max...]
'Whoof.'
I dismissed the messages quickly.
The Swamp Dragon was stronger than the Aranea. I can say with absolute confidence I couldn't have taken it down myself. Over sixty thousand experience points filled my gauge four times, rocketing me from Level 10 to Level 14. Almost three hundred thousand experience in a single haul.
'...Ahem.'
Gu Jin-ha did the actual work, and I reaped the benefits.
And there was still more to eat. All around me lay the twisted, horribly contaminated forms of creatures that had died unjustly—monsters killed by the Budding Evil. Fully tainted, the very idea of consuming them should have been impossible. But I was different.
'Because I have Evil Devouring.'
Being able to consume anything without discrimination was exactly what that meant.
[Faint Poison Resistance (F) Lv.9 proficiency at maximum. Faint Poison Resistance (F) Lv.9 → Faint Poison Resistance (F) Lv.10]
[Faint Poison Resistance (F) Lv.10 has reached maximum level. Faint Poison Resistance (F) Lv.10 → Weak Poison Resistance (E) Lv.1]
The poison resistance I'd carried since my slime days had finally risen to E-rank.
'Ahem.'
Even in this dizzying fog, I couldn't keep the corners of my mouth from twitching.
***
"...Running?"
The paladin murmured, dazed. The flesh monster was... running away?
"Ah, what a nuisance."
Geohan, the Conqueror's Great Sword resting on his shoulder, scowled. The writhing flesh monster was expelling something. Expelling... what exactly?
'Not expelling.'
It was dividing. Splitting apart. Or rather, separating.
"Tch. Useless antics."
Another swing of the Conqueror's Great Sword wiped out most of the separated flesh chunks. But not all of them. A mass of flesh still the size of a building, though considerably reduced, stood in his way.
"Hm."
Even then, finishing this thing off wouldn't take five minutes. His internal calculation complete, Geohan turned to the paladin.
"That much shouldn't be a problem. Can you pursue?"
He tossed over a potion he'd been carrying, and the paladin caught it on reflex and drank before nodding.
"...Leave it to me. I'll catch them, no matter what."
"Keep it moderate. Moderate."
As Geohan saw it, the small separated pieces had lost most of their abilities—shouldn't be difficult.
'Where the hell is Seong-hun off to, anyway?'
Swinging the Conqueror's Great Sword, Geohan thought of the hunter who'd come to wake him.
—Something about wanting to tag along because watching a special-species Wolf would be fascinating...?
"Well, he'll figure it out himself."
If it really bothered him, he'd just kill this thing as fast as possible and head that way.
***
[Dungeon Horror (Skull Wolf) Lv.17] [EXP 62584 / 96238]
[Karma 0.06%]
[Length 2.21m] [Height 94.9cm] [Weight 141kg]
[STR 183] [AGI 204] [VIT 262] [MP 180] [Willpower 4]
'Alright. This is better than I'd hoped.'
Even looking at the stats alone, I could now match a C-class hunter. Factoring in the synergy from my skills, I was confident I could take on an Aranea one-on-one without being pushed back. The Budding Evil had been a colossal headache, but the prey it left behind was making me stronger than that headache had ever cost me.
'If I just eat the rest of these...?'
When I turned my attention to the remaining prey, something else was already eating them. Something... was that even the word? Small black chunks of flesh. They were grotesquely, greedily devouring the contaminated corpses.
'No way.'
As expected. I checked with Perception, and confirmed it—the Budding Evil.
[Destruction Probability 99.84% → 99.8%]
[Karma earned: 0.04%]
'0.04 percent?'
There was only one thing that could suddenly drop the destruction probability. Kang Tae-ho had killed the Budding Evil. And yet the karma earned was so small I frowned—
'Ah.'
If I hadn't chased after it, Gu Ma-jun would never have had to drink that Unfinished Product of Incidental Results. Meaning it was an event that wasn't supposed to happen in the first place. The System had calculated the causality based solely on the fact that "Gu Ma-jun died."
'...So these remnants can't ever return to the Budding Evil?'
Excellent prey. Rotting, but still remnants of the Budding Evil.
"Grrrr—!"
I bared my teeth, and they lunged at me. Even in that state, they apparently had sight and hearing. I looked forward to seeing how much experience they'd give me.
'No fear at all.'
They ran from Kang Tae-ho—do they discriminate against people? Each flesh chunk was at best the size of a raccoon dog, and their stats were on a kobold's level. Impressive stats for their size, though.
[- consumed. Experience Points and Satiety increased.]
The idea that I'd be overwhelmed was laughable. I didn't even have to do anything special—just using Gust was enough to slice them apart without mercy. The Budding Evil's remnants, ground up like something in a blender, could only gurgle and thrash without mounting any real response.
'Respectable returns.'
About a thousand per kill... My senses picked up roughly thirty of them. Eating them all should get me to Level 18.
'I'm starting to understand this Appetite skill now.'
I couldn't grasp it at first, but after becoming a living creature, it clicked.
'Maintaining a state of perpetual hunger.'
Meant I could keep eating without end. And since I wasn't actually suffering the pangs of an empty stomach, it was a hell of a skill. Though back when I was an Amorphous entity, it had been practically useless.
'Losing the Amorphous form still stings, though.'
Every time I consumed something via Evil Devouring, my poison resistance proficiency seemed to rise alongside it. Even Weak Poison Resistance couldn't block it perfectly, but it'd recover soon enough—which meant there was still a problem until it did. While I couldn't shake the vertigo, something punched straight through me.
'...How?'
An arrow laced with mana, shot from somewhere. It pierced through the Gust and tore up my insides. If I hadn't had All Damage Reduction, it wouldn't have stopped at this. I could've died to that sniper shot before I ever knew it was coming.
'Does the Temple have an archer?'
No, they don't. Far as I knew, Temple members rarely used bows. Which meant—
'Dawn.'
Dawn-affiliated. I couldn't definitively say no other clan had entered the dungeon, but since the Temple had likely been delegated authority, they wouldn't have let too many other clans in.
'Who's the archer in Dawn?'
Too many to list off the top of my head. One thing was certain: I couldn't fight this. Because I was confident I could win, I would've picked a fight—and that's exactly why I shouldn't.
'...Pull back.'
B-class at minimum. Possibly A-class. I used Stealth immediately, but the arrows still came.
'Damn.'
I barely dodged. Pure luck. If that black flesh chunk in front of me hadn't taken the hit first and burst, I'd have seen it and still been hit.
Stealth wasn't omnipotent—a lesson I kept having to learn. Concealing my body didn't mean I escaped the opponent's awareness. If they'd never noticed me in the first place, maybe. But once they'd already fired, there was no way they didn't know.
'...Even so, this means they've got the skill to see through C-rank Stealth.'
An archer's eye, you could call it. In the direction the arrow had come from, shattered trees lay scattered, and beyond them I sensed a single presence.
'Roughly two kilometers. They sniped me from that distance?'
Even at a full sprint, it'd take thirty seconds to close. Getting shot at the whole way there—my odds were bleak. And even if I got close, there was no guarantee I'd beat an archer. Just as I was about to retreat, the paladin in his white helmet blocked my path.
'Hell.'
"Nnh...."
The paladin hesitated for a moment, then raised his mace. Weren't we practically comrades who'd faced the Budding Evil together...? Well, expecting the Temple to care about something like that was asking too much. Fine. I hadn't expected anything anyway.
'If I were alone, this wouldn't be a problem.'
Back when we first met in the dungeon, fighting the paladin might've been difficult. Not anymore. I was confident I could kill or subdue him in a minute at most.
'The problem is the sniper. The archer.'
The archer must've realized the paladin alone couldn't pin me down, because they were getting closer.
Overwhelm the paladin as fast as possible and run. The fact that the archer was approaching meant they were truly confident they could win even after revealing themselves. I bolted at once with Gust at my back, but the paladin stepped into my path like it was the most natural thing in the world, and I dodged the swinging mace.
Ordinarily he wouldn't have been able to block me in the first place. But I still hadn't recovered from the damage of that first shot. Regeneration or not, healing a wound where my insides had been torn up wasn't easy. In the chaos of the Gust, I bit down on the paladin's leg. I tore through the spots where his armor was already ripped, and a pained scream rang out.
'Good.'
I wasn't the only one running low on health, apparently. I shoved him to the ground, and the Budding Evil's remnants swarmed to devour him. As the paladin thrashed, an arrow flew in and saved him.
'That's fine. Just as I expected.'
I'd predicted saving the paladin would take priority over chasing me. The prediction hit, and now I could escape—or so I thought, right before a deeper despair blocked my path.
"Getting past Seong-hun couldn't have been easy... but it seems Team 3 did miss a lead after all."
'......!'
When the System alerted me to the change in destruction probability, I should've taken it as a warning.
Why didn't I think it through more? Why didn't I run immediately? Regret came far too late.
'Fuck... I should've bolted right then.'
Geohan, the Conqueror's Great Sword on his shoulder—looked like despair given form.