The Intruder
The intruder 053. The intruder let out a shrill whistle. When the farmer blew his pipe, scarecrows came rushing out of the cornfield. But only seven appeared. The effort of staying up all night to clear them out had paid off. ‘By the way, how the hell does that thing look like a farmer…?’
At dawn I launched my attack on the farmer. Since the scarecrows were inactive during the day, there was no way to lure them out with fire. The master of the field turned out to be nothing like a farmer. She wore a skintight black robe and a wide-brimmed pointed hat. She looked far more like a witch.
“Kyaaaak!”
The witch shrieked and hurled fireballs at the zombies swarming toward her. Her attacks were undeniably fierce. Zombies struck by the flames rolled on the ground, desperately trying to extinguish the fire. Yet her situation was far from ideal. As a mage-type, a spellcaster without a frontline had never been able to unleash more than twenty percent of her true destructive power. After flinging flames wildly and managing to take down only a few monkey zombies, the witch collapsed and became a corpse herself.
‘That’s more like it. After all that work last night, this is the least she could do!’
I grinned. I had no idea how much of the witch’s abilities would be inherited, but I had finally obtained a proper rear-line summon. Honestly, the dark elves’ arrows had lost their edge. Once turned into zombies, their strength and eyesight had deteriorated, stripping them of their former destructive power. Dipping arrowheads in poison had reduced the elves to little more than long-range infection vectors.
‘Good. Things are gradually coming together.’
I gave the order for light cleanup. Baengnae was tasked with infecting the witch while Nareun-i tallied the wounded. I would examine the high-grade artifact. Following the red snake, I entered the house where the witch had lived. The interior was ordinary. A few devices that looked like experimental equipment sat around, but none of them seemed particularly useful to me. When I opened a door in the wall, corn and grasshoppers spilled out. The witch must have been eating them as well.
‘What, was she in some kind of closed-door training?’
A search of the house turned up nothing of value. I headed straight for the high-grade artifact. Among the experimental tools stood something resembling a massive cauldron—the item I had been looking for.
[Imperfect Creation]
[Creates an imperfect lifeform every 24 hours. The result changes depending on the materials used as offerings.]
‘Oh…? Ah, so that’s how it works.’
The community record for the highest number of scarecrows was forty-two. I had only managed to produce thirty. Even counting the seven that appeared later, that made thirty-seven. The witch had been creating scarecrows through the artifact, so the later one arrived, the more scarecrows there would be.
Well, a witch was a witch. Like the first high-grade artifact, this one was extremely tempting. Creating an imperfect lifeform every twenty-four hours. Judging from the house, the scarecrows seemed to be made by feeding the cauldron corn, straw, and grasshoppers. Even with such trash materials, it produced bull-sized monstrous scarecrows. So what if I fed it zombies instead?
I had obtained an incredible device capable of mass-producing terrifying monsters without limit.
‘Haa… Every time a high-grade artifact appears, the temptation is insane.’
Part of me desperately wanted to make this place my base and explore the maze from here—solving the food problem with corn and grasshoppers while churning out monsters with the artifact. I took several deep breaths and shook my head.
‘No… There are more high-grade artifacts out there…!’
The reason the top rankers had been so strong was becoming clearer.
‘So this is why there was no information about the cornfield.’
Anyone strong enough to overcome the cornfield would have killed the witch, found the artifact, and quietly reaped the benefits. If news of something this valuable spread on the community boards, everyone would rush here. But there was no need to envy them. Once they discovered the artifact, they had most likely stayed and settled down. I, however, possessed the snake bracelet the Cat God had given me. I would claim everything they had missed.
I took out the storage device to activate it. The cauldron was not simply sitting on the floor; it was buried deep underground. Carrying it away had never been an option in the first place.
“This isn’t a cauldron… It’s more like a gourd.”
I pressed the storage device against the gourd. It was time to obtain the maze’s second high-grade Fruit of Good and Evil.
—Vwooom—
—Crack.
The gourd began to crumple. All the iron buried underground was forced upward, gathering and compressing. A strange, crisp sound of stone folding repeated over and over.
—Kreee—
—Crack—
—Kreee—
Everything coalesced into a sphere and dropped onto the floor with a thud. I checked the iron orb’s information.
[Divided Life]
‘Huh? A Soul Engraving?’
I did not know its exact effect, but it certainly felt better than [Grasping Pincers]. I immediately performed the Soul Engraving rank assessment the Cat God had taught me. Closing my eyes, I sensed the energy emanating from the orb.
Vwoooom—
Four waves. A level-4 Soul Engraving.
‘A shame. Level 5 was asking too much, I guess.’
Baengnae’s [Regenerative Cells] was a level-5 Soul Engraving. If a level-5 had appeared, I would have tried synthesizing it, but unfortunately it was only level 4.
‘Still, this is more than enough to be satisfied!’
Two Soul Engravings could be combined into a higher rank. A level-4 engraving was worth eight level-1 [Grasping Pincers].
Once outside, I called for Baengnae first. She arrived looking completely exhausted from infecting the witch.
“Baengnae’s here…”
The witch’s body was four meters tall. With that much mass, Baengnae must have poured an enormous amount of her bodily fluids into the infection. I handed her the iron orb.
“Here.”
“Hm?”
Baengnae quickly realized what the sphere was and broke into a wide smile.
“Hehe, Baengnae’s now.”
I granted [Divided Life] to Baengnae. Perhaps due to the sudden growth, a small change began to appear in her body. Baengnae’s writhing form expanded. Her limbs lengthened bit by bit until she stood 1.2 meters tall.
“What kind of ability do you think it is?”
“Hm…”
Baengnae wiggled her fingers a few times, then drew her sword and cleanly sliced off her own index finger. The severed finger dropped to the ground.
“Eh…?”
The fallen finger twitched and slowly began to grow. It transformed into a human shape. In less than ten seconds, a miniature Baengnae fifty centimeters tall stood complete. The mini-Baengnae raised her arm high.
‘Clone generation?’
Since the Soul Engraving was [Divided Life], creating clones seemed like the correct effect. Yet the clone did not look particularly strong.
“You there, monkey! Come here.”
I pointed at a nearby zombie and ordered a mock battle between it and the mini-Baengnae. The monkey snickered as it approached. It tossed aside its sword and raised both fists, shaking them. Even the monkey seemed to think the mini-Baengnae looked weak. It crooked a finger at her.
Then the monkey was beaten so thoroughly that dust flew. None of its punches landed on the clone, while the small creature’s attacks were vicious.
—Thud—
—Thud-thud-thud—
“Kii? Ki-ki-ki!”
The monkey tried to flee and retrieve its sword, but the mini-Baengnae moved faster and snatched the weapon away. Panicking, the monkey looked at me. It had realized that if I did not stop the fight, it would become the clone’s snack.
“All right, that’s enough. Stop.”
Only then did the monkey exhale in relief and bolt back to its group. Baengnae threw both arms up in triumph.
“Baengnae won!”
“Yeah? She fights better than I expected.”
More testing was needed, but the clone seemed to have inherited a considerable portion of Baengnae’s movements and abilities. What was certain was that the clone was stronger than a grade-4 zombie.
‘Wait… This isn’t so simple, is it…?’
The fifty-centimeter mini-Baengnae had been created from a finger. What if I cut off an entire hand or an arm? Would a larger clone appear?
I asked the one who would know.
“Baengnae, how many of these can you make?”
“Hm…”
Baengnae spread both hands. She could cut off all ten fingers and create ten mini-Baengnaes at once.
“Can you make bigger ones too?”
After a moment’s thought, Baengnae nodded. She mimed cutting off her own arm.
‘How big would it get if I cut off an arm?’
At that moment Baengnae gestured, and one of the clones approached and was absorbed back into her. Once the mini-Baengnae was absorbed, the severed finger rapidly regenerated. So that was why she had not used [Regenerative Cells] to heal.
“Absorption works too, huh?”
“Madda!”
It was a fascinating ability. Plenty of research potential. Unfortunately, Baengnae’s experiments would have to wait. A guest I had been expecting had arrived.
‘So you finally came.’
During the battle with the witch, a message had appeared. Someone had intruded into this maze. I could instinctively tell they had come with the intent to harm me. Recent filthy memories had been tormenting me, after all.
At the same time the message arrived, a red thread had formed around the ring finger of my left hand. At first I had wondered what it was. Soon enough I reached a conclusion. This form was familiar from a well-known tale—one of China’s superstitions, the “red thread of fate.” People connected by destiny were said to be born linked by a red thread. That was probably how the intruder had been able to reach me. After all, the concept of “being connected” had been established.
‘So… who could it be?’
I had already prepared. Before entering the witch’s house, I had instructed Nareun-i to hide all forces except the monkeys in the field. It did not matter who came. The opponent was walking straight into a zombie’s mouth.
—Rustle—
—Rustle—
Soon the guest pushed through the cornfield and appeared. It was Hong Jiu. The very man from my former workplace, Barosoft, who had committed every kind of filthy deed and pinned his crimes on me. The arrogant fool who had started recording with a snicker when Manager Park held the fake trial. Unable to contain my boiling rage, I spoke.
“Well, well. Look who it is. Isn’t this our dear Deputy Hong Jiu, the one who squandered company money on his filthy desires, stole office supplies, got caught, and tried to pin it all on me?”
‘Wait… Calm down.’
I had been about to strike him down when I suddenly sensed something odd. Hong Jiu was an idiot. A spoiled brat who relied solely on his father Director Hong’s influence and committed every kind of outrageous act. Could he really have found me on his own? Impossible. No matter how much the world had changed, someone incompetent did not suddenly become capable. I corrected myself.
“But! That’s all in the past. First, what brings you here? Did you get lost in the maze?”
Hong Jiu’s expression soured at my words.
“Ha… Look at this crazy bastard. You’re treating me like some brain-damaged moron? You open with that and then suddenly change your tune? Man… The world really has gone to shit, hasn’t it? Even the lowest of the low in the department can talk back to me like this now?”
I suppressed my anger and forced a smile. I tried once more to coax him with the most reasonable words I could muster. He must have come for a reason, after all.
“Haha. Adapting to the new world has made life a bit rough, that’s all. My apologies. So, what business brings you here, Deputy Hong?”
Hong Jiu had no intention of having a conversation.
“Wow. The nerve of this guy, talking back. I’m getting talked down to by a piece of trash that isn’t even worth recycling?”
Only indiscriminate insults followed.
“Your summons are monkeys? They suit you perfectly. Guess there really is a reason summons turn out the way they do. This world is even proving you’re a mongrel, huh? Kek.”
Come to think of it, Hong Jiu had always been like this. Whenever he had something to say, he would show up, spend thirty minutes mocking and belittling me, then forget his actual business and leave. Or perhaps his real purpose had simply been stress relief. It was my mistake for trying to have a conversation in the first place.
‘Thirty minutes of listening to bullshit versus just beating him to death.’
I made my decision. First I would cut off his limbs, then ask about his business one more time. Circumstances changed, and so did words.