Two-Headed Venom Dragon (1)
Two-Headed Venom Dragon (1)
The 8th Iteration was the first to discover the Lake of Mana.
The 9th Iteration was the first to figure out its trick and obtain the Proof of Protection.
I still remember the artifact information from the Measurement back then.
[Player Correction System: Measurement]
▶ Target: Proof of Protection
▶ Elements: ｢Artifact｣ ｢Top-Grade｣ ｢Prosthetic Arm｣ ...
▶ Internal Authority: ｢Protection｣
▷ Detailed Description: ???(Locked)
- It's... it's here—!
I threw my arms up in ecstasy, my fingers and toes tingling.
That top-grade artifact, the one everyone said was impossible to get, had appeared.
I was on the run with an Execution Order on my head, just briefly hiding out in the Lake of Mana to boost my magic stat... and this happened!
It dropped!
'And what's with those options? They look amazing!'
Protection (守護). To guard and protect.
One glance and it was obviously a defense-type ability. A top-grade one at that, and a prosthetic arm you could equip like a piece of gear...!
My eyes practically sparkled. The Execution Order was fully on me, and I was getting beaten down without a moment's rest.
If I could at least wear this, my character wouldn't turn into a complete ragdoll so often!
Thinking that, I gleefully clicked Equip.
- Ding!
[Artifact 《Proof of Protection》 is conducting a user screening.]
...
[Player Correction System: Measurement]
▶ Titles
｢Hungry Ghost (怪惑餓鬼)｣
｢Predator｣
｢Mass Murderer｣
｢Special-Grade Wanted｣
...
▶ Mental State
｢Hunger｣: Extreme hunger
｢Appetite｣: An excessive craving to consume food
｢Emptiness｣: Devoid of anything, a hollow void
｢Killing Intent｣: Thoughts and feelings aimed at killing
｢Malice｣: Will aligned with evil
...
[Player Correction System: Pioneering Progress]
[Quest 《Kill 100,000 Civilians (Complete)》]
[Quest 《Kill 1 Association Councilor (Complete)》]
[Quest 《Destroy the Free City of Treivan (Complete)》]
[Quest 《Destroy the Free City of Rodrenium (Complete)》]
...
[Artifact 《Proof of Protection》 is raging!]
[Artifact 《Proof of Protection》 reveals fierce hostility!]
- Bzzzt!
[ HP 1002/2981 ]
...
[ HP 998/2981 ]
'Ah, fuck.'
I never got to use it.
For a mere tool, it discriminated against its user.
At the time, the 9th Iteration, who had just entered a villainous route, couldn't handle it.
Of course I didn't give up and tried various things, but the artifact was absurdly fussy.
I felt wronged. Right up until the 8th Iteration I'd stuck to good-aligned routes. The moment I flipped my alignment, this thing just poofed into existence.
I considered just conveniently devouring it with Gluttony, but worried some resistance might explode inside before digestion, so I ended up selling it off on the black market.
After that, even the 10th Iteration couldn't use it.
The 11th Iteration, the Diamond Warrior, tried lowering his evil stats a bit, but got zapped with an electric jolt.
An artifact with maddeningly strict conditions.
So I had a little concern.
Would someone like me be able to use it?
Could I possibly satisfy an artifact that so blatantly demands a good alignment and actually use it?
.
.
.
It worked.
And ridiculously easily... I didn't do anything; it just unlocked itself on its own.
'What the hell is this.'
Feeling a bit put off, I observed the Proof of Protection, which had now become my left arm.
True to its name as a prosthetic arm, it took that form.
Overall, its exterior was more rugged than delicate, colored a bright white.
'It stings.'
The cross-section of my severed arm stung.
It itched at times, then burned as if scorched by fire.
When Aerus cut off my arm in Sipnaha, the mana circuits were torn out along with it.
- Sizzzzle...
The severed ends of the mana circuits writhed, gradually sending roots toward the prosthetic arm.
Mana was being drawn from the prosthetic and adhering to my mana circuits, grafting onto them.
This manifested as golden lines appearing across the surface of the prosthetic arm.
You could call it a sort of synchronization or transplant process.
"Ah, aah! Wait, Junior!"
While I was enduring the rising pain reasonably well,
Lee Ji-yeon, who had been blinking vacantly, suddenly looked horrified and slapped my left arm—the Proof of Protection—with a smack.
"You can't use something like that! Take it off, quickly...!"
[What?]
Take it off?
When I questioned her sudden remark, Lee Ji-yeon looked frantic and tugged at my left arm repeatedly.
Because the transplant was underway, I felt a faint sensation.
"If you use an artifact like that, even your body's regeneration will be blocked...!"
'Ah, so that's what she meant.'
It's true that losing a limb is a serious injury, even in a world with supernatural abilities.
But it's not an injury that can't be restored.
Regenerating a limb is fully possible, though it takes considerable time and expense.
Even if the physical body is lost, the blueprint of that part remains on the soul.
The method involves filling the body with abundant vitality and restoring the limb according to that blueprint.
'However...'
I quietly observed the prosthetic. Golden lines gleamed on its surface. My sense of touch was gradually becoming more precise.
If I attached an artifact like this, one that could transplant torn mana circuits, that blueprint would be altered beyond recovery.
In other words, if I equipped this, my real arm might never be restored.
[It's fine.]
"Huh?"
That doesn't really matter.
Lee Ji-yeon blinked.
I gently removed her hand from my arm, then gave a little bow.
[Thank you for worrying about me.]
[But I'm really okay.]
I moved my awkward-feeling left fingers and shook my head.
'I'm not well-off enough to whine about that...'
Right now, I'm at a point where I'm tilting my head wondering if I can even live another ten years.
Fearing the inability to restore a single arm isn't reason enough to throw away a top-grade artifact.
- Crack
I opened an exit using the Authority of Space.
The space just ahead split apart.
A blue whirlpool swirled at its center. Even the fog lying over the cave was swept into the vortex.
[The exit's open.]
[Let's get out of here quickly.]
From what I'd been told, we didn't have time to hang around here.
Lee Ji-yeon, who had looked somewhat dazed, seemed to realize that too, and she let out a deep sigh and nodded.
"...Yeah. Let's go."
Then, composed, she pulled earth toward herself, shaped it into armor, and took the lead.
Lee Ji-yeon exited the dungeon first.
Fitting for a tank, she took point.
I also threw myself into the vortex.
.
.
.
'Tsk.'
The moment I emerged outside the dungeon, I felt an odd dissonance.
The surroundings had changed since we entered.
The ground was dying.
The Poisonous Mire hadn't flooded in just yet, but the vegetation, already sickly, was withering as though within its radius of influence.
'The poison the Twin-headed Poison Dragon exhaled...'
This area was also in the affected zone. Even though the entrance was different, it was still the same dungeon.
The entrances must have been fairly close to each other.
Which means... the Twin-headed Poison Dragon isn't far away, either.
Seeing it in person made my face stiffen further.
'It really turned into an undead...'
In the original story, the Twin-headed Poison Dragon's resurrection was set for about three years from now.
During that time, they had planned to gather more sacrifices and byproducts of the Twin-headed Poison Dragon.
Even so, the original setting had it in an extremely deteriorated state, rampaging out of control and impossible to restrain.
'But...'
According to Lee Ji-yeon, although the Twin-headed Poison Dragon was unstable, it was clearly being controlled.
I know Gyeol-won's specs, the leader of the Death God Cult.
I know that in this reality, which isn't a game, variables can exist.
But even taking that into account, I still couldn't comprehend it.
If they had enough skill to control a 3rd-Rank Alpha, even in a degenerated state, they wouldn't have needed to hole up and lie low.
- Cht, sizzzzz...
[Transmission Failed]
"Tsk, comms are dead."
Lee Ji-yeon, who had been trying to send a message through her smartwatch, clicked her tongue.
[There are too many dungeons nearby, so communication is probably impossible.]
In areas with many dungeons, mana wave disturbances are severe,
so comms frequently get jammed.
While she continued attempting to send messages, Lee Ji-yeon scanned the local geography.
"Then, let's head to the nearest Free City first."
[Are you planning to stop the Twin-headed Poison Dragon, Senior?]
"Yes. Support will come quickly, but I can't just sit around doing nothing until then."
Lee Ji-yeon spoke matter-of-factly.
She really was an impressive person.
'She's a good person.'
Worrying about whether I'd have to live with a prosthetic forever, unconsciously taking point even while injured... all of it showed that.
Even now, without hesitation, she intended to risk her life fighting for the sake of others.
Weren't her injuries in the first place because she'd offered herself as bait to save other people?
I'd only just spoken with Lee Ji-yeon, but even so, she felt like a kind person.
- Ah, fucking talent gap.
...In the original story, she probably held a small inferiority complex or jealousy towards Hong Yeon-hwa and Baek A-rin.
[Yes.]
[In that case, please wait a moment.]
I called out to Lee Ji-yeon just as she was about to launch herself off the ground, then let out a deep sigh and focused my mind.
My left arm still caused pain and gnawed at my nerves, but it wasn't bad enough to complain over.
'Authority of Observation.'
I normally keep a fixed way of using it.
Fix a certain range, and draw in all the information within that range.
Occasionally I adjust by temporarily expanding or shrinking the range, but ultimately, I use it by designating a fixed area.
That's all there is to it.
That's the method from when it was clumsily entangled with the Authority of Space.
That method is very convenient and effective, so I keep using it, but my own level is too meager to fit this huge stretch of land entirely into range.
The limitation of range, and the collection of dense information within it.
'I'll change the method.'
I don't limit the maximum range. I just roughly skip the underground area, and spread the range as far as I can.
I don't seek highly dense information. I seek information on just a single entity.
I brought my hands together in front of my chest. A sort of hand seal I hadn't used since my left hand was torn off—a form of self-suggestion.
The white prosthetic hand met the hand wrapped in a black sleeve.
- Creak
The range of Observation cracked.
Spreading like a spiderweb, the cracks soon came crashing down.
The walls collapsed, and the range expanded.
Zing! A slight strain hit my head.
My nose tingled sharply.
"Junior?"
Seems my nose had started bleeding. Not something to worry about. I continued expanding the range.
There was no dense information. I filtered it all out. All I accepted was the poison.
There was a direction in which the poison gradually thickened. I turned Observation that way. The poison grew even denser.
Waves of poison mire flooded in.
And then...
- Chills
'Found it.'
I observed a snake that could hardly be called alive.
An enormous body, one empty head. Waves of poison continually spilling from its jaws.
My face hardened.
It stood before a city.
Inside the city, many people still hadn't managed to evacuate.
[I found it.]
"First your nosebleed... Huh? Found what?"
Lee Ji-yeon asked, pulling a cloth from her subspace pouch as she tried to wipe my nosebleed.
[The Twin-headed Poison Dragon.]
[I've pinpointed its coordinates.]
Lee Ji-yeon's eyes went wide and blank. She looked like she doubted what she'd just heard.
I reached out and took her hand.
"Huh, uh? Why're you suddenly holding my hand...?"
Lee Ji-yeon's body trembled. I felt a little sorry if I'd startled her, but there was no time to wait.
[I'll explain the situation later.]
[I'm moving us right now.]
"Excuse me? Wh-What situation does holding hands have to do with...?"
- Wooooong!
Her sentence cut off abruptly.
The surrounding space undulated several times, as if warping.
"No, wait, this is...!"
'Authority manifestation, Space.'
The undulating space instantly contracted, then distorted like a vortex.
We were swallowed by the whirlpool.
Immediately after, a dizzying sense of floating engulfed my whole body.
Rumble! A rough wind sound struck my ears.
My hair shot upward.
"Uh, uhhh?"
Lee Ji-yeon let out another dazed noise.
"Ah."
She turned her head this way and that, scanning her surroundings. I figured she could see the sky, and the ground stretching out clearly beneath her feet.
"This is insane."
And, beneath her feet, she'd also see the heads of the Twin-headed Poison Dragon.
Leaving her in her flustered state, I pulled my right arm back.
'Expansion Ability, Homogenization.'
Crunch! I clenched my fist. The condensed mana transformed. Mana seeped out between my fingers.
It was nighttime. The surroundings were murky. The ground, steeped in poison, was full of a swampy green tint.
'White Night.'
Suddenly, a golden light forced back the dark.
That light cleaved straight through the darkness and crashed down onto the Twin-headed Poison Dragon's head.
* * *
[Artifact 《Proof of Protection》 is conducting a user screening.]
...
[Artifact 《Proof of Protection》 acknowledges the user.]
...
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul→Lee Ji-yeon
●●●○○○○○○○(21▷31/100)
｢Successor of Taesan｣ ｢A good person｣