Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: The Hair Centipede Queen
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Syria's shadow raced fiercely along the strands of hair.
Twang-twang-twang-crack!
At the same moment, the hair began to snap apart.
They'd realized something was flying in along the hair from their side.
"Idiots."
But Leyzon just sneered at them.
At the points where the hair was tearing...
The shadow had already secured it taut.
Once ensnared by Syria even once, escape was impossible.
"Hanok!"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
At Leyzon's call, Hanok leaped up high.
A bone broom formed in Leyzon's grasp.
"Dragon Wind."
Leyzon, with Hanok aboard, summoned a gale—and shot forward like a cannonball.
The remaining aberrant bone beasts flailed below, trying to grab him, but there was no catching Leyzon accelerated by Dragon Wind.
The hair stretched on endlessly.
The enemy had sent it from a considerable distance.
They must have anticipated it might get snagged.
Soon, the piles of hair on the ground began to multiply.
Hair filling the feet of the aberrant bone beasts.
At first only black, the hair gradually grew into every color imaginable.
Leyzon's eyes slowly narrowed as he took it in.
Every strand looked high-quality.
These were hairs deliberately maintained by someone.
That's when Leyzon realized why only an all-female team had been kidnapped.
'Dungeon Replay runs on a medieval worldview.'
Even in the modern world, women took hair care more seriously than men.
To say nothing of the medieval era.
'It wasn't targeting women.'
It was targeting well-maintained hair itself.
At the end of the tangled hair even the aberrant bone beasts were caught in...
There loomed a massive clump of hair.
Far larger than any person.
Before that colossal hairball, Syria erupted from the shadow and swung her fist with all her might.
KABOOOOOM!
The hairball buckled under Syria's punch and rolled across the ground.
Soon after, the hairball unraveled with a slither.
It wasn't the real body.
"Syria."
"Yep. Looks like they tossed out bait and tried to run."
Hearing Leyzon's call, Syria spread her hand wide.
In that instant, a massive orb of blood congealed in her palm, worm-like.
"Wonder how they'll handle getting hit all at once."
Syria's lips curled into a savage grin.
With that, the blood orb she'd formed detonated.
The gushing blood clung to every single strand of hair.
Then it surged forward all at once, following the hair's path.
Snap-crack!
"Aaaaaaaagh!"
In that moment, the sound of shattering bone echoed from somewhere, accompanied by a scream.
The instant the foe couldn't hold back their cry, Syria kicked off the sky and launched herself.
The moment Syria spread her wings wide and shot forward...
There was a woman with blood embedded in her scalp, shrieking.
She was a bizarre figure, her body wrapped tight in hair instead of clothes.
Just as Syria swung her fist without a hint of hesitation...
The hair surged up like a tidal wave.
The hair struck by Syria's fist scattered in all directions like an explosion.
In that gap, the woman tried to wrench free and flee.
But Syria's blood crystal was already lodged in her hair.
Grrrrrind!
The blood crystal began piercing through her scalp.
"Kyaaaaaaaagh!"
Agony spreading from her head made her scream.
As she wailed, the hairs thrashed wildly.
Leyzon hurriedly steered the bone broom upward through the air to dodge the hair.
'What a mess.'
Double dungeon, Upper Bone Realm.
Its floor was entirely carpeted in hair.
Controlling hair—what kind of power was this? He couldn't even guess.
'No wonder Pauli spotted right away it wasn't a skill when he met that foreign bug shaman.'
Meanwhile, Syria was severing every last strand.
The hairs infused with her blood lost their strength and hung limp.
Before long, the hair woman was in Syria's clutches.
Syria, gripping the woman's head tight, was every inch the queen.
Leyzon confirmed the hairs had gone still and descended.
"Syria, good work."
"It was nothing!"
Syria beamed brightly as she said it.
Having Syria around was always reassuring.
Leyzon approached the limp woman.
She was bound tight in Syria's shadow, utterly helpless.
Leyzon brushed her hair aside with his hand.
He wanted to see her face.
But in the next moment, Leyzon froze solid.
"...This one's a pioneer woman from a pioneer team."
Leyzon's natural memory had memorized every missing person's sketch.
Just in case it might come in handy someday.
"Huh? So she was the one hiding in secret?"
"I wish it were that simple."
Leyzon replied to Hanok as he slowly turned his head.
"If they just stood her up like a hair clone a minute ago..."
Leyzon's gaze grew subtle.
Leyzon always thought positively.
But that's exactly why he also prepared for the worst-case scenario.
There was no more irresponsible phrase than "Nah, no way."
And sure enough.
Rumble-rumble-roooar!
The entire Upper Bone Realm shook like an earthquake.
All three pairs of eyes snapped downward.
A bad feeling was always spot on.
KABOOOOOM!
The Upper Bone Realm floor was obliterated, earth and debris erupting skyward.
In an instant, the realm became a scorched wasteland.
From within that surging debris...
A single red shadow bat soared fiercely into the sky.
Inside the bat: Leyzon, Syria, Hanok.
And the pioneer woman they'd just captured.
Not a single hair remained on her head.
"Bait after all, huh."
Just as Leyzon had used Hanok as bait, so had they.
They'd played each other perfectly.
Flap—
The red shadow bat streaked past the pouring debris.
Earth and sand swallowed even the aberrant bone beasts, vanishing into the new chasm below.
A bigger hole than the one visible from Primate Realm skies.
"Lord Leyzon."
In that moment, Syria's eyes changed.
"Something huge is coming."
The instant Syria said it, the whole space shuddered.
As if the entire dungeon might collapse.
The red shadow bat hurriedly climbed higher amid the sudden chaos.
"Whoooaaa!"
As Hanok tumbled from the bat's immense acceleration...
Leyzon kept staring below.
Because he'd sensed massive movement from the pitch-black pit.
'It's climbing up.'
The moment Leyzon's instinct hit, the shadow bat broke through into Primate Realm skies.
KABOOOOOM!
And simultaneously, an absurdly gigantic entity breached the Upper Bone Realm into the Primate Realm.
The colossal being shot up to the very ceiling of Primate Realm skies.
Hanok gaped at the sight.
"Wh-what the hell is that?"
There loomed a monster formed from countless strands of hair woven together.
Centipede-like in shape, it writhed with repulsive legs.
And at the center of that monster's head...
A nude woman dangled, upper body only.
Her hair fused seamlessly with the centipede.
"Feels so damn good! Long-fermented corpses really hit different!"
She let out a scream of ecstasy.
Then she snapped her head with a crack to glare their way.
"You lot tried to mess with me?"
Her eyes gleamed fiercely.
With that, the hair centipede lurched its body all at once.
Charging through the sky like a dragon.
"Lord Leyzon."
Syria signaled the danger.
Even Syria sensed immense power concentrated in that woman.
And Leyzon felt it even more acutely.
'I've merged with Pauli, the dungeon's boss, who was undead.'
The power Pauli wielded back then was strikingly similar to this woman's.
A sinister force like it'd swallowed a dungeon's condensed energy core.
He felt the exact same power emanating from her.
"Ha."
Leyzon let out an incredulous laugh.
"So there's a technique to devour dungeons."
Now he understood why the foreign bug shaman tried to turn Pauli into a dungeon and consume him.
Just like this woman was doing now.
Leyzon bared his teeth in a grin.
The info she held was too tantalizing to resist.
She was the puzzle piece to fill in the gaps.
And the key to this world—one he had to seize.
"Syria, any human presences nearby?"
"None. With this much commotion, they all probably fled."
Meaning no audience.
Even if there were, few could stop Leyzon at this point anyway.
Craving burned in Leyzon's eyes.
This world, shrouded in mysteries until now.
A being who could reveal it all stood before him.
How could he hold back?
Leyzon revealed his desire.
"Syria. Capture that thing, no matter what."
The instant his will reached her, Syria's eyes transformed.
An undead's purpose was to fulfill their master's cravings.
If Leyzon commanded it, Syria would make it happen, come hell or high water.
Flap!
The red shadow bat streaked through the sky.
At the same moment, a vampire emerged from within.
Clack—
Even in midair, the sharp report of her heels echoed clearly.
With the most domineering footsteps in the world, her wings unfurled behind her.
The Primate Realm sky darkened under one vampire's wings.
An overwhelming pressure saturated the entire space.
Even the rampaging hair centipede faltered for a moment.
The presence radiating from Syria was on another level.
As a created being, she existed to satisfy her creator's desires above all.
In this instant, Syria felt profound ecstasy at receiving Leyzon's command.
"Everything belongs to Lord Leyzon."
The Primate Realm sky began dyeing red all at once.
A blood moon hung full and bright overhead.
Beneath it, Syria, as Vampire Queen, parted her lips.
"Kneel."
Just one word.
The moment it rang out, the hair centipede slammed its head into the ground.
This was the moment Syria Nosferatu bared her true heart to fulfill her master's craving.