Chapter 160
Chapter 160
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Identity - 2
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‘No, what the hell is that…….’
The doll-like eyes— forcibly pried off and slapped onto a body scaled up to absurd proportions— turned toward me with their inorganic, perfectly round pupils. I felt the hairs on my head stand on end.
I stumbled back a step. I’d never even jokingly imagined encountering something this ridiculous, so the shock hit me even harder.
If there had been any predictable clues, or even a hint that this absurd mod was in effect, I wouldn’t have been this startled.
But there weren’t, and dealing with the shock was entirely on me.
—Hiss……
The blue steel frame of its body began to move slowly, emitting the distinctive hiss of steam escaping from a steam engine.
Even the long smokestack above its head spewed out dull gray smoke the moment it started moving, down to the finest historical detail. It hadn’t been smoking when it was just standing there.
A steam locomotive with a mouth grinning innocently— utterly at odds with its terrifying form— and those inorganic round eyes charged straight at me.
The ground where its rolling wheels touched crumbled with a crunch. There were no tracks laid down anywhere, yet its wheels were rolling right over bare earth toward me.
My shocked mind lagged behind, but my body reacted first. Just like I’d done endlessly in the game, I rolled diagonally to the left, slipping out of its path. A chill wind brushed past me immediately after.
—BOOM!
The front of the train smashed into the wall. The entire boss room shook like it was going to collapse. Only now did I notice that a coal-filled freight car was attached to its rear.
Even as its body twisted wildly from slamming full-force into the wall, the coal in the freight car didn’t budge an inch. If that was real coal, it should’ve spilled everywhere by now.
“……Ha, this is ridiculous.”
I wanted to let out a satisfying curse, but I swallowed it down. I figured swearing would just get me more riled up, and if I got too worked up, I might miss something I could’ve dodged.
I took a deep breath, calming myself. While I was steadying my nerves, the blue train that had rammed the wall slowly turned its body around.
Its face was unscratched and pristine.
‘Will the patterns play out normally?’
That was my first thought as I leveled the Wingless Nightmare horizontally.
The charge pattern I’d just dodged had such a huge wind-up and generous start-up that my body had reflexively evaded it, but what about the rest?
Especially since it had no lower jaw to speak of, if it tried some biting pattern, I’d have to anticipate it a beat earlier by watching its body twitch.
I wouldn’t figure out the attack type until right before it hit, so reacting to the motion would always be too late.
As my thoughts grew complicated and I hesitated, the blue locomotive— its horrifying face frozen in that perpetual grin— fully turned toward me and hissed again as it approached.
I watched its movements with bated breath. If I couldn’t read the patterns, forget experience or whatever— I might have to call Nix over and have her smash it.
Sure, asking for help after saying I could solo it would look bad and waste the subjugation EXP, but it’d be less wasteful than my life.
—Clunk! Clunk!
Suddenly, the lights went out with a sound.
I tensed up and scanned the surroundings, wondering what was happening, when the headlights near the corners of its mouth flicked on, pointing upward.
In other words, the light shone from below its face upward. This made its already unsettling visage even more creepy and goosebump-inducing.
‘Of all things…….’
I knew it. That character was infamous for its uncanny valley face when viewed up close, and mods turning specific enemies into that form were popular in countless games.
But seeing it through a monitor and seeing it in person were worlds apart.
Even if the rock centipede was just a downgraded version of the stone centipede, it had shrunk from high-rise apartment size to train size. And trains were huge compared to humans anyway.
So here was a blue steam locomotive— several times the size of a human, with a face— shining its headlights from below upward on itself, charging at full speed.
Just swap out the BGM, and this visual would fit right into a horror game.
‘……Stay calm.’
Yeah, it might even be a blessing that the rock centipede turned into this thing.
Both the rock centipede and the blue steam locomotive had broad, elongated forms, didn’t they? Since the shapes were somewhat similar, predicting patterns shouldn’t be too hard.
I switched the Wingless Nightmare to magic attribute. A faint blue glow emanated from the blade. True to its reputation as a stone centipede variant, this thing had powerful resistance to physical damage.
Normally, you’d slap on elemental enchants, use spells, or holy magic to take it down, but with the Wingless Nightmare, that wasn’t necessary at all.
Just changing the weapon’s attribute let me deal pure 100% magic damage effortlessly.
The blue train charged again. Charge pattern. I’d panicked and barely reacted to the first one, but this time was different. I rolled diagonally out of the way swiftly.
‘Distance is a bit short, so it won’t close in.’
As expected, it stopped just short of the wall without smashing its head. Luring the rock centipede into walls gave a decent stun, so missing twice was a shame.
‘No helping it.’
I planned to play it by the book, baiting only the charge pattern to whittle it down. Other patterns would give enough openings if I rolled or parried properly, but it was too risky now.
With the new form, I couldn’t predict based on telltale animations alone, and parry or collision ranges were unknown.
No room for gambles.
It seemed annoyed at missing a puny human twice, as its pupils spun wildly.
In opposite directions.
The right eye clockwise, the left counterclockwise, spinning madly until the headlights by its mouth blazed even brighter. Utterly grotesque.
The blue locomotive charged again. But this time, it wasn’t as fast as before. The previous one felt like a rush; this was more like a casual approach.
I had a rough idea what was coming. Gripping the Wingless Nightmare, I prepared to parry and lowered my stance slightly. The blue locomotive closed in right up to me and thrust its head forward.
At that instant, the headlights illuminating its head popped out and arced toward me from both sides. I blanked for a split second, then recalled a similar pattern from the trajectory.
Right as they were about to cross in the middle, I swung the Wingless Nightmare. With the signature crisp sound of a parry, its head staggered momentarily.
Seizing the opening, I slashed at its head. The glowing blue blade tore into the area near its mouth. Metal clanged against metal several times.
Seeming even more irritated at getting hit, it accelerated into a charge. The smoke billowing from the smokestack above grew thicker.
I rolled aside to dodge, and with a boom, its face slammed hard into the boss room wall.
I raced to its rear during the stun. I hesitated briefly at the sight of the coal-laden freight car— wondering if I should hit it— then shrugged and swung anyway.
The blue blade arced from upper right to lower left, leaving a faint scratch on the equally blue locomotive.
After adding five more scratches, I backed off. After three wall slams, its glossy face finally turned toward me. The ever-grinning mouth made it even creepier.
‘It might be more manageable than I thought. Just keep my distance.’
Maybe because it was so huge, even with the form change, every motion telegraphed the pattern clearly. At this rate, I wouldn’t need Nix—
—Hooooot!
Suddenly, a horn blared through the boss room. So loud I reflexively clamped my ears shut. As I hurriedly corrected my stance, I froze at the sight of it.
Its eyebrows— nonexistent until now— shot up diagonally like it was furious, and its mouth slowly straightened into a blank expression. Its eye sockets sank deeper inward.
—Crunch! Crack!
Then, legs sprouted from its wheels.
Centipede legs.
The sharp, blade-like leg tips stabbed into the floor to support its body. The joints midway bent at right angles, lifting the wheels into the air.
Its steam locomotive exterior warped into centipede armor plating, the perpetual grin flattened horizontally, followed by dozens of pairs of legs in a row.
The blue steam locomotive— twisted from train-shaped centipede to centipede-shaped train— loomed over me with blank-faced lights shining from below.
“……This is driving me insane, for real.”