Chapter 161
Chapter 161
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: Unexpected Identity - 3
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“This should be enough. I’m tired, so I need to rest.”
After chopping the five giant centipedes into 29 pieces, Helga slumped against the nearby wall.
Regardless of her words about being tired, her expression hadn’t changed from its usual one. Whether she was truly fatigued or just giving her subordinates an excuse to rest was unclear.
“What are you lot doing? Not resting?”
She was urging her own subordinates to sit as well, so it was probably the latter.
The other knights gradually found spots nearby to settle down as well. They fanned their chests, clad in bunny girl uniforms, to vent the heat, and repeatedly straightened their bunny ears and tails.
They had caught on to Helga’s intent, but more than that, their captain had declared that once they wiped out the enemies emerging from here, no more reinforcements would come—so it was fine to rest.
They had been skeptical at first, but looking back now that things had progressed this far, everything matched up eerily perfectly.
They thought they’d been brought to some random cave, but it turned out to be the entrance to a rune dungeon. Not only did she know the internal layout of a dungeon none of them had ever entered, she had even predicted exactly which enemies would appear in each location.
It was such a chilling experience that absurd delusions like “Is she in cahoots with the lord?” fleetingly crossed their minds. Emotions bordering on awe verging into astonishment welled up uncontrollably.
Normally, even Helga wouldn’t sit down in the middle of a dungeon, and her knights would stand guard in shifts without needing orders.
But things were different now. Since everything had unfolded exactly as their captain predicted, they believed it would be the same this time too.
“This conquest uniform seems pretty good, right?”
“Not just pretty good—really good. The captain let us pick the design ourselves. We chose it, so it can’t just be ‘pretty good.’”
“Oh yeah. Usually, the captain decides arbitrarily. Even back in the Golden Twilight Knights. I was really surprised when she said we could choose this time.”
As the knights chatted, pink bunny ears atop their heads twitched repeatedly. No one questioned how headbands could move like real ears.
If you wore bunny ear headbands, of course they’d twitch. It was only natural. Common sense.
While her subordinates chattered, Helga meticulously checked the chest area of her uniform, suppressing a lewd moan as her nipples nearly rubbed and perked up reflexively. She glanced sidelong at Nix.
“Kee-hee-hee… Hee-hee-hee…”
Nix let out that bizarre laugh nonstop while mincing one of the centipede corpses into tiny bits.
The centipede had been dead for ages, so it showed no reaction even as its body was shredded. In other words, the woman was pointlessly desecrating a corpse.
While everyone else rested, her odd behavior alone drew eyes naturally. Nix ignored the stares and kept tearing at the body.
A few knights furrowed their brows slightly.
She had teleported them here in just hours, and hadn’t caused any trouble back at the castle, so they thought she was decent enough—but this confirmed she was a witch through and through.
The fact they only frowned without directly intervening was thanks to her so-far tolerable reputation.
Only after pulverizing one centipede into gravel did Nix finally stand. She waddled to the nearby wall, leaned back against it, and sat.
Helga and the other knights had expected her to grab another centipede corpse nearby, but this was unexpected.
Nix, knees raised, flailed her arms. She tried hugging her knees, but her absurdly huge breasts and disproportionately short stature made it impossible.
After struggling awhile, Nix gave up and awkwardly lay on her side against the wall instead. Her right breast squished against the left under its weight, flattening slightly.
“You there, witch.”
“…Huh?”
Helga called out to Nix. Mere seconds after flopping down, as Nix’s head began nodding off, she opened her eyes.
“Just curious—what’s the point of that?”
Helga’s sword tip pointed at the gravel pile that had been a centipede monster until moments ago. No original form remained.
“Like… some ritual meaning? Or gathering magic ingredients? Something like that.”
“…”
Nix stared blankly at Helga after the question, then burst into sudden “kee-hee-hee” laughter.
“Kee-hee-hee. No meaning at all?”
“…Huh?”
“Well, precisely speaking, ‘here’ it has no meaning.”
“‘Here’ it has no meaning—what’s that supposed to mean?”
Ignoring Helga’s question, Nix rolled over to face the wall. She clearly didn’t want to answer anymore. Helga stared at her back in bewilderment, then soon lost interest and rested her chin on her knees.
Obviously, she’d done it out of sheer boredom for no reason, but admitting that would make her seem lame, so she gave some half-plausible excuse. Predictable as ever.
‘Why does the captain keep a woman like that…?’
The doubt flickered briefly, but Helga yawned softly and dismissed it. That person surely had some intent.
Thinking of the captain naturally brought to mind how she was down below, single-handedly battling the monster guarding the rune dungeon.
At the time, they’d thought it was a joke—but it wasn’t.
‘She’s probably doing fine.’
No need to worry.
—
*Clang!*
A crisp sound of metal repelling metal rang out, shoving my body back a good distance. I stabbed my sword tip into the ground. *Scraaaape*—the blade carved the earth, slowing my slide.
I drew Wingless Nightmare again. No time to hesitate here. The moment I gripped the sword, the centipede-shaped train belched thick black smoke from its smokestack and charged.
Or train-shaped centipede. Either way, it didn’t matter. Its appearance alone was grotesque enough to make human hair stand on end.
Centipede legs sprouting from the wheels mercilessly pounded the ground nearby as it barreled toward me, its body undulating sideways like waves.
The gaze fixed straight on me remained eerie. Eyebrows furrowed in anger, yet the pupils stayed perfectly round. The mouth stretched horizontally. Every feature felt unnatural.
Below the mouth, headlights clacked like a jaw. I raised Wingless Nightmare again. Same charge pattern, but this time I wasn’t dodging—I had to deflect.
As the headlights crossed in the middle, I swung my arm. Just before converging, they shattered with a *shatter!*, flying sideways.
Simultaneously, the charge veered off course. The head snapping toward me twisted away right in front, like a train switching tracks.
I swung Wingless Nightmare at the centipede-like legs.
‘Grotesque.’
It was a sight I’d seen endlessly in the rock centipede boss fight, yet for some reason, this felt far more repulsive now. Looking at it gave the sensation of something wriggling across my skin.
Shaking off the feeling, I swung the sword. After four hits, the blue locomotive centipede scraped across the floor with a *scritch-scratch*, retreating far off.
I steadied my stance and eased combat fatigue. The head turned back toward me. Several rear segments lifted into the air. The legs at its very tail reared sharply.
Like a scorpion raising its tail, it smashed down at me. I rolled aside, diving inward.
‘No, is that really a centipede?’
In-game, I’d brushed it off as necessary for patterns, but seeing it live was absurd.
What kind of centipede lifted segments toward its head like a snake to peer down at foes, or raised its tail vertically like a scorpion to strike?
Mind reeling or not, my body reacted. Two rolls as in the game, and I was suddenly right in front of its head.
I reflexively swung—then hesitated as its pupil locked precisely on me again. Even after seeing it so many times, I still couldn’t get used to it.
Steeling myself, I bashed its head with Wingless Nightmare. The blue blade grazed its lower jaw.
*Boom!*
Then came a far crisper sound than usual. The struck jaw caved inward, and the spiked tail drooped limply as the body sagged.
I realized what happened: the so-called “groggy” state. Inflict steady damage to certain bosses’ “weak points,” and you’d see it.
Didn’t exist on humanoid bosses—only monster types. Since parrying was impossible for them, they balanced it this way.
Not exactly parrying, though.
Parries scaled with enemy max HP and ignored resistance, while groggy follow-ups scaled with attacker power and were reduced by resistance.
Still, far more damage than normal hits—so I couldn’t waste it. I thrust Wingless Nightmare forcefully into the gray head’s dent.
*Screeeeech!*
The instant I stabbed, black steam erupted from the head’s smokestack.
I shoved Wingless Nightmare in up to just below the crossguard, shouldering it hard. Despite the size difference, it toppled sideways.
Dozens of legs flailed in the air. I yanked the sword free and backed off.
After thrashing its legs awhile, it rose. It belched black steam once more and glared at me.
*Crunch!*
The head flipped 180 degrees.
Where eyes had been, now a mouth; where mouth had been, eyes. *Roll*—the black pupils spun with it, refixing on me.
Coal from the freight cars tumbled down. Simultaneously, the black iris slowly expanded, the sclera shrinking away.
Finally, the whites vanished entirely from the glaring eyes. Goosebumps rose—then I realized why and calmed down.
HP below 5% for sure. Legs trembling confirmed it.
In the original game too, at under 5% HP, the head’s carapace half-shattered, slowing it drastically and amplifying all damage. We were nearly done.
Which meant now was my chance.
I gripped Wingless Nightmare tight, yanking it to my right side. Preparing to use its mana-attuned special ability.
The blade’s blue glowed brighter. Meanwhile, the half-wrecked blue steam locomotive staggered forward, face inverted, pupils blackened.
Flickering headlights clacked right before its brows.
I gathered mana to the limit, released my left hand from the hilt, and raised my right to shoulder height. The blade quivered, emanating deep blue light.
*Step.* I advanced, thrusting my right arm forward. Using Wingless Nightmare’s blade as a staff, I unleashed a blue whirlwind.
The straight-flying vortex struck the oncoming blue train head.
*Craaaack!*
It shredded from the impact point onward.
The blue vortex blew off a third of the head without stopping, burrowed nearly halfway through the body, demolished the segment with the first freight car, then dispersed into the air.
Legs twitched briefly, then it collapsed without rising. Half its body gone—it couldn’t endure.
The pupil, filled with whites, returned to normal. The half-mouth curved up toward the eyes, forming a smile.
But with the face still inverted, it looked like crying too.
The blue steam locomotive, back to a smiling face, belched one final puff of pale smoke from its stack—then shut down completely.
Damn little engine—that’s the rock centipede boss defeated. Its body began crumbling slowly.
I inwardly prayed this was the last such modded freak, then approached the rune stele emitting a faint green glow.