Chapter 107
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Return (2)
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The named mutant entity, 'Bell Leblanc', stared off in one direction with a grave expression.
With most of her emotions suppressed and her mind honed solely for survival, even she could sense the emotion of 'crisis'—something perilously threatening had been born far in the distance.
At that moment, she felt the presence of her clan lord, 'De Dusante'.
Death was a familiar thing. And feeling sorrow for death was a wasteful act.
Thus, the two mutants felt no grief over the demise of the two entities they had shared countless years with.
However, the sudden loss of an ultimate form was another matter entirely.
The unprecedented event of control over the Mind Channel falling to some unidentified entity.
All the mutants simultaneously turned their steps toward the direction where the incident had erupted.
Something was approaching.
Jun sensed it instinctively, but he had no time to spare for it.
His heart felt like it was about to burst.
The mutant body was barely holding out, but even that felt like a precarious tightrope walk.
'It's still okay for now. But can it withstand the shock when I fully separate the circle from the elements?'
Impossible.
Even the sturdy mutant heart was starting to complain under the strain.
Separating the circle and elements in this state would undoubtedly cause problems again.
This meant Mershar's calculations had been off.
"......"
The circle imbued with [Demon God Body] held far more power than expected, and the resulting backlash was fiercer than anticipated.
Still, it wasn't fair to blame Mershar.
He hadn't known about the existence of [Demon God Body].
'I need to find the answer.'
There had to be some other way, some method.
-It's hard to put into words, but... I feel like I'm gradually approaching something. I've been right on the verge of it before.
"I'm really going to become a mutant. That's the gut feeling I had."
Mershar's advice echoed in his ears once more.
'What if I push the mutation further in this state?'
Then he could recover his accumulatingly damaged heart.
If he crossed the line Mershar had mentioned.
'How far has my mutation progressed so far?'
He felt gazes from afar.
Some of the named monsters from the remaining five clans had arrived first and were assessing the situation.
He could sense presences from other mutants besides them.
Proof that he was delving deeper into the Mind Channel, the sea of information.
'Is this the line Mershar warned about?'
He had reached the point where he could pinpoint the positions of other mutants.
Push any further, and Jun would irrevocably become a mutant.
His emotions would be erased, drowned in pure efficiency.
'But... there's no other way like this.'
He had already separated the circle and elements considerably; stopping now would surely trigger a rampage.
It was a true dilemma, surrounded on all sides.
Jun looked down at his hand.
The Predator from the holy site was there.
'Let's try it.'
No telling if it would work.
A gamble without solid theory.
But no other path to survival presented itself.
Jun swept his hand, gathering the corrupted mana in the area.
Then he jammed it straight into his heart.
But brute force alone wouldn't do.
He had to distinguish it from pure mana while accelerating the body's mutation.
Absurd mana control, yet [Demon God Body] made it possible.
"Urgh...!"
The sea of information swirled chaotically.
To assimilate this much data at once, emotions had to be thoroughly purged, operating like a machine.
Thus, Jun's emotions gradually faded, and in proportion, his tattered heart began to heal.
The moment all emotions vanished and even his crisis awareness toward mutation turned to calm—
[Unyielding Will] & [Steadfast Heart]
Resisting emotional suppression
—the two skills activated, and Jun's hand barely reached his heart.
Spluuuurrrsh!!
The Predator, starved often due to mana shortages since dropping to the 5th layer, went wild like a fish in water, beginning to absorb the corrupted mana.
Sluuuurp...?
It seemed bewildered by this type of feed at first but soon devoured the corrupted mana without care.
His fading reason gradually returned.
"Hah, hah...!"
That was close.
A little later, and he might not have come back.
But the payoff was certain.
'My heart's recovered a bit.'
He needed to repeat this process several more times.
Fear of becoming inhuman briefly surged, but he absorbed more corrupted mana.
After two or three repetitions—
'It's done.'
Feeling his heart fully restored, Jun focused on the circle and elements.
Now, fully separate the half-detached pair.
Kaboooom—!
An invisible explosion erupted simultaneously within him.
And at that instant, the mutants observing Jun sprang into motion.
The two mutant entities, 'Bell Leblanc' and 'De Dusante', had by now reached the vicinity of the western gate and stared at the unidentified being.
With most emotions gone, capable only of efficient thought, they fell into confusion.
They couldn't comprehend the actions of that unidentified entity.
But.
Having witnessed the unidentified mutant repeatedly press its hand to its heart and absorb corrupted mana, 'Bell Leblanc' issued a command.
She didn't know what that action meant, but whatever it was, the dangerous element needed to die.
And it wasn't a total loss either.
Obtaining its body would yield the clue to the 'ultimate form' they so desired.
Under that judgment, Bell Leblanc first commanded all mutants via the Mind Channel.
Kill that dangerous element.
The mutants gathered over half a day bellowed in unison and charged at the intruder.
The plan was to wear it down with the lowest-rank mutants, then have each clan's heads finish it off.
At that moment, from no great distance, another clan lord who had been continuously watching the target, 'Moon Bennett', emerged from the shadows.
Bell Leblanc followed Bennett's pointed direction and, for the first time in ages, felt emotions surging.
It was unmistakably 'perplexity'.
Kyarrgh!
Kraaak!
The lowest-rank mutants had begun infighting.
Snap— Bell Leblanc's gaze shifted to the intruder.
Coincidence, or inevitability?
The intruder was gazing back at her.
The intruder extended its hand right after.
'Success.'
Having vomited up a basin's worth of blood, Jun surveyed the scene he had wrought.
The mutants approaching with ferocious momentum had suddenly turned on each other in a frenzy.
'That was dangerous.'
While absorbing corrupted mana and teetering on the line—
Jun had gathered information from the mutants' Mind Channel.
Of course, only for a fleeting moment, so he extracted just the two most essential functions.
One was attack commands.
Designate a target's range and command mutual attacks.
'Named entities don't obey my commands. But...'
He could block the commands they issued.
And the other was perception.
In other words, detecting the named entities' positions.
'This is enough.'
He extended his hand, chanting a spell toward the cluster of three named entities.
"[Lightning Call: Variant - Thundercloud]"
⟨ Lightning Call: Variant - Thundercloud ⟩
Dark clouds gathered in the dim sky, and lightning bolts crashed down immediately.
The three named entities nimbly evaded the range of [Lightning Call].
But that was fine.
"Hoo. Mutation. Aside from turning into a monster, it's truly perfect."
A body incomparably tougher than a human's.
In this state, he could cast spells repeatedly without collapsing.
'No need for a golem's core, even.'
An ability unusable once outside, but sufficient to overcome this crisis.
Jun extended his hand again, and lightning fell over the three separated named entities from three directions.
Yet they didn't fall easily.
Perhaps due to the harpy-like named entity that had been struck before, they were hypersensitive to mana gathering itself.
'No, more like that purple mist.'
The purple mist was sensitively detecting mana, relaying the info via the Mind Channel to the mutants.
'Then... eliminate that corrupted mana.'
With incantation seal released, he could freely manipulate mana.
He gathered all the area's corrupted mana in one go.
A scream-like wail erupted from the perplexed named entity.
Rumble!
Jun's next spell manifested as lightning once more.
The mutant that had arrived first and spied on Jun continuously spewed black smoke as it collapsed.
"Assassins always need watching. You were the most annoying—perfect."
Normally, it wouldn't have been caught this easily.
It lurked in shadows, timing perfectly, never revealing itself lightly.
But after Jun's brief Mind Channel intervention, he could predict its movements in real-time, enabling the kill.
"Let's start the hunt."
Prey and predator had swapped roles.
Recognizing this, Jun gripped his mana anew, and even the named entities sensed their moment of decision had arrived.
The purple mist that always hung over their heads vanished, and lightning struck.
Bell Leblanc instinctively realized it, feeling a bleak emotion.
An emotion felt after so long, yet she reconfirmed emotions were utterly useless.
Ironically, that bleakness made her grasp the crux of the current crisis.
This was the result of the purple mist's disappearance and disrupted Mind Channel access.
A sensation like fighting blindfolded.
Everything had to clash at once.
She understood gathering intel on the foe was pointless now.
She slipped back into the purple mist, contacting De Dusante via Mind Channel, and he replied promptly.
[I have it.]
[Absorb it.]
The mana cylinder from the harpy-type mutant slain by the intruder's lightning.
As Bell Leblanc ordered its absorption, De Dusante—rarely—hesitated as if questioning.
That exchange was the last contact from De Dusante.
Afterward, Bell Leblanc approached Bennett, who had met death in the shadows.
Sorrow was a luxury.
True to that, she unhesitatingly cracked open Bennett's chest and extracted the mana cylinder within.
Far denser than those of the lowest grunts.
Bell Leblanc absorbed it on the spot, then signaled the other two clan heads.
Ban Dukas of the Ban clan was sent to stall the enemy, and finally, she summoned Kum Jenet, lord of the Kum clan.
Kum Jenet slit open his own chest.
Bell Leblanc's intent was simple.
Absorb the mana cylinders from all clan lords and bolster their bodies with them.
It was regrettable that 'De Rudna', guardian of the west, lacked one, but unavoidable.
The foe was that formidable.
The other heads acknowledged it, accepting her decision.
Having absorbed two clan heads' mana, Bell Leblanc now faced De Dusante, who had brought Bennett's cylinder.
After absorbing the last two cylinders, Bell Leblanc turned to her foe.
Sure enough.
Ban Dukas, whom she had sent, lay skewered on ice spears summoned by the intruder, collapsed.