Chapter 139: Aggregate (3)
Chapter 139: Aggregate (3)
I’m here.
In the hollow, submerged in a darkness that felt like it would stretch on forever, a change finally caught the eyes of me, him, her—Lee Ha-ram.
The grey ceiling was jagged with stone, looking as if there had been a catastrophic failure in the foundation work.
Desperate to escape that place, he threw a punch while clinging to the edge of a precipice.
A violent crash and the sting of recoil followed.
A massive hole tore through the space separating reality from the well, but perhaps because of the sheer force exerted, the cliff that served as my foothold crumbled away.
I’m falling.
The thought occurred to me with eerie calm, as if I were watching someone else’s actions.
In the brief moment of impact, I tried to plan my next move, but—
Swish.
Suddenly, a tentacle attached to my clothes moved on its own, lashing out to grab the cliff and hauling my body upward.
He stared blankly as he gripped the cliff again, thinking as he climbed.
…So this thing can move.
He tried to move the wings or the tentacles intentionally, but this time, they showed no sign of responding.
Filled with doubt, he tilted his head from side to side and reached out into the empty air.
The tentacles remained unresponsive, merely swaying limply in place.
If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
It’s not like these things sprout every day.
At least it saved me the time of climbing back up.
Thump. Thump.
He repeated the process over and over.
Smashing through stone, destroying the foundations, he pushed forward toward a place he sensed through some inexplicable intuition.
Why?
He didn’t really know.
It was just that he felt as if someone were calling him from that direction.
Bang. Bang.
He continued to strike the concrete, which possessed an incomprehensible level of hardness.
He surmised it was because this was The Wall dividing the Otherworld from their world.
With that guess in mind, he hammered at The Wall.
The foundation gave way, and he fell.
The tentacles failed to catch him.
He climbed back up.
He struck the ceiling again.
For an immeasurable amount of time.
Again, and yet again.
All to reach his destination.
* * *
This would likely be the final wall.
With that thought, he swung his fist, and the concrete ceiling shattered like a sugar sculpture—unlike everything before it.
Weak.
As he emerged from The Hole, he found himself in a dim sewer.
The slime that had been flowing was gone, leaving the place empty and clean.
There’s nothing for me here…
I have to go up.
He knelt and looked up at the ceiling, preparing to spring upward.
Tap.
With a crisp footstep.
Crash.
He smashed through the ceiling that blocked his path and arrived at a new location.
“Kyaak!”
“What the—?!”
Strange voices reached his ears.
Why are the kids acting like this…?
The first thing he saw after bursting through the floor was a chaotic scene involving his disciples, Yumil, Yeon, and Dam.
Han A-bin and Baek Si-hyun were pointing their weapons at Yumil. Yumil was clutching her own body with her left hand, breathing raggedly, while Yeon was being held by the throat in Yumil’s right hand.
And finally, Dam was huddled in a corner, weeping tears of blood as he clutched a pager.
As if it were his only hope. A desperate, pathetic struggle.
“….”
What on earth is going on?
“A monster?”
While he racked his sluggish brain to understand the situation, his disciple, Baek Si-hyun, spat those words and leveled her weapon at him.
The silver weapons floating in the air pointed toward his blackened form. Just as he was about to retaliate—
“Si-hyun, wait!”
Han A-bin jumped in between them.
“Why?! Anyone can see that thing is a mon—”
“…Senior, is that you?”
Can’t you tell just by looking…?
“I… am.”
His teeth clattered.
His eyes slid shut.
…I feel like I was just talking to someone.
When he opened his eyes to the sudden darkness, he saw five black figures.
They were humanoid black monsters, swaying from side to side and flickering with static like a distorted TV screen.
“■■■■—? ■■!?”
“■■, ■■! ■■■■!”
Every time they bobbed up and down, a crackling noise erupted, but he couldn’t understand a single word.
I don’t know what they are, but…
I should probably kill them, right?
He reached out his arm with that thought, but—
‘Senior! Can you hear me? Is something wrong?’
A sentence pierced his mind.
It was a message wrapped in a sudden burst of joy, blowing away the headache that had been clouding his brain.
The moment he understood it, the true forms of the black things before him were revealed.
Baek Si-hyun, Han A-bin, Yumil, Yeon, and Dam.
However, the confirmation lasted only a moment. Soon, they were dyed black again.
As if he were trapped in an illusion.
It’s an illusion. I have to kill them.
Crack.
His right hand twisted his left arm.
The left arm snapped.
“■■■! ■■?”
“■■■■ ■ ■■■!”
Along with excruciating pain, his left hand dangled uselessly, its support gone, but Black Particles quickly gathered to mend it.
He looked at the five black figures once more.
…I don’t even have time to kill them.
With that thought, he took a stance.
This wasn’t where he was supposed to be.
Just before he could leap into the air—
【Live freely.】
A sentence welled up from deep within his heart, and he spoke it aloud.
A sentence we didn’t even know why we uttered.
Boom.
As he soared upward, smashing through the ceiling, a scene caught his eye.
One of the five fled.
The two larger ones among the five watched that direction, bobbing up and down.
The two smaller ones among the five embraced each other.
Seeing that, a strange sense of relief blossomed somewhere in his heart.
It doesn’t matter.
I have my own work to do.
Keep going.
* * *
Atop a distant skyscraper.
A place shrouded in grey mist, under a violet sky illuminated by a black sun and silver stars.
That is where we arrived.
To kill people.
To save people.
The time is…
He looked up with that thought.
In the violet sky, bright yellow lines appeared.
In this bizarre world, those things belonging to reality were racing toward this place.
That was close.
Explosives created by the living beings of this world, carving out their own bodies to make them.
If I had been even a moment later, they would have bombarded Nanjido.
Then… let’s deal with this.
He waved his hand to summon his hammer, but—
Whoosh.
…?
His empty right hand merely sliced through the air.
What?
Whoosh. Whoosh.
He waved his hand a few more times with a stoic expression, but he still felt no weight in his grip.
“….”
What’s the problem?
Is there something wrong with my body—
Clack.
His teeth met.
In the silent rooftop, that sound was the only thing that echoed and reached his ears.
…Does it matter?
If I don’t have a weapon, I’ll just block it with my body.
That was his thought.
He bent his knees, lifted his head, and aimed his fist toward the sky.
Creeeak. Screeeech.
A bizarre sound rang out.
Then, black pillars surged toward the sky, following his hand.
Pop.
Droplets of liquid splattered from the surface of his clothes.
As that rhythmic sound ended—
Squelch. Rip. Tear.
Tentacles and wings erupted from his clothes.
Blind tentacles, covered in repulsive, jutting scales and lined with rows of teeth as dense as a lamprey’s.
Black fly wings, built on a framework of dark bone and membranes of tattered black vinyl, looking utterly incapable of flight.
Bursting from every inch of his clothing, they began to swell in size, consuming him.
The bony fly wings found their center, becoming sturdy pillars.
The blind tentacles, biting into his very skin as they reached for the sky, wrapped around the wing bones and became flesh.
Inside that mass, I opened my eyes.
Tentacles and wings that were one with my body.
In a pitch-black field of vision, I looked up at the violet sky.
I felt the sensation of mucus flowing through my seven orifices.
A terrible stickiness was tearing at my flesh, yet for some reason, the touch of the slime felt warm.
Surely, this slime was ripping my body to shreds.
Even now, a black torrent continued to pound against my body as it surged forth.
And yet, the thought that this was the right answer circled his mind.
Though he was transforming from a human shape into a mass of black insects, from within that mass, I stared clearly at the sky.
Toward the flames that had grown slightly larger than before.
Creeeeeak. Splat.
The right hand was finally complete.
No, it was something that should be called a tentacle.
The tip narrowed to a point like an awl, and at that end was a mouth filled with endless rows of sharp teeth.
From the pillars supporting the tentacle, gaunt branches like those of a dead tree sprouted, forming a hideous web.
A massive right arm had been born.
It possessed the size and density sufficient to block the incoming bombardment, but—
It’s heavy.
It was so heavy it was a struggle for me to swing it.
To support it somehow, he channeled strength into legs that he wasn't even sure existed anymore.
Crunch. Thud.
From beside his abyss, thick, pillar-like feet extended.
He drove nine twisted feet, each with four joints, into the ground according to his will.
Grip.
They greedily seized the concrete floor, stabilizing his posture.
Stable.
Once safety was secured, another pillar began to form.
A left hand that was the twin of the right.
A black pillar that could feel everything.
As the flames drew closer, the pillar grew larger in my vision.
By the time the letters written on the warheads became visible, the form was complete.
A mass of insects with two giant hands. That was his current form.
And so, me, him, her, we—intending to kill people—prepared to swing our arms downward, ignoring the weapons, but—
“There’s still some left. You brat.”
He spoke to me.
Thud.
Pain flared.
His face was a mess of torn skin and ragged muscle. Right in the center of his brow.
A spear created from his clothes pierced through.
“How long did you think I’d let you play around?”
By now, this spear has likely passed through the skull and settled in the brain.
Now then. Shall we?
Tear it all away.
Whoosh.
A short vibration echoed, followed by an explosion of immense agony.
An impossible pain, as if every headache I’d ever experienced had been condensed into one. My consciousness flickered.
And then, the uninvited guests that had taken up residence in my head vanished.
As I thought, they were rooted in the physical body.
I don’t know exactly what happened, but it seems they had nested in my body and were controlling me.
Fortunately, it seems they disappeared as the slime tore through my body and finally ripped through my brain.
“Ah, ah. Can you hear me?”
I opened my mouth toward those things that were likely watching me right now.
“Well… I don’t know what kind of ‘Existence of The End’ you are.”
As I spoke, I swung my hand, and the massive pillar sliced through the violet sky, swatting the missiles.
BOOM!
A massive shockwave and a roar followed.
Even from this distance, the destructive power was palpable.
I could have blocked them with The Hammer, but I would have taken damage too.
If I had, I might have missed one or two.
“I’ll put this body to good use! Oh, and no need for a thank-you gift!”
So, how could I not be grateful?
My enemy had handed me such a magnificent weapon.
It consumes the overflowing, troublesome Otherworldly Power and blocks the bombardment.
Isn’t it the perfect situation?
I should thank A-bin.
It was A-bin’s telepathy that made me realize what situation I was in.
I’ll save the thanks for later…
For now, shall I save Nanjido?
Whoosh.
I swung the massive pillar.