Chapter 305: The Glutton (1)
Chapter 305: The Glutton (1)
The enemies that appear in my story all share a few things in common.
First, they take the form of tentacles.
Second, they eat things.
However, "eating" doesn't just refer to physical consumption.
In the beginning, the enemies tended to eat material things.
I found out later that the first disgusting tentacle I ever defeated had been eating rocks. The enemies that followed were also eating something or other.
But at some point, they began to devour things that transcended the physical.
Memories, relationships, time, space, existence.
Indescribable things that exist only as concepts.
And the nature of their consumption gradually became more suspicious.
The giant tentacle that appeared in Cheongju consumed emotions. Then there was the Gray Eater, which I initially thought was an exception to these rules.
I thought it was different because it was an Executive-level entity.
But we were all mistaken.
The true enemy was the lava-colored tentacle hiding inside the Gray Eater.
Since the two were inseparable, I treat them as one, but the research results found in the remains made it clear: the two entities were distinct beings.
While the giant armored lizards and crabs showed similarities in their material composition and evolutionary direction, the lava tentacle was an alien entity with absolutely no biological resemblance to those crustaceans.
The lizards were likely being controlled by the tentacle for some reason—used as pawns so the tentacle could begin its final feast at the last moment.
Of course, in terms of pure strength, the giant lizards were stronger than the lava tentacle. But a tentacle that consumed diversity, created grayness, and controlled it all... that was beyond horrific.
If we hadn't stopped it, humanity might have become the tentacle's next set of pawns.
A vision played in my head: a world where every human had turned gray and identical, losing their individuality to become subordinates of the Otherworld, marching toward other worlds.
I shook my head to clear the gruesome thought and focused on the present.
"For now, we should assume it's a tentacle and that it's eating something, right?"
"Probably, right...? Those crabs turned out to be nothing but camouflage in the end, after all."
Un-ho shared my opinion.
Sharpening my senses, I began to scan the forest slowly.
We were on our way to Europe, so this forest was a dense coniferous wood near Siberia. This wasn't a jungle in Southeast Asia or the Amazon; it was a forest filled with tall, thin-trunked conifers. Normally, there shouldn't be much to block the view, and I should have been able to see quite far.
"...It's eerie."
"I'll say. It's cold, too."
Before I knew it, a fog had rolled in—one so thick that even my eyes couldn't pierce through it.
An eerie fog, laced with a chilling frost.
I looked up and saw the sun caught between the trees. Because of the dense fog, it looked like nothing more than a glowing circle.
Tsk.
As I thought, this wasn't a natural phenomenon.
No matter how thick the fog was, if I enhanced my senses, I should have been able to see some kind of shape. But my overloaded brain felt nothing out of the ordinary.
Just the damp chill.
The rustle of the wind brushing against the trees.
Only the sensations one would expect in a normal, foggy forest.
Yet, even those sensations weren't fully reaching my expanded perception. It was as if the fog had settled inside my very ears.
A fog that interfered with every sense. There was zero chance this was natural.
"Un-ho. Do you see the fog too?"
"Yeah, I see it. I was actually about to say something—it feels like this fog is blocking my senses."
Un-ho’s answer confirmed he had reached the same conclusion. He even finished the thought I was about to voice.
"Hmm..."
I felt like I’d seen something like this in a horror movie or game. It was a cliché setup.
A fog where you can't see an inch ahead. A separated party.
If this followed the clichés, I’d be stumbling upon my disciples' corpses soon.
...I desperately hoped that wouldn't be the case.
Still, the sense of wrongness was overwhelming.
"Un-ho. Doesn't something feel off?"
"Like what?"
"Do the enemies I face usually act this... quiet?"
I could never truly know what those things were thinking, but fundamentally, they were beings that ate. They had shown flashes of intelligence before, but I had never seen them act this subdued.
Whether we had stumbled upon it by chance or it had set a trap after noticing us passing by, it had drawn us in quietly and was doing absolutely nothing.
That was what felt so alien.
"Hmm... You're right. It's been a while, so I'm not sure, but usually they'd launch a preemptive strike or make a huge scene eating something to announce their presence."
Exactly. Their meals were always loud.
But that characteristic clamor was nowhere to be found in this fog.
"...Does this mean an Executive is different?"
The Gray Eater hadn't been that different from the others, but it had at least controlled its gluttony and formulated a plan until its feast could begin.
Perhaps this Adversary also knew how to endure hunger for the sake of its meal.
Dammit.
That makes things annoying.
If it was quietly stalking me from somewhere within this thick fog, or if it was in the middle of a slow, silent meal... I had no way of finding it.
It might be possible using Un-ho’s magic, but now that I knew the true nature of his most versatile spells, I felt extremely reluctant to use them.
...To borrow the power of The Queen.
Who knew what that fickle being might do?
Of course, I’d have to use it as a last resort. But for now...
"Let's move around."
That was the only option.
* * *
A considerable amount of time passed.
I tried running through the forest, snapping innocent trees and hurling them into the distance, soaring into the sky on my hammer, and even slamming The Hammer into the ground.
"Nothing's changing."
"I know."
I was still in the forest.
It wasn't that time had stopped. The sun was much lower than before. We just couldn't get out of the woods.
"I'm getting sick of this."
I don't know why so many things have been trying to trap me lately. First the Demon Train, then that place where the Librarian’s enemy was.
I expected some kind of enemy to jump out of the fog, but there were no hallucinations, no changes—nothing. It was getting infuriating.
"...Should I just level the whole place?"
I had already struck the ground and knocked down trees, but I had never seen those damaged areas again. In that case, wouldn't it be better to just hit the ground with The Hammer at full power and blow away the fog along with the forest?
"I told you, you can't! We don't know where those two are!"
As if sensing my impending rampage, Un-ho tapped my cheek and shouted into my ear.
If the usual Un-ho had done that, I would have wrung him out like a rag. But he was right. That was the problem.
Besides, Un-ho was currently in his combat mode to fight The Enemy. Since his words weren't just mindless chatter, I didn't feel the usual spark of irritation.
I should have come alone.
If I were certain my two disciples wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, I would have ground this place to dust already. But the thought of Baek Si-hyun and Han A-bin wandering through this fog just like me meant that any attack with even a slight chance of hitting them was sealed away.
Of course, I could use an Ultimate Technique and try to direct the impact only at my enemies, but... who knew what would come after that?
Even against the Gray Eater, ten seconds hadn't been nearly enough. What if I unleashed an attack at the cost of collapsing, and The Enemy survived? What if The Enemy was one that consumed energy?
The "what ifs" multiplied endlessly. I couldn't take any action that might fundamentally change the situation.
I was completely checked.
It didn't mean I had lost, of course. It just meant my options had become severely limited.
I really hated this.
My specialty was facing an enemy head-on and swinging my hammer. Being forced to use my brain to find an invisible foe was something for the Librarian or Macbeth.
With that thought, I took a few more steps and finally made up my mind.
I really, really didn't want to do this, but there was no other way.
"Un-ho."
"Yes?"
"The Song of Origin. Call The Queen."
"Huh? You told me not to use it earlier."
I didn't think it would take this long back then. But now, the only cards left are waiting or doing this. The Queen might be fickle, but she'll do something to change this situation.
"That was then, this is now. Just call her."
"Fine, then."
Un-ho didn't seem particularly interested in why I’d changed my mind. Without further argument, he straightened his posture and composed himself.
Then, the song began to flow.
"Beyond the thick fog, creator of the world. I beseech The Queen of Contradiction."
The Beast's chant.
An unrefined, ancient magic.
Yet, it was a beautiful song. A song so beautiful it felt like a waste to let anyone hear it.
"A warrior caught in the cruel enemy's grasp, unable to find his way. With blinded eyes, he offers a wish."
The song resonated through the fog. Not as a metaphor, but as a physical phenomenon.
As the song spread, my senses expanded along with it. I prepared to sprint toward the direction The Queen was pointing out, even before the chant was finished.
"A light to drive away the cold darkness that veils human eyes in frost."
The fog began to thin. Specifically, the fog in the direction we needed to go.
"A shining path before us!"
As the chant ended, I sprinted toward the light that had appeared. Toward the place where I could smell the scent of blood.
Toward the change that had finally occurred in this unchanging world.
Even if that change... was despair.
"Ah...?"
I saw it.
A clearing where the fog had vanished.
A person was sitting there.
Leaning against a tree, eyes closed. As if sleeping peacefully.
There was no horror in that sight, no despair. It was a peaceful scene. A person lying in a green forest as if in slumber. Like a painting. Sleeping in the light.
But my senses, my intuition, and my reason all told me that this was not peace.
They all screamed in denial.
They told me not to be fooled by what I saw.
That the cruel scent of blood had settled there.
That the condensed Otherworldly Power had settled there.
That the dark malice of death had settled there.
It was a familiar sight—seeing someone's death.
But if the one cursed by death was someone I never, ever thought would die...
If it was a disciple with pink hair, who hadn't even had the chance to truly bloom...
"A-bin...?"
My voice, unable to accept that death, tried to wake her. To pull her from her eternal sleep.
As if in response, the head of the quietly sleeping Han A-bin tilted. As if she were waking up.
But hope is a traitor.
As her head shifted and her hair fluttered, the wound was revealed.
A small hole that pierced her forehead.
It wasn't like a gunshot; it looked as if it had been pierced by an incredibly sharp awl. A dark, hollow hole that had been bored through without tearing the surrounding skin.
I saw it, but I denied it. To affirm it would be to finalize my disciple's death.
"Hey, A-bin. Wake up. Stop messing around."
I approached her and stroked her cheek.
But her skin, devoid of a pulse, and the red blood that only now began to trickle from The Hole... forced me to accept her death.
Even if I denied The Hole, the evidence of death was unchangeable.
My reason snapped.
My limiter began to release.
It was all my fault. Guilt settled heavily on my shoulders.
I should have blown everything away from the start. To hell with the aftermath.
How arrogant was I to think I couldn't trust The Queen? Was I really strong enough to save others while acting like that?
My arrogance knew no bounds.
As proof of that arrogance, I brought my hammer down.
I struck The Enemy and the entire forest.
I struck The Enemy and all of the fog.
And The Hammer responded.
It destroyed everything.
Everything in the vicinity, except for my disciple, who still looked just as she did when she was alive.