Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: The Monster's Mouth
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An eerie wind blew.
Shin-ju, Sharin, Jekovic, and Katrin stood still, looking up at something.
Ten meters high.
Before them, a giant hexagonal ventilation shaft gaped open, exhaling a chilly breeze.
*Whooosh—*
Inside, it was pitch-black; they couldn't see a thing. It felt like a passage for something enormous.
With a displeased look, Shin-ju opened the capsule and looked up at the hologram.
The holographic map clearly indicated they had to pass through this vent.
“Hoo— Lady Furen, where in the world are you….”
Shin-ju muttered with a quiet sigh.
What on earth had Furen been trying to do?
“Feels like we’re walking straight into the monster’s maw.”
Shin-ju hesitated to enter the vent, worried he might end up on another planet entirely.
He had a feeling that if that happened, he might never be able to return.
But he had to pass through this tunnel to reach Furen.
Sharin and Katrin stepped forward first, standing before the massive entrance to the vent.
“We’re going. What about you two?”
“What do you mean? We don’t have a choice.”
Shin-ju strode forward as well.
“Lady Sharin, what do you think Lady Furen is planning?”
“Well, how should I know?”
Sharin gave a slight shrug and looked at Shin-ju.
Her expression was devoid of fear, filled only with trust.
“In any case, we won’t lose anything by following the signs. Furen has always led us to victory.”
Seeing Sharin’s expression, Shin-ju offered a faint smile.
“I just hope that’s the case this time, too.”
Behind them, Jekovic, his face scrunched up as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, let out a deep sigh and followed Shin-ju.
A moment later, a white sphere emerged from Shin-ju’s Old Book.
The sphere became a light, illuminating the path ahead for the group.
After walking along the passage for some time, something sparkling came into Shin-ju’s view.
He narrowed his eyes and walked toward it.
“Shin-ju, Shin-ju.”
Jekovic’s thin voice came from behind.
When Shin-ju glanced back, he saw Jekovic’s fur standing on end.
“What is it?”
“The sound of the wind is strange. Be careful.”
“Got it.”
Shin-ju kept a moderate distance, knelt on one knee, and looked down at the sparkling object.
It was a transparent liquid, glistening in the light.
“Is this… saliva?”
As Shin-ju heard his own mutter, he had a sudden realization.
“Wait a minute…!!”
“This smell!”
He and Jekovic shouted at the same time.
“Shh, stay still….”
As Jekovic rushed forward from behind, Shin-ju held out his palm to stop him and immediately gestured for silence.
Shin-ju carefully stood up and looked at the ceiling.
Sharin and Katrin, seeing him, also stood still, sensing some kind of danger.
*Plop.* A thick, transparent liquid dropped from the ceiling.
Shin-ju glanced down at the mucus, then quietly raised his Old Book.
The white, glowing sphere slowly floated up toward the ceiling.
*Grrrrrrr—*
At the same time, the growling sound of a monster could be heard.
“Just as I thought….”
Shin-ju’s face twisted as if he had expected this.
The rest of the group slowly raised their heads, following Shin-ju’s lead.
Before their eyes, countless alien beast younglings were stuck to the ceiling, clustered together.
A rough estimate put their numbers in the thousands.
They were tangled together like a single living organism, their bodies heaving as they breathed.
The sound they had mistaken for the wind in the vent was the breathing of the younglings.
“They’re sleeping.”
Shin-ju muttered in a deflated voice.
He looked back at the group, giving them a silent signal with a look that said, ‘You know what to do, right?’
Sharin and Katrin nodded as if it were obvious.
Jekovic, however, remained frozen in place, his face a mask of terror as he stared at the ceiling.
His fur was standing straight up.
Seeing Jekovic like this, Shin-ju was filled with anxiety.
“Jekovic… what’s wrong….”
As Shin-ju carefully placed a hand on Jekovic’s shoulder, Jekovic silently pointed a finger somewhere.
Everyone’s gaze followed the tip of his finger.
In the distance, one of the younglings, its dozens of eyes glinting in the light, was staring down at Shin-ju’s group.
A suffocating silence followed.
No one dared to even breathe.
The youngling hung there silently, its eyes wide open.
The stark contrast of light and shadow created an immense sense of horror.
[Why isn’t it moving?]
Jekovic turned his head as quietly as possible and mouthed the words to Shin-ju.
[It probably hasn’t registered us yet.]
Shin-ju mouthed back.
[Park Shin-ju, with that book of yours, those things up there….]
Sharin tapped Shin-ju’s shoulder and started mouthing words like them.
[…isn’t there a spell to wipe them all out?]
Sharin nodded her head vigorously.
It wasn’t entirely impossible.
Because the younglings didn’t have their ‘leashes’ on yet, it was technically fine to mess with them.
*Should I give it a try?*
Shin-ju licked his lips.
In a way, this might be a very good opportunity to reduce the number of alien beasts.
But one thing suddenly worried him.
A spell powerful enough to wipe out thousands of younglings at once would surely cause this space to collapse 100 percent of the time….
Shin-ju looked at the long passage stretching into the distance.
Only an endless darkness spread out before him.
*Damn it.*
Shin-ju hesitated.
For some reason, he couldn’t open a gate here either.
*What kind of spell should I use?*
Suddenly, Katrin waved her hand as if to get his attention.
When Shin-ju looked at her, Katrin pointed to herself.
[You can just make them fall asleep!]
[Ah!]
The spell that had put the plant-infected Katrin to sleep.
*Right, why didn’t I think of that?*
He had been so fixated on the idea of reducing their numbers that he hadn't thought of such a simple solution.
Shin-ju gave Katrin a thumbs-up.
He then flipped through the pages of the Old Book, searching for the sleep spell.
Just as he quietly raised the book to chant the spell and lifted his head…
The youngling that had been hanging there just a moment ago had vanished from the ceiling.
Every single one of Jekovic’s hairs stood on end, his mane now even stiffer than before.
“Grrrrrrr—.”
His body swelled to a massive size, and he stared straight ahead with the eyes of a predator.
Seeing Jekovic’s state, Shin-ju realized.
At some point, the sound of the younglings’ breathing had stopped.
Shin-ju’s posture slowly straightened.
*Right. That one was the ‘lookout’ after all.*
Shin-ju let out a hollow laugh.
*Such cunning little bastards.*
*Daring to test us.*
The younglings had been waiting for them to make a move.
Because.
That would make the hunt more fun.
Shin-ju’s eyes grew sharp.
He began to flip furiously through the pages of the Old Book.
His brow furrowed deeply.
A crimson light began to seep out of the Old Book.
He turned his head.
“Everyone, runnn!!”
Shin-ju opened his mouth wide and bellowed.
With that sound, Sharin, Katrin, and Jekovic quickly turned and started running.
“Everyone, on my back!!”
Jekovic shouted.
Jekovic, with his beastly instincts, began running on all fours.
Sharin and Katrin climbed onto his back.
“Park Shin-ju!”
“Go on ahead!”
Shin-ju threw the capsule containing the key and the map to Jekovic.
“Damn it!!!”
*Thump—*
Jekovic, barely affected by gravity, caught the key and capsule Shin-ju had thrown and then pushed off his legs for a massive jump.
His body traced a large arc, moving far away from Shin-ju.
Meanwhile, a crimson light burst from Shin-ju’s Old Book.
A giant sun rose from the book, and the surroundings began to brighten as if it were broad daylight.
*Grrrrrrrrrr!!*
From the ceiling, thousands of younglings merged their bodies, opening a gaping maw like one giant creature.
Shin-ju let out a bitter smile.
“Yeah. This works out, anyway.”
*Planet Destroyers.*
*Under the pretext of maintaining order, you control the populations of living beings to suit your tastes, don’t you?*
The sun rising from the Old Book blazed, emitting an even more intense red light.
*Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!*
The giant mouth flew toward Shin-ju to swallow him whole.
*Have a taste of this.*
*I also agree that the population needs to be reduced.*
“Sunshine.”
Soon after, the massive sun floated serenely above Shin-ju’s head.
“Eat this.”
The giant sun exploded toward the alien beast younglings.
The figures of Jekovic, Sharin, and Katrin, who were running with all their might, vanished in a flash of white.
Next, Shin-ju’s figure was also gradually submerged in the flames of the sun.
But his expression was full of confidence.
***
“What did you say…?”
Enri looked up.
The expressions on Silver, Speeder, and Jason also turned grave.
“Jackal, is what you just said true?”
Jackal quietly nodded.
“Yes, it is true. For their purpose, they need strong individuals with various attributes. The first test subject was an ancestor of my race, ‘Daol.’
His size was enormous, and he had a strong stomach that could devour anything, whether fresh or rotten. So he was used in various drug experiments and consumption reaction tests.”
“Was he kidnapped?”
Jason asked.
“Yes, that’s right. A giant gate opened on our planet. Not only Daol, but countless others of my kind were abducted en masse.
Then, by chance, I found out. The fact that they were conducting research to use Daol as a source of nutrition for that monster.”
No one could easily speak.
“I can’t understand it at all.”
“Do they want to reset the universe or something?”
“Ah, and also….”
Jackal hesitated for a moment, then carefully opened his mouth.
“At Taumiel b1, I saw an anatomical chart of my species.”
Enri tilted her head.
“An anatomical chart?”
"Yes. It was posted in one of the labs. It seems they were trying to create something using our body structure, but I don't know the specifics."
Silver’s expression was grim.
It was hard to guess what needing an insectoid body could mean, but he had a very bad feeling about it.
“We need to move quickly.”
Jason looked up at the ceiling with a serious expression.
His breathing quickened.
“Sacrifices and biological experiments to awaken the Great Old Owner….”