Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Looks Like There's a Crazy Person Next Door
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[Subject: Looks Like There's a Crazy Person Next Door;]
(Blacksmith workshop meme)
(Elf representative image meme)
This morning at dawn, the neighbor came pounding on the door like a maniac and screaming his head off ㄷㄷ
Good thing I was up hammering away
If I'd been asleep, who knows what would've happened
Just imagining it is horrifying
[Recs 192] [Disrecs 1402]
- Was that you, you bastard?
- Elf ping
- Public morals are always the Great Emperor Elf's domain
- You're human, right? Elves don't use forges...?
Noise.
Interfloor noise, wall noise, and so on.
It had always been an issue, no matter the era.
"It's not like incidents happen for no reason."
I'm not defending crime.
But it was enough to make even ordinary citizens understand a criminal's mindset.
The stress from noise between floors was immense.
Even before possession, there was an Interfloor Noise Gallery.
It rivaled the most rage-filled Mosquito Gallery.
"Too noisy..."
And the outside perfectly fit that description.
"Couldn't sleep comfortably anywhere..."
The outside had no weather or environment.
Just an ashen sky.
Beast cries, crumbling ruins, the outside's eerie echoes.
Sloth shuddered, her face paling as she recalled it.
"And the ground was so hard."
Lying on cold stone and sand made peaceful sleep impossible.
The air was frigid too.
And this and that...
At least for sleeping or resting, nowhere was as hellish as the outside.
"Then just make your own space."
I couldn't really empathize.
From past rift subjugation experience, beasts had their own spaces, lairs.
Even if not as comfy as here, someone with Sloth's power could make one.
"Too bothersome..."
"Ah."
And that one answer resolved all doubts.
Like needing the bathroom but being too sleepy to get up.
That's how she spent centuries.
But now she couldn't even do that.
"The outside... keeps nagging me..."
"Huh?"
"It keeps waking me up, telling me to go outside..."
The outside had been waking her.
"Wait, the outside is alive?"
This was new.
Looking at Penny, she added to Sloth's explanation.
"I never saw a form, but thoughts transmitted to me."
"Like what?"
"All sorts of negative ones?"
Penny called it something hostile.
Putting it together, one thing was clear.
"So the invasion isn't just this world."
The outside seemed like a vast space with consciousness.
Especially the talk of new debris appearing.
"Then the ruins I saw outside..."
Civilizations unreachable by beasts lay in ruins.
The outside had apparently invaded other worlds before this one.
"Then it came to invade the world I possessed into..."
Stalled.
It had nearly succeeded.
When I possessed, the world was already half-collapsed.
But the Gallery thwarted the outside's invasion, leading to the current standoff.
A question arose while listening.
"But the outside seemed weak?"
Devourer of many worlds.
Yet it didn't seem that strong.
If it were, it should've devoured this world in the first Great War before my possession.
Penny made a subtle face, unsure.
"That's... I don't know either."
"Huh?"
"It was before I was born."
The outside before Penny's birth.
"I heard it was incomparably stronger back then."
"From who?"
"Pride."
The strongest of the Seven Deadly Sins, by common knowledge.
How ancient was Pride?
Full of questions, but one certainty.
"Some incident nerfed the outside hard..."
The once-unbeatable outside suddenly dropped tiers.
In that state, it invaded but couldn't fully consume.
"Pride knows?"
"Yeah, seemed like it, even if not fully."
I'd ask Pride someday.
Whether beasts rampaged due to nature or outside gaslighting was unclear.
It apparently didn't work well on Seven Deadly Sins level anyway.
"Anyway, it wants to eat you?"
Back to the point, I asked Sloth.
"Yeah."
She mumbled from face-down on the bed, half-asleep.
"The outside kept making me work... so I ran."
Weakened, it pressured Sloth.
She fled here.
"Invading worlds... sounds annoyingly tedious."
"Seems so."
"Bothersome... even talking now..."
So Sloth's solution: get eaten by Penny.
Being absorbed meant no death, just comfy eternal sleep.
"Sounds perfect."
Lust and Envy.
Perfect personnel for Penny, now a yandere hybrid.
I stepped aside for the absorption.
Penny approached Sloth hesitantly.
"Alright, gonna eat you?"
"Yeah..."
"Really absorbing your power. You consent?"
"Mm..."
With consent, Penny transformed instantly.
Like far-future grown Penny.
Height shot up, outfit shifted to match the mood.
Mostly kept the cute vibe, just bigger.
Penny turned, staring at me intently.
"..."
"What."
She eyed me dissatisfied, then refocused on Sloth.
Extended both hands, lifted Sloth.
"Eek."
Bit Sloth's crown.
"Wait, absorbing power?"
Momentarily dumbfounded, but I'd never seen it properly before.
Nothing too weird.
Penny chomped Sloth's head, Sloth dangled limply.
But something was off.
"Is it working?"
No change even after time passed; Sloth didn't vanish.
Only difference: Sloth's head soaked in Penny's saliva.
"Saliva..."
Sloth looked pitifully teary; Penny checked herself, muttering.
"Why isn't it working?"
"Huh?"
"Power absorption failing. Usually works by now...?"
Mutual consent let Seven Deadly Sins absorb each other.
Not forced—had to be genuine.
"Sloth said it first?"
Penny muttered, puzzled, then eyed Sloth wide-eyed.
"No way..."
Sloth stayed silent.
Glanced slyly, whispered.
"Too bothersome..."
Penny lost her reason.
*
Sloth fled to the warehouse.
No—got kicked out.
"Quiet... paradise..."
Not hating it, sleeping peacefully inside.
Morone: Lord Judak, success!!
[‘Morone’ shipped 10 Low-Grade Curse Resistance Potions!]
"Oh."
Meanwhile, witches succeeded with potions.
Mermaid tears from before were clutch.
Easier to source than large beast hearts.
[Low-Grade Curse Resistance Potion]
Reduces pain from curses only.
Pain → Less pain
"...Is this good?"
Effects a bit iffy.
"What's the difference from gritting teeth?"
Not useless though.
At least when cursed, not totally oblivious like before.
"That's enough."
Couldn't ignore rifts forever.
Rift subjugation prep complete.
But...
[Subject: Life-Ruined Farmer-Eating a 1 Trillion Won Can of Tuna...jpg]
(Meme of scooping 1/4 from tuna can)
(Meme of mixing with rice and thumbs-up)
You guys make it big...
[Recs 12] [Disrecs 4]
- Birthday?
- Wedding?
- (Elf kon with mouth agape in cheer)
- Dirty rich bastard
"Hold up."
Not now.
Many gallers can't even afford 1-trillion-won tuna daily.
Growth from past, sure.
[Subject: Bought My Own House... For Real?]
(Meme of rundown single-story outskirts house)
(Selfie thumbs-upping brightly in front of house)
Fucking thrilled
Who'd think a beggar like me would own a house?
Everyone, keep pushing
Cheering you on as a true street-starved beggar vet from a year ago ㅇㅇ
[Recs 1311] [Disrecs 50]
- Damn cool, bro
- That many welcash disrecs?
ㄴ Welcash fuck off
ㄴ (Elf kon trembling in inferiority)
ㄴ Why are these kons always elves!!!
- How'd you succeed?
ㄴ OP) Snapped out of it eating Judak's free bread ㅇㅇ
ㄴ OP) Would've quit and died otherwise
ㄴ You again, Great Emperor Elf Smile Girl Academy Dean Superhuman All-Race Affinity Judak...
ㄴ Lmao fucking long
ㄴ How's the nickname Great Emperor Girl Acade etc.
ㄴ Judak*) shit
Many gallers escaped poverty.
Though "well-off" was debatable.
Past was just horrifically dire.
"Was for subjugation, but..."
Witches' curse resistance potions.
"Use for defense first."
Distributed dozens per race ahead.
Situation still dicey.
Rift subjugation could backfire.
[Rift analysis: ~1% remaining.]
Regrettable too.
Gallery system's rift analysis, ongoing from subjugations.
Almost done, yet wait.
"No choice."
Rushing rift subjugation risky.
Prioritize internal strengthening over outside.
[Rift analysis: ~0.5% remaining.]
"Huh?"
Gallery alert updated.
Staring blankly, blinking.
[Rift analysis: ~0.1% remaining.]
[Rift analysis complete!]
"Wait, what?"
Alerts auto-updated wildly, then done.
[Service area expanded.]
[Gallery usable in outside specific zones from now!]
- ??? What's this?
- Thought it was some dawn alert wtf
- Agree fucking crazy?
- Judak! Judak! Judak!
Gallers freaked; gallery abuzz.
I did nothing.
About to rally Padak for intel.
[Region/Outside: 1st Expedition First Battle Record]
OP: Colin
(Meme of beasts pouring from cliff)
(Meme of knights skewering them tanghulu-style)
(Meme of cathedral knights and soldiers fist-raising around Darian)
Adrian eastern border cleanup.
Time: 3 hours
Woody Forest cliff base rift.
Subjugation complete.
[Recs 9999+] [Disrecs 5]
- Just did rift expedition?
- Woody Forest cliff base—that huge one from before?
- Shit legend lmao
- Watch those recs climb
[‘Darian’ shipped Rift Core!]
Darian: Everything is
Darian: As you desire
One post and Darian contact.
Seeing the meme situation and his words, I muttered slowly.
"Crusade?"
Gave potions for defense; Adrian launched a crusade.