Chapter 77
Chapter 77
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Parasite
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When Lee Si-woo asked about what had happened in his mental world, the Butler answered in a troubled voice.
“To be honest, I don’t know much about its true identity either.”
“…You don’t know?”
It was a half-hearted answer, far from the sincere reply Lee Si-woo had been expecting.
However, the Butler’s following words made it difficult for Lee Si-woo to question him further.
“Yes. It’s only natural that I don’t. The mental world is a place where the Lord’s soul and mind manifest, and I am merely a caretaker, a servant of the Lord tasked with its management.”
As he said, the mental world was entirely Lee Si-woo’s.
That was why Si-woo was able to know everything that had happened at that time.
The barred prison in the basement.
He knew that the tentacle had been devoured by the unpleasant being inside it, and that the Butler had been controlling it to some extent.
This was why Lee Si-woo was skeptical of the Butler's words.
“But Butler, you clearly interfered with the being inside that cage, did you not?”
“That is correct. However, Lord, while it is true that I can control it to some degree, that does not mean I know every detail about it. The reason I can interfere with it is simply because, as the Butler, I can exert influence on things related to Barathrum, not because I am well-acquainted with the being itself.”
Understanding dawned on Lee Si-woo, and he frowned.
“Does that mean… the being inside that cage is deeply related to Barathrum?”
“Yes, that is correct. And it must be. The fact that it exists within the Lord’s mental world, whatever it may be, means its foundation is based on your spirit and soul. Lord, you haven’t forgotten, have you? That Barathrum is a ‘Soul Treasure.’”
“A Soul Treasure… Yes, I remember.”
“In that case, it should come as no surprise that the being in the cage is related to Barathrum. Whatever its identity may be, as long as it is connected to the Lord’s soul, it is bound to have a close relationship with Barathrum.”
The Butler continued, a faint laugh in his voice.
“Perhaps that is why the being was able to use Barathrum’s predation on the tentacle.”
Si-woo had been wondering about that very point.
Was it because it was his own mental world?
Si-woo could know every detail of what happened in that world, and thanks to that, he knew that the tentacle had been devoured by the being in the cage.
“Why… is something like that inside me?”
“I do not know. But Lord, if I may be so bold as to suggest, while discovering the identity of that being is undoubtedly important and something you must do… for now, it would be better to prioritize your immediate survival over digging into this matter.”
After a moment of organizing his thoughts, Si-woo nodded calmly.
“You have a point. I’m not in a safe situation yet.”
“Of course, it must be unsettling. It is unknown what kind of influence something inside your soul might have on you. However, there are no definite signs that the being is harming you yet, and considering how it dealt with the tentacle, it has actually been helpful. So, how about you deal with the Ancient first?”
After mulling over the Butler’s advice, Si-woo asked in a composed tone.
“Do you believe I can defeat the Ancient as I am now?”
Sensing that Si-woo desired a cold, objective assessment, the Butler slowly shook his head.
“In my subjective judgment… your chances of victory are not high. You have grown significantly, Lord, and as a result, most mages of your class are no match for you… but an Ancient, one of the Four Great Royal Species, is not just any opponent.”
Lee Si-woo couldn’t hide his disappointment at the Butler’s firm response, but the Butler wasn’t finished.
He spoke in a gentle tone.
“But you will not be easily defeated either. That is how much you have grown, Lord. And if your goal is not victory, but survival… well. As long as you follow the guidance of the Death-Ground Fortune precisely, I find it hard to believe you would meet a disastrous end at the hands of a mere Ancient.”
Only then could Lee Si-woo smile.
It was the cold assessment and the answer he had been hoping for.
「Lee Si-woo」 ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
Level: 307
Race: Human
Talent: [1] Danger Sense (Anetium) [2] Mana’s Blessing (Will) [3] Antennae (Ogong) [4] Mental Connection (Tentacle)
Technique: Hexagram
Unique Ability: Mineral Body (Platinum)
***
Mallok, a member of the Bear Tribe and a 2nd-Circle Beginner, was well aware that he lacked the skill to claim the ruin’s treasure for himself.
Nevertheless, he had no choice but to enter the ruins—clichéd as it was, it was for love.
His lover, Shina, a fellow student from the Magic Tower, came from a decent family, but he had no backing whatsoever. To win her, he needed an achievement that everyone would acknowledge.
“It’s colder in the ruins than I thought.”
There was no reason for beastmen like them to feel cold in this temperature, but Mallok deliberately took off his coat and draped it over Shina’s shoulders.
As a member of the naturally burly Bear Tribe, Shina’s frame was larger than most beastmen could ever hope to be, but to Mallok, she seemed as delicate as a flower.
Suddenly, as Shina stood blankly while he put the coat on her, blood trickled from her nose. A startled Mallok made a fuss.
“Shina! Blood! You have a nosebleed.”
At Mallok’s words, Shina finally snapped out of it and wiped under her nose with her index finger, muttering.
“I’m bleeding…”
“A Bear Tribe member with a nosebleed… I told you to stay at the camp. Why did you have to follow me into this dangerous place when you’re not feeling well?”
Mallok seemed genuinely worried about Shina, gently pulling her into an embrace.
Then he flinched in shock.
Shina’s body was far too cold.
Judging by her body temperature alone, it was hard to believe she was a living creature.
‘Huh, what’s this? Why is her body so cold? Is she sick or something?’
Just then, Mallok happened to glance at Shina’s ear.
Inside the furry ear, typical of a beastman, a silver threadworm was squirming.
“Shina, in your ear…”
Shina wrapped her arms around Mallok’s waist and whispered.
“Mallok, I’m so cold.”
Shina’s sweet breath. Her soft hands caressed Mallok’s chest and thighs.
Though they had promised their futures to each other, they weren't a couple that usually engaged in more skinship than necessary.
Perhaps that was why Mallok was at a loss, faced with Shina’s aggressive advances.
“W-wait, Shina. There are people watching. If you suddenly do this here…”
Mallok couldn’t finish his sentence.
Shina’s soft, hot lips covered his.
And then, he saw them.
Squirming inside the pupils of her brown eyes, the eyes of the woman he loved, were threadworms.
At the same time, something foreign began to pour into his mouth from hers.
“Ump? Mmph!”
Instinctively, Mallok tried to push Shina away, but it was too late.
Countless threadworms, like a school of fry, had already blocked his throat and entered his body.
After a brief, violent struggle, Mallok suddenly stopped moving, as if in resignation.
A fellow mage, who had been watching Mallok and Shina with an uncomfortable gaze, spoke up.
“Hey Mallok, it’s fine to show affection, but you should pick the time and place. What are you doing in front of everyone? It’s embarrassing.”
Having finished his long, deep kiss with Shina, Mallok replied, breathing heavily.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”
Shina pulled away from Mallok and approached another mage in their group.
In their five-person party of four men and one woman, Shina lunged at another man, stealing his lips.
The mage who had just chided Mallok stared, stuttering and pointing.
“Sh-Shina? Mallok, you bastard. Look at that. Just look at that… huh?”
The horrified mage pointed at Shina, then turned back to Mallok.
Threadworms were trickling from Mallok’s eyes and mouth like tears and saliva.
Seeing the repulsive sight, the mage activated his mana shield and stumbled backward.
“What the hell? Y-you, what’s wrong with you? Are you sick or…”
Thud.
The mage turned around at the hard sensation of something hitting his mana shield.
He realized that all his companions had surrounded him.
Comrades he trusted enough to watch his back at any time.
But why?
At this moment, he felt not as if he were with his comrades, but as if he were in a room with human-sized insects.
“Ahhh…”
His cry of despair marked the opening of hell’s gates within the ruins.
***
The interior of the ruins was essentially a maze; one wrong turn could make you lose your sense of direction and walk in circles.
But at least Yahalong wouldn't get lost.
As a member of the family that once managed these ruins, he knew its secret passages.
Yahalong quickly scanned the map of the ruins he had downloaded onto his smartphone’s navigation app and said.
“Fanfan, push down the sword held by the knight statue on the left wall.”
Following Yahalong’s instruction, Fanfan put his weight on the knight statue’s sword and pushed it down, revealing a secret passage next to the statue.
It was a secret shortcut that allowed them to avoid the maze.
As Yahalong and Fanfan entered the dimly lit passage, the knight statue’s sword returned to its original position, and the door closed.
Finally able to breathe, Fanfan wiped the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and said.
“Sir Yahalong, what… was that?”
Fanfan shuddered, recalling the scene of chaos inside the ruins.
Mages attacking each other without warning or preamble.
The sight of them vomiting grotesque worms from their mouths onto those who were once their comrades and family was, he swore, more bizarre and repulsive than anything he had ever seen in his life.
What would have happened to him if Yahalong hadn't had a map, if they hadn't been able to navigate the ruin's maze so quickly?
Just imagining it sent a chill down his spine, and Fanfan swallowed hard.
“Parasite.”
At Yahalong’s single, grimly uttered word, Fanfan asked in disbelief.
“What? A Parasite? You mean the unstoppable monstrous calamity, one of the Four Calamities of the Infinite World?”
“…I heard about it from my grandfather. He said that the Infinite World, a treasure trove of all kinds of resources, also holds infinite calamities to match its infinite resources, and the worst among them are the Four Calamities. He gave me a brief description of them… and those silver threadworms. They resemble the infection symptoms of the Parasite he described.”
“B-but why would one of the Four Calamities of the Infinite World appear in a place like this? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Yahalong ground his teeth and said.
“I was shortsighted. When an elemental stone appeared where it shouldn't have, I overlooked the possibility that it wasn't a mere coincidence, but an artificial phenomenon. Yes, we… no, everyone, walked into a trap.”
Having only heard of it through oral tradition, Yahalong couldn't be certain if what he saw was truly a Parasite. Yet, somehow, he felt that it had to be.
The traces of someone trying to seal the ruin's entrance. And the fact that the entrance was then revealed to the whole world.
Various ominous signs he had previously ignored in his greed now pricked at his conscience.
“Honestly, I don’t know if that was a Parasite. I’ve only heard about it like some urban legend; I’ve never seen it myself. But the fact that it took less than thirty minutes to infect and control hundreds of mages…”
Yahalong didn’t need to finish the sentence, and Fanfan didn’t reply.
They both knew.
They were alive, but they were not safe.
How long did they stand there, staring at each other in silence?
An ominous presence from beyond the secret door shattered their silence, which was stained with tension and despair.
*Thud, thud.*
Like convicts hearing the footsteps of their executioner, Yahalong and Fanfan’s eyes widened, and they clamped their mouths shut until their lips turned white.
The unwelcome footsteps echoed like thunder in their ears as they exchanged trembling glances.
Finally, the footsteps stopped right in front of the secret door.
*Gasp!*
As if on cue, Fanfan and Yahalong sucked in a breath. A hungry, murderous intent had brushed past their skin, like a predator watching them from beyond the bushes.
But then, something strange happened.
The presence of the intruder, who had stood before the secret door as if knowing their location, suddenly receded with the sound of scurrying footsteps.
A desperate sprint, clearly audible even through the wall.
As the intruder’s presence vanished like a mouse that had run into a cat, Yahalong and Fanfan, though bewildered, finally let out the breath they had been holding.
For some reason, it seemed they had survived.
***
Having leisurely entered the ruins, Yoana was greeted by Shina, the Parasite’s first host body.
Shina, her face as pale as a living corpse, looked at Yoana and spoke.
“Ancient.”
Ancient.
The Parasite’s sole nemesis.
As parasites, they demonstrated their predatory nature against organic matter without restraint, but they were at a severe disadvantage against the Ancients, who were mechanical from head to toe.
Of course, if they possessed a powerful host, it wasn't impossible to fight an Ancient, but hosts capable of facing an Ancient, who wielded advanced magi-science at will, were extremely rare. Thus, in most cases, they were powerless.
Yoana crushed a threadworm squirming toward her feet and said.
“Are all the ones who came inside dead?”
“No. Two are left.”
The mention of two people sparked something in Yoana’s mind, and she retorted.
“Couldn’t you kill them? Or didn’t you?”
“Both.”
Yoana tilted her head.
If it couldn't kill them, it meant one of the two was related to the faceless one, just as she thought. But *didn't* kill them was a bit strange.
No matter how ephemeral the Parasite before her was—a mere piece of the main body’s tissue—it was still a parasite by name.
An endless appetite and murderous intent toward living things were not instincts this cursed species could suppress.
“What do you mean?”
Shina smiled slyly. The being here was certainly just a part of the main body. A mere cell.
But due to the hive-mind nature of the Parasite, even a cell was mentally linked to the main body.
Though its abilities were infinitesimally weak, its mind was no different from the main body itself.
“You, you’re chasing something unpleasant, I see.”
“…What?”
“Those two carry a very foul scent. The spiritual scent of something I had forgotten for a very, very long time…”
“Spiritual scent? You mean the scent of a soul? Whose is it?”
“Something older than me. Something ‘we’ despise more than anything. But something that suddenly vanished one day.”
“Older, you say? Older than you… who dwells in the Infinite World? And what do you mean by ‘we’? Does that mean…”
“If any of the Four Calamities were here, this smell would make them so nauseous they’d forget their hunger. They might even refuse to eat or drink. That’s how disgusting it is. Ah… right, Ancient. While I’m at it, let me give you some advice.”
Shina licked her lips with her red tongue and continued.
“Don’t chase it. Whatever that is, it’s not what you’re looking for.”
“…That’s none of your business, worm.”
“Hehe, so that’s how it is? Well, fine. It’s not like I’ll be the one facing it. Still, what a shame.”
“What’s a shame?”
Shina yawned like a lazy predator.
Judging by the faint spiritual scent, there was a high probability that the creature’s state was beyond saving.
It was likely trapped, mixed in with something else, or had been devoured—one of the three.
If the owner of that scent had been here, the Parasite would have gladly endured the nausea to kill it.
But unfortunately, the being itself was not here, only two little lambs stained with its disgusting odor.
“It’s nothing. Just that I refuse to eat food covered in shit. That’s all. They’re in the secret passage inside the ruins, so go do what you need to do. I’m not interested, but you’re different, I suppose.”
After a sidelong glance at Shina, Yoana walked past her without a word.
In the spot where Yoana had been.
Among the mages who had become corpse-puppets, their brains and souls devoured, the low laughter of the Parasite-Shina echoed.
And a day passed.