Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: What the Suicide Left Behind
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"Kwaaaah!!!!!"
We slaughtered every last one of the roughly twenty Chinese guys.
Eun-ji relentlessly hurled daggers coated in paralyzing poison, dropping all the fleeing bastards. The Ebony Cockroach rammed its ovipositor into the guts of the fallen ones and laid its eggs. And Ha-rin? She sliced through them like pigs getting their throats slit, no question.
Hee-sun Noona summoned oak tree roots that dragged the runners underground, crushing them mercilessly like they were in a hydraulic press. What a sight—corpses mangled as if they'd forced their heads into a tiny hole and been pulverized...
I chomped their heads with the Abyssal Maw and blasted tentacles to twist off their limbs. I took down most of them myself, offering them up to Kashnax and Indicron as soon as they dropped.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Hm... Cheap taste...]
Kashnax gobbled up the souls of the human sacrifices like she was just taking whatever was handed to her. True to form for an evil goddess who preferred quantity over quality, she was satisfied as long as there was a lot. Stuff her full until her belly burst, and she'd be happy. In a way, she was an easy goddess to handle.
The problem was her constant demands for offerings. Glutton. Total glutton.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Too much gamey aftertaste. Needs some toppings. Make them scream more. More.]
But Indicron, with her picky palate, placed an additional order. Make them scream before killing them. She always prioritized quality over quantity. She'd take one well-seasoned soul steeped in despair over ten plain human ones. Souls for her always required extra care.
"One bastard left? Anyone speak Chinese?"
"Me! Me! I know basic greetings!"
Ha-rin shot her hand up and grinned at the Chinese guy.
"Ni hao."
"Uwaa! %*$%#＠#"
Ni hao was a greeting I knew too. Still, Ha-rin beaming so innocently was adorable and hilarious, so I just patted her head.
But apparently, Ha-rin's ni hao hit him hard.
Whether he took her smiling greeting as mockery, the captured Chinese guy started screeching like a maniac.
It was so gross to listen to that I pulled the hammer from my bag and smashed his yapper.
Crack!!
"Euaaaang!!!"
His lips pulped, front teeth and all shattering in chunks, spilling out with blood onto the ground.
Man, screams were universal, huh.
His squealing got too loud, so I wrapped a tentacle around his mouth and choked him. Eyes bulging red as air cut off, he finally lost control and pissed himself.
"Ugh, reeks of piss... Fucking filthy bastard..."
I wrinkled my nose and stepped back from him.
That's when Hee-sun Noona spoke up.
"I can't understand a word he's saying."
Eun-ji prodded his gut with her dagger.
"Just kill him?"
Eun-ji didn't want to spare a single one of these ambushers.
Same here—I was gonna kill him anyway, but I held off snapping his neck to see if there was something worth experimenting with first.
"Hm... Anything we can test on this prick?"
"Dunno..."
"Oh, what if we enslave him? Maybe then we can communicate?"
Ha-rin had a solid idea.
"Ooh... Let's try it right now."
I immediately started breaking him, bellowing threats and smacking him around with the hammer. But he wouldn't submit easily. Was this continental pride? Or maybe he just couldn't understand me, so he didn't know what I wanted and kept resisting.
Either way, keep beating him, and he'd cave eventually. Humans were fragile to pain. Smash a few joints, chop off fingers, and he'd bow to the torturer naturally. Crushed by agony, he'd beg to hand over his guts and all.
"Uaah!!! Wocha! Chao!!!"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
I hammered his fingers one by one; he thrashed his head, screaming. Watching, Eun-ji wanted in too—she amped his pain with her skill and stomped his feet flat. Should be enough to break him, but he writhed, spitting Chinese curses.
Hee-sun Noona, who'd been watching our mad scene, finally turned her head slightly. She hated gruesome stuff and felt awkward seeing a live person tortured. Ironically, her crushed corpses were the grossest.
Anyway, after ten minutes of smashing, slicing, and healing his extremities over and over, the Chinese POW finally drooled and slammed his head on the ground.
"Da... daga...!"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[The opponent has submitted to you.]
"Good."
I slammed the Slave Brand right on his forehead.
Sizzle!!
"$!*#%^*＠"
His soul enslaved, he screamed again. Still no clue what he was saying.
"Oppa, can you understand him now? I sure can't."
"Me neither."
Even with the Slave Brand, language didn't translate.
I still couldn't parse his Chinese. Same for him—he babbled nonstop without responding to me.
And damn, even his muttering was loud. Their language just grated on me. Time to test orders, since words weren't bridging.
"Slave Brand doesn't handle language. But orders? Hey. Shut your trap and spin in place."
"Urk..."
At my command, the Chinese guy with his feet smashed by Eun-ji teared up and spun wobblingly. As his spins sped up, bone shards tore through his shredded flesh from his busted feet.
Yet he kept his mouth shut tight. Orders worked fine.
"Huh... Jun-ah, no language, but commands go through...?"
"Yeah. Weird. Skill effects apply solid, at least."
Watching the mangled human spin made Hee-sun Noona grimace in disgust at the grotesque show, shaking her head.
Any more torture, and she'd puke, so time to end it.
I grabbed his head and used Impure Touch. He died wailing, clueless to the end. As his skull melted, his body shuddered from lingering nerves.
"All done."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Better with the toppings.]
Indicron's response eased my mind. If she'd complained again, I'd have ramped up the torture on future captives, wasting too much time. Good that she was satisfied enough.
"Alright, let's farm their gear."
We looted their bags next.
"Nothing much. Just tons of Chinese snacks..."
"Toss it. Don't trust their food."
"Right?"
We skipped their rations. We had plenty of our own. Plus, I hated Chinese food products. Intensely.
"Whoa! This bag's full of kitchen knives!"
"Huh? Kitchen knives?"
"Yeah. Just stacks of them. For weapons, maybe?"
"Hm... Grab that."
"Okay!"
Hee-sun Noona hoisted the bag stuffed with over ten wrapped kitchen knives. She looked pleased to salvage something.
"No other weapons worth shit. Eun-ji-unnie, what's in that one?"
"Food... bottled water? Oppa, toss it all?"
"Yeah. No need to risk food poisoning."
Barely any loot from these ragged bastards. But their weapons from killing special zombies were in good shape—we packed them into the large magic bag for non-awakened folks back at the mart later.
"Looted what we could... How much time left?"
"Um... Hour and a half."
"Haa... Hour and a half..."
Sunset soon. Once night hit and lasted, we'd track time strictly—no sunrises to tell day from night.
"Everyone still good? Not tired?"
"Yep! Totally fine."
"Me too!"
"Oppa?"
Honestly, I was a bit drained. Battle adrenaline hid it, but now fatigue crashed in.
'Forest effect's hitting only me...'
These three seemed unfazed. My sour look must've shown—Hee-sun Noona hugged me. She'd hung back from melee, so no blood on her. Her clean scent soothed me some.
"Jun-ah's been tired since earlier. Forest not agreeing with you?"
"For real? Oppa, wanna rest?"
"Sniff sniff... No other scents around... Blood's messing with it, though..."
They suggested rest seeing my state.
I wanted to crash too, but...
'No... Sleep won't fix it.'
Better keep moving. Nightfall meant beasts, anomalies, and missing people prowling for mountain sacrifices. Best bail this corpse-strewn spot fast.
"Keep going. Not sure where the forest heart is... but can't waste time."
"Okay... Tell us if you're beat? Noona'll carry you."
"My lord! I can carry you too!"
"Uh... I..."
Eun-ji was short; piggybacking me would look weird. Stats might let her run, but my legs'd drag from height difference.
"Eun-ji-unnie's fine! You're tiny!"
"Hey... Ha-rin-ah..."
"What, unnie? Why glare!?"
Ha-rin teased Eun-ji's height by petting her head; Eun-ji pouted cutely, fists shaking, while Ha-rin played innocent. Heartwarming.
"Anyway, let's move."
"Yes!"
No good lingering amid corpses. We smashed all heads against zombie revival, but blood reek would draw beasts—and anomalies or missings from the kills.
We bolted the scene.
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After hustling an hour in one direction, we paused.
"Haa... haa..."
I leaned on a tree, drenched in sweat, panting hard.
"Oppa, water here."
"Thanks..."
I gulped clean water from Undine, wiping sweat.
"Ha-rin-ah, time till sunset?"
"Lemme see... About 35 minutes!"
"Haa... Night's coming. Oh, right. Eun-ji-ya. Here."
"Huh? What's this?"
"Found it earlier. Diary from someone who died in this forest. Thought it might clue us in. Can you read it?"
"Uh... Hold on."
"Unnie knows Japanese too?"
"Yeah. Self-taught a bit back in school."
"Whoa~!"
Eun-ji loved horror flicks. Japan had tons.
She got into Japanese watching Ju-on and Ring in school... Weird hook to me, but she learned it.
Like anime fans picking up the language naturally.
"Still... Not formally trained, so full translation's iffy. Lots of paraphrasing. But I'll read."
"Cool."
"Eun-ji's amazing~!"
Hee-sun Noona and I couldn't even try. Not a single character. Recognized it as Japanese from familiar script.
"This... it's a journal? Hm... First page is just food reviews. Skipping fluff."
"Okay."
Eun-ji scanned the missing person's notebook, tilting her head at unknown words.
Then she nailed a forest clue and read it slowly to us.
"This forest is weird. Sun stopped rising at some point... No flashlight batteries... Can't hold out much longer. Then I saw foxfire. Followed it, entranced, no reason why... Tripped over roots chasing the light, reached an abandoned shrine deep in the woods. No idea what's enshrined. But... it's been neglected forever... Smells dangerous."
As Eun-ji read the key page, Hee-sun Noona, not wanting to interrupt, whispered to me.
"Jun-ah... What's torii?"
"Ah, those gates at Shinto shrines or small ones? Red-painted. Like pillar entrances."
"Oh~ Got it."
We listened to the suicide's journal via Eun-ji.
"Hm. This part's odd. 'Never open the Kotori Bakko'... whole page full. After that, handwriting's messy, like he lost it scribbling randomly... But 'Hayashi Juten' keeps popping up meaningfully..."
"Hayashi Juten...?"
"Yeah. Seems like 'forest center.' Follow the red star... Probably points to the shrine. Guy wandered, found it. Saw something there... Fled, but despair of no escape killed him?"
"Hm... But Eun-ji-unnie, what's Kotori Bakko?"
"Old internet creepypasta... Box made from killing a kid, full of curse. Don't open it."
"Ugh... Why make that...?"
I knew Kotori Bakko vaguely. From some indie horror game. Never played, but like Japanese yokai, probably just harms people blindly.
"Hm... Filling a page warning not to open it... Means some trigger might force it open. Unsettling."
"This forest... creepy."
Ha-rin, horror-phobic despite slaying ghosts as Lunar Beast, shivered and clung to my arm. I stroked her tucked ears—cute contrast.
"Yeah. Mountain sacrifices too. Feels like luring people in... using blood and souls to summon something."
Eun-ji theorized. Seeing Kotori Bakko, she couldn't shake that the forest was the cursed box, players sacrifices, our lives forging something.
I felt it too.
This forest still drained my energy.
Maybe it needed dead souls' grudges, and I was interfering. Me siphoning souls via human sacrifice to evil gods made it hostile.
Nah, that nailed it. World Tree involved? Kashnax or Indicron would've warned first.
So, not World Tree—forest's own will tormenting me.
Hated me exporting souls outward.
"Maybe you're right, Eun-ji. Players sacrificed to complete a 'god's idol' or something."
"Meaning..."
"God's idol ain't a benevolent gift. Curse and sorcery clump. Miracle born from entrants' vengeful spirits..."
"Ah..."
Goddamn apocalypse. No free lunch—stomping others to survive was norm.
"Eun-ji-ya. He left a recorder too. Translate this."
"Sure..."
Handed her the cassette.
She replayed it several times, then looked troubled.
"Oppa... We're screwed..."
"Why? What'd he say?"
"Passes my curse to whoever hears this. Run. 'Dodomeki' will hunt you..."
Dodomeki? What the hell now?
Vision darkened.
Sunset began.
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