Chapter 87
Chapter 87
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Now It's Time to Give Trust
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After killing Lee Chan-seong, I hurried down to the first floor where the girls were waiting.
The blood on my hands wouldn't wipe off no matter how much I rubbed it on my clothes. It was seriously pissing me off.
"Oppa!!"
Eun-ji's voice snapped me out of my frayed mental state. Ever since the apocalypse began, she's been the one calling out to me, helping me hold on. It would be perfect if Ha-rin were here too...
"We caught everyone here."
"Good job. Let me see."
I showed Eun-ji the blood on my hands as she tried to hug me and told her I was sorry, but I couldn't hold her right now.
"That's a shame. Oppa, I'll hug you tons later."
"Yeah... let's hug a bunch later. I need some healing from Eun-ji after so long."
Eun-ji looked disappointed but checked my face, nodded, and stepped back. I was in pretty rough shape right now. I'd seen too many gory scenes, and it had worn me down mentally.
Living sane in this insane world was exhausting.
"Oppa! What about me?!"
"Master. Me too?"
"Of course Hwa-young and Mer too. No, all of you."
The women who loved me gave me the strength to keep going. I just wanted to get back to the mart, shower, fall asleep in their arms. Even one peaceful day would be enough.
"Um... sorry... I ended up killing all the ones that came out..."
Then A-ram apologized sheepishly. She'd taken care of the escapees at the entrance and killed them all.
"It's fine. You're not hurt, right A-ram?"
"Yeah..."
"Good. That's what matters."
"Come to think of it, I couldn't catch mine either. They were too strong. Had to kill them..."
"It's fine."
The Rogue and Blade Master had died in combat too. Eun-ji and A-reum said they were too strong to capture, so they'd finished them off cleanly.
Still, the Beast Tamer and Possession Warrior were definitely alive. Honestly, when I'd left the fighting to the girls, I'd expected all the hidden classes to die. But two survived, so that was a relief.
In the midst of it, the Beast Tamer had all her tendons severed.
"I cut them so she wouldn't run."
"Yeah. It's fine. Good job."
Hwa-young had done it with her dagger. She was a summoner anyway, so lower mobility wasn't a big deal. I smiled at Hwa-young and told her it was okay.
"Okay" was all that kept coming out of my mouth. Maybe deep down, I wanted someone to say it was okay to me.
As I thought that, Botamilli's voice unexpectedly rang in my head. She'd been watching me.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
If it's too much, just say so. I can erase your memories. Though you might end up an idiot if it goes wrong...
Become an idiot? She meant well, trying to comfort me in her own way, but I'd rather live with the memories of torturing Lee Chan-seong than that.
'I'm fine.'
I politely thanked Botamilli for her concern but declined. Unlike Indicron or Kashnax, who saw humans as mere prey, Botamilli showed a bit more humanity. Probably because she didn't demand human sacrifices.
"Phew... alright, line up single file."
I shook off the complicated thoughts and branded the foreheads of the Outlaws the girls had captured, one by one. There were even ordinary citizens who'd been kidnapped and imprisoned by them. I enslaved them all without distinction.
"Glad you're all safe. Let's head back. I'm exhausted."
"Huh? Master, what about that headless guy?"
"Oh, right. I forgot Gu Gyohan."
I'd forgotten the Dullahan who'd fought the Sharpshooter on the roof. I'd only told it to catch the Sharpshooter, no other orders. The dumb Dullahan was probably still standing there on the roof.
I headed back into the sports center to fetch it quickly so we could go rest. Gu Gyohan wouldn't listen to anyone but me, so I had to go myself.
'Every day is hell... If the girls weren't there to hold me together, it'd be even worse. Gotta get back, wash up, eat, have sex, and sleep...'
But my twisted fate wasn't about to let me rest easy.
Rumble...
A vibration came from the sports center's first floor. Like some massive being waking up.
The ground trembled slightly, forcing us to stagger back a few steps.
"What the hell is that...?"
A-reum asked. No one could answer. We'd never seen anything like it. It was... a massive lump of flesh.
That was the only way to describe it.
'Fuck...!'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Field Boss 'Rotten Fetus' is spawning. Warning!!! All nearby undead enter the Field Boss 'Rotten Fetus' influence!! Corpses are reviving as 'Meat Golems'!!
"Uwaaaaaah!!!!"
A massive monster rose on the sports center's first floor.
The Field Boss's head was made of countless human skulls, and its torso was a writhing mass of squished and expanding zombies, breaking apart repeatedly.
It looked like dozens of humans crudely stitched together. If you picked the most grotesque lifeform made from corpses, it'd be this thing.
Even worse, it resembled a giant fetus overall. A baby made of corpses. Its appearance was enough to traumatize anyone.
"Uwaaaaaah!!!!!"
The corpse-baby, nearly five meters tall, screamed and slammed the ground like a tantruming infant.
Corpses on the sports center floor mashed together en masse, transforming into Meat Golems.
The rising Meat Golems absorbed the Ebony Cockroaches clinging to them, growing even larger. If we left this monster alone, the Meat Golems would keep multiplying. We probably couldn't survive here, and even if we fled, we might never hunt this insane beast again.
"Fuck!!! I just want to rest!!"
"Oppa!! Dodge!!!"
Eun-ji yelled at me. But I knew I couldn't retreat. If I ran now, it was over. We had to fight—win or die. This was our best shot.
I immediately aimed Totsmir's Blunderbuss from my shoulder at it.
I hadn't used it on Lee Chan-seong. No need—he'd been caught barehanded.
Anyway, I realized now was the time. A monster reviving dead corpses as monsters.
Every second it lived longer, the area would fill with rotting flesh. No holding back. This was the perfect moment for Totsmir's Blunderbuss.
With that thought, I pulled the trigger on the two-shot blunderbuss.
Boom!!!!!
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Achievement Unlocked! 'Overwhelming Firepower' Achievement rewards granted.
I was flung back several meters in an instant. Insane recoil.
No recoil control meant nothing with this destructive power...
As I flew back, I glimpsed flames bursting from the muzzle. And the exploding Rotten Fetus.
'Head's ringing from the shock...'
The recoil alone felt like a giant's punch slamming my whole body.
The dragon hunter hadn't warned me about this...
Thanks to my high stats and Na-garaja's sap, I didn't black out.
"Master!"
As I soared through the air, Merhere rushed in and caught me. Without her, my face would've been scraped off on the asphalt.
"M-Mer... thanks."
"No, Master... blood from your nose and ears... and what the hell was that just now?"
"M-Mer... look over there first."
"Huh...?"
Mer, looking at me worriedly, turned toward the sports center. The crying, crawling Rotten Fetus was frozen, half its body blasted away mid-crawl.
Everything in the straight line was obliterated. A massive hole gaped in the sports center. Even I had to admit it was ridiculous firepower.
'Damn... if I'd aimed true, it'd be dead...'
Unfortunately, it glanced off, so no instant kill.
Ruuuumble...
As I regretted it, a collapsing sound echoed.
Bad feeling the sports center was about to crumble... My premonitions always hit the mark.
"Uwaa!! We have to rip off the head!!!"
The Dullahan leaped screaming from the roof.
Its frantic cries sounded like pleas for life.
All it knew were "rip off the head" or "throat itches," so we communicated via nuance and emotion. From past experience, I could tell it was terrified now.
"That bastard..."
"It's fast..."
Boom!
The Dullahan landed and charged straight at us at full speed. Hearing the building crumble, even its low IQ registered danger. Notably, it was running on foot, too panicked to summon its skeleton horse.
"We have to get out too!"
"Yeah! Run, Mer!!"
The sports center began collapsing. The staggering Rotten Fetus got buried, screaming.
No level-up notice, so it wasn't dead despite the building on it.
"Jun-ah!!"
As Mer and I sprinted, Hee-sun Noona shot roots at us, pulling us away from the debris. We avoided being crushed. The new slaves from the sports center had evacuated into the sewers.
Rumble...
The sports center fully collapsed.
The rubble stirred, and the mangled Rotten Fetus crawled out wriggling.
'As expected of a boss...'
If my high strength had let me perfectly aim at its crown, it'd be dead.
But the blunderbuss's recoil threw off my aim the moment I fired.
'Actually, better this way. HP's about half. We'll gang up and finish it... Everyone levels up.'
Might as well all attack together. Better for overall power than me soloing.
I turned the crisis into opportunity.
"Alright! Charge!!"
"My lord!!!!"
As I yelled to charge it—
Someone bellowed louder.
"Huh...?"
It was a voice I missed and was thrilled to hear.
Ha-rin, my first slave from the Myriad Ghost Realm.
I naturally turned toward the voice.
Ha-rin rode in on a massive one-eyed wolf.
'What... that wolf... scary...'
The wolf was car-sized.
Looking closer at Ha-rin, distracted by the wolf, she'd changed a lot since before the Myriad Ghost Realm.
'Gray hair... beast ears...?'
Ha-rin had wolf ears and tail.
It made her... incredibly cute.
Her fierce expression contrasted with the perky ears and wagging tail, like a puppy.
"My lord!! I'm back!! Ha-rin has returned as the Blue Moon Beast!! To protect my one and only master!!!"
Ha-rin's booming voice stunned even the howling Rotten Fetus into staring blankly.
"H-Ha-rin... welcome!!"
I hugged Ha-rin tightly as she leaped from the wolf into my arms. My hands were too bloody to hug Eun-ji, but I couldn't refuse her joy.
"But what happened? Hair color changed. Ears... tail too."
"A lot happened! You can touch the ears and tail later! First, we kill that monster, right?"
"Y-Yeah... let's go!!!"
I snapped back and yelled again.
"Welcome, Ha-rin!"
"Eun-ji unni!"
"Ears... ears..."
"Hwa-young! Touch later!"
"Uh... unni..."
"Yeah, good to see you, A-reum!"
Ha-rin had become bold. No trace of her former timidity. She brimmed with confidence.
Everyone was stunned by her changes but charged the Field Boss anyway.
Questions piled up, but now was for killing. The longer it lived, the slimmer our odds.
As we ran at the Rotten Fetus, Ha-rin remounted the car-sized wolf and overtook us.
"Charge!! Brothers!!"
Awooooo!!!
We couldn't match that speed, that raw power.
It was a gale-force sprint, outpacing even the Dullahan on its skeleton horse.
"The Beast of the Blue Moon has arrived!!"
She led the charge, ripping apart every Meat Golem in our path like a feral animal.
Her target: the Field Boss Rotten Fetus.
Ha-rin barreled straight ahead, ignoring everything else, eyes locked on her prey.
At point-blank range, she leaped from the wolf, arms wide.
Countless Meat Golems blocked her.
"Rip and tear!!!"
A bizarre shout. Blue claws erupted from her hands.
Magic claws. Probably a skill.
Her arms blurred with speed.
Blue lines slashed the Meat Golems, exploding them.
The Dullahan and half-human half-demon A-ram followed through the gap, smashing the Rotten Fetus's heads with greatsword and hammer.
Mer arrived similarly, scything its body. The rest hit in sequence.
Everyone contributed to downing the Field Boss. Finally escaping this damn level 15.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Level increased by 1. Achievement to the player with highest contribution! Achievement Unlocked! 'Rotten Fetus Subjugated' Achievement rewards granted.
It'd been ages since I'd seen a level-up notice.
"Whoa!! We did it!!"
"Heh... it worked."
"Ha-rin!! Can I pet the wolf?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
With the dead Field Boss nearby, we burst into smiles.
I approached Ha-rin. Her gray hair was splattered with flesh and blood from the Rotten Fetus.
"Ha-rin. You're back."
"Yeah. My lord. I worked... really hard."
"Good girl. You did great."
"Hehe..."
I stroked her head.
Then something popped up in my view.
Player Ha-rin's Slave Brand has been erased.
"Huh...?"
I met Ha-rin's eyes.
She fidgeted, then confessed.
"My lord. It seems I can't be a slave anymore."
"What... do you mean?"
"I've become the daughter of Queen Garia of the Blue Moon. So I can't be anyone's slave now."
"W-Wait... what...?"
I staggered.
Ha-rin reached to support me.
I flinched and gently pushed her away.
"H-Ha-rin. So... you can never be my slave again?"
"Yeah... My lord... no, Oppa Jo-jun... if not a slave... is it no good?"
"Uh... I... need time... to think..."
My head was a mess.
This had happened before. When A-ram partially awakened in Our Heart Church's underground parking, her Slave Brand broke once.
'Again... again...'
The Slave Brand wasn't foolproof.
'Calm down... Jang Jo-jun... You knew this could happen from the start...'
When the gods' converts attacked our mart, I'd worried about a class that could erase Slave Brands. If my skill failed, I'd agonized over it. No answers then.
"Ha-rin."
"Yeah... Oppa."
"This might be sudden, but I need to know how you feel about me... Be honest, from the heart."
No way to verify truth from lies.
I had to trust she'd tell the truth. Yeah, trust. A foreign word in my distrust-filled life... but I had no choice now.
"Oppa. I spent months there, actually."
"M-Months?"
"Yeah. Time flows differently in the Myriad Ghost Realm. Anyway, I ran wild with my brothers. Running free, no worries, under the blue moon."
"Yeah..."
"While running, I remembered. When we first met. Weeks ago for you, months for me. Hehe... Remember when I aimed my bow at you?"
"Yeah... first time we met... I caught you."
"Yeah. That day, my whole family died."
"Oh... I didn't know..."
"It's fine. I came out determined to survive alone. But you caught me so easily."
"Yeah..."
"I thought it was over. Figured you were some crazy pervert."
"Ah... sorry..."
"No. Don't apologize. That's how it was. But traveling with you... I started relying on you. It sounds silly, but you smashed everything and pushed forward. Following you felt good. You treated me well too."
"W-Well... I like Ha-rin."
"Me too. I like you. Even after just once together, you take responsibility. The morning kisses, saying it's good. All of it. So, running those vast blue plains... I always thought I had to come back."
"Really...?"
"Yeah. My brothers—the plains wolves—said stay and live free, no need to suffer. But I kept thinking of you. Me living peaceful, while you're fighting stinking zombies. You, Eun-ji unni, Hwa-young, A-ram unni, A-reum, Hee-sun unni, Mer unni. Everyone. So I had to return."
"Oh..."
"Oppa. The Beast of the Blue Moon never abandons family. You're family to me. Everyone else too. I won't abandon or betray. So... run with me to the end? I'll clear your path. Faster than anyone. Run with me... I want to go with you."
"Ha-rin..."
A raw confession.
She poured out her jumbled feelings honestly. I could tell it was real.
I took her hand.
Rejecting such sincerity wouldn't make me a man.
"Okay. Ha-rin. Let's run together."
"Yeah... thanks. Hehe. Love you, Oppa."
"Me too."
Time to change my worldview a bit.
Thirty years, I'd never trusted anyone. Still don't with strangers.
But... maybe Ha-rin? My women? Maybe I can trust them. Now's the time to give trust.
I'd always hidden, fearing others as threats. But these girls in my heart... maybe I can trust them.
Tonight.
I'll talk with them. Maybe... free them all from slavery. Can't free just Ha-rin. If freeing, all of them.
Some might leave.
Might betray me.
Still, I want to trust.
They might not all feel like Ha-rin... but.
I want a relationship not based on leverage.
One built on true trust.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇