Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: The Two-Headed Abomination
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Shunen watched from afar as the Froglin warriors in the feast hall were taken down in one fell swoop, without even a chance to resist.
'Those bastards got the drop on us!'
No matter how much of a surprise attack it was, the Lizardmen's javelins were ruthless.
If he had been in that spot, he would've been skewered in an instant, no doubt about it.
That's why Shunen chose the second option out of the two available to him.
'Better to run than stand and fight here.'
The Lizardmen numbered thirty without a single loss, while he only had fifteen warriors under his command.
They weren't ambushed, so they could form up properly and fight from range with their bows, but still...
'Why should I take that risk? If my father dies, I'll be the next tribal chief.'
Shunen couldn't find any reason to risk his life in battle.
If they fought here, his reputation among the other Froglin warriors would force him to lead from the front, raising his chances of death.
Shunen was a coward, but he had the survival instincts to keep it hidden all this time.
One warrior spoke up.
"Lord Shunen! Those bastards just killed our warriors!"
"Shut your mouth. We're outnumbered, aren't we? They'll expect us to attack, so they won't move rashly. We'll use that time to fetch reinforcements."
"Warrior Oboi, you mean? Ah, understood."
Shunen neither confirmed nor denied it.
He had thought of Oboi, but there was something even more reliable.
'That damn Owen brat. A Lizardman daring to deceive me?'
Shunen suspected Owen's involvement in Rakrak somehow entering the village for the ambush, though he didn't know the details.
'You'll regret it, Owen. You and all the Lizardmen. Because of your choice.'
Shunen led his fifteen warriors away from the lower-class village.
Their destination was the island in the middle of the lake.
Seong-un watched the battle unfolding in the village with satisfaction.
'No way they could lose.'
Honestly, even in a fair frontal clash, Rakrak's tribe was strong enough to repel the Froglins without much damage.
Rakrak's warriors averaged two levels higher, with huge gaps in stats and blessings.
'Thanks to that, their poison arrows don't even work.'
Poison frogs? Rakrak's tribe had already eaten them for dinner.
'Plus, we've got Manun.'
Manun, with Jaol and her errand runner mounted on its back, had crushed Oboi and the warriors, then charged into the village, gleefully chasing down Froglins.
Froglins attempting clumsy resistance were trampled to death under Manun's feet.
'Didn't expect Jaol to pick up the Taming skill first. Does she have a talent for it?'
In the end, the Froglins' only advantage was their bows and arrows as new weapons, but Rakrak had cleverly overcome it by pooling the tribe's wisdom.
The crude shields needed improvement, and without a way to preserve organic materials permanently, they wouldn't last forever, but for now, they were effective.
'So, zero casualties for the moment.'
The thirty warriors—plus Manun and its two riders—were rampaging freely through the Froglin village.
On top of that, Owen had faithfully carried out Rakrak's orders. The Lizardmen convinced by Owen stopped resisting Rakrak and his warriors, and started setting fires as instructed.
Some had even been inspired by Rakrak's warriors to turn and attack the Froglins.
'Only natural.'
Once they witnessed with their own eyes the collapse of the system that had subjugated them, the pent-up emotions buried deep in their hearts began to pour out.
Rakrak didn't stop them.
No matter that they weren't warriors, the Froglins had numbers on their side.
Even excluding the young and elderly, if their leaders rallied and incited them effectively, Rakrak could still be in danger even now.
Rakrak found that odd.
"Where is this great Aulroy I've only heard the name of? And why hasn't Shunen returned?"
Seong-un gave an awkward smile at Rakrak's mutter.
'Because of me.'
Lost World was a complex game.
Natural ecosystems, rising civilization levels leading to city-to-city relations, nation-to-nation dynamics, various ideologies, intricate capital flows of capitalism, and on top of that, magic and divinity.
'That's why tactics and strategies to defeat opponents are nearly infinite.'
Seong-un was good at following the meta trends, but he also had a knack for devising strategies to break them.
Sticking to the meta alone wasn't enough to maintain a high win rate.
And among the countless strategies Seong-un had devised, one involved using 'disease'.
'Maybe one of the most powerful weapons in this game.'
Disease worked in any era.
In low-civilization levels, it was hard to treat; in high ones, it spread too fast to contain.
Yet using it burdened the player.
'Diseases are complicated and don't discriminate between friend and foe.'
Without confidence in controlling it, using disease was foolish.
Of course, Seong-un was confident.
'Disease spreads easily by species first, then mutates within similar species. Sure, it can jump species sometimes...'
Anyway, Seong-un had one target disease in mind; finding it was all that mattered.
Then it was a race against time using his vast insect swarms to retrieve it.
Seong-un knew that while Lost World's maps were randomly generated, continent shapes, special terrains, creature distributions—and crucially, disease distributions—didn't deviate much from certain locations.
From the moment he decided to wipe out the Froglin tribe someday, Seong-un had been searching for that disease.
In the meantime, Rakrak had defeated Viewe of the Blue Skins and followed the Star Reader southeast.
Seong-un found the disease just in time.
Diseases always had variants, but this one had every code Seong-un wanted.
'The key is that mycelium diseases only affect amphibian mucosa.'
Not like viruses—this one wouldn't harm other species even if it mutated.
Lethal only to amphibians.
Simply because they breathe through their skin.
The problem was its discovery site: over a hundred kilometers from the Froglin village.
A god physically carrying it wasn't an option at Seong-un's current divinity level.
'Avatar needs more levels.'
But he didn't need to.
Seong-un had countless errand runners.
Beetles capable of long flights rubbed against the bodies of dying, diseased salamanders, coating themselves like bees with honey.
The mycelium latched onto the beetles' bodies but couldn't settle on their smooth surfaces.
Then the beetles took flight.
As some died of old age, Seong-un created dragonflies with longer flight ranges, having them bite the legs of mycelium-coated beetles and carry them.
Numbers dwindled from exhaustion, birds, or collisions, but a few mycelium strands reached the Froglin village.
Seong-un infected Aulroy first.
Around the time Rakrak discovered orcs nearby.
Upon arriving at the island, Shunen realized others had beaten him there.
"Father!"
"Oh, Shunen... I heard from the errand runner Oboi sent. The lower village is burning? By Lizardmen?"
"Yes! You know Owen, right? I think that bastard tricked us."
"Hah, I knew it. Knew those long-tailed scum couldn't be trusted."
Standing before Shunen was his father, Aulroy.
The old tribal chief had a sturdy build, but his body was covered in horrific white mucus, trembling uncontrollably as breathing grew labored.
Behind him were elders afflicted with the same itching disease, and warriors coated in white mucus.
Shunen understood Aulroy's intent.
'Oboi must have called for warrior support. But Father can't wait any longer. Oboi, you'll have to buy time.'
It would've been nice to inform Oboi, but it couldn't be helped.
Shunen felt he had the authority to act independently.
"Shall we begin the ritual now?"
"Yes. I'm calling Him starting now. Shunen, take responsibility and bring the sacrifices, prepare them. First, with these, we'll pray for Him to slaughter every Lizardman in the lower village. Then, next..."
"There's a Lizardman village that came against us. Tonight, I'll send warriors to capture them as slaves. Before dawn, Father—and all the sick warriors—will be healed."
"Good, thank you, Shunen. You've truly grown into a reliable warrior."
Shunen smiled.
The lower-class Froglin village was nearly cleaned up.
No more Froglins challenged the Lizardmen.
The village soil was red with Froglin blood, and Rakrak felt exhilarated by the thick stench of blood and burning wood.
"Rakrak! Rakrak!"
Rakrak saw a soot-blackened Owen running from afar.
"You did splendidly, Owen. What's the matter?"
"We, we must head to the island in the middle of the lake right now."
"Why?"
Rakrak knew there were at least two more Froglin villages.
But he wasn't rushing. Victory came steadily.
Besides, after this first win, the Lizardmen were unscathed, not even tired.
They could smash another village by dawn after circling the lake.
"Is there something on that island?"
"M-my son is there."
"Ah, so they were using him to blackmail the Lizardmen?"
Rakrak had noticed the absence of brown-skinned Lizardman children in the lower village.
"Y-yes. And now they're going to sacrifice him as an offering."
"Why?"
Owen cried out in anguish.
"They have a god!"
"Oh?"
"If they offer sacrifices, the god comes and grants their petty requests. It won't cure their disease, but it can attack you and your warriors."
Owen hoped his emotions conveyed to Rakrak.
But Rakrak sighed.
"You should've said so earlier."
"Pardon?"
"My warriors just scoured the lakeshore chasing Froglins. Most swam off or took boats—we couldn't follow. I figured they'd head to the upper village anyway, so I didn't order boats gathered. We can't reach the island."
"Sw-swim there..."
"Too dangerous. They have bows. We'd be picked off landing. We're not as good at swimming or holding breath as them; they could attack from underwater."
"B-but my son..."
Rakrak slapped Owen's jaw.
Owen collapsed, nose bleeding.
"You idiot! That's why you should've spoken sooner! Trusted me sooner! I believe we can smash whatever god these pathetic frogs worship with our strength alone. If it shows on that island and charges us, I'll show it—and you—my warriors and I shattering their so-called god!"
Rakrak's anger softened to pity as he looked down at Owen.
"...But to save your child, you should've talked just a bit sooner, don't you think?"
Owen broke down sobbing on the ground.
In Owen's mind, not a word Rakrak said was wrong.
'Everything could have changed. If I'd understood Shunen's intent sooner. No, before meeting Rakrak five times—on the fourth, third... No, even before meeting Rakrak, I could have changed it all. I was just too late.'
Rakrak's shout drew the warriors and Jaol.
Rakrak warned them to prepare for a big monster fight.
"Something's starting."
From the lakeshore, the island's scene came into view.
Froglins began emitting eerie cries, raising torches high and shaking their bodies.
There were unmoving small figures.
Lizardman children, bound.
"Something's under the lake. Everyone, prepare to attack at any moment."
"Yes!"
Soon, something broke the surface.
The Two-Headed Abomination.
This monster was a type of 'Abomination' that even Seong-un knew well.
'Serpent Abomination? Two heads meant double XP, I think.'
Abominations were ancient evils in the lore.
If Ancient Scarabs were field raid bosses, Abominations were AI that occasionally dominated tribes without gods, serving as tougher foes.
'But their divinity is lower than Ancient Scarabs. Probably balanced because huge tribes come with them. This is the real world, though, so there must be reasons.'
Abominations could grow, sometimes leading to mid-game losses for players.
'Still, just AI.'
Conquering them was about minimizing damage and swallowing their resources whole.
And Seong-un was already perfect at that.
'All that groundwork paid off.'
Seong-un felt good knowing Rakrak's tribe would gain XP, tech, and resources without losses. These would widen the gap with other players.
'Good. Rakrak's done his part. Time for me to step in.'
Divinity was ample, and a chance to test the new skill.
Seong-un selected 'Yes'.
Rakrak thought fighting the 15-meter two-headed serpent was feasible, but then he spotted something and his eyes gleamed.
Rakrak said,
"Hey, opportunist."
"Yes?"
Owen, head bowed in despair, looked up.
"Do you believe in miracles?"
The shadow of a gigantic mantis fell over the two-headed Abomination.