125
Chapter 125
I witnessed a gruesome sight.
Deep within the Volcanic Zone.
The corpses of Flame Bears were impaled on numerous spikes protruding from the ground, and a deformed bear was savagely tearing into them, pulling the bodies off one by one to feast.
The bastard's species name was Fantastic Bear.
It was a monster belonging to the Chaos Domain.
Tosun's Mom, who was riding atop the Giant Centipede, approached the Fantastic Bear in an instant.
The Fantastic Bear swung its front paw at Tosun's Mom.
Thud- A heavy sound echoed out.
However, there was no damage.
Tosun's Mom's face, which had taken a direct hit from the paw, was surprisingly fine.
Soon after, Tosun's Mom used a skill.
A new skill I had never seen before.
In an instant, the Fantastic Bear was engulfed by a pillar of blood that surged from the ground, was drained of all its moisture, and died instantly, leaving only a husk behind.
"Son-in-law Bear! I'm a bit late to ask, but this bear I just killed isn't related to you, is it? Like your grandfather or something."
Tosun's Mom asked in a loud voice from afar.
I shook my head vigorously.
As if.
Tosun's Mom nodded her head.
Then she rummaged through the Fantastic Bear's husk.
She seemed to be trying to pull out a mana stone.
Everyone with me stared blankly at Tosun's Mom's back.
"Kkyua... She's so strong...."
"The more I see, the more amazing she is. It's a series of surprises, ribbit......."
"...My jaw drops every time I see the Queen's power in person."
The Giant Fist Lesser Panda and the Frog.
And the Vampire marveled.
I had a similar reaction.
Tosun's Mom was at a level that seemed utterly unreachable.
"As expected of Great-grandmother!"
The Little Yellow Dragon praised Tosun's Mom.
"Hehe."
Tosuni crossed her arms and fluttered her wings proudly.
Our Tosuni must be glad to have such a reliable mom.
Wait, is there even a need to be jealous?
I have a reliable mother-in-law myself, after all.
"Umm, everyone. Can I keep this mana stone? I want to use it for our dungeon development."
Why would you even ask?
Of course you should be the one to keep it, Tosun's Mom.
Everyone, including myself, nodded in agreement.
None of us were shameless enough to claim ownership over the mana stone.
"Hehe, thank you."
Tosun's Mom smiled broadly.
And right when she was putting the mana stone inside her clothes, it happened.
Flash!
Suddenly, a light beamed from thin air.
Then, someone instantly appeared in the spot where nothing had been.
"What is this."
A creepy and unpleasant voice that sounded like scraping metal.
"My disciple died."
An upper body that looked like a mix of an owl, a crow, and a peacock.
A lower body with mixed features of birds, reptiles, and mammals.
"It was a guy with great talent for growth, so I put quite a bit of effort into raising him."
[Fantastic Owl lv.50]
└ Pw.750
└ Rnk.Epic
[Domain: Chaos]
└ Rank - Mythical
A new guy appeared.
What even is Fantastic, and why do they keep popping up?
It was a monster far more powerful than the Fantastic Bear that had just died.
And,
"■□......."
Beneath the Fantastic Owl.
There was a creature it was using as a mount.
[Human lv.30]
└ Pw.60
└ Rnk.Uncommon
[Domain: Dimension]
└ Rank - Mythical
With the Fantastic Owl riding on his back.
It was a Human crawling on all fours, crying.
...Bear?
Wait a minute, is that guy...?
I think that's the guy I let go last time?
A face that wasn't entirely familiar, but wasn't a stranger's either.
It was definitely the Black Human with blonde hair who had been with the Old Man.
I went out of my way to spare his life, so why the heck is he caught by some random monster like that?
More importantly, his Domain rank is incredibly high.
Since I couldn't check my opponent's Domain last time, this is my first time seeing the Black Human's Domain.
Well, whatever.
That guy isn't the important part right now.
"......."
"Umm?"
The Fantastic Owl, who had suddenly appeared.
He was sitting peacefully on the Black Human's back, staring intently at Tosun's Mom.
"......."
"Hello?"
"Hmm...."
"From what I'm hearing, you seem to be friends with this dead one right here. So, are you going to fight me?"
"...I can't handle that."
"Umm?"
Flash!
Along with a flash of light, the Fantastic Owl disappeared.
Did he just pull a disappearing act?
He seemed to have realized the gap in strength between himself and Tosun's Mom.
For the record, the Black Human remained right where he was.
"Ummm, how dare you run away."
A Blood Storm swirled as Tosun's Mom also vanished.
What, did she really go chasing after him?
While everyone was standing there bewildered.
"Umm."
Tosun's Mom's voice rang out.
We all whipped our heads toward the direction of her voice at the same time.
Tosun's Mom was standing there, holding what appeared to be the mangled corpse of the Fantastic Owl in her hand.
Wow, how on earth did she chase him down and catch him?
Seeing as it was already dead, she must have killed him in a single blow before bringing him back.
Tosun's Mom....
She was truly a terrifying Rabbit the more you knew and saw of her.
***
"Ummm? That's strange. No matter how much I search, there's no Mana Stone."
"Didn't you drop it on the way back, ribbit?"
"That's impossible. If a Mana Stone fell out of the corpse, I would have noticed."
"Ribbit... Then perhaps this corpse was a Clone."
Tosun's Mom and the Frog were talking.
Listening to their conversation from the side, I expressed my doubts.
"Bear bear, bear bear bear?"
It was a Clone?
I definitely used Appraisal on it, didn't I?
"Ribbit? In that case, what we saw was his main body, and while he was running away, he probably created a Clone to serve as a decoy in case he was chased."
Is that so.
By the way, the Frog talks informally to me, but he's speaking very respectfully to Tosun's Mom.
He must be pretty terrified of Tosun's Mom.
"Umm... There's no way I would fall for a trick like that, you know? I'm absolutely sure I chased the right one."
"R-ribbit? Ribbit ribbit, you are completely right. There's no way you would make a mistake. It seems my guess just now was wrong."
Frog, my guy.
That's a bit pathetic.
I get that Tosun's Mom is scary, but how can you change your tune so quickly?
The Frog thought for a moment before offering another guess.
"If that's the case, we might never have seen his main body in the first place, ribbit."
"Umm? What do you mean by that?"
"It means that what we saw from the beginning must have been a Clone. Since it lacks a Mana Stone inside its body but Appraisal still worked on it, I presume it wasn't an ordinary Clone, but a special Clone that possessed almost the exact same power as his main body, ribbit ribbit."
"Ummmm, that guess makes the most sense."
I agreed as well.
That guess just now really was the most probable.
Even I don't think Tosun's Mom would have been fooled by the Fantastic Owl's cunning tricks.
Not with a difference in class like that.
Just as that conversation came to an end.
"Woong? Woong, woooong!"
Tosuni, who was next to me, pointed in a direction.
Why the sudden fuss?
Don't tell me another Fantastic whatever showed up?
I shifted my gaze to the direction she was pointing.
"What are those guys."
"Did they chase after us, ribbit?"
The Vampire and the Frog took a defensive stance.
In the direction we were looking.
A large number of Flame Bears were slowly approaching with sluggish steps.
Walking at the front and leading them was none other than the Magma Bear, my father whom I had spared earlier.
"Umm. I don't particularly feel any Killing Intent?"
"Bear bear."
They didn't seem to have any hostility.
It didn't look like they had followed us for revenge.
But more importantly, isn't something strange?
Their numbers have increased compared to earlier.
No, to be exact, they have returned to normal.
The size of the pack, which had been cut in half by Tosun's Mom, had been restored to its original state.
Hmm, what kind of situation is this?
I think even the two guys I killed at the very beginning are there?
Why are the dead ones perfectly alive and moving?
"Kkyuaak? The dead ones all came back to life!"
It seems the Red Panda noticed it too.
For the record, they aren't fake Flame Bears.
When I checked, their information was being displayed for all of them.
"Ah. Come to think of it, I've heard about this before. They say that among the higher species of the Flame Bear, those that wield Lava can perform Resurrection on their dead kin, bringing them back to their complete, living forms. To be exact, I heard they can only use Resurrection on kin who have submitted to them. Of course, I've only heard stories; this is my first time actually seeing it."
The Vampire said.
Earlier, the Magma Bear had been letting Lava flow and breathe into the corpses of the Flame Bears, so that must have been some sort of Resurrection ritual.
"Yong-yong? That's an amazing ability! Then can he also use Resurrection on Jjokkomi Mama's Mama?"
"That would be impossible. I know that they can only use Resurrection on kin who have recently died."
The Magma Bear had a resolute expression.
He came to a halt where he stood.
He slowly scanned the corpses of the Fantastic bastards, and then shifted his gaze to us.
Soon after,
"Goh, gooooh!"
The Magma Bear lay down with his back against the ground, exposing his belly.
One after another, the Flame Bears behind him took the exact same posture.
"Kkyuaa? Is he courting?"
"That's not it, it seems to be a posture of submission, ribbit."
To me, it looked like that too.
No matter how I looked at it, it was a posture of submission.
"I don't know what kind of situation this is either... As far as I know, there hasn't been a single instance in history where a pack of Flame Bears swore submission to another species...."
The Vampire made a surprised expression.
Adding that even if their opponent was overwhelmingly strong, they were absolutely not a species to submit.
In other words.
It meant that those guys hadn't yielded or fallen for Tosun's Mom's power.
Then why are they submitting?
Because we showed mercy?
Because we avenged their species?
I don't know.
On top of that, I don't even really know who they are submitting to right now.
Are they submitting to Tosun's Mom?
Or to everyone here?
If it was the latter, it was a bit embarrassing.
Because then I would become an Immoral Child who forced my father to submit.
The picture looks a bit weird here.
It was when I was scratching my head while keeping my eyes on the Magma Bear.
Squirm.
[Fantastic Owl lv.50]
└ Pw.750
└ Rnk.Epic
[Domain: Chaos]
└ Rank - Mythical
An Information Window popped up again from the crushed corpse of the Fantastic Owl.
It wasn't something I brought up of my own will, but the Helper brought it up automatically.
What is that now?
Looking closely, I can even see something like an eyeball.
Could it be that the main body located somewhere else reconnected to the Clone?
Seeing the eyeball that had formed, I suspected it was trying to spy on us.
It seemed I was the only one who had noticed it so far.
[The opponent's Domain is Chaos.]
[It is recommended to try using the Vaccine Module.]
Bear? Why a Vaccine out of nowhere?
The Helper suddenly made a strange recommendation.
[There is a possibility of treating those belonging to the Chaos Domain as a mass of Virus.]
It treats the Domain itself as a Virus?
Hmm... Seeing as it couldn't say for sure, it didn't seem to be definitive information.
Still, it told me to try, so I should.
Bear bear bear bear.
I approached with quick, short steps.
And activated the Vaccine Module.
[Executing Vaccine.]
Whir-
[Scan skipped, High-Speed Injection Mode.]
Thwack-!
A Mechanical Tentacle that popped out of my Button pierced straight through the Fantastic Owl's corpse.
Get lost.
Stop spying.
Glug glug-
As the Vaccine was injected like that, its corpse scattered like smoke and disappeared.
Did it work properly?
For now, the Information Window was no longer popping up.
[You have achieved the 'Natural Enemy of Chaos' achievement.]
[Acquiring reward. [Magic Doll Engineering lv.7] => [Magic Doll Engineering lv.8].]
Looks like it was a success.
Nice bear.
***
A place somewhere on the Continent.
Monsters were sitting around a round table.
Their species varied, but they had one thing in common.
Namely.
They bore the name Fantastic, and belonged to the Chaos Domain.
Also, despite belonging to Chaos, they hadn't lost their reason by being consumed by it, but rather were individuals with the goal of freely wielding the power of Chaos against their Forced Destiny.
Among them.
Was the Fantastic Owl.
"Aaaaargh!!!"
The Fantastic Owl's main body screamed in agony.
There was only one cause.
It was because the Teddy Bear had injected a Vaccine into the Clone connected to the main body.
That Vaccine was affecting even the main body.
"Some weird Teddy Bear brat injected something weird into my Clone......."
At the Fantastic Owl's sudden seizure, the other Fantastics looked at him in a panic.
The Vaccine Module was a skill born from the influence of the Luck Domain.
Therefore, it also treated the power of Misfortune, which was the opposite of Luck, as a Virus.
Just because it was a Domain didn't make it an exception.
Domain, Chaos.
Chaos was the very seed of all Misfortune.
Furthermore, it was the aggregate of Misfortune.
It had treated it as a target that needed to be purified with a Vaccine.
"Guh, urgghh......."
[Fantastic Owl lv.50]
└ Pw.750
└ Rnk.Epic
[Domain: x]
The Fantastic Owl's Domain was annihilated.
Generally, lifeforms unconditionally belong to a Domain within about a year after birth.
After that, they cannot exist without belonging to a Domain.
Therefore, if the Domain a lifeform belonged to faces Destruction, they mostly end up belonging to another Domain.
However, a case like Chaos was an exception.
This was because there were no Domains that would accept a lifeform that had belonged to Chaos.
It would be a different story if they met a complete death, but they would never accept a lifeform that was perfectly alive.
Because most Domains rejected Chaos.
Or because Domains related to Chaos, or sub-domains of Chaos, couldn't handle a lifeform that had belonged to Chaos.
In the end, the Fantastic Owl's body gradually began to collapse.
Before long, his physical body faced complete Annihilation.
The other Fantastics who were present could only stare blankly at the scene.