Chapter 60
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Lesson 13. Because I Need to See You Kneel - 5
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Just as a larva, having consumed ample nutrition, passes through the pupal stage to emerge as a butterfly, the ultimate form a beastkin reaches after accumulating their wild instincts is beast transformation.
The form Lucelle had just shown was the transitional phase between human and beast—perhaps a half-beast state?
Whether it was the concept of the giant that Ban Yu-won had injected into her successfully stimulating her wild side, the power she displayed in that instant was utterly overwhelming.
"Master!"
Lucelle yanked the mechanical giant's heart free from Irecto and tossed it to Ban Yu-won.
It was a grotesque heart, half-eaten away by metal and spewing poison.
Right around then, Parell burst out of the wind prison, eyes bulging as he thrust his sword forward—but by that point, Ban Yu-won had already absorbed every concept contained within the heart.
Acquired Giant 50, Life 20, Magical Power 10, Monstrous Strength 20, Judgment 3, Star Mark 0.2.
There was no time to sort through the concepts right there on the spot.
Ban Yu-won fully separated the depth-50 'Giant' concept and injected it straight into Lucelle (he could easily transfer concepts to his familiar even from a distance), then launched himself into the air.
—Kwaaaang!
A massive crater formed.
To his astonishment, Parell, who had torn through the wind, unleashed a thick jet of black magical power from his sword tip, pulverizing the very spot where Ban Yu-won had stood just moments before.
"Now I get it. You're using sorcery, draining others' magical power to strengthen yourself, you mana eater...! This is a grave violation of Dimensional Guardian Clause 12!"
"What the hell does that mean, you fanboy!"
It was utterly ridiculous seeing a dimensional pirate ranting about laws and violations.
But the sheer menace of Parell charging in, swinging his enormous blade in a fury, was fearsome enough to make even Ban Yu-won—who sparred daily with Dokgo Yeon—flinch.
—Block it—fix everything into the same form first, then split the attributes for multi-layered manifestation! Focus the magical power!
—Kwajik, kwang! Kwajijik! Kuaaa!
He tried layering defensive barriers infused with elemental magic he was starting to handle decently well—wind, fire, lightning, ice, and more—but they all shattered without holding even a moment.
If not for Cellon's assistance, his head would already have been split by that thick blade.
"Tower-munching pest! I'll dismantle you myself!"
Parell's aura grew ever more vicious.
But just before his sword could shatter the barriers and cleave into Ban Yu-won's body...
"Haaaaah!"
Was it because she'd received an extra injection of the giant concept? Lucelle, her body swollen to the size of the wildly thrashing Irecto while alive, blocked his path.
—Now! Blast him with everything you've got!
"Got it!"
Magical power concentrated around the staff Ban Yu-won thrust forward.
The most reliably executable elemental magic for him was none other than a volcanic eruption.
He first envisioned lava spewing forth, then imagined it compressed into a straight line.
'Plain won't cut it—add language magic. Compression, and straight line!'
Beyond the staff, a mass of hot, shimmering red energy gathered into a melon-sized sphere.
The two magic words Ban Yu-won had uttered dwelled within, fixing the spell's form.
—Volcano Shot!
'Don't shout the technique name, Cellon...!'
—This is important, you idiot!
In magic that required imagination, a spell's name was a highly valued element, so he couldn't outright dismiss Cellon's words.
A miniature volcano formed at the staff's tip, unleashing a straight beam of lava.
Perfectly fitting the name Volcano Shot.
But right before it launched, something Ban Yu-won hadn't anticipated occurred.
The 'Judgment' concept within him, which had risen to 4 after consuming Irecto's heart, resonated with his magical power and turned the lava white!
"What the...?"
Before he could probe its meaning, the Volcano Shot fired.
The ultra-compressed lava bullet struck Parell dead-on.
Dazzling light condensed and exploded, amplifying the spell's depth in an instant—clear as day.
"Guaaaaaah!"
It was certain.
The Judgment concept had empowered the magic!
Only then did Ban Yu-won fully grasp its nature.
'Both the orc vice-captain before and Irecto today—I've only acquired Judgment from those judged as criminals.'
Punish a criminal, gain Judgment. Simple logic.
And it didn't end there—the acquired Judgment concept aided in punishing criminals further.
The more you punished them, the deeper the depth grew, and the deeper it grew, the easier it became to punish them.
This was a concept with as firm a disposition and personality as any game class!
'Well, considering I ate something akin to the fruit of knowledge of good and evil from the Bible, this level of effect is only right.'
"You bastard, how... how did you cast such magic...?"
Indeed, the Volcano Shot bolstered by Judgment was devastatingly potent, inflicting horrific wounds even on Parell, who was far stronger than Ban Yu-won.
"Gah?!"
"But even sooo!"
What was truly shocking was that, despite it all, he didn't falter—he swung his blade-armed limb and buried it into the giant blocking his way.
A twisted smile crept across Parell's face as his killing blow landed true.
"In the end, both of you will die by my hand...! In the name of Exodus!"
"Wha... what...?"
The giant's body shuddered, pierced through without chance for retaliation.
He vomited purple blood and cried out in a trembling voice.
"Why me, Professor...!"
"...?!"
It was a thick, low male voice.
Parell's eyes finally snapped wide open.
He realized he'd been ensnared in an illusion.
The one impaled on his sword wasn't Lucelle, but...
"Irec...to?"
"Guh... why do this!"
Irecto, who had somehow still been clinging to life, groaned as Parell's blade pierced him.
His vitality was monstrous even after having his heart ripped out, but it seemed to have reached its limit now.
"Where's that wench... guk!"
"Hup!"
As he blabbered foolishly, failing to grasp the situation...
The 'real' Lucelle appeared behind Parell's back.
Her long, razor-sharp beast claws pierced his chest from behind!
"Kuhak! How... what...!"
Parell's eyes filled with rage and bewilderment at finishing off his comrade and suffering a lethal ambush.
A snow-white serpent swimming through the air entered his vision at that moment.
"Shik, shiiik!"
A snake radiating golden magical power from its entire body.
Incredibly, it was a high spirit he'd never laid eyes on in his lifetime... a phantom beast!
"To think I fell for a phantom beast's illusion...? Me, Parell!"
"Shiiiit."
Its purpose fulfilled, the phantom beast—Eve—slithered onto Ban Yu-won's arm.
Having splendidly evolved, broken from her egg, and completed her flashy debut.
Until now, she could only alter her own form, but evolving into a phantom beast had elevated her transformative power to another dimension!
Eve [Phantom Beast 100, Life 100, Demonic Power 90, Soul 70, Myriad Transformations 50]
('Looks the same on the outside, but the internal concepts have changed dramatically... All the杂 concepts consolidated into higher ones like Phantom Beast and Myriad Transformations. Myriad Transformations jumping from depth 1 to 50 suggests the evolution was quite successful.')
Ghost Tool, Transformation—no trace remained of her days as a mere weapon.
She had shed her core weapon form and successfully taken on the shape of a demonic beast—no, advanced one step further to a phantom beast.
Only after checking her possessed concepts did Ban Yu-won relax and stroke her head.
"Good job, Eve."
"Shiit, sit sit."
"...Since when!"
Parell spat blood upon realizing the phantom beast belonged to Ban Yu-won.
"Since when have you been casting illusions on me!"
"Then I'll ask one too."
Ban Yu-won struck a pose like a comic book character and replied.
"When exactly did you think I stopped using illusions?"
"Wha...!"
Truth be told, even Ban Yu-won hadn't known.
All the illusions in this space had been Eve's doing—evolving unbeknownst to anyone, slipping out of his inventory on her own.
Hiding Lucelle's form, disguising the still-living Irecto (heart ripped out yet alive) as Lucelle.
And for Irecto, dazed from barely recovering from his wounds, showing him Ban Yu-won's illusion to make him charge blindly at Parell would have been child's play.
"But you knew, didn't you, Lucelle? How?"
"Because we're both your familiars, Master."
"Kuhk!"
Lucelle smiled brightly as she answered, then twisted her arm with force.
The magical power in her claws rampaged, tearing Parell's body to shreds.
—Shuuu.
Perhaps the giant's power had finally run dry—her body shrank to normal, the ears and tail atop her head and hips vanishing.
But with the giant concept firmly rooted within her, she could now transform into half-beast form anytime.
"Then... shall I finish them off, Master?"
Her clear eyes, now calm without the wildness, turned to Ban Yu-won.
She likely meant nothing by it—probably just consideration for him—but to Ban Yu-won, it felt like a test.
Whether he could kill.
Her eyes seemed to ask that.
'Inferiority complex, probably. But the fact that the thought even crosses my mind is the issue. It means there's still a sliver of hesitation in my heart.'
Obviously, such situations wouldn't be rare for Ban Yu-won going forward.
Moreover, he'd already killed an intruder from the previous tower on impulse, so hesitating now would be laughable.
"No, Lucelle. I'll do it."
After a brief moment of resolve, he drew the Executioner's Longsword, untouched throughout the battle.
His determination was set, but his steps toward the foe were light.
"You... Exodus... will—."
"I heard that once before."
Srrek—. He severed the dying Irecto's neck, then impaled Parell's.
Irecto's poison-laced blood and Parell's blackened blood were wholly absorbed into the Executioner's Longsword.
As he squeezed his eyes shut against the indescribable chill, an unexpected power notification appeared.
The Executioner's Longsword's Blood Poison depth rises to 30, Murder depth to 75, and Demonic Sword depth to 50.
His eyes snapped open.
He'd had a hunch... but this Earth artifact truly grew stronger by slaying people! A demonic sword indeed!
The blade subtly lengthened as it drained their blood, sharpening further, and above all, the power infused within intensified palpably.
It had grown faintly from killing monsters before, but never this dramatically.
The enemies' strength must have contributed to this sudden surge.
Acquired Giant 100, Life 62, Magical Power 66, Body 59, Monstrous Strength 50, Blade Transformation 50, Judgment 6, Star Mark 0.6.
The volume of concepts from the two corpses was immense.
Of course, the loss when Ban Yu-won actually absorbed them would be massive too—no need to celebrate prematurely.
Take the total 82 Life from Irecto's heart earlier—it took a whopping 32 to raise his Life from 392 to 400.
Others might curse his growth speed as cheating already!
"Shiiit, shiiiit."
"Yeah. You shone in battle, so you deserve it."
Thus, he decided to give all remaining 50 Life to Eve.
Hers was a mere 100.
Far below his, so her absorption efficiency would be much higher.
The issue was Life couldn't exceed her core Phantom Beast depth, but adding the accumulated Beast concepts plus Blade Transformation from Parell happily pushed Phantom Beast to 150.
"Lucelle, you too."
"Master...!"
To Lucelle, he granted the newly acquired Giant plus 50 Monstrous Strength.
Monstrous Strength paired naturally with Giant anyway, and truthfully, Ban Yu-won couldn't absorb more 'Monstrous Strength' himself.
He had 50 latent within, and perhaps his body couldn't handle beyond that yet.
After distributing, absorbing, and organizing all concepts...
Even summarizing just the changed concepts yielded this much.
Martial Arts growing from battle was natural, but he couldn't fathom why Command or Charm had risen.
Surprisingly, Spatial Control—which had felt vague and hard to grasp—had been inching up every time he handled magic, and the day he wielded it solo might come sooner than expected.
As for Star Mark, totaling 0.8 from both meant Parell had contracted a constellation too, but still not reaching 1 drew a sigh.
'Not like hitting 1 triggers anything special, though...'
Finally, Judgment—which greatly aided in finishing Parell—neatly hit 10.
Even at depth 4 it had shown such power; greater effects lay ahead.
...Ideally, a concept best left unused.
With his internal concepts fully organized, Ban Yu-won let out a sigh and turned.
"Lucelle, you okay? Can you move?"
It seemed like an easy win, but without Lucelle's devotion and Eve's ingenuity, it would have been a disaster.
Lucelle had even shattered the protective artifact Yumina made during her grapple with Irecto.
The guy was a monster worthy of the name giant.
"I'm fine, Master."
But Lucelle shook her head at his worried gaze and replied briskly.
"More worried about the others, though..."
"Yeah. Exodus might have more hiding in the dungeon. Sorry, but we need to move now."
The flower ornaments showed they were detected, so neither seemed gravely hurt, but who knew what could happen.
"No choice. Candy first, then move."
"Yes!"
"Eve, ahh~."
"Sisit."
They ate the candies prepared for such moments—life elixirs made from Eden's fruit, molded and hardened—for stamina recovery.
The effect was immediate.
Exaggerating slightly, it was like waking refreshed from deep sleep; all wounds, known and unknown, vanished cleanly!!
"That bastard Ortima—when I find him, I'll iron his face."
"I'll hold him down. Then let's move right... Huh?"
But as the fully recovered pair (+one beast) prepared to find the others...
—Kuwoong!
"What’s that vibration...?"
"Wait, no way."
"Sisishit?!"
Suddenly, massive tremors shook the dungeon.
...The dungeon had been cleared!