“Ugh… Hic-”
Yeon-hee’s eyes were already red and glistening. It seemed she was reluctant to show her tears, biting her canine tooth tightly as she sobbed.
(Il-wol, you idiot. Hurry up and take care of that guy. The Master is struggling.)
Ran spoke to me while wiping Yeon-hee’s glistening tears with her soft wings.
“Do it.”
Flap- Flap-
With the mutant’s body structure, hitting the harpy was a tough job. The fact that it couldn’t even suppress a harpy gives a rough idea of the mutant’s capabilities.
But the Neos Harpy was only being an annoyance from the air, not delivering a decisive blow. If I got too close, I would probably be caught by the wriggling things hanging from its body.
Tatadadad—
I dashed forward, leaving behind ‘Chehwa,’ which had been waiting for Yeon-hee’s command.
“Kiik?!”
The thing recognized me and opened its mouth wide. Its reaction speed was unexpectedly good.
A horrifically slimy mouth wide enough to be bigger than its face.
Within, long tentacles shot out rapidly, covering where I had just been standing.
BOOM—!
A powerful attack that created a small crater in the ground. It looked like a tube meant for sucking blood, but I had to think of it as purely a physical attack.
If it hit me cleanly, it could probably bypass the defense of my Bone Armor and deal damage.
Easily dodging its attack, I was already soaring high with my dagger tightly clenched, falling downward.
Squeezing—
I didn’t know what kind of life this creature had lived, nor whether it had been happy. But at the very least, I was sure that freeing it from the pain it was currently experiencing was the only thing I could do.
Please, just let this be the last one… I wanted to make it comfortable like that.
My focus was sharper than ever, and perhaps because of that, I felt as if fine lines were visible on the mutant’s body.
A slender line that should have connected the head and body at some point.
I swung my dagger forcefully down along that line.
[Flame Cut]
Slice—!
The mutant’s orange-eyed gaze fixated on me as I plunged the dagger into its body.
There was no emotion in those eyes, pure to the point it made me feel even more depressed.
At the moment I had severed its neck halfway, the mutant finally showed some reaction, perhaps feeling pain.
But the tentacles on its body flailed in chaos, as if this young creature didn’t even know what it should be doing.
“Damn it…!”
Unfortunately, my swing couldn’t liberate this child in one go. The dagger of Argen halted after cutting two-thirds of it.
Finally, only after stuffing three Skeleton Bombs into the gap and blowing them up, the child that had been trapped by the bad guys was set free.
Boom—
‘……’
As its head and part of the body exploded and scattered everywhere, a message popped up.
To be honest, I didn’t want to see it. I wasn’t in the mood for that.
– You have defeated the mutant (D).
– This entity possesses no skills or traits.
– Generating a new reward system…
“Seriously…?”
It was my first time encountering an entity with no skills or traits, and whether it was because of that or some other reason, I wasn’t moved by the intriguing phrase about a new reward system.
Was it around ten seconds later? Only when a new line was added to the halted message did my sinking heart begin to rise again.
– You have obtained a ‘Fragment of Corrupted Life Potion.’ (1/100)
‘……?’
When I think of a potion, I imagine a liquid, but a fragment seemed a bit odd.
With that message, a small fragment, the size of a pinky nail, floated up from the mutant’s body.
=====
Fragment of Corrupted Life Potion
– Collect 100 fragments and [Purify] to obtain 1 ‘Fragment of Life Potion.’
– Collect 10 ‘Fragments of Life Potion’ to obtain 1 ‘Life Potion.’
=====
‘…… Are you crazy?!’
I got a method to acquire a ‘Life Potion,’ which can even bring the dead back to life. Is this even possible?
‘They said it takes the lives of ten thousand to exchange for a single Life Potion…’
The path I obtained meant that I would need to defeat a thousand mutants to get one ‘Life Potion.’ Of course, this requires using [Purify].
‘Ugh… It’s surprising, but not exactly a pleasant way to go about it.’
But this unsettling task would have to be repeated a thousand times to get the item. I certainly didn’t feel like cheering about that.
If I had already taken down hundreds of mutants, I might even begin to hope for more mutants to spawn as I got closer to that number for creating a ‘Life Potion.’
‘That could definitely happen… but I really don’t want that. No, even if I’m not a saint, that’s just too much…’
Shaking my head, I examined the mutant’s corpse. Yeon-hee and Ran had already approached me.
Thud- Thud—
Every time I rummaged through the corpse, Yeon-hee cried and shed tears.
“I can’t believe it… Hic…”
Seeing her cry made me feel a strange urge to hug her. Am I going crazy?
Fortunately, that feeling was but a fleeting emotion.
The corpse was quickly sinking into the ground like cotton candy fallen into water. It wasn’t even a real life form to begin with, so its collapse was swift.
In the end, all that remained were white bones.
‘Why are only the bones of this child left…?’
I had a fair knowledge of bones, and it was clear that this was the bone of a child that had become a test subject.
As I touched the bones, attack power numbers popped up like a message from killing a monster, but I deliberately ignored it.
I gathered the scattered bones on the ground and presented them to Yeon-hee. She gently held the bones close, then placed them into a cloak she took out from her inventory.
“I hope… it finds its family…”
Nodding—
Although two more mutants were caught in the waves of sensation, I didn’t feel the need to go after them, since other hunters were already pursuing them. I also didn’t want to make Yeon-hee suffer more.
She had been deeply affected by the child’s plight; it was clearly burdensome for her.
So, I thought it best to just prevent the mutants from harming ordinary people and wait for time to pass as it was.
However, that plan quickly changed due to a new one caught in the waves.
‘It’s fast… at least a C-class strong one.’
It was definitely above us. I didn’t think we would lose, but the situation was uncertain as we didn’t know when another monster might join.
So, I had no intention of charging in. It wasn’t just because of Yeon-hee’s current state. This narrow alleyway really wasn’t a favorable terrain for us, who relied on numerical superiority.
Shh—
I raised a finger to Yeon-hee, signaling to retreat slowly and discreetly from this place.
But that creature caught in the waves suddenly veered toward us and quickly closed the distance. No, it was flying. Had it figured us out from that distance? How?
‘Oh no…!’
Swoosh—
BAM—!!
An unknown something swiftly flew in and smashed into the wall of the alley where we were walking.
I quickly threw myself sideways while holding Yeon-hee, but the Neos Harpy that landed beside us was cleaved in half, and its summoning was canceled.
“What, what is that?!”
In a panic, Yeon-hee crashed to the ground, but she was protected by her slime, so not even a scratch was on her.
She was just much more startled, her eyes wider than usual.
Boom—
A figure emerged from the dust, strong enough to crumble a 2-meter-high wall.
“Kikikikik— Seriously, I’m telling you, I’ve been really lucky lately. I felt a familiar aura and came over here, and it turns out it wasn’t just harpies?”
“… Uh-oh? You, you’re!!”
Though it was a dark night, the glowing aura of the figure made their face clearly visible.
Wrinkled forehead, pursed lips, sunken cheeks, and bulging eyes all gave off an impression of a strong-willed person.
Yeon-hee recognized that face and shouted first.
“Th-That time! The guy in the red hood from the exam!”
The man wasn’t wearing a hood this time, but his strong impression made me recognize him quickly as well.
“Oh? How wonderful! Haha, you remember me well, kid.”
‘…… You’ve changed a lot.’
Usually, I would have punched him in the face immediately, but his drastically changed appearance and dangerously unstable aura made me cautious, perhaps without realizing it.
Cough—!
The man cleared his throat and slowly walked toward us with his hands in his pockets.
He had given an impression of someone who was being chased previously, but now he appeared far more relaxed.
Moreover, the wings sprouting from his back looked suspiciously similar to those of a harpy.
“Yeah… Seeing your face brings back memories… Because of you, I got really unlucky that day, and I failed my promotion to C-class… Haha, thinking back, it’s all so annoying?”
BAM—!!
– Aaaahhh—!!
– Uuuugh…!!
The man punched the remainder of the wall and sent it flying. I could sense the people inside the villa trembling like wet puppies after being hit by the debris.
‘Fell again? He shouldn’t have been the type to fall… Did he do something really foolish?’
I snickered to myself as I began producing Skeleton Bombs in my palm.
He was a strong opponent. The guy who had barely made it to the end of D-class during the exam was now well above mid C-class.
‘His magic is full of impurities, so it’s hard to assess accurately… This won’t be easy.’
“I did well enough to push the examiner back, you know? But in that exam, they deducted points saying I had violated decorum for taking down a couple of guys. Can you believe that, you damn skeleton? Does that make sense? Uh—”
As his magic power surged explosively, I activated [Reckless Charge] and rushed forward.
=====
Reckless Charge Lv.3
– Charges relentlessly in the specified target’s direction.
– Deals 320% (+20%) of attack power upon impact.
– Defense significantly increases during the charge.
– Movement speed increases by 32% (+2%) during the charge.
=====
Even though I was still only Level 3, this skill gained from the Big Boar was exceptionally useful. The synergy with the Rune of Swiftness was also great.
-!!
Surprisingly startled by the speed of my charge, the man’s shoulder jerked up.
[Flame Cut]
Slash—
“What the hell?!”
I quickly sliced upward, managing to sever one of his pinky toes as he leaped into the air.
The man scowled deeply, but the corners of his mouth twisted upward, as if he were already looking forward to the joy he would savor soon.
Swoosh—!
‘That skill from earlier!’
It was the skill that had cleaved Nefie in half in one go. Damn, the activation time is so short.
“Provocation!”
Chirpy—
Kreeeek—
As he activated his skill and rushed toward me, the Ddak-ddak-i and the Dotted One’s provocation skills seemed to momentarily confuse him.
Rrrrrr—
In the end, unable to attack me, he left a long trace of landing on the ground.
‘Provocation is truly useful. They’ve become essential.’
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
