“What the hell is that bug?”
Upon closer inspection, the clearly segmented face of the bug resembled that of a human.
“Ugh…”
Not knowing what it was, I decided to burn it first.
After dealing with the bug, a message quickly appeared, which only added to my confusion.
– You have been the first to defeat ‘Improved Ancient Parasitic Bloodline’!
– The speed of skill [Blood Art] has increased!
– You have defeated ‘Improved Ancient Parasitic Bloodline’!
– The stat increase of skill [Blood Art] has risen!
– You have defeated ‘Improved Ancient Parasitic Bloodline’!
……..
?
After the storm of messages passed, my questions about the bug only grew.
“Are each of these bugs a parasitic bloodline?!”
It was truly astonishing to discover the connection between the maggots that had infested Maeng Seong-yong’s body and the parasitic bloodlines protecting the Dragon Turtle along with the Blood Mosquito from the hidden dungeon.
“What the hell is going on…?”
– Hehehehe
– Here I come again!
Black monsters began to rise one by one around Maeng Seong-yong.
I cleaved them with my great sword and blasted them away with fireballs, dozens or even hundreds of them.
The ones engulfed in flames began to circle around me with their heads ablaze.
– Kihehehik!
– No matter how much you kill, we won’t die.
“……”
As I continued to slice through their grinning heads with my great sword, they seemed to have had enough, slithering away like snakes to another location.
Upon closer inspection, they were not unfamiliar faces; they all looked known to me.
“Sigh… did the entire association expedition really fall?”
How far had they gotten?
Choi Gang-han and The One Who Shows the Way probably hadn’t joined, but it seemed that quite a few from the mid-level line had…
Shhhhring──
The smoking flesh of Maeng Seong-yong was absorbed into the mouth of the black monster crawling along the ground.
“Haah! Fusion with Maeng Manager complete!!”
“Bahaha! Combination nonsense.”
“Ah, that’s just so funny, you crazy bastards.”
A man who inhaled Maeng Seong-yong’s smoke started to dance around merrily, exchanging silly banter with the surrounding monsters.
Soon, a round bulge appeared on his shoulder, which quickly morphed into the face of Maeng Seong-yong, and they burst into laughter together.
“Emotions… it’s not just twisted, they’re completely absent. Do they not feel fear or terror?”
Looking at them made me wish to ditch everything and return to Yeon-hee, an instinctual repulsion that made me feel as if I were going to retch without realizing it.
“I’m really sick of this. Disgusting, you damn bastards!!”
I pulled out Cheongwol.
The great sword felt insufficient.
With the sword imbued with the aura of Goddess Irmana, maybe it would be different?
[Void Slash Type Fire Cut]
Gripping Cheongwol tightly, I frantically slashed through the darkness.
The monsters that kept resurrecting no longer seemed to want to fight me; they circled around, showing repulsive grins.
I repeated the slashing and exploding, not thinking at all. All I could see was to take them down.
“Il-wol…”
Minutes passed, and I was lost in my actions, as I felt the earth crackle and boil under the flame’s energy.
Finally, I managed to snap back to reality, with the black monsters so crushed into the molten asphalt that their shapes were unrecognizable.
“Hah… I got too excited. Did I accumulate too much dullness in my head? I didn’t mean to lose control.”
I closed my eyes and focused on magic recovery.
Swish──!
“Ugh?!”
At that moment, something the size of a telephone pole came flying towards my head while I was catching my breath.
I lightly pushed it aside with my right hand, and quickly jumped far back while still holding Yeon-su.
“What the hell is that…?”
A creature resembling a hyena, supported by three legs on the ground, soon rose over the shadow where Maeng Seong-yong had been burning.
Behind its head was nothing but darkness, and the front was a tangle of sharp, intersecting teeth.
The grotesque head stretched upwards into the air, growing to five meters tall and transforming into a skinny, chilling human-type monster, completely different from the dog-like figure I had first seen.
[Chiriririt-]
Instead of eyes and a nose, antenna-like appendages twitched, desperately trying to sense something, and at some point, it began to observe me, splitting its mouth wide with a grin.
Chilling──
I saw the ground around it growing black as it was eroded away.
The phenomenon of erosion changed the land into one suitable for monsters.
In that area, the combat power of monsters greatly increased, while that of hunters decreased.
It was as if they had entered a dungeon with a permanent debuff active.
Thus, it was best to avoid the eroded zones as much as possible.
Swish──
Normally, erosion progresses slowly, but somehow, this creature’s erosion was swiftly engulfing the areas around it, coloring the world in darkness.
“If Yeon-su weren’t here, I might have thrown myself at it.”
The only idea to eliminate it was self-detonation; I couldn’t think of any other way.
Even asking for the help of Goddess Irmana to combine the three attributes might not be sufficient to overcome it.
“Would someone like Liu Xiao-Wo be able to handle this? I have no idea. I feel like something else is needed rather than plain physical strength…”
I slowly began to retreat, not wanting to provoke it.
Facing this creature was beyond my current capabilities.
Fortunately, it seemed the creature wasn’t particularly interested in attacking me. Or perhaps, it simply wasn’t of an aggressive nature.
Reason told me it was more logical to save Yeon-su first, and I agreed.
[Chihihihihihi-]
Before I knew it, the creature had shifted its gaze from me to look up at the sky.
It reminded me of the Living Statue’s prayer.
Was it reporting to the deity it serves about its intention to erode new lands?
*
Even with the power of the potion, Yeon-su’s condition was still barely above critical.
“Big sis…”
The Yeon-su I had brought lay in the room that had been Yeon-hee’s, breathing in and out lightly.
Yeon-hee wiped the pallor off Yeon-su’s face with a damp cloth.
“What in the world happened? If Yeon-su could get hurt like this, shouldn’t we be running away too?”
“Unless several Orc Battle Commanders attacked all at once…”
No one could give a satisfying answer to Bae Joo-ah’s question.
No one knew what was happening or where we should escape.
And we would have to get used to this absence of information.
We would continue to face events we can’t understand.
“Still, I’m glad. I’m truly glad…”
Holding Yeon-su’s hand tightly, Yeon-hee could only nod her head repeatedly.
“Th…thanks…”
For a moment, Yeon-su regained consciousness just enough to murmur that, before falling back into a trance-like state.
Like when she was initially overwhelmed by the First Escalon, will she be able to overcome this crisis as well? Time will tell.
Waiting for Yeon-su’s recovery, I began to manufacture potions as an alchemist.
– You have completed ‘Death’s Touch Alchemist’s Potion’!
– Experience points have slightly increased!
‘……’
The lost three weeks felt cruel.
I had occasionally felt like time was dragging on, but being able to do it intentionally would have been a great help in moments like this.
“I’m not a Seven-headed Dragon or anything.”
Hours later, Shin Hee-won burst in with good news.
“I think the phone’s working again!”
Coincidentally, I could faintly hear Ah-rin speaking with her younger sibling outside.
‘The restoration is swift.’
After the Orc Legion’s invasion, there was a period when modern civilization couldn’t function properly, but it seemed to quickly return to its original state.
Of course, it could be short-lived, but for the first time in a while, hope seemed to be visible on the faces of the people within the sanctuary.
I, however, felt anxious knowing this wasn’t the end.
“Hah… this isn’t easy.”
Ogres joining the fray, the association hunters turned into monsters, and the unknown creatures causing erosion.
Even without considering the extremely unfavorable variables, the overall quality and quantity of the Orc Legion had risen.
“And the Orc Legion Commander hasn’t even arrived yet… Damn… the three weeks of downtime are too painful.”
But that was merely my personal thought.
Among the people in this world, no one had memories they could compare to past lives, so the other hunters were reacting much more sensitively to the positive news.
“Reports of success in constructing defense positions are coming in from everywhere.”
“Was there a better preparation than we thought? The community traffic is rapidly increasing.”
“It’s as if they had anticipated such an event… they say equipment using Kadinite is being released in large quantities?”
“There are even rumors that armor mixed with Eternium will be uniformly provided to S-rank hunters.”
Of course, not all news was good.
“So far, the death toll has exceeded two million…”
“They’re saying dungeons are breaking open from F-rank onwards. No matter how weak they are, regular folks…”
“What in the world is the government and the association doing? What’s with all those special forces doing?”
“They’ve all died.”
“Don’t tell me—”
It looked bleak to expect an official government announcement.
On the first day the gates opened, the president had gone missing.
The head of the association, Choi Gang-han, had curiously remained silent until now.
Yet the reason South Korea’s order hadn’t collapsed was largely thanks to Kang Yeon-su tirelessly persuading leaders and influential figures to restore order.
Even though Yeon-su had yet to regain consciousness, the sanctuary protecting us remained solid, and a glimmer of hope seemed to linger beside us.
* * *
A week had passed since I returned to Yeon-hee.
The standoff with the Orcs lasted three days from the day I brought Yeon-su back, allowing me to enter the Dark Space and collect ‘Dark Stones’ while exhausting all materials for the alchemist’s potions.
The remaining four days were filled with even more intense battles.
During that time, my level rose once again, and the army of Orc Skeletons under my command grew to three thousand.
The spaces and living conditions within the shelter expanded due to constant investment in the byproducts of the Great Beast and the abundant mana stones.
While I could have focused on expanding the shelter even more, with the combination of refugees and hunters exceeding two thousand, I decided to concentrate on strengthening the internal affairs after minor issues began to arise.
I had heard that the desire for species propagation grows stronger when survival becomes critical, and in just a week, there had already been several attempted assaults.
Of course, those deranged individuals had been granted a unique opportunity by serving as the vanguard against the Orcs.
In front of the crazed Orc warriors, humans were peeing themselves in fear, while some covered their children’s eyes.
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