“Oh my?! What is this?”
Hanging midair, the centipede makes a series of panicked sounds.
And it’s the same size as Mi Jeong!
It’s downright disgusting to see that many legs wiggling in the air while speaking human language.
“How am I supposed to deal with this?”
A talking centipede…
I rummaged through my mental handbook but nothing comes to mind.
A centipede that talks and uses curses?
Is it really okay for such a monstrosity to exist in the world?
‘Is it an avatar of a Curse Caster?’
The most likely hypothesis is that it’s the avatar of some named Curse Caster.
If that’s the case, it makes sense that its weak point isn’t displayed when I used a weak point attack.
Avatars don’t have the concept of dying, so there wouldn’t be a weak point.
Did that Curse Caster transform a centipede into a human form to hide their identity?
That’s a strong possibility.
“Please, just let me live!”
“What do you find pretty enough about yourself to be spared?”
“Still, when in human form, I was quite…”
“Look at your current form. After seeing this disgusting thing, would I ever forget about a giant centipede when looking at you in human form?”
“……”
It’s terrifying and dangerous, not to mention disgustingly so?
If it had been a charming nine-tailed fox or a cute dragon, perhaps it could have been considered as a pet exemption, but a hideous centipede isn’t worth that at all.
“This thing tried to eat hundreds of people. What part of it looks beautiful?”
“That wasn’t because I wanted to eat them!”
“Excuses aside. Where’s your true body?”
“……?!”
The long body of the centipede jerks, the movement of its wiggling legs halting.
Its expression isn’t visible, but it seems surprised.
I can imagine it wants to ask how I knew it was an avatar.
I’ve had years of experience dealing with Curse Casters.
“I have no choice…!”
At that moment, its body twisted grotesquely and began to swell, on the brink of bursting.
A common finishing move of poisonous bug monsters.
Poisonous explosion.
If you didn’t expect this much, you’re disqualified as a gaming loser.
“Mi Jeong.”
“……Yeah.”
At the moment I called her softly, Mi Jeong flicks her fingers.
Fire spread over the centipede’s body, engulfing it in flames.
1st Tier Magic, Ignition.
“Kyaaaaargh!!!”
The legs of the centipede crumble and fall off.
Soon, its maw tears apart and melts away.
Its body begins to burn and shatter into pieces.
There’s no turning back now.
As I release the telekinesis, it continues to scream in ten pieces as it falls into the chasm below.
“That torch performance is killer.”
“……That’s a bit much.”
Mi Jeong shows a peace sign with both hands.
Ruffling her hair, I lift her up.
It feels like she might fall with the strong wind.
‘This 1st Tier basic magic isn’t bad at all.’
The flame attribute basic magic, Ignition.
To some extent, it seems no different from the non-attribute magic, Spark, but it’s definitely different.
Spark only creates a spark if there’s something to burn, otherwise, it’s useless.
But Ignition can create fire in a void with no flammable materials or oxygen.
Thus, Ignition alone packs quite a punch.
The downside is that it doesn’t work well against water-soaked objects.
But considering that basic magic can’t have no downsides at all is absurd.
‘But I can’t learn any of this attribute magic at all.’
The problem is that I can’t learn any basic magic that has solid performance, starting from this 1st Tier.
Of course, telekinesis is nice but…
It feels somewhat lackluster.
It doesn’t have any special effects.
Just objects moving in midair, and that’s it.
Honestly, it doesn’t seem to contribute much in battle.
I did think maybe I could restrain the opponent’s movements with telekinesis, but…
It consumes a lot of focus, so using both telekinesis and swinging a sword simultaneously is nearly impossible.
And it’s not even effective enough to crush an opponent.
To a frail ordinary person, maybe, but anyone with even a bit of training could probably push through.
It’s an awkward magic in many ways.
‘Well, it’s fine. It’s good enough to be able to learn magic.’
Thinking about it just makes me sigh, so I stop lamenting and get off the train’s roof.
There was a time I thought I couldn’t use magic at all.
Compared to that time, learning even non-attribute magic is a blessing.
Even if all that non-attribute magic is lacking a screw or two, I should be satisfied.
After all, the healing magic Jill uses is also non-attribute.
The Priestess acknowledged the performance of non-attribute magic, so I’ll use it without worry.
“Now come down.”
“……No praise equals anger. Yoo Jin, I’ll make things difficult.”
Even after returning to the passenger car, Mi Jeong still clings to me and shows no sign of letting go.
Even if I let go, she wraps her legs around my waist and supports herself.
I feel like a koala mother.
“Yeah, do as you please.”
‘That remark about the torch performance being killer isn’t even a compliment.’
This little one is getting more and more arrogant by the day.
After I praised her as an all-around tool, now she seems to think highly of herself.
She seems to think this will make me shy or something.
But it does nothing to me.
After all, it’ll just look like I’m carrying a spoiled little sister around.
I’m proud of it.
“Mom, look at that.”
“How embarrassing. Why are they acting like that?”
“How many years apart are they? What a pathetic child.”
I, I am…
Proud.
*
“Ahh, aahh…!”
Inside a dark cargo hold.
A girl’s painful moans echoed within.
Dressed in a nun’s outfit, the girl twisted her body, her face turning red from the pain, finally managing to catch her breath and calm down.
“Hahh, haah!”
A burning pain coursed through her entire body.
She had to feel that pain fully.
Until all her nerve bundles burned and her connection to the avatar was severed.
The centipede’s nerves had a strong will to survive.
Even if her body was broken and shattered, her nerves could still wriggle about.
Thus, she had to fully endure all the pain until the moment her whole body turned to ash.
“Damn humans!!!”
The girl gritted her teeth and muttered.
Kali, the Great Druid, had died for unknown reasons.
It had been a month since she escaped from her dungeon.
Even though she was in the body of a centipede monster, unlike her kin, she was born with high intelligence.
Thanks to this, she quickly mastered Transformation.
She met a beast-folk master and learned curses as well.
The centipede girl’s innate trait was ‘Division.’
The ability to split her body and create avatar bodies.
“I just wanted to brew up some health tonic! What the hell is pestering me!”
Once again, she used an avatar to secretly install a totem.
She was thinking of successfully casting the spell and absorbing life force from those asleep.
But the plan fell apart.
If the totem had been destroyed causing the spell to break, that would have been understandable.
Unless the spell had failed from the beginning, since skilled Curse Casters often fail spells.
But this time, it wasn’t that.
The spell was canceled mid-casting.
The totem was intact, and the caster was fine.
The demonic energy spreading her curse suddenly vanished, and the spell was released without warning.
“How did you break my curse? By what means? Who are you?!”
Even for a skilled Curse Caster, it usually takes time to unravel an unexpectedly encountered curse.
But that human managed to do so in just five minutes.
There was no way to explain this bizarre situation.
Although she had only been learning curses for a short while, she prided herself on having outstanding talent, surpassing her master in just ten days.
Yet that human broken her curse so casually.
She grew frustrated and angry, her body trembling.
“Just how good-looking do you think you are! What does looks matter?!”
She even glared at her true form with a disdainful gaze.
How could a lesser species that couldn’t even use Division possibly understand an upper species like herself?
The girl made an effort to think that way, seeking solace.
“Ahhh! How long will it take to recover from the damage I’ve taken this time?!”
But she quickly became enraged again, letting out a roar.
The more power she divided among her avatars, the stronger they became, while her own strength dwindled.
And if an avatar was destroyed while in a divided state, all the shared strength would vanish.
This time, she had poured roughly half her power into the avatar.
That was all gone.
Completely melted away into the chasm below.
Moreover, losing life force caused her physical age to regress.
Having lost half, she shrunk considerably, winding up with the appearance of a child.
Being in such a small body was inconvenient in more ways than one.
“Aahh! So frustrating, so very frustrating!”
The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became.
Just how many people’s life force would she have to absorb to rebuild the power she had painstakingly accumulated?
It felt miles away.
Especially now that the Great Druid Kali, who used to provide fresh humans, was gone.
Having to replenish life force all on her own, the pace would drastically slow down.
Don’t let the one who harmed her go free.
She must be thoroughly avenged.
It was the teaching of the Great Druid.
“Are you afraid of poop? You dodge it? You dodge it because it’s dirty. Hmph! I dodge it because it’s disgusting.”
A teaching that turned to dust in an instant.
The girl shuddered at the vivid memory of being burned alive.
This wasn’t running away.
It was a tactical retreat.
A reverse charge.
With that thought in mind, she swung the cargo hold door wide open.
The train had now crossed the chasm and entered the Northern Continent.
“They won’t chase me, right? Being human, they wouldn’t go to a Dwarf’s city… I’ll head to Clockwork City!”
Surely that human wouldn’t be going to Clockwork City.
With a chuckle, the girl leaped off the train.
She believed she had successfully shaken off the human.
At least, that’s what she thought.
