Chapter 222: tamorphosis
'tamorphosis'.
That was the word that flashed through Baek Woohyun's mind as he witnessed the Hellhound woman—though it was now embarrassing to call her that—erge from the cocoon as a monster.
tamorphosis, in essence, ans 'an insect pupa or larva becoming a winged adult.' And that was exactly what the enemy before his eyes had undergone.
The being that had been wandering sowhere between Earthling and Otherworlder had beco a half-human, half-insect creature with a body covered in chitin and two violet wings.
To be precise, it was roughly 30-70, leaning toward the insect side. With even wings attached, the only human elent remaining in her was her basic form.
=···Those aren't wings=
What he'd initially thought were violet wings turned out, upon closer inspection, to be writhing tentacles.
They had simply sprouted so densely from her back and spread wide like wings that he'd briefly mistaken them for such.
Knowing the true identity of the wings made them unbearably grotesque. Even more so when he imagined all of them targeting him at once.
=Ignoring
again!=
=······=
=Die=
Zzzzzzz-eee-eeeng-
A chitinous fist and sharp Military Dagger clashed, ringing out with tallic sounds. Sounds that only those within the 'frozen world' could perceive.
Though the half-human, half-insect had launched a lightning-fast surprise attack, Baek Woohyun, who had been on guard and prepared, wouldn't fall for it so easily.
Therefore, the first real collision was essentially a draw. The half-insect's chitin had been scratched just as much as Baek Woohyun's grip had gone numb.
=Die-e-e-e!=
And apparently, the half-insect was quite displeased with that fact.
She let out a fierce cry and deployed all her weapons to try to kill Baek Woohyun. Not just her chitinous body, but even the tentacles forming her violet wings.
Attacks surging like a massive tidal wave in an instant!
Zzz-zzz-zzz-jjjjng-!
Baek Woohyun didn't retreat but t the half-insect's natural disaster-like attacks head-on. He too was a monster sculpted into human form from a natural disaster.
Tentacles flying in from all directions and chitinous limbs ruthlessly stabbing wherever they saw an opening—none could touch him.
A single Military Dagger sliced through dozens of tentacles, deflected dozens more, and left deep scars on the chitinous limbs.
At a glance, it seed like Baek Woohyun was overwhelming the half-insect instead, but he knew very well that wasn't actually the case.
Cutting down hundreds of tentacles ant nothing, and the scars carved into the chitin ultimately didn't reach the flesh beneath.
The current clash was rely depleting each other's stamina, and in that scenario, the disadvantaged one was Baek Woohyun. He was already injured from multiple battles.
=Keu-eu=
=Ahahaha!=
Zzz-zzz-zzz-jjjjng-!
The half-insect recognized this as well, realized her advantage, and attempted even fiercer attacks.
She felt the blessing of a god surrounding her. The authority granted by Abrasax-Deus was elevating her to higher ground.
So she could face the intruder within the 'frozen world,' where all things seed stopped.
=If only you weren't here···! If only you disappeared···!=
To the half-insect, Baek Woohyun was an impurity that had remained in her world uninvited. Without him, she would be the only one free in the 'frozen world.'
It ant that the true freedom she'd pursued since her human days would finally be in her grasp. Real freedom, not the fake economic freedom she'd always spoken of.
That's why she burned with even more intense killing intent to kill Baek Woohyun. While gazing at the distorted world through compound eyes resembling those of an insect.
Though she felt inexplicable regret in one corner of her heart, she didn't care. Why would she feel regret in such freedom?
She also ignored the incomprehensible words echoing in her head, like 'balance-breaking elent due to excessive intervention' or 'status changed to Otherworld being category.'
She simply wanted to eliminate the enemy disrupting her peace.
Thud-
=···!=
When a tentacle he failed to deflect struck his thigh, Baek Woohyun gritted his teeth. The heavy impact made all his wounds cry out in unison.
Even an attack the opponent threw as light harassnt was this fatal to him now. His less-than-perfect condition kept holding him back.
His unbroken fighting spirit even in this state was truly astonishing!
Slash-!
=Kyaaak!=
The half-insect wasn't unscathed either. Baek Woohyun's counterattack, swallowing his pain, tore through to the flesh beneath her chitin.
Leaving behind flowers of blue blood blooming in the air within the 'frozen world,' she hurriedly tried to push Baek Woohyun away using her tentacles.
She feared that allowing more attacks might cause the entire chitin covering her arm to fall off.
Zzz-zzz-zzz-jjjjng-!
Kwa-crack-!
In this precarious battle, the first to reach its limit was neither Baek Woohyun nor the half-insect.
The Military Dagger, which had endured tenaciously from the tutorial until now, finally couldn't withstand the accumulated impacts and shattered.
Between tal fragnts exploding outward like fireworks, a chitin-covered leg shot straight out. It was a kick filled with determination not to miss the opportunity.
Baek Woohyun, having lost his weapon, crossed both arms to block, but the force contained within pushed him sliding backward.
"Huu."
Actually, strictly speaking, it was closer to deliberately being pushed back rather than being pushed back.
From the start, Baek Woohyun had been trying to create distance to reorganize his stance after losing his weapon, and he'd used the opponent's attack to achieve that.
Of course, he did take so damage. His forearm that blocked the kick was throbbing. But this much was well within the range he could accept.
"Tsk."
Thud.
Looking down at the Military Dagger with only its handle remaining, Baek Woohyun clicked his tongue and threw it away. He couldn't imagine being able to repair it.
Instead, he drew a new weapon from . His true beloved weapon with the 'Indestructible' effect.
A two-ter-long greatsword—「Soul-Extinguishing Sword 'Soul Eater'」—emitted an eerie light as if declaring its turn had finally co.
****
"Uh, uh?"
"Huh? Uhhh?"
"Oh···!"
-Is this even comntary···?
-What are they even saying lololol
-Uh (did he win?) Uh (did he lose?) Huh (looks like he won!) Uhhhh (is he losing?! Damn!)
-But like, how else do you explain what's happening right now? (genuinely don't know)
The exchange over the mutation.
Then the exchange with the fully tamorphosed half-insect.
The studio's reaction to the consecutive battles Baek Woohyun fought could simply be summarized as 'bewildered.'
Because in their eyes, sothing went whoosh whoosh, a cocoon appeared and disappeared, a half-insect monster erged, and Baek Woohyun got knocked back.
It was so fast they couldn't even understand how the battle was progressing, leaving them with only vague awe.
'????' donated '1000 won'!
[Is this that thing where regular people watch superhuman fights?]
-Sothing like a crack crack gif
-First shock like this since Blah lol
-That was also insanely fast yeah, but this seems even more;;
-Flash flash whoosh ← can only describe it like this
"···I've worked as a comntator for quite a while, but this is a first. Haha. There's just no way to comntate on real-ti combat like this."
"Let's watch it again at reduced speed after this battle ends!"
"While we're at it, should we call Hackphysical too?"
-That's good
-Good idea yeah, definitely do it
-For real, curious what he was thinking while fighting lol
-How about reviewing other people's battles too?
****
"······."
Baek Woohyun steadied his breathing while observing the half-insect, who was more troubleso than any enemy he'd encountered in 'Reverse Planet'—aning even more than the 【Lord of Storms】.
With Abrasax-Deus backing her and responding to the 'frozen world,' the forr Hellhound was truly a formidable enemy.
The sa was true even considering 'that side.' A Hellhound who'd obtained Otherworld power was an enemy he hadn't seen even 'there.'
'The one fortunate thing is.'
That there were incomplete parts in the half-insect thanks to attacking during her cocoon state and dealing damage.
The chitin was considerably softer than it appeared, and the tentacles forming her wings occasionally snapped off on their own.
Without even this, the battle would have been twice as difficult. Perhaps difficult enough that he might have chosen to flee rather than face her.
'That's probably why she's not charging right away.'
Just as Baek Woohyun needed ti to change weapons, the half-insect also belatedly realized her body's condition and needed ti to recover.
After all, she too was wounded in the fierce clash, and those wounds were mostly concentrated in areas where she'd shown openings—the incomplete parts.
If she'd been fine, she would have continued pursuing to definitely kill him as he retreated.
'My body's near death, my supernatural ability build is incomplete, and I can't expect help.'
"Hu-"
Listing them one by one, Baek Woohyun suddenly pulled up the corners of his mouth amid conditions so adverse it seed better to give up.
Because the very fact that he'd thought of the word 'give up,' even briefly, was quite amusing to him. Absurdly so, from his own perspective.
His senses, honed by pain, had sharpened to levels similar to when he was 'there,' but his mindset—or ntal state—hadn't, aning.
Distantly.
'There,' Baek Woohyun had never once thought of giving up.
During his pain-filled research facility life, when active as an Avenger, even when he'd lost even that—it had always been the sa.
Yet 'a situation where giving up would be better.' How could this not be amusing?
'I really have grown soft.'
If he hadn't connected to 'Reverse Planet,' if he hadn't known of Isaac's existence, this would have been sothing to welco.
But right now, Baek Woohyun was trying to finish off Abrasax-Deus, return 'Reverse Planet's' authority to Isaac, and uncover the secrets entangled with this ga.
Therefore, what was needed at this mont wasn't ordinary college student Baek Woohyun but—the real deal superhuman, the indomitable monster who'd reached the realm of Transcendence, Baek Woohyun.
"······."
Soon the smile vanished as if washed away, and returning to his trademark expressionless face, Baek Woohyun raised 「Soul Eater」 and aid at the half-insect.
Though it hadn't yet cut anything, 「Soul Eater's」 blade, thoroughly soaked in his flowing blood, glead red.
It looked almost as if the blade itself had turned bright red from absorbing blood!
Sssss-···
[The unsealing conditions for 「Soul-Extinguishing Sword 'Soul Eater'」 have been t]
[Fourth effect: The lower the user's health, the more damage 'Soul Eater' inflicts]
Surprisingly, the system ssage that appeared before Baek Woohyun's eyes indicated that 「Soul Eater's」 red blade wasn't rely a trick of the eye.
One of the sealed effects that had shown no signs of being released for so long had been liberated in the face of the massive crisis called the half-insect.
Moreover, since Baek Woohyun's current physical condition was nearly the worst possible, he could enjoy the fourth effect to its maximum. Though it wasn't what he'd wanted.
'Did Isaac intervene?'
Baek Woohyun narrowed his eyes at the artificial intervention felt in the dramatic presentation.
But only briefly.
He gripped 「Soul Eater」 firmly. For him, who'd used anything to survive, such things weren't worth worrying about.
=···Well, does it matter=
=Disappear from my world, intruder!=
Superhuman's Ga Broadcast
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