Chapter 171 : Homunculus (5)
“Hoo? This is clearly anger. Why would a slave have such an emotion, one that was castrated long ago…?”
The chicken head’s glistening black eyes widened for a mont.
“……Don’t tell !”
The back of my head tingled.
I quickly turned around, and it seed like everyone at the table was looking this way.
Among them, one person particularly stood out.
A coral reef person approaching with angry steps.
It almost seed like he was running.
Panika shouted.
“Dodge! Quickly!”
It was a split second.
The coral reef person’s body swelled, and a whitish light seeped through the cracked shell.
‘Self-destruction!’
I drew Zahara in a reverse grip and quickly moved to the chicken head’s side.
The chicken head convulsed.
“It was a mutant?! It can’t be an intruder….”
Slice!
The chicken head dropped to the floor.
Fortunately, that was the end of it.
Although it was brief, there were no signs of regeneration like with the demonic beasts.
Then, I imdiately took care of the chicken head next to the sack…….
Kwa—ang!
A trendous impact struck from behind with a deafening roar.
I quickly hugged the sack and threw myself towards the inside of the bar.
·
·
·
Thud—
My vision was blurry from the dust.
The sound of dirt clods falling was eerily loud.
‘To blow up the entire building just like that.’
There was no rhy or reason to it. Was there no sanity at all?
‘This isn’t a matter of sanity in the first place.’
I finally understood.
This was not a place that could be judged by human standards.
‘The only way to deal with madn is to go mad with them.’
I steeled my resolve.
Leaning against the wall, I checked my body first.
Fortunately, I was unhard.
After swallowing once, I opened the sack.
Likewise, the boy was safe.
He was repeatedly blinking his wet eyes.
As soon as I hastily removed the gag—
‘……Damn it, what is this now?’
Where his mouth should have been, there was only an empty hole.
Flick—
A chill ran down my spine.
A long, thin tongue extended from the hole.
It was as if it was thanking .
He said nothing.
No, it seed he didn’t even know how to speak in the first place.
Shhh—
The boy glanced towards the back of the wall, in the direction of the hall, then placed both hands on the ground and crawled out of the sack.
His lower body, now revealed, was not legs. It was a thick tail. Like that of a reptile.
My body froze in astonishnt and shock…….
Shashashak—
The reptile boy disappeared into the darkness as if being sucked in.
“……Ha.”
The breath I had been holding finally escaped in a burst.
I barely managed to gather my scattered wits before turning my head towards the hall.
I couldn't feel any presence.
I stood up and went to check.
“Cough—”
The hall was completely burned out.
Dust and the sll of burning ashes pierced my throat.
The lted pillars were reduced to re skeletons, and dust and charred smoke billowed up from the holes in the ceiling.
‘It’s beco a total ss in an instant.’
The automata and grotesque creatures were all charred black, their forms barely recognizable.
Their flesh had disappeared, and even the iron and bones had lted into a gooey ss.
Crunch.
A sound was made every ti I took a step.
It was the sound of charcoal crumbling.
The floor was nothing but black charcoal and debris.
‘Panika.’
There was no trace of her anywhere.
Surely she hadn't been turned to ashes.
‘No.’
The mont of the explosion, I had instinctively turned my head to look.
The coral reef guy had exploded in the center of the hall.
It was so distance from where Panika and I had been standing.
Splat—
I picked up the body of the chicken-foot eyeball, which had been closer to the coral reef guy than Panika.
The charred body stretched out long like sticky pus.
‘…….’
If she had been caught in the explosion, there would have been traces, whether it was blood or a part of her body.
I had to assu she had been lucky enough to escape.
Clang.
Just then. My neck suddenly felt cold.
Clang.
A heavy echo of clashing tal.
It sounded like slow footsteps.
I turned my head.
‘A knight?’
That was the first thought that ca to mind.
His physique was far superior to that of an ordinary person, and his sturdy entire body was tightly wrapped in plate armor.
The surface of the plate armor, enveloped in a haze of dust, glead dazzlingly in the shade.
Shhhh—
Every ti his body moved, steam poured out from the gaps in his visor along with a gurgling tallic sound.
His breath was endlessly cold and inorganic.
“For a lump of iron to breathe. That’s surprising.”
I stared into the void beyond the plate armor.
Only emptiness resided there.
A hollow breath escaped on its own.
“A tal wraith.”
As if in answer to my question, a red glow suddenly emanated from within his helt.
It was like a handful of embers nestled in the empty void.
Chakang!
He rested the greatsword he held in one hand on his pauldron.
There was a lot obscuring my view, so I hadn't seen it properly, but now that I did, the greatsword was as big as my own body.
Kang! Kang! Kang! Kang! Kang! Kang!
He charged straight at .
Every ti his sabatons stamped down, the floor cracked and dust rained down from the ceiling.
It was enough to make my vision shake.
Swoosh—!
I dodged to the side.
I didn’t even think of blocking.
The sound of the greatsword cutting through the air was brutal.
I imdiately swung Heavenly Demon.
Towards the arm of the one holding the greatsword.
Ka—ang!
Heavenly Demon’s betrayal.
I thought I could cut it, but I was wrong.
The tingling vibration that traveled up my palm made my skull numb.
Kwaduk!
He grabbed Heavenly Demon, which was stuck in his couter, and charged forward in that state. He was about to push through with his entire body.
Kiiiing—!
I pulled my arm with all my might to retrieve Heavenly Demon.
Sparks flew wildly as the blade scraped against his gauntlet.
Heavenly Demon’s blade was intact. Any other sword would have been completely shattered.
I lifted my eyes. I saw the back of the one who had brushed past .
‘Impervious to swords, is that it?’
I gripped the hilt with both hands and pulled it back behind my head with all my might.
Hot breath scattered outside my lips.
‘Whatever, I’ll cut you down.’
I swung with all my might.
The cast iron split like paper.
Clank—
The man’s torso fell in two pieces.
As expected, it was empty inside.
Blue sparks crackled and popped along the severed edge.
‘So it was an automaton.’
I was just catching my breath.
Kwaang!
I rolled forward just before the impact hit.
As the dust gradually cleared, the epicenter of the explosion beca visible.
Beyond the completely collapsed wall, black figures were slowly revealing themselves.
Chakang— Chakang—
They were the sa tal wraiths as the one I had just cut down.
This ti, they were in a unit.
Giiing.
Red lights lit up simultaneously from the gaps in their helts.
Gulp.
I readjusted my grip on Heavenly Demon.
Other than sweeping them away all at once with Sword Aura, I couldn’t think of any other way.
Thud.
The center of the formation of tal wraiths that had broken down the entire wall of the building and stord in. One of them extended its arm as if aiming at .
From the palm of its outstretched gauntlet, a small light swirled and condensed fiercely.
A tallic sound humd, and even vibrations were added.
‘……!’
My eyes widened.
The vortex erupting from the tal wraith’s palm seed to suck in its surroundings.
The strange and alien sight brought back a long-buried mory.
‘Absorption!’
Absorption and emission.
A basic principle that often appears in Imperial swordsmanship, and a technique that must be mastered to wield a high level of swordsmanship.
‘He said it absorbs Aura as nourishnt.’
At the sa ti, Panika’s words flashed through my mind.
I imdiately reined in the Sword Aura just before releasing it.
A faint sigh escaped .
To think that the familiar subtlety of swordsmanship ca to mind after seeing the unfamiliar movents of a machine…….
‘I was lucky.’
The unlikely combination coincidentally clicked and the forgotten warning flashed back to life.
‘Finding Panika is more urgent than destroying those things.’
I stabbed Heavenly Demon into the ground.
‘Quake Earth.’
Kugugugu—!
The ground trembled.
The building, already half in ruins, couldn't withstand the impact and soon began to collapse completely.
In the anti, I got out of the building.
The tunnel Talpa dug must have collapsed eventually.
Now even the way back was gone.
***
Did I get an answer when I asked Panika about the people of Grimlok?
No, not in my mory.
I understand now.
I even thought that Panika had deliberately avoided answering.
It made sense.
The buildings and streets were still there, but there were no people to be seen anywhere.
It was as if such beings had disappeared long ago.
The city was like a corpse that had been left abandoned for years after being swept by a plague.
Gooooo—
The dry wind slled of iron.
Above , a reddish sky spread out like a festering wound.
‘……What should I do about this?’
At this rate, I couldn't even find a trace of Panika, let alone the control unit.
I would ask if there were any people around.
Creak, creak.
Long, ominous shadows stretched across every alley.
In one corner, discarded automata were piled up.
[Str—ong—. Machi— —ne. Alche—and ma—.]
A voice filled with a tallic rasp.
It was clearly audible because the surroundings were so quiet.
It was coming from a pile of rusted scrap tal.
[—scended light, per—fect flesh, perfect— harmony, perfect li—fe.]
It was unpleasant to hear.
It was like scratching my eardrums.
It was repeating over and over again.
[Descended—. —praise. Str—ong—. Praise—.]
I wanted to stomp on it and break it, but I had to refrain from doing anything that would attract attention because of the occasional wandering automata.
First, I had to find Panika.
Let's try to track her by recalling the mana I saw earlier.
I opened the Ghost Eye.
‘……Damn it.’
A sigh escaped imdiately.
The surroundings were completely subrged in mana.
With the Ghost Eye, mana appeared blue, so the surroundings shimred as if I were subrged in water.
‘Automata are a combination of machine and magic, he said.’
I closed the Ghost Eye again.
I scratched my head vigorously.
[Perfect— light, —fect flesh, perfect —mony, —fect life.]
It's practically begging to be beaten up.
The mont my eyes snapped towards the source of the noise.
“Ah……!”
It was a person.
Perhaps because I had only been slling iron, I could even sll human flesh at once.
It was an old woman who t my eyes.
She was heading towards the discarded automata that were repeating the strange sounds.
She seed like soone who had been inside and ca out because she couldn't stand the noise.
The problem was that she suddenly freaked out when she saw .
“Hiek!”
“Wait a minute!”
The old woman imdiately ran up the stairs and slamd the door.
I could hear the sound of the latch being repeatedly fastened from inside.
“Hey! What’s wrong? Let’s just talk for a mont…….”
“G-go away! I saw nothing!”
“No, what is that…….”
“I don't want to talk to you! Go away! Before the Legions co!”
The old woman beyond the door was completely terrified.
Her voice trembled violently with extre fear.
It seed like she would pass out if I spoke to her any further.
Clank—
Just then, I heard a heavy tallic sound from behind.
At the end of the desolate street, a tallic figure was slowly revealing itself.
It was like a ghost serenely crossing the middle of the ruined city.
“L-look! Look! It ca! It’s the Legion! Kyaak! This is all your fault!”
It was the old woman.
It seed she could see the street from inside.
“Is that iron lump called Legion?”
“Wh-what are you……! Why are you suddenly appearing and doing this! I’ve done nothing wrong!”
A rational conversation was impossible.
I kept my eyes on the Legion and leaned my back against the door.
“Tell where the control unit is. If you tell obediently, I promise not to say a word about you.”
“……Y-you monster! So you were a minion sent by the Homunculus! Even after all of you die, you won't be satisfied until you take our lives?! Ahh, how horrible—!”
The Legion was moving slowly but surely towards .
The good thing was that there was still so distance.
“There’s no ti. Speak up, where is the control unit!”
“Damn Homunculus! As if ruining Grimlok wasn't enough, you sent minions from hell?! Cursed things! We all beca like this because of you! Kyaaaaaak! Get lost—!”
A banging noise echoed from inside. Damn it, the negotiation has broken down.
Cheokeong—
I readjusted my grip on Heavenly Demon.
Dealing with that thing wouldn't be difficult.
The problem was that their numbers kept increasing.
—The mutant automata in Grimlok are one giant legion. Unlike people, they don’t need to be inford one by one; a single command from the control unit is enough for them to move in perfect unison. Like an organism.
Now that I've experienced it, I understand. What she ant.
Ssssst—
My eyes turned to a sound I heard nearby.
The mont I looked in that direction, my body flinched without realizing it.
“You are…….”
It was the reptile boy I had saved from the bar.
He was lying flat on the ground at the corner of the alley, looking at .
He had a flowerpot on his head, and in the flowerpot, a single, unopened bud was growing.
“Co this way. I will repay you for saving .”
……Surprisingly, it was the bud that spoke.
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