Chapter 416. Omen (7) (1/2)
Nur was a port city located in the northwest corner of the human territory, facing the Parasites with the Mariposa Sea between them.
The presence of the body of water hardly meant the city was safe from invasion. Some Parasites were capable of flying, and there had already been one case in which the Parasites crossed the sea to attack Nur.
Having said that, it was undeniable that in recent years the Parasites had concentrated its forces on Tigol Fortress, and that it was only in Haramark’s Arden Valley that it had clashed with humanity.
It was a pitch-black night, without a hint of color.
“…Hmm?”
The coast guard on duty yawned before suddenly blinking his eyes.
He thought he saw something moving beneath the dark waters.
Although his eyesight was exceptional for a mere guard, unfortunately for him, the enemy had already begun to move.
Whoosh!
The shadow jumped at him with great speed.
When the guard turned his eyes to the sea, the shadow was already behind him, its eyes glowing with malice.
“What…!”
The light instantly disappeared from the guard’s eyes and his arms fell to his sides.
“Uh….”
His body shook as if he were drunk and he fell toward the sea.
The succubus quickly grabbed the guard by his neck and slowly pushed him into the sea as if feeding the water.
Carefully, so that no sound would disturb the silence, tentacles shot up from the sea even before the body reached the surface. They wrapped around the body and dragged it quietly into the water.
What happened next was a mystery to all, but soon blood dyed the water red.
These kinds of events were happening simultaneously along the coastline of Nur.
[Good.]
When the succubi finished removing all guards from the coast, Vulgar Chastity looked down at the sea with a nod of approval.
[Come up.]
With that, a fish-shaped monster that had tentacles sprouting from all over its body appeared above the surface of the sea.
It was the Temerator, the final evolved form of upper-rank Parasites that gave birth to middle-rank Parasites.
When Vulgar Chastity signaled, hundreds of Temerators opened their mouths at once and fired sound waves at the city.
The sound waves quickly spread and took control of the entire city, successfully disabling all forms of communication in Nur.
[Move.]
Vulgar Chastity continued to issue orders without a break.
Under her command, the succubi split into four groups and headed to the gates located in the east, west, north, and south of the city, respectively.
In order for the first phase of their plan, the invasion of Nur, to succeed, they had to exterminate the entire city without allowing a single survivor.
A short moment later a head appeared above the sea from where Vulgar Chastity had already left.
It was Sung Shihyun, the First Army Commander of the Parasites.
“…Fuck, this is way too easy.”
He smirked in the direction of Nur, still sleeping without knowing what was about to happen to them, and then dragged his wet body out of the water onto the shore.
“As expected.”
He wasn’t the only one.
The Third Army Commander, Abhorrent Charity, and the Fifth Army Commander, Exploding Patience, led their troops to the shore.
The Seventh Army Commander, Twisted Kindness, who had been gracefully floating in the air, also prepared to descend.
Parasites tied to the tentacles of the Temerators also appeared behind the army.
Splat, splat…
The coast turned black in an instant.
“You know what to do, right?”
Standing at the forefront, Sung Shihyun turned his head left and right to loosen his neck, and aimed his long sword at the city.
“We’re screwed if we miss even one. Seize quickly, but don’t make any mistakes.”
Then he kicked the ground and shot forward towards the city.
At the same time, the Parasite Army, led by the five Army Commanders, rushed at Nur.
*
Dawn had already broken when a group of Earthlings arrived at Nur.
“Arrrgh, I’m so tired. I need to get some sleep.”
“We should stay at a high-class inn. The rewards were pretty good this time.”
It seemed like they were on their way back from an expedition.
Laughing cheerfully among themselves, they entered the city without suspecting anything, for there were a few other Earthlings besides themselves heading for the gate, as well as guards keeping watch nearby.
Only after passing through the gate did they realize something was off.
“…Huh?”
“What the… Why is it so quiet?”
The city was quiet, and there was something ominous about the silence.
They could even hear themselves breathe.
One of the men looked around, dazed with his brow wrinkled.
Even considering the fact that it was still early in the morning, it was strange that there was no one on the street.
Another thing that caught his eye was the collapsed buildings. As far as he remembered, these buildings were intact when they left the city.
And there was this nasty smell.
It was the smell of rotting flesh and blood.
“What happened?”
“Hey, did something happen here last night?”
The man asked the Earthling entering the gate.
But no reply came to his ears.
The Earthling passed him without a word.
“Hey…?”
The man’s eyes widened.
Because the woman who ignored him had suddenly stopped.
She turned around and staggered past the man again towards the gate.
She continued to walk back and forth like a corpse.
That wasn’t all.
“G-Guard!”
Despite the desperate call, the guard at the gate didn’t even look back.
“W-What’s going on?”
The man finally realized something was wrong and began to back away.
But he was too late.
“Look, we should…!”
The man turned around and opened his eyes wide in astonishment.
His comrades were looking down at the ground, their faces as pale as ghosts.
Their ankles were bound by tentacles stretching out from holes in the ground.
The same had happened to his own ankles.
At the same time, the Earthlings walking into and out of the city all stopped at once.
Creak, creak.
They turned their heads to their prey.
“What….”
The man could not grasp the situation. Still, even in the midst of confusion, he knew instinctively what was about to happen.
“What is this….”
Tears began to well up in his eyes.
The next moment the corpses rushed at him with their mouths stretched to their ears.
*
On the day Baek Haeju arrived, Seol Jihu held a meeting.
The topic of the meeting was the Gorad Boga expedition.
Their plan was simple.
First, they were to meet the queen of Scheherazade and use Roselle’s mana to find out what she was hiding.
Then they would decide what to do with the stele, with the option of Seol Jihu bringing it with him or leaving it in Gorad Boga.
Seol Jihu got up at the crack of dawn and started preparing immediately.
He put on his gloves, wrapped the transparent cloak he received from Vidalif around him, and headed for the temple with the Spear of Purity in his hand.
It was because the storage where he kept the Divine Elixirs was in the temple. He always carried one with him but kept the others in storage.
‘Harmonia Magic Square.’
Seol Jihu stared at the cube surrounded by black energy.
This box he obtained in the Special Tutorial infused the user with powerful mana that transformed the mana circuit from within.
More precisely, it activated the reverse-flow energy against natural laws.
Seol Jihu had planned to use it as soon as he finished the ‘Path of the Soul’ trial, but quit because Black Seol Jihu strongly opposed it.
[Quit talking nonsense. Don’t you know how dangerous that thing is?]
[I hate words like ‘awakening’ and ‘rampage’.]
[Awakening Skill itself puts great pressure on the body. As if that isn’t enough, you want to mess up your body’s structure to forcefully increase your innate potential? Are you out of your mind?]
[What’s that? You actually think that the magic square can be controlled? Didn’t you read the description? It says there that it’s unstable.]
[Sure, it’s usable if the user keeps it at an appropriate level. But let’s be honest, do you really think you won’t strain yourself?]
[If you really want to use it, then by all means do so. But don’t learn Berserk and don’t even think about learning Thousand Thunder from me.]
With that, Seol Jihu could no longer be stubborn.
Both were dangerous techniques, but it was more reasonable to learn Thousand Thunder since it did not distort the user's mana circuit.
‘I told him I won’t use it, but….’
But who knows what will happen in the future?
Seol Jihu stuffed the Harmonia Magic Square into his backpack.
When he returned to the Valhalla building, most of the members had already arrived before him.
The carriages arrived shortly after and in turn they boarded the carriages.
“Kkiiing….”
Just as Seol Jihu was about to climb up, he felt something pull his foot.
The little fuzzballs had gathered around him and were biting and pulling his ankle.
Seol Jihu blinked once before kneeling down and facing their sympathy-winning eyes.
“What’s wrong? You don’t want me to go?”
“Kking!”
“I’m sorry, but you have to wait. I promise I’ll play with you guys when I get back.”
“Kkiing…. Kkiing….”
“Until I get back, eat well, play hard, and be good, okay?”
Seol Jihu stroked their heads one by one and then stood up.
Then he climbed up into the carriage and closed the door.
“Kkiing! Kkiing!”
He could hear the little claws scratching the carriage door.
“Why are they doing that all of a sudden? Now I feel bad for them. They sound so sad.”
“I don’t know.”
Seol Jihu shrugged and let out a small sigh.
Then he spoke.
“Let’s go.”
A moment later the carriages carrying the members of Valhalla swiftly passed through the gate.
*
Around the same time.
The road between Nur and Scheherazade made for a spectacular sight.
Darkness covered both the land and the sky.