Chapter 160: Break down (6) (1/2)

My first impression of him was very unpleasant. It wasn’t like I was looking at a living creature. He was a sticky liquid form that you might see wandering around a swamp. The clump of liquid slowly crawled out from the back. It didn’t suit that fabulous place.

However, nobody found his appearance amusing. Rather, they cheered and shouted like someone impressive had shown up.

It was only natural. The energy he emitted set the mood. It was as if the star of that place had appeared. Despite his ugly appearance, he gave off an energy that excited people.

‘… He’s brimming with confidence.’

The Clown couldn’t compare to him. That sort of attitude could only come from someone who was sure that he was the best. His intense image cut through his unattractive appearance and changed the atmosphere.

My heart pounded as well. It was paradoxical that a clump of disgusting slop had shown up emitting the energy of an A-list celebrity.

-Transcendents that have surpassed a certain class exhibit unusual sights from time to time. Don’t ever restrict your thinking. Someone may possess an image that is much more powerful than your common sense. And the moment that image breaks your common sense, you’ll be put at a disadvantage from the start. Don’t panic, and don’t ever think along the lines of ‘this can’t happen.’ You must actively accept things. That way, you won’t feel overwhelmed in the face of Transcendants that are vastly superior to you in class.

Clap, clap, clap.

I calmly clapped along with everyone else. The boss writhed and moved, and his chest area split open like a gaping mouth.

“Greetings. So you’ve come to enjoy the Game…”

His deep voice rang out. Listening to him, I discreetly activated the Akashic Records and observed him. I ignored the voice saying ‘Unable to evaluate’ and kept attempting to analyze him. And soon I heard a new voice.

[Unable to evaluate…]

.

.

.

[Attempting minimal analysis based on the information currently collected.]

[Accuracy may be considerably lesser than ‘analysis’ based on the accounts of the Akashic Records.]

[Do not rely deeply on the following information.]

Yes. I wasn’t looking for extremely accurate information, but I had to know what he was at the very least. At that moment, I simply had no idea.

[True name: Swallowing Swamp]

[Modifiers: Boss. He who wasn’t invited to the party. He who is in the spotlight. He who feeds on attention. He who cannot bear boredom. The King of entertainment. The King of pleasures…]

[Modifiers ‘He who is in the spotlight’ and ‘He who feeds on attention’ are currently activated.]

[His ‘swamp’ appearance is ‘completely immune’ to physical attacks.]

[Cannot analyze in detail due to lack of information.]

“… Well, this isn’t so bad.”

I couldn’t tell for sure just by hearing his modifiers, but I could guess. It seemed like he had activated modifiers that increased his class when he received attention. He probably turned them on when he was the center of attention. Listening to him speak, I also focused on the low conversation coming from other tables.

“So today, he came as a swamp. Last time he was a well-dressed man.”

“I heard he had a quarrel with someone last time. Someone whose class was comparable to or more advanced than his. So it looks like he came in his true form this time.”

“… Oh, so that’s his true form. I was thinking that looking at him alone was intimidating.”

He fought with someone, so he brought out his true form. It was very useful information. I recalled the advice that the Traveler gave me.

‘He’s unnecessarily useful.’

The Traveler did give me a lot of advice that I could apply in multiple cases.

-Even Transcendents that can change their appearance will have their own form. No matter how important their image is, their outside is deemed as important as their inside. An appearance that can reflect their image correctly can also boost their confidence because they would’ve accumulated most of their great achievements in that body.

-So, Transcendents that have reached a certain class have something called a true form. A physical appearance that they are most comfortable and powerful in, which can express their image the most.

I rolled my eyes to look at the boss who was oozing along as a swamp.

-But sometimes their true form can be poisonous to them instead. Their true form is powerful since it reveals who they are, but it can also be a weakness because they expose themselves explicitly. It’s basically the image they have. So if you crush the image of that appearance, you can break their essence.

I remembered his words clearly since I knew they weren’t false. The fearsome energy the Traveler emitted from time to time was completely different from his mountain god-like appearance of an old man. The Traveler never revealed his true form and never gave me a straight answer when I asked about it. That meant that their true forms were a sensitive matter to Travelers.

However, I was wondering about my true form since I had no intention to hide it.

“… This Game won’t be that fun. It’s just the usual stuff, but don’t worry. We’ll soon be presenting the Game we originally prepared on a larger scale.”

“Of course. Looking forward to it as always. You said this Game won’t be that fun, but I’m sure it’ll entertain us greatly!”

“Haha… Thank you. So shall we start betting before we start? As usual.”

And with that, everyone drank from their glasses and cheered. Just like the Clown had done, the boss moved his sticky body and personally collected money from the Transcendeants. Was it some matter of pride as a host? While he surely had underlings, he collected the money himself.

‘… That’s a lot of money he’s collecting.’

Having frequenting Utopia, I currently knew that the money in my pocket was quite a lot. Yet, the so-called VIP Transcendents were using it like it was nothing. Would that be enough? I felt slightly nervous. I put my hand in my inner pocket and glanced at the boss.

“…!”

But the moment my eyes met his, something strange happened. Although he was far away, the feeling that he was glaring at me right in front of me took over my entire body. It was as if something huge was squeezing my body. What was that? What was happening…

[Did you think I wouldn’t know?]

“…”

[After leaving all those traces at our place of transaction… You dared to come here without even changing your appearance.]

Piercing eyes rose upon the boss’s writhing face.

[Didn’t I tell you? That I would crush everything you own and take everything from you. That I would thrust you into a pit so deep that you wouldn’t want to live. But you still crawled in here like a rat. How stupid of you. I would’ve found you anyway.]