Chapter 221: Jabberwock (2) (1/2)
Terms used in this episode:
One-turn kill – a gaming term common in turn-based games wherein a player kills the enemy within just one turn.
—————–aaaaah!
The sound became a little clearer.
Princess Leica looked at the front and shouted.
“Let’s go!”
As her unicorn began running, the other Elven Steeds also began to run.
Their legs were lean, but it was surprisingly powerful as they were able to become as fast as the wind in an instant.
————–aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The sounds of the rough wind and Jabberwock’s screams could be heard together.
In the midst of the hectic run, Cordelia tightly hugged Jude’s waist while Jude drove the Elven Steed to the side of Princess Leica.
“Your Highness!”
Princess Leica turned her head at Jude’s call, and Jude sent her a magic instead of talking with his voice.
[I know the weakness of Jabberwock!]
“Weakness?!”
[That’s right! Jabberwock is not a monster without a fixed shape! There is a way to fix it into a single shape!]
Myriad Shapeshifter Jabberwock.
For the elves of the Forest of Eternity, Jabberwock was a monster with an unfixed shape as it could change its shape at any moment.
But the truth was different.
Because it wasn’t just a monster with an indefinite form that continuously shapeshifted.
[It’s a monster that grows by feeding on fear! Therefore, if everyone thinks of the same thing, if what the existence everyone imagines that they are afraid of is the same, we can fix it to that shape!]
At his unexpected words, Princess Leica blinked her eyes.
Because it was information that was not found in the royal family’s subjugation records of Jabberwock.
“Is if from the Guardians’ record?!”
“Yes!”
To be exact, it was a strategy guide posted in the ‘Legend of Heroes Wiki.’
Adelaide Hastings, one of the playable characters in the empire.
She was the most beautiful woman in the world as dubbed by the game’s production staff, though Jude obviously refused to admit that now, but she was a character with an imagination as unique as her beauty.
‘In the game, the best strategy to attack it was to use Adelaide.’
When other characters faced Jabberwock, it would change its race, sex, and attributes at any moment, but not for Adelaide.
‘Because of her imagination.’
And as a result, Jabberwock turned into a very harmless and cute animal.
‘A continuous one-turn kill.’
Before Jabberwock changed its shape again, she would kill it by using her strongest lethal move.
It was a method in the game that only Adelaide could use because of the forced story progression, but it was a reality now.
He knew how to do it, so there was no reason not to use it.
“It’s all right! Trust me!”
It wouldn’t hurt to try it.
Princess Leica loudly shouted and conveyed Jude’s words to the other knights, and whether it was because of the emergency or her outstanding leadership, all of the knights received her order without any objection.
—–aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Its waking-up screams were heard again.
It was already the ninth waking-up scream.
“The Shades are coming!”
“We’re almost there!”
Dead trees that were drained of their life came into everyone’s sight. The Shades protruded their heads from the blackened ground, and the cries of Jabberwock continued to be heard from afar.
—aaaaaaaaaaaaah!
[It’s getting shorter!]
Cordelia sent a magic to Jude as she hugged his waist even tighter, and the knights began to rush as their steeds trampled the Shades and continued to run.
–aaaaaaaaaak!
Die-die-die-I’m-scared-I-don’t-want-to-die-save-me-monster-I’ll-kill-you-aaaaaaaaaaah!
The mixed voices of men, women, children, and the elderly were simultaneously heard in random.
And in response, the Shades let out spooky and eerie cries. They then suddenly heard the last waking-up scream.
I-hate-you-I-hate-you-I’ll-kill-you-don’t-look-back-I’ll-chase-you-you’ll-die-here-yaaaaaaaaaaah!!!
Its screams made their hair stand on end.
The sky quickly turned dark, and the black Shades with burning green eyes appeared.
And what they saw in front of them.
As the ground greatly shook, something purple and almost black inflated its body and roared.
I’ll-strangle-you-I’ll-kill-you-I’ll-tear-you-up-and-take-out-your-gut-before-you-die-I’ll-kill-you-yaaaaaaaah!
The Myriad Shapeshifter Jabberwock.
Everyone was overwhelmed by its presence in that moment.
And Princess Leica had a gut feeling that there was something wrong with it.
Even Midas who had participated in the subjugation of Jabberwock in the past immediately noticed the difference.
It’s stronger.
It’s been reborn as a far more powerful creature than what was left on the records.
Why?
For what reason?
“Imagine!”
In that instant, Cordelia spread out her angelic light and shouted in the elven language.
When she shouted with the power of an angel, even the elves who fell into a panic came to their senses at once.
Imagine.
Imagine what?
“Imagine!”
Princess Leica ordered them too.
The knights desperately thought of the most harmless and weakest beings in the world they could imagine.
Fluffy.
Round and small.
Cute, adorable, and lovely!
Jude-I-like-you-whimper-whimper-whimper-meow-meow-woof-woof-woof-hehehe-hehehe-I-love-you-f*ck!
At that moment, Jabberwock shrank as it let out strange sounds. Cordelia’s eyes widened when she saw it turn into something pink for an instant, and she slapped Jude on the back before shouting again.
T/N: If you still haven’t figured it out, Jude was thinking of Cordelia. And Cordelia realized it when it turned into something ‘pink’ (her hair color), so she slapped Jude on the back, hahaha.
“Same thing! Think of the same thing!”
She then used magic to spread the image in her mind to the elven knights.
“Imagine!”
What Cordelia imagined in her mind.
What Cordelia thought of as harmless, cute, and pretty.
At that moment, Jabberwock turned into something small, round, and green.
Princess Leica and the elves didn’t know what it was, but Jude knew.
‘Slime!’
To be exact, a baby slime that was common in online games!
A monster that Cordelia knew because she had a keychain of it in the past!
But it was right after that.
Die-die-I’ll-eat-you-I’ll-melt-your-stomach-I’ll-melt-you-and-kill-you-and-your-house-will-be-my-stomach!
In an instant, the stomach of the swelling slime split, and a huge mouth appeared.
And Jude realized.
It was impossible in the first place.
Jabberwock was a monster that fed on fear.
It was impossible to completely escape from fear like how Adelaide did. Because ordinary people could not imagine Jabberwock as a harmless existence.
Monster.
In the end, whatever they imagined would transform into a monster based on it.