Chapter 53 (1/2)

Siheung 8 Dungeon (6)

Han-Seol’s body lost its strength and fell.

The light of the Mana core disappeared from the torn heart.

It was ironic that the end of the person who wanted to own me all to herself faced death in the form of absorption.

Thud!

The corpse rolled on the floor. Her eyes were staring at me even after she died.

‘As expected, there it is! It was a curse.’

I could see it clearly.

The threadlike energy left the empty heart where the Mana disappeared.

Like the last time with Park Chang-Hee, I quickly leaped away from the corpse before the curse that lost its host goes ballistic.

What…?!!

As soon as she died, the red hand connected to Han-Seol’s head disappeared.

Angelica, I mean, the alien being, which had not yet decided on a name to disguise itself as a human being, seemed baffled. The telepathy carried its emotion.

No way! It’s a race without a defense against this! What kind of powerful brainwashing agents is there that’s left to interfere···?!

In that short time, it seems to have acquired knowledge of humanity from the memory of Han-Seol.

Boosh!

The alien being did not give up and activated its skill once again. I then saw a much bigger hand that was stronger than the two red hands. It came to my head and opened its palm to grab my entire head. This time, it gave its best.

But then.

‘That is a critical mistake.’

If it doesn’t work once, one should give up immediately and try to bring out another method.

However, the mediocre knowledge gained through Han-Seol seems to have instilled false confidence.

It was a good thing for me.

The sword spoke in a soft voice while the red hand was fiercely hovering around my head.

It certainly seemed to know something about that alien race.

“An immortal? Does immortality mean a limitless life span? Or some kind of resurrection that brings it back to life? Which one is it?”

It didn’t answer immediately, unlike before.

It thought it was shocking that I have perfect immunity to mental type skills.

A strategy for a person like me was to keep trying the [Whisper of the Sword] for years, which was an attack to the mind, to induce action and to let me consent to the proposal, aiming for a weakened state in mind or when I’m careless.

It found out that the strategy would never work for me.

“Shutting your mouth? At this moment… of all the times?”

This kind of shitty tactic wouldn’t work for me.

I vaguely knew why the devil’s sword is so afraid of people with brainwashing skills.

“Are you going to let me die here and let it hold this handle? Are you okay with that?”

Although there was a physical thing called the sword, the demon sword is more like a cognitive being that cannot control its own will.

The possibility that someone else could take over the will, which was the only factor that proves its existence as a cognitive being, was equivalent to its presence being erased, so it must have felt fear towards death.

The answer came right back.

‘The immortals are parasites.’

The current host is Nicole.

“When the host dies, it moves to another entity or changes its species to continue its life. No one knows how old it is. The secret of immortality is the ability as a creature to change the body and the unique skill of manipulating the target and being able to read memories. There is no better defense than being read and manipulated.’

What, then, “It means I can kill it.”

If the brainwash doesn’t work, and, “If I don’t give it a chance to move on to another object.”

On the other hand, this thought came to mind as I listened.

Parasitism and brainwashing.

It was too similar to the skill effect of [Mercadius’ Seed].

What’s the connection?

‘The only way and purpose of its life is to reign over all beings of the species and to make fun of them by manipulating its fate from the shadows. Depending on the tutorial’s progress, if it is believed that the life span of the species and society has expired, it discards them and transfers to another dimension. If the race has the means to fight against a mental attack, it runs away. If it thinks that civilization’s level is too low to be interesting, it also throws it away. It’s rare to find a species that fits all of these conditions and that is also in the early stages of the tutorial and are connected to the dungeon.’

I remembered what Angelica said in my previous life.

‘I told you. A year ago, too many died than I expected. That’s all.’

Did it lose interest in Earth, which was so crumbled that it could not sustain civilization, even though the tutorials had started?

It said this,

‘I’m not going to break the egg. When the egg hatches, the gate and the dungeon do not disappear even after the tutorial ends. Rather, it will link this place to more dimensions. With more choices!’

If we had broken the Dimensional Bird’s Egg, all dungeons would have been closed, and Angelica would have been trapped on Earth.

So the reason for it to climb the Tower of Choice to the 100th floor, instead of running away to another dimension through the dungeon, was so it could connect to more worlds?

To increase its chances of finding the right species?

‘Angelica indeed predicted in my previous life that the Tower would rise, but the system explained the meaning of the Tower anyway.’

Humanity would have somehow climbed the Tower in that situation. Even without Angelica’s prophecy.

Is that why she climbed together with us and intervened?

I grimaced.

An uncontrollable rage rose within me.

In the end, it pretended to save humanity, but when it lost interest and did not need it, it simply threw them away.

Spark!

Angelica gave up and retracted her skill.

This skill, which continues to consume Mana while it is activated, has already consumed a considerable amount.

The Devil sword asks, ‘Are you really going to fight? No one has ever beaten that monster!’.

There was something that the devil’s sword can’t see right now.

Nicole’s body, which was probably thanks to Han-Seol, did not have a single defensive artifact. It did not have a battle backpack or items such as a Mana potion.

In other words, it was impossible to recover the consumed Mana.

Without the Rune Stone, magic became less efficient.

‘The odds are good enough.’

I rushed right into it.

Swish!

Boo-boom!

The purple sword energy rips the Earth.

It used its skill right away.

It avoided the attack and hid as if it was melting into the air.

‘It would need this type of skill to escape the Hunters’ eyes and return to Earth with Han-Seol.’

[Stealth] of SS-Rank.

However, stealth skills must also use Mana, and the Mana that spouts from the heart and fills the body does not disappear just because it becomes concealed.

I stiffened and waited breathlessly as if I had missed it in sight. I looked around intentionally and watched out.

Once separated from me, the alien kept its Stealth and approached me again quietly.

The highest level of skill, having completely eliminated sound and presence.

It created a blade by restructuring its hand.

It must have believed that I wouldn’t be able to respond to it, as it approached quietly to my side without a clue.

I stuck my knife in it without turning my head!

Pshk!

K-aaargh!

Terrible telepathy reaches my mind—a manifestation of terrible pain.

It managed to appear when [Stealth] was broken. I aimed for the heart but pierced its shoulder as it must have twisted its body at the last second.

H-How! How!

Now that it knew that [Stealth] doesn’t work, it won’t approach him like this.

It was the first and last chance.

I didn’t mean to drag this to a long war.

I needed to end this before it learns more about my abilities.

Thuff!

A storm-like shock wave blew up inside Angelica’s body using the devil’s sword as a medium.

As it lost its right arm, it made distance while having lost its balance.

But still, its heart was fine. The Mana core remains in shape.

And.

Blgh blgh!

The severed arm sprang up in an instant to form a sword again.

It freely manipulated its flesh.

I caught up and attacked.

A heated battle came and went. Angelica poured all her skills on me and attacked me by concentrating her arm with Mana, which she shaped like a sword. Every time the two of us clashed, the atmosphere shook. In a single moment, 3333 pieces of light needles poured from the surrounding area.