novelraw Chapter 31 : Chapter 31
Chapter 31 : Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Seizure (1)
An unbelievable thing happened.
Floating in the air, Balzac thought.
In an instant, the boy's appearance changed into some anomaly and slashed everything in a flash.
Seuseuk- seuk-
With a faint sound.
Balzac saw himself and the corpse giant's body being sliced to pieces.
Dozens. Hundreds. No, perhaps. Thousands of pieces.
It was cut so softly and perfectly that it felt futile.
The sliced flesh pieces poured down in all directions like a rainstorm.
Balzac's body was the same.
Each body part divided and scattered in the air.
The ear was torn and fell to the floor, the jaw and lower lip were smoothly cut and flew far away, and the right eyeball also fell separately and was rolling away.
Balzac's left eye blankly watched the scene.
‘Is this possible?’
How many times did he slash in that short moment?
It is nonsense.
And it was happening right in front of his eyes.
This was not a hallucination.
It was a vivid reality.
In an instant, the neck was cut and the torso was divided into pieces.
In less than a second.
‘……Absurd.’
But no matter how well cut, nothing changes.
Balzac gathered magic power.
Because the flesh lumps needed for regeneration were surely sufficient.
Meat pieces that could be gladly sacrificed.
It was enough to reconstruct the body with them.
Seureuk- seuk-
Body pieces crawled on the floor and gathered.
Bruised skin and bones, bloodshot nerves.
They were slowly drawn together point by point like magnets, reviving Balzac's body.
The cut neck was attached and the eyeball found its way back into the socket.
The crushed arm also adhered to the shoulder blade while swollen.
‘Done.’
He took a deep breath and examined his newly molded body.
Piik-! Tuuk-
However, the arm that seemed attached fell helplessly to the floor.
“What?”
The right eyeball sagged, hit the cheek with a tong-, and rolled on the floor.
The pieces that seemed to have found their place disassembled and collapsed one by one.
The moment he relaxed his strength, he couldn't support it.
Soon the reason was revealed.
The fallen body parts started corroding black rapidly.
‘This…… No, it can’t be. Don’t tell me-.’
This tells only one thing.
The flesh was damaged at the cellular level.
It is not simple cutting. It is collapse.
And Balzac knew the person who uses such a technique.
In the past, just once.
There was a time he barely survived and escaped against a hero.
‘Baekseok.’
Hwaek-!
Balzac's head turned quickly and fixed on the boy.
It can’t be.
It can’t be.
Balzac repeated inwardly and calmed himself.
But the sword energy and flow the boy just showed.
It was definitely familiar.
Furthermore, even this phenomenon happening after being cut.
Everything was exactly the same as Baekseok, that man's.
‘Just what is that guy……?’
Chijik-!
At that moment of confusion, the receiver inserted deep in his ear spewed out sharp static.
- This is the Security Room, heroes are conducting rescue operations starting from the Ecology Hall and Main Exhibition Hall. Failed to secure the targeted Holy Relic. It is nowhere.
A moment of silence.
Then an annoyed voice was heard.
- Tsk, who handed over the info this time? It’s annoying, should I just kill everyone here while I’m at it?
- That might be fine, but it would be better to hurry. I see Jason too.
- Jason? An S-Class is a bit much.
Messages announcing mission failure and the grumbling voices of colleagues.
Chijik-
The end of the radio transmission was cold and dry.
- Everyone gather at the hideout. Retreat. Survive on your own.
‘…….’
Balzac watched his continuously collapsing body and waited for the radio's last static to disappear.
His gaze soon turned to the boy who was drinking something with a trembling hand.
A moment later, the boy struggled to stand up and started walking toward Balzac.
“What a shitty day.”
Balzac muttered.
***
Kulleok-!
Suddenly I saw the ceiling.
I used a technique flashily in the air and slammed straight into the ground.
A stinging pain was transmitted from the back of my head.
‘I can’t put strength in.’
My eyes were blurry and it felt like strength drained from my whole body.
The power that had filled up when using [Hundred Night Yaksha] bottomed out at once.
Thanks to that, the skill seemed to have gone out with tremendous output, but apart from that, the feeling of my soul draining away wasn't very pleasant.
Above all, my body didn't listen and started to convulse.
The feeling of being unable to do anything on my own while wearing an oxygen mask.
[Tactical Manual]
[Opened ‘School Supplies Store’.]
‘Fatigue Recovery Potion, 2…….’
[Fatigue Recovery Potion (x2) - 10,000 SP is consumed.]
‘Expensive.’
Seuseut-
As soon as I finished the order, the Fatigue Recovery Potion was in my hand.
Is there no function that pours it directly into my mouth?
I barely steadied my trembling hand and brought the Fatigue Recovery Potion to my mouth.
The lid opened with a kkadeuk- sound, and then the taste and scent of the liquid flowing into my mouth were intense.
“Puha-.”
As I drank the Fatigue Recovery Potion, breath finally filled deep into my lungs.
On the other hand, sensations rushed in as if they had been waiting only then.
It felt like severed nerves were reconnected.
Cold sweat flowed down the nape of my neck.
Muscles still trembled, and a stabbing pain arose near my heart.
Unlike before, even though I felt pain, strength did not fill up.
As if completely discharged.
Even though I drank a Fatigue Recovery Potion with intermediate healing effects, my mind became hazy instead.
As if saying that falling asleep is the best treatment right now.
‘Come to think of it…….’
The surroundings were quiet.
The noise that hit my ears, the whispers that licked inside my ears, and the sensations flowing through my body had all disappeared.
I looked behind me.
The hand of the [Cruciatus] curse that was floating until just before had disappeared.
Then what about Balzac?
I struggled to raise my upper body and looked at Balzac.
He was still alive.
However, in a fragmented state.
‘Is he not regenerating?’
That thought was brief, I soon noticed he was in a state where he couldn't regenerate.
Because I saw him barely restore his body to its original state only to collapse like Jenga falling.
I couldn't feel a shred of falsehood in his desperate eyes.
That must be why all the spells were dispelled too.
But at the same time, he was staring at me.
While full of killing intent.
‘I shouldn’t leave him be.’
Heroes will barge in soon, but if I let my guard down and leave him, the worst situation will occur.
Knowing Balzac, I propped myself up on my knees and slowly stood up.
I staggered because no strength went into my legs, but I took steps one by one.
Teobeok- teobeok-
I approached Balzac holding the sword.
He was in a state where only his head, neck area, and up to his ribcage were attached, like a plaster cast in an art room.
Even that was in falling pieces, though.
It was clear he lost a significant amount of power, just like me.
“U, uaaaaah!”
Balzac screamed.
Something popped out of his body.
Veins and muscle fibers squirmed like tentacles and lunged at me.
Pibit-!
It grazed my cheek and my clothes were torn little by little.
Huung-!
I swung the sword. But my body didn't follow well.
My arm didn't even go up properly, and the movement was incredibly slow.
Syuuk-!
One tentacle grazed my forearm.
It wasn't a deep wound, but the skin peeled thinly and blood pooled.
As another tentacle flew in, my body reflexively twisted its waist.
Evasion Instinct was still activating, but my creaking body couldn't fully respond.
Chiik-!
A burning sensation grazed my back.
Is he using magic power even in this fragmented situation?
But I can't stop.
I had to end it somehow.
I raised my sword with bent knees.
Tentacles swarmed again cutting through the air.
Taat-!
I pushed off the floor with my foot and threw my body.
Disturbed balance, but I adjusted the sword tip with certainty.
Pibit-!
One tentacle trying to block me was cut off.
Sticky liquid splashed.
Pubuk-!
The sword plunged into Balzac's ribcage.
“Kkaaaaaah!”
Balzac writhed in pain.
At the same time, other tentacles reached out.
A trajectory impossible to avoid all physically.
My body reflexively twisted and dodged two tentacles, but.
Peogeok-!
I allowed a hit from the thick tentacle that rushed in last.
My body fell backward as it was.
“Kulleok-!”
As my body slammed onto the floor, a cough burst out as if all the breath in my lungs was bouncing out.
“Die! Just die like that!”
Screaming like a madman, Balzac pulled out a sharply sharpened tentacle from his ribcage.
A tip sharp like an awl.
It flew toward the nape of my neck.
“Die!”
At that moment Balzac's rough shout was heard.
Kkwadeuk-!
“What?”
I bit it with my teeth and jerked my head back.
“Uh…… uh uh!”
Swiik-!
Soon the sound of his body attached to the tentacle flying through the air was heard.
Pujik-!
A sensation of something sticking into my sword, which I had extended just right, was conveyed.
The tentacle sagged, informing me of the enemy's state.
As I looked forward, I saw Balzac's head pierced right in the center of his forehead.
‘Now, if I just eliminate his main body finally.’
It would be done…….
That thought was the last before my vision collapsed.
Balzac has a ‘main body’.
If I don't eliminate that, I can't say I've completely defeated him.
I know Balzac's secret.
But I couldn't finish it.
Because my body was already at its limit.
‘Why now of all times.’
My gaze turned toward the Mimic.
If it gave me just a little more, just a tiny bit more strength, I could finish it.
It was floating in the air with its tongue stretched out.
As if quietly enjoying the afterglow.
I feel unfairly resentful for no reason.
In the first place, if it went according to the original work, at this moment.
Fighting a life-and-death battle with Balzac is already ‘out’.
Beyond my blurry closing vision, I saw a small creature crawling on the floor.
A long body like an earthworm.
At the end, one round eye is attached.
‘The Third Eye.’
That is the very eye that floated on Balzac's palm.
That is Balzac's main body.
‘If only I had a little more strength left.’
That was the last scene I saw in the Mystery Hall.
Because I lost consciousness, like a forced shutdown button was pressed.
***
‘Damn it, venomous bastard. Confirming the kill? I almost got into big trouble.’
Consciousness was still clear.
But the body was completely stopped.
Heart, lungs, nerves.
No life response remained.
‘Huu.’
Balzac sighed inwardly.
A moment later, inside the ear canal squirmed.
Tuuk-!
Something covered in slime fell to the floor.
An annelid creature wrapped in a transparent mucous membrane.
It had an outer skin reminiscent of the cerebral cortex and a round pupil at the end of its torso.
And that was Balzac's true form.
‘How long has it been since I came out in this state? Damn. Disgusting.’
Pareureu-
Shaking its damp body, the annelid creature raised its head.
In its eyes, a boy fallen while holding a sword was seen.
There was never an experience of being cornered like this before.
To almost die by a boy barely old enough to be an academy cadet.
‘I will take you with respect.’
Black Mage of Deception, Balzac.
Only a very few knew his true identity.
A small, unsightly worm with an eye.
But Balzac didn't care.
Because there were victories that could be obtained because of that.
Dragging slime, Balzac crawled smoothly and climbed up the boy's nape.
‘It worked out well in the end. Since I acquired a top-quality body.’
Balzac, who scanned Ryu Jinwoo's back satisfactorily, took out a needle hidden in his tail.
Pwisit-!
[Mind Penetration]
The ability possessed by the creature called Balzac.
A unique spell that directly penetrates the inner side of a being with a mind, destroys the core, and seizes that body and mind.
Balzac's slimy body started burrowing along the crevices of Ryu Jinwoo's skin.
Huung-!
At the same time, Balzac's ‘consciousness’ finally crossed the threshold of Ryu Jinwoo's inner side, his mind.
‘Done! Now I start anew. With a young and excellent body!’
At that moment when Balzac shouted for joy soaked in a sense of victory.
[Kkihihihit!]
Some bizarre laughter began to be heard.