NOVEL WEB Chapter 22
A monster born from humans. The number of eyeballs embedded in its entire body indicates how many people were sacrificed to create this chimera beast.
The real thing was grotesque and hideous beyond imagination. A chunk of red meat stitched together with rat skin, riddled with bulging eyeballs. I felt a strong sense of revulsion and discomfort at the sight of Rat Man’s appearance. Rat Man was both a monster and an alchemist. He had scoffed at the one forbidden rule denied to them by breaking it. A horrific sight beyond the iron bars. The status I had already confirmed through scouting was not to be underestimated. If I hadn’t come in the first place, I might’ve been okay, but the moment I opened the door with the key, I had to brace for a fight.
It wasn’t just discomfort; it was its strength. More precisely, it was the skill it possessed. Rapid Regeneration. A C-grade skill, two levels higher than my weak E-grade regeneration. It was a patchwork creature, but no, living in such a form proved the power of the C-grade skill.
The protagonist in the novel might have felt sympathy and pity, but it seemed I wasn’t that kind of person. All I felt was disgust at its rolling eyeballs. As they rolled in different directions, it suddenly focused on me. Recognizing me for sure, it slammed against the bars with a deafening bang! A violent impact against the cage, so fierce I thought it would break, but if Rat Man was keeping it inside, was it really that easy to shatter…?
Bang—!
Damn. The cage in the sewer was hardly impressive. Trusting Rat Man had made a fool of me. After all, he was an alchemist. He must have some method to tame the chimera that I was unaware of.
Before it breaks completely, right now, while it’s still trapped in the cage, was my chance. I quickly summoned my magic power. With my level now at 16, my magic power had risen to 49 and began to bubble up.
I considered how to deal with it. Magic Ball would pierce cleanly, but it would recover just as easily. Does it even have a weak spot? Does it have one?
In the novel, it was all about numbers. It originally wasn’t in the sewer but rather a monster that appeared in Busan and wasn’t even that strong. They merely discovered that this sewer was their base while dealing with the disaster that had appeared in Busan.
Still, I had to do something. In a pinch, I consolidated my magic power and brought it down like a hammer on it. Crunch! It turned into something akin to chewed gum, yet it was puffing up in real-time.
As expected. The power of the C-grade skill. The shock sent its flesh flying and its eyeballs rolling, but even those parts squirmed and attempted to return to its body. Even if I damaged it, the speed at which it recovered was truly unreasonable.
Was it still inadequate to defeat a creature with a C-grade skill? No, no. There had to be a way to win. It’s just that it was a last resort I didn’t want to consider. By now the bars were almost bent. It could withstand maybe once or twice more before crumpling completely.
The moment of choice was approaching.
‘I have to eat it.’
If I eat, I can win. Conversely, if I don’t eat, it means I can’t win.
Suddenly, I considered if just running away might not be an option.
That was a method too. But if it got out of the sewer, innocent people would just die.
…But ultimately, wasn’t that just a farce? This was a world of fiction after all. And they were all going to die anyway.
With that thought, I gritted my teeth and shook my head. Going that far would completely shatter the me that was just barely human. I had a gut feeling I would truly become a monster. That was one thing I couldn’t do.
A chimera made from humans. Would this be human flesh? Eating a chimera, would that be cannibalism? Should I eat human meat or let people die? I struggled with these thoughts while looking at the trembling bars and solidified my resolve.
[Hunger (E) Lv.6 has reached maximum proficiency. Hunger (E) Lv.6 → Hunger (E) Lv.7]
Ku-kwang—! Finally, the bars broke, and it crawled out, making me stifle a gag. Bathed in the light from outside, its appearance became clearer. The impact had ruptured its retina and lens, mixing with the flesh that was now stained white.
――Don’t think.
Even if I felt like throwing up, I couldn’t win if I didn’t eat. Despite knowing that, I repeated it endlessly, focusing solely on the fight. Its agility hovered around 80. While still faster than an average person, it felt sluggish to me. All it had were strength and recovery. Just those two.
It lunged forward, gaping its mouth wide. It was somewhat tough, but I could still tear into it. I bit into its mushy flesh and skin. The eyeball that rolled around squished and oozed out like a raw egg. No matter how many times it lunged at me, it couldn’t catch me—at least, that’s what I thought, only for long tentacles to shoot out from its body. It was just a handful of tentacles, but they sliced through the air with a menacing whoosh.
It’s said that the only weapon that can break the sound barrier using human hands is a whip. The principle is that the handle tapers towards the end. The momentum generated by swinging is transferred to the tip, and since the mass at the end is lighter than the handle, the speed doubles. Of course, while the tentacle might not reach the speed of sound, it wasn’t something that could be easily evaded. Its strength was 265. A significant number not to be underestimated. If I were to take a hit at that speed, there wouldn’t be a chance of surviving, even with all my damage reduction and hardening combined.
Thus, I had to move with the intention of dodging everything. Thankfully, the number wasn’t very high. No matter how fast it was, if I could anticipate its path with perception and intuition, I could avoid it.
All I had to do was move first. I dodged the two incoming tentacles and jumped over the one that reached out from the front.
Using my spring from the air, enhanced by the forward momentum, I had the advantage that come with long-range weapons: once you got too close, it became hard to fight back. Its tentacles were now useless… no, wait! It didn’t stop and barely dodged it. The tentacles relentlessly tunneled deep into itself. Thanks to that, I was able to see up close just how powerful it truly was.
――I thought mistakenly it would stop once it burrowed deep. If I had noticed even a moment too late, I would have been the one to collapse.
It didn’t hesitate. It was no creature that felt fear or terror, just a chimera that had lost its mind. I questioned whether it even felt pain, but it wouldn’t fear the pain it couldn’t determine was there or not. Moreover, it possessed a C-grade skill known as Rapid Regeneration. Even if it posed a risk of attacking itself, it was more logical to exclude me.
Crunch—! While chewing on the bitten flesh, I used Scouting.
[Weight 166kg]
Still a long way to go. How much do I need to consume to make it stop? How much more would I have to eat to bring its actions to a halt? Half? Maybe more than that. If not for the contact consumption from Gluttony, I couldn’t have devoured 3kg in one go.
Of course, while it was regenerating, it was only squirming. Simply put, it was like clay. Even if it tries to reconstitute the torn parts, the clay that’s gone doesn’t return. It would be different if it had magic, but…
It was different from regeneration. It wasn’t restoring wounds; it was healing them. At first glance, regeneration seems a superior ability, but healing can be applied to others.
In other words, the outcome of this fight depends on whether I could eat it alive before dying.
***
“……”
Without a doubt, this was the entrance. I had searched through buildings with underground levels, but I couldn’t find any way to go deeper than this…
“……”
The Vice Team Leader looked up at the sky. A perfectly ideal day, not a cloud in sight. How great it would be to have an outdoor picnic on a day like this? Yet, upon lowering his head, reality and truth awaited there.
“Why the hell are these crazy bastards in the sewer?!”
After hesitating for a long time, the Vice Team Leader opened Pandora’s box with a trembling hand.
“Ah, sh*t! Ughhh!”
…He regretted it in just one second.
***
[Weight 146kg]
146kg. From an initial 169kg, it had dropped by over 20kg. I could tell with the naked eye that it was getting smaller. Almost half of its eyeballs had burst out, but it would regenerate anyway.
I was starting to get used to its movements. Dodging those whip-like tentacles wasn’t that hard anymore. However, the problem was that the number of its tentacles had increased beyond that.
Whether it was anger or for some other reason, the tentacles had increased to a whopping 10. There was now no guarantee that I could avoid them. No, I didn’t just lack confidence.
[Perception (E) Lv.3 has reached maximum proficiency. Perception (E) Lv.3 → Perception (E) Lv.4]
As my perception leveled up, a good idea popped into my head.
‘…If I think about it, I really didn’t need to struggle so hard to fight?’
I turned around. As I took a step back, it moved forward to narrow the distance. It would attack from a distance with its tentacles or simply ram into me if I got too close. A primal, mindless fighting style. Perhaps it could be fooled. If I succeeded, great, but if I failed, I wouldn’t lose anything.
With that thought, I turned and bolted. It seemed to see that as an opening, and it smashed its tentacles onto the spot where I’d just been. As the stone floor shattered, debris flew up, and it squirmed out of the debris.
Of course, this was my perspective, and it was still faster than regular people. Unless you were Usain Bolt, it might be easier to give up on escaping. Regardless, I used the run-up to jump.
“……?”
But something unexpected happened. I cleared a 10m ditch with ease.
“……?”
No, does this even make sense? I had taken a run-up, but the ceiling was low, and I hadn’t made a proper leap. Yet I cleared a 10m ditch like it was nothing. I hadn’t even used spring! Was I perhaps overestimating my own limits? If I had known, I wouldn’t have needed to dive into the water…
No. I had to go in for the experience points, after all.
At that moment, it too threw itself into the ditch, and I cheered inwardly.
Its heavy body submerged in the ditch, then floated back to the surface. It was crawling over, but its speed was incredibly slow. With the expected turn of events, I smiled. While I could glide easily through the water with swimming and diving enhancements, it was struggling just to stay afloat. Splish-splash, it flailed around with its tentacles, desperately trying to swim to the other side. But I dove deep to bite it. The flailing tentacles, wielded like whips, lost much of their strength in the water’s resistance.
This was enough for me to withstand using Hardening. It seemed angry at not being able to deal damage to me and tried to ram into me, but the water’s resistance lessened the threat.
[110kg]
Its lacking intelligence prioritized the useless attacks instead of escaping the ditch. Ultimately, realizing that flinging its tentacles was useless, it tired itself out trying to detach me from its grasp. If it were a true worg, it could have suffocated me with a blow to the ribcage, but the amorphous form I had made such attacks meaningless. I escaped from its grasp with ease.
[Satiation has reached maximum levels. The Gluttony (D) Lv.1 skill converts Satiation into experience.]
Late digested flesh was converted into experience points. It had tried to capture me repeatedly, but each time, I slipped away. I didn’t even need to use my magic power; it was gradually becoming my prey. It struggled one last time, but I chewed through its tentacles, gradually reducing its weight.
[91kg]
Before I knew it, almost half its weight had shrunk. I thought it would die after eating half, but its rapid recovery was unexpectedly powerful as it was still alive.
Even in this state, it hadn’t let out a single scream. No, considering that Rat Man had hidden it away in the sewer, it had probably been silenced from the get-go to avoid detection.
Even after defeating it, there were still places I had to check. Now it was down to a mere 64kg. I summoned all the magic power I had saved up.
With my magic power, I reinforced my body. The method of enhancement had already been demonstrated by Rat Man. Despite its bulk decreasing, its tentacles increased to 14, and the tentacles it wildly swung slashed through the air extremely threateningly.
The moment my feet left the ground, I charged at it. Gaining acceleration from my charge, I dodged four tentacles; now only ten were left. Soon, my instincts and perception rang out a warning. The two skills directed me on the path to take, and I didn’t hesitate. I used my momentum to dodge five tentacles. Three tentacles were left waiting. As I looked at the opposite side, there were two more tentacles. It was planning to sweep sideways. However, before the tentacles could react, my body, strengthened by magic, broke through their encirclement. I quickly bit into it and rolled away. The late-following three tentacles struck the creature itself, swaying it even if it felt no pain.
[57kg]
I had bitten two of its tentacles. The remaining twelve tentacles writhed. As its Rapid Regeneration restored it, my weak regeneration also healed me. I prepared for the next blow. As I drew up my magic power again, I felt a strong dizziness. Just the moment I showed a gap, the tentacles closed in. They stopped just before me.
‘……!’
Gasping, I released the breath I had been holding. Did I falter? I didn’t hesitate. It was indeed a formidable foe, yet it had never once allowed an attack. Still, it was a mentally exhausting battle. Furthermore, the real-time headache and dizziness were tempting me: ‘Use more magic?’ Instead of a nonsensical proposition, I truly felt the urge to use more magic power.
I grit my teeth and tried to suppress that desire. I couldn’t let myself get drunk on omnipotence and faint in enemy territory. Shoving aside the whispering temptation, I dove into the remains of the dead chimera beast.
[You have consumed a Chimera Beast. Experience and Satiation increase.]
The complete demise of the chimera beast.
――At this moment, it meant I had succeeded in overcoming the disaster of the sewer. I, the first to conquer this calamity, cheered silently against the throbbing headache and dizziness.