Chapter 15
"But I heard whale meat is expensive."
"Generally, yes. They say toothed whales used to accumulate heavy metals in their bodies, which caused all sorts of problems. I don't know how things are now, though, since huge monsters sometimes eat garbage without realizing what it is because they're hungry."
A few years after the Tower appeared, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—in other words, the 'Garbage Islands'—disappeared. It turned out that several giant underwater monsters had gobbled up all kinds of things, including the garbage patches.
Once, they managed to take down one of the monsters that had eaten a garbage patch. Surprisingly, no heavy metals were detected in its body, and there was no undigested trash, either.
Instead, when they dissected it, they found a mottled brown-and-gray sphere between the organs thought to be its kidneys and lungs. A high concentration of heavy metals and all kinds of other harmful substances had accumulated inside it.
Maybe it was because they were one of the 'boss-class monsters.' The Garbage Islands had fish and fish eggs, not to mention plankton and barnacles, so it wasn't as if there was nothing to eat.
On top of that, an examination of the mass of harmful substances revealed that a poison lethal to Awakened people was being produced at its center. They're now researching how to dispose of it.
"The whale we caught back then had one of these, too... Ah."
"Munch."
The moment I took out the spherical mass without thinking, Joo So-jeong snatched it from my hand and popped it straight into her mouth.
As soon as she swallowed it, she fell forward. Instant death.
Five seconds later, Joo So-jeong revived and got up as if nothing had happened. No flames appeared, though.
"It tasted like I died before I even had time to register what was happening."
"...I only took it out to show you..."
"Um... for some reason, it said my stamina and mana went up."
"What? Was that an inner core?"
Han Mi-reu was bewildered. Had the giant monsters been creating these inside their bodies after eating enough of something?
"What's an inner core?"
"Simply put, it's a kind of pill that raises your stats when you eat it, aside from monster meat. They sometimes show up in the Towers of countries associated with wuxia, like China, Japan, Mongolia, and Tibet. The boost isn't much, but you can keep eating them to raise your stats, so Awakened people still trade them."
"I see."
"For reference, there's something called a poison neidan. It raises your stats more than a regular neidan, but it's mixed with dangerous poison, so if you eat one without knowing what it is, you could be sick for a while or even die. What you just ate was probably a kind of poison neidan... one with an instant-kill poison that can even bypass poison resistance..."
"Then are there any poison neidans left?"
Did she even know what she was asking right now?
"No, I said it's dangerous! Even poison neidans don't necessarily kill you like that last one did. If you eat one, you'll just die, revive, and get a stat boost—"
"I don't care about stats or strength or any of that shit."
"Do you realize how crazy that sounds to other Awakened people?"
While everyone else was searching for every possible way to get stronger, she didn't care about strength at all.
If So-jeong could separate the harmful and beneficial ingredients in the neidan, she'd probably try to hand off the stat boost to another Awakened person and gobble down all the deadly poison herself.
"That's great. Do any of the Awakened people you know have an Immortal-Slaying skill?"
"Are you only hearing the parts you want to hear?"
"So that's why you dragged me into the Tower, saying it would cool my head."
-Wait, theoretically, she can eat an unlimited number of poison neidans???
-Today's fact: Fire Chicken revives when she dies. Poison doesn't change that.
-Other people are researching how to eat poison neidans, and she's only interested in the poison?
-Her way of thinking is completely different from that of ordinary Awakened people.
"So, what's on floor 24?"
[Defeat the Poison Flame Burn Ent.]
"?"
What's an Ent?
-Just think of it as a walking tree monster.
-Going by the name, it sounds like a tree that uses poison.
-But can a tree use fire and poison at the same time?
-Archmage (Fire/Poison)
-Ah.
-And now we're talking about MapleStory lol
"What's MapleStory got to do with it...? Oh."
In the middle of a forest thick with trees, there was an open clearing. A tree stood in it, its body ablaze and golden, apple-like fruits hanging from its branches.
But the viewers' reactions were strange.
-Shit, is that a manchineel??
-Oh, you're right. But why's it on fire?
-Maybe it evolved after growing in the Tower.
-More importantly, that thing's moving.
-Did this shitty tree seriously undergo a Dark Evolution???
[Forced ejection if you attack by any means other than using your body]
In other words, I wasn't allowed to use attack skills.
When its branches moved, fireball-like things formed around the tree and flew at me. I smacked them away with my hands.
I just wanted to burn, but my passive skill made fire pointless.
But while it was shooting fire, it occasionally threw sap or fruit at me, too.
I dodged the sap and fruit and asked the viewers,
"By the way, what's a manchineel?"
-Basically, it's a tree that's poisonous from top to bottom...
"That's the best thing ever!!"
-What the fuck did you just say?
-?
-?
-?
I immediately snatched one of the fruits, used it to intercept the sap flying at me, and took a bite.
It was sweet and delicious—more than I expected.
-Why the hell are you eating that!?
-Wait, Fire Chicken was climbing the Tower because she wants to die, wasn't she?!
-I forgot this bitch even ate lava...
-Look at that tree. It's so shocked it stopped attacking.
-Shit, you're right lol
"Amazing... I can feel myself slowly dying... Can I have some more...?"
When I spoke to it, the tree suddenly pulled its roots out of the ground and started moving them vigorously, getting away from me.
"...?"
-Hey, where are you going lol
-Its roots were legs this whole time? lol
-Tree: Sorry. I won't bother you.
-I'm a tree, so I don't have eyes, human.
"Where are you going!? If you're leaving, kill me first!!"
What a coward! Are you even a monster!? You think I'll let you get away just because you pulled your roots out and ran!?
"Got—"
'KRRRACK!!'
"—...?"
The moment my hand touched it, the moving tree suddenly split in half from top to bottom, spraying sap from the cut like a fountain.
When I looked closely, I saw that its largest branch had sharpened itself like a blade and sliced through its own body.
-Tree: I'll die.
-I'd rather die than get caught by a lunatic!!
-It actually went with that option lol
-It must've figured this was better than whatever horrible things she was going to do to it lol
As I stared at the tree that had pointlessly ended its own life, I noticed sap pooling between the halves of its split body.
I immediately went inside the split trunk and drank the sap pooling there.
"Maybe that huge poison neidan boosted my stamina, because I'm not dying right away..."
-Did you take a Great Rejuvenation Pill or something?
-If it was a Great Rejuvenation Pill, I can see why you didn't die.
-How'd you get one before even reaching floor 30?
-Because your landlord's Mimir-chan?
-But she probably secretly ate it because she wanted to die, even though it wasn't supposed to kill her...
-I'm Mimir-chan, and that's right.
"Seriously... I died so fast I didn't even have time to realize I was dead..."
-What on earth did you eat?
-Mimir-chan tried to stop her. She really did...
-That sounds like an instant-kill poison.
-Isn't that the kind even high-ranking Awakened people can't eat, even if they want to?
"But that dazzling light tempted me, promising it would definitely kill me..."
-"You were the one who got me worked up first!!"
-Great Rejuvenation Pill: I didn't! I swear I didn't.
-We have to hear the Great Rejuvenation Pill's side of the story, too.
We decided to check the reward for floor 24 another time, then climbed to floor 25.
With a troubled heart, I looked ahead. This time, a dark-skinned male elf with a muscular build was standing there.
[Defeat the creepy parasite controlling a husk.]
[Forced ejection if you use even one skill]
[Forced ejection if you die even once]
"Is this for real?"
-Damn, he's in better shape than me.
-I feel kind of inferior...
-Are there even fighter dark elves or elves?
-I realized this while climbing the Tower, but every race seems to have its oddballs.
-But the one in front of you is a dark elf. Why are you supposed to catch a bug?
-Oh. Could it be...
A husk?
On closer inspection, its eye sockets were empty, and something seemed to be wriggling inside. Was it a bug?
It said 'parasite'...
It looked like they'd gone beyond preserving a body that had been dead for ages and put some kind of parasite inside to control it...
...Disgusting.
"...Instead of mourning and honoring the dead, you do something like this."
-Oh, right.
-It's different from necromancy, so I almost didn't recognize it.
-What? Am I the only one who doesn't get it?
-Basically, a bug like something out of a body-snatcher story is controlling a corpse.
-Ugh, shit.
-Is there some kind of centipede in there, like in that dead lion-monkey?
My mind was made up.
I'd take it out in one go.
[!!]
The bug wearing the dark elf's body saw me and immediately threw a punch. I dodged by turning to the side.
I didn't know how strong it had been in life, but this bug wasn't using the body properly.
Using the momentum, I spun and slammed my left leg into its side.
When my armored leg struck its ribs, I heard bones break.
Keeping my stance, I drove a thrusting kick into its chest.
I chased the staggering corpse with another left roundhouse kick, then followed up with my right leg, alternating kicks as I struck its head.
After spinning around twice, I brought my left leg down on its head on the third turn.
Then, carried by the rotation that still hadn't stopped, I kicked its jaw up with my right leg.
Think it was over? No.
I leapt after its body as it flew into the air, spun, and kicked it upward in turn with my left and right legs. Then I rotated forward vertically and drove it into the ground.
-Whoa, Vergil
-I never heard she learned martial arts.
-She learned it from games.
-Kick 13! Rising Sun! Lunar Phase!!
-Take this! Good night!
Was that a game character's move?
I'd just thought that if I kept spinning and hitting it with my legs, the power would build up...
Anyway, the dark elf's body, including the bones in its arms and legs, had been completely crushed, leaving it unable to move.
Only...
[Kiiik!!]
Its body twitched, and the fact that something had burst through its face was the problem.
-Whoa, that's fucking gross
-Is that the parasite?
-It looks like something I've seen in an eroge.
-What the hell does that mean?
-There is one. A game where a busty nun saves the world.
The thing in my hand had a body like a thin tentacle, and despite having no eyes or nose, its mouth—split into four parts—was desperately trying to latch onto me.
...It felt gross, so I grabbed it right beside the mouth with my other hand and pulled in opposite directions, ripping it apart.
[Kieeeek...]
The parasite let out a death cry as its body tore apart, and the end where its mouth was drooped limply.
I stomped on the front end and crushed it to make sure it was dead. Only then did the clear notification appear.
"......"
The male dark elf's corpse, which had been used as a husk, stopped moving and began to shrivel.
His face was no longer recognizable. There was an empty hole where the parasite had burst through.
At the sight, I immediately covered the corpse in flames and burned it.
"...I think I'll call it a day here."
-All good.
-You seem kind of down.
-She started acting like that after seeing the dark elf's corpse being controlled.
-I thought all she wanted was to die, but I guess that isn't all there is to it.
-Tower-bye
-Fire-bye
...I'm tired. I just want to go home and sleep today.