Chapter 12
“Naraebi! What are you doing?”
“Just wait a second!”
'Essence Absorption!'
Ding-
['Essence Deficiency' penalty has weakened. You can exert 96% of your abilities.]
'Just a little more...!'
Ding-
['Essence Deficiency' penalty has weakened. You can exert 98% of your abilities.]
I grew impatient.
The more times I absorbed, the smaller the percentage increases became.
The monsters weren't going anywhere, and there were still quite a few left.
But I was growing frustrated at how slowly it was rising compared to the beginning.
Having absorbed even the last visible one, I looked around.
“And next... huh, there aren't any? Hurry up and catch them, Mister!”
“Haa... huff. Wh-what?”
“I said hurry up and catch them! I have business with the corpses.”
“......Ha—am I fucking crazy? Why have there been so many brats making me swear at my age lately?”
'Heh heh, sorry, Mister.'
But it was frustrating.
It wasn't my place to complain as the one being carried, but Lee Chang-jin must have been tired, because his fighting speed had noticeably slowed.
He had slowed his pace so much that even I could clearly see his movements.
'Jump over the monster's back and slash down its back. That's it.'
'Huh? It's attacking from the side...!'
Crack!
Fortunately, he threw himself in the opposite direction to evade, then drove the longsword into the monster's belly.
“.......”
But at that moment, a sense of incongruity washed over me.
'Wait, what?'
...That doesn't make sense.
Lee Chang-jin was tired, sure, but what about the other monsters...? Was it possible for them to be slowing down along with him?
I suddenly began to notice something strange.
The monsters' speed looked far more sluggish than before.
Unlike at first, when I had been afraid even to join the fight,
I began to feel that, now, I could easily dodge their attacks and counterattack.
Tap- tap-
I tried jumping in place a few times.
'L-light...!'
My body moved however I wanted, as if I were dreaming.
Only then did I realize.
At 98%, wasn't the penalty almost gone?
For a moment, I'd unconsciously fixated only on reaching 100%, but my physical abilities had already been raised to nearly that level.
In other words, I no longer had to be scared of measly C-ranks like those.
“Wow... I really am an idiot.”
Ding-
[Activating skill 'Blade Claws'.]
"Yaaahhh!!'
I charged straight into the middle of the battlefield where Lee Chang-jin was fighting. I spotted the one targeting him and raised an emerald-hued dagger toward its heart.
‘There!’
I instinctively sensed the location of its vital spot, and the attack struck without the slightest error.
Squelch-!
“Kgh! Urk...?”
The werewolf opened its eyes wide in surprise. It stared dumbly at my wrist, buried deep inside its chest.
“Th-this is...”
...Shlick!
Thud!
When I pulled my hand out, it collapsed limply.
Blood gushed and bubbled from the corpse, and the heat of battle raging around us cooled at the sight.
Not only Lee Chang-jin but even the monsters began watching me with blank expressions.
“...Naraebi?”
“Just a moment, Mister.”
'Essence Absorption.'
Fwoosh-
There were many corpses at the scene besides the target I'd just killed.
I absorbed all their essences at once.
Then, accompanied by an electric tingling throughout my body, a flood of messages appeared.
Ding-
[You have acquired all the minimum amount of essence. The 'Essence Deficiency' penalty has been removed.]
Ding-
[The Piranian body has awakened. You can now level up.]
Ding-
[The title has been updated to 'Lesser Pygmy Sculptor.' Pygmies grow stronger.]
Ding-
[You can now use the 'Shop.']
Ding-
[A new skill has been unlocked.]
-------------------------------
New Skill List
-Curse Transfer LV.1
-Battlefield Turmoil LV.1
-Jungle's Stillness LV.1 (Passive)
-Material Creation LV.1 (Passive)
-------------------------------
......Crazy, why are there so many?
On top of that.
‘…….’
I looked toward the ring. I could feel more power flowing out of it than before.
And a pulse coming from within.
'Are they happy?'
Somehow, I knew. The pygmies inside the ring were leaping about in joy, clamoring as if demanding to be let out immediately.
And the waves of power told me that they'd grown incomparably stronger than before.
“What are you?”
Monster language. I looked at the werewolf that had opened its mouth.
“.......”
“I can definitely tell. You are not human. Our targets are humans only. Why are you attacking us?”
“Hmm.”
'There's no need to exchange words.'
I ignored it and spoke to Lee Chang-jin.
“Mister.”
“Speak.”
Lee Chang-jin stood with his back to me, sword raised. His face was taut with tension as he surveyed the surroundings,
yet I could see him pricking up his ears toward me.
I chuckled and gently kissed the ring.
“Want me to show you something fun?”
'......Something fun?'
Ding-
[Summoning the stored Pygmy warriors.]
'Only attack the monsters. If you attack humans, I'll lock you away forever.'
***
“Kraaaagh! What the hell are these...!”
“Kieeeeh!!”
Fwahahk-!
Werewolf blood sprayed like a fountain. When one with its vital spot slashed went sprawling with a crash, a pygmy even drove a dagger into its head to finish it off.
“Woo! Woo! Woo! Wuga! Wuga!”
“Kkeuurok!!”
The pygmies that had burst from the ring began slaughtering the werewolves.
Five tree demons alternated freely between daggers and poison needles.
They had grown to about 90 centimeters tall, and now emitted a much stronger magical wavelength to match their larger bodies.
'Probably B-rank…?'
Even if they weren't, they were top-tier C-rank at worst—truly dependable allies.
I followed them with a pleased smile, and Lee Chang-jin, who had stopped in a daze for a moment, resumed moving as well.
With the pygmies plus the two of us, there were effectively seven B-rank Hunters here.
As a result, not only the embassy but also the nearby werewolves fell like autumn leaves in an instant.
The werewolves seemed to fight back, but the pygmies were the worst possible matchup for the sluggish power types.
They ascended without managing to leave even a scratch on the pygmies.
After a little while.
“Wow... Naraebi, you really...”
The fighting died down, and for the first time I could face Lee Chang-jin's dumbfounded expression.
He seemed unable to organize what to ask or how to question me.
But...
'I don't know anything either.'
I simply grinned and opened my mouth.
“I said I'd show you something amazing, didn't I?”
“I thought I was going to keel over from shock, not merely be amazed. What the hell are those things?”
“They're pygmies.”
“......Is that the end of your explanation?”
Nod nod.
At that, he slumped down as if all the strength had drained from him.
“.......Haa, I'm tired.”
“You worked hard. I'm sorry; I should've stepped in sooner.”
“That's not it. My mind's tired. My body's fine now.”
“Ah… heh heh.”
I get it, I get it. This sort of thing must be a terrible match for that old man Lee Chang-jin.
After all, I'm an existence beyond common sense. For a detective who had spent his whole life guided by scientific evidence and logic, it was only natural that accepting an aberrant being like me would be difficult.
He took a moment to catch his breath with an expression of resignation, then looked at me.
“Raebi.”
“Yes.”
“......What did that monster say to you earlier? You understood it, didn't you?”
“.......”
Did he notice?
There'd be no point hiding it anyway.
I answered him carefully.
“It asked why... I was attacking them.”
“Why you were attacking them. Did they think you were an ally?”
“Probably. But they didn't seem entirely certain either, so it was ambiguous.”
“......Even they don't know what you are?”
“Yes.”
Lee Chang-jin then fell deep into thought. He muttered something while stroking his chin, then turned his gaze toward the distant sky.
“......Is this a crisis? Or an opportunity?”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind. Anyway, you're on humanity's side, right, Naraebi?”
“Hmm.”
Perhaps it was a cliché question. But the answer didn't come easily.
To begin with, I wasn't even certain that 'Na Ji-hoon' was truly me.
Still... there was one thing I could infer.
I nodded deeply once and told him,
“I'm probably on humanity's side.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because...”
...'I said I would tear the monsters apart and kill them.' That's why the Gate opened.
I remembered that day's events clearly. The words I'd spat out, filled with resentment and despair just before dying. They were words I could never forget.
On the monsters' side,
yet granting a new body to someone who opposed monsters...? That made no sense.
'But how am I supposed to explain this...'
-BOOOOM!!
“Huh?”
“......?”
A loud explosion came from far away. Lee Chang-jin and I turned our heads at the same time.
It was the direction Vincent had gone to fight in.
“Is it not over yet?”
“I know. Should we go take a look?”
“No, but...”
Lee Chang-jin stopped speaking. Then his gaze fixed on something: the pygmies were having a pillow fight with pieces of werewolf corpses.
He seemed to swallow the words that they probably wouldn't be of any help.
“......We can go too, right, Mister?”
“No.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“I...”
“Don't say some lame thing like, 'I'm the ambassador, so I have to protect the embassy,' okay?”
Lee Chang-jin looked down at me intently. Then he grinned and said,
“Your claws are short right now?”
“Huh?”
Smack!
“Ow!”
“You really only ever say things designed to annoy me. And don't get the wrong idea. I only agreed to protect you because Vincent asked me to. The embassy was cleared out ages ago.”
...Oho.
“That's because of me, right?”
“It's because of Vincent. Even if you, me, and those Pinocchios over there teamed up, we couldn't take him.”
“But I'm the one who persuaded Vincent.”
“Oh, right, thank you, thank you. I was going to thank you properly later anyway... What are you doing?”
When I dusted myself off and stood up, he asked. Judging by the unease on his face, he seemed to have figured out what I was going to do.
I pointed sharply in the direction where the explosion had sounded.
“I'm going.”
“Why on earth?”
“Because my sibling is fighting.”
“......No... Since when were you two so close?”
“Heh.”
That's right, it wasn't because of sibling affection.
It was because of the item.
I pressed down on my pounding heart.
The immense essence energy I'd been sensing for a while now. It was a tremendous force, on an entirely different level from what I'd just consumed, stimulating me.
I gained six levels just by killing C-ranks... If I could absorb that huge thing, how much power would I gain?
I made up my mind.
'I have to take that one, no matter what.'
“Don't go.”
“I'm going.”
“It's because I'm tired right now.”
......As expected.
Though he'd put it that way, every ounce of strength must have left Lee Chang-jin's body by now. An ordinary B-rank Hunter would already have lost his life in a situation like this.
I could tell he was exhausted without him needing to say it.
But the solution was simple.
“If your stamina's depleted, we just need to restore it, right?”
“What?”
Ding-
[Activating skill 'Battlefield Turmoil'.]
[All party members recover HP.]
[All party members' stats increase by 10%.]
[Weak enemies facing party members are slowed. (Fear LV.1)]
[2 mana is consumed per second.]
Current MP : 3420