Chapter 37
While the strange lifeform and the dog were engaged in a fierce battle at a speed Jinseong could barely see, the slime was able to comfortably devour most of the mosquito corpses fallen on the floor, and it gained a massive body that easily surpassed Jinseong's height.
And proportionally, the needles that were barely visible at first had grown long and hard enough to remind one of porcupine quills, and the nucleus that had been a disgusting color darkened more and more, bringing to mind a black stone.
[ Woof! ]
And when it reached this point, the dog's instinct, which had been facing the strange lifeform, issued a fierce warning.
That there was a threat equal to or greater than the strange lifeform.
That if it didn't move its body away immediately, something terrible would happen.
Mukurikokuri no Inugami immediately transformed its body into light, let out a shockwave, and stretched its body like elongating taffy towards the torii (shrine gate).
Kaa-ak!
But this desperate escape was immediately thwarted.
As soon as the dog tried to withdraw, the strange lifeform widely opened the ends of its thick tentacles, forming them into trumpet-like shapes. The tentacles, stretched and thinned to the point of transparency, completely blocked the dog's path like a membrane, and while restricting its movement, it continuously spewed disgusting liquid from the numerous mouths on its head.
Hiss!
The disgusting liquid it spewed contaminated whatever it touched with a terrible stench.
When it touched wooden pillars, it made them rot instantly, and when it touched stones, it made them melt with an acrid smell. When it touched water, it turned it into rotten water that would cause all sorts of diseases with just one sip, and when it touched gas, it had the power to rot lungs with just one small breath.
The layers of contamination and impurity were in themselves fatal to divine power.
[ Yip! Yiiiip! ]
When the liquid touched the body that had been wandering in an elongated state, it began to contaminate and blacken the brilliantly shining divine power.
This was the work of the contaminated liquid that its instinct had screamed at it to avoid.
When the strange lifeform witnessed the liquid burrowing in like poison and gradually blackening the divine power, it tried to turn its entire tentacles into a membrane to trap the dog in a dome-shaped sphere, and the dog inflated its body greatly even while writhing in pain and struck the membrane with its front paws to prevent this.
Bang!
Baang!
A huge explosive sound rang out, as if slapping a water-filled balloon with a palm.
But despite its thin, vinyl-like appearance, the membrane easily withstood the massive front paws and only undulated, and even the sharply raised claws of light slipped as if coated with oil, not cutting but enduring.
Eventually, the dog gave up on piercing the membrane and changed its head into the shape of a sword to charge at the strange lifeform.
If it couldn't pierce the membrane, it intended to kill the subject to relieve the pressure.
The strange lifeform, as if it had been waiting for the dog's charge, continuously spewed disgusting liquid from its mouth like a water gun to contaminate the divine power, but the dog ignored it and continued to charge like it was just going to take it all, gaining momentum.
Thud!
And this desperate charge bore fruit.
Whether it couldn't avoid it or there was no need to avoid it, the strange lifeform firmly planted its legs on the ground and took the dog's attack head-on while only spitting saliva.
Thanks to this, the dog was able to safely cut off the strange lifeform's neck, and the neck rolled on the ground with a hollow sound. And as the neck was cut off, the membrane that had been blocking the dog's movement also lost its strength and began to shrivel and collapse, eventually reducing in volume and returning to tentacle form.
[ Awooooo! ]
The dog, despite feeling terrible pain, was intoxicated with the joy of victory and howled with one foot on the corpse.
A monster that tormented it terribly despite possessing substance.
Having defeated it after a desperate struggle, it had every right to be intoxicated with the joy of victory.
Yes.
It was enough.
Only, there was one more enemy.
Slurp!
As the membrane lost its strength, another enemy that had been waiting for an opportunity began to move. Dragging along a body that didn't match its massive form, moving like a wobbling pudding, it bent and moved like an amorphous lifeform and pounced on the dog.
Baaaaang!
The dog hurriedly flung its body to avoid the massive mass falling from the sky, and where the dog had been just a moment ago, the slime, which had swollen from eating mosquito corpses, created a small hole by shattering the well-laid stones as if striking the ground with a large hammer.
And the slime that landed enveloped the rolling body and head of the strange lifeform in one gulp, and began to absorb it as if dissolving and devouring food that had entered its body.
And proportionally, the slime's body began to swell again, and it expanded sideways as if crushing its swollen body, narrowing the space for the dog to move.
[ Woof! ]
Finally, when the body stretched and stretched, and the dog chose to escape to the top of the building–
Slurp!
The slime, as if it had been waiting, bounced up and pounced on the dog.
Thus, the dog was swallowed whole by the slime.
The slime that had devoured the dog moved the spines inside its body to stab the dog's body like injections, and when all the spines floating inside the slime were stuck in the dog's body.
[ Whine. ]
With a single cry, the dog could only be absorbed by the slime, its entire body dyed black. Slowly but surely, this was happening like black paint dissolving in clear water, and–
Slurp!
When that paint dyed the entire body of the slime and then purified again to become a clear body–
Spit.
Clank.
The slime spat out something like it was spitting out the bone after eating it clean.
It was a dog-shaped stone.
"Caught it."
Jinseong grinned as he levitated the stone.
* * *
"Hmm, no contact."
Lee Arin kept looking at her phone while standing on the frozen ground.
"Wh-who?"
"Who else? I'm talking about that oppa who sent a text and then disappeared without news about whether he's dead or alive."
Lee Arin grumbled and threw the smartphone in her hand onto the bed. Lee Serin, who had been quietly watching this scene, smiled slightly and asked.
"Worried?"
"No!"
Lee Arin answered the question immediately, but her face held a bit of worry.
This was because he had said he ‘got good information’ and then suddenly left a text saying he was going to Japan, so she wondered if he might have been scammed.
Especially since there were often cases of scams targeting ability users, she wasn’t worrying for nothing. Even considering recent cases, there was an incident where a mana particle studies major was taken abroad with promises of employment and then sold to drug dealers, and another incident where a summoner with a disease-curing summon was deceived and taken abroad to be sold into human trafficking.
Of course, these incidents happened in countries with poor public safety, so Japan with good public safety might not apply, but still, as the world was becoming increasingly dangerous, they couldn't be completely at ease.
"But... oppa wouldn't be the type to fall for something like that... right?"
"No. That oppa might be gullible enough to be lured by so-called good information and get into trouble. He’d probably follow after someone eagerly if they waved some sorcery in front of him."
Lee Serin spoke to try and calm down Lee Arin who kept sighing, but she didn’t know what to say in response to those words eagerly cursing Jinseong.
Because she couldn't deny it.
[ Contractor. Your sister truly has remarkable insight, doesn't she? He was surely obsessed with sorcery, so if sorcery was dangled in front of him as bait, he would bite it whole like a fish that doesn't think even one step ahead. ]
She couldn't deny the demon's whispered words either.
During middle school, Jinseong used to habitually say that there was a lack of sorcery, that he wanted to learn it, and even after that, he might not have talked about it but he would busily run around and bring armfuls of sorcery-related records.
Instead of denying it, Lee Serin thought of another method.
"Um, there's a karaoke place..."
"Huh?"
That was changing the subject.
Remembering that Lee Arin liked to go to karaoke with friends, she tried to guide her thoughts in that direction.
And it seemed to work as the girl sprawled on the bed got up.
"There's karaoke in Russia?!"
"Huh? Yeah. It's called a karaoke room..."
"Let's go!"
Lee Arin grabbed her smartphone and wallet like a cat starved for treats that had caught a scent, and almost forcibly dragged Lee Serin out of the room.
After that, Lee Arin headed to karaoke following Lee Serin, and enjoyed herself through singing. Despite the name karaoke room, it seemed they had brought in Korean noraebang machines as Korean songs were easy to find, and she could sing her favorite songs that she often sang.
After singing and playing for a while.
Lee Arin thought as she listened to Lee Serin singing a ballad.
Is that damn oppa sightseeing in Japan? Did he go to karaoke in the mainland...
* * *
Clang!
Jinseong threw away the cheap wireless microphone he had gotten in town and approached the collapsed father and daughter to put headphones on them.
Connected to each of the headphones was a cheap MP3 player that could now only be seen in museums.
The headphones put on each of them were also cheap, as the sound being played leaked out due to poor shielding.
Different sounds were coming from each of their headphones, with Kenji's headphones emitting a sharp electronic beep-beep sound at regular intervals.
And from Rise's headphones, whose expression was changing moment by moment–
Jinseong's voice was flowing out.