Encountering A Strange Phenomenon

A man appeared, clapping his hands.

The man walked across the swamp as if it were flat ground. His lean build made him look, at a glance, like a mage.

But his walking across the swamp like that was not magic.

With a broad smile plastered across his face, he resembled a teacher pleased at a student’s growth.

The man walked over casually. The members hurriedly raised their weapons, wary of him.

“Oh ho, no need to be so guarded. We might even be on the same side!”

He raised both hands to shoulder height, palms open, emphasizing that he was unarmed.

But in such rough terrain, his nonchalant attitude was enough to make the party wary.

“Button?”

At that moment, Shumix’s surprised voice slipped out. She trembled as if startled.

Her words caused several representatives to start to stir.

“Button?”

“That Button?”

“Come to think of it, if he put on a bit of weight he might even look like him?”

The man, who had been walking closer as they spoke, came to an abrupt stop.

“Do you know him?”

“An old comrade. He used to be part of Yohan’s group….”

“Ah…!”

No wonder his face seemed familiar—he was one of Yohan’s group.

That was strange then. When I checked individually with my ‘Check’ ability, someone with that level of power wouldn’t have skipped the recruitment procedures.

‘Check.’

“Ho? Those eyes. You have interesting eyes. They’re so glittering I almost want to pluck them out and keep them.”

As expected, the ‘Check’ ability—one even transcendants recognize—wouldn’t fail to notice a corpse inhabited by a high-caliber entity.

By stats alone, he’s no weaker than me. If the being is indeed an aged high-caliber one, a fight won’t be easy. As always in such cases, you have to unnerve the opponent.

“What are you? Undead? A wraith? What is this— the body is on the verge of death and the one talking isn’t its owner? Did you take over that body?”

“…Wh-what did you say?”

“Hey, it smells like a rotting corpse—why don’t you go wash up. Tsk tsk. Laughing and posing without even noticing the smell coming off your own body….”

“Pft!”

“Kuhahaha!”

While the members burst into loud laughter, the man wearing Button’s guise scowled deeply, his face drained of color.

I sent signal gestures to Lee Hyo-ju and Hazel, then slowly walked toward the man wearing Button’s skin.

When Ludicer explained ‘Assimilation’ and ‘Dive’ to me, he said that occupying a representative’s body with ordinary caliber is impossible.

And yet there he was, brazenly occupying a representative’s body—even if it was near death. I mocked him, but he was clearly not an easy opponent.

“You, you-you-you!!”

“Ah, enough. Wraith, get out of that body!”

I threw the charm talisman I received from Shumix at Button’s body. I didn’t expect that talisman to force him out of Button’s body; it was just meant to rile him up.

The talisman struck the man squarely on the head. Perhaps bewildered by my action, he did nothing and stared blankly as the talisman flew at him.

The talisman hit his head and fell.

As the talisman fluttered down, an explosive surge rose from the man’s body. The force was so great that the landscape beyond him shimmered like heat haze on a spring day.

“Prepare. And I think it would be wise to step back a bit.”

“We should be careful, companion.”

“Yes… Be careful.”

Those were prearranged signal gestures. Seeing the third-highest danger signal, the two women led the party to fall back a little.

Yet they all looked tense, ready to spring at any moment. Not one member was an exception.

Even Guardian’s Valkyrie Nana, who had joined the legion during the expedition and hadn’t had the best first meeting with me, was tense.

“Our legion’s Proy often says something I personally don’t like, but it’s perfect for this situation. Are you constipated or what? Why the groans and the theatrics… huh!”

Kwahng―!

I swung ‘Pyosik’, filled with chaos, at the still-angry man’s face.

Instead of the sound of flesh being cut, there was an explosion-like noise and he staggered back three or four steps.

Of course I didn’t expect this attack to decapitate him.

“…What?”

Was it an unexpected blow? Or an unexpected shock?

While the strange man spat nonsense, ‘Pyosik’ lashed out, aiming at his neck and other spots, spewing sharp black venomous blades.

An attack infused with chaos, more destructive than other divine powers.

The half-corpse man was unexpectedly preoccupied with stumbling backward.

I spun my right wrist quickly, lowered my body, and pushed off with my feet.

The tempered blade ‘Pyosik-a’ whirled like a vortex and struck the half-corpse’s neck, sparking flames.

Like a dragon coveting a wish-pearl, like the desert terror of a dragon punch wind.

As it shot out low, his torso filled my entire vision in an instant.

Using the force of the thrust to lift my body, I channeled forward power into my elbow—the hardest part of the body—and drove it into what seemed to be his solar plexus.

Crack―!

The sound of bone breaking rang out distinctly as Button’s new body wavered and flew backward helplessly.

As I closed in to swing Pyosik-a again, I felt a dense, lethal intent flowing.

I used Blink magic to quickly step back, and the spot where I’d just been was pierced by a log-thick laser shot up into the sky.

“Heh heh! What the hell is this. Look at me! I’m tasting everyone’s dust because of this damn bastard?”

“Okay! Okay!!”

“Ah damn, this is embarrassing on so many levels.”

“I’m asking right now?! Quit pestering me! You bastards!”

He ranted and talked to himself like a madman, and on top of that he had otherworldly strength. His appearance seemed familiar—and I remembered where I’d seen him.

“Crazy. Are you one of them too? Manus?”

“Huh? Ah…! You met one of ‘us’ before, didn’t you? How about it? I’d like a clear answer to the question from back then. Personally, I’d like you to refuse. I’m tempted by that weapon of yours and I’m curious how it would feel to pull out your heart. Well, most of ‘us’ want to persuade you.”

“What nonsense is that. Speak clearly. Anyway, how could anyone work with an idiot like you? What’s to stop you from swallowing my body too? If you’re going to negotiate, send someone sane—it’s all morons, tsk tsk.”

“Is that so? So that’s a refusal then? Tr—!!”

Kwahng― Kwahkwang― Pashak―!

Pyosik silenced the chatterbox’s mouth, filled with black force.

This time I didn’t just use chaos. At the man who glittered his eyes at me for confirmation, I swung with the breaker full-on.

Unlike before, there came the sound of the man’s body ‘breaking.’

“…Is this, could it be, that thing?”

He took a quick step back and asked with startled eyes.

But I had no obligation to answer, and withholding the answer would only make him more flustered.

“Who knows?”

I quickly closed in on his face.

As he tried to hop back again, I reached and grabbed his collar, then slammed him face-first into the ground.

A resounding crash—Kwahng—echoed as the ground trembled.

I drove ‘Pyosik’, filled to the brim with breaker, into the nape of the fellow who had just kissed the ground with his face.

The limp ‘Pyosik’ stiffened upright and skewered sideways through his neck like stringing a dried fish.

Thud―!

It was blocked, but the impact was severe—he flew away still in a prone position.

When the dust cleared, the flesh around his neck appeared ‘shattered,’ like clay molded then cracked or a plaster statue split open.

“You bastard! I won’t let you off now!!”

His voice, brimming with rage, rivaled a lion’s roar. The nearby grass trembled and ripples formed on the swamp’s surface.

The force and murderous intent striking my skin made my whole body tingle.

It was the dense killing intent and madness I hadn’t felt since I first met Talis and Bioss after my return. He was definitely more excited than I’d expected.

“When did I ever go easy on you? Are you going to say you only got a little bone hit if you lose? Or that dust got in your eyes?”

“…Die!!”

A wildly thrown punch from afar. The momentum from that punch swept over my entire body. I couldn’t dodge—there were comrades behind me.

Is this what a god’s touch feels like? It was like an entire stretch of space being shoved forward.

The difference from Hazel’s spatial power was that the entire pushed space was force-energy. That made it terrifying. The moment that wall of force hit you, your whole body would crumble to dust.

“Hah—!”

‘Pyosik’ changed form into a spear. With a shout of resolve to pierce, I planted my left foot and braced my stance.

I took in the power given by the earth and moved. I added force-energy—specifically Bioss’s poisonous-style breaker.

“Hup!”

Holding my breath, I thrust and the spear collided with the wall of force.

Countless sparrings against Bioss and Talis, and the technique rivaling divine abilities-War God [Ex]—made a simple thrust far from simple.

Zzzeang―! Pasa-sasak―!

From where the spear met, space warped in all directions and then shattered and scattered.

Shards of force sliced across my face, opening wounds, but Arun-described Regeneration rapidly healed them.

“Huh…? You’re not blocking, not dodging, you’re countering? Are you really a fifth-year?”

“Why? Old man. Feeling weak after using one big technique?”

“…I’ll stitch that mouth of yours shut!”

“Do it if you can!”

Neither of us relented as we resumed clashing.

From the faint sense I felt, it seemed the members had retreated even further back.

Not by choice, but because people would inevitably be hurt by flying or shattered force shards, they had to fall back.

Once I confirmed the members had indeed stepped back, my mind steadied and I could focus on the beast before me.

And as we exchanged measured attacks with a calm mind, I began to notice something off about him.