Crack!
“Ugh, dark…”
As I pulled the last remaining human memory out, the surroundings fell into an eerie silence, the kind where I could almost hear the cries of insects from all directions.
It wasn’t the season for insects yet, but ever since the Great Rift, a considerable number of the resilient, otherworldly insects had crossed over through the gates, making it so that even in winter, there were a few insects buzzing around the Korean Peninsula.
‘From what I saw in the memory devouring… there’s something underground?’
Originally, the memory devourer could completely consume all the memories of its prey. But now, after becoming human, it seemed that I couldn’t extract memories as clearly as before.
Lirisia paused for a moment to enjoy the sounds of the crickets before opening the door to what seemed like a factory or warehouse.
I vaguely heard something about biometric authentication, but Lirisia tore the door off its hinges and entered.
Swish!
The next moment, Lirisia tilted her head just in time as a solidified sound wave grazed her ear.
This was no ordinary sound wave.
It was a destructive attack, reminiscent of a blade fused with a mace.
‘Even if I get hit, it probably won’t be a big deal, but it’s getting tough to wrap my whole body with Seongnyeok…’
Sure, my body could regenerate anyway, so that was fine. The problem was the clothes.
To begin with, Lirisia’s attire was already minimal for the terraforming work she’d done in the desert, and the moment even one strap fell off, it would come undone entirely.
Turning up in a state of undress while thinking I had some kind of wall against exposure was something to avoid.
“For now, one.”
As Lirisia glanced sideways at the direction the sound wave came from, her spine snapped, and protruding tentacles shot through the concrete wall, charging toward her attacker.
“What the!?”
Oh no.
If that breaks through, my body will be halved.
Quickly, Lirisia ordered her tentacles to stop and seized the opportunity to close the distance, delivering a front kick.
Of course, Lirisia had enough strength in her legs to literally crush a person, but she had promised Isia and the Hero not to kill if possible, so she held back her strength just before her kick made contact with the man.
Gah!
The man struck by Lirisia’s kinetic force fell, vomiting blood, but Awakened Ones had sturdy bodies that healed quickly.
He probably wouldn’t die, so it was okay.
The attacker must have seen Lirisia entering the building, as they launched a seriously lethal attack that literally shredded the spot where she had just been standing.
Since it was a power of sound, if an average power user had been here, they would have been caught off guard and taken a one-sided beating.
Perhaps the commotion just now made the other Awakened Ones inside realize they had been attacked, and they were likely beginning to mobilize.
Maybe they’d been moving even earlier.
“Sigh… This is so annoying.”
Once inside the building, Lirisia’s first task was ‘Identifying.’
The ones inside, the powerful ones.
Among the beings known as Awakened Ones or Hunters, there was a risk that civilians might be mixed in.
Normally, she would have used her tracking miracle to accurately discern the enemy, but due to the presence of mana, the Awakened Ones had a distinctly different taste and smell compared to ordinary people, and Lirisia was able to identify them like a sommelier distinguishing fine wine.
Inside, there were more Awakened Ones than outside.
‘There’s nobody on the upper floors… and all of them are below.’
In addition, the human scent coming from underground was quite intense, suggesting a deep source.
There were no stairs, and with access only possible via an elevator, it seemed to descend quite a depth.
On the upper floors was a normal company disguised as a food processing business.
And below, something immensely deep.
Given the smell of gunpowder that wafted through, it seemed they had anticipated killing intruders from the start. If she took the elevator down, she would likely set off numerous booby traps or be targeted by a concentrated fire from heavily armed hunters.
In this new building… with just a sign indicating it was a food processing company, what kind of shady dealings were they conceiving inside, allowing for a substantial number of A-grade Awakened Ones to gather?
This was above and beyond the level of a mere human trafficking organization.
‘Is it not just a simple crime syndicate?’
Lirisia sensed that the situation, which seemed almost pretentious, was oddly disturbing.
Something… someone was playing with her, to the point where she was almost paranoid.
Even though the idea of some bold lunatic trying to brainwash the elves, who could sing the Green Hills, was absurd, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
Human greed knows no bounds, as even before the elves of Daesanrim arrived, there had been several attempts to enslave elves in the shadows of the Earth, with some cases of elves captured as slaves being rescued from wealthy aristocrats.
However, even though Lirisia had been using memory devouring all along, she still couldn’t uncover the identity of the hidden figure behind these twisted schemes.
There were vague memories about receiving a request from the San Guild or coming from Shanxi Province, but when it came to who had given the orders, all the recollections came back as ambiguous, indicating they had arrived through a company or for some nebulous reason to prepare to brainwash the elves of Daesanrim.
Despite devouring memories, there were no concrete clues.
At most, the result of her memory investigations was, “The San Guild is responsible for this, and they are bad people!”—as if a child were simply taught a lesson.
Of course, if Lirisia consumed the brain cells of a human to the point of death, she might uncover the entire situation, but contrary to the promises made to Shia and the Hero, she felt no desire for human flesh anymore, so that method was outright refused by Lirisia.
Well, whatever.
She didn’t particularly want to know any profound or complicated circumstances.
Lirisia hoped to quickly smash the heads of the fools who meddled with the elves and return to being a normal food processing business that would give her meat starting tomorrow.
“Sigh, whatever.”
Let’s finish this quickly—
What’s the point of thinking now?
She just had to think of it like stomping on bothersome insects.
Shaking off her random thoughts, Lirisia gestured with irritation and annoyance.
Crack!
Following Lirisia’s gesture, the gigantic tentacles protruding from her spine understood her intent and wriggled.
Two tentacles lifted Lirisia into the air, while the remaining three anchored themselves firmly into the walls and ceiling.
At that moment, the Awakened Ones sensing Lirisia’s intrusion had prepared themselves to greet her down below.
The route down was just one elevator.
In front of that corridor, dozens of mana-penetrating claymores were set up, allowing them to prepare for attack, while dozens of B-grade Awakened Ones were also primed and ready to unleash their assaults the moment Lirisia stepped into the corridor, with A-grade hunters behind, ready to draw their swords, watching Lirisia’s movements through CCTV.
Indeed, being unable to escape, they were sharpening their blades for a decisive stand.
Whenever she came, they would not go down easily.
“…..”
“Why isn’t she coming?”
However, the CCTV showed Lirisia simply standing still, gazing down the path to the underground.
“Is she thinking of giving up and going back?”
It was a bummer not being able to use the booby traps they had painstakingly set up, but if she turned back now, it could actually be a blessing.
That strange woman, just like some unidentified monster, had swept away the Awakened Ones positioned on the upper floors like garbage, so it would be odd not to feel fear.
And the A-grade Awakened One monitoring the CCTV soon saw Lirisia suddenly lift herself into the air with her tentacles.
‘What the hell?’
Three tentacles were anchored to the floor and walls, while the other two were suddenly exerting immense strength against the wall.
With the wall cracking from the strain of the tentacles reaching their limit, Lirisia looked like a steel ball loaded into a slingshot.
Wait, a slingshot… a steel ball…?!
Incoming!
BOOM!
That crazy woman, just how solid is she…?!
“Aaaagh!”
Guh?!
“The, the ceiling is collapsing—!”
Had she walked down the stairs or the corridor, she would have been directly hit by the booby traps, so Lirisia chose to utilize the elasticity of her tentacles to launch herself and collapse the ceiling itself.
In an instant, the collapsing ceiling brought B-grade Awakened Ones to their knees, bleeding from their ears, fainting, or getting pinned down by the rubble while the triggered booby traps incapacitated them.
Awakened Ones of at least mid-tier rank managed to dodge the fallen debris or defend against the triggered claymores.
Of course, Lirisia wasn’t one to let this go.
Confirming that a few were still eager for battle, she leapt down, kicking off the airborne debris, crashing fiercely into the ground.
Thud!
As Lirisia’s body struck the ground, a powerful shockwave radiated out, disarming everyone present for a brief moment, flooding their senses with the sensation of their bodies screaming.
In a rush to activate the mana within their bodies and prepare to battle, it was fatal that Lirisia allowed no openings.
Tentacles reached out instantly toward any survivors.
Some fired firearms, while others unleashed abilities that created winds or projectiles to strike Lirisia’s tentacles, but even in their desperation, it seemed these were no effective blows.
Lirisia ceased to move independently.
With her arms crossed, she walked languidly forward as her tentacles easily tossed aside the remaining hunters, twisting their arms and legs, and those who still resisted were knocked out by strikes to the neck.
It seemed a few of those who had suffered broken necks didn’t die, surprisingly resilient were the Awakened Ones.
Sigh, controlling strength to not kill is much more difficult than just killing.
Honestly, did she need to go this far?
Suddenly, Lirisia pondered this thought.
As the Witch of the Dark Star, the blood of those souls crushed beneath her hands must have created an ocean.
It was hypocritical, even disgusting, to find herself now burdened with the notion of not killing and even checking if anyone had died.
Clack, clack.
Before long, the sounds of gunfire, booby traps detonating, rubble collapsing, and the screams of resisting hunters faded away, leaving only the sounds of Lirisia’s boots echoing down the corridor.
Judging by the number of Awakened Ones concentrated down here compared to above, it was clear something significant was being concealed.
She wasn’t curious about what that might be, but Lirisia decided to tread forward as her steps led her.
The corridor, resembling a precision research lab of some corporation, was very sterile, and every once in a while, small explosions or claymores attempted to strike Lirisia, but she didn’t need to avoid them since her tentacles shielded her.
Though the building above was only about three floors, the lower levels were vast and looked like the ruins of an ancient kingdom.
After mucking around for about thirty minutes, Lirisia finally reached a massive underground cavern where a greenish powder and liquid were being synthesized.
“It’s not… drugs.”
Realizing that the greenish substance was in fact a cognitive-impairing drug intended for the elves, the base ingredient used for the mind control process, Lirisia speculated how such a bizarre, scripted substance could have come to exist.
It turned out to be the result of a curse user or mind control user’s “Hunter Cell,” made from finely crystallized mana particles, synthesized like a drug.
However, looking at the green powder, Lirisia scowled.
These powders were not derived from mana extraction.
Extraction would take time, leading to lengthy processes, and would not yield efficiency by the time they crystallized.
Thus, the person who created this green powder had opted for a simple and straightforward method.
“…It smells like people.”
In her previous life, Lirisia would have been curious about the taste of a powder that reeked of human flesh, perhaps even trying a handful, but now, all she felt was disgust.
‘There’s no curse user or mind control user existing separately… this powder had to have been made from grinding them down.’
Initially, it seemed there were going to be curse users at the deepest part of this organization, the hidden masterminds possessing the “Hunter Cell.”
But instead of the needed users, only this ground powder remained, leaving Lirisia to let out a slight sigh of exasperation.
‘Well, the boss or someone responsible here is likely one of the Awakened Ones I beat earlier?’
Although she didn’t use memory devouring all at once to incapacitate them, she could find out who the boss was as she processed them one by one.
BZZZZT!
“Uh?”
However, the next moment, Lirisia’s eyes widened as a giant shadowy fang shot out from below her feet.
It was a sudden attack, but she knew this tactic well.
“Eselatia…?”
Calmly, Lirisia thought with a sardonic smile.
No… that can’t be it.
There’s no way such a shoddy shadow could belong to her.
Shaking off those thoughts, Lirisia gestured toward the shadow.
BAAM!
Just before the shadow fang could engulf her, Lirisia’s tentacles pierced through the shadow, ripping it apart.
“Ah, easy. I thought you were trying to kill me.”
Her voice came out mechanically, spoken in stilted intervals, causing Lirisia to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
From the dark emerged a woman.
With beautifully braided hair, the woman tilted her head grotesquely. The mana emanating from her was far stronger than any of the B to A-grade Awakened Ones Lirisia had pummeled thus far—but what stood out more was the woman’s jaw.
Her jaw was replaced with a mechanical steel jaw, as if she’d had it torn off or broken by someone.
And the woman appeared to recognize Lirisia, smiling knowingly.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Nice to see you, Isia.”
“……”
Lirisia narrowed her eyes at the woman who expressed such pleasantries.
I’m not your fucking friend, you piece of trash.
Who the hell are you?
No matter how long I’ve lived, I’ve never exchanged words with a woman sporting a steel jaw, and even if I had forgotten, I wouldn’t particularly want to remember.
And most importantly.
I’m not Isia.
However, it seemed tedious to explain everything in detail, so Lirisia exhaled before replying.
“And who are you?”
“Oh dear, have you already forgotten me? I have never been able to forget you..!”
Then the mechanical jaw trembled uncontrollably.
Fear?
No.
It was anger and resentment.
“Do you know? Our lord cherishes us very much.”
Who’s this lord you’re talking about, you freak?
“So much that she hates the thought of us dying or losing each other. So when we die, new ones are created to replace us.”
“…….So who exactly are you?”
“Because of you, I was forgotten by my lord. Because of you. My lord thinks I’ve failed… and believes I’m dead, creating a new me… even though I’m right here!”
Clack!
Clack!
The clattering of the mechanical jaw was quite bothersome, so Lirisia barely listened, brushing her ears.
It seemed that piece of junk was of low quality.
Just making noise and unable to speak properly—should I recommend a good hospital or something?
“So, if I do well… if I do something my lord would appreciate… surely, she’ll accept the new me and take back me, Wang Soyoung!”
Ah, finally, a name—the least you could do, thank you very much.
Lirisia glanced at the writhing shadow at Wang Soyoung’s feet, tilting her head.
Oh, so that’s why she didn’t run away and showed up before me…
She had some confidence after all.
“Anyway, this wasn’t the original plan, but if my lord has secured you… she will surely be pleased…!”
“……”
“I mentioned I don’t like fighting, right? I prefer things to be peaceful and quiet rather than fighting like a damned pig in the Baiyun Brigade…!”
Looking at the black gemstone-like material flaring up in the middle of Wang Soyoung’s chest, Lirisia let out a sigh.
FUUU-
However, Wang Soyoung’s face twisted in horror.
Just moments earlier, Lirisia had seemed utterly unconcerned as she casually passed by Wang Soyoung, but suddenly, a large hole appeared in Wang Soyoung’s chest.
Lirisia’s hand was tightly gripping the dark fragment.
The moment she confirmed the fragment, thoughts about the context flew out of her mind as the intent to shatter it consumed her.
CRUNCH!
As Lirisia’s hand tightened, she crushed the fragment.
In that instant, Wang Soyoung still bore a look of disbelief on her face, twisted with despair and rage.
“You talk too much.”
Lirisia sighed.
She had said she wouldn’t kill her, yet here she was, having done just that.
And Wang Soyoung’s new form fell limp atop the writhing shadow.
