First Outer World Story Series: The Black Mist that Devours - Chapter 81

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

(Ichiko POV)

“So this is the place?”

I was now hidden near the “Island of the World’s Discrepancy,” waiting for the enemy to come out.

But still, how in the world do the Demon King set up the barrier around “Island of the World’s Discrepancy”?

A thorough blockage of the dungeon should not be conceivable, based on the dungeons of other Demon Kings and the way Kurokiri had described it… no, this could be done if you consider that it was through the personal skills of the Demon King.

Furthermore, several of the monsters here supposedly had abilities like barriers, so it would not be surprising if the Demon King possessed similar abilities.

“Are they coming out?”

A hole was made in the barrier, and dozens of monsters can be spotted leaving the dungeon.

They were making their way towards the village.

As I thought, the Demon King, Distinguishable Warrior of this place, seems to bear an acute attachment to that village.

“Shall I go then?”

And before the hole in the barrier could close, I leaped in at full speed and invaded the dungeon.

————–

Inside the “Island of the World’s Discrepancy” was a dungeon with rooms separated from each other by barriers.

Each island was distinctive of generation, vegetation, climate, and other aspects. It was as if they were places isolated from the rest of the world for prolonged periods of time, like a plateau that arose out of nowhere on a field or islands floating in the sea.

This wasn’t an issue for me, nor was it something to be concerned about.

What was an issue for me was that the monsters inhabiting each island exhibited slightly different capabilities.

Yes, on a certain island, there was a deer-type monster with quick movements that played me for a loop; on another island, instead of slow and sluggish movement, it has strong fur, and on yet another island, instead of substantially increased muscle power, its vitality is such that it can be taken down with a single strike. Despite this, there was no discernible change in their appearance or skills.

“Phew. I guess this concludes this room.”

And now, the island monsters I just eradicated had heightened perception abilities in exchange for discarding their aggression, which made it very time-consuming to hunt down even one of them.

Moreover, this dungeon was very complicated as it appeared that you can only advance to the next island if all the monsters on the island were destroyed.

While moving on to the next island, I was trying to comprehend why there was such a setup.

Well, I suppose there are many advantages. If the monsters’ natures varied from room to room, that alone would render the combat more arduous, and if you have to eliminate them without fail, fatigue will surely accumulate, equipment will wear out, and depending on how long it lasts, food and water may pose a challenge.

Besides… somehow I feel that in addition to these advantages, the Demon King of this dungeon is also trying to ascertain which status distribution to the demons would be better.

However, since food was of minimal significance to me as a half-Demon King, and with this level of opponents, exhaustion didn’t even apply to me, therefore it was scarcely a problem for me.

“Plus, whatever they do won’t change my plan.”

Once I had re-generated my weapon, I headed for the rear section.

————–

Regardless of the monsters that were coming towards me or fleeing from me, I will annihilate them.

I suppose it would have been about two days, subjectively speaking, after entering the dungeon.

I had entered an island with a different atmosphere than the one I had been used to.

Unlike other islands, this one was awash in artifacts and concrete structures. With the exception of one pristine structure, the buildings were covered in bullet holes, blood stains, and the remnants of explosions.

And then there was this unnaturally clean and undamaged building in the city. There was a creature whose body had been detached from the waist up and down, whose upper body was floating in a state of being covered with several kinds of trees growing from both shoulders and back, and whose lower body was a mosaic-like assemblage of several different kinds of animals. If I were to classify this creature by its appearance, I would regard it as a chimera.

“You are the ‘Distinguishable Warrior Who Isolates the Species,’ aren’t you?”

Standing in front of the creature, my right hand touched the handle of the sword hanging from my waist so that I can fly at any time, while my left hand held the dagger for protection against enemy attacks, whenever the battle commenced. And in this state, I posed the question.

“…”

However, there was no reply from this Demon King. Well, their appearance made me wonder if they even have a mouth, so maybe they can’t vocalize from the beginning.

“If you don’t come, shall I come to you?”

When I was one step ahead of the limit range of ?Sword of the Formless King?Weak?, I teleported the long sword from my waist to the place where the Distinguishable Warrior’s head was.

Zash!

The sword penetrated into the Distinguishable Warrior’s head. But the Distinguishable Warrior did not even waver.

With this attack, the Distinguishable Warrior finally registered my presence and (probably) turned their face towards me.

And in the following instant, only the lower half of the Distinguishable Warrior’s body assumed the shape of a horse and surges forward vigorously.

“Tch!”

I flew to the side to evade the Distinguishable Warrior’s attack.

Right as the lower half of the Distinguishable Warrior’s body passed by where I was, I teleported my second sword towards the place where their heart ought to be this time.

But, as expected, the Distinguishable Warrior displayed not even a hint of pain.

On the contrary, the lower half of their body, which I dodged earlier, once more transformed into a mosaic, then changed direction, this time adopting the form of cheetah-like legs and lunged at me.

“What!?”

Perhaps it was because it had turned into cheetah legs that their speed surpassed that of the previous. On top of that, they were deploying something like a barrier in the form of a blade. It would be dangerous if I were to be struck by it. Therefore, I avoided it by teleporting myself this time.

“I see. This is the unique skill of ‘Distinguishable Warrior Who Isolates the Species’, huh? Rather than saying it is powerful, it is uncanny.”

As I stood on top of a neighboring structure, I assessed the skills of the Distinguishable Warrior who was searching for me.

It was likely that the Distinguishable Warrior’s skill was the ability to reconfigure their body to suit their own convenience as well as the ability to control barriers.

But this alone did not explain why the lower and upper body were separated, nor did it provide an explanation for the fact that they were safe even if they were subjected to attacks on parts of the body that were evidently fatal. In this regard, I believed the Distinguishable Warrior’s abilities had a restriction or weakness.

“Whatever the case, the information is lacking, so maybe I should try to strike from the shadows a little further.”

I then conjured several new swords and proceeded to launch an attack on the Distinguishable Warrior.

————–

A/N:

The Distinguishable Warrior is a very creepy Demon King.