First Outer World Story Series: The Black Mist that Devours - Chapter 85
Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter
This time, there are some depictions that may give the impression of sexuality, along with a warning against grotesqueness.
You are warned to be careful if you do not like it.
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(Kurokiri POV)
“Chirito. Do you have any information on the intruder?”
“Yes. On the second level, there are 6 intruders with an average level of 7. A tanker, physical attacker, scout, healer, auxiliary, and magic attacker make up their composition, with the magic user specializing in wind. In terms of competence, they have defeated a squad of eight Mud Soldiers. Their present location is right on the border of the first and second levels.”
Following Chirito’s report, I pondered how I should deal with them.
“I get it. Then I’ll personally step into battle. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a combat role.”
“I understand.”
And I moved to the first level.
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“So you’re the intruders.”
While showing myself knee-deep in the swamp on the first level, I addressed the intruders.
“Who… are you?” the invading party’s leader, a heavy warrior with a mace, shield, and full plate armor, posed a question.
However, I wondered how he can move through the swamp in that gear. Ah, perhaps he was assisted by a rearguard or a magical user.
Forget it, I should answer his question.
“Me? I am the ‘King of the Devouring Black Mist’. The ruler of the ‘White Mist and the Black Swamp Forest’.”
As I said this, I exhibited the appearance of a Demon King.
The tension level of the intruder party was heightened drastically by my words.
“You are the Demon King… I see, then here’s where I’ll defeat you!”
“?Agility Enhancement?, ?Strength Enhancement?!”
“?Swing Down?!!”
One of the invaders, a man with a massive sword, received an auxiliary’s enhancement skill and lunged at me aggressively, severing me in half from the head.
“Wait!? That guy isn’t the real one!”
“What!?”
However, as the scout mentioned, the severed me wasn’t the actual one. It was a phony created by ?Bewitching Mist?.
Now, I’ll return the favor for surging at me with insouciance.
“?Sharp Aqua Pillar?.”
“This is bad! ?Pull In?!”
“Gah!!”
When I cast ?Sharp Aqua Pillar?, it thrust up from under the man’s feet vigorously in an attempt to split the man with the giant sword in half. However, the magical user in the rear guard utilized his skill to draw the man with the giant sword to their side right before it struck him, thereby escaping a direct hit. In spite of this, his right arm had been completely torn off.
“I’ll heal you! ?Heal?!”
“Ggh… ugh…”
“Wow. What resilience you have.”
The member in charge of recovery applied ?Heal? to the man with the giant sword’s dismembered right arm, causing the bleeding to instantaneously cease. Even his lost vitality seemed to have been restored somewhat.
“Where is the main body of the enemy!”
“I don’t know! I’ve been trying to detect it since a while ago, but it’s being obstructed by some strange force!”
The heavy warrior inquired about my whereabouts with the scout, to which the latter replied that they have no clue. That was not unexpected at all. After all, I was in the state of mist right now, and the party of intruders was enclosed from all directions.
“Tsk, then, ‘get over here’!”
The heavy warrior man employed a skill against me that was probably a provocative technique. But that was naive. Before my spirit status, provocation by a human being was worthless.
Now, shall I assault you with all my gusto?
“Your skill won’t have any effect. Here it comes.?Mist Plosion?.”
[[[!!?]]]
I discharged ?Mist Plosion? to the center of the party. While simultaneously invoking ?Bewitching Mist? without chanting, I called certain people to me.
“What is this!?” “Ah… ugh…” “Are you okay!?”
“Damn! He got us!” “What the hell is this!?”
“Hold still, all of you! The number of those with magical powers has practically doubled!!”
By utilizing ?Bewitching Mist?, I randomly superimposed the figures of Mud Puppets, Mud Soldiers, and Mud Magicians on the invading party. At the same time, I brought in the real Mud Puppet Unit to make it uncertain as to who was who.
Under this circumstance, the infiltrator’s party was unable to advance even a single step.
Well, the worst that can happen is a friendly fire.
“Hahaha. Are you sure it is okay to not move? ?Sharp Aqua Pillar?.”
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
From under the cowering man with the giant sword, I initiated ?Sharp Aqua Pillar? to stop him.
“Damn youuuuuuuuu!!”
The heavy warrior started running towards the direction where he heard my voice. Well, since the voice was coming from that direction, he obviously assumed that I was there. In fact, I can actually be found over there.
However…
“Ma… gufu…” “Ah…?”
My head was crushed by the heavy warrior’s mace.
After a brief delay, my figure vanished into the void, only to be replaced by the corpse of a dead magician with a mace impaled in his skull. And it was at this stage that the heavy warrior registered what he has done.
“Ah… a-ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”
A shriek was sent forth by the heavy warrior. One of the Mud Soldiers seized the opportunity and drove a dagger through a gap in the heavy warrior’s armor thus exterminating him.
With this, there were only three people remaining: the scout, the recovery, and the auxiliary.
Two of them were already cowering and immobilized. The scout was frantically trying to locate me as if seeking a reversal of fortune.
Now, why did I leave these three behind? Well, the reason was simple. These three were girls. That means they were for ?? purposes. But since I was not planning on converting them into Kirijin, I will put them to good use.
Therefore…
“Well, it appears that the outcome has been determined.”
Although I commanded the Mud Soldiers to restrain the three of them, the auxiliary and recovery members were so terror-struck that they cannot budge their bodies and were captured, while the scout exerted a strenuous antagonism and endeavored to flee.
“Hmm. Good luck to you.”
“Of course! I have no desire to die here!”
You have no desire to die huh. Then let’s play a little more.
Incidentally, the two people I had apprehended were utterly constrained with The Iron Shackles of the Sealing Art ? throughout this period. They had been carried to the punishment cell. Since they were more or less out of control, I had also gagged them to prevent them from committing suicide.
“Then, I will let you out if you can escape from now on.”
“Eh?”
I materialized only my hand behind the scout.
“‘From the land of illusion arises the black water of death. That freezes and revolves, and revolves and freezes’.”
The scout’s body was overcome by the vast amount of magical power released by me, rendering her incapable of articulation and causing her to tremble.
“‘The form to serve is the sword. What is severed is reality. Behold, hear, and feel. The moment when the illusion is replaced by reality. Outer Skill ? Kurokirinodachi.”
In my palm, I conjured an ice sword that was far wider than the scout’s body. Unlike the Kurokirinoko, the blade was not uneven, and the blade was comprised of black ice, with black water circulating within it at high speed. Therefore, the sword’s outward look can be defined as appealing in general.
Nonetheless, this sword contained the power to freeze and shatter everything it came into contact with, and its power will only be perceived as despair by human beings. In fact, the scout’s body had even quit shivering.
“Let’s go, then.”
I swung down my Kurokirinodachi.
The girl scout, perhaps seeking to escape the impending death, leaped forward into the swamp with the utmost effort, and the Kurokirinodachi slightly damaged the tip of her right thumb.
“Haahaahhhh… I did… ahhhhhh!!?”
Yet in the face of Kurokirinodachi’s force, even that small fraction was lethal, as parts of the girl’s right and left foot froze and shattered in the blink of an eye.
“Ga… hi… agghhhh…”
The girl’s body was wincing from the pain and cold radiating from the spot where her right foot used to be. Should things be neglected as they were, she won’t be able to sustain it for long, nor will it be possible for her to get out in the first place with this wound.
“Hmm. Excuse me. I was convinced I could kill you in one blow, but as one would expect of a high-ranking adventurer these days.”
“Hii… ah…”
I grasped the girl by the neck and lifted her up. Her overall body was coated in mud, and her face was contorted with trepidation, as was fitting. To tell the truth, it seemed to me that she would be better off living peacefully in the countryside somewhere, instead of venturing into a dungeon.
“Now, according to my promise, I would release you outside if you could escape from my current attack, but in fact, you couldn’t escape completely. Even if I let you leave, I doubt you’ll last long with those wounds.”
“Ugh… ggh…”
“If so, it would be proper to treat you to the extent that your life can be spared here, and let you out after you have paid for the treatment with your own body.”
“Ah… ah…”
I spoke to her with a sickening smile plastered on my face. And whether the girl haf an inkling of what it meant to pay with her body, she was conspicuously more appalled than she was a moment earlier.
“Don’t worry. I’ll spare your life only.”
With that, I departed, dragging the girl with me who could no longer scream.
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(Third person POV)
A couple of weeks after a certain party ventured into the “White Mist and Black Swamp Forest”.
One of the party members had been discovered near the old entrance (the former entrance of the first level).
When she was found, the girl had suffered the loss of all of her right leg and a portion of her left leg, yet her life turned out to be in stable condition. However, it was unclear what transpired inside the dungeon, for the girl could not articulate coherently and displayed an abnormally acute dread of the clouds and mist.
It was unknown what became of the girl after that.