Chapter 98: Might As Well Take My Life

[Translator – Aren]

I spent a long while laughing silently in front of the Human-skin Tapeworm’s corpse.

A privilege granted only to those who had learned all 5 branches, [Mutation Immunity].

The theme of Upright Alteration-type magic, placing the 5 elements symbolizing humanity into the corresponding parts of the human body, had more or less fallen into place. At least now, I definitely had less reason to worry about being trapped alive inside a monster’s body.

I was still lying there, laughing until I choked, when a frantic shout suddenly burst from the walkie-talkie that had been silent all this time.

It was the frog lieutenant colonel.

[...Aphorism, Aphorism! Respond!]

This was so damn exhausting.

My whole body felt like it was burning up, but I propped myself off the floor on trembling arms and looked back. Hamza had put down the fire extinguisher and was picking up the walkie-talkie lying on the conference-room floor.

"U-uuhm. This is Aphorism.”

[What happened? Why didn’t you answer our calls?]

"What? We had communication problems.”

[No, what on earth is….Haaah. Aphorism, let’s reestablish communications first.]

If I opened my mouth right now, I felt like all I’d manage was coughing, so I kept it firmly shut.

While Go Ryeoha kept watch over the surroundings with tears still gathered faintly in her eyes, I listened to the conversation between Hamza and the frog lieutenant colonel and gradually began to feel that something was off.

"We started fighting from the 1st floor. There was another big fight on the 3rd.”

[But we scouted it and confirmed there was nothing there…]

"But there was!”

When Manly Hamza suddenly barked back at him, the frog lieutenant colonel flinched and backed down.

[Then why didn’t you answer us on the 5th floor?]

"Communications were down the entire time, and you never called us!”

[No… Aphorism, withdraw for now. Once you check the communications logs, you’ll see everything. You weren’t coming back out, so we were preparing an entry team.]

"You said you checked everything with thermal imaging, and there were monsters all over the place!”

Let’s talk after you come out. Are you able to withdraw?]

Hamza argued with him on the verge of tears while the frog lieutenant colonel tried to somehow calm him down.

This was where the common people, the scraps of non-wizards who still believed humanity’s science and technology could fully contend with this danger, would start talking about optical equipment and whatever else. They’d think better equipment and better tactics would let them win.

But the instant Go Ryeoha, a former Seoul wizard, and I, a Great Archmage who acquired all 5 branches, happened to meet each other's eyes…

We instinctively realized how the Human-skin Tapeworm had concealed itself and let out hollow laughs.

Go Ryeoha rapidly blinked to hide her slightly bloodshot eyes and flicked her left hand a few times.

"Impossible to resist. I guess they didn’t classify it that way for nothing, huh?”

"Fuck."

There was a reason optical equipment and communications devices had all been useless.

I stared at the Human-skin Tapeworm’s corpse and could only keep laughing hollowly.

My body felt feverishly hot and dizzy, like I had the flu, but more than that, confronting the existence of the Human-skin Tapeworm had made me truly understand just how precarious humanity’s situation was.

People misunderstood.

They thought they saw with their eyes.

Of course, technically, that was the truth.

If you compressed the process of seeing with your eyes and perceiving with your brain down to its absolute limit, that was what it turned into.

Then.

What would happen if something reached into your head and scrambled it?

"Hehehehe…Hehe…”

I couldn’t help but just laugh.

The Human-skin Tapeworm disables human senses by interfering with human cognition, or more precisely, by rummaging through the part of the brain that has to process information. A monster that had stolen Eyes-branch magic was truly the stuff of nightmares.

It didn’t matter how good your lenses were, how many pictures you took, how many of your five senses you tried to use, how many drones you sent in to observe, or how frantically you tried to communicate and cooperate.

Something could be happening in reality, but if humans couldn’t perceive it, then for all practical purposes it was the same as if it had never happened.

Everyone could be screaming together for someone to save them, and the person standing right beside them wouldn’t see or hear a thing.

Unless you handed everything over to AI and had it automatically detect and shoot the thing dead, this was an enemy a non-wizard human brain simply couldn’t fight.

How were you supposed to respond if detection equipment was shrieking warning signals and the human brain simply couldn’t hear them? How were you supposed to see it if thermal imaging, infrared, or any other camera captured the image, but the human brain automatically filtered out the information because it couldn’t process it?

That was why it was classified as impossible to resist.

You could kill it with a gun. You just couldn’t shoot the gun, so you couldn’t resist.

There probably weren’t many monsters like this, but even a single one was enough to reduce non-wizards to nothing more than prey.

It was on a completely different level of danger from the Dubai Sticky Witch or Ski Goggles.

I yanked off my gas mask in one motion and spat out something hot that surged up my throat.

"Ugh..."

-Splat.

Dark red blood.

Blood so hot it was practically boiling, bubbles visibly rising through it.

I instinctively knew this was the penalty of [Mutation Immunity].

I stared at the Hand-branch magic symbol covering the back of my hand, at the emblem splitting across my skin and glowing red, while blood-stained saliva dropped from my mouth. Then I forced my trembling eyes to move, searching for the Eyes-branch magic symbol the Human-skin Tapeworm possessed.

Every segment of the monster had a mouth in its center, toothless and webbed only with capillaries.

Except for one.

Only the segment I suspected was the main body had no mouth. Instead, it consisted of grayish, wrinkled layers that looked as though the folds of human brains had been stretched flat like sheets of drawing paper. Covered in sticky, resilientmeninges, the main body was using human brains as its own ganglia, stealing and exploiting their innate intelligence.

There was no way monsters like this would start popping out just because a Human-skin Jellyfish ate a single wizard.

No matter how grotesque monsters were, we had never seen specs this absurd appear all at once. At least, not unless they were creatures fundamentally different from birth, like the Lighthouse or the Eel. My guess was that this thing had crossed over from Seoul when the fog overflowed.

Maybe it had come all the way down to Anyang after stuffing itself on god knows how many wizards and ordinary people in Seoul until it had grown fat.

It was still only speculation, but learning even a little about this damn monster’s ecology would make fighting it easier.

At the same time, I was hoping that if I reclaimed the Eyes-branch magic symbol it had stolen, I might finally unlock Eyes-branch, Stage 4.

Somehow, with my whole body trembling, I managed to use the tip of my blade to pry through the Human-skin Tapeworm.

And the moment I found it, I stabbed down without hesitation.

-Stab!

The sensation of slicing through sticky, tough membrane traveled up through my hand and all the way to my shoulder.

That was enough. With this, I, Baek Jemin, would become a true Great Archmage of Eyes-branch, Stage 4…!

...What?

"Hubae-nim, what’s wrong?”

"No, well…I didn’t level up?”

"What?"

I explained the whole situation to Go Ryeoha.

I told her I had fought on the instinct that the special privilege granted by mastering all 4 branches was [Mutation Immunity], and that I’d taken the Human-skin Tapeworm out before it could pull anything else.

Go Ryeoha was an Alternation-type wizard as well, so she knew the basic rules.

Normally, whenever Alteration-type magic advanced in realm through things like destroying a wizard’s remains or performing a ritual, it gave you a full-on crash course and drilled the knowledge straight into your head.

My theory was that reclaiming a magic symbol possessed by a monster should make you level up too.

After all, we already knew for certain that it could unlock magic from other branches.

That was how I had acquired the Hand and Heart-branches, so naturally I expected to gain Eyes-branch, Stage 4 this time too.

Besides, Alteration-type magic wasn’t even picky about teaching you.

‘Do you know how to use this stage of magic? No? Fine, I’ll teach you.’ It was practically a Maitreya Buddha-tier teacher, going zaaap! And stuffing the knowledge straight into your brain.

But even after I destroyed the monster’s Eyes-branch magic symbol, no fog leaked out, nor did the symbol disappear.

Thinking I might have cut the wrong spot, I sliced it a few more times with the knife, but the Eyes-branch magic symbol still didn’t vanish.

What? Was the Human-skin Tapeworm still alive?

The moment I swallowed hard and hurriedly stepped backward, Go Ryeoha clenched her fist tightly and planted her left hand on her hip.

"Hubae-nim. I think I know.”

"Know what? Tell me, please, Ryeoha-ssi.”

She was still a Four-Tiger Sword scammer, but if she could give me a clear answer right now, I was prepared to acknowledge her as my master one more time.

Go Ryeoha pulled back the hood of the poncho and shook out her long ponytail.

"Every form of mysticism comes with a clear price. You know equivalent exchange, right?”

"Yeah..."

"If the price of [Mutation Immunity] were nothing more than running a little fever, wouldn’t that be too cheap?”

At that moment, the world stopped.

My world.

I hadn’t even used magic, yet my brain simply gave up on thinking.

Because it realized that if it thought any further, it would arrive at a horrifying conclusion.

But the rational mind of Great Archmage Baek Jemin insisted that the same tragedy could never be allowed to happen again and forced me to identify the cause of the phenomenon.

The true penalty of [Mutation Immunity].

I began trembling, not from chills or fever, but beneath the sheer weight of it.

No way.

No way, right…?

Just because it blocked a mutation… It deducted a charge from a limited-use resource…!

"It ate up my experience points!!!!”

*t*t*

Dark and soft.

I lay there languidly.

I lay there completely limp, singing into the soft mattress.

For once, my eardrums were getting a proper rest, and my eyelids were comfortably shut.

That was when the uninvited guest arrived.

-Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap...

I heard the distinct sound of someone smacking a chunk of meat.

I figured they were pounding out a hamburger patty or something and ignored it, but as time passed, the sound grew clearer and clearer.

It was the sound of something cutting through the air and striking flesh.

Skill on par with my father swinging aswitch hard enough to split my calves. Did I somehow have two fathers under the heavens? My dad had put down the switch decades ago…

-Huff, huff, huff, huff, huff…

Someone was letting out short breaths along with the strange noise.

What kind of idiot deliberately made sounds like this next to someone trying to sleep? It was annoying, but I was so comfortable that I deliberately pretended not to notice.

But then everything gradually became sharper and more vivid.

My compressed skin complained of pain. The bruises forming where I had been hit screamed in agony. I realized then that the heaviness in my eyelids wasn’t because I was comfortable but because I was fucking exhausted and hurt all over.

-Snap.

The moment I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a clean ceiling and Hamza with one hand raised.

"Hryaaaaah!”

Hamza was shouting.

"Hododododdoook!!!”

Hamza was beating the absolute shit out of my chest with the edge of his hand.

While making his own sound effects with his mouth.

And I found myself making sound effects along with him.

"Huff, huff, huff, huff…Gasp!”

The bastard letting out those short huffing breaths every time Hamza chopped my chest was me.

"Hey. You fucker. What are you doing?”

"Huh? Jemin-ssi! You’re awake!?”

My vision spun for a moment, so I shut my eyes, took a deep breath, and sorted out the situation.

This was a temporary military ward at a base in Anyang. Apparently I had been transferred to an annex near the hospital’s main building. When I looked out the window, the sun was slowly setting, lingering at the very edge of the horizon.

Looks like I had briefly passed out.

That was enough.

Now that I understood the situation, I didn’t hesitate.

-Grab!

I got out my right hand and seized Hamza by the turban.

"Why did I pass out? And why are you pounding a patient like a hamburger patty?”

"Calm down first. And you’re not a patient, Jemin-ssi. A military doctor checked you earlier and said you’re healthy as a horse.”

"Haah~ Hamza. You know there’s this thing called emotional trauma, right? Emotional trauma!”

Hamza very kindly explained everything.

Apparently the horrifying truth about the mechanism behind [Mutation Immunity], the special privilege of acquiring all 5 branches, had made me faint. Just the possibility that it might resist mutation by consuming the experience points I had painstakingly saved up had been enough to knock me unconscious.

Instead of carrying my unconscious body out themselves, Go Ryeoha and Hamza had calmly maintained communications and waited for the military to enter. Once drone observation resumed, a force of 150 soldiers had been deployed with 18 drones and was continuing the search-and-clear operation inside the hospital main building.

Fortunately, the incredibly dense fog had almost completely cleared by then.

When the fog disappears, monsters become stronger, but conversely, the fog disappearing usually also meant that the number of monsters had dropped drastically. The fog that had surrounded the hospital's main building had almost completely cleared, to the point that everything could now be identified with the naked eye, and apparently they had also managed to contact the survivors inside who had evacuated near the rooftop floor.

"Our role is finished. But the commander ordered us not to talk about the detailed process of the fight against that thing that you named Human-skin Tapeworm, Jemin-ssi.”

"Ordered?”

"He also said you could consider it a request from one human being to another.”

Only then did I let go of Hamza’s turban and flop back down on the bed.

-Thump!

The moment I rested my head on the soft pillow, all kinds of thoughts started running through my mind.

Ordinary people would have asked where Go Ryeoha had gone first, but there was something else that mattered right now.

"What are they going to do with the magic symbol on that monster bastard we killed?"

"The usual rule is to incinerate it, but since they found a magic symbol, they’re apparently going to move it with an unmanned robot or something and transfer it under us Supreme Archmages for now. This monster had so many unusual traits that they’re planning to study it. And as soon as the report reached Command, they said Anderson-ssi started rearranging his schedule so he could come back.”

"Anderson?”

I racked my brain, wondering what random bastard that was supposed to be

“Anderson Makenford. Our sponsor.”

"Ah~. You mean that kind and benevolent guardian of the Republic of Korea and the Korean people?”

The man was practically theWanli Emperor of our era, lobbying the US Congress to stop Korea from getting showered with nuclear bombs because we needed to smuggle the magic out first.

Personally, I wanted to use the Eyes-branch symbol myself, but now that [Mutation Immunity] had sucked away my experience points and left me unable to learn it immediately, storage became the problem. Even for someone like me who dreamed of becoming a Great Archmage, living while hugging that damn monster corpse wasn’t exactly easy.

Rather than that, wouldn’t it be better to hand it over to Anderson-ssi, make our dear sponsor laugh happily, and squeeze even more generous support out of him while we were at it?

More importantly, Anderson Makenford’s side possessed far more knowledge about mysticism, so they might be able to offer various interpretations or theories about the pentagram engraved over my heart.

I considered asking Pastor Park Yohan and his bootleg expertise instead, but although the pastor’s theories sounded plausible, they suffered from the fundamental limitation of being built on too much speculation and not enough evidence. Plus, he was a fanatic zealot.

Wouldn’t he glare at the pentagram drawn over my heart and call it Satanism?

He might even bring out a branding iron and try to burn a cross directly onto my heart.

As those pointless thoughts ran through my head, the sense of reality that had drifted away from me slowly began to return.

Looking out the window, watching muzzle flashes flicker beneath the setting sunlight and listening to the noisy radio chatter mixed with gunfire, I spoke.

"Hamza.”

"Yes."

"Mirror."

Only after taking a proper look at the back of my hand did I see that the magic symbol was still there.

In the form of a scar that had filled in with fresh skin and healed over in that short amount of time.

Just in case, I took off my combat jacket and pulled down my shirt. Same thing. A star-shaped scar remained in the exact center of my chest. When I rubbed my earlobe, I could feel something slightly raised and bumpy there too.

And the moment I looked into the mirror Hamza handed me, I let out a sigh.

"It’s not engraved in my eyeball. Phew.”

"Why do you sound disappointed?”

"I could’ve won every staring contest 100%.”

If the magic symbol had been engraved directly into my eye, even a combat-sports champion would’ve become sick and started retching the moment they made eye contact with me.

Right then, the hospital room door burst open, and an energetic Go Ryeoha appeared.

Her right hand was wrapped thoroughly in bandages.

"I was walking down the hall and heard voices, and look at that. Hubae-nim, you’re awake!”

"Yeah, well. That’s what happened.”

Just in case the Eyes-branch symbol appeared when I opened my eyes wide, I glared at Go Ryeoha, but nothing happened.

She lazily waved her bandaged right hand and giggled.

"Are you worried about me? I cut this myself to use magic, remember?”

Just in case, I raised the back of my hand to block Go Ryeoha’s line of sight, but nothing happened.

Was it some kind of inactive state while it remained in scar form? Worried that maybe even my magic had been sealed, I hurriedly used Eyes-branch magic, bracing myself for the pain.

"Aagh! Fucking hell…”

It worked.

I could see the future.

And it hurt just as much as it usually did without fog.

So it was probably something like a cooldown for [Mutation Immunity], or simply a scar left behind from [Mutation Immunity] activating.

Go Ryeoha watched me and burst into giggles.

When our helicopter landed, we were greeted by crisp salutes from the soldiers.

-Snap!

Then Major General Jeon Minho came hurrying through the soldiers, saluted, and offered me a handshake.

"Aphorism, I received the report. We will never forget your achievement in successfully killing an unidentified species without suffering a single casualty.”

If he had asked us to give a report right then as well, I was ready to glare at him, but he read the room and stepped aside.

Because all of us were so exhausted, we looked ready to drop dead.

Meanwhile, Team B’s three members, who had arrived before us and were sitting on nearby ammunition crates, were grinning broadly.

"Baek Jemin, your face looks quite skinny, huh? Looks like Islam and Ryeoha-ssi had a rough time too?”

Pastor Park Yohan stroked his rifle with the corner of his mouth twitching.

He was worried, but apparently successfully thinning out the monsters without me had given him some confidence.

"Jemin-ssi! I unlocked Tongue-branch magic too. Wow. So killing monsters and seeing magic symbols in the fog really does raise your realm!”

Lee Sejun, completely unable to read the room, started proudly flicking his tongue out because he was officially a Tonge-branch wizard now, so I raised my rifle.

- Clack.

Lee Sjeun’s tongue immediately zipped back into his mouth.

Lastly, Shin Nain, sitting there smugly with a headset on, glanced over to us. The smile disappeared from his lips, and he tapped the gas mask resting on his knees.

-Tap, tap.

"I take it this devil had another grotesque form.”

Go Ryeoha and Hamza immediately started making a huge fuss.

"Yes. It was a monster called the Invisible Veil. I’d only heard rumors about it, but once I actually saw one, I understood why they classified it as impossible to resist.”

"I-I’m never going back in there.”

I didn't even have the energy to talk. I slung my rifle over my shoulder and let out a deep sigh as I watched the soldiers return to their respective positions.

-Haaaaah...

Hand the corpse over to Anderson Makenford and squeeze occult knowledge, mystical offerings, relevant ritual information, and theories out of him. Get financial support and supplies, use my MPC to have the rifle inspected, and as for the optics…

Well, I had to keep them for now, so I’d keep them.

Later, I’d also have to whine at Command until they brought me useful cursed items from other countries or whatever useful ritual items they could find in Korea.

I had a lot to do.

But the thing I needed to do right now involved Shin Nain.

"Nain, wanna just team up with me from now on?”

"No. Amen.”