75 – Episode 75. Clockwork City (2)
“You. You’re the shaman I saw on the train, aren’t you?”
“No, no, I’m not?”
I’m screwed.
I’m screwed, I’m screwed, screwed!!!
Sweat trickles down my back and my pupils shake violently.
I came here pretending to be a charlatan, because an old woman with dementia said she needed an exorcist!
Why is that Human Tribe I saw on the train here!
“Really, you’re not?”
“Yes, yes! What are you talking about? I don’t really understand you?”
The Human Tribe drills into me with a suspicious gaze.
But he’s not quite convinced yet.
Back then, my projection body looked like an adult, but now, I’ve lost my power and turned into a kid…
Even if the clothes and atmosphere are similar, if the age is way off, won’t he be fooled?
“So, you’re saying the totem wasn’t yours?”
“Yes! Of course! I don’t do any curse related stuff…”
“I didn’t say a word about a curse.”
“Ah.”
I was caught.
A smile formed on the man’s face.
Without hesitation, I turned away and began to make a run for it.
‘That’s dangerous! It’s dangerous!’
My instincts screamed within me.
That man is a monster, beyond norms.
Why didn’t I notice when we first met?
Perhaps I was overridden by the smell of blood on his entire body.
The smell of countless monsters’ blood.
‘Callie’s scent was there too!’
Even faintly from among those, I was able to pick up the scent of Great Druid.
The reason why the Great Druid suddenly disappeared one day and the unique dungeon collapsed.
Now, the explanation becomes clear.
The Great Druid must have fallen at that man’s hands.
The Great Druid, who was beloved by the Dragon Lord.
What are the odds of me surviving against the one who killed the Great Druid?
It’s obviously zero!
‘I want to live! I want to live! I really want to live!’
I don’t want to die.
How did I survive coming out of a collapsing dungeon?
I’m so much smarter than my peers!
The world would suffer a loss if someone like me died!
“Miranda. Catch.”
“·····Uh, huh? They’ve multiplied?”
Division.
I immediately split my body into five pieces, each running away in a different direction.
Although losing four illusions would cost me most of my strength, there’s no other way to survive.
There’s no way he can control five objects with psychic magic.
This is the most likely way to survive.
Just a mere 20% chance of escape!
I could maybe get away alive…
“Huh? What?”
I should have it.
Why does my body feel so light?
Confused, I turned around to look, my other four doppelgangers had already fled without restriction, ran far away.
Did they only catch the original body, not the doppelgangers?
There shouldn’t be any physical difference right?
How on earth…?
“No, don’t try to escape like a mudfish.”
“Ah!”
I immediately tried to dispel the duplicity and transform into a spirit to escape.
But I couldn’t even take one step away before being caught, dragged along the floor by the grip of telekinesis.
“Caught you, you cute creature.”
“Aah…”
Being pulled in front of the man, the scent of dead monsters became stronger and stronger.
This can’t be happening.
All my leftover vitality was completely drained, and I fell powerless.
I recalled all of my doppelgangers who had escaped earlier, absorbed them, and in my human form, I knelt down.
Thinking if I stay in my spirit form, there’s a greater probability of death…
‘I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead!!!’
I knew very well what people in this world thought of monsters.
Either they’re a source of hunting trophies and medicinal herbs.
Or pests that need to be exterminated.
People see monsters in just these two ways.
How does this man see me?
It’s obvious.
Since I tried to knock out the whole train, understandably, I’ll be seen as a harmful pest that needs to be exterminated…
“The spell I used on the train wasn’t to hurt people! It was actually a curse to just make them pass out! I need to replenish my energy from humans regularly to stay alive! So, I have to absorb someone’s energy almost every day, it’s tiresome, I just thought how about absorbing hundreds of people’s energy at once, couldn’t resist the temptation…”
“I couldn’t care less about that.”
“Yes……..”
In the midst of my rambling explanations.
The man cut off my words with his icy voice.
As I obediently knelt and waited, the man grabbed my head forcing me to look straight into his eyes.
‘What a cold-blooded…..’
The eyes of a monster that had hunted countless others.
The eyes of the one who had killed the Great Druid and experienced a surge of fear.
My body was shaking because I was so terrified of those eyes.
“First, your clan identification-“
“Burn it! Burn it all! I used to live in the unique dungeon of the Great Druid, Kali! My trait is division! My body can be divided into multiple……”
If I get caught lying, I die.
If I hide information, I die.
With that fear, I desperately spilled out all the information about myself.
.
.
.
“And! I learned magic from some wandering old man! The dodging technique is……!”
I assumed he would put up some resistance.
But the guy lays everything out, even what I didn’t ask about.
His mind works too fast.
From Noble mtl dot com
If he keeps cooperating like this, there’s no way the likelihood of killing him won’t decrease significantly.
‘To think he was a monster.’
His true identity came as quite a shock.
He was, in fact, a huge monster living in Kali’s dungeon.
Monsters usually, with the exception of the Four Heavenly Kings, possess low intelligence.
There are occasional mutants, and he seems to be one of them.
After all, considering Mijung’s case, it’s not very unusual.
“You look like a typical monster but you have so many learned skills. How many people have you killed so far?”
“I haven’t killed anyone! It’s true!”
“Making people pass out in the train in groups. Are you asking me to believe that?”
“I only intended to knock him out for a bit and suck out a little of his life energy. I swear, that’s the truth.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“No, really! I am telling the truth!”
Pleading her case, the nun looks unfairly treated.
Whether this girl has harmed anyone or not, it doesn’t really matter to me.
The only thing that matters is if she can be useful to me.
“If you want to live, wake up that old man with dementia.”
“You mean the act of awakening spell? It can indeed mitigate dementia symptoms, but its effects don’t last long…”
“How long does it last?”
“About a week.”
“Proceed, that’s enough.”
“So, you are really going to spare my life if I perform the awakening spell just once…?”
“I said, yes.”
Has she lived her life just by fooling people?
My primary reason for coming to Clockwork City is Kern.
If she can wake Kern, then I’m ready to forgive her for the minor incident on the train.
But she keeps squirming as if she can’t really trust me.
And then, slowly, she starts preparing the spell near Kern’s bed.
“If you do anything rash, you’re dead.”
“Ah, no, I won’t! I must be crazy!”
It’s apparent.
She might have thought about escaping when the time is right, but seems unlikely to betray.
She appears to be too scared.
‘Do I smell strange?’
She sniffs around me and her face turns pale.
Does my body have a certain scent?
“Do I smell weird, Mi Jeong?”
“…A tasty, smell.”
“No. Not that.”
“I… don’t know.”
This kid views me as nothing more than a wallet.
He’s of no help.
“Then let’s start the spell now…”
The witch Jeonha, preparing her spell while noticing my discomfort.
As she closed her eyes and raised her right hand, a black force gradually seeped out from her fingertips.
Magical power.
Even though it’s composed of magic, it’s a distinct energy from magic power, gradually taking the shape of matter.
“It’s usually a very expensive magical technique. It consumes a lot of magical energy. In the south, there are numerous noblemen begging their parents to use this spell, spending a lot of money.”
“Hey, bug. Stop your whining and just cast the spell.”
“…”
That brat.
Still not entirely in his senses, he keeps muttering with a crawling voice.
Despite that, his hands playing with the magic don’t stop.
From his right hand to his left hand.
And back to his right hand again.
The witch Jeoha, moulding the shape of the magic as if she’s shaping ceramic, pulls out a talisman from her bosom.
The witch Jeoha holds the sphere of magic she crafted to the talisman.
The magic seeping into the talisman.
The magic carves unknown hieroglyphics onto the talisman in an instant.
I can only track the movement of the magic up until this point.
I can sense the external flow of magic, too.
But it’s difficult to feel it seeping into things like totems or talismans.
“Please, drive away things that confuse this old man’s mind.”
The witch Jeoha mutters a fairly decent spell, then
“Heeya!”
She slams the talisman onto Kearn’s forehead.
Then Kearn’s eyes pop open, and he suddenly begins to cough violently.
“Cough, Cough, Huchk! Linda! Get some water!”
[Understood.]
A wind-up doll appeared from behind the door and brought a cup of cold water.
I thought it didn’t have voice recognition function.
But it seems to only respond to the voice of its owner.
Kern who has been lying in bed, slowly picked up the cup that Linda brought and forced himself to sit up.
His eyes were upright and firm.
Although his body was lean, one could tell through his muscles that he has had an arduous life.
He leaned on his cane, stood up and scanned everyone in the room, then he parted his lips.
“So, you guys woke me up?”
“Yes. We would like to request something.”
“Strange. I thought no one would find me until I went crazy or died. Recently, I have received visitors twice. I’d ask Linda to install a visitor reception mode.”
“Huh? Twice? Who came here before?”
That’s unthinkable.
Kern, who was abandoned by both his wife and children, and also his colleagues, was living a solitary life.
Who on earth came to see Kern?
“A half-human woman came. She asked if a man with a dark-haired handsome face and brown eyes had come here. By the way, you look a lot like the man that half-human woman described.”
That sounds like Yerina.
A chill ran down my spine.