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Chapter 193

The king of the Red Forest opened one of his six eyes. His roots sensed the intrusion of some creature. Despite their small size, the weight suggested they might be winged beings caught in his trap.

Winged beings, the arrogant tribesmen who roamed at the command of the “Black and Old King,” wreaking havoc wherever they went. Yet the “Black and Old King” favoured them. They were delicious, after all. As he recalled their flavorful juices, he found himself unconsciously drooling. A single drop fell from his elongated jaw, causing the creatures scattered around to tremble.

The king knew well how the secretions from his body affected other creatures. Those who came to kill him, upon consuming the Red substance, immediately became his slaves. They desired only the red substance, even if it meant the king feasting on their heads.

Using this ability, he repeated the cycle of preying on all creatures inhabiting a certain area and then moving on. After hundreds of winters, his power had grown to the extent that even the “Black and Old King” was wary of him.

One day, he would devour that arrogant king too. With that determination, he awaited the approach of new slaves.

But as time passed, the unidentified intruders did not appear before him. Instead, what came to him was a discomforting sensation, a mixture of pain and loss. It resurrected feelings from his youth, poking at him relentlessly.

Someone was destroying his treasure trove. Realizing this fact, the king was enraged. Who dared to oppose the king of this Red Forest?

The first entity that came to mind was the “Black and Old King.” It was said he had come himself, dragging his hefty posterior to seek revenge for his messengers being devoured. But the king soon dismissed this thought. The “Black and Old King” he had seen was a colossal being. If such a creature descended here, he would surely know.

Other candidates came to mind, residing underground, in the sky, or atop mountains. Yet none seemed fitting.

The intruder causing havoc in his territory seemed to have arrived here recently.

No, now the identity of the culprit hardly mattered.

The intruder who had dared to disrupt his carefully amassed prey deserved death.

The king sent signals through the roots embedded in the earth, commanding the intruder to be captured and brought here.

Several nearby creatures burst forth as some of the roots tore open, revealing the beings within.

Their appearances and races varied, but all were adorned with Red moss on their bodies. They were all his loyal slaves.

“Krrraaaaa!”

“Grrrrrr!”

“Kek! Kekkek!”

The slaves, obeying the king’s command, dashed out to capture their target.

If he waited patiently, the slaves would bring back the wretched intruder as they always did.

However, this time, reality unfolded differently from his expectations. One by one, the senses of the slaves sent out to hunt began to fade away.

Until a moment ago, the noise that had been audible was now completely silent. An ominous stillness pervaded the entire forest. And the pain from the roots that I had been feeling since earlier, it was getting worse. At first, it felt like being pricked by thorns, but now it was agonizing, like being gnawed by a swarm of insects.

Now it wasn’t just a problem confined to the food warehouse. His roots, spread across a wide area, were under simultaneous attack. Unable to bear the pain any longer, the king opened all six of his eyes.

In such situations, the king knew what to do. He focused his senses on his roots and systematically detached the areas where he felt pain. Although he felt considerable pain with each root severed, it was much better than being devoured alive by swarms of insects while still attached to the tree.

As he tidied up the sprawling roots, his territory shrank rapidly.

It was obvious that it would take a long time to reclaim the territory. The king intended to send more slaves to capture the intruder.

Just as he was about to send the signal, something caught his eye. He thought it was light filtering through the branches. Some of the tangled branches had broken, allowing light to enter.

But it wasn’t. It was a multitude of foam bubbles shining in countless colors. The bubbles of light and color writhed like living creatures.

He couldn’t tell where they came from or who created them. They just surged toward him like a dizzying wave of foam.

His heart started pounding fiercely as the approaching foam bubbles.

Alarm, and fear. Emotions long dormant in his memory.

Unknowingly, the king let out a scream. He urged his slaves to eradicate those bubbles immediately.

Just a while ago, the slaves had emerged to protect him, but not anymore. Even as he screamed, the creatures around him remained motionless, as if his command hadn’t reached them.

Suddenly, the bubbles reached right in front of him. He hurriedly tried to retract his rooted lower half from the ground, but it was too late.

The bubbles began to creep onto his body. As they touched him, his tough exoskeleton began to crack.

He didn’t particularly enjoy hunting prey himself, but that didn’t mean he was weak. His exoskeleton was very tough, and his wings were sturdy enough to bear his heavyweight.

But against the bubbles, everything was futile.

The foam enveloped him like a snake constricting its prey. Memories of being attacked by underground snakes during his weaker days flooded back. As the most nightmare-like moments resurfaced, he writhed all over, resisting.

But just as he had been powerless against the memories, reality remained unchanged. The bubbles clung even more strongly, seeming to mock his resistance.

In the endless mass of colored foam and light, he slowly suffocated.

‘…I didn’t expect this.’

In front of me now is Glacier Fiend, the owner of the Red Forest. Various colored foam bubbles cling to the body of the guy who came out of the ground and collapsed.

He looks like he’s drowning in water on a frozen planet, barely clinging to life.

‘I thought only psychic breaths were powerful.’

The targets are the monster’s tentacles, psychic reflection gloves, and the harbinger of terror.

For the monster’s tentacles, the enhancement effect was applied to the psychic breath emitted by the tentacles rather than the tentacles themselves. The enhanced psychic breath changed from emitting heat rays to firing projectiles. When the projectiles hit the target, they generate bubbles of color that cause a destructive effect. These bubbles do not disappear when the target is destroyed but instead rush towards nearby new targets, disappearing only when there is nothing left to consume, much like locusts devouring all the grain. In their wake, only sticky bubbles remain.

In this way, the performance of the psychic breath was roughly verified by plundering the creature’s food stores. I decided to try out other abilities while I was at it.

Next, I tried the psychic reflection gloves, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any special effects. I figured I would have to experience a psychic attack firsthand to properly assess it.

Lastly, there was the harbinger of terror. This ability induces terrifying hallucinations in sentient beings, driving them mad.

Earlier, I had decided to use the harbinger of terror on the creature while fleeing from its slaves. Frankly, I didn’t have high expectations for this ability since its effect was limited to sentient beings. I just hoped it would immobilize them, so I used it.

However, the results far exceeded my expectations.

‘It’s different.’

Activating the harbinger of terror drained my strength, and simultaneously, a foam bubble, a mixture of green and purple, formed. The peculiar shimmering bubble flew leisurely and attached itself to the head of the Winterwalker, who had been pursuing me. As soon as it attached, the bubble that had inflated instantly swallowed the creature’s head whole.

The creature, its head covered by the inverted foam bubble, glowed wildly for a moment before collapsing without lasting long.

The real horror occurred next. When the target fell, the foam pile exploded.

Foam bubbles that had attached to other slaves nearby engulfed their heads, just as they had with the Winterwalker. Physical force and contagion. The enhanced effect of the harbinger of terror spreads to the surroundings through the medium of foam.

Though the range was shortened, the power was vastly increased. Furthermore, the target range, previously limited to sentient beings, now applied to multiple creatures.

After dealing with the pursuing slaves, I immediately tested it on Glacier Fiend. If it works on him, hunting in the future will become incredibly easy.

I activated the harbinger of terror successively while darting through the forest. Countless foam bubbles passed through the trees and flew towards Glacier Fiend.

‘This is an advantage.’

Although the range is reduced, being able to fire multiple times is invaluable. It’s especially effective against stationary enemies like the one we encountered.

Ultimately, Glacier Fiend, overwhelmed by the harbinger of terror without realizing, fell before me, a much weaker being.

‘I didn’t expect it to be this easy.’

Glacier Fiend is a far more formidable opponent than the Ice Horror pushed by force. Without the Abyssal hue, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the slaves as easily as I did.

He may be addicted to drugs, but he still possesses his original abilities fully. Moreover, his immunity to death and inability to feel pain make him even more dangerous.

Furthermore, because the Red Forest is constantly visited by creatures wishing to become slaves, there seems to be no end to the killing.

However, that doesn’t mean the main body is weak. With a tough exoskeleton, immunity to various attacks, and wings for swift movement, it’s on par with a White Gallagon in terms of melee combat alone.

There may be the disadvantage of slow movement on land, but with wings, it’s hard to see that as a flaw.

Having effortlessly dispatched such a dangerous predator without sustaining a single injury, I thought to myself.

‘Let’s think after we kill.’

Glacier Fiend had only lost consciousness; he wasn’t dead yet. I approached him.

His head, resembling a stag beetle, was now covered in colorful foam. All six eyes were turned inside out, and blood foam continued to ooze from his mouth.

I swung the pincers of his tail to strike his neck. With a loud crunch, I hit the exoskeleton covering his throat.

Several more strikes shattered the exoskeleton, and I raised my tail high again to completely crush his throat.

‘That should be it… Ugh?!’

[Pain Nullification Activated!]

An incredibly intense pain surged from the tip of my tail, unlike anything I had ever felt before. I involuntarily sank to the ground as strength drained from my legs.

‘It’s… It’s burning!’

The pain felt like being engulfed in flames. Memories of childhood suddenly flooded back.

When I was young, I suffered severe burns in a traffic accident. As a result, I spent most of my childhood in the hospital.

The excruciating sensation I felt back then was now being vividly reenacted in my body.

‘I… I need to regain consciousness!’

[Pain Nullification Activated!]

As if malfunctioning, a translucent text box appeared in front of me.

I checked to see if I was on fire.

There were no flames visible anywhere on my body. Even as my mind grew faint, I focused all my strength on my auxiliary systems.

The four auxiliary systems under my chin began to search for the cause of the pain. Eventually, they found something at the tip of my tail.

The surface of the pincers was covered in a mixture of colors of foam.

‘The Abyssal hue!’

I immediately opened my jaw wide and snapped down on the middle of my tail. Flesh from the tail flew out, but there was no pain at all.

The overwhelming burning sensation dripping from the foam-covered area made it impossible to feel anything else.

I continued to bite my tail meticulously while checking the foam covering the pincers.

The foam, although slow, continued to grow in size. What had initially been a small patch now engulfed the entire pincer.

‘Ugh…!’

[Pain Nullification Activated!]

The pain was so intense that my jaw weakened. Unable to bite any longer, I clenched my mouth shut and pulled the tail with my combat arms and legs.

As a result, a terrifying sound came from the tail. Muscles tore, and bones snapped. The exoskeleton and composite scales had long since been shattered.

The foam had already swallowed up the entire tail. The eerie foam mass now aimed to devour my tail.

My mind had reached its limit with the intense pain.

‘Please!’

With all my strength, I finally tore the tail off with my combat arm.

Two-thirds of the tail fell to the ground. The foam attached to the fallen tail lost its characteristic luster in an instant.

With the cause removed, the burning sensation that had been pressing on my brain vanished as if it were a lie. Instead, pain arose from the severed area, but I had no strength to feel the pain.

Lying half-conscious on the ground, a new text box appeared before me.

[Evolution conditions for ‘Quasi Saint’ >’Saint’ have been partially met. APEX 2/30 (Incomplete)]

With Glacier Fiend’s death, the light disappeared from the foam attached to him.

Even though Glacier Fiend was dead and the foam had changed, I couldn’t relax. The foam created by Psychic Breath didn’t stop until the target disappeared. Just because the situation had changed didn’t mean the foam’s effect had actually dissipated.

“……”

Knowing that merely looking wouldn’t change anything, I reached out with a finger and lightly pricked the foam.

I intended to cut off my finger as soon as the pain started, but even after waiting, I felt nothing.

‘So the effect is lost upon death.’

The foam created as the Fearmonger seemed to affect the minds of living beings differently from Psychic Breath.

‘It might be invoking the most terrifying pain for the target.’

As soon as the foam touched me, I felt the burning pain. Glacier Fiend and the slaves who were affected by the foam likely experienced a similar sensation.

‘…I need to use it with caution.’

Having experienced it firsthand, I understood.

The newfound Abyssal hue was, quite literally, a double-edged sword.