Chapter 55: Legion vs Legion (9)
“Um…”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I’m Lieutenant Yoon Su-Ah. I’m actually a Garrison Soldier, having volunteered for this expedition on the Special Forces team.”
She took off her beret and chuckled softly. Her bobbed hair, tied back with a net, swayed slightly.
I was so flustered that I couldn’t get my tongue to move and stumbled over my words.
Sweat dripped down my face as I worried about her realizing that I was a Player.
“Were you perhaps recording your voice? Don’t worry, I only heard the last bit.”
“Ah… the voice recording?”
Fortunately, it seemed she wasn’t referring to that.
Instead, her eyes sparkled as she glanced at the phone I had placed on the makeshift desk, and she misstepped, “Yes, something like that…”
Of course, I was grateful that she misconstrued it that way.
Suddenly, I had become an emotional person leaving voice diaries on the battlefield.
While I was dying of embarrassment, her eyes gleamed with interest.
“That’s a bit embarrassing.”
“No, I think it’s okay. Something like that.”
“But… why did you come here, Lieutenant?”
Now that I thought about it, this woman hadn’t knocked before entering.
Or maybe she did, and I just didn’t hear it.
“I just came to take a look. Even though it was in the middle of a fight, it left quite an impression on me.”
“That’s the same for me.”
I still vividly remembered her fighting against that monster, the Demonic Earth Puppy.
“I was just doing what I was doing. But I have a good eye for people. I know from experience that saving someone is harder than fighting.”
Yet, she looked at me with shining eyes.
That was an unexpectedly flustering and surprising interest coming from her.
“You were a Hunter, right? Which company were you with? Or are you a freelancer?”
“…I just started activities recently.”
“So you came here right after awakening?”
She was chatty as she approached me with interest first.
I had to stay calm and respond, considering the possibility that she might be a hidden unit or Player.
“Why? Oh, is it too rude to say it like that?”
She smiled as she perched on the desk.
Still, after talking like this, she didn’t seem to have any malicious intent, even if she had a somewhat laid-back nature.
“To put it simply, I seized an opportunity.”
I used the public façade of seeking revenge for my past grievances.
Surprised, she hesitated, glancing around like Chris and biting her lip.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Isn’t that the case for everyone? Even regular soldiers are made up of volunteers.”
“…That’s true. Actually, I’m the same.”
Her complexion darkened for a moment.
I closed my mouth.
Now that I thought about it, Yoon Su-Ah, who claimed to be an ordinary Grade B Hunter, had also volunteered for this expedition.
“I also lost family to those monsters.”
“My condolences…”
“No! They must be alive! They’ve been taken for less than a week.”
Her eyes gleamed fiercely.
The intense energy radiating from her was palpable to me.
“So… I will definitely go to rescue them.”
“Yes.”
I nodded. I couldn’t say anything more hopeful or negative.
After that, she brightened the mood with a smile again, chatting a little more before saying goodbye as she left.
“I was happy when you said I helped.”
The words she left behind held weight.
I sat there, blankly.
I decided to act for the Legion and actually did so.
And as a result of that action, a new connection had formed.
I felt a bit restless, wondering if this was really okay, and turned the app back on.
[The Legion has offered you a sacrifice.]
However, before I could fully open the app, something arrived before me as if it had been waiting for me to be alone.
“The Legion’s power source.”
[To be precise, it’s closer to the sacred stone used by the Moonlight Fairies.]
I picked up the red ore that had appeared before me.
It was smaller than what I saw in the app.
Typically, it was the size of a fist, but this was less than half of that.
However, unlike ordinary power sources, it had intricate patterns engraved on it.
“Why is this here? What’s its purpose?”
[The foundation is Celestial Soul. Haven’t you already learned it?]
“That’s right.”
I had already learned how to handle mana stones from Chae Yeon.
I infused my power into the ore.
At the same time, there was no change in the ore.
“It’s not a failure. It’s just set up this way from the start.”
[It is an object that can sense the Player and Units. The principle is string. When power is injected, it detects the minuscule threads of the soul and emits light. At the same time, it can block any force trying to scan you.]
“…That’s impressive.”
I couldn’t help but admire it.
It was exactly the item I needed, with the best utilization.
“If that’s the case, I should repay you. What should I give?”
[Do you really need to give something?]
“Yeah. I would have hesitated if it were before, but not anymore.”
The intention was glaringly obvious. Its primary goal was the growth of the Legion.
Having utilized me well until now, it likely wished for the Legion to let go of its obsession with me and simply become a ravenous predator drenched in madness.
But I couldn’t let that happen. I would not release the Legion now.
Even if the Observer tried to interfere again, I wouldn’t mind.
In the end, the only thing that mattered was my will as a Player, which I had confirmed long ago.
“I feel like I didn’t take care of you enough during this time.”
Thinking that way, I felt a bit guilty for making it conscious and attentive.
So, perhaps giving it a carrot wouldn’t be a bad idea.
—
“Hey, don’t take it from me.”
“…I know. I’m not really on guard.”
“I’m really losing my mind.”
In the Legion’s nest, the two were munching on something.
Kang Do-yeon, who was sitting roughly, spat out the snack she had been chewing.
The cookie that fell to the ground melted away and dissolved.
It was the same for the Legion, which was now just chewing the snack while keeping its mouth open.
However, the Legion was clutching onto something else as well.
‘What on earth is my brother thinking?!’
Kang Do-yeon couldn’t voice it and instead groaned inwardly.
The reason lay in Shin Woo’s attitude; someone who had previously felt burdened by the Legion’s obsession suddenly changed that attitude.
‘At this rate… seriously feels like raising a daughter.’
She gazed at the small doll, a gift, that the Legion was clutching with troubled eyes.
It was nothing special—a tiny doll that was hard to guess how he got it from that place.
Of course, it wasn’t important what he had given.
‘What mattered was that he had given it to me.’
Kang Do-yeon scratched her head, unable to comprehend.
He gave the doll for the Legion to hold. And the Legion showed no suspicion about that act.
‘He certainly must know.’
Yet she did not.
With instinct, she sensed her brother had created the body of the Legion and was hiding that fact.
That meant the Observer, playing the role of the mediator, had sided with Shin Woo in this matter, not the Legion.
Thus, the intention became even more convoluted.
The current act was shaking the still unstable psyche of the Legion and reinforcing its obsession.
Still, she was holding back her curiosity, thinking that there had to be some meaning behind it.
[The scouts have discovered something.]
“Very interesting.”
At that moment, the Legion’s scouts, who had been investigating the upper levels after the battle, found something.
[Logically thinking, there was a contradiction. The mutated Devouring Fungus is powerful. Naturally, as it was a being that was born from consuming the same fungus, it should not suffer from energy shortages. There are still many infected devouring fungi, and this maze is vast. Yet their actions were strange.]
“Clearly, the same Devouring Funguses should have occupied every place, yet they acted as if something was blocking them. It’s odd that they were all gathered in level 45.”
The Legion had already discovered these unusual points and was keeping them in mind.
And when they exterminated the mutated Devouring Fungus, finally making the area below level 45 their complete territory…
They found it in the stem of level 46.
“This is unbelievable…”
Kang Do-yeon gasped, covering her mouth.
[Unknown identity, but powerful.]
“It’s clearly a Devouring Fungus. A mutated one. But it’s different from the others.”
It was alive, yet it didn’t particularly engage with the Legion’s scouts.
It resembled a huge mass of flesh.
A mutated version of the Devouring Fungus created from a multitude of infected beings.
However, it had a different appearance from the lower-layer mutated fungi that had banded together to evolve into something even stronger and more ferocious.
“Not hostile?”
“We may be able to communicate.”
The Legion could feel something emanating from that massive body.
In an instant, curiosity overpowered the instincts of war and devouring, leading the Legion to inject its infection cells into the great mutated Devouring Fungus.
And it did not reject it.
[Infected Multiplication Mutated Devouring Fungus Legion: 6N0987.]
The being’s information was registered in the Legion’s database.
It was a presence that had been anticipated. The existence of the mutated Devouring Fungus Legion was confirmed.
‘Not going to be hostile.’
In a partially assimilated state, the Legion could interpret the other’s intentions.
A massive entity formed from hundreds of mutated fungi grouped together. However, this colossal being was now on the verge of dying.
Ultimately, it suffered from the same energy shortage as the mutated versions in the lower levels.
In fact, withered tissues lay scattered around the massive body.
[The being that has become a Legion can forcibly manipulate nearby Devouring Fungus colonies to draw them in. It was only natural for the lower-layered mutated beings to be horrified. In some ways, it could be called the ultimate predator among its own kind.]
It wasn’t the first, but it soon grew to be the strongest entity.
Ironically, the strongest mutated Devouring Fungus, which gathered all the others that were ruled by different mutations, was voluntarily choosing death now.
‘Why?’
Reading part of their thoughts, the Legion could not understand it.
Since the Legion had always regarded survival and evolution as the ultimate truth, this was even more perplexing.
