n

nChapter 357: A legacy from the depths (6)

n—kwaddududuk!—

nHansoo frowned at the armor that kept constricting his body.

nIt wasn’t simply squeezing his body.

n—pushuk!—

nHe could clearly see it inserting its spines throughout his body.

n

n

nShowing that it was going to have the upper hand in this relationship.

nAs Hansoo frowned at the sensation of the armor crazily sucking his energy out.

n—ooooong!—

nThe Ark-Roa’s crystal in his possession started to vibrate.

nThen—

n—shsst!—

nThe marble exploded as a black liquid shot out from inside it.

n

n

nIt was similar to when the Ark-Roa had been alive in the past.

n“…They’re both going crazy, huh?”

nThe armor which was trying to devour him from the outside—

n—and the Ark-Roa’s crystal which had exploded inside him to take over the armor.

nHansoo mumbled as he looked at this scene.

n…………………………………………………………

n—tata—

n

n

n—tataatak—

n“Ugh… Is this really fine?”

nKiriel mumbled quietly as she looked at Hansoo, who was surrounded by a crystalline material.

nIt didn’t seem like she could help and this made her even more worried.

nAnd in her arms, an unconscious woman lay.

nOf course, Kiriel knew this woman.

nShe was like a superstar in the lower zones 1, 2 and 3.

n

n

n‘Enbi Arin.’

nThe girl who ruled over the giant Cross clan in the old Orange Zone.

nBut currently, she was in a very pitiful state.

n‘…She’ll die at this rate.’

nAlthough she’d managed to escape from that evil armor, she had lost too much of her vital energy.

nWell, if it was just that, then she might have been able to survive.

nSince she was a transcendent after all.

nThe regenerative ability of a transcendent would heal the owner, even if the owner were on the brink of death.

n

n

nThe thing killing her wasn’t her injuries, but rather herself.

nHer Trait: .

nShe didn’t know what had activated this trait, but one thing was clear to her:

nIt gave the user strength in return for their life force.

nAnd this woman was paying the price of using such strength with her entire body.

nAnd her body had already been injured.

n—chiiiik—

n‘She’ll really die at this rate; the heals aren’t working either.’

nKiriel bit her lower lip as she continued to use her healing skill.

nIt was like pouring water into a container with a hole at the bottom.

nEnbi Arin was paying back her debt right now.

nOf course, such a meager amount of heals wouldn’t work.

nThe only thing keeping Enbi Arin alive right now was her original strength and Melchizedek’s modified body.

n‘…Ugh, I should do this first.’

nKiriel clenched her teeth and used her Psychometry.

nSoon—

n—the memories hidden within Enbi Arin’s body flew into Kiriel.

nAt that moment—

n“Ahh…”

n—Kiriel’s gaze, which had already looked at Enbi Arin with pity, deepened.

nPain, pain, and more pain.

nRipped apart alive.

nDisassembled alive.

nHer body taken apart, and her insides forcibly turned into a machine.

nAs the Nanomachines seeped into her body, it forcibly modified her beautiful figure.

nThey had embedded thousands of chipsets into her head to control her actions, even controlling her emotions.

n…sss…

nKiriel couldn’t bear it anymore, and she stopped her Psychometry.

nIt was painful to watch.

n—pakakakang!—

nKiriel carefully used her skill to destroy the chipsets inside Enbi Arin’s head, and then looked at her with a sad expression.

nAlthough she wouldn’t be controlled by Melchizedek anymore, those memories would remain.

n‘…Maybe you might not even want to live anymore.’

nKiriel’s expression turned heavy as she stared at the dying Enbi Arin.

nKiriel realized that the reason why Enbi Arin wasn’t waking up was because she might not want to come out again.

nHer healing skills weren’t working anyway.

n‘I should bring him back.’

n—whooosh!—

nKiriel remembered R-Korun Nell and flew towards the front of the research center.

n……………………………………….

n“…Huh?”

n‘He got up already?’

nKiriel thought to herself as she brought back R-Korun Nell.

nShe had expected it to take a while, but it had already finished.

n‘…Where did it all go?’

nKiriel was shocked.

nThe crystalline armor had disappeared.

n‘That’s not an amount that could disappear in an instant.’

n—thud!—

n“Argh!”

nKiriel threw R-Korun Nell to the side and stared at him with eyes filled with annoyance.

nShe then turned to talk to Hansoo but then stopped.

n‘…’

nHansoo stared at Enbi Arin laid out on the ground with a heavy expression and then turned to Kiriel.

n“Thank you. You’ve done well while I was gone.”

n“It’s nothing. I did what I had to.”

nThese were her honest thoughts.

nThinking of what Enbi Arin had done, it was thanks to her that they’d had such an easy time going through the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Zones.

nHansoo glanced at Enbi Arin again and said:

n“I will save this girl.”

n“…How?”

nKiriel’s eyes widened.

nOf course, saving her was the right thing to do.

nBut there weren’t any methods she could think of, and there wasn’t enough time left.

n‘One week.’

nKiriel thought to herself.

nShe had meticulously checked Enbi Arin’s body.

nAt most, she had one week to live.

nAnd this was only because of her transcendent vitality.

nIf any outside forces disturbed her, that might even shorten her time.

nHansoo said:

n“We just need to turn her to into a 3-Star. That will heal most of her injuries.”

n“Ah.”

nKiriel realized.

nHe was right.

nIf Enbi Arin rose up a rank, everything would be solved.

nBut Kiriel soon shook her head.

n“No, we’ll need a titanic amount of crystals.”

n1-Star transcendents were common, but the amount of crystals one needed to make a 3-Star transcendent was on a different league of its own.

nEven if they could earn more and better crystals than the lower floors, acquiring that many crystals in that short of a time was impossible.

nThere wasn’t enough time.

n‘And weirdly, there are no beings from the Abyssal race on this floor.’

nEven the floor below hadn’t been this bare.

nHansoo shook his head.

n“The Abyssal beings are attracted to where there are humans—there are almost no humans around, so they aren’t here.”

nPredators would only gather around their prey.

nIt was common logic.

nIt wasn’t that Melchizedek had killed off every Abyssal being on the 1st floor.

nThey simply hadn’t come to a place without prey.

n“…Meaning that the humans are all gathered somewhere else.”

nMelchizedek said that he’d captured and taken away all the humans so she’d thought the humans would’ve been in the research center, but she realized something while she fought.

nThat there weren’t any humans here.

nShe knew that a few humans would be used to create artificial transcendents, but they’d taken too many away for it to be merely for that purpose.

n‘Why?’

nBut Kiriel soon came to a realization.

n“…These guys also have a Nursery.”

nHansoo nodded.

nIf that weren’t the case, how else could they explain the sheer number of transcendents?

nFeed the humans to the Abyssal beings to raise their numbers, turn them into crystals to create transcendents and modify them to create artificial transcendents.

n“He’s really efficient, isn’t he…”

nKiriel mumbled, her expression cold.

nMelchizedek was using the humans in a very clean and efficient manner.

n“I’ll try to find where it is. It should be easy to find using Psychometry.”

nIt wouldn’t separate such a large number of humans.

nFor it to be really efficient, it would have gathered them all into one place.

nShe just needed to find that place.

n‘It’s probably on a different floor.’

nHansoo thought to himself as he looked at Kiriel running off.

n‘Melchizedek… How did you become like this?’

nThe Melchizedek he knew wasn’t this evil.

nHansoo’s expression hardened.

n‘Finish the preparations on the upper floors.’

nHe needed to become a 3-Star before he reached the top floor anyway.

nIf the Abyssal race had gathered in one place, he could resolve it all in one go.

n‘It’s a bit dangerous, but I even acquired this… there are a lot of things different in this life.’

nLegacy.

nAnd while Hansoo focused—

n—chrrrrrk!—

n—something hidden beneath his skin quickly shot through to form a gauntlet around his hand, and then quickly disappeared.

n‘…Damn. Every single member of this race is a monster. Seriously.’

nR-Korun Nell stared at this scene in horror, but then thought of the Kalkuroun Fleet.

nAlthough the Fusion Reactor’s explosion would’ve swept them away, it wouldn’t be enough to destroy the entire fleet.

nTheir strength wasn’t that low.

n‘I wonder what happened… Damn. Well, I guess I’m not in a position to worry about that.’

nR-Korun Nell looked at the sky and remembered his current situation.

n…………………………………….

n—rumble—

n“Haa….Haaa.”

n“…”

nThe flagship of the Kalkuroun Fleet, , was silent.

nBecause of R-Koronaita Nell’s anger.

n“…How long until arrival?”

n“We’re almost there. But… there’s something at the place where we’re supposed to arrive.”

n“Huh?”

nN-Akuon flinched—he already knew R-Koronaita Nell was pissed—as he beamed an image in the air.

nAnd through that screen, they could see the scene above Nelkipa.

n“…the hell are those things?”

n

nHundreds of thousands of alien beings, trapped within a strange facility.

nAnd the strange monsters that were devouring the aliens and raising their numbers.

n‘…Melchizedek, you insane can. What the hell is going on in your head?’

nR-Koronaita frowned as he looked at the grotesque scene before his eyes.

n