Unexpected Identity – 3

“I guess I’ve done enough. I’m tired, so I should rest.”

Helga, who had chopped five centipedes into 29 pieces, swayed and leaned against a nearby wall.

Regardless of her words about being tired, her expression hadn’t changed from its usual state. It was unclear whether she was truly tired or simply creating a reason for her subordinates to rest.

“Why aren’t you guys resting?”

Given that she was urging her subordinates to sit down as well, it seemed likely to be the latter. The other Knights also found places to sit one by one. They fanned the chest area of their bunny girl outfits to release heat and constantly groomed their bunny ears and tails.

They had noticed Helga’s intention, and more importantly, their Knight Commander had told them that if they annihilated the enemies emerging from here, there would be no more reinforcements, so they could rest.

When they first heard it, they were half in doubt, but looking back after things had progressed this far, the situation had aligned terrifyingly perfectly.

They thought they had been brought to the front of some ordinary cave, but it was actually the entrance to a Rune Dungeon. Not only did she know the internal structure of a dungeon she had never entered, but she even predicted which enemies would appear in which locations.

It was a chilling experience, so much so that the absurd delusion, ‘Did she conspire with the Lord-nim?’, vaguely crossed their minds. A feeling close to horror, beyond mere awe, surged within them.

Normally, no matter how much Helga was tired, she would never have just sat down in the middle of a dungeon, and her subordinate Knights would have set up shifts and stood guard even without orders.

But now it was different. Since every situation had unfolded exactly as their Knight Commander had said, the thought that it would be the same this time had taken root.

“This uniform seems pretty good too, doesn’t it?”

“Not just ‘pretty good,’ it’s really good, isn’t it? Captain-nim told us to decide the design ourselves. Since we chose it directly, it shouldn’t just end with ‘pretty good.'”

“Ah, that’s right. Usually, Captain-nim decides it arbitrarily. It was like that even when we were in the Golden Twilight Knights. I was really surprised when she said we had to decide this time.”

Above the heads of the conversing Knights, pink bunny ears constantly twitched. Despite clearly being headbands, no one questioned why they could twitch like real ears.

Because if you wear bunny ear headbands, it’s only natural that you should be able to twitch them. It was common sense.

While her subordinates chattered, Helga meticulously inspected the chest part of her uniform. She subtly suppressed a strange moan that almost reflexively escaped as her nipples chafed, and then glanced at Nyx.

“Kih-hee-hee…… Hee-hee-hee…….”

Nyx continuously let out that utterly bizarre laugh as she finely chopped and crushed one of the centipede corpses.

The centipede had been dead for a long time, so even if its body was torn into small pieces, it showed no particular reaction. Conversely, this also meant that the woman was pointlessly mutilating the corpse.

While everyone else was resting, she was the only one performing such bizarre actions, so gazes naturally gathered. Nyx tore at the corpse, oblivious to the eyes watching her.

A few Knights slightly frowned.

She had managed to get them here in a few hours via teleportation, and she hadn’t caused a single incident while at the castle, so they had thought she was a decent person. However, seeing her act like this, she was definitely a Witch.

The fact that they only slightly frowned without direct intervention was possible because her usual image wasn’t too bad.

Nyx finally got up only after completely disintegrating one centipede into a pile of gravel. Then, she trudged over to a nearby wall, leaned her back against it, and sat down.

Helga, as well as the other Knights, had all expected Nyx to start tearing at another centipede corpse nearby, but it was unexpected.

Nyx, with her knees bent, wriggled her arms. She seemed unable to hug her knees due to her absurdly large breasts and her disproportionately short stature.

After wriggling for a long time, Nyx finally seemed to give up and awkwardly lay down on her side instead of leaning against the wall. Her right breast was pressed against her left, slightly flattening due to its weight.

“Hey, Witch.”

“……Huh?”

Helga called Nyx. Nyx, who had just lain down and was already starting to doze off, opened her eyes.

“I’m just curious, is there any meaning to that action?”

Helga’s sword tip pointed at the pile of gravel that had, until recently, been a centipede monster. The original form was no longer discernible.

“Like…… some kind of magical meaning, or perhaps for acquiring magic ingredients. Something like that.”

“…….”

Nyx, who had been staring intently at Helga after hearing the question, suddenly laughed with a ‘Kih-hee-hee’ sound.

“Kih-hee-hee. It doesn’t mean anything?”

“……Huh?”

“Ah, to be precise, it has no meaning ‘here’.”

“No meaning ‘here’? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Nyx, ignoring Helga’s question, turned over and lay facing the wall. It meant she didn’t want to answer anymore. Helga, who had been staring at her back in bewilderment, soon lost interest and rested her chin on her knees.

It was obvious that she had done it for no particular reason, just out of boredom, but she probably gave a plausible answer because saying she did it out of boredom would make her seem lacking. It was as clear as day.

‘Why would Captain-nim keep a woman like that…….’

Such doubts briefly crossed her mind, but Helga soon yawned slightly and dismissed them. If it was that person, there must surely be some intention behind it.

Thinking about Captain-nim naturally led her to the realization that she was fighting alone against the monster guarding the Rune Dungeon down below.

When she first said that, I thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t.

‘She’s probably doing fine, I guess.’

She wasn’t particularly worried.

-Thwack!

With the crisp sound of metal deflecting metal, my body was pushed back a considerable distance. I plunged the tip of my sword into the ground. Kwaddeudeuk, the blade sliced through the earth, slowing my retreat.

I drew the Wingless Nightmare again. There was no time to hesitate here. As soon as I drew my sword, a centipede-shaped train charged, spewing black smoke from its chimney.

Or perhaps a train-shaped centipede.

Actually, it didn’t matter which it was. The fact that its appearance was unpleasant enough to make one’s hair stand on end was sufficient.

Centipede legs, sprouting from its wheels, mercilessly slammed into the nearby ground as it charged towards me, its body undulating like waves sideways.

Its gaze, fixed directly on me, was still grotesque. Its eyebrows were angry, but its pupils remained perfectly round. The corners of its mouth stretched horizontally. Every part of its body was unnatural.

Below its mouth, headlights clattered like a lower jaw. I raised the Wingless Nightmare again. It was a charge pattern, but this time, I had to deflect it, not dodge it.

The moment its headlights crossed in the middle, I swung my arm. The headlights, which were about to converge in the center, Jjaeng! ricocheted sideways with a sharp sound.

Simultaneously, its charge trajectory twisted sideways. The head that was approaching me sharply veered off right in front of me. Like a train on a railway with a switch thrown, its body brushed past me.

I swung the Wingless Nightmare at its centipede-like legs.

‘That’s awful.’

I had surely seen this form countless times during the Rock Centipede boss battle, but for some reason, it was much more disgusting now. Watching it made me feel as if something was squirming on my skin.

I tried hard to shake off that feeling and swung my sword. After about four hits, the blue locomotive centipede scurried away across the floor with a sasasasasak sound.

I adjusted my stance and reduced my combat fatigue. Its head turned towards me again. A few segments near its rear were raised into the air. The leg dangling at its very end sharply rose.

It lifted its rear like a scorpion and then slammed it down towards me. I rolled to evade it, burrowing inward.

‘No, is that really a centipede?’

In the game, I just brushed it off as ‘they need to create patterns, so it might be like that,’ but seeing it in reality was utterly absurd.

What kind of centipede raises its head segments like a snake to look down on its enemy, and even swings its rear vertically like a scorpion?

Regardless of my confused mind, my body reacted. As I rolled twice, just like in the game, my body had already arrived directly in front of its head.

I reflexively tried to swing my sword but hesitated for a moment when I saw its eyes fix precisely on me again. Even though I had seen that face many times, I still couldn’t get used to it.

I composed myself and struck its head with the Wingless Nightmare. The blue sword tip grazed its lower jaw.

-Peong!

At that moment, a much crisper sound than usual was heard. The lower jaw I had struck caved inward, and its sharply raised rear drooped down, its body becoming limp.

I realized what kind of situation this was. It was what’s called a ‘groggy’ state. It could be triggered by consistently dealing damage to ‘vulnerable points’ that exist on some bosses.

It was a weakness that didn’t exist for humanoid bosses, only for monster-type bosses. Since monster-type bosses were virtually impossible to parry, a similar countermeasure was set up in this way.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly the same as parrying.

Parrying damage scales with the opponent’s maximum health and isn’t reduced by resistance, whereas attacks after a groggy state scale with the caster’s attack power and are reduced by resistance.

However, it could inflict far greater damage than a normal basic attack, so I couldn’t miss this opportunity. I forcefully thrust the Wingless Nightmare into the caved-in part of its grayish head.

ㅡChiiiiiiiiik!

As soon as I plunged my sword in, black steam spewed from the chimney on its head.

I pushed the Wingless Nightmare in up to just above the crossguard, then forcefully shoved it with my shoulder. Despite the size difference between us, it toppled over sideways.

Dozens of pairs of legs flailed in the air. I pulled out my sword and created distance.

The creature, which had been flailing its legs for a while, got back up. Then, it spewed black steam once more and stared at me.

ㅡKwaddeuk!

Its head flipped 180 degrees.

Where its eyes had been, there was now a mouth, and where its mouth had been, there were eyes. Ttegurureu, the black pupils of its eyes rotated along with it, then turned towards me again.

The coal from its cargo cars tumbled down. Simultaneously, the area of its black pupils slowly expanded. In contrast, the whites of its eyes gradually diminished.

Finally, the whites of its eyes completely disappeared from the pupils staring at me. A shiver ran down my spine, but then I realized why it had suddenly taken on such a grotesque appearance and managed to calm myself.

Its health was clearly below 5%. Seeing its legs even trembling, there was no doubt.

Even in the original game, the moment its health dropped below 5%, the carapace on its head would be half-destroyed, its movements would become extremely slow, and it would take amplified damage from all attacks. If it had reached this point, it was practically caught.

In that case, this meant now was my chance.

I gripped the Wingless Nightmare firmly and pulled it to my right side. Then, I prepared to use the special ability of the Wingless Nightmare, which possessed magical properties.

The blue of the blade intensified. Even as I did this, the half-destroyed blue steam locomotive, with its face flipped upside down, was staggering towards me, its pupils dyed black.

Its flickering headlights clattered together right in front of its eyebrows.

I gathered my magic to its limit, released my left hand from the hilt, and raised my right hand to shoulder height. The blade trembled, emitting a deep blue light.

Jeobeok, I took a step. As I did, I extended my right arm forward. Using the blade of the Wingless Nightmare as a staff, a blue vortex was unleashed.

The blue vortex, flying straight, struck the head of the blue train that was staggering towards me.

ㅡKwajijijijik!

And, from the point of impact, it completely ground it away.

The blue vortex didn’t stop even after obliterating about a third of its head. In that state, it burrowed through nearly half of its body, destroying it up to the segment where the first cargo car was located, before finally dissipating into the air.

The creature trembled its legs for a moment, then collapsed, unable to get up again. It seemed unable to endure any longer after losing nearly half of its body.

Its eyes, which had been completely filled with black, returned to normal. The half-remaining corners of its mouth rose towards its eyes again, forming a smiling face.

However, its face was still inverted, so it also looked like it was crying.

The blue steam locomotive, its face returned to a smiling expression, emitted one last puff of hazy smoke from its chimney and then completely ceased to function.

The damn little locomotive, no, the Rock Centipede boss battle was over. Its body slowly began to crumble.

I silently prayed that this mode would be the last of its kind as I approached the Rune Monolith, which was emitting a faint green light.