Ch.193Red Forest (2)

The Red Tree King opened one of its six eyes.

Its roots had detected the intrusion of some creature.

Judging by the small size but considerable weight, it might be one of those winged creatures that had been caught.

Winged creatures. Arrogant beings who scurried about here and there under the orders of the ‘Black and Old King.’

But the Red Tree King liked them. Because they tasted very good.

Recalling their flavorful juices, he unconsciously drooled. As a drop of saliva fell along his elongated jaw, the cocoons spread around him trembled.

The king knew well how the secretions from his body affected other creatures.

Even creatures that came to kill the king would immediately become his slaves upon consuming the red substance. They would only crave the red substance even as the king tore off their heads to eat.

He used this ability to prey on all creatures inhabiting a certain area and then moved on, repeating this process. Now, after hundreds of winters, his power had grown so much that even the ‘Black and Old King’ was wary of him.

Someday, he would devour that impudent king too. Having made this pledge, he waited for his new slave to approach.

But as time passed, the unidentified intruder did not appear before him.

Instead, what came to him was an unpleasant sensation. It was pain and a sense of loss. That sensation he had only felt when he was young and weak came back to life and pricked at him.

Someone was destroying his treasure chamber.

Realizing this fact, the king became furious.

Who dares to defy the king of this red forest?

The first being that came to mind was the ‘Black and Old King.’ Perhaps he had come personally, dragging his heavy bottom, to punish him for eating his messengers.

But the king soon denied this. The ‘Black and Old King’ he had seen was a very massive being. If that being had landed here, he could not possibly have missed it.

Other candidates came to mind—the snake dwelling underground, the beast of the sky, the monster living on the mountain peak—but none of them seemed to fit.

It seemed that the intruder causing trouble in his territory was a being that had not been here long.

No. The identity of the intruder no longer mattered.

The intruder who had ruined the food he had painstakingly collected deserved to die.

The Red Tree King sent a signal to the roots spread underground. Capture the intruder and bring it here.

At that, several of the surrounding cocoons tore open, and the creatures inside sprang out.

Though diverse in appearance and species, they all wore red moss on their bodies. All were his faithful slaves.

“Kraaaaa!”

“Grrrrrr!”

“Kyeng! Kyeng-kyeng!”

The slaves who received the king’s order rushed out to capture their target.

If he waited patiently, the slaves would bring that vicious intruder. That’s how it had always been.

However, this time too, reality flowed differently from his expectations.

The sensations from the slaves who had rushed out to catch the prey began to be cut off one by one.

The noise that had been heard until just now was no longer audible. An ominous silence filled the entire forest.

And the pain in the roots that he had been feeling since earlier. It was getting worse.

At first, it felt like being pricked by thorns, but now it was as painful as being gnawed by a swarm of insects.

It was no longer a problem limited to the food storage. His roots, spread over a wide area, were being attacked simultaneously.

Unable to bear the pain any longer, the king opened all six of his eyes.

The king knew well how to act in such cases. He focused his senses on his roots and then detached the parts where he felt pain one by one.

Each time he cut off a root, he felt considerable pain, but it was far better than the agony of being torn apart by a swarm of insects while still alive.

As he cleared the widely spread roots, his domain shrank instantly.

It was clear that it would take a long time to recover his territory. The king tried 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 seeping through the branches. That some of the intertwined branches that blocked the light had broken, allowing light to enter.

But it wasn’t. It was bubbles shining with numerous colors. The bubbles of light and color wriggled like living creatures.

He couldn’t tell where they had appeared from or who had created them. The wave of bubbles, so profuse it was dizzying, just surged toward him.

His heart began to beat violently at the sight of the approaching bubbles.

Vigilance, and fear. Emotions that had been dormant in his memory.

The king screamed without realizing it. He urged his slaves to get rid of those bubbles immediately.

Until just a moment ago, slaves had sprung out to protect him, but not now. Even as he screamed, the cocoons around him didn’t move an inch.

As if his orders were not being transmitted.

The bubbles had already reached right in front of him. He hurriedly tried to pull his lower body out of the ground, but it was too late.

The bubbles crept up and began to stick to his body. As the bubbles touched him, his hard carapace began to crumble.

He didn’t enjoy hunting prey directly, but that didn’t mean he was weak. His carapace was very hard, and his wings were strong enough to support his heavy weight.

But before the bubbles, everything was useless.

The bubbles wrapped around him like a snake constricting its prey. He recalled being attacked by an underground snake when he was still weak. As the memory of that most nightmarish time surfaced, he twisted his entire body in resistance.

But just as he had been helplessly overpowered in his memory, reality didn’t change at all. The bubbles clung to him even more strongly, as if mocking his resistance.

In the mass of bubbles of infinite colors and light, he gradually suffocated.

‘…I didn’t expect this.’

Currently in front of me is the master of the red forest, Glacier Fiend. Bubbles of various colors were stuck to its body, which had collapsed while emerging from the soil.

On this planet where everything is frozen, it looks like it drowned in water and is barely breathing.

‘I thought only Psychic Breath was powerful.’

The targets of ‘Deep Colors’ are Monster’s Tentacles, Psychic Reflection Gloves, and Watcher of Fear—these three.

In the case of Monster’s Tentacles, the enhancement effect was applied not to the tentacles themselves but to the Psychic Breath shot from them.

The enhanced Psychic Breath changed from shooting heat rays to firing spheres.

When the sphere touches the target, it creates bubbles of color that produce a destructive effect. These bubbles don’t disappear when the target is gone but rush toward a new target nearby.

Like locusts that devour all crops, they only disappear when there’s nothing left to eat. Only sticky bubbles remain where they vanish.

I had already verified the performance of Psychic Breath while raiding the creature’s food storage. I decided to try out other characteristics while I was at it.

Next, I tried the Psychic Reflection Gloves, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any special effect. It seemed I would need to be hit by a psychic attack to properly confirm it.

Lastly, there was the Watcher of Fear. It’s a characteristic that drives an intelligent being mad by showing them fearful hallucinations.

Just now, while escaping from his slaves, I decided to use the Watcher of Fear on them. Honestly, I didn’t expect much from this characteristic since it only affects intelligent beings. I used it just hoping it might slow them down.

But the result far exceeded my expectations.

‘It’s on a different level.’

When I activated the Watcher of Fear, I felt all strength drain from my body, and simultaneously, a bubble formed, mixing green and purple.

The bubble, emitting a strange radiance, floated gently and stuck to the head of the Winter Walker chasing me. As soon as it attached, the bubble swelled instantly and swallowed the creature’s head whole.

The creature with the bubble over its head went berserk for a while but couldn’t hold out long and collapsed.

The truly frightening thing happened next. When the target collapsed, the bubble mass exploded.

The bubbles that stuck to other slaves nearby as it exploded wrapped around their heads just like they had with the Winter Walker.

Physical force and infectiousness. The enhancement effect received by the Watcher of Fear spreads to the surroundings through the medium of bubbles.

The range limit has shortened, but the power has increased dramatically. Also, the target range has changed from being limited to intelligent beings to being applicable to multiple creatures.

After dealing with the pursuing slaves, I immediately experimented on Glacier Fiend. If it worked on it too, future hunts would be incomparably easier.

I ran through the forest, activating the Watcher of Fear repeatedly. Numerous bubbles passed through the trees and flew toward it.

‘This is an advantage.’

Instead of reduced range, I can fire multiple times. It’s very effective against stationary enemies like now, though it might be different for enemies with fast movement speed.

In the end, Glacier Fiend, who had no idea what was happening, fell victim to the Watcher of Fear and collapsed before a much weaker being.

‘I didn’t expect it to be this easy to catch.’

Glacier Fiend is a much trickier opponent than Ice Horror, which relies on brute force. Without Deep Colors, I couldn’t have dealt with the slaves so easily.

Though they’re addicted to drugs, they retain all their original abilities. In fact, they’re more dangerous because they disregard death and don’t feel pain.

Moreover, since creatures that want to become slaves continuously come to the red forest, there’s no end to them no matter how many you kill.

But that doesn’t mean the main body is weak.

Hard carapace immune to various attacks, and wings that allow for quick movement. In terms of physical combat alone, it’s on par with White Gallergorn.

Its only weakness is slow movement speed on land, but even that’s hardly a weakness since it has wings.

I’ve easily defeated such a dangerous predator without a single injury.

‘Let’s kill it first and think later.’

Glacier Fiend has only lost consciousness; it’s not dead yet. I approached it.

Its stag beetle-like head was covered in bubbles of various colors. All six eyes were rolled back, and bloody foam continuously flowed from its mouth.

I swung the pincer at the end of my tail to strike its neck. With a loud noise, cracks formed in the carapace covering its neck.

After striking a few more times to break the carapace completely, I raised my tail high again to completely crush its neck.

‘This is the end… ugh?!’

「Pain Reduction activated!」

An incredibly intense pain, unlike anything I’ve felt before, surged from the tip of my tail. My legs gave out involuntarily, and I collapsed onto the dirt floor.

‘H-hot!’

Pain like being burned by fire. Suddenly, a childhood memory surfaced.

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

The terrible burning sensation I felt then was now being recreated in my body.

‘I-I need to get a grip!’

「Pain Reduction activated!」

「Pain Reduction activated!」

「Pain Reduction activated!」

「Pain Reduction activated!」

Translucent text boxes popped up in front of me as if something had malfunctioned.

I gritted my teeth and checked if my body was on fire.

There were no visible flames burning anywhere on my body. Even as my consciousness grew hazy, I focused all my strength on my auxiliary organs.

The four auxiliary organs under my jaw searched for the cause of the pain to save me. Then they found something at the tip of my tail.

Bubbles of various mixed colors were stuck to the surface of the pincer.

‘Colors!’

I immediately opened my jaw wide and bit off the middle part of my tail. Chunks of flesh fell from my tail, but I felt no pain.

The burning sensation flowing from the part where the bubbles were stuck was so overwhelming that I couldn’t feel sensations from any other part.

While gnawing on my tail, I checked the bubbles covering the pincer.

The bubbles were slowly but continuously growing in size. What was initially just a small splash now engulfed the entire pincer.

‘Kuk…!’

「Pain Reduction activated!」

The pain was so extreme that my jaw lost strength. Unable to bite anymore, I removed my mouth and used my combat arms and legs to pull on my tail.

A chilling sound came from my tail. Muscles tore and bones broke. The carapace and synthetic scales had been shattered long ago.

The bubbles had already swallowed the entire pincer. The mass of bubbles emitting an eerie radiance was trying to devour my tail as well.

My mind had already reached its limit due to the extreme pain.

‘Please!’

I put all my strength into my combat arms one last time. As a result, I was barely able to detach my tail.

Two-thirds of my tail fell to the floor. The bubbles attached to the fallen tail instantly lost their characteristic luster.

As the cause was removed, the burning sensation that had been crushing my brain disappeared as if it had been a lie. Instead, pain rose from the severed part, but I didn’t have the strength to feel it.

As I lay face down, half-unconscious, a new text box appeared before me.

「Part of the evolution condition from ‘Subadult’ to ‘Adult’ has been fulfilled.

APEX 2/30 (Not achieved)」

With the death of Glacier Fiend, the light disappeared from the bubbles attached to it.

Though both the creature and the bubbles had changed, I couldn’t feel at ease.

The bubbles created by Psychic Breath didn’t stop until the target disappeared. I still didn’t know if these bubbles had truly lost their effect despite the different situation.

‘……’

Since just looking wouldn’t change anything, I extended one finger and poked the bubble.

I was ready to cut off my finger immediately if the pain started, but there was no sensation even after waiting.

‘So the effect is lost when they die.’

It seemed that the bubbles generated by the Watcher of Fear, unlike Psychic Breath, acted on the mind of the organism.

‘It might invoke the most terrible pain that the target fears.’

As soon as the bubble touched me, I felt the pain of being burned. Glacier Fiend and the slaves affected by the bubbles probably had similar experiences.

‘…I need to use this carefully.’

Now that I’ve experienced it firsthand, I understand.

The newly acquired Deep Colors was literally a double-edged sword.