Ch.323Old Ties (1)

An alley located between old buildings.

Isabelle closed the distance with a single leap.

The curved blade in her hand flew toward my head. I pushed off the ground with my four legs and pulled my upper body back. The blade narrowly missed just below my neck.

As soon as I succeeded in dodging, I counterattacked with my two tails. The pincer at the end of my right tail aimed for the curved blade, while my left tail targeted the enemy’s wrist.

Being in the “Clever Weakling” state had reduced the size of my pincers, but they were still much larger than the curved blade Isabelle was holding. If the two collided, damage would be unavoidable.

Isabelle knew this and quickly twisted her hand holding the blade. The sharp edge scraped across the rough surface of the pincer, creating an eerie tearing sound.

Meanwhile, my left tail moved like a snake that had spotted its prey, attempting to coil around the opponent’s arms.

Just as the tip of my tail was about to touch her wrist, Isabelle flexibly bent her waist. Her ankle rose in the air almost to the same position as her wrist and kicked away the tip of my tail.

Both tail attacks ended in failure. She retreated backward using the momentum from kicking my tail.

But I had predicted she would dodge. I pushed off the floor with my four legs.

“Tch!”

I heard a clicking sound from the enemy who had just landed on the ground. She rolled to the side to avoid me charging like a bull. I tried to stomp her with my hind legs, but she evaded everything with nimble movements.

Then, like an insect or lizard clinging to a wall, she climbed onto my back.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’

Hidden in my furry back was a nest of face-insects. The face-insects, receiving my command, prepared paralyzing sound waves from inside the fur.

Just as five man-eating insects were about to release their deadly sound waves, Isabelle pulled out another tool. She threw something shaped like a small hexagonal plate into my fur, then jumped off my back.

An intense noise like a scream spread through the air from the face-insects. But the sound never reached its target.

A shield formed from the hexagonal plate, enveloping my entire body. The sound waves from the face-insects were blocked by the invisible barrier and disappeared in vain.

I struck the shield with the pincer on my right tail to break it. Through the gap in the protective barrier that tore like paper, the curved blade flew in.

‘I knew it.’

The curved blade stuck into the horn on my head. The thin blade getting lodged in my horn created a momentary opening from her.

Now was the time for my side heads to take action, with the enemy so close. The left head, which was closer to her, opened its jaws wide.

“!”

Her eyes widened, apparently not expecting the side heads to move. She eventually abandoned the curved blade. My teeth barely grazed her scale-covered arm.

While the left head was moving, my waiting right head spewed a mass of decay-inducing fungus toward her. It would hurt quite a bit if it hit, but she brought this on herself.

She hurriedly rolled to avoid the flying fungus mass. Still, she couldn’t completely dodge this time, and some got on the tips of her toes.

“Ugh!”

She mercilessly cut off her own toes with her fingernails. The toes, blackened by the fungus, rolled on the floor.

‘Not bad.’

The battle entered a brief lull as she cut off her toes and retreated.

I lowered my central head and used the small arms on my chest to pull out the curved blade stuck in my horn.

‘A weapon I’ve never seen before?’

I thought it might be an ultra-vibration weapon like a sonic blade, but it wasn’t. It was just a simple curved blade with no buttons or mechanical devices.

‘It looks ordinary but has incredibly high durability.’

Like my tail pincers, the horns on my head are quite hard. I didn’t expect any weapon, no matter how good its cutting power, to collide with my horns and pincers without sustaining damage.

‘I need to be careful.’

I threw the curved blade far away and stared at Isabelle, the 22nd-ranked player.

Besides the unfamiliar weapon, I don’t know what other secret techniques she might have. She hasn’t shown her true abilities yet.

‘Which Voltex One’s power did she borrow?’

If the core of AMorph play is how to acquire and use characteristics, the core of Coldblood play is their relationship with Voltex One.

The Coldblood, whose entire race’s existence is mortgaged to Voltex One, fight differently depending on which being’s power they borrow.

Some enhance physical combat abilities to the extreme, while others grant powerful psychic abilities. If you pay the price of the contract, you can freely use the power of beings at the apex of the hierarchy.

‘I need to fight more to…’

“Wait! Both of you, wait!”

As we were about to fight again, Sky Mother intervened between Isabelle and me.

“Sorry, but give me a chance!”

[Zzzzz zzzzzzz zzzz zzzzzzzz zzzzzzz(I would have said I’d respond if she attacked first.)]

“I told you I’d give you time to talk before that!”

She looked at me desperately, even revealing her carnelian-colored wings that had been hidden with tattoos.

‘Talk, huh.’

I kept my eyes on her and Isabelle while scanning the surroundings with my auxiliary organs.

This is a blind spot where the watchtower’s gaze doesn’t reach. Unless we fight on a large scale, the chances of being caught by the warrior corps are low, but that doesn’t mean there’s no risk.

Moreover, this is the place where she lured us. In other words, it’s practically her home ground. I don’t know what might happen during the fight.

‘Sky Mother is right.’

Currently, my “Parasite Swarm” is sealed due to Siheyon Yujin’s relic weapon. If I want to extract the information I want, I have no choice but to turn her into a face-insect.

Eating Isabelle would allow me to steal her perks, which isn’t necessarily bad, but the problem is getting to that point. Though I haven’t seen the ending, she’s a ranker with the title of 22nd place. She’s by no means an easy opponent.

‘But I’ll have a chance to explore during the conversation.’

While Sky Mother buys time, I can gather information about Isabelle. Giving her another chance is a fairly good option.

[Zzzz(Alright)]

“Thank you.”

She nodded in gratitude.

I stepped back a few paces to observe their conversation.

Since we had started fighting immediately upon meeting, I hadn’t paid attention to her appearance, but now I could properly examine Isabelle.

She had the typical Coldblood appearance: a head that was an appropriate mix of lizard and human face, antennae on her head, and scales covering her entire body. Her body scales were bright blue, with only her snout having a light sky-blue tint. As I had heard, she was quite short, and her arms and legs were thin, giving an overall delicate impression.

Instead of the maid uniform used for reception at the hotel, she was wearing old cloth clothes. Judging by her exposed arms, thighs, and abdomen, it didn’t seem like she was hiding any additional weapons.

‘Though Coldblood aren’t a race that depends on weapons.’

The frail-looking body, small stature, and shabby clothes.

She still looks like a pitiful slave, but it’s all deception. Considering what she just showed, she’s definitely not an opponent to be careless with.

I maintained my vigilance and focused on surveillance with my auxiliary organs.

“As expected of a Morph-freak, you’re doing here what you did in the game.”

“No, Isabelle.”

Isabelle was also focusing all her attention on me, just as I was on her. Though she was talking with Sky Mother, her eyes were fixed solely on me.

“He saved me when I was about to die.”

“Saved you? A Morph-freak?”

“It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. He didn’t implant any parasites either. I’m not in a relationship where I’m controlled by him; I’m by his side as a comrade.”

“……”

Isabelle was taken aback by what Sky Mother said.

‘Strictly speaking, that’s half a lie.’

Originally, I saved her to use as insurance. That’s why I even implanted parasites.

Of course, Isabelle doesn’t know the inside story, and she doesn’t need to.

“…Then why did you come here, sister?”

“I came because I have something to ask you.”

“Something to ask?”

“Yes. As AMorph and I grew, we saw visions of reality. We’re investigating what those visions mean.”

“Visions…”

The moment she heard the word “visions,” Isabelle’s gaze turned to Sky Mother for the first time instead of me.

“Did you also see the ‘memories’?”

“Memories? Did you also see visions of your human days?”

Instead of answering her question, Isabelle asked one in return.

“What choice did you make before the memories?”

“Me?”

“Were you devoured by the memories? Or did you devour the memories?”

“Neither. I only glimpsed the memories.”

After hearing her answer, Isabelle’s eyes turned back to me. She seemed to want to ask what choice I made, but I maintained my silence.

“He’s similar to me. He only glimpsed the memories.”

To be precise, I fought and defeated “the real me” manifested in the vision, but I didn’t kill him. In Isabelle’s terms, I was neither eaten by the vision nor did I eat it.

Sky Mother knows this too, but she seems to have deliberately been vague because she doesn’t know how Isabelle will react.

“We want to hear what choice you made.”

“……”

Isabelle silently watched us for a while, then closed her eyes.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and spoke.

“Sister Seoa. Do you know how long we haven’t been in contact?”

“I remember it being about 8 years.”

“8 years and 2 months. A lot has happened since you left.”

“Isabelle?”

In the reptilian eyes I saw again, no emotion could be felt. There was neither the hint of longing she had shown when she saw Sky Mother, nor the anger she had displayed when fighting me. There was only emptiness.

“They trampled all my friends and the foundation we built.”

“!”

Though Isabelle had said it in passing, Sky Mother seemed to understand what it meant. I can feel her heartbeat intensifying.

“Don’t worry about it. Too much time has passed to blame anyone now.”

“……”

“I’ll give you the answer you want. But first, listen to my request.”

Eyes resembling burnt ashes spoke to us.