Ch.7Falling (7)

Cannibals.

In the game Grim Darker, they held various meanings.

They were a means to easily showcase the murkiness of the world.

They were also a means to introduce the weakest enemies in a way that didn’t feel unnatural.

As such, cannibals were quite familiar to many users.

Despite the fact that they practiced cannibalism, it was just a game, so only a tiny minority would get overly immersed and make a fuss about it. Most players focused on the experience points or items that cannibals dropped in the early stages.

Or they would find their appearance ridiculous.

But now, facing such a cannibal in person, I couldn’t simply dismiss them as ridiculous.

Cannibalism is taboo. Even in a desolate land like Grim Darker, that remains true.

Yet cannibals are those who break this taboo—whether due to lack of food, religious reasons, or some twisted desire.

Among these, the least repulsive would be cannibalism due to food scarcity.

In a land where crops cannot be grown and animals are scarce, cannibalism could be understandable. Not acceptable, but understandable.

What about homunculi? Where would cannibalistic homunculi fall?

If they are beings that don’t need to eat or drink, are complete in themselves, and barely even need to breathe.

How should one view their cannibalism?

I closed my eyes tightly as I watched my fellow homunculus’s meal process, which I didn’t want to describe in detail.

I wanted to either put on a mourning veil and flee this place, or plant my fist in that face.

But I did neither.

Instead, I slowly opened my eyes and looked at my fellow homunculus.

“Want some?”

That was the first thing they said to me. What they offered then, as now, was human flesh, as if doing me a favor.

“Lord, offering food you’ve been eating to a guest would normally be considered insulting.”

The monster with the appearance of a young girl flinched at that. She looked at me nervously like a child who had done something wrong, then turned to the magician.

“Fortunately, I prepared in advance.”

So this guy is the real power here. My eyes turned to where the magician stood holding two silver trays.

“This is meat from one of the few remaining animals in this castle.”

The middle-aged man said this, then opened the covers with a satisfied smile.

The food revealed was clearly a masterpiece of culinary skill at first glance.

Well-grilled brown meat topped with a sauce that seemed to have visible grains.

It looked like steak. It looked delicious. It was something I had never eaten even before becoming this body.

However.

“I won’t eat it.”

There was no guarantee that it wasn’t human flesh. Even if it wasn’t, I didn’t feel like eating.

I was of a race that didn’t need to eat, and there was no need to do so. If I were to eat something, I’d rather have cheap preserved food.

I hadn’t come here to eat in the first place. I hadn’t come to be friendly or to submit.

“Is that so? I prepared it myself, so it would have been quite excellent…”

Rather, I was here to learn something.

To understand what purpose they had for needing me and Isla, why my fellow homunculus was practicing cannibalism.

If there was an acceptable reason, I would quietly find a way to leave.

“Since you don’t seem to desire much hospitality, shall we get to the point?”

The magician said. Whatever the main point was, it was fine by me.

“The lord wishes for you to stay in this castle. More precisely, she wishes for you to become her friend… but that’s not something that happens just because one wants it.”

My fellow homunculus chewed her meat with a shy expression at those words.

“And Isla?”

“We would like the hunter to help us.”

And that was it. The magician closed his mouth and gave a gentle smile.

Bringing his hands forward was the most peaceful gesture the magician could make.

Showing one’s hands meant revealing what magic one might use and when.

I stared at those hands.

The rings on his fingers appeared to be “items.” Dungeon loot or magical artifacts made by humans.

The cloak around his body and leather armor were also magical items. Anyone could see he was higher level than Isla or me.

If we got close, we might win with our stats and mourning power, but…

There were too many variables.

So I put my hands down and asked.

“Help with what exactly?”

“Hmm, I’d prefer to ask that when we’re alone. It’s for the sake of our castle.”

“Can’t you tell me?”

The magician looked surprised at the words coming from beside him, as my fellow homunculus tugged at his cloak.

He apparently hadn’t expected my kin to take my side. He quickly erased the look of dismay from his face and glanced at me.

“I’d like you to teach us how to hunt prey, how to conceal ourselves, how to handle slings, bows, spears, axes, and so on, and to personally lead hunts. Simply put… I want you to become our hunting leader.”

The words from his mouth didn’t stray far from my expectations. I quietly lowered my hand and tapped Isla’s snow-white hand.

Her tail, which had been still, began to wag slightly. The tail seemed to puff up as if the fur had expanded.

Despite his words, I knew what the prey was without him having to say it.

As I turned my head slightly, I could see the food my fellow homunculus was eating. Next to that food was the head of a half-eaten person.

I didn’t know where the food storage was, but I imagined it contained similar things.

They weren’t called cannibals for nothing.

They were threatening Isla to help them hunt people and to hunt directly herself.

It was only a suggestion in form, but anyone could see it was a threat in reality.

Knowing this well, Isla wrapped her tail around my wrist instead of answering.

She frowned and just stared at the magician, perhaps unaware of her own action, while I sighed, enjoying the fluffy sensation of her tail.

The reason I was here, the reason I had allowed myself to be captured and brought here, was partly because I didn’t want to die.

But that wasn’t the main reason.

I wanted to understand them. I wanted to comprehend why my fellow homunculus, who didn’t need to eat, was practicing cannibalism, why they lived as cannibals in this magical realm called the New Continent.

I might not be able to accept it, but then I would have quietly looked for a way to escape.

I would have forgotten about them and focused on my long-term goals with Isla.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.

My sigh turned into a dejected breath.

“You.”

When I raised my head, the magician still wore the same expression.

A relaxed expression. An expression that suggested whatever I did wouldn’t be much of a threat.

My fellow homunculus was like a child. Despite having the body of a young girl, her behavior suggested a mental age of about 4-5 years.

Yet she had no aversion to cannibalism. She was eating despite having no need to eat.

The words “defective” and “degraded” instinctively came to mind.

Perhaps she did this because she was unstable.

There might be some other reason.

I wanted to think that way.

But knowing who the magician before me was, that wasn’t possible.

It made sense. Even I hadn’t expected to meet that man in a place like this.

“What on earth is an Imperial Baron doing here?”

I should have recognized him from his use of the red spear.

That magic, the secret of the Empire and symbol of Imperial warfare, could only be wielded by a high-ranking Imperial magician.

Yet I had momentarily forgotten due to the shock of finding myself in the New Continent.

After 10 years, and having only seen him from an isometric perspective in the game, I couldn’t make a 1:1 match.

That’s why I hadn’t noticed. Until just now.

Of course, there was no other omnipotent magician who would side with cannibals.

The magician’s face hardened, and Isla flinched at the magic flowing from him. Her tail wrapped more tightly around my wrist.

“How on earth…?”

Beohrt, confused, unfolded his clasped hands. Despite being unable to sense magic, I felt a chilling tension that heated my body.

“It’s been a while, Beohrt.”

The pleasure killer, Hannibal Lecter of Grim Darker, who disappeared leaving an unsettling aftertaste at the end of a sub-quest.

The Cannibal Baron, Beohrt Tomula.

And the homunculus modeled after his daughter, Eila Tomula.

In the silence that followed my words, Beohrt’s face contorted with shock and murderous intent. What would happen next was obvious. I didn’t know much about this named NPC’s history and personality.

But I knew his attack patterns well.

After all, the initiative had returned to my hands.

I never did enjoy letting others take the lead.

The choice must always be mine.

“Inquisitor…!”

As if that could be true.

A homunculus cannot become an Inquisitor.

While all races could join the Inquisition, only homunculi were eternally hostile to the Inquisitors.

But I could accept that level of misunderstanding.

That disrupted breathing, decisions hastily made in shock and anger.

The slight opening created by that. For that, it was an acceptable misunderstanding.

I lowered my posture.

The red spear was coming. Unable to sense magic, I couldn’t even read the precursors, but.

Swish!

The wind blew from the heat generated by the concentrated magic.

—!

I heard the sound of moving lips. A voice that didn’t form words, an incantation crafted from magic.

Then I guessed the trajectory it would take.

Only my intuition could bridge the gap between game and reality.

Finally, I recalled my sister’s face.

The last face of my sister I had seen.

[Mourning]

And so I accelerated.

Whoosh!

My right arm disappeared along the trajectory of the red spear. The red spear, shot the moment I accelerated, burned away my right arm as expected.

Pain pierced my mind before fading. All that existed was me, having closed the distance with a leap, my startled fellow homunculus jumping from her seat, and the magician looking at me as I appeared right beside him.

I am a monster. I don’t stop just because an arm has been incinerated. I truly believed that.

Crack!

I stomped my foot and channeled the acceleration into my extended leg.

A thunderous sound rang out.

My extended leg was blocked. A hastily formed barrier. But it distorted like a broken mirror, and the magician’s body was pushed back.

Bang!

Bang, bang, rumble!

Beohrt’s body flew back. Despite his trained physique, he couldn’t react to the surprise attack. He crashed into a wall, rolled on the floor, and scattered piles of stones.

I had created an opening. I scanned the open door, Isla, and my fellow homunculus who remained.

It wouldn’t take long for Beohrt to get up.

Beohrt Tomula was a magician of the robust War School. He had trained his body as much as any decent warrior. Plus, he had put up a barrier.

It would clearly take about 2 seconds for him to rise again.

So my course of action was set.

I gritted my teeth and watched my fellow homunculus who was now charging at me. Randomly swung fists rushed toward me.

A force that would kill an ordinary human on impact. But not me.

She was faster than me, perhaps due to her higher level, but that was all. This girl was not a mourner.

So I raised my left arm and inserted it into the trajectory of the attack. Boom, my entire body shook from the impact, but the pain didn’t reach my mind.

After blocking the attack, I steadied my posture and reached out to grab the girl’s neck.

And I moved with the tremendous force pushing my body.

Crash!

Her body collided with the floor and my legs in succession. The girl’s body caved in and was shot toward the wall.

She flew cleanly like a well-kicked soccer ball. But again, the opening wasn’t large. I saw the magician who had just risen and was beginning to chant a spell, and I kicked the floor again.

“What—”

I embraced Isla, who had swiftly grabbed a dinner knife rolling on the floor, and rammed my shoulder through the door, breaking it.

Wood and metal rolled across the floor. A corridor followed, with pipes protruding above.

A structure and form so familiar I felt I knew every detail. I ran, recalling the dungeon formats I had learned and mastered.

My goal was the deepest part of the dungeon.

The reward room that they had not yet explored.