Otherworld Constellation Gallery
Chapter 54.
The Elder Goblin extended both arms toward the monster. Then its fingertips twitch slightly.
PUNG!
An ice bullet flies with a cold sound. It was swift. But the freezing shot wavered in the hot air even before reaching the massive lava mass.
‘…It’s going to disappear pathetically’
Like an ice cube dropped into a teacup, it seemed impossible to penetrate that heat.
But then.
CHIIIK-
The freezing shot vanished upon impact, but smoke rose from the point of contact. At the same time, that spot turned black and hardened.
“Oh!”
My eyes sparkled, but only for a moment. The molten lava churning inside the monster melted the hardened outer shell again and flowed down.
The skin that had cooled solidly became viscous again, then writhed even redder than before.
“One shot isn’t enough.”
I looked at the Elder Goblin.
“This time, fire a lot like when you were trying to kill me.”
“KEURUK!”
The Elder Goblin stretched out its arms again. What emerged from its fingertips was clearly intentional killing intent.
PABABABABAK!
The continuous barrage of freezing shots hit various parts of the monster’s body. Bursting steam. Hardening skin. The impacted areas cooled rapidly.
HWARUL- HWARUL-
The creature tried to boil back up. But the cooling speed was faster.
PABABABABAK!
With the Elder Goblin’s second attack, the monster’s outer skin completely hardened. Then the hardened exterior began to crack gradually, soon shattering into pieces.
DING!
[Lava Walker (High-grade) Kill Reward: 1200 gold]
“…What’s this.”
The Elder Goblin killed it more easily than I expected. But before that surprise, what came first was bewilderment.
“We get rewards for what it killed too?”
“That’s what I want to know.”
It’s obvious for Kang Ha-rin, and neither Tulip nor I stepped in.
All effective strikes started and ended at the Elder Goblin’s fingertips.
“Could it be the instigation effect you mentioned, mister? Since it’s a type of skill after all.”
“You mean the settlement came to me because it acted under the influence of my skill?”
‘That means…’
I looked at the Elder Goblin.
‘Not just this one, but any blade wielded by those under my instigation becomes mine.’
Moreover, this one’s combat ability is quite useful. Of course, it doesn’t seem able to fire freezing shots like a machine gun. Still, it can shoot about five or six shots at once, and the cooldown before refiring is shorter than expected.
‘It would be a shame if the instigation ends now.’
[Title: Is insane instigation normally used like that?] First Hunter’s skill utilization is at psycho level. At this rate, contracts wouldn’t even cross his mind.
ㄴ Want to know something really creepy?
ㄴ KSS) What?
ㄴ Just told you.
ㄴ KSS) Are you stupid?
[Title: The real creepy reason behind First Hunter’s ‘Instigation’]
Originally, basic ‘Instigation’ can’t be used like that..
Those who use it ‘passively’ with their ‘mouth’ can’t ‘instigate’ ‘monsters’ because they can’t ‘communicate’ with them..
But after consuming ‘Manyō’s Tomb’, it became ‘active’, allowing ‘instigation’ through ‘inner thoughts’ or ‘will’, creating a connected ‘soul’ state that enables this usage..
Those ‘gallery ‘ who said ‘persuasion’ by cutting with a ‘sword’ was ‘useless’ garbage were ‘newbies’ or ‘ignorant’..
ㄴ ‘Why’ ‘the fuck’ ‘are you’ ‘typing’ ‘like this’?
ㄴ ‘Writer’ ‘seems’ ‘like’ ‘a total loser’
ㄴ KSS) I tell them and they still act like jerks
ㄴ Why didn’t you write ‘they still act like jerks’?
ㄴ KSS) Fuck off
ㄴ Why didn’t you write ‘Fuck’ ‘off’?
[Title: But First Hunter knows it’s affected by instigation?] Did he get an alert that Manyō’s Tomb was affected by instigation?
ㄴ I don’t think so, but when he attacked the dungeon boss, didn’t he verbally say ‘just the poison mist or whatever’? That’s when the resistance alert popped up.
ㄴ Wow, he figured it out from that?
ㄴ Seems so.
ㄴ First Hunter that bastard is too lucky.
It’s not like that, I know because of you guys. But it’s not wrong to say I’m lucky. According to them, if I had just used ‘passive’ instigation, I wouldn’t have been able to utilize it like I am now.
‘Instead, I would have handled humans more freely.’
So there are pros and cons. Either handle only humans without using mana, or use mana to handle both humans and monsters.
‘The problem is that neither would have worked on opponents with high resistance.’
More importantly, it’s fucking hot. Although the battle is over, the ground still hasn’t cooled. The hot air scrapes my lungs when I breathe in, enough to make my throat sore.
“Elder, come here.”
“KEURUK.”
The Elder Goblin approaches me. I embraced it.
“Ahh… that’s better.”
“Mister, you have quite the stomach for this.”
“Better than holding the one I made pick up arrows.”
At least it doesn’t smell at all. And it doesn’t drool disgusting saliva.
“What if the instigation wears off while you’re doing that?”
“Then I’ll die.”
“…Don’t joke like that.”
“More importantly, what’s with the weather here?”
I thought it would cool down at night. But even after the sun set, it’s still as hot as midday. The most tiring fact in this situation was that we hadn’t even decided on a base to spend the night.
“I’d like to get away as much as possible if we could kill a hundred of them before nightfall…”
My gaze was fixed on the blackened, hardened, and shattered monster.
“Like Craftlae, that creature seems to move slower than expected, so it might be hard to find many quickly.”
I would pull the revolver trigger even if it’s a nuisance at night if I could catch them, but they’re sluggish.
I’m not even sure if they have organs that hear sounds. Even if they hear and come, it would take forever like with Craftlae.
“We’ll deal with whatever we see, but first we need to find a base. We can’t hunt all night.”
“Then where are we going?”
“Mister, how about sleeping in the car?”
“Do that if you want to be steamed to death.”
“Is it that bad? The heat here seems similar to Incheon.”
My head tilted. I thought it was crazy talk, then I understood.
“You wouldn’t feel hot even if you walked into fire.”
“What? Why do you keep fixating on putting me in fire?”
“You say you’re not hot when the place looks like this.”
“I am hot.”
“You probably just have the minimum human sensations.”
Tulip silently looked down at her armor.
“It must be because of the armor big sister made.”
“Yeah, yeah. You must be someone who doesn’t feel the heat much. Anyway, I can’t sleep in the car because it’s too hot.”
“Then we should go to high ground.”
“Like Tulip said, the farther from the ground, the better. Like a high-rise apartment?”
Ha-rin carefully continued.
“How about that apartment complex? It’s at least 11 stories and the structure looks sturdy. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of monster damage either.”
“Good. Let’s get settled before it’s too late and get some sleep.”
Just then, Tulip nudged me.
“Mister…”
“Yes?”
“I can see human shadows over there. Near the apartment complex entrance. Vaguely about three people?”
I narrowed my eyes.
As Tulip said, I could see the silhouettes of about three people in front of the half-collapsed entrance.
“…Other survivors.”
“Did they come here to escape like us?”
“Who knows.”
I summoned Manyō’s Tomb and the war hammer again.
“Let’s stay alert for now.”
***
At the entrance, we were met with three men. Each held an old pipe, a long club, and a small iron rod.
‘They don’t look combative.’
They lacked the tension typical of people holding weapons. It was more like the impression of ‘not weapons, but last sticks for survival.’ It didn’t seem like they were intimidated just by our appearance.
“Ou-outsiders are not accepted.”
“There’s nothing to take even if you rob this place.”
What is this? Are they some kind of vigilante group protecting the apartment? I checked just in case, but none of them were awakened ones.
“We’re not bad people.”
I added calmly.
“Right? If we were bad people, we would have forced our way in already. Why would we be talking with this kind of equipment if we were afraid of anything?”
“……”
The men exchanged glances briefly, then looked back at me.
“…May I ask why you’re here?”
“We just want to spend one night. Would there be any empty rooms on the upper floors?”
“We don’t know the specific situation that well.”
“Aren’t you gathered as a group? It feels like you three are on guard duty now and that sort of thing.”
The middle man swallows hard.
“That’s correct. But we have no way of knowing who has locked their doors inside their own homes.”
That’s not wrong. Even if I knock, people inside might not make any noise. And I can’t just say ‘Since there’s no answer to my knock, I’m coming in’ and tear the door off.
‘If by chance there’s someone holding their breath inside, that would be too thuggish.’
But that doesn’t mean there’s no solution.
“Would it be okay if we quietly look around, and if there’s an empty place, quietly stay there for the night?”
“How do you plan to check? People won’t respond even if they’re there. But you can’t just…”
“We won’t break down doors. We’ll really check quietly, and if we can’t find anything, we’ll sleep in the stairwell or on the roof.”
They exchanged glances again, then nodded at me.
‘I thought they would absolutely refuse entry, are they letting us in after seeing our appearance?’
But they initially said outsiders aren’t accepted despite our appearance. Well, maybe it’s appropriate flexibility. If they showed flexibility first and extended goodwill, I have something to give in return.
“Thank you. It’s not much, but as a token of gratitude. Do you smoke by any chance?”
“Ci-cigarettes?”
That question alone was enough of an answer. The gleaming pupils. Saliva practically dripping already.
“So you do smoke.”
I brought my hand behind my back.
‘Store War hammer.’
‘Summon three cigarettes.’
‘If this is enough to lower their guard and gain favor, it’s more than worth it.’
I discreetly held out the cigarettes to them.
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