Unforeseen Identity – 2

‘No, what in the world is that….’

Inorganic yet round pupils, as if forcibly torn from a doll and ignorantly enlarged before being stuck on, turned towards me. I felt my hair stand on end.

Hesitantly, I took a step back. I had never imagined encountering something so absurd, not even for fun, so the shock I received was much greater.

If there had been even a predictable clue, if there had been any room to realize that this utterly preposterous mode was applied, I wouldn’t have been this surprised.

But it wasn’t, and bearing the shock was entirely my burden.

ㅡChiiiiiiiik….

Its blue steel body, making the characteristic hissing sound of a steam engine, slowly began to move.

As soon as the train moved, even the fact that murky gray smoke was spewing out from the long chimney on top of its head was faithfully reproduced. When it was standing still, no smoke came out.

A steam locomotive with a brightly smiling mouth, completely unfitting for its horrifying appearance, and in stark contrast to that mouth, inorganic, round eyes, charged at me.

The ground touched by its rolling wheels broke with a *kwadeuk* sound. Despite there clearly being no railway tracks, its wheels were simply rolling over the bare ground and approaching.

My body reacted first, not my shocked mind. Just as I had done countless times in games, I rolled diagonally to the left and moved out of the line of attack. As soon as that happened, I felt a cool breeze near my body.

ㅡKwaaaang!

The train’s head collided with the wall. It felt as if the entire boss room was shaking. It was only now that I realized, a cargo car full of coal was even attached to its rear.

Because it rammed the wall with full force, even though its body was twisting and turning, the coal loaded in the cargo car didn’t even budge. If that were really coal, it should have spilled out long ago.

“…Ha, seriously. This is absurd.”

As much as I wanted to let out a good curse, I held it back. I felt that if I cursed unnecessarily, I would get even more agitated, and that thought was why I might not be able to avoid things I could otherwise avoid if I got more agitated.

*Hoo*, taking a deep breath, I calmed myself. While I was trying to calm my mind, the blue train that had rammed the wall slowly turned its body.

Its face was perfectly fine, without a single scratch.

‘Will the patterns come out normally?’

Aiming the Wingless Nightmare horizontally, that was the first thought that came to mind.

The charge pattern it just used, its movement was so large and its wind-up was relatively long, that my body could reflexively dodge it, but what about the others?

Especially since it didn’t have what could be called a lower jaw, if a biting pattern using that came out, seeing my body flinch, I might have to predict it one beat faster.

Since I would only be able to discern the type of attack right before being hit, reacting after seeing the motion would always be too late.

While I, with my complicated thoughts, hesitated, the blue locomotive, which had fully turned its horrifying face with only its mouth smiling towards me, approached again with a *chiiiiiiik* sound.

I, highly tense, observed its actions. If I couldn’t even recognize its patterns, experience points or whatever be damned, I might have to bring Nyx and order her to beat it down.

After saying I could defeat it alone, it would be like asking for help, so it wouldn’t look cool, and the subjugation experience points would be a waste, but whatever it is, it’s less precious than my life.

ㅡTung! Tung!

Suddenly, I heard the sound of lights turning off.

Wondering what it was, and highly tense, I was looking around, when the headlights attached near its mouth’s corners turned on, pointing upwards.

In other words, the light was shining from below its face upwards. Thanks to that, its already unpleasant face transformed into an even more unsettling and creepy appearance.

‘Of all things….’

I know too. That character, when you see it enlarged, is famous for having a face that causes the uncanny valley effect, and mods that change specific enemies into that appearance are also actively produced in countless games.

However, seeing that beyond a monitor and seeing it directly were completely different dimensions.

Although the Rock Centipede is an inferior version of the Stone Centipede, it’s merely a reduction in size from a high-rise apartment to a train. And a train is also incomparably larger than a human.

In other words, a blue steam locomotive with a face, several times larger than a human, with its headlights shining upwards from below its own face, was charging at me with all its might.

If only the BGM (background music) were changed, it was a visual that would be perfectly effective if put into a horror game just as it was.

‘…Let’s calm down.’

Yes, it might even be fortunate that the Rock Centipede changed into that thing.

Both the Rock Centipede and the blue steam locomotive, don’t they both have a broad and long appearance? Since their appearances are somewhat similar, it won’t be too difficult to infer the patterns.

I changed the Wingless Nightmare to a magic attribute. A subtle blue light shimmered from the blade. Befitting its reputation as an inferior version of the Stone Centipede, that guy possessed very strong resistance to physical damage.

Usually, it’s recommended to apply elemental enchantments and attack, or to defeat it using magic or divine spells, but as long as I had the Wingless Nightmare, there was no need for that at all.

Simply by changing the weapon’s attribute, I could very easily inflict 100% pure magic damage.

The blue train charged again. It was a charge pattern. In the first pattern, I had panicked and couldn’t react properly, but this time was different. I quickly rolled diagonally and got out of the way.

‘The distance is a bit short, so it won’t hit.’

As I expected, it didn’t hit its head on the wall, but stopped precariously right in front of it. If I lured the Rock Centipede to ram the wall, a fairly long damage window would appear, and it was a bit of a waste that I missed it both times.

‘Can’t be helped.’

I intended to use the most orthodox method possible, by only luring out the charge pattern to defeat it. If I properly rolled or parried other patterns, there would be enough damage windows, but now it was too dangerous.

Since its appearance had changed, I couldn’t predict how it would act just from its preparatory movements, and the range of its parry or collision detection was also uncertain.

Taking unnecessary risks was out of the question.

As if the fact that it had missed a human much smaller than itself twice was quite bothersome, its pupils rolled.

In opposite directions, respectively.

Its right pupil spun clockwise, and its left pupil spun counter-clockwise, and the intensity of the headlights near the corners of its mouth grew even stronger. It was a truly maddeningly grotesque sight.

The blue locomotive charged again. However, this time its speed wasn’t as fast as before. If the previous one felt like it was charging, this one felt more like it was simply approaching.

I had a rough idea of what would come out. Holding the Wingless Nightmare, I lowered my body slightly, preparing to parry that thing. The blue locomotive, which had approached right in front of me, thrust its head forward.

At that moment, the headlights illuminating its head suddenly popped out, and flew in parabolas from both sides. I was momentarily stunned, but then, seeing their trajectory, I recalled a similar pattern.

Just as the headlights were about to cross in the middle, I swung the Wingless Nightmare. With the characteristic crisp sound of a parry, its head momentarily flinched.

Taking advantage of its flinch, I swung my sword at its head. The blue-glowing blade tore at the area around its mouth. The *kkaaang!* sound of metal hitting metal was heard several times.

As if it was even more annoyed by the fact that I had hit it, it increased its speed and charged at me. The smoke spewing from the chimney on its head grew even thicker.

As I rolled sideways to avoid it, with a *kwaang!* sound, its face rammed hard into the boss room wall.

Taking advantage of its stun, I ran to its rear. I hesitated for a moment at the sight of the coal-laden cargo car, wondering if I should hit it, but then thought, “Oh, whatever,” and swung my sword.

Tracing a trajectory from the upper right to the lower left, the blue blade that struck down, left a faint scratch on the equally blue locomotive.

After adding 5 more scratches, I widened the distance. Its face, still smooth despite ramming the wall three times, only then turned towards me. The corners of its mouth, still smiling brightly, made it even more grotesque.

‘It might be more manageable than I thought. I just need to maintain distance.’

Perhaps because its body was so large, even though its appearance had changed like that, it was clearly visible what pattern each movement was. If it continued like this, I wouldn’t need to call Nyxㅡ

ㅡPpaaaang!

Instantly, a horn blared through the boss room. It was loud enough that I reflexively covered my ears. As I hastily tried to regain my posture, I saw its actions and froze in place.

Its eyebrows slanted upwards diagonally as if it were angry, and the corners of its mouth slowly lowered, transforming its face into an expressionless one. Its eye sockets sank even deeper inwards.

ㅡKudeudeuk! Kwadeuk!

And then, legs began to grow from its wheels.

They were centipede legs.

The tips of its legs, shaped like sharp blades, struck the ground and supported its body. The joints in the middle of its legs bent at right angles, and its wheels were lifted into the air.

Its outer appearance, which had somewhat resembled a steam locomotive, transformed into something like a centipede’s carapace, and the corners of its mouth, which had always been smiling, lowered horizontally. Behind it, dozens of pairs of legs lined up.

The blue steam locomotive, twisted from a train-shaped centipede into a centipede-shaped train, with the lights beneath its face turned on, was looking down at me with an expressionless face.

“…I’m going crazy, seriously.”