Ark The Legend Vol 16 Chapter 7

Volume 16 / Chapter 7

TL: SecondoKorean

TooTooTooToo!  TooTooTooToo!

Countless gunshots violently shook the fabric of s.p.a.ce as it explosively shot through the air.

Once the whole area has been saturated with gunshots, from the darkness, rose scores of humanoid shapes.  Then, in the next moment, in between those shadows was a man’s silhouette moving quickly.

Bursting through the shadows, in a sliding-like manner, there were flashes of light emerging all around the him.

“Threading! Rapid fire! Automatic fire!”

Tang-! Tang-! Tang-! Tang-!

Shots spread in all direction, along with that man!

Even though his finger stayed near the trigger, as he twirled around his pistol, only to shoot some random shots, his shots were heading straight toward his targets.  Such feat was definitely not easy.  This shooting skill was a result of thousands and thousands of shots being fired while in the highly concentrated state of mind!

The name of this gunslinger hero is!

– I feel dizzy! Dang it, I feel dizzy! I am getting motion sickness! I am gonna vomit! You okay with that!?

At that time, unexpectedly, he was bombarded with some absurd noise in his head.  In an instant, like as if a razor had cut straight through his concentration, the man’s 99% accuracy rate did a nose dive to 50~60%.

As a result, the enemy force that was heavily suppressed by the man’s superb pistol skill started their come-back.

KoooKooong!  Kwakwakwakwa! Kwakwakwakwa!

“d.a.m.n it!”  The man retreated back as he cursed at the situation.

“That d.a.m.n Ark! Why is it that when he’s giving he only gives that kind of….”

The man looking down at his pistol with enraged eyes was no other than Rapid, and the pistol with a black aura that kept on seeping out from the top of the barrel is a demon sealed pistol.

Actually, he didn’t show his emotion when he received the gun, but he was still touched because he knew Ark’s personality better than anybody else.  He knew that though Ark can take other’s things without a thought, he was a yellow, greedy user that wouldn’t give a penny to anyone.  That Ark gave him a rare pistol.  Not a normal pistol, but a rare pistol.

That’s why even though there was an enmity between them, he had thought that Ark’s gift was given out of consideration of the current business relations.h.i.+p between them, but that thought disappeared as soon as he fired the pistol.

Tang! Tang! Tang!

– Do you know? The bullet is my food! HooHooHoo! Then what is the thing that goes out the muzzle?

Every shot he makes is accompanied by a voice that rings in his head.

Demon sealed pistol was a gun that makes a racket every time a shot is fired.  Not only that, the things that the pistol says are all….

– A shot fell!

– I am hungry! Hey, I am hungry! Don’t you know that I can’t shoot if I can’t eat?

If ammo falls on the ground it makes this kind of comment.

– Due to many hours of repeated use, the muzzle got too hot!

-Hot! My body is hot! Woah! Woah!

If the muzzle gets too hot due to the continuous shots, his ears gets bombarded with annoying moans.  Despite that, the performance of the pistol is top-grade.  If it were other users, they might just submit to the annoyance and keep on using it.  However, Rapid’s gun slinging style is still not common, as compared to other’s usage.  All the acrobatic manipulations were intentionally done in order to bring out the highest efficiency out of the pistol experience.

Such pistol was a recipe for disaster in Rapid’s hand.  Even now, he felt like stopping everything to find Ark and throw the pistol at Ark’s face, but he had applied some discipline to keep on using the pistol.

Because it was a good pistol?  Not in a thousand years.  He wanted to show ark, which had given him this pistol as a reward for setting up an investment system, that he can even get a good use out of pistol such as this.

‘But that is that and this is this.’

Actually, it wasn’t that Rapid had let go of his resentment.  The reason for him leaving a bogus direction was because of his resentment toward Ark.  He wanted to give back as much as he had received from Ark. It was definitely about getting back at him.  He wanted to throw him a screwball.

‘After he tried to contact me, Kurakan said he had also received a call from Ark, but I convinced him not to respond by telling him that we can solve this problem all by ourselves, as a means to prove ourselves to Ark.  Well, there was a high chance that he might have called Ferguson, A, and B, but they were stuck in the forest maze so it would not have made any difference.  Therefore, knowing Ark, he would not just sit idly and wait for them.  So if he went into the forest maze, he would have seen my message.  Of course he would have gotten lost.  He probably got angry!’

It was like music to his ears, but the true bliss would be to clear the zone before Ark gets here.  He could ask Ark, “What?  Why did you come when I was already getting ready to leave after taking care of things here?”

90% of Rapid’s reason for coming to Nosferatu was so that he can rub it in Ark’s face, and his plan was going smoothly.

He got together with the Silverhand, fought off the Stone Age dinosaurs, and he marched on!  He was able to reach, what appeared to be the most important stronghold in the Jura.s.sic World, yesterday.  Of course, there were monsters even in the stronghold.  Monsters, as compared to Stone Age monsters, were more strangely and marvelously changed dinosaurs.  He didn’t know why there were such beings over here, but, no matter what, charge!

Rapid was almost near the top, and ….

“Most likely this is the last part!”  Rapid raised his head and psyched himself up.

What was in front of him was a 20 meter red meatball giant that was tall enough to almost touch the ceiling.  This was the boss that was giving Rapid and Silverhand the final test!

– Destruction level monster ‘Blood Golem’ has appeared!

Blood Golem!

There was no mistake in seeing him as a monster.  Since he is a boss of this Jura.s.sic World his combat capability must be enormous.

Booong! KahKang! KahKang! KahKang!

Whenever he swung his fist and rolled his feet, it felt like the whole stronghold was shaking, but Rapid and Silverhand were not pushovers.

Dark Eden, including Ellain and Kurakan were topnotch, and Silverhands were also stout veterans of warfare.  Lastly, the person that was leading these two groups of fighters is a long time rival of Ark.  Even though Clem had higher rank, because he had been rescued by Rapid, he gave the leaders.h.i.+p responsibility to Rapid.

“Don’t give him time to rest!”

Tutututu!  Tutututu!

“Don’t let him move naturally! Hand Grenade!”

PuPung! PuPung! PuPung!

Sound of the weapons and explosions echoed restlessly.  There were some difficulties at the beginning, but a team made up of Rapid, Dark Eden, and Silverhand was progressing orderly without a hitch.  No, victory was nearly guaranteed.

All that was left was to end the breath of this beat up blood golem!

It was at this time that Clem’s roar sounded.

“Rapid, 1st squad won’t be able to hold up anymore!”

“Ok, 1st squad retreat! Go to the back and treat yourselves.  Then provide back support!  Second squad will advance carefully!  Don’t be hasty.  The enemy is practically dead.  Rather than offense, think defense!”

The strategy that Rapid had used was to divide into two teams and the two teams would rotate back and forth while supporting each other.  Because this setup allowed both offense and defense it was very effective, but because this strategy was used multiple times, it seemed like the golem was able to see a pattern.  While the two teams were switching their roles, the golem shot through the opening and swung both of its hands and hit the floor.

Kuuooo! KahKahKahKang!

With an explosion, the floor started to wobble up and down.  The team that were in the process of switching their position swayed side to side.

Seeing the disorder, the golem gathered up the last remaining strength and charged toward the disorderly team members.

“His coming!”

“Hey, it’s dangerous!  You can’t let it step on you or you’re dead! Retreat!”

“c.r.a.p, Slide!”  Rapid ran out right after a brief breather.  He had improved much while in the Galaxian, but before the Galaxian, Rapid’s real body situation caused some problems in the game.

Maybe because he spent too much time as a handicapped person, weakness in one of his legs never got corrected inside the game.  Instead, Rapid thought, rather than spending the time and effort to fix the anomaly, he had decided to find the best means of moving, as it is.  That decision was the initiator of him learning the skill called “Slide!”

– You have learned a new skill (Common Occupation ☆☆)

Slide (Mid Level, Pa.s.sive): gunman’s most dangerous moment is when he is on the move.  No matter how fast the enemies are and no matter how superb the marksmans.h.i.+p, the accuracy of the shot will drop during movement.  However, because of your endless desire to move in sliding manner, you have become proficient in it.  This type of movement allows steadiness of the hand, and it also allows the user to progress through mud or snow or any other similar environments.

>

This skill was similar to Ark’s Mud Slide, but this skill was a bit more catered to a gunman.  This was the reason why he was able to zip in and out through his teammates.

Tang! Tang! Tang! Tang! Tang!

Instantly, Rapid got near the blood golem and started to pump him up with some bullet.  With every bullet that he fired, they all landed in exact same spot.  1st shot, 2nd shot, 3rd shot, 4th shot, 5th shot.  They all went in right on top of each other!

With the added effect of his skill and the proficiency of the weapon, in two seconds, he was able to put in 10 rounds of bullets in the same spot.  Due to the added effect of the synergistic placement of the bullets, what started out as a small hole started to enlarge.

However, considering the fact that the blood golem was a 20 meter tall monster, such hole was equivalent to having a pin-sized hole in its body.  This kind of damage was not the kind of damage to stop the golem’s movement, but…..

“Try this one as well!”  Rapid pulled out a grenade and shoved it in the hole caused by the bullets.

PuPung! PuPuPuPung!

Right as Rapid used the Slide to move away from the grenade’s damage range, innards of the golem burned off, and even some of the tissues on its legs got burned and fell off as it took a knee. The golem could no longer support its weight.

“It’s time! Attack!”  Due to Rapid’s performance, the battle, again, flowed in their direction.

– c.r.a.p! That is too much!  What am I supposed to do if you fight in that manner?  Put yourself in my shoes! If you fight like that, will I have any a.n.u.s left?  I can’t even imagine it!  It hurts! I feel like I have got hemorrhoids!  You jerk! Be responsible!  Be responsible for my a.n.u.s!

“…..What is this?”

It was when Rapid was reloading his weapon, trying to ignore the disturbing noise.  There was something unusual that had captured his attention.  The direction he was lead to look was outside, toward the window.  Weird looking monster with long wingspan was flapping its wings as it was heading over to where they were.

Rapid thought for a minute.

He thought that such creature can’t possibly be friendly.

Then he thought some more.

If that anomaly was to join in, the victory that is right in front of his eyes might turn for the worst.

Then he had a final thought.

It would be better to shoot that anomaly down before it gets here.

“Clem! Caliban! Baler!”  Rapid called on the snipers.  Then he pointed to the anomaly that was flying closer and said, “Shoot that thing down before it gets any closer!”

“Leave it to us; shoot it!”

Toong! Toong! Toong!

With solemn shout 3 rifles started firing.

“Wh, What are they doing?”  Screeching yell came out of Ark’s mouth.  After long journey, they finally arrived at Nosferatu.  All that was left was less than 1 Km.  Ark was heading toward, what he figured as, where Rapid and the crew were gathered.  He was middle of worrying about how he will grill Rapid with heightened antic.i.p.ation.

Toong! Toong! Toong! Ping! Ping! Ping!

But unknowingly, bullets were flying in their direction.  It wasn’t because there was some kind of automatic defense system.

The bullets were flying out from the 9th floor in which the battle sparks were rampant.  It was dark and, still, fairly long away from the building, and thus, the face features couldn’t be seen, but it should be still possible to see human silhouettes.  If the silhouette can be seen, it shouldn’t be difficult to tell who is flying toward them.

Most likely Rapid and the crew are together on that 9th floor.  If said in another way, they were Ark’s agents. That means the employees are shooting at the president that has come to find them.

“Aren’t they crazy?”  Ark was yelling his head off while rampaging on top of the h.e.l.l hound.

“It has to be Rapid!  Yeah, it has to be him!  He knew that he would hear something from me if I got there before he finished the job, and thus, he tried to hit me before that happens!  Well, I was going to nag a bit, but still!  d.a.m.n it!  It was not enough that he sent me on a wild goose chase so he is, now, shooting at me?  I won’t let this go unpunished!”

“Calm down Arknim.”

“Calm down?  Does this call for calm?  This is a revolt, a revolt!”

“Yes, you are right! That Rapid tras.h.!.+  His hostile feelings were apparent from a long time ago.  Dangerous atmosphere was overflowing from his eyes when looking at him!  He has finally shown his true self!”

Ferguson was also spouting impure thoughts and was feeding Ark’s anger.  Seeing the two clowns, Irina just shook her head in frustration.

“There is no way that is possible.  Even if he had those kinds of thoughts, the ones that are shooting are your subordinates.  They are not going to shoot you just because Rapid was ordering them.”

“Huh?  Now that I think about it…..”

“Most likely they don’t know that it is you.  Just like how we can’t see them very clearly, they can’t see us all that well either.  Not only that, we are riding a h.e.l.l hound.  From this distance, they could only mistake it for a monster.  Therefore, once the shooting stops, we must let them know that we are on the h.e.l.l hound.”

“……Ah!”  An exclamation mark lit up on top of Ark’s head.

However, in the Jura.s.sic World, because of something unknown, normal communication did not work.  Actually, the reason for the communication problem was the mist that was covering the forest.  Of course, the communication should be possible since the mist has been turned off, but since he haven’t even made an attempt, there was no way for Ark to know.

“He~y! It’s m~e! Ar~k! Stop shooting!”  He used all of his body strength to yell.

But! TuTuTuTu! PuPung! Kuuoooo! KaKaKaKang!

Clem, Caliban, and Baler.  The atmosphere around the three was flooded with the battle sounds carried on by 30 combatants plus the blood golem.  There is no way that the three would be able to hear Ark.

On the contrary, Ark’s behavior had an opposite effect.

“Something is riding on top of the monster!”

“I saw it as well.  By the way it is flapping its tail so fiercely, it must have a lot of fight in him.  It must be one of the monsters that we failed to take care of on the way to here.  Whatever the case may be, we are in the middle of a battle with this blood golem.  We have to quickly get rid of any distractions that may lead the battle in the unwanted direction.  We must shoot that monster down.”

“But for some reason the silhouette seems somewhat familiar.  As if it looks like Ark hyungnim…”

“Don’t joke around.  There is no way Ark would be over here is there?  No, even if he did come here, there is no way he would ride something hideous as that is there?

“Most likely right?”

“Of course.  Don’t think about something strange.  I told you back when we were training you.  Contration is the basic requirement for a sniper.  Shoot with the intent to kill with the first shot!”

“Yes, Clem Captain!”

Therefore, with heightened concentration…..

Tooong! Tooong! Tooong! Kung Kung Kung! KkaaKang!

– summoned h.e.l.l hound was shot in the head!

“d.a.m.n it! We are done for!”

In the midst of a moaning dog, message popped in front of Ark.  Luckily h.e.l.l hound was summoned from a level 100 carca.s.s.  One shot wasn’t enough to kill it.  However, the briskly dripping blood from its head made the pa.s.sengers uneasy.

‘If we keep at this, we would fall even before we get close!’

If they fall, now, they would fall straight into the burning lava!  They would melt away without a trace.

“Don’t make me laugh!  h.e.l.l hound, fly up!”  Ark grabbed the mane with both hands and yelled.

As soon as he gave the order, h.e.l.l hound opened his wings, wide, and shot up.  Ark’s thought was to get above the line of fire and land on the roof.  His plan was to do a perpendicular descent to the window, but Ark forgot to think about something.

– Alert: you are nearly out of mana!  >

Battle with the pterosaur from section A, and flying 5 Km on a back of a h.e.l.l hound was enough to bottom out till only thing that was left of mana was 20.  That was good for only 10 seconds.

‘There was no way to stretch out the distance.’

“h.e.l.l hound descend!”  Feeling the pressure, Ark, urgently changed direction.

Snipers didn’t fail to take advantage of that momentary opening.

It can be only be thought of as useless concentration, but while the h.e.l.l hound was changing direction, three bullets shot through the wings, ripping the wing tissues from both its wings.  What resulted was an immediate loss of equilibrium, and the h.e.l.l hound started to descend like a rotating top.

“Woooooah!

In a span of zero point some odd seconds was enough to switch the ceiling and the floor!  However, Ark got a solid grab of the running away concentration.  If he loses any amount of concentration, here, all of them will perish, and it was due to friendly fire.  With 4 years of gaming history, there is no way he can leave such pathetic history!

“h.e.l.l hound, use more strength!”  Ark yelled while he pulled up on the mane with the momentum capable of uprooting the whole mane.

It wasn’t clear whether it was because of the pain or because of Ark’s yelling, but the h.e.l.l hound started to flap his wings with piercing scream.  However, with punctured wings, there was no way to reinstate the aerial equilibrium.

Nevertheless, due to the h.e.l.l hound’s superfluous effort, they were able to descend in a sloping path rather than the nose dive!

KaKaaang!

They crashed on top of the stronghold’s spiral rooftop.  For the moment, they were able to avoid having to bathe in the lava water, but they didn’t have the luxury to breathe a sigh of relief.

Even as the h.e.l.l hound made contact with the spiral roof top, Ark’s mana had completely emptied out, and the gang landed heavily on the sloped rooftop where they immediately started to slip down the roof.

“Irinanim, grab onto my waist!”  Ark jumped, quickly, and yelled while rolling toward Irina, and at the moment Irina grabbed onto his waist!

“Come out shovel!”

Falling into a state of total focus, Ark pierced the roof with the shovel, which slowed their descent, to an eventual stop.  They were barely hanging on, as they dangled right above the river of lava.

“If the usage of shovel also required mana….’

Though he had recovered most of his vitality on the way to here, his mana was bottomed out due to the h.e.l.l hound sucking it dry.  However, fortunately shoveling was an active skill and it didn’t consume mana.

If the shoveling also required mana, then Ark and Irina would have dropped into the lava while hugging each other.  Same was true with Ferguson, A, and B.

“A..Alive!”

Ferguson, A, and B were also dangling on the edge of the roof with a sigh of relief, but what came out of Ark’s mouth was far from the sigh of relief.  What came out was teeth grinding noise!

‘d.a.m.n!  Just wait and see!  That Rapid jerk, whether this was done on purpose or as an accident, I will never let this go!’

“Arknim, it’s that way!”  It was then that Irina, who’s been hanging onto his waist, pointed in one direction.

With close inspection, under a slightly distant spiral roof top, was a broken window.

Currently Rapid was in the 9th floor, and the broken window in question was that of a 10th floor.  If said in another way, this was a floor that the Rapid and the gang still haven’t laid eyes upon.  Do or die, there probably would be monsters to fight.  They couldn’t afford to wait dangling around until Rapid pa.s.s by them.  Therefore, Ark used the rail to move toward the window, and ordered the trio, “Yo, go ahead and go in.”

“Huh? W..We first?”  Their facial expression shows uneasiness.

However, seeing the seething anger expressed in an intense sparkle – though it was expressed in thought of Rapid- they, instantly, shut their months.

They went through the window.

“Arknim, there aren’t any monsters here!”

“What?  There are no monsters?”

There, still, was a battle going on down below.  There was no way Rapid would be heading down instead of up.  There was no way there couldn’t be any monsters up here.  Whatever the case, it was good for Ark, and Irina’s weight was slowly becoming a factor in being able to keep on hanging on the rail.

Therefore, Ark also entered through the window.

‘What is the purpose of this place?’  Ark looked around with squinted eyes.

The interior was not as big as his thought.  It was that of a 20 meter wide square room.

In the middle of the room was a round table with 10 chairs laying on top.  Randomly placed chairs around the room were all empty, except one had a completely dried up mummy sitting on it.

Mummy was looking at the big canvas picture on the wall with empty eye sockets.  Following the direction of mummy’s glare, Ark recognized something familiar.

‘….that picture is?’

It was the same picture that he had seen in the section B research lab.

“Arknim, take a look at this!  Underneath the mummy was this!”

Ferguson brought over a book with years of settled dust on top.  When he opened the book, what he saw was a word written with small letters.

– I am Izarion.

It was written in the very first page.  On the picture that he saw in research lab B was, ‘For the leader of the great Alkan nation!’  In other words, what Ferguson brought was a journal of Alkan’s leader.

‘We just might be able to solve the mystery of this Jura.s.sic World.’  Ark quickly turned the page.

– We Alkans, who had ruled over Istana for ages, were forced to put an end to our history due to the Murat’s betrayal.  Their reason was that we were oppressing other peace loving races.  That was not even funny.

Doesn’t that mean the Murats were attacking others in the name of peace?

However, I will not blame them.  This world is for the strong.  Weak being eaten by the strong is the natures providence.  We Alkans were aware of this better than anyone else, and by following the nature’s providence we put other races of Istana under the yoke of slavery.  Now that a race stronger than ourselves came, I will not turn around and say that they were wrong.  Otherwise, we would be no different from Murats who use force and yet speak of peace.

Of course that does not mean we will go to our ruin without a fight.  If we were beaten because of our weakness, all we have to do is become strong!  We submitted to the humiliation and migrated to this Jura.s.sic World was for that reason.  Though, can’t be compared to the Murats, we also had the technology that enabled us to rule Istana for over thousands of years.  Also, we have a secret that had been pa.s.sed down since the ancient times.  We will harness all of our resources in order to make a strong life form that will defeat Murats.

A being that will not lose to Murats; no, a being that has strength to annihilate the Murats!

It was when he read up to this point.  A message opened up while he was turning the page.

– You have just found information about Murat civilization that was never made public.

In s.p.a.ce’s infinite history, there have been numerous civilizations that cycled back and forth between growth to decline and back.  Whenever unpublicized information about an alien civilization is revealed, it serves the same role as contributing the knowledge of history of s.p.a.ce itself.  Also, it can have a significant impact in help recovering lost technology and/or artifacts.

>

+ you have just found information on alien race Murat (6/15)

+ you have just earned 500 exploration point for finding information on the alien race Murat.

+ your intelligence was raised by 5 for finding information on the alien race Murat

Information relating to Murat found!  Therefore, Ark was able to solve some mysteries regarding the Jura.s.sic World.

Murats valued peaceful galaxy more than anything else.  As such, in their eyes, Alkan race that was oppressing and enslaving other races was like an ent.i.ty that went against the concept of peaceful galaxy.

They mostly likely tried bargaining, which resulted in a failure.  Inevitably, war started, and Alkans were nearing annihilation. Therefore, in order to carry out revenge, they adapted their technology with ancient secrets in order to make strong life forms. That location was this Jura.s.sic World.

Most likely, the dinosaurs in the Jura.s.sic World were part of the test materials to make the ultimate life form.

‘Even the Murat that was in the research lab….’

There was even a record of the Murat man in the journal.

…..finally was able to get my hands on a live Murat.

Originally, one must know one’s enemy before one can defeat one’s enemy.  From now on, I will completely dissect him and conduct research.  Maybe that may lead to creating the ultimate life form.  Until then, this miserable Murat will be kept in a stasis in between life and death.  It will be a living h.e.l.l for him.  In truth, I am looking forward to it.  With what kind of scream will he satisfy me….

What Ark saw while absorbing the s.h.i.+re was this.

That Murat wasn’t a subject to a torture.  He was used for all kinds of bioresearch, and even in death, was made into a specimen.

‘These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were stepped on by Murats.  What kind of psycho gets an enjoyment out of torture?’  Ark looked at the mummy as he kicked its face.

From this point on, his speed in flipping the journal pages steadily increased.

Afterwards, the main theme of the journal was that of various thought on how to carry on the aforementioned research, but that was not what Ark was interested in.

There was still one mystery that was not solved.  ‘Why did the Alkans disappear?’

During his trip to Nosferatu, only body that he had found was that of the Izarion.

Well, even though they have bypa.s.sed great portion of the Jura.s.sic World in getting here, the fact that there weren’t any Alkan remains in either one of the research labs was a mystery.  Seeing the leader’s mummy in this kind of place was also a mystery.

Of course, it wasn’t because he was concerned for the Alkan race.

‘I need to find out what happened to them in order to figure anything else out, isn’t it?’

Even though they were stepped on by Murats, they were capable enough to have this kind of facility.  Then they must have left something that is worthy of this place.  In order to find that something, he must know the condition for which Alkans disappeared.

Ark was able to find that condition in the last page.

……finally, the ultimate synthetic serum was made.  In certain state, metamorphosis was possible, and if unmorphed, they were capable of regeneration even after receiving fatal injury.  It really was an ultimate synthetic compound.

But that synthetic serum would lead to the extinction of the Alkan race……

The whole idea about wanting to make a stronger life form was a mistake in the first place.  It was too late to turn back by the time I realized this fact.  The ‘being’ that hid in ourselves caught and absorbed so many of our people and became an ent.i.ty that we couldn’t control.  Poison serum compounds that were made as a byproduct during the production of the ‘being’ were all utilized in our hope to contain the ‘being,’ but we couldn’t kill him.  Also, due to his obstinate attacks, the remaining people all ended up meeting their bitter end.

Ultimately, I took the remaining serums and lead the very last of my people into the ultimate battle.  It was fortunate that I didn’t completely connect all of the DNA strands of his genome as a precaution for what ifs.  If all of the DNA strands were correctly connected, there may not be any solution to this problem…..

After many hours of arduous battle, we were able to drive the ‘being’ to the lower floor where the freezer storage was located, as coldness restricted his strength.  However, for that to happen I had to sacrifice the remainder of my people.

Now what are left are serums that can be considered as dregs of the past and me alone….

Alkan’s history is that of a civilization that met its end due to its own creation.  It truly is a miserable end.  A knife that was sharpened to carry out a revenge ended up stabbing my own heart.

I’m….I’m…..

‘Ultimate synthetic serum is sealed in the lower floor?’  Ark awoke himself, right up.

A serum that annihilated the Alkan race!  I can feel it.  Without having to say it, the serum is the Jura.s.sic World’s boss monster!  Also, if is lower floor, isn’t that the floor that Rapid and the gang are fighting right now?  In other words, Rapid is fighting the boss monster right now!

“d.a.m.n it!”  Ark was relieved that Rapid had not made it up to the highest floor, but instead, he was already fighting with the boss monster.

If Rapid was to kill the boss monster right now?  The times he had spent on wandering through the forest maze, almost doing a nosedive into the lava because of the depleted mana, and almost having made into a swisscheese on the way to here….All of that would be nothing but some plain shoveling.  (TL: I know this does not make much of sense…shoveling, but you can take this as difference in cultural experience leading to different understanding)

Shoveling! Shoveling! Shoveling!

Of course it would be still okay if things ended as is.  Ultimately, Rapid is still one of his workers, and thus it can be a good thing.

However, that is that and this is this!

Coming to the party after the main event had pa.s.sed and saying, ‘What? The party’s over?’  That is a role for one of the “extras” isn’t it?  Also, what am I supposed to tell Irina that has come all this way, just to say ‘hahaha, looks like it is over. We struggled for nothing. Let’s go?’

Not only that, after all the hards.h.i.+ps we went through, we will get mere 0.001% of the reward, if that.

The boss is about to hit the floor!

“Let’s go! Hurry up!”  Ark whaled as he turn his head, and dragged Irina and Ferguson, A, B, who didn’t know what is going on, down the steps.

“Wait up! I am here!”

“What? Perhaps this voice is?”

People that were congregated in an area bigger than the one upstairs turned their heads.  Just as he figured, it was the Rapid and the gang.

As for them, they looked at Ark’s face with a dumbfounded facial expression and yelled with excitement once they realized who it was.

“Hy, it’s Hyungnim!  Hyungnim came!”

“Ooo! It’s Ark!  Our youngest came!”

“Wait a minute?  But why is Ark coming from the upper floor?”

“Ae?  And the people with him are Irina and Ferguson, A, B isn’t it?”

All over their faces were happiness and questions.  Therefore, all sorts of words flowed out, but Ark avoided all of the welcoming parties, as he weaved in and out through the crowd to grab onto Rapid’s collar.

“You! You jerk Rapid!”

“You came?  You were a bit late.  I even left you a message telling you how to get here.”

“Message?  Did you say message?  You jerk.  Just because you have a hole in your mouth do you think you can say anything you want?  Do you know what kind of hards.h.i.+p I have went through because of you?  Also, just a few minutes ago, you ordered them to shoot me didn’t you?  Don’t try to make excuses! I know it all!  Because of you I nearly died!”

“Gunshots?  I don’t know what you are talking about.”  Rapid looked at Ark with scrunched up facial expression.  Then after looking at him for a while, his facial expression turn to that of disgust.  “Well, since you said you had a hard time, I am thankful.  It was just as I had hoped, but now that I am looking at it in this manner, I do feel sorry a bit.  I don’t know why you are coming down from the top floor, but I feel bad that after having gone through all that hards.h.i.+p there is nothing for you to do.”

“……all done?”  Ark looked all around him, and it was just as Rapid had said.  In front of the group was a mound of meat piles.  Also, on the left side was a thick and enormous steel door that was wide open.  It was probably the freezer storage that the Izarion spoke of.  Also, the big chunk of meat sitting in front of the group is ultimate – now it is nowhere near ultimate but – serum’s corps!

‘All the struggles that I have went through…..’

“Yo, Ark, that type of saying is enough.  Let’s hear your story now.  Exactly what happened?  You had other busy mission so you couldn’t come over here?  How did you end up on the floor that even we haven’t been?  What’s up there?  Say something.  I am about to go crazy.”  At this point, Clem came over with the rifle that he shot Ark with, on his shoulder.  It was time for Ark to give his explanation.

‘What? Who is that?’  Ark’s eyes became round.  Because he was too busy chasing after Rapid so he was not able to see a familiar face.  Though he had spent a great deal of time with the Silverhand crew while he was in Nephalim, he couldn’t recall the face.

He had thought, maybe, he was a new member, but he seemed too young.

No more than 10 years old?

What is this kid doing in this kind of place?

“Clem Captain, who is that kid?”

“Oh? Ah, this kid?”  Clem turn to look at the kid.

“I don’t really know still.  When we opened the freezer chamber after killing the boss monster, this kid was in what appeared to be in suspended animation state.  Luckily, there is nothing wrong with his vitals, but we don’t know whether he received any trauma or not, as he does not remember anything.  So we decided to take him to the doctor after we finish exploring this place.  If this kid regains his memory, he could perhaps tell us more about this world.”

“He was sleeping in the freezer chamber?”  Ark looked at the kid with dummified eyes.

Instantly, Ark recalled what was written in the Izarion’s journal.

-In certain state, morphing was capable, but not only that…..was hiding inside ‘us’ and had killed so many people….was sealed in lower floor freezer chamber.

‘We’ were irregularly contained!

When he was reading the journal, he was thinking that they were attacked in a simple manner, but in front of that ‘in other states morphing is capable’ was said.

Then maybe….

Ark lifted his head real quick and yelled!

“All of you, get away from him!”

“Wh, Why are you saying that?”

“You! Who are you?”  Ark looked at the kid while chewing on what others had to say.

With that, the kid’s lips started to tear and morph at the same time.  Seeing the change, everyone retreated with shocked faces.

“Hmmpf! How annoying!”  Kid looked at Ark while his face took on a form similar to that of a flour dough.

“I haven’t eaten for many hundreds of years, but I was patient.  I was going to follow you because I can, then, eat so many of you insects, but it seems like you know who I am.  I won’t ask you how you found out about me.  All I have to do is suck on your brain and I will get my answer.  As of now, your destiny has been sealed.  Those of you that woke me up after many hundreds of years, as a thanks, I was gonna give you some breathers, but because of that guy you all will have to die.  However, you don’t have to blame him.  In truth, my patience……”

Kid’s voice kept on getting dull and slow.  At the same time, facial cracks that kept on spreading throughout his face was also getting bigger.  When his whole face was covered in cracks, now morphed skin started to fall off as black aura like thing popped out of the body and it turned into a mucus-like substance.

-…..Because I can’t stall my appet.i.te!

– Eraser level monster serum Damian appeared!

Red message popped up accompanied by an eerie voice.