LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 39: Eyelids (12)
Pwaak!
A giant body shot toward the enemy forces as if thrown by a slingshot. The target was the biggest and strongest-looking one in the middle of the swarm.
Based on Professor’s experience, he needed to use this monstrous body with great care and precision.
<[Right Ankle : Open Fracture (Regenerating : 12%)]>
<[Left Knee : Fracture (Regenerating : 64%)]>
‘I can use my left leg in 7 seconds, and the right…… it’ll be faster to get rid of it!’
Taking in the nature of his body, which continuously broke and regenerated, it was only natural for his strength to have severe ups and downs during battle. The key point was to figure out which parts to abandon and which parts to use for the next move. In that sense, right now, when the battle had just begun, was his peak condition.
‘Half the battle is won by landing the first punch. Even if over half of my body breaks from this attack, I can still make it through if I kill the commander!’
Ding!
<[Mutation Blood Lust Activated. Blood is consumed.]>
<[Mutation Blood Lust: Consumes blood to maximize regeneration. If the consumed blood is not replenished, the player dies.]>
The skill that showed up when the trait [Glass Body] changed to [Extreme Regeneration]. At first, it said four times the regeneration, but as my body grew and the total infectious body number increased, it changed to [Maximize Regeneration].
‘Saving the special move for last is too old school!’
Using my strongest attack at my maximum strength on the most important target. Strategically, that’s the obvious decision. A crimson vapor started to emit from my body, and my body started to regenerate at an unbelievable speed.
Craaacckk!
Professor flew towards the biggest guy in the middle of the swarm, grasping its arm and pulling with the same force he used to land.
Boom!
A few mutes in his landing area flew back, and a crippling pain that began at his foot began to crawl through his entire body.
Krg! Grrk! Gg!
“Aaaaaagh!!”
‘Endure it! I’m screwed if I fall here!’
All of the bones from my calf to my femur were in shambles, but it was within my calculations. My bones regenerated as the crimson vapor reappeared, and the strength in my legs returned.
Krggggrk!
“Huumph!”
Because Professor pulled on its arm with so much force, the big guy, who was more than 4 meters tall, lost its balance and started to fall toward him. Now, it was time.
All of the tendons in Professor’s body turned a deep red color. All of his muscles were screaming from the extreme swelling, and his reddened body was pumping out energy from the overwhelming adrenaline.
“I’ll commend you if you survive this hit!”
Use the force of moving forward to get your feet firmly planted on the ground. As the feet move back, twist the hip and swing the arm forward like a bat. Put all the strength I have into pushing the big body to the ground.
He vaguely remembered a move that used the force of jumping and the stepping foot as an axis to spin and pin down an enemy on the ground. His colleague in the 14th Special Ops Squadron, who used to be a wrestler, used this move to take down enemies with their bare hands.
“Shepherd Takedownnnn!”
Bammmmmm!
Screaming the skill name his colleague gave to the technique hanging in the air, a massive crater appeared in front of Turan’s castle gates.
Crumble, rumble.
The large slates that made up the road were now falling in small pieces through the thick dust, like rain on a foggy day.
“Hah, hah, urgh!”
And in the middle of all that was a kneeling Professor.
<[Right Shoulder, Right Arm, Left Leg, Left Thigh : Compound Fracture (Regeneration in Blood Lust Mode : 56%)]>
<[2nd, 3rd, 5th Rib Cage : Fracture (Regeneration in Blood Lust Mode : 67%)]>
<[Left Eyeball : Damaged (Regeneration in Blood Lust Mode : 67%)]>
<[Right Hand, Left Toe : Decapitated (Regeneration in Blood Lust Mode : 23%)]>
‘Mutation Blood Lust…. I thought it would just be some emergency mode, but this is way beyond my expectations.’
Shwooooosh.
His body, which was completely incapable of moving after the previous attack, absorbed the blood from nearby mutes to restore itself. His legs, from jumping into the mutes, shoulder, and chest from the collision; most of his lower body from the landing, and the rest of his upper body from the technique. It was an attack that literally used up every part of his body until it stopped working, but now, with just a little lightheadedness, everything was almost completely healed.
Professor looked at the big crater next to him, where a mute with a blown-up upper body lay.
‘A level 6 mutant. There weren’t any other high-grade mutes here, so this guy was probably the commander. The rest of the ones here are levels 7 and 8. I don’t even need to bother with them.’
It was obvious what command the queen gave to these mutes. [Demolish the human city in this location, protect the city from humans] should be about it. Both the level 8 mutes with no intellect and even the level 7 mutes with the intellect of a wild animal should be confused by the unexpected situation.
‘They achieved their first order to capture the city, so the only command left is to protect it from humans…. Do I look like a human to those guys?’
A body that’s been completely taken over by a mute aside from the brain. Considering the exterior and even the interior, I am technically a mute. To the mutes, I’m a fellow mute who suddenly attacked them out of nowhere. And I took down the only one that could even relatively think….
‘So it’s obvious what these mutes would instinctively do.’
Tip toe.
Fidget fidget.
The mutes were staring at each other and slowly moving away from the edge of the crater. Their animal instinct won over their violent mute nature. It was a natural instinct for an animal to run from a stronger predator. And since the predator was going out of the city, not entering, it doesn’t really go against the queen’s orders either.
Pshhhhhh-
‘Good. Now all I need to do is not trigger these guys, not let down my guard, and walk out of the city…… Huh?’
Professor checked his body. All of the wounds were completely regenerated, and everything aside from his clothes was back to normal. But the vapor that was emitting from his body wasn’t stopping.
“This is…. don’t tell me!”
His arm. His arm was crimson red once again, rapidly thinning as the red vapor escaped it. His skin looked like it was going to crack into dry pieces if it was moved too hard. As he checked the rest of his body in a panic, he realized that his entire body was in a similar situation.
<[Mutation Blood Lust : Consumes blood to maximize regeneration. If the consumed blood is not replenished, the player dies.]>
If the consumed blood is not replenished, the player dies.
Dies. Dies. Dies…….
“S***! I’m going to die if I don’t replenish my blood in time!”
Professor turned his body away from the castle gates.
<[Mutation Blood Lust : 3 minutes 17 seconds]>
The dead level 6 mute’s body next to him was completely drained. Professor could already see himself lying next to that thing in a similar state.
[Sensitive Observation] was sending out alerts about the mutes that were still running away.
‘No!’
Professor ran towards them. If I don’t catch those, I’ll die.
“S-Stop right there! Come here! Right now! Stop running away!”
“Skeeeeeerk!”
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
Thump thump thump thump thump!
As his body dried out, Professor charged the mutes like an angry bull.
“Stop right there, blood bags! Give me your blood!”
“Geuuuurk! Gurkkk!”
The mutes ran away as fast as they could. These mutes, which had barely been born into the world less than a month ago, no longer remembered the command their mother had given them. They only felt fear, as they ran away from the big shadow with the red mist shooting out of him.
Grab!
“I gotcha!”
The last thought the mute had as a big hand grabbed its head was that it needed to get far away from this bloodthirsty beast.
Shwoooosshh.
Ding!
<[Mutation Blood Lust mode is over.]>
“Haghh! Haaah! I’m alive! I almost died! I literally almost got the life sucked out of me!”
Professor sprawled out next to the mute that was used as his precious blood bag. That was way too close. The last mute he chased was already completely drained, and with only 30 seconds left on the clock, all of the other mutes were gone. If it weren’t for the flask of mute blood he had in his bag, he would have been lying next to that mute, dead.
‘Mutation Blood Lust…. Powerful skills come with high risk.’
Its power was unquestionable. With that level of regeneration, he could even go on a full brawl without worrying about healing. His broken leg healed back even while standing, so if he could just put up with the pain, it would be as if it wasn’t broken in the first place.
‘But that unbelievable amount of blood consumed….. The number of battles I can use this in is limited.’
The enemies were mutes this time, so there wasn’t a problem with blood supply, but what if the enemy wasn’t a mute?
‘I would self-destruct in less than a minute.’
So basically, that Mutation Blood Lust skill was only for battles against mutes.
Well, it all worked out in the end. The fight ended much better than he thought, and there was a clear path that went out of Turan.
‘Hm…. I feel like I’m missing something important…’
Professor checked to see if he had dropped something, but aside from the blood he had just used, everything else was still there.
‘Blood. Blood. It’s something related to blood. What is it? Why is it bothering me so much?’
But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t think of anything related to blood besides mutes.
‘Hm. Well, I did almost die from blood loss, so [Sensitive Observation] must be bothered that there isn’t any spare blood.’
He was still a little unsure, but his tired brain refused to think any further. Professor padded slowly through the dead mute bodies. There were no more questions in Professor’s mind about the missing thing. It was only full of longing for a cool, refreshing river.
Splash!
Flop flop!
“Yes! I caught it!”
Ding!
[Item – Meldive Upstream Fish]
Description: A species of Meldive fish commonly found in Northern Rodrick. A distinct fish with its own class system. The higher-class fish live upstream, where the water is clear.
Two hours ago.
It was sunrise when he was out of Turan. The road to the next city from here was not that difficult. He just needed to walk straight down south on the path. And as the tired Professor dragged his body along the path, his ears picked up on a very tempting sound.
Spin!
[…..Shhhhhhh!]
“Water!”
After [Weak Mentality] changed to [Sensitive Observation], there were some times when he picked up information on something of interest even when he wasn’t in danger. And the information he just picked up on was the sound of water.
As if the tiredness suddenly disappeared, Professor ran towards the noise, and when he saw the sparkling blue river, the thoughts about his debt and the time required until the next city no longer existed.
“Yaaaaaay!!”
Sploosh!
It was water. Sweet, clean, refreshing river water comfortingly wrapped itself around him.
‘This…this is the life! The smoothness, dampness, and coolness of the water! Ahhh, this is joy. All of the fatigue that built up overnight is disappearing…….’
The stressful experience of being on death’s door and the painful feeling of his entire body exploding all melted away with the gentle river stream. His mind was completely empty. Professor’s subconsciousness flowed away, towards the origin of water itself…..
Ding!
<[Water Mana Affinity Level (100%) : Level 1 : Water Tolerance]>
It looked like an important message popped up, but Professor didn’t pay any attention to it. And just like that, Professor floated around in the water until the sun was completely above the skies.
“Munch…. It tastes a little weird without seasoning……. Salmon? It tastes like salmon and mackerel combined.”
And now, after 2 hours of idly floating around in the water, Professor came to his senses and ate a late breakfast while checking the stats window.
<[Water Mana Affinity - Level 1 : Acceptance of Water]>
“Acceptance…. acceptance, you say….”
Professor pulled out the magic book that Roman had given him and sank into deep thought.
[….And so, the awakening of magic for every mage is different. One may realize the strength and power of water, while another may realize its beauty. One may have an awakening of the water’s waves. The important part is that once the person has felt the awakening, they are a true water-type mage. As they have realized one full part of water, they are considered Level 1.]
“….So it really happened. I’m a mage.”
Level 1—a person that completely understands one part of an element.
The other mages might have concentrated more on understanding the water or something, but in my case, I was busy enjoying the feeling of water once I got over the fear of drowning. That must be another reason why it was called ‘Acceptance’.
I don’t know about everything else, but that feeling of my entire existence being accepted the second I go in the water. I know that feeling for sure. That feeling that I can’t put into words….. There’s something like that.
“Let’s see…. Hm…. Is this how I do it?”
Professor threw the clean fishbones into the river.
Plop!
The bones that rested on top of the slow current did not flow with the stream, but instead, they moved up the current in synchronization with Professor’s hand gestures.
“Ohoho, this is cool.”
The water was listening to him. The unfamiliar tingle at the end of his fingertips made him wonder if this was mana. It’s not the forceful type of mana he had when he was a fighter in the past. This was a delicate, sophisticated mana that flowed through his body. The new sensation made him feel giddy like a child.
“I think this is how I’m supposed to use it……. should I try using some magic?”
Professor skipped the origins of magic and how it works, etc., and went straight to ‘How to Use Magic.’
<[Profession : Mage’s Test Subject]>
He was strong enough to chew through an entire hoard of mutes in under 5 minutes, but Professor’s job was still [Mage’s Test Subject]. There were NPCs that interacted differently with players based on their profession, so he needed to get a proper job.
“A mage is a good enough job. You even need higher education to become one.”
As Professor opened the book to read the spells, his eyes filled with anticipation.