748 chapter - Twelve Zodiac (6)
748 chapter - Twelve Zodiac (6)
Possibility of a nebula.
I read that message over and over again.
My heart thudded deeply. We didn’t even have a single incarnation who had become a constellation yet, and already there was a “possibility of a nebula.”
Maybe this too was the influence of the newly sprouted tale.
In the distance, I heard the voices of the party rejoicing.
“They say a new tale is sprouting?”
“Could this be—”
“It was worth putting pandas in every time we repaired a tale.”
“Is it really because of that?”
A tale that neither I nor Han Sooyoung could write.
A tale that wasn’t in the Annihilation Law or in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, a tale that only people who had read it could create.
That tale was now slowly germinating before our eyes.
「People who wanted to see the story of a very ‘big house.’」
A certainty that felt like fate came over me.
Someday I would transcribe their story. I would sketch this moment’s feelings and scenery in crude sentences.
I gripped “Unbreakable Conviction.”
“Yu Joonghyuk, please guard the brick house.”
For the sake of the story that would one day be written, I had to take up my sword now.
I had to protect this moment.
When I slowly blinked, the sounds at my ears vanished. Instead, only the chatter of tales could be heard.
[Exclusive trait effect activates!]
Some tales were familiar and some were unfamiliar. There were unsettling tales, and there were sorrowful tales.
「I hate pandas」
「I want to become like a panda too」
「If we take down those southern bastards, we can steal their tales」
「To tell the truth, I don’t want to do that」
And there was a tale that drifted in the undercurrent of the bears.
A tale that fanned the bears’ desires.
[Tale fragment, "Fanning," continues its story.]
“Fanning.”
That was the identity of the tale fragment that had {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} moved the bear beastfolk.
Someone had used this tale fragment to fan the bears’ desires and lured them here.
I closely examined the way the tale fragment had spread.
While the constellation “Bear Who Lets You Live If You Play Dead” and all the other bear beastfolk were under the influence of this “tale fragment”—
「There was one bear who wasn’t affected by this “tale fragment” at all.」
The instant our eyes met, it turned its back and started running away.
[Item, "Sylphid’s Leap Boots," activates!]
[Due to the scenario effect, the item’s performance is halved.]
It didn’t matter even if it was halved.
[Constellation "Black Flame Dragon of the Abyss" glares at you!]
[Constellation "Dragon Who Lies Down" admires your judgment!]
Fortunately, it wasn’t that fast.
A dead-end.
Without hesitation, I swung “Unbreakable Conviction” toward it. With a boom—its bear exterior changed.
There, in its place, was a “rat” the size of a small child.
[Constellation "Rat Who Eats Nails" looks at you!]
“Twelve Zodiac.”
There was no doubt.
It was one of <Twelve Zodiac>, the “rat” belonging to “Zi.”
I tensed and tightened my grip on the sword hilt.
If that really was <Twelve Zodiac>, then it was at least a great figure-grade constellation.
The “Bear Who Lets You Live If You Play Dead,” rampaging out in the open ground, was also a constellation, but it wasn’t a proper great figure.
But <Twelve Zodiac> was different.
A proper “great figure-grade constellation.”
It was an opponent beyond me as I was now. All sorts of thoughts flashed through my head at high speed.
I’d expected <Twelve Zodiac> to be involved in this, but I hadn’t thought a constellation from their side would be here in person.
Should I run?
Or should I hit it with everything I had before it showed its true power?
What if I used a tale.
What if I used Kim Dokja’s tale imbued in “Successor of the Eternal Name”?
Or—
[W-wait—]
Unexpectedly, the rat was the one to speak first.
[D-don’t hurt me! I didn’t come here to fight!]
“What?”
Something was off.
It was definitely a constellation, using mantras and indirect messages, and the sensation I felt from it was the same. And yet a constellation with only this level of class?
[I-I was just watching! I was just curious what you guys were like—]
Thinking about it, the fact that a proper constellation had brought its incarnation body here with no backlash was strange from the beginning.
This was an eighth scenario region. If a real “great figure-grade constellation” had unleashed its true power, the scenario should’ve gone off long ago.
But there was no sign of any plausibility backlash in the surroundings.
“Don’t lie.”
[I-it’s true!]
I let it babble anything to buy time and observed it.
The incarnation body of the “Rat Who Eats Nails” was a short little rat.
No matter how much I sharpened my senses, I could barely feel any combat power. It was almost safe to say this was below even the level of a symbolic body.
What was its goal. Why had it shown up here in such an incarnation body?
I narrowed my eyes.
Behind my back, I heard the death screams of the brown bear.
At last the party had begun to drive the bears back. Looking over the corpses of the dead bears, I spoke.
“This is your doing. You used a tale fragment to control the bears. Are you going to play dumb?”
[M-maybe that’s true! But I wasn’t the one who ordered it! I swear!]
[Constellation "Rat Who Eats Nails" cries that it’s really telling the truth!]
The “Rat Who Eats Nails” was strangely terrified.
I glared at it and spoke.
“You weren’t the one who did it?”
The “Rat Who Eats Nails” nodded its head fervently.
“Then why were you here?”
[I told you earlier! I just wanted to see you in person—]
“Speak properly.”
When I took a step forward and leveled “Unbreakable Conviction” at it, the “Rat Who Eats Nails” let out a “Hiiik” and hurriedly continued.
[T-the truth is, I came to ask for an alliance. You’re going to climb to the next ‘floor’ too, aren’t you. Right?]
“An alliance?”
The “Rat Who Eats Nails”’s eyes rolled wildly from side to side.
[You’re planning to fight against <Twelve Zodiac>. Aren’t you?]
“You’re also <Twelve Zodiac>.”
[That’s true, but I’m a bit different. I mean, I’m……]
A strange feeling came over me.
The Rat Who Eats Nails.
Come to think of it, this constellation had been one of the ones watching us from the very beginning.
It had even appeared in my “backer selection.”
Which meant this guy had been watching me and the party’s story for a very long time.
Which meant.
“You—”
The puzzle slowly clicked into place inside my head.
From the beginning there had been a few constellations I suspected, ones whose behavior patterns were clearly different from those in the Annihilation Law or Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.
The “Rat Who Eats Nails” was one of them too.
Seeing some kind of hope in my tone, the “Rat Who Eats Nails” nodded eagerly.
[Y-yeah. I’m the same as you. I also……]
As if it had made up its mind about something, it squeezed its eyes shut and began to confess.
[I’m also a reader just like you—]
“So you found it, Kim Dokja.”
A voice scattering a biting killing intent. Killer King, covered in bears’ blood, stood there.
Aiming his crossbow, leaking pitch-black magic power, Killer King spoke.
“Move. I’m going to kill that rat.”
[Hiiiiiik!]
The rat, flinching in panic, darted behind my back.
I held Killer King back and began to speak.
“Wait a moment, Killer King. This one is—”
“Rat Who Eats Nails. That thing is Twelve Zodiac.”
“I know that. But this person is—”
“A possessor just like us.”
As if he’d already known, Killer King didn’t lower his crossbow. Ominous killing intent was boiling over his whole body.
“That thing is Odokhyeop.”
Odokhyeop?
“Have you already forgotten what happened in ‘Dark Veil’?”
I hadn’t forgotten. Of course I remembered.
The place where I first met the Killer King siblings. There, I had fought against incarnations sent by the Odokhyeop-side constellations.
Back then, the one who’d sent those incarnations had also been a “rat.”
I think it was “Rat Who Brings Plague” or something.
[I-I’m not Odokhyeop! I really am not!]
“That’s a lie. It knows we can’t use [Lie Detection] here and is trying to deceive us.”
[I said I’m not! This is really unfair!]
“I saw you exchanging indirect messages with Odokhyeop-side constellations before.”
At Killer King’s words, the “Rat Who Eats Nails” rolled its eyes again.
[I-I mean. Fine. I did talk with them a bit! But I’m really not Odokhyeop!]
“Enough talk. Die.”
[Eeeeeeeek!]
Just as I wondered if I should stop Killer King, the “Rat Who Eats Nails,” face white as a sheet, curled up and shouted,
[Dammit! You’re doomed! The ‘Odokhyeop’ you know is already finished!]
For the first time, Killer King’s movement stopped.
“What do you mean.”
[T-the ‘Odokhyeop’ you know doesn’t even exist anymore! So stop going on about Odokhyeop!]
Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen any Odokhyeop-side constellations at all lately.
After glaring at it for quite some time, Killer King slowly lowered his crossbow.
“Explain.”
The already agitated “Rat Who Eats Nails” muttered things like “This is why I didn’t want to come,” then cried out tearfully.
[I’m really innocent. I really didn’t do anything! I wasn’t the one who moved the beastfolk! I, I just wanted to tell you, to tell you how—]
It was then that a thump, a tremor from somewhere, spread out.
[How much, how muuuuuch, I, I, ah, uaaah—]
The “Rat Who Eats Nails,” lips twitching, suddenly began to fiercely bite off its own nails.
[I-it’s coming. It’s coming. It’s coming. It’s coming.]
“It?”
[C-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c.]
The “Rat Who Eats Nails”’s eyes rolled back white and it collapsed with a thud.
Killer King checked its pulse.
“It’s not dead. But—”
“Something’s wrong.”
The clamor of weapons that had filled the open ground until just a moment ago was gone. The beastfolk’s screams and shouts had vanished as well.
Killer King and I ran toward the open ground.
The beastfolk who had been swinging their weapons at each other were still there.
But they had all quietly set their weapons down on the ground and were pressing their foreheads to the dirt, palms turned up toward the sky.
As if worshiping their god.
Even the “Bear Who Lets You Live If You Play Dead” was lying obediently on the ground like a dead thing.
A grotesque scene, unsettling to the point of disgust.
“Kim Dokja.”
Killer King’s voice was shaking.
He, who had been looking at the sky, pointed at something. Up in the high heavens, a swirling portal was visible.
The portal leading to the upper floor had opened.
It was the same portal that had appeared during “Three Little Pigs.” Back then, the pig constellations’ symbolic bodies had come through that portal.
So what on earth had come through this time.
From behind us, something approached.
【Hoju.】
Maintaining his tiny incarnation body, Lycaon, who had been sitting cross-legged, returned to his original form.
【You must flee at once.】
And from somewhere, a tale began to be heard.
「……I won’t eat you.」
The voice of a very old tale.
「……Delicious.」
A chill spread as if someone had grabbed my heart.
My feet wouldn’t move.
Until now, I had met several constellations. I had fought Otherworldly Divinities, and I had even seen “Ares,” a tale-grade constellation.
So inwardly, I had thought that things like <Twelve Zodiac> were nothing to be afraid of.
But.
「If you give me a rice cake.」
The moment I saw the enormous shadow of a constellation that seemed at least a hundred meters tall, I cursed my pitiful imagination.
Above the vast shadow that covered the ground, glowing red eyes were looking down at us.
Was that really <Twelve Zodiac>?
「I won’t eat you.」
Its stripes burned like flames.
The tale came in sporadic, intermittent fragments.
I felt like I knew who it was.
The shadow slowly lowered its head toward me.
Sparks burst violently in midair. Cold sweat gathered on the back of my neck. With the feeling that my heart was being strangled, blood dripped from my nose.
Instinctively, I understood.
「That is a god.」
A great figure-grade constellation had descended there in a form close to its true body.
But how?
In a place where even the pig constellations had to come over as symbolic bodies, how had that constellation descended in its original state.
It would have been impossible without a plausibility justification.
“A plausibility justification.”
Biting my lip, I lifted my head. Its eyes were right in front of my nose.
“Tiger Who Eats Rice Cakes……”
Only then did I realize it.
The reason it had been able to come here.
“You want to take me to the ‘Twelve Zodiac Ball’?”
It was because of me.