The Second Coming of Gluttony Chapter 323:
Chapter 323 . Immediate Battle (2)
The expedition team decided on a course of action .
The World Tree only grew in a specific area of the Spirit Realm . And currently, the five Spirit Kings were being held captive in that place .
If all went well, they would be solving two difficult problems at once . However, even a child would know things wouldn’t go so smoothly .
The Parasites would try to hinder their plans without a doubt, and the key to success was to effectively break through the Parasites’ plan .
Seol Jihu hastened the march just in case, but the expedition team was slowed down as time went on . Not by their will, but by outside intervention .
Little Chick, who was leading the expedition team with its hurried steps, suddenly halted .
“What’s wrong?”
“…They’re already here . ”
Little Chick groaned, then sighed .
“Damn it! We still have ways to go before we get to the center…! That was too quick…!”
The startled Seol Jihu looked around his surroundings . Now that Little Chick mentioned it, their surroundings were oddly quiet .
It was so quiet, in fact, that it seemed dreary . Moreover, though he wasn’t sure whether he was mistaken, a buzzing ringing reverberated in his ears .
The vibration was full of the negative yin energy he felt when the Nightshades were massacring the Spirits .
“It looks like the enemy is making their move . ”
Little Chick muttered as he quickly shot back .
At the same time, the ringing in their ears stopped . Just as the surroundings regained its dead silence—
“They’re coming!”
A haze began to flare up around them less than a second later . The haze gradually turned blue and changed into the shape of will o’ wisps .
“Don’t underestimate them . Their numbers are incomparable to that of last time!”
As Little Chick said, the enemy forces springing up around them were uncountably many . There were so many of them that Seol Jihu thought all the Nightshades in the Spirit Realm gathered here .
Pressured by the sheer number of Nightshades, the expedition team immediately took action .
Before Seol Jihu even gave the command, the team formed a circular defensive formation around the Magician and the two Priests .
“Oooh—!”
At that moment, Audrey Basler screamed . It was because a large number of Nightshades suddenly spawned in the air next to them and rushed toward them simultaneously .
While Audrey Basler was taken aback by the unexpected attack, Philip Muller, who was on high alert, moved quickly .
“—— . ——— . —— . ——— . ”
Chanting a spell in an instant, he pointed his long oak staff in her direction .
As he opened his closed eyes in a squint…
“Bullet . ”
His thick robe fluttered in a huge motion, and a convex barrier appeared in front of her .
The Nightshades that rammed into the barrier were all bounced back before exploding in the air .
That wasn’t the end . Philip Muller retracted his staff, then immediately opened up his book . The pages automatically flipped like a leaf in a breeze . The book stopped somewhere in the middle, and Philip Muller tilted his chin up and looked up into the air .
“Avar・Ava・Avaritia . ”
Dozens of spinning magic circles appeared in the air . Soon, the spinning stopped, and the geometric shapes inside the magic circles shone in a pale color .
In the next moment, the few-dozen magic circles all flashed, shooting out various magic spells .
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
As magic spells rained down like a passing shower, the Nightshades cried out in agony . A single man instantly bombarding such a huge group of monsters to death made the expedition members cheer together .
Of course, given the sheer number of enemies, a good number of lucky Nightshades broke through the explosions . However, these monsters were quickly dispatched by Agnes .
In a fit of rage, she swept the enemies flying in from all directions . As she spread her arms out and opened her palm, silver threads constantly shot out of her fingertips .
Surprisingly, the released threads coiled around the gaseous Nightshades like spiderwebs and bound them . Then when Agnes flicked her arm fiercely, they were torn into pieces and ceased to exist .
What terrifying power!
Seol Jihu’s jaw dropped slightly .
‘I knew they were strong, but this…’
Seol Jihu couldn’t hide his shock at the fact that Philip Muller and Agnes’ true abilities easily massacred such a large army .
Most of the other members had similar reactions, but the two members who annihilated the enemy had dissatisfied expressions .
“Each fight just leaves me with more questions…”
Philip Muller closed his book with a tap and murmured to himself .
“I agree . They’re certainly enough to kill young Spirits, but they’re nothing compared to the Seven Armies . I almost feel bad comparing the two . ”
Agnes seemed to think the same thing .
And Seol Jihu was no different .
There was nothing wrong with nice and easy battles . The problem was that these battles shouldn’t be this easy given the nature of the expedition .
[The tiny bit of divinity I couldn’t digest… a leftover, if you will . ]
[Anyways, it turns out that putting this leftover in the solar plexus has the greatest effect . Because of it, my subordinates were able to grow stronger too . ]
According to Undying Diligence, a Commander’s army consisted of members of the Commander’s race who absorbed remnants of divinity that the Commander failed to digest .
Even a tiny fragment of divinity was still divinity . Since they carried divine power, they should be multiple times stronger than normal .
‘Why are they so weak?’
For Seol Jihu, who could barely take on a single Vampire even with the help of Flone, he had no choice but to agree with Agnes and Philip Muller’s opinions .
‘It’s also strange that we’re seeing Spirit Creatures when the Commander is a Mythical Beast…’
Seol Jihu scratched his head, not knowing what to make out of this .
That wasn’t his only worry . A huge number of enemies had suddenly appeared on their marching path .
This could only mean one thing — the master of the Nightshades had noticed their presence . Otherwise, so many Nightshades couldn’t have appeared at the same time .
“What’s that?”
At that moment, Hugo yelled out .
Seol Jihu snapped out of his thoughts, and his eyes widened . A strange phenomenon was happening at the place where the Nightshades exploded like fireworks .
The ones that died earlier on were being sucked away, leaving behind long tails .
Back then, he didn’t see well because they were in the middle of a battle and only one Nightshade flew off . But this time, with so many of them dying at the same time, the phenomenon was easier to see .
There was one other thing that was different this time around . That was that the Nightshades that turned faint from exploding didn’t fly far away like the first time .
They were gathering in a nearby area, in the air about one meter above the ground . As a terrifying number of hazy figures clumped together, the entire area looked like it was shimmering .
“That’s…”
As Chohong knitted her brows, an arrow cut through the air with a sharp sonic boom .
Feeling that something was gravely wrong, Kazuki had followed his instinct and shot an arrow at it .
However, the arrow passed through the gas, and the spherical clump of gas became thicker while turning blue .
A big frown formed on Kazuki’s face .
“It’s too late . ”
It was just as he said .
The gas sphere mutated in a split second . It grew in size as if to take a certain shape—
Crackle! Then, a deep blue blaze flared up, and a figure popped out from the flames . It was a beast-shaped monster resembling a horse with a conical horn on its forehead .
Right, almost like a white unicorn…
‘Unicorn?’
When Seol Jihu’s thoughts reached this point, the beast’s long muzzle opened .
"I see… It was you all . "
An unpleasant voice akin to forcefully scratching a rusty iron rang out .
…No, the unpleasant sensation wasn’t just because of its voice .
From the moment this enemy made its appearance, Seol Jihu had felt that something was off . On the surface, it was undoubtedly a beautiful unicorn with a sacred air, but a part of it felt uncomfortably dark .
Its lustrous white hair was like that, and so was its mane, horn, and body . There was something about them that felt dark . It was inexplicably unpleasant, uncomfortable, and nauseously revolting .
"So predictable, so expected, so obvious . So The Queen’s insight is truly incredible . "
Seol Jihu furrowed his brows . What it just muttered under its breath made it sound like the Parasite Queen knew about the expedition team entering the Spirit Realm .
In that case, this bizarre creature that made him all too reluctant to call it a ‘Unicorn’ had to have been waiting for the expedition team’s arrival .
"Good, very good . I was just getting tired of being stuck in this place while doing nothing but hunting weak runaway Spirits . This is perfect . Let’s see . "
The Unicorn nodded its head and looked down at the expedition team from the air with a rather arrogant expression .
"Hoh . Two Executors and… hmm?"
Its eyes were indifferent even when it saw Baek Haeju . But upon discovering Seo Yuhui, they lit up all of a sudden .
It finished scanning the expedition team before putting on a proud face .
"Keuhuhu, this damned body! It’s instantly become excited!"
Seol Jihu doubted his ears .
"I just can’t understand this race . Females are all the same . Why obsess over pure maidens?"
It had been muttering to itself for a while now . Seol Jihu couldn’t understand why it referred to its own body in third-person and called it a ‘damned body’ .
But not caring for Seol Jihu’s thoughts, the Unicorn flaunted its tongue while giving lecherous glances . The female members of the expedition team, like Seo Yuhui and Phi Sora, shuddered .
The horse’s eyes slanting up to a crescent shape was weird enough, but when its crude gaze scanned their bodies, chills went down their backs as if there were caterpillars crawling all over them .
“Euuuuu!”
Failing to withstand the unpleasant feeling, Phi Sora rubbed her arms and twisted her body . Seeing this, the Unicorn guffawed as though it was cute .
"You look like a healthy female . Great! I will give you special care and attention, human female . "
“Fucking **** . ”
Phi Sora growled .
“The **** are you saying, you **** horse!?”
"Oooh, feisty . I love it . Don’t worry . I might look like a Horus, but my junior is long and beefy!"
The Unicorn retorted with a grin .
"Look forward to it . Once you **** thing, you won’t be able to escape the pleasure of your stomach bulging out!"
“What?”
Phi Sora’s eyes shot open . But before she bellowed in rage, Seol Jihu stepped in .
“Are you the Parasites’ Fourth Army Commander, Raging Temperance?”
"Hmm?"
With an uninvited guest suddenly interfering, the gleeful Unicorn frowned . However, after carefully studying Seol Jihu, it blinked its eyes and exclaimed .
"Oho, I see . You are the one that the Queen mentioned…"
“You’re the one who summoned the Nightshades?”
The Unicorn didn’t answer . Although it showed interest in Seol Jihu for a moment, that was it .
"Well… that’s enough chitchatting . Let’s get down to business now . "
“What business?”
Seol Jihu’s eyes narrowed . He had a feeling that the Unicorn changed the topic on purpose .
"Do I need to explain?"
But that wasn’t the important thing .
"You have to break through me, and I have to stop you . The winner takes all . Very simple . "
As soon as it finished this sentence, the dim, hazy energy around it instantly turned clear . Then, the terrifying pressure that the Unicorn was giving off revealed itself and pressed down on the expedition team .
“Don’t be scared! This **** is the leader of a bunch of weaklings . How strong can it be?”
Phi Sora shouted in high spirits as if to shake off the pressure . However—
"Puhahaha!"
The Unicorn cackled with its head tilted back .
"Funny . Very funny . "
Revealing its buck teeth in a grin, it glanced at Phi Sora with a pitying gaze .
"Truly an idiotic female . Shouting so triumphantly after defeating trash that is only a part of this body… a remnant energy that I… released!"
With that final word, its voice suddenly vibrated out, causing the expedition members to flinch .
The aura of the Unicorn took a complete turn . It now gave a bone-chilling aura that made their skins tingle .
On one hand, Seol Jihu nervously raised his guard against the Fourth Army Commander that finally revealed its full presence . On the other, he tilted his head curiously .
‘A part of its body? Remnant energy?’
He recalled the Unicorn’s strange words . Though it was hard to pinpoint, it seemed a bit different than the First Army Commander .
Undying Diligence had shared the divinity it couldn’t absorb with members of his race and treated them as his subordinates .
But this Unicorn… how should he put this, rather than forming an army or a battalion of subordinates, it was treating them like ‘trash’, no different than leftover food that was thrown out .
"Keuhuhuhu . I would have been disappointed if they gave you trouble . This is fantastic!"
"Since you’ve got such a foul, manly mouth, you must surely have the ability to back it up!"
A vigorous voice resounded in Seol Jihu’s ears repeatedly .
It wasn’t just the aura that was different . The Unicorn was much bigger than when it first appeared .
‘Hold on . ’
He wasn’t mistaken . The Unicorn was standing when it first appeared, but now it had gotten bulkier and was standing on the ground on four legs .
"You might not know—"
The clacking of its hooves resounded loudly .
‘Shit!’
Seol Jihu’s brain frantically sent warning signals, causing him to strengthen his grip on the Spear of Purity reflexively .
"I, with the body of a Mythical Beast, am—"
In the next moment, the Unicorn snorted as its pitch-black pupils flashed blue .
"The strongest Spirit Creature of the Spiritual Dimension!"
Shortly afterward, the unicorn tossed its head up as if a rider forcefully pulled on its reins .
"Now then—"
At the same time, it opened its mouth wide and shouted with a thunderous voice .
"I will show you the power of a Darkshini!"[1]
1 . Also known as Amanojaku (in Japanese folklore) . It is a type of yokai or oni .