Back when I first headed southwest,
the moment I took down the monsters attacking the Southern Branch’s people, I’d thought:
‘This thing... doesn’t seem like the monster I knew.’
Its appearance and fighting style were similar to the monsters we’d seen before.
But it was wielding a strange kind of ability I’d never seen.
Even inside that blizzard, its vision wasn’t hindered at all.
It moved on ice and snowdrifts without any restriction to its mobility.
And on its well-known weak points, there was even a shield forming—
like it was deliberately trying to protect just those spots.
‘And more than anything...’
When I finished it off, that energy that left its body.
The moment that energy moved away,
‘The temperature went up just a little.’
I realized then that the essence of what was lowering the surrounding temperature
lay in that energy itself.
But if there was a problem,
even if I figured out the essence of it, all I could do was feel it.
I couldn’t see it or touch it,
so there wasn’t really any way to respond to it...
—Park Junggu.
—Yeah?
—When you bring the Northern Branch forces... please make sure you bring Han Iseo too.
That’s why,
when Junggu was leaving to gather the Northern Branch troops, I told him that.
‘Han Iseo is not a combat type.’
Under normal circumstances, she’s not the kind of talent who should be part of an Expedition Force like this.
In fact, there are only two leaders here from the Eastern Branch.
One is Jongdu, who can at least help in battle with Walls. The other one, from what I heard, was so useless they didn’t even bother sending them.
Han Iseo, too, would normally have stayed behind at her Branch.
And yet I called her out here.
“Kuh... huk!”
“You worthless stray specter, who do you think you are putting on airs!”
Because of this.
*****
‘Impressive...’
Han Iseo was bringing her guillotine down toward empty air,
and whatever was “pretending to be Jang Ji Han” was grinding its face against the floor,
like it was being pinned under that very guillotine.
“You there... what on earth is going on!”
“Yeah. Shouldn’t you explain this to us too?”
At that,
I looked at Han Iseo and spoke.
“Han Iseo. Can you make this thing visible to the others?”
“...It won’t be easy, but. I’ll give it a try!”
The moment she said that and clenched her fist,
a faint light gathered in her hand.
PAAK!
She scattered that light-dust over Jang Ji Han’s body.
And then—
“Do you see it?”
“...!”
A shape that even I couldn’t see before
slowly started to appear.
“This is the true identity of the one we were talking with just now.”
“...Good heavens.”
Overlapping Jang Ji Han’s body,
the form of an ugly-looking monster emerged.
A dwarf?
A long nose, wrinkled skin.
A small dwarf wearing a bizarre fur coat.
A shabby little spirit that looked far too small and pitiful to match the body it was overlapping—Jang Ji Han’s.
Kim Jinkyung watched that figure, cold sweat beading on her forehead, and muttered,
“Th-then. All that talk about how there was a traitor in our ranks...”
“Was just sowing discord.”
I folded my arms and spoke calmly.
“If it worked, we’d be too busy doubting our own allies for any of our actions to move quickly. And even if it failed, this thing could just abandon this body and run, and that would be that.”
“...”
“It said all kinds of tough-guy lines like ‘If you don’t believe me, just kill me,’ but... in the end, the body isn’t its own, which is the only reason it could talk like that.”
I stared down at that pale, blurry figure.
That distorted face, layered faintly over Jang Ji Han’s already-twisted expression, wearing an equally twisted look of disbelief.
And then.
If it was visible to my eyes, then all things in this world
were no different from ingredients to me.
[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]
The instant I could bring it into my sight,
my Trait activated.
[Frozen Soul, Belsnickel Lower Knight]
[A lower knight of the Frozen Spirit Belsnickel.]
[It is a being that possesses a powerful ability that lowers the surrounding temperature simply by existing.]
[Those who are not born with a fleshly body possess recently deceased corpses or mentally weak beings, seize those bodies, and steal those physical shells.]
[A soul that Belsnickel has latched onto becomes immune to all penalties arising from cold, and can share all the abilities that soul itself possesses.]
[It is particularly favored as an ingredient on hot days, and is mainly consumed by demons or angels who enjoy eating spiritual entities...]
A frozen soul, huh.
As expected.
‘...This reminds me of when we raided that supermarket.’
When they first heard we’d be fighting invisible enemies,
some of my unit members had seriously panicked, saying, what if they were ghosts.
In the end, the enemies back then turned out to be [Droplets], but.
At the time, I’d thought:
‘In a world where monsters show up, there’s no way ghosts don’t exist.’
That thought had been proven by Han Iseo’s existence and...
like this,
I was now meeting them as monsters too.
“What are the chances this thing gets out from under your suppression?”
“Zero.”
SLIDE.
Han Iseo answered my question firmly,
then moved her guillotine with a chilling gaze, staring down at the spirit.
“It doesn’t seem like it parasites on someone else’s body for nothing. Including the part where it steals flesh, it seems to have some special abilities... but as a spirit itself, it doesn’t feel all that strong.”
I {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} could feel some large, invisible something standing behind her as well,
following the movement of her guillotine.
“It won’t be able to escape from the [Great Spirit] who protects me.”
The Great Spirit, huh.
I was curious about the being that supposedly watched over Han Iseo,
but unfortunately, seeing that form was beyond me.
Well, anyway.
“Then let’s get properly started.”
“Grrrk...”
I turned my head and pointed my blade at the spirit.
“Where did you come from?”
“Grr...”
The spirit thrashed, trying to tear itself free from Jang Ji Han’s body.
But it was a pointless struggle.
“Our... homeland...”
My [Special Sauce] had already seeped into that flesh.
No matter how much it was a spirit, as long as it couldn’t leave that body,
it couldn’t escape the effect of my sauce.
“Far away, far away, our homeland lies...”
“Homeland, you say?”
The others listening had expressions like they had no idea what it was talking about.
But I could understand.
‘A Gate has manifested somewhere.’
If a [Dungeon] terraforms Earth’s environment into that of another world,
then a destroyed world being brought over wholesale is a Gate.
Seohwan and Miho’s world had also appeared in Gangwon Province as a Gate called [Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall].
And even though it had been smashed to pieces,
Seohwan still called that world his homeland.
And if these things were saying they came from a Gate, then it was simple.
‘When Seohwan was freed from his seal, he stayed inside the Gate to protect his disciples.’
These things, on the other hand, were different.
The moment they were freed from their seal and gained their freedom,
they came outside without a shred of hesitation.
...To devour our world.
“When you say far away, where exactly? Answer using the memories of Jang Ji Han you’ve taken.”
“At the southwest end... in Pyeongtaek...”
When I heard the location he named,
a few people nodded.
“...That really is the far edge.”
“To think their stronghold was in a place like that.”
With this, we’d found the enemy’s main base.
And that meant the Expedition’s route was decided as well.
“Next. There was an assault team that went out to subjugate you last time, and they all disappeared. One of them was this man, Jang Ji Han, whose body you’re occupying now.”
“...Yeah, it’s a memory deeply engraved in this body.”
...GULP.
Doing my best to hide my tension,
I asked the spirit,
“What happened to them?”
“...Heh, are you asking because you truly don’t know?”
At that,
it let out an empty laugh, like it had given up, and said,
“The answer is simple. Eight-tenths of them became useful flesh for my brothers.”
“...!”
People gasped or froze, but he didn’t care.
He just continued, calm.
“I know this might sound strange, but stealing someone else’s flesh isn’t easy work. The stronger a being’s mental strength, the harder it is for us to seize their body. But you know what?”
“...?”
“This is the first time we’ve seen a race with bodies like these, and yet with minds this weak!”
At that,
people’s faces twisted sharply.
“Without performing any special rituals, only two-tenths managed to resist? Even we were dumbfounded by that result.”
I remembered something Seohwan had said back in [Heavenly Mountain Martial Hall].
He’d talked about something called mind, skill, and body.
Mind and technique.
And body.
Seohwan had admired our bodies,
but as for mind and technique, he’d said we were so lacking it was a waste of the flesh.
The Legion had at least been patching up that imbalance in a hurry using two martial arts instructors, but—
‘These people are different.’
The Awakeners of Gyeonggi Province.
Their bodies were still grotesquely overdeveloped compared to everything else.
“Even this body is like that. Originally, a soul like mine shouldn’t have been able to seize it without any preparation. It’s a powerful flesh that would’ve required at least a higher knight-level brother to barely claim it... but this one’s soul was so weak!”
Maybe it had realized it had no way to get away now.
The spirit no longer showed any sign of choosing its words; it just laughed like a madman and spat them out.
“Do you know why this one became a sniper? Because monsters scared him too much!”
“...”
“The moment enemies got close, his legs would shake so badly he couldn’t move. That’s how pathetically weak he was. That’s why he sought power that could drop the enemy before they could approach. By rights, he should never have had strength like this—a ridiculous coward...!”
Jang Ji Han’s sniping had certainly been impressive.
But his evasive abilities, which a sniper absolutely needed, had been abysmal.
“And it’s not just this one. Most of the ones in that assault team, strutting around trying to look strong and important! On the inside, almost all of them had such weak and shabby souls they’d cry from a single solid hit!”
“You son of a...!”
“For souls that didn’t match the bodies at all, souls of such rotten quality... Maybe it’s a good thing for these bodies that we’re taking their place.”
CLANK...
Behind me, I felt people draw their weapons in rage.
I didn’t exactly enjoy hearing its mockery either, but—
THMP.
“Youngjun! Why are you stopping us?!”
“Because I still have one more question.”
I stretched my hand out to block their way and spoke.
“This is the last question.”
These things used all kinds of different monster bodies.
So there wasn’t much meaning in asking about weaknesses.
Which meant.
There was another question I had to ask instead.
“What happens to the soul of someone whose flesh you’ve stolen?”
Even as I asked,
I could feel my breathing go ragged.
‘...Please. Please give me the answer I want.’
That was how much
this question mattered to me more than anything else.
