Chapter 125 – Star Fall (8)

Crackk!

“Woah! Almost died there!”

Grabbing the black spear that suddenly flew towards him from his blind spot, Professor calmed his startled heart.

Unlike how he was feeling, he wasn’t in that ideal of a situation.

The higher-ranked mutes were definitely different because, unlike the other lower-ranked mutes, these guys flew away but didn’t take any critical damage. The most that he could do was fling them away and crash them into houses or the castle walls. Their durability was on a completely different scale compared to the guys he fought before.

‘Maybe I should just use my right hand for defense and look for openings to grab them and snap their spine in half. That sounds a lot more efficient…’

Glug!

“Ke…aghhhh! This rocks! This has a f—ing cool side effect! You can’t control your emotions!”

When another wave of blood gurgled out of his arm, the logical side of his mind that the danger pulled out was buried back in by the overwhelming impulse, and his brain was drowning back into the ecstasy of battle.

The Blood Armor’s mechanism was simpler than expected.

Use ‘repulsion’ to dissipate the impact.

Back in the battle with the dark mage that became a demon-lich, Professor utilized the spell called Floating Water that Ottman made for him.

Thinking about it after the battle, that didn’t make any sense at all. His body was around 250–300 kg of pure mass from his consistent exercise, and the water managed to spring him up without breaking his legs or delivering the impact to his body.

‘When I analyzed the memories of that day by asking Hyde, it became clearer. The disc sprung out in the opposite direction and bounced off my body. It isn’t just simply bouncing—it is changing the direction of impact from the action and reaction!’

That’s how Blood Armor was made.

Powwwwww!

“Krwuhhhhhh!’’

As he shoved the crimson gauntlet into the Rank 4 mute that had been breathing out fire, a red liquid that could either have been blood or lava spewed out of its mouth.

The vibration of the impact rode across from the tip of his hand and through the arm up to his elbow, and then…

Phloomp!

When it reached the end of the gauntlet, the entire back part of his arm exploded and sprayed a shower of blood.

Pushing the impact from the gauntlet to the opposite side and dispersing the impact into the air, a strategy perfect for both offense and defense.

The blood that spouted out every time he swung his arm reminded him of a rocket that was being boosted by a crimson booster.

But the problem was that he needed to reconstruct the broken gauntlet through the blood that came out of his wounds…

‘I thought I could use the mute blood, but it doesn’t work if it’s not my blood because it’s magic.’

Even without the bloodlust mode, his regeneration made up for the lack of blood. If he attacked or blocked, the Blood Armor broke and sucked more blood out of me. The infective agents inside my body reacted automatically and absorbed mute blood that helped with regeneration. Then it was consumed again, and it absorbed more.

Because of this odd cycle of blood usage, his body was constantly switching between anemia and high blood pressure, and not to mention that the infective agents squeezed up all of the capillaries when he was anemic in order to regenerate, then started to run wild again when he regained blood pressure to try and crawl up to the brain, which was why he was unable to maintain a clear mind. It was like his entire body had become a heart and was pumping up blood.

“This! This feels so good!”

Phwack!

The overwhelming euphoria that came from rising up and down between heaven and hell. Added onto that were the claws of the mutes that barely scathed by. The smell of its bitter poison raised his tense alertness. And when he packed a punch into their faces, that excitement! Liberation! In between that odd mix between pain and pleasure, his normal cold and logical thinking disappeared, and all that was left was a manic berserker!

Bang! Bang! Crunch! Crack! Splat!

The more he crushed the half-bug, half-human heads of the mutes into the ground, the more blood spewed out of his right arm to the point his entire surroundings became red, and the more his body started to pulse, the more blood he lost in that way.

His logical thinking was gone, but he gained the sharp sense of a beast as a result.

Through those senses, he reached a completely different level of reflexes than the mutes that swarmed towards him. Stabbing, but cutting at once. Attacking at an angle that was unavoidable.

Spshhhh!

The black spear that flew towards me after cutting the large mute I threw at in half continued to close in without losing momentum even after cutting through the hardened body of the high-ranked mute.

Crunchh!

“Oh, you must not have liked the show. Why didn’t you just watch from afar?”

“Trai…tor! Even if the entire world changed! You shouldn’t have done that!”

Clang!

The mute with the weird thing on his head that had been watching him from a distance charged towards Professor.

Kkg! Kkkkskg!

“Maybe it’s cause of the different software. Not bad!”

The spears of the other Rank 3 mutes of the same kind weren’t easy either, but this guy was different. That Rank 3 mute called Chavalier must also be able to fly, as it took out its wings and started to stab in the spear from all sorts of angles, and even though he had the upper hand when it came to pure strength, it wasn’t easy to fight him off. It felt like he saw this somewhere, though…

“…Edeorna?”

“You do remember! Yes! It’s difficult to forget my sister’s spearmanship! It’s much inferior, but I have learned from them!”

The black spear that blocked Professor’s arm dug in sharply.

“You were my mirror… and my role model! Proof that even with this weak body, you can control the strong and change the world! You…!”

Slash!

“…Were not supposed to appear in front of me like… this!”

“Cough!”

They exchanged countless blows in the blink of an eye, and unable to manage the other mutes closing in behind him, Professor eventually backed away with a light cut on his chest.

‘The guy in control isn’t just any guy. He adapted quickly to a throat that wasn’t his either, and I can actually understand more of what he’s saying now. Is there a named that’s able to control other mutes?’

The information he gained from the exchange poured into his head. That was a normal situation for him, but it felt a little off.

‘Hm? My head cleared up? Did my head come back because I’m in a pinch? Not really. The strongest guy here is that one.’

Even if he allowed an attack to hit him, all he got was a small scratch because of the guy behind him that was throwing an entire carriage toward him. The scratch would disappear in a matter of seconds. He didn’t feel anything dangerous, like poison, either.

Thump! Thump! Thump. Thnk—

The pulse that was flowing rhythmically through his entire body began calming down. His magic was disappearing.

Looking at Professor, who was watching his Blood Armor slowly lose its shine, Palcatus sneered at him from his position in the sky.

“Did you really think that all I was doing was watching, Father? Watching my allies fall? Were you that dull?”

Flap, flap.

Up in the sky, where my attacks would not reach, Palcatus tapped his right arm with the pole of the spear.

“To think that you chose that measly power over the intellect to fight on par with my sister. Magic. Even if we do not know the exact mechanisms, it is humanity’s greatest power. There’s no reason to prepare just in case.”

Crack, clack!

Palcatus pulled something from the spear of the Rank 3 mute he was controlling, then tossed it towards Professor.

A small jewel. One that had a purple glow…

“Void… stone?”

“Yes! I also learned this from you! The only way we could fight against magic when we don’t have enough information about the field! I learned from what you showed at the mage tower and made it mine! In the end, magic cannot be created when you do not have the material called mana! With just this simple fact, your worthless power is sealed away! Look! There is always something that can replace physical strength! The attack you parried away so easily!

Shlck!

“You cannot block it anymore!”

“Arghh!”

The spear pierced through his body like lightning. It wasn’t something that I could block with now that I lost my way of defending.

Plop, ploppp.

His severed right arm sprayed out blood as it fell to the ground.

No matter how perfect his image was, Blood Armor was just dead blood without the material called mana. With his severed right arm, Blood Armor crumbled and disappeared.

“Damn it. I only used my right arm because I didn’t have enough mana to start with, but a void stone… I don’t know who your daddy is, but that’s one hell of a brain.”

“Unlike you, who have given up, I never stopped striving to learn. Now… die. I will remember you as the father you were in Turan.”

Palcatus shook the head of the Rank 3 mute he was controlling, as if trying to shake away his final hopes. Maybe he had given up or was thinking, but his father merely stood still and looked up at the air.

Clap!

Then suddenly, he heard a loud clap come from his direction.

“Father of Turan… You’re that thing, aren’t you? Dangg, why didn’t I realize? My blood that Edeorna took!”

As if he realized something, the man spoke out as he slapped his fist down on his other hand.

“I did think it was a possibility, but they really did make a mute out of my traits! Looking at how you’re talking, as a real named ‘talking mute’ too! Damn, you must have had it rough, buddy! Glass Body and Weak Mentality, not everyone can handle that!”

‘He… has a hand? Since when? I definitely cut it off, though?’

The situation changed.

When he quickly turned his gaze downward, the arm he cut off was still there. He felt the force at the end of the spear, then saw with his own two eyes that the arm flew away! He definitely cut it! So what was that thing down there and the arm still on his body?

‘It is not real… an illusion! He must have another card up his sleeve!’

Palcatus gave him a dark smile, then tightened his grip on the spear again.

“…Illusion magic. It’s a bluff! I see, only after losing all of your strength do you start using your head! It would have been much better if you did that in the first place!”

Flwooop!

He flapped open the wings of the Rank 3 mute and used the spear again to chop off the man’s right arm. No matter how realistic the illusion, it will disappear if the void stone touches it. There was no hidden factor. He will reveal the weakness of that worthless…

Thud, rollll…

“…Huh?”

The arm fell off. A real arm that shed blood and caused a small cloud of dust to rise where it landed. There were now two severed arms on the ground.

“H-how can this…?”

“Tada! It wasn’t a trick!”

Palcatus slowly backed up from Professor, who was shaking the stub of arm that he cut off. He didn’t understand what was so funny, but the man was smiling happily.

“I see, if the mutes made you based on my information, then you must really be my biological son…”

“W-what is that? How…? I cannot understand! That’s logically impossible!”

“Son. I think you haven’t met a proper opponent until now. Did you think that me, your father, would really charge into the enemy’s territory crawling with Rank 3 and Rank 4 mutes with just Blood Armor that depends on a limited resource called mana?”

Blood Armor did make up for his weakness called Glass Body, but because of the magical limit from his Level 2 awakening, his maximum output of the magic was only his left arm, thus unable to utilize its full potential. No matter how strong he was, it was impossible to survive in the middle of this many high-ranked mutes with just his strength.

Blood Armor played its role by buying time as bait. If something ever happened, there was always a card he could use to get out.

“Heheheheh. Son, want to see a magic trick?”

Shphwk!

Suddenly, a bloody mist exploded out of Professor’s body, and bones and muscle started to grow out of the flat surface where his arm was cut off. Then the arm was back.

“Ma-gic!”

“G-go away! I confirmed that you do not have mana! A human that’s not our kind… No, even our own kind does not have regeneration like that…!”

“Go away? My goodness, how could you say such a thing? Son, Father’s sad now. Don’t tell me, you’re… scared of Daddy?”

“T-that cannot be! As the son of the almighty Queen, I am a mentally perfect being! There is no way that I, a being that strives for the highest intelligence, could feel something like fea—”

“Aw. Hyde, I don’t think your younger brother knows what fear is.”

Pshhhhh—

Every step that Professor took forward, the blood from the mutes that surrounded him started to enlarge the muscles of the man.

Shhhhwooo— Glurk, gruk, kraggk!

Professor, now with a muscular body expanded to the limit from the Mutation Bloodlust mode, raised up his fist with a gleeful expression.

“I’ll need to teach you, then. A new area of knowledge. It’s what you were striving for, right?”

“D-don’t come any closer! Monster!”

“A monster story is nice! Now, son. Are you ready? Daddy, since you said you don’t know what fear is, will tell you a story sooo scary that you’ll think of it every time you lay down to sleep!”

Crunch!

Crouching down like an athlete on a track, Professor’s foot dug into the ground.

“And I’ll make you the main character!”

“Uh, uaaaahhhhh!”

Baaaaaannnnng!

With a sound similar to a cannon going off, Professor’s body shot up like a bullet, destroying the road and houses behind him just by pushing off the ground.