Soul Binder.
As its name suggests, it was a slime-type monster that grew stronger by binding the souls of its opponents.
It maintained its form based on the memories of the creatures it had absorbed, and grew stronger in proportion to their number.
“There were about 40 of them. Did it absorb all of them? Then it’s no different from a Guardian.”
Beings that hindered the infinite growth of players.
Guardians were always summoned as monsters at the level of a floor at least five floors above the current one.
And the monster in front of me as well.
Was absolutely not a 4th-floor-level monster.
“7 into Mana, the rest into Agility.”
[Agility: 15 → 18]
[Mana: 33 → 40]
The tip of Transix scraped the dirt.
Scrrk— Scrrk—
3m tall, resembling a human, yet in a form that could never be called a person.
It had no skin.
Instead, it had a dark bluish, translucent texture, inside which faces, arms, and legs floated about, jumbled together.
Its form imitated a person, but it was like a giant slime statue made to mimic the outline of a human.
“Disgusting.”
Wherever eyes, a nose, or a mouth were attached, different expressions irregularly appeared and disappeared.
Wails and screams flowed out, mixed with whispers that seemed to scrape at my eardrums.
Screaming mouths, faces contorted in pain, and empty eyes consumed by something.
Dragging my spear along, I slowly walked forward.
In that moment.
Glorp— Glorp—
The Soul Binder’s entire body sloshed as if boiling, and soon tentacle-like arms stretched out in all directions.
SHWOOK—
Dark blue liquid flew like an arrow and dug into the ground.
WHIP—
I lightly twisted my body to the left and let it slide past.
It was a movement as thin as a sheet of paper, but by that hair’s-breadth margin, the ground was deeply gouged and shook.
CRUNCH!
The stone shattered to pieces, and dark blue slime spread across the ground.
Wherever it touched instantly corroded, sending up hideous smoke.
‘Weak acid? It’s even poisonous.’
Before the tip of that arm had even vanished, another one swung in from a different direction.
The instant it entered my view, my body was already ducking low and rolling away.
Sarak—
The tentacle slicing through the wind grazed past over the back of my head.
I felt the ends of my hair being cut off.
Tak!
I bent my knees deeply and planted my feet on the ground.
The spring loaded into my heels connected to my thighs and waist, then rose up along my spine.
The moment I twisted my waist, my shoulder opened first, followed by my elbow whipping around.
Transix, taking shape at my fingertips, traced a whirling trajectory.
SHK—!
As the spear’s tip, loaded with sharp mana, cut through the air, the dark blue tentacle falling from above was cleanly severed.
SPLASH—!
Slime burst explosively from the cut surface of the severed tentacle, soaking the ground.
As I pulled my arm back and widened the distance again, its body squirmed grotesquely.
<……You.>
A voice brushed past my ear.
In the center of the slime mass, a distorted human face formed, and its lips moved.
<Living meat… it has been a while.>
For an instant, my steps halted ever so slightly.
Ordinary monsters can’t speak.
But this thing had devoured dozens of souls and acquired their memories and language.
“A mere monster using human speech. You don’t know your place.”
<Speech? Haha… I merely mimic… the language your kind created. I want to… have a conversation with you.>
“A conversation?”
Its voice didn’t belong to a single person.
Deep and high tones, male and female voices, all rolled in like waves at once, forming a discord.
<Yes…, a conversation…. You are… rather strong… for a human. Beyond compare… with the ones you… dispatched….>
“So what’s your point? You talk so slowly that it’s starting to get on my nerves.”
<Kekekek!>
It began to laugh, letting out a grotesque sound.
A brief silence.
Having apparently finished laughing, it opened its mouth again and began spitting out human speech.
<I wish… to propose… a deal… to you.>
The dozens of faces tangled inside its body spoke at the same time.
Soft whispers, a low, resonant voice, and a child’s laughter mixed together, followed by an unpleasant reverberation that seemed to scrape at my ears.
<I have already… sent… after the man and the woman… who were with you.>
“Sent? Sent what?”
<My clone. Their way…. Fighting is… a nuisance… so if you simply… come inside me, I will retrieve the clone… and let them go alive.>
I glared at it.
Normally, it was an absurd proposal.
It wasn’t as though I would suffer any harm if those two died.
They were randomly assigned teammates anyway.
But a certain flash of insight that crossed my mind stopped me.
“….”
Transix’s spearhead flickered like smoke and vanished.
The black mark spread back over the back of my hand.
“…Fine.”
Step— Step—
One step, then another, I moved toward it.
Each time my toes struck the dirt, the shadows sloshing inside its body moved to follow me.
It felt as though dozens of eyes were tracking me at the same time.
<I shall… enjoy this meal.>
In that instant, its body swelled as if boiling over.
Slosh— Slosh—
Its surface, like translucent slime made of human flesh, rippled like waves and spread out in all directions.
The moment I sensed a shadow falling over my head.
SPLAAASH!!
The translucent body came crashing down on me like a wave.
In an instant, my vision went dark, and sticky liquid and dozens of wails came crashing in from all sides.
Before my eyes was a space tangled like dark blue jelly.
Arms, legs, faces, and severed torsos floated in the squishy liquid, glaring at me.
Screams and cries poured out as if to tear my eardrums apart.
<Welcome…>
Dozens of voices echoed at the same time.
A man’s voice, a woman’s scream, and a child’s cry mixed together, coming at me like waves.
“So, what are you going to do now?”
<You…, need only stay still….>
Glorp— Glorp—
Something black and squishy wrapped around my entire body.
A heat as if my skin were melting, a pressure as if my soul were being dragged out.
Of course, it didn’t bother me in the slightest.
<Ahh…!>
Dozens of voices burst out at the same time.
Wailing, sobbing, and laughter mixed together, creating a single madness.
<Delicious!! So delicious!!!>
It howled as if sobbing, as if drenched in ecstasy.
I could clearly feel part of my soul being absorbed and leaving my body.
The curse-like karma accumulated through hundreds of deaths, thousands of slaughters, and endless regression was flowing into it.
Grin—
I sneered, as if baring my teeth.
“You really shouldn’t eat just anything you find, you know?”
In that instant, the Soul Binder’s body shook as if convulsing.
<…Huh?>
Its voice began to tremble.
White light spread along the sticky walls.
It wasn’t absorbing; it was flowing backward.
<Kyaaaaaaaaack!!!>
Its scream burst out.
The thousands of karma it had taken from within me spread through it like poison, tearing its form to shreds.
<Wh…, what is this!?>
Its skin split, and dozens of faces contorted and burst.
Its flesh melted, and black liquid scattered in all directions.
Glorp— Glorp—
It forcibly clumped its splitting body back together.
<Th…>
“Is this all you’ve got?”
The trial on the 60th floor in the past.
There, one called an angel analyzed the souls of players, judged good and evil, and handed down trials.
Here, a single question.
If I had committed massacres in past runs but lived kindly in this run, would my soul be good or evil?
The answer is.
‘Evil.’
The monsters, players, and everything else I had killed across all 999 past runs.
All of that evil karma had accumulated intact in my soul.
‘The soul doesn’t change.’
Then how much evil had I accumulated over hundreds of regressions?
Thousands? Tens of thousands?
No, it was probably more than all the evil of humanity currently in existence combined.
<Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!>
Its rage exploded.
Even as its form collapsed, its tentacle-like arms stretched madly toward me.
<Even if I die… you, at least, you bastard!!>
“See, you shouldn’t have eaten something a stranger handed you.”
Transix took shape as if blooming from my fingertips.
“And let me tell you one more thing—”
The black mark flashed for an instant, and the spearhead was completed.
“The evil soul of mine that you took… isn’t even 1%.”
CRASH!
Firmly planting my lower body, I advanced with explosive force.
My shoulder, elbow, and wrist rotated in sequence, loading rotational force into the spear.
The mana flowing through my blood vessels condensed at the spear’s tip as if exploding.
[Original Skill activates.]
《Pulverize》
KABOOOOOM!!
After a single penetration, a massive rotation followed.
The Soul Binder’s body was ground apart from the inside, slime and flesh scattering in all directions.
“The recoil on my body definitely went down now that it’s become a skill.”
The power had gone down too, but that was something that would be filled in as I grew.
Swish—
Raising my spear, I watched its final moments.
All that remained were sticky traces and the deep marks of the impact gouged into the ground.
It had vanished without even leaving its form behind.
“I figured it’d absorb at least 1%… the effect’s negligible.”
The nine Trials that must be passed through someday.
Among them, the Trial of Karma grows more difficult with each run.
‘Because there’s no escaping the karma accumulated in the soul.’
Killing monsters, massacring Red Players, all of it counts as karma.
And I…, over 999 runs, had accumulated more karma than anyone.
“Well, I didn’t expect much in the first place. It’s just a Soul Binder absorbing it, after all.”
DING—
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
“Oh, still, killing it after it absorbed a fair amount made the experience pretty sweet.”
[The mission has been completed.]
“Looks like they arrived earlier than I expected.”
[Transferring to the destination.]
“No, send me to the lobby.”
[Moving to the Korea Tower Lobby.]
Zzziiing—
When I closed my eyes, the sounds of the forest disappeared along with a sensation of my body floating.
Flutter—
And when I slowly opened my eyes….
I was back in the noisy Tower lobby.
“No need to say goodbye separately.”
[The reward will be granted.]
[Common Grade item ‘King’s Horn’ has been granted.]
“What? Why would this be on the 4th floor….”