[Amid the endless dumping of garbage and spreading contamination, the residents of Mekal Town burrowed underground like moles.]
[They arbitrarily extended the existing sewer pipes and dug tunnel after tunnel in order to survive. Naturally, there was no proper design, and the resulting underground became a vast maze in which outsiders could never find their way.]
[The problem was that descending underground did not allow them to escape the contamination. The toxins found throughout Mekal Town seeped into the earth and grew even more concentrated. Eventually, even the residents abandoned the deepest levels.]
【Entering Filth Park D.】
[This is Filth Park.]
They really did talk too much.
Even treating it as a review was exhausting.
[Not a single ray of sunlight reaches this place, and there is neither grass nor a single tree. Instead, garbage, ownerless corpses, and sticky toxins cover the ground.]
‘Every time I come here, it feels like I’ve entered the inside of a ball.’
[That is because Filth Park is spherical.]
‘I know.’
Anyway,
Filth Park was divided into five areas, from A to E. Every area was round, and the five circular spaces were stuck together in an irregular cluster.
A question suddenly occurred to me.
‘Why did they dig the ground like this? More importantly, how did they even manage it? Shouldn’t they have dug in straight lines or something?’
[The residents detonated bombs to develop the underground.]
‘……?’
[The residents detonated bombs to develop the underground.]
‘I heard you for the first time.’
[On that day, everything in Mekal Town, including the Scrap-Metal Tower, nearly became buried deep underground. A great many people prayed to me to save them. Still, there was progress. Afterward, the residents reinforced the materials used for Filth Park’s inner walls. Now, even countless explosions cannot shake them.]
‘Did they really have to experience it before realizing that? Why are they so stupid?’
[You are hardly any different, you ignorant fool.]
There was no point in continuing the conversation.
Returning to the matter at hand.
Just as strange life-forms resembling earthworms existed in the sewer pipes I had passed through earlier, bizarre creatures also lived in the thoroughly contaminated Filth Park.
However, the danger they posed was on an entirely different level.
The creatures before me were proof enough.
【Lv 33. Plague Mutant】
Beastlike creatures with eyes and legs plastered all over their bodies crawled along the rounded walls.
Some resembled rats. Others resembled bats, centipedes, or cockroaches.
Every one of them was twice my size.
Purple ichor flowed like honey over the smooth skin of the grotesque creatures.
That ichor was poisonous.
I had extracted and analyzed it separately once. The poison itself was not particularly potent, but that only applied to me because my Toxin Resistance had increased over time.
It was more than dangerous enough to serve as a weapon against other Players.
SKREEEEE?
KREEK, KREEK-KREEK-
At that moment, the mutants turned their heads toward me.
They then began closing the distance, although I could not tell whether they were rolling or crawling.
‘……How are those things coming toward me?’
They should not have been able to detect me.
I looked at Grid again.
“Has the drug already worn off?”
[The deception concealing you is fading.]
[Status Enhancement - Camouflage (Plague Mutant) will be removed in 0:02.]
[0:01]
[Removed.]
FSSSH-
The purple energy that had spread around my entire body like mist disappeared.
The potion I had made by extracting the mutants’ poison and refining it into something resembling perfume had expired.
“Quickly, take out another Camouflage Potion.”
[─────.]
“Don’t tell me we’ve run out of potions.”
[Fear begins to consume Akkun’s gaze.]
“You bastard! If we didn’t have any spares, you should’ve told me beforehand! Huh? Huh?! Hey! Where are you going now?”
The black screen that had been floating beside me slowly rose toward the ceiling.
‘There they go again…….’
Grid appeared to be entering their insufferable director mode again.
They would retreat to a distance, observe my actions, and narrate everything as though it had nothing to do with them.
For a moment, I considered yanking their leash and dragging them down beneath my feet, but I gave up.
This was not the time to argue with Grid.
[Akkun’s gaze remains fixed upon the mutants.]
The encirclement gradually tightened.
I had used every Camouflage Potion, so I no longer had any way to avoid the mutants.
Only one method remained.
[Akkun focuses his eyes.]
I had no choice but to break through with force.
[He lightly loosens both wrists, gripping a dagger in one hand and the center of a wand with the other.]
The moment I focused on my heart, the Mana Circuits running alongside my blood vessels writhed like rubber tubes and carried Mana throughout my body.
A tingling sensation followed, as though every cell in my body were awakening from sleep.
[Red Mana begins bubbling over Akkun’s skin.]
The preparations were complete.
[To activate his Skill, he speaks with a voice infused with Mana.]
【Mana Manifestation】
It was an Active Skill I had honed over the past three months.
Its function was simple.
It allowed me to materialize Mana.
The more Mana I invested in the Skill, the larger and harder the resulting substance became.
That was the full extent of its function, but it was still an excellent Skill.
Depending on how I manipulated the Mana and what I imagined, it possessed limitless possibilities.
WHOOOO……
Just like this.
[The red Mana crawls across Akkun’s skin before gathering around both hands, writhing like clay as it takes shape.]
A sword hilt as large as a person formed around the hand holding the dagger.
[A massive shield forms around the hand gripping the short wand.]
I took a small breath.
[Akkun charges toward the mutant that has approached directly before him.]
This one first.
KRAAAAAASH!
[Akkun crushes the mutant before him with the massive shield.]
The sensation was disgusting.
It felt like striking a piece of meat soaked in mud.
[Disgusting black fluid sprays in every direction from the area crushed beneath the shield. Several drops land on Akkun’s face.]
This was why I did not want to fight mutants.
Once I became entangled with them, there was no way to avoid getting filthy.
[At that moment, a mutant approaching from behind swings a whip-like antenna. Akkun lowers himself into a crouch.]
WHOOOOOSH!
A fierce gust swept over my head.
Had I reacted even slightly later, it would have cracked my skull open.
[Having narrowly avoided the antenna, he displays an impressive technique, thrusting the hand holding his blade backward while keeping his head facing forward.]
SHNK-
This time, it felt like stabbing through tree bark.
The cockroach mutant’s grotesque scream rang clearly in my ears.
[At that moment, two bat-shaped mutants charge from either side of Akkun.]
They were fast.
They could even alter their trajectories in midair, so avoiding them appeared difficult.
[Akkun curls tightly into himself like a turtle and transforms the shape of his Mana into a chestnut burr. Sharp spikes extend in every direction.]
SHNK-SHNK-SHNK-SHNK!
A bizarre sensation, like something gnawing at my bones, seeped through the Mana surrounding my entire body.
A pair of unnatural screams soon sounded from either side.
[They are the death cries of the two bat mutants, whose bodies have been more than half-impaled by the spikes. DING- After confirming that the EXP from both Monsters has been calculated, Akkun retracts the spikes of the chestnut burr. His expression has stiffened.]
My head suddenly spun.
That often happened when I consumed a large amount of Mana in a short time, but surely……
【Lv 45. Akkun】
【HP : 867/905】
【MP : 1,462/3,092】
It was worse than I had expected.
More than half of my Mana had evaporated.
That was the sole weakness of 【Mana Manifestation】.
Its Mana consumption was extreme.
It was far too extreme.
It made me sigh every time I used it.
[With his lips twisted, Akkun begins walking toward the center of the park. Five rat- and centipede-shaped mutants are also descending the slope toward him.]
It seemed I would have to abandon the idea of beating those creatures to death personally.
That did not mean I intended to run away.
[Akkun curls his finger impatiently.]
It was time to use an item.
ZZZZT-
[The Inventory opens in midair, and an hourglass-shaped glass bottle drops into Akkun’s right palm. A dry fuse resembling one attached to a bomb protrudes from the bottle’s cap.]
A peculiar burnt odor came from the fuse.
That was only natural, since I had coated it heavily with powdered Mana Stone taken from a Fire Lizard Monster.
[Two types of liquid coexist within the hourglass-shaped glass bottle. A viscous gray liquid fills the upper chamber, while a yellow liquid fills the lower chamber.]
The liquid on top was ‘Rock Oil,’ which could only be found in a place called the Ashen Mist Plateau.
The substance below was the gastric fluid of a lion-shaped Monster with bat wings and a scorpion’s tail.
[A thin membrane of sugar exists at the center of the glass bottle. It prevents the two liquids from mixing.]
However, it could hardly be called a safety mechanism.
The membrane was so fragile that even a small amount of heat would melt it.
[Akkun brings the fuse of the glass bottle near his mouth and gently exhales Mana as though cooling hot food. At the same time, the fuse turns red.]
The burnt smell grew stronger.
The upper portion of the glass bottle gradually began heating up.
[Grotesque cries sound from every direction at that moment. However, Akkun does not even look at the mutants as he repeatedly clenches and opens his left hand.]
As I summoned Mana once more, my left palm tingled as though ants were crawling across it.
Even so, I did not lose focus.
[Before long, a chain with a sharpened tip resembling a scorpion’s tail is held in his left hand. He throws the chain toward the ceiling.]
CLATTER-RATTLE!
The chain uncoiled with a tremendous noise.
A moment later.
CRUNCH!
The sound of something embedding itself rang out.
[The chain connects to the ceiling.]
I kicked off the ground and leaped while rapidly shortening the chain.
[Akkun’s body is pulled toward the ceiling as though being drawn by a pulley. He looks down at the mutants gathered in the center of Filth Park. Before long, he turns his gaze away.]
The light hurt my eyes so badly that I had no choice but to look away.
[The red light emitted by the glass bottle lying among the mutants grows even more intense.]
The Mana Stone powder coating the fuse possessed the property of heating up the moment it came into contact with Mana.
That meant the Rock Oil inside the bottle was already boiling.
[Akkun gently closes his eyes and envelops his entire body in Mana. It takes the shape of an egg.]
By now, the sugar membrane at the center was probably melting in an instant.
[The moment the two liquids inside the glass bottle mix, intense heat begins boiling violently from within.]
A highly acidic liquid and an oil with a low ignition point met under intense heat.
[The glass bottle swells like a balloon, and red light brightly illuminates Filth Park.]
What would happen next was obvious.
[Explosion.]
BOOOOM───!
The blast rang out with enough force to rupture my eardrums.
[However, the explosion is only a momentary threat. The most dangerous element now is the red smoke that has completely consumed Filth Park.]
The explosive substances contained in the 【Lv 50. Explosive Potion】 had mixed with the mutants’ blood and ichor, forming a poisonous fog.
Fortunately, it was not particularly lethal to me.
As I had said before, my body possessed high Toxin Resistance, so most poisons had little effect on me.
In truth, I had also run out of disinfectant and had no other option.
I would simply have to endure it.
What else could I do?
[Akkun releases the chain and the barrier before landing lightly on the ground.]
“Hey.”
[His right hand─]
YANK!
When I pulled on the leash, the black screen clinging to the ceiling shot toward me.
“All the mutants are dead. Shut up already.”
[He does not appear to have noticed the presence approaching from behind.]
“What do you mean, behind me? Who?”
[I have told you countless times to sharpen your senses, yet you remain hopelessly dull, Akkun. I did not expect you to overlook even the person you have been so conscious of.]
The person I had been so conscious of?
No way.
I swallowed and turned around.
Sharp eyes were visible beneath white hair.
Below them was a long white coat.
He approached through the dark red fog with one hand in his pocket and the other covering his mouth.
Once he came within approximately five steps of me, the self-introduction profile he had personally written appeared above his pupils.
【Parakel】
【Former Lead Researcher of the New Drug Development Team at Gaseong Pharmaceuticals. Currently the Dedicated Pharmacist of the Namwon Guild. I accept requests only for Potion Appraisal, rare-material analysis, and technical commissions. All other inquiries are politely declined.】
It was Parakel.
He spoke without changing his expression.
“What do you think you’re doing, setting off explosives in a place like this?”
His voice was as dry and flavorless as a desiccated medicinal herb.