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[CHE] 030. BLACK PROPHETS (5)
‘Fuck me……’
These are the words that came to Jonathan McCalpen’s mind as soon as he saw [it].
The last time he saw it three days ago, it was just a black mass the size of a man. It wriggles when you touch it, and occasionally emits a strange moan like ‘queaek’.
But what about now? It was bulky enough to occupy more than one-third of the room. It swelled more than six times in a few days. The surface of [it] continues to ripple black as if it were the surface of a stormy lake.
In addition, tentacles or roots extending from [it] were densely entangled in the room like a spider’s web. Strangely shining moss that had not been seen before is spread in a deep blue color as if to cover the area around it.
Something is wrong. Something is going very wrong. What the hell has happened here in the past three days?
It wasn’t just Jonathan who was surprised. The other prophets are also looking around with bewildered faces, as if this is a sight they have never seen before.
Only Kenneth Diggory, the creator of this surreal landscape, was watching them with a gentle smile.
‘I shouldn’t have set foot in a place like this in the first place……’
Jonathan backed away in a cold sweat, but Prince Morres passed him and stepped in front of Kenneth.
“The caterpillar of Bantra Moss. Fortunately, the channel isn’t open yet.”
He was more calm than expected. His face was a little hardened, Jonathan thought, but he looked a little angry rather than nervous. Maybe it was because of his eyes, which became fiercer after he lost weight.
Prince Morres.
The shame of the Holy Imperial Family, the biggest trash in Delcross.
Compared to the last time they met two months ago, the prince now looked like a completely different person. At first, Jonathan said he was wondering if he was right.
As if it wasn’t just his appearance that had changed, he, who would have been making a fuss before looking for Jonathan, is now just quietly moving his eyes and scanning the entire room.
Before long, the gray eyes that met Kenneth again were not fear or astonishment, but pure doubt.
“Why is a monster of Gehenna here?”
Ahahaha. Kenneth laughed loudly and happily.
“You know this? It is as the Sage said! He said that perhaps the prince would be able to share our mysteries with him. Indeed, bringing you here was not a wrong choice!”
“Sage?”
“Yes, soon you will be able to see him too.”
Kenneth said that and slowly started walking toward [it]. The roots-like things tangled on the floor wriggled violently as if they were earthworms the moment his feet stepped on them.
“Brothers, chosen prophets. There’s nothing to be afraid of! Evidence that our mystery is getting closer to the moment of truth has only now emerged.”
Kenneth, coming up close to [it], turned to the prophets and said.
“Everything is according to the prophecy of the Sage.”
His hard face was filled with unprecedented confidence, and for a moment Jonathan wondered if he was being overly frightened.
As expected, the members who were not sure what to do and kept an eye on it noticeably regained their stability.
“Everything is according to the prophecy of the Sage.”
“Everything is according to the prophecy of the Sage.”
Hahahaha.
Loud laughter reverberates through the wide space.
“How lucky you are, prince! Because at this very moment when the mysteries of this world open, you can be with us prophets.”
Saying so, Kenneth’s eyes had a strange glint in his eyes, like that of a fanatic.
Aah, everything is going crazy. Jonathan sat down on the floor, thinking.
The roots of the monstrous creature that moves little by little. The strange enthusiasm of the prophets, who are trembling with anxiety inside, but expect something to begin.
Only one, the still young Prince Morres, stood at the center of the mess, maintaining his composure.
He opened his mouth to Kenneth in a cold tone.
“Did the Sage say that? That if you only fill it with three people, something will open.”
Stop. Kenneth looks back at the prince in amazement. There was a stern expression on his straight face for a moment, but Prince Morres didn’t mind and continued.
“It’s not the mystery that you guys think about. It’s a channel that opens. Coordinates to connect that damn thing’s consciousness to its community, a signal to call other bantras here.”
“… What?”
“You don’t want to reform Delcross, but you want to destroy it?”
For a moment, Kenneth Diggory’s face contorted terribly.
“What are you talking about!”
“I’m saying that Sage deceived you.”
“Nonsense! Such nonsense……!”
Shaking his body, Kenneth began to lash out at the prince. He, who was a promising student at the academy, now looked like a madman who had completely lost his rationality.
“Are you going to deny the mysteries of this world! Are you with those hypocritical priests! I didn’t mean to call you here! After all, you are also the blood of that filthy Holy Emperor!”
However, even in the face of the violent rage aimed directly at him, the prince’s gaze did not waver in the slightest.
“Then answer me. Kenneth.”
Jonathan found out for the first time that a person’s pupils could look colder than the metal on a sword blade.
“Didn’t you really throw people at it as food?”
What?
For a moment, Jonathan’s mind went blank after hearing the unbelievable words.
People? What?
Then, as if cold water had seeped in, his head, which slowly returned to reason, began to think.
Was there really no price to pay for a black mass underground that had not seen any change for almost a year suddenly grow so big in a matter of days?
Come to think of it, where did the servant who stood guarding the door whenever he visited this stone chamber go?
Why didn’t the maid who cleaned the conference room of the prophets every time brought tea to them today?
The expression disappears from Kenneth Diggory’s horribly distorted face like the ebb tide. Jonathan could see the answer he didn’t want to know in his face.
“… This crazy!”
One of the prophets threw off his hood and shouted at Kenneth. It was Astley Vecher, the junior who first founded the Black Prophets’ Association with him.
“You fed that thing? Are you insane, senior?”
“… What?”
Kenneth, whose expression had completely disappeared from his face, stared at Astley with only his eyes wide open. Jonathan got goosebumps because it looked like explosives on the verge of exploding.
“How can we bet that such an obscure thing is really the mystery we are looking for? It’s just the words of the Sage! But throwing people in there? Is that true?”
“……”
“Calm down, Senior Kenneth! Didn’t I always say that the Sage is suspicious somewhere?”
Astley stepped right in front of Kenneth and he grabbed Astley’s black robe almost simultaneously.
“… Kuck!”
Kenneth Diggory smiled softly at the junior who struggled while being grabbed by the collar.
“If you’ve always had so many questions, why didn’t you tell me earlier? Astley. I have no choice but to give you the first chance to encounter the mystery.”
“… What!”
Astley’s face went pale. Instinctively, he knew what Kenneth was up to.
Sure enough, he dragged his junior by the collar and started to move towards the ominous mass.
“Three people. He said it would take three lives to open the door of truth.”
“Wa, wait……!!”
“I have nothing to say. Now, as a member of the proud Prophets, please be the final key to completing this great moment.”
Jonathan gritted his teeth as he looked at Astley, who struggled and was being dragged helplessly.
It’s a thing has grown enormously in just a few days. he had no idea what that thing would become if it ate one more person.
He needs to stop it… But there is no strength in his legs.
It was then that Prince Morres opened his mouth.
“Sorry, but.”
Schwing. A well-honed sword was pulled out from within the black robe.
“No matter what you do, that channel won’t open.”
Jonathan looked at his face casually and was at a loss for words.
The prince showed his teeth and smiled.
A light wind blew from the tip of the sword held upright, and at that moment the prince kicked the ground.
* * *
Crash-
The old mansion shook slightly from the sudden, weak vibration. Marthain and Kurt, who were sitting in the hallway and having a boring time, stood up in amazement.
Crash-
A series of vibrations are transmitted along the floor. Dirt and dust poured from the ceiling.
“… It sounds like it’s ringing from the ground?”
Could it be an earthquake?
The two pushed away the servant who tried to dissuade them and hurriedly ran toward the banquet hall. Earthquakes were rare in Delcross, but in preparation for the odds, the prince had to be evacuated from the old mansion.
“Your Highness!”
However, the banquet hall was empty. Soon, Marthain’s face contorted when he discovered a secret staircase leading to the basement at the corner of the banquet hall.
“No way……”
Crash-
Vibration rings again. The epicenter is obviously right below the mansion.
The two of them met each other’s eyes, and then both of them quickly ran down the stairs.
Queueek!
After inserting several knife needles, the bantra caterpillar wriggled madly and let out a vomit-like scream. It’s truly a mystery how a thing that doesn’t even have a proper vocal organ can make such a sound.
Because of the rubber-like thick skin, the sword couldn’t go very deep, but it struggled to die. Fluffy dust fell from the sturdy stone walls.
Leaving it wriggling as it was, Seongjin dragged Kenneth Diggory’s droopy robe.
This guy, is he okay? He forgot the Aura flowing through his body and hit the back of the head as hard as he could, and he felt something unpleasant.
“Hey, don’t get distracted there and come out here.”
He said to the prophet who was sitting in a daze.
It looks like he still can’t get out of the shock of almost becoming food for the caterpillar, but he still wanted to hurry up. If he got accidentally swallowed by the glowing caterpillar, this would be difficult. As it turns into a pupa, the channel will open.
The rest of the prophets had already been pushed out toward the corridor.
He winked at Jonathan, who stumbled up, and fortunately, he was quick-witted and quickly stepped out to help the fallen man. Of course, when he stepped on something like a wriggling tentacle, he was frightened and froze.
“You’re okay. It’s just like antennae or roots. It’s not dangerous yet.”
As if he was somewhat relieved by Seongjin’s words, he carefully avoided the roots and began to pull out the prophet.
Well, the moment it turns into a chrysalis, it will become a monster tentacle that entwines and kills everything that moves, but if he tells them that now, it will have the opposite effect.
Fortunately, the clever prophet soon recovered from the shock and started walking on his own feet, and the party worked together to drag Kenneth Diggory out of the stone wall room.
“Now take this guy upstairs. Go and call my escorts.”
Jonathan looked at him in surprise at Seongjin’s words.
“Yes? How about the prince?”
“I have to do something with that guy first.”
Jonathan made a very moved face, wondering what he was thinking about Seongjin’s answer.
No, it’s not like that. It’s not what you think.
He could have waited for Sir Marthain and Sir Kurt to come here, but Seongjin decided to try his hand first.
Although the final nutrient supply to become a pupa was blocked, there was also a slight possibility that the caterpillar, feeling threatened, could open the channel while undergoing incomplete metamorphosis.
Above all, Hunter Lee Seongjin had never left a wriggling monster alive.
While Jonathan and another prophet supported Kenneth Diggory on both sides, Seongjin grabbed his sword and headed back to the stone-walled room.
“Uh, is blood flowing from Senior Kenneth’s nose?”
“Didn’t he get hit in the back of the head? Why did his nose bleed when hit from behind?”
“Could it be brain damage……”
It’s dangerous here. Get out of here quickly, you guys!
T/N:
Things are gonna get exciting next chapter.