(TN important: It had not been mentioned, unless mistaken, but the last chapter was somewhere in the future, and this chapter is the continuation of what happened after the coup d’état made by Prince Ludwig and the battle of our MC against the holy knights, where in the end he got snatched up by Orvo…..Enjoy!)
(Pov scorpion)
I found myself again inside an egg before I even realized it. Was this the scenery I saw before I was born? No, that’s not right. From the outside of the shell I am in, I can see a big fish swimming leisurely.
Was I underwater? Why am I in such a place… Wait, hey, that fish over there, why is it coming towards me? It, it’s eating the nearby eggs! Stop it! Don’t eat me! I have a mission to live for a hundred years! I haven’t even been born yet, I absolutely can’t…
“Gishi…?”
…It seemed that the underwater scene was just a dream. I woke up from my sleep due to the feeling of despair from not being able to fulfill my mission. Waking up from my own dream… So that’s what a nightmare felt like.
Although I woke up from that vivid dream, the current situation was far from good. That’s because I was restrained and bound by chains in the center of a room with walls and a ceiling engraved with spiritual circuits. How did I end up like this?
Let me try to recall what happened. The mansion was attacked, Georg was killed, and I escaped. Then I sought revenge on the female slave and made her a grave. After that, I somehow managed to defeat an outrageously powerful old holy knight, and then slaughtered the enraged holy knights. Yes, I remember up to that point.
However, I had no memory after that. I probably lost consciousness after killing all the holy knights and was brought here by someone’s hand.
It’s unlikely that I was being kept alive by someone related to the holy knights. So, who brought me here and for what purpose? It’s obvious from the condition of this room that it’s not for a good reason. Despite desperately surviving that intense battle, it seems I am still not free.
If there’s one silver lining, it’s that my injuries have been mostly treated, with only the last sword that pierced me remaining. The other wounds have been closed up. It appears that if I were to forcefully extract this sword, I would risk bleeding to death. Nevertheless, I cannot remain in this state indefinitely.
“Hey, over here! Come on, hurry up!”
“Stop it! Let me go, you madman!”
As I was assessing the current situation, I heard voices coming from outside the room. Despite having two of my jointed legs severed by the old holy knight, and a few more wounds here and there, as long as even one leg remained, I could discern the vibrations on the floor and gauge out my situation.
Two voices, unmistakably belonging to young males, echoed through the air. The footsteps, however, indicated the presence of only one person, accompanied by an eerie dragging sound. It was as if one of them was dragging the other, and the stark contrast between their tones was palpable. One voice was filled with glee, while the other seethed with uncontained anger.
Normally, one would assume that the angry voice belonged to the one being dragged. After all, if it were the other way around… that would be beyond comprehension.
The voices were gradually getting closer, but all I could hear were insults and dismissive words. It seemed like I would have to continue playing dead and wait, as there was no information about my fate in their conversation.
“Alright, we’ve arrived. Heave ho!”
“Ouch! What the…? Who the hell is this!?”
As I was watching, the voice grew closer, and the only door in the room was kicked down. In walked a male member of the Furu race, dressed in a robe, who seemed to be a spiritualist, along with a male member of the Reka race who was bound tightly with chains extending from the hem of the other party’s robe.
The Reka race, like the Furu and Popi races, were humanoid species known for having a third eye on their foreheads. The male Reka race member was thrown and came crashing into me while still bound by the chains, coming to a stop.
He tried to complain to the spiritualist, but he looked frightened when he saw me. Bound by chains, he wriggled like a caterpillar, trying to keep his distance from me. Despite his bluster, he might actually be quite timid.
“How rude! Let me tell you, he’s the strongest insect-type creature I know of. He’s worth more than trash like you, a small-time thug causing trouble in the slums.”
“What did you say!? Don’t mess with me! I’ll kill you!”
The insulted male Reka race member’s face turned red with anger. He raised his three eyes and shouted, but being bound by chains made his threats more ridiculous than intimidating. The spirit didn’t seem to care at all, as if sharing the same impression as me.
The spiritualist ignored the incessant shouts of the Reka race, who continued to curse loudly as he closed the door and activated the spiritual circuits on the wall. At the same time, he took out a mysterious substance from the hem of his robe and placed it on the floor.
Hey, where did that come from? The total amount of the substance he took out clearly exceeded the volume of the inside of his robe. Could it be a spiritual art that manipulates space? I didn’t know such a technique existed.
“Ugh, you’re so noisy… Oh, that’s right. You have only one thing of value,” the spiritualist said with excitement.
“Huh!?”
“Your rare aptitude for spiritual arts .That’s why I abducted you and brought you here… Consider it an honor. A useless guy like you can be useful for my research!”
The spiritualist continued his preparations with excitement. As he worked by the wall, he began to explain what he was doing.
“I am a specialist in creating synthetic beasts, you know. Have you heard of synthetic beasts? It’s when you combine different creatures together to create a new one. Depending on the combination, they generally become stronger, but… there are various problems.”
The spiritualist told me about the synthetic beasts problems, even though I didn’t ask. According to him, when creatures are turned into synthetic beasts, their intelligence decreases. Even if you combine intelligent beings, their intelligence always seems to decrease.
Indeed, I had never encountered a synthetic beast that was intelligent in all the battles I had fought. At best, they were on par with normal beasts, and at worst, they would rampage without realizing they were hurting themselves. So that’s what synthetic beasts were like… I didn’t know.
There were other problems as well. If you don’t combine creatures with good compatibility, their lifespan becomes extremely short. On the other hand, if the compatibility is good, their lifespan may even increase, but in the worst case, they may not survive for a day.
In addition, only living creatures could be used for creating synthetic beasts. It seemed that even if one beast had missing parts, it was not a problem, but if the creature from the deceased part is not alive, it will decay immediately after synthesis, according to him. It turns out that creating synthetic beasts is surprisingly difficult.
“And the biggest issue is that even if you paired the same species, the performance could vary greatly depending on the individual. Because the performance couldn’t be stabilized, no matter how much data I gathered, I couldn’t predict the results… until now!”
The spiritualist’s tone had been gloomy when discussing the issues, but now it had suddenly brightened as he placed a mysterious device taken out of his robe on the ceiling, as if to indicate that the discussion on the problems surrounding the synthetic beasts and their solutions had concluded.
“I have finally unraveled the cause of the problem! Can you believe it? If not, let me tell you. The cause was the soul! Even though the bodies were fused into one, the souls didn’t become one! In other words, the synthetic beasts I had created so far had multiple souls remaining in one body! Due to this unnatural state, both the body and the soul were unable to fully exert their original power!”
Multiple souls in one body… I see, so that was the true nature of the discomfort I felt every time I faced a synthetic beast. Living beings were supposed to exist as one body and one soul.
It was not surprising that problems would arise when deviating from the natural state. I thought it was highly likely that his words helf truth. It seemed that the cause had been identified, but I wondered how the issue would be resolved.
“When I unraveled the cause, the first thing I considered was how to merge the souls into one. But I quickly realized that it was impossible,” said the spiritualist. “My friend, who specializes in soul research, told me it was impossible. So, I came to this conclusion on how to proceed!”
“Huh…?” the Reka race exclaimed.
After finishing his work on the ceiling, the spiritualist landed and lightly waved his staff. Instantly, a blade of wind created by his spiritual power sliced through the neck of the Reka race member, tearing it apart. Wait, he just killed someone out of the blue! What is he doing!?
“Now, it’s a race against time from here on! I hope it goes well!” the spiritualist exclaimed.
With a strike of his staff on the floor, the spiritualist triggered the glowing of the ceiling’s spiritual circuit and the device installed on the ceiling. The chains that had been wrapped around the Reka race member extended upward, connecting to the device in the ceiling. The chains coiled up tightly, leaving the Reka race member hanging in mid-air with blood flowing from his neck and his eyes rolling back.
Then the mysterious substance placed on the floor of the room liquefied and adhered to the wound on the neck of the Reka race member. It made a slurping sound as it slipped into the body through the wound. What on earth is happening…?
“Checking the heartbeat! Hmm… Hmm… Yes, I did it! Once killed, the souls of all living beings will disappear from this world! But the body can be restored to the same state as when it was alive! With this, the soulless creature is complete! As expected of me, even though I failed many times, I can succeed perfectly when it counts!”
The spiritualist laughed maniacally. However, I was fearful as I thought about what would happen next. The specialist in synthetic beasts had prepared a soulless creature right in front of me. Considering all the information I had heard so far, I could guess what would be done to me.
I wanted to run away, but I was unable to move properly. As I tried to increase my fighting spirit and spiritual power, a black mist began to emanate from the chains. Then, both of the powers that were inside me dissipated into the mist.
Oh, are you awake already? It seems like you tried to escape on instinct, but I won’t allow that. You see, these chains are specially made to suppress the fighting spirit and spiritual power of the restrained opponent,” the spiritualist said.
Damn, they’ve already prepared for this! I’m not even allowed to resist…! What should I do? How can I escape from here!?
“No need to be so wary. I have great respect for you. That’s why I’ve prepared the finest vessel for you. Someone who has the aptitude for fire, wind, and earth, who is young and healthy, a human species that would cause no repercussions even if he went missing… I went through a lot of trouble to find him. I made full use of the organization’s information gathering capabilities. So…” The spiritualist said.
Once again, the spiritualist struck his staff, and the spiritual circuits on the walls and floor glowed ominously. The crimson light formed a chain of intricate characters that wound around my exoskeleton and the dead but intact body of the Reka race member.
The deep crimson glow filled my field of vision. At the same time, my body’s senses gradually faded away. The last thing I heard with my distant ears was the ghastly request from the spiritualist, “Become the ultimate synthetic beast, won’t you?”
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