Chapter 40

The unkillable monster

BAM!

The sound of Ken’s head slamming against a wooden table echoes in the cabin causing everyone to look at him.

Currently, Ken, Saiko, and Daxia are seated around a small wooden table while Celine is preparing breakfast for everyone.

-what’s wrong with him?-

Celine asks while placing a plate of food in front of Saiko.

A blue holographic window displaying a video of Rin in his shop turns to face Celine.

-the research on life hit a dead end –

The lyrebird lands on Ken’s head and opens its mouth.

-haha ha-

The sound of a teenage boy laughing comes out of the bird’s mouth.

-your hubris knows no bounds boy; did you really think you would figure out the mysteries of life in one night? –

-oh, but he did –

-huh?!-

Rin responds nonchalantly causing a stupefied noise to come out of the lyrebird.

-in fact, that’s the problem, it seems that life acts somewhat like blood as in it has many different types that can’t mix so similar to how you need to get blood donation from someone that has the same blood type as you, if you want to transfer life from one person to another, they need to have the same type -

-if we save my daughter, she might be able to do something about it, she has life magic after all –

Celine says while placing the last plate of food in front of Daxia before sitting next to her.

Although she felt a mix of sympathy and admiration toward Saiko and how she gave up her life to save the lives of others, she wanted to shift the conversation back to Saving her daughter.

That’s the most important, no, the only thing that matters to her at the moment, everything else comes later.

‘Besides, it’s not like I lied, what I said was true, if anyone can help, it’s my daughter’

~no, your daughter wouldn’t be able to fix this, magic can’t break the laws of the world as Naoi puts it, at least not using any method Saiko would be willing to do ~

Ken mumbled the last part to himself in a low voice but Saiko was still able to hear it thanks to her heightened hearing.

She glances at him with the corners of her eyes then looks away.

She hasn’t been able to properly talk to him since the “incident”.

It was her first time seeing him look desperate like that.

She thought he would quickly get over it like every time and return to his confident even egotistical and obnoxious self but instead, his desperation is turning into obsession.

He spent every single second since the moment he took the book of knowledge from her researching life.

He didn’t even stop for sleep or food.

‘I am probably just overthinking it, it has only been one night, you can’t call that obsession, I am sure it will be okay’

Saiko reassures herself.

Although she knows she is only doing so because she can’t bring herself to ask him to stop, after all, it’s true that he is only doing this because of her own actions.

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-then I think we need to split up, although I appreciate you wanting to help, I can’t wait for you to solve your problems, I need to get my daughter –

Celine's words interrupt Saiko’s thoughts.

~you can’t, what we did wasn’t small, it was seen by people in other countries, they will be ready for you and even worse they will be expecting us with you so if you go alone, it’s a death sentence ~

-so, you want me to wait around doing nothing then? –

Ken raises finally raises his head and looks at Celine.

~no, we change the equation and add another variable ~

Ken turns to look at the lyrebird.

~you said you can see and hear through everything in the forest, right? ~

The lyrebird is silent for a moment then opens its mouth.

-yes, I can–

A hint of curiosity can be heard in the voice of the teenage boy.

~tell me where is the nearest Pulgasari ~

*************

Location: hideout of the followers of nature

-ha ha haHA HAHAHA, absolutely fascinating –

The leader of the followers of nature, Vioarr grins widely beneath his hood.

-this boy continues to amaze me –

Originally, Vioarr only cared about obtaining Saiko, the first of the living weapons, and the book of knowledge that he could use to complete the living weapons that the followers of nature already rescued.

He didn’t really care about the two bounty hunters traveling with Saiko and only considered them just be some icing on the cake.

At worst they would be tools he could use to control Saiko while at best they would become front line soldiers he could use instead of his followers to keep his followers safe, and certainly between the two bounty hunters, Daxia was the more useful one, Ken on the other hand was …. unimpressive.

He wasn’t a living weapon and he didn’t possess any unique abilities such as the Evil Eyes, in fact, one could argue he was more of a hindrance to the group, at least in terms of power.

-and yet the boy keeps punching way above his weight and even more surprisingly he keeps succeeding–

At first, Vioarr thought he was a fool who would lose his life rather quickly for challenging the world government but the boy was able to constantly predict the movements of the world government and respond to them nearly perfectly.

Even now despite the fact that Vioarr didn’t alert him about the members of the royal guards marching toward them, Ken had decided to tunnel underground with their car to avoid the royal guards.

In fact, Ken had already started avoiding the royal guards before the royal guards began their march toward them.

He also was able to discover the mysteries of life in a single night.

How amusing.

-and now he is traveling towards the unkillable monster Pulgasari, usually, that would be called marching toward your death but I feel like I am about to witness something very amusing –

Vioarr’s grin grows even wider but then a different lyrebird demands his attention and starts sharing its vision with Vioarr.

Vioarr sees Melky Alfred and Ron surrounded by the world government forces from all sides.

Although he said that the three of them would be on stand by in front of Saiko and the two bounty hunters, in truth they were sent to investigate a number of things that bothered Vioarr about Kim Sungta.

The least of which is the existence of Kim Sungta, it’s obvious that the world government could crush Kim sungta if they wanted so why haven’t they? And even if the world government is afraid of the girl with life now, why haven’t they invaded Kim Sungta before she was born?

These questions annoyed Vioarr a lot so he sent Melky and his two teammates to investigate and now the three of them discovered a world government base inside of Kim sungta.

SNAP!

Vioarr snapped his fingers and as though to answer his call hundreds of tree roots grew around the trio impaling the world government soldiers.

Melky turns and looks at the lyrebird with a wide smile.

- thanks boss –

- most of them shouldn’t have died instantly, pick a few of the survivors and interrogate them –

The lyrebird delivers the orders of their leader and the three followers bow toward it.

- on it-

Vioarr then turns his attention back to the lyrebird accompanying Saiko’s group.

-hmm, perhaps I can use Ken to solve some of these mysteries –

************

The lyrebird opens its mouth.

-we arrived the Pulgasari’s lair is above us –

Ken pulls the steering wheel toward him and the car starts to tunnel upwards breaking through the surface of the ground.

When they come out, they are met with complete with complete darkness.

It takes them a moment to understand that they are looking at the entrance of a massive cave, one so massive in fact, that they can’t see its ceiling.

_wh-

THUD THUD!

Before Saiko can ask, the ground starts to shake and crack as the sound of heavy foot steps fills the cave.

~ t…cl….~

Ken says something but no one is able to hear him from the loud footsteps.

He quickly makes the car shift from drill mode to off road mode and drives away as fast as he can as the loud footsteps continue to echo from the massive cave behind them.

THUD, THUD!

the giant behemoth slowly starts to reveal itself as it exits the darkness of the massive cave.

Four massive limbs exited the cave one by one each limb ends with a set of metallic claws that shine under the sunlight.

A ferocious body like that of a muscular bear covered in metallic scales and fur.

Its head was that of a predator with a tiger-like snout, sharp metallic teeth, two large tusks, and two horns growing from the sides of its head.

The giant behemoth of a being stood proudly in the forest towering over all of its inhabitants.

Ken presses a button on his glasses and it starts to measure the height of the massive creature as wide smile etches itself on his face.

~ a hundred and seventy feet, that’s a good one ~

The giant behemoth raises its head in the air and opens its massive jaws announcing its presence.

ROOOOAAAR!