Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 36

The Player Who Became a Constellation – Episode 36 (36/250)

36

Salad trembled with fear.

‘…Why, why is it here?!’

Worm Feast, a plague that creates the dead!

Seeing it, Salad couldn’t move.

Seeing that naturally reminded him of the old days.

The screams of countless people. Burning cities and fleeing people.

He struggled and fought to protect them. He resisted and worked tirelessly to endure.

But… that resistance collapsed so futilely that it was meaningless.

‘Why… why…! Why is the plague that destroyed Harness here!’

Exactly 50 years ago, the great empire built by the inhuman race that shook the continent, the Harness Empire ruled by the Demon King Kalib, collapsed.

It was due to the plague, Worm Feast.

The dead mercilessly killed, massacred, and devoured living creatures. And after endless advances, the country called Harness eventually perished, leaving only its name in the history of the continent.

However, in historical records, it was only recorded that it was destroyed by the ’12 Heroes’.

Seeing the Wight [undead creature], the events of that time came to mind.

The sight of countless soldiers fighting to protect themselves being eaten without even resisting was still vivid in his mind.

Their screams seemed to echo in his ears.

He wasn’t afraid of humans. But these guys were scary.

Salad was afraid of the Wights, who were only ravenous for food.

‘I hate it….’

His whole body lost strength due to the old trauma that came to mind.

‘Please….’

His body temperature dropped rapidly and he trembled.

Even though his body was cold, he was sweating and his spine was chilling.

‘Make those things disappear from my sight!’

At that time, the Wight rushed into a place surrounded by a transparent semi-circular wall of defensive magic. Salad was startled and looked ahead.

A hideously distorted face was staring at Salad.

His mouth opened and thick black blood and maggots poured out.

“……!”

The Wights kept waving their hands or hitting their heads, repeatedly opening and closing their mouths as if they couldn’t see the transparent barrier.

It was like a beast going crazy wanting to eat.

Salad covered her head and trembled with fear.

Was her prayer answered in the sky?

The Wights who were rushing in were all blown away by the morning star [a type of medieval weapon] that suddenly flew in.

“……?!”

Salad was startled and looked ahead.

Before he knew it, Loki was seen dodging the Wight Knight’s attack near the defensive magic.

***

“…That was close.”

Fortunately, the morning star brushed past the defensive magic. If it had hit the defensive magic directly instead of the Wight, the defensive magic would have collapsed.

‘This… I was having so much fun that I couldn’t pay attention to that side.’

Loki smiled unconsciously.

He felt ‘fun’ in the battle he was having for the first time in three years.

Yes, simple fun.

It’s not about feeling thrilled or excited about a fierce fight. That’s only when you meet an equal opponent.

But now, he simply found it so funny to see the ‘inferior bugs’ running around that he couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Yeah, it’s so funny.’

Isn’t that huge bulk staggering and swinging the morning star? [Referring to the Wight Knight]

He doesn’t even know how pathetic he looks as he struggles to catch his prey.

Not only the Wight Knight but also numerous Wights are rushing in from the surroundings.

Those who were once human. But now they were the dead.

That fact was of no value to Loki.

For him, whether they were the dead or humans, anyone who bared their fangs at him was unconditionally….

“I’ll burn you.”

…He would just burn them.

Loki lightly waved his hands to deal with the Wights. He moved smoothly, dancing with his feet.

Just touching the flames in his hands would cause the touched area to ‘disappear’ without leaving any ashes.

Even if he waved his hand from left to right, the upper and lower body of the Wight would split and disappear.

When he swung it from top to bottom, the body split from side to side and disappeared.

The Wights disappeared so pathetically compared to their power.

It was like a vampire in a movie disappearing when exposed to sunlight.

Loki closed his eyes, listened, and fell into appreciation.

The sound of his footsteps, the sound of the flames burning in his hands, the screams of the dead, all of it felt like music.

Loki was enjoying and savoring completely different music that was like noise and had no rhythm.

And that music was….

…Thump!

“…….”

…It was cut off.

A hand reached out from the floor near Paul, who was manifesting defensive magic. The hand mercilessly grabbed Paul’s leg, and then the Wight’s face popped out through the floor and bit Paul’s leg.

“Aaaaaagh!”

Paul’s scream echoed in the dark.

A chunk of his leg was gouged out and blood spurted out.

“…….”

In that moment… Loki’s movements stopped abruptly.

He frowned in embarrassment at the disruption of his appreciation and looked at Paul, who was captured by the Wight.

At that moment, hands popped out from the floor where Loki was standing and grabbed his leg. And other Wights crawled out of the floor as if they were crawling out of hell, trying to tear his body apart.

Insignificant bugs dare to rush to eat him.

They defiled Loki’s body with that foul vomit and disgusting bugs.

Loki was truly enraged.

“You buggers-!”

Loki lifted his foot and stomped on the head of the Wight crawling up from the floor.

Worm Feast, like blood and maggots, splattered everywhere and got on Loki’s clothes, but Loki no longer cared about that.

His body changed in an instant.

His head was covered with a goat’s helmet with horns twisted in a spiral shape, and his whole body was transformed into jet-black armor covered in darkness.

Gauntlets with hook-like fingers were worn on his burning hands, and a dark brown cloak fluttered over his shoulders.

Loki burned with red eyes.

It was no longer a human figure wearing a crow mask. There was only a being with an alien sense of incongruity that did not exist in this world.

The Wights flinched in surprise at the sight of such majesty and stepped back.

‘Fear’ rushed into them, who only had two instincts: appetite and reproduction.

The Wights trembled without knowing what that emotion was. And the only method they chose was to ‘attack’ as cowardly carnivores usually do.

Dozens of Wights rushed in at once.

“Jormungandr, Fenrir!”

At his cry, black haze flowed out from the jet-black armor.

The shadow gradually created black flames and turned into the head of a giant wolf and the head of a snake.

The heads of the beasts, connected as if the armor was their body, growled and licked their tongues, waiting for their ‘master’s’ command.

And….

“Eat them.”

At his short words, they moved without hesitation.

The necks of the wolf and snake invariably lengthened.

A huge mouth opened, and just touching it caused the flesh to collapse and be sucked in.

They devoured the Wights without leaving anything behind.

There was no savoring of the taste. The snake and the wolf just ‘ate’. They just followed their master’s orders.

The monsters that destroyed the world in Norse mythology.

The master who created the snake and the wolf simply crossed his arms and watched the scene.

In the blink of an eye, the place where the darkness had passed was all clean.

The Wight Knight swung his morning star at Jormungandr and Fenrir, but as soon as the morning star touched their bodies, black flames rose and evaporated it.

-……?

When the Wight Knight looked at his morning star with only the handle left, Jormungandr and Fenrir changed their target to the one who dared to attack them.

The snake and the wolf lightly bit and passed by the Wight Knight’s arms and legs.

As the Wight Knight’s heavy body, who had lost one arm and one leg, lost its balance and collapsed, the two beasts took turns tearing off pieces of flesh.

In just a few seconds, they disappeared into the air without leaving a single bone or drop of blood.

All the Wights that were there disappeared.

All that remained was the one Wight who was rushing towards Paul.

The Wight was so busy eating Paul’s leg that he was out of his mind. He was so distracted by eating one of Paul’s legs as if he hadn’t seen his fellow tribe die.

Lapilta and Albert had already lost consciousness. Salad was staring blankly at Loki, her soul gone.

Loki approached the Wight. And he stomped on the Wight’s head and crushed it.

“……?!”

Paul was no different from Salad.

He had no time to care about the pain and bleeding from his foot being eaten, or even the Worm Feast infection.

He was only looking at the ‘demon’ who was standing opposite the god in front of him.

He didn’t even have the strength to muster the courage to speak. He was just trembling with fear and looking at him.

“…Your condition is not good.”

Paul was startled by the cold voice, but he came to his senses.

In an instant, he screamed from the pain in his leg and the Worm Feast spreading throughout his body.

“Aaaaaaaagh-!”

Blood was gushing out from his tattered leg, leaving only his thigh. Not only that, but alien skin like blood vessels wriggled and crawled up Paul’s skin at a rapid pace through the wounds on his thigh.

His complexion turned pale, and blood flowed from holes such as his eyes, nose, and ears, as if it had crawled up to Paul’s face.

“Ah… ah ah ah…!”

The scream that seemed to tear his throat gradually subsided.

“S, save me…! I don’t want to die…!”

Paul shouted.

He didn’t know whether it was directed at the god he believed in or at the devil in front of him.

He just didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die so futilely.

There were still many things he wanted to do.

He wanted to learn many spells and experience many things. He wanted to travel with Lapilta and Albert a little more, even if it was because of a mission.

But… now everything was over.

No matter how strong the immunity is, it is difficult to prevent Worm Feast infection unless you are a divine power user.

Moreover, a magician who has not trained his body cannot withstand such a plague.

There are only two ways to cure this plague, which even magic is useless against.

One was the holy water of the High Priest of the Holy Order, and the other was the omnipotent potion that was spread as an unsubstantiated rumor.

He had already used the holy water a long time ago. So… only death awaits. No, he won’t even be able to die and will become a dead man!

“S, save… me… ple…ase…!”

Paul lost consciousness after saying those words.

Gradually, his body began to convulse slightly. Worm Feast was beginning to turn him into a dead man.

Loki, who was watching the scene, tilted his head slightly.

His eyes were filled with interest rather than worry.

“…This must be a small connection.”

It was a connection he made on his first journey.

Loki was impressed by them and had fun in his own way, even though it was short.

Loki took out a recovery potion and a detoxification potion from his pocket.

“I would be disappointed if that connection ended here.”

Loki moved his fingers and opened the lids of the two potions. And he poured it into Paul’s mouth.

“I don’t even know if this will work. I haven’t tested it on the plague. So, you become the test subject. If you live, you’re lucky, and if you’re unlucky and become a dead man….”

The goat’s red eyes flashed.

The potion fell on Paul’s mouth and seeped in.

“I will grant you peace.”

After a while… Paul’s body gradually began to regenerate.