120 – Qualifications of a Hero – 5

How could one trap enemies within a certain area and prevent them from escaping?

The answer was the Unique Territory.

—Under the influence of the Unique Territory, health recovery accelerates, and your senses become more acute. You feel your mana being amplified by the foreign mana. You have become a temporary guardian defending the lair.

—Under the influence of the Unique Territory, health recovery accelerates, and your senses become more acute. You feel your mana being amplified by the foreign mana. You have become a temporary guardian defending the lair.

Although even Gi-jun had not realized it until now, Fatum’s greatsword actually contained a fragment of the Unique Territory—in other words, a holy relic—just like the one Gi-jun possessed.

Originally, for an individual to possess a holy relic and create a Unique Territory was an absurdly luxurious thing, regardless of its difficulty.

It could be said to be a weapon of decisive battle that only Fatum, who had grown up receiving full support as someone with the blood of the Tyrannus Imperial Family flowing through him, could have created.

“Although I cannot maintain it for long.”

A small dragon, too great to be called a Draconian, glared at his enemies and declared.

“It will not take long either.”

“A Unique Territory, so you are a hero. I have heard that there is a cheeky hero who goes around revealing all of their cards with such guts.”

Even though he had just had his heart broken in the worst possible way, Frankenstein Junior looked quite calm.

Or perhaps he had simply lost his mind completely.

“A Unique Territory is certainly great, but this is also my workshop… Shall we see about slicing a lizard’s neck?”

The bastard slashed his own forearm with a dagger he had pulled from his breast at some point.

The black stream of blood that shot up like a fountain turned into a thick fog of demonic energy, enveloping the monsters that had rushed out of the iron cages.

An ability called brainwashing, or perhaps taming.

Although his direct combat ability was lacking, he possessed an outstanding talent for creating, transforming, and controlling other things.

Just as he himself had been born.

—Screeech!

—Shriek!

The strengthened monsters did not yield to the pressure emitted by Fatum’s Unique Territory, and each let out a bizarre shriek as they glared at the party.

There were types similar to fairies, like dryads, and there were types that looked completely like monsters, but the only thing they had in common was that they were all female.

Furthermore, considering the fact that the bastard had been courting Ji-hye until just a moment ago.

Gi-jun could also tell very well what kind of research the bastard had been conducting here.

And what the result of that had been.

Realizing that, Gi-jun unintentionally blurted those words out.

“You tried to make a woman who would accept you yourself. And you failed.”

In the original work written by Mary Shelley, the monster demanded that Victor Frankenstein, who created him, make him a bride, but this guy could be said to have been more active and enterprising.

Although in the end, he failed just as in the original.

“Kugh—?!”

It must have struck a chord; at the same time Frankenstein Junior’s gaze stabbed into Gi-jun, the gazes of the other monsters following his orders also turned toward him all at once.

Gi-jun, who had seemed slightly flustered, laughed awkwardly, and then…

In the next moment, his entire body flashed violently.

It was Luminescent Provocation.

“Kill that bastard—!”

—Screeech!

—Kill, kill kill kill kill kill!

—Curse you, I’ll curse you!

Frankenstein Junior, who had been maintaining a cold attitude just a minute ago, immediately lost his reason at Gi-jun’s consecutive provocations.

Naturally, the monsters that had been holding their formation also went wild and charged at Gi-jun all at once. As if he had been waiting, Gi-jun raised his two shields, took a defensive stance, and whistled.

“Whew, mission accomplished.”

“Oppa, you look like a really bad person right now!”

Even though heavy attacks, magic, and curses poured in from all directions, his posture did not waver in the slightest.

Since they were focusing only on Gi-jun, who had solidified his defense, while ignoring Fatum, the strongest force here—when their chances of winning would have been low even if they had reorganized their ranks and attacked carefully—what followed next was as clear as day.

“As expected!”

“Damn it, I believed in you, sir!”

Not to mention Fatum, who had been ready to pour out his boiling power at any moment, Lectus, who was the most heavily influenced by the Unique Territory after Fatum since dragon blood ran through his body, rushed in from both sides and sliced off the heads of nearly half the monsters in an instant!

“Kugh?! Wh-what on earth is…”

Only after seeing the blood of the monsters spurting before his eyes did Frankenstein Junior regain his senses and wear a stunned expression, but it was already too late.

Gi-jun put on the most evil-looking expression he could manage and provoked him further.

“Come to think of it, the dryad, the naiad, and even the tsukumogami we defeated were all female. Why did you discard them like that? Was it because they refused you until the end? Is that why you made these creatures listen to you submissively?”

“Sh-shut up! You don’t understand how terrible of a pain it is to be hated by everyone just for the simple fact of being born!”

“If you have a problem with me, open your status window and prove your innocence!”

“Status window? A status window has no meaning! Even if I manipulate it, the fact that I am a monster does not change…!”

Hold on.

It felt like some crucial information had slipped out casually while they were engaged in a soul-stirring provocation.

Manipulate what now?

“You… can you change the display of the status window?”

“Yes, they were all played like fools! But even so, nothing essential changes. Those stupid humans and vampires, they were fooled so cleanly… ah.”

As Gi-jun’s expression changed, Frankenstein Junior, who had been spitting out words in anger, also wore an expression of having made a mistake, but the word that had slipped out was too crucial to gloss over.

As expected, this guy had been connected to the vampires.

“Did the vampires manipulate their status windows…?”

“I wondered how they could infiltrate even the key positions of the kingdom so flawlessly, but to think there was a way to change the display of the status window.”

At those words, even Fatum and Lectus could not help but be dumbfounded.

The status window, which was like an absolute standard on the Leta continent.

Since it meant its content could be changed at will, even if it was just a fabricated deception.

If even the status window could not be trusted, what on earth were they supposed to believe!

“Ha…”

“It is a disaster.”

Fatum and Lectus froze at the story they could not have imagined in the slightest.

However, Gi-jun, who was only recently summoned to Leta, was able to quickly regain his composure.

‘…Does it really change anything? It is not like I have been asking everyone I meet to show their status window. It only changes the display, not their actual abilities. I can just judge with my own eyes.’

Was that too shameless of a remark? If so, let’s revise it.

If he borrowed the power of Lucy, who had a knack for seeing through light and darkness, there would be no problem in the future either.

Moreover, had the monster himself not said it?

That even if he manipulated the status window, the fact that he was a monster did not change.

Since those words came from the mouth of someone who took the form of an infinitely beautiful human on the outside, it felt all the more ironic.

Perhaps it was because he was such a person that he had awakened the ability to manipulate the status window.

“…Yes, I bestowed that false authority upon them.”

With an expression of having let go of everything, Frankenstein said.

“The vampires, who wanted to deceive humans with an attractive appearance, infiltrate their midst, and ultimately bring down the entire kingdom, were able to obtain satisfying results just by manipulating the status window.”

“You speak of such a horrible deed as if it were a proud achievement!”

“But I could not do that. I do not know what the problem was. On the outside, I should not be much different from them. Why on earth. Why.”

“Why.”

“Why. Why.”

Frankenstein, repeating the same words like a broken robot.

It was probably an illusion, but the other monsters swarmed toward him as if trying to comfort him.

Gi-jun, freed from the offensive, switched his two shields to attack mode and said.

“It looks like it will be hard to extract any more information.”

“This is enough. …Although I am a bit flustered by the result, which is different from what I expected.”

“I am already starting to worry about the aftermath.”

Fatum raised his greatsword.

Most of the mana that made up the lair was sucked into it, shaping an aura in the form of a giant sword that could reach the ceiling.

“You gave birth to disaster. Pay the price for your sin now.”

“Haha, the true disaster has not even begun yet!”

At that very moment.

The monsters swarming toward Frankenstein Junior began to fuse with him all at once!

“Fatum!”

“Have you accepted that you are a monster in the end!”

“No, this is negation, not affirmation! Because not a single person accepted me! Yes, I am negating myself as well! And everything!”

Fatum had no intention of listening to any more gibberish.

The greatsword, filled with Dragon’s Breath, lunged in a straight line, slicing Frankenstein and the monsters in half all at once, but…

Surprisingly, the monster’s flesh, split in two, squished together like clay and fused back into one.

The moment the unified mass throbbed violently, cracks split across the lair formed by the holy relic, and the earth shook.

“To think it is resisting the Unique Territory…!”

“Ur!”

—Kihyeet!

Gi-jun also drove a giant flame fang, shaped by joining his two shields, into the mass, but surprisingly, it did not seem to take much damage even from the evil-burning spirit’s fire.

As Lectus was about to follow Gi-jun and attack, Ji-hye, who had finished her analysis from behind, shrieked.

“It is a rampage! It is absorbing all mana indiscriminately and fusing it together, so even if we attack now, it will only become nutrients!”

“If he does that, no matter how outstanding the monster’s regeneration ability is, he will not be able to withstand the load and will explode to death!”

“Of course he will die, but he could kill us all before that! So…!”

However, Ji-hye had no intention of dying yet, and fortunately, she had analyzed his mana while unintentionally being in close contact with Frankenstein Junior for a period spanning two days.

“I will try!”

Boldly stepping out from behind Gi-jun’s back, she strode toward the mass.

Even though it was a bomb just waiting to go off at any moment, because she knew that until it exploded, it did not matter what she did.

“You seemed to think that I created a universal mana circuit that everyone can operate, but you are wrong.”

Ji-hye whispered the truth of the mana circuit, which he had wanted to know so badly, to Frankenstein Junior, who was likely buried inside the mass and listening to her words.

“Because the mana circuit I made is a variable circuit that easily accepts the user’s own unique mana and changes to match it.”

If he had known how Ye-min, who had learned her mana circuit, had developed it, he would never have made such a mistake.

“Can you understand what that means, Fatum?”

“It sounds like she is saying everyone can have their own unique circuit.”

“Exactly. Because it is thoroughly customized for the individual, there are no side effects even if they learn another circuit.”

That was an achievement far greater than what the mages of the Magic Tower had initially thought.

Frankenstein Junior was obsessed with universality.

However, the mana circuit Ji-hye created pursued extreme uniqueness.

Even if Frankenstein Junior’s identity had not been a monster, this was the reason why the paths the two walked could not coincide.

—Squish

Ji-hye’s boldly outstretched hand was buried inside the mass.

The monster, who had already lost even the ability to distinguish between self and other, sought to draw her in, but her unique mana was flowing at high speed through the mana circuits that made up her entire body, easily repelling the attempt.

No, that was not all.

She boldly interfered with the mana flowing through the monster’s body, imparting a flow to all of it at once.

A mana circuit that allowed mana to regain its uniqueness.

To put it the other way around—a mana circuit that repelled all mana of a different nature from oneself!

“Eeeek!”

Having accomplished her goal, Ji-hye let out a bizarre scream and pulled her hand out, then quickly ran back behind Gi-jun to hide.

There was no need to ask what she had done.

Because from inside the mass that had been swelling as if it would explode at any moment, a monster that had lost its shape and half-melted popped out like popping popcorn.

—Screeech!

As soon as Fatum cut it down, another monster popped out.

Then another monster, and yet another.

The monsters, who had already lost their combat power, were killed one by one by the hands of the party as soon as they popped out.

As the popcorn began to pop in earnest and the monsters popped out, the size of the mass naturally had no choice but to shrink.

And what remained at the end was, of course—only a single monster who had failed to become human.

“To think I was rejected even by the monsters.”

That he still had the sanity to speak while dying was indeed an amazing display of willpower.

Or rather, should it be said that he had regained his senses for a moment?

Fatum tried to strike down his greatsword to kill him just like that, but…

Ji-hye, who had been hiding behind Gi-jun, poked her head out out of some whim, stared at Frankenstein Junior, and said softly as if whispering.

“I guess you were not even a monster.”

“Puhut, you of all people say that?”

Although it was nothing more than lip service, he had no choice but to burst into laughter in the end.

“Really, a woman’s mind is impossible to understand.”

The greatsword was swung.

Gi-jun, who had been watching Frankenstein Junior’s end with a somewhat sentimental expression, felt the Unique Territory slowly dissipate and thought:

‘I wonder if the kids are doing well.’