I Became an Ancient All-Host Lifeform - Chapter 34

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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034 Welcome

The next day.
Debri Village, which had resembled a blood-soaked battlefield, had reclaimed its usual peaceful appearance.
Much of the credit belonged to the villagers themselves, who had volunteered enthusiastically to help, but Jimi and his mother played the crucial role in directing their efforts.

“Over here! We need to repair this fence too.”

Of course, when a massacre erupts in one’s own front yard, it makes sense to throw yourself into the work. But…

‘Well, it’s certainly convenient for me that they’re participating so actively and taking the lead in rebuilding the village….’

Yet from what I could tell, there was more to it than that simple explanation.
No—there was a far more important reason at play.

– I need to watch those two carefully. This is no ordinary game.
‘Yes. I felt it too.’

First, the pair’s eyes gleamed with unmistakable fervor.
The way they’d captivated the entire village as the “Children of the Forest” said everything you needed to know.
Certainly, if anyone asked them directly, they would claim their actions sprang from pure religious devotion. But would they?
They were wielding the status of “Children of the Forest” without question.
No matter how kindly they smiled on the surface, the hunger for power and ambition that lurked beneath was unmistakable.
That’s why I had warned Elina about this and urged her to be cautious.
She’d answered with resolute eyes.

‘Yes, Angel. I will help ensure that Jimi does not stray down the path of corrupted faith.’

…She always answered dutifully, but somehow I couldn’t quite bring myself to trust her completely.
Would Elina be able to lead our sect well in my absence?

In any case, my sect’s most pressing objective right now was to gain recognition from the Holy Court’s central headquarters.
No matter how many people had witnessed my miracles, the moment the Holy Court labeled us heretics, we’d find ourselves walking a far more treacherous path.
So I had to gain their approval—no matter what.
And once I did, I could convert the faith of all Lumina believers worldwide into my Magic Power!
Ha. Then I could truly serve as an official Angel of a world religion.
Of course, if the Holy Court branded us as heretics instead, I’d have no choice but to establish a separate faction.
It was then that Elina’s Prayer reached me.

‘Angel! Then we shall depart for Astel now. Should you need us, please call upon us at any time.’

After offering one final Prayer to me, Elina and the rest of the investigative party set out for Astel.

Thanks to the Prayer skill that Elina possessed, we could communicate with each other even across great distances.
It wasn’t something that worked for just anyone—it was only possible because I had become the true object of her faith.

Wait. If that’s the case, then the Goddess of Light must hear prayers from people all around the world, twenty-four hours a day?
Goodness, she must barely sleep at night.
Being a god isn’t something just anyone can do, is it?

In any case, Astel, the city toward which her party was heading, was the most prosperous city in the Third Magic Tower’s domain and home to the Holy Court’s central diocesan office.
And it was there, I was told, that a Bishop awaited who would pass judgment on this incident.
I desperately hoped Elina would handle things smoothly and return recognized as a saint. That would be the best outcome.
If we were to gain their formal recognition, the flow of Magic Power pouring in from across the world would be almost impossible to contain.

Woof!

That was when Gyusik barked.
Apparently, my vacant staring was getting on his nerves.

‘Yes, yes. You’ve been bored waiting, haven’t you? Now let’s really get going! Run, Bokgu!’
Woof, woof!

The moment the words left my mouth, Bokgu suddenly bolted forward in a frenzy.
At that, Gyusik, who’d been riding on Bokgu’s head, let out a startled squeak.

Squeak!

Bokgu, what are you doing taking off like that? If the momentum tosses Gyusik to the ground, what then?
Well, fortunately Gyusik didn’t fall.
Anyway, onward to the north!
Toward the Black Forest!

* * *

The Magical Beast Detention Facility, situated north of the Slaughterhouse.
Hans, once an elite sorcerer of the Magic Tower, now wore the tattered rags of a prisoner’s garb.
Even now he worked in a pit slick with blood and entrails, disemboweling Magical Beasts in search of spoils.
His only labor was the grim task of scavenging corpses for Magic Stones—nothing more, nothing less.
For hours he’d been carving open a rat’s belly with hands crusted in beast blood when it happened.

Splurch. Slick.

The dead rat’s eyes rolled grotesquely until they locked directly onto Hans’s gaze.
The sight of the blood-stained corpse staring at him was terror incarnate.
And yet.

‘…….’

Hans merely stared at the creature’s eyes with a blank expression.
An ordinary man would have screamed, trembling with fear, but his spirit had long since crumbled in the detention facility’s despair—he felt nothing.

‘….’

After holding its gaze for a moment, he finally spoke.

“Heh. Have my wits finally abandoned me?”

As he murmured with bitter self-mockery, the thing answered him.

– What’s this? You’re not even startled?
“Why should I be?”

At Hans’s flat reply, the rat’s eyes narrowed.

– Tch. How dull. And yet… fascinating. A creature who sees me and feels neither fear nor surprise.

Even in the face of this uncanny phenomenon, Hans’s expression remained unmoved.

“Dead beast eyes are common as dirt here.”

At that, the thing laughed heartily.

– Ha ha ha! Fair enough. Very well. You have succeeded in piquing my curiosity.

But Hans simply turned his head and resumed carving open another Magical Beast.
Talking to a rat’s eyes. It was pointless.
Better to find another Magic Stone and spare himself the guards’ whips.
Fail to meet his quota, and he’d feel the sting of the Whip.

– What’s this, ignoring me now? Listen, meeting me is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
“Opportunity? Ha. What’s it worth in the end?”

In that moment, a word long forgotten echoed through his mind.

– Freedom.

Hans’s hand went still.
Silence hung for a moment, and then it spoke again.

– If you escaped this hellhole, what would you do first?
“What I… want to… do?”

In that instant, the venom that had boiled in Hans’s chest when he was first dragged to the detention facility flashed past like scenes of his life before death.
The senior researcher who abandoned him and fled.
The heartless Tower Master.
And his hatred for the world that had created this wretched reality.
The emotions that had been suppressed all this time erupted from Hans, and he began to scream like a madman.

“I’ll kill them all! I’ll kill every last one of them! Not a soul in this world will escape!”

In that moment, a guard overseeing the labor came running with a whip raised high.

“So you’ve finally lost it! How dare you speak such madness!”

Crack! Crack!
Flesh tore from Hans’s body under the relentless lashing.
Yet he didn’t flinch.
As if he felt no pain at all.
As if he were a puppet drained of soul.
He simply stood motionless, his eyes boring into the rat’s gaze with unwavering intensity.
The rat’s eyes twisted grotesquely, and it laughed.

– Hehehehe… Yes, that look. That’s exactly the look I’ve been searching for!

At its praise, a twisted smile spread across Hans’s lips.

– Listen, friend. Won’t you make a contract with me?

To its proposal, Hans could not suppress the wild laughter that burst forth, and he began to laugh like a man possessed.

“Haha! Hahahaha!”

Hans’s manic laughter echoed through the underground pit of the detention facility, steeped in the stench of blood.

* * *

Pavahat.

We are still running northward, cutting through the underbrush.
The deeper we ventured into the forest, the more desolate the surrounding landscape became.
A faint mist began to settle on the ground,
and the thick growth of vegetation made our field of vision ever narrower.
To make matters worse, we had already gone beyond the reach of Morgul’s Mushroom Mycelium Network, making it difficult to properly detect threats approaching from around us.
And as if that weren’t enough, the magical beasts of the forest grew ever more vicious.

Screech! Snap!
[Forest Cannibal Rat Lv9 has been defeated.]
[Forest Cannibal Rat Lv7 has been defeated.]
….

Ah, you overgrown rats—why do you keep throwing yourselves at me?

[Host ‘Bokgu 3rd Generation’ Level increased! Lv 10 → Lv 11]

Once I’d dealt with the ones charging ahead, the mass of rats that had been milling about in the darkness scattered and fled in all directions.

‘What kind of forest is this? The place is crawling with Magical Beasts, and each one is fiercer and more tenacious than anything I’ve seen before.’
– That’s precisely because you’re drawing closer to the Black Forest.

So this Black Forest—is it actually just blackened by hundreds of millions of rats?

‘If things are already this bad, how vicious must the creatures in the Black Forest actually be?’

Morgul answered matter-of-factly.

– Once you venture into the Black Forest, the beasts you’re facing now will seem almost cute.

Right. These blackened rat hordes are supposed to seem cute?
At that moment, doubt crept in—why was I putting myself through this?

‘…Do I really have to go there?’

I asked reluctantly, and Morgul let out a scoff.

– What’s the problem? No matter how strong these Magical Beasts are, you’ll be fine once you attach yourself to one of them, won’t you?

Hmm… there was some truth to that.
But depending on the skill level, I couldn’t parasitize targets that were too high-leveled.
Still, no need to spell out that fact to this old codger and give him reason to look down on me.

‘Sigh…’

That said, thanks to progressively stronger creatures throwing themselves at us, I’d managed to acquire a diverse array of genes.
Rats that had become far more savage than before,
Roaches so grotesque they made the Gore Roaches from last time look downright adorable.
Mantises wielding sharp forelegs, cunning raccoons—
As I’d been farming genes by defeating the creatures blocking our path, my Genome Archive had grown considerably richer.
Come to think of it, I still had the Genome Points from defeating that Holy Knight back then. I shouldn’t forget to use those points once I reach somewhere safe.
Just as I’d chased off the rats and bolted forward again—

Thud!

Bokgu 3rd Generation, who’d been charging through the forest with full force, suddenly came to a halt.

‘Hey, what’s wrong, Bokgu?’
Whine….

Bokgu lowered his body uneasily, letting out a pitiful sound.
When I examined his paws, I found them caked with something sticky and white.
Looking around, I realized spider webs were strung thickly everywhere—across the ground, through the undergrowth, even between tree trunks.
Seeing this, Morgul spoke up.

– Seems there’s a spider colony nearby. Cunning creatures—best not to let your guard down.

Spiders? Ugh… the very thought of what they look like makes my skin crawl.
Spiders are already repulsive to look at, and if they possess Magical Power too… ugh!
They’re bound to be a real nightmare to deal with.
So let’s just avoid tangling with those things and steer clear.
My gut’s telling me something’s off.

‘Right, fair enough. Let’s just slip past to the side without wasting effort. Come on, Bokgu!’
Woof!

Bokgu followed my lead and carefully began circling around to avoid the densest patches of webbing.

Swish, swish…

We moved with held breath, each step deliberate and measured.
Yet beneath the forest’s silence, something gnawed at me—the prickling certainty that we were being watched.
Then, in the distance, I spotted what looked like a wall.

‘Wait? What is that?’
– Hmm?

As we drew closer, its outline sharpened into focus.

‘No… what in the world…?’

It was a wall made entirely of spider silk.
Countless strands were interwoven with timber, animal bones, and all manner of debris, layered thick upon one another.
This was no natural formation—it bore every mark of intelligent construction, the work of a thinking creature.

‘Has the Black Forest always been ringed by a silk wall like this?’
– No. Never. Three thousand years ago, nothing like this existed…

Sigh. I should’ve known better than to expect anything useful from the old man.
Say, isn’t there any way to update the GPS here? Or get customer service? This app seems to be running three-thousand-year-old geographical data.

‘Either way, if we’re going into the Black Forest, we’ll need to climb over this thing or find an entrance.’
– Ahem.

God, how I miss those days when Morgul’s Mushroom Mycelium Network blanketed everything around us.
We settled on circling the spider wall to scout its perimeter.

‘Wow… how massive is this spider colony anyway? We’ve been walking forever and there’s still no end in sight.’

The endless silk wall suddenly broke.
And—

‘Huh?’

Before us stood a blatant arched gateway, wide open.
And on a wooden sign hung above the arch were words: “Welcome! Come right in!”

‘…That’s about as obvious a trap as I’ve ever seen.’

But trying to climb over or break through the silk wall risked drawing the attention of whatever dwelled within.

‘Hmm… what to do about this…’

As I deliberated, time slipped away.
Night was approaching.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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