Gacha System: Reborn In The Hardest World
Chapter 75: Analyzing The Enigma

Chapter 75: Analyzing The Enigma

Blowing in his hand, Rowan shook it as it ached, laughing to himself, "Looks like you haven’t been slowing down your training at all."

"Are you kidding? We’re on the verge of war with Mastorn. ’Course I’m staying sharp," Silvanas said.

"There’s sharp, then there’s...Well, I’m glad you’re on our side," Rowan remarked playfully.

Silvanas’ smirk faded into a more serious expression, looking towards the setting sun towards the shore, "There’re still members of the Heavenly Kings that haven’t met here, correct?"

"Yup...Jaxon and Gael haven’t made it here yet," Rowan answered.

"Gael?" Silvanas asked, glancing at the scarlet-haired man.

Rowan clarified with a wave of his hand, "The new guy. It seems like we each got separated during the warp into pairs. If Jaxon and Gael are together, I’m sure they’re managing."

"Either way, we can’t spare any men to search for them. We’ve been given a small enough force as it is," Silvanas explained, crossing her arms.

Rowan tilted his head back, staring up at the sky, watching the air high above flex from the barrier hiding the camp from the outside.

"The barrier is set so they’ll be able to see our base, but otherwise—it’s up to them. Unless they’ve already moved into Atlantis," Silvanas said. "If that’s the case, we’ll meet them there."

"When are we heading in?" Rowan asked.

"At nightfall," Silvanas answered.

The soldiers of Galios carried out the crates from the armored transports, opening the large boxes as magical stones dropped out. With the incantations of mages on standby, the bits and pieces were gathered into form, given life.

Rowan watched the inorganic warriors be assembled by magic as they lined up, "Champion Golems? How many did we manage to bring? They’re not cheap."

The Captain smiled proudly, "I managed to convince some of the powerful merchants...with some force. Roughly a hundred will aid our forces here."

"I’ve heard a single Champion Golem is equal to a hundred soldiers," Rowan recalled, watching the animated warriors assemble.

Each of the golems of gray stone stood twice the height of the average man, with golden light emanating from their engravings.

"Oh, even better than that," Silvanas corrected. "Defeat isn’t an option. Mastorn is leaving empty handed."

In the medical tent, Jae-Seong sat in the chair, watching the unconscious Outlander kept in a bubble of verdant light. He hung his head, wrapping his fists as thoughts swirled in his head.

["We’ll crush every Venator here."]

–

In the halls of an empty cathedral built of ocean marble, Matteo adjusted his glasses as he inspected the interior. Clumps of black goo clung to the walls, pulsating with a lively essence that drew his curiosity.

"This stuff is disgusting...It looks like it’s alive," Florentine commented, keeping her distance from the substance.

Matteo didn’t hesitate to get closer, looking up at one of the statues of a saint positioned in the wall as it was enveloped in the goo, "Oh, it is. It’s most certainly alive–and hungry, I’d say."

From his belt, he slid out a small blade, bringing the tip of it near the dark mass pulsating on the walls of the once sacred structure. As he let the steel make contact with the abyssal clump—it opened.

Like a formless mouth, it took in the blade, snatching it right out of the adventurer’s hand.

"Woah—" Matteo watched, retreating his fingers before they too were swallowed up.

Within seconds, the entire blade was swallowed into the black mass, engulfed in its enigmatic presence.

Florentine watched the hungering mass, scrunching her nose in disgust, "It just ate up your weapon. What was the point of doing that, huh?"

For a moment, Matteo stared at the tumorous orb of black flesh, carefully inching his finger towards it before—

A piece of it suddenly stuck out, forcing him to withdraw his hand before being skewered. It was a blade, made of the abyssal substance; a perfect imitation.

"Is that—?" Florentine said. "Did it copy you?"

"Not exactly," Matteo corrected with intrigue in his eyes. "It assimilated."

Rather than fear or disgust, the curious adventurer wore pure excitement on his face in front of the unknown. For the warrior, she was left dumbfounded at the childlike wonder expressed by Matteo.

"Assimilated?" Florentine raised an eyebrow.

"What I’m theorizing is that whatever it consumes, it memorizes into its cells. From then, it can reshape itself into whatever is engraved into its memory," Matteo said, looking up at the abyssal mass.

If the words of the adventurer were true, the presence of the hungering matter only felt more daunting. To every corner of the once pristine cathedral, it was overtaken by it like the overgrowth of corrupted nature.

"The question is, if it develops through feeding, why does it stay immobile in these clumps?" Matteo questioned, looking around as he passed a shattered podium.

As the two explored the abandoned cathedral, Florentine anxiously looked around, watching the clumps throb at a greater rhythm, like beating hearts.

"...Hey, maybe we should get out of here," Florentine suggested, nervously gripping her hammer.

Matteo continued staring closely at the abyssal orb at the back of the room, "Just a bit more. I want to see how they react to—"

A sound like flesh popping with a splash of liquid silenced his words, forcing him to turn away. Between himself and the warrior, not a single breath was exhaled as they witnessed it together—

Between them both, one of the clumps fell from the ceiling—plop. It smacked against the ground with a disgusting squelch, pulsating as it began humming with an ominous light.

"Get away from it!" Matteo shouted, immediately reaching into the pouch on his belt.

Florentine stepped back just as the warning came, not a moment before the abyssal lump suddenly expanded. Black blades erupted from every inch of its form before retracting. Matteo held his ground, not moving, nor did the warrior as they watched the abyssal orb.

It sat there, unmoving, before pulsating again, beginning to rise as its shape changed.

"What the hell is it doing?!" Florentine asked with her hammer ready, standing near the entrance.

"It’s assuming a new shape—something that will let it devour us!" Matteo claimed, lifting an icy-blue rune from his pocket.

While the black mass took to a new form, he tossed the magical stone towards it. In midair, the frosted rune shattered, manifesting a shroud of cold wind—

It incased the abyssal figure in ice, forming a perfect, rectangular box of bitter cold around it.

"Got ’em!—" Florentine remarked.

Matteo wasn’t so quick to celebrate, squinting, "Don’t count your chickens too fast now."

"Ah?—" Florentine gasped.

The ice coffin cracked, splitting down the middle before completely shattering. Across the dark fiend’s body, its accursed flesh vibrated aggressively, shaking the frost off as its form solidified.

’It freed itself from the ice—? Just what kind of properties can that matter take on?’ Matteo questioned.

The form it wore was an amalgamation; human legs, the body of a crustacean with a segmented shell, and crab-like pincers for arms.

From the other side of the room, the warrior dashed in, swinging her hammer. It crushed the broken bench in its way as the blunt instrument slammed against the abyssal amalgam’s body—

The hammer struck its shell, leaving the fiend stumbling forward, though not falling.

"I...got it—?" Florentine commented as she watched it stand there in the middle of the cathedral.

Matteo watched as the form-shifting creature convulsed briefly as its cracked exoskeleton reformed. Each splinter in the shell was filled, closed as if never having been formed.

’It rebuilt itself perfectly after being hit. Not just that, the shell—the goo can mimic even the toughness and texture of other materials?’ Matteo analyzed, sifting through his pouch.

As he was stuck in thought, the warrior was confronted head-on by the mysterious entity. Florentine swung her hammer, though now the creature moved nimbly, avoiding being struck.

"Huh?! Thing is...getting hard to hit now!" The warrior huffed as she stepped back, committing an overhead slam.

Before the abyssal fiend could be splattered on the floor, it slipped back just as the hammer crashed down. While it was focused on the reckless warrior, Matteo unveiled a black rope from his pouch, unraveling it as the burnt material cracked like a whip, sparking with embers.

’Everything is weak to something. Let’s figure that out,’ he planned.

As the man-crustacean changed its hand into a form mimicking a blade, readying it to counter the warrior, Matteo rushed in from behind–crack. Striking with the mystical whip, it made contact with a burst of fire on the armored back of the creature.

While the strike of the whip itself hardly seemed to make any dent in the entity’s back, the scorching heat of the flames disturbed its flesh. Matteo squinted, witnessing it with his keen eyes–the black material rippled, fluctuating like water being splashed by unwelcome hands.

Almost immediately, the mysterious lifeform halted its assault, leaping away as it clung to the ceiling above.

"Woah–whatever you did seemed to really mess with it!" Florentine shouted, looking up.

Matteo digested what he witnessed, readying the whip again as embers danced around the enchanted threads, "I believe it’s fire that it doesn’t like. Here!"

From his pouch, he tossed a small pouch to the warrior, who caught it hastily and opened it up. Within it, a sparkly, orange powder was stored, which Florentine promptly spilled onto the blunt end of her hammer.

"Thanks!" Florentine said, tossing the pouch as she whipped her weapon around, causing a brief flicker of fire. "Let’s put this thing down–!"

"That, or we might end up as its next meal," Matteo responded, looking up.