Life Game In Other World
Chapter 623: "He Ao?" (Big - for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 623: Chapter 623: "He Ao?" (Big Chapter for Monthly Votes)

"Are you human, or are you a goat?"

The hoarse whisper arose behind He Ao.

With one hand on the hilt of his sword, He Ao turned around to look behind him.

The dim light cast from the monitor outlined the figure standing in his field of vision.

It was a hunched, short figure standing upright on two legs, covered in fine, pitch-black fuzz, with a human head but facial features crowded together like those of an old goat.

Two curved, towering goat horns emerged from the sides of his head, disappearing into the lightless darkness.

In his hands, he held a blood-soaked, tattered cloth-wrapped lump, his two elongated eyes staring at He Ao,

"Are you human, or are you a goat?"

He asked again in a hoarse voice, using the language of District Two.

"Are you a goat, or are you human?"

He Ao looked at him and replied in the language of District Two as well.

The goat-like figure was taken aback; he seemed not to have expected He Ao to counter-question him, and in his own familiar language at that. It had been a long time since he’d communicated with a ’human’.

"I am human..."

He answered hoarsely, then slowly lifted the block-shaped object in his hand toward He Ao, as if offering him ’goat meat.’

But before he could lift the item, He Ao quickly asked, "Are you human? Are you sure?"

The figure froze, his gaze going blank as he looked at He Ao.

He Ao lifted the microcomputer in his hand, its pitch-black screen reflecting the weak glow of the surrounding scene. He aimed the screen at the figure, "Take a look in the mirror, do you believe what you’re saying?"

Monster: ?

He lowered his head to look at the screen in He Ao’s hands.

It had been a very long time since he had looked in a mirror. The faint glow reflected on the screen showed the image of a goat-horned monster.

"Am I... a goat?"

He looked at the pair of goat horns, slowly reaching out to touch the horns on his head.

"No, I am human."

He shook his head forcefully, diverting his gaze, and crushed the object in his hand. His hand, covered in dark fuzz, grabbed the pair of horns on his head, "I AM HUMAN!!!"

From his mouth came a piercing shriek, causing all the metal around them to tremble in that instant.

He Ao withdrew his hand, performed a backflip to create distance from the creature, and drew the bone sword slung on his back.

The creature was now curled up on the ground, its prostrate figure trembling like a black goat lying on the ground.

He Ao watched the creature’s figure, retreating step by step toward the gate leading to the elevator area, not far behind him.

Ivier hadn’t stayed here, and there were no signs of a fight around, which suggested that he had successfully escaped through the gate.

However, the short, stocky man who had been with him was abandoned by Ivier as a ’prop’ to delay the escape and ultimately became the ’goat meat’ in the creature’s hands.

"You are a goat!"

Just as He Ao was about to reach the gate, the creature suddenly raised its head, fixing its gaze on He Ao. Its eyes, which were originally similar to a human’s, had now completely turned round, and the round human pupils had become rectangular horizontal pupils.

The warped flesh writhed within its body, rapidly swelling its entire frame, and the four limbs covered in black fuzz transformed wholly into twisted appendages that were both human-like and goat-like.

He watched He Ao, his eyes filled with bright red blood vessels, "You are a goat, and goats should be eaten."

Then he lowered his head, pointing the goat horns towards He Ao.

The next instant, his figure suddenly vanished.

So fast!

He Ao swung his sword to the side, blocking the void, and just as he finished his move, the sharp goat horns slammed into his bone sword, sending him flying.

He Ao fiercely jammed his bone sword into the metal wall beside him, using the wall’s resistance to dissipate the huge force of the collision.

The sharp blade carved a long gash into the metal wall, and it wasn’t until he was about to crash into the opposite wall that He Ao’s form finally came to a stop.

He gripped the bone sword, floating in the air, watching the creature not far ahead.

Low bleats that sounded like a sheep’s ’meh meh’ spilled out from the mouth of the creature.

Hearing this sound, He Ao could only feel the muscles in his body uncontrollably twisting; his skin writhing as if fine fuzz was trying to burrow out through his pores.

At the same time, distorted illusions began to appear before his eyes, as if he were in the midst of a vast grassland, surrounded by a dense flock of sheep.

He blended in with the flock, indistinguishable from one another.

He Ao kicked off against the wall, pulling the bone sword from it, and then his body flew backward, flipping twice in the air before landing on the ground.

This creature’s contamination was strong and mixed with some extremely distorted and chaotic thoughts, but it was still within He Ao’s tolerance.

The writhing flesh under his skin gradually calmed, and the fuzz that wanted to grow out ultimately did not emerge.

As He Ao landed steadily, the creature seemed to detect that its contamination had not had the expected effect.

It watched He Ao, then lifted its hooves, charging out fiercely again.

This creature was strong, a whole magnitude stronger than the ones He Ao had encountered before; it was very close to a B-grade.

He Ao gathered his Divine Sense and swept it across the void around him; he fiercely raised his bone sword, half-squatting, focusing his body’s strength along the line of his elbows, waist, and legs.

Bang—

The massive goat horns clashed with the bone sword once more.

This time, He Ao was not sent flying.

His legs bent under him and, accompanied by a ’bang,’ the metal beneath his feet twisted and sank.

At the same time, the gaze of his Divine Sense clarified the energy flow lines of the Goat Creature; it had only one Energy Block, located at the center of its body.

The Goat Creature, watching He Ao block its attack with the sword, paused its charge, then suddenly retreated. The screens that had been lit around them abruptly went dark, and the Goat Creature leaped into the deep shadows.

He Ao lowered his bone sword, observing the darkness around him.

Divine Sense could help him see through the darkness, but at a great cost.

He removed the flashlight module from the computer, turned on the flashlight, and then clamped the flashlight in his mouth.

He turned his head to look around, the bright beam of light sweeping swiftly over the dark scenes around him.

What came into his view were nothing but mechanical mounds.

This Goat Creature was the most like a ’normal creature’ that He Ao had seen since entering the ruins, yet it was also a powerful creature.

It possessed extreme strength and speed, along with a twisted and mad contamination.

The glow of the flashlight rapidly swept through the field of view in front of He Ao, but he didn’t catch any sign of the Goat Creature.

At this moment, without any hesitation, He Ao immediately lifted his bone sword and positioned it on his back.

Before he could finish his motion, the hard goat skull collided with the bone sword.

The attack came from behind, or more precisely, from above and behind.

He Ao’s body was violently knocked away, and the sharpened goat horns pierced through his shirt on both sides, grazing along his ribs and leaving behind two shallow bloody marks.

Even so, this was the result of him using his bone sword to block the attack and guide the direction of the Goat Creature’s assault.

Had his movements been even a moment later, the goat’s horns would have punctured his lungs.

At the same time as he was flung away, He Ao stabbed his sword into a mechanical ’hill bag’ in front of him, then used the sword as a pivot to spin his body around violently.

The flashlight illuminated the figure of the Goat Creature behind him, standing there as if mocking He Ao.

He Ao pulled out the bone sword that was stuck in the mechanical hill bag and glanced around.

His position had been very close to the wall just now; under normal circumstances, the Goat Creature wouldn’t be able to get behind him.

But the attack had just come from above and behind.

He Ao looked up at the wall behind the Goat Creature.

Then he lifted the bone sword and forcefully threw it.

The Goat Creature watched the bone sword thrown by He Ao and gave a contemptuous ’bleat,’ then leaped upward violently.

But at this moment, the bone sword that was flying in the air suddenly vanished and reappeared in He Ao’s hand.

He Ao gathered all his strength into his arm and threw the bone sword again.

He caught the Goat Creature off guard using his ability to Retrieve objects from the air.

Indeed, he had activated Retrieve objects from the air the instant he threw the bone sword; the Goat Creature hadn’t even leaped yet.

But based on the Goat Creature’s subtle movements and his own throwing direction, He Ao roughly predicted where the Goat Creature might leap to.

Then he threw the recalled bone sword in the predicted direction.

The speed of the Goat Creature was fast; this was the only way to throw the bone sword before it could react.

When He Ao threw the bone sword for the second time, the Goat Creature was still in the air.

Accompanied by a faint noise, the body of the Goat Creature landed on the wall and stood vertically on the perpendicular surface, almost clinging to the wall at an odd angle.

At that moment, the bone sword thrown by He Ao had also reached in front of it.

The Goat Creature immediately leaped forward again.

The sharp bone sword stabbed into the Goat Creature’s hindquarters, but instead of the sound of a blade piercing flesh, there was the noise of metal being cut open.

In the end, only the tip of the bone sword had penetrated before it could go no further.

The body of this Goat Creature was reinforced with a mix of flesh and metal.

He Ao raised his hand and used Retrieve objects from the air to take back his bone sword.

By this time, the Goat Creature had vanished from his sight again.

He Ao, flashlight in mouth, quickly searched in the direction the Goat Creature had leaped off to, but found no trace of it.

This fellow was way too fast.

He Ao pondered for a moment, then slowly lifted his head.

Above him, the Goat Creature was standing on the ceiling with its legs, its body upright and ’hanging’ upside down, its inhuman face looking down upon him,

The pallid light shone upon that narrow face.

Suddenly, the Goat Creature leaped forcefully, shooting down at He Ao like a cannonball from high above.

Those sharp horns seemed like deadly spikes, aiming to pierce through He Ao’s skull, his body, and shred his flesh.

And in that instant, He Ao suddenly activated Super Memory, channeling all his strength into his legs. He no longer faced the attack head-on but dodged backward at a terrifyingly fast speed.

Up until now, he had been resisting the Goat Creature’s attacks without showing any dodging abilities, all for this moment.

At this moment, the Goat Creature, in its attempt to attack him, was completely airborne.

Mental Disturbance!

He Ao fixed his gaze on the twisted creature and straight away used the power of Super Memory to assault its soul, causing it to stiffen for a brief moment.

While releasing Mental Disturbance, He Ao also simultaneously withdrew his sword, gathering all his strength in his arms, and covered the blade with a thin layer of Divine Sense.

zzzt—

Like the sound of thin tin being torn, the snowy gleam of the sword, illuminated by the flashlight, drew a pristine arc through the air.

And this arc cut through the body of the Goat Creature, splitting it into two halves in mid-air, scattering to either side.

Quiet descended upon the world all of a sudden, and He Ao’s body was splattered with fresh blood.

He Ao glanced at the creature’s corpse, confirmed the Goat Creature was indeed dead, and then deactivated Super Memory.

He removed the flashlight from his mouth, took a deep breath, and collapsed to the ground, propping up his body with the bone sword.

The numerous times he had violently mobilized his strength had drained his body.

He breathed deeply, giving his exhausted body a chance to catch its breath.

Then, using the bone sword for support, he stood up again.

The ability of Divine Sense to see the points of energy accumulation was sometimes quite terrifying.

In such a battle, He Ao could make many mistakes, but the Goat Creature, whose weakness had been spotted by He Ao, could only make one.

He walked over to the segmented carcass of the Goat Creature, cut open the tough metal with the bone sword, and then searched around.

This Goat Creature’s mechanical mutation wasn’t so powerful; thus, it did not have an energy core, but He Ao found seven grey Energy Blocks about the same size as those from the tentacle monster.

These should be the energy the Goat Creature was storing using its mechanical structure.

If the battle had dragged on, with these reserves, the Goat Creature might have indeed worn He Ao out completely.

This Goat Creature’s combat method was actually very cautious. If He Ao had not deliberately hidden his dodging ability, it would not have approached him so easily, giving him the chance.

After searching and finding no other suitable materials, He Ao stood up, pocketed the Energy Blocks as gifts from the Goat Creature, and started walking step by step toward the gate leading to the elevator area.

But just as he was about to reach the gate, he stopped, lifted his flashlight, and looked at the wall near the gate.

On that wall, written in dried blood, was a line of text:

[Communication is restored, but there’s only whispering noise inside; no one is coming to save us anymore.]

This line of text was written by the same hand as the [I’m hungry] message at the entrance, probably from the person who turned into the Goat Creature.

He Ao withdrew his gaze and placed his hand on the switch next to the gate.

There was nothing wrong with the switch, and as he gently pulled it, the gate opened in response.

Outside the gate was a brightly lit space, with the ceiling’s clear light shining on the polished floor.

Something resembling an elevator door stood on the right side of the space.

At the far end of the space, directly across from He Ao, was another gate.

At this moment, the opposite gate also opened slowly, and a figure appeared in He Ao’s field of view, looking at him in surprise:

"He Ao?"