Chapter 559

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Chapter 559: Elixir (1)

The Grand Duke Kabu’s elixir.

Surely, it contained the source of some tremendous power.

There was no way a mere chef could have digested it.

As he himself had revealed, he was a Lagtari of the laboring class—

one of the lower strata whose martial cultivation was restricted.

“Hey, man. Even wild ginseng can turn into poison if it doesn’t fit your body… you almost died!”

When Yeongwoo said this and pulled a red mineral from the puddle of vomit on the ground, the chef hurriedly reached out his hand.

—P-Please give it back!

“Why? You can’t even digest it, and taking it back won’t erase your crime, will it?”

—T-That’s true, but…

Of course, Yeongwoo wasn’t incapable of understanding the chef’s position.

If he couldn’t digest it, he could always sell it.

But still—

“You said you already sold the other two, didn’t you? So why do you need another one? You should have enough money.”

The chef waved his hands frantically.

—The money I earned from smuggling the elixirs was all confiscated. Besides…

“Besides?”

—That elixir… is different.

“Different? What exactly is different about it?”

Seuk.

As Yeongwoo raised the elixir to eye level to inspect it closely, the chef added quietly,

—It’s a medicine that changes the user’s constitution and builds inner energy.

“That’s what I figured. That’s why you tried to eat it yourself.”

—Its value can’t be measured in money. Please… return it to me.

“No. That’s why I said I’m keeping it. Your life can’t be measured in money either, right?”

—Eh…?

“If it weren’t for me, those one-eyed bastards back there would’ve caught you and killed you, right?”

When Yeongwoo lifted Bastard and pointed behind him, the chef couldn’t argue.

It was, after all, true.

“I’ve already made up my mind, so stop talking. I’m taking this.”

As Yeongwoo gripped the elixir greedily, yellow vomit dripped between his fingers.

“But in exchange—”

—…?

“I’ll guarantee your safety. Even outside this dungeon.”

At that, the chef’s eyes widened.

—W-What do you mean by that?

“You were sent into this dungeon as a kind of punishment, right?”

—…Yes.

“Then, if you manage to survive and get out, what happens to you?”

—W-Well…

The chef looked into empty space.

—I’d be sent back to the Exile Zone.

“Exile Zone?”

—A place where those cast out of the Great City are thrown away.

“Then… do you know the coordinates of that Exile Zone?”

At that, the chef’s face twisted into despair.

—…I don’t. Am I doomed now?

“Your doom started the moment you stole that elixir.”

—……

“Still, thanks to that, it ended up in my hands… so I’d like to help you if I can. The universe has its karma and retribution, you know.”

But if the coordinates of that Exile Zone were unknown,

then even the owner of a planetary ship wouldn’t be able to find the chef in this vast universe.

“Hm.”

Yeongwoo grabbed the chef’s forearm and transmitted Earth-Ship’s communication code.

Paa-at!

—Ugh? What is this?

“It’s a code that lets you connect to my ship. If you ever get access to a comms device, send a rescue request there.”

—T-Then, until then…?

“Until then, you’ll have to survive on your own. Still, better than dying in the dungeon, isn’t it?”

By this point, the debt for the elixir was paid.

So Yeongwoo immediately asked about how to consume it.

“By the way, how do you take this? You’re the Grand Duke’s chef—you’d know, right?”

The elixir he had pulled from the chef’s stomach was a fist-sized red mineral.

“Don’t tell me you just shove this into your mouth…?”

The chef nodded.

—There’s no special method. It’s absorbed through each being’s digestive organs.

Of course, if your body isn’t strong enough to handle it, you’ll just spit it back out, as the chef did.

‘At least I’ve confirmed that it doesn’t kill you if it fails. That chef bastard just threw it up.’

But there was one variable.

Species.

The chef, though a laborer, was biologically an Artari.

Yeongwoo, on the other hand, was human—from Earth.

So there was no telling what would happen if a non-Artari consumed the elixir.

“What happens if someone other than an Artari takes this?”

—…I’m a chef, not a doctor. I’ve never seen anyone besides the Grand Duke take it.

The chef fidgeted nervously, glancing at the elixir.

—More importantly… the elixir starts to melt if it isn’t inside a living body. So…

“What? Melt?”

Meaning that if he wasn’t going to eat it soon, he should hand it back.

“You were keeping something troublesome inside you, huh.”

Now that he thought about it, the glow from the elixir had been increasing.

So Yeongwoo—

Ta-at!

—grabbed the chef’s arm roughly.

“Let’s head back first. If there are any side effects, at least that noble brat can protect me.”

* * *

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—This is bad.

Alden Miras, the third son of House Miras, felt an ominous premonition the moment he saw the “human” running toward him from afar.

The Lagtari being dragged along was drooling yellow vomit, but more than that…

—What in the world is that?

When Alden pointed to the red mineral clamped in Yeongwoo’s mouth, Lady Kanaph answered.

—It seems to be an Artari elixir.

—An elixir…?

Then Yeongwoo shoved the chef toward Alden and took the stone from his mouth into his hand.

“While I’m taking this elixir, you’ll make sure none of the others try to run.”

—What? And you?

“Me? I might be rolling on the ground if I get side effects. Someone has to guard the area.”

In other words, he was entrusting his back to Alden Miras—a man he’d met for the first time today.

—You trust me that much?

“I don’t trust you. I trust the kind of people who are obsessed with their family’s name and honor.”

Like that fool, Prince Aldo of the Benefactors.

Of course, Alden Miras didn’t seem as stupid as Prince Aldo,

but Yeongwoo was sure he wouldn’t stab him in the back while the effects of the elixir were raging.

He’d gotten better at reading people.

“You wouldn’t tarnish your family’s name in the middle of a journey, right? I’m taking this trusting that.”

—……

Alden Miras didn’t answer.

Even so, Yeongwoo was already opening his mouth wide.

“Haven’t eaten anything in a while.”

And he shoved the mysterious, otherworldly stone into his mouth.

Kwak!

It was far too big for a human mouth to swallow at once, but surprisingly,

it began slowly sliding in between his lips.

“Urgh.”

The surface had melted from being outside too long.

—Shouldn’t you have at least wiped it before swallowing…?

Seeing the elixir still covered in the chef’s vomit, Kanaph stepped back from Yeongwoo.

Just then, with the elixir fully inside his mouth, Yeongwoo tilted his head.

He suddenly realized that even half-melted, it was much larger than his throat.

“Uh?”

With his cheeks bulging grotesquely, he looked at the chef.

The Lagtari exile pointed to his own neck.

—If you wait a little, it’ll go down on its own.

“Aah?”

And then—

“……!”

Yeongwoo’s eyes widened as a crimson light burst from inside his half-open mouth.

KWAHHHH!!

It was as if a laser cannon had just fired.

—W-What the—!

—Aagh!

The chef, the two one-eyed beings, Lady Kanaph, and even Alden Miras all flinched in shock.

And meanwhile, Yeongwoo—

“Aaaaaagh!”

—was screaming wildly, spewing light into the air.

Inside his mouth, the elixir was melting rapidly.

And finally—

Gurururuk.

A bubbling sound like boiling porridge echoed,

and the now gravel-sized elixir slipped down his throat.

“…Huh.”

At that moment, the light pouring from his mouth disappeared.

“What… what the hell? Is it over?”

When Yeongwoo muttered that, the chef shook his head nervously.

—If your body can truly digest that elixir, then this is only the beginning.

“The beginning? Of what? Don’t tell me there’s something you didn’t say.”

The chef took a cautious step back.

—What you just took is the elixir Agfa. Even the Grand Duke built a separate chamber to fight against the spiritual power sealed inside it.

“What?! You’re supposed to fight the elixir? Then why the hell did you swallow it?”

As Yeongwoo frowned and asked, everyone else backed away in fear.

“What’s with this atmosphere all of a sudden?”

Lady Kanaph, her face damp with sweat, pointed at Yeongwoo.

—Y-Your eyes… right now…

“My eyes what?”

Sensing something wrong, Yeongwoo lifted Bastard to reflect his face.

But since the blade itself glowed with a red demonic aura, he couldn’t see clearly.

He didn’t realize his eyes had turned red.

Even so, he could tell the color of his pupils had changed.

“What the… my eyes look weird?”

He tilted his head.

Then his jaw began to itch.

“Damn it, what now?”

His voice trembled.

Feeling his jaw itch after eating the elixir of the cephalopod-headed Artari could only mean one thing.

He raised Bastard again to see his face.

Seuk.

He saw his nose bending downward, far too much—

like an anteater’s snout.

“Uh?”

And then—

Rip!

The sound of tearing flesh.

His long-drawn nose split in two—no, three—

and began transforming into long tentacles.

“Shit!”

And that wasn’t all.

From his severed left shoulder, a massive purple-skinned arm—nonhuman—began growing rapidly.

Whatever it was, his body was undergoing massive change.

“C-Chef! Is this that battle with the spiritual power?”

—I-I don’t know! I never dared enter the Grand Duke’s chamber…!

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo’s new left arm was swelling abnormally.

He stabbed Bastard into the ground and removed the prosthetic “Little Bird” that had replaced his left leg.

Cheolkuk!

Where the prosthetic fell away, purple flesh puffed up like popcorn.

“What the hell, damn it. Am I finally being punished?”

By now, Yeongwoo’s head had already transformed about sixty percent into that of a cephalopod.

Hair fell out in clumps as strange patterns spread across his scalp like a tide.

—Y-You… you’re in big trouble!

As Lady Kanaph screamed, covering her mouth,

a system window appeared before Yeongwoo, now almost unrecognizable as either human or Artari.

「Artari Power acquired: +1.1」

“…What?”

Then, from beneath the tentacles covering his chin, crimson demonic energy poured out.

“GUWAAAAAAAHHHH!”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]