Chapter 560

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Chapter 560: Elixir (2)

The power of the Artari.

It was an astonishing force strong enough to raise Yeongwoo’s Majesty Level, which had already reached 48, by as much as 1.1 stages.

Of course, it didn’t seem as though he had completely digested that power yet.

“Uuuaaaagh…!”

Yeongwoo was still vomiting out bright-red demonic energy.

– M-My god.

– …What on earth is all that?

Everyone present had already backed far away to avoid the mess of his vomit, and amid all this, Yeongwoo was practically on the floor, almost crawling.

“Uuugh!”

After he vomited out all the explosive demonic energy, tremendous heat began to surge up from within his body.

“…Khhp!”

It was a heat that seemed to melt away his internal organs completely.

And that heat seemed almost alive, stepping upward inside Yeongwoo’s body, climbing toward his head—where his brain was.

‘Shit, so this is it. This is what it means to fight an elixir.’

Yeongwoo, who finally understood what the cook had meant earlier, used every bit of strength he had to suppress the seething heat.

And in that moment—

Kudeudeuk!

The purple limbs that had replaced Yeongwoo’s left arm and left leg split into six branches each and pressed against the ground.

Kwaak!

Just like a tree driving its roots into the earth.

“……!”

Seeing that, Yeongwoo snapped back to his senses.

He realized that he needed to cut off the newly sprouted limbs to subdue the energy of the elixir.

So the moment he tried to grab the Bastard—

Tdeudeudeup!

Violet veins crawled over the top of Yeongwoo’s right prosthetic arm and forcibly pried open the fingers that were holding the weapon.

‘Sh… shit.’

That was clear evidence that the elixir that had entered his body possessed some kind of will of its own.

The damn thing was desperately fighting to win against its user.

‘What kind of drug tries to fight its own master for control?’

Even then, the high-density energy occupying his organs was still trying to push up toward his head, so Yeongwoo hurriedly called out to Alden.

“Th… Third Son! Hurry and cut off my limbs!”

– …What?

“If you want to win against this insane elixir, you have to start by cutting off my limbs! Hurry!”

– No, that’s…

He was about to say, Isn’t that what you just called disgraceful?, but Alden wasn’t that lacking in flexibility.

No—in fact—

– If I accidentally take off your head too, don’t blame me.

Cracking a half-serious joke, he lifted up his family weapon, Blessing of Frost, with a grim expression.

And then—

Hwaeaeaeaeaat!

Without a shred of hesitation, he sliced through Yeongwoo’s monstrous left leg.

Kwaaat!

Immediately, the fierce heat inside Yeongwoo’s body began to surge violently, and sensing it, he looked toward his left arm and shouted.

“This one too! Hurry!”

– …Damn it.

Alden Miras, tense inside, let out a rough breath, adjusted his grip on the greatsword,

and brought it down, cutting off Yeongwoo’s left arm as well.

Kwaaat!

– I-Is it… over now?

Alden exhaled deeply as he looked at the grotesque limbs sprawled on the ground.

Then, as if waiting for that moment, the stumps where Yeongwoo’s left arm and leg had been started swelling again.

“Ugh, insane.”

The limbs were starting to sprout back.

– Should I cut them again?

Alden raised his sword high and asked, but Yeongwoo shook his head.

“Wait! If you cut them now, I can’t use them for the escape device!”

– …What?

“You have to wait until they finish growing! Cutting them now would be meaningless!”

– ……

Even in this completely deranged situation, Yeongwoo’s desire to make use of every opportunity made Alden feel faint.

Of course, it didn’t take long for the limbs to grow back.

Before long, from the swollen stumps of Yeongwoo’s body, violet tentacles shot outward—

Kwaaat!

and quickly inflated, shaping themselves into proper arms and legs.

– Wow, he’s become a total monster.

“Because he swallowed a drug meant for monsters.”

As Yeongwoo said this, his forehead was glistening with cold sweat.

Though he pretended to be calm outwardly, within his body he was still locked in a fierce struggle for dominance with the elixir Agfa.

And finally—

Kwaduk!

The newly regenerated left arm and leg split apart again into multiple branches, scattering like tree roots.

“Now! Cut them—now!”

– Hrrraaaah!

At Yeongwoo’s command, Alden Miras roared, and in that same instant, Blessing of Frost drew a blue trajectory through the air.

Swaeaeaeaeaat!

Yeongwoo’s arm and leg were severed again.

Sseok!

With a chilling sound, the purple limbs were cut away, and even after they fell from his body they continued to twitch for a while.

And around that time, the energy that had been trying to surge toward Yeongwoo’s head began slowly to subside.

‘What’s this, you bastard… finally losing your nerve?’

The violet veins covering Yeongwoo’s prosthetic arm began to dry out and shrivel, flaking away one by one.

The elixir’s energy was clearly drawing back.

“Huff.”

When Yeongwoo looked at the side where his limbs had been cut, he saw that unlike before, the body was no longer regenerating.

“Oh… did it really surrender?”

As he said that, Lady Kanaph peeked out from behind Aratubank and spoke.

– Isn’t it you who surrendered? Just look at yourself.

Indeed, at the moment, Yeongwoo was neither human nor Artari.

His body had somehow managed to maintain almost the same shape as his human form, but his head had practically turned into that of a cephalopod, and his right arm was mechanical.

“Yeah, guess so. Maybe I’m the one who surrendered…”

Shff.

Yeongwoo once again picked up the Bastard and looked at his grotesquely transformed face reflected on its blade.

“Anyway, how am I supposed to defend my approval ratings looking like this?”

Roughly six days later, the disappearance vote for Earth’s representative, Jeong Yeongwoo 07, would take place.

Although living as a mutant wouldn’t necessarily be the worst life, he still wanted to maintain his current position if possible.

Besides, his fake charity foundation had only just broken ground.

But no matter what, an Earth representative with this appearance would never be able to gain support on his planet.

“Hmm.”

As Yeongwoo frowned, the tentacles covering his nose, mouth, and chin trembled uneasily.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Then finally—

Shiaaat!

The heat writhing in his abdomen swirled for a moment, and then all at once spread throughout his entire body.

「You have obtained the Power of the Artari.」

That was when the system message appeared before Yeongwoo’s eyes.

‘The power of the Artari…’

It was the same phrase that had appeared earlier when his Majesty Level rose.

But this time, new notifications followed.

「Your absorption rate of Agfa is 31%.」

「Accordingly, you have acquired the following traits.」

| Racial Trait Gained: Artari 27% |

| Etiquette Reduction Rate: 20% |

| Predator-Type Martial Arts Multiplier: 114% |

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Puzzled by the messages, Yeongwoo looked up at the cook, who flinched back.

– Wh-What do you mean, sir?

“What’s this ‘Predator-Type Martial Arts’? Says I’ve gained a 114% multiplier?”

– Ah.

The cook’s tentacles twitched.

– ‘Predator-Type’… is the unique martial branch of the Artari.

“So this means Artari martial arts?”

– Yes… However, since you are not a born Artari, you could not fully absorb the elixir, so the multiplier has been slightly reduced.

But still, it was fortunate you survived the absorption at all, the cook added.

“So you’re saying the original multiplier would have been even higher?”

Indeed, since his absorption rate was only 31%, it was natural that the potency had diminished.

– Yes. But the very fact that you obtained the multiplier means…

“It means I can now learn Artari martial arts, doesn’t it?”

– …That’s right.

Perhaps because he had succeeded in absorbing the Artari elixir despite being of another race, the cook’s attitude changed, and he bowed deeply toward Yeongwoo.

– M-My lord… I can feel the Artari within you.

“…Really?”

Yeongwoo puffed up with pride for a moment, but then frowned again as he saw his face reflected in the Bastard.

“Damn it, of course you can. My head literally turned into an octopus.”

Even so, in terms of results, it was quite an accomplishment.

Above all, he had obtained the rare 20% etiquette reduction rate.

Thanks to that, Yeongwoo’s total etiquette reduction now approached 50%.

‘Practically half-Artari now.’

But was that really the case?

The following system message said otherwise.

「Due to significant physiological change, your species composition ratio will now be displayed.」

‘What? Hybrid ratio?’

No sooner had Yeongwoo widened his eyes than the message filled his vision.

| Human: 41% |

| Artari: 27% |

| Dragon: 16% |

| Machine: 10% |

| Other: 6% |

“What?! I’m not even half-human anymore?!”

He barely swallowed the rest of the sentence—‘not even human?’—only because he remembered that the live broadcast across the entire Earth was still running.

‘How the hell did it come to this?’

Yeongwoo blinked rapidly, carefully checking his hybrid ratios.

‘Alright, Artari 27%—that makes sense. I did swallow that damned elixir whole.’

And that part had already been stated earlier.

| Racial Trait Gained: Artari 27% |

Next came Dragon 16%.

‘Actually, that’s not too hard to believe either. My heart’s been replaced with a dragon’s.’

Looked at another way, it meant that even out in the universe, a creature’s heart was considered one of its defining organs.

Strictly speaking, Yeongwoo had two hearts—those of the Poison Dragon and the Strong Dragon, fused together.

‘Then… what about Machine?’

| Machine: 10% |

The answer came easily enough—his right arm, the one he was scratching his chin with now.

Since he had replaced an entire arm with a mechanical prosthetic, his racial ratio had changed.

‘If that’s the case, there probably aren’t many purebloods left anywhere in the universe.’

And finally—

| Other: 6% |

The “Other” portion was also understandable.

He had several mutated organs, and even his spine had been replaced with equipment.

‘Huh. When you think about it piece by piece, it actually makes sense.’

So when all of that was added up, Representative Jeong Yeongwoo 07 turned out to be 41% human.

‘Still, this is ridiculous…’

Feeling a sudden chill, Yeongwoo touched his bizarre, tentacled face.

And then, the final system message appeared before his eyes.

「Due to the increase in Artari proportion, Body Reconstruction is now possible.」

「Would you like to execute?」

Body Reconstruction.

Just hearing the words was terrifying—

but for Yeongwoo, whose head had literally turned into an octopus, it was the best news he could imagine.

‘Body reconstruction? If I do that, can I get my head back to normal?’

As he wondered, an answer appeared—not in text, but visually.

A hologram model of Jeong Yeongwoo 07 appeared right before him.

Paaat!

It showed his octopus-like head highlighted in purple, and his lungs, some organs, and one leg marked in blue.

That meant if he replaced those organs and that one leg with Artari equivalents,

he could restore his head to human form.

“…….”

After a brief moment of thought, Yeongwoo made up his mind.

“E-Execute! Give me back my dignified face!”

[Translator - Night]

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