Chapter 65: Chapter 55- Rot

Most people would kill to have an intuition as accurate as mine, y’know?

Gaining the ability to pretty much all but look directly into the future is incredibly tempting, isn’t it?

A businessman would avoid all risks and always invest in the projects with the highest return profit, a scientist would never lose their research direction, and a leader would never make a wrong decision.

Who wouldn’t wanna be the best in their field?

Sadly though, as the laws of reality dictate, everything must have a shortcoming one way or another.

My intuition’s shortcoming is similar to one frequently seen in Seers or Prophets in a plethora of fiction works.

Any hints I get from it are bound to be correct and there’s no way to change that, only shift the results a little bit in my favor.

It doesn’t matter if it’s gonna be very beneficial to me or lead to my death, I can only try my best to make it more beneficial or at most deny myself a gruesome death.

I’m only enjoying this ability’s advantages most of the time, but now is one of the rare times I’m forced to face its downsides.

You see, they say knowledge is a curse, and ignorance is bliss for a reason.

While different races react in different manners, it's a fact that the unknown is the most terrifying thing for any intelligent being out there.

But it’s all fun and games as long as you’re not aware of the unknown’s existence.

Let’s take this world as an example. 

Humans and demons here are completely ignorant of their planet’s impending doom while the ones in the know are busting their asses off doing whatever they can to prolong the remaining time.

So, what would happen if an administrator suddenly announced that the world is gonna collapse in a couple of months? Total chaos!

Fear and chaos would spread everywhere, eventually causing the downfall of this civilization. It might even cause the planet’s collapse to accelerate!

Then, what would happen if that administrator decided to use something like Heretic Magic’s discomfort continuously and on a large scale? Probably the same.

Even if you don’t know why, as long as you feel like something bad is about to happen, you’ll definitely become anxious and eventually lose control of yourself.

And while I’d absolutely love to be the bringer of bad news and chaos, I definitely wouldn’t wanna be the victim in this situation.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I am at this very moment.

Out of the blue, my surroundings just went completely quiet and I started feeling a strong sense of dread.

Run the fuck away and don’t you dare look back or you’ll definitely die. That’s what my gut is telling me. Ah, as if that isn’t ominous.

Well, I certainly won’t be staying here after this. That’d basically be presenting myself to death on a silver platter.

No more dawdling around then! Flicking my tail, I start swimming away with all my might.

But the more distance I cross, the stronger my sense of crisis becomes. The pursuer’s perception is locked on me and it seems like it wouldn’t budge no matter what I do.

Hey, Manger-san, is Mischief still disabled?!

{Answer: Yes.}

So the easy way out is blocked, huh? Nothing I can do but keep on running, I guess. 

Fucking D, man. Why the heck give me an overpowered skill if you’re not gonna let me use it?!

A few seconds later, the… horror that caused this feeling finally broke into my Spatial Awareness sphere’s range.

Ten thin long tentacles connected to a huge slimy mollusk body. The pale red color tone and the missing body parts are a clear indicator of its identity, another undead lolicon.

However, it’s obviously impossible for a plain undead lolicon to inspire such a strong terror in me. I’ve already killed a bunch of those guys before after all.

There must be something unique about this one, and while I’d love to uncover its secrets, now isn’t exactly a good time to do so.

I already discovered one visible difference between it and normal undead though, this squid-like creature has a viscous black liquid oozing out from its suction cups and covering its entire body.

At first, I dismissed it as blood, but the way it stuck to the squid’s body as if it was a second skin quickly proved that assumption wrong. 

Uhhh, excuse me but is that perhaps a latex suit? … Ugh, I really shouldn’t have asked this. Now that weird picture will probably be stuck in my mind forever!

Stop getting distracted, Tomoko! This is a serious life and death situation!

It can’t be blood, else it would be dispersed by the water currents instead of sticking to its body.

Besides, I’m quite certain that it’s impossible for normal blood to hurt me even if it’s poisoned, acidic or filled with diseases, yet intuition started screaming danger as soon as I noticed it.

As the squid got closer, a shiver went down my spine and an instinctive– almost primal fear washed over my entire body.

It’s not a fear of death, I’m not really afraid of death, after all. No, it’s a different kind of fear… it’s as if this black liquid goes against the concept of life itself.

Wait… the opposite of life is death, right? This world doesn’t have necromancy or death magic, but there was a special death attribute if I remember correctly. 

…Rot! Yes, it’s the Rot attribute! Holy hell, this guy’s a walking disaster!

Rot would normally turn all living things that touch it into dust, but what if the user is already dead and even has an MA energy coat isolating its body from the liquid?

Clearly, you get something like this walking– cough, swimming calamity!

A random touch from those tentacles would turn all that it touches it into dust, and I’m pretty sure any attack sent its way would just be corroded by it before it gets close to its body.

Killing this guy before becoming a god is simply a fool’s dream!

Dammit! Why would administrators leave such a creature alive?! A living Rot attribute cluster is as dangerous to them as it is to mortals!!

Not daring to let myself get distracted any more, I stop inspecting the squid and put all my attention into escaping.

But if fleeing this guy was that simple, my intuition wouldn’t have had such a violent reaction in the first place.

In fact, I already noticed it a while ago. While this squid has been chasing me for a relatively long time, it’s actually far from doing its best.

If my skills weren’t turned off and my soul wasn’t disguised, this guy would’ve probably sped up and caught me before I even realized what was happening!

I would’ve thought it’s playing with me if it wasn’t for the fact that undead aren’t intelligent.

The distance between us is shrinking at an alarming rate, yet its speed is still increasing!

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That’s it, I’ll eventually get caught if I keep blindly swimming away. I must find a way to take its attention off of me!

Making a split-second decision, I immediately act on it and dive down.

Since undead are attracted to energy, then it should get distracted if I lead it to a bigger source of energy!

I don’t know if the dead area has thermal vents or volcanos at deeper levels, but there should at least be huge and strong creatures for it to eat down there.

Undead might be united when they’re chasing after an energy source, but they’ll instantly turn on each other as soon as that energy is in hand’s reach.

Actually, this plan’s extremely dangerous. I’m basically betting my life on an unknown possibility.

What if I don’t find another source of energy and swim into a dead end? What if my way down is blocked by another Rot-clad monstrosity?

So many what ifs went through my mind when I made that decision, but I still went through with it anyways.

I can only gamble with death if I wanna have any shot at surviving this!

Whoosh!

Feeling an incoming attack, I promptly activate my three stat-boosting system skills, barely escaping an arm that swiped through my previous position.

However, my evasion didn’t actually come as a result of the power increase, but due to the burst of energy the skills gave out.

The squid’s control mechanism was probably confused about why the weak flickering energy signal it was following got a sudden boost in intensity, leading to a pause in its actions.

It was but a momentary pause however, as it soon resumed chasing me with increased vigor.

But it doesn’t matter, my purpose has already been achieved. Numerous undead aquatic creatures should’ve been attracted by this burst of energy!

The problem is, I don’t have enough time to wait for their arrival. This guy’s speed has soared to insane levels after feeling that same burst of energy.

C’mon, Tomoko! Use that brain of yours to find a way out, god dammit!

Utilizing whatever has not been disabled of Sage’s functions, I simulate tens of different plans inside my head each second, but all are eventually discarded.

This is what happens when you’re matched against an enemy with crushing combat power. 

You can either rush at it like a moth to flames or give up and make a futile attempt at escaping with your life.

My heartbeat suddenly skips a beat, followed by a strange increase in the water pressure around me.

Confused by this, I check through my sphere, only to discover that one of the squid’s arms had somehow turned invisible, escaped my perception, and is now right under me!

Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I brace for impact while mentally keeping track of the other nine arms in case it launches another one.

I had thought I’d just be sacrificing an arm in exchange for a bit of extra time, so I didn’t really pay much attention to the attack, but as the attack connected, my brain went blank.

My entire body comes to stand still. For the first time in years, excruciating pain wrecks my body in continuous waves.

Since I hadn't felt pain in years and had the Suffering Nullification skill, it seems I subconsciously forgot that I’m not inherently immune to pain.

And now, not only do I have the nullification skill turned off, but I’ve also been attacked by an anti-life attribute.

Clearly, turning off my pain receptors ain’t gonna cut it. Frankly, even the nullification spell might be useless.

My eyes were blurry as I looked down on my arms, only to find a mangled piece of flesh in the place where my left arm is supposed to be while my right one was bent in the wrong direction. 

There was also a deep gash on the left side of my body.

Strangely though, I wasn’t bleeding. Some of that black liquid was smeared on my wounds, continuously erasing my blood from existence. 

For some reason, instead of panicking at this sight like a normal teenager would, I suddenly felt enlightened.

Why bet on illusory luck when I can easily get myself out of this dire situation as long as I pay a little price?

Looking back at the squid’s approaching body, a hint of hesitation flashes through my eyes, followed by hidden madness and ruthless determination.

My loved ones are waiting for me! I can’t die here!

Activating both HP Rapid Recovery and Shapeshifting, I order Manager-san to boost both using my skill points as I resume fleeing from my enemy.

The wounds start healing rapidly, but it obviously isn’t free. Each bit of flesh regenerated consumes a bit of that black liquid, so it’s accompanied by more agonizing pain.

Another arm closes in on my position during this process, but I offset the damage by positioning myself and using Shapeshifting to create a thick layer of scales at its target area.

More pain follows, but it pays off, as the attack gives me a much needed speed boost away from the monstrosity and towards the incoming undead tide.

Discarding the now corroded scales, I focus on creating a sharp blade from my right hand while regenerating the left one.

The undead tide reaches my position a few moments later, yet I don’t even pause as I begin slashing and stabbing through the cores of the ones directly in front of me.

This quickly grabs the attention of the tide and they start swarming towards the energy leaking from their companions, but it seems as if that paltry amount isn’t that appetizing for the squid.

Every time one of its arms passes through an undead, it just disappears, as if it was erased from existence.

Watching this though my sphere, that last bit of stubborn hesitation fades away. Clearly, my plans have all failed.

If I want to live through this, I can only be ruthless even if it’s to myself!

All of my wounds have already been healed, including my left arm which is now back to pristine condition.

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes while swinging my makeshift sword in a completely unexpected trajectory.

Not batting an eye at the sight of the large amounts of blood flowing out from the stump where my newly regrown left arm used to be, I keep my attention on the squid through my sphere.

Noticing a slight shift in its dull eyes, I quickly use Shapeshifting to temporarily close the wound before turning off all of my skills and going under the radar again.

This time, both the squid and the undead ignore me and begin scrambling to reach the arm that I left behind.

Peeking at this cruel massacre one last time, I imprint the squid’s figure into my memory.

Then, I once more flick my tail to dive away and into the depths.