Return of the Shattered Constellation

『…You took everything.』

Not caring whether Audumla in her idol avatar was depressed, Chang-Sun just scoffed, and then looked at a bottle that held much darker content than the one he had received earlier.

[Audumla’s Origin Blood]

Blood from the soul of an Ancient Celestial who fed the first Celestial and Giant. It is known that drinking a drop of this blood can bring a person immortality and fortune.

· Grade: Relic

· Type: Ingredient.

· Effect: Fortunate Immortality. Cure-All. Curse Protection.

The heart was the source of life, so no amount of coins would be enough to get blood from an Ancient Celestial’s heart. However, origin blood, which was freshly drawn from a heart, was vastly superior. It only contained the purest essence of life, so it also represented the person’s very soul. Losing too much origin blood could lead to the degradation of one’s Divine Class, but Chang-Sun did not care one bit and successfully extorted it out of Audumla.

“Can I… really have this too…?” Chaque li Omeister felt a bottle with trembling hands; it was also a bottle of [Audumla's Origin Blood] like Chang-Sun’s.

“It’s for trusting me.”

“…I feel as if I have not done anything, but I will gladly accept your gesture.” Chaque held onto the bottle very dearly, from which Chang-Sun could tell that Chaque still had not shared everything about himself.

‘Yeah, he seemed to trust Audumla too naively and blindly.’

With that thought, Chang-Sun chuckled and said, “Like I told you, it’s a down payment. You have to do your job to be paid in full.”

“Of course. After everything you have done for me, I must do my duty and get the job done.” Chaque nodded fervently and slowly stood up, tightening the grip on his sword. His eyes were gleaming more sharply than ever.

『…How much more are you trying to extort me…』 Audumla mumbled with her shoulders drooped.

Giving her origin blood was already too expensive a price for her to pay, but she had to offer an even higher price, giving her a headache. Nevertheless, not much could be done about it as it was the consequence of her wrongdoing. Besides, her biggest problem right now was…

[Pledge Terms]

-The party who received the request shall be called Party A, and the party who made the request shall be called Party B.

- Parties A and B shall faithfully carry out their duties as per the pledge.

…

-The payment for the request will be selected by Party B after completing the request. However, it should be a payment that is possible for Party A.

…

One of the terms was that Chang-Sun was going to choose what payment he received, so Audumla had tried to finalize the price before forming the [Mana Pledge].

“I haven’t decided. If you don’t like it, we can just drop this, can’t we?”

Audumla had nothing further she could say. It was obvious that if she also bluffed, Chang-Sun would actually take [Ymir’s Heart] and join Ymir’s side, leaving her no choice but to surrender. Despite everything, not knowing what Chang-Sun was going to ask for made her very anxious.

“It says in the terms that I’ll faithfully carry out my duty and ask for a price that you can pay,” Chang-Sun said with a shrug.

『…I’ll trust your goodwill.』

“Trust me. Without trust, your life would be very depressing.”

Audumla had a lot of things she wanted to say, but held herself back. Standing beside her, Chaque looked back and forth between her and Chang-Sun with mixed emotions.

“What? Is there a problem?” Chang-Sun asked.

“…I-It is nothing. I think we have taken enough of a break, so we should get ready.”

“Get ready?”

“I am talking about preparing something akin to palisades or traps. Based on my experience, it will take half a day at most for them to come back.” With a serious look, Chaque continued, “They know you are also going to fight, so they will bring more…”

“Have you heard about how the best defense is a good offense?”

Wondering what Chang-Sun meant, Chaque tilted his head in confusion. Before long, both Chaque and Audumla’s eyes widened.

『Are you going to strike Ymir’s base?』 Audumla asked.

“Correct.” Chang-Sun nodded.

『But Ymir’s base was made by drawing on some of <Nihil>. Her base itself can be considered a new universe, so it isn’t easy for us to barge in.』

Chaque nodded, adding, “I also thought of a similar plan and visited the place, but it was…!”

“It must have been pandemonium, crawling with not only slave soldiers who look like us but also various monsters.”

“…Yes, how did you know that?”

“I’ve dealt with someone similar,” Chang-Sun answered casually.

Ubbo-Sathla and the Mother Terra Celestial were halves of the same being, so Ymir had to be very similar to Ubbo-Sathla, who had created all sorts of irregular monsters. Of course, the Class of Ymir’s monsters would be much lower.

“Then it will be easier to explain. It is difficult to infiltrate the base directly. I know how strong of an attack you can unleash, but Ymir will continue to create more monsters.”

『I will also have limits in reinforcing you two.』 Audumla nodded while sitting on Chaque’s head.

“I think you two are mistaken about something here,” Chang-Sun said.

“…?”

『Huh…?』

“We’re going to go to Ymir’s base, but I didn’t say anything about how I was going to fight,” Chang-Sun continued.

Chaque and Audumla looked blankly at Chang-Sun, unable to understand. Thinking that it would be easier to show them directly, Chang-Sun chuckled and extended his arm toward empty air.

Crack!

Just then, cracks spread in the air, and at the same time, Chang-Sun grabbed onto something.

『Exerting physical influence regardless of distance…? That’s impossible unless you’re a Quirinale…!』

Audumla’s eyes widened in shock. Controlling space was an ability that even an Ancient Celestial could not manifest, but Chang-Sun was doing it with ease, leisurely pulling his arm back.

Craaaash―!

The space around Chang-Sun’s arm shattered like a glass window and something jumped out; it was the shocked Antares.

“H-Ho-How…” Antares stuttered.

The moment he looked at Chang-Sun’s [Foretelling Eye], Antares’s heart sank. He had thought he escaped Chang-Sun’s perception range by fleeing to a different fragment of the Mother Terra Celestial’s <Myths> that was very far from where Chang-Sun was. For a long time, Antares had been adventuring in this place where the Mother Terra Celestial’s <Myth> fragments were scattered, so he had believed that hiding in this place would be easy.

‘I was going to bury him in the <Myths> if necessary…!’ Antares bit his lower lip.

No one could have imagined that Antares would be captured this easily.

“Did you seriously believe I let you go free without anything attached?” Chang-Sun smirked.

Antares’s face darkened, which Chang-Sun found amusing. When he undid Antares’ shackles, he had furtively attached his divine power to Antares to find him whenever necessary. No matter where Antares ran off to, he remained under Chang-Sun’s influence if he was in the presence of Chang-Sun’s divine power; it was an ability Chang-Sun had acquired after receiving the rights of Quirinale from Cha Ye-Eun.

“You became very stupid, Antares. You wouldn’t have fallen for such a simple trick before.” Chang-Sun snickered.

It was probably the side effect of going through torture and receiving punishment in the <Underworld> for a long time. Such methods caused most prisoners’ minds to break down.

Clatter, clatter, clatter…!

Antares’s teeth chattered just like the first time Chang-Sun had subdued him, his fear paralyzing his rationality.

Stab!

Chang-Sun stabbed Antares’ chest with a knife-hand strike.

“Keough…!”

Chang-Sun rummaged inside Antares’ chest for a long time. When he felt something at his fingertips, he popped it right away.

Paaah…!

After that, Antares shook violently, releasing white smoke. Losing his poison neidan, the ultimate weapon that made him ‘Scorpio’, made him lose control over [Gaia's Curse]. His <Myths> began to disintegrate, and he quivered even more violently as if he could crumble to dust at any moment.

[The <Myths> of the Celestial ‘Scorpio’ are disintegrating!]

[The Celestial ‘Scorpio’ has been poisoned with ‘Gaia's Curse’ and is in pain!]

…

[The Celestial ‘Scorpio’ begs you to save him!]

…

[The Celestial ‘Scorpio’ releases the poisonous air of ‘Gaia's Curse’!]

…

Perhaps because his vocal cords had melted down already, Antares sent a series of messages to beg for his life because he noticed that Chang-Sun had no intention of sparing him, unlike the time Chang-Sun had sent him into the <Underworld>.

“You want to live, yes?” Chang-Sun asked.

Antares nodded fervently.

“Then run.” Chang-Sun let go of Antares’ nape.

When Antares hit the floor, he looked up at Chang-Sun, wondering what was going on.

Schwing!

Chang-Sun held up the [Dawn Spear] without saying anything else, so Antares began to quickly run in the opposite direction.

“What are you doing over there? We should follow him too.” Chang-Sun gestured at Chaque and Audumla.

“…Where is he going?”

『Where do you think he is going?』Audumla asked.

“It’s obvious where he’s going to go.” Chang-Sun smiled, revealing his canines.

Wherever Antares passed, the surroundings turned a bleached, dead white due to the poisonous air of [Gaia's Curse].

*

『I’ll kill him… I’ll kill him… How dare he make a fool of me like that!』

Thud, thud, thud!

Ymir kept screaming in her quarters. Her divine power continued to leak out from her wounded eye. She had gone through all the trouble to rebuild her <Myths> after her death, and yet they were collapsing again. She had thought she was very close to retrieving her heart, so there was no way she could have imagined she would go through such a humiliation. It was all because of that slave…!

Thummmmp!

“Lady Ymir! Lady Ymir! We have a big problem!”

『What is it?! I specifically told everyone not to enter without my permission!』 Ymir crumpled up her face, looking at a heavenly warrior who had stormed into her quarters.

“Antares, the one who borrowed [Gaia's Curse] from you long ago, came back, and…!”

Unable to remember who Antares was, Ymir was about to snap at the heavenly warrior, but remembered someone a little later. In the past, Antares had come and bowed before her, wishing to learn how to use the curse. In return, he had offered her <Star Fragments> to maintain her existence. Ymir had not seen Antares after making the deal, so she had forgotten about him. However, the heavenly warrior was telling Ymir that Antares had suddenly come back.

『And?』

“And h-he…!”

『Speak!』

“He’s running wild, unleashing [Gaia’s Curse] on our troops!” The heavenly warrior shut their eyes.

『W-What?』

Namu's Thoughts

Namu: Ohh… So it’s like dropping a zombie in the center of your enemies’ base… Oh…

Editor Felis: Historically, this was actually a form of biological warfare in which people threw corpses over castle walls or drove infected people into enemy camps.