92. A Better Picture

Frost’s heart wrenched at the sight. The barbaric man drew his blade as if possessed by an evil spirit and plunged it straight down into Snap’s head.

But this had not yet occurred.

It was no more than a product of her foresight. However, it was only seconds away from becoming a reality. Snap carried the remaining 6 adventurers on its back as it took cover behind a clump of debris and risen earth.

The unsuspecting spider only possessed a single eye, rendering it incapable of sensing the danger it had suddenly befallen. It was not just this man alone either. Several others also reared their blades overhead and aimed to strike Snap dead.

The distance was too far for her to inflict Scrutiny. A couple hundred meters separated them, rendering Frost useless as she relied entirely on Nav to save Snap.

“TELL SNAP TO THROW THE ADVENTURER'S OFF!” Frost rapidly relayed. “THEY’RE GOING TO KILL SNAP!”

Snap’s HP was only 2,500 and with the average ATT at around 400 they would nearly kill it in a single hit.

“RELAYING NOW!”

Frost’s blood boiled to unprecedented levels. The act of betrayal was one that singed her heart more than anything in this world. To witness it occur to a person she cared deeply about, and to the one that wished for nothing but their safety, caused the ground to rupture under the sheer weight of her rage.

The blades reached their apex. And with one simultaneous plunge, the adventurers thrust their weapons downwards. All save for Perla, strangely enough. It was in that moment that Snap disappeared entirely from underneath them.

It had thankfully received the warning in time and acted before Frost could even blink.

The Adventurers collapsed along the ruins, with one meeting their end as the giant blade sliced their face open. The man screamed out at the top of their lungs, clutching at his gaping face as the other adventurers surrounded him, taking offensive stances.

Perla was, once again, the only one exempted from this. Rather, she was in a state of mental anguish, clutching at her head as the floating value above her blinked from green to blue.

< [Corporeal Value] >

The Greed Counter placed values upon every single individual within its presence. Frost bitterly watched on as the people she so desperately tried to save hysterically ran with red values above their heads.

Her efforts to save them were rendered agonizingly futile.

“Nav! Get Jury on Perla! I suspect the other Adventurers are done for! Let the triplets deal with them! If the Subjugation Requirement is anything to go by then we need to get rid of the Hired Arms!”

“Have you confirmed that they are these Hired Arms!?”

“Not yet – but I’m heading back there to confirm it!” Frost exclaimed, turning to the masses with solemn eyes. “These people… Tch. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… This whole situation is a fucking MESS!”

Frost deeply lamented their impending deaths and turned her backs to them. There was truly nothing she could do to save them short of killing this Corrupted. Or, if she was anything like the Wandering Healer, then to kill them as a form of salvation.

It was the final straw that bellowed her raging heart and surged her emotions high enough to finally enter the First State.

< The Will of the Amalgam Has Been Raised to The First State >

< Borrowing the Active and Passive Skill of the Listening Bird >

Frost’s hair fluttered far behind her as she battled with the golden tentacles, weaving between them with ease. The difference in AGI combined with her foresight made them a trivial threat. A nuisance at most.

“GET OUT OF MY WAAAAAAAY!” Frost’s intense emotions surfaced in the form of a roar, propelling flames straight from her hands.

[I am Fire!], [Backfire of Dual Embers], [Flame of a Fleeting Ember].

A flurry of explosions followed her every movement, causing the very air to boil as an illusive haze lingered in the wake of her destruction. The red, bizarre symbols appeared all around her and fell like bloodied snowflakes. Her hair became grey towards the end as if singed by the flames.

< The First State has manifested as the Listening Bird >

She traversed the lands, her mere presence incinerating these Touch of Golds as the unfortunate souls she left behind were snatched. They were dragged in to the depths of the Greed Counter’s diamond visage like snagged fish at the end of a reel.

The countless hands were nestled and intertwined like a box of blue worms. They grabbed, caressed, and broke the bones of their victims as their limbs sunk into its surface, leaving their entire torsos vulnerable to the whims of this entity.

< [Mangled Coins] >

< “True value comes from the soul. They sought to materialize it.” >

< “There is a price that we are all willing to accept to betray our hearts.” >

The voice of the Corrupted caused Frost’s blood to chill in an instant. An instinctive dread washed over her as she turned to the captured souls and, to her dismay, watched as the hands began to peel at their flesh and harvest their bones.

Once boneless, they were molded into various shapes like putty by the hands right before a mechanical syringe emerged from the blue diamond.

“Nav… The Wandering Healer… Didn’t her needle look just like that!?”

Frost was nearly at a loss for words as she locked her sights with the suffering, agonized by her inability to save them.

“Just what the hell is this Corrupted referencing!? Coins!? Inflow Direct!? What piece of civilization is it referring to!?”

Res promptly fired a barrage of electric lasers to end their suffering right as a stake-like needle sunk into their chests. They were reduced to nothing but smoldering corpses, and yet the needle kept flooding their bodies with a blue liquid.

“Likely the creation of the coins and the inherent greed of people.”

“Creating coins…? By what, requiring people? Creatures? THE LIVING!? As materials!? Is that why they mentioned foodery back then!?” Frost was understandably disturbed by this.

“That is most certainly the answer.”

She could not begin to comprehend the notion of creating coins out of people. The value of coins was not tied to anything but itself, and this was meant in the most visceral sense imaginable. No. She could never have imagined this to be the case if it weren’t for the blatantly horrific truth painted before her.

Frost split her thumb open with a tooth and left a trail of coagulated blood. They merged with the upheaved ground and then arose as giant crimson slabs with a triumphant choir.

And with it burst forth a massive ring of flames.

Unlike the previous iteration which was inscribed with healing magic; these were inscribed with [I Am Fire!]. It worked as an area of denial weapon, preventing the Touch of Golds from progressing as it reduced them to cinders in mere seconds.

After all, it dealt her maximum MAG ATT with each pulse, which occurred at every 10 second interval. It greatly helped that they overlapped with one another, so when one fired off another would finish an already injured Touch of Gold.

When she was close enough to the Adventurers, she checked their statuses and confirmed her suspicions.

Hired Arms
AFFINITY : Civilization
LEVEL : 90     ORIGIN : Trauma     HP : 2,200     ATT : 1,200     MAG ATT : 1,200
ATT DEF : 1,000     MAG DEF : 1,000     MP : 1,200     RESIST : 0     AGI : 20

They were no longer human. But they appeared exactly like their normal selves. Nothing apart from their actions were off. Even now Frost had a hard time figuring out any physical abnormalities.

The triplets had already pinned the 4 remaining adventurers within a shallow crater, ready to reap what was left of them.

They were rabid and screamed nonsensical woes at the top of their lungs. Even the most passive of the group sneered with bloodshot eyes.

The heels of their feet were charred black by the triplets, rendering them incapable of escaping. The pooled blood beneath them instantly vaporized within Frost’s smoldering presence.

Their strengths were strangely identical with one another despite their levels wildly differing beforehand. The triplets could not see this difference, but when Frost brought up their Corrupted status:

“You’re right! I can’t see their status at all!” Cer further confirmed this, watching these Hired Arms grovel beneath them unapologetically. “Hey! Red suit feline! Keep those things off us! FROOOST! – do you have any idea what we’re supposed to do against an invincible enemy!? About these ones as well!?”

The mere act of pointing their blade towards Snap was unforgivable. Not to mention that they were no longer ‘people’. They were Corrupted. Nothing more.

Therefore, they were already dead in Frost’s eyes.

They were slaughtered for not only being enemies, but to also fulfil the Suppression Requirements. The only exception was Perla who miraculously remained human.

Jury found herself riding atop the back of Snap alongside a recovering Perla. Although, Snap’s sheer speed caused her to relapse into a nauseous state.

The green value above her head flickered rapidly before it finally turned blue. What this meant was unknown, but Frost knew that it must have been the reason why they were immune to the Hired Arms attack.

“Right! Cer! We’re still waiting for whatever the hell the ‘Empowered’ is!” Frost answered, snagging one of the bodies into her maw as she fought side-by-side with the Moon triplets against the onslaught of Touch of Golds.

Unsurprisingly, the ‘person’ she devoured tasted of bitter iron.

< Stats of the Hired Arms gained >

< Unique Ability Gained >

< ABILITY: Swayed Disposition >

< EFFECT: See the bargaining price to sway the hearts of others >

< Greed is but one of the universal languages >

It was a bizarre effect that left her wondering just what the use case was. It had no immediate effect either. For now, it was a useless ability, unlike Midas’ Conversion which she could see a proper use for.

Skills were not something she could take, but with this newfound ability it may be entirely possible.

The battle was like a glorious dance in a den of serpents. Each of them was equally capable of standing on their own against these things. They could not get within five meters without being brutally shocked, burnt or minced.

A golden pile of bloodless gore rose to their ankles, filling the crevices as the Greed Counter spat out a number of giant golden coins once again.

“GET READY TO MOVE!” Frost relayed this as the number of the Touch of Gold grew thin.

< [Stacking Wealth] >

< “He was obsessed with the notion of infinity. An ever-repeating value of the highest order.” >

< “To extract a soul. To take their magic… all to give value to their products.” >

The charred bodies the Greed Counter possessed were retrofitted into coins. A dozen of these massive things flew like bullets, further scarring the world which was now unrecognizable. Only bloodied remnants of the circus remained as that same musical tune played in the background of this mortal battle.

“RES! THE COINS! ARE THEY MADE OUT OF PEOPLE!?” Frost demanded to know.

“What the hell are you talking about!? Why would they be made from people!? They’re made from creatures! Like the mineral slimes we saw!” Res answered briskly, almost irritated as a massive plume of dust kicked into the air at the onset of their battle’s aftermath.

There was a short pause, however. The triplets gazed at each other as they gathered close alongside Ignis. A blue, ominous glow emerged behind the curtains of the smoke as if taunting them.

All attacks had temporarily subsided now.

“… but in the past that did happen. People were turned into coins and certain objects. So they’d have a certain value attached to them. Rumor has it that it still happens to this day. Don’t ask me why. Don’t ask me how. I’m not a damned historian. I’m a Moon. I couldn’t give less of a shit about what happens down here.” Cer dismissed this, truly caring little about the world and, what Frost finally realized, its deeply rooted corruptions.

“… what about the healers? The taking of skills? Midas? Inflow Direct? The conflicts. The experiments…?” Frost was desperate. She could only ask these as the conflict suddenly subsided.

An abnormal lulling sound then swept through as the dust cloud continued to rise, the blue light of the Corrupted becoming increasingly dimmer.

“I don’t know where you’re hearing that from. Or what you’re rambling here in the middle of a battlefield. None of that makes any sense to us.” Res shook her head, moving to Frost’s side, enjoying the warmth. “But the healers… Frost. I didn’t know if Healers went that far back. Or if they were involved with the coin creation process.”

“Mhm. This Corrupted is a strange one. The way you explain it is like they’re some sort of distorted manifestation of past events.” Ber noted.

“That’s exactly what a lot of them are. Created by emotions. Grief. Suffering. Harrowing tales. Tragedies. And now, a perversion of civilization’s greed… Ignis. What do you think?” Frost placed a hand onto the girl’s head, wanting to feel some semblance of comfort as her mind rang as if a siren was constantly blaring inside of her head.

“She doesn’t understand it. But she hates it. Because it’s a cruel monster… and she says thank you for letting her feel this warmth again.”

“Yeah… that’s right. It’s cruel.”

The dust began to settle. But the agony in Frost’s mind never subsided. Even earth’s ancient history was infested with brutality and cruelty of unimaginable proportions. But to see such a thing manifest as a monster resulting from the combined anguish of countless was intoxicatingly sobering.

And just as the visage of the creature revealed itself in its entire glory – Res then brought up an interesting detail.

“We even identified this Corrupted from the start. But we’ve never seen or heard of it from our records. You probably know it already, or maybe not, but the Arbiter’s Trumpet only activates after the Nexus has gauged a Corrupted’s threat classification.”

“Huh. So someone must have met with this Corrupted before. But they never relayed the information back.” Frost instantly understood what her words entailed, remembering a similar conversation she had with Nav inside of the Black Forest.

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking. We are not the first to fight this thing.” Cer nodded to herself as Jury and Snap joined the fray with a brilliant gust of air. “Meaning someone must’ve hid this. Or somehow was unable to relay it to the Nexus. Think it’s some accident~?”

“I don’t believe in accidents I’m afraid.” Frost muttered.

Snap, understandably, kept a considerable distance away from Frost to avoid being incinerated. It was only Ignis who could withstand the flames like it was nothing more than a pleasant… fatherly warmth.

“So… what’s the next step, Frost?” Ber asked.

And as if on cue –

“We brace ourselves!”

– The Greed Counter launched a new attack.

< [False Diamond] >