The 31st Piece Overturns the Game Board

Chapter 75

SPLAAAAAASH!

Ataraks body falling into the lake of sulfur caused a wave.

Since Atarak was massive, even the lake couldnt completely contain her body.

Land.

Karen landed safely on Ataraks corpse.

Luckily, since Seol and Jamad were able to reach Ataraks corpse, they moved to meet her there.

Fuuu How was it? Did I look cool?

You only did the obvious, stop enjoying it so much, elf.

Says the jealous troll who couldnt do anything but stare.

...It was just a bad matchup. If it was on the ground, I wouldve beaten it myself.

Do I look like I have wings to you? Regardless, jealous people are only going to tire me.

[Karen-chan has donated 500 Madness!]

[I believed in you You cant fool blood!]

- Breaking News) Karen stans have bloody noses from going too crazy Theyre all being transported to the hospital.

- Hyah! Hyah! This is how we burn shit back in my hometown! How does it taste?!

- Atarak: Do these guys from Montra know what mercy is?

- (30 Years Later) Snowman still isnt able to choose which reward to take.

[Hey, Einstein has donated 300 Madness!]

[Why arent you starting the academic society meeting? Ah, its because Professor Karen, the greatest mind of our generation, isnt here yet.]

- We cant keep up with Professor Karens lessons at all!

- I almost shit myself with how fun today was.

- Snowman Crew is crazy!

- Fact) Jamad and Snowman were just busy running away.

- Youre supposed to make the rookie do that LOL The people at the top only take responsibility for it~

- News) Snowman Crew, We successfully recruited Karen

The viewers were all cheering for Karens performance.

Karen had been making the viewers anxious as she was a knight who couldnt unsheathe her sword. So when they saw her practically beat Atarak on her own, they took it as the timing to donate a lot of Madness.

[The biggest question that I have right now has donated 400 Madness!]

[How the hell did Montra fall?]

- Seriously LMFAOOO How does an Empire with Karen fall?

- Its such a hard question I give up on answering it.

- I know how it fell.

- OMG? What is it?

- Its that, you idiots. That Sigh! Anyway, its that!

- Is this guy dumb?

- He just wanted to call us dumb LMFAO

- We are dumb though frfr

[I love you Karen has donated 300 Madness!]

[Would you Ma]

- SLAP!

- I can see what happened with just the sound LOL

- Yeah, same.

- Karen! Were just living in her world.

- Her talk show with Jamad is amazing and shes so skilled too!

- Honestly, I only care about the former.

- same LOL

However, Seols party did not have such a touching reunion.

Seol quickly checked if Karen was hurt anywhere.

Im sorry the sword melted.

Its fine, nothing I can do about it.

The only thing left of the sword after Karen used the Red Lotus Blade was the hilt. The blade had completely vanished.

It was incredibly powerful after all.

Atarak might have been able to endure that attack if she hadnt been injured, but with the injuries she received while fighting Karen and Koopas help, there was no way Atarak would have been able to survive.

More importantly, are you not going to collect it?

Of course, Im going to collect it.

Seol brought out a bottle from his inventory and started to collect Ataraks blood. Unlike the blood of the Sulfur Spiders, Ataraks blood wasnt hot to the touch.

Pour

Seol collected Ataraks blood into multiple vials.

Since Atarak was quite massive, she also had a lot of blood.

[You have acquired the blood of Anachindrias last descendant.]

[If the Remaining Time runs out or if you choose to take your reward, you may choose to finish your Adventure here.]

Blip.

A treasure chest appeared from thin air.

Defeating Atarak and collecting her blood satisfied the objective of the Adventure.

Jamad then lifted the treasure.

Ill carry that.

Yeah, you should do at least that much.

Hmph! I wont even give you the chance to help out next time, elf. Lets see then.

- Snowman must be so happy right now.

- Theyre competing on their own. All Snowman has to do is just go ahem here and there from the back.

- Summoner is a broken class LMFAO All of the other classes are falling apart.

- The difficulty heres the hardest too haha. Just look at Atarak. I bet even a truck full of humans wouldnt do anything against her.

Bubble Bubble

Fsssss

* * *

Ataraks corpse started to slowly sink into the lake of sulfur. Jamad, sensing that, quickly butted in.

Its sinking. We should move quickly if we dont want to turn into skeletons.

Yeah, lets go, Master.

Since they achieved their objective, going back was the correct call.

And even though Koopa ignored Seols party for now, it was hard to tell when the wild bird would change his mind.

Even so, Seol couldnt move. He simply watched Koopa.

Whats wrong?

It looks like hes in trouble.

Who? The bird?

Yeah.

Chiiirp!

Chiiiiirp!

Koopa flapped his wings wildly but was unable to leave Ataraks nest.

Seol calmly observed Koopa.

Flap Flap

Koopa turned his head a while ago and has only stared at the ceiling since then. It was like he was at a loss for what to do after discovering something.

Cooo!

Chiiirp!

Perhaps?

Seol realized what Koopa was trying to do.

Koopa!

Chirp?

Koopa, who had been unresponsive, turned around at Seols call. Koopas powerful beak and sharp gaze gave Seol chills.

Gulp

Ill help you! Come over here!

- You must have lost your mind, human.

- This summoner thinks hes a druid LOL

- Snowman used Call of the Wild! It was a huge failure! Snowman claims that he never had that skill in the first place!

Chiiirp!

Koopa flew toward Seol.

Grab.

Karen and Jamad stepped forth, worried that Koopa would attack him.

Fwoosh

Fwoooosh

However, Koopas actions were nothing more than a coincidence.

Koopa landed on Ataraks corpse and simply watched Seol with a curious gaze.

Chirp?

A disgusting smell and a hideous appearance.

Koopa still had the characteristics of a vulture even now.

Raise.

Seol raised his hand toward Koopas beak without thinking.

Koopa, seeing that, let out a cry while on guard against Seol.

Chiiiirp!

Master! Thats dangerous, what are you doing?

Karen was surprised by Seols unexplainable actions but he didnt stop there.

Slide

Oh my

And now, Koopa was moving over his beak to let Seol touch it.

Pet

- Shocking news! Snowman was actually a druid!

- Th-this is tampering!

- Hes really a druid?!

It seemed like Koopa didnt consider Seol a danger to him.

Hes not afraid of people. Rather

A friend.

He is thinking of me as a friend.

As Seol thought to himself, Koopa turned his head and looked at his own back.

Chirp!

It was a gesture telling them to climb on.

Koopa was so big that even though all three of them were riding on Koopas back, there was still more than ample space.

Oh my god I never thought I would be riding on his back.

I cant believe it. Is he not afraid of us?

Hold on tight.

H-Huh?

Fwooooooosh!

Koopa soared up high, taking Seol and his party to where his feelings lingered. And there, there was a cocoon that seemed rather old.

A cocoon? asked Karen.

Yeah.

What about it?

I think he wants us to take it.

Chiiirp!

Karen pulled out the cocoon in a dangerous stance.

Pull Rip

Since the cocoon was quite old, it wasnt sticky at all and ripped off quite easily.

Alright! Got it! said Karen after firmly fixing the cocoon on Koopas back with adventuring equipment.

Lets go!

Tap, tap.

As Karen tapped on Koopas back, Koopa dived straight down.

Wh-what?

Fwooosh!

Koopa took a big bite of Ataraks flesh and flew back up.

[Koopa used Unique Skill: Devour Corpse.]

[Koopa will absorb a portion of the corpses powers in a few moments.]

Chirp!

Koopa responded to Karen with a cheerful chirp and escaped through the cavern that way.

FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!

A-Argh, I think Im going to fall off! Im falling off!

Hold on tight! Were getting out of here!

Koopa flew quickly through the tunnels, almost like he could sense the breeze coming from an entrance.

He found the perfect path through the tunnels, despite them twisting in all sorts of strange and different directions.

Gasp Gasp

Where is he going?

And then

Fwooooosh!

Koopa plunged into the underground lake, and once he spotted an exit, he soared back up into the sky.

Huh?

Fwooosh

[You have earned the achievement 'If I Had Wings Too'.]

[You have earned the title 'Bird'.]

- Nice achievement!

- Hes abusing the system Koopa just gave him a free achievement.

- The more I see Koopa the cuter he gets am I wrong?

- Huh???

- I guess I was wrong.

Fwoooosh

The Shade Canyons open sky was right in front of them.

Seols party enjoyed the view from Koopas back.

What a killer view.

Hah! I guess even birds can tell what a good view looks like!

- Stop! Stop right there! Let me screenshot it.

- You old man just clip it

- Ah

- Ahh

It was a magnificent view that only the apex predator of the Shade Canyon could see.

Fwooosh

But they werent allowed to enjoy the view for too long.

Koopa was flying toward somewhere.

The party, without a word to each other, looked down from Koopas back. Though it was a short amount of time, the days they spent in the canyon flashed through their memories like a movie.

Huh? I think were at our destination.

...So there was a place like this.

Land.

Seols party landed on the ground safely.

Koopa let Seols party off in a very special location.

It was a place filled with grass and flowers, something that was rare in the canyon.

The ground returned to a desolate state not even that far away from here, but here it was lush with plants.

Why here

Seol had an idea why.

It was clear that the cocoon Karen was slowly taking off of Koopa was the reason he brought them here.

Coo

Chirp

Koopa carefully lifted the cocoon with his beak and placed it on a flowerbed.

And then

Rip

He tore the cocoon open.

...A person?

No, a corpse.

The corpse inside was completely mummified, sucked of any liquid.

Chiiirp

Coo

Koopa rubbed his beak against the corpse.

Seol could tell that Koopa was sad.

Koopa closed his eyes and slowly enjoyed his reunion with the corpse.

...Was it his master?

It makes sense. I did think it was strange for a bird like that to be on his own.

Thats a bit unfortunate.

I agree.

As Karen and Jamad shared a conversation while watching Koopa, Seol approached Koopa instead.

Chirp

...Kiri?

Coo?

Hes Kiri, right?

Koopas eyes were clear as he watched Seol.

It was like Koopa understood Seols words.

Seol took a knee in front of Kiri.

His knee pressed down one of the flowers.

Im sorry, Kiri.

There was no response.

After all, he couldnt even if he wanted to.

And that had been the case for a long, long time.

I pray that you rest well. As you can see, Koopa has grown quite imposingly.

Chirp

And then.

[<Kiri>s Inheritance is starting.]

Urgh

Seol had not seen one of his pieces since ZIliac. Still, like before, Seol began inheriting Kiris memories.

The memories this time werent from an omniscient viewers viewpoint but from Kiris viewpoint.

Seol was looking at a very small Koopa.

All of Kiris party members were asleep and it was only Koopa and him by the campfire.

Crackle

- You know, Koopa

Chirp

- Are you sleepy?

Chirp! Coo!

- Haha! Be quiet, youre going to wake the others.

Coo

Kiri already knew that Koopa was extraordinary. It was the first time he saw a bird listen to a human so well.

- Youre sad because they dont like you, huh?

Chirp

- I know you only smell like that because its a side-effect of you absorbing the nutrients, but they just dont understand.

Coo

The small Koopa nodded.

- Koopa, its fine.

Coo?

- Ill tell you that its fine. Youre fine, Koopa.

Chirp

What would it feel like to have a person say that you are fine as you are?

Koopa rubbed his body against Kiris fingers as if he were touched by it.

- Youre going to get bigger than me one day, arent you, Koopa?

Chirp!

- Yeah, youll let me climb on your back and over there! Well fly together all the way over there!

Koopa puffed up his chest.

Like he was confident in it.

Chiiirp!

- Ill be looking forward to that day, Koopa.

With that, Kiris memory had concluded.

Seol also thought that the inheritance was over.

Frsss

But, the memories continued.

What is this?

This point of view

It felt like he had become much smaller.

Chirp! Chiiirp!

Seol was watching a spider erupt out of the ground and drag away a party who was afflicted with sleep and venom. Kiri was also one of the party members.

Cooo!

Bam!

Despite diving at the spider with full force, he only dizzied himself. The spider didnt pay any mind to the person to whom this memory belonged.

This is Koopas memories.

Seol wasnt sure why he was inheriting Koopas memories, but he was confident that they definitely belonged to Koopa.

Koopa wasnt able to stop the spider that dragged Kiri into a hole and disappeared.

It was because he was weak and small.

The ground was covered up again, and Kiri was gone.

Seol was swept away by the fierce emotions that Koopa felt at that time.

And then, the days that Koopa spent in the canyon slipped past like a movie.

Koopa hunted, ate, and pursued.

Those were the only things that Koopa did since then.

He did it all to get Kiri back.

But Kiri returned to him as a corpse.

Even though he had grown so large even though his beak had become so tough even though his talons had become so sharp

Kiri was unable to tell him that it was fine.

Koopas sadness was passed directly to Seol.

AAAAAAAAAARGH!

Taking a glance at someones memories, especially a dead persons memory, always brought Seol pain.

But with that, the memories were over, and Seol received new messages.

[You have inherited Kiris unfulfilled desire.]

[A skill has been inherited from the deceased.]