Chapter 404

The sight of Jinseong searching for survivors resembled that of a skilled mercenary.

In places where a person could be hiding, he meticulously imitated a rescue team, scouring diligently for survivors, and if that didn’t work, he would summon ghosts to check those spots. Later, just in case, he would set fire or unleash poisonous insects.

Setting fires was the optimal way to inflict the horrific pain a human could suffer while also destroying any hiding places. Even if a survivor remained, they’d either panic and rush out, making noise, scream as they were burned, or perish in the flames—there was no more efficient way.

If fire was the best option, then poisonous insects were the alternative.

In areas where starting a fire could lead to severe damage or where flammable materials were nearly impossible to find, he would resort to unleashing the insects instead. He specifically chose tiny creatures that could roam anywhere and delivered excruciating pain to the point they couldn’t help but scream after a single sting.

And if survivors were discovered during this process…

Bang-!

The rifle erupted with gunfire.

A survivor, mistaking it for the rescuers’ arrival, popped out of their hideout only to have a gaping hole blown into their head and died.

Those survivors who had mastered the emergency manual and remained silent, regardless of whether the rescue team truly came or not, were startled into revealing themselves only to be ended by Jinseong’s confirmation shot.

“Let’s see… There’s one left, but they seem cowardly. Now, where could they be hiding?”

Only one survivor remained.

After confirming the last survivor’s existence through divination, Jinseong began to move differently this time. He started to dismantle the puppet he had used to imitate the rescue team.

Thud thud.

Having wandered around while mimicking the rescue team, there was a great chance of deceiving them.

Three gunshots had followed the mock rescue team.

If they weren’t foolish, it would be easy to guess that the ‘rescue team’ wandering around was actually an intruder in disguise. It didn’t matter if the intruder was a ghost or a living person.

Thus, the survivor would surely remain tucked away, holding their breath and hiding.

Therefore, this puppet no longer held any value.

Dismantling it and feeding it to the bugs was a much better strategy.

Crunch crunch.

Thus, the puppet was reduced to a pile of remains, which became prey for the insects unleashed from Jinseong’s grasp. All of these insects were horrifyingly poisonous, paralyzing the carcass with venom and tearing into it with their strong jaws.

The mutilated remains became so unrecognizable that it was hard to imagine its original form, and what was left was marinated in poison, decaying instantly into something inedible.

Jinseong muttered as he looked at the remnants.

“From dirty water, mosquitoes are born; in the deep earth, worms emerge; decaying trees turn into mushrooms, and the odor gives rise to diseases—that’s the truth of the world. Maggots born from rotting flesh becoming flies is not the work of Baal-Zebul, but a truth derived from reality, so those who seek truth must observe this principle before their eyes and not be beguiled by superstition.”

In the past, during the early days of alchemists’ emergence, when they didn’t fully understand the existence of Æther and couldn’t distinguish between chemistry, magic, science, and shamanic arts, they mixed everything together.

The magic used by the alchemist back then was being recreated by Jinseong.

Fizz.

A spell that accelerated the decay of flesh, entangled the insects, and summoned a swarm of maggots and flies.

Originally, it was a spell used by a senior alchemist who deemed those maggots and flies as filthy and impure, to teach the younger alchemists ‘proper education,’ but now Jinseong sought to utilize it for a different purpose.

Twist.

Buzz buzz.

Bright white maggots swarmed out.

They rapidly devoured the rotting flesh and grew into adult flies.

These flies, initially flapping chaotically, soon gathered in accordance with Jinseong’s will. They flew in an orderly fashion like a swarm and hovered in a black mass in the hallway.

Then, at Jinseong’s gesture, they scattered in all directions, moving into hard-to-reach passages like vents to spread out everywhere.

To find the survivors, of course.

Flies that hatched from filthy rotten meat moved along the vents.

Using the convoluted, spread-out vents as their path, they buzzed around, searching every corner.

Buzz buzz.

Ultimately, they found a person.

The flies, making an annoying noise as they flew up through the vent, excellently pinpointed the human, and under their hand, they were crushed to become a corpse. The now-dead fly sent a signal to Jinseong, who was spiritually connected to it, revealing the location of its death.

“There you are.”

Recognizing the position, Jinseong commanded the insects with a wave of his hand.

Poisonous insects.

Once stung, they would scream in pain; after multiple stings, they would roll on the ground in convulsions; if continuously stung, their bodies would become paralyzed with agony.

The insect servants, forged from improvisation, moved upon the command of their master.

Centipedes crawled, spiders scuttled along the walls, and moths flew, shedding their toxic dust. The blue cactus ants, known as burning insects, dragged their swollen bellies full of fluid, crawling near the floor, while night moths hummed as they moved, which bore a skull pattern.

The pests moved in a line… and finally confronted the last survivor.

Ssssss.

Leading the charge was a tiny spider.

With a body and legs so thin that one could hardly notice its existence if they weren’t careful, it appeared almost intangible.

Yet this little critter possessed potent venom.

Getting bitten brought terrible pain such as muscle aches and headaches, and it would flood acetylcholine to make muscles twitch. This tiny creature with a powerful toxin had been Jinseong’s favorite since his mercenary days.

“Ugh!”

The spider slipped into the hiding spot of the person and injected its venom.

Even a simple bite delivered horrific venom that was further amplified by its hidden craftiness.

It would be impossible to endure that pain without a sound.

The hidden soldier groaned in agony, startled by an imminent muscle spasm, and quickly burst out of his hiding place. Staying put in a narrow, unexpected space where a person could enter was intolerable; he had to escape before continuously being bitten by that bug.

But waiting for the man, who had just emerged while enduring his muscle spasms, were the insects.

Moths, centipedes, ants, spiders, larvae, wasps…

A diverse swarm of bugs, each holding different toxins.

And behind that swarm stood a person.

Click.

That was the shaman holding a rifle.

Jinseong aimed at the last remaining survivor with his gun.

“Hey there. You’re the last one left. So, let me ask you, do you have any intention to assist me?”

His finger seemed ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

The rifle’s barrel, shrouded in a darkness akin to an abyss.

The presence of a bullet that could erupt out at any second.

And the swarm of poisonous insects hovering around, threatening to pour venom upon the soldier…

The soldier stood before Jinseong, who was aiming the rifle at him, and the threatening swarm of insects.

He heard the whispers of ghosts from afar in the hallway, the scurrying sounds of the phantoms echoing against the walls and floor, and the unsettling sound of something sloshing faintly.

He listened to the buzzing wings of the flies reverberating through the vents and the engine’s roar echoing, declaring that even when people disappeared, his life had not yet ended.

In that brief moment.

The soldier contemplated the choice of a lifetime and reached a decision.

He moved his mouth, trembling from spasms, to respond.

“… Y-yes. I will cooperate.”

That was a signal of capitulation, an expression of his resolve as a human to do whatever it took to survive.

Jinseong gazed at the soldier who had agreed to cooperate.

The soldier bore an expression that seemed to plead for trust, and despite his lips quivering from convulsions, he fixed his eyes on Jinseong, as if to convey his will.

Trust me.

Please believe me.

Jinseong observed the soldier’s face, then his hands, and finally his eyes, locking onto the soldier, who was gazing back with determination.

He scrutinized him for a brief moment and nodded.

Bang-!

Jinseong jerked his head in a small nod while simultaneously moving his finger to pull the trigger, creating a hole in the soldier’s head, just like those that had died before him.

Then, he used Samādhi True Fire to ignite the soldier’s body, incinerating him in an instant.

‘Cluck cluck. If you lie, you’ll regret it…’

Thus, the last survivor, who pretended to cooperate before attempting to backstab him, met his demise.

Now, the master of this ship was Park Jinseong.