Chapter 150: Success And Failure Go Hand In Hand
The world locked.
No limb shifted and no eye dared close; elf, imp, and broodling alike bowed under the crushing press of Seo-jin's presence.
Metal shrieked as the sword between his fingers snapped, the sound slicing through the hush, followed by a warped, layered scream. The elf who'd lunged at Widow reeled back, blood spilling from his mouth while the growths along his arm convulsed and keened, their vines spasming as if flayed alive.
"Leave that one breathing. The imps too. Kill the rest."
The words didn't need translation. The elves caught the meaning at once and barked orders in their rough tongue, but the imps never looked their way. They didn't stir or answer. Every gaze stayed fixed on the Broodfather.
The poxlings understood it without thought. Whatever wore that human shell, it sat above them. Step wrong, and death would come.
When obedience didn't follow, the elves roared and surged forward, weapons rising as vegetation tore out from beneath their skin. Some wrapped blades in living growth, others swelled with sacs of churning fluid, and a few reshaped their own flesh into thorned lashes and bludgeons.
Pain didn't care.
Demon and greatsword fell together, the strike landing like a sentence passed. Fire burst outward, the center of the formation collapsing into a scorched ruin of ash and screaming heat.
Those still intact scrambled to rise, some realizing too late their legs were gone, while Panic was already among them, tearing survivors apart before the echoes of the impact could fade.
One of them broke away, thorned tendrils uncoiling from his shoulders to snag a boulder, the growths contracting to haul him clear of the melee. He never touched down. A focused blast of vibrating air from Hex slammed into his torso mid-arc, snapping his body sideways and hurling him straight into Bile's reach.
The impact drove him into the stone, and claws punched through his throat as teeth crushed into his face, tearing and grinding until resistance collapsed.
As the elf's limbs flailed and seized, fingers clawing at nothing while Bile split into his skull, Seo-jin watched from the corner of his eye and felt an unexpected flicker of approval.
[It appears your threat has seen some results.]
'Voracious little fucker, isn't he?'
With both hands, Bile tore the remaining mass of the head apart and snapped upright, steam rolling from his mouth as he threw his head back. The moment his gaze caught the Broodfather's, his posture caved; spotting the stare, then the faint downturn of Seo-jin's mouth, made it worse.
He folded in on himself, shrinking, shoulders hunched and shaking.
Seo-jin exhaled and looked away, his boot planted on the chest of the struggling elf. The creature hammered fists against his leg and tried to wrench free, but at D-rank it might as well have been shoving a wall. Letting it curse and snarl, he waited it out, knowing the noise sped the system's work.
'Hurry up.'
[Fuck off. This is harder than it looks, you know.]
'Bitch, bitch, bitch.'
[Talking shit isn't going to—ah. Done. You can shut him up now.]
Dropping to one knee, Seo-jin drove a clean, heavy punch into the elf's jaw, snapping it's head aside and knocking it unconscious. A pulse rippled through the broodlink, and a dozen lesser broodlings skittered in, crawling over the unconscious form to take watch as the fight surged on around them.
Turning back toward the brood, his tone stayed loose, almost bored.
"Are we done?"
A few final wet crunches answered him, and the last noises of fighting choked out into silence.
Sliding in beside him, Snare dipped his head in a shallow bow.
"What do we do with them?"
The gesture toward the imps carried no hesitation. The contempt bled through his voice, mirrored by every broodling present. Killing intent rolled off them in waves, each one straining to tear into the cowering mass.
His gaze drifted across the ashkin, and a strange pull settled in his chest. Familiar shapes. Familiar fear. What he'd crawled out of, what he'd left behind in the Maw. Seeing them here, broken and cornered on Earth, felt warped in a way that almost made him laugh.
"How I struggled…"
"Broodfather?"
He waved it off without looking.
"Nothing. Wait for orders."
"Yes, Broodfather."
To claw his way free of hell had cost him blood, bone, and sanity. These things had likely spilled out of a dungeon rupture without earning it. The thought sat sour in his gut.
He stepped up to the nearest imp and stopped, towering over it as it shrank into itself.
"Do you know me? Can you feel it, little fiendling?"
Each word struck with weight. The creature didn't dare move, pressing itself flatter against the ground as if trying to melt through stone. Its teeth rattled, limbs twitching, breath stuttering on the edge of collapse.
The title [Kinslayer] had gone unused for a long time, but watching it still crush his kind into submission drew a slow, satisfied curve to his mouth.
"What should we do with them? Feels like a waste to just butcher them."
[There's no alternative. They aren't brood.]
Bending down, he hooked his fingers around the imp's tail. The contact snapped whatever was left of the creature's will, its body going slack as it blacked out from terror alone. He lifted it clear of the ground and turned it slowly, studying it the way one might inspect a warped reflection.
Then something unexpected happened. His panel popped up.
[System // Notification]
[New Quest Available // Sever The Bond]
[Requirements // Identify the entity or force bound to your lesser kin and sever the connection]
[Reward // Title [Kinslayer] — Upgrade]
[Accept]
[Yes/No]
The prompt sat wrong with him. Quests were useful, but seeing imps labeled as kin curdled in his gut, thick and sour.
'You trying to piss me off?'
[Think, fucker. You should know how this works by now. I'm the interface, not the architect. Most of this runs on automation. Quests included. If I could hand them out on a whim, you'd be drowning in rewards by now. Armor for scratching your ass, levels for breathing, skills for not being stupid. Fuck, how long—]
"Alright. Enough. I get it."
He selected [Yes].
[System // Notification]
[Quest // Sever The Bond // Accepted]
The imp still dangled from his grip, limp and useless, adds twitching now and then. As he stared at it, another thought pushed its way forward. He turned his head slightly toward Snare.
"Any ideas beyond eating them?"
The answer came without pause.
"None."
He should have expected that. Rolling his shoulders, he started to tighten his grip, ready to finish it, when a voice cut in.
"If I may."
Seo-jin frowned and turned. Synapse stood a few steps away, soaked in blood from scalp to heel, belly distended from overeating, eyes locked on him without a trace of fear.
"Speak."
"If you permit it, Broodfather, I request that a small number remain alive. Controlled dissection would close several gaps in my understanding, and prolonged exposure to varied stimuli may reveal patterns of behavior or response. If we—"
"Enough. Do what you want."
As his gaze settled on the broodling, something caught wrong. The request had been granted, yet Synapse's face did not shift by a hair, no satisfaction, no anticipation, nothing at all. Seo-jin slipped into the broodlink, probing deeper.
'That's odd. He's…empty.'
[Looks like you spawned a genuine psychopath.]
There was no emotional echo. No turbulence. It was like peering into a piece of machinery waiting for input. Pulling back, Seo-jin found himself wondering what shape that absence would take as Synapse grew. The thought of growth carried him naturally to Bile.
Snare's report had been thorough, a clean breakdown of the hunt and the choices made in his absence. Seeing Bile now, posture shaking, eyes filled with fear, Seo-jin began to weigh what he was looking at against what he'd been told.
But analysis could wait. Pressure produced results faster. A glance at the profiles told him enough: Widow and Bile were both on the edge, a few kills from tipping over. Then he'd see what Bile actually became when tested.
He flicked his wrist and sent the limp imp skidding across the ground to Bile's feet.
"Finish leveling."
His attention shifted to Widow, legs already sealed and steady beneath him.
"You too."
Widow didn't pause. His claws opened a imp's throat in one clean motion. Around him, the remaining ashkin stirred, bodies tensing, eyes never leaving Seo-jin as they edged back from Widow's reach...but none of them ran.
Seo-jin watched in silence as Widow tore through another handful of ashkin, satisfaction settling in when system light flared and locked in at level ten. He was already prepared for the outcome, the contingency clenched in his hand before the glow even stabilized.
The bloodline item pulsed like a living thing. Black, wet, and sticky, it bore no resemblance to any organ a human body should contain, yet it beat steadily against his palm. The instant Widow's system light surged, Seo-jin pushed his aura into the mass.
[System // Notification]
[Would you like to use Bloodline Mutation (Spider Queen Lilid) // Rare Consumable?]
[Yes/No]
[Available Broodlings]
[Widow]
He confirmed it before the radiance around Widow had time to fade.
[System // Notification]
[Broodling Widow // Mutation Initiated // Demon Spider Broodling (Queen Bloodline)]
Instead of diminishing, the light detonated outward, drowning the space in crimson glare and rolling heat. An aura followed it, thick and invasive, pressing into flesh and bone until every creature present felt warmth coil in their loins. Lust bled from the mutation, raw and unfiltered.
The glare began to collapse inward, drawing tight until it sealed into a swollen cocoon of meat around Widow. Veins bulged and writhed across its surface, fluid slamming against the inner walls as whatever process was unfolding tore through the broodling without restraint.
"Queen bloodline...that might complicate things."
[Assimilation potential will most likely be limited. Female bloodlines should probably be avoided in the future. We should know for sure when he's done.]
The irritation passed as quickly as it came. Growth was still growth.
"What's taking so—"
Sensing no other system surges, Seo-jin turned, expecting another flare. Instead, he found Bile still hunched beside the unconscious imp, frozen in place. The sight snapped something in him.
"Bile!"
The broodling recoiled hard, heels skidding as he landed on his back.
Bloodlight bled off Seo-jin as he closed the distance, pressure rolling ahead of him in waves that pressed into bone and nerve.
"No more. The brood will not carry dead weight. Failure serves no function. I won't suffer waste."
The word waste tore through Bile like a blade. He knew that word better than hurt. Waste was what his father despised above all else, and being marked as such hollowed something vital inside him. When Synapse suddenly stepped between them, blocking the path of punishment, Bile's thoughts fractured. The moment refused to make sense.
"Step aside. Or are you volunteering to kill him?"
"I have no intention of harming Bile. I am only stating what he cannot."
"There is nothing to state. He has failed."
"That conclusion is incorrect."
Synapse replied evenly.
"I believe you are the problem."
The air locked in place. For a heartbeat, the brood froze as one. Then the stillness shattered under a surge of fury.
Heat flared at Synapse's side as Pain appeared, flames snapping outward. The broodling lifted an arm on instinct, bracing against the wash of fire.
"I'll end them both. Say the word, Broodfather."
It wasn't a threat. To speak that way to the Broodfather was, to Pain, already a death sentence. To all of them.
Seo-jin felt the moment tipping. Authority could not waver, not even for a breath. Every exchange had to reinforce dominance, or rot would follow.
He stepped forward.
No one saw his next move.
An arm came away from Synapse's body, torn free so cleanly it took a moment for the separation to register. Blood followed a heartbeat later. Seo-jin's face never changed. His eyes never shifted. He regarded the severed limb with the same indifference he showed the broodling still standing in front of him.
Synapse matched the calm without effort. Something Seo-jin noted, and would not forget.
"You're new, so this ends as a warning. Speak to me like that again and you won't finish the sentence. Now talk. Say what Bile cannot."
A cold weight churned through Synapse's core. Instinct screamed for him to drop, to abase himself, to beg. Logic overruled it. He stayed upright.
"Bile is not defective. He is, by function, one of the more capable broodlings. He assumed control of our unit without conflict, made sound tactical decisions, and maintained cohesion under pressure. My sole criticism is his lack of intellectual drive. What presents as cowardice is a secondary effect. He is paralyzed by fear of disappointing you. That fear governs every failure. He prioritized my survival over his own, not from weakness, but because he believed you valued me more."
The brood shifted as one. Pain. Panic. Snare. Hex. Each turned their gaze to Bile, memories aligning without effort. In battle, he had never broken. Never hesitated. Never failed them. Only in the Broodfather's presence did he collapse.
Synapse pressed on, aware that observation alone would not spare his brother.
"This does not absolve him. A broodling incapable of meeting his creator's gaze may still be an inefficient allocation of resources. However, I request permission to conduct a test. Based on current data, Bile is nearing the threshold required to manifest a class. Is that assessment accurate?"
Seo-jin studied him in silence, expression flat.
"It is."
Synapse inclined his head once.
"Then allow him to complete the process. Let me speak to him first. I believe an outcome exists that preserves utility."
Two reactions struck Seo-jin at once. One was his own, sharp and uninvited. Respect. The broodling stood bleeding, one arm torn away, and still did not bend. The other came through the link from Snare. Cold. Hostile. Calculating. Something new took shape there.
Seo-jin gave a single nod.
"Do it."
[I like this one. Shame you weren't built more like him.]
'Choke on my tail.'
[Proving my point.]
He ignored the system and watched. Synapse turned, lowered himself, and murmured into Bile's ear. The broodling still shook hard, eyes skittering, breath coming apart in his chest. Slowly, painfully, the panic receded. His focus narrowed. When Synapse finished and stepped back, Bile lifted his head just enough to see the ground at Seo-jin's feet.
That alone nearly broke him.
He stayed there, rooted. No movement. No tremor. Only his head twitched, tilting a fraction to one side, again and again, like something inside him was grinding into place. Muscles drew tight, then, with visible effort, he let them go.
Then he moved.
He lunged up and brought both hands down together, smashing them into the imp beneath him. Bone collapsed. The skull burst. The body went slack.
Bile straightened. Eyes still closed. He raised his face until it aligned with the Broodfather's shadow.
System light tore free of him, and a notification burned into Seo-jin's vision.
Bile's new class.