Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)-Chapter 949. The Second Tribulation

< EFFECT: Launch a pre-emptive strike on a target marked or recognized as the False Progeny. Deal 590 ATT damage. If ATT exceeds the target’s DEF stats by at least 2x, attack pierces through target >

< COST: 1,000ml of MP >

“Again with these titles and namesakes?” It irritated her to no end whenever the Impuritas came up with a new way to label her. “Have you finally run out of names? Or, is your Brightest Star desperately trying to keep you all on a leash?”

However, in this instance, it did not affect Frost’s psyche. Names did not matter to her anymore. Not ever since she had come to separate herself from the Captured Star, Sinder, Her: and even Ilya.

Yet despite this, she was still the encroaching disaster that would bring this world to ruin.

The weapons finished charging, sending glowing bullets in her direction.

“Malga!?” Joy was surprisingly able to react to this attack.

A hidden tail that had yet to be seen on the girl appeared, attempting to intersect the shot.

However, Frost swatted those bullets way, flinging them into the distant walls.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

“Joy, while I’m happy that you’re my ‘Enforcer’, I’d rather that you stay put until you mentally recover from your wounds. No child, even a Corrupted, should fight in our stead.”

“No child of ours, you mean~” Jury hummed with an innocent face, all the while she doused the Impuritas with an acidic concoction.

“Gam…” Joy wore a disappointed look.

Frost reached down to pat the head of the concerned girl. Her hair was surprisingly soft, now that she noticed it. Rather, it was getting softer. She was aware that Realized Corrupted took time to change after first Realizing, with the sole exception of Res.

“But I appreciate the effort. It’s time that you start learning to think for yourself, rather than completely relying on stars.”

“… Mal?”

“What I mean to say is: I’ll get upset if you get hurt again. I don’t want to kill them all right away. But if they happen to hurt you, then I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold back~”

The reaction from the Repenters, particularly Usari, was one of turmoil. Her eyes bulged from their sockets as they silently screamed: “Are you forgetting about the machines in front of you!?”

“It will not just be this level. The upper and Lower Levels will have a Tribulation problem until every Impuritas is eliminated.” Morgause reminded them. “Ergo, the Tribulation will continue. I doubt they’ll be able to handle an Infestation-level Tribulation on their own. I should prepare to revive them.”

Horus shook her head.

“Nah. Maybe revive the Wrath chick but keep the rest stewing in your body suit. The less we have to bother us the better.”

“I agree.” Morgause faintly spoke. “Oboros Infinitas did not know what they were dealing with then they sent these fledgling Repenters here. I suppose that is why we’re here.”

With that said, Frost held out a palm towards the machines. An orange glow of her own formed within her palm.

“None of these ones hold any meaningful value to me.”

[Inferno IV]. A wall of flames erupted from her palm, engulfing everything in front of her. Those flames, which were hot enough to cause the walls to glow red, did not emanate heat much to the surprise of the Repenters.

Those flames soon disappeared as quickly as they appeared, leaving nothing behind but the cinders of the machines.

“Oh, right! Frost! Want me to save any Corrupted I come across?” Jury called out, right before she reached the humungous door leading into the left wing.

It did not budge even when she approached it. It was locked. Prompting the Mimic of Amalgamation to manual override it did not work. As a result, Jury casually knocked on it, causing the door: which could easily withstand the likes of Hailstorm Corrupted: flew off its hinges.

It churned through the rows of Impuritas swarming the halls on the other side.

“No need. They were a waste anyway. I’ll take what I can along my side. Just focus on killing. We can try turning back the clock to see what else this Site’s hiding from us.”

“Hmhm~! I was thinking the exact same thing! Joy, are you sticking with mama Frost?”

“Malgam!”

Frost wanted to refute. Her brain was telling her that this was the right call. But her instincts claimed otherwise. They screamed at her to keep Joy by her side, for there was no safer place than under her wing.

“Haaah. Alright.”

Frost sprouted a majestic tail of her own and scooped the girl onto her back. The tail in question was The Tail of the Black Dove. It provided no notable benefits other than its ability to comfort those it touched in tandem with the Touch of the Black Dove.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“[Protection Ward]. Hold on tight. Wrap your hands around my neck. Don’t worry. You won’t choke me.”

With that said, she kicked the metal door open, sending it flying into the hallway. Massive chunks of the door frame were taken alongside it, decapitating the Stuffed and Unstuffed machines.

A third were annihilated at once.

And before they could even begin to recognize the peril they were in, Frost dashed forward. It was a pace comfortable enough for Joy to withstand, but also just fast enough where the Impuritas could not track her.

But that did not matter anyway. Whether they could foresee her movements would not change their inevitable fate. Her left arm transformed into a second maw resembling a blanket of darkness.

This Skill was [Voracity].

Joy stared in awe, her starlit eyes sparkling.

“Gam… Night…”

“Does it look like I’m holding the night sky to you?” Frost pleasantly spoke in the middle of her one-sided massacre. “I guess it kind of does, huh? Just don’t touch it. I can control it just fine. I’d be sad if I ended up being the one who hurt you. Or anyone for that matter.”

Anything that touched it was instantly devoured.

It wasn’t even that thick, but the fact that it carried the properties of the Maw of the Amalgam made it a devastating tool. It was just a shame that its forms and size were quite limited.

The second mouth snapped at every available target, claiming them in a matter of several bites.

“But ignoring DEF stats makes it terrifying. That’s more than half of your HP gone. Just like that. That reminds me. Being called the ‘Enforcer’ must mean you’ve got some cool Corrupted Skills under your sleeves. Nav, got anything for us?”

< Please wait until she’s fully developed as an Original >

“Fine by me~”

* * *

The second Tribulation had yet to reveal its unique set of Impuritas. In the meantime, Frost scoured through the Site with Joy straddling on her back, cleaning through rows of Impuritas and Corrupted alike.

The halls were identical to the last. It wasn’t a matter of being stuck in a Spatial Distortion, but rather, it was an artificial deterrent that made it easy for Workers to avoid Corrupted.

The Forth Floor’s halls were also designed in a way that had them link up at multiple crossroads. Furthermore, they were almost five times wider than the Floors designed to contain Trickle Corrupted.

“I don’t gain much from eating regular Corrupted. Not even a Unique Ability. I guess this is why they’re sent here.” Frost commented as she plunged her hands into the face of a giant, reflective flower.

It perished in an instant. Joy was left stunned by the sheer strength of Frost, gulping audibly as she realized how lucky she was to have been Realized rather than end up as nutrients.

“Sorry Joy. It’s not a sight you want to see, right?” Frost apologized whenever she dined on a Corrupted.

“Malgam.” But Joy would nuzzle close affectionately, as if to say: “It’s ok.”

A part of Frost was afraid that Joy would become afraid of her. But that didn’t seem to be the case at all.

Instead, Joy was just happy as can be, as her namesake suggested.

The girl reached down with a hand. She clawed at the air, purring slightly as her stomach rumbled.

“Can you even eat this? Are you sure?”

“Malgam~!”

< Frost. It’s because you’re eating it that she wants to eat it too >

“Wait a sec. I’ve got something better than Corrupted meat. Besides, this one tastes like glass. Er… you wouldn’t know what that means.”

The girl tilted her head.

“Let’s see… I think I managed to sneak something from the tavern. Ah~ Here.”

Frost found humor in having a casual chat with a child in the middle of a warzone. The bodies of half-eating Corrupted and machines surrounded them.

She retrieved a packaged sandwich from her [Dimensional Storage]. It was still warm, and the faint smell of freshly baked bread caused drool to form in the corner of the girl’s mouth.

“We call this a sandwich. You eat it like this.” Frost re-enacted how one was supposed to eat a sandwich. “It has roast beef, some mayonnaise, vegetables: the good stuff~ It’s a hundred times tastier than eating nuts and bolts.”

She handed it over to Joy. And with sparkling eyes:

“See, isn’t it tasty: Huh, wait: Joy:!”

“Malgam…?”

– She took a big mouthful of wrapping paper and munched on it. The texture threw the girl off, but she was pleased by the taste since it carried the juices of the meat.

“Sorry, I was supposed to remove the wrapping. Here. It should taste better now.”

*Munch*

“Mwalgwam~!”

“Tasty, right?”

Frost was overjoyed to see her eyes dazzling in response to the flavor of the sandwich. This was because she didn’t want Joy to experience what she and Jury had to go through within the Black Forest.

No only that, but she didn’t want Joy’s first time tasting food to be a horrible experience. Frost knew that people weren’t ever born monsters. She sincerely believed this. But rather, it was experiences that shaped them.

The sapling does not choose where it grows. Nor how many fruits it bears. Nor does the fruit it creates choose where it rolls from the tree.

That’s why she had to nurture Joy.

To pat down the soil, water the sapling, and show her love so that she wouldn’t grow to despise the world.

But like every sapling: she required light to flourish.

“Joy, have you ever been outside?”

“Gwam?”

“I thought so. There’s a lot of yummy food up there. Lots of people who won’t try to hurt you either. And don’t worry. No one’s going to try to imprison you again. You’re human as far as we’re concerned.”

“Hu… man…?”

“Yeah. Human. In my eyes. It doesn’t take much for anyone to be human. But the reverse is also the same.”

Frost intimately stroked the girl’s head with the tip of her tail as she messily munched on the sandwich.

In the meantime, she consulted Nav on an important subject. It revolved around the Corrupted she had consumed. Despite eating well over a dozen so far, she had not yet gained a Unique Ability.

Nav and Lailah speculated that was because these Abilities clashed with her Ego. Her Maw of the Amalgam was more than capable of removing Titles. The same could be said about Abilities as well, but in a matter that didn’t integrate it with her being.

For instance, the Sunflower Mirror Corrupted revolved around the rejection of oneself. Frost, who was the exact opposite of this, could not gain the Unique Ability of a Corrupted that strongly went against what her Ego represented.

Either that, or these Corrupted truly did not have a use at all: hence why they were here in a Killzone Site.

“Main Squence Corrupted always give a Unique Ability though. But that’s probably because of them being Main Sequence Corrupted. Their Light is integral to the Nexus. Still…”

< The Sunflower Mirror Has Been Added To Your Collection >

< It may not be manifested >

< Please return to the Eternal Library to integrate all devoured Corrupted it into the Nexus >

These Corrupted, which she had devoured, were kept in her Collection. They couldn’t be manifested, but they existed somewhere back there, deep in her unconsciousness.

“Even if it isn’t expressed, it’ll still remain within my Shadow. I guess that’s how this works.”

< Lailah is happy that you’re starting to understand it >

“Weird that I can’t manifest them. I guess it’s just Main Sequence Corrupted in the end. But Lull-A-Goodbye can’t be manifested either. The same as We Discarded Many.”

< The criteria are truly unknown >

“I’m still a black box at the end of the day. Even to myself. Great.” Frost sighed.

The Site murmured with a terrible mechanical whine, as if to mock her.

Suddenly, an object turned the corner. It was a large porcelain doll half the size of a human. Then, there were other various objects that joined it: ranging from a floating handheld mirror, a wristwatch, a jack-in-the-box, and even a music box.

Unlike the Stuffed and Unstuffed Infecta Rot variants: these did not appear to have flesh strewn on them.

No, they were entirely different.

Gheist

A Living Soul…? Within The Machine…? Yes?

< Possessed >

Soul Rank: Nil | Impuritas: Infecta Rot

LEVEL : 75ORIGIN: ImpuritasHP : 82,000

ATT : 600MAG ATT : 800ATT DEF : 600MAG DEF : 700MP (Mortal Pulp) : 10L

RESIST : 900AGI : X

Unlike the machines that possessed stuffed toys, these were sentimental objects with a mind of their own.