Trait Hoarder-Chapter 288: The Machinery Witch (2)

The Machinery Witch — Part 2

Sigmund pointed to a part of the forest.

“Over there, brother.”

Where his finger was pointing.

Between the tightly tangled and fused trees, a small trail could be seen.

It was extremely narrow.

Just wide enough for a single person to squeeze through.

“We have to go through there?”

The Association President frowned.

It would be one thing if it were just narrow.

The trees on either side drooped razor-sharp leaves.

And the ground was a swamp—one wrong step and you’d sink straight down.

“That’s why we tried to stop you.”

Sigmund shrugged.

Hjordis patted my back with a hopeful gaze.

“But you’re not giving up, right, brother? Even Beowulf managed to get through somehow.”

“Of course not.”

The Nordic warriors limbered up.

They guzzled mead and pounded their chests.

Some activated magic chips, rings, and necklaces.

“It’s been a while since I got to stretch my muscles!”

“I’ve been so bored lately!”

“Today I’ll write a new saga about myself!”

But I didn’t intend to do what they were thinking.

I quietly touched my armory.

With a heavy feeling, I pulled out a long iron cylinder.

The Mountain Wail Rocket Launcher.

The Association President looked at me in disbelief.

“Director Kim?”

I aimed the Mountain Wail.

At the narrow path leading into the Maze Forest.

Was I really supposed to trek through that hellish terrain?

The place was called the Maze Forest for a reason.

I had never visited it in the game, but I could easily imagine what it would be like.

No doubt the paths would shift in real time, trapping anyone inside for hours.

I didn’t have that kind of time.

[[Myth of Infinity]]

Evolutionary trait activated.

Woooom.

The Mountain Wail rumbled.

The magical characters and circles engraved on its surface all lit up at once.

Mana injection.

It wasn’t just my mana; it greedily absorbed ambient mana as well.

Crackle, crackle.

The Mountain Wail groaned under the strain.

If I injected even a little more mana, it felt like it might burst.

I pulled the trigger.

A mana shell, crafted from pure mana and imbued with the Myth of Infinity, shot out.

A golden beam slammed into the trail.

For a brief moment, everything was silent.

Then the mana, the air, and even space itself began to scream.

Kwaaaang!

An explosion that could burn the retina to ash.

The entire world turned gold.

“Ugh!”

“My eyes!”

The Nordic warriors rolled on the ground, clutching their eyes.

Only the Level 6s—the Association President, Sigmund, and Hjordis—managed to hold on.

Even they were struggling, squeezing their eyes shut and streaming tears.

I was the only one who calmly faced the golden flash.

I saw it.

The deformed trees burning to ashes all at once.

The earth splitting apart, as if clawed open by a colossal monster, leaving gaping scars.

Space itself warped and twisted, branded with wounds.

Dust clouds and lava shot up like a volcanic eruption.

Only after a long while did the chaos settle, revealing the aftermath of destruction.

The Association President swallowed dryly.

“My god…”

Scars.

Or perhaps fissures.

A long, massive scar stretched out before us.

As if a colossal dragon of the apocalypse had cleaved through the earth.

Sigmund turned to me with trembling eyes.

“Brother… I knew you were strong, but I didn’t know it was to this extent.”

I had split several kilometers in a single blast, after all.

The Mountain Wail and the Myth of Infinity made a perfect combination.

Hjordis slapped my back hard.

“Hahaha! That’s our brother! So intense! Even Beowulf would look like a wimpy little kid next to you!”

“Absolutely!”

“The greatest hero of our clan since Lord Sigurd himself!”

“We must compose a saga!”

“From today onward, every tavern in the Nordics will sing the legend of our brother, Warrior Kim!”

The Nordic warriors laughed and cheered.

As if they had already forgotten about rolling on the ground moments ago.

They were still crying from the blinding light, but their spirits were high.

“Please don’t.”

“Haha! Don’t be shy, brother!”

“Seriously, Koreans are so weird! Forget all that humility stuff! Just enjoy it!”

“Come drink with us at a tavern! The Valkyries will throw themselves at you for just a single night!”

As we laughed and joked.

An ominous shadow rose from the ashes of the Maze Forest.

Black curse letters, curse patterns.

The moment I recognized them, they transcended space.

They shot straight at me, trying to seize my entire body.

Aging, weakening, blindness, confusion, dementia, pain, torture, shortened lifespan, decay, and so on.

Every curse that existed in Arcane Seoul was being thrown at me.

Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of curses, were coming at me directly.

“Director Kim!”

The Association President called out in alarm.

It’s fine.

I casually waved my hand.

I had already prepared for the curses the moment I fired the Myth of Infinity rocket.

[Indomitable][Indomitable][Magic Resistance]

[Vajra Body][Sacred Knight][Rapture]

Curses?

Thousands of high-level curses?

All useless.

Without even needing to evolve anything, my double-layered [Indomitable] was blocking them all easily.

“Wow, he’s actually holding out.”

“That’s our brother.”

“He’s our brother, indeed.”

“Stronger than Beowulf, our brother is the true man!”

“A Viking among Vikings! A Nordic among Nordics!”

The Nordic warriors giggled and laughed.

I calmly observed the front.

The curses weren’t the end.

The trees were regenerating.

Even after being scorched by the Myth of Infinity, the ashes writhed and began to reform walls.

I had a feeling this would happen.

This Maze Forest was like a massive sacred tree. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

In some ways, it was akin to the Mother Tree of the Monster Village—a primordial form of the World Tree.

If it weren’t for the Witch of the Maze Forest, if it had been given enough time to grow, wouldn’t it have become a lower-tier Tree God?

“Director Kim. Shouldn’t we hurry? The path is regenerating.”

“There’s no need.”

You must not rush.

If you make a mistake, you’ll be devoured by the forest.

You have to cut off the forest’s regeneration before entering.

Either by burning it or using another method.

Click.

I put the Mountain Wail back into the armory and pulled out a new weapon.

A heavy weapon shaped like a stubby gun.

Its barrel and magazine were much thicker than a regular gun.

It was entirely blue, with runes symbolizing ice, cold, glaciers, and the Arctic carved into its surface.

The Hailstorm Grenade Launcher.

I swapped my traits and finished the evolution process to prepare.

[Extreme Ice] ==[[Absolute Zero]]== [Extreme Ice]

It was on a completely different level from the Frozen Evolution of Frost Control.

Thunk!

The moment the first shot was fired.

The mana grenade disappeared as if it teleported, then exploded precisely at the target point.

It was like witnessing the Arctic Wind of the Arctic Emperor I had once hunted.

The area near the target was instantly frozen solid.

Including the mutant trees that had just started to grow.

And even time itself.

Thud-thud-thud!

The scarier part was that this weapon was semi-automatic.

Space and time froze in succession.

Following the path torn open by the Myth of Infinity rocket shell.

An ice canyon, stretching almost several kilometers, had been formed.

The Association President groaned.

“Director Kim… are you sure you’re not a mage? A dual-polarity archmage controlling both extremes?”

“Of course not.”

Though purely in terms of destructive power, I could compete with mages.

But in terms of versatility, the difference was as great as heaven and earth.

Even the counterattack against the airborne mana circuits was handled by the Sun Mage Tower Master, not me.

If I could have done it, I would have.

Shhhhh.

Curses fell like a river.

I ignored them and advanced.

I fired another Myth of Infinity rocket.

Then I unloaded the Absolute Zero grenade launcher.

The path burst open, and the Maze Forest collapsed like pudding.

Naturally, the curses intensified.

Now they were surging toward me like a storm.

But I pressed forward without hesitation.

At some point, the curses no longer even tried to pierce my body. They dissipated before they could touch me.

[Indomitable] ==[[Immunity]]== [Indomitable]

The [Indomitable] trait specialized in resisting status effects.

Now, it had evolved beyond resistance—it prevented invasion entirely.

“Isn’t this too easy?”

“Our brother is just too strong.”

“Is this the day a Constellation is born in our clan?”

“Even Lord Sigurd couldn’t achieve this!”

I aimed the Mountain Wail again.

The Maze Forest was vast.

Its radius stretched tens of kilometers.

Big enough to fit two Seouls inside.

Since the witch lived at the center of the Maze Forest, I would have to fire a few more times.

[Hoo…]

A mechanical sigh drifted on the wind.

[Who dares to burn and destroy my home?]

Huh? The forest is your home?

I felt a bit guilty but stiffened my neck.

“Are you the witch who lives here? I have come to see you.”

[I open my home to all on the night of the new moon each month. You could have simply visited then. Why behave so barbarically?]

“If I don’t meet you today, or at least by tomorrow, I’ll die.”

[You’ll die?]

“Yes. My life depends on it. I apologize for destroying your home, but I can’t afford to die just to be polite.”

I spoke sincerely.

There was no need for Dragon Roar or Dragon Speech.

As I spoke with the power of a Level 8, the ambient mana aligned and settled quietly.

The witch was silent for a moment.

[Hoo…]

After a long pause, the reply came.

[So it was you. The Sword Star of the East. The Vessel of Prophecy. The Crossroads of Destiny. The Savior and Antagonist of the World.]

That’s a lot of titles.

[I always knew we would meet someday, but I didn’t expect it to be today. Very well. I, too, have a request for you. Let’s forget today’s incident. I will open the path. Please, put away those hideous weapons.]

“I will. Thank you. And I truly apologize for destroying your home. I’ll make sure to compensate you soon.”

The witch turned out to be surprisingly reasonable.

No need to pick a fight unnecessarily.

I should contact Director Choi and arrange the compensation.

Maybe a few Elixirs or some Nectar would do the trick?

Grrrrk, grrk.

The Maze Forest opened left and right.

A highway-like road opened up before us.

The ground itself rumbled like a moving walkway, carrying us deeper inside.

Judging by this, the Witch of the Maze Forest was no pushover.

Her mana signature was Level 7, but within this forest, she might as well have the strength of a Level 8 demigod.

“There it is.”

At the very center of the Maze Forest.

A small cabin stood.

In front of the cabin, a doll stood.

It resembled a human.

But it was distinctly different.

In a way, grotesquely distorted.

A mutant lifeform, transformed and fused with machinery.

“Ugh?”

The Association President grimaced.

He quickly forced his expression back to normal, but the faint disgust around his eyes was unavoidable.

Even though he had spent time among the mutant villagers after the Skeleton Serpent Rampage incident, he still reacted like that.

That’s how bizarre the witch’s form was.

A body intertwined with flesh and prosthetics.

No head.

Instead, dozens of thick cables connected her to the cabin.

And the cabin.

It wasn’t really a house, but a giant computer.

Not even a cutting-edge magitech computer—more like a decades-old vacuum tube computer.

Even now, it was hissing and flashing, spitting out light.

The final highlight.

Two huge glass chambers were visible atop the cabin’s chimney.

In one, the head of an old woman, eyes closed.

Another glass chamber contained a grotesque mutant, its head abnormally developed while its limbs were atrophied, bubbling and floating inside.

Seeing this much, I understood the witch’s true identity.

‘Giant of Machinery.’

A mutant monster that appeared in the later episodes of the game.

That monster carried the cabin—the giant vacuum tube computer—as its head.

Its body?

Naturally, it was massive, measuring in tens of meters.

The cabin fitted onto its body like a head proportionate to its size.

The deformed creature inside the glass chamber must be the future giant, and this witch seemed to be its mother.

“I greet you, Warrior Kim.”

The witch bowed with a creaking sound.

But the voice came from somewhere else.

From the cabin itself.

Since she had no mouth or vocal cords, she spoke through a speaker.

It was such an old speaker that a constant static crackled alongside her voice.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Did you modify your body because of your brain?”

“Yes. My master took me in and modified me. Thanks to my master, I grew up and lived as a human instead of becoming a monster.”

I could see the circuits of the witch’s mana system.

Among them, engraved in her brain and in the head inside the glass chamber, was [Mutant Brain].

The brain’s structure was different from that of humans.

And it didn’t stop there.

Even the neurotransmitters secreted and the hormones that acted were of entirely different types.

If she hadn’t transferred her consciousness into the vacuum tube computer, the witch would have become a murderer or a monster too.

“You had a wonderful master. But isn’t it inconvenient now? Back then, there might have been no choice, but nowadays, with the advancement of magitech, you could replace that giant computer with a much smaller one.”

She had maintained her human consciousness but had become a grounded spirit.

Why hadn’t she upgraded?

Even if only once a month, she still interacted with the outside world.

The witch bowed politely.

“Magic and magitech aren’t omnipotent. The magic my master bestowed was a one-time thing. Once in a lifetime. Once the consciousness is transferred, it can never be moved again. Human consciousness isn’t something as easily copied or deleted as a computer program.”

“I understand.”

So, what was the favor she wanted?

Honestly, I could just walk up to the cabin and copy the trait.

But the Prophet’s Ring jangling on my finger, and the new senses I gained after reaching Level 8, were holding my legs back.

I had a strong feeling.

That there was something I needed to gain here.

That I needed to hear the witch’s words.

Naturally, I ended up sending a prompting gaze to the witch.

“I know what you want, Warrior Kim. And I know you can take it at any time. But as one human to another, I beg you to hear my request. In return, I will give you two pieces of advice you will surely need, and one Elixir blueprint.”

Advice and an Elixir blueprint…

Advice, sure, but would I even need an Elixir blueprint?

I wasn’t going to hit Level 9 anytime soon, and even if I drank Elixirs, it wouldn’t significantly make me stronger right now.

Still, after some thought, I decided to listen to the witch’s request.

I had learned before.

That knowledge observed from outside the world wasn’t everything.

Knowledge passed down only within the world might be necessary for me too.

“Alright. So, what’s the request?”

The witch bent her knees and gave a Western-style bow.

Then, with a grating mechanical voice filled with emotion, she said to me.

“My child… my son… Grendel… please turn him into a human, into a true human.”