Chapter 102: Meharb’s Fear

Compass Carburettor barely managed to see one thing before fainting. It was the scene of an energy blade in the shape of a tentacle slamming a kite-shaped crystal on his forehead before knocking him out. 

It was a dimly lit space, of a void, nothing everlasting. Compass Carburettor found himself hovering on one side, looking no different to his current appearance. In his hand was a gun, his Anthozoa.

And, standing before him, at a distance separated by 20 metres was a Haggon, one that switched states between its Haggon and human form. The human form was a middle-aged man in his late forties, sporting grey sideburns, wearing a pair of spectacles, giving him the demeanour of a scholar.

He had rather clear eyes, one of wisdom, suffusing with intelligence, and avarice towards knowledge. Slowly, he opened his eyes, gazing at Compass Carburettor as he sighed, "So, it has come to this."

"A battle…of the mind?" Compass Carburettor muttered, recalling everything Hekatra had said, gazing at the middle-aged man before him, "So, are you the son of the Great Megwest Empire's Emperor?"

"You can just call me Meharb." The middle-aged man said, performing a mild bow, "They must have forced my Warble upon you. I offer an apology on their behalf."

"I was being escorted by Hekatra towards Mohart Dungeon. And the moment we entered it, someone overpowered her. I appeared here right after that," Compass Carburettor said, feeling relaxed for some reason.

"Hekatra? She's still sane?" Meharb was surprised, "That is impressive of her to do so. I thought all of them would have lost their sanity by now."

"Were you still able to sense the outside world through your Warble?" Compass Carburettor asked in surprise.

"No, my consciousness was in a state of suspended animation until my Warble was placed on you. But, when I took my life, there were only four others that still maintained their sanity." He sighed, taking on a seated posture as he said, "I am tired. Just kill me and use my power as you please."

"Can you tell me what happened to the Great Megwest Empire?" Compass Carburettor asked, thinking that he might as well do it now that he had the opportunity to do so. Meharb seemed like someone that was the most knowledgeable out of everyone.

"I might as well do that." Meharb sighed, thinking for some time before he began to speak, "Research had been conducted to harness the power of Darlac since ages ago. And, even though it is a convenient power, Darlac was never tamed in any field apart from its intended use. So, for many centuries, we had been troubled by it."

"After that, we found our first breakthrough. It was to melt and fuse Darble Crystals into other materials to give them mysterious properties. One of them is the luminescence stones probably widely circulated through the market channels to these days." Meharb said.

As he spoke, an image flashed behind him. Since this was the domain of the mind, he was capable of relaying his thoughts. Rather, upon seeing his actions, Compass Carburettor understood just what he was doing.

Instead of using his willpower to battle, Meharb was expending it to tell Compass Carburettor about various things.

"A Darble Crystal that is 10 centimetres long can be fused into a ton of Afarmium to create the luminescence rock. And, it can be broken down and carved into a variety of shapes. They emit a weak light and only need to be charged once a day with Darlac. As long as you touch them, your Darlac will be absorbed and it would be recharged." He spoke. 

"It can be recharged?" Compass Carburettor was surprised, "That is impressive."

"A typical Puppet has complex circuitry within it that is thousands of times more complex than this. Darlac and Darble indeed can be used in numerous ways. But, the difficulty in attaining most of it is impossible with the level of technology possessed by a Kingdom or an average Empire." He sighed, "Leaving all that aside, one of our breakthroughs yielded us strange results, allowing us to understand the true extent of power Darlac possesses."

"This is the body's reservoir of energy. Anything the body needs is present in this. Rather," He said solemnly, "A Darble Crystal produced by a Dungeon Monster actually contains all its genetic material within it. So, as long as we have a Darble Crystal, we can reproduce the Dungeon Monster in its entirety, with zero changes, allowing for a perfect revival. The case is the same for a human Transcendent's Darble Horn."

"And, this is the project that led to the chaos that later swept through our Great Empire." He said, turning silent after that.

"Wait, I thought turning into Dungeon Monsters everywhere and the countless Dungeon Breaks caused your Great Empire's collapse?" Compass Carburettor was shocked, obtaining information that was different from what he had obtained to date.

"Did Hekatra tell you anything related to the group of Spirits that invaded our Great Empire once?" He asked all of a sudden.

"Yes, only a couple of hours ago, in fact." Compass Carburettor nodded.

"All our troubles started from there." Sighing, Meharb continued, "It was unknown as to what method they used. But, they were able to obtain their hands on the Darble Horn of our Ancestor, a Transcendent that was said to have surpassed the limit of humanity. Unfortunately, all information about him had been erased from our records by our Ancestors. So, we didn't know anything beyond a couple of poems stating his claim to have surpassed 1000 Darlac."

"And, once we subdued the Spirits, we obtained his Darble Horn. And…using our method, we managed to revive him. But, it was only then did we understand the reason records about him were erased in the first place." Meharb sighed, "He was a cannibal. Rather, he had figured out a method of cannibalism and had obtained an ability related to this. Using it, by devouring a human, he was able to increase his Darlac reserves."

"Though, this increase was so minute and insignificant that it was nothing worth mention about. But, he, Mellatico, continued to repeat the act and increase his Darlac reserves to a monstrous extent. Moreover, the more he repeated this action, the greater his body evolved to consume humans. His appearance was still that of a human, but he was anything like it." Meharb shuddered in fear.

"We hacked him, burned him, drowned him into poison, etc. But no matter what, he suddenly popped out from the bodies of other people for no rhyme or reason, reviving swiftly after death."