Ch.191Request Log #016 – Transformation (2)

“You know what those things are.”

The giant gnoll’s ears perked up as if catching the sound of approaching angels. While speaking, his teeth, soaked in the monster’s blood, were faintly visible inside his characteristically short muzzle.

This abomination made from a dwarf—well, it probably wasn’t the only one. The dwarf-made abominations I knew didn’t have bite marks.

“Are the rest inside the restaurant? I’d like to see them before the cops arrive.”

The gnoll flared his heavily scarred nostrils and nodded.

“There’s only one more, Leone. Smaller and weaker than that one. Killed it by biting without using a gun. I’ll ask again. Do you know what that is?”

He seemed displeased that I’d answered his question with another question, but fortunately he seemed to remember that the Godmother thought rather highly of me. Otherwise, he would have already let out a roar.

I didn’t know Italian well, but the only word starting with “leo” in their language was lion. Lions hunt hyenas. They overpower them and kill them with their jaws. So it was a word of hatred and warning.

I’d forgotten that when dealing with gnolls obsessed with etiquette, one should humor them to some extent. I gave him a clean, proper answer.

“Yes. I know very well. From your reaction, I’m guessing you’re curious about what bold bastards released these abominations in your territory.”

“That’s right. And not just anywhere—it’s a place the Godmother herself frequents. We can’t let those who release monsters in such places go unpunished. Don’t you agree?”

There was no way dwarf warlocks would target gnolls. This was more of a busy street than just the front of a gnoll restaurant, so they probably failed in their attempt to release them in the middle of a crowded area.

Normally, I would have gladly accepted the gnolls’ help, but if it involved warlocks, it was quite a personal matter. There was no need to involve the mafia in personal business.

“Of course. Anyway, while I have some suspicions, I don’t have solid evidence yet. And if my suspicions are correct, it’s quite a personal matter. Is that alright?”

The gnoll thrust his short muzzle toward me and growled. Giuseppina might look quite beastly on the outside, but next to this gnoll, she’d look like a gentleman.

“I hope your personal reasons aren’t why we’ve shed blood, Leone. Anyway, follow me. I’ll show you before the angels arrive.”

Though his English was stiff due to lack of fluency, it posed no problem for understanding. She ducked her head and walked through the smashed ornate wooden door of the restaurant.

A male gnoll was visible on the floor, having been thrown against the wall by the abomination, leaving a circular bloodstain. His jaws were wide open, but the absence of a tongue suggested he was a gnoll I’d seen before.

Life is futile. He’d lived his life cutting out his own tongue, only to die from an abomination’s fist. Without paying much attention, I walked into the restaurant’s ground floor hall.

This abomination appeared to be made from an elf. I couldn’t identify other differences, but its small size and characteristic long ears were recognizable. This time there was no evidence besides the body itself.

The red skin remained, but perhaps because elves are naturally sensitive, the dozens of disgustingly embedded eyes were even larger. The mouth was split vertically rather than diagonally.

I couldn’t understand how the god’s power to create warriors could be perverted into something like this. However, despite having its neck bitten and losing enough blood to fill a bathtub, the body was still twitching.

“The one outside is a dwarf, and this is an elf. Why not give it two more shots? It’ll stay alive for days like this. These abominations made by transforming people with magic have incredible vitality.”

The gnoll handed me a box of shotgun shells, from which I took two and reloaded. The elf-made abomination sadly opened its vertically split mouth wide and made a gurgling sound.

Most abominations fought until the end like the one outside, but some revealed their weakness like this. Perhaps they realized what they had become.

“If it could speak or at least had some intelligence, we might have learned something, but once they become like this, it’s over. Probably these too…”

The elf-made abomination gently took the two gun barrels into its vertically split mouth. I pulled the trigger, and the reddened body convulsed greatly as if feeling momentary pain, then went limp.

The identity could be confirmed by the teeth. We could at least bury the teeth of comrades who had become abominations.

“They probably fell asleep unaware of the magic circle being engraved, then woke up like this. It’s the work of warlocks. This magic was widely used during the Great War… but dwarf warlocks have been quiet lately. It’s not them. So someone must have learned the magic. Don’t search Littlehold based on what I’ve said. They might release more abominations if their kin are attacked, but they won’t show themselves.”

At least I had time to adapt. Until exactly the seventh day of being told it would take about a week, I could still sleep properly. Even if the magic remained when I woke up in the morning, I could pull myself together.

From the eighth day onward, I couldn’t. Each day when I woke up, I felt that I had become a member of the Argonne Invincibles, not just another piece of meat to be ground up in the machine of the Great War as I rolled at the bottom of the trenches.

My body hadn’t changed, but I had become a different being. It was a terrible feeling. If the warlock-soldier hadn’t told us, even as a lie, that the magic could be undone if we returned to America, I would have gladly put a gun barrel in my mouth.

The battalion’s warlock-soldier lied to us. He shouted that there was a solution. Thanks to that, we could tell ourselves to stay alive until the end of the Great War.

Looking back now, it was the kindest lie I’ve ever heard. Why didn’t I die afterward? I guess we still loved life.

I pulled the shotgun barrel out of the abomination’s mouth. After shaking off the blood and tissue stuck to the end, I returned it to the gnoll standing beside me.

Feeling like I might sink into the past, I raised myself as if pulling my ankle out of a swamp. Mourning could wait until I wasn’t working. Right now, finding those who had released abominations in the city was the priority.

They all had to die. Normally, I would have found a method and handled it cleanly to avoid being dragged away by the police, but not this time.

It wasn’t butchery. It was murder. If they were beasts, they would only do what they wanted and throw away their bodies for trivial reasons, but as humans, they willingly chose to hide themselves, use magic, and abandon their humanity. Beasts cannot discard what is good. Only humans can willingly choose what is bad. That’s why they all had to be killed.

Having heard the gunshots, several angels flew toward us. They weren’t late. It had only taken a few minutes.

“Police! We received reports of a disturbance on Fifth Avenue. We heard gunshots both on the road and here. What are those… red flesh masses on the road and here?”

The angels hadn’t participated in the Great War. Guns were pointed at me, but they didn’t seem intent on pulling the triggers, so I lowered my hands and explained.

“They’re abominations. Warlocks twisted people into these. They seem to have tried to release abominations in the middle of a busy area, but they were drawn to the meat smell from the restaurant and came here. Can’t you call a warlock or something? It would be better to have an expert explain this to the angels.”

At the mention of magic, an angel instinctively raised his submachine gun toward me in disgust. Logically, there was only one type of person who could immediately recognize an abomination.

“From the way you talk, you must be the same…”

I cut him off. It wasn’t an attempt to take control. I just hated being mistaken for a warlock.

“I served in the Argonne Invincibles during the Great War. I know because I saw how the Germans fought desperately on the front lines. Satisfied?”

At the mention of the Argonne Invincibles, the gun barrel lowered without even checking. The honor bought with the lives of comrades was so useful. It was almost laughable.

No, this wasn’t the time for cynicism. This was not only a busy area but also not far from the veterans’ hall where the Argonne Invincibles were stationed. Plus, they had targeted a time when many people would be around.

If this was really the work of dwarf warlocks, their purpose was obvious. They were trying to find members of the Argonne Invincibles. They were looking for people who knew how to fight magic-created abominations.

The veterans’ hall where the Invincibles stayed was so secure that without our secret code, one could barely peek through the peepholes, let alone enter. So to identify even one of us, they had to do this.

But I had been too visible on the road. Prioritizing killing the abominations, I hadn’t tried to hide my skills and had shown everything.

Fortunately, I only revealed that I was an Argonne Invincible after entering to see the abomination the gnoll had killed, but my actions outside would have been enough to give me away.

This dwarf who returned as an abomination was someone from the bottom of the organization of an informant I had wiped out in Littlehold. Did they approach that dwarf thinking that only Argonne Invincibles could single-handedly kill sixteen dwarves and vanish without a trace? That dwarf knew nothing, so they turned him into an abomination.

If so, we would end up like two dogs chasing each other’s tails. If I wanted to find them, I would have to raise my head, and then I would be spotted by them.

I wasn’t worried about myself. I didn’t care if they sent abominations to my home or set it on fire like the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn had done. I always had ways to deal with such situations. I had more than enough methods to handle them.

However, even though five years had passed since the end of the Great War, I might be the only one left who could handle abominations alone. I had to warn my comrades.

Thanks to revealing that I was an Argonne Invincible, the police were quite friendly and respectful. They even showed proper courtesy to the gnoll beside me, who would normally never have received kind words.

And Fifth Avenue was also Yehoel’s jurisdiction. After giving my testimony about what I had witnessed, Yehoel was waiting in the corridor of the police station as I was leaving. He waved his gold-crafted right hand.

“Keep coming in and out, and we might as well make you a bed in the night duty room, kid. What is it this time? They were talking about abominations or something, but I don’t know about magic.”

“Literally abominations. Some bastards twisted humans with magic and scattered them in a busy area. Anyway, if there’s anything that can count as an achievement, I’ll pass it to you, so can you get me a few things?”

Yehoel smirked with burning eyes that didn’t blink, as if intrigued. By now, he knew well that helping me with matters I took seriously brought good rewards.

“If it’s something that could get me promoted, that would be nice. I’m not really cut out for fieldwork, you know. For something like that, I’d gladly raid even the Divine Guard’s warehouse for you. What do you need?”

If those bastards wanted to see an Argonne Invincible, I would gladly show them. Everything else was already in my closet and duffel bag, but there was one thing I definitely needed more of.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard something that sounds dumber than the last police collaborator. Anyway, it’s not like that. Can you get me one of those batons the police use for riot control? I’ll need it.”

At my words, Yehoel took a solid metal baton from his waist and tossed it to me lightly, as if it wasn’t heavy. I caught it as it flew toward me. It was heavier than what we used in the trenches.

Still, with a little modification, I could make it very similar to what we used in the trenches. It was ironic to be recreating a trench club after the war to end all wars had ended.

No, had the Great War really ended? The elves in France were still desperate to devour the dwarves, and the dwarves had been shouting for years that they had been betrayed. We were still stuck ankle-deep in the mud-like past of the trenches. Perhaps the Great War hadn’t ended yet. That must have been the case.

“Why are you asking for something like that? Batons are only used by field officers, and I told you I’m not cut out for fieldwork, kid. Fieldwork is your calling. Well, I guess I should redistribute a bit.”

“Have you been influenced by the Reds now? If I need anything else, I’ll contact you. Oh, if you find out anything related to this case, come to my house. Or call Bar Two Face.”

Those abominations couldn’t have suddenly activated their magic circles while walking down the street. They probably set the magic circles to activate soon, loaded them into a car, and dropped them off on Fifth Avenue.

The police were much better than I was at the simple repetitive task of finding out which car passed through Fifth Avenue at that time and who was in it. It was practically the calling of emotionless angels.

After leaving a message with the gnoll businessman hired by the Godmother that he should contact her if anything happened, I returned home. Somehow I seemed to be getting entangled with Littlehold too often lately, but today I had to go to Littlehold again.

In a situation where one is the only survivor and no one believes what they say, there’s only one place a person can go. That rookie dwarf would have headed straight there too.

Of course, there wouldn’t be just one or two bars in Littlehold. However, for a dwarf who hadn’t been an adult for long and whose beard was only tied once, he probably hadn’t received an invitation himself but had been helped by senior colleagues working under that informant. I needed to find places frequented by dwarves in their thirties to forties.

Moreover, they seemed to have quite stable income. They had even set up an office under the name of a proper company. It wouldn’t be a low-grade bar that mixed methanol instead of ethanol to sell.

So as soon as I got home, I called the Professor, then took the last remaining pill from The Morrígan and went straight to sleep. Tonight, I would have to stay up all night.

I too preferred peaceful solutions to violence, but to deal with warlocks who kept crawling out from who knows where, I would gladly set fire to fields if necessary.