Ch.34Chimera Hunt (2)

Noiro turned off the augmented reality display on his gas mask.

Was it because Dimedes’ traces had disappeared?

No.

It was exactly the opposite.

The strange rock formations embedded throughout the plain were painted over with primarily red, and occasionally green, yellow, or black fluids.

From a distance, it might have resembled an avant-garde painting. The wildly drawn lines created with indiscriminate strokes had something reminiscent of abstract art.

Noiro’s magic detected traces of Dimedes and his beasts in all of it.

Everyone who had been here—the Bacchus cult members and criminals, essentially all the human scum—had become the paint for this picture.

Noiro’s brow furrowed inside his gas mask. It wasn’t shock at the horrific scene.

Though smaller in scale, he had seen countless murder scenes essentially similar to this one. That was the nature of being a beast hunter.

What disturbed Noiro was simply the “scale.”

‘This much blood and bodily fluid means they must have tried to kill everyone living here.’

Normally, the beasts under Dimedes’ control don’t commit such indiscriminate killings. More precisely, they don’t do it where others can see.

They feed only under Dimedes’ orders, leaving no evidence.

This was why Noiro, despite constantly looking for opportunities to eliminate Dimedes in Etna City, had never engaged in an all-out confrontation.

‘Feeding…’

This was another important clue. Usually, beasts devour their prey unless restrained by their master. Yet this bloody scene showed no signs of feeding.

‘Body fluids remain but no corpses?’

It was bizarre. There were no remnants of a meal—no bones sucked clean of marrow, no traces of flesh—only bodily fluids left behind.

Considering that beasts typically consume even blood without leaving a trace, this was clearly a scene staged with intent by someone controlling the beasts.

“But why do something like this?”

“Hmm. Director Noiro.”

Ortes, who had been surveying the surroundings, approached Noiro. Noiro sometimes wondered if those nearly-closed eyes of his could actually see anything…

“Do you have any drones? The flying kind.”

Noiro nodded. His cyborg-falcon hunting assistant drone was left behind for biological component maintenance, but he had four ordinary mechanical drones equipped with auto-turrets.

However, since this was a high-crime area, he hadn’t considered drone surveillance as an option, not wanting to attract attention with unnecessary noise.

Activating the drones might reveal their position to whoever created this scene. Surely Ortes knew that…

‘Ah.’

In that moment, Noiro realized Ortes’s intention. The strange rocks were painted with multicolored bodily fluids wherever one looked.

A metaphysical diagram drawn with the blood of living sacrifices across a wide area.

This was nothing less than a magic circle!

Aerial observation was essential to understand the exact structure of the magic circle. One couldn’t deduce the whole by seeing only parts.

As this realization dawned on him, Noiro felt a chill run down his spine. Ortes giving him this hint was an act of mercy.

‘If I couldn’t notice even this much, I wouldn’t deserve to be on the board.’

His diligence in tracking Dimedes had clearly made a good impression. Noiro hurriedly launched the drones into the sky.

‘What about potential attackers?’

Glancing at Ortes, Noiro noticed that he was now holding a black, plank-like high-frequency blade in his hand.

‘So he thinks identifying the source of the problem quickly takes priority, even at the risk of danger. That’s the difference between me, who prioritizes safety, and him, who prioritizes the CEO’s will.’

But Noiro himself wasn’t here as a hunter. He was dispatched as a director of Hydra Corporation who possessed hunting skills.

In that case, he should do his best to follow the field supervisor’s lead.

“I have four drones. To observe this entire field, it would take about ten minutes even with all four deployed. If attackers appear, I’ll leave it to you.”

***

What is this old man talking about?

I just meant the ground is too dirty to sit on, so we should use the drones to find a cleaner spot.

My whole body aches, probably from having my eyes open after so long and from traveling too much.

To be fair, most of it is from the “awakening.” The strain accumulated in my brain while my eyes were open is now manifesting as pain throughout my body.

After opening my eyes once, it’s not just a headache that remains—my entire body feels thoroughly worked over.

My legs were already getting stiff from just standing, so I was using my newly received blade as a cane. Noiro gave me a strange, solemn look when he saw me holding the sword.

Whatever you’re thinking, that’s not my intention.

“Wait—”

Whirrrr—!

Before I could say anything, four drones assembled from the heavy metal case Noiro carried on his back took to the sky.

“Beasts are sensitive to magical scent… Ah, that’s hunter terminology. I mean, they’re sensitive to individual magical wave patterns.”

This was something I already knew. Each person’s magical wave pattern is like a fingerprint—they can be similar but never identical.

I wouldn’t know about my case, since I have no magic at all. I’d need to compare with other people without magic, but so far I haven’t met anyone else like me.

“As you probably know, Dimedes’ beasts will come flocking once they catch the scent. The magical scent from the drone batteries is the same as mine.”

I don’t know what you’re talking about.

“I’ll try to piece together what kind of magic circle this is by combining visual data from the entire plain as quickly as possible. I’ll pick up my bow as soon as I’m done, so please hold until then.”

I couldn’t begin to guess what this man was thinking. He says beasts will come, and he wants me to hold them off with a sword.

With a sigh, I replied:

“Fine, I’ll give it a try.”

How many beasts did Dimedes take with him again?

***

‘Fine.’

That was how Ortes referred to Dimedes’ beasts.

Dimedes and his subordinates had brought 120 beasts. With sufficient manpower, it wasn’t an impossible number to subdue.

Conversely, it wasn’t a number one could guarantee to annihilate single-handedly.

Noiro’s mind flashed back to Etna City’s underworld before Ortes and Carisia arrived.

Dimedes had challenged the Lernian School multiple times, targeting their magic cores, but was repeatedly defeated and ultimately avoided confrontation.

The Lernian School didn’t bother pursuing Dimedes into the filth of the back alleys to kill him, but the power difference was clear. The Lernian School was stronger.

And Ortes, along with Carisia, was the very person who had annihilated the entire school with just the two of them.

‘Indeed…’

From his perspective, a mere 120 beasts truly were ‘fine.’

As Noiro’s reminiscence ended, a wolf charged at him. Its abnormally developed right foreleg carried enough power not just to tear a person apart but to reduce them to pulp.

Slash.

The wolf’s extended right foreleg flew off first, followed by its head, which traced an arc through the air as it was severed, unable to overcome the inertia of its charge.

“Could you please hurry?”

With a smug expression, Ortes pointed his blade toward the horde of beasts.

***

It was a scene of one-sided slaughter. With each swing of the blade, a beast’s head was severed without fail.

No, it would be more accurate to call it butchery. The trajectory of the high-frequency blade was drawn more precisely and coldly than the touch of a machine slaughtering livestock.

Among Dimedes’ beasts were some that could fly. But the monstrous birds circling overhead didn’t readily follow the source of magic emitted by the drones.

Their vision, and even their will, was subjugated to another being.

The old man watching the scene of carnage through the eyes of the monstrous birds was speechless.

It was stronger than he had anticipated…

Much stronger.

“Are you from the organization that sent you?”

Behind the man stood Dimedes.

In the chimera form that Dimedes had tried so hard to conceal.

In fact, he was much more distorted than Dimedes’ original form.

His upper body, once covered with a lion’s mane, was now covered with plates resembling scorpion or crab carapaces, and both arms were unnaturally elongated.

His fingers were no exception—at the tip of each elongated finger joint was a mouth with snake fangs.

His face had an eerily large number of eye sockets, allowing him to see the world without blind spots like the hundred-eyed giant from ancient mythology. The irises in his eyes were not human-shaped but had the rectangular pupils of a goat.

Behind Dimedes stood monsters with appearances similar to his.

“Are you truly a member of an organization with ‘directors’? How? That skill reminds me of the killers from the hateful Ten Towers…”

The old man fell silent. Even mentioning that name felt like blasphemy.

Instead of recalling unpleasant memories, he thought about how to enhance the completion of the ritual.

“Blood from someone so strong.”

How powerful a sacrifice, how sweet a wine it would become.

“I shall make him the final drop of the ritual. Go! You remnants of life. Bring that blood bag to me!”

Hearing the command, the chimeras slowly moved forward with their twisted bodies.