Black Badger

Seba is a greedy bastard.

It meant he wasn’t stupid enough to jump in without thinking, but he also wasn’t wise enough to retreat. He was waiting for night to fall. Waiting for the cold of this snowy mountain—which wouldn’t affect him at all—to attack us.

Because he had a body strong against cold and darkness.

If we hadn’t been scattered, he might have retreated. But since the derailment conveniently dispersed our forces, he must think the situation has turned more favorable.

There was no way to contact headquarters or another team, so no reinforcements would come.

He must be judging that the time had finally come for him to earn merit.

Even if he can’t kill me, he’d probably try to take something like one of my fingers or an eyeball.

“Have you gotten in contact with the other four?”

I asked while rummaging through a horribly crushed train car.

We were searching inside the train. Each of us was pulling out items from various scattered passenger cars.

Ro was messing around, but nobody nagged him.

I ripped off a train panel that was torn like tissue.

“No.”

Chen’s reply came from several hundred meters away.

“That’s enough, so find the gasoline first! The day’s short and it’s gonna get cold fast.”

“Yes.”

I brushed off the snow and dug into the train wreckage.

People kept quiet for a while. Only Chen’s muttering to himself, the sound of someone prying open a train door, and the sound of pulling items out of crushed train remains disturbed the cold air.

Yun’s team was some distance away, so it would take time for them to arrive.

Their periodic reports eased my mind. After Yun reported they’d arrive within thirty minutes, I responded and pulled out a box filled with supplies.

This one was usable.

“Don’t overdo it.”

Jonathan frowned as he looked at my hand, and I smiled faintly.

“Please don’t worry.”

We piled any salvageable items around the campsite.

We settled beneath the towering bridge, so tall I had to tilt my head back to see it all. It was the spot Chen had chosen.

I didn’t object.

A place with a ceiling is always good.

I also liked that it was some distance from the crashed train. You never know when a spark might make that thing go up in flames.

“Oh! Gasoline?”

“Yes.”

I set down several fuel containers.

“There’s some food that survived too.”

Because the three of us—excluding Ro—worked quickly, the job was done soon.

While we worked, Ro kept looking into the forest and suddenly firing his gun over and over. Bang! Tatatat! Tatatatatat!

Chen cursed at the gunshots crackling without warning.

“Say something before you shoot!”

Ro didn’t look back.

Jonathan didn’t even blink and stayed focused on the work. I only flicked my eyes over each time the gun went off.

He had pretty good instincts.

Ro fired whenever a Creature that had been hiding approached. It shouldn’t have been easy to spot them with the naked eye. The curly-haired senior would sit on the wreckage digging in his ear and then, the moment something approached, fire with ghostly accuracy—either killing or driving the target away.

An intuitive person.

After clearing things once that way, we gathered at the campsite just as dusk was stealthily sinking in.

“At least we won’t die.”

Chen whistled as he skimmed the supplies.

“There are some sleeping bags, there’s food, a motorcycle and one tank survived too. We can leave at dawn.”

“I’ll look for the ones we can’t contact.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Jonathan, who had kept his mouth shut until now, said it quickly.

Chen didn’t look like he intended to leave, so he seemed pleased by our reaction. He didn’t try to stop us; instead he said, Oh, sure! Go and come back! and handed us a few energy bars with a bright face.

Stuffing the energy bars into my pocket, I searched through the pine forest.

Disturbed by the descending darkness, I raised my voice calling for the seniors. I lowered my gaze to check for bodies or any traces they might have left.

But we found nothing.

Had they been thrown to the north side of the bridge?

I judged that we should return to the campsite, wait for Yun’s side to arrive, and then search north.

At that moment, the radio sounded.

[Report: delayed arrival.]

It was Yun’s calm voice.

[We’re surrounded. Ammunition’s running low, so it’s going to take some time to clear them.]

“Do you need support?”

[Looks like they’ll be gathering on your side too. We don’t need support yet.]

“Yes. We’re currently under the bridge.”

My shooter’s prediction had been correct, so I didn’t recklessly run north.

I was worried, but I trusted them too. With Yun and Ami and Ricardo together, unless they ran into something extreme, they would be fine.

The problem was on our side.

I could feel Creatures gathering with the falling darkness.

It had begun.

“Let’s go back, senior.”

Jonathan also sensed the approaching presence.

He nodded and started running.

***

The closer we got to the campsite, the louder the gunshots grew.

We ran straight into ear-splitting gunfire.

Bang! Tatatatatatat!

KWAaaaaanng!

“Hey! Hurry up!”

As we approached the source of the noise, Chen—shouldering a large anti-Creature gun—shouted at the top of his lungs.

“They’re pouring in!”

The two of them were fighting Creatures while using the train wreckage as a shield.

Giacomo Ro, who wasn’t even glancing back at us, was hurling grenades one after another. Next to him, Chen Koenig was sitting down reloading a magazine.

Packed.

I cast my gaze into the forest, which had decent visibility thanks to the light reflected off the snow.

Manzelle hounds with red eyes were swarming toward us. They were named after the anemone-like thing attached where their snout should be. They roamed like wolves and ate travelers.

There were also inverse gods, pigs far larger than them, winged snakes, and massive leeches swimming through the air in swarms.

It would be easier to clear them all out at once.

Haah.

Exhaling a puff of white breath, I walked behind the seniors.

“Senior. I’ll push them all back in one sweep.”

“Oh yeah!”

Chen didn’t refuse.

Ro didn’t react.

I walked behind Ro and tapped his shoulder.

“Senior.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to climb up on that train for a moment, so please stop attacking for a bit.”

I really didn’t want to be hit by grenade shrapnel or by Ro’s bullets.

“I’m going to sweep them once.”

He didn’t seem to fully understand what I meant.

He looked at me with a question mark hovering over his head, then turned around and sat down on the wreckage as if saying, whatever it is, fine.

“You’re saying I should stay still, right?”

I grinned and nodded.

“Thank you.”

The moment Ro put down his gun, I kicked off the ground.

And leapt onto the train that was serving as a shield.

My field of view opened wide. The forest full of Creatures came into sight at once.

There were many.

“Hildebert!”

Jonathan shouted sharply.

I pretended not to hear.

Instead, I grinned at the monsters looking at me. I swept my gaze over the ones approaching, their bodies lit by moonlight reflected in their eyes.

A swarm of leeches gathered in the air like a school of sardines. Manzelle hounds lowering their bodies as if ready to spring.

I would push them all back.

Standing at the end of the train, I crouched down.

KWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWAANG!

First form.

Swinging my sword heavily, I pushed away the ones gathering.

Everything nearby was blown away without a trace. The ones behind were cleanly severed. The snow piled on the ground was swept along as well, creating an enormous snowstorm.

“Holy shit!”

I heard Chen’s voice.

“It’s even scarier seeing it in person.”

“That’s fucking insane!”

Ro shouted and immediately leapt onto the train.

“Smde, you’re pretty good?”

Why is it only the “-de” part he pronounces correctly.

I didn’t point it out. I just gave him a resigned smile.

At least it wasn’t “Taliban.”

When Ro pulled out a grenade, I was about to jump off the back of the train.

With my weakened regeneration, I couldn’t risk getting hit by shrapnel.

I really didn’t want to resort to absorption.

So I extended one foot to jump down—but then Ro shouted.

“What the hell is that?”

My head turned.

“Is that the bastard from earlier?”

Ah.

Seba.

A figure draped in a pale cloak was standing at the edge of my vision.

A pale lower face. Black fur covering everything above the lower face. The pitch-black fur blended into the sinking darkness. It looked like a pale-faced human with only the lower half showing, standing at the edge of the forest.

He was smiling at us faintly.

And on his shoulder sat a single crow.

Standing in the dark forest, the image was quite terrifying.

“Uwaaaah!”

Chen, who had poked his head out at Ro’s words, screamed.

“He came back, that fucking bastard!”

“Humanoid Creature?”

Next to the screaming Chen, Jonathan murmured in puzzlement.

“...Stage 9?”

Since he came all the way here, I should greet him personally.

I couldn’t be pleased by that twisted existence, but I didn’t want to see him killed by human hands.

And objectively, I had the highest chance of winning.

I knew well how handlers fought. Chimera handlers controlled twisted monsters normal handlers struggled with.

For example, that faceless bipedal Slenderman-like thing writhing in the dark right now.

Or the bronze-headed ascetic who should have walked on two legs like a human but crawled on all fours.

I’d better chase him.

I took a step toward him, but Jonathan’s voice came.

“Squad leader. Do you have a humanoid Creature detector?”

Damn it.

I had completely forgotten.

“Uh. Hey, you do it!”

Chen tossed the detector to Jonathan.

Jonathan caught it with a thud.

Ah.

This won’t do.

“If it is humanoid, we should first retreat and regroup with Choi Yun’s side...”

“? What bullshit is that?”

As I panicked and tried saying anything, Ro cut in.

“You idiots, does that look human to you?”

He furrowed his thick eyebrows.

“Isn’t it obvious at a glance? ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Are your heads screwed on wrong?”

For a moment, Jonathan and Chen lost their words.

The seniors suddenly froze.

They stared up at Ro in a daze.

It must have been quite a shock to be told “are your heads screwed on wrong” by Giacomo Ro of all people.

Chen’s mouth dropped open, and Jonathan blinked while holding the detector.

To think something could make Jonathan make that expression.

I let out a small smile, a mix of amusement and relief.

Anyway, good.

Since Ro said that, they probably wouldn’t try using the detector for a while.

I should finish the fight before anyone brings up using the detector again.

Turning my body, I looked out at the corpse-filled forest.

The senior who unintentionally prevented my identity from being exposed fired at the things crawling out of the darkness.

“Wipe them out!”

TATATATATATATAT!

“Kill them all!”

I needed to move quickly.

I leapt and landed on the snowy ground.

“Hey! Where are you going!”

“Hildebert!”

The two seniors yelled in shock.

Ro called after me belatedly.

“Kumdeberchok!”

Ignoring all of their shouts, I sprinted across the snowfield piled with corpses.

“Where are you going!”

“I’ll go capture the crow!”

After shouting that, I looked only forward.

Ignoring the sharp cries, I ran across the shining snow under the darkness.

Gripping my sword.

Swinging it heavily as I knocked down a pine tree behind me.

The falling pine tree blocked the senior who had tried to chase after me.