Black Badger

He got away.

Right in front of us.

If we’d been just a little faster, we could’ve snagged his hand.

Ricardo stared at the freshly cleared grass, hollow inside.

Of course, now wasn’t the time to stand there dazed. Something was bursting and exploding in every direction.

Kyle was gone. The drones were attacking the defensive formation the humanoid Creatures had spread out. The seniors were ready to pour firepower into them.

“Move!”

Jason snapped irritably at him, Jonathan, and Yun.

“Those bastards took Hildekumbrevt—!”

Ro made a strange sound and hoisted his rocket launcher.

The rock-type Creature that had blocked their rush to Hilde had been butchered long ago.

Shattered Creature fragments lay scattered within arm’s reach.

Ricardo deliberately stomped on them as he walked over to Yun.

“Where?”

His words were curt, but the senior didn’t care.

He was too busy staring into the Eternal Chaser.

“Caught. It got sent to the other side too.”

Yun answered coldly.

Then he lifted his head and strode toward Yehyeon, who was watching the enemy with a twisted expression.

“I’ll go get him back.”

When Yun stopped in front of him and spoke, Yehyeon turned his head.

So a person can turn that pale. Ricardo thought as he looked at his commander’s face. Yehyeon had always been pale, but now there wasn’t a trace of color left in it.

“Go.”

It was shocking that his voice didn’t shake.

“Leave immediately.”

Then, unlike his earlier orders, he barked sharply at Jonathan, who was trying to join the retrieval team.

“Kudo. You stay.”

“Commander.”

“You don’t match the tempo. Stay!”

Yehyeon snapped.

Ricardo pretended not to see Jonathan bite down on his lip. He thought the commander’s judgment was right. Jonathan was the kind of man who never fit into team play—someone who had always been stuck on patrol inside the Core because of it. If you forced him into the retrieval squad, it would create discord you couldn’t predict.

He felt deep sympathy for a friend who couldn’t go rescue him himself.

But the retrieval squad didn’t hesitate.

Yun sprinted to the vehicle without explanation, and the entire unit sprinted after him. Ricardo stayed glued to Yun’s heels.

Dozens upon dozens of magic circles that had bound Hildebert lingered in his brain like an afterimage.

Magic circles stacked in red, like a system error, constricting Hilde. And beneath his feet, a golden lotus-like teleportation circle shining.

He’d known something like this could happen, yet they still lost him. The frustration gnawed at him.

“Fuck.”

The moment he grabbed the steering wheel, Yun spat the low curse.

Ricardo understood exactly how he felt. He was barely forcing down the boiling emotion himself.

He kept his mouth shut so the curse wouldn’t spill out of him too.

He wouldn’t be fine.

But as long as he wasn’t dead, it was enough. If they just got him back before it was too late, they could stay beside him as long as it took until he recovered.

As long as he didn’t break completely...

VROOOOOM!

The vehicle launched without warning.

A scream might have burst out—but no one made a sound.

***

“Hilde got kidnapped.”

Ami said in a gloomy voice.

“Kyle disappeared too.”

Kairos nodded and pulled on his gloves.

“I’m ready.”

“Me too.”

Kairos opened the driver’s side door and got out.

Then he walked across the wasteland, soundless.

A vast stretch of land spread out before him.

In the middle of that barren expanse where not a single blade of grass could be seen, there was a hollowed-out pit.

From there, an unknown pressure could be felt.

Even at a distance—when all he could see was darkness—his body prickled. From that darkness, the sound of wind passing through a cave came rhythmically, over and over.

The handler narrowed his eyes and looked down into the hole where the Remnant Wraith lay.

“I’ll wake it.”

He spoke at the edge.

“Just like we planned.”

“Yeah.”

From the passenger seat, Ami answered without even turning around.

A crater whose rim had been charred black.

The man looked down into it at a gigantic lifeform curled tightly in on itself.

He watched the creature breathing slowly, then pulled a sharp stone from his pocket.

THUD!

The stone smashed hard into the Remnant Wraith’s skull.

Its steady breathing cut off.

A sinister silence, sudden and unnatural.

“It’s awake!”

Kairos lifted his head and shouted.

KUUUUGUGUGU—

The ground shook.

Monsters that had been beneath the earth burst up and out. Four-legged beasts, a little bigger than rats, fled in swarms. Reptiles hiding under rocks, birds dozing on the desolate land—everything scrambled to get away.

Kairos slowly backed up.

Dust wind rose. The sound of sand spilling—frrt—rolled toward them like waves. The Remnant Wraith was slowly rising. A round, hunched back emerged from the pit. Clear ribs standing out along its dark-blue body.

The curve slowly straightened, and then its neck and face appeared.

Sunken eyes, massive horns starting from both sides of its crown.

Dark eye sockets—nothing but shadow—fixed on Kairos.

OOOOOOOO!

“What the hell!”

As the Remnant Wraith formed its /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ mouth into an O and produced a ringing cry, Ami shouted as she rolled up the window.

“Shut up, you’re loud!”

“It’s going smoothly.”

Kairos grinned, plugging one ear with his pinky.

As adrenaline surged, the smile had blossomed across his face reflexively.

He dug his feet in, bracing himself so he wouldn’t be shoved back by the shockwaves.

BOOM!

A palm slammed down in front of him.

Vibrations rippled out from where the hand struck the ground.

The earth trembled like the surface of pudding.

Ami twisted her body and peered through the gap in the window at Kairos and the Remnant Wraith.

“Jack!”

“I’m starting.”

Kairos waved his right hand in a loose circle, summoning his familiar.

「Echo.」

A clear bell-like chime rang right beside them.

A jet-black head moved as if searching for the source.

The red-haired handler spun on his heel and ran back to the car.

Then he floored the accelerator and launched the rally car.

VROOOOOM!

The car tore off, dragging the Remnant Wraith—still crawling out of the pit—by the tail.

***

My range of movement shrank.

The moment the teleportation ended, I was forced to kneel. I could feel chains pulling at my body. Both hands were tied together, wrenched back, and suspended in the air. There was a chain around my neck too, apparently. I couldn’t move comfortably.

About thirty mages.

So they really committed to this.

I narrowed my eyes and tried to assess the situation—and hands came at me.

They rummaged over my body, stripping away my beacon and communicator.

They took my weapons too. Several of them swarmed me and removed everything I had stashed away on my person. They pulled off my combat boots and took the Swiss Army knife and compass I’d tied into my pocket with parachute cord. They undid my belt, then crushed the communicator I’d taped to the back of it with masking tape. They snapped my dog tags.

Even that wasn’t enough. They began obsessively searching for more communicators.

Someone took a knife and ripped my clothes to shreds.

「You are going to give me something to wear, right?」

I muttered with a resigned laugh, but no one answered.

Instead, someone shoved a hand into my mouth.

Trying to see if I’d hidden something inside.

Thorough. And I really did have things hidden in my mouth: a tracker and a poison capsule.

So this is the one thing I can’t let them find.

I focused every nerve I had, rolling the pills away as I avoided the fingers probing inside.

......

Good. They didn’t find it.

All those times I’d been imprisoned in villages, hiding all sorts of things in my mouth—who knew that experience would help like this.

「Are you done checking?」

「Almost finished.」

If they’d had a latest-model detector, they wouldn’t be searching for trackers like this.

But without one—and since it wasn’t easy to spot a miniaturized tracker with the naked eye—the search was being done in the most old-fashioned way.

Not that they’d ever detect the Eternal Chaser in my stomach.

When the hands finally pulled away, I was left not wearing a single thread.

「Finished.」

「Kyle.」

The moment the mage reported, Valdez spoke.

「He’s here.」

I tilted my head back toward the voice.

Valdez was placing something into Kyle’s hand. Kyle took it without resistance.

It looked like a transparent cough syrup pouch.

Two pouches filled with liquid.

Kyle took them and tore open the end of one long pouch.

What is that? Some kind of drug?

I narrowed my eyes, watching what he held and scanning the surroundings.

It seemed like they’d dug out some kind of tunnel. The smell of dirt was thick, and no sunlight reached in.

With dozens of people packed inside, it was so cramped you could feel the air turning stale by the second...

Kyle raised the opened pouch and sucked it down in one long pull.

“Hm?”

I blinked at the unexpected turn of events, and the man who had tossed aside the empty pouch walked over to me.

Then he grabbed my hair and forced my head back.

What the hell—

I opened my mouth to say it, and the remaining liquid pouch was shoved straight into my open mouth.

“Mm.”

What are you making me drink?

“Mmm?”

High-proof liquor?

That was my first thought. The liquid sliding down my throat burned like vodka.

But there was no reason to force-feed me strong liquor.

And I’d never heard of vodka being packed into pouches.

The most likely answer was drugs—but if it were drugs, Kyle wouldn’t have drunk it himself. At a glance, the two pouches had looked completely identical. Valdez hadn’t bothered separating them either, so they probably contained the same thing.

So what was it, that he made me drink too?

「This is really unpleasant.」

Kyle muttered, just as I spat out the empty casing left in my mouth.

He was still gripping my hair right beside me, so I couldn’t see his face.

But I understood what he meant.

A searing pain began spreading inside me as well.

「It’ll burn you out properly, at least. Dress him.」

Kyle released my hair and strode over to Valdez.

His black hair swayed as he walked.

「You said two minutes, didn’t you?」

「Even at the longest estimate, it’ll be neutralized within five minutes.」

Valdez muttered, glancing down at his wristwatch.

「Let’s wait four minutes, then move.」

Ah.

An Eternal Chaser neutralizer.

I understood the situation.

A few days ago, I’d been told that Kyle also had an Eternal Chaser inside his body.

Apparently, that was why Yehyeon had taken the risk of going to the very front during the territorial reclamation battle. Back then, Yehyeon had successfully implanted an Eternal Chaser into Kyle. The one they planted had done its job well ever since, allowing the Badgers to periodically land effective strikes on the enemy’s outer bases.

But now there were humans inside the Core helping them...

Kyle must have discovered the existence of the Eternal Chaser—and how to remove it.

He’d just pretended not to know until now.

So he could down the neutralizer the moment he kidnapped me.

「Sit and rest. You don’t look so good.」

「I’m fine.」

Kyle replied quietly.

「I’m finally rid of this damned thing.」

Thank god they didn’t find the capsule in my mouth.

A few people approached and dressed me. I wondered how they’d manage with me bound like this, but magic really was convenient in moments like these.

The white hemp clothes a condemned man wears before execution.

Better than being left naked, at least.

As I swallowed down the heat churning inside me and assessed the situation, Valdez’s voice came again.

「Five minutes have passed.」

「What about sixth sense?」

「I just erased the presence of everyone at this location.」

The mage’s report echoed through the earthen tunnel.

Suppressing his pain, Kyle gave the order.

「Good. Let’s move.」

The teleportation circle bloomed across the floor of the tunnel.

***

“The signal’s gone.”

Yun said after slamming on the brakes.

“The Eternal Chaser’s dead.”

“Hah...”

Ricardo, sitting in the passenger seat, dragged a hand down his face.

“This is insane... Where the hell did they leak the antidote from~?”

“All trackers cut?”

“One survived.”

Yun answered gruffly and floored the accelerator.

“Contact the Pillar.”

He ordered, his voice pressed flat with contained irritation.

“They wiped sixth sense too.”

“Sending it now.”

Carl Dow replied immediately.

“I’ll report as soon as we get a response.”

Silence filled the vehicle until a reply came from Igor.

Even Ruta Ayer kept his mouth shut. The Badgers bristled in the heavy air.

Igor and Rose got the message quickly.

Igor spoke in a flat voice.

「So one tracker’s still alive.」

A voice holding back fury added the explanation.

「We’ll follow without question. Step on it.」

VROOOOOM!

The vehicle roared forward the instant he finished speaking.

***

Another place.

Splash!

Two of my kin threw me into a pool of water inside a cave.

My body was still bound in chains.

Looks like they planned to keep me here. Somewhere inside a cave. Stalactites lit by artificial light came into view. Water droplets gathered on them, dripping onto the surface and stones below with clear, ringing sounds.

Chill air wrapped around my body, along with the briny smell of water. The scent of wet stone.

Someone pressed down hard on the back of my head, forcing my face under the water.

“Khh—!”

Thankfully, someone else yanked my head back up.

“Khh, khh!”

I coughed, spitting out the water that had flooded my eyes, nose, and mouth.

Just ordinary water, at least.

「Where’s Clyde?」

As cold seeped up through my bare feet, I heard Kyle’s voice.

I shook the water off my skin and lifted my head slightly.

Mages surrounded Kyle. They were gathered near what seemed to be the cave entrance.

From the dark opening, I sensed approaching footsteps and the presence of people drawing closer.

Valdez’s voice reporting to Kyle as well.

「They’ve arrived.」

The moment he finished speaking, someone appeared.

「We brought the prisoner too.」

Two men entered the cave.

Familiar faces settled into my vision.

I knew both of their names.

Clyde.

The royal family’s infamous executioner.

And Jin Silver.

The deserter Black Badger.