Black Badger

I followed Sasu’s line of sight.

My eyesight was fairly good. Not enough to rival Kyle or Kairos, but still.

At the very least, it was good enough to catch it through the endlessly pouring rain.

There really was something that looked like a person.

What Yun was staring at stood out in the rain.

And it seemed to be riding on something floating on the water.

The strange part was that even though the water was clearly flowing in one direction, that thing only bobbed up and down.

On top of that, while it was roughly human-shaped, no face was visible.

In other words, it was transparent, as if only the outline had been left behind by someone trying to sketch a person.

If it hadn’t been raining, I never would have noticed it.

If Yun hadn’t spotted it, I might not have caught it until the very end either.

But I also thought I understood how Yun had found it.

There had to be something.

Something capable of explaining the Creature whose wounds healed even after being attacked, the transparent circular structure, and the unidentified phenomenon I had seen before entering the supply depot.

Now that I was seeing it directly, it really was bizarre.

“Wow~.”

Ricardo muttered.

“What the hell is that now....”

His voice was swallowed by the drone’s propellers.

The wind generated by the drone grew harsher.

RATATATAT!

“Board in order.”

Yun gave the command.

We answered in obedience at the same time as the seniors.

But I didn’t turn my head away. My turn was nearly last.

That wasn’t my decision—it was the order Yun had set.

Sophia, Carl, Ricardo, me, then Yun.

Being near the rear of the order, I kept my gaze fixed on the humanoid shape in the distance instead of looking away.

At this distance, it looked no bigger than a toothpick.

Not beyond the reach of my sword strike.

“Yun.”

“Hit it.”

Yun answered immediately.

I didn’t ask anything else.

Wooooong!

I sent a sword strike skimming across the water.

The white slash flew low over the surface. I’d prioritized speed over power.

Show me how you react.

Even as I heard Ami carrying Sophia up toward the drone, I never took my eyes off it.

It had attacked first, so I felt no guilt.

Good.

I gauged the distance.

Fast enough.

In that split second—

The transparent human-shaped figure, like a pillar I had sliced apart, abruptly raised a hand as if startled.

PAAANG!

“Wow.”

The words left my mouth the moment I heard the sharp ringing sound.

“Blocked again.”

“Hurts your pride?”

Yun said with a snort.

Still smiling faintly without taking my eyes off it, I answered,

“A fair bit.”

BANG!

The one who fired the handgun was Ricardo.

“Aquatic Creature, two o’clock.”

“Confirmed comp— ah, it submerged again.”

“Looks like it got scared.”

Yun commented.

“It probably didn’t expect your sword strike to reach that far.”

There was still absolutely no visible expression or facial feature.

But I agreed with Yun.

Just from the silhouette’s body language, I could roughly tell what state it was in.

All those years of endlessly reading nonverbal cues had paid off.

Narrowing my eyes at the drone’s shadow crossing the water, I said,

“Still, seeing it panic makes me feel a little better.”

“Why.”

“Because it feels human.”

“Most humans aren’t transparent, though~....”

“Rick!”

Ami shouted from midair.

The surroundings were so loud that shouting was the only way to barely make yourself heard.

Rain. The constant roar of the drone’s propellers.

The propellers churned ripples into the water rising across the rooftop. My hair whipped wildly, and my combat uniform crackled noisily in the wind.

“Get up here!”

“Twelve o’clock.”

Even as Ricardo twisted his body, his voice stayed razor sharp.

“Right in front of you!”

PANG!

I sank half the blade into the water and swung forward.

Generating a sword strike underwater took twice as much force. The slash did move forward, but it lacked refinement, striking the approaching Creature in an unsatisfying blow.

KRAAAAK!

“There are two.”

RATATATAT!

Yun fired his handgun as he spoke.

“They must be getting desperate.”

“Hilde!”

Ricardo’s voice came from above.

I looked up.

The senior was already on the rope ladder lowered from the drone.

Sophia and Carl were already aboard.

Ami was even higher than the drone itself, descending toward the roof like a comet.

It looked like she was aiming for the newly appeared Han River Monster, version two.

Before turning, I checked the situation one last time.

“I’m boarding.”

PAAANG!

The moment I reported in, Ami drove herself straight down onto the Han River Monster rushing toward us.

Water exploded upward from her comet-fast arrival, drenching us completely, but neither Yun nor I were surprised.

“Spine snap!”

“Let’s get out fast.”

Yun said.

“Frying them with electricity will be more efficient.”

I didn’t insist on going last.

I had grumbled a little when he first set the order, sure.

But now I wordlessly turned away from the unknown human figure and the Han River Monsters.

Without looking back, I began wading against the current.

Did I get rained on too much?

The chills that had started a little while ago felt ominous.

I need to get on before another seizure hits.

Driven by that single thought, I cut quickly through the water toward the ladder.

The wind and rain did not make it easy.

The closer I got, the sharper the noise hammered at my eardrums. The water was up to my waist now, and the current had strengthened, making every step exhausting.

If I hadn’t finally gotten enough sleep last night, this might have been even harder.

Frowning deeply, I pushed through the water and raised my hand.

Thunk.

Ricardo’s hand clamped tightly around my arm.

Then he hauled me upward with solid force.

I was yanked free of the water in an instant.

“Thank you.”

Not wanting the senior’s help to go to waste—even with my sword still strapped on—I quickly grabbed the ladder with both hands.

Instead of answering, Ricardo began climbing rapidly.

“I got oppa!”

Ami’s voice rang out.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

Good.

I climbed after Ricardo.

It was over.

Everyone had escaped the rising floodwaters, and whatever that inexplicable thing was probably wouldn’t leap out of the water.

Just as Yun said, getting aboard the drone and electrocuting everything below seemed the cleanest option.

As for that unknown human-shaped thing, it seemed better to check on it later.

First, we’d return to HQ and—

Pain stabbed through my chest.

The force of it made my vision flash white.

I must have cried out.

By the time the pain and light faded and I came back to myself, I was hanging there, held up by Ricardo.

“Tha....”

The word wouldn’t come out properly.

Ricardo grimaced and gripped me even tighter.

“Carl!”

Ami shouted.

I had no idea why she called him.

The relentless rain kept freezing my body. I forced my uncooperative arm upward with all my strength.

Then I grabbed the rope in front of me as hard as I could.

“I’m sorry.”

My voice was still hoarse.

But at least the words came out.

“I’m okay now—”

“Let’s move.”

Ricardo never let go of my arm.

He didn’t scold me either.

He simply kept a firm grip on my left arm and slowly climbed the rope ladder one rung at a time.

Bzzzzzt!

A strange new sound crackled around us.

Bzzzzzt, pop!

The sound of electricity surging and detonating continued. Carl had begun throwing electric shells from the drone.

The light was bright enough to sting my eyes.

But I couldn’t look down.

All my concentration was consumed by climbing the ladder.

Please, just let my body go back to normal already.

It refused to obey me.

Even so, I kept struggling to speed up, when suddenly my body became lighter.

Startled, I looked down.

Yun was below me.

“I’ll carry your sword.”

“It’s fi—”

I couldn’t finish.

It was too loud to hear anything clearly anyway. Rain, propellers, electric shells, monster shrieks.

Ricardo climbing diagonally while still holding one of my arms.

Yun pushing up against my back from below.

With both of their help, I finally boarded the drone.

The moment my upper body flopped over the edge, Carl and Sophia also reached out and dragged me in.

“Thank you.”

I muttered in a rasping voice.

“Perfect timing.”

Sophia muttered.

Still sprawled on the floor, I lifted my head and looked at the senior in confusion.

The short-haired senior, who had been pulling up the rope ladder, glanced at me before lowering her gaze again.

“Look below.”

I blinked, then twisted around.

“If you’d fallen, it would’ve been bad.”

Wow.

The moment I peered down against the savage wind, an exclamation burst out of me.

My eyes widened at the sight below.

How many are there?

“Think we need to reclassify the regional threat level~....”

Ricardo looked down at the monsters surfacing like whales taking breaths, baring rows of sharp teeth.

“And that human-looking thing is still there too....”

“Looks like it was trying to use the structures for something.”

Yun added flatly.

“It drew something like a mystery circle.”

“Let’s go now!”

Ami darted in.

“If we stay any longer, we’ll run low on fuel!”

The drone climbed higher.

At that moment, I finally understood what Yun meant.

The empty gaps scattered throughout the muddy flooded ground.

They hadn’t been noticeable before the flooding.

But once connected, they formed something like a symbol.

The supply depot sat at the very center of it.

On the roof of the depot, the Han River Monsters were either twitching in paralysis or craning their heads up at us with their mouths open.

A grotesque sight.

I kept staring downward until Ricardo and Carl finally shut the heavy drone door.

The bizarre symbol.

And the human-shaped figure standing far beyond it.

Now reduced to nothing more than a dot, I kept staring at it for a long while.

“You should worry about drying yourself off....”

In the end, I got scolded by the senior.

Still, we boarded the drone without injuries and returned to Center Core.

Without finding a single answer to any of what we had witnessed.

“Really bizarre, but honestly a pretty standard land-reclamation operation.”

That was Gilbert’s review.

“Even with luck failing you that badly, the fact everyone made it back alive was because it was your team. If I’d sent average combat strength in, they’d all have died on site.”

“Has the Commander gone home?”

By the time we returned to make our report, night had already fallen.

By the time we arrived, disinfected, showered, and handled personal maintenance, the day had completely slipped away.

Yun had said we could all go home as soon as personal maintenance was done.

But none of us clocked out.

Instead, we all went together to report to the upper command.

If it had only been monsters, it wouldn’t have warranted an executive-level report.

But because there had been those structures and that human-shaped thing, the report was marked urgent.

We’d had to abandon all the rifles, so there was almost no action-cam footage.

Thankfully, enough video could be extracted from the camera mounted on Ami’s boots.

Yun expertly organized the footage and filed the report, and less than ten minutes later Gilbert called us in.

Which brought us to now.

Field personnel filled the executive office, which was quieter than usual.

Incidentally, I was the only one dressed in thick layers among everyone else who looked perfectly normal.

Because the seniors had nagged me into at least dressing warmly if I wasn’t going home.

“He left two hours ago. Said he had dinner plans.”

Gilbert spoke calmly, then looked over the report for a moment.

After a long silence, he waved us away from where we had been waiting at ease.

“Sorry, but I’ll probably have to call you in once or twice while you’re off duty.”

We were scheduled for two days off starting tomorrow.

“So go home early tonight.”

I should be ready for a command summons tomorrow.

Thinking that, I left the office [N O V E L I G H T] in a group with the seniors.

I didn’t have a car, so I was planning to ride in Yun’s.

Sophia said she was stopping by the bookstore, and Carl said he was heading to the market first, so they split off.

That left only Ricardo, the siblings, and me as we headed down to the underground parking garage.

The moment I spotted the green Maserati near the entrance and was about to speak, Ricardo came to a dead stop.

We all looked at the green-eyed man in confusion as he stared stiffly at his phone.

The reason became clear a moment later.

“Senior... would any of you happen to know why the Advisor is suddenly calling me~?”

We all stared straight at Ricardo.