Even if it's oppressive and dark
Even if it's oppressive and dark
"...Silence, confirmed."
Captain Kim said.
But there was no response to his words.
Ssaek-. Ssaek-.
Only excited breathing filled the surrounding space.
I looked at them and said quietly.
"...Let's pull ourselves together. It was a monster. You all knew that, didn't you?"
It wasn't the newborn baby we had imagined.
To begin with, the probability of a newborn surviving in this situation is extremely low.
Especially in the middle of a sewer.
Furthermore, a soldier who was working at the outpost had gone missing.
In this situation, if that wasn't a monster, then what was it?
"...But even knowing it's a monster......."
It wouldn't have been easy.
But I cut them off.
"The important thing is that it was a monster. That is all."
It's a story that only gives you a headache if you think about it too deeply.
We must not waver, no matter what sound it makes or what it looks like.
It was highly likely to be a monster, and it was a monster.
"......."
Everyone fell silent at my words.
But they probably didn't all accept it.
In fact, even I couldn't accept it to some extent.
What if the monster we killed later turned out to be a person, not a monster?
What if we killed a person thinking they were a monster?
...Ha, this is why I didn't want to think about it deeply.
But one thing is certain.......
"Let's move. We still have work to do."
That we didn't gather here to let our hearts break.
Our hearts had a destination in the name of our respective families.
...Until we reach the final station.
We will be able to move forward somehow.
*
Just because the baby's crying stopped doesn't mean the situation is over.
The sewer under the manhole was still wide and deep, and there might be other Mimic Beasts.
Tik.
The Light Stick illuminates the inside of the sewer, which was ruined by the explosion.
The red, human-like shape visible down there. And even the charred skin fragments.
"...Ugh!"
Min Ah-ji retched, perhaps finding it hard to endure the smell.
It seemed to be just a physiological reaction. She quickly regained her composure.
"Are you ready?"
Captain Kim asked.
There was no need to even ponder what the preparation was for.
"...Let's go down."
"I, I'll go down first. Since I have scales......."
Since the manhole cover was small, it was difficult for the large-bodied Orc Mister and Owl Bear Elder to enter.
In the end, it meant those with average sizes had to handle it.
Here, Yoo In-ha volunteered.
"...Will you be okay?"
"Yes, I told you there's nothing else alive inside......."
I had to hold back a hollow laugh at those words.
There wouldn't be anything alive. We threw several grenades.
But as you can see from up here, it won't be a very pleasant sight.
"...Ah, there's nothing down here!"
We entered only after Yoo In-ha gave the signal.
'...It's damp.'
A slimy sensation was transmitted to the tips of my feet as I climbed down the ladder.
Air, even damper and heavier than on the surface, pierced my lungs.
The iron ladder creaked, leading me underground.
I arrived on the floor with a squelching sound. The sewage that had risen to my ankles ruined my shoes.
"...My god."
Kim Ji-hoo, who followed me down, groaned quietly.
That was how horrific the state of the sewer interior was.
Wherever the radiance of the Halo shining faintly above my head reached, horrific remains were revealed.
The concrete walls were shattered here and there by the impact of the explosion, and sticky, bright red mucus was tangled like spiderwebs between the fragments.
When even I was overwhelmed by the sight, it was Captain Kim who broke the silence.
"...Don't pay too much attention to it."
His voice as he said that was tinged with an unmistakable tremor.
But the fact that he could act even like this must be thanks to his experience.
"...There are two things we must do first. Securing the neutralized Mimic Beast and recovering the bodies of the soldiers who must have been killed."
Fortunately, finding the Mimic Beast was not difficult.
Because its fragments were already somewhat visible from above.
A lump of red meat that looked like a human shape had been forcibly crammed in.
The monster, which maintained its form even after being hit head-on by two grenades, was embedded in the wall with charred pieces of skin hanging tattered.
The part that looked like a baby's face was half blown away, revealing the flesh underneath, and from the severed cross-section, black, oil-like liquid flowed out endlessly instead of blood.
It was maintaining its form even after being hit by a hell of a lot of grenades.
Not only that, it was even slowly restoring its own form.
I had seen it once on video, but this was my first time seeing it like this.
Yet, I was maintaining my composure surprisingly well.
The reason for that was simple.
Because I could feel the Halo floating above my head holding my mind together.
'...That thing.'
I ruminated on the explanation of the Mimic Beasts that Captain Kim had explained before.
Mimic Beast. The more accurate name is Human-Skin Wearing Mimic Beast.
Looking at the ecology of these guys, it's a name given intuitively.
"...You said it mimics by peeling off human skin and wearing it over its own body, right?"
"...Yes. Unfortunately."
Captain Kim barely answered my question.
I muttered while looking at the piece of skin hanging tattered on the wall, which must have once been someone's child.
"...Then, the fact that there was a baby's crying sound means......."
"......."
Silence.
We, were silent.
Only then did I realize why the experienced Captain Kim had panicked as soon as he heard the baby's crying.
*
We secured the Mimic Beast.
It is slowly regenerating, but it is currently in a neutralized state. It means it poses no threat at all.
"I couldn't find any traces of other Mimic Beasts."
It was a fortunate situation amidst misfortune.
Because the thought of there being more Mimic Beasts in this wide, maze-like sewer was terrible just to imagine.
So now there is only one thing left to do.
Recovering the bodies of the soldiers who were already dead.
"As I mentioned before, if a human corpse attacked by a Human-Skin Wearing Mimic Beast is left unattended, it mutates into another Mimic Beast within 12 hours."
This was their method of reproduction.
I don't know if they plant a virus inside or lay eggs like a Parasite.
If the bodies are not recovered within 12 hours, they turn into immortal monsters.
"...It's over there."
Min Ah-ji pointed with her finger to a hollowed-out space in the corner of the sewer.
As the light above my head illuminated that place, we all gasped.
I will not bother describing the detailed state of the bodies.
Because we will have to keep seeing this terrible sight in the future.
Only the Dog Tags could distinguish them, as their skin had been peeled off.
We recovered two bodies.
Carrying them up was not very difficult. Compared to the mental shock we experienced.
"......."
The two people waiting above were also speechless, perhaps realizing the full story.
The two stood silently, guarding the surroundings, and then squeezed their eyes shut upon seeing the bodies we had recovered.
After that, we did the cleanup, which is hard to describe and also something I don't want to do.
For a long while.
I suddenly sat down on the floor.
The fog had cleared at some point. The evening glow was slowly settling, dyeing the world red.
"Ugh...!"
Min Ah-ji retched, perhaps remembering something at that sight.
Twilight. In the dictionary sense, a time past the peak, declining and reaching an end.
However, even if night comes, we will not collapse.
Because our train will continue to the final station even in the middle of the night.
But when we reach the final station, we will.......
Suddenly, I felt resentful of the world.
Why on earth are there people who have to suffer like this?
Why on earth did our families end up in the very center of such danger?
And I... why can't I do anything?
I am aware that I am a damnably special existence.
The infinitely benevolent being I met.
The reason why only I turned into a positive being, an angel.
Actually, this kind of thing is not needed at all.
Holy Power.
That inexhaustible power was the source of all my specialness.
Yet all I did was throw grenades under the manhole cover.
Such a thought occurred to me.
Couldn't I use this power better?
Shouldn't I use it better?
'...I.'
Honestly, it's burdensome.
Who am I to have obtained such power?
My inner heart is still that of an ordinary person.
But because I am an ordinary person, because of that, I wished.
In this resentful world, if I have become a special being, even if I didn't want to.......
Couldn't I at least reach out a small hand of salvation?
Pat-!
Suddenly, I felt a sensation as if the Halo had become a part of my body.
A ticklish sensation.
A feeling of a dam that had been blocking me breaking.
I suddenly noticed that the surroundings were very bright.
The glowing Halo behind me is the cause.
A sense of omnipotence overflowing in my body.
I realized what I should do with this power.
My hand reached toward the regenerating Mimic Beast.
It felt like I had to.
You, who were once a person.......
Return to the embrace of humanity once again.