Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: A Zone (2)
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“Humanoid creature?”
Ami poked her head forward and muttered.
“Did they turn it on?”
“I’m not sensing anything nearby, though….”
I replied, every nerve on edge.
In fact, there were no signs of my kind right up close. The nearest one was up in the mountains right now.
Just one of them, though….
Why the hell aren’t they coming after me for real?
As I thought that, I scanned the surroundings.
I could feel the seniors all tensed up to the breaking point. Amid that tension, I sharpened my senses even further and probed around.
“Could it be a deserter Badger?”
Like Jin.
“Jin Silver?”
“But the zone where Hilde ran into Jin and this place are in completely opposite directions.”
“And the chances of him still being alive are slim….”
Ami pointed out flatly in response to my hopeful mutter, and Ricardo added something like a soliloquy.
They were all gripping their weapons, staring out the windows.
A bunch of worthless creatures were ambling along the road.
And in the midst of them, a traffic light working flawlessly, almost eerily.
Yoon let out a sullen voice.
“Jin Silver, my ass—the important thing isn’t that. It’s where the electricity’s coming from.”
“Couldn’t a humanoid creature have turned on the electricity?”
“That’s why I’m asking how the hell they’d do that.”
Yoon spoke in a tone like he was dying of frustration at us for missing the point.
“And even if by some miracle they figured out how to generate electricity, why waste that precious energy on a traffic light?”
“Maybe there’s a creature that produces electricity attached to it.”
Carl Dow suddenly broke the silence.
I’d been thinking the same thing, so I nodded along as I heard him.
Yoon seemed to think that was the most reasonable explanation too. I could see him nodding.
“Got any guesses~?”
Ricardo propped his chin on the passenger seat’s shoulder area and stuck his head out.
I turned to look at my senior’s green eyes.
“There are plenty of creatures that produce electricity.”
“Like that eight-foot ghost that came after Hilde last time—it used electricity too, right? Remember?”
“Species later.”
Yoon cut off Ami.
“I want to know the location first. Hilde, you can sense and control creatures’ positions, right?”
I’d have to explain this properly.
I nodded. Good question.
I’d been meaning to give a full rundown anyway.
Staring at the blue traffic light, I answered.
“For now, within the radius I can detect, there are no creatures worth worrying about. I’ll explain this ability more on the way there.”
Yoon started the car without another word.
It cruised along the road at about 50 km/h, passing the green traffic light and heading toward the base of the mountain.
There must have been a small village at the foot of the mountain. Ruined houses caught my eye.
Without taking my gaze from the window, I began the explanation.
“First off, for convenience, let’s call the sense that detects other lifeforms ‘instinct.’ Instinct works very strongly between my kind. In other words, no matter how far away they are, I can always sense which direction my kin are in.”
“Non-kin creatures have a distance limit?”
“Yes. Training extends the range, but other species still have detection limits. And if a magical beast is close enough and controllable, I can tame it. ‘Magical beast’ is the general term for lifeforms detected by instinct like this. We can’t sense regular animals like pigs, for example.”
“There are magical beasts you can’t control?”
Ami blinked and asked.
I met her eyes, then gave a faint smile.
“Yes. If a creature’s power is too strong, I can’t control it. The higher the creature’s level, the harder it is to tame. We used to call those especially good at controlling and taming magical beasts ‘Beast Tamers.’”
“Can’t control your own kind?”
“Impossible. And there are a few species considered impossible to control. Back then, we called them upper-tier magical beasts.”
“Got it. Like dragons?”
I widened my smile at Ami’s question.
“Dragons were one of them. Until the greatest Beast Tamer of the era succeeded in taming one.”
Kairos had succeeded in controlling a dragon, something thought utterly impossible.
When asked how, he’d given the textbook answer: eat well, sleep well, exercise, and take an interest in magical beasts. He wasn’t just a genius Beast Tamer—he was an exceptional gambler too.
Now I fully understood the message he’d left behind.
But his story wasn’t important, so I changed the subject.
“Anyway, I’ll warn you ahead of time if anything I need to watch out for approaches. It looks fine for now. Until we reach the mountain, at least.”
“Handy ability~…”
“Right? It’s like a living drone!”
“Can you turn off that sense?”
Yoon said flatly.
In a low, emotionless voice.
I took in my master’s cool, refined features.
“You’d need a skilled mage to hide your presence. That’s the only way I know. They might’ve come up with something else by now, though….”
“I wasn’t asking about countermeasures.”
Yoon rolled his eyes to meet mine briefly.
Those icy, gem-like pupils quickly turned forward again.
“I meant, can you make it so you don’t feel the instinct.”
“Ah.”
Realizing what he meant, I gave a wry smile.
I had no choice but to smile bitterly. This wasn’t something I could explain pleasantly.
The pale mountain loomed larger and larger.
Something heavy stirred at its base.
Tracing that presence’s movements, I replied.
“Yes. Just like you can steal sight, you can forcibly take away our instinct. Through violence.”
“Sounds like it happened pretty often.”
“It was the ultimate punishment.”
A cruel penalty reserved for rebels.
My kind would instinctively furrow their brows at the mere mention of it.
Word was, the sense of disconnection was intense.
Rather than being cut off from their kin and abandoned alone in the wide world, many chose execution instead.
The pain of the process was said to be excruciating.
“But Hilde, you forgot that sense once before.”
Ami’s quiet voice pulled me from the past memories.
“Weren’t you fine back then?”
“Yes. Back then, I didn’t even remember I had such a sense.”
“But forgetting and losing are different….”
Ricardo, who’d been silent till now, cut in ominously.
I turned a bit more to meet his gaze.
“Be careful…. If I were a humanoid creature, the first thing I’d cut off after subduing you is that sense….”
I let out a short laugh.
But I didn’t bother adding that it’d mean neither side could sense each other, increasing the risk—which was why they didn’t do it lightly for dangerous criminals who hadn’t been given the death penalty first.
No need to go into that much detail now.
I just turned my gaze forward.
A few creatures were approaching the vehicle, but Yoon annoyingly swerved around them.
The mountain drew closer.
The creature’s presence grew accordingly.
The presence of my kin in the mountains swelled too.
The magical beast moved.
“In three minutes, you’ll run into a creature bursting out from under the red roof.”
The seniors instantly assumed combat ready stances.
They moved on their own without me giving orders—convenient.
Maybe that’s why they handed me squad leader so easily?
“About 3 meters long, 2 meters thick. No idea what it is. Seems like a corrupted, mutated creature.”
“Can’t tame it?”
Carl asked, pulling his balaclava up to his nose.
I kept my eyes on the windshield even as I heard Ami opening the military vehicle’s roof hatch.
“I’m not good at taming. And I don’t like it much.”
“Hunting?”
This question came from Yoon.
I smiled, eyeing the red-roofed building drawing near.
“That’s no problem.”
Kieeeek!
A roar shaking the road.
A massive maw bursting from the building.
A forked tongue split in two shot out from the three-pronged jaws.
The instant it charged the military vehicle at astonishing speed, Yoon wrenched the wheel 90 degrees and slammed the brakes, while Ami launched herself out through the roof.
The rest leaped from the now-sideways vehicle, using it as a shield and unleashing gunfire.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
Clean, precise shooting.
The seniors’ bullets pierced the maw and body perfectly.
Kieeeek!
“No work for me, huh.”
Thwack!
I watched Ami shred the tattered creature’s torso with wire.
Chunks of flesh and blood rained down.
“You’re all so skilled.”
“Nah, there just seem to be weirdly few creatures around here.”
Ami landed lightly on the ground and approached us.
The senior casually brushed muscle bits off his shoulder.
“That’s why nothing’s happening. A Zone’s usually crawling with them, right?”
“And the team’s power level is way too high~.”
Ricardo reloaded his gun with a lazy grin.
“You don’t usually put together a combo like this….”
Carl and Sophia silently holstered their weapons too.
I waited, listening to the sounds of them wrapping up the instant battle.
While waiting, I cast my gaze farther out. Past the powdered remains, the mountain lay just a bit ahead.
Weirdly pale.
No fog or anything, but why does it feel so pallid?
I was mulling that faint doubt when my master called.
Yoon, who hadn’t even gotten out of the vehicle, looked at me through the open passenger door.
“Another traffic light on.”
Right.
The last intersection’s traffic light.
It stood there glowing red.
I took in the stop signal.
I watched it quietly, then took a few steps forward.
One step.
Two steps.
Three ste….
“Fuck.”
The sensation hit me all at once.
The crashing wave of presence choked me. I couldn’t take another step.
My body froze under the nerve-searing presence.
The shouts flying my way didn’t register properly.
My eyes widening, I muttered.
“Thunder?”
The lord of lightning.
Called that because it wielded electricity freely. Even Kairos, who tamed a dragon, had laughed that he didn’t want to face it.
Our unit always detoured around the mountain range it inhabited, while ambitious knights climbed to claim glory and never returned.
More intimidating than a fire dragon.
The magical beast Kyle and I struggled against every encounter.
The species we never faced on rainy days.
“Why is this on the other side of the mountain?”
This place was already Thunder’s domain.
The moment I realized that, I regretted passing the lit traffic light.
The one glowing blue.
I should’ve realized its territory started right there.
***
“Mountain air smells good.”
Ami grinned.
“Right, oppa?”
“Watch your step.”
“I am. Doesn’t it smell sweet, Hilde?”
“Yes….”
I replied glumly as I climbed the mountain.
“The air’s refreshing….”
The path to the seed vault.
We were hiking right now.