Chapter 55
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Kreptonos at Conwell Village
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Dane's butchery squad began their meal with the preserved meat as soon as the sun rose the next day.
They grilled mid-to-small monsters caught near Foldtown, slathered in Elite barbecue sauce.
The sauce had been simmered for a long time with Epup jowl, charred Elite ribs, and various vegetables.
River added fresh wild greens she'd gathered from the ancient forest, creating a fresh harmony.
"Huh... damn. Feels like we're eating Elite with this." Everyone was marveling at the taste, nonstop shoveling food into their mouths.
"Aaaah!"
A scream from inside the wagon silenced them.
"She's awake?"
"Yep, she is!"
River and Bankers mumbled around their mouthfuls of meat.
The half-elf who screamed—researcher Priscilla—took a moment to get her bearings, caught between dream and reality, then touched her swollen cheeks.
"Guess it hurts...."
"Wonder if she can hear us." River and Bankers narrowed their eyes at Dane. His gaze avoided theirs, fixed on Priscilla.
She threw off the blanket covering her and clambered down from the wagon.
"Pfft! Clothes! Clothes!"
River spat her chewed food at Bankers and rushed to Priscilla.
Priscilla, wrapped only in bandages around her vital areas, stared blankly at the approaching River.
She shrugged on the robe River draped over her like it was nothing, grabbed her backpack from the corner of the wagon, and walked toward Dane. Her eyes stayed on him the whole time.
"Eat."
Dane nodded toward the meat without meeting her eyes.
"Dane, that's rude.... Offering meat to an elf."
"She'll eat it, probably?"
"An elf eating meat?!" His comrades tried to stop him, worried he'd offend her elven sensibilities again, but Priscilla showed no reaction.
"She's a bit special."
But his casual follow-up made their bodies stiffen.
She'd only ever heard that she was different, wrong, smelly, dirty, ominous, ugly, filthy, unclean, vulgar, jinxed. Elves said it to her face; humans behind her back.
The last time she'd heard "special" was in her childhood memories. Never since. Not even anything close.
Priscilla's expression didn't change, but inside, it was different.
A human with a monster's aura. The one who'd subdued her in an instant with overwhelming force was now saying something incomprehensible.
Why say it like that? What is this creature? Is his insides special? What's special about them?
"I want to open it up."
River flinched at Priscilla's absentminded mutter, but Dane stayed calm.
"I get why you opened it." Dane handed Priscilla her notebook. Her blue eyes shook rapidly. She snatched it and clutched it to her chest.
* * *
"This wraps up the formation of representative hunting parties in Foldtown too. Congratulations, Director."
"It's all thanks to you, Inspector General. Feels like you sent Priscilla here on training just for today, haha."
Tebier laughed in response.
Inspector General Vigdis smiled without reserve. They'd known each other for years, like old friends. Though they'd never liked each other.
"I'm grateful you see it that way. Things turned out that way given the situation, but she's a kid who never mixed with the other researchers. Whether she fits in is up to the hunting party now."
"Ah... you mean she can't mix because she's a half-elf? Haha. Funny. She's too mixed to mix in. Haha."
Vigdis waited for Tebier's laughter to stop before speaking.
"It's not just because she's a half. Her temperament's so prickly."
"I remember you freaking out. That's when you started sending her on training all over the continent, right? After she got caught dissecting monsters in the Administration's hunting grounds."
"She's not the type you can just take under your wing. She's my disciple, but even I can't handle her. Maybe it's that innate blood.... Though we don't even know her lineage."
Priscilla was a known loner. They'd forced her to wander the continent because she muddied the waters wherever she went.
So when she was picked as support for the Thick Root Hunting Party, the elves felt conflicted.
No one wanted to go because of Dane, but they couldn't deny it was an honorable position.
"Relieved to have a thorn pulled, but... plenty grumble about putting a kid like that in such an important role. Worried how to explain it to the capital."
The capital disliked outpost cities like Foldtown forming their own Thick Root Hunting Parties.
It was natural for the king and his loyal vassals. They'd forbidden outposts from building independent power.
They'd reluctantly allowed Thick Root Hunting Parties due to the root weakening and monster unrest. News of a half-elf joining would spark major backlash.
"You should report it straight to the capital, Inspector General."
"I'm worried it'll cause issues for your work."
"Who'd complain about using the right skills in the right place?"
"I'm glad you rate her so highly."
"The kid's got this weird obsession with monsters. Could be a key."
"What do you...?"
"Won't tell you. I still wanna live. Haha." Tebier burst into laughter again. His eyes didn't smile as he watched Vigdis's face. Vigdis just smiled silently.
"So what now? Back to the capital?"
Tebier asked.
"Ah... With Foldtown done, all four outpost cities have their Thick Root Hunting Parties formed. I've been touring your jurisdictions for so long, I'll rest a bit before heading back. Thinking of staying in Foldtown longer— that alright?"
"Hahaha, of course. Thrilled to have someone to chat with." They shared hollow laughs, eyeing each other.
* * *
As the butchery squad finished eating and cleaned up, white pollen swirled around the ancient forest.
The wind-borne pollen seemed destined for one spot—it hovered, then scattered in an instant.
The squad watched from afar.
"Doesn't look natural." Dane and River nodded at Bankers's words.
They guessed it involved Priscilla. She'd gone into the ancient forest alone and hadn't appeared all morning.
By the time Dink finished his hay and they were ready to depart, Priscilla returned. She no longer said she wanted to open Dane up.
She was so quiet it worried them all.
The Administration's demands ended with joining the researcher on the way to Conwell Village, so they couldn't just wait for her to speak.
"Let's go."
Dane set the wagon toward Conwell Village.
They crossed the ancient forest, dark as night despite the morning, for half a day until a signpost appeared. They followed it awhile longer, almost there, when Dane knocked on the roof to stop.
"Can't go farther."
His chest thudded hard. Not a loud boom, but a murmuring flutter.
Dane hopped down and walked ahead; River followed. She glanced back to see Priscilla trailing indifferently.
The three quieted their steps.
Dry rootlets tangled everywhere across a plain too rough to call a path, sprawling under the blazing sun.
In the distance, dead center like an oasis in the desert, lay the village. Conwell Village.
Rootlets climbed wooden pillars, their stems weaving into fences.
"The roots look pitch-black, fully dead. But what's that?" River tilted her head.
"Was wondering why no monsters... they're all gathered there." Dane said.
The village was surrounded by a herd of identical mid-to-small monsters milling about.
If villagers were inside, they were besieged, unable to escape easily. Sealed off.
"Kreptonos."
Priscilla blurted it out, comparing her notebook to the monsters. River glanced at the notebook.
'This... is what she drew?' The sketches of their forms were amateurish; the dissections looked like scribbles. River swallowed the thought that she could do better with her feet.
While River stared at the notebook, Dane closely projected the creature's body. Thanks to Kaipatu's power, he already knew its name.
'Kreptonos... New monster's good, but this type's a first.' Lumpy torso with a protruding head. Thick, rough carapace covered its body, packed inside with layers of muscle and flesh.
'Glowing parts are the claws.' Six legs propped its body; two claw-tipped forelimbs extended forward; antennae ends sharpened to needle points whipped fast.
Dane guessed their attacks from appearance.
Grab and bite.
"Heard researchers are monster experts. Anything special to watch for with those?"
"Antennae are dangerous." Not just sharp? He'd dismissed them, but now curious about their danger.
"Don't get stabbed. Got it." Enough for now, so Dane unclasped his cloak and nodded.
"Need to take them out first to get in and investigate anything."
"How?"
River asked. Mid-to-smalls like Epups, but over ten easy.
"Stew, grill, soup—all good." They thought differently. Post-hunt mattered to Dane.
Dane handed his cloak to River and strode alone toward the village. His predator aura ignited naturally; the milling monsters turned.
'Miss Bekelztor's tongue.' The extending tongue linked to his cleaver was gone. Had to go close-range. At least he had two blades.
He drew the waist blades in both hands when one charged. The biggest.
-Thud thud thud....
It rolled on six legs; others joined, mixing rhythms.
Seeing its thick crustacean shell and innards recalled old flavors, exciting him. Dane leaped gladly at the earth-shaking foes.
First-time muscles and joints, but their shape revealed power flow.
'Small cuts before big.' He smacked the massive claw swinging at his waist with the back of his right small cleaver, spinning off the recoil.
Mid-spin, his blade sliced the claw joint clean. Second spin severed a thrusting antenna from the body.
He mounted, sliced the remaining antenna, then axed the head with his left medium cleaver.
Short death cry as it perished.
Before it fell, Dane sprang airborne, hurling his small cleaver at the next charger's head.
'Bisect at once.'
-Kwach!
It split from the head; another died. The halves slid forward.
Dane ducked through to yank the cleaver, and in that instant—
-Piht!
A live antenna tip grazed his wrist shallowly. Dane froze despite the minor wound, looking down.
Something raced up his veins from the cut.
Fingers already numb. Dane sliced below the elbow without hesitation, blocking it.
Blood spurted; the rest charged.
Dane sliced through Kreptonos's thick shell and muscle with the medium cleaver, staunching the flow.
New arm sprouted fast amid the frenzy.
Priscilla hugged her own arm watching.
"Regeneration!!!"
A body that wouldn't die.
A body she could keep opening forever.
She'd found her ideal specimen.