An Unwelcome Reunion

Yeonhee's eyes were already red and brimming with tears. "Ugh... hic..." But this was part of the job she had taken on. Maybe she didn't want to show her tears so easily—she bit down hard on her lower lip, sobbing through clenched teeth.

Rainy said to me, gently wiping away Yeonhee's overflowing tears with her soft wings.

'Got it.'

The mutated creature's body structure made it difficult to land clean hits on a harpy. Just the fact that it couldn't suppress even a single harpy gave me a rough idea of its capabilities. Still, the Neos Harpy could only harass it from the air without delivering any decisive blows. If it got too close, it would likely get caught by the writhing tentacles sprouting from the creature's body.

I left Chehwa behind—waiting only for Yeonhee's command—and charged forward.

"Kiiik?!"

The creature noticed me and opened its mouth wide. It reacted faster than it looked. Its maw stretched far wider than its face, a horrifying mass of slime-filled horror. From within, a bundle of long tentacles shot out rapidly, covering the spot where I had just been standing.

Boom—!

A powerful strike strong enough to carve a small crater into the ground. The tentacles looked like they were made for blood-sucking, but I figured they were specialized for pure physical attacks. If it landed cleanly, the force would probably be enough to pierce my bone armor and deal damage.

I lightly dodged the attack and was already soaring high into the sky. Gripping my dagger tightly, I plummeted downward.

Squeeze—

I didn't know what kind of life this child had lived, or whether it had been happy. But at the very least, I was certain that freeing it from its current suffering was the only thing I could do.

Please, at least let the end be painless... I wanted to grant it that much.

My concentration was sharper ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than ever. Because of that, I almost felt like I could see thin lines traced across the mutated creature's body. A slender line drawn at the joint where the head connected to the torso—the spot where a neck should have been. I swung my dagger down hard, following that line.

Shrrrrk—!

The mutated creature's orange eyes stared quietly at me as I drove the dagger into its body. Those eyes held no emotion whatsoever—only a strange purity that made me feel even more depressed.

By the time I had sliced halfway through its neck, the creature finally seemed to register the pain and reacted. But the tentacles attached to its body simply flailed wildly, out of control. It looked like this young lifeform didn't even know what it was supposed to do.

'Damn it...!'

Unfortunately, my swing hadn't been enough to free the child in one blow. Arghen's dagger stopped after cutting about two-thirds of the way through. In the end, I had to shove three Skeleton Bombs into the gaping wound and detonate them before the child—trapped by those vile bastards—could finally be set free.

Thud, thud, thud—

'......'

The moment the mutated creature's head and part of its torso exploded and scattered everywhere, a message appeared.

I didn't want to see it. I wasn't in the mood.

'What a load of bullshit...'

Whether it was because this was the first specimen without any skills or traits, or for some other reason, even the intriguing phrase "new reward system" failed to stir any interest in me.

About ten seconds passed. New text was added to the frozen message, and only then did my sunken heart begin to stir again.

'......?'

When I heard "elixir," I naturally pictured something liquid like a potion. A fragment? That was a bit strange.

Along with the message, a tiny piece about the size of a child's fingernail floated up from the mutated creature's body.

'...... Are you fucking kidding me?!'

I had obtained a way to acquire the Elixir of Life, the legendary potion said to bring even the dead back to life. Did this even make sense?

'They said it takes ten thousand lives to create a single Elixir of Life...'

The route I had gained meant that killing a thousand mutated creatures would net me one Elixir of Life. Of course, it still required using Purify.

'Ugh... It's impressive, but I can't say it's a welcome method.'

This was an item that could only be obtained by repeating this sickening process a thousand times. There was no reason to clap and cheer about it. If I imagined slaughtering hundreds of mutated creatures, the closer I got to the number needed to create an Elixir of Life, the more I might start hoping for more mutated entities to appear.

'It's entirely possible... I really don't like that. No, no matter how far from a saint I am, I wouldn't go that far...'

I shook my head and examined the mutated creature's corpse. By now, Yeonhee and Rainy had approached behind me.

Splat. Squish.

Every time I rummaged through the corpse, Yeonhee sniffled and poured out more tears.

"It's so pitiful... Hic... sob..."

Watching her cry her eyes out stirred a strange urge in me to pull her into my arms. Was I crazy? Thankfully, it was only a fleeting impulse.

The corpse was melting into the ground at an alarming rate, like a cotton candy dropped in water. Since it hadn't been a proper living being to begin with, its collapse was instantaneous. In the end, all that remained were pure white bones.

'How is it that only the child's bones are left...'

I had some knowledge when it came to bones. These were definitely the bones of the child who had been turned into a test subject. When I touched them, numbers indicating attack power floated up like the messages that appeared after killing monsters, but I deliberately ignored them.

I gathered the scattered bones on the ground and held them out to Yeonhee. She cradled them carefully in her arms, then stored them inside a cloak she pulled from her inventory.

"I hope... they find their family..."

Nod, nod.

My senses had picked up two more mutated creatures, but other hunters were already pursuing them, so I didn't bother going after them. Honestly, I didn't want to put Yeonhee through any more hardship. She seemed deeply immersed in the child's plight and was clearly struggling.

That's why I had decided we would only prevent the mutated creatures from harming civilians and simply wait for time to pass. But one newly detected entity made that impossible.

'Fast... At least a high C-rank fighter.'

It was clearly a higher rank than us. I didn't think we'd lose in a fight, but there was no telling when another monster might join in. So I had no intention of engaging if I could help it. And it wasn't just because of Yeonhee's current state. These narrow alleyways weren't favorable terrain for us, whose main strength was numbers.

I raised a finger to Yeonhee and signaled her to retreat slowly. We needed to leave this place as quietly and stealthily as possible.

But the entity caught in my senses suddenly changed direction toward us and rapidly closed the distance. No—it was flying.

Did it detect us from that far away? How?

'Shit...!'

Shrieeeek— Boom!!

Something unknown flew in at high speed and slammed directly into the wall of the alley we had been walking through. I grabbed Yeonhee and leaped sideways in a hurry, but the Neos Harpy that had been landing beside us ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was sliced clean in two and unsummoned on the spot.

"Wh-what the hell?!"

Yeonhee had slammed hard into the ground from the sudden leap, but her body—now protected by a layer of slime—didn't have a single scratch. She was simply so startled that her eyes were wider than usual.

Rumble—

The attacker, whose strike had been powerful enough to completely collapse a two-meter-high wall, emerged through the swirling cloud of dust.

"Kikikikick— Well, well. No matter how I think about it, my luck these days is just too good. I felt a familiar presence and came over, but it wasn't just a harpy, was it?"

"... Huh? Y-you're—!!"

Even though it was dark, the opponent's body was glowing with mana, clearly revealing his face. A wrinkled forehead, tightly pursed lips, sunken cheeks, and bulging eyes—he looked like the very picture of a neurotic man. The moment Yeonhee saw that face, she recognized him first and cried out.

"Th-that time! The guy with the red hat from the testing site!"

The man wasn't wearing a hat now, but his impression had been so strong that I recognized him immediately too.

"Oh? This is quite the honor. Kkkk— So the bitch actually remembers me."

'...... He's changed a lot.'

If it had been the old days, I would have punched him right in the face. But his drastically altered appearance and dangerously unstable aura made me instinctively cautious.

Hack— Ptooie!

The man gathered a thick wad of phlegm and spat it on the ground, then shoved his hands into his pockets and slowly walked toward us. When I had seen him before, he had looked like he was on the run. Now he seemed far more relaxed. And the wings sprouting from his back... It wasn't my imagination that they resembled a harpy's.

"Yeah... Now that I see your face, the memories are coming back crystal clear... Because of you that day, I got cursed with terrible luck. I failed the C-rank promotion again... Kikikikick— Fuck. Even thinking about it again pisses me off."

Booom—!!

The man punched the half-collapsed wall beside him, sending it flying far into the distance. I could sense the people inside the villa who had been hit by the flying debris trembling like soaked puppies.

'Failed again? He didn't seem like the type to fail... He must have done something incredibly stupid.'

I let out a dry laugh inside and began forming Skeleton Bombs one by one in my palms. He was a strong opponent. The guy who had been at the very bottom of D-rank during the test was now well past the middle of C-rank.

'There's too much impurity in his mana, so I can't gauge him accurately... This won't be easy.'

"I clearly pushed the examiner hard enough, you know? They said I violated the code of conduct by beating up a few guys inside the testing site. They deducted points for some bullshit reason like that and failed me. Hey, you fucking skeleton? Does that make any sense to you? Huh—"

The moment his mana exploded upward, I activated Reckless Charge and dashed forward.

It was only level 3, but the charge skill I had obtained from the Big Bore was proving incredibly useful. It also synergized well with the Rune of Swiftness.

—!!

The man seemed startled by the unexpectedly fast charge; his shoulders jerked upward sharply.

Slice—

"You son of a—!"

I swiftly swung my dagger upward and managed to sever one of the man's little toes as he leaped into the air. He frowned deeply, but the corners of his mouth tore upward toward his ears, already imagining the pleasure he would soon enjoy.

Shrieeeek—!

'That's the same skill from before!'

It was the skill that had sliced Nepy clean in two. Damn it, the activation time was ridiculously short too.

"Provoke!"

Chrrrr— Creeeeak— Creeeeak—!

The man, who had been rushing toward me after activating his skill, seemed momentarily confused by the provocation skills from both me and Jeombaki.

Screeeech—!

In the end, unable to attack me, he left a long gouge in the ground as he landed.

'Provocation really is useful. They've become indispensable.'