Chapter 299
Chapter 299
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 299
Chapter Title: Romania (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A massive presence seemed ready to burst from the hulking body covered in thick muscles.
"Kuhuhuhu—."
Its aura was nothing like Heinz's quietly seeping chill or the Duke's heavy pressure bearing down on the surroundings. Instead, it fiercely stimulated the instinctive sense of crisis in everyone present, making it impossible to tear their eyes away.
Like a volcano on the verge of eruption—one impossible to gauge, where, when, or on what scale it might blow.
"Stay on guard! Don't charge in recklessly."
"Leave the other side to the outer team! Scattering our forces is dangerous!"
"Is that... really human? No, a demon after all?"
Vampires who fed on the blood of living beings, and even warriors who had transcended human limits, could instinctively sense it the moment they faced that man.
That thing might look human on the outside, but it's no human.
Gulp—
What the hell is that monster...?
Monster.
That was the common thought floating through everyone's minds.
It felt even more so because of the unfamiliar beast pelt pulled low over his head like a mask, completely covering his face.
At a glance, his appearance screamed half-human, half-beast demon.
"...What are you? How did you get in here? ...No, do you even know what you've done?"
In the air thick with palpable tension.
The Duke stepped forward slowly, growling his words low.
That barbaric intruder had critically wounded one of the Reverse Heaven Society's transcendents upon arrival and slain two of Dracula's vampires.
He was obviously an enemy, no matter how you sliced it. But with zero knowledge of the opponent, the Duke wanted to gather even a scrap of intel before the fight kicked off.
Why's he attacking us? Connected to Phantom? Then the one fighting the outer team too? His means of intrusion... possible with some ability. But the problem is these guys showing up out of nowhere.
The Duke's mind tangled in complication at suddenly facing unidentified foes.
The Reverse Heaven Society's intelligence network spanned the globe without peer, yet they had no clue about these intruders.
And naturally, they'd exhausted every preemptive investigation on Phantom... Heinz!
However.
Of course, the unknown intruder—Harley—had no intention of answering obediently.
"Huh? What're you saying? I don't get your language. Speak English, dude!"
He replied to their Romanian in perfectly innocent English.
With Xenoglossy, language barriers were meaningless to him, but this was a cheeky little ploy to mask his country of origin too.
The Duke furrowed his brow slightly and opened his mouth to speak again...
"Anyway, no need to worry! This world's got a fine method called 'fists of conversation'! Kuhahaha—!"
With Harley's booming mad laughter—no more rambling—his muscles twitched violently.
Gigig! Kiging—!
A deafening metallic clamor poured from his body.
The kind of brutal noise no living creature should make—more suited to heavy machinery.
Sizzle—
His entire body glowed red-hot as scalding steam jetted from him, boiling the air and making the atmosphere shimmer.
Crunch— Cranch!
His already bloated muscles swelled to the max, limbs ballooning, razor-sharp hook claws sprouting from his fingertips.
Under the scales blanketing his body, 'madness' surged, and a dark crimson haze of Biotic Aura began to creep upward.
The apex of all life—the ideal form of an experimental subject that had endlessly pursued growth to shatter its limits.
The Ultimate Evolved Lifeform itself.
"...What the hell is that?"
"A mutation-type demon? No, that's way beyond..."
"Vicious aura. Everyone, steel your minds! Get tainted by that and you'll turn Mad Vamp in a heartbeat!"
The Reverse Heaven Society crew involuntarily fell back a step at their foe's sudden transformation.
Like prey facing the ecosystem's top predator.
Only realizing their instinctive recoil belatedly, their faces twisted in fury.
For these prideful lot, showing such cowardice was humiliation incarnate.
"Huuk—."
But heedless, now roughly three meters tall, Harley vented the steam from his colossal energy burn and fixed the foes with a savage glare.
"Kuhat, well then— now..."
Beneath the beast mask shrouding his face, his jaw—packed with shark-like teeth—jutted out.
That inhumanly developed maw twisted into a grin—
"...let's start the hunt! Kuhahaha!"
With a burst of frenzied, ferocious laughter, the behemoth surged forward.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A lone black shadow slipped stealthily from the forest's heart toward the outskirts.
Careless.
The culprit—the assassin dispatched from the Reverse Heaven Society's Greek branch on the Doctor's orders—chilled his mind.
Luckily, he'd scraped by with his life in that desperate crisis, but his situation wasn't rosy.
Losing limbs is fatal. I've managed makeshift first aid for now...
His gaze shifted to his upper body.
Jet-black limbs had taken the place of his severed ones, staunching the wounds.
An artificial body he'd woven from the dark chakra he could wield, just to stay mobile.
...Who knew that monster was on that level.
Lingering nearby to gauge the intruder's power had been a blunder.
Who could've guessed it saw through his stealth and could rip off his limbs with a casual swipe!
I'd love to bail as is.
But withdrawing alone in this chaos with mortal wounds? Impossible.
Unlike vampires who could regrow limbs like weeds, this pure human needed merits piled up for proper treatment from the Doctor later.
No choice. That monster's a nightmare matchup, so reinforce the outskirts first—deal with the other intruder...
But.
———!
A streak of light pierced his disrupted senses without sound or warning, right in his face.
"......!"
As if lying in wait, it struck before he could even track the foe.
Damn... another monster...!
Kwaaaang—!
And the attacker?
The high elf Harris, summoned to Earth alongside Harley, whistled softly, fully blended with the forest via skills like Natural Body and Nature Assimilation.
Dodged that instant? Not bad, injured and all.
One hand gripped Termis, the bow crafted from a World Tree branch; the other nocked an arrow, eyes half-lidded.
"But I can't just let you go."
His half-closed emerald eyes flashed—a golden star in them twinkling—as Observer of the Galaxy activated once more. The entire forest unfolded before him sharper than any cutting-edge satellite feed.
Every creature's position and movement, their energies and realms—all laid bare.
Info neatly sorted and etched into his brain, he nocked another arrow toward a new target and quietly drew the string.
Everyone here is a limb of the Reverse Heaven Society. Not letting a single one escape.
Harris's mission: Pin down and eliminate the outer snipers, grand mages, and Reverse Heaven Society goons to keep them from the center.
All while hiding his identity to the end—a breeze with Formless Eight Trigrams Wall Technique (Rev) letting him merge with nature.
The support user with eyes everywhere? Handled. Even the transcendent assassin most likely to pinpoint him? Just now...
Kwaaaang—!
Couldn't tank his full-power shot—reduced to a handful of ash.
One headache down. Harley's pre-mark made it smoother than expected.
Stealthy, mobile assassins weren't usually this easy.
With his objective met, Harris melted away on silent feet.
And right after.
Zzzzap—!
Boom!
Space-tearing sniper fire and grand magic carpet-bombing rained on where he'd stood.
Attacks from the Reverse Heaven Society's outer team—stubborn survivors clinging on through endless volleys.
Destroying nature like this. They deserve heavenly retribution.
Harris glanced at the razed zone and subtly frowned.
How could a forest guardian stand idle?
His animosity toward the Reverse Heaven Society swelled as he summoned spirits and drew his bow.
...Truth be told, if judging forest damage, one prime culprit needed collaring first—but he deliberately averted his eyes.
The central battlefield.
Kwaaaang!
Dark crimson energy-wreathed fist clashed head-on with the shining hammer head's aura.
"Kuhahaha—! Ah, good! Great!"
"Hup!"
Immense power on power, shockwaves blasting outward amid frenzied laughter.
The outcome? Crystal clear.
"Keuk! You monster!"
The massive hammer warrior—who'd prided himself on strength—bounced back pitifully, grinding his teeth.
But the crisis didn't end there.
Off-balance, he saw a giant hand lunging for his face, clenched his jaw, and swung with everything he had.
Cheeeeng—!
An improper metallic ring echoed deafeningly from hammer striking palm.
That split-second gap let nearby allies rush in and barely yank him from doom.
"Don't clash head-on! Wheel him, wear down his strength...!"
"You think that'll work on that brute?!"
"Best shot now! Focus on holding out...!"
Like raiding a boss monster.
Problem was, the boss had brains—and master-level martial arts.
"Kahaha! Don't hold back—let's play more, friends!"
The monster, versed in humanity's tech for underdogs against superiors, rampaged. Desperate screams to contain it never ceased.
"Hu— Finally feeling comfy. Duke, we've got unfinished business, right? Let's wrap it up."
"...Phantom!"
In the pandemonium, Heinz spoke leisurely.
Scanning his foe up and down like an appraiser grading cuts of meat.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Inside a certain Bucharest building.
Crash! Shatter!
The Doctor shot up abruptly and lunged forward in a frenzy.
Snacks flew from the table, turning the area into a mess—but such trivia was already beneath notice.
No, he had zero spare attention for anything else.
"What... is that...? What the...?"
Dazed, he staggered to the hologram display and stared blankly, mumbling.
His words voiced doubt, but he knew it better than anyone.
He had to.
"No way...? Impossible?"
The Complete Evolution Organism Project.
About a decade ago, after encountering 'Predator Dragon's Blood' from the Raubeta Dimension—home to countless dragonkin and hunters—he'd conceived and drafted it.
Hadn't capturing Heinz been precisely to complete that research?
"Aaa—! That's definitely...!"
Not some chimera forcibly grafting alien flesh, but an ultimate lifeform endlessly sourcing superior genes for perpetual evolution...
"But... that."
Yet no matter how coldly he assessed reality, his Eye of Truth recognized it at a glance.
"...That thing! Why is it thereee—!!"
'That' was undoubtedly a lifeform born from his own research.