The King’s Warning and the Deadly Chimera
While escorting Administrator through the office, Libera glanced at the giant man and let out a soft gasp of admiration.
It was hard to believe he was human. He must have been over two hundred and fifty centimeters tall.
Thank goodness they were still in the Thessaloniki office. If they had met the enemy on the battlefield, things would have been far more complicated.
“Haha! Come on over, Administrator. This is the first time you’re facing me with your memories erased.”
The man pounded his chest with a fist the size of a boulder, making a loud thud.
“I am Hadeon, the head of Thessaloniki.”
Tension clung to the air like an invisible fog.
“These days the atmosphere has been a bit strange. How have things been over there? Everyone still in good health?”
Hadeon sat on the sofa and asked with a carefree smile.
He looked exactly as energetic and powerful as he sounded.
Libera spoke up.
“Please explain the reason you called the Administrator here.”
“Haha! My small talk really did drag on, didn’t it?”
Hadeon slid a thick binder across the table toward her.
“Good. Then let’s get straight to the point.”
Administrator picked up the binder and flipped through the first page. Her brows furrowed instantly. Foreign terms jumped out at her.
“Ebola virus… Cordyceps fungus?”
What was this?
As she tilted her head in confusion, Libera beside her flipped through the pages in silence. Her white-knuckled grip made the papers crinkle.
‘What could possibly have her this shaken?’
Hadeon continued in a heavier tone.
“If you read the report, you’ll see the situation is serious. Information has come in that the ‘Chimera Virus’—a fusion of Ebola and Cordyceps—is showing up again recently.”
“Chimera Virus…?”
“That’s right. An artificial virus created by someone.”
“Artificial…?”
She had seen spore storms that turned the sky red and monstrous Receptors that lived inside living bodies, but this was new.
“Artificial virus…?”
Someone had engineered a plague?
Or perhaps it was an accident that leaked from secret research.
Both scenarios were terrible. She silently hoped for the latter.
Administrator frowned deeply.
“Is it biologically possible to fuse two completely different species?”
“Someone did it, so it’s real. No one knows where, why, or how they made it. It’s driving me crazy.”
“…”
Hadeon clicked his tongue in displeasure.
“The way the Chimera Virus hunts is truly horrifying. It drills a hole into the victim’s nape, dives into the spinal fluid, and drains every drop of life force. The corpse is then controlled like a puppet.”
Even listening made her stomach churn. The horror of the method itself was one thing, but an inexplicable sense of revulsion rose from deep inside her.
“The more it feeds on another’s life force, the stronger its host body grows.”
“…It’s like a mosquito.”
“A mosquito? Haha! Maybe. Either way, we have to exterminate every last one that appears.”
Just hearing the description made her skin crawl.
At that moment, Libera, who had been gripping the papers so tightly they were nearly torn, finally spoke through gritted teeth.
“Where is that Chimera Virus right now?”
“There’s a village nearby that feels like a tropical jungle—hot and humid. We’ve just found traces there.”
Administrator’s gaze flicked to Libera and she nearly choked on her breath.
Her eyes burned with something dark and vicious, and hatred poured off her like acid.
When Hadeon glanced between them, he sighed.
“Administrator, you still don’t know?”
“…No.”
Administrator kept her mouth shut. She had no idea what he was talking about.
Hadeon watched her in silence, then turned his intense gaze back to Libera.
“Since we can’t hide it forever, and you’ll need to know this if you’re going to plan anything here, you should hear it.”
He leaned forward on the table.
“Listen carefully, Administrator. The Chimera Virus is one of the people who drove Elia into a trap and left her hanging by a thread.”
For a second it felt as though her heart had dropped to the floor.
“Did Elia… get infected by the Chimera Virus?”
“Well… that’s a bit tricky. It’s not quite accurate to say she was infected….”
Hadeon opened his mouth, clearly at a loss for words.
“…Let me explain.”
Libera cut in suddenly.
“Elia was not infected by the Chimera Virus.”
“If she wasn’t infected, then how and why did she die?”
Libera squeezed her eyes shut and took a shaky breath, fighting to keep her emotions in check.
“Elia died of an accident. She just… got unlucky….”
From the look in her eyes, it was impossible to tell whether she was telling the truth or lying.
◆◇◆
‘This is exactly when Ebolacho should be tearing things up.’
She had reported that the Chimera Virus was completely wiped out, but it was still alive.
It wasn’t easy to kill, and she had deliberately left it breathing just in case.
‘Why is it so quiet?’
She had altered the original plot, so it shouldn’t have affected Ebolacho.
She had been so ruthless that even the Sandrobel King had called her “an exceptionally useful long-term pawn.”
‘It feels wrong to exit so neatly.’
If she played her cards right, a delicious twist would have been perfect.
A frantic knock rattled the office door.
“Elia! Elia! Elia! Big trouble!”
Red burst in, pale and panting. Why was she screaming the name three times like that?
Administrator pressed her knuckles to her throbbing cheekbone.
“Stop panicking and calm down. What the hell happened?”
“The Chimera Virus is still alive!”
She grinned inside and answered with a loud, fake gasp.
“Oh… really?”
“O-oh really?! What the hell is this?! Everything was peaceful just now!”
‘Perfect. The plot is exactly where I want it.’
“Then why not just go catch it?”
“H-huh… but…!”
She stepped closer to Red.
“Why are you so flustered? Want me to take revenge for Elia?”
Red snapped her head away, expression different from before. It felt like an old habit mixed with the current one, leaning closer to the old tone.
It was because of Ebolacho.
She muttered in a low voice.
“…I won’t deny it outright.”
That was surprisingly honest.
“…You really do have a cute side.”
“C-cute?! Who the hell is cute right now?! The situation is serious and you’re cracking jokes?!”
“What’s so serious? I’ve already handled one of these. The second one won’t be hard.”
She laughed easily.
“Actually, that’s good. I get to get revenge and finally stretch my stiff muscles after a long time.”
“……If you can’t handle anything, at least don’t get cocky. Never let your guard down.”
Red’s eyes flickered with worry she couldn’t hide.
That flustered look was strangely adorable.
Realizing she had been read like an open book, Red pouted.
“Your thoughts are written all over your face.”
“Really?”
“……If you tease me one more time, I’ll grab the virus secretion and spray it all over you.”
“W-well… that’s pretty direct.”
She played it cool, but inside she was slightly flustered.
That sticky purple fluid.
It shattered a Receptor’s reason and turned them into extreme heat.
So if she took the words literally, it was basically a threat wrapped in a tease: “I’ll flood you with aphrodisiac and then do whatever I want.”
Threat or not, the woman looked serious.
“Why? Do you think I can’t handle it? Do you know why the King got angry when he heard the Chimera Virus was dead? Not because he couldn’t control you, you idiot.”
“……Enough. Never casually mention the King. There’s a saying: ‘What’s said in daylight is heard by birds, and what’s said at night is heard by rats.’”
She really didn’t want to talk about the King here.
Red stared at her.
“How long do you think I’m going to keep being all innocent? I’m a bad person. Total trash.”
“Can you handle it? If I really get covered in that fluid and lose my reason, what the hell do you think I’ll do to you?”
“Haha~ You think I can’t?”
“What, scared I’ll eat you?”
They were supposed to be talking about the virus, not this.
“You sometimes look like you’re infected by a virus.”
She should back off now.
Red was too proud to keep pushing. If she teased too hard, the woman might actually bring the fluid. Best to just let her win and keep the peace.
Once the tension had eased, she cleared her throat and moved to the main topic.
“…Anyway, I’m leaving.”
“Elia! Then I’ll go with you.”
“…You really want to follow me that badly?”
“Yes!”
The woman who had just called herself “trash” now sparkled like a puppy’s eyes.
Quickly calculating the situation, she realized she would meet the Administrator’s group again.
If she was going to run into them, having Red by her side would make things much easier.