novelraw Chapter 245 : Berserk (4)
Chapter 245 : Berserk (4)
“Ber… what did you say?”
Hearing the word for the first time, Kanna Cartier frowned and asked back.
“Berserkr.”
“…What is that?”
Kanna asked again as if she didn't understand, while Ludwig, looking like he knew something, furrowed his brow deeply and let out a groan.
“It's a temporary name our Exorcists gave to an abnormal condition discovered during a past mission. It's an internal designation, so it's only natural that you haven't heard of it.”
After that brief introduction, Louis began to slowly unravel the story, as if retracing his memories.
“…Bloodshot eyes, fits of rage, excessive saliva and frothing at the mouth, labored breathing, and a series of symptoms where they are consumed by madness upon contact with blood.”
“……”
“They are the exact same symptoms that Mr. Seo U-jin said he witnessed from the Orc species.”
At Louis's calm voice, the atmosphere inside the barracks naturally grew tense.
The reason was simple.
While no one expected the great Louis to supplement the report, the very fact that something resembling an explanation was coming from his mouth was enough to raise the credibility of U-jin's words, even if they didn't know what he was about to say.
“Originally, we judged it to be the work of a Demonic Species, and our Exorcists conducted a follow-up investigation. However, the investigation revealed a completely different cause.”
“……”
“Black Ollive.”
At the sudden appearance of the word, Kanna's face colored with incomprehension.
“Black Ollive?”
“Yes. It wasn't the work of a Demonic Species, but Black Ollive, which is often used by the Demon King's Army, that was the cause of the Berserkr symptoms.”
Of course, it wasn't as if Kanna Cartier didn't know what Black Ollive was.
She had spent decades on the front lines against the Demon King's Army, spear in hand, and had personally beheaded hundreds of knight-class soldiers who had consumed Black Ollive.
Kanna, too, was well aware of the effects of Black Ollive, used as a combat doping agent by the Demon King's Army.
Shaking her head—
However, the reason Kanna reacted as if it were strange was precisely because she knew ‘too much’ about ‘Black Ollive’.
“…Does that even make sense?“
It was an exclusive product produced only in the 'Black Manor' of 'Argos', the Baron of Distrust.
It was the fruit of a hybrid tree created by crossbreeding an olive tree with various other trees, and a type of combat doping agent that served a role not much different from the epitome of 'drugs' handled in the Lower-Dimensional Plane.
The fact that it clouded one's reason, lowered their 'inhibitions', and intensified their inherent nature.
She was all too aware that it was a type of drug used to make the already ferocious magical beasts of the Demon King's Army even more savage.
However, if it were simply about ‘Black Ollive’, there was nothing she wouldn't have understood, no matter how much they talked about it.
Kanna knew.
No, even someone who wasn't a battlefield veteran like her, anyone who had faced an individual who had consumed ‘Black Ollive’ on the battlefield even once would know.
That it wasn't some convenient drug that simply gave you a power-up just by eating it.
”A regular individual consumed Black Ollive and didn't die?”
Just as Kanna's retort burst out.
Black Ollive was not something just any individual could consume.
Of course, the magical beast species were incredibly diverse, and among them were cases where, in exchange for a small total population, each individual possessed greater power than other regular individuals, so it wasn't as if it was completely unusable for regular individuals if diluted.
But for a regular individual of a magical beast species like the Orcs, whose individual strength was relatively low, it was definitely not something they could handle.
Even if a Named-level individual consumed Black Ollive, the duration was bound to be extremely short, and a certain death awaited them from the moment of ingestion.
Of course, it wasn't unusable if the concentration was extremely diluted, but.
If, as U-jin said, the effect of the Black Ollive resulted in a twofold increase in combat power, then it had to be assumed that they had consumed the Black Ollive fruit as is, without any significant dilution process.
…A regular individual consuming the fruit as is would die instantly without so much as a scream, let alone gain a boost in combat power.
Therefore, from Kanna Cartier's perspective, she couldn't just accept their words at face value.
Putting U-jin's and Louis's words together, it meant that a regular individual was exhibiting effects on par with constantly consuming Black Ollive fruit.
That was a story that was inherently contradictory, an 'absurdity' that could not be true.
But Louis, unfazed by Kanna's reaction, nodded his head.
“…Yes. That's why I didn't believe it at first either and thought a Demonic Species was involved. But components of Black Ollive were detected in all magical beast species that showed these symptoms.”
“……”
“In the end, it had no connection to any Demonic Species. That's why we attached the separate name 'Berserkr' to refer to the condition. As you know, there were aspects of the symptoms' duration and efficacy that couldn't be explained as a simple result of consuming Black Ollive. After that—.”
Ssk-
Louis turned his head to look at Ludwig.
“It was no longer under our jurisdiction, so we handed it over to this side.”
Grit-
As all eyes turned to him, Ludwig gritted his teeth and muttered self-reproachfully.
“…By the time we took over and began our investigation, the Berserkr phenomenon itself was no longer found. From the moment it was transferred from the Exorcists, they had already concluded it was an abnormal reaction in individuals particularly vulnerable to Black Ollive, so we closed the case without further investigation.”
“……”
“If what he said is true……”
Louis finished the sentence Ludwig had swallowed with a sigh.
Hoo-
“…It seems it was a type of experiment by Isaac Einstein to develop an 'Improved Black Ollive'.”
* * *
An experiment by Isaac Einstein to develop an 'Improved Black Ollive'.
That in itself was a shocking story.
“So.”
“……”
“To summarize… are you saying that fellow Isaac Einstein has created an 'Improved Black Ollive' that can be used constantly?”
Nod-
“For now, it seems so, Kanna.”
The original Black Ollive was a combat doping agent consumed by the Demon King's Army's forces of knight-class or higher when they had to face certain death.
A combat doping agent was not an unbelievable story, but the fact that it could be applied 'constantly' was a problem on a whole different level.
It might be called a combat doping agent, but if the 'temporary' condition was removed, it was a terrifying story no different from saying the entire military strength of the Demon King's Army had doubled.
…Of course, the world operates on a principle of equivalent exchange to some degree, so even an Improved Black Ollive was not without its side effects.
“…The Berserkr symptoms themselves seemed to be more potent than those of the original Black Ollive, and it appears they ultimately couldn't completely eliminate the side effects……”
The peculiar symptoms of 'Berserkr' that Louis discovered—namely, drooling and neurological abnormalities—were also clearly observed in the enhanced Orcs U-jin had encountered.
Just as Ludwig Allegro had concluded the investigation without much concern after it was transferred from the Exorcists.
No matter how much their combat abilities increased, a decline in intelligence was not something that could be overlooked.
It might be different in a close-quarters combat situation where a single swing could decide life or death, but war wasn't necessarily decided solely by the martial superiority of each individual.
Even if their power was continuously boosted, a decline in intelligence made it somewhat understandable.
However, the real problem was.
“…We're screwed.”
That the Improved Black Ollive hadn't just been changed to be 'constant', but its range of application had been expanded to the point where it could be used on regular individuals.
Originally, it was a combat doping agent applicable only to forces of knight-class or higher, but if what U-jin saw was correct, then the Improved Black Ollive was clearly being applied even to regular Orc individuals.
No matter how significant the disadvantages of reduced intelligence were on the battlefield, that was a story that only applied to core forces of 'knight-class' or higher.
Whether it was the Demon King's Army or the allied forces of The Order, the lowest-ranking soldiers all moved according to the strategic and tactical commands from above.
To put it bluntly, for the rank-and-file soldiers who performed simple tasks like 'chess pieces'—fighting when told to fight and stopping when told to stop—a decline in intelligence was not a major side effect.
Rather, it was helpful in the sense that as long as they followed 'orders' well, they wouldn't cause any particular trouble.
And the people inside this barracks were the ones who understood the nature (生理) of the battlefield better than anyone.
Leonardo Louis Button.
Ludwig Allegro.
Kanna Cartier.
And even Heart de Garçon, who had come in to report, were all figures whose understanding of the battlefield would not be outmatched anywhere.
There was no way they wouldn't understand the immense significance the effects of the 'Improved Black Ollive', revealed by U-jin's and Louis's stories, would have on the battlefield.
“……”
“……”
A quiet silence flowed through the barracks for a moment.
In fact.
Strictly speaking, it was a fortunate thing.
If they had pushed forward with the attack on the Orc Mountains as Kanna Cartier had decided before U-jin scouted it as the advance party, or if they went back in time a little further.
If the plan for the Northern Subjugation War itself had started with a strike on the Orc Mountains, instead of crossing the Black Sea to attack another of the Demon King's Territories first.
They might have had to sacrifice the lives of innocent soldiers and Heroes without knowing any of this series of information U-jin had brought back.
…Yes.
Looked at that way, it was indeed fortunate.
However, separate from whether it was fortunate or not, a somewhat gloomy atmosphere flowed within the barracks.
The reason was simple.
Discovering a previously unknown danger was certainly a relief, but.
“…We wanted a solution to break through the situation, not to find out just how screwed we were.”
Just as Ludwig had spat out bitterly, it was because they couldn't see an answer.
If it had been a danger of a certain level, they could have put their heads together and devised a solution.
But in the current situation, that was impossible.
Orcs that were twice as strong.
The fortress built secretly beneath the Orc Mountains.
The 'Veil of the Black Sea' that blocked supply routes and satellite magic.
They were people whose will and experience were second to none.
Even the high-ranking priests of The Order, all renowned in their own right, couldn't find a way out amidst the flood of disasters that had recently poured down.
Unlike the previous silences, which had been brief,
“……”
This stillness lasted for quite a long time.