Black Badger

Chapter 244: Reunion (3)

Fragments contaminated with Green Dream hadn’t been removed, so the wound was healing slowly.

Kai pulled out the blood injections he carried. Thankfully he and Yun had the same blood type. Yun’s allotted reserve was already used up, but Kai still had some of his own stock left.

“Sunbae.”

He tossed the pouch containing the blood injectors, and Yun snatched it mid-air.

The senior slid the needle into his own vein with practiced ease.

If Hilde struggled, even this reserve would run out.

But in the end, Hilde would seize the advantage. That golden-eyed rookie wasn’t the type to endanger his squad over emotion. If he wasn’t retreating even though he had spotted the enemy, there had to be a reason.

KAANG!

And right now he was pushing forward ferociously.

Would it end within fifteen minutes?

They wanted to provide supporting fire, but his motions were far too fast.

Even keeping up with the eye was difficult.

“Probably better not to shoot, right?”

Sophia murmured.

Kai lowered his scope and answered.

“At least I’m not confident I’d hit only the enemy.”

“Same.”

“Can’t see the glasses guy~....”

Ricardo muttered without taking his eyes off Hilde and Hekate.

The weapon that had stabbed the mage had already returned to its master, reverting into a snake-shaped ring.

“Did he go back to his kin...?”

A strong possibility.

Kai didn’t answer, but he thought the same. He would’ve made the same judgment.

At this rate, the two would have died by Hildebert’s hand.

Not only he, but the swordsman and the mage seemed to realize that as well. They must’ve wanted to retreat together, but Hilde wouldn’t allow it.

Truthfully, Kai was having trouble reading the battlefield for the first time in a long while.

A blade trajectory too fast to follow, and heavy strength behind it.

A gaze without hesitation.

There was no technique. They didn’t have room to show technique. The blades clashed so often that the piercing collision sounds never stopped.

And that man kept pressing the enemy, stepping across the stump Kai had cut earlier.

Then—

“Hekate.”

Hildebert’s emotionless murmur drifted across.

「ⱣⱤṍẊṽὮἕ」

Foreign words followed.

Puk.

His blade pierced her throat.

It all happened extremely fast. Kai had estimated fifteen minutes, but the clash didn’t even last five.

If he had been the one fighting, that green-haired swordsman would’ve taken his head within three minutes.

In truth, he had no idea how Hilde created that opening. The swordsman seemed to be defending without a single gap.

「Ⱪὂ.」

The enemy spat out an unintelligible dying cry, voice boiling like blood.

「ṍṎṬẋṀḳḣḡḓḃḯḭḼṸ」

And then Kai saw the strength momentarily drain from Hilde’s eyes.

In those yellow, beautiful eyes, something unreadable flickered.

Hilde replied briefly.

It sounded as if the other smiled upon hearing it.

But their gaze soon clouded.

The pain hadn’t lasted long.

Thud.

Silence settled.

A brief hush spread. Those behind the barrier couldn’t even think of opening their mouths.

The forest went still.

“Yun.”

The silence broke when Hilde wiped the blood from his blade with his eyes.

He sheathed his sword and slid down the snowy mountain slope.

“How are you feeling?”

He leapt over the fallen tree in one bound, eyes locking firmly on Yun.

Yun answered.

“Like shit.”

Cough—

The senior coughed up blood again.

Hilde cried out—an unfiltered, startled “Ah!”—and hurried to catch the blood Yun coughed up.

“You got hit in the abdomen, so why are you coughing blood?”

The squad leader examined the blood in his hand, then knelt beside Yun. The man frowned and muttered to himself.

Kai also found it troubling.

But Yun himself explained the cause.

“It’s not coughing blood... it’s vomiting blood.”

“...What?”

“Blunt abdominal trauma... gastric mucosal tear, khrrk, upper GI bleeding....”

“Ah. Okay, don’t talk anymore.”

Only Hildebert spoke to Yun so bluntly.

The white-haired junior curtly cut him off and checked the wound.

A hemostatic sponge had been stuffed in, but it was only temporary.

The situation was far from good. He needed treatment before they ran out of compatible blood.

And if the enemy attacked again before that, things would get worse.

“Murin.”

“...Yes?”

Yun murmured with his eyes closed, and Hilde, not taking his eyes off the wound, replied absently.

“What did you say?”

“You said you’d give me your neck.”

Hilde lifted his head.

Kai smirked the instant he saw Hilde’s face plainly say, ‘Is this really the time to say that?’

“Is that important right now?”

Hilde grumbled and turned his eyes toward the portal device they had set up.

“This time I definitely killed her, so don’t worry. And stop talking so much. Ami?”

[No enemy movement.]

Ami’s voice flowed from the comm.

[Stay put.]

“How long does it take after contacting the Portal Management Corp?”

Luckily the portal device they’d set up wasn’t damaged.

But they couldn’t activate it immediately. They had to return to the Safe Point, report it, then wait for the PMC to register the device as usable.

Hilde was asking how long the registration would take.

Kai answered calmly.

“About ten hours.”

“Too long.”

“Climbing the mountain would be faster~. But it’ll strain the wound....”

Ricardo picked up Hilde’s muttered complaint.

Yun, leaning against the barrier with his eyes still closed, said:

“Climb the mountain.”

Hilde frowned as he checked Yun again.

Kai gave a matter-of-fact report to help Hilde make a decision.

“I still have spare blood. And since the sunbae and I share a type, if we run out midway, we can transfuse mine.”

“What’s his blood type?”

“A.”

“So among the squad, only Kai-sunbae and Yun are type A?”

“That’s right~. Kalak and I are O, Ami is AB....”

“I should have remembered all this.”

Hilde muttered to himself.

It wasn’t guilt over forgetting; it was more like, ‘Right, humans rely on transfusion as a core part of treatment.’

Moments like this reminded Kai that this incredibly human-seeming being was not, in fact, human.

But it wasn’t unsettling.

He liked this being.

He recognized the strangeness that sometimes seeped from the squad leader and simply waited for a conclusion.

“If they know I’m here, they won’t rush in recklessly—but if we don’t move, they’ll regroup and chase us.”

Hilde reached a conclusion quickly.

“We’re going back to the Safe Point. Yun, hold on a little longer.”

Yun narrowed his eyes at him.

Before he could say anything, Hilde cut him off.

“Ah. Don’t answer.”

God, the kid was infuriating.

“Ric. Support Yun, please.”

“Yeesssir.”

“I’ll return through a different route.”

The squad reacted immediately.

Ami shouted, [Why!], and Kai watched Hilde rise to his feet. Sophia lifted her head; Ricardo raised a brow.

This was the man who had just killed his own kind with an unreadable expression.

But now Hilde, appearing calm—or rather, pretending to be, swallowing the turmoil Yun’s injury stirred within him—answered:

“They can estimate my location. Humans can’t sense it, but they can.”

“Aah~... so we’re supposed to make it back alive on our own~?”

“I’ll return safely too. Ami will be right above me.”

[Okay.]

A satisfied voice came through.

[I’ll protect you.]

Hilde let out a low laugh.

Then he prepared to leave without another word.

It was the order to move out. Everyone understood without being told. No one in the squad was inexperienced enough to ask: Where do we go, how do we regroup?

But just as Hilde murmured, Then I’ll see you later, and turned to head out through another path, Ricardo stopped him.

He gripped Hilde’s shoulder and asked slowly:

“That body....”

The green-haired swordsman.

They all knew even without a subject.

Hilde’s reaction was unreadable.

He simply gave Ricardo one of his faint smiles.

A mixture of age, sorrow, and kindness.

“He’s truly dead.”

“No— I know that, you little shit~.... That’s not what I meant!”

“Well, we don’t have the loyalty or the time to bury him. And none of us have the strength left to chop off his head and carry it.”

The answer was brutally practical.

And entirely correct. But Kai understood why a vein popped on Ricardo’s forehead.

“Leave him.”

Hilde said it calmly, as if it meant nothing.

“In the end, once you’re dead, everything’s over.”

He’d said the same yesterday.

“So let’s all return safely. See you at the Safe Point.”

Kai chose not to add anything.

Nor did the others. And so the group split.

Three on one path, two on the other.

They walked quickly toward the Safe Point.

***

Hildebert returned safely that night.

The first to arrive were tending to Yun under Trevor’s frantic fussing. When the big, bearded man saw Yun being dragged in, he let out a scream, then provided absurdly comfortable amenities for the Round Tower.

A warm bed, thick blankets, IV fluids, patient meals, communication access.

Clean clothes, towels for wiping sweat.

A patient transport aircraft would arrive in three hours.

As they took turns guarding the sickbed, the rest of the squad returned.

“Sorry for tearing you away from Yun, Ami.”

Hilde whispered as Ami dropped down from mid-air.

“Go in quickly.”

Ami sprinted into the Round Tower medical room.

Hilde stayed outside to receive Ricardo’s report.

Kai crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, listening closely.

Their low voices tickled the ear.

“Aircraft arrival in three hours... HQ hospital’s been notified....”

“Thank you. How’s his condition?”

“He’s holding on~. But the fever... yeah, the fever’s worrying.... I gave him the meds that were stocked here~.”

“And the blood?”

“Ran out a few minutes ago, so I took some of Kai’s....”

At that, Hilde stretched his neck to look at him.

Kai only raised one eyebrow.

“Thank you for your work.”

Hilde smiled with his eyes curved.

“You must be tired. Go inside and rest.”

He wasn’t going to listen even if Kai said he had only given the minimal amount and eaten plenty of chocolate. So Kai obediently went to his room. After resting about two hours, he stepped back into the hallway.

He didn’t know who was guarding Yun now, but he intended to offer to take over.

The hallway was empty.

Silent footsteps—habit—and he reached the door of the room being used as a sickroom.

The door was slightly ajar, and light spilled through the crack.

So did the voice of the one keeping watch.

“If your condition gets worse, I’ll relocate you myself if I have to. I’ll keep you alive.”

Hilde’s voice.

“...You ever tried it on a human?”

Yun’s hoarse whisper.

Hilde let out a quiet laugh.

“No. But suffering from side effects is better than dying, isn’t it? Though there will definitely be side effects.”

“You brat, easy for you to say when it’s not your body....”

“Please don’t die, Yun. You won’t see it, but I’m absolutely terrified right now.”

“You look terrified as hell.”

“Still. Stop talking.”

What nerve.

Listening to the rookie’s snark, Kai clicked his tongue before he realized it. He heard Hilde laugh as if he’d been flicked on the forehead.

Then, as the laughter faded, Hilde murmured:

“Because once you die... that’s it....”

Silence stretched.

As the quiet grew long, Kai reached toward the door, intending to ask to switch shifts—when Yun’s voice broke the stillness.

“You don’t believe in God, huh.”

Hilde answered with a sad little laugh.

“I grew up in a temple.”