novelraw Chapter 24 : Chapter 24
Chapter 24 : Chapter 24
Chapter 24. Heosan (5)
The flow of mana had changed in an unusual way.
It meant something had woken up in this village and started moving.
‘It's finally started moving.’
Riman had a rough idea of what was moving now.
But for the time being, Riman calmly proceeded with what needed to be done first.
First, he collected the tags from the hunters who had ambushed him.
This team had a total of 4 tags.
With this, Riman now had a total of 44 tags.
That secured him 440 million Credits.
And after that—
“Hm?”
Riman found the sword that the swordsman from before had been wielding.
A rapier-style sword with a narrow and long blade.
…Or it should have been, but for some reason, its form had changed from before.
The blade was nowhere to be seen, leaving only the hilt.
Riman picked up the bladeless hilt.
And while examining its appearance from various angles.
“Isn’t this a Caterpillar Sword?”
He muttered as he infused mana into the hilt.
Then—
Kiiing!
A blade shot out from within the hilt.
A blade longer than the hilt itself.
It was a strange object.
Normally, a blade longer than the hilt couldn't be stored within it.
But the principle was surprisingly simple.
The blade was stored coiled up inside the hilt.
Then, when mana was infused, it would straighten out and emerge.
It was a kind of magical shape-memory alloy.
Riman retracted the blade again, then tucked the Caterpillar Sword into his clothes and muttered.
“This is surprisingly expensive. Good.”
If it had been an ordinary sword, he would have just thrown it away.
He didn't use a sword often, and it would just be cumbersome to have one.
But it was a different story if it could be stored compactly like this.
It wouldn't be a burden to just carry it around.
After collecting his spoils, Riman stood up.
He closed his eyes for a moment and read the mana in the air.
‘There’s definitely a different kind of turbulence than before.’
A being with immense mana had awakened and begun to move.
However, it was difficult to determine where and how that being was moving just from the mana fluctuations alone.
Still, there was one reassuring point.
Riman knew what that being was.
And he knew its purpose, and even what was behind it.
This was the world of a game that Riman had already played once.
So he was able to know more, and earlier, than others.
The advantage of information.
The merit of knowing more information faster than anyone else.
Riman planned to use this advantage to the fullest here in Heosan as well.
To do that, he first had to hunt that being.
‘This is the last hunt here.’
But this hunt would not be simple.
Just like when he had mob-hunted the 62 Demonic Beasts before, this time also required prior preparation.
But this hunt was far more dangerous.
Why?
Because unlike before, this time Riman himself had to be the bait.
It meant that if he slipped up during the luring, Riman himself would die.
The level of pressure was different.
Therefore, even for Riman, this hunt was bound to be a little tense.
Though, of course, the entire plan was already laid out in his head.
“Let's go, Saya.”
Step-
Riman took a step towards his final hunt in Heosan.
* * *
Somewhere in Heosan Village.
Three men were gathered and talking.
“There are no more Demonic Beasts here. There’s no way to earn more money.”
At one man’s words, the other two nodded.
The three of them were a team.
And the team had only caught a meager 3 Demonic Beasts so far.
At this rate, it wasn't worth risking their lives to come here.
“So you’re saying we should leave? If we leave now, we’ll end up with just 10 million Credits each. Let’s just search a little more.”
“There’s a high chance that would be a waste of time.”
“Still, if we catch just one more……”
Tap, tap.
Just then, one of them who had been quiet held out a glass bottle.
“Both of you, calm down and drink this first.”
“What is it?”
“An energy drink. We’re all on edge because we’re running out of energy. Let’s recover from our fatigue first and then think.”
The hunter who received the energy drink first immediately chugged it down.
The other one opened the cap with a slow motion.
Just then.
“Keoheok!”
The hunter who drank the energy drink suddenly coughed up blood.
“What……?!”
It was poison.
The energy drink had been laced with poison.
The one who hadn't drunk it yet immediately grasped the situation and threw the glass bottle away.
But it was already too late.
Stab.
“Gack……!”
A knife was lodged in his side.
It was the hunter who had handed them the bottle who had stabbed him.
“Why……?!”
“You said it yourself earlier. We can't leave with just 10 million each.”
He twisted the hilt with all his might.
“Keoheok……!”
“With this, it’s 30 million per person.”
“You… son of a……”
“It's better for one of us to be well-off than for all of us to be poor, isn't it? Farewell.”
After murdering his two comrades in an instant with poison and a knife.
He collected the tags his comrades had.
A total of 3, for 30 million Credits.
He tucked the tags into his clothes and headed for the exit of Heosan.
He intended to get out of here just like that.
He couldn't hunt Demonic Beasts alone, after all.
And above all, it seemed there were no more Demonic Beasts left.
But that thought was wrong.
There was still a Demonic Beast here.
Thump.
It wasn't in the form they were thinking of, but one was still left.
Thump, thump, thump.
The worst Demonic Beast, stronger than all the other Demonic Beasts here combined.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump-
“Uh……?”
He saw a giant shadow casting over his head.
Something was coming down on him.
“Th-……!”
There was no time to see what it was.
He immediately swung his sword at it.
Clang!
But it was useless.
The moment he struck its body, his sword shattered.
It felt like he had struck a lump of iron.
The moment his weapon broke in front of the monster, his fate was sealed.
Grab!
It lifted the man with both hands.
“Hwaaaargh……!”
The last thing he saw was the inside of the monster’s mouth.
Crunch!
Something red and viscous trickled down between the monster’s teeth.
If he hadn't killed his comrades, he might have lived.
They could have created an opening to escape with a coordinated attack.
But his selfish choice led him to his death.
Proving with his own body that a selfish life does not always bring profit, he was crushed.
Fling-
After confirming he was dead, the monster tossed the corpse aside.
Then it began to move somewhere to find its next victim.
Meanwhile, Riman was secretly watching this scene through Saya.
“…Found you.”
Riman saw the Demonic Beast.
A massive Demonic Beast, standing 3 meters tall.
It looked like a feline predator that had been horribly bloated and stretched.
This Demonic Beast's name was ‘Experiment Body No. 31’.
It wasn't a naturally born Demonic Beast, but one artificially created in a laboratory.
It was originally an experimental subject planned as a biological weapon for military use, but it had been sealed away because it was uncontrollable.
That was why it was much stronger than the other Demonic Beasts here.
It had gone through an artificial enhancement process.
Such a creature had been released here and was indiscriminately killing people.
And Riman had to catch it.
Not by killing it, but by capturing it alive.
‘Hoo…….’
Riman took a deep breath.
Now he had to lure that thing, ‘Experiment Body No. 31’.
Luring it with drugs and Saya like before wouldn't work on it.
Therefore, there was only one luring tactic he could try.
Step.
The only way was for Riman himself to step forward.
“Hey.”
The creature turned to look at Riman.
Their eyes met.
After catching its attention like that.
Tap!
Riman immediately turned around and started running.
Escape.
He had to run for his life.
He had to lead this body, ruined by a long prison life, and lure that thing to the target location.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!
No. 31 also started running after Riman.
It was terrifyingly fast.
The creature's height was 3 meters.
On top of that, it had a much wider stride and superior physical abilities than Riman, so it was only natural.
The distance closed in an instant.
It was clear he was on the verge of being caught and killed.
But Riman was no fool.
He had anticipated that he would be caught in a flash no matter how fast he ran.
The gap in their physical specs was overwhelming.
There was only one way to close such an insurmountable gap.
It was time for magic to step in.
Tzzzzzzz-
Riman focused mana on the soles of both his feet.
A single magic spell manifested through the soles of Riman's feet.
[Ice Imprint]
Crack, crackle……!
Wherever Riman stepped, icy footprints were imprinted on the ground like patches of ice.
No. 31 fiercely chased after him, following the footprints Riman left behind.
But then.
Crack-
At some point, No. 31's movements became noticeably slower.
Only then did No. 31 realize something was wrong with its body.
Without its knowledge, various parts of its body had frozen over.
The icy footprints Riman left as he fled weren't just simple patches of ice.
They were [Ice Imprints].
Traces of extremely condensed cold energy.
The chill they emitted was on an incredible level.
So much so that just passing over them would inflict a freeze.
No. 31 had been exposed to such a chill with its bare body for the entire 50 meters it ran.
No matter how large it was, it couldn't remain unscathed in the face of such cold.
Thus, the distance between the creature and Riman quickly widened again.
Crack, crackle……!
Nevertheless, the creature didn't give up.
It pushed forward, shattering the thick frost that covered its entire body.
Its gaze was fixed on Riman.
The place Riman fled into was the construction site of a half-built building.
Into that place, with only a gaunt rebar frame, the creature followed Riman.
“Heok, heok……”
Riman was inside.
He was no longer running, nor showing his back.
Riman's gaze was directed at No. 31.
“Grrrr……!”
“…You came?”
Tap.
Riman placed his palm on the surface of a rebar pillar.
And he activated his magic.
[Heat]
The rebar he touched heated up.
The other rebars connected to it also gradually grew hot.
The high temperature spread in a chain reaction.
And—
Chiiiii……!
The joints of the rebars began to melt.
Did it melt the iron?
No, this heat wasn't hot enough to melt steel.
But it was hot enough to instantly melt the ‘ice’ that had been holding the rebars firmly together.
Creak……!
The sound of metal bending, twisting, and snapping.
The rebar structure, which had seemed to be solidly assembled, began to collapse.
Right on top of Experiment Body No. 31's head.
“Got you, you bastard.”
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!
Dozens of rebars rained down on No. 31’s head.
* * *
30 minutes ago.
Riman had been carrying out a certain task here.
Scraaaape……
Riman was cutting and breaking the joints of the rebars.
Welds, bolts, rivets.
He destroyed the parts connecting the rebars.
The work was not as difficult as he had thought.
It was because the structure had been neglected for so long that corrosion had progressed severely.
And the Caterpillar Sword he had just acquired was also quite helpful.
But if he just broke them like this, the structure would collapse on the spot.
So, as Riman broke the joints, he simultaneously froze them back together with [Freeze].
As a result, all the joints of this rebar structure were replaced with ice.
It was transformed into a structure supported by ice instead of welding.
On the outside, there was no problem.
But if all this ice were to be melted away at once—
“It'll come crashing down.”
Using this method, it was possible to bury the prey under hundreds of tons of rebar.
It was certainly a fatal method.
At the same time, it was also a very cumbersome and complicated method.
There was a much simpler and more powerful method, like planting and detonating a fire seed as he did before.
But he couldn't use that method for this hunt.
Because the goal of this hunt was capture, not kill.
He had to subdue it by crushing it, not blow it up and kill it.
All to find the mastermind behind Experiment Body No. 31, the one who orchestrated this situation.