Tree (13)
The moment the mimic fled, Eric did not ease his guard. He maintained caution because the mimic could return and attack as if it had never run away.
However, neither the mimic nor any other ghouls showed themselves. While I didn't achieve the outcome I wanted, the situation, for the time being, had reached a lull.
"...... Are you alright?"
"...... I'm not alright."
Clenching my teeth against the heat radiating inside me, I replied. The pain clung to my chest like a lingering echo, as if something had caved in. The suit wasn't torn—apparently, it wasn't sharp—but all my auxiliary armor pieces had fallen off.
Without an advanced-grade medicine, I could have been in real trouble. This wasn't an injury that could be fixed with mere intermediate-grade medicine. Even now, with the medicine working at its maximum, it was hard to breathe.
After coughing up a mouthful of blood, my breathing eased a little, but the pain—like my muscles had burst—did not subside much.
Eric handed me a small pill.
"Take this. It's advanced-grade medicine."
"You saw me take one just now."
"I'm saying you should carry an extra. Besides, you don't have any spares, do you?"
"...... If that's the case..."
I didn't refuse Eric's offer. In my current poor condition, even the courtesy of refusal was beyond me. The difference between intermediate and advanced-grade medicine was significant.
"Ah, this isn't the time to be sitting around. We should get inside—"
"There's no need to hurry. They say everything inside has been dealt with."
"...... It's all over? When? What about the others?"
"I got word around the time the mimic fled, so it hasn't been long. And while there were some injuries, everyone was only lightly hurt. So rest. It's okay."
Eric said returning in this state would only cause problems and that I looked terrible. He was right, so I gave up on trying to get up. To be honest, moving around like nothing was still difficult.
Even if I'd failed to take out the mimic, I'd chased it away, and my urge to get going was because I'd been worried about Nadia and Carry. Eric's reassurance that everyone was safe made me sigh in relief.
As I breathed in, acrid air suddenly rushed into my lungs. I spat out the blood pooled in my mouth, roughly wiped my lips, and pulled my breathing filter back on.
While I gasped to catch my breath, Eric suddenly thanked me out of the blue. Wondering what was up, I glanced at him.
"Honestly, I didn't expect you to help. I hoped you would, but I didn't really count on it. It was all my fault, after all. And that monster—it wasn't just a regular ghoul, was it?"
"...... I figured that's what you'd say. But I think I mentioned this before—I'm a really selfish person. I didn't save you for your sake."
Leaning heavily against one of the scattered cubes, I continued,
"Saving you just made my own chances of survival higher. That's why I did it. No more, no less. If anyone deserves thanks, it's Nadia. If it weren't for her, I'd have hesitated and ended up stuck behind the barrier instead of getting here."
"Of course."
When I said that if this ever happened again, next time he should come rescue us, Eric gave a small laugh and agreed.
— Hyun-woo, thank you. Looks like I judged your character well. No, I'm sure of it now.
"Isn't that just self-praise?"
This time, I gave a dry laugh. As I caught my breath, I started to feel a bit better. The advanced-grade medicine's effect had cooled the heat inside me, and the blood that had felt blocked finally felt like it was flowing again.
As the fog in my head lifted, my mind began working again. Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind, and I drew a sharp breath.
"Did you tell them on our side that things were over too?"
"I did—Nadia was extremely worried, after all."
"...... You didn't tell them everything, right? That I coughed up blood and all."
If Eric or Celestia had reported my condition without holding back, I wouldn't be able to deal with the aftermath. Nadia wouldn't hit me or anything, but she might faint from shock. I had seen her lose consciousness from excessive stress before, so I couldn't help but worry.
"I mentioned that the thing covering the engine was suspected to be the mimic."
"Is that it?"
"I also said we sustained some injuries in the process. But honestly, it's not something easy to hide. Nadia's a beastkin."
"Exactly. So, I need to recover as much as possible before going back. To make myself look less hurt."
Not contacting the team inside right now was for the same reason. Nadia could instantly sense my condition just from my voice.
But Eric's next words made my face darken.
"You should at least contact them. Licorice keeps yelling, asking why you're on mute."
"Tell them I went to the bathroom."
"I'd like to believe you don't truly think that'll work."
"Ah......"
I scratched my head awkwardly. It seemed I couldn't stall any longer. Clearing my throat, I unmuted the comms. Licorice's voice immediately blasted my eardrums.
— Lee Hyun-woo! Answer me! Are you really okay?!
"I'm fine."
— You...! What the hell were you up to, answering just now...!
"I just needed to catch my breath. I was also out of it for a bit."
— That's why I told you to take the security robots with you!
"I left them for your sake, remember? You wanted them to guard you!"
I started to grumble, and the headache that had barely subsided began creeping back.
— ...... I'm worried about you too, you know? Throwing yourself in and getting hurt—I...
— ...... Hyun-woo, you're hurt, aren't you? Worse than what you said on comms.
"......"
Nadia's quiet voice cut off Licorice, pressing in hard. I pressed my lips shut at her crestfallen tone. Licorice, who had been heated a moment ago, did the same.
"No, I'm not that badly hurt—Nadia? ...... Nadia?"
I tried to call Nadia as the comm line abruptly cut off, but there was no response. My headache returned in earnest. It looked like she wasn't going to speak until she saw me in person.
Even Licorice felt the chill in the air and stopped talking. Sighing quietly, I forced myself to rise. I did my best to ignore the worried looks Eric kept sending my way.
As Eric had pointed out, this wasn't something that could be hidden. Deciding to leave things with Nadia for later, I walked over to the pile of cubes where the mimic had been. I wanted to see what exactly had struck me.
I had meant to check right away, but things kept getting entangled, and I was only now getting a chance.
"Wouldn't it be better to rest a bit more?"
"I've rested enough. Besides, even if I rest, there's still something I have to do."
A mess of stacked metal cubes, abnormal scorch marks where things had melted, broken cranes peeking between cubes, mimic bodily fluids staining the floor, and sticky, cooked bits of flesh.
And a lump of black mass.
I was convinced that this black thing was what had struck me. If I had to pick the most suspicious thing, this was the only option. The size also matched pretty well. It even resembled the black spikes shot by the monster tram.
I hadn't let my guard down once during my fight with the mimic. I kept my body tense and maintained maximum concentration so as not to stiffen up. Otherwise, my reactions would slow.
But in the end, what was the result? The mimic's parting rampage pierced my defenses and injured me. It happened so quickly that Eric couldn't even chase after it in time.
Of course, I was only human, while the mimic was a monster wielding unreasonable power—it wasn't a fair comparison. But it's not like monsters take that into account when they move.
No, this wasn't about giving up because the standards were different. I needed to find a way to close that gap. If that was impossible, I needed to do whatever it takes to stop it. Before that monster underwent further mutation and grew stronger.
'It'll definitely be back.'
I vividly remembered the blue heat ray the mimic unleashed just before it fled. Even now, if I closed my eyes, I could see the afterimage.
Firepower strong enough to melt metal cubes in one blast. The attack must have come at the cost of its own body, because the mimic was left less than half its original size.
But that was only this time. Who knew how much more powerful and threatening that attack would become next time? I didn't even want to think about it. The fact that it had succeeded once meant the chances were much higher it could do it again.
"...... I should've caught it."
— I'm sorry. I really tried to stop it, but it was too fast. The crane just couldn't keep up once it started running.
Celestia apologized after hearing me mutter, and Eric let out a heavy sigh. Now that I thought about it, his military sword was missing. Noticing my gaze, Eric explained that he had thrown his sword at the fleeing mimic and hit it, but it had no effect at all.
"You don't have a weapon now?"
"I have a few more spares, so it's alright. I'm a little bummed since that one was my favorite, though."
"That's good, then. For now, gathering this and giving it to Carrot seems best. Remember the sample storage box we got for the cargo hold?"
"Yes. I'll take care of it. You should go inside and regroup with the shuttle."
"Again with the solo moves. Let's do it together. If something happens while you're alone, it's a bigger problem."
Eric and I worked together to retrieve the mimic sample. I wasn't so worried about infection at this point. According to Carrot's experiments, even if there was a risk of infection, in a state where the creature was dead or separated from the main body, the infection rate dropped to almost nothing.
Even if I couldn't be 100% sure, his explanation had some grounds, so I could trust it to some extent.
"What was the blue fire at the end? Or maybe it was more like a laser."
"You've probably guessed already, but I believe it forcefully caused a reaction in a blue crystal and ejected the rebound energy. It essentially released the raw, unrefined energy."
Eric pointed out that if I looked among the cubes, there were traces of blue crystal particles, so his theory was likely correct.
Blue crystal. The new energy source discovered a century ago. This special mineral with unreal energy still had many mysteries. All we did was extract and use its energy.
There was once a movement to apply it to military weapons, but because of blue crystal's unique wavelength, instability was raised as a concern, and the project stagnated. But according to Celestia, now that refining technology had improved, research was active again.
"So the mimic used something even we can't properly handle yet. That's bad news."
— ...... Sorry.
"No, I'm not blaming anyone. I'm just saying we need to prepare better."
After wrapping things up outside, we headed back inside. The quarantine was lifted and the barrier was up. Stepping in, Eric and I couldn't hide our surprise.
No wonder: the interior was lined with laser emitters. We weren't just surprised to see the ghouls dismembered and sprawled everywhere. The burning red beams were arranged as fences to protect the shuttle.
"Boss!"
Covered in soot, Kyle brightened as he saw Eric, busy repairing the shuttle. Roxy, on top of the shuttle, lay sprawled and waved at me, looking out of it from dopamine overload.
The shuttle's auxiliary armor was a mess, caked in remains that were once ghouls. Even without hearing the story, it wasn't hard to guess what had happened.
"Kyle, what happened here?"
"Nadia killed all the ghouls. See that? The wall made of laser equipment. Nadia set all that up riding Carry."
According to Kyle, the ghouls pouring from the waste chute died as soon as they met the lasers installed below. When this happened repeatedly, the ghouls became wary, and some even retreated after recognizing that touching the beams could be fatal, not just painful.
— I helped, too.
"You two should have seen it for yourselves. It was so satisfying. I admit I was worried for a bit, but thanks to Nadia, we stopped the shuttle from getting any more wrecked."
— I told you I helped! I'm the one who recalibrated the laser device orientation! I hacked in and took control! Can't you hear me? Hello? Am I on mute?
"I hear you. Good job."
— This is totally like begging for a compliment!
I chuckled as I soothed Licorice, but my smile didn't last. Nadia approached, floating on Carry toward me.
【｡° ૮₍°´ᯅ`°₎ა °｡】
Carry wore a crying expression. Maybe I looked like I was on death's doorstep to it. Nadia and Carry—thankfully, both were only scratched a bit and didn't seem badly hurt.
I cautiously asked Nadia, who stood with her head down,
"Are you mad?"
"...... I'm not mad. It's not like you got hurt because you wanted to, and you were forced into that situation. If anything, it's my fault. I told you to go to him. I'm just... upset."
Nadia sniffled. Even her ears and tail drooped with the loss of energy. When she looked up, her expression was deflated.
"Did you take your medicine?"
"Yeah. The advanced-grade meds you gave me last time. I took it right away. Thanks to that, I'm totally fine now."
"...... For it to be bad enough to need that...."
Nadia examined my face and body, checking my condition, then shot a glare at Eric. Telling me to wait a second, she marched over to him and thrust out her hand.
"Hand it over!"
"...... Huh?"
"The medicine! Hand it over! Hyun-woo got hurt rescuing you!"
"Ah, yes. I-I'll give it to you."
Under Nadia's fiery gaze, Eric quickly took advanced-grade medicine out of his belt bag and placed it in her hand. He might easily have shaken his head, saying he'd already given one, but instead he handed it over without complaint.
After "confiscating" the advanced-grade medicine, Nadia handed it to me, telling me to keep it. Grabbing my hand, she dragged me somewhere.
Her demeanor was so forceful that I just followed along. She took me to a supply locker next to the shuttle.
"Hyun-woo, you stay here. There won't be any more fights, and if there are, I'll take care of them all."
"I don't want to just sit—"
"Don't move an inch. Carry, keep an eye on Hyun-woo."
【༼ ᕤ◕◡◕ ༽o:【】:::::::〉】
Carry brandished an arm as if to poke me with a sword if I moved. In reality, it just tapped me gently, but the whole thing was so over-the-top it felt bizarre.
If I squirmed, Nadia threatened, this box would become my home. I had no choice but to sit there quietly.
At least until the shuttle's repairs were completed and we returned to the town.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Damn, the mimic escaped.
It seems there's a round 2.
【(;° ロ°)】