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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: What He Truly Desires (3)
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"Sa-save me... ghhk..."
A Wraith, a spirit-type monster also known as a specter.
They were ghosts with translucent bodies.
High-tier B-rank monsters impervious to bullets.
"...."
Right in front of me, a young woman was seized by a two-meter-tall ghost. All her life force was drained, and she dropped to the ground, a shriveled corpse.
This thing was a little different from the specters I knew.
It didn't have the crude appearance of something draped in rags; it had proper, skull-like features and was even wearing armor.
"A Unit."
I realized they were a variant species—in other words, Units.
My body trembling, I crawled backward, but it had already seen me.
A bone-chilling cold was gradually approaching.
"---"
It seemed to be saying something, but there was no way I could understand the language of a monster.
The attacked subway train had come to a complete stop, and a massacre was unfolding all around.
There was no one to help me.
Its hand, coarse like a rotten branch, reached for me.
"Get lost, you bastard!"
[Execution Ticket]
Gritting my teeth, I stretched my hand toward it.
My one and only trump card, which I'd been saving all this time, was now spent.
It felt as if something had been abruptly pulled from my body.
"-----!!!!!!"
"Ghk..."
Its body began to tear apart, shredding like paper.
The ghost's scream was more bloodcurdling than I could have imagined.
Covering my ears, I peeked through narrowed eyes and watched as it gradually vanished.
"That's..."
[Take a picture, quickly. It left behind remains. Regardless of whether the Legion can analyze it or not, isn't this too good an opportunity to miss?]
As I panted for breath, my phone buzzed and displayed an urgent message.
Sure enough, something was left behind where the creature had been, slowly fading.
Something that looked like a piece of stone, or maybe a piece of flesh.
It was right. In any case, this was an opportunity.
I took a picture of it with my camera.
"...Now I just have to get out of here alive."
Fortunately, the one I killed was the only one in my train car.
Besides, hearing the sounds of battle from outside, it seemed help had arrived at just the right time. I had survived, for now.
"Everyone must be busy."
The sun had set before I knew it.
Having been rescued, I stood there, blankly staring at the scene.
It was a chaotic mess, rivaling the orc attack.
At this rate, the martial law that had only been mentioned as a possibility on the news might actually be declared.
[What could this be? The Legion attempted to absorb the Wraith's remains but failed. It contains a mysterious power unknown to us now. It was something of a completely new concept.]
"So it's useless, then?"
[Perhaps. But one thing is certain: the Legion already knows how to solve problems. In the past, when we couldn't absorb the scales of the two-headed lizard, we eventually found a way and turned those hard scales into our armor.]
This mysterious power was probably spiritual energy, the power the Wraith possessed—something similar to what Hunters call mana.
Mana is the source of the supernatural abilities wielded by Hunters, the mysterious energy that makes them superhuman.
The chances of the Legion understanding and interpreting that miracle, which science has failed to explain even after ten years, were low.
"But... if it can be understood and utilized, it's more than worth it."
[The Legion thinks so as well. It has already learned how much change and progress solving a previously incomprehensible problem can bring us.]
What if the Legion could wield mana like Hunters? I got goosebumps just thinking about it.
I thought their pure physical abilities were enough, but this would be a way to leap to a whole new level.
[Look at the screen. The Legion is now scouring all the data from the two stem layers it consumed, searching for a clue. It's just as serious about this as you are.]
I looked at the screen.
All the data we had collected on life forms was stored in the form of code.
I watched as countless lines of text scrolled up, randomly disappearing, merging, and reappearing.
[All data has been searched. A total of 1,601 species have been assigned codes in the system.]
"..The answer?"
[Failure. But we've found a faint clue. Look at this.]
A new video played on the screen.
It was a moment recorded in the Legion's history, showing native creatures being mercilessly wiped out by Legion soldiers.
"What's that?"
[Code 3n8888, the Drifting Fairy Bee.]
Something with a bizarre name was floating gently in the sky, shimmering with light.
Swallowed in one gulp by a flying species with bat wings, it was spat out into the nest as a mangled piece of meat.
The nest immediately began to break down and absorb the creature.
"So...? What the hell is that firefly?"
[It was an insignificant, trivial creature. Its only useful feature was its unique bioluminescence. However, there is one piece of data the Legion overlooked at the time.]
The screen rewound and zoomed in.
To the exact moment the flying species' jaws clamped down on the Fairy Bee.
At the instant it was crushed in the jaws, I could see a hazy smoke seeping out of the Fairy Bee's body.
"Don't tell me that's..."
[We don't know the details yet. Analysis of the Fairy Bee's corpse allowed us to understand the structure of its bioluminescent function, but the most crucial component of that light was something the Legion could neither comprehend nor acquire, making replication impossible.]
A mysterious power of unknown origin.
Could it really be mana?
Is it the same as the power held by the monster, the Wraith?
In truth, that didn't matter.
[There are bound to be more clues higher up. In fact, as the tiers ascend, the flora and fauna become more diverse and powerful.]
Having found a new possibility, the Legion became obsessed.
It was already fast, but now it unleashed the energy it had been stockpiling, causing an explosive surge.
The number of troops began to multiply in an instant.
[We will find it.]
The assembled forces gathered at the passage leading upward, even before they had finished consuming the second stem and surrounding branches they'd conquered from the saber-toothed guardian spirits.
And then they began to swarm forward.
Their advance was so intense it felt like a powerful madness.
"So... aggressive. Really."
[Didn't you lead us to this?]
"Me?"
[You, and the Legion itself, both prioritize becoming stronger above all else. Our desires have aligned. There is no need to look elsewhere.]
I had nothing to say. It was the truth.
And so I trudged home, collapsed onto my bed, and continued to stare at my phone.
*
In the dim labyrinth, a place that had remained unchanged for so long, the first real stirrings of change began to appear.
This was a change that should have been structurally impossible.
What made it possible was a single, trivial variable.
And that variable, once at the level of a single cell, had broken the immutable laws and was now consuming its way past the labyrinth's roots and up to its stem.
"..."
There were those who could never tolerate this change.
After an incredibly long time, they remembered another instinct etched into their very genes.
An instinct the Legion had yet to comprehend, having secured too few samples.
And so, they began to gather in one place.
It was their forgotten reason for existence, their duty.
[Analyzing genes requires as much effort as deciphering a language, if not more. The possibility of them being Units was low. However, they were by no means ordinary life forms. They were worth analyzing. Learning about them might reveal something about this great labyrinth where we were born.]
The Legion, ever diligent in its reconnaissance, saw them gathering.
They would never back down from a fight brought to them.
On the contrary, it was pleased.
The more special events that occurred, the more nourishment they provided for the Legion.
The thumping sound of footsteps echoed.
The Legion's new forces, having finished regrouping, had evolved one step beyond their previous forms.
A black tide flowed across the floor, through the air, and over the walls.
[It is war. But is it not familiar?]
Various guardian spirits, recognizing the Legion, roared in their own ways, displaying their intimidating presence.
In contrast, this side was utterly silent, devoid of any noise.
After all, the Legion had never bothered to create vocal organs.
The guardian spirits flinched.
They were by no means stupid.
Thus, they felt a sense of unease and were bewildered.
"Krrk..."
"..."
The sight of the Legion's soldiers maintaining their silence without the slightest waver created an unnatural, alien feeling.
A chilling silence and aura, impossible to associate with living creatures.
[We never learned useless emotions like fear.]
The Legion advanced.
There was no hesitation. The Legion was free even from the fear of death.
[A peculiar one caught our eye. That moth-like creature, floating in the air and emitting a soft glow. Its appearance is similar to the Fairy Bee that became our clue.]
Just before the battle began, the same command was issued to all.
A giant moth floated above the assembled guardian spirits, scattering sparkling dust from its wings.
The Legion decided that, no matter what else happened, it had to capture that one.
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