Ethel ingested the black beast.
He buried his face in the body of the black beast that had been split in half and chewed it away voraciously. The black beast, which I couldn’t reach with my sword, was mercilessly torn apart by Ethel’s teeth and devoured.
“… … rain, rain. Wow.”
It was something grotesque, like a carnivorous animal devouring its prey.
“… … Whoa.”
Not knowing what to say, Ethel ate all the black beasts as she watched blankly. It was a bit uncomfortable.
“It’s too stimulating. Upset.”
“Is it exciting?”
“okay. It feels like eating soup with spices spilled on it. It was the worst.”
I thought it was delicious, but it seems it wasn’t. Ethel covered her mouth and retched lightly as if she were going to vomit it up any moment. If I vomit, I’m afraid of what will come out, so I want you to be patient with that.
“Not only that, but it tasted like something mixed.”
“Mixed?”
“okay. … … I felt a ‘will’.”
Ethel said, removing her hand from her mouth. It was a face that said work had become annoying.
“Are you usually unwilling, black beast?”
“yes. I’ve never heard of chaos having a will. If it’s a simple instinct or desire to survive, I think it can exist in the form of an imitation of an ideal having the form of a living thing… … .”
Ethel was speechless. And after a little trouble,
“I felt something different from him.”
He said in a confident voice.
“Something different from that?”
“Should this black beast have a purpose other than survival? I have something I want to accomplish. At this point, I don’t know if it can be treated simply as chaos.”
I pondered over Ethel’s words. That is-
“Maybe I can communicate with the main body of the black beast.”
It was said that this black beast might have intelligence.
“… … What should I say if the conversation goes well?”
“Okay. How about setting up a date?”
“what the. As for the meeting place, we can go to the bar we wanted to go to with Dimitri.”
“… … excuse me.”
The tiger said it would come if I spoke, and I heard Dimitri’s voice. I turned around to see Dimitri sticking out his upper body from the tent, resting on the ground with one hand.
“Dude, what the hell happened?”
Dimitri asked with a somewhat pale face.
“… … were you awake Since when?”
Ethel asked in an unusually slightly flustered voice. Dimitri was silent.
“That, something… … . This is when you start eating. It was so noisy that I came out to ask what was going on, and something great was happening.”
And he said it honestly.
“Well, you looked embarrassing.”
Ethel closed her eyes and scratched her cheek as if embarrassed. Why was he shy to Dimitri when he seemed innocent to me? I do not know.
“I already know everything about you, so it’s just okay.”
Ethel spoke as if she had read my thoughts. I can understand what nuance you are talking about, but I think it would be better not to say such things in front of others. Dimitri is at a loss.
“It’s quite long to explain. But let me tell you one thing for now.”
I walked up to the puzzled Dimitri and crouched down to eye level. Dimitri hurriedly fell to his knees and got into a position to listen.
“Night watch, it’s shift time.”
“… … ah.”
I want to sleep for a while
It was morning.
“Did you enjoy last night?”
Katyusha woke me up with an unexpected greeting.
“Was there any room for fun?”
“Looking at the corpses of the undead around the base, it seems like you enjoyed it quite a bit.”
When asked while sipping on the black tea of the morning, Katyusha replied calmly.
“You are quick-witted.”
“Would you please wake me up? I want to fight with you next time.”
I laughed at Katyusha’s words and looked around, replying that I would consider it. All the other co-workers got up first and were tidying up the surroundings. He was treated like a late sergeant. It’s not that I hate it, but it’s a bit embarrassing.
“Oh, are you awake? good morning.”
Dimitri’s eyes widened as he greeted them. I think I didn’t get enough sleep because I was worried about yesterday’s work.
“I don’t think I slept at all. Be careful with managing your condition.”
“ha ha ha… … .”
Dimitri smiled bitterly. I drank the remaining black tea in one go and got up. This is the beginning of the second day of the quest.
“Isn’t it too cold?”
“No, rather, it’s good to be sober.”
After getting together and having breakfast with roughly prepared bread and bacon, I washed my face with cold water that melted Dimitri’s ice. It’s cool and it feels good. Although it takes some time to dissolve.
“More than that, Dimitri, isn’t there something you want to ask me?”
“Oh, that’s right. What the hell happened before the shift?”
Dimitri came to his senses and asked. Caspal must have been worried all along as well, so he stopped talking about the towel and looked at me.
“Then where are the other kids… … .”
I thought it might be a good idea to call and talk to Borland, Ethel, and Katyusha, but Borland was clearing out undead debris and Katyusha seemed busy helping him. Ver was covering his head at the end of the magic circle as if he had no idea why the proximity detection barrier didn’t work last night, and Ethel was looking at it in silence (I don’t think I’m going to tell you that I did).
“Well, should I just leave it alone?”
It’s not such a great story. It would suffice to say only these two.
From noble mtl dot com
“Last night, while I was on my watch, the undead attacked. I’m sleeping well, so what’s the point of waking me up?
“I thought so. You did a good job, so there’s no point in calling it reckless.”
“You can wake me up comfortably next time. Because it bothered me more that he made the prince fight alone. It’s my fault for not waking up on time… … .”
Caspal nodded in anticipation of what I said, and Dimitri said sorry for not waking up in time.
“I didn’t wake you up, so you don’t have to worry. Anyway, after killing all the undead with excitement, I met the black beast.”
“!”
Caspal and Dimitri were startled when they heard that they had met a black beast.
“Nothing to be so surprised about. Because he wasn’t the owner of those claws on the ceiling, he was just a little kid. About the size of a large dog?”
“Are you okay?! No, he seems to be fine, but… … .”
Caspal was embarrassed and shouted, then embarrassed. It’s a pretty fresh look.
“It’s okay, so here it is. There were annoying parts, though. I had a hard time because the sword didn’t work well, but because it cuts so fast, I still get cut.”
“It’s an expression that seems to know or not know.”
Dimitri said with a subtle expression. I took a moment to organize my words.
“How can I explain it? Basically, even if it has a form, it feels like it turns into fog when you attack, right? It’s not like it’s going to spread badly. Still, at the moment of attack, he materialized for a moment, focused on that moment, and cut it at once, so somehow it was split in two. Even so, it was embarrassing to be alive and cry.”
“… … hmm. yes. understand.”
Dimitri spoke after a moment of silence. I don’t know if I really understood it or if I thought it would be difficult to understand what it meant even if I listened more, but it was annoying to say more, so I decided to just skip it.
“To sum it up, it basically doesn’t get physically attacked, but you can cut it the moment it materializes to attack from there.”
“okay. That’s it. okay. You understand quickly.”
“Ahh. Indeed, will that happen!”
Dimitri admired Caspal’s theorem as if he had realized it. I also didn’t understand.
“But like I said, the cutting was good, but the post-processing wasn’t good. A black mist that looked harmful to the body was seeping out. Just then, Ethel just woke up.”
“So what happened?”
“Ethel ate the black beast.”
I just briefly said the conclusion.
“Indian ink… … . eat?”
Caspal asked in confusion. I nodded.
“… … can you eat that?”
“He ate.”
“… … .”
At my answer, Caspal frowned as if he couldn’t understand at all.
“Is it okay to do that, Ethel?”
“First of all, they say it’s incredibly tasteless.”
“I don’t think taste is important.”
Caspal was dumbfounded. I said that I didn’t mean it as a joke, and went on to explain.
“As for why it doesn’t taste good, I don’t think the black beast here is pure chaos. I said that from the beginning, but from what I confirmed this time,”
I paused.
“They said it seemed to have some sort of will. Ethel.”
“… … !”
At those words, Caspal jumped up from his seat. Me and Dimitri looked up at Caspal.
“I have a will, and… … .”
Caspal frowned as he repeated the words that he had a will.
“… … Felix.”
And with a dark expression, he called his brother’s name.
“You mean your brother?”
“… … yes. You remember.”
When I asked back, Caspal answered with a frown.
“I told you before. father and brother… … No, the men were trying to use ‘death’.”
“okay? It must be too much power for humans.”
Before I knew it, Ethel came closer and intervened in the conversation.
“… … yes. It is.”
Caspal flinched (probably recalling the story of eating the black beast), but nodded in agreement with Ethel.
“In a very old record that has been passed down from generation to generation in the mansion, there is a story about a power that lies dormant deep within the mine.”
“What power is it?”
“It is the power to bring the dead back to life. My father’s family has been trying to find that power for generations. The silver vein was also discovered in the process.”
“But isn’t what’s here called ‘death’?”
I didn’t understand so I asked again. Caspal smiled bitterly.
“When you think about it, it’s a simple thing. Because in order to bring the dead back to life, you have to die first. That is why spreading death was a precedent force.”
That was what killed 70% of the population five years ago.
“As a result, the power to revive the dead is correct. Although in the form of the undead.”
“Destruction must precede reconstruction.”
Ethel agreed with Caspal’s words. I felt a sense of deja vu at the words reconstruction and destruction. Soon, a similar word came to mind: ‘the magic of disassembly and reassembly’.
“… … It’s similar to Ber’s magical power.”
It was the magic possessed by Ber that had long been misunderstood as the magic of destruction.
“yes? That’s why the child has the aptitude for smelting chaos. Isn’t it very interesting?”
Excitedly, Ethel agreed. Around that time, Ber gave up on restoring the magic circle and lay in a daze, leaning against the tent. It’s always been like that, but it doesn’t seem like a particularly great person.
“They both knew it was a false power, but they tried to find a way to use ‘death’ somehow. And maybe I’ve found a way through the two years I’ve been away.
“In other words, the will felt by the black beast might be Felix’s?”
I summarized Caspal’s words and asked again.
“yes. It’s still just speculation, though. When we met briefly, we said something meaningful.”
Caspal confirmed my words after a moment of silence.
“Sounds significant?”
“We exchanged a few words. Then Felix said. You can get it back soon.”
“what?”
“… … I don’t know.”
Caspal shook his head. It was an ambiguous attitude, whether it was that he really didn’t know, or that he knew something but couldn’t say it.
“Well, I guess I can roughly understand the atmosphere.”
I don’t have a hobby that makes me say what I don’t want to say.
“Anyway, you don’t know unless you go. Let’s move slowly.”
With this, the second day of exploration began.