It was a known fact: the dead were NPCs, and without a resurrection spell from a high-ranking priest, there was no coming back…
Besides, even if resurrection were an option, the body needed to be preserved as intact as possible. But this corpse had practically been hollowed out. Not even my blood could save it, which meant reviving it was essentially out of the question anyway.
What I was more curious about was this: would this group of people, who normally paid almost no attention to “poor old Lythius,” let their emotions get the better of them?
Or would they handle the matter quietly and coldly?
Well, for the Inspection Corps, quietly sweeping it under the rug—pretending nothing had happened and then informing his parents of his death—seemed like the most likely course.
After all, they couldn’t afford the slightest rumor that might damage or sully the Corps’ reputation.
And then there was the fact that he’d just greeted Mia a little while ago, and he was a member of Mia’s squad. If she were to see this scene, would it make her even more miserable?
The answer wasn’t so certain.
(A clamor of voices)
I was inside the archives room. If it weren’t for the frantic debate erupting among the crowd just outside the door, the silence in here would probably have been stained with a heavy, sorrowful gloom—one that would seep into the mind, bleaching everything in your vision a lifeless gray.
The red-haired man who had just a moment ago rushed so impulsively toward the corpse was now utterly silent, just like the two standing at the doorway.
It seemed Lythius carried some weight with them. But from what I could tell, it wasn’t the kind of deep, meaningful bond you’d put much stock in.
Time dragged on. During that stretch, the boy called Philrette tried several times to persuade the man to step away for a while and let the Investigation Department personnel sweep the scene.
But it was as if the man couldn’t hear him—he stubbornly refused to budge…
In the end, though, time gradually dulled the sharp edge of grief. The man slammed his fist against the ground one last time, let out a deep, heavy sigh, and finally got to his feet and left.
Just as I’d thought. People who let their emotions rule them always outnumber those who can keep a cool head.
I felt a little relieved. It seemed there were still more people willing to show concern for a companion than machines who prioritized executing their duties above all else.
Of course, maybe it was all a front.
No sooner had the red-haired man stepped out than several more figures filed in—stern in their attire, each wearing pristine white gloves.
They had such generic faces that I honestly couldn’t tell them apart. All I knew was that they moved swiftly, examining everything in sight. Before long, they’d gathered the relevant information and processed the crime scene.
Finally, the player squad leader, whose outfit was the most distinct of all and who had a status bar floating above his head, stood up. He adjusted his glasses, then clapped his hands to get his team members to stop what they were doing. Together, they headed out the door.
Before leaving, he threw out the line, “Don’t tamper with the scene; the clues will come together soon,” and then walked off without so much as a backward glance, leaving behind a roomful of bewildered people.
Naturally, I was a bit baffled myself. I didn’t even know what exactly they’d done… or if they’d even been collecting clues at all.
“Tch! Those Investigation Department bastards are all talk and pretentious airs!”
“But if they’ve already said that, then peons like us don’t have the authority to interfere with them.”
“Damn it! Nothing we can do! Hey! Shut the archive room door.”
Huh?
A heavy bang rang out. It dawned on me then that I’d been locked inside.
I walked over to the door and tried knocking. No response. It was as if everything had been swallowed whole by the chaotic noise of receding footsteps, rendered meaningless.
“Heh. Think this can stop me? I can get out without breaking a—mmph?”
Just as I was about to invoke [Impression Teleportation], I caught the sound of another set of footsteps outside the door—stealthy and furtive, completely different from the brisk, businesslike manner of those “Investigation Department” people from earlier…
Oh? The culprit, maybe? Or was the “Witch” here to save someone? Haha…
I immediately backed away and re-activated [Universal Concealment], huddling in a corner and watching silently.
After a moment, the doorknob turned, and the door was slowly pushed open. In walked a “person.” If my eyes weren’t deceiving me, it was the very same Philrette who had been sobbing his eyes out earlier when he’d alerted everyone to the discovery of the body.
Expected, yet still irrational. Why would he come back here?
All the evidence worth collecting had already been collected. Wasn’t it a little too late to try to destroy more?
“…Gack. Gack… Mimicry… vocalization… not quite perfected, yet… but close enough. Based on their attitude, I haven’t been exposed… Gack… Gack… memories, this body’s memories, this body’s memories, they’re flooding in… me? Me?”
Just as I’d suspected. Just as I’d imagined. One of the guys at the table behind me had mentioned it earlier—the problem of the flesh-mass monsters I’d encountered last night now multiplying within this very city.
And now, it seemed I had an explanation for how they’d nearly always managed to evade detection.
While they consumed, they learned—studying and mimicking human behavior. Once they reached full maturity, their resemblance was so perfect they could even replace the original being they’d devoured.
Terrifying…
Absolutely terrifying. If beast-kin just brought surface-level destruction, it was still relatively manageable—the conquered always had a chance to make a comeback eventually.
But these creatures… they could replace an entire race from the inside out, at its very root.
Still, what was I supposed to do? Just stand by and do nothing?
“…Gack. Gack. Me? My thoughts… no longer so… simple? I… am… already… me? Lythius? Philrette? I… yes. Yes. My mission is to continuously breed, continuously breed, evolve to the next stage, and produce even more offspring.”
Tch. As expected, what’s carved into the soul never changes. This thing knew only its species’ mission. My earlier thought—that it might just live on as an ordinary person—was nothing but a pipe dream.
I couldn’t let this creature live.
“An odor of magic? Where?”
Philrette swiveled his head in my direction, then extended his hand—
In the next instant, that hand shot out like a coiled spring, its tip grazing my hair. It was as if it was confirming its target before clamping down with brutal force.
It hurt!
Concealment spells always falter the moment the caster’s mind wavers, and this [Universal Concealment] was no different.
And so, with tears stinging my eyes from the searing pain at my scalp, my form quickly flickered into visibility.
“…A human child? But with the scent of magic. You have a mana-attuned constitution…”
“That’s right! And I’m here to end you!”
I snapped back to my senses, “slipping” free from his grasp and darting to the side, dropping into a combat stance.
Philrette froze for a moment, then looked at me. His hand retracted, and his expression was utterly calm.
“Bold words. Humans are all the same…”
He stood in place, showing no intent to attack, but also no sign of surrendering or retreating.
Was he going to come at me? Or was he waiting for me to strike first so he could counter?
Either way, the outcome would be the same.
“Heh… let’s play a little game. Come at me.”
I let out a light chuckle. Straightening up, I put on an air of casual, almost dreamy relaxation.
Time to get serious. Skip the games and go straight to a one-man massacre.
Following tradition, I figured I’d send a little something his way first.
“Catch.”
With a flick of my wrist, against a backdrop of swirling orange energy, several motes of light flickered into existence. They quivered for a second, then instantly coalesced into several blazing fireballs.
In this dark, damp archive room, the fireballs actually gave off a rather cozy warmth. If they set something alight, it’d get even cozier, of course.
I deliberately gave him a few seconds to react, but Philrette didn’t take the hint. He seemed to think they were just ordinary fireballs.
I didn’t hesitate. I launched them at him with the speed and force of a volley of bullets.
As for Philrette, he simply raised his hands, as if he thought he could block them that way.
He clearly had no idea that these deceptively small fireballs were anything but ordinary.
If memory served, that Fireball spell from a few days ago had dealt massive damage. This [Multi-Fireball] shouldn’t be any exception.
Don’t let me down now.
The fireballs didn’t have immense kinetic force. By my calculation, they’d land squarely on Philrette’s legs, blowing them to bits of flesh and shattered bone. At the very least, they’d catch fire…
The commotion from that would definitely draw a crowd. And once this creature took enough damage, it would inevitably reveal its true form.
Then, when they saw this “person” suddenly transform into a disgusting, indescribable mass of flesh, they’d surely realize the truth.
At that point, whether they’d believe it or not… would some melodramatic plotline unfold?
Well, that was no longer something I needed to stick my nose into.
“Hm? These fireballs… the mana concentration is so dense—!”
Philrette seemed to realize something was wrong. He moved to flee, only to find it was already too late.
Seeing that the fireballs were past the point of no return, he had no choice but to thrust his “hands” out to shield his entire body.
[Fireball Explosion]
Ignoring the blast wave that washed over my face, I watched the fireballs detonate—flames erupting, Philrette hurtled backward by the impact, crashing straight through the wall. A tiny thrill of satisfaction ran through me.
My right hand gave a brief flourish, a sapphire-blue radiance shimmering between my fingers. I stepped through the newly made gap in the wall, pulling up my hood, which had been blown off by the gust of air.
“Guh… kuh… kuh…”
Couldn’t even reproduce human sounds anymore? Well, after taking a hit like that, how could he possibly manage it?
The figure before me was a far cry from the boy who’d been putting on a crying act just minutes ago.
His body was a ruin of missing chunks—here a patch, there a patch. The skin exposed to the flames had been scorched and blasted away in uneven patches, revealing the grotesque ugliness lurking beneath.
And in a desperate bid to protect his vital areas, the tentacles that had sprouted from all over his body now writhed and convulsed from their injuries.
“Pathetic, aren’t you—sigh.”
My right hand, still blazing with deep azure light, shot up and sent a sea-blue disc of radiance slicing through a tentacle that had been attempting a sneak attack, chopping it into pieces like sashimi, before lowering again.
A foul stench of decay assaulted my nostrils. I clicked my tongue and let out a long sigh.
Time to finish this… But… that face, so sickeningly human…
“Dearie me, little one. Hiding your power isn’t exactly the wisest choice.”
I froze for a second, then jolted alert and whipped my head toward the corridor. Standing there was a man—Xiong Xin.
It seemed he’d been hiding a fair few secrets about his own strength too. Not that it was much of a bargaining chip against me, of course.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Since the wall blew open.”
Ah. So he’d seen everything. Not just my fire magic, but [Blue: Honesty] as well. Even my hair.
“I understand. Eavesdropping isn’t exactly polite. But under the circumstances just now, I didn’t want to interrupt.”
As Xiong Xin spoke, he ambled over. I spread my hands and let the azure glow fade away.
I couldn’t tell if he truly didn’t recognize me or if he actually believed he stood a chance against me. Either way, his expression was remarkably relaxed.
“Don’t make any sudden moves.”
I hadn’t done anything, so Xiong Xin’s words felt like he was just going through the motions. Completely meaningless.
[Time Freeze]
The familiar sound of grinding gears, a world bleached into black and white, magic beyond mortal comprehension—I employed it once more.
I lifted my leg and gave Xiong Xin’s shin a “gentle” kick, then returned to my original spot.
[Time Resume]
“Ugh?! Kuh-ha! What just—?”
Xiong Xin pitched forward and crashed to the ground. He stared at the floor in utter disbelief, then looked around. Other than me, he saw no one else around.
Hardening my heart, I grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked it back sharply, then coalesced a deep-blue dagger and pressed it against his throat.
“Ngh! You… child, just what are you—”
“Sorry, but this is all for the sake of self-preservation.”
