Chapter 101

The stench of blood wafted through the hot and humid air, forcing them to confront the gruesome sight before their eyes.

After confirming the face of the corpse one last time, Hugo covered it with a white cloth and stood up from his spot. As he rose, the two members holding the stretcher handles at the front and back also took heavy steps.

Hugo watched the member returning to the homeland first until the very end, paying his respects towards his final path.

As the Commander raised his arm, all the nearby members saluted the fallen. They too followed the white cloth covering the corpse with their eyes, enshrining in their hearts the comrade who had bravely fought and fulfilled his duty for the empire.

"I'm sorry. If only I had arrived a little sooner..." 

The commander of the 9th Battalion of the Southern Branch clenched his teeth and bowed his head as he spoke. His combat uniform was soaked with the blood of countless monsters and torn in places, indirectly conveying how fierce and horrific the battle at the frontlines had been. Seeing such traces of the arduous battle, Hugo said to the 9th Battalion Commander,

"It's not your fault."

At the Commander's voice, just as heavy and subdued as his own, the 9th Battalion Commander briefly raised his head. However, his eyes looking at Hugo were dyed with endless guilt, as if unable to accept the consolation.

Although the situation was roughly sorted out, the atmosphere among the members who had sent off their comrade first was miserable. There was still no word from the pursuit team that had gone after the platoon leader, and due to the sudden news and the long-term mission, the Southern Branch members looked quite exhausted both mentally and physically.

While examining the members' appearances one by one with his eyes, Hugo was also listening attentively to the report recited by the company commander on behalf of his tired superior. Then, when a particularly concerning story caught his attention, he turned his head and asked the company commander,

"You said the creatures were fleeing while holding eggs in their mouths?"

"Yes, that's correct."

The company commander reported to Hugo the situation of the Dermocas horde being pursued and caught while fleeing. Hearing the company commander's words, Hugo shifted his gaze to the broken eggshells that the investigators were examining.

Those eggshells were said to have been lying alone inside the ruins along with eggs that had not yet hatched when they were first discovered. At first, upon hearing that, they speculated that the creatures had brought eggs of another species to store as food.

To begin with, Dermocas were mammals that did not lay eggs, so those eggs could not possibly be theirs, and traces of them continuously collecting food had been found all over the peninsula, so they thought there was a high possibility that the eggs were also placed inside the ruins to be used as food.

"Why do you think they deliberately carried the eggs while fleeing?"

Hugo asked the company commander beside him without taking his eyes off the eggshells. The company commander, after pondering for a moment, carefully opened his mouth.

"I guess... wouldn't it be natural to think it's because they are the creatures' eggs?"

It certainly made sense.

If they intended to use them as food, there would be no need to deliberately carry them while fleeing in a disadvantageous situation. And that thought soon led to the conclusion that the eggs the creatures carried away were quite important, enough to take with them even under the threat of death.

The creatures' habitats and nesting areas had not been specified, so what could be called a nest had not yet been discovered.

Moreover, classifying them as mammals was just dividing them into families by likening the nature of the monster's individual qualities to beasts, and there was no clear evidence that Dermocas were mammals that definitely gave birth to young. So if it was assumed that the eggs that had not yet hatched were laid by the creatures and they tried to protect them, it made sense to some extent.

Having heard the answer, Hugo fell into thought for a moment, then lightly nodded and asked,

"I see. Then what happened to the egg they carried away?"

"Deputy Commander Hastings is currently leading a portion of the pursuit team to directly retrieve it and is on the way here. Ah, it seems they have just arrived."

As soon as the company commander spoke, shifting his gaze behind Hugo, the thunderous sound of "Loyalty!" from the Southern Branch members was heard.

In the sight of Hugo, who also turned around, the deputy commander leading some members of the 9th Battalion returning to the scene could be seen. They, too, upon spotting Hugo, strode straight towards where he was.

Soon, the highest-ranking deputy commander stood before Hugo, saluting him and speaking.

"Loyalty! Charlotte Hastings, Deputy Commander of the 9th Battalion of the Council's Southern Branch. Greetings, Council Commander."

"Loyalty, good work."

Hugo also responded with a light salute. Afterwards, his gaze immediately turned to the whitish egg with a blue tint held in the deputy commander's arm.

"Is that it? The egg they said the creatures carried away."

"Yes, that's correct."

As soon as the deputy commander answered, Hugo reached out his hand to her without hesitation. She swiftly handed the egg she was holding to Hugo.

The egg was large enough to fill Hugo's big hand.

The sturdy surface, quite heavy weight, and unpleasant warmth made him realize that something was alive inside this.

* * *

The new squad member unconsciously closed his eyes the moment the egg Leonardo threw hit the ground.

Soon, when he felt something heavy tapping his foot along with a dull sound, he opened his eyes again and looked down. Then, contrary to his expectation, he saw the egg that seemed like it would shatter rolling to his feet and stopping without a single scratch.

Seeing that, Leonardo frowned and approached the member, lightly pushing his shoulder and saying,

"Move aside."

As the startled member stepped back, Leonardo kicked the egg into a groove dug in the ground and stepped on it to fix its position. Then, grasping a blazing flame sword in his hand, he raised it high and struck down precisely towards the center of the egg.

Chiiik-!

As the tip of the sword touched the egg's surface, an unpleasant smell reminiscent of protein burning rose from where the shell melted on contact.

Smoke billowed from the point of friction, swirling all around, but Leonardo pressed the sword down further without minding it.

Then, the sword that had only slightly pierced the tip gradually dug deep into the shell, and a bizarre sound resembling the scream of a monster came from inside the egg. At the sharp noise stimulating the nerves, the new member and man watching him covered their ears with grimaces.

Leonardo only slightly frowned and did not stop his action. The sturdy egg surface melted and sizzled, and cracks gradually formed around the area where the sword was stabbed.

With fiercely narrowed eyes, he lifted the egg with the sword still stuck in it and smashed it to the ground all at once. Then, as the sword tip completely penetrated the egg, the eerie sound coming from inside abruptly ceased.

Soon, a spine-chilling silence arrived. Leonardo, who had been quietly glaring to see if there was any reaction inside the egg, extinguished the flame sword stuck in the egg when there was no particular response. Then, he generated wind to shake off the thick smoke surrounding the area.

When he tapped the eggshell with his foot, it crumbled easily, perhaps because the shell had softened from the high temperature. Amidst the crushed shell was something white wrapped in a sticky, mucous substance.

It seemed like it had been alive until just now and then died.

Leonardo crouched down and picked up the corpse with his gloved hand without hesitation. While intently observing it like that, he turned his head and asked the new member,

"Hey, didn't you say the Dermocas kept chasing earlier?"

The new member, who had been looking at the pale corpse with disgust, answered with a nauseated expression,

"What? Yes, they were chasing me in particular, so the senior members told me to stay far away first. I ended up coming all the way here while being chased like that."

"And that bastard was with you the whole time too?"

When Leonardo pointed to the man and asked, the new member glanced in that direction and answered,

"Yes, I discovered him first and was trying to arrest him in that situation. So he was with me the entire time."

Dermocas were not the type to drag out fights or chases for long. Even when hunting prey, if the odds were against them or time was wasted, they were clever creatures that would give up without attachment.

But the new member said the Dermocas had "persistently" chased after him in particular. And in that moment, the outsider had been with him the whole time, and there was an unidentified egg in the man's bag.

Then, unless these two humans had a bizarre constitution that attracted monsters, the most reasonable assumption for now was that the Dermocas had chased after them because of this egg.

Common sense dictated that if a species persistently chased after an egg, it would be because that egg was laid by that species. However, looking at the small corpse before his eyes now, Leonardo had to feel confused once again.

This tiny corpse seemed to indeed be a monster but looked quite different from a Dermocas offspring in terms of appearance and color. But it was also hard to determine what species it was.

It seemed reptilian, but also like a four-legged mammal, and because the skin was soft and squishy, it was impossible to tell whether fur or scales would sprout on the surface.

He considered whether it might be an unprecedented mutant individual, but if so, he would have to return to the initial question.

'If this isn't a Dermocas offspring, why were the creatures looking for it?'

Would the creatures have a reason to deliberately search for something that wasn't even their own offspring?

Leonardo sighed softly and ruffled his hair with his left hand. It seemed like nothing about the creatures on this peninsula made sense. It was full of questions, to the point of making his previous visit from a few years ago seem meaningless.

While their attention was entirely focused on the corpse from the egg, the man who had been crouching down carefully lowered one of his raised arms.

He secretly picked up a blue mineral buried under the fallen Dermocas' body. It was the one the new member had thrown at the Dermocas earlier but failed to detonate and fell to the ground.

Having succeeded in picking up the mineral, the man slyly slipped it into his inner pocket so that those in front of him would not notice. Then, as if nothing had happened, he raised both hands again.