The mutants’ eerie howling, which had started in the west, only began to subside a full day later.
“How is it?”
“The city’s quiet. Not a single ant in sight.”
It was Maya’s report after returning from reconnaissance.
“Hmm. Judging by the circumstances, should we assume that someone else picked them up?”
“Someone else?”
“Yeah. Not the one we killed. Probably the remaining six named monsters. I think they took it.”
“Huh. Then the next place we go might have even more mutants?”
“That’s possible… or maybe they just ate it. Mana is an important resource for them, after all.”
In any case, the path to the center of the city was now open.
Of course, there was still the possibility of encountering other named monsters along the way.
The other named monsters must have realized we killed that one.
If so, how would the remaining ones react?
Jun clearly remembered what the named monster had said.
It spoke in the ancient tongue. That means they definitely possess self-awareness. But… there were no emotions.
Like a machine, like an AI analyzing what had happened to it, it had muttered to itself the reason for its own defeat.
But would it really have said those things without a reason?
Jun’s answer was “No”.
It was brief, but I felt a strange energy leave its body.
That was why Jun had shouted for Maya to kill it quickly.
Maya had immediately turned the fallen head into a lump of meat.
But I’m pretty sure information about us got to the others.
If that were the case, how would the enemies respond?
Whatever happens, it’ll be difficult to pull the same trick again.
Trying the same method would be close to gambling.
In fact—
“What?”
“These were scattered all over the ground.”
After a day of rest, Maya returned from another reconnaissance mission, holding a broken mana cylinder.
Its contents were completely empty.
However, it was covered in bloodstains that appeared to belong to mutants.
“Did they kill each other…?”
“So they really did kill each other, just like you said?”
When Jun’s prediction turned out to be correct, it was Eleanor who looked more surprised.
But Jun’s expression remained serious.
“Tch. They’ve filtered us out completely.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it literally. They filtered us out. In other words, they’ve started to recognize the mana pattern we imitated as ‘hostile’.”
In short, it meant that sneaking inside while deceiving their senses like before was no longer possible.
“These are useless now too.”
The three mana cylinders they had extracted from the named monster they killed two days earlier.
They were several times larger than the ones used by ordinary mutants.
Jun had originally planned to use them to issue commands to the remaining mutants.
Of course, issuing complex commands wasn’t possible, but he intended to use them to provoke indiscriminate attacks among the mutants in other areas.
But now, that was no longer an option.
“They beat us to it.”
“So they’re not just any clever creatures, huh…”
Eleanor shook her head in exasperation, while Aiden and Maya, not quite following the conversation, tilted their heads in confusion.
“Still, we can’t just sit here doing nothing. We’ll need to head to the center of the city.”
If there was a way in, there had to be a way out.
Jun suspected that the secret lay in that huge tower-like building at the city’s center.
Standing arrogantly, as if it could reach the sky…..it was the kind of structure that might just hold the key to escaping this field.
It’s just a forced assumption… but honestly, we don’t have any other leads.
If they had had enough time, they could have explored the field more thoroughly and gathered a wider range of information.
But now, they had less than a month left.
With only 28 days remaining until the end of the season,
They had no choice but to plan the most efficient escape route.
“Even if it’s risky, we’ll have to make a move.”
“Toward the city center?”
“Yeah. But first, let’s search the place where we killed the named monster.”
There might still be some additional information hidden there.
Jun and the others absorbed the mana fluid once more and began to move again.
***
In the end, they didn’t find much in the six-story building where they had killed the named monster.
Most of the papers had decayed completely, unable to withstand the passage of time, and there weren’t any notable items either.
“This is about all we managed to salvage, huh…”
Another journal, stored inside an ornate box.
Presumably, it belonged to the named monster they had killed. It was written while it was still alive.
Like the journal left behind by the mutant in the cabin, it was quite lengthy, but unlike that one, this one had decayed so badly that only a limited portion was still readable.
Jun carefully placed the journal into his dimensional bracelet and turned to his companions.
“So… there’s good news and bad news.”
Receiving the attention of the three, Jun continued.
“The good news is that huge tower at the center. That’s where the clue to escaping this field lies.”
“Really?”
Eleanor, along with the other two, showed great interest.
“The bad news is that we might have to kill the remaining named monsters in order to escape.”
“…What?”
“The condition for escape is activating a certain machine located in that tower. But to operate it, we need two keys.”
The problem was that those two keys were currently in the possession of the other named monsters, and no one knew which of the six had them.
“That part of the journal was too decayed to read.”
“This is seriously driving me nuts.”
As it stood, the only sure method was to search the buildings where the remaining named monsters lived, just like they did here, and find the two keys to escape.
It was hard to believe they could pull it off in a city overrun by mutants.
What choice do we have? We just have to do it.
Reality didn’t wait for them.
Even at that very moment, time continued to tick by.
“…Let’s get ready.”
Feeling the scales quietly sprouting from his neck, Jun stood up.
***
There wasn’t much to prepare. They only had time for managing their condition, so the group set out at dawn.
Their destination was the center of the city.
There, they would search for the entrance to the tower and observe the movements of the other named monsters.
They walked through the eerie city.
As they made their way between crumbling, dilapidated buildings, the base of the tower which until then had only been visible from afar finally came into view.
“How long have we been walking?”
“About two days.”
“Damn, that’s far.”
The city was vast, but with no access to [Detection], they had to stay constantly alert to their surroundings, which greatly slowed their pace.
By the time they reached the vicinity of the tower—
Kiiiiirrrrrrr――!!
“Ah, crap.”
A piercing scream, sharp enough to rupture eardrums, rang out.
A single mutant that was watching them from a distance let out a shriek.
The problem was….it was flying in the air.
“A flying type…!”
The moment it appeared, dozens of mutants suddenly surged up around them.
They looked like human-shaped monsters flying through the air. Just like harpies.
And then—
Fwooooosh――!
Kieeeeeee――!!
It seemed their base form really was harpy-like. As the monsters screamed, a formless force swept over the group.
“They’re coming!”
A kind of sonic attack made of pure fear.
The creatures refused to close the distance, instead unleashing their screams from all directions.
Eleanor quickly cast a holy spell.
[Block of Light]
Pababababababam—!!!!
A barrage so intense it felt like their ears might tear.
With dozens of them launching attacks at once, it didn’t take long for the barrier to break.
Jun immediately deployed [Iron Rampart].
“Run!”
There was nowhere to run. On top of that, the creatures cunningly attacked the sidewalk just a step ahead of the direction Jun and his group were fleeing toward.
Stone fragments were scattered in all directions, and the path they had come from had collapsed so thoroughly that it was now unrecognizable.
“The path…!”
In an instant, their escape route was cut off.
Jun hurriedly cast magic toward where the creatures were.
“Bastards.”
He’d make them pay for daring to run wild in the skies.
[Rapid Casting]
[Multicasting]
[Lightning Call: Transformation – Thundercloud]
[Chain Spell: Lightning Whip]
The magic circle screeched.
As he conjured a spell with a non-fire attribute, the mana became unstable and surged out of control.
You rotten bastard!
Lightning magic was notoriously difficult to control from the start.
And when he tried to link [Lightning Whip] through the falling bolts of lightning, the circle immediately began to reject the spell.
Just work with me…!!
But this time, the magic refused to cooperate so easily.
It seemed that ever since he had drawn upon fire magic against the Orc Lord, the fire attribute’s influence had grown stronger.
A red hue began to bleed into the falling lightning, and the pain in Jun’s heart grew more intense.
“Gah!”
“S-Senior?!”
The circle’s rejection damaged his mana circuit.
Blood suddenly gushed from his mouth.
But Jun ignored even that.
If he didn’t crush the momentum of those mutants now, they’d keep raining attacks down on them.
“Hey, hey! You crazy bastard! Stop it! You’ll die at this rate!”
Eleanor, who instantly recognized Jun’s condition, shouted at him, and Maya rushed over to carry him on her back.
“Aiden!”
“S-Senior…!”
“Aiden!!”
Aiden, who needed to open the path immediately, couldn’t take his eyes off Jun.
Even now, Jun was coughing up blood in great heaves as his internal mana circuit twisted out of control.
Smack!
Maya slapped Aiden across the face, snapping him out of his panic.
“Do you want us all to die here?!”
“Ugh…!!”
“Clear the path. Now!”
Time was running out.
The only one who could break through the swarm of monsters was Aiden.
Jun’s magic had faded, and before they knew it, the harpy-like mutants that had been in the distance had vanished.
Whether they had fled from the lightning or had all turned into blackened charcoal and fallen…no one could tell.
Rumble—!
Regardless, thanks to Jun’s sacrifice, the bombardment from the rear had stopped.
Regaining his senses, Aiden bit down hard on his lip.
“…Stick close. Don’t drop Senior.”
His tone was the same as usual, but somehow heavier.
“Uh?!”
Maya flinched and looked at Aiden with trembling eyes.
It wasn’t his sudden change in demeanor that startled her. Rather, the ancestors dwelling within her had begun to erupt in anger.
A crimson aura surged around Aiden’s entire body.
As always, it was the blood-red mana possessed by the imperial bloodline.
But this time, something was different.
It was much thicker. And more than anything… it was domineering.
[Charge]
In an instant, Aiden’s figure vanished, only to reappear before the mutants blocking the collapsed path ahead.
[Bash]
The mutants, with muscles as solid as an orc’s, reflexively raised their arms.
But the crescent-shaped arc of his blade sliced through them without hesitation, cutting everything in its path.
Blood splattered onto Aiden.
The destroyer’s leather, now soaked in the enemy’s blood, awakened the savagery within him in an instant.
“Hoo—”
Aiden’s once-golden hair, which was so radiant, was slowly turning red.
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