Chapter 2438 – 2438. Dark Moon
The warriors, who had been bustling about, quieted down and moved silently as soon as they entered the forest. They moved stealthily and swiftly.
“…Is there a need to be so tense already? We haven’t even found any traces of our prey yet. It’s good to stay alert, but at this rate, we’ll be exhausted before we even start the hunt properly.”
The warriors stared at me, dumbfounded. I was confident. There was nothing wrong with what I said. Anything in excess was not good.
Hunting? Wandering around aimlessly and catching an animal you happen to stumble upon isn’t hunting. You can’t catch anything that way. Animals are fundamentally faster and have more sensitive senses than humans. Hunters need to track their prey.
The great warrior Sharok gave a wry smile.
“It seems Toripel’s hunting methods are a bit different. We know our way is more physically demanding. But it can’t be helped. If we relax even a little, our chances of dying increase. This is Tiat, so follow Tiat’s ways.”
“I was just curious. I’ll follow Tiat’s hunting methods.”
The warriors checked the traps they had set up in the forest beforehand. They were all small traps. At best, they would only be effective against small animals like squirrels or rabbits.
They caught two rabbits and three squirrels, but that was far from enough considering the number of people in the village.
“Don’t you make large traps?”
“Large prey doesn’t get caught in traps. They’d just destroy them. Trying to catch them with traps is just a waste of time.”
“Can’t you catch deer with traps?”
“Yesterday was just very lucky. It had been almost a month since we hunted a deer. Such luck is rare…”
Sharok shut his mouth. His eyes changed completely. As his demeanor shifted, the surrounding warriors also held their breath and gripped their spears and bows.
“I hear it. It’s prey.”
I didn’t hear anything.
I quietly used detection magic.
[Electric Detection]
Electromagnetic waves spread in all directions, and information about everything they touched entered my mind.
300 meters in the direction Sharok was looking, there was a creature approaching stealthily and quickly.
‘…It’s different. Electric Detection isn’t properly detecting the approaching beast.’
I could tell it was coming fast, but I didn’t know what kind of beast it was. Everything else was clear, but it was as if only this creature was ignoring the electromagnetic waves.
‘This feeling… it’s similar to when I faced that flesh monster. Much weaker, though…’
The creature jumped out of the bushes.
It was a black panther. A panther with three tails and two heads. As soon as it appeared, it swung its front paw to attack Sharok. Sharok, as if he had been waiting for it, blocked the attack with his axe. In the ensuing struggle, the panther retreated.
“Kroooaaar!”
The two panther heads roared. The sound wasn’t as loud as I expected, but strangely, my ears hurt.
‘My hearing is fine.’
Unlike me, the warriors seemed used to it and continued the fight without being surprised. They surrounded the panther and attacked.
‘They’re good at hit-and-run tactics. Sharok blocks most of the attacks, and the warrior with the shield is the variable. They’re saving their arrows, and the warrior with the spear is in charge of attacking.’
It was a role division optimized for hunting. The panther was bleeding more and more. Its wounds were increasing, and it was starting to become sluggish.
As the hunt was nearing its end, one of the warriors relaxed slightly.
“Ugh!”
The monster panther didn’t miss the opportunity and threw itself forward. It seemed determined to take someone with it, even if it meant dying.
I stepped in. I threw the dagger I had brought just in case at the panther. Of course, simply throwing it wouldn’t even pierce the hide of this monstrous panther. I, Jaminan, was a mage, not a warrior.
[Telekinesis]
I imbued the dagger with an invisible force.
Thud.
It pierced one of the panther’s two heads. The other head was struck by Sharok’s axe. Sharok had thrown his axe at the same time I threw my dagger.
Sharok shouted at the warrior who had made the mistake.
“Rufo! Don’t let your guard down until the end! You almost died just now! If it weren’t for me and Garga, you would have died!”
“S-sorry, Sharok. And thank you, Garga. If it weren’t for you… it would have been dangerous.”
“I’m a warrior who participated in the hunt too. It’s only natural to help a comrade.”
The warriors’ gazes towards me changed. They had become slightly more friendly.
Soon, the warriors began to clean up. The warriors who had been lagging behind stepped forward.
“Are you hurt?”
“I was scratched by its claws. It’s bleeding, but it’s not serious.”
“Small wounds can lead to death. Show me the wound.”
They applied a salve made from a mixture of herbs to the wound. It didn’t end there. A green light flashed from the hands of the warrior treating the wound.
‘It’s not magic. It feels similar to the power that Eisa or Rahul use. Is it a druid’s spell?’
It seemed that Rahul had spread some of his spells to the tribesmen.
‘The wound isn’t healing immediately. Is it a spell that greatly enhances the body’s recovery ability and the effectiveness of the salve?’
Sharok approached me.
“Thank you for helping Rufo. If it weren’t for you, Rufo might have died or been seriously injured. And it seems you’re interested in spells.”
“How can a warrior use spells?”
“I don’t know either. The shaman says you have to be born with a special talent.”
It would be better to ask Eisa about this when I get back.
My gaze turned to the panther. It wasn’t an ordinary beast from the way it looked. Its physical abilities were no different from a monster. But I didn’t sense the unique aura of a monster.
“Do you usually hunt creatures like this?”
“Of course not. We usually avoid creatures like this if we can. This one was moving so stealthily that we couldn’t avoid it.”
I understood why the warriors were so tense.
With a creature like this roaming the forest, there was no way they wouldn’t be tense.
After the preparations were complete, Sharok spoke to everyone.
“Now that we’ve caught this one, we’ll check the traps we set up and head back immediately. Oh, and before that, we’ll perform the hunting ritual.”
“Ooh! The hunting ritual!!”
The hunting ritual was to draw blood from the captured prey and drink it.
It was quite barbaric. And I couldn’t refuse. I was a barbarian now, after all.
‘…Should I be thankful that I turned into a vampire?’
The warriors began to collect the panther’s blood in pouches and drink it in turns. Sharok was the first to drink. Sharok then handed the blood pouch to me.
“Drink, Garga! You deserve it!”
It wasn’t that they were being considerate because I was new. They weren’t the type to do that. It seemed that the order of drinking was decided officially.
I snatched the blood pouch from Sharok and brought it to my mouth.
Gulp, gulp.
The fresh blood passed down my throat. The vampire’s body easily accepted the blood.
‘…This is…!’
Even though it was daytime, my whole body was overflowing with energy. The taste was quite good, too.
‘I feel full of vitality. It’s not just because the panther was as strong as a monster.’
“You drink heartily. You’re indeed a warrior. The chief wasn’t wrong when he said you were an outstanding warrior.”
I understood how the tribal warriors were able to hunt monster panthers. This was no different from a natural elixir.
‘I can even understand why the Alpha Tier guys are doing these experiments. If they mass-produce and sell something like this… it’s terrifying just to imagine.’
• • •
I returned to the village with the warriors.
The first to greet us were the young boys. The boys who would become warriors. The boys cheered as soon as they saw the prey.
“Wow! It’s a two-headed panther! What about the blood? When do we get the blood?!”
“We’ll share it soon, so wait.”
The reason they didn’t drink all the blood was to share it with the boys. The girls could only watch with envious eyes.
‘It’s only natural to prioritize the boys who will become warriors.’
As I was returning to my hut, I noticed gazes directed at me. There were quite a few gazes from the women. I tried to ignore them and entered the hut.
No one was there. After waiting a bit, Eisa returned.
“You’re back? I heard you caught a monster panther with two heads and three tails?”
“It wasn’t an ordinary monster. I drank its blood, and I felt a strong life force. Its blood itself was an elixir.”
“…Is that so? The scale is too large to be a place for manufacturing elixirs. That’s probably not Alpha Tier’s real goal.”
“Where’s Nesha?”
“She went to see her family. I spent all day with Nesha today… Nesha was a popular person.”
“You look cheerful. Wasn’t it hard?”
“I drew water and gathered things. It wasn’t difficult for me, even if it was for others. I also took pictures while doing chores. Do you want to see them?”
She took out a photo from her cleavage. The small photo, which had been shrunk, grew larger when she released the spell.
“You even developed the photos?”
“It’s a type of spell.”
“……What’s more surprising is that it came out of your chest. What’s in between those breasts?”
“That’s a trade secret. Besides… you’re just throwing around things like ‘breasts’ now? That’s sexual harassment, you know?”
“Sue me.”
I’ve done more lewd things than that, so what’s the problem?
I looked at the photos she had taken. There wasn’t anything particularly unusual. Except that more than half of the tribal women in the photos were naked?
“They’re the young women of the tribe. Do you see anything in common?”
“…I don’t.”
“They don’t have hair on their armpits or genitals. Every single one of them. It’s as if such genes don’t exist. It’s the same for the men, too.”
“…Are they some kind of artificial humans?”
“Very likely. I felt it when I saw the panther this time. Alpha Tier is deliberately creating mutants.”
“Mutants… If they’re deliberately creating mutants… are they aiming for evolution?”
“Probably. Do you want me to show you something even more surprising?”
“What is it?”
“These two photos.”
It was a photo of the hut.
I tilted my head. It was a similar-looking hut, so there was nothing unusual.
“What’s the problem?”
“This photo is of the hut where the oldest members of the tribe gather. The other photo is of the hut where the tribal children gather.”
“……There’s no difference in the huts. I can’t tell which one is new and which one is old. Did they build a new hut?”
“Why would they build a new hut when the old one is fine? It would just waste labor. These people are different from us. Their time is different. One day for them is 100 days for us. Do you know what’s amazing? Even the 5-year-olds here can speak clearly. Or rather, 15-day-olds who look like 5-year-olds. They instinctively know the common language.”
“Since they can’t accelerate time, they accelerated humans instead.”
“It’s an absurd violation of human rights. They created humans who are 1/100th of a human. Their lifespan is less than a year.”
It was then. I sensed someone approaching. It was Nesha’s presence.
Eisa must have sensed it too, as she quickly organized the photos. Then, she gave a wry smile.
“You’ll be surprised.”
“What?”
Nesha entered.
As Eisa said, I was surprised. Nesha’s lower abdomen was bulging. She was naked, so I noticed it right away. She was pregnant.
