Chapter 261: Peace
“Block it! If it keeps going straight, it’ll reach Shelter No. 3!”
“Decoy fireworks launching! 3, 2, 1!”
Fireworks shot up from the direction of the barrier. With a loud bang, a flash of mana-infused light burst out, but the monster only glanced at it before continuing on its path. An SS-Class monster—a blue serpent laced with lethal venom. Monsters with powerful poison were more dangerous to a city than most others. If the venom seeped into the ground where the shelter was located, even the protective barrier would have trouble holding it back. The shelter’s protection could only withstand poison up to A-Class.
In the end, Solemnise’s S-Class guards blocked the monster head-on. The snake opened its green eyes wide, flicking its long tongue. The standoff didn’t last long. The snake’s body suddenly shot forward, tearing up the road. As venom splashed in all directions, the guards scattered like sparrows before a hawk. Skills imbued with power rained down on the monster, but failed to deliver a fatal blow. Still, it was enough to provoke the monster’s temper.
— Siiit!
The snake’s eyes locked onto the man who had torn off a large patch of its scales. The S-Class guard of Solemnise clenched his teeth and sprinted toward the city outskirts.
“It took the bait! Support him!”
Support skills wrapped around the fleeing guard. Attacks and explosions followed to slow the snake’s charge. Crushing buildings and tearing up roads, the monster slithered rapidly toward its target.
With Sigma absent, hunting an SS-Class monster was difficult. Not entirely impossible, but the cost in manpower and resources was immense—luring it far away from the city remained the best solution.
Boom! Thud! The elusive prey enraged the snake, and it twisted its body violently. After tearing up the ground, it coiled tightly and then sprang into the air like a spring.
— Kirrr.
The snake crossed the sky like a fired arrow, landing ahead of the guard it was chasing and blocking the way. Before the guard could even change direction, the massive body coiled around him like a wall.
“Damn it!”
Every direction was blocked by thick, scale-covered flesh, and if he tried to leap upward, the venomous snake head was waiting. There was no escape. The S-Class guard activated a defensive skill that would likely be useless, bracing for the end.
— Kiiiik!
A scream erupted from the monster. Then came the sound of flesh and bone being crushed. The S-Class guard looked up.
There, a red-furred monster clamped its jaws firmly on the snake’s head.
“…What the hell.”
A beast with a golden horn and a mane tinged with gold pressed its forepaw against the snake’s neck and let out a low growl. Venom splashed wildly, but flames swirling around it burned everything to ash. Not a single drop touched the newcomer’s fur.
Before long, the snake’s writhing stopped. In the silence, the red monster looked down at the S-Class guard. Even if flames were resistant to poison, this creature had just taken down an SS-Class monster in an instant. It had to be an SS-Class monster itself.
Should he run? Could he even run? As the guard hesitated, the monster let out a soft growl.
“…Huh.”
The once-massive body shrank in an instant. Triangle-shaped ears perked up, and a fluffy tail swayed gently. Reduced to the size of a medium dog, the monster blinked at the S-Class guard. He involuntarily thought, ‘Kinda cute.’
— Kiang.
No, it was definitely cute. The monster trotted up to the guard and looked up at him with golden eyes. Its upturned nose twitched slightly.
“Step back!”
As other guards approached with weapons drawn, the man quickly raised both hands above his head.
“Stop! It’s not hostile! Don’t provoke it!”
“Huh? A monster?”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Monsters were hostile to humans. Tamed monsters were an exception, but anything above B-Class was essentially untamable. And yet this SS-Class monster showed no intention to attack.
“But look—it’s calm.”
The monster sniffed around as if searching for something but showed no signs of aggression. The other guards, though still on alert, watched it in amazement.
“Well… Thanks to it, we’re safe for now.”
“Yeah. That monster we could barely drag out of the city was taken down in seconds.”
“If Sigma were here, it would’ve ended just as fast.”
A heavy silence fell at those words. In the gloomy atmosphere, one guard spoke up.
“This monster has golden eyes too.”
“…Oh, you’re right.”
Seeing the familiar light in its eyes, the expressions of the Solemnise guards grew even more subdued. At that moment, the monster leapt lightly over the dead snake’s corpse.
Its destination was none other than the Solemnise Defense Bureau.
“Shouldn’t we stop it?”
“Not that we could, even if we wanted to…”
Conflicted, the guards followed behind the monster. Other guards who’d heard the news were already waiting in front of the Defense Bureau. They, too, looked baffled at the sight of the small, cute monster. Unfazed, the creature strolled right in with a light, almost leisurely gait. It was so natural, as if it had lived there all along.
“What is that monster, seriously?”
“Is it really okay to just let it be…?”
The guards hesitated but couldn’t bring themselves to stop the monster, simply following behind it. The monster walked down the hallway after entering the Defense Bureau building and stepped into one of the rooms. After glancing around, it came back out and headed toward the elevator that connected to the mana hall. It jumped up and pressed a button, but it was impossible to operate without a card key.
— Kkaang.
The monster turned to the Solemnise guard and cried out as if urging him. As if bewitched, the elevator doors opened, and the monster descended to the mana hall. After making a quick circle around the space, it went back up. Next, it stopped by the armory and finally arrived at none other than Sigma’s office.
— Kreung.
The monster lightly tapped one of Han Yujin’s belongings still left on the desk with its front paw, then gave a small shake of its head before turning away. By now, not a single guard attempted to stop the monster. Though no one said it out loud, they all had similar thoughts.
The monster swayed its fluffy tail as it headed for the rooftop. Noticing where it was going, the guards wore somber expressions. At last, the monster reached the rooftop and walked forward without hesitation. The guards sensed the monster intended to leave and glanced at one another. Then, one of them spoke up.
“Farewell!”
The monster tilted its head and looked back at him. At the same time, the other guards began to call out their farewells.
“Thank you for everything!”
“Don’t worry about what comes next! We’ll do our best, however lacking we may be!”
“Please stay safe out there!”
Flap—small wings sprouted from the monster’s back. Red, crescent-shaped feathered wings flapped, and the monster soared up in an instant. Without a trace of lingering attachment, it vanished quickly into the sky. The Solemnise guards stared in a daze, unable to take their eyes off it.
It may have simply been an unusual monster. That possibility seemed more likely. Yet they all felt a strange sense of peace in their hearts.
They had said their final farewell. That was enough.
“Let’s go clean things up. We still need to neutralize the venom.”
“Thanks to it, things will be calm for a while.”
“Still, we mustn’t let our guard down. We need to prepare for the next time.”
With lighter steps, the guards of Solemnise left the rooftop.
Flame Horned Lion Peace—technically, a slightly different species—swiftly flew across the sky. The place where Peace landed was far to the south of here. There, it inhabited the body of a fire-type monster and wandered for some time, hunting down every noticeable monster in the area.
Eventually, it found traces of Han Yujin, but he had already left by then. Using tracking skills to assess the situation, Peace immediately took off in pursuit of his dad’s trail. After flying for quite some time, the Flame Horned Lion finally landed at the desolate Achates Defense Bureau.
“Aaaaagh! Monster!”
A worker inspecting machines near the mana hall shouted in terror at the sight of Peace. Guards came running at once, then scratched the backs of their heads at the sight of the small creature.
“…Is that really a monster?”
“Isn’t that a fox? Thought those went extinct ages ago.”
“But the snout’s too short.”
To guards below S-Class, it was difficult to identify an SS-Class monster that had suppressed its power through etherealization. Peace ignored their chatter and wandered slowly around the mana hall. The tracking skill faintly relayed what had happened here.
— Kraang!
Peace growled in frustration. The guards, watching the little creature poking around without any sign of aggression, kept staring blankly, wondering if it really was a fox.
“That’s no fox.”
“Lord Gnos, are you sure you’re well enough to be up?”
The A-Class guard Gnos waved his hand, saying he was fine.
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s nothing like the foxes I’ve seen.”
“You’ve seen a fox before, Lord Gnos?”
“When I was a kid.”
Nowadays, unless it was a bird or a burrowing rodent, it was hard to find wild animals anymore. As Gnos gazed at the mana hall, Bitera approached him. He glanced at her.
“You said Alpha left with Han Yujin.”
“Yes. I’d hoped he would stay, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving Han Yujin’s side.”
Gnos rubbed his right hand. After a brief silence, he spoke.
“Are you sure… it wasn’t some kind of brainwashing?”
“I don’t think something like that would work, not with the Alpha I saw. More than that—Han Yujin truly cherishes Alpha. Just watching the two of them for a moment, you could easily tell how much they care about each other.”
Gnos fell silent again. He’d heard similar things from others as well. He let out a long sigh.
Han Yujin, with his high-level stealth skill, had infiltrated Achates City a year ago after hearing rumors about how the Achates guards were treating people. While undercover, he met Alpha, whose abilities rendered stealth useless, and the two secretly built a friendship. When Han Yujin tried to extract Alpha, he was caught. The Achates Alpha manager tried to use Han Yujin, and in order to escape, Han Yujin faked his own death and slipped away.
Afterward, Alpha’s rampage occurred, and Han Yujin went to Solemnise to seek Sigma’s help before returning to Achates and carrying out this plan—or so went Han Yujin’s excuse and explanation. There were parts that seemed suspicious, but it was a plausible story.
“…In any case, it’s not something I have any right to interfere in.”
He had endured for years, claiming a lack of strength as the reason. But now that a C-Class guard had restored Alpha’s freedom, it was clear those were nothing more than excuses born of his own weakness. Perhaps it would’ve been better to risk his life, without taking the long way around.
“Why do you look like that? Without us, Han Yujin wouldn’t have been able to save Alpha so easily either. You can’t say what we built up over the years didn’t help at all. We would’ve succeeded one day with our own strength too, definitely.”
It had only happened a little sooner. Still, Gnos’s expression remained dark. And at that moment—
— Krrr.
The small beast that had been harmlessly wandering about suddenly bared its teeth in a fierce snarl. Flames whooshed up over its red fur.
“It’s the monster!”
“Watch out!”
They thought, Well, it’s small, so maybe its rank isn’t that high, but before the thought was even complete, the Flame Horned Lion slammed into the ground. It lunged at a speed too fast for the eye to follow—its target was none other than Gnos.
“Gnos!”
“Ugh, dodge it!”
At minimum, it was S-Class—possibly higher. Overwhelmed by the terrifying force coming from such a small body, Gnos was knocked to the ground, and Peace pressed a paw firmly against his chest. Flames scorched his clothes, burning his skin red.
— Kyaang!
Peace looked down coldly at the human it had pinned, then raised one front paw. It had sensed vaguely that this person had harmed Han Yujin, but neither Han Yujin nor Han Yuhyun had killed him. That meant there must be a reason. Peace swung its paw lightly.
Smack—a sharp sound echoed as a long scratch was left across Gnos’s cheek. His eyes flew open wide. The red flame felt like it was searing his blood and piercing into his core.
Peace let out another scolding growl and spread its wings. Enveloped in flame, the small monster soared into the sky. Gnos stared up at it, dazed. A potion poured over his head.
“Are you okay?!”
Gnos raised a hand to touch the scratch on his cheek. Bitera helped him up and applied potion to the burns on his body as well.
“That monster seemed SS-Class, but for some reason it just left. I mean, thank goodness, but still.”
“…Yes.”
Amid the murmurs of the others, the two of them watched the monster—now just a small dot in the sky.
“Do you think it’ll ever come back?”
“Huh? Oh, you mean Alpha? Hmm, well, it is his hometown. Not that he has many good memories of it, but maybe he’ll visit once, at least. Does its skill suppress healing? I think this burn’s going to scar. We should go see a healer.”
“No, it’s fine.”
A burn scar—he didn’t mind. Even if it had been a different kind of flame.
“We’ll need to work hard to rebuild before then. We should do what we can.”
“Exactly!”
Bitera smiled, saying at least the mana hall had calmed down.
Peace didn’t stop flapping its wings. With a rush skill added in, it streaked across the sky, scattering flames. Oddly enough, no monsters approached. The monsters that should’ve been scattered outside the city were nearly gone. Thanks to that, Peace flew without pause and arrived in Lanchea before sunset.
“Look at that!”
A Lanchea guard, preparing for nightfall, pointed at Peace and shouted.
“Isn’t that the monster that showed up in Solemnise?”
“Looks like it.”
The guards of Lanchea, who had just heard the news through intercity communication, waved both arms over their heads.
“Hey, come over here, little one!”
“You! They say you took down an SS-Class monster? Come on over to this big sis—we’ll treat you right!”
“We don’t discriminate against monsters here. If you’re job hunting, we’re happy to have you!”
With the guards of Lanchea coaxing it, Peace slowly circled once in the air. Han Yujin’s presence was faint here too. Peace turned its gaze to the far north. Cold places, wet places—he didn’t like either, but he had to go.
As the small monster flapped its wings and flew north, the Lanchea guards couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
“There it goes, heading north.”
“I wonder if Lord Lambda is doing okay.”
“If you run into him, pass along our regards!”
“Lord Lambda! We couldn’t stop him, he didn’t come down!”
Leaving behind the hands waving their goodbyes, Peace flew on. The air grew colder, and drifting snowflakes brushed against his fur. How long had he flown? Finally, a northern city came into view, reflected in his golden eyes.
— Kyaaang!
This time, I won’t be too late.
With an even stronger flap of his wings, Peace soared into the skies above Drosia City.
–TL Notes–
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