Chapter 238: The Spirit Beast Slayer (1)

Growl…….

A massive Half-Moon Wolf growls looking at someone.

That someone was a human male.

A physique not even half the size compared to the Half-Moon Wolf.

Just the Half-Moon Wolf swinging its front paw lightly would easily separate the human’s head and body.

However, for some reason, the Half-Moon Wolf could not move easily as if its four paws were stuck to the ground.

Looking closely, the Half-Moon Wolf was trembling.

Although it was making threatening sounds, its ears were folded back, its fur stood on end, and its tail drooped.

Surprisingly, the Half-Moon Wolf was scared of the human male in front of its eyes.

The reason was the smell deeply steeped in his body.

It was the smell of the blood of countless spirit beasts.

The Half-Moon Wolf, which has a sensitive sense of smell, could smell the scent of death wafting from him.

But the Half-Moon Wolf did not run away.

More accurately, it could not run away.

Behind the human male, a small-sized Half-Moon Wolf dangling from a rope connected to a tree branch.

Woof! Woof!

It was the Half-Moon Wolf’s cub.

The mother stared at the cub with sorrowful eyes.

It seemed to have been caught in a trap while she briefly left her spot to find food.

No.

It might not have been a trap made to catch the cub in the first place.

The human’s real aim would be to catch herself using the cub as bait.

Seeing the creepy smile, the mother was certain.

It was then.

The human’s eyes glanced toward the cub.

The mother did not miss that opportunity and pounced quickly.

Roar!

“Caught you, didn’t I?”

Smiling broadly, the human male reached out his hand.

Then, vine stems burst out from all directions and bound the mother’s body.

The mother struggled to escape from the vines constricting her body.

However, it was useless.

The vines did not budge.

The human male walked toward such a mother, step by step.

Whine! Whimper!

The Half-Moon Wolf cub watching that scene while crying mournfully.

“Please stay still.”

The human male’s spectacle frames reflecting the sunlight began to harbor a sinister light.

***

The moment Ianco’s eyes, full of confusion, met Dr. Edric, they settled down calmly.

“So it was you…….”

“Yes? What was it?”

“Don’t play dumb, you bastard! What on earth are you plotting!”

Ianco rushed at Dr. Edric, who tilted his head, and grabbed him by the collar.

Dr. Edric’s slender body dangled from Ianco’s arm.

“Whoa. That surprised me.”

However.

Dr. Edric did not look flustered at all.

Looking down at Ianco with a still relaxed expression.

“Why don’t you let this go?”

Then, Ianco, who met Dr. Edric’s eyes, suddenly felt his body stiffening hard.

“Kugh?”

A bizarre power was felt from Dr. Edric’s gaze.

Instinctively sensing a crisis, Ianco closed his eyes and threw Dr. Edric away.

However, the power that had already invaded his body made Ianco stiffen like stone more and more.

Ianco pulled up his aura as much as possible to resist that power.

“You can’t move, right?”

“T, this kind of thing…… doesn’t work on me!”

Ianco clenched his teeth.

Walking one step toward Dr. Edric, he reaches out his hand toward the empty air.

“Ba, Bardray Activation.”

With a flash, a long greatsword is held in his only hand.

Immediately after, a clang, shattering sound was heard from inside Ianco’s body.

It was the sound of the petrification encroaching on Ianco breaking.

“Die!”

Ianco, having regained his freedom, swung his sword immediately.

However.

“Hoh. Indeed. Your strength is prodigious, just as I heard.”

Dr. Edric swung his hand lightly, and a strong wind arose, blowing Ianco’s body away like a sheet of paper along with the office furnishings.

Crash!

Ianco, who was stuck in the corner, pushed away the chair pressing down on his body and struggled to get up.

But then, several stems of vines that popped out from the floor wrapped around his arms, legs, and body as if they were alive.

Ianco burst out in bewilderment.

“M, Magic?”

“No. It is the power of a spirit beast. From beginning to end.”

Dr. Edric raised the corners of his mouth into a smile.

“How is it? Amazing, isn’t it? To think one can use the power of a spirit beast at will. It is much more concise and effective than mages or whatever, and artifacts or whatever.”

“H, How…….”

“You ask how a human uses a spirit beast’s ability? Hehehe. Curious, are you? It is simpler than you think. Watch closely.”

Saying so, Dr. Edric signaled Johnny with his eyes.

Johnny, who was standing far away, ran hurriedly at Dr. Edric’s signal and took something out of a leather pouch and held it out.

It was a stone about the size of an adult man’s fist.

The color was black mixed with a reddish tint, and it harbored an ominous energy.

Dr. Edric accepted it.

And bit into it with his mouth.

Crunch-

Surprisingly, the thing that seemed hard as stone burst with crimson flesh and disappeared into Dr. Edric’s mouth all too easily.

“Mmm.”

Dr. Edric savored the taste for a while, then took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth and hands stained with the flesh.

“It ripened well.”

“Congratulations, Doctor.”

“Congratulations are yet to come. There is something more delicious separately. Please congratulate me then.”

“Yes.”

“Anyway, try shooting now.”

Johnny bowed his waist ninety degrees, then suddenly took out the musket he was carrying and aimed precisely at the center of Dr. Edric’s forehead.

And.

Click-

He pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The distance between the musket’s muzzle and Dr. Edric’s forehead was only 1 meter.

Even if the accuracy of a musket generally crawls on the ground, that applies when there is some distance.

At a distance of 1 meter, it wouldn’t be strange if a blood hole was bored into the forehead immediately.

But the result was surprising.

“……!”

Between Dr. Edric’s middle finger and index finger.

There, the lead bullet fired from the musket Johnny shot just moments ago was fixed precisely.

Truly nonsensical dynamic visual acuity and reflexes that far exceeded human limits.

“The Half-Moon Wolf has good eyes, doesn’t it? It’s fast too. Hmm. I like it.”

Half-Moon Wolf?

‘Ah.’

Only then did Ianco realize what Dr. Edric had eaten just moments ago.

The Half-Moon Wolf’s heart.

In other words, it was the core.

Simultaneously, Ianco recalled a superstition passed down like a ghost story among magical beast hunters who specialize in hunting magical beasts.

‘If you consume a magical beast’s core, you can obtain that magical beast’s power.’

That was literally a ghost story.

In reality, one would only die from shock due to a violent rejection reaction or go crazy; there has been no case historically of obtaining power by obtaining a magical beast’s core.

However, what Dr. Edric ate was not a magical beast’s core.

It was the heart of the Half-Moon Wolf which was originally a spirit beast.

Ianco’s breathing became rough.

“You bastard. What kind of bullshit are you plotting……?”

“It is nothing much. Shall I call it research to shed the human shell and transform into a better existence? If you plant a parasitic magical beast, monsterization proceeds. Afterwards, if you consume the core, you can obtain the spirit beast’s power. Now, then, a question here.”

Dr. Edric said while pushing up his spectacle frames.

“Then, what should one do to obtain a Divine Beast’s ability?”

“……!”

Ianco’s eyes opened wide.

“Regrettably, parasitic creatures or such cannot monsterize a Divine Beast. But, it’s not strange either. Since Divine Beasts are complete beings of a different level from spirit beasts or such, right? However, that doesn’t mean there is no way at all.”

Simultaneously, Dr. Edric waved his hand.

Then the vines that were tightly binding Ianco disappeared back into the walls and floor they had burst out from.

Ianco sprang up holding his sword.

“……What are you doing?”

“Try guessing.”

“……What?”

“The method to monsterize a Divine Beast. No, should I call it blackening rather than monsterization? Anyway, try guessing. Since you know the method.”

Ianco snorted.

“Do you think I will play along with that damn tune?”

“Will you? Ah. Don’t tell me you intend to attack again? You know it is a useless act, right?”

Ianco, who had pulled up his aura, flinched.

Speaking coldly, there was no way for him to do anything to those two people in his current state.

Dr. Edric aside, even beating Johnny one-on-one was not guaranteed in Ianco’s current physical condition.

On top of that.

‘The fact that the kids aren’t coming up even though this commotion happened means the kids have also all been won over.’

In other words, the entire mercenary group had fallen into their hands.

Without him knowing.

‘Haha…….’

He built a bitter smile.

Because Yuria’s words that he was not qualified as a leader came to mind at this moment.

Ianco let his left arm holding the sword droop powerlessly.

“Huu. Right. You say I know the method to obtain a Divine Beast’s power?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you think so?”

“It is simple. Because you have hunted a Divine Beast, haven’t you? Precisely, the Ruler of the Frozen Sea, Kasanne.”

At that time, he had only commanded on site.

All preliminary preparations and overall plans were made by the Naimus Empire.

“I only followed orders.”

“I will tell you an interesting story. The reason Kasanne was abandoned by the Five Divine Beasts is because she loved a human man. That man’s name is Kazan. An agent of the Naimus Intelligence Bureau, a very, very handsome and charming man.”

Of course. So the Divine Beast fell for him.

Smiling beamingly, Dr. Edric continued speaking again.

“Then suddenly, he dies. A sudden death. Why is that?”

For a moment, Ianco had a terrifying thought.

“Don’t tell me…… you killed him on purpose?”

“Ding dong dang! Correct. The Naimus Empire sent him in to seduce the Divine Beast, and killed him right away. Because, that way Kasanne would be sad! There is nothing as scary and effective as a sense of loss to break down a life, is the point!”

Dr. Edric shouting as if giving a speech with both arms spread wide.

“You are insane…….”

Ianco, who was astonished, could not continue his words at the thought that suddenly crossed his mind.

‘Wait. Why is this guy kindly giving me that explanation?’

The Doctor said he wants to obtain a Divine Beast’s ability to become a perfect existence himself.

And he made Johnny go all the way to the Academy to bring Yuria.

“…….”

His heart beat faster and his breathing became rapid.

The hand holding the sword trembled like crazy.

He was not a fool.

He was no longer unaware that what Dr. Edric ultimately wanted was Yuria.

Because, Yuria is a Divine Beast.

Accurately, she is half Divine Beast and half human, but.

Anyway, there was no experimental material as good as Yuria to satisfy Dr. Edric’s desire.

He wanted to smash that smiling face and kill him right away.

However, there was still no way to suppress those two.

He had to save at least Yuria.

If he dies here, what will happen to Yuria left alone?

‘I must save at least my daughter.’

It was then.

“I need your help for my plan, Ianco.”

Dr. Edric brought up an unexpected story.

“What? My help?”

“Yes. As you might have noticed, I need Yuria’s core. Then I have to blacken her first, and to blacken her, I have to give her a great sense of loss, and here your help is needed.”

Ianco instinctively thought it was an opportunity.

“I don’t quite understand?”

“I heard about the past from Johnny. That a conflict arose because of the spirit beast artifact business, right? Coincidentally, Yuria has another spirit beast right now. The very Half-Moon Wolf cub.”

Yuria hid it, but Dr. Edric knew that she had brought the Half-Moon Wolf cub.

“When she has grown attached, if she sees you, her dad, kill that Half-Moon Wolf cub ‘again’ to make it into an artifact, what emotion will Miss Yuria feel?”

At that moment, Ianco felt it.

That this guy is not a person but a devil.

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