Chapter 60 – Promise (3)

===================

Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

While the soldiers were clearing the corpses of the large-class monsters, the commander and I sat facing each other in the temporarily erected tent.

“What happened?”

“What happened?”

The commander and I asked each other the same thing and simultaneously furrowed our brows slightly for a moment.

Although I wanted to hear the explanation in chronological order, since I was the subordinate, I had to answer first.

“I thought they had fired the signal flare by mistake. Judging that it would be six or fewer monsters, Meursault and I brought only two newly appointed officers, but it was my error in judgment. If I had known there were nine, we wouldn’t have come by ourselves.”

“That is not what I asked.”

The commander asked me with an expression that looked more confused than ever.

“How did you chase those guys away?”

Oops. Was he asking that?

But I also do not know the reason why those guys suddenly ran away.

Honestly, it was even a bit uncomfortable.

Although it was a relief that they fled, as long as the reason they fled was unknown, they could attack again.

But saying that I simply didn’t know wouldn’t be the answer the commander wanted.

It can’t be helped. I have no choice but to tell him Meursault’s hypothesis.

“Actually… in the zone we went out to search, let alone large-class ones, not even a single mid-to-small monster was visible.”

“Not even a single one was visible?”

“According to the team members’ reports, only footprints were left, as if they had all fled at once in fear of something.”

“Just like the guys that ran away earlier.”

The commander’s eyes turned peculiar.

“I cannot believe what I saw either… but those guys seemed to be running away to avoid you. If the monsters had already taken shelter and were absent from the side where you went to search, then it means the reason they suddenly fled is indeed you.”

“But I don’t know the reason why the monsters run away to avoid me. In the first place, even before I arrived here and dispatched two of them, they didn’t seem to be that scared of me.”

“I also find that part strange. It’s not like you suddenly changed in the middle of combat.”

Although there was indeed something that changed in the middle… since I couldn’t tell the commander that it might be due to the title, I should respond appropriately.

“Is there no possibility that they got scared seeing me dispatch two of them easily?”

“Well, that is the most plausible, but even right before they fled, they seemed to be angry at you for losing their companions.”

“Then I have absolutely no idea of the reason.”

If I answered this much, I seemed to have shown enough sincerity to the commander’s question.

Now it was my turn to ask the commander.

“By the way, what happened? How did you end up engaging nine large-class monsters?”

At my question, the commander let out a deep sigh and replied in a worried voice.

“It is the same on this side. I don’t know the reason.”

“Yes?”

“As you must know, large-class monsters originally do not travel in groups.”

Of course, it was a characteristic I also knew well.

Large-class monsters are creatures that eat even the same monsters indiscriminately.

Monsters of the same grade were no exception, and it was common for large-class ones to eat other large-class ones.

That was why, instead of traveling in groups, they were busy avoiding each other when they met.

“Yet, the guys who hadn’t shown a hair for several hours after starting the center search launched a surprise attack from behind. That too, in a group.”

“Large-class monsters launched a surprise attack in a group?”

As I had said before, for monsters, the smaller they are, the more highly intelligent individuals there are, and the larger they get, the more simple and ignorant they are, not using their brains.

Yet, not just one or two, but nine individuals with a high-level way of thinking like ‘surprise attack’ appeared simultaneously?

‘Come to think of it, among the ones I dealt with earlier, there was one that used its brain…’

Because it was a touch-and-go situation just a moment ago, I hadn’t thought deeply.

The act of raising its head so that its gem couldn’t be shot and hit was also not a behavior easily found in large-class monsters.

Was it that individual that led the group surprise attack?

“Then, the fact that you only fired six flares…”

“Yes. Four people were swept away in the first surprise attack. They seemed to have died instantly. We hurriedly fired the flares we had, and we were saved because Team 2 happened to be searching nearby. After that, thanks to the other teams who saw the signal joining in succession, we are still breathing. Although there are many who are not, the damage is smaller than expected…”

The commander trailed off and spoke to me in a firm tone.

“This is all thanks to you.”

Suddenly?

“I believe I arrived the latest, though.”

“No, it’s not a story about direct help alone.”

The commander rested his chin on his hand and stared at me.

“Although many soldiers survived thanks to your active play, it is because our number was small from the beginning that this many survived. If we had formed the subjugation team as usual, the damage would have been far greater. Because if that massive number of people tried to flee the monsters’ surprise attack, they certainly wouldn’t have set up the encirclement as quickly as now. Even the monsters, trying to attack us who were fewer in number than them, blocked each other’s path, so they couldn’t gain speed. Thanks to that, we fled to where Team 2 was…”

The commander paused there for a moment, then asked me with eyes mixed with suspicion and expectation.

“Did you, by any chance, know?”

Mmh.

Right, since I had told the commander that I was a regressor.

It was understandable for him to think that I had changed the subjugation team into units beforehand, knowing the future in which the surprise attack of large-class monsters would occur.

While suspecting that I hadn’t spoken despite knowing the future.

On the other hand, a gaze expecting that if I had foreseen this situation, I would be able to resolve the subsequent matters too.

However, forming the subjugation team into units was strictly for the sake of efficiency, and I am not truly a regressor either.

Even in the game I played, there was no story of large-class monsters attacking in a group.

The commander, as if noticing from my expression alone that I knew nothing about this situation, withdrew his gaze of suspicion and expectation.

“It seems you didn’t know.”

“It was something that didn’t exist in the future I know.”

“Then… did that guy intervene?”

“If you mean that guy…”

“I mean that fellow who is either a player or a regressor of the Unicorn Zone.”

Back when the Unicorn Zone player attacked me.

I had told the commander that he might be a regressor like me or a player like my mother, and it seemed he hadn’t forgotten.

The commander’s speculation that that guy would be related to this matter was not that absurd.

If something that didn’t happen in the game occurred here.

The first thing to suspect is the player’s intervention.

Currently, the guys in other zones are at most sending monitors to my zone, but considering the Unicorn Zone’s technology, they could sufficiently control large-class monsters.

But…

‘The thought “why bother” occurs to me.’

That guy shot a gun right in front of my nose.

There is no reason to go through the trouble of controlling large monsters to attack us.

Furthermore, if it was his doing, the fact that the monsters withdrew so vainly is also incomprehensible.

“I don’t think a guy who even shot a gun at me would go out of his way to use monsters.”

“I heard that the one he originally tried to kill was that child called Darling Outsider. What if he is targeting your friend again?”

“It’s too inefficient to say he targeted Darling. In the first place, he should have sent the monsters to the team where he was, not to Father’s Team 1. It’s also too ambiguous to see it as targeting Father. Didn’t the monsters not even spare a glance at Father’s side when they fled?”

At my refutation, the commander, perhaps having a headache, held his forehead with one hand and leaned his back deep against the camp chair.

“…Should we return to the zone?”

Having caught five, we had achieved the purpose of the subjugation battle to some extent.

Since those nine were probably all the large-class monsters around here.

It might be better to return rather than stay here where unknown things were happening and cause danger.

Although it was uncomfortable to return leaving four behind, if they ran away upon seeing me next time too, it would be difficult to subjugate them.

“Your Excellency.”

At that moment, Meursault pushed aside the tent door and stepped inside.

“Reporting. The monsters subjugated total five. The personnel deceased during engagement total six, and the bodies of two among them have not been found yet.”

“The wounded?”

“The wounded total twenty-four, with three seriously injured and twenty-one slightly injured. The personnel waiting in other sectors have all been confirmed safe, and Second Lieutenant Plato is leading them to this location. The monster corpses are ready for transport, but… what will you do?”

It seemed Meursault had also come to ask about the return.

The commander looked at me with a face asking what we should do.

…Is he really telling me to decide right now?

“Among the twenty-one slightly injured, how many can drive a bike?”

When I asked that, Meursault returned an answer immediately as if he had already anticipated that I would ask so.

“All twenty-one can drive a bike at least.”

“Then let us send the corpses and the wounded back to the zone first.”

At my words, the commander stared at me and asked.

“Are you trying to continue the search?”

“It seems we must do so until the wounded return. Because there is no rule saying that those who surprise attacked once won’t do it again.”

The commander and Meursault looked at each other once, then nodded simultaneously.

“Since we can’t send only the wounded, we must select a few soldiers to return together.”

“We must reorganize the structure.”

The two decided on the returning personnel in an instant, reduced the ten teams to five, and assigned eleven people to each team.

The team leaders of each team were decided to be the survivors of the commander’s Team 1. Since veterans with exceptionally rich real combat experience had been deployed in Team 1 to assist the commander, the deaths of the four team members only now felt painfully real.

Since the survivors of Team 1 were six including the commander, one was not given a team leader position but was put in charge of leading the wounded.

My Team 10, which had neither casualties nor even injured, was composed of only newly appointed officers, so they were divided evenly into the five teams.

Meursault and I were naturally in Team 1 led by the commander, but what was unexpected was that the commander put CornerHoney in Team 1 first.

“Are you going to take him along?”

“The one running toward you before the monsters fled, isn’t that your friend?”

He must have seen CornerHoney running toward me even in that hectic moment.

Well, it was also uncertain to me whether he would be of help, but seeing him come to help me in that situation, I was also impressed by his growth.

At that moment, Meursault looked at me and spoke as if he just remembered.

“Come to think of it, Private Outsider was standing in front of the tent with a pale face…”

“Standing in front of the tent?”

“Since His Excellency and I will handle the subsequent matters, wouldn’t it be good for you to go to your friend?”

When Meursault said so, the commander also told me it was fine to go out.

Thinking I didn’t need to concern myself with the team organization, I bowed my head lightly in greeting and walked out of the tent.

As soon as I came out, I felt a hand suddenly grabbing my arm.

“Dopa… Haydam!”

Hearing that he was standing there pale, Meursault’s words were no exaggeration.

CornerHoney was pale as if he had seen something extremely terrifying, and he didn’t have such a frightened face even when he almost died at the hands of the Unicorn player.

To the point that even I unconsciously asked, “Are you… okay?”

“Those guys earlier… those guys!”

CornerHoney spoke, shaking his head repeatedly as if he didn’t hear my question.

“Something is strange… something is wrong…!”

Looking now, the hand grabbing my arm was also trembling.

A reaction that was a bit excessive to be simply because he had dealt with several large-class monsters just a moment ago.

“Calm down. I also thought it was strange for large-class monsters to launch a surprise attack in a group, so I’m planning to investigate from now on—”

“I told you traveling in groups is not the problem!”

As CornerHoney yelled out, I quickly covered his mouth.

Because the commander and Meursault were right behind, separated by a single sheet of tent.

That fellow CornerHoney stared at me with resentful eyes, but considering he had almost called me Dopamine Addict just a moment ago, it was a justifiable treatment.

I took him away from the tent just like that, and only after confirming no one was around did I release the hand covering his mouth.

“First of all, calm down.”

“…”

“Now tell me what the problem is.”

“Those guys…”

CornerHoney swallowed dry saliva once and continued.

“I saw those guys eating people…”

I nodded as if I understood.

“It must have been horrible.”

I had tried to empathize in my own way, but CornerHoney shook his head violently.

“No! It wasn’t horrible. It was a problem because it wasn’t horrible!!”

“What do you mean by that?”

Getting tired of listening further, I ultimately frowned, and CornerHoney replied in a mumbling voice.

“I saw it clearly. The bodies of the people eaten by them…”

Looking at me with trembling eyes, he slowly spat out.

“Disappeared into blue particles as soon as they touched their teeth.”