C122: Night of the Hunt (1)
Double release today and don't worry there won't be a cliff. To be honest I don't know why so many people say the ending of the last chapter was a massive cliff when it ended with the start of the fight between Rudger and the Beast.
Standing on the rebar of the precariously wobbling building, he seemed to be floating in the air.
The Beast of Gévaudan looked up at him. The red eyes of the ferocious monster were calmer than before. Unlike the other humans he perceived as prey the newcomer is recognized as an equal or more.
However, the fading fire burned again and revitalized the monster's body. "Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"
The three heads howled. Not only that, but the heads of the countless animals on his bodies shouted at once and a thunderous howl spread throughout the city of Leathervelk.
The citizens who were watching from afar lowered their heads while covering their ears with their hands, and the weak passed out with bubbles in their mouths.
Hearing the roar that seemed to come from the bottom of hell Rudger bent his eyes sharply inside the crow mask. It was a nightmare-like roar for others but all that evoked from him was a little longing.
'Yeah, it was like this back then.'
When he was the hunter, Abraham Van Helsing.
The decisive factor in gaining the reputation of being the best hunter was hunting the Beast of Gévaudan and the difference from then is that the king of the beasts staring at him is different.
Hans appears to have mutated due to his unusual constitution and the evidence was that the beast had a strange human form. From the perspective of face-to-face, it seemed less beastly and less ferocious than in the past.
However, that did not guarantee that the monster in front of him was weaker than the one he faced in the past. Rather, seeing that he is clearly wary of him but does not move hastily meant he had a clever side.
'I wanted you to recognize me a little bit and be calm, but was it a vain hope?'
Hans can maintain his human self even if he turns into different beasts now, but he didn't do that in the past. Even now, whenever he transformed, Hans showed a few times that he could not easily shake off his animal instincts.
On the other hand, the Beast of Gévaudan is a monster far beyond ordinary animals. Just by looking at the countless heads of beasts that make him up, he could vaguely see how huge the madness as a predator contained in the monster genes is.
An ordinary human being facing it will go crazy or have his ego erased.
'But Hans is still alive.'
The Beast of Gévaudan roared because of its instincts but for an instant he recognized Rudger. That was evidence that Hans's ego inside was alive.
They've known each other for a long time and if Hans used the tooth it meant he was going to die. It's not because he's trying to avoid fights and run away like a coward, but because he's prepared for something.
"Watching the growth of subordinates is also the job of a leader."
And if that subordinate is in crisis giving out a helping hand is also what a leader should do.
"Let me see your skills."
At the same time, Rudger took his foot off the rebar that was standing precariously and crashed down.
* * *
'James Moriarty!'
Casey stared at James Moriarty, who fell suddenly from the air. A shadow darker than the darkness of the night wriggles as if protecting his body under the moonlight.
Even the Beast felt threatened and judged that the man was more dangerous than himself.
Although she got the title [Colour] her pride was a little hurt because she was ignored.
'James Moriarty was Abraham Van Helsing in the past.'
She visited the Royal Museum in the heart of the royal castle of the Kingdom of Durmant and saw the body of the Beast of Gévaudan there.
The appearance of the horrible-looking beast, which humans have no choice but to be frightened of, seemed to be lacking despite the rumors.
Surprisingly, however, nearly 70 percent of the monster's body had been destroyed. All that was left is half a head, one arm, and a skeleton that'll barely make sense of shape.
The rest of it was destroyed or made impossible to even regenerate.
'The whole thing, that guy did it.'
The king of the beasts who reigned in the night of blood and the master of the nightmare that will go down in history was killed by that man.
With 70% of the monster's body destroyed and unable to regenerate it was obvious why the Beast of Gévaudan was wary of him
Casey Selmore bit her lip.
She wanted to capture James Moriarty alive right away. However, now that the attention of the Beast was on him her priority was the evacuation of the citizens.
Fortunately, that man seemed to be trying to deal with the Beast of Gévaudan and she was glad that he distracted the Beast.
As soon as he made up her mind, Moriarty and the Beast collided. The Beat opened his mouth and tried to swallow the shadow.
At that moment, the shape of the shadow contracted from the air and before long it appeared in front of the Beast's middle head.
High-speed movement? No. There was no time difference between disappearing and appearing.
Casey's eyes widened as she realized what he had done.
'Did he move through space?!'
The cane handle held in Rudger's right hand was pulled out, and a white sword appeared. Rudger thrust the sword into the monster's eye.
The tormented monster shook his head violently. Rudger came down neatly on his back, cutting off the heads of animals that thrust their gills at him.
His movements were neat and it was not just physical strengthening, but martial arts that could only be shown by learning swordsmanship for a long time.
However, the Beast of Gévaudan was not one to fall in such an attack. Even when the swords containing the aura of the knights cut its heads, they immediately regenerated…….
'You do, don't you?'
But the heads cut by Rudger didn't regenerate; instead a black smoke flowed out with a squeak on the cut cross section.
Is that sword made of an unusual material? Or some kind of magic?
Without any time to analyze it, the Beast wagged its tail.
'Now is not the time to watch.'
Casey looked at the people, putting a curtain of water around them.
"Everyone, stay away!"
She could only hope that James Moriarty would stop that monster.
* * *
The Beast swung its tail that exploded even solid steel with a hit. It was an attack that a person's body couldn't bear but facing it, Rudger disappeared again in the air as if he knew this would happen.
He used space movement again and the Beast was looking everywhere to find Rudger. In addition to the three heads, which can be called the main body, the eyes of countless beasts rolled around and chased Rudger's traces.
Soon, all heads turned in one direction at once, perhaps they found the goal they were pursuing.
Rudger was above him and as soon as he found him countless bottles of medicine poured down from the air.
The Beast whipped its tail and the medicine bottles, which were hit, broke and the white powder inside it scattered in all directions.
When the pure white powder descended like the dew of dawn on the Beast, there was a reaction.
"Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
The countless heads that grew on the monster's body sneezed and coughed in pain. Except for the three main heads, all the heads that appeared all over the body were having the same reaction.
'What the hell is that…. ?'
Casey, who was looking at the white powder flying in the wind, immediately knew what that powder was.
"Tear gas."
Casey hurriedly spread a thin curtain of water around her.
As if to prove that it wasn't ordinary the gas smelled a little through the barrier and made breathing difficult.
'Are you really using something like that?'
The animal heads are distressed so the gas must be specially made. It's a stench that makes her teeth tremble even as a human being, but what about an animal that has a much more sensitive sense of smell than humans?
Due to the terrible and intense smell of the tear gas the Beast was almost paralyzed. In particular, the eyes of other beasts continued to shed tears, creating countless gaps in the monster where blind spots did not exist.
"Crrrrrr."
The Beast curled up its huge body while its heads wriggled and twisted violently. Soon the Beast started rolling on the ground.
"What is that?"
Erendir's complexion turned pale.
Monsters escaped from the Beast of Gévaudan body but they weren't only heads they had torsos and legs. In an instant, the four-legged beasts staggered and stood up. Some even stood on two feet, similar to humans.
Occasionally, in the case of a body that was not fully formed, the head devoured the surrounding swarm of mice. Then the flesh swelled up and the torso was complete.
"Cryptids!"
"Did they multiply?"
The Clockwork Knights, watching the scene from a safe distance, broke into a cold sweat. They finally found out how so many cryptids appeared 5 years ago in the Kingdom of Durmant.
The Beast of Gévaudan had the ability to produce countless proliferators. He is like a colony that commands countless legions.
What was even scarier was that new heads began to grow again on the Beast body, which was supposed to be empty. If left as it is, it was clear that the Beast of Gévaudan would create cryptids endlessly.
Rudger was aware of this as well.
"Are you going to throw away your heads because of the tear gas and create new ones? You know how to use your brain differently than you did then."
Like a snake that sheds its skin, his judgment was not bad but there were obvious shortcomings.
[Fire!]
A white fire broke out in the air and covered the body of the Beast. The heads, which were about to grow anew, could not withstand the high heat of the fire and burned.
"When you threw your head away your defense became weak so even third rank fire will burn you."
"Crrrrrrrrrrr! "
Three huge heads glared hatefully at Rudger. He was standing on his ground at some point, watching as if he was playing a game.
He wanted to crush that human by swinging his arm, but he instinctively realized that it was useless. No. On the contrary, his judgment was mixed with fragments of what would be called reason.
"Is he not coming?"
Rudger is deliberately guiding his movements to show a gap but the Beast raised its guard even more.
"You're quick-witted."
However, it was already too late because his magic had already been activated.
A light leaked from beneath the rubble of the ground on which the Beast rested. At the same time, the ground rises like a giant spear and penetrates the back feet and palms of the monster that is standing on the ground.
A cloud of dust rose and filled the surroundings.
In the smoke, the Beast of Gévaudan twisted his body, but his penetrated hands and feet remained motionless so he ordered the cryptids to attack Rudger.
Rudger looked at them and tried to swing his sword, but pulled it back.
"That's a lot."
Instead, he pulled two black revolvers from his waist.
Numerous bullets of mana were fired and penetrated the brows of the proliferated beasts. There was no need to reload because the bullets were made from mana.
In an instant, dozens of cryptids fell.
Rudger, who put the revolver back in the holster of the waist, stared at the Beast to see if there was anything else to do.
The Beast shrank as he faced his gaze. If his limbs had not been pierced, he would have stepped back unknowingly.
Rudger looked at it and decided it was over.
'It would be best to knock him out like this, but you saved me the trouble.'
Rudger lifted his head slightly. He could see something glittering in the moonlight of the dark night sky. Shortly thereafter, a huge harpoon was pierced through the cervical spine of the Beast.
The power was so strong that the upper body of the monster with such a gigantic size fell down.
A drug was released from the ampoule of the harpoon that tore the flesh and reached the bone. It was an antidote to remove the beast factor, which Rudger had often given to Hans.
"────!!!"
The red eyes of the Beast widened greatly and before long the monster's gigantic body began to shrink at a rapid rate.
Hans, who had returned to being fully human, fell to the floor. At the same time, black shadows fell from the air one by one.
A large, gray-haired man with a mask on his face covered Hans' body as he fell on the floor and wrapped it around his shoulders. In his other hand, he picked up the harpoon he had thrown.
Alex, who came with Pantos, asked Rudger.
"Leader, is he all right?"
"He's fine. When he was transformed he had high recovery power so his wounds healed."
As Rudger answered, he chewed on the magic pill he had prepared in advance. When fighting using Ater Nocturnus, the consumption of magical power was extreme, so it had to take pills.
"I got {Kafka} safely, so let's leave. It's late."
Now was the right time to run away, when the knight could not approach due to smoke.
"Stop!"
At that moment, Casey Selmore appeared and Rudger stared at her silently.