Chapter 125: Swing First
Elsa had only ever said the Skinwalkers smelled strange. For her to react this negatively might mean the fog was every bit as dangerous as her reaction suggested.
[Sorry, Daddy.]
Meanwhile, Elsa spoke up abruptly.
[I really don’t think I can go down there. Is it okay if I drop you off over there instead?]
Elsa was looking toward the industrial complex’s rear gate.
Judging by her open disgust, she wanted nothing to do with the black fog, not even getting close to it.
Since there was a real possibility the black fog caused mental corruption, Walfred readily nodded.
"Sure. But you don’t need to go that far."
[Huh? What do you mean?]
"I can just jump off."
The ground was well over a thousand feet below.
At this height, an ordinary human would almost certainly die on impact, but Walfred had long since left the standards of an ordinary human far behind.
A drop like this was nothing.
"Oh, and that fog looks dangerous, so don’t go anywhere near it. Got it?"
[...Not a chance. Never.]
Elsa shook her head.
At her firm answer, Walfred finally smiled in relief. A moment later, he rose to his feet and waved to her.
"I’ll be back, then."
[Okay! Be careful, Daddy.]
With Elsa’s send-off behind him, Walfred leaped straight into the open air. And immediately, he began plummeting toward the ground.
Whoosh! Krakakakoom!
Walfred plunged, slicing through the wind.
Before reaching the ground, he twisted his body in small increments, adjusting his trajectory.
And moments later, Walfred’s falling body slammed straight into the roof of an abandoned factory.
Kaboom!
With a deafening crash, the tin roof crumpled like paper. The assorted materials piled inside the factory shattered beneath him, sending up a cloud of dust.
"Cough, cough!"
After hacking a few times, Walfred walked out completely unharmed.
Despite free-falling from over a thousand feet up, there wasn’t a single scratch on his body.
Partly because the roof and the materials had absorbed the impact, but fundamentally because his physical abilities had grown absurdly strong.
’I really am turning into a monster, bit by bit.’
With that idle thought, Walfred stepped out of the abandoned factory.
At once, the black fog blanketing the area began creeping toward him.
As he stood watching it,
Flash!
[Special skill activating.]
[Blessing of Eternal Light: Brilliance]
Along with the notification that [Brilliance] had activated, radiant light wrapped snugly around his entire body.
As if determined to keep the black fog from ever touching him.
And then,
Ding!
Ding! Ding! Ding!
A rapid string of notification chimes.
Countless system messages appeared in succession.
[Mental Corruption: Defense successful]
─[Sensory Distortion]─
[Mental Corruption: Defense successful]
─[Delirium]─
[Mental Corruption: Defense successful]
─[Ego Collapse]─
[Mental Corruption: Defense...]
The moment he saw them, Walfred realized that the theory he’d formed up in the sky was correct.
’So this fog really was the culprit behind the mental corruption.’
It seemed the corruption began the instant you came into contact with the fog.
If he hadn’t had the [Blessing of Eternal Light]?
By now he would surely have lost all his senses, been driven into delirium, and ended up a broken shell of a man.
But not now.
"Yeah, not happening."
As long as [Brilliance] remained constantly active, the black fog and its mental corruption posed no threat whatsoever to Walfred. Knowing that, he strode boldly through the black fog.
Walfred had only one goal.
Find the Soul Eater’s main body.
’It’s supposed to look like a giant jellyfish.’
Recalling SSS-rankProfessor’s post, Walfred combed through his surroundings.
But no matter how thoroughly he searched the industrial complex, he couldn’t find anything that looked like the creature’s main body.
Which meant...
’Is it hiding inside a building?’
That seemed most likely.
If it had been out in the open to begin with, he would have spotted it when he and Elsa arrived in the skies above the complex.
Looking out over the countless buildings in the industrial complex, Walfred let out a quiet sigh.
’No way around it.’
Tedious as it was, he’d have to search them one by one.
And so he began, starting with the nearest building and scouring each one’s interior in turn.
Abandoned factories, logistics warehouses, medical facilities.
As he went through the complex’s buildings large and small, searching for the Soul Eater,
Step!
He suddenly heard faint footsteps.
Along with them, the beam of a flashlight pierced through the black fog and into his view.
The light drew closer and closer.
And moments later,
"...!? Eek!"
He came face to face with the owner of the footsteps.
A woman in her early twenties, covered in dirt and dust, trembling with fear.
She stumbled backward in surprise, then saw Walfred’s face, and her eyes went round.
"A p-person...?"
"..."
"You’re a person, right?! Oh, thank goodness."
Had the relief drained the tension out of her?
The woman’s legs seemed to give out, and she swayed on the spot for a moment. Then she looked at Walfred and spoke in a desperate voice.
"Do you happen to know where we are? Oh! I’ve been staying at the Wine Cave Shelter. I woke up from a nap and suddenly found myself in a place like this..."
She stepped toward Walfred.
And then,
Thwack!
The woman’s head burst.
Walfred had swung his ice axe in a full swing and blown her head clean off.
The reason for attacking without warning was simple.
’No human could possibly be here.’
Anything walking around unaffected in this fog was almost certainly one of two things: someone driven mad and broken long ago, or a Skinwalker.
Just then, the headless corpse turned soft and formless, quickly melting into something like jelly. It was the moment Walfred’s conviction became reality.
"...Disgusting bastards."
His face twisted in revulsion.
He pressed on with his search.
Then, just as before, more footsteps sounded, and all manner of people began to appear.
"Ah! A person. Excuse me!"
"Mister! Please help us!"
Whack! Thwack!
"Where’s the exit...?"
"Sob! Have you seen my son?"
"Young man, sorry to ask, but could you carry me on your back? My legs are in bad shape. I can’t walk."
Thwack! Crunch! Whack!
People begging Walfred for help.
They approached him, spouting words designed to tug at his humanity. Walfred, for his part, gave no reply, silently swinging his axe.
The result was always the same.
Sloosh! Splat!
Without a single exception, every one of them was a Skinwalker.
At the sight, Walfred frowned.
’Are they all idiots?’
By now, you’d think they’d realize it wasn’t working and back off. Yet the number of Skinwalkers approaching him in human guise only kept increasing.
And then,
’Wait. Increasing?’
Walfred’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
Skinwalkers that kept approaching even knowing they would die. And their numbers, growing the farther forward he went.
Which meant?
’Could it be that up ahead...’
The Soul Eater’s main body was there?
What if the Soul Eater, feeling threatened by Walfred’s approach, was sending Skinwalkers to tie him down?
That would explain things well enough.
"Accelerate."
Having wrapped up his plausible theory, Walfred advanced at speed. Countless Skinwalkers blocked his way as he went, but none of them could hold him back.
Whack! Thwack!
Their heads simply shattered.
Crushing every monster that stood in his path, Walfred arrived at the heart of the industrial complex.
There stood the largest building he’d seen anywhere in the complex.
’A research and development center.’
Walfred’s eyes gleamed coldly.
Something told him the Soul Eater was inside. He forced open the tightly shut doors and stepped inside.
"Huh?"
His eyes widened slightly.
The interior of the R&D center was distinctly different from every building he’d visited so far.
’There’s no black fog?’
The black fog, the phenomenon that caused mental corruption.
The fog that had been everywhere throughout the industrial complex was absent from this building alone.
’Why?’
Walfred tilted his head.
But with no clues to go on, the question couldn’t be answered. Just as he moved to press deeper inside,
Step!
Footsteps sounded behind him.
Another Skinwalker?
The instant Walfred turned, he swung his axe, fully intending to take its head off in one blow.
"...! Hgh!"
But then,
along with a sharp gasp,
Stop!
The axe halted less than half an inch from its target. The person who’d nearly lost their head collapsed to the floor, legs giving out.
And,
"H-Hunter...?"
He saw a familiar face.
The person who had vanished without a word or warning in the middle of the Skinwalker screening at the shelter.
It was Colton.