Osian recalled people's reactions when he said he was going to the sewage treatment plant.
Half asked if he really had to go there, and the other half showed fear and terror.
Come to think of it, there wasn't much difference between the two reactions. In essence, everyone wanted to avoid it.
Now he could understand why.
The snake with a broken neck collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Just now, that creature had used a breath attack. Even for a mutant snake transformed by contamination, it was an attack that far exceeded biological limitations.
'They called it Ethereal.'
A mutant, specifically one that evolved by consuming and adapting to Ether Water.
Ether Water is an invaluable energy resource in the current era.
It seems these divine droplets, which provide high efficiency even in small amounts, could create such miracles.While Osian curiously poked the snake's corpse with his toe, Mist, who had witnessed an even greater miracle, felt uneasy.
'Damn it. Why is the world so unfair?'
Mist recalled the abilities Osian had shown when he was in danger.
Before that, when he secretly watched Osian sparring with Asmer, Osian emitted a pure white light from his sword.
Just swinging a sword looks cool, but swinging a glowing sword looks much cooler.
And on top of that, he even wears a cloak of light?
'This is cheating.'
And look at the cloak's design. It's not just some random rag thrown on; the collar area has fur swaying like a lion's mane.
What about the cloak's lining? While the outside glows with pure white light, the inside looks like the night sky spread out. The twinkling starlight there resembled constellations in a painting.
Mist felt an unbearable sense of absurdity. It felt like the whole world was pressing down on him.
How could someone cool get even cooler abilities? Where should a hard-working cool guy like me live?
'At this rate, what? He'll probably say he's going to wear glowing armor too?'
Mist thought this and then laughed inwardly. He felt he had gone too far even by his standards.
More importantly, he needed to deal with the aftermath of the current situation.
"Thanks."
Mist sincerely thanked Osian for helping him.
While he was jealous and surprised by Osian's appearance, he wasn't the type to say nothing after receiving help.
'A true Mist should apologize coolly even in moments like this. That's what being truly cool is about.'
Actually, being obsessed with being cool makes one uncool, but Mist had no way of knowing that.
Right now, Mist's interest was in Osian's cloak.
It's a cool cloak.
Though surprised at first sight, now ideas were sprouting one after another.
Wouldn't it be cool if he could control his mist to look like a cloak too?
'That could work pretty well.'
He got the idea thanks to Osian's ability.
Moreover, this wasn't the only thing improving Mist's mood.
"You use impressive abilities."
"It's just the power I was given. Nothing special."
"It'll be reassuring to fight together from now on."
When Osian commented on his abilities, which he had been secretly acknowledging, Mist felt his shoulders rising with pride.
Yeah. As expected, you too were paying attention to my abilities as a rival.
'Hmph. At least you have good eyes. Osian, was it? You pass. You're worth getting close to.'
The exploration continued even after defeating the ethereal snake.
Their goal was to observe the readings at the sewage treatment plant.
Although encountering an ethereal specimen was unexpected, they had blocked it without much damage, which actually raised the exploration team's morale.
"Amazing. Who would have thought we'd easily subdue an ethereal specimen."
"I've heard about ethereals' reputation, but wasn't it not that impressive? Was that snake particularly weak?"
"Idiot. Didn't you see how things were getting destroyed when that snake was thrashing about? That's how strong this fixer is."
"As expected of Mist."
Overhearing the whispered conversations behind him, Mist felt his pride swelling.
Yeah. Praise me more. Worship me more.
Mist loved situations like this the most.
Overhearing people talking him up while watching his cool appearance is what really boosts his self-esteem and proves that he's special.
"But Mist was in danger too. Did you see what the ethereal snake spewed from its mouth?"
"Yeah. Even watching from far away, it was fierce enough to make my skin sting."
"That's when Osian stepped in to block it, right? And look at him, not a single scratch and completely fine. This is my first time seeing him, but it seems the rumors about him being a super rookie weren't exaggerated at all?"
"I saw him fight before. Light comes out of his sword, and it's truly beautiful, ethereal even."
Mist's mood slightly soured at the subsequent praise for Osian.
It seemed like they were rating Osian higher than him, no matter how he looked at it.
'Fine. I'll acknowledge this one. Even though I let my guard down, it's true that I received help. But there won't be a next time.'
Mist thought.
The fact that they encountered an ethereal specimen right at the entrance means that the contamination levels at the treatment plant were higher than standard.
The contaminated zone might have expanded, and the probability of mutants abnormally proliferating increases proportionally.
Mist decided that would be when he'd make up for this mistake with an impressive performance.
*
The eyes spying on Osian's group carefully analyzed their combat power.
"Hmm. I guess one ethereal specimen isn't enough to satisfy them."
Burka, a special agent of the 'White House', muttered while recalling the fight with the ethereal snake from earlier.
He was currently secretly following Osian to carry out orders from above.
'The Doctor's orders are to capture and bring in the special target, codename [Knight].'
Burka recalled the information about Osian that he had obtained beforehand.
'True to his codename, his characteristic is that of a knight. A descendant of knights who uses ancient powers from long ago that have now disappeared, was it?'
Superhuman physical abilities and reaction speed, and swordsmanship that surpasses even those.
Above all, the most dangerous thing was the mysterious power called [Starlight] that surges from his sword.
The high-output white flames possessed terrifying cutting power that could slice through anything they touched.
Looking at its effects, it seemed possible to concentrate high-density energy to melt whatever it touched.
'In other words, it means he swings a sword with serious power even if it just grazes you.'
You could say it doesn't matter as long as you don't get hit, but Osian's abilities didn't end there.
This was evident from how he blocked the ethereal snake's breath attack earlier.
That pure white energy he wielded wasn't limited to just his sword.
'According to information, he can wrap that around his body for defense too.'
The cloak from earlier was one such form.
'However, there are still many unconfirmed abilities. Plus, it's not just [Knight] alone there, so it's quite troublesome. Should I call more ethereal specimens?'
The reason the ethereal snake could rampage earlier was because Burka had lured it there.
He was planning to take advantage of their moment of carelessness to make his move.
Of course, he didn't think that would be possible from the start.
Since they were heading to the danger zone on their own, he needed to gradually wear down their strength and show his claws at the decisive moment.
The heavily armed guards, the mana user Hammond, and the other fixers were outside his interest.
The only one that bothered him was Mist.
'An unexpected one has been added.'
Originally, Mist wasn't supposed to be there, but due to his whim, another person of interest was suddenly added.
Mist's abilities couldn't be taken lightly, as seen when he subdued the ethereal snake.
[Knight] alone was troublesome enough, but with the mist-wielding one there too, Burka couldn't handle it alone.
Of course, Burka wasn't alone.
"Can you hear me?"
When contacted through the signal device the other agents responded.
[We hear you.]
"The first capture operation for codename Knight has failed."
[How much progress was made?]
"None at all. I only confirmed his abilities as recorded in the files. They're currently moving toward the treatment plant observation device."
[Understood. Then we'll prepare accordingly.]
Though inferior to him, they were still excellent agents blessed by the White House.
There wouldn't be any problems with setting up traps.
'For now, I should keep watching.'
Burka didn't get overconfident.
The story of Osian destroying Laboratory 45 alone was enough to consider him a threat.
If he wields ancient power, there's no chance in a direct confrontation.
This was true even though Burka possessed unique powers as an agent.
'This is a rare direct order from the Doctor. Success alone would greatly raise my authority within the White House.'
That way, he could also gain an advantage in competition with other special agents who competed with him.
'For now, I'll keep watching until he shows a moment of exhaustion and vulnerability.'
For this purpose, Burka was watching Osian's appearance using an artifact rather than observing him directly.
Osian's figure appeared on the small hand mirror he was holding.
It was a magical artifact that allowed real-time observation of the location by flowing faint magical power around it.
The amount of magical power needed was very minimal, so fine distance control was necessary to use it, but this wasn't a problem for Burka as a special agent.
'Now. How will you respond to the next trap?'
The moment Burka thought that.
Osian, beyond the mirror, turned to look at him.
"...!"
Burka unconsciously flinched.
The moment his eyes met Osian's, he felt like his whole body was freezing.
All his body hair stood on end, and his spine turned cold.
This shouldn't have been possible.
Burka, who had undergone body modifications to remain calm in any situation, was able to forcibly maintain composure by self-regulating his hormones.
Even if a natural disaster struck, that coolness wouldn't disappear.
However,
'Th-this....'
For a moment, Burka felt like he had directly gazed at some cosmic scenery through the mirror, something more enormous than any natural disaster on Earth.
Burka instinctively stopped using the artifact.
And while throwing the artifact as far away as possible, he retreated from his position.
'Even though I'm observing through two or three layers, he notices?'
There weren't even magic detectors, and even if he sensed the gaze, it should have only felt like the presence of a tiny flying insect but Osian clearly recognized him.
That definitely wasn't an illusion.
Burka wiped away cold sweat while panting.
Suddenly, such a thought occurred to him.
An anxiety about whether all the traps he had prepared could even tire that man out.
*
The White House agents who received Burka's instructions moved quickly.
"Plan B ready."
"Ethereal specimen location confirmed."
"What's the specimen type?"
"Type is sewer rat. There are three of them, and with their mutant offspring born in pairs, it's close to twenty."
"An Ethereal group, huh. Though weaker than the snake."
"But if we push with numbers, they're excellent for reducing their headcount."
Rather than one powerful specimen, it seemed better to increase the numbers with weaker ones for the attack.
Of course, it didn't matter if Plan B failed since they had other plans prepared.
"Good. Start as soon as preparations are complete. If we're doing this, let's end it quickly at our level."
"I know. If we achieve results, we might get more enhancement procedures in the next experiment. No, it's practically certain."
"With a bit more, we might even be able to aim for special agent positions."
The White House agents, though named as such, were closer to test subjects.
Of course, since they voluntarily participated to become stronger, they actually took pride in their situation.
They were people who suppressed things like ethics and morality and filled themselves only with strength.
While they felt somewhat hurt in their pride having to do such behind-the-scenes work, they weren't foolish enough to disobey orders from above.
"Begin luring the ethereal specimens."
"Don't need to tell me...."
The agent's voice who was about to activate the device to lure the ethereals cut off mid-sentence.
They were having a conversation right behind each other, not even exchanging signals.
Instead of wondering about his colleague's reaction, the agent immediately drew his gun from his waist and aimed behind him.
"Oh. Quick reaction."
But he never got to pull the trigger.
This was because the green-haired shark-toothed woman had grabbed his wrist.
"But, even so, you're no match for me."
"K-Krua?"
The one who attacked the agent was Krua, the older sister of the Slithering Sisters.
The agent couldn't understand this fact. Why was she here after escaping from Uluaz Prison?
No, even if she was here, why him?
"Why exactly..."
The agent naturally asked while concentrating strength in his right arm.
His bones burst through his wrist and pierced through Krua's hand.
"Die!"
The moment he tried to strike Krua's neck with his remaining left arm, what he saw was Krua's face breaking into a slight smile.
-Crunch!
In an instant, both of Krua's arms had transformed into those of a shark and crunched the agent's forearm and head.
Stepping over the agent's corpse that collapsed with a thud, Krua pulled out a communicator.
"Ah. This side is cleared."
[Good work, Miss Krua.]
The one who answered through the communicator was Gaien.
"I'll clean up the rest too."
[Make them pay the price for running wild in our territory.]