Burka, who had discarded the artifact, heightened his senses to their maximum.
While it was impossible to observe the Osian in detail, it wasn't that difficult to track their position.
Eventually, after some time passes, they would encounter a new ethereal entity.
After experiencing such encounters several more times, casualties would increase and most would become exhausted.
'Even if they realize something's wrong later, there's nothing they can do.'
Having already entered the trap, they had no choice but to silently endure what was coming.
Burka waited for the next operation. Soon, the disturbance from over there would be transmitted to him through the medium of air.
'If they called an ethereal entity, the aftermath would be proportionally large.'
Unlike the snake creature, this time he hoped there would be some casualties.
Now, let's see how those fellows would handle this.Burka counted seconds in his head.
5 seconds until the operation starts.
3, 2, 1.
It begins.
"......"
Several seconds passed after the planned time, but there was still no perceivable commotion.
Burka sensed something was wrong.
While operations aren't executed precisely to the second, this level of silence meant something had gone wrong.
Though inferior to him, the ones who came along were also agents who had received treatments from the White House.
They were guys who at least pulled their own weight, but they didn't execute the meticulously prepared operation?
'It must be one of two things. Either they conspired among themselves to betray me, or something happened to them.'
Burka thought it was the latter.
Unless they were fools, they would know that doing well here would benefit them.
Intentionally holding him back in a place like this? That wasn't rational.
That meant the ones who went to carry out the operation had been attacked, but.
'Who could it be? Surely they weren't stupidly taken down by mutant beasts?'
He tried sending a radio transmission just in case, but there was no response.
Only the static noise was eerily chilling.
'I guess we'll have to skip Plan B.'
Burka immediately radioed the next operation team.
He needed to warn the Plan C and D teams waiting at the next locations.
However
'None of them are responding?'
Burka felt a chill run down his spine.
It was somewhat different from when his eyes had met with Osian's through the artifact earlier.
While that had felt like seeing something that shouldn't be seen, this time it was closer to the sense of crisis felt when encountering a more realistic danger.
'What in the...'
Burka suddenly jumped up from his position and threw himself sideways.
It wasn't based on any rational judgment, but rather an instinctive decision born from years of fighting and combat.
It turned out to be the right choice.
A giant octopus tentacle had just swept through the space where Burka's head had been moments ago.
It wasn't just any octopus tentacle. It had bizarre patterns engraved on it, and sharp thorns between its suction cups.
The sight of it wiggling like centipede legs was enough to make one's whole body shiver with disgust.
Before Burka could even steady himself, he tumbled backward several times, kicking off the ground.
Only after putting sufficient distance between them could he properly face his attacker.
"Was it you? The one who eliminated my subordinates?"
It was a gloomy woman wearing baggy, excessive clothing even in this hot and stuffy space.
Burka matched the face with a name from his memory.
"Atilla, the younger of the Slithering Sisters."
-Srrrk.
The octopus tentacle that had tried to ambush Burka retreated beneath Atilla's skirt as an unknown fluid dripped from where the tentacle had passed.
Burka's eyebrow twitched.
'It's deadly poison. A poison so dangerous it causes cellular necrosis from just a graze. Even for me, self-detoxification would take a while.'
While thinking he'd encountered a troublesome opponent, Burka spoke up.
"Judging by your reaction, you must have been the one who attacked my subordinates at the scene. Why are you doing this?"
"A-are you really asking because you don't know?"
Atilla asked with a trembling voice.
Though her behavior made her appear frightened of his gaze, Burka didn't let his guard down.
The Slithering Sisters were extremely dangerous criminals. While Krua, the older sister, usually took the lead, Burka knew very well that the most dangerous one was Atilla, who had received the most blessings from the Outer God.
'Personality and power are separate things to begin with.'
Personality is merely an element that helps one handle their power well.
While training can efficiently hone mental strength, that doesn't directly translate to a measure of power.
Burka moved his hand to his waist and slowly drew his gun.
"I-if you just surrender now, this can end without much trouble."
"Surrender?"
Burka's mouth twisted.
"After eliminating all my subordinates, you dare talk about surrender? There should be limits."
"Th-the boss said to capture you."
"They said to capture me but sent just one person? Seems like they've seriously underestimated me."
No matter how impressive Atilla might be, sending just one person to capture him crossed a line.
Feeling wounded in his pride, Burka felt his head getting hot.
His nervous system ignited as blood flow accelerated through his body.
Given that they had located his position and killed his subordinates, it seemed they already knew what they were trying to do.
"I-it's not really like that. B-but in our territory, we couldn't help but notice such activities."
"Your territory? Ah, I see. I wondered where you sisters had fled to, so you were in Zero Ground."
So the interference came from Zero Ground residents but that raised questions too. Zero Ground folks don't oversee the entire underground to begin with.
They only control a specific area, an extremely small part of the underground, so why come all the way here to meddle?
To anyone watching, it could only be seen as blatantly hostile action against the White House.
Burka tried to relay this information outside, but being underground, the signal wouldn't reach the surface.
'Tch. To report this, I'll need to get closer to the surface.'
For that, he needed to deal with Atilla first.
"How unfortunate. An Outer God's lackey dying lonely in a place like this. Still, don't feel too bad. After all, your opponent was me."
"Ah..."
In response to Burka's provocative tone, Atilla let out a notably regretful sigh.
Even Burka, who had made the provocation, couldn't understand why she was reacting so explicitly.
"Th-that just now made them angry."
"What? Puha ha! Made them angry? You?"
Burka laughed. Someone speaking with a trembling voice like a frightened herbivore talking about being angry was more amusing than threatening.
Of course, considering Atilla's abilities, he shouldn't let his guard down. While thoroughly mocking her, Burka immediately moved his hand to aim his gun at Atilla.
The shooting followed immediately after aiming.
The bullets, accurately targeting Atilla's glabella (the smooth part of the forehead above and between the eyebrows) and heart, were blocked midway by an appearing octopus tentacle.
"I-I didn't mean that I was angry."
Atilla said with a slightly tearful face.
"They got angry."
"They?"
"Th-the one watching from outside."
Burka finally realized what Atilla meant.
She was saying that his provocation had angered the Outer God.
'Was the Outer God a being that showed emotional responses?'
That was unknown. Being from the outside world, it couldn't be judged by common sense but if it had responded to his provocation and was quite angry, this was dangerous.
Burka immediately prepared to move his body backward.
As he was about to move his legs, Burka's muscles stiffened with the sensation of his entire body freezing.
It was eyes.
Yellow eyes were watching Burka from all directions.
"Th-this is..."
There were eyes everywhere: on the ceiling, walls, and floor.
It wasn't just eyes that had grown. The entire underground space had transformed into flesh that pulsated like a heart.
Burka hurriedly tried to move his legs but his legs wouldn't move, as if firmly held by something.
Looking down, he saw the flesh-covered ground had swallowed up to his ankles.
The part touching his ankles was gnawing at his legs like teeth.
"Wh-what is this! Damn it!"
A faint light flowed from Burka's pupils. Simultaneously, a powerful telekinetic force arose, spreading shockwaves throughout the area as if a bomb had exploded.
The ground biting Burka's ankles was crushed by the telekinetic wave.
Burka tried to escape like this but couldn't, because the crushed ground quickly regenerated and grabbed up to his thighs beyond his ankles.
"Let go! I said let this go!"
Burka set off consecutive telekinetic waves, but it was useless.
Burka's gaze turned to Atilla.
-Puh-puh-puh-pung!
The telekinetic waves flying toward Atilla exploded consecutively in mid-air. All the attacks aimed at vital points were helplessly blocked by octopus tentacles.
Meanwhile, the flesh had devoured past Burka's waist up to his chest.
While others might have fainted from being overwhelmed by such a sight, special agent Burka was immune to such things.
And that rather worked against Burka unfortunately.
Because he would remember clearly what he was seeing and what was happening to him until the moment of death.
"S-save..."
Burka's final words disappeared as he was completely buried in flesh.
Burka's body collapsed instantly, and the satisfied flesh masses disappeared.
The space returned to normal, and Atilla watched the scene with trembling eyes.
Just then, the communication device on her waist rang.
Atilla almost dropped it in surprise, but a small tentacle swiftly emerged and caught the device, holding it out to her.
Atilla carefully received the communication device.
"H-hello."
[Atilla. It's done here. How about your side?]
"Si-sister. It's finished here too. But, um..."
[What. Did the enemy escape?]
"N-no, not escape...accidentally ate them."
She thought she would be scolded, but surprisingly, Krua laughed heartily over the communicator.
[Haha. Why are you so nervous about something like that? If they're dead, it can't be helped.]
"D-didn't we need to capture them alive?"
[If we really wanted to capture them alive, we wouldn't have sent you separately. Our goal was to eliminate those who were plotting strange things in the underground zone at their whim. If you're done, come back.]
"O-okay. Got it."
Just then, Krua shouted in an urgent voice.
[Atilla! Don't come!]
"Si-sister?"
[It's dangerous here! Damn it! What the hell is that...! Hey! All of you, fall back!]
"Sister? Sister!"
She called out to Krua but there was no response.
Atilla stared blankly at the communicator for a while before running toward where Krua was.
*
"Hmm?"
Osian, who was walking in the lead, looked back.
Seeing this, Mist asked.
"What's wrong?"
"No, I felt something."
Mist recalled Osian showing the same reaction before.
While thinking what a peculiar fellow he was, Mist asked out of courtesy.
"What did you feel this time? An unidentifiable gaze?"
"No. It's the power of an Outer God I encountered once before."
Mist thought. Perhaps this guy also habitually suffers from severe delusions.
Otherwise, how could he suddenly claim to feel a gaze, and not long after, now claim to feel the power of an Outer God.
'While it doesn't seem like a lie, if he seriously believes this, isn't it just an illness?'
It wouldn't be strange for Mist to think that way.
"Don't worry about things like Outer God powers or whatever. It's useless anyway when I'm here."
Mist naturally recited lines meant to show off a cool senior image.
Of course, this was said with the belief that there couldn't possibly be such things as Outer Gods.
More important than that were the mutants of the contaminated zone.
"We're almost there."
At the guide's words, a strange sense of relief spread among the group.
Since the ethereal snake, they hadn't encountered any major threats.
It was so peaceful it felt anticlimactic compared to how tense they had been.
It was comfortable. Perhaps too comfortable to the point of wondering if this level of ease was okay.
That's why they couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"I'll check the contamination meter."
While checking the contamination levels of the contaminated zone, the others stood guard at the perimeter.
They were concerned that mutants might approach after smelling prey.
While rat mutants and insect mutants appeared, they were dealt with at the guard level.
During this time, the contamination level check was completed.
"Check complete. But, this..."
At that strangely trembling voice, everyone's attention turned to the person in charge.
"What's wrong? Has the contamination level reached dangerous levels?"
To Adela's question, the person in charge shook their head.
"It's the opposite. Rather, the levels are suspiciously low."