Dark Fantasy’s Extra – Chapter 107

Author: Dawn

Oscar’s suggestion to capture one Cheshire Beast was good.

But problems arose afterward.

“While stealth captures are my specialty, I’m honestly a bit anxious about how to handle a Beast.”

Dominic the judge, who was skilled at moving stealthily and kidnapping people alive and had decent combat ability, was ironically not very good at dealing with Beasts.

“I apologize. I’m not very good at moving stealthily…”

Sephira, by far our strongest, conversely wasn’t good at quietly knocking out and bringing back just one Beast.

If it was about exterminating everything including the boss, that wouldn’t be too difficult.

“A spell to put Beasts to sleep? I didn’t learn such trivial things.”

“You should learn some from Sir Ozwald.”

Oscar was out too.

It was absurd to put a mage on the front lines in the first place, but if it had been Ozwald, he would have already subdued one Beast plus five or six more as extras.

“Ah, um, well, I… am good…”

Zepetia was out of the question.

“…I’ll do it.”

In the end, it had to be me.

Fortunately, if it’s just a regular Cheshire Beast at low-tier Beast level, I can subdue it without much difficulty.

But avoiding detection from the others is a somewhat different matter.

“First, Lady Sephira, please go to the opposite side of the village to distract the Beasts’ attention. No need to enter the village – just cause a decent commotion from outside.”

“Leave it to me.”

Sephira nodded.

Even if every Beast in the village rushed her, Sephira could massacre them without much trouble, so there was no need to worry.

“Then I’ll escort Mr. Oscar and Ms. Zepetia.”

Dominic understood well what his role should be.

“Ah, wait! I just thought of something.”

Oscar spoke up again.

“Come to think of it, couldn’t Lady Sephira just go in and kill all but a few?”

“I take back what I said about you being a genius.”

“What? But isn’t it obvious? Since Lady Sephira is so strong, these Beasts would be…”

It wasn’t strange for Oscar to think that way after seeing Sephira’s power firsthand at Vile’s old laboratory.

“Our goal isn’t extermination. It’s finding Vile.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s say Lady Sephira charges in. What if all the Beasts scatter and flee?”

That’s exactly what the Deep Sea Folk’s field commander did in the urban battle at Cranion.

The Deep Sea Folk that spread throughout the city couldn’t be contained by just me, Hilde, and the city guard, causing massive damage to the city.

And above all, Margarete took advantage of that chaos to create her cult… and that’s how Chris was kidnapped.

“That’s exactly right. Moreover, we can’t be certain we have overwhelming superiority.”

Dominic chimed in supporting my opinion.

“What?”

“Have you already forgotten? An elite agent was killed before they could even escape. Someone who was arguably the Order’s best at survival and escape was caught and killed.”

“Ah!”

“…”

Of course, Dominic’s opinion was valid too.

Cheshire Village’s boss is a high-tier Beast whose strength clearly surpasses an elite agent.

But the elite agent was strung up outside the village, not inside.

Does that mean the boss personally hung them there?

Is that Beast even capable of such a thing?

It’s more rational to think there must be something else.

Someone, or something else, that hung up the agent’s corpse in the village instead of the boss and Cheshire Beasts.

Surely… Vile didn’t personally hang them up?

If by any chance Vile is in this village, we’re actually at a severe disadvantage.

Hunting a behemoth requires at least two higher-ranked hunters and thirty mid-ranked hunters.

That was the minimum according to behemoth hunting records from 500 years ago.

Of course, there were plenty of records of Belle killing them alone.

“Then let’s begin.”

“Ah, wait!”

Belatedly, Zepetia pulled something from her bag and held it out to me.

“I thought of a new tool recently and made it right away. Here, you can borrow it just in case.”

A rod slightly larger than a palm with a round saw blade attached.

While it would look like some strange incomprehensible tool to normal people of this era, I immediately recognized what it was.

“If you put in even a tiny bit of magical power, this saw blade on top will rotate. It should cut incredibly well.”

As Zepetia said, this was a chainsaw called the ‘Dismembering Cutter’.

In Blue Paper Moon, this was the melee weapon Zepetia used when she betrayed us – one of Pinocchio’s hands was also a giant chainsaw like this when completed.

When attacking limbs, it had a chance to inflict the ‘Laceration’ debuff which not only caused powerful bleeding but also reduced both movement and attack speed.

Against the most common low-tier Beasts, when this debuff was applied their limbs would dangle loosely or even fall off completely.

I tested the Dismembering Cutter by channeling a little magical power into it.

The Dismembering Cutter buzzed as its saw blade spun.

“…Thanks. I’ll put it to good use.”

“Do I really have to get it back?”

“Yes.”

There was only one way to obtain the Dismembering Cutter in the game – by killing Zepetia.

Having such an item in my hands now felt strange.

Afterward, we each went to our assigned positions according to Sephira’s orders.

Dominic would escort Oscar and Zepetia to a safe place away from the village, while Sephira would cause a suitable distraction on the opposite side to draw the Cheshire Beasts’ attention.

In that gap, I would go in and subdue one Cheshire Beast to bring back – a simple plan.

I waited near the village entrance for a moment.

Shortly after, there was a loud noise from far away and then major movement was felt from the village crawling with Cheshire Beasts.

I peered inside the village entrance while concealing my presence as much as possible.

The Cheshire Beasts were running to the opposite side.

After thoroughly checking my surroundings, I entered Cheshire Village.

I had already planned out which Beast to catch and how.

When visiting Cheshire Village in Blue Paper Moon, there were always certain spots where several Cheshire Beasts would be hiding invisibly.

Getting ambushed while carelessly passing through would take massive damage regardless of spec differences.

“…”

I carefully observed the alley branching off to the left.

In a slightly wider section midway down the alley, a single toe was sticking out from below the wall.

At a glance it could be mistaken for a stone, but it was clearly a hidden Cheshire Beast.

Keeping the Cheshire Beast’s overall outline and position in mind, I entered the alley.

Then I deliberately turned my back right in front of where the Cheshire Beast was hiding while taking out the Dismembering Cutter.

“Kahahahak!”

I sensed the Cheshire Beast trying to pounce on me with a strange sound like a mix between laughter and screaming.

At the same time, I ducked down while channeling magical power into the Dismembering Cutter and slashed at the Cheshire Beast’s leg that appeared before me.

With a subtle vibration in my hand and the sensation of cutting through wet leather, blood sprayed.

I immediately spun around and rose up, throwing a silver dagger into the falling Cheshire Beast’s shoulder as I went over it.

“Kaaaaah!”

Only then did I get a clear look at the entire Cheshire Beast.

Dirty rainbow-colored fur like vomited up rainbows, and a form that resembled a regular low-tier Beast but was closer to a cat.

The fur around where the silver dagger was embedded turned red, and blood gushed from the severed leg.

When the Cheshire Beast tried to get up, I slashed its opposite shoulder again with the Dismembering Cutter.

“Shaaaaaaak!”

The Cheshire Beast screamed again and its arm came off easily.

This feels awful.

While Beasts are targets to be hunted and killed, I don’t enjoy making them suffer.

And when I bring this to Zepetia, even greater pain awaits.

The only difference between me and Beasts is whether we were unlucky enough to be cursed or not, just that.

Still, I didn’t hesitate to tie restraining rope around the Cheshire Beast’s one remaining intact leg.

If I waste time, others might come after hearing the screams.

Though the Cheshire Beast resisted, its limbs were already mostly useless.

The restraining rope had sharp hooks on the end, so once properly wrapped and embedded in flesh it wouldn’t come loose easily.

The Cheshire Beast struggled violently so I had to use quite a bit of magical power, but I somehow managed to drag it out of the village.

“Huff, huff…”

After barely getting it to where Dominic was waiting, I collapsed exhausted.

Between powering the Dismembering Cutter and dragging a resisting Beast that had lost its limbs, I had used too much magical power and was drained.

“Good work. I’ll go get Ms. Sephira now, so please wait here a moment.”

After perfectly restraining the Cheshire Beast I had brought, Dominic went to where Sephira was causing the distraction.

“Are you okay? Do you need wa-water…”

Zepetia approached and said.

“What water? Move aside.”

Oscar pushed Zepetia away and grabbed my hand.

“This isn’t my specialty but it should help.”

Soon after, Oscar’s magical power flowed into my body through his hand.

This is… similar to when I taught Hilde about magical power before.

But Oscar, being a mage specialized in magical power manipulation, went beyond simply circulating magical power through my body and assimilated some of it with me.

In other words, he replenished my depleted magical power.

“Ah… much better.”

Almost instantly, most of the side effects from magical power use disappeared from my body leaving only mild exhaustion.

“Thanks. When did you learn this?”

Did Oscar use this technique in Blue Paper Moon?

“The old man taught it to me intensively a few days ago.”

“I thought you weren’t interested in trivial magic?”

“…It’s not… that trivial.”

“Hm?”

“Well, this is magic that helps people. I thought it would be good to learn at least one thing like this…”

“…Look who’s growing up.”

I roughly ruffled Oscar’s hair.