Dark Fantasy’s Extra – Chapter 108

Author: Dawn

The way Zepetia handled the Cheshire Beast… couldn’t be called good.

First, she drove metal needles through its mouth so it couldn’t bite or scream, cut off its remaining limbs, and finally stuck several more needles in its neck so it couldn’t even turn its head.

Beasts are difficult to kill unless burned or their curse itself is damaged.

In other words, they won’t die even from torture that would have killed a normal person long ago from blood loss or shock.

“Urgh.”

Oscar turned his head away and dry heaved again.

I once told Hilde to get used to dirty and disgusting things, but I couldn’t say the same thing with something like this right in front of us.

Though I didn’t turn away, it was still difficult to watch.

The Cheshire Beast, stripped of all freedom, trembled violently while shedding bloody tears.

Or perhaps it was blood and brain matter flowing down from above covering its eyes.

“Oh ho, oh ho, so this is how it really is…”

Zepetia, unlike her usual self, was even humming as she used the Dismembering Cutter to split open the top of the Cheshire Beast’s skull, literally removing it like a lid.

Then she poked and prodded at the exposed brain with tweezers and needles.

The Cheshire Beast shook violently, clearly in extreme shock, but its life forcibly maintained by the Beast’s curse wouldn’t allow death.

Even for a Beast, the sight was too cruel and made me nauseous.

But in a corner of my mind, something beyond disgust rose up – fear.

Fear of Zepetia who could do such things while genuinely smiling as if enjoying it.

“Hmm… it would have been better if some limbs remained. Missed the chance to see how they move.”

“Hey.”

I finally called out to Zepetia who was getting deeply absorbed in her work.

“Hm? What?”

“So is this actually Vile’s Beast or not?”

“Ah, yes! It should be. Probably. It looks similar to what I saw in grandfather’s diary, and there were records in the materials left at the old laboratory too. And it has a similar feel to the experimental subjects left in Wonderland.”

“Wonderland’s?”

Time Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Lizard Bill, Queen of Hearts.

They made a plea deal, handing over all materials remaining in the laboratory and cooperating with Zepetia’s research in exchange for being allowed to live out their remaining year of life.

“Don’t tell me… you dissected them like this too?”

“Hm? No. Though it’s disappointing, not touching them directly was part of the agreement. I only did some basic examinations.”

Disappointing, she says…

Though they were Beasts, they didn’t choose to be Beasts, and they had intelligence and self-awareness no different from humans.

Yet she’s disappointed she couldn’t dissect them like this…

As someone who owed a great debt to Time Rabbit’s pocket watch, I didn’t find that sentiment very pleasant.

“Anyway, if you’re done identifying it, just kill it properly now.”

I gestured with my chin toward the Cheshire Beast that was bleeding from every hole.

“Wait a bit. Since fresh specimens like this are hard to come by, I want to learn more properly while I have the chance.”

“…”

Part of me wanted to tell her to stop and end that Beast’s suffering with my own hands.

But Zepetia’s research helps with hunting Beasts, and by extension, hunting witches too.

Of course, I need to be wary of Zepetia completely falling into madness, but if that madness is directed at Beasts rather than humans, I suppose I can look the other way.

Zepetia’s work continued until Dominic brought Sephira back.

And only when even the mighty Sephira slightly wrinkled her face and told her to stop did it finally end.

“So, what did you find out?”

Sephira asked while grimacing.

“F-first, these are definitely made by grandfather… But they also have the ability to completely pass light through parts of their body.”

“Pass light through?”

“In other words… become transparent.”

“When I captured this one, it was completely transparent except for one toe.”

I added supporting evidence to Zepetia’s opinion.

“That’s troublesome… So, what other abilities does it have?”

Sephira asked Zepetia again.

“I-I’m not sure. I only have this one specimen and not enough time…”

“…Very well. Confirming that Vile was here is a good enough outcome for now.”

“One moment.”

Dominic raised his hand.

“Though it’s a bit shameless to say this here, this alone isn’t enough results for our side. We need more detailed information… at least about how Vile creates these Beasts, or which direction he might have gone, or any other important information would be good.”

“…What should we do?”

This time Sephira turned to me.

No, even if you ask me like that…

Hmm… since we came all this way, should we take down the boss too?

A high-tier Beast would be quite an achievement.

But what if that ends up stealing Hilde’s experience later?

Then again, with a high-tier Beast right here, can we really just leave…

…Let me think about this.

How did visiting Cheshire Village go in Blue Paper Moon?

There wasn’t any specific quest related to it, was it just treated as one of the dungeons for setting purposes?

“Then… shall we look around some more?”

Defeating the boss here drops a note from Vile that contains hints about why he fell to corruption.

But knowing it’s a hint only comes much later – right now it would just be a meaningless note.

Of course, in terms of learning even a little more information about Vile, it wouldn’t be without merit.

“Let’s do that.”

Sephira nodded.

Oscar’s expression looks quite uneasy for some reason.

Does he dislike staying here that much?

“But as Mr. Eugene said earlier, there are too many Beasts. Though we won’t lose in a direct fight, if they scatter in all directions, wiping them out completely would be difficult.”

“Th-that!”

In response to Sephira’s concern, Oscar hurriedly pulled out a small pouch.

“H-here’s an incense that smells like magical power and human blood. If we use this, the Beasts will come to us on their own without worry of them running away.”

Oscar stammered like someone giving a presentation as he explained to Sephira.

“If you had something like that you should have said so earlier.”

I said, dumbfounded.

But was there an item like that in Blue Paper Moon?

“This is a prototype. It’s something the old man and that… new sorcerer collaborator made recently. We know it attracts Beasts from far away, but don’t know specifics like exactly how far. And we only have this one.”

Meanwhile his tone speaking to me is completely different.

He even seems somewhat boastful.

Anyway, I wondered where Ozwald and Maia have been lately – turns out the smart people got together and were making something useful.

“…”

I glanced at Zepetia.

“What?”

Zepetia grinned as she looked back at me.

“No… nothing.”

Anyway, we executed an extremely simple plan – use Oscar’s lure to gather the Cheshire Beasts and have Sephira wipe them out all at once.

First, we untied the string binding the lure pouch and placed it just inside the village entrance, then had Sephira stand in front of it.

The rest of us withdrew and quietly waited.

“They’re coming.”

Ahead, Cheshire Beasts were swarming like ants, gathering in numbers approaching three digits at a glance, and Sephira drew her holy sword Robera as she faced them.

“Shaaaahk!”

“Kihahahak!”

The Cheshire Beasts charged at Sephira with strange cries.

Sephira lightly raised her sword and… it was literally a blood wind, no, a storm of blood that swept through.

Beasts pouring in from front and sides with speed beyond human capability.

Among them, Sephira moved even faster, leaving white afterimages and trajectories as she passed through, erasing the cursed living things.

Robera cut through the Cheshire Beasts’ disgusting rainbow fur, huge teeth, flesh and bone alike as if a heated knife through butter.

Blood gushing from the cut surfaces immediately sprayed everywhere, transforming into a revolting mist and rain that poured down.

In that terrible space where even breathing could curse a normal person, Sephira rampaged without getting the slightest bit dirty.

“Amazing…”

When I turned my head slightly to look at Oscar, he was watching that sight as if entranced.

Like someone captivated by a beautiful performance.

Even if he became fascinated by that overwhelming power after properly witnessing Sephira’s strength at Vile’s old laboratory, I suppose I can’t blame him.

“…”

In contrast, Dominic seemed largely unimpressed.

There was very slight admiration, but not enough to say he was moved.

“What a waste…”

And Zepetia was well…

At some point her work had finished as Sephira walked out of the reddish bloody mist.

It didn’t even take a few minutes to hunt down that many Beasts.

It was truly a massacre, or rather mass disposal.

It might not feel real since she handled it too easily, but the cursed blood smell that pierced deep into my nose even from this distance and the unpleasant dampness proved everything was real.

And yet… and yet Sephira’s form was still beautiful.

I felt pure reverence and beauty toward Sephira.

But unlike Oscar or other hunters, I’m not captivated by her.

Because I know a lot about Sephira from my past life knowledge.

Though the details of her past weren’t shown, I know she can be unexpectedly clumsy and that she suffers from an empty heart after losing someone precious in the past.

Yes, even that Sephira lost someone precious and had a face filled with sorrow… hm?

But… was there ever a time Sephira made such an expression?

In the game there was a setting about losing someone precious, probably someone she was greatly indebted to and secretly loved in the past.

So often, no quite frequently she had dialogue showing that emptiness… but I’ve never heard it even once here.

Could it be that unlike the game, or in the female protagonist version of the story, she didn’t lose that person?

…Who could it be?

Before I could deeply ponder the small question that arose in my mind, I saw Sephira lightly shaking blood off her sword and approached to offer my handkerchief.

“Ah, thank you, Mr. Eugene.”

Sephira took the handkerchief and lightly wiped her face.

Of course no bloodstains remained on her face, but perhaps from passing through the thick bloody mist, it was slightly flushed.

“Ah!”

I turned my head at the sound of Oscar’s urgent cry.

Seeing him frantically searching his pockets belatedly made me a bit amused.

“Damn it…”

Oscar glared at me reproachfully.

He’s quite adorable in many ways.

“…Anyway, I did a light cleanup, but probably didn’t eliminate all the Beasts. So now for the next…”

Sephira said as she passed behind me.

I followed her back to our companions.