Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 61

“Wh-what have you done! Everything in this place needs to be perfectly calibrated!”

Hans shouted.

“Yes. That’s probably the most truthful thing you’ve said so far.”

I reloaded my gun again.

“Senior, what exactly…?”

Hilde was also bewildered by my sudden action.

“Look carefully.”

I pointed at what had fallen to the floor when the tumor burst.

“What is… ah.”

What Hilde’s gaze landed on was something round that was still alive and moving.

It looked similar to a human head, but where there should have been a mouth, nose, and eyes, there was only flesh.

I shot that head again with my gun and burst it.

“Everything in this room was researched and created by you, right?”

And I calmly reloaded again.

“The test subjects needed for research, and the materials used to make this facility.”

I aimed my gun at Hans again.

“Where did they all come from?”

“…”

Hans remained silent.

“You said it yourself. That someone like me would understand. Yes, I understand well. Selfish liars like you tend to show their true colors.”

“Lies…?”

Hilde asked.

“This bastard, to become human, transferred his curse to young children.”

“…?!”

“The fact that the children who became Beasts outside had silver embedded in them is proof of that too. Holy oil that can completely burn away curses can only be made in the Order’s factories. But silver can be mined as much as needed if you have a mine. So this bastard used children like trash bins to discard his curse, and planted silver stakes to safely dispose of them…. Am I wrong, Iron Hans?”

“I… didn’t want to become a Beast…”

Hans said.

“I was… the real victim!! My life was perfect! If I hadn’t been cursed by the Red Witch, none of this would have happened!”

“No need for long explanations. Face the consequences of your sins.”

“Don’t make me laugh!!!”

Hans charged at us.

“Hilde, block him.”

“Yes!”

Having realized the truth, Hilde faced off against Hans.

“What would you know about my pain!? How could trash like you understand the pain I’ve endured for 500 years?!”

Hans swung his claw-like elongated nails.

“Do you understand the pain of the children you used?!”

Hilde blocked it with her axe.

When his nails were cut off by the axe, Hans retreated backward.

The moment he backed away, I immediately fired my gun.

“Arghh!”

A bullet lodged in Hans’s neck and blood foam sprayed out.

But that only lasted a moment, as the lodged bullet popped out and new flesh grew to close the wound.

“That vitality must have been stolen from young children too.”

I calmly reloaded.

There was no need to get any angrier.

From the start, I had intended to execute Hans here, and that was a resolve that would never waver.

“It’s natural for humans to take from other humans!”

Hans raised his nails again and charged.

“You’re not human! You’re a Beast, no, worse than that – you’re a monster!”

From the side, Hilde swung her axe widely aiming for his waist.

Though he backed away again, his stomach was slightly grazed.

As Hans staggered backward, some intestines spilled out from his abdomen.

“Urgh… mere lower-ranked hunters…”

When Hans pushed them back in with his hand, his stomach returned to normal.

But perhaps the regeneration consumed stamina, as sweat started flowing down his face.

I used that opening to shoot his knee.

“Gahk!”

Hans screamed in pain as he fell to his knees.

“This can’t be! This can’t be! Just a little more! Just a little more and I would have become human!”

“Wanting to become human even if it meant giving up a behemoth’s power – that part was probably sincere.”

I calmly reloaded again.

Surely the Hans of the past was a mighty behemoth, but his desire to become human was undoubtedly sincere given how he was willing to weaken himself by carving out the curse that was the source of Beast’s power.

“But who defined sacrificing others for your own greed as human behavior?”

“Shut up!”

Hans’s body started growing larger.

The parts that had looked human became covered in black fur again as he transformed into an inhuman appearance.

But even compared to ordinary Beasts, that appearance was disgusting and repulsive.

Children were buried throughout his body as body parts.

“Ah, gak.”

“Eugh…”

They were even still alive and making sounds.

Some faces were continuously vomiting blood, while others were so twisted they were barely recognizable as their original form.

It was exactly the same as Hans’s phase 2 that I saw in the game from my past life.

But this isn’t just a game.

Even I couldn’t help but grimace at that overwhelmingly disgusting appearance.

“Urk!”

Unable to bear it any longer, Hilde fell to her knees and dry heaved.

“All… because of you.”

Hans spoke in a deeper resonating voice than before.

“My research that I spent 500 years perfecting… my patience… all turned to nothing because of you bastards…”

Blood tears poured from every eye on his body.

“I can’t accept this ending! I will! Become human again! No matter how many more humans I have to sacrifice!”

He wailed.

It was the cry of a creature.

“First I’ll tear you to shreds! No, I’ll put you in eternal agony where you can neither live nor die!”

“Steel yourself, Hilde. There’s only one way to save the children.”

“…Yes.”

Hilde got up with a pitiful response.

But there was no hesitation in that voice.

“I am more human than anyone!”

Hans charged at us.

The floor shook slightly with each heavy step befitting his enormous size.

I threw a smoke grenade aimed at Hans’s face.

He tried to swat it away with his arm, but when it made contact, it exploded and spewed thick smoke.

“This much…”

Hans kept charging without stopping, but his eyes were covered.

In that opening, I shot one of the faces on his body with my gun.

“Gyaaaaaah!!”

When the shot part burst like a balloon, Hans curled up with his most pain-filled scream yet.

If this was Blue Paper Moon, we would have seen his health bar chunk down.

“The weak points are the faces on his body! Aim for those!”

“Ugh… Yes!!”

Hilde answered through gritted teeth as she charged in.

Hans swung his enlarged nails at her.

If his nails from before were like long thin swords, now they were practically greatswords.

When Hilde’s axe met his nails, they both bounced off each other with the sound of clashing metal.

Compared to when they were easily cut earlier, they hadn’t just grown bigger but become much harder.

Hans swung the nails of his other hand.

Though Hilde blocked with the shaft of her axe, her stance crumbled as if unable to completely negate the force.

He tried to attack Hilde again, but this time I prevented it by shooting another face on his body.

“Gahk!”

Hans curled up again while coughing blood.

“You trash hunters…!”

He swept his hand toward me, sending head-sized chunks of flesh flying from the floor.

I immediately drew my pistol and shot them down.

While Hans was distracted by me, this time Hilde got up again and split open a face on his leg with her axe.

“Aaaaagh!!!”

As Hans fell to his knees and reached for Hilde, this time she avoided clashing and retreated backward.

“Daaaamn iiiit! It can’t end like thiiiis!”

“This is your end!”

Hilde charged at him again like a spring with a voice filled with rage.

A bluish energy could be seen blazing on her axe blade.

“…?!”

Though in the middle of battle, even I was momentarily captivated by that sight.

That’s… a technique she shouldn’t be able to use yet…?

“Y-you! Th-th-that…?!?!”

Even Hans was too shocked to think of dodging and just stared blankly at it.

And Hilde’s axe accurately lodged into and split through the center of Hans’s face as he knelt low.

A bluish trail like a crescent moon remained where she had swung her axe before disappearing.

“Ah… so that’s it…”

Hans whose face was split in two mumbled quietly.

“I… this time too… hu-“

And before his final words could finish, Hilde struck his neck and severed it.

“…”

Hilde who had decapitated Hans slowly turned her head toward me.

When our eyes met, I felt a suffocating sensation like falling into an endless deep sea.

“Senior… it’s… over, right?”

However, that ominous glint in her eyes vanished instantly, returning to the eyes of the Hilde I knew.

“Yes.”

“Hic…”

Hilde dropped her axe and collapsed sitting.

“Uuu… waaaaaah!”

Perhaps this horrific reality that she had been holding back came crashing like a wave, as she wailed and screamed while sobbing loudly.

I also put down my gun and went to embrace her shoulders.

Just like my senior had done for me when I broke down crying unable to handle it.

*    *    *

Shortly after, we came out of the cave with an unconscious boy we had found deeper inside than the room where we fought.

Though we wanted to burn everything inside and Hilde even asked if we really couldn’t do that, she nodded when I said we shouldn’t just burn away the truth but let the world know.

The moment we exited the cave, the villagers were coming up.

They still had furious expressions while holding torches and weapons.

“Y-you outsiders! What have you done!”

The one who looked like the village chief at the front shouted.

“This is a sacred mountain where the guardian deity resides!”

“Kuh…!”

Hilde who was carrying the boy on her back bristled.

“Sacred mountain? Guardian deity?! What exactly have YOU done!!”

“What…?!”

“Is this your so-called guardian deity?”

I took out Hans’s head from the leather bag and held it up.

“Gasp!”

The villagers also murmured in confusion.

“What was in this cave wasn’t a god. It was a Beast that devoured human children.”

“What in the…”

“Ch-chief?”

The villagers asked their chief.

“Th-that’s a lie! These bastards killed our guardian deity and are trying to deceive us! That’s fake! Our guardian deity didn’t look like that!”

The chief who probably knew the truth shouted at them.

“Stop spouting nonsense. If you’re so suspicious, go into the cave yourselves and see with your own eyes. The children who were sacrificed until now are still in there, see what state they’re in.”

“Th-that place…”

“Investigation teams from the Order will arrive soon. They’ll see clearly what’s inside the cave too.”

“Y-you think we’ll allow such…”

Perhaps finally realizing there was no longer any being protecting the village, the chief spoke with a pale face and trembling voice.

“Don’t think about hiding the truth. If you try to burn this place or destroy evidence, Heresy Inquisition officers will come for all of you.”

“H-Heresy Inquisition officers…”

“Right now, you could end this by saying just the chief was insane. Think carefully about your actions.”

I shook Hans’s head high for them to see well before putting it back in the leather bag.

Hilde and I went back down the mountain.

The villagers all hung their heads and parted to make way for us.