Manuke FPS - Chapter 268

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Thick clouds covered the night sky of the labyrinth island. It rains a lot on this island, no――it might be a regional feature, but the place was hit by squalls several times over the past five days. Thanks to that, Hellgaze can be easily scattered, so it’s not all that bad, but the poor visibility caused by the squall reduces the efficiency of hunting. As a countermeasure against rain, I took out a new hooded jacket from my avatar costume so that I would be fine even if I was hit by a squall at any time.

Proceeding in the darkness without a single starlight, I had the ARX-160 equipped with a silencer and a tactical light. I had also switched to Night Vision mode, so the amount of light offered by the tactical light attached to the side of the barrel should be good enough for the operation.

The whole field of vision was covered in greenish white, and I could distinguish between the sound of insects sitting in the shade of the trees, the rustling of grass and trees in the wind, and the footsteps of magic beasts.

“――gotcha.”

I can tell the weight and speed from the sound of footsteps, and the sound of chewing something. It belongs to weak monsters that are forced to eat dead meat and fruits under the cover of darkness――it was definitely a night rat.

Night rats are cowardly monsters. It senses the magical power of other monsters and adventurers, and runs away if approached. However, since I am a『Magicless』, I can hunt without being noticed by its sensing ability.

Furthermore, this night rat’s tail was prized as the finest fur material, and in the information I bought from Sierra, there was a scribbled request that she will purchase all of the tails if the hunt was successful.

A night rat living in the natural world rarely produces magic stones, and it would be difficult to obtain the materials in the labyrinth. However, if it is a monster that has been materialized in the natural world by the rampaging stampede of the labyrinth, it is possible to obtain both magic stones and materials.

It is understandable that hunting methods using intentional rampage have become a tradition in the Filtonia Islands. As long as it is properly managed, the range of damage caused by the rampage can be confined to a single island, and moreover, a large amount of magic stones and materials can be obtained――.

I reduced the amount of light from the tactical light down to the minimum amount of light necessary for NV mode to move through the bush. Hide my presence, suppress the bloodlust, and close the distance without making a sound.

The display range of the map is 150 meters in radius. At the very last minute, I found three night rats eating something.

What are they eating――?

The night rat’s fur color is a striped pattern of black and glossy white hair, but in my green-white tinted field of vision, it looks just green. The three night rats are chewing on white humanoids. I haven’t found any traces of adventurers other than me having landed so far, but if they aren’t demi-humans――that’s what it means.

First, I lined the crosshair to one of the night rats, then aimed down at sight and connected the front sight, crosshairs, with the night rat’s head. I pulled the trigger, slid the crosshairs before checking the impact, and shot the second and third in rapid succession.

A 5.45 x 39mm bullet sped toward the night rat’s body with only the slightest air noise emitted by the silencer. The dot that was floating at the edge of the map disappeared――I was convinced that it was killed, so I slowly approached to collect the tail and magic――I stopped just shy of their position.

“Eh…?”

The humanoid that Nightrat was chewing on――there is no doubt about it, but something is wrong. When I returned my vision from NV mode to normal mode and looked at it again with only the light from the tactical light――.

“――it’s simply white skinned, but it’s not human.”

The humanoid had pure white skin from top to bottom――not to mention, the lower half of its body didn’t even have genitalia. I thought that its clothes and armor had been devoured by Night Rat, but there was no such wreckage around.

It’s neither human nor elf… is it a kind of demihuman? However, in the information Sierra gave me, there’s no mention about this white-skinned demihuman. It’s highly possible that it’s a not-yet known type of demihuman, but other than the skin color, it looks normal――the hair, the red blood dripping from its wounds, and bitten off tail――beastmen.

When I turned the tactical light to its head, I found that half of its face had already been eaten and was in a messed up state. I could barely make out its face. No, to be more precise, I was able to tell who it was because I recognized its face.

“This face…no way.”

That pure white-skinned beastman had the same face as the cat-eared giant, one of the trio I saw all over the Kingdom of Kurtmerga. Since there’s a big man with cat ears, does that mean there’s also a mouse face and a raccoon dog face? With that in mind, I looked around and found scattered pieces of meat left behind in the shadows of the plants.

Which one has a mouse face and which one has a tanuki face?

I no longer had the mental composure to carefully cut off the night rat’s tail. When the corpse was thrown into the inventory, a number of dots appeared on the map in sight.

When I turned my gaze in that direction, the other side of the trees was dimly shining pale light. Hellgazes――I returned my gaze to the white cat-eared big man for a moment, and immediately replaced the ARX-160’s magazine.

The moment I turned around to move, a drop of water fell on the tip of my nose.

“Is it raining…?”

The water droplets that began to fall quickly turned into a squall in the blink of an eye, further worsening the visibility that had already been shrouded in darkness. However, it also hid me from the Hellgazes――I put on the hood of my jacket and moved to another place.

There’s something on this labyrinth island… No, there definitely is.

I switched my vision to NV mode and ran through the green-white world again. If something exists, it can only be thought of as a labyrinth. The target is the center of the caldera, the place where the entrance to the labyrinth is said to be.

By the time the caldera’s rocky surface came into view, the squall had weakened to a drizzle. I hid myself at the boundary between the forest and the caldera’s rocky surface and observed my surroundings. It’s the first time I’ve made it this far. I have to reconfirm the information about the monsters and prepare for an unexpected encounter.

A number of dots were already floating on the map, but due to the drizzle, it was not possible to see very far. It’s not as bad as the sea fog, but it’s necessary to proceed with caution. Holding the ARX-160 with both hands, I set it in the low-ready position with the muzzle slightly lowered and passed through the forest.

There is still some distance to the top of the caldera, but there are large rock masses and uneven rock surfaces, making it difficult to clear safely. Since collecting magic stones is my primary goal, I intended to kill as many dots as I can while moving forward, but if I can’t take a preemptive approach, I may end up in an unexpected crisis.

For that reason, I have to instantly grasp the location with my eyes, not just the dots in the map and sounds. Thus I get into a shooting stance.

I moved towards the four dots floating on the map. According to the information, the monsters living around the caldera should be flame lizards. A lizard-shaped monster with a body length of more than 1 meter, covered in brown scales that resembles the surface of a rock. At night, it hides among the rocks and stops moving, and when its prey approaches, it turns red with flames inside its body and emits a high temperature as it attacks.

If all four dots were flame lizards, the moment I thought that it would be a suitable place for an ambush, I heard a sound that sounded like something had been smashed――.

――it disappeared.

One of the four dots disappeared. I approached the remaining three dots to about 30 meters, leaned my back on a rock big enough to hide my body, and peeked ahead.

That’s…

What I saw was the white-skinned beastman I found earlier. And this one was no corpse, as it’s standing and alive――three of them. Furthermore, there were several burning humanoid corpses lying around.

A big man with cat ears, a mouse face and a raccoon dog face. None of the three were wearing clothes, and they were looking down at a large lizard that looked like a flame lizard, with their pure white skin exposed.

A rock the size of a drum was pummeled into the head of the giant lizard. From there, I knew immediately what caused the crunching sound from earlier. That white trio are hunting monsters. Moreover, there are many with the same face. With a lifeless expression and a mouth that opens as if it forgot to close, it’s like a living doll.

The hand holding the ARX-160’s grip tightened. Should I attack and eliminate them now? No matter how I look at it, it’s not human, and I don’t think it’s controlled by humans. It would be more correct to see them as a kind of monster, but then what about the trio that I met in Kurtmerga? Are they the same thing?

Unanswered questions flooded in, and when I couldn’t decide what to do next–-the cat-eared big man removed the rock, and the mouse-faced and raccoon-faced trio began to lift the giant lizard.

Are they going to carry it somewhere…?

As expected, the trio walked towards the center of the caldera while carrying the giant lizard.

I had no choice but to give chase.

The answer to what that thing is might be just beyond there――no, it must be. Thinking so, I chased after the trio.