Chapter 37: Anomaly Catching Anomaly

How to Kill What Doesn't Die (11)

Support troops had arrived at Site 17.

It was a special operations unit sent from the Administration Bureau.

Each member was a seasoned elite of the Bureau.

Having received news that Site 17 was facing a threat of the highest level, they were hastily deployed to the scene after only a short mission briefing.

The emergence of a hostile group causing large-scale terror with each appearance, and the reappearance of a Class V Anomaly that had previously been lost.

Faced with that combination, which would make even veterans like themselves brace for death, they entered the sealed-off Site 17 with heightened tension.

Soon, they were confronted with a scene where countless monsters were lurking everywhere.

"...Good heavens."

Monsters, all brutally smashed, lying scattered, so mangled that their original forms were barely recognizable.

"What on earth happened here?"

The lead agent swept the flashlight attached to his weapon around.

Fragments of shattered monsters littered the dark corridor.

Their remains were scattered on the ground, blending with the dark shadows to create an even more terrifying atmosphere.

Cracked walls, scarred by past battles and impacts, were chaotically broken, with fissures that looked as if they would collapse at the slightest touch running across them.

The sight added to the uneasy atmosphere in the silent corridor.

"Looks like some kind of war broke out."

Another agent chimed in.

They had expected that the forces stationed at Site 17 had already engaged the Anomaly in combat before they arrived.

But they didn't think that their battle alone could have caused this much damage.

The traces of destruction left here were so devastating that it looked less like a battle and more like a war had taken place.

"Hey, didn't you say you participated in an operation related to 744?"

One agent asked another who was the only one with prior experience in operations related to 744.

Even in this special operations unit, composed of elite personnel, only one person had participated in an operation related to that Anomaly.

The reason was simple. All the other agents who had participated in that operation, except for him, were already dead.

"Yeah, I did. Thanks to that, I was thinking of just shooting myself in the head and dying cleanly during the briefing."

The agent who was asked threw out a grim joke.

He was probably trying to lighten the mood, but frankly, it wasn't much help.

"So, seeing these monsters isn't new to you either, I guess."

"That's right. It doesn't smell like rotting corpses, but seeing these disgusting mugs, I guess they're the ones. But why?"

The agent nudged one of the fragments with his foot, revealing the face of a doll split in half.

In his memory, those things were definitely made of flesh and bone, but for some reason, they were now made of plastic and steel.

However, that didn't change the monsters' repulsive appearance, so the agent was sure that these shattered dolls were no different from the monsters he knew.

"It's nothing much, but these things lying on the ground... How many troops would it take to kill this many?"

The agent asked him again.

He had heard rumors that the lost Anomaly 744 was terrible and dangerous, but he had never directly experienced the incidents it caused.

Especially considering the numerous corpses of monsters lying here now, he couldn't even begin to imagine what had happened here.

"Well, I don't know, but..."

The agent who was asked began to recall the past.

Quite a bit of time had passed, but he couldn't have forgotten. He knew best how many people had died during that operation.

The monsters' unbelievable physical abilities, and the countless bullets needed to catch just one of them that poured out like a swarm of bees.

And now, calculating the number of troops needed to deal with the number of monsters lying in this corridor...

"...Probably, the army would have to come."

At least, it was certain that the forces that had been here wouldn't have been enough.

"..."

Everyone nearby, including the agent who had asked the question, fell silent.

They were probably the first to be deployed to Site 17.

The only forces available to deal with the rampaging Anomaly would have been those stationed at Site 17.

But when they arrived here, what they saw was a scene where countless monsters had already been crushed by something.

Then, who on earth was it that had dealt with the monsters that would have required an army to defeat?

The agents felt fear at the sight that looked as if a war had taken place.

And slowly, they walked towards the unknown darkness, not knowing what might be lurking there.

"Come to think of it, those guys we ran into when we came in."

While walking along the tattered corridor, one of the agents behind broke the silence.

"You mean the personnel stationed here?"

"Yeah. I thought they were lucky to have survived in a place like this."

The injured they had encountered while entering Site 17.

They all had major and minor injuries, probably from a very difficult battle.

Some of them seemed to have lost their minds due to the mental shock.

"But one of them seemed to be muttering something strange."

And among them, the words of someone who was mumbling something while being carried on a stretcher.

He didn't look very well, so he hadn't paid much attention to him at the time.

But as he looked at this incomprehensible scene, the words he had muttered suddenly came back to him.

"What was he saying?"

"Well, what was it..."

The agent recalled his memory.

If he were to extract the words that came out of the wounded soldier's mouth, it was definitely.

There's a monster in the form of a girl inside――

"Stop."

Suddenly, the agent at the front of the line stopped.

Accordingly, the agent who was speaking also immediately stopped talking and went on alert.

"Unidentified object detected ahead."

As soon as the leading agent finished speaking, everyone's flashlights turned forward.

Numerous circular lights shone ahead, beginning to peel away the darkness.

What they saw in front of them was a small hill made up of the broken bodies of numerous monsters.

And in the center of it, there was a black spiral spear split in half――

"...Damn it, what the hell is that?"

Something that shouldn't be here, something that couldn't be here.

A little girl was sitting on a mountain of monster corpses.

After turning the damn doll into dust.

I had some things to think about, so I was sitting on the hill of replicas created when the doll was smashed.

But as I was lost in thought, someone's shout started, and I had no choice but to regain consciousness.

"There! Hands up!"

Once again, that scene I had experienced not long ago came to mind.

The scene of countless gun muzzles pointing at me as soon as I returned home.

I was out of my mind because I had just returned home at that time, and I didn't want to lay a hand on my long-lost kin.

Unfortunately, unlike then, I am in a very bad mood now.

'...How noisy.'

Looking at the countless gun muzzles pointed at me, I muttered inwardly.

Someone has so much to think about that their head hurts, but they have to be threatened without even being thanked for being saved.

Is this any different from when I was wandering through dimensions?

This was definitely not the image of home that I remembered.

"I'm warning you again! Put your hands on your head and lie down right now!"

The people in front of me keep shouting something at me.

But the meaning of those words was not properly conveyed to me, who was just annoyed by the current situation.

I'm tired of explaining my actions and explaining the reasons in detail.

Even if I did explain, would they lower those guns?

I don't know. I don't think so at all.

'Should I go to a quiet place first...?'

I quietly get up from my seat.

As a result, I felt like the voices shouting at me were getting louder, but I didn't care.

If I kept listening to those shouts, I felt like I would run at them without even realizing it.

First of all, it would be better to quickly run away to a place where they can't see me――

――Bang!

At that moment.

With a loud noise, a bullet grazed near my head.

"..."

They shot.

Yeah, they shot.

I didn't expect any welcoming greetings from my long-lost home.

But I never wanted to receive a comprehensive gift including confinement and lead bullets.

I just wanted to return to the peaceful home I remembered.

But what the hell is this now?

A shadow creature I've never seen before crawls into my room, and a replica doll that kills people is running wild.

I ran around trying to save people, annoyingly controlling my strength, but in the end, instead of being thanked, I'm being threatened.

Is this any different from my life before returning home?

Is there anything different from the time when I was always getting caught up in fights?

Or am I simply crazy and just deluding myself that I've returned home?

……….

I don't know.

Should I just drag a few people down and think about it?

That might quiet things down a bit.

"――――――――――!"

I turned and walked towards the people in front of me.

The people's voices grew faster and more urgent.

But why, do their words just sound like a meaningless string of characters?

Their language no longer conveyed any meaningful information to me. Their voices were as if they were turning into an incomprehensible alien language.

…Well, it doesn't really matter.

I didn't want to listen anyway.

―Click!

The metallic clicking of numerous bolts filled the space.

I could feel their rigid atmosphere and intense tension.

A touch-and-go situation.

I slowly walked towards the people in front of me.

Soon, when the distance between them and me was not much.

"Number 19!"

Suddenly.

I heard a familiar voice calling me from behind.

"W, wait a minute. Don't shoot! I'm a researcher from Site 17!"

Everyone's attention, including mine, focused on the source of the voice.

The light of flashlights and several laser pointers were directed towards it.

The person who spoke seemed greatly flustered by it, immediately waving their hands to indicate that they had no intention of attacking.

"Get out of here immediately! We are currently facing an unidentified Anomalous Entity!"

"No! That child is the one who resolved this situation. I'm the one in charge of her, stop threatening her!"

It was a familiar voice.

Well, it would be. It was probably the voice I had heard the most since coming here.

The once neat lab coat was torn in several places, and the neatly tied blonde hair was all disheveled.

But I could tell that the owner of the voice was Sophia.

"1, Number 19? Calm down. Everyone is just still confused."

Ignoring the warnings of the people around her, Sophia spoke to me.

It was a clearly intentional action.

That's because her eyes held the same fear as theirs.

Realizing that my appearance was unusual, she was trying to calm me down somehow.

"…."

However, the actions she had shown me before.

At least, all the things she did to treat me like a human and try to take care of me.

They were the only things that made me feel like I had returned home.

"Everything will be sorted out over time. So, would you come to me now…?"

She opened her arms.

The warmth of a human like me, the same body temperature as me.

Everything I had wished for before returning home.

Looking at that, I admitted to myself that I had been momentarily agitated.

And soon, calming my mind, I began to walk into her arms.

Report
Confirmed the abnormal physical strength of Anomalous Entity 163-19.

Until a detailed study of the entity is conducted, a risk level is temporarily assigned,
And the highest level of alert is activated.

Risk Level Classification: Stage Ⅴ (Extremely Dangerous)

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