Chapter Eleven: The Pink Beard, the Needle, and Hide-and-Seek

"There's nothing more for you to do here, Miss Hunter."

The one who declared so was a man in a jacket and cowboy hat. He appeared to be around thirty, with a robust build and striking features—handsome, some might say, if not for the flamboyant pink beard sprawling across his chin, which overshadowed any other redeeming qualities and made him look eccentric, even by the liberal standards of the United States.

There was no mockery on his face. His smile was open and friendly—the kind a helpful stranger might wear while giving directions to a lost tourist—far more composed than Alice, who had nearly called him a pervert.

The pink-bearded man glanced at Gong Sunce and clicked his tongue. "Damn it, I made sure to evacuate the area’s residents before I got to work. Don't tell me you ended up involving a local."

His curse was a United States colloquialism, and Gong Sunce surmised that this man was likely a visitor from that country.

Alice stared fixedly at the man’s face. "He was attacked by Dragon Cultists. I have a responsibility to watch over him until the incident concludes. I am Alice Eidar, Hunter of the Kingdom. And you are?"

"No wonder! Even the Wild Hunt should know such basics." The man with the pink beard removed his hat and offered them a polite bow. "I'm White Young, from the United States of Worcester, an agent of the Mithril Pillar—now, I know, friend, you probably think our organization's name is odd, but do me a favor and don't say it out loud, okay?"

Gong Sunce wanted to agree, but his mouth moved faster than his mind this time.

"Hello, Mr. White. I'm Gong Sunce. Your organization's name reminds me of a fantasy story I came up with while daydreaming in junior high."

"I knew it! It's the 21st century; I've been saying we ought to update to something more modern!"

White jammed his hat back onto his head, his jocular expression melting away as he adopted his earlier gentle smile. "But back to the matter at hand. Miss Alice, I've already dealt with the culprit. The cleanup team is on its way. You know what that means, don’t you? We're grateful for your assistance, but now it's time for you to rest."

Despite the friendly expression, his tone was firm—brooking no refusal. "I'm the vanguard for the United States. The Empire's experts will arrive even sooner. Your Kingdom has a stake in this, of course, but let's be honest, Morton Kingdom has its hands full and can’t spare the resources for matters in the Skydome… If they had any to spare, the knights wouldn't have needed to form a Wild Hunt like yours."

Alice pressed her lips together in silence, her reaction shutting out the outsider with psychic powers. White shrugged. "Let it go, Hunter. You did well—no one has the right to criticize you. I know what you’re worried about, but all we can do is hope the worst doesn’t happen. Each of us is just doing what we can from our own position, aren’t we?"

The blue-haired woman remained silent, which struck Gong Sunce as odd. The scene resembled a power struggle between employees from different departments of a company. He doubted this Hunter was one to accept silence—if anything, she’d argue, even if only to voice her frustration.

What was Alice thinking?

The psychic puzzled over his companion’s unusual behavior.

The silence seemed awkward for the pink-bearded man as well. He took two steps forward, hand outstretched with a small transmitter resting in his broad palm. "Hey, come on. Look on the bright side—you can stick around a few more days and do some sightseeing… Here, your transmitter."

Suddenly, Alice spoke. "Sorry, Mr. White, but I need to confirm a detail. Can you tell me how you took down the Dragon Cultist?"

White Young looked puzzled. "What’s there to say? I’m a Practitioner of Aspectual Techniques. I used my pistol to distract him, then manipulated the air a little to suffocate him until he passed out. It was easy…"

Gong Sunce glanced at the transmitter in the agent’s hand.

Now, standing this close, he realized the little device wasn’t black after all.

Its casing was a deep crimson, only appearing dark under the earlier sunset, which had made it seem black from afar.

A heavy, dark red—the color of dried blood.

"…I mean, was it really necessary to make a big show of it? I didn’t even use Aspectual Armament. That green-haired biker wasn’t even at the Communion level…"

The psychic could no longer hear the words. His mind raced at full speed, and in an instant, he made his decision: "Get down!"

In a split second, chaos erupted.

Three dark red needles shot from the surface of the transmitter toward the trio. A white wall appeared, intercepting two of them just in time.

At the same moment, the psychic hurled the agent into the air with his powers—without hesitation!

White, flung skyward, cried out in pain—not just from the impact, but because the last red needle buried itself in his lower leg, corroding flesh and bone alike into viscous fluid!

"Bring him to me!"

The psychic obeyed. White tumbled back through the air, stopping before the Hunter.

Teeth clenched, sweat pouring down his face, he forced out a few words through gritted teeth. "Highly corrosive… very well concealed… at least high-level Communion!"

"I know. Stay calm. Don’t move…"

She pressed her hand to the agent’s chest. "Shadow Celandine."

The pink-bearded agent vanished from the spot, and Alice exhaled in relief.

"I sent him into the shadow beneath the overpass. Well done, Gong Sunce."

The young man clenched his fists.

The booby-trapped transmitter had been in the agent’s hand. That meant he couldn’t use his barrier to protect White the same way he’d protected himself. It wasn’t a matter of strength—White had simply been too close to the trap. To save him, only the fastest response would do.

In the end, Gong Sunce’s choice had been the right one, but the sight of the dissolving limb was so jarring that, even as a witness, he felt the pain.

"If only I'd noticed a second sooner…" He trailed off, knowing regrets were pointless. "Come on, Miss Alice. Let’s finish this."

At that moment, another figure emerged from the dockyard.

"Keh—hahaha!"

He applauded and laughed.

"An Esper, dragged into this mess as well! I really didn’t see that coming. Well done, Hunter! You used a kidnapped kid to save your own skin!"

The man looked identical to the green-haired punk they’d encountered earlier, but his eyes now gleamed with venom. He wiped his face with one hand, and the borrowed features melted like wax. Flesh-colored slime writhed over his face, quickly reshaping a new set of features, the hair on his scalp withdrawing and then growing out again, now long and orange.

"Such a pity… To be safe, I left my real body inside, using only a drop of blood to set this little trap. You’re too cautious for your own good, woman."

In less than half a second, the man had completely changed his appearance. Now he wore dark skin and shoulder-length orange hair, bearing no resemblance to before. Only the malice in his eyes remained.

"Tilros!"

Alice growled his name. The orange-haired man replied in a higher, mocking voice. "No need to shout, Alice Eidar! If anyone should complain, it’s me. Thanks to you, I lost my strong right arm!"

He waved his arm angrily. It hung from his shoulder like a hollow sack, flopping uselessly in midair.

"Ah… For a moment I thought I was done for. I barely escaped and only just figured it out. You may be a Practitioner of Brahman Aspect, but you’re at Communion level just like me. The tricks you pulled back there were too unpredictable!"

Alice tapped the short arrows at her waist.

"Then come closer, Dragon Cultist. Let’s see how many limbs you lose this time."

"Keh—hahaha! Why should I follow your rules? Now that you have a handy little shield, let’s change the game."

"I am everywhere, immune to harm." Tilros snapped his fingers. "Wilderness Aspect: Communion. Dissolution Demon Body!"

With a soft snap, the orange-haired man’s body exploded!

It was as if a bomb had detonated inside him—crimson liquid rained down, fragments of organs and bits of flesh spraying like shrapnel. Wherever the vile downpour fell, chaos followed—steel liquefied as if melting, and the ground soaked in blood became a swamp.

Without hesitation, the Hunter seized the young man’s arm. Their bodies vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a fading celandine blossom in the light.

In that same instant, the place where they had stood was rendered a gruesome mess by the bloody rain. The blood then flowed into the nearest fragments, which gathered into clumps of flesh, quickly dispersing across the entire area and flying toward the mass of enormous shipping containers at the docks.

Not a single drop of blood was left where the battle had raged; only a small lump of flesh remained, forming a mouth that opened and closed, speaking in Tilros’s voice, "This time, let’s play hide and seek! The whole dockyard is our arena. Whoever gets caught dies. Fair enough, isn’t it? Keh—hahaha!"

Within the dockyard, deep in the massive shadows cast by the containers, Alice and the psychic emerged from the darkness.

She scowled in anger. "That bastard! Thank goodness White cleared out the area beforehand, or who knows how many people would have been killed just now…"

Gong Sunce recalled the information the Hunter had provided.

Tilros K, born in the Kingdom’s capital, Supebia—three years ago, a petty conman living by scams. During the Kingdom’s downfall, he resonated with the Evil Dragon and became a Practitioner of the Unfathomable Path.

His Aspect was the Wilderness, specializing in manipulating flesh; his rank, third-tier Communion. In battle—

He could manipulate his own body at will, turning his flesh and blood into a poison that corroded all things.