"…Silence, check."
Captain Kim spoke.
But no response came to his words.
Haah. Haah.
Only excited breaths filled the surrounding space.
I looked at them and spoke in a low voice.
"…Let's get a grip. It was a monster. You all knew that."
It wasn't the newborn baby we had imagined.
The chances of a newborn surviving in a situation like this were extremely low to begin with.
In the middle of a sewer, at that.
Not to mention, a soldier who had been on duty at the outpost had already gone missing.
In this situation, if that thing wasn't a monster, what else could it have been?
"…But even knowing it's a monster……"
It couldn't have been easy.
But I cut those words short.
"What's important is that it was a monster. That's all."
The more you think about it, the more it makes your head hurt.
We mustn't be shaken by whatever sounds it made or whatever it looked like.
The chances of it being a monster were high, and indeed, it was a monster.
"……."
Everyone fell silent at my words.
But not everyone would have been convinced.
Truthfully, to some extent, even I couldn't accept it.
What if the monster we killed was actually a person, not a monster?
What if we had killed a person, thinking they were a monster?
…Ha, this is exactly why I didn't want to think too deeply.
But one thing is certain…….
"Let's move. We still have work left to do."
We didn't gather here to let our hearts break.
Our hearts have a destination called family.
…Until we arrive at the terminal.
We can somehow keep moving forward.
*
The situation wasn't over just because the baby's crying had stopped.
The sewer below the manhole was still vast and deep, and there might be other mimics, after all.
Click.
The light stick illuminated the interior of the sewer, devastated by the explosion.
Down below, a red form resembling a person. And pieces of skin charred black.
"…Urk!"
Min Aji retched, seemingly unable to bear the smell.
It seemed to be nothing more than a physiological reaction. She quickly composed her disheveled demeanor.
"Are you ready?"
Captain Kim asked.
There was no need to even think about what the preparation was for.
"…Let's go down."
"I-I'll go down first. I have scales, so……"
The manhole lid was small enough that the bulky Orc uncle and the Owlbear elder had difficulty entering.
In the end, it meant those of average size had to handle it.
Here, Yu Inha volunteered.
"…You okay with that?"
"Yes, there's nothing else alive in there since you threw grenades……"
I had to suppress a hollow laugh at those words.
Of course there wouldn't be anything alive. We threw several grenades.
But as could be seen even from up here, it wasn't a very pleasant sight.
"…Ah, there's nothing down here!"
We entered only after Yu Inha's signal came down.
'…Damp.'
A slippery sensation reached the tips of my feet as I climbed down the ladder.
Air even damper and heavier than the surface above stabbed at my lungs.
The steel ladder creaked as it guided me underground.
I reached the bottom with a splashing sound. Sewage up to my ankles soaked my shoes.
"…My God."
Kim Jihu, who had followed me down, groaned softly.
The interior of the sewer was just that horrific.
Wherever the faint glow of the halo floating above my head touched, horrific remains were revealed.
The concrete walls were cracked here and there from the blast, and between the fragments, thick crimson mucus was tangled like spiderwebs.
While even I was overwhelmed by the sight, it was Captain Kim who broke the silence.
"…Don't let it get to you."
His voice as he spoke was laced with an unmistakable tremor.
But the fact that he could act even this much was thanks to his experience.
"…There are two things we must do first. Securing the neutralized mimic and recovering the bodies of the slain soldiers."
Fortunately, finding the mimic wasn't difficult.
Even from above, we had been able to see some of its fragments.
A lump of red flesh, as if a human form had been forcibly crammed inside.
The monster, which had maintained its form even after taking two grenades head-on, was embedded in the wall, tattered pieces of charred skin hanging from it.
The part that had looked like a baby's face was half blown away, exposing the inner flesh, and from the severed cross-section, a black, oil-like liquid flowed ceaselessly instead of blood.
That damned thing had maintained its form even after being hit by countless grenades.
Not only that, but it was slowly regenerating its form.
I had seen it once in a video, but this was the first time seeing it like this.
Yet I maintained a surprisingly calm composure.
The reason was simple.
I could feel the halo floating above my head keeping my mind anchored.
'…So that's it.'
I recalled the explanation Captain Kim had given before about the mimics.
Mimics. More precisely, human-skin-clad mimics.
Seeing their ecology made it clear that the name was remarkably intuitive.
"…You said it imitates by flaying human skin and draping it over its body, right?"
"…Yes. Unfortunately."
Captain Kim barely managed to answer my question.
I muttered as I looked at the tattered piece of skin hanging on the wall, which had once been someone's child.
"…Then, the fact that it made a baby's crying sound……."
"……."
We fell silent.
We were silent.
Only then did I realize why Captain Kim, who must have been experienced, had panicked upon hearing a baby's cry.
*
We secured the mimic.
It was slowly regenerating, but for now it was neutralized. Meaning it posed no threat at all.
"We found no traces of other mimics."
It was a fortunate situation in the midst of misfortune.
The thought of there being more mimics in this vast, labyrinthine sewer was horrifying enough just to imagine.
So there was only one thing left to do.
Recovering the bodies of the already dead soldiers.
"As I mentioned before, if the corpse of a human killed by a human-skin-clad mimic is left unattended, it mutates into another mimic within 12 hours."
This was their method of reproduction.
Whether they implanted a virus inside or laid eggs like parasites, I didn't know.
If the bodies weren't recovered within 12 hours, they would transform into immortal monsters.
"…Over there."
Min Aji pointed to a hollowed-out corner of the sewer with her finger.
When the light above my head shone there, we all drew in our breath.
I will not describe the detailed state of the corpses.
Because we would have to keep seeing these terrible sights going forward.
The only thing that allowed us to identify them with their skin flayed was their dog tags.
We recovered two bodies.
Carrying them up wasn't very difficult. Compared to the mental shock we had suffered.
"……."
The two people waiting above were also silent, perhaps having realized what had happened.
They stood silently, vigilant of the surroundings, but when they saw the bodies we had recovered, they shut their eyes tight.
After that, we performed cleanup that was hard to describe and that we didn't want to do.
For a long while after.
I suddenly sat down on the ground.
The fog had lifted before I knew it. The evening glow was slowly setting, dyeing the world red.
"Urk…!"
Perhaps reminded of something by the sight, Min Aji gagged.
Twilight. By its dictionary definition, it is the time past the height of a crisis, heading into decline and finality.
But even if night falls, we will not crumble.
Because our train will proceed to the terminal even in the dead of night.
But when we reach the terminal, we…….
I suddenly found the world detestable.
Why on earth must there be people who suffer like this?
Why on earth did our families fall into the very center of such danger?
And why… can't I do anything?
I know damn well that I'm a sufficiently special being.
The infinitely benevolent being I had met.
The reason I alone had become a positive existence, an angel.
Truthfully, none of this was needed.
Divine power.
That boundless power was the very source of everything that made me special.
And yet, all I had done was throw grenades down a manhole.
That thought crossed my mind.
Couldn't I use this power better?
Didn't I have to use it better?
'…I.'
Honestly, it's burdensome.
Who the hell am I to have obtained such power?
Inside, I'm still just an ordinary person.
But because I'm ordinary, because of that, I wished.
In this detestable world, if I had become a special being against my will…….
Couldn't I extend at least a small hand of salvation?
Pop—!
Suddenly, the halo felt like it had become a part of my body.
A tingling sensation.
The feeling of a dam that had been holding me back until now breaking.
I suddenly noticed that my surroundings were very bright.
The cause was the blazing aureola behind me.
Omnipotence surging through my body.
I realized what I had to do with this power.
My hand turned toward the regenerating mimic.
I felt I had to.
You who were once human…….
Return once more to the embrace of humanity.