Everyone’s eyes focused on me at my words. Even they, who had been in a blood-spattered battle only moments ago, had instinctively sensed that something was strange.
“The fact that it ran away was bizarre enough… but the strangest thing was the way it fed.”
The orc man stroked his chin and nodded gravely.
“That’s right. It tore into its own kind and absorbed their energy, but it didn’t use it to heal its wounds or strengthen its body. It poured every last bit of it into that grotesquely swollen belly.”
“Even while it was being riddled with holes, it only protected its stomach. As if…”
Min Aji trailed off, glancing at Captain Kim.
As if it were a real mother trying to protect the child in her womb.
No one said the rest aloud, but the air in the briefing room was already weighed down by that dreadful hypothesis.
Captain Kim simply stared silently toward the end of the dark corridor where the blood trail continued, offering no answer.
The faint tremor in his tightly clenched jaw was the only proof that he was merely pretending to be calm.
In the end, Captain Kim could not hold back and spoke.
“Just in case… I mean, just in case.”
“…Yes.”
“If the mother is still retaining even a little of my wife’s self… what should we do?”
It seemed Captain Kim had reached a conclusion similar to mine.
Of course, just like mine, that logic was flimsy.
Unfortunately, I needed to be ruthless here.
“That is exactly why we have to bring down the monster called the mother.”
I deliberately steadied the atmosphere with a firm voice.
“If that thing still has a sense of self, then all the more reason we must end its suffering as quickly as possible. But I understand. The mother’s behavior is far too strange. So at the very least, we…”
I adjusted my grip on the Glock at my waist and looked in turn at Captain Kim, then at the rest of the team.
“At the very least, we need to confirm what is inside that belly.”
Whether it was simply a new core for the monster, or a cocoon meant to hatch into something even more terrible.
Or perhaps, even if the possibility was infinitesimal… a true life still alive and breathing inside this mad, miraculous space.
Meeting Captain Kim’s eyes, I said,
“Either way, if that belly bursts, we won’t even be able to confirm it. If it’s the egg of a new monster, the fragments could scatter and make things even more dangerous. And if it’s… something else, we’ll regret it for the rest of our lives.”
Old Man Owlbear, having fully grasped the meaning of my words, nodded heavily.
“In other words, we have to kill it while preserving its belly intact.”
“That’s right. For now, we need to finish off the main body without striking what appears to be the mother’s greatest target and weak point: its belly.”
At those words, Yu Inha was aghast, her tail trembling.
“I-is that really as easy as you make it sound? The monster will be thrashing all over the place, and you’re telling us to shoot around only its stomach in that narrow space?”
Yu Inha’s concern was perfectly reasonable.
But I answered calmly, checking the safety on my Glock.
“No need to overthink it. Think back to the behavior pattern it showed earlier.”
I jerked my chin toward the corner, toward the end of the dark corridor where the blood trail continued.
“The mother is completely obsessed with protecting its belly right now. Even when we poured crossfire into it earlier, instead of counterattacking or running away, it prioritized offering up its back and arms to shield its stomach.”
“Ah…!”
“In other words, the more thoroughly it tries to protect its belly, the more passive its mobility and defensive mechanisms are forced to become.”
At my explanation, Seo Doyun’s eyes flashed.
“I see. It means it’ll wrap itself around its own weak point and willingly become a punching bag.”
“Exactly. Its grotesque obsession becomes our most reliable tactical advantage in reverse. Hitting the target itself won’t be a problem at all.”
At this point, there was little else to say.
Only after discussing the finer details did we conclude the meeting.
“Good. Then the operation is settled. Everyone, let’s move.”
We re-formed our formation and slowly advanced toward the end of the corridor where the blood trail led.
*
“…Stop.”
Screeeech—! Kaaang—!
A sharp grinding noise, like a giant pitchfork scraping across an iron plate.
Holding our breath, we pressed ourselves close to the corner and checked the source of the sound.
At the end of the corridor, in the thick darkness, stood a firmly shut pair of iron double doors.
In front of the threshold marked with a sign that read [Cesarean Section Operating Room], the mother was crouched like a beast, clawing madly at the tightly closed door.
“Kieeeek! Grrrk…!”
Its enormous biological blade left deep gouges in the iron door and sent sparks flying, but the heavy iron door did not budge.
The mother, keeping its bloated belly from being harmed, tore at the doorknob in an awkward posture and rammed it repeatedly with its shoulder. It was the desperate struggle of a beast driven thoroughly into a corner.
“The door… doesn’t seem to be opening.”
The orc man whispered lowly.
The fact that the threshold did not even dent despite being slammed with such brute force meant that door was no mere hospital fixture.
“That operating room door is connected to the next area.”
In other words, it was the door the mother should originally have been guarding.
Which meant the creature that had abandoned its own area and fled here was now completely trapped like a rat in a jar.
The mother’s hideous claws, which had been scraping at the operating room door, froze in place.
Kkiriririk…
As if realizing the door would not open, it made a bizarre sound and slowly twisted its neck to look back at us.
“Kieeeek—!”
The death cry of a beast that had realized there was nowhere left to run.
Its two arms were still wrapped thoroughly around its grotesquely swollen belly, but the look in its eyes was different from the defensive attitude it had shown before.
It was the vicious, primal killing intent exuded by a cornered mother.
“It’s coming! Do not aim for the belly! Prioritize breaking down its joints and mobility!”
The moment I shouted, the mother kicked off the floor violently and charged toward us.
Despite its massive frame, its speed was faster than any mimic beast we had fought before.
A rifle would not stop it.
“Hup!”
The first to move was the orc man, Seo Doyun.
Instead of a firearm, he drew a sharp military dagger, reversed his grip on it, and boldly threw himself toward the path of the creature’s charge.
Just as the creature’s enormous biological blade was about to tear him apart, he did not collide with it. Instead, he lowered his body like a snake and rolled across the floor.
It was a cartoonish movement, only possible after becoming a mutant.
Thanks to that, a brief opening appeared.
That short opening.
Thud—!
Old Man Owlbear stepped forward with his sledgehammer and smashed the creature.
Before strength that surpassed human limits, the mother staggered where it stood.
Even then, it tried to continue its attack, but that did not matter.
We had already succeeded in stopping its charge.
The riflemen had already taken position and opened fire.
Tatata-tang—! Ta-tang—!
With fierce rupturing sounds that filled the narrow corridor, a merciless hail of fire poured down on the mother’s joints and back.
Blood sprayed across its thick biological armor, and shards of keratin scattered in every direction.
“Kieeeek…!”
A scream filled with pain burst out, but the mother did not charge or counterattack.
As before, it was frantic about protecting its belly.
Using its enormous arms and even its grotesque biological blades, it made a meat shield of itself and curled around its stomach.
Even as bullets shattered its shoulders and pierced its knee joints, its defensive posture never came undone.
The fatal shackles created by that deformed maternal instinct were tightening around its own throat.
And at last.
With a chilling rupture, like blood vessels bursting apart, one of its knees snapped completely.
The massive body that had borne dozens of bullets entirely with its back could no longer endure and collapsed.
Thud—!
Its enormous bulk fell, kicking up dust.
“Careful! It hasn’t been completely neutralized yet!”
Of course, it was practically over, but we could not lower our guard.
Because by now, we knew how tenacious those things were.
Even in that state, they were the kind of creatures that could still put a biological blade to our throats.
But contrary to my concern, its movements gradually subsided.
The mother’s body, which had been convulsing on the floor, finally went limp.
Dark red liquid flowed from countless holes in its back and limbs, soaking the corridor floor.
“…Is it over?”
Someone murmured cautiously.
Even so, no one readily approached.
Captain Kim’s gaze in particular remained fixed on the corpse—more precisely, on that grotesquely swollen belly.
His breathing trembled faintly.
Gurgle.
Amid the silence in which everyone held their breath, a bizarre sound rang out.
The fallen monster’s belly. That enormous lump of flesh was pulsing faintly, as if it had a heartbeat.
From the very place it had desperately tried to protect, even as it was dying.
‘…….’
What would we see?