NOVEL NEXT Chapter 242
Episode 242. Special Forces ‘Kunai’ (1)
[Osaka Siege Battle Record.]
[Author: Dr. Hanako]
[This is Dr. Hanako of the Special Forces ‘Kunai.’]
[First, I would like to apologize for the failure of the operation. The plan to lure the enemy to a point outside the facility and eliminate them failed, giving the enemy an opportunity to infiltrate the facility.]
[There were unexpected variables. As Dr. Kim predicted, this incident was not caused by the monsters themselves but by supernatural artists.]
[The main stage of supernatural artists was the West, but recently, they have expanded their reach to Japan, Korea, and China. The trend of art is no longer confined to the West…]
[Well, that’s ironic.]
[Landcrabs grow stronger by consuming supernatural phenomena. The supernatural artists who brought the monsters here must also follow realistic constraints and adhere to the rules set by the supernatural phenomena.]
[Dr. Kim’s speculation is as follows:]
[They hid the monsters in a small state in something like a container, brought them to Osaka, fed them supernatural phenomena near Osaka to grow them, and then launched the attack.]
[So, the question is, what kind of supernatural phenomena did they feed the monsters? Supernatural artists are a much smaller organization than the Foundation. It’s hard to imagine they secured dozens or hundreds of supernatural phenomena for this work.]
[It’s more plausible that it was one big one.]
[In conclusion, it is believed that the supernatural artists captured and killed a divine entity, fed it to the monsters, and then released the Landcrabs near the Foundation facility to attack it.]
[At least, if Dr. Kim had commanded the enemy’s strategy, that’s what would have happened.]
[It’s a bit of a stretch, but currently, Dr. Kim is the only person on Earth who has successfully breached multiple Foundation facilities.]
[I think Dr. Kim’s logic is reasonable. There’s a high possibility that the corpse of a divine entity is somewhere near the Osaka Branch, and finding it is a top priority.]
[We have requested cooperation from the local police.]
It took about half a day to locate the source of the storm. Something… something huge was dead in a sea cave in Osaka Bay.
“This seems to be the place.”
“A civilian found it and reported it to the police. They said a whale was dead in the cave.”
I frowned.
It’s fortunate that a fool found it. How on earth could they mistake it for a whale? It didn’t look like a whale at all and was enormous.
Scientists sent by the Osaka Branch cautiously stepped into the sea cave. I followed them with a flashlight.
The stench of rotting corpses filled the air.
The science officer of Special Forces ‘Kunai,’ Miss Hanako, was holding a device similar to a Geiger counter. A device to measure the density of reality.
“By the way, Dr. Hanako, are you a shaman and a scientist? That’s an unusual background.”
“Yes, I was a shaman before becoming a scientist.”
Dr. Hanako rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a talisman, sticking it on my shoulder. The red characters on the talisman spelled ‘luck.’
“Ah, thank you.”
“It’s nothing special.”
Dr. Hanako was oddly fluent in English.
“What do you think the situation is?”
“My thought is this. You said the bug monsters we saw yesterday grow by eating supernatural phenomena, right?”
“Yes.”
“If the supernatural artists killed a divine entity and fed it to the monsters, it might explain the siege battle at the Osaka Branch.”
Is this that whale or whatever?
The corpse of a monster.
“Dr. Hanako, have you seen such a monster before? Is it a common supernatural phenomenon in Japan?”
Dr. Hanako tilted her head.
“Japan is still a land ruled by gods and yokai. It’s called Shinto belief, where gods reside in all things.”
“Does that translate to supernatural phenomena?”
“For example, the Administrator has a compass that finds magic, right? From a Shinto perspective, one could say the god residing in the compass is particularly strong.”
“I see.”
“So, the person who found this dead god’s corpse just thought it was a whale. Ordinary Japanese people, even if they see something beyond understanding, don’t find it strange because of Shinto belief.”
I nodded.
There’s a reason the veil of ignorance has been maintained. Some might consider ghosts trivial, while others might see an angel and simply regard it as a religious experience.
This person is the same. They saw the corpse of a dead god and thought it was just a strange whale.
Perhaps the convention of not openly discussing the world of gods played a role.
We began recording the scene around the dead god’s corpse. Dr. Hanako took out a camera and snapped a few photos.
I examined the dead god’s corpse closely. There were traces of bugs eating it. That must be due to the bug monsters we fought.
The corpse itself was a giant catfish with exposed bones. Or was it a carp? It was elongated, resembling a water dragon.
“Does it look like a water dragon?”
“Hmm. It could be a water dragon. Or a mythical catfish that causes earthquakes. Or both. It’s hard to tell for now.”
The catfish’s hollow eyes stared at me. I frowned. I’ve seen dead gods’ corpses before, but it’s always an unpleasant sight.
Even if they are insignificant and harmful beings, the title of ‘god’ isn’t given lightly.
The death of a god leaves a hole in reality. You can feel that something is wrong.
“Can we take this to the facility?”
“Probably.”
I approached the catfish’s corpse and collected a tissue sample. Around its mouth were several tentacles and feelers.
Disgusting.
Beep, beep, beep.
I didn’t know the Osaka Branch would salvage the entire catfish corpse. A crane moved near the cave, and the giant catfish was loaded onto a large truck.
Dr. Hanako crossed her arms.
Gods are fundamentally immortal beings.
The death of a god means something is amiss in the natural order. Of course, one could argue that supernatural phenomena themselves violate the natural order… but that’s a bit of a stretch.
There are too many supernatural phenomena in the world. To claim that their very existence violates the natural order is hard to accept as truth.
Dr. Hanako looked at her tablet.
“Hmm. Currently, three freezing isolation rooms at the Osaka Branch are in operation. The catfish, the corpses of two humanoid supernatural phenomena, and the bugs.”
“Good. Let’s check them one by one.”
First isolation room: the catfish.
Security was tight.
Armed soldiers guarded the freezing isolation room, and several scientists were working on the catfish’s corpse on a table.
“Have you found anything?”
“We’re extracting bone marrow for use in the reality anchoring device. But the surrounding clocks and electronic equipment keep malfunctioning.”
“Ah, is that so?”
It’s a common occurrence. Supernatural phenomena interfere with electronic equipment. But I didn’t know they could still have such an effect after death.
“How’s the dissection going?”
“The genetic results came back as a catfish. But it keeps twitching slightly, as if there’s still some life left. We’re monitoring to see if it might regenerate.”
“Okay.”
“And one peculiarity is that it causes objects around it to vibrate. We’ve doused the catfish’s corpse with a lot of anesthetic.”
“Objects vibrate?”
I tilted my head.
Something came to mind. In Japanese mythology, there’s a catfish or fish that causes earthquakes. Maybe it’s related to that?
Just a side note, the ancient Greeks had a similar idea. Not specifically a fish, but they believed earthquakes were caused by the sea god, Poseidon.
Since earthquakes near the coast are accompanied by tsunamis, it’s natural to associate the two. Maybe it’s an expression of that belief.
Or maybe it’s just a monster catfish that can vibrate objects. It’s hard to tell.
“Is it the ability to cause earthquakes?”
“Probably. This seems to be a fairly powerful divine entity. There are records of similar monsters. We’ve identified seven cases found across Japan, especially around the time of tsunamis.”
So it’s not the first time?
It’s a bit unrealistic for such a monster to have the power to cause earthquakes. It’s more likely a phenomenon that accompanies them. But then, does that mean an earthquake could happen soon?
Maybe not, since we killed it.
“Where will the extracted material be used?”
“As a magical catalyst. For devices like the reality anchoring device or the causality distortion device. The Foundation’s mages might use it too.”
I nodded.
Well, we should make the most of what we’ve caught.
Next isolation room: where the two humanoid supernatural phenomena we killed were isolated.