The atmosphere around us was icy.
"I don't know whose handiwork this is, but the basics are solid. Everything beyond that is sloppy at best, and honestly pretty awful. It looks like whoever made it also abandoned maintenance after the fact, because its physical condition is so poor that it almost feels like a waste of the materials used."
"That so?"
"..."
"...As for anything else worth noting, the method used is kind of janky? No, maybe it's more that they took the basics and arranged them in their own way after thinking it through. At this point, it doesn't look like they deliberately made it to chase that kind of result. More like they tried a bunch of different methods as practice, and this is what came out. Either way, it's stupidly reckless, but it's still a fairly decent rag of a thing."
"Y-Yeah. I see."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Haa."
I'll say it again.
The air around us was still freezing.
More precisely, those guys' stares were stabbing into me with a very chilly intensity.
If eye contact could talk, those looks would be saying, in no uncertain terms, "You're the culprit, aren't you?"
Damn it.
I'm seriously about ready to lose it.
No matter what I've done up to now, isn't this misunderstanding a little too much?
What bothered me most was that they seriously seemed to think I'd made that trash-tier, unrecyclable pile of filth.
No, what do they take me for!?
This is why amateurs are such a pain...!
Was this how a doctor felt when some patient started arguing with internet knowledge?
"Fine, fine. I'll handle it. I will."
Forget it, I'll just take responsibility as the person in the field and deal with the whole thing myself!
To do that, though, I'd need to get closer to the shore and inspect it properly.
From here, I could only make out its condition vaguely.
Beep-beep-beep...
"Hm? What is it?"
Just then, a phone rang from inside my coat.
This [Transponder Snail] was an artificial life-form I'd made with alchemy when I was bored. The production cost was higher than I expected, so I never made any more, which means there are only two in the world.
So the caller's identity was obvious, and I answered without hesitation.
At the same time, a shriek of outrage slammed into my ear.
"Hello—"
"Aaaaanndeeersoooon! What in the world are you making noooow! When did you even make something like thaaat!"
"Liritus, even you...?"
For some reason, I suddenly felt incredibly down.
I'd thought I'd been living properly all this time, keeping myself in line and doing my best to be decent and responsible.
Apparently, that wasn't how other people saw it.
I'm so sad~
"Fine. From now on, I'm really not holding back anymore. I'll throw myself into whatever I feel like, rules be damned."
Hah, nobody can stop me now!
At my sulky reaction, Lili's voice came through in confusion.
"Huh? So it wasn't you? I only saw it from far away, so I didn't check everything, but there were definitely traces of Magecraft. I just assumed it had to be something you made, An..."
"So you recognized it from just a glance, even at that basic level. My lessons really haven't been wasted, huh? Still, if possible, I'd like you to go a little further and build some trust and faith in this teacher of yours."
"Well, all of this is still the result of your own actions, An."
"Stop it, Lili. My life points are already at zero."
Guh, to think I'd have to hear this from my one and only disciple too.
At this point, I couldn't help getting stubborn about it.
That damned rag-like tentacle thing, I'd definitely clean it up in style.
So what should I do?
What should I use to finish it off so no one could ever say such rude and slanderous things again?
"Hm? Wait a second?"
Come to think of it, I happened to have just the right Magecraft for this.
And that Magecraft had only recently been completed in theory. I hadn't actually used it in the field even once, so I'd been wanting to test it separately later.
This was a perfect chance to try it on that thing.
It was huge, too, which made it an ideal test subject.
But first...
"I'm short on equipment. The basic activation calculations themselves should barely work with the support of the [Moon Spirit Liquid], but I still need help with range setting, concentrating power, dispersing the pressure on the magical-energy path, and a bunch of other support functions..."
"An?"
"I could replace the magi with makeshift totems... but mediocre magi won't be enough for that... There's Loki Familia here, so if I use them... but even that won't fully cover the cost... I need some other kind of compensation or substitute..."
"Excuse me? An?"
"...Lili, is Loki's mom there by any chance? Even other Loki Familia members would be fine."
"Huh? Mom...? Ah, do you mean Riveria? She's not here. It's just Lili and Welf right now. Bell has Sword Princess and the other Loki Familia members with him, though."
"Really? Then sorry, but could you pass along a message? Tell all the magi in Loki Familia to gather at the shore. Especially that princess—without her, everyone else could show up and still be useless, so make sure she comes too."
"So you are planning something. Got it. Lili will relay it right away."
"Okay. End of transmission. Be careful, Lili."
"Yes, An, you too."
Click
The call ended there.
I slipped the [Transponder Snail] back into my coat and thought it over.
For now, the most important matter was settled.
What I needed next was time.
"Gareth, just to confirm. You're the strongest in Loki Familia when it comes to strength and endurance, right?"
"Aye. Is that related to what our side needs?"
"Of course. Sorry, but I need you to buy me some time. What I'm about to do with those magi friends of yours is going to take a while just to prepare."
"If that's the reason, I'll cooperate as much as you need."
"Alright! Then let's move locations. Tiona, I'm leaving the goddesses to you. I can't leave them alone with Kali's lot. It's going to be a rough place, so it's not somewhere they can all go together."
"Yep! Leave it to me, An!"
"Well, look at that smug little brat. He's bossing our girls around like they're his servants. Feels a bit strange, y'know?"
"Quit whining, Loki. That's just because you've got even less chest than usual."
"You little flat-chested brat...! Want me to rip that damn flesh off you for real!?"
"Given the situation, I won't stop you. But Magus, please, don't overdo it. Come back in one piece if you can."
"I'll do my best."
"Ignored!? The great Loki got ignored!?"
"Now, now. Calm down, Loki. This is just how it usually is, isn't it? More importantly, there are bigger matters at hand."
"Gareth, you too!?"
The back and forth got a little noisy, but in the end, the conversation between us was done.
Gareth and I left the others behind and ran toward the shore.
And what we saw when we arrived was... honestly.
"Disgusting."
"Yeah."
And... filthy.
That was the honest feeling Gareth and I shared.
The shoreline we returned to was nothing less than a garbage dump.
A garbage dump packed with grotesque chunks of flesh, all of it smeared and tangled with every kind of filth.
Even a real dump wouldn't be this revolting or disgusting.
"Is all of this because of that thing?"
"I've never seen anything like this before, so I can't explain it in detail. But there doesn't seem to be any other culprit."
Still, from experience, I could roughly guess.
That failed chimera was probably no different from an undead zombie, with only the bare minimum of movement left and the rest of its biological functions already more than half dead.
What would happen if something like that wandered through saltwater without any regular maintenance and was abandoned by its creator?
It would swell up, lose strength, keep rotting away, and eventually its flesh would start falling off piece by piece from the outside in.
Its body was taking damage the whole time, and yet it was still a chimera that was, in its own way, half alive.
It looked like it still had a little magical regenerative power left, but if that were functioning properly, it never would have ended up in this state.
So naturally, over time, its body should have collapsed and self-destructed.
But it hadn't.
That left only one very simple conclusion.
And that was...
"Feeding. It fills the gaps by eating."
"You mean, no way...?"
"When the body's sick or injured, the best thing is to eat well and rest well so it heals faster."
And that thing's rest function was broken, just like a real zombie's, so it would have been devouring marine life and monsters alike without discrimination.
"That said, to be more precise, it's probably less like eating a meal and more like replacing or adding parts. Those many mouths were likely used not as hands, but to tear apart and remove the needed pieces from its prey. Then it would forcibly graft those parts onto itself by concentrating the remaining magical regeneration. Once the parts wore out, it would rip them off and replace them with fresh ones."
"Just hearing that is horrifying."
"That's what magical life-forms are like."
Especially when the creator's skill is low.
Turning that into something artistic and elevating it is what proves real talent.
For example, like that doll-maker lady.
"But that thing... doesn't it look like it's getting closer to the shore?"
"I don't know where it came from, but with a body that size, that means it needs an enormous amount of parts. Maybe that's why, or maybe it's just instinctively devouring every bit of prey it comes across on the way here, wiping out everything in the area. If it doesn't eat, its body will rot and collapse any second now, so there's no way it's thinking about restraint or saving anything for later. That means it's just moving toward wherever it senses the most life."
It's still half alive, after all.
It doesn't want to die pointlessly like this.
Gareth's expression grew even more serious after hearing my explanation.
In other words, what it was after was beyond that shoreline.
The place nearby where the greatest number of living things gathered and stayed.
"Melren! It's aiming for the port city!"
"Well, there's no way there'd be any other hunting ground around here that could satisfy it."
"Damn it! It's too late to evacuate the city now!"
"Then we'll just have to stop it here no matter what."
That was why I'd come here in the first place.
And to buy the first round of time for that, I pulled out a large, heavy sword and tossed it to Gareth.
He caught it one-handed and shot me a look that clearly asked what this was supposed to be.
"Well, you'll know once you use it."
For anything in this world, one real experience is worth more than ten explanations.
I smiled at him and taught him how to use it.
"[Bankai]."
Black Rope Heavenly Punishment King!
At the same moment...
Goooooooon...
"H-Hey! What the hell is this!?"
Enjoying the rare sight of Gareth looking stunned and flustered, I casually wiped beneath my nose with a finger.
After all, for any man, there's one ancient and irresistible tradition: a titanic bloodbath between giant beasts.
Now that's roooooomance!
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