The Returner Wants Complete Victory

54 – 054. Dust Duke

Team 1’s base camp, general command tent.

Wild Fang’s leader, Veronica de Rosa, was imagining someone hitting her in the back of the head with a rock.

Of course, Veronica, whose strength and stamina exceed 100, would not faint or die.

But, wouldn’t it be at least a justification?

“Captain. “Aren’t you just imagining something stupid again?”

“Oh, isn’t it?”

“Your expression is exactly the same as last time. Are you even imagining missiles falling from the sky like last time? If that’s the case, just say it. “I said that even though I can’t make missiles, I can at least drop icicles that look like missiles.”

“Not really. “I was listening to everything.”

“Then try talking.”

“Yes?”

“I heard you were listening. “Captain, please recite what I have said so far.”

“So—Team 4 couldn’t contact me during regular communication time this morning… Even before that, teams 2 and 4 had non-returning teams… .”

I heard you.

Lara Webb, who serves as Wild Fang’s vice-captain, chief of staff, and actual leader, sighed openly.

“So what should we do?”

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“what?”

“Team 4 can’t be contacted. Are you going to leave it alone?”

“Maybe they just didn’t contact me because they were busy. First of all, there are regular communications every evening… .”

Veronica paused.

I had a gut feeling that if I talked any more, I might be killed on a personal level.

“… Should I go?”

Hearing Veronica’s words, Lara stared into her eyes without saying a word.

That’s a wrong answer.

“… Then withdraw?”

The corners of Lara’s mouth became wrinkled.

You’re screwed. It was the last chance.

“Should I ask Evan to find out?”

It was almost an instinctive action to bring up the name of my smart subordinate.

“I heard Evan left base camp last night to look for missing people?”

“Uh, so, what I’m saying is, let’s have two teams and find out! Even if Evan was away, the person in charge would have stayed behind. “But he’s meticulous.”

Lala’s expression finally relaxed.

“great. I will force you to open the communication later and deliver it that way. “It might use up a lot of magic stones, but it doesn’t matter, right?”

“Well, of course! “It’s an emergency!”

Even in my opinion, it was a sh*tty improvisation.

Veronica felt proud of her own growth.

Lara began to say what she wanted to say.

“According to Team 4’s report, they said they found traces of the missing group engaging in combat. But what’s strange is that they said they couldn’t find any bodies in the combat zone?”

“Whose body? Chimera corpse? “You just couldn’t kill a single one?”

“No, both sides.”

“why?”

“If we knew that, we wouldn’t have to send team 2, right?”

Lara had a question about that.

Of course, many corpses of type 1 chimeras distributed between the lowest and lowest classes were discovered.

But no matter how you look at it, that wasn’t the cause.

The missing team included many combat personnel who were considered elite soldiers.

They died because they couldn’t shake off a horde of lesser chimeras?

Not even just one or two, but all of them?

It makes as much sense as Lara herself beating up Veronica in a fistfight.

In fact, Team 4 also came to the same conclusion.

They’re not criminals. Analysis of the chimera corpses showed that they were all just one-sided massacres.

So what on earth is going on?

Why are traces of a fierce battle found, but no corpses from both sides can be found at that location? .

First of all, team 2 is the closest to team 4.

I just hoped that they wouldn’t suddenly lose contact.

*

“By the way, senior. “Isn’t something strange?”

While climbing the mountain, Bo-gyeong, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke.

Due to my lack of experience, I felt like I was deliberately holding back my words for fear of being intrusive, but I guess there was something I was so curious about that I couldn’t hold back.

When I gave her a quick glance, Bo-kyung continued speaking.

“You said that at dawn. You might encounter enemy troops. however… .”

“Why have you never encountered the enemy, huh?”

Bokyung nodded at my words.

Contrary to my expectations, I didn’t see a single live chimera on the way here.

I felt that other people’s attention was focused on me, probably because they were curious after hearing the question.

If you do this, it seems like you’re betraying some kind of expectation.

“I don’t know either.”

Everyone looked bewildered, as if they had not expected such an answer to come.

Do these people think I belong to some kind of library? If you ask, will you know everything?

“There are so few clues. Let’s go first. “If you go and listen to the story, something will come out.”

After saying that, I walked briskly to hide my embarrassment.

Even after we started climbing the rocky mountain to find the exact location, signal flares were fired a couple more times.

And after about 20 minutes had passed.

We were able to find the missing rescue team.

*

The place where the survivors were hiding was a canyon so narrow that it cast shadows even when the sun was high in the sky.

When I removed some of the barrier stones found through magic detection, I could glimpse a human shadow through a gap hidden by the rock.

widely.

“This is the second rescue team. “Is everyone okay?”

I lightly climbed down between the rocks and looked around.

I immediately wanted to pick up what I had said out of politeness.

The number of people is seven.

And none of the survivors looked fine.

“uh… ? you are… .”

Ellie recognized me and opened her eyes.

All of the armor he was wearing must have been broken and discarded, so Ellie was dressed in almost nothing more than a piece of clothing.

The only pitiful thing left was the breastplate, hanging on the chest, and even that had a long dent from the shoulder to just above the heart.

Evan, who followed behind, bit his lip as if he understood the situation.

He looked like he had a lot to ask, but he seemed to wait for a while since he had decided to hand over command to me.

I approached Ellie, who seemed to be in the best condition, and asked.

“We arrived in a hurry, so we were unable to accurately understand the current situation. “Can you please explain what happened?”

“yes… ? “Didn’t you come after hearing Mr. Atanelli’s story?”

Mr. Atanelli?

When I stopped talking for a moment because I didn’t understand, Evan, who was standing behind me, took a step forward and said.

“It is a Greek castle. Miss Ellie. Hella could not return to base camp. We came out simply because you did not return even after the promised three days had passed. I need an explanation of the situation. “I will take your questions later.”

“Ah, ah, yes. So— hmmm. wait a minute. “I need time to organize my thoughts.”

Except for Evan and me, the second rescue team was busy distributing food and potions to the remaining people.

Although he didn’t have any armor, he brought some extra clothes and was taking them out of his backpack.

Eunha brought her a change of clothes, but Ellie just stood there blankly, taking the clothes.

Despite his impatient expression, Evan calmly waited for Ellie to open her mouth.

“First of all, among the enemies… There was Mr. Victor who went missing. And the team members too.”

Ellie’s words were shocking from the first word.

*

Ellie’s story progressed chronologically from the first words.

Day 1.

The first rescue team began their search in a similar way to ours.

Progress was slow because they didn’t even think about finding out whether the magic stone was present or not.

Still, there were no problems up to this point.

Day 2.

I felt strange that I did not encounter chimeras.

Although there were a lot of chimeras that Victor’s team had sorted out, it doesn’t make sense that they didn’t come across a single one throughout the search.

They came to the conclusion that there would be at least one higher-ranking commander, and both commanders agreed on this.

However, the two leaders expressed conflicting opinions.

Ellie insisted that they return to base camp and report, while Hela, on the other hand, insisted that Victor’s team be found before it was too late.

Although the two leaders had different opinions, Wild Fang member Hela’s argument gained more weight, and they ultimately decided to press ahead with the search.

And that night there was the first attack.

“I still don’t know. Obviously, they installed a barrier stone and kept watch… .”

They suddenly appeared and attacked like ghosts.

The number of enemies is about fifteen.

And among them, as Ellie first said, there were people who looked like the missing Victor and his team members.

“But it didn’t look like a person. Even when I tried to talk to them, there was no answer at all, and everyone’s expressions were expressionless… . The reason I found out that it was Mr. Victor’s group was because I had a friend in that group that I knew well. That friend was originally a very bright person with a lot of facial expressions, but strangely, it was as if he had become a different person… .”

“wait a minute. I understand for now.”

After stopping Ellie for a moment, Evan looked back at me.

“Do you have any guesses?”

“well. Just looking at the description, it looks like a type 5 chimera doppelganger… .”

“Although doppelgangers are classified as type 1 for convenience, their production facilities are completely different. “I understand that even after the fall of the Empire, the Republic persistently eliminated them, leaving almost no production facilities or even any remaining entities.”

“It makes sense to think that there is a high-ranking commander and that he was dragged along.”

“That’s true, but… .”

Evan trailed off as if something felt uncomfortable.

It seemed like he knew what he wanted to say.

Doppelgangers are good at imitating human emotions as they were originally created for espionage, but on the other hand, their own combat power is poor.

Exactly the opposite of Eli’s testimony.

Then Eli’s mouth opened again.

“Now that I think about it, when it died, it turned into powder and scattered around.”

“yes?”

“I’ve only succeeded in killing them a few times, so I’m not sure… I think so… .”

Evan narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t understand those words.

And, on the contrary, I forgot what I was going to say, as if I had been hit with a hammer.

Why didn’t I think of that guy right away?

I knew there was one unique species around here.

However, he was not yet a member of the ancient evil god, and his area of activity would have been a desert area a little further away.

He is a guy who never leaves his territory, so what kind of wind is blowing?

Did the ancient evil spirit go out of his way to make you one of his subjects?

If that’s the case, it’s probably a good thing.

The more effort you put into this guy, the more time it will take to bring other guys under your command.

This guy is definitely picky, but that’s only true among the only species that isn’t enslaved by an ancient evil god.

Its combat power is weaker than that of the Raven, which is at the bottom among the only species, and the number of Chimeras it can control is also at the bottom.

The ruler of the desert who has the grand nickname of a one-man army.

Dust Duke.

“It’s Dust Duke.”

A vicious voice came from behind me.

I don’t know how long I’ve been listening, but Hyril was standing there with a scary, stern expression.

*

“Wow! “It’s here, it’s here!”

A girl with light green short hair looked at her cell phone and shouted as if she had been waiting.

People who were eating together in a large hall as if they were having a company dinner took out their cell phones at the same time as if they had made an appointment.

The fact that so many people heard the notification sound that only individuals could hear at the same time meant that a message had been sent to all people on Earth.

“look! I said I would come, right? Okay, then everyone, don’t just shut up and start packing your bags in advance! Especially the vice-captain! “You can’t be procrastinating like last time and just skip this and that!”

“Why do I have to bring snacks for the leader… .”

The man complained, but the girl didn’t even listen.

“Oh, you can start after you finish eating! “I’ve eaten everything, so why don’t I go first?”

The girl who said that ran away somewhere.

She was a girl who was always unpredictable.

What he does and his abilities.

▶ Mission

▷ Subjugation

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Defeat the one and only species, Dust Duke.

1st rally point – Emur.

2nd rally point – Kirnyu.

※ If you do not join the expedition at the gathering point, you cannot receive rewards.

[Main Collaborator]

Raviola Ensis (Ensis Magic Corps Leader).

Ardina Karelopin (Vice-Captain of the Knights of the Midnight Sun).

▷ Rewards

When participating in a subjugation battle, freely distributed points +2.

When participating in a subjugation battle, public value +500~30,000 depending on contribution.

When directly contributing to the defeat of Dust Duke, freely distributed points +1 to 9 depending on contribution level.

“I will wake up first too.”

Seongho Kim finished his meal and stood up.

I wasn’t full, but I just didn’t feel like sitting down and eating more.

How long has this been a large-scale expedition?

The leader had repeatedly told us a few days ago as if he were brainwashing us, and if we were less prepared than other mercenary groups, we would not be able to raise our heads in shame.

By the way, Kirnura.

I heard that they were noisy not long ago because they were fighting among themselves.

It is also the border city where Wild Fang signed a contract this time.

And above all, it was the city where the man in the tutorial was staying.

“… Are they releasing pheromones that attract the only species?”

Nonsense.

Seongho Kim muttered that and burst into laughter.