WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 11: Senior Partner (3)

──────

The senior partner returned before long.

With a strange glass box.

There was something inside the glass box?

“A Level 3 fungal creature.”

Fuck!

Yoon came over, dragging the glass box on wheels. It reached about his ribs and was wide enough to fit six car tires with room to spare.

Something sat inside that cube of glass.

A mushroom.

It looked like an enormous inky cap, melting black. Except tentacles writhed from the edge of its cap. Tentacles stretched in every direction, covering the entire bottom of the glass box. My brow automatically furrowed at the sight of them constantly squirming.

“What does Level 3 mean?”

Those were the first words I had spoken.

Yoon explained in a flat voice.

“The higher the number, the more dangerous it is. A Level 1 is something an armed civilian could survive against. A Level 2 can be killed with special training, even without an enhanced body. From Level 3 onward, you need an enhanced body to kill them. You run into this one very often outside the Core.”

“How high do the levels go?”

“Ten. A creature that requires every veteran Badger to be deployed.”

“Those exist?”

“They did. They haven't been seen since the First War. For reference, the closer they are to human form, the more dangerous they usually are. The angel-type creature you saw before would be classified as Level 6 or 7. A creature that one or more veteran Badgers can handle.”

Why was its level so high? I really had come back from the brink of death.

My stomach went cold as I remembered the creature driving its sword down against a blue sky. The one Ska had stopped so easily had looked far more human than this inky-cap creature. It had been holding a weapon, so what more was there to say?

I blankly recalled the time my life had been in danger.

“They stopped it so easily that I didn't realize it was that dangerous.”

“Who killed it?”

I blinked at the question.

“Assistant Ska and Senior Ro. I think Ami and Ricardo killed the spider-like thing stuck to the window.”

“They're all war heroes. They're among the ten best Badgers, so of course they can handle something like a Level 6 creature easily.”

They were among the top ten?

Considering why this organization existed, there probably weren't only a few Badgers. The size of the building and grounds alone made it clear this was a massive organization.

Which meant they were the elite among elites.

How had I ended up with people that amazing...

“The other two rookies you saw when you fell out of the portal haven't experienced war.”

He seemed to mean the man and woman Ricardo had sent home early.

The man had blue eyes, but he wore a mask up to his nose, so I hadn't seen his face. The woman was short, with a two-tone bob of yellow and pink hair.

“Kal Dowe has been here for a while, at least. But that two-tone kid is still a green recruit. It probably hasn't even been a year since she stopped being the most junior member.”

Then the two-tone-haired woman was the senior directly above me.

I thought I understood why those two had kept their mouths shut that day. There had been three seniors from much earlier classes around, so they probably hadn't been able to speak carelessly.

I was vaguely recalling what had happened a few weeks ago when the chainsaw suddenly started.

“Ah, shit! You startled me!”

“The explanation's over, so we should start.”

Yoon said it ominously.

Damn it.

Holding the chainsaw as it rumbled in my hands, I forced a smile.

I had nothing but bad feelings about this. The inky-cap creature did not look like it would sit quietly like a real mushroom. And it wasn't as if I knew how to use a chainsaw. Even without my memories, I could tell a chainsaw felt unfamiliar.

But I couldn't voice my objections.

Yoon placed a hand on top of the glass box.

“You can tell what you need to do just by looking at it.”

“I understand what I need to do, but I have no idea how to do it.”

“Just swing the chainsaw.”

My respected senior had offered a very useful addition.

“You definitely won't die.”

He didn't say I wouldn't get hurt.

At this point, I almost laughed. I did laugh, actually, a hollow ha ha ha, before asking a question.

“It probably won't help to ask, but what are its attack patterns?”

“Experience them yourself.”

I was asking because I wanted to know before experiencing them!

Once again, I couldn't turn my thoughts into words. Without even telling me to get ready, Yoon pressed somewhere on the glass box.

The instant I stepped back, the glass box opened in every direction.

Tentacles writhing as they spread outward.

It was do or die.

I raised the chainsaw with the mindset that I was going to make braised mushrooms.

A grotesque sight unfolded before me. The moment the glass opened in every direction, the creature's tentacles shot out. They slowly widened their range as they wriggled. Each tentacle was not that thick. They were merely tangled together in a complicated mess, like tree roots.

It didn't attack right away.

Yoon stood closer to the creature than I was, both hands in his pockets, watching the inky cap. He did not move at all.

He's fine like that? Does it not attack first?

I watched Yoon and the mushroom beside him carefully.

Then I stepped forward to approach it.

One step.

Thud!

A dull pain shot across my face.

Just as I registered that my face hurt, my back and tailbone hurt too. My vision shook. Ringing filled my ears along with the loud sound of impact.

Frowning, I forced myself up.

Had that tentacle smacked me?

Asbestos drifted down from above.

With a small groan, I pulled my back away from the wall.

I had almost dropped the chainsaw too. Trying to open my eyes properly, I drove the stopped chainsaw into the floor.

Using it as a cane, I got to my feet.

Yoon was still standing in the exact same spot.

He's fine.

“Why am I...”

Thud!

I got hit again. The mushroom kindly smacked my other cheek this time. I must have slammed my shoulder blade hard into the wall. A sharp pain stabbed through my right shoulder.

My entire body hummed with pain.

No, why was I the only one getting hit?

As the shock and pain that had wrapped around my body began to fade, I forced my squeezed-shut eyes open.

Tentacles writhed in the air. They had split wide to either side, forming round fists.

If I get up, I'll get hit again, right? And if I try to get closer, I'll get hit too.

Then I'll cut them before they beat me up. He must have given me the chainsaw because those things could be cut.

I scraped together the strength to get up quickly. After taking several deep breaths, I began to recover. I resolved to swing the chainsaw the moment I stood up.

I slowly moved my thumb and turned it on.

Vrrrrrrrr!

The saw whirred loudly.

I sprang to my feet and swung the saw at the same time.

Slice!

“Got one!”

“Hey.”

What? The instant I tried to answer, a fierce gust hit my face.

I turned my head, but I wasn't fast enough.

Smack!

I didn't fall backward.

I staggered, then regained my balance. Something had split open, and my mouth filled with the taste of blood. Trying to regain my vision, I swung the chainsaw. Slice. Along with a satisfying sensation, I heard a tentacle collapse. A severed tentacle struck the top of my foot.

I barely opened my eyes and assessed the situation.

The moment I turned toward the creature, my vision filled with an enormous tentacle.

Thump!

That one hit properly.

This time I went sprawling. I dropped the chainsaw too. A small sound escaped me as the impact made the back of my head ring.

This is harsh.

Lying on the floor, I rubbed the forehead that had been hit. This was Level 3. Not Level 5 or 6. There had to be an unimaginable gap between this and the highest level, Level 10, but I couldn't even get close?

Its attack pattern wasn't even complicated. The main body itself was rooted in place and couldn't move.

There had to be a way.

I lay on the floor and thought until the pain faded and my head cleared. Then a strange fragment of memory popped up.

I was holding a controller. I was looking at a large screen. Grotesque graphics. Cute, bouncy graphics. Flashy sound effects and repeating patterns...

Repeating patterns.

I slowly raised my upper body.

“Why am I the only one getting hit?”

When I asked gloomily, Yoon moved only his eyes.

“It attacks when something above a certain height moves.”

“Ah. No wonder you weren't moving at all.”

Yoon only raised one eyebrow, remaining frighteningly still.

The more I looked at him... what a peculiar person. Were there many people with so little movement or change in expression?

I looked at the man standing in exactly the same pose as before I had been hit and spoke.

“Can I crawl over and cut it with the chainsaw?”

“No reason you can't. Though you couldn't do that in the field.”

“Is there a proper method for the field? How do you normally deal with that thing?”

“Walk up and punch it.”

Simple, and not helpful at all.

With a sickened look, I watched the wriggling creature.

At this point, I was going to kill that thing even if I had to be stubborn about it.

Frowning, I considered a way through. I could crawl over and kill it, but that clearly wouldn't work in the field.

If I was going to kill it, I would do it properly.

If I got hit a few more times, I would see the pattern. It suddenly came back to me that I was the type who saw a game through to the end once I started it. Whether it was a rhythm game or an RPG, I played without getting tired until I finished.

I swallowed the blood gathered in my mouth.

“Yoon.”

“What.”

“Is it all right if this takes some time?”

“Do whatever you want.”

There was no emotion in Yoon's voice.

“If you decide you can't go on, you can quit right away. If you want, you can keep going until dawn.”

“Ah. Surely I won't still be doing this by dawn.”

“I hope not.”

“I'll finish before standing that still becomes hard for you.”

Though I would have to get hit several more times first.

I reached out and grabbed the chainsaw I had dropped.

The pain that had shaken my whole body was gone now. I would surely feel similar pain once I stood, but I couldn't accomplish anything if I was afraid of pain.

After letting out a long breath, I prepared to stand.

The senior partner, unmoving in place like a statue.

Before that man said he needed to use the bathroom, I would get this over with. Holding that grand goal in my heart, I rose with the chainsaw in hand.

*　　　*　　　*

I got hit more than thirty times.

On the thirty-second try, I identified the pattern exactly. On the thirty-third, I succeeded in cutting every tentacle that came at me. And on the thirty-fourth attempt, I cut the tentacles and approached the mushroom.

After several hours, the senior partner was close. The mushroom creature was close. The inky cap grew larger and larger. A fungus with nothing left to wriggle.

I rushed forward and saw its black cap.

I raised the chainsaw, its blade covered in tentacle scraps.

With all my strength, I brought the running saw down.

Pssshhh!

The cap split in two, and ink covered my body.

It stings!

“What is this?”

“I said it had poison.”

After several long hours, Yoon finally moved.

Some ink seemed to have splashed onto him too. Yoon brushed himself off with a dry expression.

“If you didn't want to get covered in ink, you should have finished it with your fists. Anyway, it's definitely dead. Good work.”

“It still stings.”

The giant mushroom split in half and sagged.

I had killed the creature after thirty-four attempts, but I didn't feel the satisfaction I had expected.

I stood there as every spot splashed with ink began to ache sharply. As I stayed still, my breathing settled and my senses returned to normal speed.

The creature, split like a mushroom cut with a knife, leaked ink. Severed tentacles lay scattered around the training hall. The chainsaw had stopped running. The walls were scratched. Asbestos had fallen everywhere.

There was a slick smell that was hard to describe.

After blankly taking in the traces of the fierce fight, I let the chainsaw fall.

“Does an enhanced body detoxify poison too?”

When I turned my head and asked, Yoon, who had been surveying the area, met my eyes.

The man had stood without moving for nearly three hours, yet he showed no sign of fatigue. His black, unreadable eyes stared straight at me.

He really was like a ghost.

“Some poisons can be detoxified, and some can't. But you're definitely more resistant to poison than an ordinary person.”

“This mushroom's poison is the kind that can be detoxified, right?”

“No.”

What?

“If you got covered in its poison in the field, you'd have to take an antidote. But this one's poison has been neutralized, so it doesn't matter. Do you know how poison works?”

Do you think I know how poison works when I didn't even know my own face?

Perhaps my expression answered for me, because Yoon gave a small snort.

“Basically, for poison to kill a person, it has to be absorbed into the body and reach the heart. Usually it enters through a vein and goes to the heart. You'd have to cut about halfway into an arm to expose an artery, and it's hard to get that far. When poison reaches the heart, it gets pumped through the lungs once and spreads through the arteries. So you need to act before that happens.”

“What if there isn't an antidote?”

“I told you, it doesn't spray ink if you punch it. And if you've been covered in poison without an antidote, first wash it off quickly with soapy water to neutralize it.”

What if there wasn't even soapy water?

I held back that question, because Yoon would probably get annoyed. I was also too tired to chatter away. The moment I realized the ink covering me was safe, the tension drained away and exhaustion flooded in.

I wanted to sit down. I had suddenly done far too much strenuous exercise. My arms hurt, the places where I had been hit hurt, and my legs hurt.

If not for the ink soaking the floor, I would have collapsed right there.

I closed my eyes and let out a huge sigh.

“...Anyway, I killed it. It took stupidly long, though.”

“You.”

I opened my eyes at Yoon's words.

I answered in a tired voice.

“Yes?”

“You look like you used to work out.”

I blinked.

“Me? Do I look like it?”

“Yeah.”

I wondered why he thought that.

I also wondered about the judgment of someone who had watched this nonsense without moving. Saying I looked like I had exercised didn't mean I had moved around like a complete fool, did it? Had I done better than I thought?

But Yoon turned away without explaining.

“Anyway, I get the general idea. Let's go. You need to wash up.”

“What about all this?”

“A robot will come clean it up, so you don't need to worry about it.”

Yoon looked over the training room.

“The showers are out to the right...”

“Aaaah! Oppa!”

I jumped.

I whipped around and saw Ami staring wide-eyed. She stood in the doorway of the training hall. Two men stood behind her: Ricardo and a man I had never seen before.

Ricardo leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyes curved in a smile. As if he had known this would happen.

The unfamiliar man looked over the training room in disbelief.

Ami, frozen for a moment, came running.

“What did you do to Hilde!”

Ami ran straight to Yoon and began punching him all over.

“What did you do to a rookie who was officially assigned only yesterday!”

I knew that bastard was crazy.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried