WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 76: War with the Merfolk
──────
Hermes Research Institute
Luise took out the statistical materials and looked them over as she spoke.
“More than half of the EVO models achieved their first evolution within a day of consuming Essentium. They’re still evolving one after another according to the type of Essentium they consumed.”
“I see.”
“Huff huff...”
“Huff huff huff...”
Squelch, squelch.
As Luise organized the documents, she continued.
“Even though they were only born recently, they reacted to Essentium at incredible speed. I suppose we achieved our design goal. As they accumulate more environmental influences and experiences, their evolutionary branches will start spreading in countless directions. They’ll exceed even our expectations.”
“I see.”
“Huff huff...”
“Huff huff huff...”
Squelch, squelch.
Luise looked at me as if asking what on earth I was doing.
“...What are you doing?”
“You can see, can’t you? I’m kneading a Jellykko in each hand.”
I kneaded Haengbok and Mint, Luise’s Jellykko, at the same time.
“Huff huff...”
“Huff huff huff...”
Luise planted her hands on her hips and called me out.
“Even if you are the director, you shouldn’t be slacking off! You need to set an example for the other researchers, Yoo Hyun!”
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m working too.”
“Kneading Jellykkos isn’t work!”
She didn’t understand. This was the very process of approaching the truth...
Still, I recognized that anyone watching would misunderstand what I was doing, so I decided to offer a brief explanation.
“Hmph. I’ll prove that this is necessary.”
I picked up a newly produced package of Essentium from the table. It had been produced alongside the EVO models.
Four green gemstones, each with subtly different energies and shapes, lay side by side inside the package.
I brought them before Haengbok’s snout.
“Hambugi, choose one and eat it.”
“Huff huff...!”
Gulp.
Haengbok swallowed a Beta Essentium.
Luise was startled by the sight.
“Wha, what...? Is it okay to give Haengbok Essentium? We don’t even know how Haengbok will evolve!!!”
The change began the moment she finished speaking.
Bubble, bubble...
Haengbok’s body seemed to writhe, then gradually began to soften.
“Huff... Huuuff...”
Squelch...
It was a horrifying sight, as though a Jelly Dog were melting away.
Haengbok changed from a bouncy slime into something closer to liquid, flowed out of my arms, and dropped to the floor.
Splat.
Haengbok had ultimately become a puddle.
“Aaaaaah!!! Haengbok turned into liquid!!!! Yoo Hyun, why would you do that...?! W, we need to fix this first! Put Haengbok in a bottle, then somehow turn Haengbok back to normal!!!”
Luise panicked in shock, as though she were trying to figure out how to treat a patient who had suffered a terrible accident.
I calmed Luise down first.
“Calm down, Luise.”
“How can I calm down?! I know what Haengbok means to you...!!”
Of course, Jellykko Haengbok was extremely important to me, but...
“There’s no problem. Haengbok can restore itself.”
“...?”
Haengbok poked its head out of the puddle.
“Huff huff...”
It looked as though Haengbok had become a Water Release user.
Haengbok moved around here and there in puddle form.
As though the lab had become a swimming pool, the Jellykko darted around with only its head sticking out of the puddle.
“Haengbok, come out now.”
“Huff huff...”
Fwoosh!
When Haengbok sprang from the puddle, its body rapidly regained its former springiness and returned to the shape of a Jelly Dog.
Luise’s eyes went wide.
“Huh? Wh, what is this?! Haengbok returned to normal?”
She looked like she couldn’t understand it.
It was understandable. Haengbok’s Liquid Edition returning to the form of an ordinary Jellykko was beyond Luise’s common sense.
Evolution through Essentium meant the essence array within the mana core had been altered by an outside influence.
Simply put, it was like mixing paint with another color to create a new one.
With current magical beast alchemy techniques, restoring that original color afterward was out of the question.
But Haengbok before us had done it.
Of course, that was because Haengbok was no ordinary magical beast.
Haengbok was something beyond a magical beast, a being without a mana core in the first place.
[ Name 》 Haengbok ]
[ Model Name 》 Jellykko MK-1 ]
[ Mana Core Rank 》 None ]
[ Lifespan 》 Permanent (Under Contract) ]
Essentium caused evolution by having the mana core absorb new essence, but Haengbok had no mana core to begin with.
A decoy mana core was visible, of course, but that was merely jelly shaped like a mana core.
After the God of Jelly Dogs granted Haengbok new life, Haengbok became a complete living creature and lost the vital organ known as a mana core.
Anyway, perhaps because of that, Essentium’s effects only appeared temporarily.
That was right. Amazingly, even without a mana core, Haengbok had absorbed the essence in Essentium and transformed into that liquid form just now!
‘Haengbok is a special case, but if I handle this well...’
Could I make temporary-evolution Essentium?
It would evolve only the body without contaminating the essence of the mana core, the magical beast’s root!
I roughly explained Haengbok’s unusual nature and the idea that had sprung from it to Luise. Naturally, I left out the details of Haengbok’s origins.
“...I understand that Haengbok is special. But temporary evolution... Is something like that really possible?”
“It’ll be difficult. But Haengbok did it, so it can’t be completely impossible.”
Honestly, I still had no idea where to start.
Still, there was nothing to lose by researching it. The possibilities of Essentium and magical beasts were endless.
Anyway, my kneading Jellykkos in both hands until now could be considered work to identify the differences between ordinary Jellykko Mint and Haengbok.
‘Well, I didn’t find anything in the end.’
I had merely become a young man who kneaded Jellykkos.
Click.
The lab door opened, and Researcher A, Asagiri, poked their head inside.
“Director, it’s nearly time for the operation. We’ve set up the seats.”
“Is it already that time?”
“Huff huff...?”
We moved to the audiovisual room.
There...
“Oh...”
A huge screen was floating in the air, showing Hunters confronting the Merfolk.
Luise sat down while looking at the screen.
“It hasn’t started yet? Yoo Hyun, sit beside me.”
I sat beside her as she said, while Researchers A, B, and C took seats nearby.
‘Hm...? Something’s strange.’
I tilted my head as I looked at the screen.
“What’s this? Why is there a chat window?”
A very familiar chat window was visible on the right side of the screen.
‘Wasn’t this supposed to be Cheonseong’s body-cam footage?’
Asagiri answered my question.
“Ah, the main display is footage from a Korean YouTuber’s livestream.”
[ Chat ]
- All right, let’s do this~
- Turn those Merfolk bastards into sardine pie~!
- Didn’t the Hunter Alliance get wrecked last time?
- For real... Didn’t they get totally fucked because of the tidal wave?
- Cheon Sanha went missing too.
- The tidal wave wasn’t the issue. Some huge fucking monster showed up... There are tons of civilian photos on social media... You can’t even estimate its size...
- ...Those aren’t edited? Its head was above the clouds...
- Fuck;;; If that thing’s real, how can the Hunters win;;;
...It was definitely Korean in the chat window.
“The body cams will shake violently once the battle starts, so we’d need to stabilize the footage first. This will probably be better for watching live. Of course, we can switch the screen whenever you want!”
“Mm, nice call.”
The EVO Series magical beasts would probably not be clearly visible in body-cam footage.
And this YouTuber happened to be filming the Cheonseong Guild in particular, so the conditions were perfect.
Still, that username felt oddly familiar.
‘Petite Cream...?’
When I tilted my head at the channel name, Asagiri spoke.
“I think this person’s a fan of yours, Director Yoo Hyun. Were they one of those cases who blew up after livestreaming the German tournament? Probably. It looks like they went all the way there to film the EVO models this time too.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I think I saw them in my recommendations.”
Still, this was a battlefield. Going all the way there and risking his life made him little different from a war correspondent.
I would have thought they’d block civilians from entering the area... It was surprising that they did not.
‘Still, that takes serious nerve. Isn’t he afraid of dying?’
“E, everyone... Petite Cream will leave a message in advance... Mom, Dad... are you watching? As you can see, I’m on the battlefield. You may not approve of me doing something dangerous, but...”
......
Hm, perhaps not.
Anyway... Thanks to him, it looked like we would get good footage.
These days, Hunter-related content was so widespread that even gruesome footage could be broadcast and viewed after completing several verification procedures.
Leaning against the armrest with her chin propped on one hand, Luise spoke.
“But... can we win this time? What if they cause another tidal wave? Wouldn’t we really be in trouble then? I heard some monster appeared that seemed impossible to defeat.”
“Huff huff huff...”
A monster... She meant the unknown being even larger than a Colossal Merfolk.
The monster thought to have kidnapped Cheon Sanha.
“That monster probably won’t appear again.”
I understood to some extent how Transcendent factions interfered with this world, so I knew that monster had required an enormous cost.
It must have been their trump card. At least for now, they would not be able to use it again.
“Can you see them? The Merfolk are packed in tightly... The highest-priority goal of this operation is to reclaim the coastline. In other words, we need to drive out every last one of those Merfolk to accomplish our objective.”
Petite Cream’s commentary continued.
It was a war between Hunters and Merfolk.
The Merfolk’s numbers had exploded in the meantime, and there appeared to be more than several hundred thousand of them.
Meanwhile, there were only around twenty to thirty thousand Hunters at most.
The difference in numbers was so vast that it hardly qualified as a war, but...
‘The difference in quality is overwhelming.’
Most of the Hunters participating in the battle possessed A-rank combat power.
B-rank Mindless Merfolk would not pose much of a problem.
This was a fight they could win.
And I was incredibly curious about what sort of reaction magical beasts and Essentium would produce in this extreme environment.
‘Come on, show me... The evolution born from a battlefield environment...!!!’
At last, the opening shot of the fierce battle to reclaim the coastline erupted.
* * *
When the operation began, the Hunters drew their weapons and charged forward. Spells that had been cast in advance fell from the sky onto the Merfolk swarm, causing massive explosions.
Kaboom!! Kabooom!!!!!
Watching chunks of Merfolk flesh burst apart, tankers and melee Hunters rushed in, worked up with excitement.
“Let’s gooooo!!!!!!”
“I’ll take every one of those Merfolk bastards’ heads!!!!!!”
“Uooooooooh!!!!!!!!!!!”
The Merfolk also charged in, using their numerical advantage to begin surrounding the Hunters.
“Aooorgh!!!”
“Aoooorgh!!!!!”
“Aoorgh!!!”
Blood and flesh flew everywhere as the two sides collided.
The Hunters, overwhelmingly superior in firepower, began pushing through the Merfolk like a bulldozer.
From far away, YouTuber Petite Cream captured the sight on camera and spoke.
“This is insane...?! The Hunter Alliance is going to win easily, isn’t it!?”
The battlefield heavily favored the Hunters.
[ Chat ]
- Wow, fuck. This feels like a movie.
- Petite Cream-hyung, move a little closer! The front line is pushing too far ahead.
- No, stay safe no matter what. Merfolk have ranged attacks too, be careful.
- But do the Merfolk even have a chance here? They’re just being slaughtered.
- They’re B-rank to begin with. How could they possibly push back? The Hunters there are probably A-rank on average.
- Don’t know about that, but seeing our side win puts me at ease.
- Hm, I think it’s too early to celebrate...
There were plenty of other civilian spectators near Petite Cream, and they all cheered together.
“Fuck, that’s it!!! Slaughter those loathsome fishheads!!!”
“Can you all see this?! The Avalon Guild is fighting on the front line!!!!”
“Damn... Coming here at the risk of my life was worth it!!! They’re overwhelming, absolutely overwhelming!!!”
“Cut off those disgusting bastards’ last breaths!!!”
Everyone on the battlefield cheered, and morale boiled to the skies.
But then...
Bzzzz!!! Fwoosh!!!!
With a sudden explosion, a Merfolk over five meters tall appeared on the battlefield.
Its scales were abnormally developed. Unlike ordinary hunched Merfolk, everything below its head had a very humanlike form.
It naturally assumed a crouching start position.
“...It’s an Inherited Merfolk...”
“An Inherited Merfolk has appeared!!! A higher species at A-10! Requesting fire support!!!!”
“Tankers, hold formation!!! Protect the rear line!!!!!”
“Fuck, I’ve got a bad feeling about this...”
The tankers raised their shields and prepared.
Then the Merfolk started running.
Countless spells and arrows poured toward the creature as it charged at terrifying speed, but...
“Intercept it, fuck!! Intercept it!!!!”
Bang! Kaboom!
Even amid the consecutive explosions, it did not stop.
Instead, it ignored every attack as its speed kept increasing.
The tankers sensed something was wrong...
“Fuck... I think we’re screwed...”
“Hold your positions!!! If we can’t stop it, we all die!!!”
“Please... Please...”
“Wait!!! This doesn’t seem right!!!! Even an S-rank tanker couldn’t withstand an Inherited Merfolk’s attack...”
The moment it came within arm’s reach...
KABOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With an enormous roar as though a bomb had exploded, the tankers were sent flying like bowling pins.
“Aaargh!!!”
“You motherfuuuuucker!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Ghk...!!!!”
“Move the injured to the rear!!!”
Fwoooosh!
Fwoooooosh!!
Explosions erupted across the battlefield as Inherited Merfolk began appearing one after another.
A Colossal Merfolk, an armored Merfolk that had just sent people flying, a Merfolk that moved like a quadruped, a Merfolk wielding a crossbow...
Ten-odd Inherited Merfolk had appeared.
Finally, a Merfolk holding a staff emerged.
“The preparations are complete... Humans... I shall show you the terror of the sea...”
The moment it chanted a spell and struck its staff down, a spell formula activated using the Merfolk corpses on the battlefield as a medium.
Water began rising from the ground as the environment itself changed.
[ Humans are helpless before the terror of the sea.... ]
The entire battlefield was trapped within a barrier, and its interior transformed into an environment that resembled the deep sea.
The Merfolk moved at speeds incomparable to before, while the Hunters’ movements visibly worsened.
Even sunlight scattered through the water, ruining visibility... It was enough to make them feel as though they had sunk to the bottom of the deep sea.
The battlefield environment had shifted in the Merfolk’s favor.
Humans could never defeat Merfolk in this environment.
The staff-wielding Merfolk rolled its eyes as it foresaw their victory.
Swish!!
[ ......? ]
Something other than a Merfolk raced through the battlefield at high speed.
Footnotes:
“Water Release” is a reference to the water-style ninjutsu associated with Naruto.
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