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Chapter 30: Encounter (1)

Having obtained the deodorant, Henry returned to his residence. He then assembled the platoon.

“Attention, everyone. Did you take good care of the mementos I gave you last time?”

“Yes sir.”

Henry pulled out the bottle of deodorant that Tini had given to him.

“Was there a deodorant that looked like this among the items I handed out?”

Everyone’s eyes were focused on the bottle. The platoon members exchanged glances with each other, but no one answered.

“We don’t think so.”

“Is that so?”

Henry was puzzled. The platoon members had possession of Carter’s belongings, so Henry had assumed someone had his deodorant as well.

“Did anyone throw it away or burn it?”

Henry couldn’t recall seeing a glass bottle when he had done his burning routine in front of the platoon.

“No. We checked all of Commander Carter’s items. There was nothing like that among them.”

“Really?”

Henry could do nothing.

Why was Carter killed when he didn’t even use the deodorant on himself? Could it be that Holtervelt’s testimony was wrong?

Numerous theories ran through Henry’s mind. Regardless, the next expedition was going to test Holtervelt’s testimony. Even if Holtervelt was wrong, Henry had no intention of resenting him.

“Nothing I can do if we don’t have it. Let’s get going now.”

The platoon members questioned Henry about the deodorant, but Henry brushed them off and answered vaguely. If they had learned the truth, they would have argued about spraying the deodorant on themselves.

‘Things will get ugly if we increase the risk like that.’

Black’s exact power level was still unknown, so it was necessary to reduce any risks as much as possible.

‘Mass Solitude’.

Thud!

Henry lightly rolled his foot and cast a protective barrier around the platoon once again. The spell allowed the platoon members to safely travel through the forest, and they were once again pleasantly surprised that they had no unwanted encounters.

* * *

“Our objective today is the same. It will be a tedious task, but if you catch even the smallest clue, it will help us reach our final goal. So, I hope everyone can proactively contribute.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Then let the search begin.”

Again, they split into two teams, and just like the previous day, they split off in opposite directions along the perimeter of the area. Some time passed.

‘Shall I slowly get things started, too, then?’

Henry waited until he was far enough away from the other team, so they would not get caught up in his plan. He was also prepared to take responsibility for the four other men on his team, so he decided to start his experiment without hesitation.

Henry had decided to experiment with a new search methodology. He first cast another protective spell on the team, excluding himself this time.

‘Mass Solitude’.

Thud!

Next, he took out the deodorant that he had received from Tini and sprayed a small amount onto his wrist.

Psssh.

He sprayed more of it evenly and meticulously on his wrists, ankles, and the back of his neck; areas where one would normally spray a deodorant, as it was important for his body to latch onto the smell. The fresh scent of Febreezy embraced his whole body. However, the scent soon dissipated.

But Henry wasn’t done with his preparations. Even if the scent was weak and only on himself, it would have been meaningless if it ended up being transferred to his platoon members.

‘Steam Skin’.

Thud!

As Henry lightly shifted his foot once more, a faint layer of vapor formed on Henry’s body. The steam naturally rose and climbed up toward his head before dissipating into the air.

Psssssh!

‘To think that I’d use this kind of magic here.’

Steam Skin was a kind of social magic developed by the Spire. Women would commission the tower to cast it in order to help spread the scent of their perfume widely in a social setting. After the spell was developed, there was a period of time when it was the latest craze. Everyone was using it, and due to this, it quickly lost its novelty. Nobody had used it again since then.

After the layer of steam dissipated over Henry’s head, he cast?Steam Skin?on his platoon members as well. This prevented their scents from mixing with each other.

Pssssh!

Of course, they wouldn’t notice it. Steam Skin had been developed for social use, so it had been designed to feel just like a refreshing breeze. In addition, Henry mixed five types of vapor in convection, helping to spread the scent of Febreezy even further away.

Now, all that was left was to look for Kin Mushrooms, as planned.

Maintaining a safe distance from the platoon members, Henry took the lead. A long time passed.

* * *

Somewhere in the 6th district, a pack of Taurus roamed.

Taurus were two-meter tall 6th district demonic beasts with humanoid bodies and bull-like heads. Basically, they were half-human, half-bull. Despite their muscular bodies and tough temperament, they roamed around in groups, making them one of the most difficult demonic beasts to deal with in the 6th district. As always, there was one mutant in the pack.

Some mutants had a crazy personality type, while others could be highly violent.

However, the mutant in this particular pack of Taurus was a rare albino, whose whole body was pure white. Usually, the term ‘albino’ referred to a being that lacks pigmentation in their skin. However, this Taurus had white skin because he had been born with the power of lightning. With these traits combined, he was a powerful being, and had easily established himself as the leader of the group.

None of the other Taurus dared to go against him because of his lightning powers. This was why Black had chosen the albino Taurus as his final host. Black was also a powerful being on its own, with abilities that even the Demon Realm recognized. However, Black was also prey for many other demonic beasts. To survive, it had escaped to the Demonic Beast Forest.

At first, while running away from other demonic beasts, it had found an opening it could hide in, but later on, it realized that the opening had been the Gates of the Demon Realm, toward where the humans resided. Black had decided to settle down in the human realm, where it was safer, and ultimately hid himself within the albino Taurus.

In order to evolve into a Demon—something that it had been waiting for—it needed a month to focus on its evolution without any external interference. Luckily for Black, it had unexpectedly obtained a good vessel in the form of the albino Taurus. After moving the vessel back to its secret dwelling, Black had entered the evolutionary state. Soon Black would evolve into a fully-fledged Demon and settle itself within this vessel.

‘Mm?’

Suddenly, while curled up within its host like a cancer cell, Black smelled a sweet fragrance that it had not smelled in years.

‘No way. It can’t be.’ Black thought to itself.

However, as time passed, the smell that permeated through the Taurus’ synapses was clearly the same scent from years ago, the one that had brought Black so much pleasure.

‘No, it can’t be. I can’t suddenly just smell something that I haven’t smelled in years, especially out here.’?Black thought, shaking his head. It had initiated its evolution deep inside the forest, where no human could interfere.

However, the smell, which was spreading softly with the wind, was distinct. There was no mistaking it, this was the scent that had driven it crazy a few years ago. The smell that had driven its entire clan crazy, bringing it to the brink of extinction. The smell of the demonic herb, Dhdl.

‘Ah, no way…’

If the problem was visual, Black could just close the Taurus’ eyes. But it could not stop smells, as they entered freely through the respiratory tract. Black’s blood began to boil.

Dhdl was like a drug to Black’s clan. It was immensely difficult to find in the Demon Realm, but it brought about an equally immense amount of pleasure with just a single bite.

‘No!’

The albino Taurus, who had been sleeping peacefully for over a month, woke up. Black could not withstand the smell of Dhdl and took control over its host.

‘I. Will. Eat. It.’

The time left for his evolution was only a few hours. However, the addictive scent of Dhdl had already overpowered any sense of reason within Black.

Goaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

The albino Taurus emerged from a deep burrow. As his roar echoed across the forest, the rest of the Taurus herd gathered around its leader. There were twenty in total.

Initially, there had been close to a hundred subordinates in the herd, but due to their leader’s absence over the past month, quite a large number of them had left. Still, this was enough for Black. They were Taurus after all, the predators of the 6th district.

* * *

“And the result is?”

“I apologize.”

In the end, the two teams reunited on the opposite end of the perimeter, both totally empty-handed. Henry was completely worn out. After all, he had been keeping two different spells active while on the lookout for a surprise attack the entire time.

He was also disappointed to see that the bottle of deodorant was almost empty. Although he had used it sparingly, the 6th district was quite wide, and they had covered almost half of it. The fact that the deodorant still had not worked was evidence that Holtervelt’s assertions could have been wrong.

‘Was his testimony wrong…? Perhaps I need to summon the other victims.’

Henry opened the nearly empty bottle of deodorant and poured the remaining liquid on the back of his neck.

‘I should buy Tini a new one, right?’

Tini had demanded a meal in exchange for the bottle of deodorant, and Henry was not completely oblivious as to what that implied. However, as an eighty-year-old mage who had reached the level of 8th Circle, he was more interested in his work, and now his revenge, rather than wealth or companionship. Even if Tini had taken an interest in him, he planned to appropriately reject her.

“From here, we’re going to go across the center together.”

“Yes, sir.”

Now that they had finished checking the perimeter, it was time to dig into the heart of the 6th district.

‘Mass Solitude.’

‘Steam Skin.’

Thud!

Although it was burdensome, it was necessary to be even more attentive. This was the center of the area, more dangerous than the outskirts. As Henry stomped his foot, the spells spread out and embraced the rest of the platoon.

Just as the platoon was about to step forward toward the center…

Goaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

The roar of what appeared to be an angry bull rang out, so great that it shook the entire forest.

“This sound… it’s probably a Taurus,” said Henry.

“By Taurus, you mean the half-man, half-bull?” asked one of the platoon members.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

‘Huh, this is going to be a bit troublesome.’

Having memorized the botanical encyclopedia, Henry was well aware of the demonic beasts that inhabited the forest. He reached for the ground, trying to figure out their location with magic in order to avoid a confrontation. However, just as Henry bent his knees to touch the ground…

Goaaaaaaaar!

Bzzzzzzzzzt!

A bolt of white electric current the width of a log spread its branches into the sky, hitting Henry square.

“Platoon Commander!”

It all happened in an instant, before anyone could react.

The thunderbolt hit Henry directly, causing the platoon members to fall backward, startled.

Bzzt. Bzzzzt.

The lightning stopped. When the platoon members looked up, they saw Henry frozen like a stone statue, his whole body charred black.