Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit
Chapter 182: I Must Feast

Chapter 182: Chapter 182: I Must Feast

"Damn it, this is all my fault. I should have considered the possibility that some of the Monster Queens wouldn’t stay in hiding and instead attack out in the open. I made a grave mistake, it’s my fault that Fyre was killed. If I’d only been more vigilant and considered every possibility, we could have prevented this," Jules thought to herself bitterly, a grim look on her face.

Ever since the Aeroraptor Queen’s attack and Fyre’s subsequent death, Jules had been blaming herself for it. Despite the others assuring her that it wasn’t her fault, she was firmly convinced that it was her fault.

She then glanced up as the door open, Siele stepping in.

"Hey, sis-...I mean, Commander. How are you holding up? Are you feeling any better?" He asked her, a worried look on his face.

"I-...I’m fine, Siele. Nothing to concern yourself over, I’m okay," She replied with a shake of her head, not particularly convincingly.

"Come on, in no world is that true, not with that look on your face. Like we’ve been telling you this whole time, you can’t blame yourself for what happened. It’s not your fault, this whole situation is unprecedented, we did the best we could with the information we had, no one else blames you for this," He responded solemnly.

It was the 20th of October, 1919, a couple of days had passed since the attack on the Monster Queens. All the Monster Queens had been successfully eliminated, with only a small handful of casualties, with of course, the exceptions of the Aeroraptor Queen and Fyre’s death.

The following day, the team of Detectors and Teleporters had been reassembled and sent out to confirm the location of the Aeroraptor Queen, but to their surprise, it was no longer there.

And no other Aeroraptors had been spotted in that area either, which could only mean that the Aeroraptor Queen had shifted to a new hiding place, along with all of her offspring.

"No, you’re wrong, I’m far from blameless in what happened, Siele. I should have considered all possibilities and had the Order prepare accordingly. As the Commander, I’m responsible for every Knight in the Order. Given our line of work, I know it’s impossible to avoid casualties completely, but at the very least, I have a duty to make sure that the risk of death is minimized as much as possible.

I was too complacent, I should have put more thought into it instead of solely relying on the information we got from those old documents. If I’d done that, then maybe Captain Fyre would still be alive. We may have eliminated all the other Monster Queens, but the mission was still a failure...and without that Monster Queen detecting Artifact, we have no way of finding that deadly Monster again," Remarked Jules with a grimace.

"I disagree with most of what you said, I maintain that none of this was your fault. As your Vice-Commander, I’m responsible for covering anything you miss, so if anything, I’m more to blame that you are. At any rate, we have no choice but to move past it and focus on the matter at hand. We have to deal with this ASAP...that Monster Queen is a serious threat, we need to find and kill it as soon as possible. Maybe we could ask the Elves for help? With their advanced Spellcasting knowledge, maybe they’d be able to create a Spell that’ll help us locate the Aeroraptor Queen?" Suggested Siele.

"I did consider that, but we can’t...relying on the Elves is a last resort, we already enlisted their help with the Alphonse Plore case, we can’t afford to over-rely on them for every problem we face, that would be nothing more than taking advantage of them," She shook her head in response.

"I get where you’re coming from, but still."

"We need to resolve this ourselves, one way or another. And we need to do it as quickly as possible. The longer we wait, the more the Aeroraptor Queen will breed and reproduce, the number of her offspring will keep growing the longer we wait, it’ll only be a matter of time before we may end up facing an entire army of them. If it does come to that, we’ll have no choice but to rely on the Elves, but for now, we need to focus on dealing with this matter ourselves," Stated Jules firmly.

"Alright, then. What do we do? Searching blindly is unlikely to get us anywhere, not to mention how risky that would be."

"I’m aware of that, I’ve given it a lot of thought. And the best course of action is for us to take a reactive approach, we have no choice but to be in the defensive. I’ve already tasked Tacitus with creating a more powerful Barrier Spell, one strong enough to contain that Monster, even if it is just for a short while. But as reliable as he is, I’m afraid this might be a tall order even for him," Sighed Jules wearily.

"Yeah, that would be pretty tough to pull off, especially on such short notice. I have to wonder why that Monster Queen attacked a populated area, and alone at that. Why take such a risk? Maybe it didn’t have the same level of intelligence as some of the other Monster Queens displayed?" Suggested Siele uncertainly.

"I doubt that, it was rather quick to retreat when we all showed up. Perhaps it understands just how powerful it is, maybe it was trying to test its strength or something? Either way, I have a strong gut feeling that it’ll attack again, and that’ll be our opportunity to kill it."

"You really think it’ll attack again?"

"We’ll, I can’t say for certain, of course, it’s little more than a hunch. And since we have no way of finding it ourselves, we have little choice but to go forward with the assumption that it’ll show itself sooner or later."

"I suppose..."

"Okay, then...contact each of the Knight outposts, instruct them to ensure that defenses are high in every location and that everyone remains on high alert. We need to exercise the utmost vigilance," Instructed Jules.

"Understood, I’ll relay your command right away," Nodded Siele affirmatively.

"Also issue a detailed description of what the Monster Queen looks like. At so much as the slightest glimpse of it, we are to be alerted, along with the other outposts, and all our highest-ranking Knights are to head to the location it appears in immediately. The next time it appears, we’ll overwhelm it with our numbers and power, we’ll kill it at the first opportunity. We can’t afford to let it do any further damage," Declared Jules, a determined look in her eyes.

Meanwhile, deep inside a cave in the Quartz Mountain Range...

The Aeroraptor Queen was seated on a rock, staring at its hands in fascination...as it produces flames, a gleam in its eyes.

"I see...eating hu...humans makes...me...stronger," It suddenly spoke, as the flames swirled around its claws.

There was one crucial detail about the Monster Queens that the Knights weren’t yet aware of, the fact that they grow stronger and more intelligent after eating humans.

The Vermin Monster Queen that Aster had killed, it had grown stronger after eating the lower-ranked Knights. Of course, since all of those Knights had been killed, there was no way for Aster’s group to know that the Monster Queen had become more powerful.

The Aeroraptor Queen had already been immensely powerful and highly intelligent, and after devouring Fyre, not only did its strength increase further, but its intelligence rose enough for it to be able to speak.

It had gained several fragments of Fyre’s memories and knowledge, and with its intelligence high enough to comprehend that new information, it had figured out how to speak, along with gaining a better understanding of humans and the nation.

And having gotten a taste for human flesh and the benefits to be gained from consuming humans, it was now developing a deep craving for more.

"I must...feast more...humans. I must...get stronger...and more in...intelligent. They will...kill me...so I...must kill...them first."

It began salivating as it thought back to the Knights that had shown up after it killed and ate Fyre. The Aeroraptor Queen had strong instincts, and it was able to discern how powerful each of them were.

And it wanted nothing more than to devour them all, the desire growing stronger and stronger, almost unbearably so. Eating other Monsters weren’t enough to sate it, it craved human flesh.

But it was intelligent enough to restrain itself from acting impulsively on its desires, but it knew that it would only be a matter of time before it wouldn’t be able to ignore those desires any longer.

"Those humans...I saw before...I left. They looked...tasty. I want...to eat them. I want...to feast...on their flesh. All...of them."