Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit-Chapter 174: Detection

"Alright, guys, let’s take a break, shall we? We’ve covered a lot of ground, not a whole lot left to go, so let’s rest up and finish this last bit once we’ve freshened up our minds a bit," Suggested Hart Riner with a smile, as he stretched his arms up.

"Sounds good to me."

"Yeah, I’m feeling pretty worn out, I could use a break."

"Same here. And since we’re well ahead of schedule, we can afford to take it easy for a bit."

It was the 15th of October, 1919, three days after the meeting at the Capital. Following the meeting, Jules formed a team of Teleporters and Detection Mages to locate the remaining Monster Queens in the nation.

The team, which was being led by Hart, had begun their search the previous day, covering about half the nation. They teleported to various areas across the nation and then drove around in vehicles, in order to conserve energy and Mana.

This morning, they’d picked up where they had left off the previous day, it was currently around 6 PM in the evening, and they’d covered most of the nation at this point.

Having just finished going around the borders and coastlines of the nation, they were now taking a break, with only one area left to search.

"I have to say, while we have made some pretty great progress, it’s pretty alarming how many of these Monster Queens we’ve come across," Frowned one of the Teleporters warily.

"Yeah, the Commander said there would be somewhere between twenty to thirty or so, but we’ve found thirty-six, so far. And if we count the ones that were previously killed, that number goes up above forty. Well, on the bright side, none of them were drastically more powerful than a typical Critical Level Monster, so that’s a plus, at least," Sighed one of the Detection Mages in response.

All the Detection Mages in the team were those who were capable of using the Mana Detection Spell. By sensing the quantity and intensity of a Monster’s Mana, they were able to estimate how powerful it was.

The team would teleport to an area and then roam around until the Ancient Magic Artifact reacted, and would then follow the Artifact and get closer, until they were close enough for the Detection Mages to sense the Monster Queens and pinpoint their exact location.

And once the approximate Threat Level and location was assessed and confirmed, they’d leave and move on to a different area, methodically repeating the same process.

"Let’s see, of the thirty-six Monster Queens we found, seven were on par with or slightly stronger than Critical Level. Twenty were around High Level, and the remaining nine were around Mid Level. They won’t exactly be easy to deal with, but if nothing else, these numbers should at least be manageable. And the only location we’ve got left is the area around the Pearl Mountains, so there can’t be more than one or two more of the Monster Queens left, ideally none," Remarked Hart thoughtfully.

"Yeah, let’s hope we’ve detected all the Monster Queens in the nation by now. Or, at the very least, if there are any more, let’s hope they aren’t too strong." freeωebnovēl.c૦m

After about half an hour, the team wrapped up their break and teleported near the Pearl Mountains, starting to make their way towards the mountains.

Hart led the way, holding up the Artifact and keeping an eye on the crystal arrow, while a couple of the Detection Mages kept an eye out for any Monsters.

Suddenly, the arrow began glowing, pointing to the east, the group turning their attention that way and starting to head in that direction.

"Huh, it’s glowing so brightly. That can’t be good," Frowned one of the Detection Mages warily.

"Yeah, prior to this, it only glowed this brightly once we were a lot closer. But that fact that it didn’t start glowing till just now means that the Monster Queen it’s currently detecting is close to ten kilometers away."

As they continued to follow the arrow, a sense of tension fell over the group as the glow of the arrow steadily brightened bit by bit.

There were four Detection Mages in the team, two of them could use Mid-Range Mana Detection, which gave them an upper limit of a two hundred meter radius of detection.

The other two were capable of using Long-Range Mana Detection, which had an upper limit of a five hundred meter radius. One of them currently maxed out at around three hundred and fifty meters, but the other was capable of detecting within the full upper limit of five hundred meters.

"I really don’t like this. With how brightly it’s glowing now, shouldn’t we have sensed something at this point?" Muttered one of the Detectors warily.

"Y-Yeah, just how damn powerful is this thing?"

"Uh, maybe the Artifact has reached its limit or something. It is pretty old, and we’ve been using it almost constantly for two whole days, so maybe it’s broken?"

"No, I doubt that. I think we crossed nine kilometers a while ago, so it shouldn’t be much longer before-...," Before Hart, before trailing off as the glow of the arrow sharply intensified.

His eyes then widened as cracks spread out across the crystal, the arrow wavering rapidly as the cracks rapidly deepened, before shattering right as the glow grew blindingly bright, startled cries ringing out, followed by a thud and a sharp gasp.

It was the Detection Mage with the widest range, he’d collapsed onto his knees with a stunned look on his face, keeled over on the ground as he began trembling, a look of immense terror in his eyes.

"W-We...we need to get out of here. We need to...WE NEED TO GET AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!! NOW!!! RIGHT NOW!!! WE’LL DIE IF WE DON’T!!!" He shrieked frantically, visibly shaken.

"Right...the smart thing to do is to heed that warning. We’re leaving," Nodded Hart with a grimace, taking out a map and marking it, before adding as he glanced around at the other Teleporters, "Alright, guys, time to head back. Let’s teleport straight to the Capital and report this."

...

...

"Hm...thirty-seven Monster Queens in total, huh? That’s about a dozen more than I’d have hoped. Still, while their numbers are concerning, the overall Threat Level is manageable. At least, except for the last one they found, the Detection Mages failed to properly approximate the Threat Level it possesses," Frowned Jules, as she pored over the map on which the team had marked the locations in which they’d identified Monster Queens.

"Not to sound pessimistic, Commander, but...I don’t think how powerful they are is enough to fully determine their Threat Levels. The Vermin Monster Queen that Captain Aster and First-Class Tacitus fought was reported to have displayed an unusually high level of intelligence, making it much more dangerous that its power alone would have. We can’t write off the possibility that some of these other Monster Queens might possess similar or even higher levels of intelligence," Chimed in Tilda objectively.

"Yes, I know, we can’t take them lightly. But if we exercise caution, we should be able to handle it. I’d rest somewhat easy if that was all...but I do have serious concerns about the last Monster Queen the team located. According to the Detection Mage who sensed it, he claimed that it was unlike any Mana signature he’d ever come across. He did say that it wasn’t as vast as Raven’s, but there was something chilling and ominous about it," Sighed Jules, a worried look on her face.

"I mean, we’d be absolutely screwed if it possessed more Mana than Raven. His Mana Pool is effectively five times greater than the upper limit for humans," Replied Tilda wryly.

"Well, Mana isn’t all there is to how powerful someone or something can be. We learned that the hard way in Sylph, against that Elf, Leptar, who possessed no Mana whatsoever. Not to mention the Undead King, he used a completely different source of energy. So long as this Monster Queen is weaker than those two, we stand a chance."

"Uh, if it’s even close to as powerful as those two, it’ll be next to impossible to kill it unscathed."

"Well, there is one silver lining. The fact that the team had already covered the rest of the nation before they came across the last one. If they’d come across that one earlier in their search, we could’ve had several Monster Queens completely unaccounted for," Replied Jules, in an effort to look at the predicament from a more optimistic perspective.

"Yeah, that’s true. If that were the case, our only option would’ve been to search blindly. That, or wait for unusual Monster activity to appear," Nodded Tilda warily.

"Anyway, now that we know where the Monster Queens are, it’s time for the hard part. Notify all our high-ranked Knights, we’ll move out to eliminate the Monster Queens as soon as possible," Declared Jules, a determined look on her face...