By the time Steven returned to the village, he realized that he was no longer the only one present.
To be precise, whether the newcomers could still be considered human was up for debate.
Two tall men dressed in black coats and wearing gas mask-like respirators stood blocking the village entrance. Behind them, three others dressed in the same attire were using Originium flames to cleanse the area.
As Steven laid eyes on them, the two men standing guard also keenly noticed him.
He hadn't bothered to conceal his presence.
Steven halted his steps. It wasn't out of fear, but because he found it a bit difficult to process the situation. These strangers were doing exactly what he had planned to do himself.
Judging from their appearance and actions, they were probably the ones tracking the Collapsal in the first place, right?
Their attire alone gave off an air of expertise, not to mention the powerful, well-built physiques barely concealed beneath their black coats.
In short, they looked cool as hell.
"Well, uh… good afternoon. Have you guys eaten yet?"
Glancing at the setting sun, Steven awkwardly greeted them. He wasn't the type to judge people by their appearance. Sure, these guys looked pretty intimidating, but at least they hadn't attacked him on sight.
Besides, he actually appreciated their efforts in cleaning up the scene for him—though that sentiment depended on whether or not the meat mountain had dropped anything valuable.
The two black-clad men, who had immediately noticed him, were stunned by his casual greeting.
They could sense the presence of Collapsal pollution on Steven, but it wasn't the kind left by infection—it was the distinct scent of dried Collapsal blood.
Furthermore, Steven looked nothing like someone who had been tainted by a Collapsal.
For a moment, even these experienced professionals weren't sure how to respond to such an awkward greeting.
Fortunately, they had seen their fair share of strange situations before. After a brief moment of surprise, they quickly composed themselves, stopped what they were doing, and strode toward Steven.
"This… friend," one of them spoke, carefully choosing his words, "did you encounter the monster that was here?"
At this stage, without being able to gauge Steven's true strength, these men had no intention of provoking a conflict.
The fact that Steven was covered in Collapsal blood but showed no signs of pollution meant that he was, at the very least, not allied with the Collapsal.
Moreover, since Steven didn't appear to be an Infected, they had even less reason to treat him as an enemy.
Their current mission target was the Collapsal, not this suspicious yet seemingly "ordinary" man.
The voice that came through the respirator was a bit hoarse, but Steven could tell it belonged to a middle-aged man. Hearing the question, he scratched his head.
"You mean that big, fat pig from earlier?"
Steven gestured toward the now half-dismantled corpse of the meat mountain. Considering the massive ruckus he had made, it was no surprise that others had noticed. What did surprise him was that the ones who showed up were such oddly dressed individuals.
And the title floating above their heads, [Emperor's Blades: Hunters], only made them seem even cooler in Steven's eyes.
Since these titles were in white text rather than enemy-red, Steven figured he was safe to have a chat with them. At least for now, they weren't showing any hostility.
"Big, fat pig?"
The black-clad hunters paused for a moment before realizing Steven was referring to the grotesque corpse of the monster that had once been composed of the villagers' bodies.
After they nodded to confirm, Steven scratched his head again and gave them a somewhat sheepish smile.
"Oh, if you're talking about that, then yeah, sorry—it's already dead. Other than this corpse, the main body is buried over there. If you dig through the dirt, you'll probably find some scraps of it."
He admitted outright that he was the one who killed it. Steven wasn't about to apologize for it, though. If anything, he did feel a little bad about technically kill-stealing, but come on—monsters didn't come with name tags. If he managed to take it down, then that was his accomplishment. This wasn't a case of looting leftovers; he did all the work himself.
"…Dead? You killed it?"
If their faces weren't covered by respirators, the black-clad hunters would likely be making all sorts of expressions right now.
That Collapsal had taken the five Emperor's Blades nearly a month to track down, and they still hadn't been able to subdue it. Yet this guy was acting like it was just some minor inconvenience he dealt with in passing?
"Yeah. It's my kill, so it's technically my prey, right? I don't mind you guys handling the corpse cleanup, but at least let me check if there's anything worth taking."
With that, Steven strolled right past the five hunters and crouched down next to the grotesque mass of flesh, casually rummaging through it like an old lady picking through vegetables at the market.
The five hunters exchanged glances before one of them swiftly dashed toward the area Steven had pointed at, intent on verifying his claim.
As for Steven's rummaging, they didn't stop him. Instead, they simply observed in silence.
Steven was fairly certain they hadn't pocketed any valuable loot from the monster. Unlike him, who had a convenient cheat of an inventory system, they would have a hard time hiding anything under those thick, heavy coats.
The scene fell into an unexpectedly peaceful stillness. There was no conflict, but the atmosphere was far from friendly.
The black-clad hunters clearly doubted Steven's story, but because of that doubt, they also weren't eager to act rashly.
After all… what if he was telling the truth?
If this guy could easily take down that Collapsal, then whether the five of them could actually subdue him was an entirely uncertain matter.
Even if they took the safest approach, they had no way of truly gauging this boy's actual strength. He hadn't displayed any signs of using Originium Arts, yet the instincts of these battle-hardened veterans screamed at them—the pressure this kid gave off was even greater than that of the Collapsal itself.
It was a contradictory sensation. On the surface, Steven looked like a completely harmless civilian, but if they closed their eyes and felt his presence… it was as if they were standing before some prehistoric beast—the kind that practically radiated extreme danger.
Where the hell did a guy like this pop out from? And judging by his appearance, he wasn't even from Ursus.
That said, if what he claimed was true, then he had just helped them eliminate a massive threat. From that perspective, he was at least somewhat on their side.
Now, it all depended on the report from their scouting comrade. His findings would determine whether this strange young man was friend or foe.
<+>
"Damn, so it really only dropped one item?"
Steven's face quickly fell. He had been searching through the pile of rotten flesh for a while now, but there was nothing useful left.
Honestly, he had expected as much. At the end of the day, the Collapsal itself was just one entity, and this mass of corpses was merely its external armor. But even if he had mentally prepared for this outcome, it was still disappointing to have it confirmed.
After double-checking one last time and confirming that there really was nothing left to loot, Steven sighed and stood up, turning his gaze toward the black-clad men who had been silently watching him the entire time.
"Welp, I'm done here. You guys can have the rest if you want."
He waved a hand dismissively, as if he were generously offering leftover takeout boxes to a group of scavengers.
One of the black-clad figures finally stepped forward. He gestured toward the battlefield—the ruins of a village that looked like it had been steamrolled by Godzilla, and the grotesque, unrecognizable remains of the monstrous amalgamation.
"We're more interested in something else."
"All of this… was your doing?"
"How exactly did you pull it off?"
A Collapsal made up of that many corpses was a formidable opponent—even with all five of them working together, there was no guarantee they could take it down.
Yet this seemingly harmless boy had single-handedly wiped it out…
And worse still—he made it look easy.
Steven scratched his head, looking a little puzzled at the question.
"I mean… I just did it. It pissed me off, so I killed it. Isn't that simple enough?"
He shrugged as if the answer should be obvious. Dead is dead, whether it was done with a rocket launcher or with bare fists.
How he did it didn't really matter, did it?
<+>
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