Chapter 97: Record of Aberrations
"Is that it?" Aiden asked, looking like someone who didn’t get a show worth the money.
"...?"
Dexter was confused. What else was Aiden expecting? Meanwhile, Aiden was thinking about something else.
If all of them blacked out, then how the heck did the guards find them near the border?
Aiden checked the location on his map, and the parking garage was quite far off, considering it was where John’s death drop was located.
Myra and Michelle were both down just like Dexter, then someone must have carried them back to the border. At first, Aiden had thought Dexter was the one who did that, but after listening to his account, that wasn’t possible.
"Alright, rest well," Aiden said, getting up. "I have other things to do."
Dexter nodded before letting out a sigh. He thought he would be punished for such a catastrophic failure, but it seemed Aiden had decided to let go.
Unfortunately, the boy relaxed a bit too soon.
"Oh, and about your punishment, I’ll personally hand it to you once you’re out of here."
With that, Aiden walked out the door.
"...dang it," Dexter muttered under his breath.
After getting the story from Michelle and Myra, Aiden still couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation. Neither of them remembered how they got back to the apartment, and the guards were adamant that they had found the group right outside the border.
[Maybe it was some kind-hearted soul—]
"A kind-hearted soul carried them all to the border and didn’t even think about stealing their gear, and instead left them by their side? Seriously?"
[Maybe not.]
Aiden could only think of one person doing it. The culprit himself. He brought them there, then returned to finish John off. The timing checked out, but the logic did not.
Why would he harm them only to let three of them live and kill the other?
"Was there anything special about that John guy?"
[None whatsoever.]
"And you have never heard of such a creature before?"
[Unfortunately, no, Host. It is not a creature from the Otherworld. It is most likely a mutated human or an evolver.]
A human with such strange abilities? Aiden didn’t dwell much on it. He just informed Karina about the creature’s abilities.
From Dexter’s description, the creature wasn’t too strong. It was just that they were weak and unprepared. Now that Karina and the wolves knew about it, they should be able to handle the creature with ease.
Aiden had just finished briefing them about the creature when it was his turn to be surprised again.
The death drop was nothing but a chest containing all of John’s gear and personal things. It also had a few torn pages inside, but neither Karina nor the wolves could understand a word of it.
Surprisingly, the creature wasn’t anywhere close to the death drop. In fact, not even John’s corpse was there, nor any other corpses that Dexter had seen. Forget the corpses, not even a single drop of blood was anywhere to be seen.
"Should we look further ahead?" Karina said, knowing Aiden could hear her.
[No need. Return with that death drop.]
"Roger that."
Silence fell in the room. There was nothing left for him to do but wait for Karina’s arrival.
***
Some time later...
Karina dumped the heavy chest in front of Aiden, while the wolves dispersed to check if the creature had invaded the ’safe zone’. Aiden grabbed the torn pages and closed the lid of the rusty chest.
"What should I do with the rest of the things?" Karina asked.
"Give them to his wife," Aiden impatiently replied, going through the notes. "She’s in the medicare center."
"Got it."
Karina looked at him, engrossed in the texts, and left with a sigh. No one in her group could even make out what language it was, she thought it would be the same for Aiden. But not wanting to discourage him, she just left.
"It’s familiar but not exactly like any of the languages of the Otherworld."
[It’s an ancient script of the language, Host. Please give me a moment to decipher it.]
Aiden shrugged and let the system do what she wanted. Hours passed, and the sun went down by the time she actually got something to show for her efforts.
+++
Item: Torn pages of an encyclopedia (?)
Title: A Record of Aberrations. Compiled set for newbie survival in the Otherworld.
+++
"...This is the first time I’ve heard of such a thing," Aiden said, raising an eyebrow.
After spending two centuries there, Aiden thought he knew the Otherworld like the back of his hand, only to get smacked right in the face with the torn pages.
He continued reading after suppressing his surprise.
+++
Entry start:
Page 234
Name: Aberrant Undead
First Observed: (Illegible)
Physical Description:
The subject appears as a child between the ages of seven and ten and depicts no abnormalities under normal circumstances.
The child does not speak unless spoken to. When it does speak, its vocabulary is limited, often replying in one word or sentence.
Observed abilities:
• The creature can retract its skin and reshape its skeleton as desired. Direct contact with the outside air is necessary for the transformation.
• Using the air around itself, the creature can also use the extension of its bones as projectiles.
• The creature also possesses a healing factor. If not killed in one strike, it would continue to evolve and adapt to its surroundings.
• The subject does not kill immediately. In every observed engagement, at least one member of the encountered group was left alive. In some cases, they are even dropped to safety. Whether this is intentional or incidental is still [text ends abruptly here].
+++
[That’s everything I could decipher from the pages.]
"Hm... so we don’t know its weakness," Aiden sighed and began doing pushups, a habit he had picked up from Carmila. "At least we now know that it was the creature that dropped Dexter and others off to get rescued."
[Is it to lure more people out?]
"Who knows? We need more pages to learn about it, especially about its weaknesses."
[Host... do you mean what I think you do?]
"What else?" Aiden smirked. "Send more people out."