On the continent there live a great many wild animals adapted to a great many environments.
And there existed a great many 'monsters' to match them.
Beasts more faithful to instinct and more ferocious than wild animals — Monsters.
In fact monsters were not originally creatures of this continent.
At some point they suddenly appeared on the continent, and no one knew precisely when the existence of monsters had come to the fore.
Every scholar's view and opinion differed.
And even those were only hypotheses with no proper grounds.
It could be explained with nothing but the words 'unimaginably long ago.'
But as for 'how' monsters came into being.
On that question alone, every scholar was of one common opinion.
Mutations of wild animals.
What a pig became through mutation was the monster called an 'Orc.'
What a rat became through mutation was the monster called a 'Kobold.'
What a centipede became through mutation was the monster called a 'Demugade.'
In this way animals, insects included, underwent mutation and branched into new species, and what came of that through repeated evolution was the species called monsters today.
And not only animals.
Even plants underwent mutation.
Which was the background to the birth of a new biological classification, the 'monster kingdom,' distinct from the animal and plant kingdoms.
And the mutagenic factor that made monsters of animals and plants.
Scholars named that mutagenic factor 'Madness.'
Therefore every monster possesses 'Madness.'
Which is why monsters cannot be eaten as food.
Even though weapons and armour can be made from them.
Madness dwells inside a monster's body.
There were a great many efforts to remove that madness.
But all of them failed.
The mages' conclusion was that removal is impossible, since it is an element engraved at the cellular level.
Because of it, when you eat monster meat the first thing that happens is that your mind goes mad.
You lose your reason and, faithful to instinct alone, repeat indiscriminate slaughter.
If you are shot dead in the process, that is the fortunate outcome.
But if not?
You go on repeating the slaughter, and the madness goes on accumulating.
Humans too are animals.
Mutation is brought about by the continuously accumulating madness, and in the end it results in the dreadful outcome of a human being 'turning monster' as well.
Which is to say.
Crunch.
That the Adrian now chewing and eating a Dermexus's heart is out of his mind.
"Are you in your right mind?!"
Kai cried out, startled.
He had to stop him this instant.
But he did not approach carelessly.
He could not approach, and he must not.
Adrian had already chewed and swallowed the Dermexus's heart.
And the heart is the core of the madness.
The heart is the source of life.
A monster is life as well, so all its life force is concentrated in the heart.
The madness inherent in it was likewise concentrated in the heart.
Therefore eating the heart wraps you in madness far faster than eating any other part.
Sure enough, the air about Adrian changed utterly.
Adrian's eyes were dyed a deeper red.
Eyes that looked as though they had been soaked in blood.
Two eyes that would not hold a focus.
...No reason was visible in them.
Kai gripped his sword hard.
He has to kill him.
He has to kill Adrian on this spot, before Adrian is dyed completely with madness.
But.
...Could he actually win?
The thought came to Kai without his meaning it to.
Kai could not believe he was having such a thought.
And yet Kai could not predict odds of victory against Adrian.
While Kai hesitated—
Beneath Adrian's red-stained eyes, something savage began to raise its body.
It is 'that thing' he had seen at the Frost Proving Ground.
Seated deep within Adrian, until now pressed down by some unknowable force and unable to rise—
A ferocious beast beneath a black cloud of hatred, twisted with killing intent.
That unknowable beast was meeting its dreadful release, with madness as the trigger.
At last it was slowly raising the body that had been pressed down.
When he faced it.
Kai found himself flinching a step backward.
That...... is not human.
Nor is it a monster.
An ultimate being that reigns above all life.
The primal terror of life itself that bloomed on facing such a being. In an instant it began to bind Kai's body and mind.
Fear, terror, despair.
Such emotions are meaningless.
However hard you struggle you cannot survive that ultimate being, so even the instinct called survival is rendered pointless.
Kai ground his teeth.
That not being enough, he bit the flesh of his cheek.
Along with the dizzying pain, the raw smell of blood roused Kai's body and mind.
......He has to fight.
Just as Kai gripped his sword hard, it happened.
"Hoo...!"
Adrian let out a long breath.
The savage something inherent within Adrian plunges back to earth.
Restrained by an unknowable force, it failed in the end to raise its body.
With that, Adrian's eyes, which had been giving off a glow, grew calm as usual.
The focus of eyes from which reason had been carved out.
That too had returned to its original state at some point.
'How......?'
The question continued, but he could not press for its answer.
When he slowly raised his gaze, the heart held in Adrian's hand had at some point lost about half of itself.
And with it, blood smeared thickly around Adrian's mouth.
The considerably grotesque sight did not look like a fellow human at all.
He did not want to see him as human either.
Kai started to say something and then clamped his mouth shut.
...He did not much want to exchange words with him.
Only, from today he was able to harden his resolve further.
Adrian absolutely must be killed.
Of course Adrian is no longer the Count's wastrel.
Adrian has unmistakably changed.
But it could not yet be concluded that the change was for the better.
Bluntly put, the odds were high that it was 'for the worse.'
The unknowable something inherent within Adrian.
It was unmistakably in a restrained state.
And even so it was lethal enough to provoke the primal terror of life in Kai.
If Adrian is left alive, one cannot even imagine what sort of being he will be reborn as.
What threat he will come to pose to the county cannot even be predicted.
At any time, it could turn toward Seraphia.
The bruise stamped on Seraphia's neck right now.
That the bruise had not fully healed even after more than ten days had passed was proof that Kai's thinking was correct.
Adrian intends to kill Seraphia.
And thoroughly, at that.
This time he had been able to cooperate with an Adrian like that and get through the crisis somehow.
But this once only.
With this as the end, there will absolutely never again be cooperating with Adrian.
Kai put his thoughts in order and calmly gathered his breathing.
Three months until the royal decree comes down.
It was not a short time, but neither was it a long one.
Twelve days had already passed as of today.
Kai turned his back and left the place.
***
◆Kai holds an active aggression to kill and destroy you!
◆Given any trigger at all, Kai will certainly kill and be rid of you!
A translucent message surfaced before my eyes out of nowhere.
"What's this all of a sudden."
When I raised my eyes, Kai was leaving.
The long golden hair streaming behind Kai's back.
Blending with the snow scattering through the landscape, it called to mind a lofty wolf of the snowfield.
It seemed he had probably been put off by my eating a Dermexus's heart......
Chomp, chomp.
And what of it?
Of course I knew that eating a monster's heart is not normal.
Because the comrades of the allied forces who first saw my ability went past horrified into fainting.
It was better not to use the Predation ability in front of people.
But to absorb the ability I had to eat a 'living' heart 'directly.'
If the life of the heart goes out completely, the ability cannot be absorbed. So there was no question of waiting or anything of the sort.
Kai's affinity is in the abyss anyway.
I have no particular intention of raising it.
Never mind raising his affinity — the feeling is mutual.
I too hold an active aggression to kill and destroy Kai.
Only, I simply could not.
'That monster of a man.'
I never imagined he could show that much combat power in a situation where his stamina had gone past showing its bottom and even his Aura was wrecked.
I merely landed what you'd call the 'last hit.'
You could say Kai made the kill.
There was a reason he was called the Legion Commander of Frost.
There was a reason even I, the allied forces' Predator, could not handle him.
But.
This time will be different from my previous life.
◆You have slain a Dermexus!
◆You have gained 200 combat experience!
◆Your level has risen!
◆Your level has risen!
Pushed back by the messages about Kai's affinity, only now did the message surface saying I had gone up +2 levels.
And when I chewed and swallowed the last fragment of the Dermexus's heart.
◆You have devoured the genetic factors of the specimen 'Dermexus.'
◆You have acquired the skill 'Hardened Skin [D]'!
Along with the message saying I had gained a new skill, an immediate reaction began in my body.
My skin turned smooth like polished metal.
And yet it maintained a fine elasticity and suppleness, so that outwardly it looked no different from human skin.
But its durability was as tough as rubber and as hard as metal.
A thin shining membrane also covered the skin's surface and protected my body from the cold.
When the change ended, a translucent message surfaced before my eyes.
◆Hardened Skin [D]
: On acquiring this skill, the Player's skin cell membranes are strengthened.
The strengthened skin prevents loss of moisture and aids blood circulation within the body, improving the Player's body-temperature regulation by [+50%], and grants [+12%] resistance against [all external trauma damage] inflicted on the Player.
<This skill is a passive skill and applies permanently on acquisition.>
<Absorbing additional genetic factors will strengthen this ability.>
The cold that cut like a blade had certainly eased considerably.
My skin, thickened like hide, had hardened like a callus.
Even as it stood it was a considerably useful ability.
But once this ability goes through repeated evolution it takes on what you could truly call a 'broken' quality.
In time, [body-temperature regulation] becomes perfect immunity not only to brutal cold but to blazing heat.
[Resistance to external trauma damage] capably blocks even steel weapons.
My skin comes to possess defensive power superior to armour.
So, now that it had come to this—
"Shall I start hunting soon, then."
It seemed I could set out on hunting in earnest.
In truth growth through physical conditioning was not bad either.
Not merely not bad — you could dare to call it 'broken.'
Because using the Regeneration [C+] ability I could surpass limit after limit of the body.
And even so it was difficult.
Seeing the way Kai fought just now, I could be certain.
"I don't think I can kill him yet."
There is a limit to simple physical conditioning alone.
That monster of a man, training Aura every single moment.
As much as I grow, Kai grows too.
So I needed to grow far more explosively.
And not only because of Kai.
The Monarch of Frost and the other Monarchs besides, and in particular
◆Player's Will [EX] resists the erased traces!
Ultimately, to stand against the Emperor, there is a limit to physical conditioning alone.
I have to recover my previous life's abilities and my Predator combat power quickly.
And past that, I have to surpass my Predator combat power.
If possible I have to possess combat power that can measure against the Hero, Ian.
In my previous life it was impossible if you beat me to death.
But now it is different.
Hunting monsters lets me gain 'experience' and at the same time the monster's 'abilities.'
I can far surpass my previous life's Predator.
I was able to settle my thinking.
"Let's go hunt monsters."
Ian's ability, Solo Level Up [EX].
My ability, Predation [S+].
Monster hunting, which can bring out the synergy of these two abilities, was an explosive method of growth beyond comparison with physical conditioning.
What's more, now that I have Player's Will [EX], unlike in my previous life, unlimited Predation [S+] is possible too.
"Let's see..."
I calmly traced my memory.
I chewed over the abilities I had devoured in my days as the allied forces' Predator, one by one.
And I was able to bring to mind, one at a time, the abilities I most needed now.
"First, hunting Ice Trolls as the top priority."
I needed to evolve the ability of Regeneration [C+].
"I remember there being a nutrient synthesis ability in the north as well."
Nutrient Synthesis.
An ability that can synthesise every nutrient from calories.
With that ability, I could use Regeneration [C+] without being bound by nutrients.
And combined with the Hardened Skin [D] I had just gained?
The whole of my skin becomes steel armour that regenerates without limit.
"But attack power is what's lacking."
Because I could handle a sword, but I could not handle Aura.
The me of my previous life faced the same problem.
And I overcame it.
"There was a heightened keratin ability in the north too, wasn't there?"
Heightened Keratin.
Acquiring this ability strengthens the keratin content within the body and hones its density and hardness to an extreme.
By that, the hardness and strength of 'fingernails, toenails, and hair' are greatly increased.
The durability of the nails becomes harder than steel.
Their attack power was sharper than an Aura sword.
Under this ability, a great many Imperial Army soldiers all went to their knees before me.
I dare say it could be called the core ability that made me the Predator.
And was that all?
The ability to create and attack with bioelectricity.
The ability to generate poison freely.
The ability to cause powerful explosions.
The ability to detect ultrasound and infrasound.
The ability to see various wavelengths of light such as ultraviolet, infrared and x-rays, and so on.
As inexhaustible as the lives on this continent are, so too are the rare biological evolution abilities that come with them.
And, you really never know.
"I wonder if extra sensory perception is out there too."
The ability commonly called ESP.
Extra Sensory Perception.
This ability extremely activates the sensory nerves and lets you grasp an opponent's position through terrain and obstacles.
A broken ability for the ages, truly.
Even across my whole previous life I had only heard that a monster with such an ability existed.
I had never once actually seen one.
Because the Emperor exterminated them all.
But now, having gone back to the past.
Now, with Player's Will [EX] letting me use Predation [S+] without limit.
Is there time to lie about agonising over it?
"Shall I go right now."
I turned my steps not toward the county, but toward the Snowy Mountain.