"Is that a Stage 4 Gastrea?"
Gojo's eyesight was exceptionally sharp. Even in the dim forest, he could see everything around him with perfect clarity. He narrowed his eyes as his sunglasses slipped slightly down his nose, revealing the sharpness in his gaze. His eyes passed through the layers of trees and settled on the enormous creature in the distance.
"It doesn't look like much."
His tone was calm, without the slightest hint of surprise, as though the Stage 4 Gastrea before him were nothing more than an ordinary beast that wasn't worth taking seriously.
Beyond the dense forest, an enormous spider-like Gastrea was sprawled not far away.
The Gastrea was huge, roughly the size of a small building. Its body was dark brown, covered in a hard exoskeleton. Eight thick legs supported its massive frame, each covered in fine hairs. Two enormous compound eyes gleamed with a cold red light, while its mouth was lined with sharp fangs that radiated a chilling murderous intent. It lay motionless on the ground, its body shifting slightly as though even moving was an effort.
Aside from its appearance, however, there was little about the creature that seemed intimidating enough to make the surrounding Civil Security contractors nervous.
It wasn't roaring or displaying any overwhelming aura. It simply lay there in silence, looking incredibly weak.
The Civil Security contractors around them exchanged puzzled looks. The Stage 4 Gastrea they had imagined should have been terrifying and overwhelmingly powerful, yet the one before them looked so feeble.
"Hm?"
Gojo had barely taken two more steps when he noticed something was wrong.
His gaze sharpened as he focused intently on the Gastrea, examining every detail. The smile on his face gradually faded, replaced by a trace of seriousness.
The Stage 4 Gastrea was covered in numerous injuries of varying sizes.
Its exoskeleton was riddled with cracks. Some were so deep that the flesh beneath was visible, while dark green bodily fluid seeped from them and dripped onto the ground, sizzling as it corroded tiny holes into the earth.
Several of its legs had also suffered varying degrees of damage. Some were covered in deep scratches, while others were slightly bent and appeared incapable of exerting their full strength.
The regenerative abilities of a Stage 4 Gastrea were astonishing, but recovering from injuries of this severity was no simple matter.
A Stage 4 Gastrea could normally regenerate ordinary wounds in a short period of time. The injuries before them, however, were both numerous and severe. Clearly, they couldn't be healed in a matter of minutes.
And as Gojo examined it more carefully, he noticed something else. There were actually several pieces of specialized equipment attached to the Gastrea's body.
They were small and tightly fixed around its wounds, resembling some kind of specialized device.
There was only one thing capable of inflicting injuries like these.
Varanium Weapons.
Varanium Weapons were the natural enemy of Gastrea. Only Varanium Weapons could inflict such severe wounds while simultaneously suppressing their regenerative abilities.
"Someone attacked this Gastrea before we got here."
Gojo looked toward the distant creature and spoke to the others. His tone remained calm, but there was an unmistakable certainty in his words.
"Attacked it?"
One of the Civil Security contractors instinctively spoke up, surprise evident in his voice.
Before they had set out, they had already confirmed that there were no other Civil Security teams or Self-Defense Forces units operating in this area besides them. So how could someone have attacked the Stage 4 Gastrea beforehand?
"Could the Self-Defense Forces have launched an attack before we arrived?"
Another Civil Security contractor frowned and quietly voiced his guess, though uncertainty remained in his tone.
As far as they knew, the Self-Defense Forces were the only other group with both the strength and the reason to attack a Stage 4 Gastrea.
"Impossible. We just came here on a Self-Defense Forces aircraft. If they had launched an operation, there's no way we wouldn't have heard about it."
An experienced Civil Security contractor immediately rejected the idea. His tone was firm. He knew how methodical the Self-Defense Forces were. If they had planned an operation against this Stage 4 Gastrea, they would have informed the Civil Security contractors beforehand. There was no way they would have kept everyone completely in the dark.
The surrounding Civil Security contractors began discussing the matter among themselves.
Everyone frowned as they tried to figure out who could have attacked the Stage 4 Gastrea ahead of them.
There were countless guesses, but no one had an answer.
Rentaro was equally puzzled. Just as the others had said, if something like this had happened, they should have known about it.
He frowned and lightly tapped his weapon with his fingers as his mind raced through every possibility, but he couldn't find any answer.
"I'm going ahead to take a look."
Rentaro quickly moved forward.
He lowered his body and slipped through the gaps between the trees as quietly as possible, his eyes constantly scanning the surroundings for danger.
He wanted to examine the injuries on the Stage 4 Gastrea himself, hoping to find clues that would reveal who had attacked it beforehand.
"Rentaro, wait for me!"
Enju hurried after him, afraid something might happen to him. She moved swiftly through the forest, staying close behind him and keeping her eyes fixed on his back, ready to help at a moment's notice.
They quickly made their way through the forest, and before long, Rentaro reached the vicinity of the Gastrea.
He found a thick tree and crouched behind it, carefully peeking around the trunk as he stared at the creature. He didn't dare let his guard down for even a moment.
His prosthetic eye activated, and the calculation device began accelerating its processing.
A faint blue light flickered within the artificial eye as countless streams of data flashed rapidly across its display. The calculation device operated at high speed, analyzing every injury on the Gastrea's body.
As the processing accelerated, every wound on the Gastrea became incredibly clear in his field of vision. From the direction and shape of the injuries, he could even determine how they had been inflicted and what kind of attacks had caused them.
He could clearly see that every wound had been inflicted by a Varanium Weapon. The shape and depth of each injury revealed the attacker's strength and fighting style.
His mind raced, and a vague figure gradually emerged from the results of his calculations.
It was an image reconstructed from the data he had gathered from the Gastrea's injuries. The figure was blurry, but its general outline and fighting stance were still visible.
However, the moment that figure appeared in his mind, Rentaro's heart jolted.
He already knew who it was.
That fighting style was far too familiar. It was fierce and ruthless, with every move aimed at killing. Even the Varanium Weapon being used was identical to the one wielded by someone he remembered.
Kagetane Hiruko.
The man who had attacked during the tournament, wearing a mask, possessing terrifying strength, and proclaiming that he would destroy everything.
"That's enough!"
"Rentaro!"
Enju's voice rang beside him, interrupting his thoughts and bringing him out of his calculations.
Her voice was filled with urgency and worry. She had noticed Rentaro's tightly furrowed brow, the sweat forming on his forehead, and the distant look in his eyes, and she couldn't help but worry.
She knew that activating his artificial eye for calculations consumed an enormous amount of mental energy. If he exceeded his limit, it could seriously damage his brain and even leave him a vegetable.
"Are you okay, Rentaro? Don't push yourself too hard."
Enju walked over and gently grabbed his arm, her face filled with concern and her eyes pleading with him to stop.
"Didn't Sister Sumire tell you that if you go beyond your limit, you'll turn yourself into a vegetable?"
Her voice trembled slightly, making it obvious how frightened she was for his safety.
Rentaro rubbed his brow and smiled at Enju, who was staring at him with concern.
There was a trace of exhaustion on his face. The calculations had clearly drained a considerable amount of his energy, but his eyes remained firm and composed.
"Don't worry. I wasn't pushing myself, and I didn't use it for very long. This level of calculation isn't enough to affect me."
He gently reassured her before reaching out and ruffling her hair, hoping to put her at ease.
"And I already know who attacked it."
As he spoke, the smile disappeared from his face, replaced by a deep gravity.
The moment he thought about Kagetane Hiruko being the attacker, his heart grew heavy. Kagetane's strength was formidable, and he was extremely calculating. If he had suddenly appeared here, then judging from the Gastrea's condition, there was a good chance that the target they had come to retrieve had already fallen into his hands.
The two of them had left quickly, and they returned just as quickly.
They hurried back through the forest and soon rejoined the others. Rentaro's expression remained grave, his eyes filled with worry.
"Gojo."
The moment Rentaro returned, he spoke to Gojo with a serious expression, urgency evident in his voice.
"What is it?"
Seeing Rentaro's grave expression, Gojo's smile faded slightly as he asked calmly.
"If you're talking about that Gastrea, I don't think it's much of a problem."
He glanced at the Stage 4 Gastrea in the distance again, his tone still relaxed. In his view, even if the Gastrea hadn't been injured, he could still kill it with ease.
"No, the Gastrea isn't the problem."
Rentaro gave a bitter smile, his voice heavy.
"You remember that guy who attacked during the tournament, right?"
He looked at Gojo as he asked the question, his expression solemn. He knew Gojo would still remember the masked man.
"The one wearing the mask?"
Gojo frowned and thought for a moment before quickly recalling the man who had attacked during the tournament.
"You mean Kagetane Hiruko?"
"Yes, that guy named Kagetane Hiruko."
Rentaro nodded rapidly, his voice urgent.
"Judging from the traces of combat left on that Gastrea, there's a very high probability that he was the one who attacked it."
His tone was firm, and his eyes were filled with certainty. Based on the calculations he had just performed, he was already certain that the attacker was Kagetane Hiruko.
"And judging from the injuries on the Gastrea, there's a very good chance he already took the target we're supposed to retrieve."
Rentaro's voice carried a hint of helplessness and heaviness. Their mission was to recover the Legacy of Nanase Village, but judging from the situation, they might already have arrived too late.
The moment he said this, the expressions of the other Civil Security contractors changed drastically.
The target was the core of their entire mission. If Kagetane Hiruko had taken the artifact, then their mission had effectively failed.
More importantly, Kagetane's strength was terrifying and his intentions were vicious. If he obtained the target, then his claim that he intended to destroy Tokyo might actually become a reality.
"He took it?"
One of the Civil Security contractors instinctively spoke, his voice filled with despair as his face turned grim.
They had sacrificed so much and had even prepared themselves for the possibility of death, only to discover that they had still arrived one step too late.
"Looks like our mission is going to fail."
The other Civil Security contractors sighed one after another, their voices filled with helplessness and dejection.
Gojo, however, looked completely unconcerned. What seemed like a catastrophe to everyone else was hardly worth mentioning to him.
As far as he was concerned, whether the mission succeeded or failed wasn't important.
Was a Stage 5 Gastrea really that powerful?
Not necessarily.
At most, its regenerative ability would be somewhat troublesome.
But if even the technology of this world was capable of dealing with such creatures, there was even less reason for him to have any trouble handling one.
"Don't worry about all that yet."
"Since we're already here, we might as well deal with that guy. At the very least, we'll find out whether he still has the thing on him."
Gojo yawned, his tone lazy, as though none of this amounted to anything in his eyes.
As he spoke, Gojo extended one hand toward the direction of the Gastrea.
His fingers formed a strange gesture.
His movements were slow and graceful. His palm lifted slightly, fingertips pointing toward the distant Gastrea. His expression remained calm, yet an overwhelming pressure seemed to emanate from him.
"Blue."
Gojo's quiet voice drifted from his lips without the slightest fluctuation, yet it carried an irresistible pressure that echoed softly through the dim forest.