Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit-Chapter 173: Cause(Part 2)

"According to the documents, when a rift is created in the boundary between two different worlds, the energies from each world flood into the other world, creating instability. Of course, we have no way of knowing what kind of effect that has on the other world, but as for our world, the foreign energy has an effect on Monsters, who are especially sensitive to Mana.

To us, Mana is a source of energy to fuel our Magic, but it isn’t essential to our survival. Many Commoners hardly have any Mana at all, but of course, they have no trouble staying alive. Monsters are different, though, Mana is as important to them as air is to us, they can’t survive without Mana. And the resulting tainted Mana affects them like a poison.

Their bodies react to the increase in energy, but since said energy doesn’t consist solely of Mana, they suffer side effects. In most cases, that just means they get sick for a short while, or gain temporary boosts in power, and usually go back to normal after a few days," Explained Jules.

"I see, so it isn’t exclusively the Monster Queens that get affected," Nodded Rione thoughtfully.

"Right, and speaking of which...based on the documents, newly born female Monsters that are born around the same time as when the Hero Summoning Ritual is conducted are the most susceptible to the effects of the foreign energy. Most of them end up dying when exposed to it, but the few that survive end up mutating. They gain immense power, and the others of their species feel a strong, instinctive urge to nurture and protect them.

Fortunately, only those female Monsters that are born around the same time as the ritual are affected, and only a small percentage of those become what we now call Monster Queens. In other words, we don’t have to worry about any new Monster Queens being born, unless the Hero Summoning Ritual is conducted again, of course. But since we destroyed the ritual that Alphonse Plore used, that shouldn’t be a concern," Remarked Jules.

"Well, unless there are more Hero Summoning Rituals hidden away in some archives or whatever, we can’t rule that out," Chimed in Aster warily.

"Yes, that’s true. I’ve asked the church to search their archives for any more copies of the ritual, and to destroy them if they do come across any. I’ve also requested several Nobles who have old collections of Ancient Magic Artifacts and the like to cooperate with us and allow us to search their collections to see if there are any dangerous rituals or Artifacts present. This is a dire situation, and the last thing we need is for it get even worse than it already is.

Anyway, to continue. As some of you have experienced firsthand, the Monster Queens tend to be much stronger than their species usually are, but the extent of just how much more powerful they become varies greatly. A Monster Queen of a stronger species isn’t necessarily going to be immensely more powerful, a Monster Queen of a weaker species could end up being more powerful than one from a stronger species."

"Well, that’s not good. Does that mean a Monster Queen of a Low Level species could end up being stronger than Critical Level species?" Frowned Celia warily.

"In theory, yes, that is possible. Of course, since Monster Queens always tend to be stronger than the rest of their species, any Monster Queens from Critical Level, or even High Level, species are going to be immensely powerful. But now, we also need to account for the possibility that a Monster Queen of a Low or Mid Level Species could end up being just as dangerous," Replied Jules grimly.

"Yeah, come to think of it, that Vermin Monster Queen we fought was pretty strong, despite being from a Low Level species, it was at least on par with High Levels, possibly approaching Critical Level," Nodded Tacitus thoughtfully.

"That wasn’t all, though. That Monster displayed a pretty frightening level of intelligence, even though Vermin are usually pretty unintelligent creatures. I’d say that was a lot more concerning than how powerful it was," Added Aster with a frown.

"Right, the documents touched on that too, Monster Queens are often a lot more intelligent than members of their species usually are. That’s not all, however. One common factor that all Monster Queens share is that they possess extremely high levels of libido and the ability to reproduce abnormally fast," Responded Jules.

"Right, that would certainly explain why there were so many of their species protecting each of the Monster Queens we’ve encountered so far," Chimed in Wein.

"Yes, and I believe their reproductive capabilities are arguably the greatest threat they possess. Even a Monster Queen that isn’t particularly powerful would be a serious threat if left unchecked. Given enough time, they could drastically boost the population of their respective species to alarming numbers. Even the weakest Monsters can prove dangerous if their numbers grow large enough," Sighed Jules, a stressed out look on her face, before stating, "That’s why we need to locate and eliminate all the Monster Queens within our borders as quickly as possible, before the populations of their species grow out of control."

"Yeah, but how are we supposed to go about accomplishing that? All we can really do is search blindly, and accounting for the potential intelligence of the Monster Queens, some of them might be smart enough to realize that they should keep the growth of the number of their species hidden for as long as possible," Pointed out Raven, a concerned look on his face.

"Fortunately, we do have a way to deal with that issue. In addition to the documents found in the church’s archives, an Ancient Magic Artifact was also found, one made specifically to deal with this particular consequence of using the Hero Summoning Ritual," Remarked Jules, before taking out an object and setting it on the table, the others peering over curiously.

It consisted of a handle attached to what resembled a compass, with a small, narrow arrow in the middle of it, made of a carved Mana Crystal, and it had several lines of Ancient Magic Formulae inscribed on and around the arrow.

"Is it some kind of Monster Queen detector?" Inquired Akila in fascination.

"Yes, something like that. According to the documents, it should be able to detect any Monster Queens within a ten kilometer radius. The Monster Queens mutate by inadvertently absorbing the foreign energy that enters our world through the rift opened by the Hero Summoning Ritual, it changes them drastically.

Most significantly in regards to this device, the Monster Queens’ energy is corrupted. All Monsters possess Mana, but the Mana running through the bodies of the Monster Queens is different. Apparently, Monsters give off wavelengths of Mana, and the wavelengths given off by Monster Queens is distinct and unique compared to normal Monsters. This device is capable of detecting those distinct wavelengths within a ten kilometer radius," Jules informed them.

"That’s amazing, it’s just what we need to eliminate this threat!" Responded Rione with an optimistic gleam in his eyes.

"Unfortunately, we were only able to find this one, there aren’t any other such devices in the church’s archives. So, we’ll have to assign a team of Teleporters to sweep through the entire nation with this Artifact and pinpoint the location of every remaining Monster Queen. According to the documents, the arrow in the Artifact starts glowing and pointing in the direction of a Monster Queen once one is within the range of its detection. And the closer the holder of the Artifact gets to the Monster Queen, the brighter it glows. With this, it shouldn’t take too long to locate each of the remaining Monster Queens," Surmised Jules hopefully.

"I’d say that depends on how many of them there are. Let’s hope there aren’t too many," Spoke up Siele.

"Based on the contents of the documents, the Hero Summoning Ritual usually results in somewhere between twenty to thirty Monster Queens. We’ve already eliminated a handful of them, but we can’t know for certain exactly how many of them are left. Regardless, our immediate priority is to locate and eliminate every Monster Queen that’s infesting the Kingdom of Persona, as quickly as possible. We cannot afford to neglect this matter, time is of the essence.

We’ve already alerted our allies in Sylph, it’s possible that Monster Queens have appeared within their borders too, since we don’t know just how far the effects of the Hero Summoning Ritual reach. So far, Slyph has reported that they haven’t encountered any Monster Queens in their nation, so it seems likely that only our nation has been affected by this."

"Just our luck, shit like this just keeps happening," Sighed Tacitus in exasperation.

"Well, I’m certainly not complaining, I bet these Monster Queens pack quite a punch, I’d like to see what getting hit by one feels like," Grinned Colt. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"Please take this seriously," Groaned Jules, an annoyed look on her face.