The area where the Gastrea was discovered was Outer Fringe Area 32, which was truly far compared to when the incident at the unfortunate man's house occurred.
Moreover, how could it pass through the inner city and escape to the outer fringe without being detected for so long?
When he asked Kisara, she replied that it seemed the Gastrea was flying in the sky, even though it was clearly a spider type before.
"Could it be... it evolved?"
Ms. Sumire once told him that some Gastrea, when developed to a certain extent, would gain a new ability. However, Rentaro still found it hard to imagine how a spider would fly. Did it grow wings?
As the helicopter entered the territory of Area 32, it started to rain. Rentaro silently cried out in distress; the rain, especially the heavy downpour, would restrict visibility.
While he was contemplating a countermeasure, the pilot next to him suddenly spoke.
"Promoter, what is that?"
"Huh?"
Following the pilot's pointing direction, Rentaro saw something triangular-shaped flying in the sky. It looked like an oversized paraglider, but when Rentaro squinted to look closely, he saw a vague, eight-legged shadow moving underneath that paraglider.
At this moment, everything became clear.
That Gastrea had actually woven its silk into a paraglider to fly!
Spider silk has elasticity and durability, and with the added reinforcement of the Gastrea virus, this was entirely possible.
Rentaro no longer worried about this. The immediate priority was to figure out how to take this thing down.
"Pilot, please lower the altitude. We will approach that thing."
Rentaro moved to the back, carefully checking his equipment.
Just as the helicopter's altitude was only a few dozen meters different from the Gastrea, Rentaro pulled the pin on a grenade, calculated the wind force, and then precisely threw it straight down towards the Gastrea. When the explosion sounded, he simultaneously jumped down.
Because he lacked the main attacking force, Enju, Rentaro could only use another method to inflict massive damage on the Gastrea. The thing he chose here was the grenade.
Grenades, a weapon unsuitable for the previous pair-combat tactics. It was difficult to adjust the throwing angle and easily injured teammates. However, in this circumstance, it worked relatively well.
This was also a type of grenade mixed with varanium, so the damage to the Gastrea was quite promising.
"Good!"
The corner of Rentaro's mouth curved into a smile, looking at the spider-type Gastrea writhing while its paraglider was shredded, a part of its body destroyed. He felt his victory was very close. However, he did not let down his guard but maintained a sufficient distance, using the Springfield XD in his hand to fire.
High-quality varanium bullets, also known as Super Varanium.
For Grade I Gastrea with regenerative capabilities, regular varanium bullets were enough. But at higher regeneration levels, the suppression from regular varanium bullets gradually disappeared. Therefore, refined varanium bullets with a higher concentration of varanium, called Super Varanium, had to be used.
This time, Rentaro had prepared such bullets. It could be said that for this hunt, both he and Kisara had emptied their capital. If they failed to profit, the two of them would likely have to live on bean sprouts until the end of the year.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three continuous gunshots accurately shattered the three remaining, undamaged eyes of the spider-type Gastrea. It howled insanely, dragging its seven legs as it scuttled to chase Rentaro. He had already anticipated this, quickly rolling backward and taking cover behind a rock he had previously scoped out, not forgetting to leave a hot, newly-unpinned grenade where he had just been sitting.
Having lost its eyes, the Gastrea could only rely on weak sound waves to determine Rentaro's position; its sense of danger detection was clearly reduced.
Boom!
The second explosion sounded, and the Gastrea's howling turned into a miserable shriek. Rentaro, hiding behind the rock, finally poked his head out, the Springfield XD in his hand once again opening up a continuous fire. Each shot accurately severed a leg of the Gastrea. Its whole body fell, and the foul green blood flowed profusely, covering the grass.
The Gastrea was still twitching, but only when Rentaro gifted the remainder of the magazine to the Gastrea's torso did it stop struggling, its limbs drooping lifelessly.
Mission accomplished.
In the pouring rain, Rentaro looked up at the sky, feeling the heavy raindrops hitting his face. Only then did he realize he had succeeded.
The young Civil Security officer's face became relieved and joyful. He thought of the money he was about to receive. By then, Kisara's company could move to a more spacious headquarters, and Enju could buy as many Tenchu Girls toys as she liked.
After his moment of contemplation, Rentaro looked at the Gastrea's corpse. He suppressed the nausea rising within him and pulled out a hard, box-shaped object from inside its body.
Washing away the blood and fragmented flesh with rainwater, Rentaro saw that it was a solid, extremely heavy metal briefcase.
"So the thing inside is the Seven Stars Heritage that will destroy all of Tokyo?"
The thought of opening it immediately died in his heart. Is he kidding? This is one billion ¥!
"Alright, better call back first."
Rentaro took out his phone and dialed Kisara's number.
"Oi! Kisara, the Seven Stars Heritage has been successfully retrieved! Quickly send a helicopter to pick me up..."
Thwack!
Rentaro's voice abruptly stopped.
He felt the area around his abdomen become warm. When his gaze shifted downwards, his white shirt had gradually been stained red with blood.
Right in the middle of his abdomen were two small swords that had pierced through his flesh, from behind.
Swish!
The two swords were pulled out decisively. Rentaro's pupils contracted, and his two knees collapsed to the ground.
"Rentaro? Why aren't you answering me! Rentaro! Rentaro!"
The frantic voice from the other end of the phone did not reach Rentaro, because at this moment, his entire brain was occupied by a voice like a demon crawling out of hell.
The demon was hiding under the guise of a man wearing a tailcoat, a hat, and a pale, sickly white mask.
Kagetane Hiruko.
"Thank you for pointing the way for me, Satomi Rentaro."
"As someone acknowledged by the Silver King, I agree that you truly have skill."
"Not only that, your President, that girl, is also very smart, having investigated my associate."
"I will put an end to all this and teach that bastard a lesson."
"She said that. It's a pity that nothing will remain after this."
"No..."
"Ah, if you're hoping for rescue from the other Civil Security officers, don't bother. I've long outrun them."
"Give it back!!!"
Rentaro, as if driven mad, lunged towards Kagetane. He only laughed contemptuously. An invisible force field shield opened up, blocking Rentaro's attack.
Immediately after, the shield expanded, repelling him with unimaginable force, pinning him against a nearby rock. Rentaro screamed in extreme agony, feeling as if hundreds of bones were broken and crushed at once. Blood spurted like a fountain, and Rentaro collapsed, falling face down to the ground, no longer moving.
"Papa, do you need me to cut his head off to be sure?"
A little girl holding the metal briefcase ran over. Although the little girl's appearance was as pretty as a doll, the words she spoke sent chills down one's spine.
"No need, Kohina. He is dead."
Kohina nodded, saying nothing more.
Kagetane accepted the briefcase. He wasn't exaggerating, because the previous blow had surely shattered Rentaro's entire body from the inside out. Faced with an injury of that magnitude, it would be difficult for a normal person to survive.
The two of them left, abandoning Rentaro on the brink of death.
A small stream of blue blood from the Gastrea's corpse flowed along a trajectory, coincidentally running right into Rentaro's pool of blood.