Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 63

Emerging from a shabby tavern, Yan felt a vibration in his hand and smirked. “As expected, you were distracted.”

[So that’s why you asked me to teach you the forbidden magic.]

The forbidden spells Yan knew were all incredibly effective, though equally difficult to unravel, and gathering the ingredients was no simple task.

Thus, he borrowed Momon’s magical knowledge.

“None of the other mages can easily solve it, can they?”

[Ha, of course not. I’ve twisted it several times. If it were so easily undone, would I be called a great mage?]

Yan chuckled at Momon’s confident tone.

With this, the foundation of the information organization was complete.

Bella, having originally led the ‘Beggars’ Den,’ had no worries about managing the organization.

Moreover, with the capital now secured, the organization would expand much faster than when Bella had grown the ‘Beggars’ Den’ alone in her previous life.

[What will you do now?]

Momon asked casually, inwardly anticipating Yan’s next move.

“There’s a task the Grand Instructor gave me. I need to find the Special Task Force leader’s daughter.”

[Do you even know where she is?]

Yan grinned. “I’ll find her.”

[What?]

“The Grand Instructor mentioned it several times during the intensive training period. She couldn’t have gone far.”

Yan’s gaze drifted to the dense forest behind the market.

“Right here in Soma.”

Creak, creak.

A large carriage, heavily guarded, made its way out of the forest.

About twenty men tightly surrounded it, led by one man.

“Secretary, it seems we’ve shaken them off.”

“Damn them, are they trying to start a feud within the family?”

The man known as the Secretary shouted in annoyance.

“We must get out of this forest before the Grand Instructor’s faction catches up! Stay alert, everyone!”

He was an officer of the Special Task Force leader’s faction, secretly leading and documenting experiments under the Emperor’s and the Task Force leader’s covert orders.

Somehow, the Grand Instructor’s side had learned of this and was doggedly pursuing them.

“Damn it! The Grand Instructor should focus on educating those brats.”

The Special Task Force was currently divided into two factions.

Those loyal to the Task Force leader and those following the Grand Instructor, including the Dragon Child Project instructors and some Task Force officers.

The Secretary gritted his teeth as he settled into the driver’s seat.

“Uh, ugh…”

Amidst this, a child’s groan echoed from inside the carriage.

It was a sound of pain, as if being crushed by something.

“Shut your mouth. I’m not in a good mood, and I might do something regrettable.”

Normally, he would be comfortably resting by now, with the test subject confined in the safe house.

But instead, he was on the run, unable to rest due to the pursuit of instructors dispatched by the Grand Instructor.

Whoosh.

A gust of wind brushed past the Secretary, Shark’s, nose.

Shark bit his lip and muttered, “Something feels off. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

Verdin Forest.

An imperial forest as vast as a baron’s domain.

The towering trees spread their branches like open palms, obscuring the sky to the point where it was hard to tell day from night.

“It’s been a while since I’ve traveled like this.”

Yan climbed a tree, leaping from branch to branch, crossing the forest.

A black shadow wolf followed him, summoned to his side.

[Is the child you’re looking for here?]

“Yes, if she’s avoiding other pursuers in Soma, this is the only place.”

[I’d love to peek inside your head. Your magical knowledge is pitiful, but you’re surprisingly good at these trivial matters.]

Yan smirked at Momon’s words.

Momon didn’t know he had returned.

So he attributed all the accomplishments so far to his quick wits.

“I guess I have a talent for it.”

[Your talent for mana is worse than a worm’s, yet you talk a lot.]

As Yan bantered with Momon, something caught his eye.

Yan dropped from the tree like a falling leaf.

“Hmm.”

The blurred traces suggested an attempt to cover tracks, but Yan’s eyes were not to be fooled. Footprints, wagon wheel ruts, and a trail of blood stretched into the bushes. An effort to conceal the blood with sand or dirt was evident, but it was in vain against Yan’s keen sight.

Striding towards the thicket, Yan pushed through the underbrush.

Rustle, rustle.

Hidden within were two bodies. Faces Yan knew all too well. His eyes settled coldly.

“…Instructors.”

They were instructors from the Dragon Child Project, close associates of the Grand Instructor.

“Of course, the sly Grand Instructor wouldn’t trust me alone.”

Most of the training camp’s instructors were known to follow the Grand Instructor, not the Task Force Leader. This was not a personal issue but a factional fight within the Task Force.

Yan began to examine the bodies closely. Under their nails and on unmarred skin, blackened blood was caked—a sign of the enemy’s blood smeared during a struggle.

It seemed the instructors had inflicted some damage on those protecting the Task Force Leader’s daughter, even as they died.

“They’ll need to find a place to rest soon, if only to ease their mental fatigue.”

And another question arose.

“Why use a carriage at all?”

Navigating this forest to elude pursuers would be faster by carrying or shouldering the Task Force Leader’s daughter.

‘Could her condition be that poor?’

The Task Force Leader had been pouring money into her care; some improvement should be expected, regardless of her being a mana veinless.

‘It’s still unknown… she might not be veinless after all.’

Yan finished his thoughts and crouched, touching the faintly marked soil. It was freshly turned, not yet compacted.

‘I must hurry.’

The scent of conspiracy was thick in the air.

Yan stimulated his mana heart, drawing forth mana.

Whoosh.

If the mana flow before creating a Water Star was a stream, now it was a river.

The mana swirling in his body rushed to his legs.

Thud!

Yan became a streak of light, darting through the forest.

At that moment.

“Phew, are we halfway there?”

The Task Force members and the Secretary, pulling the carriage, sighed in relief upon seeing a village ahead.

It appeared to be a slash-and-burn village within Verdin Forest.

Arriving at the village, exhaustion was evident on their faces.

“Cleanse yourselves of fatigue here for a day!”

Despite being the capable officers and members of the Task Force, the days-long chase by the Grand Instructor’s faction had taken its toll.

Unable to light fires carelessly due to the pursuit, they had subsisted on jerky for over a month, and any well they found for drinking water was poisoned.

Just two nights ago, two skilled instructors had even attempted a midnight ambush.

Though most had only sustained minor injuries, with no serious wounds, they still needed a good rest.

“Damn it, where is the leak coming from?”

Shark gritted his teeth and lit a cigarette.

Just then, an elderly man with a plow on his shoulder approached them.

“Who goes there?”

“Tsk.”

Shark clicked his tongue and signaled a Task Force member beside him. The seated member sprang up and strode towards the old man.

“What’s your name, I asked…!”

“You shouldn’t have asked. Had you stayed hidden inside, holding your breath, you might have lived.”

“What… what do you mean by that—Gah!”

The old man’s eyes bulged, unable to finish his protest. A sharp dagger was embedded in his chest, blood trickling down.

Shlick.

As the dagger was withdrawn, the old man’s form crumpled lifelessly. Shark looked down at him with an icy gaze.

“Clean this up.”

“Yes, sir!”

At Shark’s command, the Task Force members charged into the village. The peaceful villagers’ eyes widened at the sudden appearance of strangers.

And so, the massacre began.

“Screams of terror.”

“Please, save us!”

“Gurgle.”

The Task Force members began to slaughter the villagers mechanically. Screams echoed through the village, regardless of age or gender.

But the chaos was fleeting.

Soon, silence reigned again.

“Tsk, the smell of blood is hard to erase.”

Shark grumbled in annoyance and stepped into the village. Two Task Force members followed, pulling a carriage behind them.

After the massacre, the village was a scene of horror. Bodies were strewn about, and pools of blood formed.

“Clean up before the pursuers catch up.”

“Yes, sir!”

At Shark’s order, the Task Force members efficiently moved the bodies, and some began digging graves.

Thud, thud-thud.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

The sounds of digging and bodies being dumped filled the village.

“Ugh.”

A child’s groan came from the carriage.

A Task Force member beside Shark expressed concern.

“Shouldn’t we feed it something? It’s been three days; if it starves to death…”

Shark cut him off with a click of his tongue.

“Without the other researchers, what if we do something unnecessary and it escapes? Do you think you can recapture it?”

“…My apologies.”

Shark glanced at the bowing Task Force member, then sneakily eyed the carriage.

He too thought that they should feed ‘the item’ inside, as the member had suggested.

‘If we open the carriage door without precautions and it gets out, it’ll be hard to get it back in. Better it starves than that.’

The Emperor himself oversaw the project; there was no need to invite danger with careless actions.

If ‘the item’ starved to death, the Grand Instructor would bear the brunt of the blame.

Shark kicked the ground in irritation.

“This is all because of that ‘item’!”

[Project: Destroyer]

A top-secret project currently underway by imperial decree.

It was a project so clandestine it violated the founding emperor’s taboo.

Only the Task Force Leader, a few close associates, and the scholars conducting the experiments knew of it.

The project aimed to create ‘bioweapons’ superior to superhumans.

And to mass-produce them.

Once the initial models for experimentation were gathered and some progress was made,

One specimen began to show extraordinary results.

If it had merely possessed adequate potential like the others, the higher-ups wouldn’t have cared.

But the dangerous potential within this specimen captivated them.

“This could elevate the Caballan Empire’s stature! If we succeed in mass production, even continental unification won’t be far off.”

Thus, the directive came to change facilities and continue the experiments with just that one.

To avoid drawing attention, they created a false identity.

It was the Task Force Leader’s daughter.

Most in the empire would avoid meddling with the infamous Task Force…

But the Grand Instructor was an unforeseen variable.

A simple mission to move facilities had turned arduous due to his prolonged pursuit.

Shark called over a high-ranking Task Force member.

“Team Leader!”

“Yes!”

“Have we completely shaken off the Grand Instructor’s faction?”

“We’ve dealt with the ones at the forefront and erased all traces. It’s hard to say we’ve completely shaken them, but we have some breathing room.”

“Good. We’ll stay here for the day. Disguise yourselves as villagers and rest.”

“Yes, sir!”

The Team Leader gathered his subordinates upon receiving Shark’s orders.

The Task Force members entered the villagers’ homes without hesitation, donning the clothes the villagers had worn in life.

They covered the blood-soaked earth with dirt from elsewhere, and after burning the villagers’ bodies, they buried the ashes.

“What about the carriage?”

“Hide it out of sight.”

“Yes, understood.”

The Team Leader pulled the groaning carriage to the largest house in the village.

Having completed their tasks, they became the villagers, each resting in their assigned homes.

“Quite convincing.”

Shark smiled contentedly at the sight of the village, now seemingly ordinary.

Anyone without keen insight would pass by, thinking it just another normal village.

“With this, we might even fool the Grand Instructor’s faction.”

Shark chuckled and walked into the largest house.

He too was weary from the days of forced marching.

* * *

Two hours had passed.

“Hmm, it should be around here.”

A young man appeared at the entrance of the village, disguised by the Task Force.

Sniff, sniff.

“The scent of blood, and signs of a struggle…”

Muttering to himself as he surveyed the village, the young man’s eyes gleamed.

It was a perfect disguise, one that could fool even the most seasoned agents.

“The seniors sure have loosened up.”

The corners of Yan’s mouth curled up in amusement.

“Back in my day, we’d turn the soil upside down to cover our tracks.”

Yan saw right through the facade before him.

To him, it felt like an all too flimsy disguise.

“Shall we go in?”

Yan strode confidently towards the village entrance.

The Hound’s Instinct to Return [Exclusive]