She had worried about how to persuade any little ones who might not want to leave, but the pain they had suffered must have been severe, as they all immediately followed Olivia’s words and quietly slipped out of the cages without hesitation. With no interference, the two had opened all the cage doors in the campsite within minutes, not forgetting to pour alcohol on the ground and place empty bottles here and there.

Their plan was to conclude the affair as ‘the wolf-dogs escaped because the cages weren’t properly managed due to drunkenness.’ Their goal was to safely bring the wolf-dogs to Alois’s forest rather than dealing with the administrator’s punishment.

“It seems we’ve freed all but one?”

Following the path shown to them, the wolf-dogs ran toward Alois’s forest one after another, and Alois looked at the last large cage remaining. He thought that while coming out this far had been difficult, fulfilling Olivia’s request wasn’t actually that hard.

Thinking of Olivia’s spirited declaration as she had pounced on him asking why he was giving up without trying, he still found it a bit absurd and couldn’t help but smile. Strangely enough, as everything seemed to be moving toward a happy ending just as she had said, her reckless lack of planning seemed more impressive than he had thought.

“This is strange. The numbers don’t match.”

Olivia, checking the empty cages and the number of little ones she remembered, felt something was off and counted the numbers again and again. Could they have done something to the little ones in the meantime, reducing their numbers? Recalling the faces she couldn’t see, Olivia clenched her fist. I told them to leave them alone until they recovered! Well, people wouldn’t listen so easily.

“We have no choice. For now, we need to free only those here and return.”

Calculating the time the sleeping herbs’ effect would last, Alois urged Olivia. Burying her sad feelings in her heart, Olivia approached the last cage.

“This one has a slightly different structure from the others.”

“It seems to be a specially made item.”

Unlike the other cages with ordinary structures, this cage was completely sealed so that the inside couldn’t be seen even when the cloth was removed. Flustered, Olivia hurriedly rummaged through the key bundle and found one unused key.

“The key shape is also a bit different, ah. Is it this one?”

Alois suddenly jumped in and wrapped around her body as she discovered the keyhole attached to the corner hinge of the cage, leaning against one side of the cage to shield her.

“W-what’s going on here!”

Someone screamed. A subordinate who had come out from the administrator’s tent, which was set up a little away from the campsite guarding the cages, clutched his head and screamed at the sight of all the open cages, the guards collapsed in sleep on the ground, and the wafting smell of alcohol.

“Q-quick, we need to tell the administrator!”

The subordinate, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire, began running hastily toward the administrator’s tent. They hadn’t expected the subordinate to be sent to check the status in the middle of the night, so they hadn’t paid much attention to the tent that was somewhat distant from the campsite. The situation had changed now that someone might search the forest before they could escape.

After exchanging glances, the two quickly opened the door of the last cage.

Creeeeak. With a sharp sound of metal friction, the four sides of the cage began to open like wings. Olivia hurriedly went inside to tell them they needed to escape quickly.

“Do you remember me? All the other friends have already escaped. Once you all leave last……”

The animal that had been curled up shook its head and stood up.

One, two, three, four, five, six. Six eyes slowly revealed themselves.

Olivia, who had been untying the leashes tied inside the cage, felt something strange and looked back and forth between the leashes and the animal that had risen. If there were three leashes, there should clearly be three animals, but…

“Why are there four legs……”

“Olivia!”

Alois’s voice, who had told her to move quietly, struck Olivia’s ear like thunder. At the same time, a shadow quickly and heavily struck down on her head.

* * *

Could there be chaos worse than this? Thinking that the scene before her eyes might be a living hell, Olivia sat on the ground and looked around with tear-blurred vision. The guards who had been sleeping were all awake long ago. It would have been fortunate if they had just woken up, but many were sprawled on the ground with their heads bitten off and bodies torn while still alive.

As people waved torches around to stop the rampaging monster, afraid of what the monster feared, sparks flew in all directions, and the ground soaked with alcohol began to burn throughout the campsite. The pungent smell of blood and acrid smoke. The screams of people. The howling of the monster. All kinds of loud noises tangled together without a single sound that could be properly understood. Tears rolled down Olivia’s cheeks.

“Give up. We need to go back now.”

Alois, who had wrapped around Olivia from the monster’s grasp that had almost attacked her, shook the shoulders of Olivia who was sitting on the ground as if in a daze, calmly repeating the same words several times. Olivia, who had firmly grasped Alois’s hem, mumbled the same words without knowing what she was saying.

“Wait, wait a moment. If I talk to them again……”

Alois slightly furrowed his brow at Olivia’s state, who was just blankly repeating that she would try talking, and looked back.

The state of the monster hunting people didn’t seem like it would listen to reason at all. It had already gone beyond the category of an ordinary animal. Alois instinctively knew that dialogue was impossible with an opponent in such a state. He had experienced a similar, though not identical, state of rampage during every heat cycle.

The situation was even worse because the monster currently rampaging wasn’t a curse like Alois but the result of an illegal, strange experiment.

One body with three heads. The stitching marks from forcibly connecting parts were clearly visible all over the body of the clumsy fake monster that imitated the appearance of Cerberus, which was only passed down in legend. Moreover, it seemed the wounds hadn’t healed properly, as blood continuously flowed from between the connected skin whenever the monster writhed. Though it was rampaging to the point where talking was impossible, judging by the amount of blood flowing, it wouldn’t have lived long even if left alone.

“No one has ever succeeded in creating a chimera. Talking is impossible. If it’s already entered a rampage, that thing is already irreversible.”

“That, that can’t be true…… Why, why these little ones……”

They were little ones who would become docile as if nothing had happened when Olivia detoxified them, even after violently rampaging under the influence of strange drugs forcibly fed by the administrator. Olivia couldn’t understand why these little ones, who would always whimper apologetically even for small wounds if they accidentally attacked her, were now devouring human flesh and blood without hesitation in such a horrific form.

“No, no! Capture it at all costs! I don’t care about the others, but not that one!”

A scream filled with desire was heard. A crowd of humans rushed in as the guards protecting the campsite were almost all killed. The administrator had brought all his soldiers who had been protecting him after hearing the news.

“Do you know how much that’s worth? Capture it alive at all costs!”

At the order to capture it alive, which would be difficult even if they killed it for capture, the soldiers couldn’t approach easily and hesitantly maintained their distance, surrounding the monster. The monster, which had already devoured dozens of humans, spat out the fingers remaining in its mouth and looked at the new prey that had appeared with a pleased expression.

“Grrrrrr.”

A low growl flowed ominously through the trembling open mouth. The saliva that fell with blood mixed in was a sticky dark red color. The three heads looked in different directions, their eyes flashing. It was a monster created to fight endlessly until death, just as the administrator wanted. The unleashed monster faithfully hunted humans as its creator commanded.

“We need to get out now. When the humans to hunt disappear, it will be our turn next.”

Though he wasn’t afraid of facing the monster, he didn’t want Olivia to face the already determined outcome. It was a bad ending he didn’t want to show to her, who dreamed of a happy ending.

He didn’t care at all how many other humans died. They were humans employed by the administrator, and even if they were other innocent humans, he had no desire to interfere with humans outside his world.

Olivia had evaluated Alois as a kind person, but Alois considered that her misunderstanding. Alois’s kindness and consideration were very selfish results limited only to those he chose, but he didn’t dislike her misunderstanding. That’s why Alois didn’t want her to know the truth.

Alois moved away from the scene reminiscent of a battlefield where the monster and humans were in confrontation, carrying the staggering Olivia in his arms. It seemed like they could finish the story without seeing the ending by leaving the monster as a gift to the administrator who created it and escaping from here. But Olivia, who couldn’t let go of her attachment and kept looking back, couldn’t ignore the little one who met her eyes.

“B-Barry?”