The Americans decided to send the Fallen Angel’s corpse to the Research Institute as one of the rewards for saving Sacramento.
I moved with Dr. Yeon to recover the Fallen Angel’s corpse.
All the local research personnel were moving busily.
“It’s busy.”
“Yes… it seems so.”
I put on a Ministry of Disease Control suit and began the work.
The Fallen Angel’s corpse was about the size of a large freight truck. If you were to pack it like a Chicken, wouldn’t it fit in a dump truck?
The fallen angel had three pairs of wings, and black Monster Fur that looked like a crow’s covered its entire body.
It didn’t feel very pleasant, but looking closer, no mouth was visible, and a giant single eye was seen in the center of its body.
In the single eye, there was still a wound left by the mistletoe Spear.
Every drop of blood spilled in the square and every feather went into the ice boxes. I also held an ice box and picked up several pieces of the Fallen Angel’s corpse.
Dr. Yeon checked the Fallen Angel’s corpse with a black light from the side.
“What is this…”
The angel’s corpse was surprisingly intact.
Considering the fact that dozens of United States Military Helicopters were attacking the Fallen Angel while fighting this Monster, it was a shocking fact.
“…On the day the Fallen Angel was defeated, 20 Helicopters engaged the Fallen Angel. Over about three hours, about 100 Hydra rockets hit the Fallen Angel. There must have been thousands of rounds of autocannon fire.”
Dr. Yeon frowned as if it were unpleasant.
“But there were only eight effective hits. If you add the trace of the Spear stuck in the eyeball, it’s nine.”
In other words… other than what I hit with the Magic engineering rifle and Spear while loading Aether, there was not a single attack that wounded the black angel.
“The autocannons and Hydra rockets only drew the Monster’s attention. Perhaps fireworks would have been more efficient.”
“I’m not sure.”
“It seems you were the only one who dealt effective hits to the Fallen Angel, Dr. Lee. Other attacks were just fireworks to divert the Monster’s gaze.”
I answered while scratching my head.
Still, if they kept hitting it, it would have consumed the Aether shield. It was hard to say it was completely meaningless.
It wasn’t like they could use any other method.
“Weren’t there no other options besides that? At the very least, they pushed it back, so it must have had the effect of draining the Fallen Angel’s power.”
“You are right, Dr. Lee. That might be the case.”
Dr. Yeon nodded as if accepting my words.
The Fallen Angel is an out-of-spec Monster. It is a Monster that manages the Gate and is a Necromancer that reigns over other Monsters and the Gate.
Before the Return, there were almost no cases of successfully catching a Fallen Angel. There were only a few Hunter Allys strong enough to catch it.
But this time, it was a surprising achievement just by being able to catch it quickly.
It was thanks to raising my level quickly, and also because I had researched how to kill the Fallen Angel before the Return.
“Now, what we have to do is…”
To study the Fallen Angel’s corpse.
It was an opportunity that didn’t exist before the Return.
“But strangely, the corpse doesn’t rot, and rigor mortis isn’t setting in.”
“Should we administer muscle relaxants and sedatives?”
“First, how about sticking in the mistletoe Spear that Dr. Lee made?”
If this Monster were to come back to life, another Ancient City would be blown away.
I don’t know if coming back to life is possible, but since it’s a matter concerning the lives of thousands, there’s no harm in being careful.
The Fallen Angel’s corpse, having finished the recovery, was loaded onto a large airplane and hurriedly moved to Jeju Island.
The place they arrived was a naval research Facility on Jeju Island.
The one who came to the research Facility on Jeju Island was Dr. Ryu.
Since she was a biology major, she would be the most suitable among us for this kind of work. Of course, I doubt she learned how to dissect an angel in graduate school…
Anyway, she was a scientist at the Super-Science Research Institute and the top domestic expert on this matter.
She was also the one who created the poisons and pesticides to kill Monsters and the method to change the ecosystem of the other world.
Dr. Ryu put on goggles with a somewhat solemn face and wore latex gloves on her hands.
I also equipped Ministry of Disease Control equipment and stood beside Dr. Ryu.
Preparation was complete.
“But why Jeju Island?”
“The Research Institute is close to downtown Seoul, so if a problem occurs, it would be better for it to happen on an island rather than the mainland.”
“Because you think the Monster might come back to life?”
“We have to make sure no problems occur.”
There was no reason to object.
Dr. Ryu filmed the Fallen Angel’s body with a camera.
The Fallen Angel was spread out on the floor of the super-large dissection room.
“What is this water bottle? Did you connect an IV?”
“Since the corpse isn’t rotting and rigor mortis isn’t coming, we are administering large amounts of muscle relaxants and narcotic painkillers. Just in case it wakes up. That’s also why the Spear is stuck in it.”
“I see…”
Dr. Ryu nodded with a serious expression.
“Then we should dismantle it quickly.”
“Yes.”
“If we dismantle it, it will be less dangerous even if it comes back to life.”
I began to separate the Fallen Angel’s wings with a small power saw.
“First, we need to separate the wings to reduce the Monster’s volume.”
Dr. Ryu, seemingly of the same mind, began the same work without much else to say.
The sound of the power saw echoed throughout the research Facility.
“Be careful not to break the wing Monster Fur.”
“There’s a lot of Monster Fur, though?”
“Human-sized wing Monster Fur. There are only a few of those.”
“I see?”
I intended to separate all six of the Fallen Angel’s wings.
Since I gained a new production skill, I should leave one for research and try to make Magic items with the rest.
“Do you know what the largest bird in the world is?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“I’m curious if there’s an existing creature to compare it to.”
Albatrosses or eagles are quite large, but in the fossil record, there were several birds larger than that.
“Pterosaurs or giant eagles come to mind.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know if it’s directly related to those. It doesn’t seem like the Fallen Angel flies by flapping its wings.”
No matter how large a bird is, it’s around 100kg, and pterosaurs are estimated at around 200kg, but the Fallen Angel’s weight was close to 1 ton. Even that was strangely low compared to its size.
It took some time, but we succeeded in separating all six of the Fallen Angel’s wings.
Now only the body, with a peculiar shape like a hedgehog, remained.
“Dr. Lee, please step back for a moment.”
When I took a step back, Dr. Ryu pulled out the Fallen Angel’s eye with a crowbar. The pulled-out eyeball was placed into an ice box filled with ice water.
“The eyeball is burst?”
“That’s because it was hit by the mistletoe Spear.”
I looked at the Fallen Angel, whose wings were all plucked, again.
The sight was a bit pitiful.
Even if it was a Monster that killed thousands…
I shook my head once to brush away the thought.
“Let’s open it up.”
We carefully opened the Fallen Angel’s torso.
Since it had no mouth, it was natural that there was no stomach, but looking again, it did seem to inhale air into its body.
There was a structure close to lungs in the center.
In the front, a brain several times larger than a human’s was attached to a structure corresponding to a skull. The brain also went into the ice water.
“There’s no digestive system. But there is a nervous system and a respiratory system.”
“A circulatory system too.”
After struggling with a knife for a while, a red heart finally revealed its appearance from deep within the Monster’s corpse.
The Fallen Angel’s blood sparkled with Aether, and the heart seemed to still be moving.
A human heart is roughly a little larger than a fist, but its heart was a weight no different from a sack of rice.
I succeeded in pulling the Fallen Angel’s heart out after struggling for a long time. This also went into the ice water.
We continued the work.
The Monster Fur was all plucked and stored separately. Organs were separated one by one and went into ice, and the remaining torso was also put into the freezer.
After some time had passed, Dr. Ryu spoke to me while stretching.
“It wasn’t as much as I thought.”
“Catching it is the hard part; it’s already dead, so what.”
“I’ll proceed with the analysis as usual, but I don’t know if it will be effective. This fellow seems fundamentally different from other Monsters. Should I say it has no internal circuits?”
It’s a matter of sincerity.
Other Monsters at least had the sincerity to possess a digestive organ, but the Fallen Angel blatantly had no stomach, and several essential organs were missing. There was just a lot of nervous tissue.
“It’s a Magic-centered creature.”
“A semi-spirit, then.”
I nodded.
Dr. Ryu looked at the ice box.
“It would be nice if Chickens also had six wings.”
“I think that would be gross.”
“They’re for frying and eating anyway. It doesn’t matter.”
Why do these people talk about eating every time they dissect a Monster?
“Steel Spider is soy sauce crab, Fallen Angel is Chicken. Tentacle Dragon is octopus sashimi. Basilisk is also Chicken.”
Now that I think about it, half of that was me.
Does the reptilian brain crave nutrition because I think about fighting Monsters?
“Do you know that your fight in the United States has spread immensely, Dr. Lee? The Hunter Ally Association is going to announce you as number one among the rankers.”
“Ah. Is that so?”
It was a matter I hadn’t thought about.
Before the Return, the Hunter Ally Association announced rankings every month based on performance. Regardless of level or strength, it was usually just based on performance.
Previously, I had never been anywhere near the rankings, so I hadn’t been paying attention, but I guess I’ll be up there this time.
Even as they start calculating the rankings.
“Youtubers and reporters wanted to come to the Research Institute for interviews, but they scattered after hearing that they might be fired upon if they trespass near the Research Institute without permission. It was that severe.”
“I see.”
“Especially the calls from high-ranking officials. No, I don’t know where they found my number, but they called every five minutes asking what Dr. Lee was doing. But how would I know? Someone who was in the United States.”
This is why I try not to show my face as much as possible.
It’s better not to get involved. It’s tiring.
“You went through a lot.”
“Could I have done as much as you, Dr. Lee? No, what happened in Sacramento? I wonder if the information is being controlled, because there’s almost nothing detailed about the battle. In both Korea and the United States, only praises for Dr. Lee are written.”
Not all details of the operation were made public.
Especially the information about the Fallen Angel was being strictly controlled.
The fact that a Deity-like Necromancer that manages the Gate appeared and is hostile toward humanity. It seemed they thought it was a fact that could cause social chaos if widely known.
I chose my words for a moment.
“The government probably wants to show a strong image. From the perspective of maintaining order, a hero narrative would be much more attractive than a tragedy where hundreds of thousands died or lost their homes.”
“I see?”
Rather than doing great censorship, they probably want to brag that the problem was solved rather than that it occurred.
At least from the system’s point of view.
“The situation was very bad. Two groups of Monsters occupied the Ancient City, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties. Many American Awakened also died. That individual we are looking at is also an out-of-spec Monster that faced dozens of Helicopters head-on.”
Dr. Ryu nodded seriously.
“And you caught that, Dr. Lee?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ll take a good look at it.”
The organoid that Dr. Ryu raised last time was also ultimately used effectively in growing mana stones.
The slaughtered remains of the Fallen Angel would surely be useful in many ways.
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