[What can you tell us about the migrating mimics? Is it normal for them to move like this?]
Denver and Leonard walked inside the radio room. Another person sat there, with his arms crossed on his chest. He listened to the broadcast intently. The two men found chairs and copied the other person. They continued to listen to the broadcast interview with a supposed expert.
[We have seen migrations happening from depleted regions. The mimics are highly insatiable creatures. If they starve, they will die within hours. What made this migration eye-catching is that we surveyed this group… and found at least nine hundred of them. The actual count has not yet been confirmed, but we are facing a pack that can overrun a megacity in minutes.]
[Based on this map of their trajectory, the megacity that is most likely to get hit is… this one, The Garden. Its population is over ten thousand, making it one of the biggest megacities. If the mimics reach them, we are looking at a big catastrophe.]
[The Garden might not be the biggest megacity or the most prosperous. However, The Garden houses the top businessmen who endured the times. If this megacity falls, it will immediately be followed by the fall of major supermarket and bank chains.]
The interviewer gasped, but the speaker must have gestured at them. The speaker continued. [That is why the Alliance is sending aid to The Garden. As mentioned, our highly trained hunters will come to four strategic points. We aim to demolish the pack before they even hit the megacity. The four points are Gallows Valley, Little Crows Farm, Nettleburg, and the only populated spot—Abels Creek.]
Denver frowned. He turned to the old guard. "They're sending a mimic hunter here in Abels Creek? Who will they talk to? We have no mayor."
"We don't know yet. I doubt the broadcast will say." Leonard hissed and clicked his tongue. He returned Denver's gaze. "I've heard about those mimic hunters. They're the most brutal. They are effective against mimic attacks, yes, but… they're also the nastiest."
"I really wish we're not that unlucky." The third person in the radio room mirrored Leonard's grim face. "I don't know why they picked our city as a strategic point. If that monster comes here…"
Monster.
Denver leaned against his seat and listened to the speaker discuss their alliance more. However, his mind was focused on planning against this so-called migration. A mimic hunter… That was the last thing he wanted to deal with.
Mimic hunters were individuals the big companies trained to slay mimics. They could only be deployed by this alliance that managed them. Megacities that availed their help shelled out millions in payment. Denver figured the one owning the bank chains called them. His father, the one with the supermarket and factories, had his own private armed force.
Denver didn't know much about these mimic hunters. They were like myths to small cities, so news about them was rarer than a day without a mimic attack. Now that some of them were headed to Abels Creek, he only wished for the most average to arrive.
…
"Mimic hunters?" Lulu echoed his questions. She was out with Denver again, raiding another pack lair. The girl crossed her arms on her chest. "I don't really pay attention to them. Are they something I should care about? They're just humans. How powerful can they be?"
"Most people in the military can kill eaters. I think the best of humans can be powerful." Denver sighed. Lulu didn't know anything about the mimic hunters, either.
The girl turned to the man beside her. "The venators are far too fast and vicious even for the best humans. If these mimic hunters do exist, I can only infer that they are tampered with. It's impossible. Only eaters can suppress the most powerful of eaters. I can't wait to look for those mimic hunters when a Source Devourer shows up to kill them. Humph, how arrogant."
Denver's brows lifted in amusement and confusion. "Aren't you… a Source Devourer? Why do you sound like they haven't gone here before?"
"I am, but…" Lulu pouted and turned away to hide her pout. "Look, even eaters have complicated classifications. I'm an invocator, a non-combatant class. The other Source Devourers are pretty huge and dangerous. I doubt even you can deal with one of them."
"What exactly are you invocating?" The man chuckled, earning the girl's glare. However, she turned away to pout and sulk again. Denver only shook his head and looked around.
He stopped and slightly pointed in a direction. "You can detect the lair over there, right? Are you going to come in after I'm done like the last time?"
Lulu dropped her anger and looked at the place Denver was pointing at. "Of course, I have to make sure to eat properly now that hunters are deployed. Once they get here, you might not go out at night. Now, go ahead and have fun. I'm hungry."
Denver didn't hurry. He dropped his arm and caressed Lulu's head. He whispered, "You don't have to be scared of those hunters, Lulu. I'm sure we'll be safe. They're not looking for mimics inside the city."
"…what's your guarantee?" Lulu looked at his face, but Denver didn't flinch. She allowed him to pet her longer. "Denver Turning, you're unwilling to join us. Everything you can do isn't even ingrained in you. What if we have to kill a mimic hunter? Can you handle one of them? There's no way you won't transform into a hideous thing just to deal with someone who could kill multiple venators at once."
"You lied about not knowing them, Lulu." Denver chuckled as if she was not drawing a scary image. "So, one of them had killed multiple venators."
Lulu turned away again. She crossed her arms on her chest and faced her body away from Denver. "I knew some others who died in their hands. That is why I am certain. Those mimic hunters are partial mimics, too… more or less like you. Eaters can smell one another. I never had the chance to get close to a mimic hunter, so I don't know what they smelled like. I can confirm my theory with just one sniff."
Denver hummed and tapped his chin. He smiled. "Do you want me to speak to my father about this? Maybe I can get close to the private force's head here in Abels Creek. If that happens, we can get near the mimic hunter without a pretense."
The girl shrieked and looked over her shoulder. However, her nonchalant and cold façade couldn't solidify. Her excited gaze made Denver chuckle. She faced her with a swirl. "You promise?"
"I promise." Denver held his right pinky toward the girl. "Want to shake pinkies?"
Lulu stared at his gesture and curiously copied him. She watched him hook his pinky with hers and shake the two. Her eyes flickered, her cheeks blushed, and her lips wriggled.
[You have forged a stronger bond with your Invocator!]