Rubbing Cara’s back I try to calm her down as she continues to vomit. Next to us is Beck who has already tossed the pack of meat on the ground after realizing the cause for Cara’s reaction, his face is blue as if he has seen a ghost. Beck is also a veteran adventurer and usually wouldn’t react just because he touched human’s carcass but maybe the thought of almost eating it has given him an uncomfortable notion.
“UUuu…. Uuuu……th..thanks, I’m alright now” –Cara
Said Cara with tears in her eyes.
“I couldn’t keep a straight face as well. Still, for Cara to react this strongly was unexpected. You’ve seen your share of human remains after a monster’s meal haven’t you?”
Being an adventurer, most of our work involves dealing with monsters, getting rid of bandits, explore dangerous area. One could say it’s a job that reeks of blood and iron. In the five years I’ve been an adventurer, I’ve seen enough deaths for a life time. From a certain bandit’s collection of decapitated heads to the human corpses that were half-eaten by a beast. Though it isn’t necessarily a good thing, I was fairly confident that couple of dead people wouldn’t even faze us.
“UUuu…just thinking about it makes me feel sick…
Look. It’s true that’s it’s not even bloody, but this isn’t a monster’s leftovers. It was carefully processed and packed. What’s really disturbing about this is the fact that such a human way of doing things was done for something so inhuman!
I don’t know how to describe it, it’s this feeling like human was casually treated as some kind of cattle, you know? To make it worse, by another human. If a person was treating others as pigs and cows, raising them in the ranch then slaughter and process meat as if it was something natural. Would you be able to keep calm? Would you!?
…Haah…Huff…….Haaaaa…….” –Cara
At Cara’s barrage of words as if she has lost it, I grimaced. I finally came to understand the nauseating feelings that’s churning inside my stomach. It’s truly is a vomit inducing scenario. If a human was the cause of this…
If a human was….
I could not imagine what kind of deviant he would be.
But there’s only one thing that I needs to know. I can’t let someone like that roams free.
“Cara…get a hold of yourse-
-Cara!?”
“-cough-“ –Cara
Having resolved myself, I was about to consult everyone about my decision, but the moment my gaze fell on Cara she let out a muffled cough as weak as a whisper. On her chest there was a spearhead sticking out defiantly. Her eyes widen in disbelief as if she herself does not understand what’s happening. And then she fell down, having lost the strength in her knees.
“Cara! Hey! CARA!”
“Nee-san!?” –Beck
I hurried to hold Cara’s body, keeping her from falling to the ground. Beck also noticed the situation and ran over as I try to gently let Cara squat down on her knees.
“Beck! I’ll pull out the spear! You push down her wound to keep blood from flowing and use mana assimilation right away!”
“Got it!
Shit! How did this happen” –Beck
Mana assimilation is a technique to meld one’s own mana into the body of another person. Using that mana to stimulate and increase the body’s regeneration speed in a specific area. This technique could connect blood vessels and restore damaged body parts on the spot so it’s an invaluable asset. The number of people who can use this technique is very few however, due to the incredibly precise and delicate controls required. Beck is one of those rare people who can perform this procedure. The spear punctured Cara’s lungs and that technique is the only thing that can save her now, medicine would never make it in time.
Beck needs to concentrate while using it so I’ll leave Cara to him. I will take on the role of protecting both of them while they’re busy with the treatment.
What a perilous situation.
Even if me and Beck failed to notice an enemy despite our battle hardened senses, usually Cara would fill in the hole in defense since her detection ability is much more advanced than ours. She can detect hostility from 70 meters away. Theoretically one can be attacked outside of that distance since it’s not rare for a warrior to be able to throw a spear over the distance of 100 meters, but it’s impossible for them to hit the target accurately from such a distance. Even for archers, the upper limit for an average bowman to accurately pinpoint a human sized target is at most 50 meters away, if he’s using a standard 100lbs-pull bow. Could it be a monster? But for a monster to use human tools…
Either way, we’re at a great disadvantage. The enemy is completely outside of our range of perception, and we’re sitting ducks to him. To be able to throw a spear with such force and accuracy, we’re already check mated from the first move.
Closing my eyes, I push my senses to the limit. I only get one chance, if I fail to defend the next shot, at the very least one of us will definitely die.
Immersing myself in the world of darkness where there’s no visible light, only the sound of grass rustling softly, the ragged breath of Cara behind my back, and my own heartbeat…
Suddenly from my right, something tears apart the air and breaks the tranquil darkness while approaching with a terrifying speed.
“THERE!!”
The moment I noticed the sound of death flying toward Beck and Cara, I swung my sword to meet it while putting my body in front blocking the spear’s path. The speed is outside of my wildest imagination, if I ever fail to cut it down then at least my body can become a shield for them. All maneuvers were completed in a fraction of a second, since such movements had already become a part of my nature.
-Clank-
With a dry sound the spear was successfully repelled and fell on the ground with a -thud-.
Without even taking time to blink I immediately rush to the direction where the spear was coming from.
There’s a reason I left behind those I was supposed to guard.
First of all there’s a low chance that there’re more than one attacker. Since if that’s the case they would have grouped up on us in the first surprise attack to ensure victory. Secondly the longer I wait the more disadvantageous it becomes for us since I don’t know if I can repel the next shot or not. Even if I do, the enemy can just shoot again. We will not be able to win in a war of attrition. So the best course of action was to pursue and strike him down before he changes location again.
Cutting through the forest I make a beeline to the place where that bastard is.
[MC POV]
Geh!
That armored nii-san is heading toward me with remarkable speed.
In the first place how do you even strike down a flying spear!? Isn’t that foul play!?
This game is way too unbalanced!
I had thought that if I strike down the woman first, they’d lose their ability to think rationally. A woman’s death just has that much impact, especially when she’s a beauty on that level in a party of guys. I may be generalizing things a bit but that’s a basic of the basics when trying to do mental warfare.
It seemed that it didn’t work on these guys though.
Geez… they’re really an unnecessarily excellent bunch.
The distance is about 200 meters. I deemed it a safe strategy since even from 100 meters away a human figure is reduced to nothing but a small black dot, there was no way I would be detected. On the other hand I could accurately pin point my target using an insect’s sense of smell. Human’s world javelin throwing record barely reached 100 meters back on earth, but with my monster like abilities I could even skewer an enemy from 200 meters away. It was a dirty advantage.
Still, even with my specs, there’s no way I could win against those guys if this turns into a melee. It’s only my estimation but as far as physical strength go they’re on the same level at me. That’s largely stronger than your average human. Thinking about how I easily crushed bones and tore apart the villagers even without any special training, it’s easy to imagine how non-standard those three are. One can’t make full efficient use of their body strength unless they receive proper training, no matter how strong their muscles are. Even with the same physical strength, depends on the technique utilized one can produce twice as much power compare to the other.
Thinking about it this way, they’re way more of a monster than I am.
It’s hopeless, anyone can see that they’re warriors of many battles seeing how their techniques were flawlessly executed.
He’s closing the distance with an explosive speed. How do you move that fast while wearing heavy armor? His expression also seems to be very un-amused. What should I do? If I grovel and beg will he forgive me?
[Aldwin POV]
Using a special breathing technique together with my clumsy mana manipulation techniques, I gave my muscles temporary explosive power. It’s a situational method that should be avoided usually because after the surge of power ran out my muscles will become tired and possibly even damaged. But I have no choice here, I have to reach the attacker as soon as possible. Letting him go into hiding will be detrimental to the outcome of this fight.
Hurling my body forward like a flying arrow, I covered the distance of almost 200 meters in mere 10 seconds. There’s silhouette of a human about 165 cm tall ahead, so it's a human opponent after all?
However, the next instant when the distance shortens I realized that it was a mistake. Rather than a human it was a hair-raising monster with a female body and a spider head. The fact that it’s wearing human clothes makes it’s even more eerie.
What in the world is this thing?
I have never heard, much less seen any monster that resemble it.
That monster is holding a wood chopping knife in front while standing with its back straight, right foot in front. Don’t tell me it can use sword techniques? What is that strange stance though, the feet are too close to each other, it’s not of any school I know of.
Without any warning, the monster made a preemptive strike. It took a large step forward and unleashed a downward slash at me.
Hmp, it’s a monster after all, doesn’t it understand the difference in our weapon’s reach?
Using the momentum from my charge I raise my sword overhead and use my own downward swing to counter. The monster’s blade tip clashes with the middle part of my long sword and is unable to reach me, while the tip of my sword makes its way to the monster’s head.
If this goes on, the monster’s blade will continue to be blocked while my own blade will slice it’s face open, due to the superior length of my weapon.
To my surprise, however, the moment our blades touched, that monster stepped back in a swift motion and its blade guided my sword, which was still riding on the momentum of the swing downward toward the ground.
I put a great amount of power into my swing in order to counter its attack and slash its head in one stroke so I could not change my sword’s trajectory momentarily…
[MC POV]
Okuri-ashi.
The basic and also the most important foot work in kendo. The idea is to stand straight with your right foot in front of your left. When move forward the front right foot will move first, and when move back ward the left foot in the back will move first, this allows instantaneous stepping to the front or the back using the least necessary movements needed. At the same time the back is kept straight so the stance is sturdy, making it hard to break the balance of gravity of the user.
Most stances in fencing are similar like this, however the user’s two feet are further away from each other usually, especially for western fencing.
The stance I’m using has my left foot almost touching the right foot’s heel if seen from the side. When my two legs are close together like this, I’m able to take a larger distance just on the first step forward then back. Normal Okuri-ashi doesn’t take such a large distance when stepping, but I wanted that steep change in distance to confuse my opponent easier.
I was shown this back at the kendo club introduction when I entered high school. I didn’t know that it would come handy at a time like this. Maybe it was worth it to practice last week when I was feeling bored.
http%3a%2f%2fpre03.deviantart.net%2f72c3%2fth%2fpre%2f...a0x51p.jpg [http://pre03.deviantart.net/72c3/th/pre/i/2016/121/e/1/insectumchronica16_by_amano_m-da0x51p.jpg]
When I saw his weapon I knew I was at a disadvantage when it comes to reach, which is why I must attack first in order to seize the initiative and control the fight. The slash was to fool him into thinking he can counter it easily by parrying and reach me with his sword while he’s still out of my range. Then the moment blades clashed, I instantly stepped back out of his sword’s reach.
But dodging his attack wasn’t all there is to this maneuver. Both of us were swinging downward, because of the gravity and the power one puts into a swing there was a lot of momentum so he could not change the direction easily. My knife was short and much lighter so I was faster. As I jump backward with the second step of Okuri-ashi, I moved my knife slightly to change its position and lock it on top of the sword. Immediately I put all the force I can into my knife, pushing down to make sure that his sword continues its way toward the ground, making it hard for him to change the sword’s path. As a result his movements was momentarily sealed.
All for this!
[Aldwin POV]
It was only an instant.
However, in battle if you blink then when you open your eyes, your head might’ve already been separated from your neck.
Due to the unexpected trick, I was unable to do a follow up strike. And in that small margin of errors, the monster kicked the ground.
No… it kicked “something” that was on the ground.
Something hidden in the bushes.
Shit!
“Kuh!”
Breaking my posture, I leaned my body to the left, evading the incoming knife that was kicked flying by the monster. The kick was so powerful, the knife traveled in such a speed that made it a blurred image. At this close of a distance, dodging completely was next to impossible. It wouldn’t be strange even if a veteran was to have that knife lodged into his skull by now.
However, even if I’m like this I’m a swordman that went through countless lives and deaths experiences.
Being in-adept at mana manipulation, I made my way through the battle field with just my martial skills.
Don’t look down on human!!
That moment, as if all the nerves in my body had their tension pushed past the limit, I abandoned my stance and committed all my being into shifting my head to the side…
The knife flew past my cheek and left a deep cut, however it was only on the level of a bad scratch.
Had I been even a fraction of a second slower, it would have found its way up inside my brain.
Though I’ve managed to dodge the projectile, my posture was broken in exchange, and the monster did not miss that. This time however, maybe because it was flustered that I managed to evade the trap, it rushed toward me without using proper stepping technique, trying to catch me before I recovered.
I had no time to fix my posture and guarding here will just give the enemy a chance to throw me off balance even more, consider its strength that can skewer a person by throwing a spear from 200 meters away.
The monster closed the distance and take a swing at my neck from the right side.
I intentionally fell down on my knee on the ground to dodge the incoming horizontal slash, then kicked the ground on a crouching position.
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Even A ranked masters will most likely fall once I perform this technique successfully.
Take this!
“GUUuoooOOOOOOOO!!” –Monster
With a shout, The monster’s legs were blown off by the powerful swing.
Dive Lunge
This is one of the advanced techniques that was beaten into my body until it became a natural reaction by my old master. The first step is to crouch down in a position that’s almost like you’re falling forward, this shift the gravity center from the abdomen to further downward and to the front. At the same time kicking the ground to propel your body forward, making use of both the jumping force and gravity pull to accelerate your body and leap forward a short distance.
Basically it’s a technique that combines the falling speed and the jumping speed into one.
Though the technique only covers a short distance, the speed is unimaginable. It does have a weakness of leaving your body vulnerable, especially if you fail to hit the target and end up falling down the ground, but offensive wise it’s one of the most fearsome techniques. The unparalleled speed one gets from this will becomes the factor that decides the fight in an instant. Especially when this technique aim at a target’s lower body, the legs in particular, due to the user being in a crouching position and will even dive lower as a result of the fall. A person’s legs are outside of their eyes’ perception so attacks that target the lower body are usually the trickiest to deal with.
One bad thing about short weapon is that they leave the lower body even more unprotected, making it even harder to parry strikes that comes at the area below one’s waist. Once a fighter’s legs are damaged it’ll be fatal to his fighting strength or even completely seals the match.
It moved back in a panic but maybe because it was not using proper stance and step it didn’t manage to avoid my sword. No… if you take away the surprise element from the strange technique just now, the monster’s movements are very amateurish.
Without dropping my guard, I hold my sword over my shoulder in a stance, ready to cut down any time, and carefully get closer to the monster. It already fell flat on its back, from the severed legs some kind of gooey yellow and green liquids oozing out. It seems to be shrieking in a painful voice while watching me vigilantly.
But there’s no hope left for it. The legs have already been chopped off, it can’t even fight like this.
Though I have to praise this thing’s obstinacy since it doesn’t seem to lose spirit even in this kind of situation.
This thing is too dangerous to be left alive even a second longer.
I raised my sword and slash down aiming at its head.
“Ugii!” –Monster
“What!?”
-Crack- -Smash-
My sword made contact and chopped off a part of it’s body…
…however it was not the head.
It raised its left arm to guard? Seriously, how stubborn are you?
Just die quickly already!
I was about to slash again when the monster shot something at me from its mouth.
Crap! Is it poison!?
I raised my sword and use the flat side to guard my face from the incoming liquid. It lands on the blade but nothing happened. So it’s not acid or dissolving liquid? Was it poison after all? Wait… if it had poison then it would’ve used that in the first place when it had the advantage earlier…
This bastard, was I tricked!?
As if confirming my speculation, the monster kicked the ground and took a distance away from me.
That’s impossible, it already regenerated the legs? It’s not like such a story is unheard of when it comes to monsters… but still.
To think it jumped back from that kind of position where it was laying its back on the ground, this monster is full of surprises. The legs seem a bit different from before however… it’s fairly thin compared to the old legs… so was the regeneration not complete?
Ah! It’s getting away!
Damn it! I won’t let you!
If that thing gets away then it can just come back and use spear throwing to silently kill us at night. No matter what I won’t let it escape.
[MC POV]
“GUH!!?” –Armored man
The armored nii-san who was aggressively chasing after me suddenly stopped and let out a painful cry.
Kukuku, you fell for it.
Seriously, I thought I was dead for a moment there.
This nii-san is way too absurd. Normally there’s no way you would be able to dodge a knife flying at such speed from just 1 meter distance away you know! It basically takes one tenth of a second for it to reach the target that close! That’s already the very upper limit of a human’s reaction speed! Did he evade my dirty trap with just pure experience and skills? I never expected him to intentionally fall down and target my legs too… the difference in fighting experience is too large.
The only reason I fought because I thought there was a good chance of success. If I knew it’d come to this I would have led him to the second trap earlier.
Yes, there is a second trap.
I didn’t just slack off while they were searching the village. I came back before them and got a couple of things I was playing with before. Those were the panther monster’s teeth I pulled out from those guys that became my prey. While I hunted in this forest in the past week, I realized something interesting with these panthers. Though sometimes they separate and hunt alone they do belong in packs. The pack leader is male while all other members are female.
What’s with that? Harem? Even though you’re just beginner monsters on the level of slimes and goblins, you have a harem?
I totally did not feel envious or anything.
Anyway, the male panther seems to carry poison in his fangs. What a surprise. For some reason it didn’t affect me much though, maybe I’m resistant to poison? If I wasn’t it’d have been quite bad back then when I was facing their pack.
I pulled those fangs off thinking I might make them into arrow or spearheads, but didn’t have the time or technique to. This was my fail safe plan number two. I planted those fangs in this area. In case something goes wrong, I can trap those guys here.
Ahh… seriously, it was seriously bad.
My life flashed when he brought down that sword and almost chopped my head off.
It’s good that in my desperation I used all the energy I saved up in my body to restore the lost legs. To be honest I didn’t even know my body had that kind of function, it all just kind of happened. These new legs are kind of thin though, and they feel a bit funny…
But most importantly, I have to finish him off. I guess on we’re on the same frequency for the fact that both of us want to kill the other as fast as possible.
He’s paralyzed from the poison now, I can’t ask for a better chance.
I jump at the armored nii-san who’s making a pained face and slash his neck.
-Clang-
Nope. That’s not the sound of my knife cutting his neck.
It’s the sound of metal hitting metal.
What the heck!? You can still move after being paralyzed by poison? Please just die obediently already!
However, the next instant, the scenery around me changes…
[Aldwin POV]
What a blunder.
Not in my wildest dreams do I expect a monster to plant a trap like this.
But maybe I should have considered the possibility looking at how intelligence it seems to be. This can be said as nothing other than a failure due to my inexperience…
But not all is lost yet. I have a final card to play.
And that is my [Arte]
[Teleporter]
The effect of this ability is self-explanatory. It’s a fantastic ability I was lucky to be born with, if there’s a problem about this… it’s not the ability, but rather myself is the problem. I’m terribly untalented at manipulating mana, even the mana capacity in my body is lacking. My teacher often said it’s such a waste, if I could use mana better then with this ability I could easily rise up to top ranks in the military or at least become an A rank adventurer.
Because I can’t have what I can’t have, I didn’t really lament much about it.
Due to my own in-adept, I can only use this ability once every day. However even that one time can be a difference between life and death, so I keep this as my trump card and only use it when I have no other choice.
Locking my sword with the monster’s knife, I activate my ability. I can’t let it go, but at the same time no longer can I take it down by myself, having subjected to poison.
I teleported both myself and the monster back to the village, at Beck and Cara location. Beck should’ve finished his treatment already. Mana assimilation takes a huge amount of mana so he won’t be able to use spells too freely but he can still use the sword. And since it’s Beck he could probably whip up one or two more wind blades. Together we can bring down this abomination once and for all.
Instantly we found ourselves back in the old place. The monster was frozen in surprise, not understanding what’s happening.
“Beck! Cara! Do it now!”
[MC POV]
The space wraps and then in an instant, I found myself back in the village. Right at the spot those three were staying in.
What just happened?
Did we teleported back in the village? Is it some kind of spell? If he could use such a powerful spell then why didn’t he use it before?
Wait, now is not the time.
That ikemen is pointing his hand toward me, while the pretty nee-san has recovered from her wound and is readying her bow as if they were waiting for this moment. Damn it! This party is way too organized, did they already expect something like this might happen and have their weapons ready?
Crap. Crap. Crap.
I can’t dodge this pincer attack.
It’s almost impossible to dodge the wind magic that was both nearly invisible and was too fast for a human’s reflex to deal with. Moreover, an arrow shining in a blue light is also well on its way to my skull. It was shot in in such a timely manner and precision that even if I manage to avoid a fatal wound from the wind blade, my head will surely be skewered by the arrow. And if I get out of the arrow’s trajectory then the wind blade will cut me into two.
I’m going to die.
…
In the end, after all the struggles I went though. I’m just going to become another lifeless corpse in this forest? I did whatever it took for me to survive. I employed whatever dirty tricks needed to win. In the end, does it really just amounts to nothing?
Fine then.
If I’m going to die then I’ll at least take one of you with me!
[Aldwin POV]
At that moment when we were sure of our victory.
The earth exploded.
No, to be more precise… the earth below that monster exploded.
And its figure disappeared into a blur. It happened too fast, I was unable to even react.
What is happening?
Even before I managed to pose such question in my mind.
“Guha!” –Cara
A dull groan came from Cara.
Please don’t make that kind of sound.
I turned my eye to Cara and found that thing pinning its body against her in a shoulder tackle.
Please don’t make that kind of crude sound. It’s such a waste of your pretty face, you know?
The crash was so powerful, we could hear the bones breaking and organs turning into mush.
Please don’t make that kind of sound. Groaning in such an unladylike way… haven’t you been acting like a tomboy for long enough?
Cara’s body was blown back and crashed against the house behind. She coughed up blood together with small pieces of her innards.
Please don’t make that kind of sound. I’ll do anything so…
I’ll even drink with you as much as you like.
This time, I won’t hide it anymore.
I’ll tell you all about my feelings.
You can even laugh at me if you want.
So please.
Please.
Cara fell down on the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.
She lays there. Unmoving.
Her eyes that has always carried a gaze that was both gentle and mischievous… there’s no longer any light within.
Her lips that were of a rosy shade even without make-up… now are stained in a deeper red. A dark, hateful color.
“CARAAAAA!!!!!”
“NEESAN !” –Beck
This is no time for grief, I know. We’ll withdraw temporarily and regroup later. Facing this opponent with many unknown abilities is far too dangerous.
Yea, that’s probably the best course of action.
As a leader, who is responsible for the life and death of his party, it’s obvious what choice I should make.
But before I knew it, my body moved on its own. With a speed unlike anything I’ve ever reached before, I rush at the monster holding my sword.
There was no other thing on my head other than Cara’s lifeless eyes.
Something exploded inside me.
Cara’s dead.
She’s dead.
She won’t be able to smile anymore.
She won’t be able to drink anymore, or to get into fights, or to play with children, or…
I’m sorry, Beck.
For someone who shoulders the fate of the party, this behavior is unacceptable.
But in the end I am just a small man after all.
Just a foolish man who loses his head once the woman he loves gets hurt.
I’m sorry that you both had to put up with this kind of leader.
I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect anyone.
I’m sorry.
“Leader! Get a hold of yourself!” –Beck
Beck’s voice returned me back to reality. He was running to the opposite site, sword in hand.
Is he planning to join me in a pincer attack?
Really… you’re not that kind of person are you? I thought you were more rational than this.
Aren’t you going to stop me?
Aren’t you going to talk me back to my senses?
However, looking at Beck’s resolute eyes, I realized there’s no more need for words.
At times like these, I think I am a blessed person.
Neither questions nor logic is necessary.
We’re going to strike at our friend’s enemy. That’s all there is to it.
And the ground exploding again was the last thing we see.