“Boss, there’s nothing in the houses but some poor bastards’ dried up blood” 

“Not even a copper left in the village either”

“Were they raided by bandits?”

Several men reported to Deon, wearing a fed up look on their faces as their search turned out to be a fruitless detour.

“Why would bandits even bother to set their foot anywhere near this backwater village anyway, blockheads”

With a scoff, Deon casually brushed away the unlikely speculation.

“Aren’t we here though?”

“Haah? Who are you calling bandits?”

Raising his voice in irritation, Deon gives a heavy smack to the head of the unfortunate fool. The 190cm tall man with a robust build falls flat on the ground while holding the back of his head, groaning in pain.

“Listen up you blockheads.

We’re hunters.

Hunters that have to do a couple of dirty jobs due to unfortunate circumstances.

Desperate times call for desperate means.

Take a couple of heads, grab a couple of items.

We’re definitely not bandits”

(Isn’t that what a bandit is?)

Such words were already riding on the tip of everyone’s tongues, but never left their mouth.

“Don’t you think it’s strange? There are two completely demolished houses, as if they were hit by a storm, yet the rest of the village suffered almost no damage”

“Now that you said it, boss…”

“Those ruined houses look like they were ran into by a giant”

“Then, monsters?”

At Deon’s observation, the surrounding men started to ponder about the true nature of the culprit.

Deon curiously rubs his chin and throw another sharp glance at the now abandoned village, while trying to link the pieces of information together.

“Putting the wrecked parts aside, the rest of the village is impeccable, it doesn’t add up.

There are dried blood stains in many houses, yet there is no sign of breaking in.

Either the villagers invited some monsters in, or the monsters themselves are intelligent and sneaked in carefully”

“Monsters can be smart?”

“More than you they can.

You lot still have much to learn, greenhorns”

Deon signed a certain man to come close with his chin.  

“Igor, can you find it?”

A rather skinny man in his forties responded with a silent nod and crouched down. He wears the same fashion of clothing as everyone else in the group, tightly fitted leather armor on top of a worn out tunic and a couple of strapped-on iron plates that protects his vitals. However, there are certain features on his face that suggests he’s from a different origin.

The man named Igor takes out a flask made of bamboo and opens the small lid on one end. From within the tube a small lizard crawls out and starts to slither on the ground, its long tongue licks the earth repeatedly as if searching for something.

“The scent of blood continues down south of the forest.

There’s also a faint smell of insects coming from that part”

“This is a forest, aren’t there insects everywhere?”

“The strange thing is that there is almost no smell other than insect’s in that direction. It’s like the forest’s animals and monsters are avoiding that place”

Deon nods in acknowledgement and raises his voice.

“You heard that, ladies.

Seem like our friend is further south of the forest.

Get yourselves into formation”

Heeding Deon’s orders, the men gather in groups of three and draw their weapons. Their movements are swift and organized, contrary to the rowdy looking exterior of common ruffians.

“Man, I still don’t understand Igor’s magic.

Is he a summoner? Isn’t it better to use a dog than a lizard if you want to sniff out someone?”

While preparing to leave the village, they start to chat idly among themselves.

It seems that while their actions are orderly, the same thing can’t be said for their mouths.

“Igor is an earth mage.

If I remember right you’re from beyond the east sea aren’t you?”

“Yea, been trying to make a living on this continent since ten years ago”

Igor answers while checking his equipments, the lizard is now grabbing on his ankle motionlessly like a piece of ornament. Its snake-like tongue would flicks around once in a while, making a faint hissing sound.

“Earth mage? I heard about that, but what about the lizard?”

“It’s a technique from my old clan.

Even though I said [smell], it was actually something different.

The lizard is a medium for me to connect with the earth spirits that dwell underground.

My information comes from what the land itself tells me.

I cannot fight with my magic, unfortunately.

Every mage is different”

“… I kind of get it, I kind of don’t”

“…Why don’t you just be honest and says you totally don’t get it?”

Igor sighed a little as his explanations fell on deaf ears. Though it’s not like he didn’t expect it.

“Enough yapping around ya bastards!!

We’re not here on a honeymoon, hurry your feet if you want to eat something other than dirty wild grass soup with salt tonight”

At Deon’s shout, the group starts to move out of the village toward the place where the Sage’s legacy is supposed to be. Their hearts beat in anticipation for the battle to come.

The legendary Sage’s guard dog.

Even though it’s a silly tale unsuitable for men who make their living by treading through mud and blood, what warrior doesn’t dream of facing such a novel adversary at least once in their life?

However, such notion was only a brief, fleeting idea in their minds. No one truly wants to lose their life chasing dreams. Moreover, they don’t dream of slaying dragons, they don’t dream of defeating giants. They only dream of living to see tomorrow, dream of their next meal being a little more extravagant than the last.

And so, they march, for the sake of putting an extra slice of meat in their bowl.

And for the sake of their mission.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[MC POV]

It has been only one month after my battle with the Beetle.

I thought that I could finally enjoy a break that I so deserve, but once again trouble had come knocking on my door.

These men that are heading toward the Sage’s hideout are fully armed and moving cautiously in a linear formation. Judging from the way they spread themselves out in that kind of formation… it’s as if they are trying to broaden their range of perception, looking for something.

This can’t be simple coincidence. They’re here for a purpose.

What is it with the people of this world? Can’t you just chill?

…

Not that I’m in a position to complain.

I did slaughter a whole village at the slightest hint of threat.

Their number is four times greater than the last group of warriors that I fought, but each individual’s strength isn’t too outstanding.  They average about 200 points in physical strength and 40-50 points in magic. There’s one person with 180 points in magic though, I should be especially cautious of him. The ikemen mage that I fought before was incredibly dangerous with his wind magic, it’s not something that one can deal with just by using brute force.

There’s one man who’s a cut above the rest as well. His magical power isn’t anything special, just the untrained, average 50 points. However his physical strength is at least 550 points. According the notes that the Sage left behind, 500 points is already on the level of A rank adventurers, mankind’s finest warriors.

It’s good that I’m able to analyze the enemy’s strength beforehand.

The eyesight of the Dragonfly Fairy is truly a dirty advantage.

That aside, even if it were not for the eyes, that man is already exerting a menacing pressure just by being there. He’s like a moving mountain, or perhaps a raging bull that wears human skin. Looking at all those muscles on his body that seems to be able to crush rocks just by flexing, perhaps no one would be able to shake off the notion that they would be squashed like a fly if they challenge such a monster.

Should I just run away?

There’s still much to learn from what the Sage left behind. It’s also a comfortable place to live. If I abandon it I will have to make do with the dirty ground or rocky caves as my bed. It’s has already become my home, my oasis, my sole comfort in this primitive land.

I won’t give it up to anyone.

Moreover, there’s nothing to fear.

The only one who poses a threat is that gigantic old man, but even then my strength is significantly higher. As long as they’re human, I don’t think there’s anyone that can defeat me?

That’s right, I’m strong.

Being strong feels good.

I was never in this kind of position before, but it feels nice to hold power in my hands. It feels nice to be assured of my superiority. It feels nice when there’s no need for me to fear anyone. It feels nice when there’s no persecution even when I commit all kinds of atrocity.

A….ahhh?

What’s this? Isn’t being a monster the best?

Alright! Let’s make them all into my dinner.

But first, I’ll have to remove the guy who has a high amount of magic power. I only brought a spear with me and nothing else, but I have already done this before.

Putting strength into my arm, I aim at my target who is now at 200 meters away. The moment I let go of my spear, the space in front of me explodes and the weapon tears through the air with such force it creates a small tornado around itself.

The murderous spear strikes through a man’s chest without much resistance and his body is blown backward several meters. Unlike the time when I pierced the elf woman with a similar spear, this time it was not a simple stab wound, as the organs inside his body also received great damage from the impact.

It was instant death.

The only problem is that.

He was not the mage I was aiming at.

I missed.

That’s strange.

I’m untrained, but I was able to easily pinpoint my target from 200 meters away accurately before, relying solely on my sense of smell and this body’s natural reflexes. Just now I missed by fairly a large margin. Could it be that I put too much power into it? Or maybe I’m not used to my new strength yet.

Come to think about it, I’ve never fought seriously after my battle with Beetle-kun.

I picked up a rock on the ground and aimed it at the mage once more, this time with less power. I felt like I had a little more control, but still the piece of rock did not go where I wanted it to. It flew straight at the old man.

____________________________________________________________________________________

[Short-horn Deon POV]

-Smash-

Sensing something soaring at me with ferocious speed, I tighten my fist and smash the incoming rock into bits. The rock the size of a grown man’s fist bursts into small pieces of debris and raises up a thin layer of dust. What an impressive throw, judging from the sound it must’ve come from over 100 meters away, yet the power packed behind the rock was deadly.

However, if that is all you have, then you’ll never be able to touch me.

“Boss! Carl is… Carl is!!”

“Damn it…. Damn ittttttttt!!!!”

These men, despite having experienced countless live and death situation, are now thrown into dismay. Perhaps if that poor bastard Carl died in mortal combat like a man then they wouldn’t have been so shaken up. Instead he got a hole opened in his chest and died just like that, without even being able to scream. It was a joke. An insult.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Their faces are as pale as ghost, eyes squirming around looking for the enemy. Even without the nose of a dog, I can already imagine how their hands are sweating profusely while trying to keep a tight grip on their weapons.

Hmp, even though they’re just greenhorns, good job still for not breaking formation even when experiencing such terrors.

Carl, you’ve done well.

Yer death won’t be in vain.

“Don’t freak out like little girls, moronssssssss!!!!!!!”

Gathering air inside my stomach, I burst out a shout that vibrates through the forest, shaking the surroundings.

The scared fools are given a shock even bigger than the time when they received that sneak attack.

“Luke, replace Carl’s spot in his group.

Everyone, take the circle formation”

Receiving my orders, they shake off their fears and swiftly change formation just as trained. We're now facing our backs to each other in a circle. 

I’ll make tonight’s dinner a lil’ more luxurious for you lot, so hang in there.

Those projectiles were indeed lethal, but now that I know they’re coming, they won’t work anymore. Unless he can throw twice that speed, but just now the rock’s speed and power was weaker than the spear. Maybe it was his limit.

Throwing from that kind of distance will weaken the force, if he really want to finish this then he’ll have to come close.

And so just as I’ve predicted, something leaped toward us with incredible speed, and landed in front of me arrogantly.

What is this thing?

In my long years of hunting monsters, I’ve seen all sorts, even more so than your average A rankers. There have been several humanoid monsters, some that could even speak a small amount of words. But this thing… behind its eyes lays a strange intelligence unlike any monsters I’ve seen. Moreover, it’s wearing human clothes.

The tunic and leather armor on top of its shining emerald insect skin paint a picture that seems so out of place. It’s incredibly disturbing. Something tugs at my stomach, warning me that this thing is not supposed to exist. And the fact that it is, right in front of me, can only be a mistake of nature.

I hear the sound of my men gulping loudly behind. But they aren’t speaking a word, nor raising up a fuss. They must be confused out of their pants right now, but at the same time that terror is keeping them focused. They grudgingly wait for my orders. For they know that it’s the only thing that will let them walk out of this alive.

___________________________________________________________________________________

[MC POV]

That old man is too strong, throwing rocks from a safe place won’t get me anywhere. If it’s like this I’ll just have to personally get close and deal with them. I only have to be cautious of the old man, but considering I’m 1.5 times stronger than he is there shouldn’t be much of a problem. The other people aren’t even worth mentioning. I’m still worried about the caster though, he has high magic power so he’s a mage… right? Either way when I come close enough I’ll kill him first.

The moment they caught sight of me running toward them, the old man shouted something, and they started to spread out.

When I landed near them, their movements suddenly changed. At first the formation looked haphazard but in an instant it became a closed circle and had me surrounded.

Not a bad idea, but that isn’t going to work, the difference in strength is too great. Even if they all come at the same time there’s no way they would be able to hold me down.

Just when I was about to rush for the mage before he tries something with his magic, one of them break formation and leap at me, shouting something.

Is he out of his mind?

I smashed his head into pieces with a light swing of my arm.

It was too easy.

I won’t complain if you just want to hand your life over to me.

But then.

Something happened.

The man who leaped at me was holding something in his hand.

Now that I think about it, why didn’t I realize something strange was going on?

Even though one of them broke formation no one displayed any changes in their expression. They all watched in silent, they didn’t even flinch when he died. It’s as if they knew it was going to happen.

No, they were waiting for it.

In his hand is a wooden ball, shining in a pale blue light.

Could it be a bomb?

There was no gun powder smell, so I didn’t notice it, maybe it works differently from Earth’s bomb.

The small ball exploded, and a white mass splashed on my body, then rapidly hardened.

This…

Darwin’s Bark Spider’s Threads!!?

It was too late, the man’s headless body was already right next to me when I killed him. Even with the dynamic vision of the Compound Eyes, I could not react in time.

While my movement was being temporarily sealed, the men who were waiting for this moment threw chain sickles on me. I became wrapped in iron chains and tied up.

Guh… Even though each one is only 200…. The strength of 8 people combined is more than enough to make me unable to move freely, especially when combined with Darwin’s Bark Spider Thread. Even when compared to the current me Beetle-kun was still stronger, and this special thread was able to hold him for a short while.

However, that’s the extend of it.

Don’t think you’ve won yet.

Even if you can make me stop temporarily, I have more than enough strength to break this net.

Not to mention this net is not exactly as powerful as the net I can make.

Hearing the sound of the net and chains breaking, it seems that their confident faces are slowly turning into fear.

Or so they should have, but they didn’t.

Suddenly the scenery in my vision changes and I find myself lying flat on ground, the old man is on top of my back, holding my arm in a joint lock.

It was a spectacular display of a pinning technique that resembles a Judo’s hold, performed so swiftly I didn’t even realized it until my face touched the ground.

Guhh… this kind of thing.

With only 550 strength you won’t be able to stop me.

I grit my teeth trying to break off his hold, but I’m unable to muster any strength, he has me perfectly in a lock. Even with my superior physical ability I could not break free, unless I break off my own arm.

Is this the true power of an expert?

“--------- ------------------------- ---------------!“

The old man shouted something, and the mage took out a small vial. Inside there’s some strange green powder. I could not sense any smell on it. It’s not simply because it is closed tight, usually I would be able to smell it no matter how firmly sealed is the lid… perhaps there’s some kind of magic seal on that vial.

Then the mage breaks the lid and sprays the contents on my face.

‘GURIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~~~~~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It burns.

It burns.

IT BURNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

What Is tHIS? WhAtt Isssss THissssSSSSS?????????

A repulsive smell that is a mix of cedar, chalk, cinnamon, rosemary, basil… just like the insect repelling herbal mix my mom used to make. There’re also various scents from strange herbs mixed in that I don’t at all recognize.

It hurts, it hurts.

My eye sockets are burning.

Inside my brain it’s like someone is repeatedly stabbing me with needles.

A sense of crisis fills my chest.

Once again, I’m reminded of the various times before when I was almost killed.

Am I going to die?

They will kill me?

Why? Why? Why?

Weren’t they supposed to be weaker?

Ahh…. but then I realized.

I was also weaker than my defeated enemies.

Yet I won, and earned my right to live in their places.

How could I forget?

About how dangerous human can be.

About how strength can be unlimited if people work together.

I was arrogant.

I was drunk with power.

And now I’m going to pay the price, just like the ones I killed.

I don’t want to accept it.

In an act of desperation, I stab a finger nail on the arm of the old man who’s locking me down in a hold and send in my eggs.

He’s the strongest of the bunch.

My head is being assaulted with intense pain right now, but as long as I kill him. Then there’s a chance.

My babies will devour him from the inside.

However, the old man was different from the Beetle I fought.

The moment my babies started to hatch inside his arm, he quickly took a distance from me.

.

.

.

And chopped off his own arm in one slash.

.

.

. 

Impossible.

Normally people wouldn’t just cut off their arm so easily wouldn’t they?

Do you want to die?!

Fine! Then bleed! Bleed and die!

However, there was neither fear nor confusion in the old man’s eyes, only an unyielding resolution. He screams out an earth shattering shout and his body is warped in a presence that is even more overwhelming than before. His muscles bulges then contracts, and blood stopped flowing out of his severed arm.

Did he just use his muscles to block his blood veins?

What an outrageous man.

No.

What a monster.

The larvae were my last hope. My head hurts so much I feel like my skull is splitting right now.

Mucus starts to overflow from my eye sockets, making my vision blurry.

My whole body is shaking.

From the poison that is spreading through my body and tormenting my nerves.

From the fear that is gripping at my heart.

________________________________________________________________________________________

[Short-horn Deon POV]

“Boss, what do we do next?”

The men around me all seem eager to kill the monster that took away the lives of two of our members, but they did not even mutter a single complaint. They are faithfully waiting for my decision.

Greenhorns, but well trained greenhorns.

In our line of work, we never know if we would live to see tomorrow. Inexperienced as they are, every single one of them is prepared to lose his life any day.

“This rare monster might be worth a fortune.

However the poison cannot hold this thing down forever”

Igor walked forward and briefly informed me.

He’s trying to be rational, but there’s a slight hint of anger in his voice.

It’s natural to be enraged, but we have been risking our lives for money from the start. This wasn’t the first time we lose someone, and certainly it won’t be the last. Even if we grieve for our companions, we cannot lose sight of our objective. This is just our way of life. And Igor understands it very well.

I don’t want those poor bastards’ deaths to be in vain.

But if this recovers, we will all be massacred.

Then there is only answer left.

“Kill it”