The armor jumped up a few meters in the air and used its strength, along with the momentum of the fall to swing an ax directly at Ruit. On his side, he charged his paw with more mana to launch a powerful blow in response. The impact of their attacks generated a small shockwave. The force of this sent both of them backwards. The armor seemed intact, but Ruit lost a piece of claw in that clash, letting out a furious roar towards the armor, which turned into a flamethrower, which the armor barely dodged.

I didn't want to just stand there doing nothing, so I started preparing a Fireball at maximum power, taking advantage of the fact that the armor prepared several magic circles, spears of metal coming out of them. Ruit was able to deflect most of them, but two hit their mark, one embedded itself in his shoulder, while the other pierced his chest. Before he could launch another round of attacks, I launched my Fireball, which the armor didn't seem to notice approaching, allowing it to hit him full on.

To my surprise, my attack not only generated a large explosion, but also seemed to injure the armor enough to distract it and dispel its magic circles. It barely had time to turn and look at me when I was struck by one of its spears in the chest. Not letting it rest, Ruit clawed where he had thrown the spear, lifting it a little off the ground and significantly denting the armor.

As soon as it touched the ground it was met by a flamethrower at point blank range, so powerful that it sent him several meters away. Ruit wasted no time and stood in front of the armor, not even letting him get up completely, knocking him back to the ground, followed by multiple slashes at his chest at a significant speed.

Stopping only for a moment when his armor broke, sticking his paw inside the armor to pull out a red sphere, which he quickly crushed.

[You have leveled up from lv18 to lv23]

[Fireball goes up from lv1 to lv2]

—What was that thing? —Usaki said incredulously, not knowing how to react.

—It must have been some kind of golem —I supposed, seeing Riut breaking what I assumed was the golem's core. Usaki and Shina looked at me somewhat confused.

—It surprises me that you know what a golem is —Ruit said, somewhat surprised—. Could you tell me how you know about golems? —he asked curiously.

I didn't know exactly how to respond to the question. I couldn't say "I know it's a golem because I used to be human." So I thought of some other answer.

—It's uhh... something I learned on my own —I said in the most convincing way I could, but from their auras I knew I hadn't convinced them.

—I see," Ruit said with a smile —You don't want to tell us and that's fine with me—, he said without much interest before resuming his advance.

Shina and Usaki shot me a somewhat strange look before starting to follow Ruit. I stayed in place a little longer, thinking about how close that was. Unable to keep thinking about it for long, I started catching up to them.

—You wouldn't happen to know anything about what just happened, would you? —Ruit asked in a much less friendly tone of voice and with a look that saw into my soul, having to look away immediately.

—If I'm not mistaken, you're Arusai —I slowly nodded at the question—. Well, now could you tell me why a golem just attacked us.

—You see —I said nervously—, I had a problem with someone and they sent the golem to finish me off —I admitted.

—And who the hell did you piss off enough to send such a strong golem just for you? —he said somewhat angrily.

—I didn't make him angry, it's just that he didn't find me useful anymore and sent that thing after me," I said irritably—. I don't think he cares whether I live or die. If he cared he would have already sent another one of those things —I could feel all of Ruit's emotions return to normal. It seemed he no longer intended to keep asking, which seemed great to me. I wouldn't have to tell them anything about Hitzil.

But before I could relax I could feel several presences approaching in our direction. I could feel hostility coming from all of them. I stopped short along with Usaki who had also detected them. To my surprise, their hostility did not seem to be directed at us. It was all directed at Ruit.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

—Arusai, is something wrong? —Shina asked.

—Several monsters are coming towards us —Ruit said quite calmly as he stood in front of us.

—And why do you say it so calmly? I think they're coming for you —I told Ruit somewhat agitated.

—Don't worry —he said, turning to look at me—. I'll take care of this."

After saying this, several monsters appeared: A large tiger with blue fur and black stripes; a green deer with antlers that looked like wood; a beetle with a horn as big as the tiger; the largest wolf of the place with fur that shone like metal and had a horn on its forehead. Several goblins somewhat larger than normal dismounted from it; some with iron armor and different ranged weapons; others dressed as mages and one dressed as a cleric, the latter with very well-made vestments.

—How is it possible that you have fallen into the temptations of the cursed variant Ruit? —the wolf exclaimed quite angry—. Come to your senses so that we may free you from its control."

Usaki, Shina and I tensed up quite a bit seeing this situation. I don't even think we stand a chance against the goblins. But then Ruit started laughing out loud, as if he had just been told the funniest joke in the world.

"First: she is not the cursed variant," he told them, still laughing a little. "Second: do you really think I would let myself be deceived by cheap tricks?"

—We won't believe you unless you prove that you are not under her control and that she is not the cursed variant —the tiger said threateningly.

—Alright, I'll prove it to you —Before we could react he turned to grab Shina and put her up front.

We were all surprised when he made a wound on his arm with one of his claws. The goblin cleric wanted to approach to heal him, but was abruptly stopped by a goblin with a sword.

—Shina would you please heal my wound —he said, lowering himself to Shina's height. She hesitated a little, but began healing him. Since the wound wasn't very deep, it didn't take long until the wound completely healed.

—See, she's not the cursed variant —he said, standing up to his full height.

The others seemed quite surprised. It seemed they didn't know how to react to this. The wolf seemed very thoughtful until he noticed I was watching him. He glanced at his companions before returning his gaze to me.

—What is a Lerion causing so much trouble around here doing? —the wolf said, with all his attention directed at me.

—So he really is a Lerion. I had some doubts, but since you say so, it really is quite rare.

—How do the forest monsters know what species they are and what species the other monsters are just by looking at them, or is my species very common? —I thought, recalling how that wolf immediately knew I was a Lerion.

—Are you not going to speak, Lerion? —The wolf's voice brought me out of my thoughts and when I looked he was right in front of me—. Tell me what you are doing here —he said, lowering himself until he was just a few inches above my head.

—It's just that I was born here —I replied somewhat nervously.

The wolf didn't show it, but he was a little surprised when he heard my answer. He glanced at his companions before returning his gaze to me.

—This works out perfectly for us —the wolf said, rising to his full height—. We will be able to judge you without the need for one of your kind to be present—, he said with some satisfaction —It is time for us to return to the village.

With how rushed the wolf seemed, I wondered how we were going to get to the village quickly. My question was answered, but I wasn't very happy about it. I was holding on to Usaki so I wouldn't go flying and to Shina so she wouldn't get thrown off the wolf's back as he ran at full speed towards the village.

I didn't know how the goblins, except for the cleric, were acting as if nothing was happening. In fact it seemed like they were enjoying the ride. I wondered how far we had gotten separated from the group. At first we were all together, but the wolf said he was going to go ahead and before I knew it we were in this situation. I was getting dizzy from seeing the blurry surroundings. Suddenly we were thrown flying, crashing harshly into the ground. I would have thought the wolf dropped us if he wasn't behind us.

—We have arrived —the wolf said before I could complain about the abrupt stop —Here are the three monsters that will receive punishment—, he said before bowing.

With some fear I looked at who he was staring at, only to see an Elk that was at least twice as large as the Wolf. Several scars could be seen along his body. I couldn't imagine all the scars hidden by his grayish white fur that rippled almost angelically, and his enormous antlers, almost half as tall as his body with a glowing blue cross symbol.

The three of us were stunned by such a majestic sight. We didn't know how to react to such majesty.

—Rise —the Elk said delicately, yet it resonated in my head like an order. We immediately obeyed, quickly standing up and getting into a better position to better observe his beauty.

—Since you have agreed to surrender, there will be no need to kill you at this time. But as you have finished off several of ours, you will be severely punished—, he said in a way that made us tremble with fear.

—Your punishment will be to be sent somewhere at random on the human continent —I don't know if it was the way he said it or because of how dangerous humans were, but I started hyperventilating. Usaki and Shina were a little nervous about our punishment, but I was afraid. I didn't want to be sent to the human continent in any way, yet I just stayed quiet and accepted our fate—. I will be benevolent and send the three of you to a single place —Without another word, his antlers began to glow, a white magic circle appearing below us.

At one point the glow was so intense it left me blind, but then I started feeling tired until I passed out.