Awakening
"Heh heh heh…!"
"Hee hee hee hee…!"
Men, grinning deviously, began to close in on us. On impulse, I quickly hid Miss Al behind me.
"Oh… a foreigner and a demi-human… What a fascinating combination…!"
A bearded man, his face and the exposed parts of his body covered with various scars, spoke. Although his size was only the second or third largest, the aura exuding from him left no doubt that he was the leader.
"What… do you want?"
I asked, mustering strength in my lower abdomen.
"What do you think… Are you stupid or something!?"
The leader eyed her while gesturing obscenely, causing his subordinates to burst into raucous laughter. I had suspected as much, but this confirmed it!
"…Ah, well, this one… I'd advise against it!"
I tried to mimic the dialect of the young men I had encountered in town.
"Oh? Why is that?"
When the leader asked, I responded.
"Well, you see, she's actually got a pretty nasty disease. It's contagious too! We don't know when she might die, and she wanted to go home to die, so we're on our way there now. So, would you mind letting us pass?"
Of course, I was lying. But I didn't have many options at the moment.
"Oh, a disease… That's unfortunate… How about you?"
"Yes, I probably have it too… Can't help it now… Could you possibly let us go in exchange for this small amount of money?"
I pulled out a bag of money given to me by the town's mayor for our lodging. The leader signaled one of his minions who was standing relatively close to me. The man approached, extending his unarmed hand. I placed the money in his hand, and he smirked at Miss Al before quickly returning to the leader.
"…Huh! That really isn't much!"
The leader chuckled as he carelessly opened the bag. Yet he pocketed the small amount of money and spoke.
"You two are in luck. You see, we all happen to be doctors!"
What on earth was he talking about? Seeing my confusion, the leader smirked.
"We have a special injection that's made everyone we've treated better. However…"
The leader paused, then continued,
"However, it's only for women!"
His declaration was met with more peculiar laughter from his gang. They were determined to get Miss Al, no matter what!
"So, since our medicine is only for women, you can leave!"
"Yes, take care~♪"
His gang called out, laughing. Some made gestures as if shooing away a stray dog.
— Isn't this a good opportunity? Hand them the girl and run.
— You know how weak you are, right? You can't protect anything without your life.
— You planned to pay her when you got to your town, right? Now, you won't have to pay her. Isn't this perfect?
The words, the voices, and the images of those bandits overlapped with "them" in my mind. As if it was my deepest desire, their words echoed in my head over and over again.
(...I am not like you! I am not like you! I am not like you! I am not like you! I am...!)
That's right! This was my true desire! My true feelings! I repeated it in my mind, silencing and crushing the voices and images of "them". And then:
"I am not like you!"
With a scream, I pulled out the small dagger I carried for self-defense from my pocket. The thieves were momentarily stunned by my scream, but upon seeing my dagger, they grinned.
"Oh, are you going to fight, handsome...?"
As the leader spoke, the band of thieves crept closer.
"Miss Al, I'll draw their attention, when you see a chance, run and get help!"
"Mister Kazuo..."
"I'll be fine!"
We conversed in hushed tones. Traveling alone necessitated some form of self-defense, so I had acquired some basic skills. Whether these "basic defensive skills" would be of much help, I wasn’t sure. My opponents were a bunch of men who wouldn't hesitate, in fact, it seemed like they enjoyed inflicting harm or even killing others to fulfill their immediate desires. In contrast, I've only ever managed to wound attackers to the point of demotivating them and fleeing at the first opportunity. In other words, I've never killed before. But, I had to at least protect her so she could escape.
"Interesting... go play with him!"
"…!"
In response to the leader's command, the armed thieves crept closer. I braced myself. I had no choice... but to fight! I'll do it!
"Come at me!"
One of the thugs near me charged with a roar. I couldn’t close my eyes! I couldn’t look away!
"Hah!"
I kicked up a cloud of dust from the ground. As expected, the dust directly hit his face.
"Hmph!"
Fortunately, some of it got in his eyes. I aimed for his exposed belly and thrust my dagger!
"Tch!"
He twisted his body just in time to dodge it. My dagger grazed his side, drawing blood. The bandit stepped back, and I quickly picked up several stones and threw them at a few others. Some hit their target, some didn't.
I didn't think I could defeat them. It would be difficult even in a one-on-one. My goal was to draw their attention to me. If Miss Al could escape in the meantime, that was all that mattered. So I deliberately shouted loudly and swung my dagger wildly, throwing stones and driftwood at any signs of movement.
(...)
I looked over to where she was. She was gone. It seems she had managed to escape. If she could even bring help... but that seemed impossible. The closest place from here was Atia. The whole town probably knew about the commotion we had caused. I couldn't expect them to help us. Of course, Miss Al would enter from the friendly part of the town that welcomed foreigners and demi-humans, where there were shops and inns, but even those people won't find it in them to fight the thieves for the sake of a stranger. In other words, this was where my life would end.
But that was fine. I was terrified, but it was fine. As long as she could survive!
"Uwaa!"
With a yell, I slashed at the man in front of me with my dagger. I was aware that something within me had "switched". I wouldn't die for nothing. I'd take as many of them with me as possible. I'd kill for the first and last time in my life, and then I'd die!
"What!?"
The bandit who dodged my attack stumbled, catching his heel on a tree root. This was my chance! My target: his flank! I readied my dagger at my waist and kicked off the ground, closing the distance instantly. I would kill him‼
"⁉"
However, foolishly, just before my blade touched his belly, I took a look at his face. A face filled with fear. It was less defined than the faces of people from this country. Then I saw more. His black hair. And his smaller build, compared to people here. He was a person from Hinomoto, like me! More specifically, he was the merchant who had advised me about a year ago not to go to Atia!
What had happened in this past year? Had his business been so unsuccessful that he turned to banditry? Or was he already a criminal in Hinomoto, having committed numerous crimes, and had to flee here because he had nowhere else to go?
Regardless, the moment I hesitated to plunge my blade into the belly of someone I knew, the other bandits did not miss my lapse in judgment, my courage having been dampened.
"Eat this!"
Wham‼
"Ugh!"
A blunt instrument struck the back of my head. I fell to my knees, my lips wet with my own blood.
"What are you doing, you bastard⁉"
"Hehehe... sorry, bro..."
One of the bandits said, hitting the man from Hinomoto on the head with his fist. The man from Hinomoto laughed nervously at his elder brother, then looked down at me and said,
"Damn brat, it's your fault I'm embarrassed‼"
Thud‼
The man's foot kicked up and struck my chin as I was kneeling. Whether he remembered me or knew what he was doing as he slammed my head into the ground, I had no way of knowing.
"Hehehehe...!"
Surrounded by bandits as I lay on my back looking at the sky, they looked down at me.
"Oh, that hurt... lemme pay you back!"
"Ugh‼"
The man I had first injured in the flank rubbed his side, then stomped hard on my belly. I spat out the sour liquid that instantly filled my mouth along with a groan, curling up my body. The bandits laughed uproariously looking down at me. That's when it happened.
"Hee, hee, everyone, delivery here～!"
"No, let go! Let me go‼"
After a loud, carefree voice, a familiar one reached my ears. There was no way I could mistake this kitten-like voice. For a moment, I forgot about the pain all over my body, raised my upper body, and looked towards the voice.
"Miss… Al...!"
"M-Mister, Kazuo...!"
Miss Al, her face pale, was looking down at me, both arms pinned by a burly man wearing an eyepatch. Her feet weren't touching the ground.
"Hehehe...!"
The man with the eyepatch glanced at me, then stood next to the leader while holding her. Had he been hiding in the forest from the beginning, anticipating her escape? As I was thinking about this, the leader murmured:
"Do it."
"Die, you!"
Thud! Whack! Crack!
The bandits surrounding me started kicking, stomping, and hurling me all over the place while spewing profanities. And they stomped on me again!
"Mister Kazuo! Mister Kazuo‼"
"Please, stop it! Please stop‼"
The large brute's left fist slammed into the top of my head. Propelled by the force, I fell face-first onto the ground. Something spilled from my mouth. I had bitten into the skin of the brute's left flank.
"You damn.... how dare you....!"
The brute stomped his left foot onto my head. The creaking sound of my skull felt horrifyingly real. From beneath his massive foot, I heard the brute's voice.
"Boss, it's okay if I kill this one, right?!"
"Humph, I suppose. Do as you please."
The boss agreed. Perhaps he thought it would be troublesome to cross this giant brute later on. From beyond the large foot pressing down on my head, I heard the cold sound of metal sliding. It was the sound of the brute unsheathing his gigantic savage sword from his waist. At the same time, the pressure on my head disappeared, and his huge feet retreated a couple of steps back into my field of vision. It was clear he had moved to a better position to swing his sword down on me.
I lifted my head. Not because I wanted to see the face of this giant brute, but because I wanted to see what was happening far beyond him.
"Mister Kazuo! Mister Kazuo!"
The one calling out my name, weeping, was Miss Al. You've suffered a lot until now, and it seems you're about to face the greatest and worst suffering yet. Even so, you're still worrying about me. Thank you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry I was weak. I'm sorry I didn't think or prepare enough. I'm sorry it was me who saved you in the desert. I'm sorry we met. I'm sorry I exist...!
*Zuza...!*
The giant brute drew his foot back, no doubt preparing to swing his savage sword down on me. Then,
"Dieeeeeeeeeee!"
"――――――――――――――!"
The brute lifted his sword, and I closed my eyes. From the distance, I could hear a shrill scream.
*Thud! Thump...!*
That was the sound of the brute's sword slamming into my head. The long, wide, and thick blade must have shattered my skull―.
Huh?
Wait, no. My skull wasn't shattered. I was... I was alive?!
"…?"
I cautiously opened my eyes. The figure standing in front of me wasn't the brute. Twisting her upper body towards me while her lower body faced left, standing on one foot with her right knee bent and raised above her head, was Miss Al.
"Miss... Al...?"
I murmured her name in my heart. Why are you here? Weren't you captured? What's with that pose?... And where is that giant brute? I glanced towards the lower left of my vision.
"Ah!"
I gasped involuntarily. There lay the brute, his left side of the skull caved in, his eyeball dangling out, his thick neck snapped and bent at an unnatural angle. His massive figure lay on the ground, his right arm still raised.
"What, what, what, what, what?"
What just happened? Did Miss Al do this? Did she kick the brute? Did she break his thick neck with her right heel? Knocked him down? With that huge body?
Did she kill him with a kick? That brute? Miss Al―?
I wasn't the only one who was confused. If anything, the bandits were probably even more bewildered than I was. The boss yelled out.
"Hey, you, why did you let her... go?!"
The boss was probably trying to scold the one-eyed man who had been restraining her, but his voice transformed into shock. All eyes, including mine, were on the one-eyed man.
"⁉"
There stood the one-eyed man, with both arms lost, and from below his nose to his lower abdomen as if scooped out with a huge spoon, his clothes, skin, muscles, and bones were carved out, exposing his insides like an anatomical diagram while blood dripped from him.
"??????????"
The one-eyed man frantically moved his remaining eye, his body spasming slightly, until finally, he fell back heavily. The impact scattered a few organs along with a spray of blood.
"……⁉"
All us "men" present were rendered speechless. Amidst the silence, the "only woman", Miss Al, was slowly lowering her right foot. Naturally, my gaze followed her movement.
"Miss A...⁉"
Calling out to her, I looked at her face and once again, I lost my words. The pair of rubies that usually illuminated me with their gentle and warm light were gone. In their place were eyes as black as the abyss, their white parts turning into a pitch-black darkness, with golden irises emanating a cold light at their center. The face that had been crying and calling my name until just a moment ago was expressionless, her originally fair skin combined with this expression making her resemble the masks used in my country's traditional performing art, "Noh".
"........"
"...."
Looking at me with her mouth hanging open like an idiot, she glanced at me with her golden eyes, then silently stepped a few steps to my left, stopping and looking down at her feet. There lay the massive barbarian blade that had fallen from the big guy's hand when he fell.
"...."
After staring at it for a while, she stepped on the hilt, causing the barbarian blade to stand upright using the lever principle. Then, she kicked it straight up with her toes, caught it deftly in her right hand with a snap, and:
*Vun‼*
With just her right arm, she swiftly swung the barbarian blade, which was more than two-thirds her height, as wide as her waist and as thick as her arm. A short sound of slicing wind, and a scratch appeared on the ground. Then, without a word, she turned her golden gaze toward the bandits.
"Hee‼"
Several of the bandits let out a startled cry. Paying them no mind, the girl, feeling the ground under her feet, slowly, slowly approached the bandits. When she stopped, she pointed the tip of the barbarian blade towards the bandits with just her right arm—more accurately, towards their boss. The sound of the boss swallowing his saliva reached where I was.
"You... You're not just a mere demi-human...!"
With the boss's words, the bandits readied their weapons, and several of them surrounded her. Being almost directly behind her and at a considerable distance, I naturally couldn't see her expression. But from her back, I could not sense any agitation at all.
"Do it!"
"Uoooooooo!"
At the boss's signal, those surrounding Miss Al attacked her all at once. Swinging down, sweeping away, thrusting...From various directions, they launched attacks that made full use of the characteristics of their individual weapons on her. But then,
(⁉ ... She disappeared?)
In a moment so short that it almost felt wrong to call it "instant", her right arm, holding a large barbarian sword, undeniably disappeared for an instant, then reappeared. With a slight delay, a strong wind blew from her in all directions. And then:
*Swooosh‼*
Flying into the air like a fountain of blood, the heads, heads, and more heads of the people who were surrounding Miss All! The blade of the sagging barbarian sword was stained red. And then:
⁉
This time, Al-san's figure itself disappeared. But at the moment when I was wondering where she could be:
"Ah⁉"
She appeared a short distance away, her sword pointing upwards, having stabbed through the left flank of the bandit there with the middle of her barbarian sword. Was it a coincidence that this was the guy I had first injured in the flank?
"..."
As if feeling no weight at all, she swiftly lifted her right arm, holding the barbarian sword, straight up. First, the bandit's left ear detached from his head, and with a slight delay, the cut from his left flank to his left clavicle split his upper body apart.
"Ah, wa, wa, wa, wa...!"
The bandit, with surprise and fear on his face, seemed to try to grab his left chest with his right hand, but his slowly splitting upper body caused his hand to grasp at empty air. When he fell backwards, I wasn't able to see what kind of face he had made in the end.
"You, you, this damn rookie…!"
The bandits, spouting foul language, approached and surrounded her. These offensive words seemed less about intimidating their enemy and more about encouraging themselves. Even though several people should have died, the number of people visible hadn't changed much because, apparently, there were other bandits hiding in the forest besides the one-eyed man, and they had come to reinforce after some sort of signal from the boss.
"Die, you...‼"
All of them, excluding the boss, attacked her all at once. However, the outcome didn't change. Miss Al, who once tripped over nothing, weaved through the bandits with a large barbarian sword in hand, and the same Miss Al who always smiled gently at me, and who would dash out without thinking to save a child she didn't know, was chopping off the bandits' arms, legs, bodies, and heads more easily than mowing down weeds. Rather than using the barbarian sword to crush enemies with its weight, she was brilliantly slicing through the bandits as if she were using a well-sharpened razor.
*Thud!*
Suddenly, something fell near my left foot, where I had thrown out both my legs and sat down. I turned my eyes to it.
"!"
It was the head of that Hinomoto man. I couldn't tell if he was conscious or not, but after opening and closing his eyes and lips a few times, he stopped moving. Naturally, I didn't want to stay next to a severed head, so I dragged my body to a safer place. Meanwhile, her blade continued to slash through the bandits, and her heel continued to hunt heads. Her clothes, her fair skin, her pink hair were all being stained by the splattering blood.
In my mind, as I couldn't take my eyes off Miss Al, a strange feeling was beginning to sprout. Of course, there was a sense of "serves you right" as I saw those who had tormented me just moments ago being torn to shreds. There was also fear towards Al, who without hesitation was turning the bandits into chunks of meat. However, the feeling that was now rising within me easily engulfed and crushed these emotions. I've felt this before. What was it?
"...!"
Ah, I got it.
It was when I found Al in the desert, removed her veil from her unconscious body, and saw her beauty. And when I stripped her of all her clothes except her panties, witnessed her translucent white skin, her full breasts that slowly rose and fell with her breathing, and the cherry-colored nipples that declared their presence on their peaks.
I was now captivated by Miss Al, who was ruthlessly and mechanically cutting down the bandits.
Because, as I watched Miss Al, I was aroused.
Shortly after, all the bandits were exterminated, leaving only their leader. She slowly turned her face towards the leader. It was clear that her golden eyes were saying, "You're next". However, the leader also showed us that he hadn't been the leader of these roughnecks for nothing.
"Grrr, damn youuuu!"
With a scream that made the air tremble, the leader's body grew about three times larger. His chest and back became even thicker, and his arms and legs even longer and fatter! His clothes ripped apart like paper. At the same time, his mouth split open to his ears, revealing sharp, tar-stained teeth, his skin turned blackish-blue and got covered with scales or shells, spikes sprouting here and there. And the nails growing from his five fingers had all turned into long, sharp blades.
"Hehehe... Apparently one of my ancestors was a shapeshifter... I can't change into just anything I want, but I can take on the abilities of those I've eaten... Humans, elves, dwarves, beastfolk, beasts, demons... I've eaten a variety!"
The leader, who seemed very confident in his abilities, began to babble about things we didn't even ask. Even with his form far removed from human, he could still speak. He kept talking.
"But I am a 'gourmet chef', and I don't spare any effort to make my food delicious."
A "doctor," a "stage director," and now a "gourmet chef". I was thinking he should give it a rest, but what he said next was indeed shocking.
"There's nothing more delicious than making them despair before eating them!"
The recent incidents of travelers disappearing one after another around Atia. The fact that his underlings had been torturing me with their bare hands without killing me just moments ago, and their attempt to show me Miss Al being gang-raped after thoroughly hurting me, all came together.
They brought despair to a captive woman by half-killing the man in front of her (or as they did to me, they offered the man the option to "escape" and if the man actually escaped, it would give the woman a different kind of despair). Then, by showing the man, who is unable to move due to severe injuries, the woman being gang-raped, they brought despair to the man. In this way, he had been eating the travelers who have been devastated both physically and mentally.
"...."
However, Miss Al didn't bat an eyelid. She faced the leader, unclear if she was listening to him.
!
She disappeared yet again. The next moment,
*SCREECH‼*
The sound of hard metal colliding resonated. She reappeared in front of the leader, having probably attempted a diagonal cut from the left chest, but the blade was repelled by the hardened skin, forcing her to take a few steps back. The leader doesn't miss this chance.
"Girl! I'm taking your power too!"
A left hand, looking as if it had sprouted a short knife from each of the five fingertips, was swung vigorously towards her head. I inadvertently held my breath. However,
*CLANG!*
Even at this point, Miss Al didn't use her left hand. She easily blocked and repelled the attack launched from an arm that should be no different from her own midsection, with only her right hand holding the supposedly heavy barbaric blade. When the blade and claws collided, sparks scattered near her face, but still, she didn’t flinch.
"Take this!"
This time, the leader thrust his right hand targeting Miss Al's left flank. She dodges it with a backstep. Arms, legs, fangs, claws. She effortlessly dodged various attacks coming from the large body, easily sweeping them away with her right arm alone. She at no point used her left arm, except to occasionally balance her body at most. The leader's arm shatters giant trees, and his leg crushes massive rocks. Occasionally, sharp thorns growing at various places on his body unexpectedly elongated, launching a surprise attack on her, but they didn't even graze her.
"...?"
As time passed, the leader's movements visibly became dull. He breathed heavily and his shoulders heaved. It didn’t seem like he was merely getting flustered because his attacks weren't landing.
Upon closer look, there were numerous dark red stains around the leader. Blood. It seeped into the gaps between the scales that densely covered his entire body, emphasizing their existence. The source of the blood...the gaps in the shell and the back of the joints!
Miss Al hadn't just been dodging the leader's attacks. As they crossed each other, or while creating distance, she was making minor slashes at places like the gaps in the shell and the back of the joints; parts that had to be soft for the body to move. That delicate and precise attack with the giant barbaric blade wasn’t noticed by me, who was merely watching from the side, but seemingly also wasn’t noticed by the person being gradually, but surely whittled down.
"Yo...you bastardddddd‼"
The leader swung down both arms and at the same time, shot out thorns from all over his body towards Miss Al. However:
‼
Only her right arm disappeared for a moment and then immediately reappeared. Then:
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah⁉"
With an especially loud and horrifying scream, the leader's right arm, left wrist, all the thorns, and the turtle-like skin visible from the front, were scattered in an instant. With the force, the leader was blown backwards as if sitting on his butt.
"..."
"..."
The leader and Al glared at each other. The leader's face, a jumble of pain, suffering, fear, and confusion, was looked down upon by Al, who remained expressionless as always. No one could tell what she was thinking, but surely no one would interpret from her face that she was going to let the leader off the hook. The leader should know this best. Suddenly, for reasons unknown, the leader gave a yellow-toothed grin.
(What the…?)
The moment my consciousness focused on the leader's face,
*Vun!*
"Uwaa?!"
Something wrapped around both my legs and I was suddenly yanked away with great force. I couldn't help but let out a pitiful scream.
(Earthworms?!)
Looking at what was coiled around my legs, that's what came to mind. I was pulled with such speed that my body was lifted off the ground and I couldn't tell if what entered my sight was the ground or the sky. In front of me, I noticed Miss Al with her black eyes and golden pupils. At the same time, I felt something thick around my neck and quickly grabbed it with both hands to support myself. Still, it was difficult. My feet were not on the ground. Instead, I could feel something rough on my back. Then, I heard the leader's raspy voice from right above my head.
"Ha ha! He was a disgusting creature, but I'm glad I ate him!"
I had gotten caught by the leader. His thick arm, thick as a log, was wrapped around my neck. His wrist was missing, but the wound was sealed. It was probably a practical use of his ability to change the shape of his body. His comment about a 'disgusting creature' must be a reference to him having once eaten a monster with worm-like tentacles.
"Drop your weapon, woman. Don't you care what happens to him?"
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