Tl note: Hello there~! It’s been a huge while since I last updated this series, and guess what? My schedule is a mess. Like, a huge mess. Yeah, I must learn to accept it: I suck at keeping my schedule, and I can’t help it.
However, looking at the bright side, recently I’m feeling a lot better. I finally managed to come to terms with some “shit” in my life (nothing serious, that’s why the quotation marks) and I’m venting a looot of pent-up negative emotions. I feel so stupid for not having the strength to let go of some things sooner, but well, better late than ever, right?
The next chapter will be quite long, probably the longest so far, and I don’t know when it’ll be ready. I’m already working on it, I hope I can complete it soon.
Wish you all the best, guys! Thank you for being so patient with me.
Divine beast – Part 2
Karin, Elsa and Kunon ran back to the village, where people were scurrying everywhere like bees in a beehive.
Men were surrounding Leisel, the Mayor, desperately updating him on the situation.
“Mayor! The monsters are coming!”
“There’s also a colossal one in their ranks!”
“Where is Lord Sigurd?! Where the heck is Lord Sigurd?!”
“Calm down! Lord Sigurd knows what’s happening!”
The mayor tried to calm the people down, but looked anxious himself. Luckily, the man they were calling showed up the next moment and people flocked to him.
“Lord Sigurd! There are major monsters coming our way!”
“Yep, looks like that. There’s also a crazy big one, have you seen it?! The head of the magic knights slayed one about that size… I don’t think this one is gonna be easy to bring down.”
His answer sounded childish, but his face was serious. Leisel tried to wrap his head around those words, but was quickly assailed by doubts.
“I-Is this too much even for you, Lord Sigurd?!”
“Yeah, probably. That’s a Divine Beast, which is in a league on its own. Monsters like that are the strongest foes you can find in nature. I’ll fight with all I have, but I’m not sure I’ll bring it down. It’s also coming along with a sea of middle-class monsters and major ones… We’ll need to take them down first, or we won’t stand a chance.”
His fighting spirit was burning, but his face only showed a bitter feeling. Laisel was put aback by his words, but steeled himself in front of his people and asked for their safety.
“H-How about the other monsters?! We’re getting raided by a lot more!”
“Huh? How am I supposed to know that? I’m not here to handle the small fries. Just flee and hide, if you do a good job you’ll survive the minor monsters’ raid.”
That’s all it took to spread a terrible uneasiness through the people. His curt reply was the spark that would ignite the villagers’ panic.
“B-But…! Are you saying to abandon our village?!”
“My grandpa can’t walk! He has no way to escape the monsters!”
“My wife is pregnant! If she exerts herself too much, our child might die!”
Sigurd looked fed up by their voicing and silenced them with a single scream.
“For fuck’s sake, SHUT THE HELL UP! If you wanna die here, stop crying and accept your damn fate!”
His gaze turned into an icy blade as he rose his huge sword over his head and rested it on his shoulder.
“The weak dies and the strong lives in this world. If you die today, it’s because you’re too weak. If you were strong enough, you wouldn’t need protection in the first place, so that’s your own business and has nothing to do with me.”
That was the opinion of the man who got through countless battlefields.
Despair spread in the villagers’ mind. When Sigurd severed their thread of hope, all that was left for them was panic.
“Run! Quick, we’re still in time!”
“What will be of the people who can’t move?!”
“We can’t help them! Leave them behind and run for your life!”
Chaos exploded through the village. Angry yells filled the air and sounds of violence shook everyone’s eardrums already pierced by cries and wails. Many people were praying their goddess.
Then, a voice cut above that mess.
“Listen to me if you want to live.”
Karin’s voice sounded cool and composed and everyone who heard her stopped dead in their tracks.
Beside her were now Aigle and Levin too, whose expression and massive builds were almost intimidating.
“We will protect the village. If you want to live, don’t move from here.”
“No… bullshit! There’s no way you can handle that many monsters! Look how close they already are!”
“You would save only a few dozens of your people even if you gather all the village’s cartridges and horses. In the best case scenario, only one or two of the fleeing ones would survive.”
Karin simply answered to Leisel’s angry disappointment and tried to force him to listen.
“The more you run and scatter, the harder will be for us to protect you. We are in charge of your lives as the feudal lords sent by the capital, so we forbid everyone from leaving this village.”
“Stick your title up your ass! You ain’t buying anyone with your shit!”
The mayor, already on the brink, snapped and approached the elf, not caring about the two massive guys nearby her who simply looked at him unmoving. His shoulders were trembling from rage as his face turned purple.
“You are filthy demi-humans! If you think we’re gonna be your baits, there’s only shit piling up in your brain! You’re not getting away alone!”
“I cannot believe there are people thinking like you in these situations… you make me sick.”
“Fuck you, bitch! Elves like you only need to spread—”
Then, he suddenly fell silent. The tip of Karin’s rifle was touching his forehead. She moved it so quickly he hadn’t seen it coming.
“To spread our legs and be sex slaves of weak scum like you… perhaps?”
Her gaze was cold and dull, like she was looking at some boring pile of trash she had seen over and over again.
“I have had enough of your nonsensical delusions. Your perception of elves is sickening. But I can shot some good sense into that crappy mind of yours before you get eaten by monsters.”
She looked at his scared eyes only for a moment, then twirled her rifle and smacked him on the jaw to vent some frustration. The man collapsed on the ground without a word.
She didn’t even waste a moment to look at the unconscious mayor before facing the other villagers.
“We don’t care if you don’t see us as feudal lords. We’re telling you useless weaklings to hide and cower in a corner. Don’t get in our way.”
Her frosty and thorny words landed a huge hit on the crowd, among which only one man was brave enough to voice his thoughts.
“We have no proof that you won’t run away, though…”
“Catch us if we do and act as you see fit. Rape us to death, tear off our head, pillory us to your heart’s content; I won’t care.”
Clad in a bewitching atmosphere, Karin curled her lips in a smile.
“We won’t flee. Only the weak does.”
Her smile was that of the strong.
“We are not weak. We are stronger than any of you and those monsters. No matter how low you place us, reality cannot be changed.”
Her hair swayed in the wind, her golden eyes shone like topazes.
Her aura brought everyone’s gaze to her, and once she scanned them, grasping the overall mood, she took a deep breath and shouted.
“FOCUS!”
Aigle and Levin’s looks were statuesque. Their expression was dead serious, almost as if their usual clown-ish behaviour had never existed in the first place. They were focused like they’ve never been before.
Karin pressed on.
“We must slay the approaching wave of monsters! We’ll face three-hundred small fries, fifteen big small fries, and only one huge bony small fry!”
A strong feeling of arrogance oozed from her as she called a Divine Beast a small fry. And yet, she didn’t stop.
“However, here we are bound to protect this bunch of useless weaklings! Disgusting guys, cursed worms and useless imbeciles who jeer at us!”
Hit by her sharp words, the villagers looked away from her, mostly hanging their heads.
“Let’s show these idiots what true power is! LET’S SHOW THIS WORLD HOW THE STRONGEST WILL RAISE FROM THE ABYSS AND BLESS THE WEAK WITH THEIR MERCY! WE ARE PROUD DEMI-HUMANS, AND OUR CRY WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS!”
The next moment, the whole village shook as if a nearby volcano had erupted. An ear-piercing war cry split the air, crawling its way up to the sky.
The villagers, struck by the inhuman pressure of that sound, lost their words in fear. Sigurd was the first one to speak.
“Where the heck were you hiding all of them…?”
A lot of demi-humans were now surrounding the village.
Bird-men flew in the air, werebeasts jumped out of the woods, drakonids trumpled on the earth. Mixed among them, there were also aquatic-men, elves and dwarves.
All of them now stood in the limelight, although they always acted in the capital’s shadows.
“Hahah! Karin, you sure look like Takumi now.”
“You learn to become the guy you watch all the time. I have to set myself on fire first to rally all of you, no?”
“You’re riiight~! My, I so want to smash those small fries now~!”
Kunon let out a cheerful laughter, making sure not to speak to her magic tool.
“Okay, guys, we gotta work! The mission is simple: protect the villagers and exterminate the fire dragons! Whoever gets killed will be remembered as a moron, you heeeard~?!”
She dropped that last joke and enjoyed the amused voices of her comrades.
There was no tension in their laughters, and none looked like they were pretending to be fine.
“To have the lowest number of stupids, form defensive teams and hold your position, then choose your leader and have them follow me to bring down middle-class and major monsters!”
The demi-humans moved as one right after Kunon’s order. There were no flaws in their actions, as if they had done that countless times.
They didn’t look like they were acting as many single individuals, but as one huge pack.
As soon as Kunon made sure they were ready, which took no more than a few seconds, her lips twisted into a ferocious smile.
“Great, now let’s wolf down all these monsters. None must flee.”
Her soft whisper kindled a predatory flame in her comrades’ heart. Their blood lust foretold a cruel massacre.
Thanks for the chapter