Volume 2 - CH 30

Act 2-30: The Beast Army(2) [Side: Ilsa Harsnich]

The goat-headed man easily parried Knight Leader Arnold’s strike, which could slice a monster from the deep forest like butter, with the claws of his right hand.

Moreover, the man even dodged Wolfman’s kick, which packed an extremely terrifying force toward his head, without even as much as turning around; he had just shifted his center of gravity a little bit.

Then, he sent casual claw strikes toward both of them.

「GUH!」

「…」

Wolfman and Knight Leader Arnold twisted their bodies and barely dodged those seemingly casual attacks. However, the ground below them split due to the residual force of the attacks.

If they hadn’t dodged in time, those claw attacks would’ve inflicted fatal wounds on them.

「What kind of a monster is that…」

The B-rank hunter beside me spoke in a hoarse voice. The faces of those who saw the fight turned pale as if all color had been drained from their face. Their reactions were natural. After all, even Knight Leader Arnold and Wolfman, who had slain the monsters of deep forest with such ease, could only fight on par with one goat-headed man. Moreover, the goat-headed man seemed slightly stronger than the two combined.

Come to think of it, the monsters’ parade was rather unusual. It had felt as if the monsters that inhabited the forest were escaping from something. But, since there were no existences that could force the monsters from the deep forest to escape from their living place, I had unconsciously excluded such a possibility.

Maybe, that goat-headed man is the owner of the voice, the man who called himself Pazuzu, in Raiga and co’s testimony.

（Are you kidding me? No matter how strong Kai Heineman is, there’s no way he can beat this monster!!）

As if Kai Heineman could beat a monster that could fight on par against two S-class hunters.

Surely, Raiga’s ruin exploration had violated many taboos for treasure hunters. But, it was still a place where such a monster was asleep. That trap was an extremely cunning, well-prepared trap terrifying enough to send a chill running down my spine. In short, it wasn’t just a trap prepared for Raiga and co.; even veteran hunters could have fallen into that trap.

Suddenly, a magic circle appeared beneath the feet of the goat-headed man during that 1-vs-2 fierce combat. Then, several chains of light came out from within magic circles, binding the goat-headed man’s body.

「Do it! NOOOOOOOOOOW!!」

A small yet muscular man clad in a red robe, Excel Ralph, shouted while pointing his cane toward the goat-headed man and restraining him.

『GUGOOOOOOOO!!』

The goat-headed man let out a bestial roar as he seized the chains of light restraining him with his hands. Then, he tore them.

Although the goat-headed man had managed to break free from the chains of light, Knight Leader Arnold’s great sword beheaded his head right at that moment, followed by Wolfman’s heel drop-sinking into the body that had already lost its head.

The body of the goat-headed man exploded into minced meat, which spread in all directions after Wolfman’s heel drop.

「They did it…」

「WE WON!!」

When a hunter let out a victory cry while raising his right hand to the sky, others followed suit. The victory cries resounded in the wasteland right in front of Barse city’s east gate.

「Did we… do it?」

I heaved a sigh as I felt that the strings binding my body had loosened for the first time in a few days.

「DON’T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! It hasn’t ended yet!!」

However, Guild Master Ralph’s shout slapped me awake from the euphoria. When I looked around, I realized that it wasn’t just the guild master, even Knight Leader Arnold and Wolfman were still looking at the sea forest of Silke. All three of them were staring into the forest with dread-filled expressions.

Guild Master Ralph was once a leading sorcerer in 【Babel(World Sorcery Institution)】. In terms of strength, he was of the same unofficial, 【Over】-class hunter rank, like Wolfman. In short, he was one of the absolute strongest in this world.

For three such people to wear such dreaded looks on their faces! It could only mean that―

「No way.!」

When I turned around to see the great forest of Silke, I finally understood the reason behind their dreaded expressions.

「Uwa…」

The other hunters also let out various groans of despair. The reason being other beast-headed monsters clad in foreign clothes were starting to come out from the sea forest of Silke.

Their number was already in the hundreds or maybe thousands as they filled in the wasteland.

I had never considered this situation. Does that mean every single one of those beast-headed monsters is as powerful as the goat-headed man, who was finally defeated after Guild Master worked together with Knight Leader Arnold and Wolfman? There’s no way we can survive this.

『Oh my! It seems one of us has already been killed.』

A hoarse yet relaxed voice resounded in my head.

The beast-headed monsters suddenly split into two groups. Then, they knelt at once and bowed. Before them was the figure of a tall, red-haired man with a blue beard. Dressed in red pants, a mantle, and a pair of shoes, and with a round green hat on his head, the man was combing his hair in an extremely narcissistic pose.

「Those are― impossible to defeat even for us! Go back and take refuge! We’ll stay behind and try to buy as much time as we can for you!」

The moment Guild Master Ralph said so, the hunters started to turn around and tried to escape as fast as possible.

『Stopping us? That’s impossible.』

The tall, red-haired man said so as he looked down. He sneered at Ralph, who was chanting the aria for his magic.

「…」

Ralph’s aria suddenly stopped in the middle, then he looked up in silence. He flinched.

I-IMPOSSIBLE! I couldn’t see his movement, nor could I sense the moment he had moved at all. When I realized, the red-haired man was already standing in front of Guild Master. I looked around and realized that neither Knight Leader Arnold nor Wolfman could react to the red-haired man’s movements at all.

『Ara! What are you going to do now that you know you can’t stop me?』

Just like a frog being stared at by a snake, the red-haired man grabbed Guild Master’s head and raised him with one hand.

「Uwa…」

The Guild Master, who was normally calm and composed to the point of being creepy, was wailing in pain as if he was experiencing a pain he had never felt before.

『Woops! I really can’t measure the strength of a lowly bug. That’s why, you mustn’t blame me if you die by accident, okay?』

Then, he threw away Guild Master Ralph like he were a piece of trash.

The guild master fell far away at a terrifying speed, crashing into the ramparts along with a deafening explosion. The rampart blew into pieces, burying Ralph inside a mountain of rubble.

「DON’T LOOK DOWN ON US!!」

Wolfman ran at his full speed with his four limbs. Then, he unleashed a stab with the sharp claws of his right hand into the back of the red-haired man’s head. However, his claw strike got repelled with a clear, metallic sound.

「WAH!!?」

It might have been better if the red-haired man had dodged that claw strike with his fists or claws. But, he was unscathed even after receiving the full brunt of Wolfman’s attack. On the other hand, Wolfman’s claws were now bent in all directions.

『My bad!』

The red-haired man slowly turned around to look at Wolfman.

「…」

Then, he unleashed a light punch to Wolfman, who was still looking at his own claws with a dumbfounded expression. That punch sent Wolfman rolling on the ground at a terrifying speed, and when he finally stopped, his body didn’t even as much as twitch.

My head couldn’t catch up with the sudden development of seeing how easily the guild master and Wolfman had been beaten to a pulp, each with a single strike.

Guild Master Ralph was one of the Over-rank S-class and 【Babel】’s ex-strongest. Wolfman was an S-class hunter in his active duty. These two people, who were mine and many other hunters’ lifelong goals, had been beaten so easily.

My peers and I sweated blood and tears every day just so that we could become someone who could stand by these people’s sides as peers. Such existences had been beaten so easily with seemingly light attacks. How can this be? Yes, this must be a dream. Just the usual nightmare, and once I wake up in my bed, I will start the day with the usual foolish conversation with my comrades.

『Well then! It has been a while since the last time we had our meal, you know! Now, eat to your fill!』

The beast-headed men in the beast army hit their left ch*sts with their right fists the moment they heard the red-haired man’s order. Then, they marched toward us.

「Why?」

Knight Leader Arnold, who was watching over the situation with his sword still readied despite sweating like a waterfall, said that word.

『Uhm, what do you mean?』

「Why are you guys attacking us?」

『Ufufufu~n! It’s because we can use humans in various ways, such as various experimental subjects, ingredients for foods or raw materials, etc, you know!』

Such a terrifying remark resounded directly in my head.

「Ingredients? Raw materials? Are you serious?」

『Of cou~rse! Especially the clothes or bags made from the skin of an especially powerful human. They are the best quality materials. The stew made from the meat of human children or a female human is something you can’t get enough of.』

The red-haired man replied with an entranced expression as his body writhed in a strange way.

「THIS ROTTEN DEMON!!」

Knight Leader Arnold took up his great sword on his shoulder. Shouting in an enraged voice, he charged toward the red-haired man.

However, he was pinned to the ground from behind by a wolf-headed man with gray fur, a round hat, and clothes having white and blue color as their basic tone.

Standing beside the red-haired man was an eagle-headed man and a tiger-headed man with the same attire as the wolf-headed man.

『Resistance is futile! A small fry like you won’t even be able to leave a scratch on us, let alone Pazuzu-sama.』

The wolf-headed monster gleefully seized Knight Leader Arnold’s head and slammed it on the ground. The ground exploded, creating a crater on the place he slammed Knight Leader Arnold’s head.

Then, the tiger-headed man walked till he arrived beside Knight Leader Arnold and squatted down.

『Aah, Pocchi is rather violent after all. Human meat becomes tough and unappetizing if you hit them too much or overly scare them. Beheading them in a single strike is the best way to kill them. Hey, it’ll be more painful the more you struggle, you know! Just relax, and it’ll end without much pain and suffering―』

He spoke as if were admonishing the wolf-headed man, but…

「MUTT B*STARD!!」

Knight Leader Arnold spat on the tiger-headed man’s face. Blood vessels popped out on the tiger-headed man’s forehead; he was enraged.

『Hey, Pocchi, I’ve changed my mind. Can you leave this guy to me?』

『Uuh, Mike’s bad habit is coming out again! My goodness! This is why the cat family is no good.』

The eagle-headed man shrugged and shook his head to the sides as if he knew what was gonna come next.

「Peeco! How da―」

『Can you guys stop the useless chit-chat and capture them immediately. Make sure that you’re not injuring the young males and females since we can use them for breeding more humans in the ranch. As for the rest, do as you like!』

The Wolf-headed man, Pocchi, stood up and punched Knight Leader Arnold right on his solar plexus with his right fist. He reaped the consciousness of the knight leader in one clean hit. Then, Pocchi bumped his right fist on his chest. The tiger-headed man, Mike, and the eagle-headed man, Peeco, did the same.

『『『AS YOU WISH, PAZUZU-SAMA!!』』』

They shouted in unison like trained soldiers.

『It’s party time! Eat to your fill!!』

With a roar from Pocchi, the other beast-headed monsters ran toward the hunters.

As I watched them approach with a dumbfounded look on my face, strangely enough, I got a feeling that these beast-headed monsters’ movements were surprisingly slow.

I knew that I was safe since I was a “female.” But sometimes, being alive was worse than being dead. What awaited me once I got caught by these monsters was the worst possible future where my dignity as a human would be thoroughly trampled by them. On the other hand, being eaten by them might be considered as some sort of salvation.

Are these guys the subordinates of the four great demon kings? I don’t think so! Even if the demons are our enemy, they don’t eat humans, nor do they have any repulsive ideas, such as a human ranch. They just want to rule over humans! That’s all.

On the other hand, these people before us are far more malicious. Definitely not the savior from another world which they mentioned.

A sheep-headed monster approached. He was about to grab my head with his right hand when―

『GAHI!!』

A black mass fell from the sky, crushing the sheep-headed monster beneath it. The sheep-headed monster’s body got broken into numerous pieces of meat.

Then, the human-shaped black mass turned around toward me. He was the mysterious youth whose appearance might be able to end this fight, Kai Heineman.