Mountain valley.
A group of several people.
"You sure we're in the right place? We've been walking for an hour, you know." The man with spiky blond hair, wearing a black short suit and loose skirt pants, with 'Yama' written on his left chest, glared at the slightly shorter, short-haired, mask-wearing man walking in front of him.
The mask-wearing man, nad Nitsuma, with 'Evil' written on his mask, pulled out a hand-drawn sketch map, tilted his head back with a frown, and said, "Hey, Yamada, be patient. You should know, my drawing skills were rated zero at Suzuran, you dummy."
"Dummy! Who are you calling dummy!"
Yamada rolled up his sleeves and yelled, "You want a fight?"
"Co on! I'll make sure you have to pick up your teeth off the floor! You dummy!"
Nitsuma and Yamada knocked their foreheads together, their eyebrows raised as they glared at each other, all the while spewing trash talk.
"Will you two knock it off!"
At this mont, a bald man who was standing at the end of the group ca forward, separating the two face-to-face n, and loudly said, "We have a mission today. If we can't complete it, we'll be punished by the president. You guys want to lose your pinkies?"
"Hey, Yamaki, it was him who started it!"
Yamada pointed at the man holding the shoddy map.
The bald man, Yamaki, shouted, "I said enough! If we can't find that guy today because of you two, you can prepare to commit seppuku when we get back. You two dummies."
"Hey, who are you calling dummy!"
"You want a fight, dummy!"
"Stop!"
Nitsuma raised his fist and quickly climbed over the hill. After looking over, he imdiately waved at the others to co over.
When everyone got there, he excitedly said, "This is the place. Over the hill, it's all tree stumps from logging. Walk a little further, and there's a cave. That's where the guy is. I fooled him pretending to be from the cave. He's almost blind."
"Good, you still use the sa thod to lure him out of the cave."
Yamaki said this and looked at the people around him, "We'll spray so scent-masking spray. Once he cos out, we'll swarm him and take him down."
"Are we taking him alive?"
"Of course not, we don't have a puppet master here. First, drain his blood for preservation, then bring his corpse back. Okay, let's go!"
Monts later, a group of people sneakily lay in ambush around the area, holding their breaths.
"~"
Nitsuma saw that his comrades were in place and called out, "Russel, I've co to see you. I brought you so food. Co out~"
After shouting, he clapped his hands three tis, paused briefly, clapped twice, paused again, and clapped twice more. Everyone laying in ambush stared intently at the interior of the cave, ready to launch a surprise attack.
"Is that you, Nitsuma?"
At this point, a piercing response ca from the cave. It was so sharp that it would make anyone's ears ring at first hearing, as people normally couldn't make such a sharp sound.
Nitsuma responded with a laugh, "Yes, I'm surprised you still rember my voice."
"I can rember the voice of everyone who's been here."
At this mont, a 'giant bat' as tall as a man flew out of the cave and hung upside down at the entrance.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," he said.
"We're brothers, no need for such formalities. Co down, I brought so food."
As Nitsuma spoke, he took out a table from the warehouse and pulled out so sushi and fish balls.
Whoosh~
The bat-man, Russel, let go of his grip on the cave ceiling and landed next to the table. He struggled to sit up and used his ears to discern the direction of the speaker. "My eyes are quite blurry. I can only use my ears to tell where you are. Mmm, the rice slls so good~"
"You eat first."
Nitsuma pushed the food forward while looking around at his companions.
"~"
Russel picked up a piece of sushi, sniffed it, and his ears twitched, "Wow, it slls so good. Oh, I also have a gift for you."
"Really? You also prepared a gift for ?"
Nitsuma laughed inwardly, thinking that Russel was his biggest gift today, and surprisingly easy to deceive.
"It's right here, can you see it?"
Russel lifted his right claw, pointing to his left claw that lay across his chest, "Isn't it beautiful? Can you see it? Co closer and take a look~"
"Hmm?"
Nitsuma felt a bit strange, but he leaned forward anyway.
Swish!
In a split second, Russel's pair of sharp claws reached out and pulled Nitsuma close to him. His right claw pressed down on Nitsuma's head, and his left claw held his throat. "Tell your n to behave, or I'll rip your throat out!"
"What are you doing?"
Nitsuma was both shocked and frightened. He thought he had been flawless in his act. How had he been discovered?
"What am I doing? I may be blind, but my ears are still sharp. When I was talking to you just now, I detected the people in ambush through their echoes. You should know, I've been trapped here for a long ti. I can distinguish every echo of every blade of grass and tree around , let alone a few extra humans. Seven people, right?"
Russel held onto Nitsuma, tilting his head to listen to the surroundings.
"I say, I didn't co here with ill intentions. I was afraid you'd be scared, so I wanted to introduce you to everyone one by one."
Nitsuma hastily explained, while looking at team leader Yamaki, hoping he would co up with a rescue plan.
"You liar! I don't believe a word you say!"
Russel snapped, then turned to the others. "If you don't want him to die, drop your weapons!"
"Baka! We've been discovered anyway, why hide anything? Charge!"
At this mont, Yamada, holding a pair of samurai swords, rushed forward.
"Seems like your n don't value your life."
Russel tightened his grip on his left claw and yanked back, tearing out Nitsuma's throat. Blood spurted out violently.
At the sa ti, using Nitsuma's dead body as a stepping stone, Russel flapped his wings and soared upwards.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
A volley of arrows flew toward him. Russel moved to dodge the sound, but his wing was cut by Yamada rushing from below. Russel's body instantly lost balance and he began to fall. Suddenly a massive force struck him from above, causing his consciousness to blank for an instant.
In a sowhat dizzy state, he felt himself being dragged out of the cave, continuing to be dragged on the ground and then hung upside down from a tree. His consciousness blurred, and he could only make out fragnts of the conversations around him.
"Hang him up and bleed him out."
"Tear off his throat first!"
"Bats don't carry viruses, do they?"
"Hey, you! Wear gloves, you idiot!"
"Hey! Who are you?"
"Do you want to die? I'm talking to you, idiot!"
At this mont, Russel, in a state of blurred consciousness, noticed the group of Japanese n crowding around one person. He seed to sll a familiar scent... Gutman?
Wasn't he dead?
"I said, I'm talking to you, idiot!"
Nitsuma, carrying two samurai swords on his shoulders, looked up at the man standing two heads taller than him.
Being handso doesn't give you the right to be so arrogant, he thought.
The man said, "Russel, do you want these guys to die, or live?"
"~~"
Russel, hanging from the tree, felt a rush of excitent. That voice was Gutmann!
He's not dead... he's not dead! How wonderful! Imdiately, he answered excitedly, "Alive! I want to bleed them out!"
Ming nodded, "Should we get you down first? After all, you are hanging from a tree..."
"No problem, I hang here all the ti, a little longer won't hurt."
"Alright, so you want these n alive but with broken arms and legs?"
"That's the best!"
"Okay, I'll grant your wish."
Ming looked at the strongest person, whose na was Yamaki, "Don't be afraid, I'm very gentle."
"..."
Yamaki stared at the man in front of him. This guy had one hand heavily bandaged, yet he had the audacity to boast!
What does he an by being 'gentle'?
"But..."
Ming raised his hand to point at the sky, "It doesn't know what 'gentle' ans."
Yamaki and the others looked up at the sky at the sa ti. A colossal figure crashed down from above. It was a monster with the head of a lion, the horns of a bull, the scales of a snake, the stripes of a tiger, and the wings of an eagle. Its eyes shimring with an orange glow were fixed on them.
As Yamaki t its gaze, he felt he wasn't looking into eyes, but into the abyss of death.
Roar!!
A lion's roar echoed through the mountains, sweeping up the fallen leaves and broken branches. Yamaki and his n suddenly found that they had lost the will to fight. They had no desire to pick up their weapons and resist!
Thud!
Before Yamaki could react, he was hit with such force that his shirt shattered.
Crack!!
Crack!!
Two crisp sounds, two broken arms. He looked left and right at his broken arms, unable to groan from the pain!
"!!!"
Yamaki was horrified. He realized that he had lost consciousness to flee. Then, he saw the monster gripping one of his comrades with one hand as if holding two small chickens, smashing them together. Both fell unconscious, and their equipnt shattered.
At the sa ti, the monster opened its mouth and spat a thick, toxic saliva at another comrade, whose legs were instantly corroded, causing him to kneel on the ground.
Finally, it was his turn...
Yamaki struggled desperately, trying to break free from the giant hand clutching his upper body. He raised his fists and pounded at the giant hand, but failed to inflict even the slightest damage!
At this mont, he felt the giant hand squeezing him tighter and tighter, so tight that he could not breathe! He stared into the orange glowing eyes. He was desperate, regretful, and helpless.
Boom!
Raoul suddenly lifted his right hand, slamming the man he was holding fiercely onto the ground!
Looking back at his master, he blinked in a relaxed manner, signifying that the task was done~
"Good~"
Ming clapped his hands, "But next ti, please don't accidentally kill anyone again. Didn't I tell you, every person who cos to die is a wealth? If you don't cherish money, money won't cherish you, do you understand?"
"Roar~"
"You're still being stubborn. The excuse of not being able to control your strength, you've used it last ti. Can't you co up with sothing new?"
"Roar~"
"..."
"Hey~ I say, Gutmann, you've forgotten that I'm still hanging here, haven't you?"
"Eh~ Russel, you've beco a big bat, huh."
"Huh~ Can we not expose each other's shortcomings for now?"
"Fluffy~"
"Huh~"
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