Chapter 39: Through An Onlooker’s Looking Glass
「Hey Dot! One of them’s heading over to you. 」
A goblin dashed passed Barkas as he used his large two handed sword to slice another in half. The monster’s target was Terry, the mage that functioned as the party’s rear guard.
At first, it’d almost seed as if the goblin would succeed in its assault, but it didn’t. Dot reacted to Barkas’ shout and managed to get in its way and fend it off before it could cause any harm.
「Your turn, Terry!」
Dot deflected the tree branch the goblin was using as a club and took a step back as he signaled one of his party’s other mbers to attack.
「I’m on it already! Stones of ice, freeze my foe,『Ice Bullet』!」
Terry imdiately followed up Dot’s actions by firing off a series of ice-based projectiles at the goblin the mont the other man parted from it. As it was unable to avoid the attack, the goblin ended up croaking like a Frog before collapsing with a giant gaping hole in its chest. Naturally, Barkas hadn’t just been sitting around. He contributed to his team’s efforts by murdering a third goblin and thereby concluding the battle.
The three n then proceeded to cut off the goblins’ ears and gather them all up. To adventurers, goblin ears were items of value, as they served to provide evidence of and function as a counter for one’s kills.
Barkas’ group had already been out hunting for quite so ti, but the sun had already long passed its peak. As one could expect, they’d gotten quite the haul. In fact, the three goblins they just killed had pushed them right into the double digits.
「We’ve got a pretty good haul, more than I was expecting. Might as well take a break and eat. Seems like it’s ’bout ti anyways. 」
「Whew. Finally. 」
「Man, Terry, you sure don’t got any stamina. Sucks to be you, but we’ll still have to keep on the move a bit longer. I scouted out a decent looking place a bit earlier in the day. S’just up ahead. 」
Dot smirked at Terry as he lead the rest of his party mbers towards the clearing he discovered earlier in the day.
Upon arriving, the party’s mbers decided to just sit wherever. They grabbed their Lowest Grade Item Bag, and withdrew from it a few provisions: so black bread and several pieces of at, both of which were of the dried variety.
「So why didn’t we just kill them the mont they stepped foot in the forest anyways? I an, we’re just after the kid’s staff, right?」
「What are you, stupid? Use that goddamned head of yours and just think. There’s no harm in having them hunt a few goblins for us first. Two birds, one stone and all that, you know? Besides, we’d probably look real fishy if we didn’t at least hunt ourselves a good few goblins, y’know?」
Barkas poured a bit of water out from his canteen and onto his bread while also biting down on a piece of dried at.
「We’d best not go too far. We’ll lose by default if we don’t get back by the end of the day. Not like we need to wander off anyways, plenty of monsters round these parts. 」
「True. We have seen a good number of them. 」
Terry nodded as he spoke.
「You must not know of the fact that there used to be a village round the foot of the tall ass mountain over there, but it got taken over by a rogue demon a few years back. At least that’s what people claid when its residents tried to invade Erumia, the nearest town. Apparently what actually happened wazzat they’d been affected by so sort of curse and brainwashed. Shit caused them to totally lose their minds. They went berserk and attacked everything they saw. No one was able to figure out exactly how to fix ‘em, so the villiagers just ended up getting exterminated instead. Their whole settlent got wiped off the map. You’d think that’s where the story would normally end, but there’s more. There’s also that rumour as well, you know, the one that’s made it so that the only adventurers that ever co ’round these parts are the ones the guild decides to send by every once in a while? Yeah, that one. Thanks to all the flak, everyone pretty much stays the hell away. Makes it pretty damn easy to find monsters without really having to look around much. 」
Barkas recalled a few of the things he’d heard and reiterated them to his companions.
「I see… But what did you an by that rumour?」
Terry tilted his head in an expression of confusion as he took another bite of at.
「Co on Terry. You should start paying less attention to all the fancy magic items you like, and more to the stuff people around you say. Cause like, you know those villagers we were just talking about? Everyone says that their souls wander and haunt the forest we’re in right now, and that running into one will get you one helluva curse. People’ve stopped coming here ever since. 」
Dot’s explanation caused Terry to sigh.
「That’s bullshit. I’d believe you if you said that their undead corpses wandered around, but their souls? Seriously man? That’s gotta be bullshit. 」
「There’s actually more to it than just the rumour. The only monsters that show up round these parts are goblins and green boars. There aren’t any areas of interest, and the village being gone ans that there’s no actual point to hanging around much longer. An empty village isn’t one that’ll be hiring adventurers, y’know? The only reason you can find lots of monsters around is cause they’re all low ranking ones, so it basically ain’t good for anything other than newbies that’re lookin’ to gain experience. Even then, most don’t bother since there’s goblins and green boars in the forests near Erumia too. 」
Terry nodded, as if expressing his approval of to Barkas’ logic.
「If anything, we should be glad they chose this of all places. Makes it way harder for people to figure out that we did them in. 」
「Isn’t it about ti for us to you know, do it now? I’ve eaten up more MP than expected cause we ended up fighting several tis in a quick succession. Let’s just kill ’em once we’ve rested up. I want to see that slave girl cry already. We’ll have to kill her after, so let’s hurry it up already. I want as fun ti as possible. 」
Terry laughed as any douchebag would while imagining what was to co.
「We’ll probably have to drag her off to so abandoned hunter’s cabin or sothing after we kill the two n. Can’t be getting busy when there’s monsters around if we really wanna have fun. 」
「Don’t be forgetting about the staff, you hear? It is technically what we’re actually after, y’know?」
「「Yeah, yeah, we know. 」」
「Well, least you guys know how to make it seem like you’ve got your priorities straight. I’m sure you you already know, but, kill the kid with the staff first. Catch him off guard if you can. They’re still fresh and inexperienced, so the rest of ‘em will probably lose it the mont we get one of ’em. After that, get the lanky one. Crush his feet, make it so he can’t use ’em. You can probably just leave him be if that works. No point killing him right there and then. 」
「Huh? Why not just kill him?」
「Man, Dot, you sure aren’t good at using your head, are you?」
Terry gazed at Dot with what could only be described as a deliberate look of amazent.
「S’that supposed to be an? I don’t get it. 」
「「It ans we’re going to make him watch us rape that rabbitgirl, you moron!」」
A pair of synchronized laughs rang through the clearing as Dot’s companions cackled to their hearts’ content.
「Yeah, I really don’t get you two. S’not sothing that turns on, but whatever floats your boats. 」
「You know what’d be just perfect? What if she betrayed her master and begged for us to let her live? That’d just be the god damned best. 」
「Oh, oh. What about having her kill him? Imagine that. 」
「I like it, but it might not be possible if he’s ordered her not to betray him. 」
「Man, you guys sure are getting into this whole thing, not that I mind so long as you leave her nape unscathed. 」
Dot did to Terry as Terry had done to him earlier and spoke in a bit of an exasperated tone whilst shrugging his shoulders. He remained silent thereafter because he’d added to the conversation all he intended to.
There was an inevitable bit of danger associated with not killing the lanky swordsman, but he was a fresh newbie that’d literally only just beco an adventurer. Hence, all three figured that they need not be too careful so long as they killed the mage.
「Alright, sounds like a plan. Let’s finish eating so we can carry it out. 」
Only then did Dot, the party’s scout, realize that sothing was amiss.
「Shit…!」
He raised his voice and desperately attempted to shout in order to warn his party of his sudden realization.
But he didn’t make it.
He didn’t manage to fulfill his duty as the team’s eyes and ears.
It’d been a pointless effort in the first place. He wouldn’t have been able to inform Terry or Barkas of the impending danger in ti even if all three of them had been on high alert. That was just how fast it’d all happened. At first, Dot had thought that he’d only felt a gentle breeze, but his instincts imdiately had alerted him that it was much more than just that.
A translucent, white smoke flooded their surroundings the mont the breeze passed by, and promptly dulled the n’s senses whilst depriving them of their ability to move; they collapsed and fell onto the forest’s undergrowth.
「We’ve… been hit with.. a paralyzing… poison…」
（Shit! Shit!! Did we get jumped by Paramoths? Damn it! Why the hell would monsters like them be in a place like this!? Wait, were their scales even capable of working this quick…!?）
The strange mist that assaulted the three vanished as quickly as it’d appeared. It almost seed to have dispersed itself into their surroundings imdiately after effecting them.
「Shi…t… My body… won…. t lis…ten… to… …」
「This is bad, Barka…s… I can’t… even lift… a finger…」
「Wait just a sec… I’ll help… you guys up as soon… as I take an antidote…」
Dot and Terry were just flat out down and out, but Barkas was still capable of a certain degree of action. None of the three knew exactly why this happened to be the case, but they presud it was either sothing to do with Barkas’ superior stats or, more simply, his position at the ti of the attack.
（God damn it! Co on Barkas. Move! Move…!）
The party’s leader cursed as he pushed his body to its limits in an attempt to to move. It took quite so ti, but he did to eventually manage to stretch his right arm all the way over to the bag he had at his waist. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated and impatient; his hand felt like they were moving far too slowly. Even the act of grabbing the Potion of Detoxification he’d been looking for had taken ages in and of itself.
（Co on! Just a bit more!）
He slowly brought the potion up towards his face. The brute paid as much attention to his hands as he possibly could; he took extra care in order to ensure he didn’t drop his precious lifeline.
「Al…right…!」
And then, after what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to bring the potion close enough to his face for it to actually be visible.
「Annnd cut. It’s a real sha but that’s all the ti you’ve got. 」
「Guaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!」
A foot stomped itself on Barkas’ hand and crushed both it and the potion that it’d been holding.
It went without saying that the person that’d stepped on him was none other than myself.
I ground my foot into his hand as if to let out all the frustration I’d been building up. In doing so, I caused the bottle to shatter, and its fragnts to pierce his flesh. Blood flowed from within his body and began seeping out of his many newly created cuts.
「So, tell . How does it feel to suddenly have all your hopes crushed right before they’re realized?」
「Guuahhh… Arggghhh!!」
「Right. I guess you are a little too preoccupied to answer. 」
A few drops of the Potion of Detoxification managed to enter his bloodstream through the cuts on his hands, but it didn’t really matter. He take in enough of it to cure him of his paralysis. In fact, the little bit he did manage to absorb only served to harm him, as it woke up his nerves just enough for him to feel even more pain.
「How inconsiderate of you to steal a march on and hog all the fun for yourself, Goshujin-sama. 」
「Oh, whoops. My bad. These retards basically set up perfectly, so I couldn’t really help myself. 」
I lifted my foot off Barkas’ hand and shrugged my shoulders whilst speaking in a patronizing tone. Naturally, I made sure to stand right above him so he could better hear my snarky remark.
「I recognize… that… voice…」
His neck was stuck in its current position. He was unable to move, and therefore probably unable to see anything above our waistlines regardless of how hard he tried. However, as one would expect, he had yet to forget how our voices sounded, especially seeing as how he’d only just heard them a few hours back.
「What the.. hell are… you bastards doing….? Guuuahhhh!!」
「Shut up already, trash. You’re hurting my ears. 」
Minnalis stomped on Barkas’ right hand in a manner much more rciless than my own.
「I stopped and listened for one second, only to hear that? Care to repeat yourself? Who were you going to rape in front of who? Shut that mouth of yours, and stop violating everything around you with the garbage that cos out of it, you filthy cockroach. 」
「Guh… Gahh… Argghghhhh!!」
The extent of Minnalis’ anger was made apparent by the fact that she continued to grind Barkas’ fist into the ground with her foot as she spoke; she put so much force into the assault that I could hear his bones crack each ti she twisted her sole. And if that wasn’t enough, the expression on her face functioned to more than convince that she was as irritated as could possibly be.
「And what’s more, you wanted to betray Goshujin-sama and beg for my life? Just how mad do you plan to make ? Well?」
「T-That was ju—-arghh!」
Barkas tried to say sothing, but Minnalis decided not to give him a chance to speak, and instead kicked him in the jaw to shut him up.
She then imdiately stomped on the man’s left hand, which had coincidentally ended up in her vicinity following her attack.
「I won’t let you bastards get away with this…!」
Barkas was still incapable of movent despite the fact that him bleeding had led to the bit of the potion he’d ingested earlier to start circulating through his bloodstream. He did, however, regain his ability to speak.
「Oh? So what exactly do you piggies think you can actually do to us?」
「Urgghhh! Stop that! God dammiiiiiiiiitttt!!」
「Tell , how’s your right hand feel? Does it hurt?」
「Stop! Just stop alright!! Guaaahhhhh!!」
Minnalis had moved from stepping on Barkas’ right hand to his left, so I took over the role and gave him a good stomp or two in order to milk a few extra screams out of him.
Only after a few laughs did I finally lift my foot and move on.
「Oh right, who was it that brought up having Minnalis kill ? Was it the third rate mage?」
「Thi…rd… ra…. te…!?」
Terry, like Barkas, was incredibly easy to read, he responded to the scornful way in which I glanced in his direction with a sharp glare.
「Yeah. You’re nothing but third rate. In fact, I’m honestly quite surprised you’ve survived for as long as you have with how weak you are. 」
「If… anything…argghghgh!」
Terry flipped onto his face after I kicked him in the exact manner Minnalis had kicked Barkas earlier.
「Hey, tell how you feel. Are you vexed? Mortified? How does it feel to be rolling around face first like a caterpillar after all that shit talk? Well? Say sothing goddammit. 」
I laughed as I approached him and ripped his staff out of his hands before snapping it it right before his very eyes. He responded by sharpening his gaze even further, but I just ignored him and started kicking him while continuing to laugh and smile.
「Ple…ase… just… st…op…it…. Al…ready…. 」
Terry was surprisingly easy to break. It didn’t take more than just a few kicks to make him cave.
Breaking him had made feel really refreshed, so I turned around in order to check on Minnalis, who turned out to be in the middle of breaking Dot.
「Wow, you sure are useless. Aren’t you supposed to be a scout? What’s the point of you even existing if you can’t do your job and warn your party about an upcoming threat? You’re useless in battle too. You let one of your party mbers finish the monster off instead of doing the job yourself. You’re useless, a good for nothing. Do you know what people like you are called? Leeches, parasites. Oh wait, sorry. That must’ve been too complicated for you. There’s no way soone as useless as you could even understand the concept of a parasite. 」
「Kh… Stop… that…」
Minnalis giggled as she rcilessly kicked Dot over and over. The aura of irritation around hadn’t waned in the slightest despite the fact that she was repeating the action whilst wearing a smile.
Dot started off with a rebellious look in his eyes, but it soon vanished as he lost to his sense of pain.
The punishnt Minnalis had administered was overly harsh, but honestly quite deserved, especially when one took the topic the n had just discussed into consideration. It had literally done nothing but serve to add more fuel to the fire.
「You guys were just talking about how you were going to kill us. That, of course, ans you understand that the opposite might happen, right? So, given that, are you ready to die?」
I laced the aura of bloodlust I was giving off with magical energy in order to activate the 『Magical Intimidation』skill. Its effects were imdiately made apparent, as all three of their faces paled over in response. All three of the party’s mbers had still been looking down on us. They’d thought that they would’ve been able to kill us if they hadn’t been paralyzed ahead of ti, but that thought was no more; my aura had obliterated it.
The only pillar of support they had remaining, all we still needed to break, was their shoddy sense of pride.
「W-We’re sorry! P-Please… don’t kill us…! Please!」
「No no no, we can’t be having you going there just yet. 」
I interrupted Barkas and prevent him from saying another word.
「This is only just the opening act. We’re going to need a bit of data to reference for everything we do later on, so don’t be begging for your lives till after we’re done with the headliner. Ain’t that right, Minnalis?」
「Right it is, Goshujin-sama. 」
Minaris nodded as she activated her『Phantom Fla Poison Demon』in order to create a poison capable of reproducing an effect similar to that of the anesthetics we had back in my world. It was much more powerful than the paralyzing mist she’d just created, and had the strength to not only immobilize the three n, but also rob them off any senses they had from the neck down. They could still see, hear, and speak even under its influence, but that was all. In other words, the poison was exactly like an anesthetic, save for the fact that it didn’t deprive those it affected of their consciousness.
The fluid took floated above Minnalis’ hand following its synthesis. Its colouration was that of a marbled mix of red and orange. Conveniently, there just so happened to be exactly three servings worth of the stuff.
「I think it should be about ti for us to get started. Would you mind lending a hand in administering it, Goshujin-sama?」
「Sure. 」
「W-What are you two d—gaaaaahh!」
I forced the n to open their mouths in order to allow Minnalis to pour the poison down each of their throats.
「It should kick in almost right away. It’s much stronger than the mist you inhaled earlier, so it should overwrite the other poison’s effects and allow you to talk again. 」
The poison Minnalis had just created was extrely complex and ate up a lot of MP. As a result, she began suffering from Mana Intoxication, which in turn did the usual and made her start giving a more alluring air.
Her lips twisted up into a wide smile. It was a smile that was not only fearso and dreadful, but also beautifully captivating.
「Kufufu. Please look forward to what’s to co. I’ll be giving you a glimpse of hell’s very depths. 」
Minnalis’ smile transford and beca even lovelier as she spoke. The impurities within it disappeared, leaving not but an expression of heartfelt joy.
「I guess I’d better start getting everything ready. 」
I decided to get on with the plan after confirming that Minnalis had gotten Barkas and his companions prepared for what was to co.
Two different Soul Blades were required for what I intended to do. The first was the 【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade,】and the second the 【Water Sprite’s Droplet Blade. 】
Spare magical energy would always leak from my soul blades during the creation process if I wasn’t careful enough in crafting them. Normally, that would be sothing that I’d try to prevent. This, however, wasn’t exactly what one could call a normal situation. The overflow of energy was perfect for use in the creation of a scene that would instill an even greater amount of terror into the hearts of Barkas and his companions. Thus, I made sure to emphasize the mana leak, I purposefully ford the blade in a much more reckless manner than usual and caused black particles of light to scatter into my surroundings.
「Strum a tune sung by beasts,『Hellspawn Flower』」
The green, bud-like blade that extended from the sword’s handle began to change as I slowly began channeling my magical energy through it. Veiny lines erged from within the blade as it darkened into a series of purples and blacks. It pulsed and grew, expanding in all of size, malevolence and impurity. The change was dramatic, and caused Barkas’ group to twitch in anxiety.
「W-What is that…」
「What, this? Oh, you know, just a little sothing. You’ll find out in due ti. 」
Rather than ignoring him, I replied in such a way that left in the dark. There was no fun in spoiling his future experiences ahead of ti, especially given how well Minnalis’ poison was working. It had done exactly as planned. The viscous, toxic liquid had completely overwritten its misty predecessor and totally paralyzed everything but their faces. They were capable of speaking and moving their eyes, but they were otherwise unable to move even the slightest bit.
All three party mbers had no choice but to stare at the【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade】as it continued to change. Their faces mirrored the blade; they began warping in fear and anxiety as I forced them to regard the process. Their hair started standing on end, all three had realized that the blade would ultimately cause harm.
I had purposefully slowed down the flow of my mana, so the blade had taken an extrely long ti to reach its final form.
But it had.
The bud had finally blossod.
『Jyaruuuuraa』
It began producing a sort of inorganic high pitched screech as it did.
「「「Urgh!」」」
Barkas’ group imdiately grimaced as they heard it. The sound was awful, it sounded almost exactly like the reverberation of having soone scrape their nails against a blackboard. It was a bit harsh on the ears, but tolerable so long as it wasn’t sothing that caught you off guard.
「Nghhh, I really don’t like how that thing sounds. 」
I knew what to expect, so I was relatively unaffected, but Minnalis’ hearing was much more sensitive than mine, so it caused her a bit of grief.
「I already told you that I’m fine, Minnalis. You don’t need to cover my ears. 」
I’d told her to cover her own ears to minimize her exposure to the sound in order to reduce discomfort, a decision resulted from the fact that we weren’t able to find any decent earplugs despite having gone around the entire town in search of them. It was sothing we both agreed on at the ti, but she’d ended up ignoring it, as she was currently attached to my back and plugging mine instead.
「Ehehehe. Co on, Goshujin-sama. I’m your slave, so you have to make sure to order around at tis like these if you want to listen to you. 」
「Co on, get off already, and stop pressing your chest against . 」
「What’re you saying? What do you an by crest?」
Minnalis was suffering from Mana Intoxication, so her actions seed to have a certain degree of sexyness to them.
「Yeah, yeah, cut it out. 」
「Awwww~ Can’t you reward a bit? Look how much stuff I did. 」
「Fine, but not right now. Co on, hurry up and just drink one of these. 」
I peeled Minnalis off and shoved an MP pot in her mouth in an ever so accustod motion. I made sure to keep cool throughout by telling myself that she was only acting the way she was because she was under the influence. She seed to be a bit further off the edge than usual, but I figured that it wasn’t an issue, and that she’d probably return to normal once a bit of ti elapsed.
「W-What… the hell are they doing?」
「I-I don’t… get them…」
Terry and Dot expressed themselves in a pair of voices that contained both confusion and fear, a mix of emotions only fueled further by the fact that they didn’t understand us or the things that we seed to be getting ready to do to them.
Barkas, on the other hand, didn’t really seem to mind my sword nor the banter Minnalis and I were exchanging. Instead, he was completely focused on the living thing that’d just so happened to appear right in his line of sight.
「So, how are you feeling, Slucky?」[1]
「Kyupiii!」
Slucky, the sli that appeared alongside the ear-piercing screech, responded with a cry so cute it seed out of place. The Crest of Subordination engraved on its body allowed to understand that it’d been attempting to convey that it was in perfect form.
The blooming【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade,】on the other hand, had withered and returned back to its usual bud-like state.
「I-Isn’t that just a sli?」
Barkas questioned in an overly confused manner.
「It is. It isn’t a variant, nor a higher order subspecies. It’s just your everyday average sli. 」
I responded to him with the truth. Slucky was the splitting image of your average sli. He didn’t have any eyes or mouths; he was just a translucent, blue blob made out of a jelly-like substance. The only difference between Slucky and a “perfectly average” sli would be that Slucky was a slight bit smaller than average. He was only only about the size of a small balance ball. He wasn’t too small though, he was still within range for one to call him average. There was, of course, also the Crest of Subordination he had engraved onto him, but that was honestly all there was to it.
Slucky continued making his cute cries as he wiggled back and forth on the spot. Seeing him act like that once again made ask a question that’d yet to be answered.
How the hell is it making those noises?
「I’m going to have to ask you do sothing a little bit on the more difficult size. You ready?」
「Kyupii kyuupi!」
I lightly pat Slucky over the head(?) after hearing him respond affirmatively. I was actually rather confused as to exactly where I’d been petting him, as I couldn’t tell precisely where his head was located. All I knew for sure was that I’d petted him sowhere on the upper half of his body. Either way, the sensation I felt from doing so was one that reminded of how it felt to press my hand against a cooled down piece of soft, springy dough.
I dispelled the【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade】and instead summoned the【Water Sprite’s Droplet Blade. 】Unlike the forr, the latter sword didn’t have a blade at all. It was composed solely of three pieces, a handle, a diminutive swordguard, and a piece of ultramarine cloth. The last of the three components was wrapped around the first.
「It’s all you, Slucky. 」
「Kyuupiiii! Uuuu… kyu!」
Slucky responded as if ready before seemingly exerting himself and splitting into two.
I approached one of the two newly divided halves and pressed my sword against it. The corresponding portion of Slucky’s body was imdiately reduced to a tenth its prior volu as it forged itself into a blade.
「W-What the hell are you doing?」
「You tell . What do you think he’s doing?」
Minnalis, who was aware of what was to co, giggled as she teased Barkas with a smile.
「You’ll find out soon enough. Everything’s ready now, and it’ll be pretty hard for to keep the sword’s blade in tact for an extent period of ti given the amount of mana I have right now, so I won’t keep you waiting much longer. 」
I walked over to Barkas and swung the newly ford blade as my lips twisted into a wide grin.
「W-wait… Please… h-hold…」
「Don’t worry. I won’t do as anything as boring as just killing you. 」
I smiled briefly as I regarded Barkas’ decapitated, terror struck face before attacking his his two companions in much the sa manner; I swung my blade in an arc and tore their heads off their bodies.
☆
「Don’t worry. I won’t do as anything as boring as just killing you. 」
The man whose face I was staring up at was one dyed in a sort of mad ecstasy. His smile only seed to widen as he swung the sword that’d been lying around at the edge of my sightline and beheaded .
（Shit… Why’d I have to get done in by a brat like him…?）
I wasn’t able to feel pain because of the stuff his slave had forced to drink, but I could still tell that my severed head ended up rolling after it fell from my body.
I managed to remain conscious despite the fact that I’d lost my head. I could see, and saw both Terry and Dot ending up the sa way I had.
I’ve heard that beheaded criminals would still open their mouths and blink for a few monts after their supposed deaths. Having now experienced it myself, I ca to understand that it was the truth. But that too would soon co to end. That was just how things were. My consciousness would only remain for another few seconds at best. I would soon be taken into the darkness. With that in mind, I turned my eyes towards my companions, the n who had my back for the last few years, and watched as they too moved towards the light. The lack of pain made the last few monts I experienced almost seem surreal, but I sat put and awaited my death reg-
「W-What…. What the hell is going on!?」
Ti ticked by. One, two, three seconds passed, but my consciousness hadn’t even began to fade.
I imdiately began questioning whether or not I’d really been beheaded.
「T-The hell’s going on!? Did I not actually get beheaded?」
「What’s going on? Wasn’t I supposed to have my head cut off?」
I heard both Dot and Terry voice their confusion in that order.
I moved my gaze as far as it would go, and examined their severed heads, only to realize that there was sothing attached to the bottom of their necks.
「Pftttt ahahaha! My bad, my bad. I guess it must be hard for you guys to see what’s going on right now, huh?」
The brat that’d beheaded us laughed loudly before approaching . I felt the sensation of sothing pulling on my hair a few monts after his feet stopped right before my eyes.
「W-What the hell!? Th-th-the fuck’s going on!?」
I was hoisted into the air and given a better view of what had happened to . More specifically, I was given a better view of my own body, twitching, convulsing, and spewing blood as it lay on the ground.
「Y-Y-You have to be fucking kidding ! The hell is going on!? Why aren’t I dead!? Isn’t that my body right there!?」
「Hahaha. Amazing isn’t it? We had Slucky attach a part of himself to each of your necks right when we cut them off. He keeps your blood flowing, at the right pressure, and full of oxygen so you can stay conscious and not dead, even without the rest of your body. He also serves as a substitute for your vocal chords, so you can speak all you like. Minnalis’ poison is keeping you paralyzed and free of pain, so you won’t die from shock either. 」
「Haaah!? The hell are you saying? Stop saying shit I don’t understand!」
「All it ans is that you can remain conscious even as just a head. Here, you’ll understand if you just get a good look. 」
The brat shrugged in an overly exaggerated manner before putting on top of the rock I’d just been sitting on. He sohow made his sword disappear before violently grabbing both Terry and Dot and holding them right in front of . The two had rather spaced out expressions. It didn’t take long to realize that I probably looked the sa. I could see a sli-like thing wrapped around the bottom of each of their severed heads. A dark red liquid, their blood, moved around within it as it pulsed in a pump-like manner.
Knowing that the exact sa thing had happened to made almost want to keel over and faint. It was almost as if I’d been remodeled into so sort of inhuman freak.
「So you understand what’s happened to you now? Isn’t this just great? Not very many people get to die while experiencing sothing this interesting, you know?」
The monster of a brat continued to smile as placed Terry and Dot beside while getting ready to toy with our very lives themselves.
「Slucky. 」
「Kyupii!」
The sli cried in response as if to affirm the man’s words before slowly crawling towards us.
「O-Oi… What are you planning?」
The negative emotion swelling up within led to repeat the question I had asked earlier.
I wasn’t given an answer. My captor instead turned to the sli and spoke to it in a soft tone while stroking its head, a smile decorating his face the whole way through.
「Feel free to dig in. 」
「Kyupii!!」
「…STTTOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP THAAAAATTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!」
The sli imdiately kicked into action and began leaning its body on top of us in response to the brat’s words. The way it acted almost made it seem as if it’d been waiting for his signal the whole damned ti.
「Whaaaaa!? Stop thaaat! Our bodies! Our bodies!!」
Our bodies started to make crunching sounds as the sli compressed them within itself.
「P-Please stop that!! Those are our bodies! Stop that right now! Stop ssing with them! Who the hell do you think we are damn it!? Stop it! Stop it now!」
Terry began screaming at the top of his lungs the mont he saw the sli begin to consu his body.
「T-The hell is this!? No! I know, it’s a dream! Yeah, it has to be a dream! Gyahahahahahaha! I get it! This was all just a dream this whole ti!」
Dot’s words were convincing. This just had to be a dream, a god awful nightmare.
「Heh heh heh. Well, what do you think? Isn’t watching a sli eat you while you’re still perfectly conscious just novel?」
The rabbitkin’s description of the event was spot on. The sli was translucent, so we could see inside of its body; we could see exactly what was going on within it, and we could even hear the occasional crunch through the slimy blob. We heard a particularly loud crack as the sli crushed Dot’s arm and folded Terry’s twisted legs in half. It then peeled off my leather armour, tore my stomach in half, and put my internals on display. I heard sothing important in my mind every single ti a piece of one of our bodies lost its original form.
「This can’t be real. This isn’t possible. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. 」
「Arghhh! This was all our fault! I’m sorry, we’re sorry! Please, just stop already!」
Dot was the first to break, with Terry following soon after. The forr began quietly muttering “this can’t be happening,” over and over while the latter began begging for it to stop. I, on the other hand, began letting out dry gasps. The fact that I saw my own body get broken down and consud right in front of made feel like I was going mad.
I knew that I was going to die. That, I understood. But the way I was going to die wasn’t sothing I could bring myself to accept. I didn’t want it to end, not like this.
「Hmmm… You guys are boring. You’ve all given up despite not even having felt any pain. 」
「We’ve even had goblins entertain us more than them. 」
「Right?」
We were no longer able to discern which part of the lump of flesh inside the sli belonged to who.
I wasn’t able to get what was going on anymore. My mind wasn’t able to keep up.
Why? Why…? Why!?
I wasn’t able to comprehend why the two people in front of us were smiling anymore. Why were they smiling and happily chatting away despite the fact that that had happened to ?
「Kyupuu!」
The sli that’d consud us spat a lump of tal, our equips, back outside of it after it was done ingesting and processing our bodies.
「What did we do to deserve this!?」
「Huh? The hell do you an by that?」
The brat’s words will filled with a burning, violent rage. To him, the answer was clearly an obvious one, but I couldn’t think of any prior events that would’ve led to incurring his wrath.
「Weren’t you trying to backstab ? Didn’t you want to rape Minnalis right before my eyes? Hadn’t you planned on murdering ?」
「Y-Yeah, but that doesn’t justify sothing this horrible!」
「What do you an “justify,” low-life? Didn’t you think you could get away with whatever the hell you wanted just because you were stronger than soone? Didn’t you think no one would care so long as you weren’t found out? Doesn’t all this just go along with that sa school of thought? We’re doing as we like because we’re stronger than you, and because no one will know what happened. Shouldn’t we be perfectly justified based on your very own logic?」
「…」
「Don’t get all pretentious on us. Don’t be complaining about what we’re doing to you. You deserve this. As scum, you should die like scum. 」
Their words made recall sothing the local priest had preached to back when I was a child.
I guess this is what he ant by Karma. Soone did onto us what we did onto others.
I understood that.
But I still couldn’t it accept it.
「No…! No, no, no, no, no!!!」
I don’t want to die. I don’t. Want to die. I. Don’t. Want. To. Die.
Not like this.
I’d long abandoned even the consideration of a natural death. It was sothing I threw away the mont I beca an adventurer. But I couldn’t stand going out like this.
I didn’t want it to end like this.
Not like this.
「It seems like it’s about ti for us to bid our farewells. Minnalis, Slucky, we all get one each. Alright?」
「Sure thing, Goshujin-sama. 」
The rabbitkin reached into an item bag-like object and pulled out a rusty hamr as she spoke.
「This is allllllllll juuuuuuuust aaaaaaa dreeeeeammmmmmmmmm! IIIIIII’mmmmmmmmm juuuuuuuussssssssstttttttt drrrrreeeeeeeaaaaaaaamiiiiiiinggggggg!! Bye bygrophph!」
The sound of sothing whistling in the wind passed by my ears as she smashed the hamr into the spot right next to . Dot’s still warm blood flew through the air and splashed itself onto my face as I felt a vibration shake through the thing I was situated on top of.
「Alright, your turn Slucky. 」
「Kyupii!」
The sli extended a pair of tentacles as it responded to the brat’s instructions.
「This can’t be happening! There’s just no way! This is way too unreal! It’s impoasdugkjhasdgjkh!」
The sli pulled Terry’s head into its body and crushed both his bones and flesh into a single small lump. One of his eyeballs flew out of the sli’s body after the rest was consud, as if it was sothing accidentally spilled in the act of eating. But not even that part managed to escape, as one of the sli’s tentacles reached out, grabbed it, and pulled it back into the at grinder that was its body.
「No! Not like this! Why… Why does it have to be like this!?」
「That’s a thought I’ve entertained quite a few tis as well. I’ve caught myself screaming that exact question over and over. You see, you guys might not know the reason why this happened, but I do. And I’m pretty sure I’ve already explained it, haven’t I?」
The last thing I saw right before getting my head split in half was the sight of the brat’s bitter smile, one that contained within it scorn even for oneself.
[1] Original na is a Dragon Quest reference. Idk how they localized it, so I just did it my way. (Surakichi = Sli lucky = Slucky)
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