"Another 100!?" Exclaimed a young, beady eyed girl student, her shout catching the attention of the entire classroom, "That's your third perfect score this entire semester! You're so amazing Tenko-kun!"
Suddenly, everyone in the classroom flocked to the young, blond haired lad in question. As they surrounded him, amazed by his achievement, the boy couldn't help but dig his face into his arms, ignoring the seas of compliments and praises he was receiving from all sides.
No, it's not that he was shy or anything, the reason for him not wanting to take a single one of their praises was due to one simple factor: he cheated. But it wasn't your typical "write the answers underneath your sleeves" sort of cheat, but one of the most unorthodox kind.
"Thank you, Mister Hisashi for your collaboration." Said a man dressed in a black tux, handing the teacher a suitcase full of money under everyone's eye.
Bribing of the education system. Indeed, Tenko Ritchi was son of the head CEO of the Ritchi Conglomerate, one of the richest mega companies in Japan. To make matter worse, he was the son of two most aggressively over doting parents in possibly all of Japan. Having already lost 2 sons and a daughter to suicide due to the pressure, his father and mother gave him everything he could ever want in hopes of making him happy.
There was just one problem however.
"Where's the damn challenge!?" Tenko yelled to the top of his lungs on the school roof, letting out all of the accumulated frustrations he had built up in just one day, "Everyone else was stressing out about how difficult the test was, why was I the only one with no worries!?"
Meanwhile, some of his female classmates down below were discussing which boys they thought were the prettiest.
"Tenko obviously is soooo much hotter than any other boys in our school. I mean, that chocolate brown hair, flowing down his perfectly toned skin, such wonderous bangs, thin yet muscular body, long legs, he's like a model!" Said one of the girls, jittering with excitement from just imagining him.
"I know! There's simply no competition!" Replied another girl.
"People always view me as the prettiest because my parents payed off all the potential rivals I could have had to different schools!" Tenko continued his rant, "I'm not even that muscular! I'd look above average at best!"
"Oh, and the way he's just always in class first, sitting by the windowsill! Kya! Like a sexy lone wolf!" The girls continued just below him.
"I never even felt the stress of running late for class, because even if I slept in, my butlers would transport my damn bed to school 2 hours before opening time and just dump me into my seat!" He yelled out.
"Oh, speaking of which, Rin's birthday's coming up next Thursday." Said one of the girls.
"Wait, I thought you said it was next Tuesday, as in next week!" Said another.
"Uh, no, you must've misheard." She replied.
"Ah crap, that's tomorrow! I'd look terrible if I don't get her a present in time!" Exclaimed the girl, "Hurry guys, you gotta help me out here!"
"Don't worry, we got your back." Said her friends, "Come on, we have about 30 minutes until the stores close."
"Are you kidding me! We'll never make it in time!" She exclaimed as they dashed off in a hurry.
"I never even feared not giving my classmates a birthday presents on time because, again, my damn butlers do it all for me!!" Tenko finished his rant.
Falling onto his back, the back of his throat feeling dry, he uttered out the last of his frustrations.
"I just... want to earn something for once." He uttered out, "I just want the satisfaction of hard work. I want a damn challenge!"
[Well aren't you a lively one?]
A voice suddenly emerged.
Surprised, Tenko slowly got up, looking around, trying to figure out where the voice came from.
[Over here silly.]
Turning to where the voice came from, the sky suddenly darkened. Not "night time" dark, rather "cloudy day" dark, as a beam of light shone down from the sky, revealing a magic circle, which expanded, covering the entire roof.
"What in the world is going on!?" Tenko exclaimed, startled.
[Do not fret, my dear Tenko...], the voice continued.
Suddenly, a silhouette descended from the sky, letting out an explosion of light.
[For it is I, The Holy Spirit! The One Above! The Creator! The Alpha and the Omega! The-]
"GGGAAAAAAAAaaaahhhhh..."
Sadly, the overly grandiose appearance of the aforementioned "God" was cut short, as the blinding light was so strong, it caused Tenko to fall back, going over the railing and, as a result, off the roof.
[That... could have gone better.] The Goddess muttered in an embarrassed tone as a splat was followed soon after, along with the horrified screams of leaving students.
...
...
"W-Where am I?"
...
...
"Am I dead?"
...
...
"I... I see... I see a light!"
...
...
"W-Who's there?"
[You met a terrible fate, haven't you?] A familiar voice asked.
"That voice again..." Thought Tenko, "Who are you!?" He called out.
Looking around, he saw nothing but a near endless dark void, illuminated by the crystal-like floor, which emanated a faint glow, like a massive lava lamp, as drops of light rose from it every now and then, floating into the endless dark sky like stars, before dissipating away.
[You met a terrible fate, haven't you?] The voice repeated.
"This place, it looks so... beautiful..." Said Tenko, too distracted by the mysterious realm he was transported to to notice the ethereal being standing ten feet in from of him, "Yet, so unoriginal."
[You met a terrible fate, haven't you!?] The voice repeated again, slightly faster and with less grace and more frustration.
"I mean, personally, If I were to make an after life, no way I'd stop at something so half-assed! Maybe make use of some of these light droplet things to create constellations in the sky that move like their corresponding animal, maybe some mountains, floating islands..." Tenko continued, ignoring the voice's continuous calls, "Perhaps change the color of the sky to-"
[YOU MET A TERRIBLE FATE HAVEN'T YOU!?] The voice yelled out at the top of its lungs, snapping Tenko out of his illusion.
Jumping nearly ten whole feet in the air from the startling scream, Tenko turned his attention to the person in question.
[Do I finally have your attention now?] Asked the voice, panting for a bit before regaining its composure, [Good. Anyways, I have witnessed the unfortunate events unfold before my eyes. It is most unfortunate. Hence I, Gaia, the Goddess of the earth, will grant you a second chance! A new life in a brand new world! Fate has been cruel to you, but I am merciful, I will grant you a special power that will allow you to-]
"I'm gonna stop you right there." Said Tenko, not wanting to hear a second more of the Goddess's long-winded speech about reincarnation, "First of all, you were the one who pushed me off the roof with that lightshow of yours. I don't care if you're a Goddess or the Goddess or the absolute supreme-est of supreme beings or what, your overly grandiose entrance was what got me killed, not fate!"
[A-A slight mishap on my part, but you must understand that I-] Gaia stuttered out, trying to regain control of the situation.
"Secondly, 'but I am merciful'? Are you Xerxes trying to persuade me to join your kingdom or something!? And using unfortunate in two back to back sentences, your speech is way too half-assed for me to sit through!" Ranted Tenko, "And I'm still pissed about what you did, you jerk Goddess! You killed me, so take responsibility and revive me or something!"
Tenko grabbed the Goddess by the shoulder, shaking her back and forth.
"Please stop Tenko! I didn't mean to kill you I swear! I just thought maybe you wanted to be sent to another world as the hero who will save it from a great evil, I had no bad intentions I swear!" Cried Gaia, losing the ethereal echo in her voice.
However, due to all this shaking, Tenko ended up knocking over the throne she was sitting on and, as it fell over, cracking the crystal at the very tip, as the entire sky cracked open, shattering before them.
Awed by what he saw, he looked around again, only to find himself in what appeared to be a high-school girl's bedroom. The messy pink bedsheets were bathed in a mystical blue light coming from the window, which illuminated the entire room, showing in its disorganized entirety.
"W-What just happened!?" Tenko uttered out, trying to process what had just transpired, as Gaia's "throne" turned out to be nothing more than a cheap bargain store chair with a cracked crystal on top.
The Goddess, who now looked not a year older than him, with her white glowing hair running down to her knees, dropped to the broken crystal crying.
"Noooooo!! My Limbo Orb! I cheated so many assignments with it and now it's broken!!" She cried in a high pitched voice that was a stark contrast to her initial womanly grace, now resembling more than of a whinny schoolgirl.
"REEEEEEEEE!!!!"
Or a dying chihuahua.
"Look, I'm, uh, sorry?" Tenko apologized, still not sure what was going on.
"Well you better be!" Yelled Gaia, "That Orb cost me all my allowance! Now I need to wait until next century before I can refill my wallet! You yelled at me for killing you? Well, we're even now, happy!?"
Looking around the room, while Tenko wished for everything that was happening to just be a dream, he still couldn't help but notice that he was clearly not on earth. The outside, from what he could see through the window, was a cloudy paradise, with floating islands, a golden sky, and all the things he described earlier in his depiction of an afterlife.
"Say, Gaia... what's going on here?" Asked Tenko, still not fully comprehending the situation, "Wasn't I supposed to be transported to another world or something?"
"That was what was intended!" Exclaimed Gaia, jumping up to him, as the latter realized she was barely half his size in height, "You were supposed to accept my offer and get transported to the heart of the 'Kiru Kingdom', armed with the cheat skill 'Infinite Leveling' which you would use to vanquish the Demon King! But no, you had to be an asshole about it, now look where it got me!"
"So, does that mean I can't be reincarnated anymore?" Asked Tenko.
"Oh, you still can." Said Gaia, "But I'm gonna have so many points deducted for it."
"Points?" Asked Tenko.
"Indeed." Said Gaia, pulling out a brochure for "Eden's school of Ascension!" and handing it to Tenko, "I'm what you might call a 'Demi-Goddess' or an 'Goddess Apostle', we Demi-Gods and Goddesses need to go through this school and pass its numerous trials before we can be classified as full fledged Gods."
Looking through the Brochure, he can see that she had most of her assignments crossed out except for one: "Cheat Skill Isekai."
"That one's the last assignment I have left to complete before I can become a certified Goddess! I have to send someone from earth to another world with a Cheat Skill powerful enough to let them defeat the Demon King! I've failed this assignment twice already and doomed two worlds! If I fail I third time, I flunk out!" Gaia explained.
"I'm amazed you haven't already flunked out already." Said Tenko, looking at her grades, all barely making the minimum, "This is honestly painful to look at. How lazy did you get with some of these?!"
"I may have cut a few corners in a few of these assignments." Said Gaia, touching her fingers, "But that's not the pressing matter at hand here! I brought you here just so I can resurrect you to another world! Now hurry up and get on it!"
She then ran to her drawer, digging through a bunch of her stuff before pulling out an old cracked hand mirror.
"There we go! All you gotta do now is jump through here and you'll be in another world!" Said Gaia.
"But will I be in one piece?" Thought Tenko, looking at how old and worn out the hand mirror already was, as he approached it.
"Wait wait! Almost forgot!" She stopped him, pulling out a flask from the pile of stuff she threw out her drawer, "Most of my friends use their own homemade ones, but these store bought one are just as good in my opinion, here, 'Cheat in a flask!', can't just send you to another world only to have you get killed! This will make your life in the other world easy peasy!"
Tenko froze upon hearing this. Easy? Like in his last life? He had been longing to finally work hard for something, and now he's just gonna relive another life where things are just handed to him on a platter?
"Sorry, but I must decline." Said Tenko.
"What!?" Exclaimed Gaia.
"Everything was 'easy peasy' in my last life as well." Said Tenko, "I want to actually work and earn my rewards for once! Feel the satisfaction of getting stuff done without help! I'm sorry, but I'd rather not relive that kind of life."
"B-But, if you don't take the cheat, then your actions won't count! I'll fail my assignment!" Exclaimed Gaia.
"Can't you just find someone else?" Asked Tenko.
"Of course not! Only one person from earth can enter the same world at a time! Since I've already doomed two, they're only giving me access to this one world! You're my only shot!" Exclaimed Gaia.
"Then transport me back to my old world." Said Tenko.
"I can't do that either!" Said Gaia.
"Because?"
"Because they already cremated you!" Exclaimed Gaia.
Hard cut to back on earth, Tenko's body burst into flames in the crematorium.
"Please, Tenko, I'm begging you." Pleaded Gaia, dropping to her knees, "No one has ever failed this assignment in over 100 million years, I'll be a laughing stock if I screw this up! Just do it for me!"
Giving him her best puppy eyes, Gaia was already resorting to begging to get what she wanted. However, whatever charm or cuteness she might have had was only met back with a disgusted look on his face.
"Seriously?" Asked Tenko, "Your room looks like that of a stereotypical shut-in NEET, you cheat and half ass all your tasks and you want to push all your responsibilities onto me!? You got yourself into this mess, now work your way out for once!"
And with that, Tenko jumped into the mirror, entering the world with nothing but the clothes at his time of death and his own sheer will. As for Gaia, she could to nothing but drop to her knees, and despair.
"DAMN IT ALLLLLL!!!!" She dropped down and cried, "I WANNA BE A TRUE GODDEEESSSSS!"
Rolling around on the floor, she once again started whining like a spoiled brat. However, admist all of her whining, she accidentally hit her head on the table, causing another item to fall on her.
"Owww, what the hell's this thing?" She asked herself, picking up the item, "The 'Vessel Clay'? I thought I threw this thing away after using it to cheat my 'Walk among mortals' assignment."
Suddenly, an idea sprung to mind.
"Wait a minute, while I'm forbidden to directly influence any worlds with my Demi-Goddess powers, there's not a single rule forbidding me to freely visit other worlds in mortal vessels." She said to herself, "I got it! I'll follow Tenko and make his life in the other world a living hell! Then he'll HAVE to accept my cheats or die! If he accepts my cheats, I pass my last assignment, and if he dies before reaching the Demon King, I could get another human! I mean, there's technically no rules preventing such a thing!"
A sinister smile drew on her face, as she herself approached the mirror Tenko entered. Ripping out a piece of clay, her hands emitted a light blue glow, shaping the clay into a human body.
"Time to force my cheat abilities onto you, Tenko!" She said, throwing the vessel into the other world as well.
-----
Shortly after Tenko entered the mirror, he found himself plummeting through the air. Normally, this is where his cheat skill would kick in, allowing him to land safely onto the ground with minimal injury.
However, since he was going with basically nothing, all he could do was scream and flail about, as the ground drew closer and closer to him at an accelerating rate
"This was a mistake!! THIS WAS A MISTAAAAAKE!!!!" Tenko cried out to the top of his lungs, alerting all nearby fauna and animals of his presence.
While this was happening, somewhere deep within the shimmering blue woods of the new world Tenko found himself in, a young feminine figure picked up the sounds of what appeared to be a man screaming for help.
Her head shot up, as she looked up to see what appeared to be something falling from the sky.
"Rumi, is everything alright?" Asked one of her friends, emerging from the bushes.
"Do you see that? Up there?" Replied Rumi, pointing at the vaguely human shaped dot falling from the sky.
"See what?" Asked her friend, squinting in an attempt to make out what Rumi was pointing at, "I don't see anything. You sure it's not just your eyes?"
"If my eyes were at fault, I wouldn't be the village's head huntress." Replied Rumi, "Whatever, it's gone anyways, let's just head back."
As she said that, she jumped off the carcass of a massive boar she was standing on, as she bit off a nearly piece of vine with her fang-like teeth, using it to tie up her crimson red hair, which supposedly came loose.
"Rumi! We're here to help!" A bunch of other animal-eared people exclaimed as they emerged from the bushes.
"A little late guys." Said Rumi, smiling at them, "I got it."
Seeing the catch, many of the hunter ran up to her, congratulating her and giving her pats on the back.
"That's Rumi for ya!" Exclaimed her friend, wrapping her arms around Rumi and pumping her fist up into the air "Not even the mightiest of [Bloodhogs] can take down our great huntress!"
"Celine, please! My hair's gonna get undone again!" Rumi playfully replied.
"Come on now, let's get this thing back to the village." Said one of their hunter kin, "Can't wait for them to see this catch for themselves!"
"Yeah! This baby will feed us for a whole month!" Exclaimed Celine.
"If we restrain you properly that is. Otherwise, it could probably feed us for two." Joked Rumi, poking her exposed belly.
"Hey! Rude!" Celine grunted, half laughing, playfully punching her in the shoulder.
As the group headed back, Celine turned to Rumi.
"So tell me, what did you see earlier that was so weird?" Asked Celine.
"You're not gonna believe this, but I'm pretty sure I saw someone falling through the sky." Said Rumi.
"Are you joking with me?" Asked Celine, "You sure it wasn't just an really deformed [Aeraptor]?"
"No! I swear! It looked almost like a... human..." Said Rumi.
A look of disgust drew on Celine's face.
"Ugh, you want to spoil tonight's feast or what?" Asked Celine, "Besides, how can a human get so far up into the air in the first place?"
"I dunno, I heard some mages in the capital of Kiru were experimenting with all sorts of crazy magic. Maybe they made some sort of teleportation spell that went wrong?" Replied Rumi.
"Well in that case, I hope that human land face first and leaves a giant splat of blood." Said Celine, "Those stinking light skinned goblins deserve it!"
"Don't say that." Said Rumi, "I mean sure, they are known for looking down on many non-human species like us [Wolfkins], but it's not like we've ever been directly hurt by them. I mean, it's own village's motto to-"
"Don't hurt what hasn't hated us and don't hate what hasn't hurt us. Yeah, I know." Finished Celine, "But we've been to the Capital before to sell fur and meats before haven't we?"
"And things turned out pretty fine." Said Rumi.
"Fine for you! You always space out gawking at everything in that place and not notice the thousands of human eyes pointing our way, looking at us like we're monsters!" Exclaiming Celine, "Those humans think they're so much better than us! They're assholes! They're prideful! They're..."
"Here..." One of the hunters at the front cut them off, dropping his bow in shock and awe.
The two huntresses divert their attention to the hunter at the front, as a look of horror drew on their faces as well.
"The humans are here!!!"
Meanwhile, Gaia's plan was already set in motion. She has prepared the perfect monster that would scare Tenko into submission and accepting the cheat skills: The [Titanous Swamp Slime].
"These things are known for killing their prey slowly." Said Gaia, "Once it swallows its victims, it's bodily acid goes to work, slowly and very painfully digesting the victims! Not only that, but the slime's body has sound cancelling properties, meaning no one would be able to hear him scream and save him! Once he's trapped, he'll be dead for sure, unless he accepts my cheat skills! Luckily, this slow killer will give him plenty of time to think!"
Just then, the Slime expended one of its tendrils, attacking Gaia, but luckily missing.
"Oh dear, I almost forgot that this thing attacks anything it sees!" Said Gaia, ducking into a shallow pit, "No matter! It's a super dangerous monster in this world for a reason! In fact, the only way to kill it is to strike it's core! And with it's massive body mass, there's no impact in the world that could possibly reach-"
"aaaaAAAAAHHHHH!"
Just then, Tenko landed conveniently on the slime, breaking his fall. With him falling nearly the height of a 150 story building, the impact was just enough to crush the slime's core, killing it instantly. As the near liquid creature was hit however, it sent a massive splash of it's gelatinous acid, flying towards the pit Gaia hid in.
"Eh?"
Before she could reach, the gelatinous stomach acid completely filled the pit she was in, as it's gelatinous consistency made it nearly impossible for her to escape.
"GYYAAAAAHHH!!!! IT BURNS! I CAN'T BREATHE! IT HURTS! THE PAIN! TENKO HELP! PLEAAAASE!!!" Gaia yelled to the top of her lungs. Sadly, the gelatin's previously mentioned sound muting capabilities muted all of her cries for help, as Tenko ran off, not even noticing her and leaving her to be slowly dissolved by the acidic slime jelly.
"Man was I lucky." Said Tenko, managing to survive the fall, "Somehow I fell right on that giant slime creature of sorts. It burns a bit but hey, beats being dead."
After what felt like hours of running however, it started to become clear: he was lost. Collapsing near what appeared to be an oak tree with blue leaves instead of green, he could hear the rumbling of his stomach, demanding sustenance.
Droplets fell onto the ground. Tears. His legs were about to give away. His attempts to get food were failures. There were berries everywhere, but they tasted bitter and gave him diarrhea.
"So this is hunger... this is what failing feels like..." He thought to himself, "The feeling that if I don't succeed, I might actually die, the low of losing, I never felt like this... I never felt..."
A bright smile drew on his face, as his tears were revealed to be tears of joy.
"So alive!"
Looking at another bush, the same berries he had eaten before could be seen, the bitter ones that gave him the runs. They looked like wild blueberries, but were darker with white spots and a stem at the end.
"Those berries again. This forest seems to be littered with them..." Said Tenko, "I'd avoid them for now but..."
His stomach growled.
"Ah screw it! Time to dig in." He yelled out, stuffing his mouth full of the stuff, "Gyyaahhh! So bitter!!"
Barely able to choke them down, he felt the runs coming again, as he ran behind of bush to do his business. Once done however, he struggled to stand up from his squatting position. All the running and berries were finally getting to him.
Collapsing on the ground, he decided that the best medicine he had available for the time being was sleep. However, just then, he heard the sound of rustling behind him. Looking up, he saw what looking like horned squirrels, approaching the bush where he had picked his berries from. The squirrel got up to one of the branches, and picked a berry.
"Well, glad someone enjoys those bitter fruits." Tenko muttered to himself.
However, instead of picking the berries and eating them right away, the squirrel pushed into one end of the berries, as the stem came out the other, taking out what looked like a small sac of ink with it before nibbling on the berry.
Intrigued by this, Tenko went up to one of the berries, and mimicked the squirrel, pushing into one end, popping out the stem from the other. He then plopped the stemless berry into his mouth. Suddenly, his eyes bulged up, as he let out a cry.
"DELICIOOOOOUUUUUSSSSS!!!!!" He yelled to the top of his lungs.
Quickly picking up another berry, he repeating the process. However, he was too frantic in his actions and ended up bursting the sac, spoiling that berry. He then repeated, and once again, it was a fail. However, he didn't let up, as he continued with trial and error, every now and then getting it right.
After about an hour, he had picked the bush clean of berries and ate his fill. Collapsing onto his back, he let out a cry of victory.
"I SOLVED MY OWN PROBLEM FOR ONCE!!!" He cried out, "I... I finally solved my first problem..."
Sure, it was a petty one and anyone could probably have figured it out, but to him, it was like ace an exam you spent two weeks stressing over. For the first time in his life, he had overcome an obstacle on his own.
"Move you mutts!!"
And just like that, another obstacle came about.
"I said move!" Exclaimed the same voice, "Unless you want me to cut off one of your ears!"
Peering over a bush, Tenko's eyes widened at what he saw. A squadron of men on horseback, bandits it seemed, leading what looked like slaves in chains. Upon closer inspection, he also saw that the captured slaves were not human. They had wolf-like ears sprouting from the top of their head and a singular fang peeking out of the corner of they mouth. Their fingernails were black and sharp like claws and some of them even had stripped on their light brown skin.
"So this is one of those fantasy worlds..." Tenko said to himself.
There was a caravan carrying a massive amount of these animal-eared people, but a handful of them where in chains and being lead, some even dragged, by the men on horseback. At the front were two women. One was almost as tall as he was, with long and messy red hair, piercing yellow eyes and a thin but muscular frame, looking almost Amazonian while the other had blond burly hair, round eyes, and had a slightly plumper face.
Also, unlike the ones being transported by caravan, who wore brownish, short sleeved clothing akin to that of a medieval peasant, the ones chained and on foot wore short animal pelt and fur or leather tops. They were practically half naked.
"You damn humans! I knew we should never have trusted you." Hissed Celine, beaten up and bloody, but still glaring at the leader of the group with fierce eyes.
"Hey, don't hate me, hate my employer. Not only is he only paying me 70 pieces of gold of all this effort, but he insists on all of the ladies being virgins, and will deduct 10 gold pieces for each one I deflower." The bandit leader sneered back, before giving her a venomously sinister smile, "How unfair is that?"
"Try it and I'll bite it right off!" Celine growled.
Just then, the bandit leader ordered his men to halt, before getting off his horse. Walking up to Celine, who didn't let up her defiant look despite shaking.
"Well, you're quite the feisty one aren't you?" Laughed the leader, "Men, get me a pair of pliers. Time to show this sub-human her place."
"Don't you dare hurt her!" Exclaimed Rumi, running at him, only to get reeled back in by her chains.
"W-Whatever you're gonna do to me... I-I'm not afraid." Celine uttered out.
"Still bearing your fangs at me huh?" Grinned the bandit leader, receiving his pliers, "Then we're just gonna have to pull them out. Men, hold her down!"
"N-No! Someone! Please help!!" Celine's composure dropped, as she tried to run, only for her chains to also reel her as several men pinned her down.
"I heard Wolfkin fangs sell for 10 copper a piece on the market. Since my employer doesn't care for the teeth, maybe I could make a few extra bucks." Said the bandit leader with a sadistic look on his face.
"Get off of her!!" Rumi yelled, thrashing at him but in vain as her chains tied her down, "I'll kill you!!"
Forcing her mouth open, The bandit leader placed the pliers between her first set of teeth.
"Don't worry now, this won't hurt too much." Laughed the bandit leader.
Suddenly, a rock flew in, missing the bandit leader but hitting one of the bandits beside him instead.
"Leave her alone!" Yelled out a voice.
Everyone diverted their attention to the new guy: A somewhat tall, thin young man wearing a shirt that seemed to be white once upon a time, but that has been covered with sweat, dirt and berry juice.
"A human?" Thought Rumi and Celine, along with the other Wolfkin.
"Who're you?" Asked The bandit leader, looking at him with confused eyes.
"I told you once and I'll tell you again!" Tenko continued, picking up a handful of rocks, "Let her go!"
However, he was not exactly the best shot, as the next throw also missed by a full feet, not hitting anything. Then another one, bouncing off his chest armor, then another, which actually hit Celine. In the end, Tenko's intimidation tactic only resulted in him making a fool of himself.
"Ahahahaha! Look at this buffon!" All the bandits laughed.
However, Admist all of this laughter, Tenko's frustrations peaked, as he threw his next rock at full strength.
"Stop laughing!"
The rock once again missed, however, instead of hitting the bandit leader in the head, by sheer luck, it hit one of the horses square in the eye.
All of a sudden, the horse he hit went into a frenzy, causing all other horses to follow suit, creating chaos as all the bandits scrambled about, trying to get them back under control.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Rumi ran up to one of the bandits, knocking him out in one blow and taking his sword, cutting herself loose from her chains, then taking the keychain from his body and tossing them to her hunter comrades as she ran to face the bandit leader.
"Human!!" She yelled out, striking him with the blade, as the bandit leader turned around, blocking with an attack of his own.
While all of this happened, Tenko ran up to Celine, hoping he could get her to somewhere safe. However, as soon as he approached her, She let out a growl, scaring him back.
"Back off human!" Celine growled, "I'll kill you!"
"W-Woah woah! don't worry, I come in peace..." Tenko tried to tell her, internally grateful that there was no language barrier, "I'm here to save you, you have to trust me."
"Trust you!? You humans burned down our village! You were about to pull out my teeth! You're all monsters!" Exclaimed Celine, "So back off! I'll never accept you humans!"
Before Tenko can reason with her further however, one of the bandits came up to her from behind.
"Look out!" Tenko exclaimed, attempting to tackle the bandit, only to crash into him to little effect.
"Hah, you call that a tackle?" Laughed the bandit, raising his sword.
Suddenly, Celine got up, delivering a spinning kick to the bandit's jaws, taking him down in an instant.
"Owww, what was he, made of bricks?" Said Tenko, picking himself off the floor, looking at Celine, whom managed to free herself with the keychain the bandit dropped. Just then, Celine picked up the bandit's sword, walking towards Tenko, blades at the ready, "Um, miss? Why are you approaching me?"
She then dashed in, ready to slash at at him.
"Wait stop!"
Or so it seemed.
"Gyaaaahhh!!!"
Blood suddenly gushed out from behind him, as Celine cut the throat of a bandit running up behind him.
"Uh... thanks." Said Tenko.
"We'll call it even." Replied Celine, still looking at him with skeptical eyes.
Just then, a blast of flames came between the two of them, as Rumi fell to the ground, her arm charred.
"Rumi!!" Exclaimed Celine, running up to her.
"Rumi's hurt!" The other Wolfkin exclaimed, running towards her.
"No! Everyone, back off!" Yelled Rumi.
Suddenly, several fireballs flew in, some hitting the other Wolfkin and one hitting Celine directly.
"Celine!" Rumi cried out, before getting kicked in the stomach.
Standing before her, the bandit leader came in, his hands emitting a red glow.
"Ahahaha! You see this you dogs? This is what separates humans from you sub-humans!" Exclaimed the bandit, "Our superior control of magic!"
"Magic!? I thought he was just a lowly bandit leader!" Thought Tenko.
"This isn't good, we can't beat someone with magic..." The other Wolfkin said to each other, back up.
"Now, before I kill this bitch, I have someone I have to deal with first!" Said the bandit leader, walking up to Tenko, kicking him in the stomach as he crashed into a tree, "That was for starting this whole fiasco."
As Tenko struggled to get up, he saw the Bandit leader towering over him, ready to kill him.
"Shit, is this really how it's gonna end!?" Thought Tenko, panicked, "I have to figure something out! Anything!"
"Die!"
Suddenly, a massive shadow emerged from behind the bandit leader, swallowing him whole in an instant.
"Sir Enzen!!!" Exclaimed the other bandits, as the creature that came effectively out of nowhere let out a fearsome roar. The beast had six legs and a massive gaping maw, with it's lion-like mane covering it's entire body.
"What is that thing!?" Exclaimed Celine.
However, the bandits seemed to be far more knowledgeable.
"That's... a [Behemoth]!" Exclaimed one of them.
"A [Behemoth]!? Those super dangerous creatures that can kill can entire platoon of of royal knights!?" Exclaimed another, "What the hell is it doing here!?"
"I don't know, but it looks angry!" Said one of the bandits, "But as long we don't provoke it..."
"Eat arrows monster!" Another bandit yelled in panic, shooting an arrow into it.
The beast, now angered, turned it's attention to the bandits.
"Doug! You idiot, you killed us all!" Yelled one of the bandits as the beast charged at them.
In a panicked frenzy, all of the bandits took their horses and ran off. As this happened, the Wolfkin, who saw the whole thing unfold, stood there dumbfounded. Just then, Celine walked up to Tenko, picking him up.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Uh yeah..." Said Tenko, "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." She replied.
"I'm surprised you approached him with no ill intent Celine." Said Rumi, walking up to the two of them, still clutching her burned arm.
"Well, 'Don't hurt what hasn't hated us and don't hate what hasn't hurt us', right?" Said Celine.
Patting her on the head, Rumi smiled.
"Glad you stuck true to that." She said, before turning her attention to Tenko, "Now, what's a high mage like you doing all the way out here?"
"High...mage?" Asked Tenko.
"Don't play dumb, Behemoths live in the mountainous regions of the Vida Forest, the only way one could have shown up here is if it was brought here with a high level teleportation magic! Only human high mages can cast that sort of spell and I'm pretty sure none were amongst those bandits!" Exclaimed Rumi.
"Rumi, you don't mean he's the guy who fell from the sky, do you?" Asked Celine.
"He just might be." Said Rumi.
"I didn't do it." Said Tenko, "In fact, I've done none of those things. I was brought here from another world you see."
The two Wolfkin responded to that with silence.
"You don't believe me do you?" Asked Tenko.
"I think the teleportation spell might have affected his memory as a side effect." Celine whispered to Rumi.
"Seems possible." Replied Rumi.
"I heard that." Said Tenko.
"Nevertheless, you did technically save us. I guess it's only appropriate we treat you to something in return." Said Rumi.
"Oh thank you, because I am starving!" Exclaimed Tenko.
"Well then, let's get going." Said Celine, "Rumi makes the best roast hogs!"
As Tenko followed all the freed Wolfkin however, he looked back, wondering where that Behemoth came from.
Meanwhile, Gaia, this time far away from Tenko, waited for the prayers from Tenko to be heard. Luckily for her, Goddesses can't die, even if their vessel were to be destroyed, so after she was digested, she simply remade another vessel and came back. . She learned her lesson from last time and made sure to stay as far away as possible from the Behemoth she unleashed on Tenko to hopefully scare him into submission.
Just then, she saw several men running in the distance, all passing her without stopping. Turning around, Gaia wondered what they were running away from. Just then, she a loud rumbling as the ground beneath her started to shake, as the Charging Behemoth can be seen, charging right at her at full speed.
"Eh?"