Training was hard today so I went in to a nearby river to cool myself down. But then, all of a sudden, monsters came out from behind me. They weren't even attacking me, they just kept on running.
What were they running from?
I thought as I looked behind me. I could feel my eyes widening at the clouds of smoke appearing in the sky. I could also see a luminous glow of red in the distance. It was in the direction of home.
WAIT, HOME! KENNETH, MARIA!
I thought as I frantically got out of the river and grew to my maximum size, running towards home.
Was it a forest fire? No, this was something different.
Then, I heard shouting. People? What were they doing here? Can't they see there's a fire going on?!
My eyes widened once more as I saw people carrying torches. They... they were throwing them around. Were they the ones creating this fire?! How could they?!
(???) "There it is!"
(???#2) "Get it!"
(???#3) "Don't let it escape!"
Wait, are they hunting me?! Nevertheless, I jumped over them. Once I did, I could hear their shouting ever so closely, they were following me. There were more people on the way to home, but I didn't care. I was too worried for Kenneth and Maria to properly fight them.
Once I reached the house, it was already burning up in flames. I jumped in. At that point, I didn't care what happened to me.
(Asch) "Kenneth! Maria! Where are you?!"
I heard coughing. They're still alive!
(Kenneth) "Asch! You need to leave, now!"
I followed the sounds of coughing. They were trapped between the flames. Kenneth was holding Maria in his arms, seems like she passed out.
(Asch) "Kenneth! Are you and Maria gonna be okay?!"
Before he could reply, he fainted. I could hear myself whining in worry. Damn it, why does this have to happen?! I jumped through the fire, getting a lot of damage just by doing so. I picked them up and exited by jumping through the roof, creating a huge hole in the process.
Just when I thought things wouldn't get worse, I heard the sounds of shouting. It looks like they finally caught up to me. I ran.
Everywhere I go, there seems to be humans stationed there. The fire was getting worse, too. What was going on?! I thought as questions surged through my mind.
I heard coughing again. It was coming from Kenneth, is he waking up?
(Asch) "Kenneth! Tell me, what the heck is happening?!"
(Kenneth) "Asch... those people are adventurers... they're here for a subjugation! They're here for you! You need to leave!"
(Asch) "I-I can't! They've already surrounded this forest with fire!"
(???) "Hey, I've found him! It looks like he's about to eat those people!"
I could hear more people coming this way using my sense of hearing.
(Kenneth) "Asch. I don't have much time. Please, leave us behind."
(Asch) "But Kenneth...!"
(Kenneth) "No buts, Asch! Go, this is an order!"
An order. As much as I hated it, I could feel their life force fading away. And in this world, I learned that if you run out of magic, you die.
And they were about to die.
No, please... God...
Don't take away my family again!
...
...
...
I couldn't sense their life force anymore.
...
...
...
I let them down, tears running down my face. I licked their faces one more time before running away.
Unknowingly, [King's Aura] was activated, making some of the humans unable to move from fear.
Humans were standing in my way. Quickly, I grabbed a nearby tree with my teeth and threw it at them. Some were dead just from how much force I put into that throw.
I couldn't care less what happened to them.
Behind me, I saw people casting their magic, seems like it was Ice Lance. I took on a stance before activating MY magic.
(Asch) "[Ogre Flame]!"
The lances melted away in no less than a second. They were shocked. I was starting to fight back. Until now, they had the advantage since I was only running away but I'm not going to let this go on any further!
I could see another human casting magic. It was different this time though. It wasn't offensive magic. No, it was summoning magic. He was summoning wolves.
I used [Appraisal] on them, it seems that they were One Horned Wolves. But I wasn't going to let my obsession for wolves interfere in this fight.
They start to lunge at me.
(Asch) "[Death Fang]!"
I chomped their bodies in half, disintegrating the other half of their bodies into mere dust particles.
The whole fight between the humans and I went on for almost half an hour. Finally, I had killed almost a quarter of them and knocked the others unconscious.
I was near the borders of the forest, finally! My one last obstacle... fire!
My memories flashed back to the time when Kenneth told me that if I were to ever survive, I needed to overcome my weakness.
Well, Kenneth... I'm going to do it! I thought as I jumped through the fire once more.
[Notice: [Fire Resistance Small] has evolved into [Fire Resistance Medium].]
I hid in Aeston, turning into my beastman form to avoid suspicion.
But still...
...
...
...
Even in this life...
...
...
...
I couldn't believe it.
...
...
...
Once again, my family was taken away from me.