Kazuya and the others could hear the goblins coming from afar and could easily see them from across the distance. They were carrying weapons, lanterns, and torches and running towards them like hungry predators coming after a free meal. Their eyes also glowed brilliantly in the dark, moving in a walking motion as they approached.
While the others were brainstorming over the best way to face the oncoming attack, Kazuya walked forward without thinking twice, as he couldn't wait to cut those bastards down by the sword.
"What are you doing, young man?" Shizu yelled out as she saw Kazuya recklessly running towards the enemies.
Then she looked at Orihime, signaling for her to join Kazuya immediately, but she resisted angrily.
"If you refuse to help him, what makes you any less bad than him?" Shizu asked her after she refused, so she gave in but followed grudgingly.
Shizu waited until Orihime had gotten far ahead of them before looking back at her disciple. "Come on, Genta," she said to her.
"Right," Genta replied, "but why did we have to wait for her to leave first?"
"I want to understand those two," Shizu replied, but Genta wasn't buying it anymore.
"What is this about getting to know and understand them?" "You aren't thinking about joining their crazy squad, are you?" she asked.
"If I decide to call it quits at the guild to spend the rest of my days with those two, what is that to you?" asked Shizu. "You follow my lead!"
"Alright, Master," replied Genta as they went far behind the duo.
Kazuya clashed with the incoming army excitedly, cutting them down with his glowing sword. He was so efficient with his attacks that Orihime found herself slowing down when she took note of the excessive blood spilling into the atmosphere and splattering against the walls. The cave wasn't too narrow, and the only goblins that survived coming past Kazuya were the ones who weren't beheaded but were partly dismembered and were barely a minute away from dying.
The best she could do at this point to help was to stick her sword into the survivors one by one, making sure none of them had a shot at life while Kazuya cut them all down far ahead in a bloody frenzy.
About a moment later, Orihime heard a disturbing sound—it wasn't the sound of goblins or the sound of a man in agony. The sound was coming from up ahead, where Kazuya was, and it bothered her to know that while he was doing this, he was laughing.
Even Genta and Shizu could hear Kazuya's maniacal laughs from a distance, and they too felt disturbed by them.
With every bunch of goblins he cut through with his massive sword, he could feel the thrills of revenge surging through his veins. Like a fire shut up in his bones, he was happy to fully express his anger, and he was glad to do so without hindrance.
He kept slaughtering more and more of them until Orihime had to stop to see what she was dealing with. It was then that she looked ahead of her and saw hundreds of corpses lying all over, torn into bloody pieces. She could barely take a few steps without stepping on a corpse.
Orihime remembered the night her sister got devoured by goblins, and like Kazuya, she was the only family she had left in the world. Yet she couldn't feel the excitement Kazuya was feeling up ahead. She looked around at the goblins lying around her, and as she stuck her sword into the surviving ones, she felt she was putting them out of their misery—and she was doing so on purpose!
Of course, she had heard and believed Kazuya's story behind his hatred for the goblins, but seeing the slaughter of these sentient creatures and hearing his laughter come afterwards, she didn't know how to process what they were doing anymore.
It was at that moment when Shizu placed a hand on her back. Orihime looked back to see Genta and the old woman, but didn't say a word. She looked at the blood-drenched path ahead of them and then back at them.
At this point, she felt she could see what Kazuya had experienced, but in reverse, and seeing things this way felt unsettling for her. She too wanted revenge, but this was far beyond anything she had imagined.
Though the goblins weren't humans by any stretch of the imagination, this still felt like genocide, one of which she had become a part. She kept reminding herself that this was the day she had always been looking forward to and that she was supposed to be excited about it—but she wasn't.
She stopped moving and couldn't bring herself to move forward any longer. She felt she had experienced enough. Revenge, which she thought would be sweet and enjoyable, had turned out to be something she wished she had never been a part of. Having no reason to move on, she remained where she was, frozen in place like a monument.
It was at that point that she felt a hand gently rub her back; she looked and saw Shizu coming beside her, with Genta following slightly behind.
Genta was also appalled by the view ahead of them, sharing the same perspective as Orihime on the situation. She covered her nose to avoid taking in the stench of blood, but it was all in vain. Seeing this made her feel sick, and she held back the urge to puke whenever the smell became strong. But it only became thicker the deeper they got into the cave.
"Why did you stop?" asked Shizu to Orihime. "Isn't he your companion?"
Orihime looked back at Shizu, not knowing how to answer that question, but gave a slight nod in response after a moment.
"Good," she replied, taking Orihime by the hand, "now let's go." "I have a feeling that boy would soon clash against something far stronger than him."
So the trio went forward quickly, ignoring Kazuya's maniacal laughs and the countless corpses they trampled on to reach him. They noticed that the concentration of corpses seemed to be in phases; this probably meant that the attacks came in waves, and Shizu took note of it.
After about a minute of catching up, they noticed they couldn't hear his laughter anymore. They also looked around, noticing the goblins lying around them were larger, almost proportionate to the size of adult humans. Shizu was probably right; Kazuya may have finally met his match, and that could be why he wasn't laughing anymore.
When they came into visual range, they found Kazuya fighting against a bunch of those goblins, having the advantage but using a lot more effort to cut them down. The goblins were a lot more experienced in combat, and Kazuya had to look for openings before attacking to avoid falling into a trap.
At the final moment, Kazuya brushed one off its feet and stuck his dagger into its face, impaling its brain to the ground before beheading the one that was trying to attack from behind.
The goblin's head rolled down to where the trio were watching him like he was a spectacle. Genta was almost startled when the goblin's head rolled to her feet, stopping with its face staring directly at her. She shut her eyes, immediately kicking them away.
Kazuya looked back at them, and from his expression, they could tell he was almost surprised to see them. He was exhausted, so much so that he pinned his sword to the ground and rested on it like a crutch, breathing heavily.
While Orihime and Shizu remained where they were, Genta ran forward with her wand.
"Open your hand, Kazuya," she instructed, and he did. She placed her wand into it and cast a spell, one that instantly reinvigorated him.
He got up, surprised by how he suddenly felt. He felt like he had just come out of a hot bath after a long night's sleep, ready to take on whatever the world could throw at him. He couldn't help giving Genta a slight smile followed by a nod of approval.
Then, without waiting for another second, he resumed his walk forward.
"Kazuya!" Shizu called out.
He turned to her with an arched brow.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I am sure you've noticed that the cave gets more dangerous and deadly with every wave of creatures, right?" asked Shizu. "There is no doubt that the next wave would be too dangerous, even for a man with your talent and skill." "I believe it is best if we stick together from now on."
Kazuya wasn't comfortable with this, and they could see it written all over his face. "Alright, fine," he conceded, "but don't get in my way."
Orihime rolled her eyes, stunned by his attitude towards them. but didn't react as she was expected to. But rather, she ignored his rudeness by not uttering a word.
While the others worried about how difficult the next wave of goblins was going to be, Kazuya remained vengefully optimistic and excited.
However, although revenge was sweet, neither Kazuya nor any of them were aware of the fatal threat that lay just ahead of them.
Author's Note: I know Kazuya is currently being an idiot, and some of you should already be fed up with his behavior by now.
But please try to be patient with him. He is a work in progress, recovering from the loss of his family and struggling to come to terms with the fact that they weren't real in the first place.
Trust me, he won't always remain this way. But healing takes time, learning, and experience.
I want his change to feel organic, not forced.
So please try to stay for the entire first volume (Sentients Against Us) if you wish to witness his transformation into the protagonist you would always root for.
Read about his gradual transformation from a selfish man obsessed with revenge to a selfless hero who sacrifices everything.
Oops! Spoiler alert!
But it's true, the chapters are already out now, and they won't be locked by premium. So please try to be patient with our protagonist; I'm sure by the time you are done with the first volume, you will find it very rewarding at its conclusion.
Thank you so much for reading this far. I love you all.
Have Fun!"