The goat-headed man easily parried Knight Leader Arnold's strike, which
could slice a monster from the deep forest like butter, with the claws of his
right hand.
Moreover, the man even dodged Wolfman's kick, which packed an
extremely terrifying force toward his head, without even as much as turning
around; he had just shifted his center of gravity a little bit.
Then, he sent casual claw strikes toward both of them.
「GUH!」
「…」
Wolfman and Knight Leader Arnold twisted their bodies and barely dodged
those seemingly casual attacks. However, the ground below them split due
to the residual force of the attacks.
If they hadn't dodged in time, those claw attacks would've inflicted fatal
wounds on them.
「What kind of a monster is that…」
The B-rank hunter beside me spoke in a hoarse voice. The faces of those
who saw the fight turned pale as if all color had been drained from their
face. Their reactions were natural. After all, even Knight Leader Arnold and
Wolfman, who had slain the monsters of deep forest with such ease, could
only fight on par with one goat-headed man. Moreover, the goat-headed
man seemed slightly stronger than the two combined.
Come to think of it, the monsters' parade was rather unusual. It had felt as
if the monsters that inhabited the forest were escaping from something. But,
since there were no existences that could force the monsters from the deep
forest to escape from their living place, I had unconsciously excluded such
a possibility.
Maybe, that goat-headed man is the owner of the voice, the man who called
himself Pazuzu, in Raiga and co's testimony.
（Are you kidding me? No matter how strong Kai Heineman is, there's no
way he can beat this monster!!）
As if Kai Heineman could beat a monster that could fight on par against
two S-class hunters.
Surely, Raiga's ruin exploration had violated many taboos for treasure
hunters. But, it was still a place where such a monster was asleep. That trap
was an extremely cunning, well-prepared trap terrifying enough to send a
chill running down my spine. In short, it wasn't just a trap prepared for
Raiga and co.; even veteran hunters could have fallen into that trap.
Suddenly, a magic circle appeared beneath the feet of the goat-headed man
during that 1-vs-2 fierce combat. Then, several chains of light came out
from within magic circles, binding the goat-headed man's body.
「Do it! NOOOOOOOOOOW!!」
A small yet muscular man clad in a red robe, Excel Ralph, shouted while
pointing his cane toward the goat-headed man and restraining him.
『GUGOOOOOOOO!!』
The goat-headed man let out a bestial roar as he seized the chains of light
restraining him with his hands. Then, he tore them.
Although the goat-headed man had managed to break free from the chains
of light, Knight Leader Arnold's great sword beheaded his head right at that
moment, followed by Wolfman's heel drop-sinking into the body that had
already lost its head.
The body of the goat-headed man exploded into minced meat, which spread
in all directions after Wolfman's heel drop.
「They did it…」
「WE WON!!」
When a hunter let out a victory cry while raising his right hand to the sky,
others followed suit. The victory cries resounded in the wasteland right in
front of Barse city's east gate.
「Did we… do it?」
I heaved a sigh as I felt that the strings binding my body had loosened for
the first time in a few days.
「DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! It hasn't ended yet!!」
However, Guild Master Ralph's shout slapped me awake from the euphoria.
When I looked around, I realized that it wasn't just the guild master, even
Knight Leader Arnold and Wolfman were still looking at the sea forest of
Silke. All three of them were staring into the forest with dread-filled
expressions.
Guild Master Ralph was once a leading sorcerer in [Babel(World Sorcery
Institution)]. In terms of strength, he was of the same unofficial,
[Over]-class hunter rank, like Wolfman. In short, he was one of the
absolute strongest in this world.
For three such people to wear such dreaded looks on their faces! It could
only mean that―
「No way.!」
When I turned around to see the great forest of Silke, I finally understood
the reason behind their dreaded expressions.
「Uwa…」
The other hunters also let out various groans of despair. The reason being
other beast-headed monsters clad in foreign clothes were starting to come
out from the sea forest of Silke.
Their number was already in the hundreds or maybe thousands as they
filled in the wasteland.
I had never considered this situation. Does that mean every single one of
those beast-headed monsters is as powerful as the goat-headed man, who
was finally defeated after Guild Master worked together with Knight
Leader Arnold and Wolfman? There's no way we can survive this.
『Oh my! It seems one of us has already been killed.』
A hoarse yet relaxed voice resounded in my head.
The beast-headed monsters suddenly split into two groups. Then, they knelt
at once and bowed. Before them was the figure of a tall, red-haired man
with a blue beard. Dressed in red pants, a mantle, and a pair of shoes, and
with a round green hat on his head, the man was combing his hair in an
extremely narcissistic pose.
「Those are― impossible to defeat even for us! Go back and take refuge!
We'll stay behind and try to buy as much time as we can for you!」
The moment Guild Master Ralph said so, the hunters started to turn around
and tried to escape as fast as possible.
『Stopping us? That's impossible.』
The tall, red-haired man said so as he looked down. He sneered at Ralph,
who was chanting the aria for his magic.
「…」
Ralph's aria suddenly stopped in the middle, then he looked up in silence.
He flinched.
I-IMPOSSIBLE! I couldn't see his movement, nor could I sense the moment
he had moved at all. When I realized, the red-haired man was already
standing in front of Guild Master. I looked around and realized that neither
Knight Leader Arnold nor Wolfman could react to the red-haired man's
movements at all.
『Ara! What are you going to do now that you know you can't stop me?』
Just like a frog being stared at by a snake, the red-haired man grabbed Guild
Master's head and raised him with one hand.
「Uwa…」
The Guild Master, who was normally calm and composed to the point of
being creepy, was wailing in pain as if he was experiencing a pain he had
never felt before.
『Woops! I really can't measure the strength of a lowly bug. That's why,
you mustn't blame me if you die by accident, okay?』
Then, he threw away Guild Master Ralph like he were a piece of trash.
The guild master fell far away at a terrifying speed, crashing into the
ramparts along with a deafening explosion. The rampart blew into pieces,
burying Ralph inside a mountain of rubble.
「DON'T LOOK DOWN ON US!!」
Wolfman ran at his full speed with his four limbs. Then, he unleashed a stab
with the sharp claws of his right hand into the back of the red-haired man's
head. However, his claw strike got repelled with a clear, metallic sound.
「WAH!!?」
It might have been better if the red-haired man had dodged that claw strike
with his fists or claws. But, he was unscathed even after receiving the full
brunt of Wolfman's attack. On the other hand, Wolfman's claws were now
bent in all directions.
『My bad!』
The red-haired man slowly turned around to look at Wolfman.
「…」
Then, he unleashed a light punch to Wolfman, who was still looking at his
own claws with a dumbfounded expression. That punch sent Wolfman
rolling on the ground at a terrifying speed, and when he finally stopped, his
body didn't even as much as twitch.
My head couldn't catch up with the sudden development of seeing how
easily the guild master and Wolfman had been beaten to a pulp, each with a
single strike.
Guild Master Ralph was one of the Over-rank S-class and [Babel]'s exstrongest. Wolfman was an S-class hunter in his active duty. These two
people, who were mine and many other hunters' lifelong goals, had been
beaten so easily.
My peers and I sweated blood and tears every day just so that we could
become someone who could stand by these people's sides as peers. Such
existences had been beaten so easily with seemingly light attacks. How can
this be? Yes, this must be a dream. Just the usual nightmare, and once I
wake up in my bed, I will start the day with the usual foolish conversation
with my comrades.
『Well then! It has been a while since the last time we had our meal, you
know! Now, eat to your fill!』
The beast-headed men in the beast army hit their left ch*sts with their right
fists the moment they heard the red-haired man's order. Then, they marched
toward us.
「Why?」
Knight Leader Arnold, who was watching over the situation with his sword
still readied despite sweating like a waterfall, said that word.
『Uhm, what do you mean?』
「Why are you guys attacking us?」
『Ufufufu~n! It's because we can use humans in various ways, such as
various experimental subjects, ingredients for foods or raw materials, etc,
you know!』
Such a terrifying remark resounded directly in my head.
「Ingredients? Raw materials? Are you serious?」
『Of cou~rse! Especially the clothes or bags made from the skin of an
especially powerful human. They are the best quality materials. The stew
made from the meat of human children or a female human is something you
can't get enough of.』
The red-haired man replied with an entranced expression as his body
writhed in a strange way.
「THIS ROTTEN DEMON!!」
Knight Leader Arnold took up his great sword on his shoulder. Shouting in
an enraged voice, he charged toward the red-haired man.
However, he was pinned to the ground from behind by a wolf-headed man
with gray fur, a round hat, and clothes having white and blue color as their
basic tone.
Standing beside the red-haired man was an eagle-headed man and a tigerheaded man with the same attire as the wolf-headed man.
""
『Resistance is futile! A small fry like you won't even be able to leave a
scratch on us, let alone Pazuzu-sama.』
The wolf-headed monster gleefully seized Knight Leader Arnold's head and
slammed it on the ground. The ground exploded, creating a crater on the
place he slammed Knight Leader Arnold's head.
Then, the tiger-headed man walked till he arrived beside Knight Leader
Arnold and squatted down.
『Aah, Pocchi is rather violent after all. Human meat becomes tough and
unappetizing if you hit them too much or overly scare them. Beheading
them in a single strike is the best way to kill them. Hey, it'll be more painful
the more you struggle, you know! Just relax, and it'll end without much
pain and suffering―』
He spoke as if were admonishing the wolf-headed man, but…
「MUTT B*STARD!!」
Knight Leader Arnold spat on the tiger-headed man's face. Blood vessels
popped out on the tiger-headed man's forehead; he was enraged.
『Hey, Pocchi, I've changed my mind. Can you leave this guy to me?』
『Uuh, Mike's bad habit is coming out again! My goodness! This is why
the cat family is no good.』
The eagle-headed man shrugged and shook his head to the sides as if he
knew what was gonna come next.
「Peeco! How da―」
『Can you guys stop the useless chit-chat and capture them immediately.
Make sure that you're not injuring the young males and females since we
can use them for breeding more humans in the ranch. As for the rest, do as
you like!』
The Wolf-headed man, Pocchi, stood up and punched Knight Leader Arnold
right on his solar plexus with his right fist. He reaped the consciousness of
the knight leader in one clean hit. Then, Pocchi bumped his right fist on his
chest. The tiger-headed man, Mike, and the eagle-headed man, Peeco, did
the same.
『『『AS YOU WISH, PAZUZU-SAMA!!』』』
They shouted in unison like trained soldiers.
『It's party time! Eat to your fill!!』
With a roar from Pocchi, the other beast-headed monsters ran toward the
hunters.
As I watched them approach with a dumbfounded look on my face,
strangely enough, I got a feeling that these beast-headed monsters'
movements were surprisingly slow.
I knew that I was safe since I was a "female." But sometimes, being alive
was worse than being dead. What awaited me once I got caught by these
monsters was the worst possible future where my dignity as a human would
be thoroughly trampled by them. On the other hand, being eaten by them
might be considered as some sort of salvation.
Are these guys the subordinates of the four great demon kings? I don't think
so! Even if the demons are our enemy, they don't eat humans, nor do they
have any repulsive ideas, such as a human ranch. They just want to rule
over humans! That's all.
On the other hand, these people before us are far more malicious.
Definitely not the savior from another world which they mentioned.
A sheep-headed monster approached. He was about to grab my head with
his right hand when―
『GAHI!!』
A black mass fell from the sky, crushing the sheep-headed monster beneath
it. The sheep-headed monster's body got broken into numerous pieces of
meat.
Then, the human-shaped black mass turned around toward me. He was the
mysterious youth whose appearance might be able to end this fight, Kai
Heineman.