"Yuu-neechan, what kind of wind would bring a beautiful lady like you to such a swampy mountain forest?"
A young man, the leader of a group of adventurers who looked very professional, went up to talk to Yuu. At first, he just laughed, but when he saw the familiar pink hair standing behind her, his expression immediately became tense.
"Leti-san, it's you..."
"It's you, I haven't seen you in a long time. How are you these days?"
"I..." The young man looked embarrassed as he looked into Leti's eyes, his face as red as a ripe tomato and his body gradually becoming as soft as a noodle stalk.
"Akira-san, come on."
"Come on !"
Even though his teammates were screaming and cheering behind him, Akira still didn't have the courage to stand upright in front of Leti. Akira's head was spinning as he tried to remember every word he had learned from Fayre's "Teach Love" book, but he still didn't dare to say a single word.
"Yuu-san, I'm back from hunting" Leon had just come running back from the end of the trail, carrying a large boar for lunch on his back, and a large cloth bag strapped to his shoulder, used to store mushrooms and medicinal plants from his first mission.
"You're really so strong" Yuu looked at the heavy boar on Leon's back and whispered to him, "Leave it to me, today I'll show my talent to make super attractive roasted boar meat for everyone."
"Let me help you" Leon said excitedly.
"Leave the cooking to me," Yuu waved her hand, she thought, "Or go out there and get to know them, you'll see them a lot later."
"They ?" Leon followed Yuu's direction and saw Akira stunned, while Leti tried to ask him what had happened.
Looking back at Yuu, she quickly embraced the big pig and pulled a set of tools full of small sharp knives out of the organ hidden under her hand. It was made entirely of silver, according to Leti, and was the main weapon of the kingdom's number one monster hunter - Yuu's old nickname.
Leon didn't want to get too close to dissecting animals either, so he listened to Yuu's initiative to approach and call Leti's name, but was mistaken for a kidnapper by Akira's team because of the large cloth bag hanging over his shoulder. A brown-haired girl, who didn't even think about it, pinned Leon's legs with one swift movement, while the tallest man in the team hugged him.
"Akira-san, there's a weirdo who wants to approach this Leti."
"Approach?" Akira was startled by the shout and turned his gaze to Leon, who was trying to get away. "Let me go, I don't do anything."
"Let me go !"
When Akira saw the white armour on Leon's body, he immediately thought of the stories Fayre had told him about nobles forcing beasts and elfs to be their mistresses, so often that he snarled uncontrollably.
"Those despicable nobles again!"
Just as he was about to rush up and slash at Leon with his dragon sword, he was stopped by something sharp silver flying past. It turned out to be Yuu, who was preparing the wild boar meat with a blood-stained face that looked very scary. She tilted her head and turned her cold gaze towards the other two: "Aoi and Yamada, let him go"
"Ye..s"
Standing in front of the "predator" with the blood-stained knife in their hands, the other two also trembled and let go of Leon. Staggering as if they had just met a ghost, they ran back to Akira, following behind the poor captain. They were all dealt with personally by Yuu immediately afterwards.
…
"You're Leti's friend ?" the brown-haired girl said as she nibbled at the meat, looking at the bones scattered underneath, perhaps she liked the meat as much as the pink-haired elf girl who was chewing on it.
"Sorry for the misunderstanding," the tall man said. He held a large gla"Brother, this armour is really cool."
"Can you lend it to me so I can show it off to Leti?"
sitting next to him, telling him to give it to Leon. Akira immediately put it on Leon's shoulder and said drunkenly:
"Bro, this armour is really cool."
"Can you lent it to me to show off to Leti, huh?"
Yuu cupped Akira's head from behind: "Hasn't your drinking capacity increased ?, this idiot, get drunk like that, go over there and take a nap" she placed a plate of fragrant grilled ribs with the smell of herbs in front of her, making Leon drool. At that moment, Leon began to regret his monster form again.
"Knight-san" Leti appeared out of nowhere and pressed herself close to Leon. She didn't hesitate at all, "Can you give me that plate of barbecue, I'm still a bit hungry".
Leti hugged her stomach as usual, her sparkling eyes staring at the plate of meat.
"I don't..."
Before Leon could finish speaking, the brown-haired girl appeared in front of her, quickly grabbed half of the plate of meat and sent back to Leon a beaming smile. Leti was furious when she saw this and the flames flared up in her hands, making Leon scream from the burns. The climax of the 'explosion' came when the brunette stole the rest of the meat and raised two fingers in a V-shape in defiance.
"Leti-chan, I heard you had dinner at Yuu's restaurant yesterday, so you should share this meat." the girl didn't hesitate to put the still hot meat on her shiny lips and took a bite of the deliciousness.
"Aoi-chan, you dare...?"
Leti was now "roaring" like a hungry animal, her eyes burning and her arms outstretched, ready to pounce on Aoi to snatch back the greasy barbecue she thought belonged to her.
"Those two baka"
"Rum"
Two large lumps floated to the top of Leti and Aoi's heads one after the other, causing the girls to roll on the ground in pain. They sobbed like naughty children who had been beaten, and the flesh that had been in Aoi's hands had been picked up by Yuu earlier and burned to ashes, flying in the wind.
"Leon-dono, wait for me for a while. After I've 'taken care of' these two girls, I'll grill another piece of meat for you," Yuu said without turning her head, even though she was radiating a cold air.
"No, my meat," Aoi clumsily reached for Yuu, but was silenced by Yuu's cold look.
"You must try to eat and drink in moderation" Yuu glared at Leti who was smiling, "I forbid you both to come to my restaurant for the next two weeks."
"If you dare to come, don't blame me for being evil"
"No, Yuu-neechan" they both said in unison, "if I don't go to your restaurant to eat, we'll die of hunger.."
"No is no..." Yuu said stiffly.
"It's true that she is the old lady who is famous for being cruel, stingy and mean." Aoi and Leti, knowing that they couldn't move Yuu, went in together to badmouth Yuu, whispering that Leon, who was sitting ten metres away, could still hear.
"Yuu-san, calm down... Leon saw that the plate in Yuu's hand had turned to shreds like a grain of dust, her face was covered with red veins, her hair was standing on end, and on top of that, the 'Killer' kit was laid out in a state of readiness to fight, just waiting to rush over and pierce through the two heads that had become two pitiful steles in Yuu's eyes.
"Leti-san and Aoi-san, run !" Leon shouted as he stood up.
"Stop !" Leon rushed over and tried to block the tip of the knife in Yuu's hand, but how stupid it was to trip over a stone and touch something on Yuu's body that should not be touched.
The other two were hugging each other in fear and muttering prayers when they saw this scene, their attitudes turned a hundred and eighty degrees. The three of them didn't hesitate and changed their targets to Leon, who was drawing his sword, the one who was in a martial posture, and Yuu, who was holding eight knives sharper than the scalpel already in her hands.
"Ahhhhh" the panicked birds flew into the sky, trying to stay away from something terrible that was happening on the ground.
...
"What is that sound, a scream... Label?"
"It must be the roar of wild beasts" Label sat next to the Princess of the Holy Kingdom, "don't worry too much, Ojou-sama, there have been no recorded occurrences of wild beasts in this area for a long time."
"Oh no," Label was embarrassed at the contradiction in her words, she took Melina's hand and comforted her, "even if there are wild beasts, we have the white cavalry and you will always be safe."
Melina pretended to nod, but seemed a little uneasy as the dark clouds 'danced' in the sky not far from them, a premonition telling her that something terrible was about to happen.
"Label, are we coming, Arthen ? I'm a bit wor..ried !"
"Go over the mountain, we will reach Arthen, Ojou-sama," the maiden looked out of the window of the carriage and saw a hairy black shadow hiding behind a nearby tree staring at her.
"What kind of that creature?"
Label exclaimed in fear, but when she looked back, she saw nothing. So she thought she was too stressful and mislooked.
…
A few days earlier, in an abandoned castle about ten miles north of Arthen.
"Argon, you're sure those monsters can do it ?" the woman, wearing only a cloth around her, sat coldly crossing her legs in front of a large screen, still holding a heart full of blood. Looking around she, a group of men struggling on the floor, their bodies blue, and all with a large hole in their chest. On the walls it was even more horrible, skinny naked girls with wounds on their hands were laughing, gloating and cursing the kidnappers and rapists.
"Please trust me, Irene-sama" the face smiled a rat's face in human form, "these monsters are bred between the extremely high quality Elfs you sent the day before and the Fang wolf , in terms of speed and intelligence, kkk..kk".
"They're more than fantastic" he said, unable to stop his distorted smile, drool dripping as he looked at the beautiful curves of Irene's body.
"I also sent some more larvae from Beelzeb-sama, I hear they are voracious and grow very fast."
"Let me try" the lady put the heart in her mouth, swallowed it and stood up, trampling the men's faces with her feet and searching for the half-fist sized jar of flies. When she found it in a corner of the room, she opened the lid and a strong stench came out, releasing the maggots to crawl free. They were like a long hungry beast that rushed to tear apart the bodies of the corpses on the floor, quickly turning the room a crimson colour full of blood and scraps of flesh.
"Irene-sama, it seems I just saw the silhouette of the interesting ingredients behind you, are you..."
"No, these girls will be my clansmen,\" Irene protested immediately, not paying attention as she stepped on some fat larvae that were bigger than the human head blocking the way.
"As for your brother, Naamah-sama will resurrect him if these monsters do it well..." Irene looked at the mouse man who was still gloating, showing a little annoyance, "Now go away !"
"Yes" Argon said with a regretful look, but obeyed the order anyway. The screen faded accordingly.
"Lady Saint, I don't know what you taste like" Irene began to think of her lewd pleasures. She laughed horribly as she approached the girls hanging on the wall.
Irene planted a kiss on each girl's lips, then touched them affectionately with her hands, carved a certain demonic mark on their breasts and followed their abdomens down to their lower parts...
The girls changed quickly, their wounds healed, their wings and tails sprouted. After a while, their human bodies disappeared completely, their skin peeled off in pieces and fell to the ground. Now they appear as all-new lewd female demons.
Irene licked her tongue in amusement and dropped the towel to her body: "Welcome to the succubus family." She touched her soft, round chest and pressed another girl against the mattress there.
"Irene-sama" the succubus groaned as if brainwashed. Irene was happy, blending in with the girls to satisfy her intense pleasure.
The sounds of gleeful moaning continued immediately afterwards, drowning out the thunder that echoed in the already dark, drowning out the sound of rain falling like a waterfall.
◇
Yuu looked at the large sundial on top of the mountain, it was already late afternoon, the red colour of the sunset in the sky with only a few floating white clouds gradually appearing, creating a spectacular scene.
Akira's group had left a long time ago, but before they left, they had left a few places with lots of mushrooms and herbs for Leon to search for in his quest to gather materials - the first adventurer mission. This greatly reduced the amount of time he had to spend searching and gathering, and helped the party of three get down the mountain ahead of schedule.
"It's been a long time since I've hiked like this," Leti said, beaming, as the three of them had just passed through a huge, deep canyon, and in the distance they could see the city of Arthen, which lay in the middle of a vast, flat plain. However, a sudden gust of wind blew past them, temporarily dampening Leti's joy and leaving a dense black cloud in front of them, curled into bizarre shapes.
"It looks like it's going to rain heavily" Yuu felt the heavy drops of water falling sparsely in the air and urged, "We should find a temporary shelter from the rain first"
"There wasn't even a cloud in the sky just now, now look at it..." Leti complained, "The sky is no different from a squid bottle."
...
"boo..m"
"boom ..bang!"
Bright flashes of lightning flashed across the black sky, and the wind began to grow fiercer. From the small rocky gorge where Leon was sitting, he could clearly hear the thunder, the howling of the wind and the sound of wild beasts echoing in the distance.
"I really want to go back to my room" Leon sighed, "and then enjoy the wine and the meat.
"I haven't eaten all day!"
The howling became more frequent, louder and more bizarre, giving Leon goosebumps.
Originally, Leon thought that the strange sounds out there might be normal for a hunter like Yuu, or for adventurers like Leti? Leon didn't know because Leti didn't move, but when he looked at Yuu's face, it seemed to radiate a sense of fear.
Yuu was the one who broke the atmosphere of silence between the three of them.
"Do you two smell something in the air?" Yuu hesitantly looked at the blazing flames and asked a question.
"Hm, there's a fishy smell, even if it's only a fleeting one, but I can still feel it." Upon hearing the question, Leti closed her eyes to concentrate on her sense of smell and snorted.
"..." Leon murmured, "This smell is no different from the smell in Hiller's Cave, even though it's milder, it still makes me feel nauseous!"
"In my opinion..." Leon was confused and said:
"This fishy smell is very similar..." Leon suddenly felt a slight shudder and when he looked ahead, he saw Leti and Yuu staring at him. Not being used to communicating with many people, he hesitated for a while before thinking of a way to cough to calm himself, and then continued with difficulty: "Although it is not clear what creature it came from, it is likely that this is the smell of blood."
"Blood?" Leti was stunned and couldn't believe Leon's words, she looked at the hazy black space outside, " There could still be people on the mountain?"
"Or..." Leti was uncomfortable, "there are monsters nearby?"
"It's hard to have monsters around because this area is a place for beginner adventurers," Yuu was calm as she guessed Leon's answer, "so maybe there are people in trouble in the mountains."
"Leon-dono, now you're here with Leti-chan, I'll go out and have a look" Yuu said as she slowly walked towards the door of the rock gorge and then quickly disappeared into the deep darkness outside.
The wind blowing through the dry branches, the rustling of the leaves combined with the sound of thunder still create a real atmosphere of fear.
"I never thought I'd have to use it again, [Falcon's Eye]." Yuu said to herself after reaching the middle of the forest, one of her eyes turning white with a blue magic circle inside. She looked around, didn't notice anything unusual, and put her hand on the ground: [Seism], a magic that allows her to capture even the slightest movement around her by releasing a shock wave.
The ground shook slightly for a while, then returned to normal.
Yuu stood up as well, concluding that there was no one else around them within a radius of half a mile. At that moment, Yuu panicked: "So, where did the smell of blood come from?
Thinking about this question, Yuu secretly felt lucky that it hadn't rained heavily. She decided to go back to the cave and ask Leti and Leon for their opinion, but when she turned around, a faint light flashed in the darkness and caught her attention.
Yuu guessed that it was probably the light from the torch. "Torch? Who goes up the mountain at this time?"
"Or are they slave traders?"
Yuu's hypothesis seemed to be confirmed when she thought of the smell of blood, a lot of blood. Moreover, according to reports she had recently read, the Arthen Guild and other Guild in the royal capital had recorded numerous cases of finding mass graves of slaves in the mountains.
Yuu was running towards the light source when she stumbled upon Leon and Leti coming out of the cave in a hurry. Between the two of them, everyone was nervous, especially Leon when he was breathless: "Yuu-san, there was an earthquake just now."
"Earthquake," Yuu grinned slightly, "that's my magic, didn't Leti-chan tell you?"
Leon looked at Leti, who was scratching her head awkwardly because of her absentmindedness, and as soon as Leti started to speak, she was interrupted by Yuu:
"More importantly, you two, I see that there are some rather suspicious lights over there," Yuu pointed seriously towards the edge of the forest about two miles away from them, "I think something bad is going on there."
"do you mean...?" Leti looked at Yuu, both of them implicitly understanding what the other meant.
"If I don't look closely, I won't be able to see those ghostly light sources," Leon strained his eyes until he saw the light source flashing in the night in the distance and felt admiration, "It's true that Yuu is Arthen's number one monster hunter, she's amazing!"
While Leon were still exclaiming, the two girls did not hesitate but continued to glide towards the faint light source, leaving Leon alone.
The wind screamed louder and louder and the darkness quickly surrounded Leon.
In a moment, the black sword opened its eyes. It vibrated and blocked the black winds that had just emerged from the bushes, which were aimed directly at Leon with a pale purple barrier.
As Leon was startled by the loud crash, he saw wolves lying in agony with wounds corroded by a purple fluid, others stunned and snarling with red eyes staring at him with hatred.
◇
The closer Yuu and Leti got to the source of the light, the stronger the smell of blood became, not to mention the clatter of weapons, screams of pain and a few legs, arms and body parts scattered on the ground.
By the time the two of them arrived, the light source had completely disappeared, leaving only a small barrier with the other two girls standing in it. The maid with a cut across her chest was bleeding profusely, and the girl in the long skirt was covered in red blood as she tried to stop the bleeding while holding up the barrier, which was slowly cracking under the fierce attack of the black winds.
Without hesitation, Yuu flicked the blades into the black winds, causing them to temporarily dissipate, and rushed forward with Leti.
"You are... " Melina was exhausted when she saw Yuu and collapsed, but was lucky to be saved by Leti.
"Please save us" Melina mumbled, her whole body limping and her vision fading.
Melina fainted.
"Girl, you're okay ?" Leti panicked, but was quickly reassured by Yuu: "Calm down, Leti"
"This girl only fainted temporarily because she used too much magic. Now you stay here, protect her and give the maid this potion," Yuu took a moss-green healing potion from her body and gave it to Leti, "It will stop the bleeding temporarily..."
"As for me, I'll deal with the wolves" Yuu said and stood up, pulling two sharp blades out of the two cloth pouches at her hips.
"Gruu... hhh"
The howling of the black wind subsided and they gradually took the form of a pack of bloodthirsty Fang Wolf.
"Huh, It's hard" Yuu pursed his lips as he saw the wolf fangs gathering more and more. She knew that she could hardly face these roaring monsters alone, so she turned around and told Leti to make a quick arrangement and take the two injured people away immediately.
At that moment, a black wind rushed through with the sound of claws cutting through flesh, and blood poured out like rain.
A Fang Wolf was cut in half and it lay on the ground, its legs twitching for a while before stopping completely. Standing in front of his body was Yuu, who had just put the knife, still dripping with blood, to her chest, on high alert.
"Tear these women apart for me." A growl followed by a thunderous roar. This stunned Yuu for a moment, because in her memory, wolf fangs couldn't communicate like humans. But it didn't matter now that the Fang Wolves had disappeared, instead the black winds were rushing to tear her apart.
Yuu began to move, disappearing and reappearing suddenly, drawing the Fang Wolves' attention and trying to get them as far away from Leti as possible before starting to deal with them one by one.
After nearly a dozen unsuccessful attacks, the Fang Wolf's carcass lay on the ground. Yuu was breathing heavily, the clothes on her body torn to shreds and the blade in her hand worn out.
Yuu looked at the other Fang Wolves surrounding her, and even though they were trembling, they were still trying to tighten the encirclement, completely against her knowledge of monster hunting - when they knew they could not win, these wolves would definitely retreat. Yuu told herself that it would be difficult for her to survive another such attacks, so she needed to find the wolf leader and deal with it as soon as possible.
With that in mind, Yuu rushed forward, using all the remaining strength of the two blades to to break through the thick wall were made of Fang Wolves. She ran, ran, until she was covered in blood and flesh and saw Leti and...
A giant Fang Wolf with a large stitch on its chest?
No, it was not a wolf, but a werewolf with the head of an elf whose face had been removed. This immediately frightened Yuu and made Leti, who had completely collapsed, throw up with a spinning head. The only thing Leti could hear from the werewolf was the growl of human speech.
Leti cried and stared at the disfigured elf face.. She sat motionless as the werewolf swung his claws at her.
"Leti, get out of the way," Yuu shouted as she rushed over, but it seemed to be too late...
A slash splattered flesh and blood...
An elf's head fell to the ground...
◇
"Wake up, Leti-chan."
"Wake up..."
Leti heard someone whispering and dimly opened her eyes. Her mouth stuttered as she immediately drank a white potion. It was thick, the same viscosity as the potion Leon had given her in the mist town, but this time Leti had to frown uncomfortably at its bitterness.
"It's too bitter."
"Kkk..uu" Leti coughed for a while before returning to normal. At that moment, she saw Yuu wearing Leon's robe and drinking the same potion beside her. In front of Leti the girl in the dress and the maid with a white aura around her, mumbling something, tears rolling down her cheeks: "Kami-sama.....", then they put their hands together in prayer.
Leon came from behind, handed the girl a torch and led her by the hand to a large funeral pyre.
Leon knelt on one knee, the black sword, still a little bloodied, stuck straight into the ground. Earlier, Gabul had told him that this was the most solemn ceremony to bury the knights in the kingdom, after all they had fought hard to protect their masters.
A fire quickly broke out, lighting up a corner of the cold, dark space.
"May they all rest in peace," Melina closed her eyes, "..."
...
"Leti-san, this is the jewel I took from the werewolf's corpse."
"I think it will help you and your brother find out who is behind this tragedy," Leon said, but didn't dare to look at Leti directly.
"Okay..." Leon took a deep breath and walked to the front of the carriage, leaving Leti alone and gesturing to Yuu, who came to Leti's side shortly afterwards.
Yuu took Leti in her arms.
Opposite them sat the Saint Lady Melina and her maid Label, their faces sad. They held the cross tightly in their hands, glanced at Leti and Yuu for a moment, and then looked at the dark space in front of them.
After a period of suppression, it rained like a torrent, and the rumbling thunder roared as if tearing through space.
The chariot, piloted by Leon, gradually accelerated and headed straight for Arthen.
...
From the top of the mountain, a familiar figure pierced the invisible camouflage and stared intently at the peanut-sized carriage.
"Leon-san, I'm back" she whispered, her long blonde hair still fluttering despite the increasingly heavy rain.
The girl was holding a magical evil staff, her whole body was covered with cult symbols and tentacles...
"I'll see you again," Yumi smiled eagerly and turned to face the army of wolves and flies the size of half a human body that were starving. After that, she sat on the neck of a huge silver-furred werewolf.
"Yumi-sama, when will we be able to eat?" said a fly in a hat, shivering from the rain.
"Exactly, eat, eat, eat, we have to eat our fill..." Yumi naturally laughed wildly.
"Yumi-sama, I... I just found a place..."
"Sunflower Village, abo... about 6 miles away"
"The name sounds familiar!" Yumi remembered something, but was immediately overcome by a headache. The terrible pain made Yumi unable to control herself and she grabbed the fly, glared at it and crushed it into pieces of flesh, falling instantly.
"Whole army, we're going to eat at Sunflower Village today" Yumi staggered and vomited a mixture of black blood with some crawling creatures in it...
◇