Pulling the woman into the room, I threw her to the floor beside her now unconscious husband, and after closing the door, a bit of silence spread in the room, with only the sound of the woman's breathing audible.
I looked at her and saw that she was looking at me fearfully.
Shit, why the hell did I say, 'payback time'?" it was like something unknown within made me say those things and urged me to act that way, dammit... how do I move from here? I mean, I want to make them pay for what they've done to me, but not like this,."
My gaze moved toward the two wounded bodies, and from Kin and Pelon's wounds in their hands, blood continued to flow. If that bleeding didn't stop, they would die without me even having to do anything.
"Please, don't kill me, please! I'll do anything," the woman suddenly began to plead for her life.
She crawled toward my feet and begged under them, and seeing her like that, I actually felt a bit of enjoyment.
"Ahem, are you willing to do anything to live, then?" I asked.
"Yes, please, I'll do anything," the woman said while looking at me. And as she looked up because I was above her, I could see her breasts slightly. She also held them upfront as if intending to entice me.
"Well then...?" I tried to give her an answer, but I suddenly stopped because I realized something.
How the hell did she understand me? I thought these people can't understand me,.. it was the same as with that skinshaper. He understood what I said easily, maybe it's because he was a monster?.. If so, how can she also understand what I'm saying... unless she's also a...
I hurriedly took a step back from her and pointed my sword toward her.
"Who are you?" I asked.
The woman showed a stupid face, but I wasn't fooled by that. I took a step forward and slashed my sword across her. I didn't intend to kill her or harm her, but I acted as though I would.
As my sword reached her, her face suddenly changed, and she backed away from the path of my sword with fast reaction speed.
"A bit rough, aren't you?" Her voice turned into a more charming and playful tone.
"Although I'm curious about what kind of creature you are, I'm more curious about how you figured out I'm not human." After backing away, she suddenly leaped toward me and swung her hand.
Avoiding her attack, I took a step back, and when her hand moved past me, I saw that her nails were like knives.
She was clearly trying to harm me and subdue me.
In the same moment I took a step back, I moved my sword back and thrust it toward her, but her supernatural agility surpassed mine as she swiftly avoided it and swung her knife-like fingernails toward me again.
I pulled back my sword and held it in front of me, blocking her nails.
Clang!
A sound similar to two swords colliding was heard when her sharp nails hit against my sword.
"Those are some hard nails," I remarked.
Even against the sharpness of my sword, her nails didn't even have a scratch on them.
"And those are some clean moves," she praised me as she back away from me and lowered her body to the ground. Seeing the position she was in reminded me of some creature's posture before lunging toward its prey.
I tightened my grip on my sword and readied myself to face anything she threw at me.
But at that moment...
Thud! Thud!
A banging sound was heard from the door of the house, and both of us fell silent.
"Chief, are you there? We all waited for you, but we came because you're late," a man's voice was heard, asking for Kin.
A few murmuring sounds were also heard from the outside.
I looked at Kin lying unconscious on the ground and felt nervous. If that guy felt suspicious and decided to barge in here, I would surely get caught. There was no way to escape because she's blocking the window.
I looked at the woman who was right in front of the window I jumped in through.
I saw she was looking at me with an observant gaze, and suddenly she spoke.
"Since it's come to this,let's stop this. I'll ask you directly. Tell me, how did you know I'm not human?" she asked.
If I didn't tell her the truth, I could be in big trouble. If she yelled and those guys barged in here, they wouldn't leave me alone and surely kill me as they Already planned. And doing that, she wouldn't have any problem either, because I'm the only one who knows that she's not human, and who could understand even if I said that loudly.
"Chief," the man called again.
After a few minutes of thought, I decided to tell her the truth.
"It's because as far as I know only non-humans could understand what I'm saying, " I confessed.
"Huh? That's a strange thing. Is it a curse or something?" she questioned.
In response, I nodded, giving her my innocent look.
"And what are you doing in here?" she asked.
"I'm on a journey to collect some goods I wanted, but while doing that, I got caught by them," I answered.
"Last question, who are you? What kind of creature are you? I don't feel any familiar aura from you, and you can't be a skinshaper either, because as a superior one, I can tell by a glance whether you are one or not,"
Her question made me silent for a second.
Bang! Bang!
Another loud bang on the door followed.
"Chief, are you in there? Reika or anyone?" another voice called out loudly, indicating that the people outside were getting suspicious.
"I'm half demon," I said, the only possible answer I could think of at the moment.
"Half demon?" the woman gave me a surprised and curious gaze, with a little bit of doubt mixed in.
"I thought they were extinct for a long time."
Bang! Bang!
The banging sound of the door was heard again, and this time a few people began to knock on the door, indicating that they had decided to take action.
"Would you mind resolving this first? I'll answer anything after that," I asked her.
Hearing me, she gave me a hard look for a second, and in the next moment, she spoke out loudly.
"Kin has already gone. Didn't any of you meet him on the way?" Her voice was not the one she used with me, but instead the one she had when she was with Kin, and she said it loudly for the people outside to hear.
"Uh, did he?... But why did it take you longer to answer, ma'am?" one of the people outside asked, his voice tinged with doubt.
"Who would open a door at a time like this? How can I say you're not the skinshaper?" the woman replied.
"Agh! What she's saying is true," I heard the whispers of the people even from inside the room, and after a few exchanges, one suddenly spoke up.
"If Chief already gone, then he might be at the gathering place. Sorry for troubling you, ma'am. We are off then. Stay tight and close, as you say. Who knows when those bastards might appear among us," I heard their footsteps as they talking and walking away from the house.
"Phew, I need to get out of here as soon as possible," I muttered to myself. As I did, the woman suddenly walked toward me and sat on the bed.
"So you want to get out of here?" she asked, to which I nodded in approval.
"Then don't do anything and stay here, because today is the night of a bloodbath."
Her words confused me and made me feel uncomfortable too.
"Wha... wha... what do you mean?" Goddammit, I stuttered when talking. This usually happens when I'm talking to a girl I love, but this time it just happened randomly.
"You can see it for yourself if you watch from the window for a few seconds ," she said softly as she was looking out from the window at the bright moon in the night.
Due to my curiosity, as she said, I walked toward the window and looked outside. For a few moments, all I could see was the serene silence and the dimly brightened houses in the village.
I got bored while watching outside, so I looked back toward the woman who was now lying in bed with her eyes closed. She really couldn't be the wife of this man and the mother of Reika. She didn't even glance at the wounded husband of her or the unconscious daughter beside her.
"Ah, crap,I now remembered" I hurriedly look toward the Kin and Pelon on the ground. I had initially planned to let other villagers find them after I escaped from here, but because of the situation with this woman, I totally forgot about them. And now, most of their blood was already out of their bodies and spread around the floor. Needless to say, they were already dead.
I looked at Reika, who was leaning against the wall. Out of her family, only she was alive at this moment.
"Arghhhh!" Suddenly, in this dark night, I heard a spine-chilling scream of a woman, her voice sounding like she was killed in the most gruesome way possible.
"They're here!" At that moment, the woman suddenly opened her eyes and got up from the bed.
"Who do you mean by 'they'?" I asked.
The woman gave me a slight smile and said, " Cursed Beast "
And at that moment,
"Wooooo!"
A spine-tingling howl resounded throughout the whole village.