[Creak!]
The eyes of the monster, hard as if made of pumpkin crystal, narrowed unpleasantly into an inverted crescent moon shape.
To Emma, it felt as if it were mocking her after meeting her for the first time in a long while.
She wanted to scream.
Even if her throat tore apart and her vocal cords ruptured, she wanted to fight back somehow.
"Huh… kkk… guh."
However, the words that welled up in Emma's mouth neither fully formed nor functioned as language. They clung to her like sticky gum, sticking tenaciously.
It was the same that day.
Emma watched her sister die from the safety of a warehouse, under her sister's protection.
She didn't even scream. Grabbing the sharp farm tools scattered around and fighting alongside her sister was something she couldn't even imagine.
She was too terrified to do anything but watch.
She couldn't make a sound or say anything.
Why?
Because when her sister shoved her into the warehouse, she told her to stay quiet and not make a sound? Because she was afraid of getting in her fighting sister's way?
Hahaha.
It's funny. So funny.
It wasn't completely wrong.
That was part of it.
But there was something more fundamental, more trivial, more abrasive. It wasn't just for those reasons that she couldn't respond, that she got choked up.
Someone spoke to her.
A familiar voice. A familiar intonation. But now a stranger's voice, lost in the depths of old memories.
Rustle.
The straw on the floor crumbled under a solid red chunk of meat.
Crunch, crush.
Then, where the former village chief's body was trampled, flesh splattered in all directions.
That bizarre and grotesque thing approached Emma. Cautiously, like a mantis sneaking up on its prey, but with a different feeling.
If a mantis approached an unsuspecting prey, then this…
[Krrk.]
It seemed to enjoy the reaction of prey that couldn't resist.
Slash!
A tentacle-like thing extended from the monster's body and struck Emma's head.
It knew the weaknesses of living beings. Despite its playful demeanor, it intended to kill her in one strike.
"…!"
Emma instinctively threw herself, screaming silently. She narrowly avoided the attack that flew at her.
However, her hands trembled in fear, shielding her head, and her legs couldn't lift her fallen body.
Like a newborn chick unable to resist the gravity of the world, Emma fell and stood up repeatedly.
Her mind screamed to escape, but her body didn't follow.
"Ugh…!"
A solid tail-like appendage of the monster struck Emma's abdomen, sending her flying lightly into wooden crates behind her.
The impact caused dust in the warehouse to rise, and various tools fell to the floor.
Several struck Emma's head, but she didn't even feel them.
Her senses were already overwhelmed by fear and shock, making mild pain insignificant.
Rustle.
It approached again. Its heavy breaths suggested excitement at the prey's attempted resistance.
Emma heard it too. Instinctively, her eyes darted to an escape route. But there was already a visitor.
A pool of red blood with the body of an old man whose head was gone. It was as cruel as the villagers scattered in her nightmares.
"Ugh… ah…!"
Again, Emma tried to speak, but no words came out. She felt stifled, pathetic.
[Krrk!]
Its muscular legs strode towards Emma.
She had to resist. If she didn't, she would die! Emma started throwing anything she could see.
Thud, thud.
The randomly thrown objects couldn't even scratch the monster's thick skin, falling like leaves. If one hit its face, it showed a hint of displeasure, but that was all.
They had no effect.
No, to be precise, they did have an effect.
[Krrrk⎯⎯⎯!]
The monster began to get angry.
Thud, thud!
It stopped playing and charged furiously. Its mass caused the ground to shake with each step.
Seeing this, Emma desperately searched for something else to throw, but there was nothing left around her.
With nothing left to defend herself, Emma scratched the ground. Not to dig, but to distance herself.
Scratching at the floor with both hands, trying to move away from the monster, but unable to retreat due to the warehouse wall.
In her panic, Emma didn't realize she wasn't moving, her fingers bleeding from scratching so hard.
Then.
⎯Clink.
She touched a piece of metal on her body.
Thud, thud!
Crash.
The red monster roared and collided with Emma. It smashed through the wall, carrying Emma with it, not slowing down.
Her legs were dragged along the ground, skin tearing and pain twisting through her.
However, in the moment of collision, Emma grabbed a blade in a desperate bid for survival and stabbed it into the monster's eye. It was a simple thrust with no magic or power.
[Kreeeek!]
The monster halted its charge and howled in pain. It threw Emma, sending her flying.
Thud.
She collided with a tree and finally stopped.
"… guh!"
A cry of pain burst from Emma's throat as she hit the tree. Her body, losing momentum, fell to the ground.
"Ke… keh. Guh."
Her heart pounded, bile rising with each beat. There was hardly anything in her stomach, but it kept trying to come up.
Before being hit, she had no control over anything. Now, the clear pain hitting her body brought some clarity.
She was conscious. She hadn't lost her mind. But she still couldn't stand up.