"Man, that’s ridiculously slow. How is flying slower than running?"
"That’s ’cause Dad’s running way too fast."
ri, sitting on my shoulder, pressed down her pointed hat and giggled. The only ones who’d reached the spot I’d scouted ahead were and ri.
"Hehe, Dad, your body’s really fast though."
"Hey, hey. Don’t touch my belly."
ri rubbed my belly with the back of her heel and giggled away. If I hadn’t carried her here on my back, she’d have bruises all over her feet by now, but this ungrateful brat was getting cocky instead. It annoyed a bit.
"Get down."
"Ah, why?"
"The owner’s here."
Second place. Lune.
Lune, now a full-fledged high elf, had easily kept up behind during my sprint. Once she hit 3-star, she’d probably blow right past my speed.
Thump.
Without a word, Lune jumped up from where she stood and planted her butt on my shoulder. ri glared at Lune with a sulky face, but Lune casually scanned the area below the cliff and nodded.
"There are so people down there. About... twenty-six? Seven?"
"They said over 30, but looks like so left. Guess they ran off since the Rescue Party didn’t co back."
Can’t help it if they chickened out and ran. Would’ve been nice to raise the danger level just right through this battle, but no need to rush things.
"So, Master, how are you gonna attack? Should I shoot arrows?"
"Dad! I can use fire magic a bit...."
"Lune misses and ri’s too obvious, so let’s not."
Flutter flutter.
The harpies arrived. Then the ghouls arrived. And the slis rode on the harpies’ backs or were carried by the ghouls.
’Leaving Eila behind bugs , but....’
The gargoyle’s guarding the dungeon entrance, so it should be fine.
’No problems with our forces either.’
Thanks to the ★★ monsters summoned through Monster Summoning starting at level 15 as experienced recruits, I’d deployed the gargoyle without any worries. Plus I’d taken out insurance, so there shouldn’t be any issues.
"Everyone about here?"
"Just waiting on the harpies."
aning all our dungeon’s forces except three or four were gathered here. , Lune, ri, and the ghouls, slis, and harpies.
"The humans crawled back into the village, fortunately. They’d originally set up camp at that other spot over there."
"Looks like they tried to run but went back to the village instead? Hold on."
Lune listened to the sound of the wind. She focused with her perked-up ears for a mont, then frowned and shook her head.
"They’re completely off guard. There are a few people running away, but they haven’t spotted us yet."
"Lots of people running?"
"Nope? Two, no, three?"
"That’s fine then. We can let that many slip away."
Actually, it’s better if the rumors keep spreading. The more people who co hunting for this hot spot, the more food our dungeon’s kids get to eat.
"Alright, ti for the night raid. Hehe. All the harpies here?"
"Yeah. Haa, haa."
Each harpy clutched big slis or slis in their talons. They were all bigger than usual, and Li was riding on Harpy Angel’s back.
"Get ready then. Drop incoming."
"Drop?"
"Yup."
I stood at the edge of the cliff. It was pretty high up, but it was a decent enough slope to get down to the village hill, and my body was tough enough to handle the impact.
"Lune and ri, just circle around and co down that way. Lead the ghouls with you. Got it?"
"Master, you should still go the safe way...."
"I already checked with the stud hunters. Nobody stronger than the chief."
So this night raid’s gonna be a slaughter, a massacre. Any humans who resist will die and beco experience points for the monsters, and only those who surrender will survive.
"Huff, huff."
I adjusted the angle carefully. There were so pretty thick trees on the way down, but even if I got scraped up by them, I wouldn’t die.
I’d tested it with Brug myself, so I definitely won’t die.
"Harpies, prepare for aerial assault."
The harpies who’d caught their breath grabbed the slis and flew up into the night sky. They got ready to drop the giant slis any second, and I took a deep breath and set up the log chunk I’d cut myself at an angle on the slope.
Thunk.
My foot fit perfectly into the groove the ghouls had carved out with their mouths. I shifted my foot around in the front and back grooves, then put my weight on the front of the log.
"Alright, here we gooooo!!"
Before I could even finish speaking, gravity and weight pulled the log chunk down the slope like riding a scooter. With gravitational acceleration plus my weight, the log chunk started getting shaved from the bottom up in no ti.
Scraaape!
The sound of wood grinding rang through the night sky. I could hear hunters stirring one by one as they noticed the commotion.
Thud, thudthudthud.
But slis were already raining from the sky. The harpies flapped their wings to adjust their positions precisely, and the slis fell from a pretty high altitude toward the ground.
Toward the wooden roofs.
Crash!!
A big sli’s massive body punched a huge hole in the roof. One startled hunter burst through the door and ran out.
"What, what is it?!"
"Graaaah!!"
I yelled out and kicked off with my burning feet. The mont the end of the log chunk hit a tree trunk, I used the acceleration and recoil to launch myself high into the air, limbs spread wide.
One of the tribe mbers once said this.
Act like your size matters.
So to make my size matter, I chose a thod to announce the start of the night raid in spectacular fashion.
"Sorry if you get crushed!!"
I tucked in my arms and legs toward the roof of the biggest house.
Crash crash crash!!
The wooden house’s roof collapsed along with . My arms and legs stung a bit, but this was nothing. I squeezed my eyes shut, and my body soon landed on the floor of the wide house.
Boom boom boom!!
Even I thought it was a bit much with how intense the vibration was. Even though I’d broken my fall, my belly hit first before my arms and legs, so it hurt a little.
"Khuff."
It stung a bit, but not enough to kill . I got up from the middle of the collapsed house along with the dust.
"...Tch."
The rafters collapsed and hit sowhere real unfortunate. The crushed planks from the ceiling fell to the floor and landed right on the bed.
"What... the...?"
The man and woman were impaled by the planks simultaneously while still joined together. The man vomited up dark red blood, and the woman underneath had to take it all on her chest.
"Ah, ahhh!!"
"Geez, you’re loud."
I brushed the dust off my knee and pushed aside the planks blocking my view. Thanks to the guy pounding away on top, the woman was safe.
"Tch. Sorry about that. But dying like this counts as dying happy, right?"
I pulled the plank out from the back of the dying man who was gasping for breath. Must’ve been cheap wood—the torn grain wasn’t straight.
"This is totally usel-"
Stab.
Sothing stabbed my side. It was the cold touch of a dagger, and I turned around.
"How, how...?!"
Even while pinned under the man, the woman managed to get up and stab my side with a dagger. But my side had solid muscle and subcutaneous fat tougher than the muscle itself.
"Ugh, blood."
Thanks to getting stabbed, I got a sowhat long cut on my side, but it wasn’t that deep. Sorry to the woman who’d risked her life to stab , but honestly it was shallower than getting your hand cut by a box cutter.
"You need to co outside and see this yourself."
I lifted the guy crushing the woman and shoved him to the floor. The woman trembled with a terrified face, and I grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up.
"You hear that? The screaming outside?"
I carried the woman and went out the door. The door was already blown off, and outside was packed with hunters who hadn’t fully ard themselves and monsters of all kinds mixed together.
"Th-this is...!"
"See, your village ca and attacked our dungeon."
"Dungeon?!"
The woman’s eyes went wide with shock. Ignoring that, I pointed at the other hunters.
"Look. See what’s happening right now."
Squish, squish.
The big slis were completely covering people, trapping them inside their bodies and eating them. The hunter thrashed around inside the big sli’s body, but soon an arm that had been sticking out just dropped limply to the ground.
Grooowl!
The ghouls, with arrows stuck in their bodies, attacked those who’d shot the arrows with their long arms. The ghouls, who preferred eating dead corpses over live ones, were killing everyone they saw first.
Ohohoho!
The harpies freely flapped their wings and toyed with the hunters. The hunters hurriedly aid their bow strings to counter the harpies, but instead collapsed with arrows that flew into their own bellies.
"Oh, nice shot."
Lune’s arrow not only broke the hunter’s bow but also lodged in the hunter’s thigh. The harpies attacked the hunter who’d collapsed on one knee from behind and lifted him into the sky.
"Master! Over there!"
Lune scread and raised her bow. In the opposite direction from where we were attacking, one hunter was running away without looking back.
’Should I just let him go?’
If I let him live he’ll be trouble, but he’ll bring more experience points.
"Just let him-"
Thwack--!!
A red flaming arrow stuck into the fleeing hunter’s back. The hunter collapsed face-first on the ground and stopped moving.
"Ah, too bad. I was aiming for the head."
ri clicked her tongue regretfully. She had zero hesitation about killing people—didn’t seem like a being that was just born.
’Is she really May reborn?’
A being reborn inheriting part of May. That’s the only way I could think of it.
"Master, there’s nobody running away anymore."
Lune drew her bowstring and pointed around. So hunters were already dead, and so were paralyzed with fear, dropping their bows and freaking out where they stood.
’They’re all low level.’
Most were ★, with occasional ★★ catching my eye. All under level 20, but thanks to that, the monsters could hunt them really easily.
"Then make your choice."
I set the woman whose neck I was holding down in the middle of the village clearing.
"Will you just die here, or beco slaves to our dungeon?"
"...You think I’d beco a monster’s subordinate?! Just kill !"
"Lune."
Fwip.
An arrow lodged right between the woman’s eyes. She fell sideways with the sa face she’d been screaming to be killed with.
"Uh, uhhh...."
So of the hunters’ pants got soaked. I killed her because she asked to, but several of them actually pissed themselves, like they didn’t expect to really do it.
"Tch."
That makes them hard to eat. The example worked too well. I grabbed the neck of a man being pinned down by a harpy’s talons and made him stand.
"I’ll ask one more ti."
The man gulped and listened to my words.
"Will you beco my slave, or will you die?"
"...Ti to think-"
Fwip.
Without ti to think, Lune’s arrow lodged in his thigh this ti.
"Ahhh!"
The man with an arrow in his thigh scread in agony. I grabbed his chin to stop him from moving and looked him straight in the eye.
"Not answering?"
"I’ll do it! I’ll be a slave, a slave, please spare !"
The man begged for his life. I threw him to the ground.
"One by one is a pain. Multiple choice. People who’ll die, go over there. People who’ll live, co over here."
Nobody chose death. Excluding the 10 already dead, I looked them over carefully.
[Submission: Terrified by the rciless brutality of the monsters that kill without hesitation. However, if they can survive being captured by monsters, they’ll look for any chance to escape.]
Just like May had tried to run even after being captured by and tasting that humiliation, all the hunters were plotting to escape despite being captured. Actually, that was pretty natural.
"Six n, eight won...."
The numbers don’t add up, but whatever. I had Harpy Angel, who was still carrying Li, co down. Below Harpy Angel’s talons, sothing like a big balloon was swinging around.
"Pour it over here."
Harpy Angel tore the balloon like she’d been waiting for it. At the sa ti, the thin mbrane burst, and the ’slimahole fluid’ that had been filling it covered the people.
Splash splash.
The slaves were doused in slimahole fluid. They looked dumbfounded wondering what the hell it was, but slimahole fluid was an aphrodisiac with very fast-acting effects.
"It’s gonna take about two hours to get to the dungeon from here, right?"
I pointed toward the path to the dungeon to the humans writhing around.
"If you can hold out until we get there, I’ll let you go."
I guarantee there won’t be a single one.
User Comments
0 comments from readers