Nidome no Yuusha

「Hey Dot! One of them’s heading over to you. 」

A goblin dashed passed Barkas as he used his large two handed sword to slice another in half. The monster’s target was Terry, the mage that functioned as the party’s rear guard.

At first, it’d almost seemed as if the goblin would succeed in its assault, but it didn’t. Dot reacted to Barkas’ shout and managed to get in its way and fend it off before it could cause any harm.

「Your turn, Terry!」

Dot deflected the tree branch the goblin was using as a club and took a step back as he signaled one of his party’s other members to attack.

「I’m on it already! Stones of ice, freeze my foe,『Ice Bullet』!」

Terry immediately followed up Dot’s actions by firing off a series of ice-based projectiles at the goblin the moment the other man parted from it. As it was unable to avoid the attack, the goblin ended up croaking like a Frog before collapsing with a giant gaping hole in its chest. Naturally, Barkas hadn’t just been sitting around. He contributed to his team’s efforts by murdering a third goblin and thereby concluding the battle.

The three men then proceeded to cut off the goblins’ ears and gather them all up. To adventurers, goblin ears were items of value, as they served to provide evidence of and function as a counter for one’s kills.

Barkas’ group had already been out hunting for quite some time, but the sun had already long passed its peak. As one could expect, they’d gotten quite the haul. In fact, the three goblins they just killed had pushed them right into the double digits.

「We’ve got a pretty good haul, more than I was expecting. Might as well take a break and eat. Seems like it’s ’bout time anyways. 」

「Whew. Finally. 」

「Man, Terry, you sure don’t got any stamina. Sucks to be you, but we’ll still have to keep on the move a bit longer. I scouted out a decent looking place a bit earlier in the day. S’just up ahead. 」

Dot smirked at Terry as he lead the rest of his party members towards the clearing he discovered earlier in the day.

Upon arriving, the party’s members decided to just sit wherever. They grabbed their Lowest Grade Item Bag, and withdrew from it a few provisions: some black bread and several pieces of meat, both of which were of the dried variety.

「So why didn’t we just kill them the moment they stepped foot in the forest anyways? I mean, we’re just after the kid’s staff, right?」

「What are you, stupid? Use that goddamned head of yours and just think. There’s no harm in having them hunt a few goblins for us first. Two birds, one stone and all that, you know? Besides, we’d probably look real fishy if we didn’t at least hunt ourselves a good few goblins, y’know?」

Barkas poured a bit of water out from his canteen and onto his bread while also biting down on a piece of dried meat.

「We’d best not go too far. We’ll lose by default if we don’t get back by the end of the day. Not like we need to wander off anyways, plenty of monsters round these parts. 」

「True. We have seen a good number of them. 」

Terry nodded as he spoke.

「You must not know of the fact that there used to be a village round the foot of the tall ass mountain over there, but it got taken over by a rogue demon a few years back. At least that’s what people claimed when its residents tried to invade Erumia, the nearest town. Apparently what actually happened wazzat they’d been affected by some sort of curse and brainwashed. Shit caused them to totally lose their minds. They went berserk and attacked everything they saw. No one was able to figure out exactly how to fix ‘em, so the villiagers just ended up getting exterminated instead. Their whole settlement got wiped off the map. You’d think that’s where the story would normally end, but there’s more. There’s also that rumour as well, you know, the one that’s made it so that the only adventurers that ever come ’round these parts are the ones the guild decides to send by every once in a while? Yeah, that one. Thanks to all the flak, everyone pretty much stays the hell away. Makes it pretty damn easy to find monsters without really having to look around much. 」

Barkas recalled a few of the things he’d heard and reiterated them to his companions.

「I see… But what did you mean by that rumour?」

Terry tilted his head in an expression of confusion as he took another bite of meat.

「Come on Terry. You should start paying less attention to all the fancy magic items you like, and more to the stuff people around you say. Cause like, you know those villagers we were just talking about? Everyone says that their souls wander and haunt the forest we’re in right now, and that running into one will get you one helluva curse. People’ve stopped coming here ever since. 」

Dot’s explanation caused Terry to sigh.

「That’s bullshit. I’d believe you if you said that their undead corpses wandered around, but their souls? Seriously man? That’s gotta be bullshit. 」

「There’s actually more to it than just the rumour. The only monsters that show up round these parts are goblins and green boars. There aren’t any areas of interest, and the village being gone means that there’s no actual point to hanging around much longer. An empty village isn’t one that’ll be hiring adventurers, y’know? The only reason you can find lots of monsters around is cause they’re all low ranking ones, so it basically ain’t good for anything other than newbies that’re lookin’ to gain experience. Even then, most don’t bother since there’s goblins and green boars in the forests near Erumia too. 」

Terry nodded, as if expressing his approval of to Barkas’ logic.

「If anything, we should be glad they chose this of all places. Makes it way harder for people to figure out that we did them in. 」

「Isn’t it about time for us to you know, do it now? I’ve eaten up more MP than expected cause we ended up fighting several times in a quick succession. Let’s just kill ’em once we’ve rested up. I want to see that slave girl cry already. We’ll have to kill her after, so let’s hurry it up already. I want me as fun time as possible. 」

Terry laughed as any douchebag would while imagining what was to come.

「We’ll probably have to drag her off to some abandoned hunter’s cabin or something after we kill the two men. Can’t be getting busy when there’s monsters around if we really wanna have fun. 」

「Don’t be forgetting about the staff, you hear? It is technically what we’re actually after, y’know?」

「「Yeah, yeah, we know. 」」

「Well, least you guys know how to make it seem like you’ve got your priorities straight. I’m sure you you already know, but, kill the kid with the staff first. Catch him off guard if you can. They’re still fresh and inexperienced, so the rest of ‘em will probably lose it the moment we get one of ’em. After that, get the lanky one. Crush his feet, make it so he can’t use ’em. You can probably just leave him be if that works. No point killing him right there and then. 」

「Huh? Why not just kill him?」

「Man, Dot, you sure aren’t good at using your head, are you?」

Terry gazed at Dot with what could only be described as a deliberate look of amazement.

「S’that supposed to be mean? I don’t get it. 」

「「It means we’re going to make him watch us rape that rabbitgirl, you moron!」」

A pair of synchronized laughs rang through the clearing as Dot’s companions cackled to their hearts’ content.

「Yeah, I really don’t get you two. S’not something that turns me on, but whatever floats your boats. 」

「You know what’d be just perfect? What if she betrayed her master and begged for us to let her live? That’d just be the god damned best. 」

「Oh, oh. What about having her kill him? Imagine that. 」

「I like it, but it might not be possible if he’s ordered her not to betray him. 」

「Man, you guys sure are getting into this whole thing, not that I mind so long as you leave her nape unscathed. 」

Dot did to Terry as Terry had done to him earlier and spoke in a bit of an exasperated tone whilst shrugging his shoulders. He remained silent thereafter because he’d added to the conversation all he intended to.

There was an inevitable bit of danger associated with not killing the lanky swordsman, but he was a fresh newbie that’d literally only just become an adventurer. Hence, all three figured that they need not be too careful so long as they killed the mage.

「Alright, sounds like a plan. Let’s finish eating so we can carry it out. 」

Only then did Dot, the party’s scout, realize that something was amiss. 𝘧𝓇𝗲𝑒we𝙗noѵ𝑒l.𝐜o𝘮

「Shit…!」

He raised his voice and desperately attempted to shout in order to warn his party of his sudden realization.

But he didn’t make it.

He didn’t manage to fulfill his duty as the team’s eyes and ears.

It’d been a pointless effort in the first place. He wouldn’t have been able to inform Terry or Barkas of the impending danger in time even if all three of them had been on high alert. That was just how fast it’d all happened. At first, Dot had thought that he’d only felt a gentle breeze, but his instincts immediately had alerted him that it was much more than just that.

A translucent, white smoke flooded their surroundings the moment the breeze passed by, and promptly dulled the men’s senses whilst depriving them of their ability to move; they collapsed and fell onto the forest’s undergrowth.

「We’ve… been hit with.. a paralyzing… poison…」

（Shit! Shit!! Did we get jumped by Paramoths? Damn it! Why the hell would monsters like them be in a place like this!? Wait, were their scales even capable of working this quick…!?）

The strange mist that assaulted the three vanished as quickly as it’d appeared. It almost seemed to have dispersed itself into their surroundings immediately after effecting them.

「Shi…t… My body… won…. t lis…ten… to… me…」

「This is bad, Barka…s… I can’t… even lift… a finger…」

「Wait just a sec… I’ll help… you guys up as soon… as I take an antidote…」

Dot and Terry were just flat out down and out, but Barkas was still capable of a certain degree of action. None of the three knew exactly why this happened to be the case, but they presumed it was either something to do with Barkas’ superior stats or, more simply, his position at the time of the attack.

（God damn it! Come on Barkas. Move! Move…!）

The party’s leader cursed as he pushed his body to its limits in an attempt to to move. It took quite some time, but he did to eventually manage to stretch his right arm all the way over to the bag he had at his waist. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated and impatient; his hand felt like they were moving far too slowly. Even the act of grabbing the Potion of Detoxification he’d been looking for had taken ages in and of itself.

（Come on! Just a bit more!）

He slowly brought the potion up towards his face. The brute paid as much attention to his hands as he possibly could; he took extra care in order to ensure he didn’t drop his precious lifeline.

「Al…right…!」

And then, after what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to bring the potion close enough to his face for it to actually be visible.

「Annnd cut. It’s a real shame but that’s all the time you’ve got. 」

「Guaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!」

A foot stomped itself on Barkas’ hand and crushed both it and the potion that it’d been holding.

It went without saying that the person that’d stepped on him was none other than myself.

I ground my foot into his hand as if to let out all the frustration I’d been building up. In doing so, I caused the bottle to shatter, and its fragments to pierce his flesh. Blood flowed from within his body and began seeping out of his many newly created cuts.

「So, tell me. How does it feel to suddenly have all your hopes crushed right before they’re realized?」

「Guuahhh… Arggghhh!!」

「Right. I guess you are a little too preoccupied to answer. 」

A few drops of the Potion of Detoxification managed to enter his bloodstream through the cuts on his hands, but it didn’t really matter. He take in enough of it to cure him of his paralysis. In fact, the little bit he did manage to absorb only served to harm him, as it woke up his nerves just enough for him to feel even more pain.

「How inconsiderate of you to steal a march on me and hog all the fun for yourself, Goshujin-sama. 」

「Oh, whoops. My bad. These retards basically set me up perfectly, so I couldn’t really help myself. 」

I lifted my foot off Barkas’ hand and shrugged my shoulders whilst speaking in a patronizing tone. Naturally, I made sure to stand right above him so he could better hear my snarky remark.

「I recognize… that… voice…」

His neck was stuck in its current position. He was unable to move, and therefore probably unable to see anything above our waistlines regardless of how hard he tried. However, as one would expect, he had yet to forget how our voices sounded, especially seeing as how he’d only just heard them a few hours back.

「What the.. hell are… you bastards doing….? Guuuahhhh!!」

「Shut up already, trash. You’re hurting my ears. 」

Minnalis stomped on Barkas’ right hand in a manner much more merciless than my own.

「I stopped and listened for one second, only to hear that? Care to repeat yourself? Who were you going to rape in front of who? Shut that mouth of yours, and stop violating everything around you with the garbage that comes out of it, you filthy cockroach. 」

「Guh… Gahh… Argghghhhh!!」

The extent of Minnalis’ anger was made apparent by the fact that she continued to grind Barkas’ fist into the ground with her foot as she spoke; she put so much force into the assault that I could hear his bones crack each time she twisted her sole. And if that wasn’t enough, the expression on her face functioned to more than convince me that she was as irritated as could possibly be.

「And what’s more, you wanted me to betray Goshujin-sama and beg for my life? Just how mad do you plan to make me? Well?」

「T-That was ju—-arghh!」

Barkas tried to say something, but Minnalis decided not to give him a chance to speak, and instead kicked him in the jaw to shut him up.

She then immediately stomped on the man’s left hand, which had coincidentally ended up in her vicinity following her attack.

「I won’t let you bastards get away with this…!」

Barkas was still incapable of movement despite the fact that him bleeding had led to the bit of the potion he’d ingested earlier to start circulating through his bloodstream. He did, however, regain his ability to speak.

「Oh? So what exactly do you piggies think you can actually do to us?」

「Urgghhh! Stop that! God dammiiiiiiiiitttt!!」

「Tell me, how’s your right hand feel? Does it hurt?」

「Stop! Just stop alright!! Guaaahhhhh!!」

Minnalis had moved from stepping on Barkas’ right hand to his left, so I took over the role and gave him a good stomp or two in order to milk a few extra screams out of him.

Only after a few laughs did I finally lift my foot and move on.

「Oh right, who was it that brought up having Minnalis kill me? Was it the third rate mage?」

「Thi…rd… ra…. te…!?」

Terry, like Barkas, was incredibly easy to read, he responded to the scornful way in which I glanced in his direction with a sharp glare.

「Yeah. You’re nothing but third rate. In fact, I’m honestly quite surprised you’ve survived for as long as you have with how weak you are. 」

「If… anything…argghghgh!」

Terry flipped onto his face after I kicked him in the exact manner Minnalis had kicked Barkas earlier.

「Hey, tell me how you feel. Are you vexed? Mortified? How does it feel to be rolling around face first like a caterpillar after all that shit talk? Well? Say something goddammit. 」

I laughed as I approached him and ripped his staff out of his hands before snapping it it right before his very eyes. He responded by sharpening his gaze even further, but I just ignored him and started kicking him while continuing to laugh and smile.

「Ple…ase… just… st…op…it…. Al…ready…. 」

Terry was surprisingly easy to break. It didn’t take more than just a few kicks to make him cave.

Breaking him had made feel really refreshed, so I turned around in order to check on Minnalis, who turned out to be in the middle of breaking Dot.

「Wow, you sure are useless. Aren’t you supposed to be a scout? What’s the point of you even existing if you can’t do your job and warn your party about an upcoming threat? You’re useless in battle too. You let one of your party members finish the monster off instead of doing the job yourself. You’re useless, a good for nothing. Do you know what people like you are called? Leeches, parasites. Oh wait, sorry. That must’ve been too complicated for you. There’s no way someone as useless as you could even understand the concept of a parasite. 」

「Kh… Stop… that…」

Minnalis giggled as she mercilessly kicked Dot over and over. The aura of irritation around hadn’t waned in the slightest despite the fact that she was repeating the action whilst wearing a smile.

Dot started off with a rebellious look in his eyes, but it soon vanished as he lost to his sense of pain.

The punishment Minnalis had administered was overly harsh, but honestly quite deserved, especially when one took the topic the men had just discussed into consideration. It had literally done nothing but serve to add more fuel to the fire.

「You guys were just talking about how you were going to kill us. That, of course, means you understand that the opposite might happen, right? So, given that, are you ready to die?」

I laced the aura of bloodlust I was giving off with magical energy in order to activate the 『Magical Intimidation』skill. Its effects were immediately made apparent, as all three of their faces paled over in response. All three of the party’s members had still been looking down on us. They’d thought that they would’ve been able to kill us if they hadn’t been paralyzed ahead of time, but that thought was no more; my aura had obliterated it.

The only pillar of support they had remaining, all we still needed to break, was their shoddy sense of pride.

「W-We’re sorry! P-Please… don’t kill us…! Please!」

「No no no, we can’t be having you going there just yet. 」

I interrupted Barkas and prevent him from saying another word.

「This is only just the opening act. We’re going to need a bit of data to reference for everything we do later on, so don’t be begging for your lives till after we’re done with the headliner. Ain’t that right, Minnalis?」

「Right it is, Goshujin-sama. 」

Minaris nodded as she activated her『Phantom Flame Poison Demon』in order to create a poison capable of reproducing an effect similar to that of the anesthetics we had back in my world. It was much more powerful than the paralyzing mist she’d just created, and had the strength to not only immobilize the three men, but also rob them off any senses they had from the neck down. They could still see, hear, and speak even under its influence, but that was all. In other words, the poison was exactly like an anesthetic, save for the fact that it didn’t deprive those it affected of their consciousness.

The fluid took floated above Minnalis’ hand following its synthesis. Its colouration was that of a marbled mix of red and orange. Conveniently, there just so happened to be exactly three servings worth of the stuff.

「I think it should be about time for us to get started. Would you mind lending me a hand in administering it, Goshujin-sama?」

「Sure. 」

「W-What are you two d—gaaaaahh!」

I forced the men to open their mouths in order to allow Minnalis to pour the poison down each of their throats.

「It should kick in almost right away. It’s much stronger than the mist you inhaled earlier, so it should overwrite the other poison’s effects and allow you to talk again. 」

The poison Minnalis had just created was extremely complex and ate up a lot of MP. As a result, she began suffering from Mana Intoxication, which in turn did the usual and made her start giving a more alluring air.

Her lips twisted up into a wide smile. It was a smile that was not only fearsome and dreadful, but also beautifully captivating.

「Kufufu. Please look forward to what’s to come. I’ll be giving you a glimpse of hell’s very depths. 」

Minnalis’ smile transformed and became even lovelier as she spoke. The impurities within it disappeared, leaving not but an expression of heartfelt joy.

「I guess I’d better start getting everything ready. 」

I decided to get on with the plan after confirming that Minnalis had gotten Barkas and his companions prepared for what was to come.

Two different Soul Blades were required for what I intended to do. The first was the 【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade,】and the second the 【Water Sprite’s Droplet Blade. 】

Spare magical energy would always leak from my soul blades during the creation process if I wasn’t careful enough in crafting them. Normally, that would be something that I’d try to prevent. This, however, wasn’t exactly what one could call a normal situation. The overflow of energy was perfect for use in the creation of a scene that would instill an even greater amount of terror into the hearts of Barkas and his companions. Thus, I made sure to emphasize the mana leak, I purposefully formed the blade in a much more reckless manner than usual and caused black particles of light to scatter into my surroundings.

「Strum a tune sung by beasts,『Hellspawn Flower』」

The green, bud-like blade that extended from the sword’s handle began to change as I slowly began channeling my magical energy through it. Veiny lines emerged from within the blade as it darkened into a series of purples and blacks. It pulsed and grew, expanding in all of size, malevolence and impurity. The change was dramatic, and caused Barkas’ group to twitch in anxiety.

「W-What is that…」

「What, this? Oh, you know, just a little something. You’ll find out in due time. 」

Rather than ignoring him, I replied in such a way that left in the dark. There was no fun in spoiling his future experiences ahead of time, especially given how well Minnalis’ poison was working. It had done exactly as planned. The viscous, toxic liquid had completely overwritten its misty predecessor and totally paralyzed everything but their faces. They were capable of speaking and moving their eyes, but they were otherwise unable to move even the slightest bit.

All three party members had no choice but to stare at the【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade】as it continued to change. Their faces mirrored the blade; they began warping in fear and anxiety as I forced them to regard the process. Their hair started standing on end, all three had realized that the blade would ultimately cause harm.

I had purposefully slowed down the flow of my mana, so the blade had taken an extremely long time to reach its final form.

But it had.

The bud had finally blossomed.

『Jyaruuuuraa』

It began producing a sort of inorganic high pitched screech as it did.

「「「Urgh!」」」

Barkas’ group immediately grimaced as they heard it. The sound was awful, it sounded almost exactly like the reverberation of having someone scrape their nails against a blackboard. It was a bit harsh on the ears, but tolerable so long as it wasn’t something that caught you off guard.

「Nghhh, I really don’t like how that thing sounds. 」

I knew what to expect, so I was relatively unaffected, but Minnalis’ hearing was much more sensitive than mine, so it caused her a bit of grief.

「I already told you that I’m fine, Minnalis. You don’t need to cover my ears. 」

I’d told her to cover her own ears to minimize her exposure to the sound in order to reduce discomfort, a decision resulted from the fact that we weren’t able to find any decent earplugs despite having gone around the entire town in search of them. It was something we both agreed on at the time, but she’d ended up ignoring it, as she was currently attached to my back and plugging mine instead.

「Ehehehe. Come on, Goshujin-sama. I’m your slave, so you have to make sure to order me around at times like these if you want me to listen to you. 」

「Come on, get off me already, and stop pressing your chest against me. 」

「What’re you saying? What do you mean by crest?」

Minnalis was suffering from Mana Intoxication, so her actions seemed to have a certain degree of sexyness to them.

「Yeah, yeah, cut it out. 」

「Awwww~ Can’t you reward me a bit? Look how much stuff I did. 」

「Fine, but not right now. Come on, hurry up and just drink one of these. 」

I peeled Minnalis off me and shoved an MP pot in her mouth in an ever so accustomed motion. I made sure to keep cool throughout by telling myself that she was only acting the way she was because she was under the influence. She seemed to be a bit further off the edge than usual, but I figured that it wasn’t an issue, and that she’d probably return to normal once a bit of time elapsed.

「W-What… the hell are they doing?」

「I-I don’t… get them…」

Terry and Dot expressed themselves in a pair of voices that contained both confusion and fear, a mix of emotions only fueled further by the fact that they didn’t understand us or the things that we seemed to be getting ready to do to them.

Barkas, on the other hand, didn’t really seem to mind my sword nor the banter Minnalis and I were exchanging. Instead, he was completely focused on the living thing that’d just so happened to appear right in his line of sight.

「So, how are you feeling, Slucky?」[1]

「Kyupiii!」

Slucky, the slime that appeared alongside the ear-piercing screech, responded with a cry so cute it seemed out of place. The Crest of Subordination engraved on its body allowed me to understand that it’d been attempting to convey that it was in perfect form.

The blooming【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade,】on the other hand, had withered and returned back to its usual bud-like state.

「I-Isn’t that just a slime?」

Barkas questioned me in an overly confused manner.

「It is. It isn’t a variant, nor a higher order subspecies. It’s just your everyday average slime. 」

I responded to him with the truth. Slucky was the splitting image of your average slime. He didn’t have any eyes or mouths; he was just a translucent, blue blob made out of a jelly-like substance. The only difference between Slucky and a “perfectly average” slime would be that Slucky was a slight bit smaller than average. He was only only about the size of a small balance ball. He wasn’t too small though, he was still within range for one to call him average. There was, of course, also the Crest of Subordination he had engraved onto him, but that was honestly all there was to it.

Slucky continued making his cute cries as he wiggled back and forth on the spot. Seeing him act like that once again made me ask a question that’d yet to be answered.

How the hell is it making those noises?

「I’m going to have to ask you do something a little bit on the more difficult size. You ready?」

「Kyupii kyuupi!」

I lightly pat Slucky over the head(?) after hearing him respond affirmatively. I was actually rather confused as to exactly where I’d been petting him, as I couldn’t tell precisely where his head was located. All I knew for sure was that I’d petted him somewhere on the upper half of his body. Either way, the sensation I felt from doing so was one that reminded me of how it felt to press my hand against a cooled down piece of soft, springy dough.

I dispelled the【Magical Beast’s Egg Blade】and instead summoned the【Water Sprite’s Droplet Blade. 】Unlike the former, the latter sword didn’t have a blade at all. It was composed solely of three pieces, a handle, a diminutive swordguard, and a piece of ultramarine cloth. The last of the three components was wrapped around the first.

「It’s all you, Slucky. 」

「Kyuupiiii! Uuuu… kyu!」

Slucky responded as if ready before seemingly exerting himself and splitting into two.

I approached one of the two newly divided halves and pressed my sword against it. The corresponding portion of Slucky’s body was immediately reduced to a tenth its prior volume as it forged itself into a blade.

「W-What the hell are you doing?」

「You tell me. What do you think he’s doing?」

Minnalis, who was aware of what was to come, giggled as she teased Barkas with a smile.

「You’ll find out soon enough. Everything’s ready now, and it’ll be pretty hard for me to keep the sword’s blade in tact for an extent period of time given the amount of mana I have right now, so I won’t keep you waiting much longer. 」

I walked over to Barkas and swung the newly formed blade as my lips twisted into a wide grin.

「W-wait… Please… h-hold…」

「Don’t worry. I won’t do as anything as boring as just killing you. 」

I smiled briefly as I regarded Barkas’ decapitated, terror struck face before attacking his his two companions in much the same manner; I swung my blade in an arc and tore their heads off their bodies.

☆

「Don’t worry. I won’t do as anything as boring as just killing you. 」

The man whose face I was staring up at was one dyed in a sort of mad ecstasy. His smile only seemed to widen as he swung the sword that’d been lying around at the edge of my sightline and beheaded me.

（Shit… Why’d I have to get done in by a brat like him…?）

I wasn’t able to feel pain because of the stuff his slave had forced me to drink, but I could still tell that my severed head ended up rolling after it fell from my body.

I managed to remain conscious despite the fact that I’d lost my head. I could see, and saw both Terry and Dot ending up the same way I had.

I’ve heard that beheaded criminals would still open their mouths and blink for a few moments after their supposed deaths. Having now experienced it myself, I came to understand that it was the truth. But that too would soon come to end. That was just how things were. My consciousness would only remain for another few seconds at best. I would soon be taken into the darkness. With that in mind, I turned my eyes towards my companions, the men who had my back for the last few years, and watched as they too moved towards the light. The lack of pain made the last few moments I experienced almost seem surreal, but I sat put and awaited my death reg-

「W-What…. What the hell is going on!?」

Time ticked by. One, two, three seconds passed, but my consciousness hadn’t even began to fade.

I immediately began questioning whether or not I’d really been beheaded.

「T-The hell’s going on!? Did I not actually get beheaded?」

「What’s going on? Wasn’t I supposed to have my head cut off?」

I heard both Dot and Terry voice their confusion in that order.

I moved my gaze as far as it would go, and examined their severed heads, only to realize that there was something attached to the bottom of their necks.

「Pftttt ahahaha! My bad, my bad. I guess it must be hard for you guys to see what’s going on right now, huh?」

The brat that’d beheaded us laughed loudly before approaching me. I felt the sensation of something pulling on my hair a few moments after his feet stopped right before my eyes.

「W-What the hell!? Th-th-the fuck’s going on!?」

I was hoisted into the air and given a better view of what had happened to me. More specifically, I was given a better view of my own body, twitching, convulsing, and spewing blood as it lay on the ground.

「Y-Y-You have to be fucking kidding me! The hell is going on!? Why aren’t I dead!? Isn’t that my body right there!?」

「Hahaha. Amazing isn’t it? We had Slucky attach a part of himself to each of your necks right when we cut them off. He keeps your blood flowing, at the right pressure, and full of oxygen so you can stay conscious and not dead, even without the rest of your body. He also serves as a substitute for your vocal chords, so you can speak all you like. Minnalis’ poison is keeping you paralyzed and free of pain, so you won’t die from shock either. 」

「Haaah!? The hell are you saying? Stop saying shit I don’t understand!」

「All it means is that you can remain conscious even as just a head. Here, you’ll understand if you just get a good look. 」

The brat shrugged in an overly exaggerated manner before putting me on top of the rock I’d just been sitting on. He somehow made his sword disappear before violently grabbing both Terry and Dot and holding them right in front of me. The two had rather spaced out expressions. It didn’t take me long to realize that I probably looked the same. I could see a slime-like thing wrapped around the bottom of each of their severed heads. A dark red liquid, their blood, moved around within it as it pulsed in a pump-like manner.

Knowing that the exact same thing had happened to me made me almost want to keel over and faint. It was almost as if I’d been remodeled into some sort of inhuman freak.

「So you understand what’s happened to you now? Isn’t this just great? Not very many people get to die while experiencing something this interesting, you know?」

The monster of a brat continued to smile as placed Terry and Dot beside me while getting ready to toy with our very lives themselves.

「Slucky. 」

「Kyupii!」

The slime cried in response as if to affirm the man’s words before slowly crawling towards us.

「O-Oi… What are you planning?」

The negative emotion swelling up within me led me to repeat the question I had asked earlier.

I wasn’t given an answer. My captor instead turned to the slime and spoke to it in a soft tone while stroking its head, a smile decorating his face the whole way through.

「Feel free to dig in. 」

「Kyupii!!」

「…STTTOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP THAAAAATTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!」

The slime immediately kicked into action and began leaning its body on top of us in response to the brat’s words. The way it acted almost made it seem as if it’d been waiting for his signal the whole damned time.

「Whaaaaa!? Stop thaaat! Our bodies! Our bodies!!」

Our bodies started to make crunching sounds as the slime compressed them within itself.

「P-Please stop that!! Those are our bodies! Stop that right now! Stop messing with them! Who the hell do you think we are damn it!? Stop it! Stop it now!」

Terry began screaming at the top of his lungs the moment he saw the slime begin to consume his body.

「T-The hell is this!? No! I know, it’s a dream! Yeah, it has to be a dream! Gyahahahahahaha! I get it! This was all just a dream this whole time!」

Dot’s words were convincing. This just had to be a dream, a god awful nightmare.

「Heh heh heh. Well, what do you think? Isn’t watching a slime eat you while you’re still perfectly conscious just novel?」

The rabbitkin’s description of the event was spot on. The slime was translucent, so we could see inside of its body; we could see exactly what was going on within it, and we could even hear the occasional crunch through the slimy blob. We heard a particularly loud crack as the slime crushed Dot’s arm and folded Terry’s twisted legs in half. It then peeled off my leather armour, tore my stomach in half, and put my internals on display. I heard something important in my mind every single time a piece of one of our bodies lost its original form.

「This can’t be real. This isn’t possible. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. 」

「Arghhh! This was all our fault! I’m sorry, we’re sorry! Please, just stop already!」

Dot was the first to break, with Terry following soon after. The former began quietly muttering “this can’t be happening,” over and over while the latter began begging for it to stop. I, on the other hand, began letting out dry gasps. The fact that I saw my own body get broken down and consumed right in front of me made me feel like I was going mad.

I knew that I was going to die. That, I understood. But the way I was going to die wasn’t something I could bring myself to accept. I didn’t want it to end, not like this.

「Hmmm… You guys are boring. You’ve all given up despite not even having felt any pain. 」

「We’ve even had goblins entertain us more than them. 」

「Right?」

We were no longer able to discern which part of the lump of flesh inside the slime belonged to who.

I wasn’t able to get what was going on anymore. My mind wasn’t able to keep up.

Why? Why…? Why!?

I wasn’t able to comprehend why the two people in front of us were smiling anymore. Why were they smiling and happily chatting away despite the fact that that had happened to me?

「Kyupuu!」

The slime that’d consumed us spat a lump of metal, our equips, back outside of it after it was done ingesting and processing our bodies.

「What did we do to deserve this!?」

「Huh? The hell do you mean by that?」

The brat’s words will filled with a burning, violent rage. To him, the answer was clearly an obvious one, but I couldn’t think of any prior events that would’ve led to me incurring his wrath.

「Weren’t you trying to backstab me? Didn’t you want to rape Minnalis right before my eyes? Hadn’t you planned on murdering me?」

「Y-Yeah, but that doesn’t justify something this horrible!」

「What do you mean “justify,” low-life? Didn’t you think you could get away with whatever the hell you wanted just because you were stronger than someone? Didn’t you think no one would care so long as you weren’t found out? Doesn’t all this just go along with that same school of thought? We’re doing as we like because we’re stronger than you, and because no one will know what happened. Shouldn’t we be perfectly justified based on your very own logic?」

「…」

「Don’t get all pretentious on us. Don’t be complaining about what we’re doing to you. You deserve this. As scum, you should die like scum. 」

Their words made me recall something the local priest had preached to me back when I was a child.

I guess this is what he meant by Karma. Someone did onto us what we did onto others.

I understood that.

But I still couldn’t it accept it.

「No…! No, no, no, no, no!!!」

I don’t want to die. I don’t. Want to die. I. Don’t. Want. To. Die.

Not like this.

I’d long abandoned even the consideration of a natural death. It was something I threw away the moment I became an adventurer. But I couldn’t stand going out like this.

I didn’t want it to end like this.

Not like this.

「It seems like it’s about time for us to bid our farewells. Minnalis, Slucky, we all get one each. Alright?」

「Sure thing, Goshujin-sama. 」

The rabbitkin reached into an item bag-like object and pulled out a rusty hammer as she spoke.

「This is allllllllll juuuuuuuust aaaaaaa dreeeeeammmmmmmmmm! IIIIIII’mmmmmmmmm juuuuuuuussssssssstttttttt drrrrreeeeeeeaaaaaaaamiiiiiiinggggggg!! Bye bygrophph!」

The sound of something whistling in the wind passed by my ears as she smashed the hammer into the spot right next to me. Dot’s still warm blood flew through the air and splashed itself onto my face as I felt a vibration shake through the thing I was situated on top of.

「Alright, your turn Slucky. 」

「Kyupii!」

The slime extended a pair of tentacles as it responded to the brat’s instructions.

「This can’t be happening! There’s just no way! This is way too unreal! It’s impoasdugkjhasdgjkh!」

The slime pulled Terry’s head into its body and crushed both his bones and flesh into a single small lump. One of his eyeballs flew out of the slime’s body after the rest was consumed, as if it was something accidentally spilled in the act of eating. But not even that part managed to escape, as one of the slime’s tentacles reached out, grabbed it, and pulled it back into the meat grinder that was its body.

「No! Not like this! Why… Why does it have to be like this!?」

「That’s a thought I’ve entertained quite a few times as well. I’ve caught myself screaming that exact question over and over. You see, you guys might not know the reason why this happened, but I do. And I’m pretty sure I’ve already explained it, haven’t I?」

The last thing I saw right before getting my head split in half was the sight of the brat’s bitter smile, one that contained within it scorn even for oneself.

[1] Original name is a Dragon Quest reference. Idk how they localized it, so I just did it my way. (Surakichi = Slime lucky = Slucky)