kscans

Chapter 165 - The Beast with a Human Face

Beyond the white gate, the gritty sensation of soil came through my boots.

Feeling the slightly dry air, I looked around at our surroundings, illuminated by dappled sunlight filtering through the trees.

A light brown ground with sparsely growing weeds. Giant trees, rooted in the earth, stretched towards a false sky at wide intervals.

Looking up, I saw long, thick branches extending in all directions. Lush, thick leaves glittered in the light of a magically created mock sun.

It looked like a typical forest-type dungeon. But the air alone felt unusually dry compared to what I was used to.

I licked my lips slightly and drew the sword from my waist.

"We have entered the dungeon. Commencing exploration."

"Alright. Proceed with caution. Especially you, Erina-kun and Mia. You have Granny’s medicine, right?"

"Roger that!"

"Yes."

We nodded to each other and began to walk.

Our formation was me at the lead with Byakuren, then Erina-san, Mia-san, and finally Ukon and Sakon.

The monsters here possess abilities that are simply troublesome. In terms of compatibility, the girls needed to be especially careful.

We advanced slowly, cautiously. Despite being covered by a dome of rock, there was a faint flow of wind. The rustling of branches and leaves set my nerves on edge.

Dungeons were places used by humans or human-like beings. If so, was this wind blowing to circulate the air?

Even in tunnel-like dungeons, the oxygen concentration is almost the same as outside. They are thoroughly constructed to be hospitable for people.

I consciously corrected my wavering focus, turning my eyes to a piece of cloth I saw at the edge of my vision.

"Aira-san. I’ve found a marker. It’s ‘G-4.’ The pseudo-sun is in the five o’clock direction relative to our path of travel."

"Understood. If you proceed straight for about two hundred meters, you should see a marker labeled ‘Q-8.’ Turn right at that point."

"Roger."

I replied curtly and looked away from the cloth stretched between two trees.

And so, we began walking again, for about a minute.

"Wait."

At Erina-san’s word, I stopped and tightened my grip on my sword.

Normally, she would immediately report the number and direction of the enemy. But this time was different.

"Sorry, I can’t get a clear number or direction. Probably two or more. I think they’re approaching, but…"

I nodded in response to Erina-san’s hesitant words.

This was one of the reasons the enemies here were said to be so troublesome. Their stealth was so effective that it was difficult to track them even with her level of scouting ability.

"Understood. Erina-san, you and Mia get behind the golems. Byakuren, focus on defense and protect them."

I held my sword at the ready, spread my feet, and slightly lowered my center of gravity.

I scanned the dense forest, wondering where they would come from.

The forest of giant trees looked full of gaps, but it was natural that from one direction, it would be full of blind spots.

On top of that, there were spots that were hard to see due to the shadows of weeds and leaves. The ground of dirt and weeds also muffled footsteps compared to a stone labyrinth.

I was not letting my guard down in the slightest. I kept moving my eyes, trying to catch any trace of mana.

But it came suddenly.

A long needle, as thick as an arm. Its sharp tip was dull, black as if it swallowed light.

It came silently… no. It was faster than sound, closing in on me. From above and to my left rear.

An attack launched from an angle that was impossible to catch with normal vision, aimed at the nape of my neck.

Even for an Awakened Person, it was impossible to react after seeing it. My body lacked too much to move at the speed of sound.

Therefore, I moved before I saw it.

"Haaah!"

I swung my sword in a reverse diagonal slash towards my left rear, the wind enveloping the blade exploding outwards.

The tip of my sword shattered the tip of the needle, and a gale of wind sent the whole thing flying upwards.

Then, the being I was glaring at grinned and pounced.

I immediately swung my now-raised sword down in a diagonal slash to intercept its long claws, which were descending with the force of muscle and gravity. With a hard clang, the claws were severed, and the monster, thrown off balance in mid-air by the impact, twisted its massive body like a cat.

It landed without a sound, and I immediately swung my blade, but it leaped out of range with just its hind legs.

The false sunlight pouring through the gaps in the leaves illuminated the eerie monster.

A massive body, perhaps larger than a bear. On its face, as large as a human torso, was a face that looked exactly like a human’s.

The monster with blue eyes grinned with undisguised sadism. It had the orange mane of a lion and the reddish-brown body of a lion.

Powerful limbs and a long tail. An excessively long tail.

The tail, perhaps five meters long, was covered in an exoskeleton, with only the tip exposed skin. From there, another of the earlier needles slid out with a slither.

Its open mouth revealed three rows of shark-like teeth.

`Manticore`.

A name meaning ‘man-eater’ in old Persian. According to some legends, it is a monster that will not stop until it has devoured an entire army.

This monster, which closely resembled it, was a threat worthy of its name, especially in a forest.

The single needle that had emerged spread out like a blooming flower. It split into hundreds of pieces and shot towards me.

It was like a shotgun blast, but not as fast as the initial surprise attack. I swept them all away with a gust of wind and charged forward.

I shattered the ground beneath my feet and closed the distance to the monster in a straight line.

Immediately after, my ‘premonition’ activated. I met a needle coming from my right, diagonally from above, with the blade of my sword.

I parried the impact against the flat of my blade by spinning on one foot. I didn’t slow down. I kicked off the ground with my other foot, which I had lifted for a moment, and leaped at the Manticore before me.

"I’m counting on you!"

"You got it!"

That was enough to deal with the enemy who had shot the needle from the side. First, I’ll kill this one.

With astonishment in its blue eyes, the first individual whipped its scorpion-like tail.

"BUBUBUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!"

I dodged the horizontal sweep, unleashed with a roar like several trumpets blowing at once, by leaning forward until I was parallel to the ground.

Ignoring the tail that grazed my helmet, I swung my blade in a reverse diagonal slash.

At the same time, the Manticore was already swinging both its forelegs. Sharp claws closed in from the left and right.

It didn’t matter. I’ll crush them all.

A storm generated from me was released with my sword, shattering its claws and drawing a diagonal line across its face.

With a gush of fresh blood, the Manticore screamed and leaped back.

But before it could, I grabbed its mane by the jaw with my left hand.

I twisted my body and slammed it sideways onto the ground. Amidst the spreading dust and roar, I drew back my sword.

The human-like face of the Manticore contorted.

—What an unpleasant face.

I drove the tip of my sword from its eyeball to its brain, twisted, and pulled it out. The massive body twitched once. I let go and readied my blade again.

Keeping the reddish-brown body, which was turning white, in the corner of my eye, I checked behind me. There, Byakuren had blocked the shotgun-like needles with its tower shield, and in return, stone spears that had sprung from the ground had just pierced the monster.

"Buh, ooh…!"

A kunai embedded itself in the eyeball of the Manticore, which was gasping for air and spitting blood. The deep strike seemed to be the final blow, and it stopped moving.

Even after the two bodies had turned to salt, we remained vigilant for a few seconds of silence, and then,

"…Doesn’t seem to be any others."

At Erina-san’s words, I let out a breath and relaxed my shoulders.

Watching Ukon collect the drop items and kunai out of the corner of my eye, I turned to the two of them.

"Are you two alright? The Manticore’s needles are said to be poisonous, so don’t let your guard down even if it’s just a scratch."

"Yeah! I’m fine!"

"Me too. Byakuren acted as a wall for me."

At Mia-san’s gaze, I saw Byakuren holding a kite shield seven centimeters thick.

The surface of the shield, which possessed extraordinary strength, was covered in numerous small scratches. The poison could linger for a while even after the Manticore’s death, so I’d have to clean it thoroughly when we got back.

This time, Byakuren was holding a sword instead of a flail or a battle axe.

Even though the space between the trees was wide, other weapons were difficult to handle. Ooyama-san had forged it for me as a bonus when she repaired the one I broke in the Minotaur’s labyrinth, as an apology.

…Though she did demand I provide some of the materials since she was forging it for free.

Remembering her dilated pupils, a cold sweat ran down my back. It was only thanks to Busujima-san’s intervention that she had compromised on just a claw and some hair.

I shook my head to banish the memory and brought my focus back to the dungeon.

"All members safe, combat concluded. Resuming exploration."

"Mhm. Good to hear you’re safe. But don’t let your guard down, okay? And Erina-kun, Mia, don’t touch the spots where the Manticore needles hit."

"Okay!"

"Of course. Actually, should I wash Byakuren’s shield with water?"

"Ah, if you have the mana to spare, please do."

"Understood."

Mia-san twirled her fingertip, and a sphere of water the size of a human head appeared. The floating orb washed the shield clean, as if licking it.

I planned to wash it carefully later just in case, but for now, this would do.

"Thank you."

"Not at all."

"But are you okay? Especially you, Kyouta-chan-kun."

"Huh?"

At Aira-san’s unusually worried voice, I tilted my head slightly.

But I quickly understood what she meant.

"The Manticore’s face is, well…"

"I’m fine. Though it is… quite unpleasant."

I managed to turn what was about to become a grimace into a wry smile.

It couldn’t be helped; I chose to come here myself. I didn’t want to play the victim.

But still, it’s only human to want to complain a little.

"It’s still mentally exhausting, though. Its size and overall appearance make it clear that it’s a monster, but up close, that human face… it just gets to me."

When I killed humanoid monsters like goblins, I didn’t feel anything in particular.

But I couldn’t stand the eyes of the Manticore, which directed raw emotion at me. Although, I could vaguely sense from the mana it emitted that its values were different from a human’s.

Still, stabbing a blade into a face like that just makes my chest burn with irritation. I felt like throwing my sword away and washing my hands right now. I wanted to forget the sensation of cutting through flesh.

The only difference between it and the monsters I’ve killed so far is its face. I’m pathetic, I know.

"…Right. For this exploration, we’ll skip photographing the ruins. The professor will understand if you explain the situation. You guys should just focus on thinning the herd and then return."

"Roger… Sorry, you two."

"No. In a party, the vanguard’s condition is the benchmark for retreat. Besides, it’s normal to feel sick after fighting a monster with a human face."

"I’m fine too!"

"…Right."

After giving a small bow to Mia-san and the others, I took a deep breath.

…Alright, I’ve reset. Think that way, Yagawa Kyouta.

I put the Manticore’s drop item, a long, sharp fang like a knife, into my item box and started walking again.

The trade value of this fang is slightly lower than the drops from Utuq or the Nue.

In terms of mood, income, and difficulty, if it wasn’t a B-Rank dungeon that was relatively close to home, I wouldn’t want to come here.

We ended our exploration earlier than usual that day and returned.

It was a dungeon I didn’t want to remember, so I had planned to go to bed right away that day… but.

＊　　　　＊　　　　　＊

"For the heartbroken Kyouta-chan-kun… let’s pull an all-nighter and play games today!"

"Yeah!!"

The hopeless beauty and the self-proclaimed ninja decided they weren’t going to let me sleep tonight.

"No thanks. Pulling an all-nighter to play games."

"Don’t say that. All-nighters are what being young is all about, right? You can only do it while you’re young, you know?"

"That’s right!!"

"You’re too loud."

"Besides, for a lady to make a nightly invitation, only to be told, ‘I’m tired today, let me sleep,’ is an act unbecoming of a gentleman!!"

"That’s right!!"

"Shut up, you fake lady."

"Huh? I am a magnificent lady, you know?"

"That’s right, Kyouta-chan! Senpai’s bloodline and all that means she can properly call herself a young lady!"

"See, Erina-kun says so too! I win!"

"Are you okay with that? She’s only acknowledging your bloodline."

"Still resisting, are you! Fine, then try and defeat me! So, which game are we playing? You can choose first, you know?"

"So you’re determined to make me play…"

"Whoops. You guys are still little kids, so no naughty games, okay☆ That’s a promise with your big sister!"

"Speaking of kids, were you okay? Mia-san really did buy those baby supplies."

"…Please, let me forget."

"Got it."

"Senpai is talking with her grandma right now!"

I won’t ask any more. Professor Arisugawa will handle it.

For a moment, an image of the professor ‘only steering the wheel without letting her step on the brake’ flashed in my mind, but it must have been a hallucination.

There’s no way the professor, a paragon of education, would do something like only changing the point of impact.

"Now choose, gamer boy Kyouta-chan-kun!"

"At least call me a hero."

"Whoops, my bad. You weren’t a gamer, you were a wannabe mage! Even though you always become a sage!"

"Erina-san. Want to play a racing game, just the two of us, starting now?"

"I’m so-o-o-orry! I’ll apologize, so please don’t leave me out! Ah, my trauma… urp."

"What a coincidence. In middle school, I was in a group of three friends, and when we were told to make pairs in class, I was the only one left… urp."*

"What’s wrong with you two!? Is it an enemy attack!?"

"No…"

"The past… never disappears…!"

"What the heck is going on…?"

After we played a ton of games, the professor stormed into Aira-san’s room and the party was over.

"Do you have any idea what time it is, honestly!"

"Don’t just turn off the poweeeeeer!?"

Serves you right, you hopeless college girl. That’s what you get for taunting every time you win in a fighting game. Go brush your teeth and go to bed.

…Though I was able to sleep soundly right after, so I’ll thank her for that at least.

The sensation that had lingered in my hands was now completely gone.