Before McGillis’s temper flared from the guard’s attitude, they headed to the hunting ground.
Neither at the hunting ground nor at its entrance were they able to encounter any monsters.
“Is it a day with few monsters today?”
“Perhaps the King conscripted all the monsters in this area… (I really don’t know anything about monster ecology. I still don’t even understand the monster right in front of me.)”
McGillis and the others ate the bento boxes made for them at the inn.
It was early for lunch. But the work for the Merchant guild had made them hungry.
So they ate lunch early.
They also had a bento for dinner.
Munch munch.
There should be small monsters here.
They leisurely ate their hard tack sandwiches. The filling was a spicy pickled mixture.
Saliva flowed abundantly. The hard tack softened. They bit off pieces and ate.
Munch munch.
Munch munch.
“Gulp. Wa-water! (Create Water)” Gulp Gulp. Ahhh.
The inn’s menu was unique.
The inn’s menu was designed to make customers order water and drinks.
In any case, the menu made people thirsty.
The specialized eateries had normal seasoning.
“Jeeeee…”
McGillis, who had assumed Phasis could only manipulate plants, saw him create a water ball in the air and became convinced he could use magic.
His own mouth was burning, so he wished he could drink water… While looking at the air where the water ball had been, he forced the hard tack down his throat.
“Alright, let’s head deeper in.”
“Yes.”
McGillis and the others went deeper into the hunting ground.
Then.
“Delicious! You are deliciousss!”
They encountered a monster possessed by a distorted soul.
“It doesn’t look like a large one, but… is that also a large one?”
“Why is a talking individual appearing in such a shallow location?!”
McGillis and the others responded to the attacking monster.
Phasis acted as the decoy. McGillis was the skirmisher, attacking the openings created when the monster attacked.
The reverse was also true.
“Delicious! Delicious!”
“Eek!”
It was a humanoid, a beastkin in physical form, with a rapid combo of sharp claws.
Phasis was driven into a defensive position with his small shield and sword, screaming for McGillis to do something quickly.
Its speed was overwhelming. Each blow was heavy.
The killing intent in its bipedal form’s double eyes exerted pressure and terror.
Or so McGillis thought.
He observed the monster carefully.
(…Is it male? There are females too, right?! It can talk. I should ask it the location of the females. Yes, I’ll do that ♪)
“Delicious! You guys—!? Gwaaa—”
“Shallow, huh…”
The monster narrowly dodged McGillis’s attack, inflicting only a shallow wound.
The pain caused its killing intent to falter.
This absurdity! His memories of fighting and killing surged back.
In the attacks of his flashed-back memories, he braced himself with crossed arms or tried to dodge with footwork.
“?” “?”
McGillis and Phasis’s actions were incomprehensible to each other.
After thinking for a few seconds, McGillis ordered Phasis to flank it.
“Guaah! This—”
The monster had its right arm severed and began to dodge the real attacks.
Bright red blood spilled from the cut surface.
McGillis, thinking of dirtying his clothes—his only outfit—didn’t step in until the bleeding weakened slightly.
Phasis seemed to want to complain about this.
He lunged at the one-armed monster, getting its blood on his face and clothes.
“DON’T GET COCKY!!”
“Gah! You’ll burst my eardrums! Just die already!”
The one-armed monster was not scary at all.
Judging by the amount of blood flowing out, it would be dead soon.
That was his judgment.
McGillis moved away, as he was entrusted with the finishing blow.
Inwardly cursing him for not being able to finish it off because his clothes might get dirty.
“Hang in there.”
“Y-yes.”
“St-still. Still. I won’t die… I won’t die—Guh.”
“Well done.”
“Haa, haa… I defeated it.”
The distorted soul exited the body and, glaring at the two, disintegrated into particles of light in the cycle of reincarnation.
“This guy’s male. He’s got a dick.”
“Yes, he’s male. Are you going to eat his testicles?”
Eating testicles raises…
Reproductive capacity.
“No, you idiot. I was wondering if there were any females ♪”
“…Are you serious? You want to have sex with a monster?”
Ah, so monsters are a kind of monster.
This thing multiplying. Ugh. Give me a break.
I had been trying not to think about it, assuming reproduction with humans would be difficult, but what if its compatibility with my seed is good? Give me a break…
McGillis and Phasis stripped the monster of its fangs, claws, and magic stone (pebble-sized).
The sun was still high. They decided to hunt for a while longer and headed deeper into the hunting ground.
“KILL ME”
“AVENGE ME”
The remnants of the distorted soul and the souls of other monsters were drawn together again.
A second bipedal monster, a black mist (small monster), was born.
McGillis and Phasis, knowing they couldn’t win in their current state, etched this into their souls.
They moved from this hunting ground to another abundant with small monsters.
◇◇◇◇◇
Deep within another hunting ground.
A large monster was surprised by the report from its familiar (Clay Golem).
“THE KIN… HM.”
It was also a large monster, but this one, capable of causing tremors, controlled a group of medium-sized monsters and was in battle with their sacrifices (humans).
“WILL SACRIFICES COME HERE TOO?”
If they come, they will be crushed.
However, this incarnated body requires sleep.
The other one too.
It sent its controlled group to fight.
It fought while getting enough sleep.
It pitied the unfortunate incarnated medium-sized monsters.
“IT SHOULDN’T BE FOOLISH…”
Complacency and carelessness could be seen in the report from its familiar.
It had no obligation to go and help. That was the result of it forming a group.
It had also deliberately lured the sacrifices.
However, interfering with its sleep was unacceptable. Going to complain would lead to a fight. It had no subordinates, while the other one did.
Fighting would be exhausting. Even if it won, being attacked by a medium-sized monster wanting to become a sacrifice or a large monster would be disastrous.
“MOVE THE NEST… HAAAHHH”
Why did it have to care about that guy?
Was this a consequence of absorbing the magic of the sacrifices?
Sigh. It had been so long since it had wanted to avoid trouble.
It was not the time to reminisce about memories before evolving into a large monster.
It had better start acting quickly. If the sacrifices fled here…
They would be followed by that guy and his subordinates in a rush.
Being caught up in that would be the worst.
Thump, thump.
The large monster moved north.
It began to move with large strides, as far as possible from the region where the large monster (the King) was currently causing a disturbance.
