Without slowing down his full sprint dash, Karito continued until the scenery changed into a single path sandwiched between forests. There, he finally stopped in his tracks.
Or, it should be said that he couldn’t help but stop.
Washing away the very glimmer of hope that moved Karito’s running muscles, the shocking sight spread out before him made him dumbfounded. It couldn’t be helped.
A village-like settlement was wrapped in flames.
The reason why he knew that it wasn’t an accidental fire was because of the intense smell of iron rust and gore that was carried by the wind to Karito’s nose.
It was exactly like that time when even a shotgun couldn’t smash the horned bear in its original form. He couldn’t help but recognize the similar states.
Above all, the houses that were burning were all constructed from wood and plaster. Surrounding the vicinity were figures of people crouching and lying down on the ground, their bodies dyed with fresh blood flowing from various wounds, most notably from arrows penetrating their bodies.
Amidst were shapes beyond recognition, people who became chunks of flesh, with bones and internal organs scattered on the ground. A great portion of the ground’s surface had turned reddish-black from all the blood that was soaked up.
It didn’t seem like they died because of the suffocating smoke. No matter how much I think about it, they were all beasts, or possibly even artificially made bodies.
It was an odd scene, strange enough that it didn’t make Karito vomit out all the food that he had just eaten a few minutes ago.
“…Huh…!!” Karito gasped.
To his own surprise, when he stumbled upon the scene of the massacre, he rolled over to the thicket beside him for cover in reflex.
This slaughterfest was clearly done by a third party. Despite it being a fantasy world, Karito didn’t think that there exists a beast that can use a bow and arrows.
He laid his M14EBR onto the two legged pod, and assumed a snipping posture. This was the movement that he had performed countless times inside the game. But, this was obviously reality – the stench of death assaulting his nose, his heart beating like an alarm bell, knocking loudly into his thoughts.
Without using the scope that was attached onto the top of his rifle, Karito activated the zooming function of his special goggles. It was much easier to confirm the situation by having a vast field of vision.
I focused on the piles of damaged human bodies while clenching my teeth. I checked them one by one for survivors, even for those that seemed to still be breathing slightly from the distance. But, I couldn’t even find one survivor at all.
I checked once again, but the results didn’t change. I was attacked by an indescribable feeling of impermanence. Have the people who did this already left this place…?
The enlarged field of vision of the goggles showed the detailed state of the dead bodies to Karito. Every person’s face was contorted in anguish, their eyes and mouths wide open from rigor mortis. Without any regard of it being shown through the scope, the vividness of death struck Karito’s conscience.
Their expressions upon death were so intense that looking at a scene of human bodies that were scattered around from an explosion would be better.
When I finally couldn’t endure it any longer, the taste of sour gastric juice spreads in my mouth. I forcibly swallowed it, and pushed the contents back into my stomach.
I felt that the state of the corpses that were lying all over the place looked different from normal, leaving aside the question of how does a normal corpse look like, but it was too late when I noticed this.
(Animal ears? Was this a village of beastmen?)
Shifting my attention away from the way they died, I confirmed the general state of their bodies once more. I noticed that half of them had something on both sides of their heads, of which resembled cat, dog or cow ears. Also, the region between their waists and bottoms had a tail growing out from there.
Even though there were a few childrens’ corpses mixed in there, most of them were the grown bodies of males and females with animal ears and tails. The remaining half were the corpses of ordinary humans.
Whatever the state was, the fact didn’t change that all of the men and women, old and young, all who lived in this village were massacred.
So, the reality was obvious.
――――If only I had arrived earlier, would I have been able to change anything?
At that time, the shadow of a person jumped out from the back of a burning house. I shifted my focus to the shadow of the figure quickly.
“A girl?” I muttered.
She looked to be about ten years old. Wearing a plain apron dress with conspicuous patchwork, the girl looked desperate.
Karito looked over to the figure that was frantically crossing his field of vision.
But as soon as I thought that there was something flashing for an instant, the girl came tumbling down.
No, something was different. She was shot by an arrow from her back. The arrow pierced deep into her thigh, and a look of anguish appeared on her face.
After a short while, several men appeared from the corner of a building. To be exact, there were five people. One man wore a pure white robe just like the typical guise of a magician from fantasies. The other four soldiers were dressed similarly in light equipment, strapped with longswords and bows. Looking at the soldiers’ vulgar smiles, it made Karito remember the bullies from his high school days.
All of the swords in their hands were stained with blood. The soldier-like group appeared to have worn a set of uniformed equipments, as everyone had a metal slip-guard protecting their torso of the same design.
The magician also had hair as white as his robes. Not just his appearance, but his body seemed to be surrounded by a white faint glow, a mist, or perhaps a halo of some sort. I wonder if that was just my imagination?
“Ya, just when I thought I was able to secure a living female! Isn’t this a kid!“ One of them complained.
“Hey, don’t ask for too much. It can’t be helped since we got carried away and slaughtered all of them.” Another replied.
“Urgh… Ah…” The little girl crawled and cringed in an attempt to escape from the men, even if it’s just by a little bit.
However, on that girl’s back, a soldier’s armoured boot stopped her. A groan of pain leaked out from her mouth.
Karito wasn’t able to hear their conversation from his position. But, with the aid of an interception mic, it would have been possible to pick up even their breaths. However, at this moment, Karito was frozen to the spot while holding his breath, forgetting the existence of the equipment.
“Now now, let’s hurry up and bring her back to the carriage. Everyone is waiting as well.” One of them said placatingly.
“What should we do, Rezado-sama…?” Someone asked.
“This idiot! How can you speak so brazenly?! I am sorry, Rezado-sama. Because he is just a new recruit, he doesn’t know how amazing Rezado-sama is yet.” An older man apologised.
“Don’t mind it. After all, we are all the same. Even though it was a little bit unsatisfying, I have enjoyed the beast hunt. You can do as you like with the female beasts.” Rezado waved his hand.
“As expected of Rezado-sama! You are very wise!” They exclaimed.
Am I simply going to stand there and watch them drag away the injured little girl ?
However, the opposite party is the same as him – humans. They were the very human beings that he had always longed to meet, longed dearly to meet. At the very least, that should have been the case.
[ED: Oi, oi, MC! Be brave and kill them for once! Didn’t you kill a horned bear?! Shouldn’t human trash like this be killed too?]
However, if only this meeting was a more peaceful one… For example, a situation where they were farmers quietly ploughing their plantations. Karito would have been running towards them wholeheartedly, crying in delight.
[ED: You’ll probably scare them and be treated as an intruder though…]
Unfortunately, the people reflected in Karito’s eyes were a group of madmen who massacre living beings, be they old or young, men or women, beastmen or ordinary humans.
――――Who in their right mind would expose themselves to a group of such people?
[ED: This one, apparently. Also, *insert butthole joke here*]
Just a moment later, the shadow of a figure flew over from the side where Karito lay hidden.
It had tremendous speed. It’s dashing speed was like when one was equipped with an armor that reinforces speed, and putting all the experience they gained into the speed parameters. To be exact, it was at a speed of leaping over a distance of fifty meters within a mere five seconds to reach the area where the group of people stood.
The figure jumped over to the group and raised his right fist. The lifted fist was covered in light.
Like a killer technique from an anime; Karito had this inappropriate impression.
Returning the intruder’s attack motion, the white robed man reacted first before the other soldiers could even move. As if protecting the group of men behind, he stepped forward in front of them. The action taken by this magician-like robed man was only that.
The glowing fist pierced the white robed man… Or so I thought. At least, it was what it looked like to Karito.
But, the fist didn’t reach its target. The white robed man stood on his feet as if nothing happened.
The fist did not make a blow on the white robed man’s body, but hit the aura around him instead.
“…Looks like there is still a beast remaining.” Rezado stated coldly.
“Gu, Gaaaaaa!!?” The figure that leaped for the strike was blown backwards.
As though a demolition iron ball had collided with it, the sound of the impact reverberated several times as it bounced on the ground, finally rolling a good ten metres away.
Ten seconds haven’t even passed from the time the figure jumped from Karito’s side .
When at last, the figure that had been blown off to the ground wasn’t moving, I was able to see the full figure of the mystery person clearly.
The real nature of the figure was a beastwoman. Ignoring the point that she had not been groomed well, she still had dazzling blonde hair that extended to her shoulders, and unexpectedly, a pair of identical dog ears of the same hair color peeked out. In addition, a slender yet splendid tail sprung out from her waist.
I felt like I recognized this silhouette. Could it be, the shadow of the person I saw for an instant when I was having a meal?
Her well endowed chest and hips were covered atrociously, only by a piece of poor, torn up cloth wrapped around it. Her masculine beauty, that seemed to be of a concentrated mix of sharpness and wilderness, was distorted in pain from the heavy blow that struck her whole body.
“Let go… Of that child…!” She grunted.
“It’s wonderful, Rezado-sama! As expected of the power of the god fragment!” One of the men panted.
“I am tired of hearing this foolish flattery. Do whatever you want with this beast too.” The robed man stated.
“Hehehe, I thought I had to make do with the kid, but it looks like I can make a profit out of this fellow here.” A man grinned.
All at once, the eyes of the group of men turned towards the beastwoman, glittering and smeared with lust worse than any wild animal around.
[ED: Umm, isn’t this where the MC usually steps in?]
One of the men stomped onto the back of the little girl, and asked his friends.
“What should we do with this kid?”
“We have already acquired such a fine article, so that one isn’t necessary anymore. After all, a bitch that is worthy of being violated has already come out by herself.” One replied.
“That is right. I don’t have the hobby of doing it with a child either―――――” Another smiled.
The soldier who was stomping on the little girl’s back pulled out his longsword from his waist.
‘Stop’, Karito’s mouth moved unconsciously, and the beastwoman also cried out ’Stop!’ in sorrow.