Fly Lord
"She" didn't have a name.
The humans called her a Fly Lord, but that name meant nothing to her.
There was no need for "her" to care about what her live prey referred to her as.
However, it would be another story to take "her" opponents lightly because of that.
"She" was very cautious. At times you could even say that she was overly cautious.
But that was why she was able to survive and grow into an adult.
Inside the Thetis forest, a Fly Lord would be at the top of the food chain. One could overpower most of its enemies from the forest in a fight.
However, that was only true if they were in their adult form.
For the period before she became an adult, "she" lived as the hunted instead of the hunter.
She primarily fed on the remaining carcasses of other creatures' prey.
It was an awful situation for her, but she had no choice. If she took the risk and tried to hunt for herself, she would have probably become prey.
As the numbers of her countless brothers and sisters decreased as time went on, "she" was left alone by the time she realized it.
However, because of that, surviving had become easier for her. It was because her siblings didn't know what danger really meant that they continued to die.
When she thought of it like that, maybe she was lucky to have ended up alone – That's what "she" thought.
The fact of the matter was that "she" managed to grow into an adult inside the Thetis forest.
And then she was fortunate enough to have found a partner to mate with.
Lots of children were born.
Since there were many mouths to feed, "she" had to find lots of food for them.
"She" was ecstatic. "She" was able to clear away all those negative feelings that she had from always having to run and hide when she was younger.
Even right now, she was on her way bringing back a female human that she has caught and poisoned.
Before this, it was a human male. Some of her children liked that, but most of them preferred human females.
"She" felt really satisfied to have caught this girl today.
However, she thought that it might become harder to hunt in the near future since she has noticed that the number of humans who entered this forest recently has decreased.
That was her only concern.
Her children have grown bigger recently, so it will be tough to provide them with enough food the way things are going.
They should be able to live on the insects and beasts from the forest, but for some reason her children really favored humans.
It was probably because of the interesting expressions that the humans make when they are being eaten alive rather than because of a preference in taste. "She" could understand that point quite well.
Unfortunately for her, that desire of hers was rarely fulfilled back when "she" was young, since her mother only gave her insects and animals to eat. (Moreover, they were all dead too!).
Her initial thoughts at that time were that she would have never allowed that to happen to her children when she becomes a mother. Therefore, she did not cut any corners in getting her children fresh food.
Like that, she came back to her nest in a good mood, but there was a bad feeling when she arrived at the entrance of her nest.
It was a feeling that she had long forgotten since she became an adult– The sense of danger approaching.
She was able to become what she is today thanks to that instinct.
However, she couldn't listen to it today. Why? Because the feeling was coming from her own nest.
"Her" nest was located in the depths of the Thetis forest. The entrance was on a slightly elevated cliff.
She had chosen a spot like that so it would be hard for other predators to get near her children and prey on them. All she had to do was to actively get rid of the few predators that could fly as she came across them.
Due to her efforts- there shouldn't be any predators left that could hunt them from the sky. That's why, her nest shouldn't be in danger.
"Her" wings were slightly vibrating and her eight legs were rubbing against each other.
It's the same thing as what a human calls shaking in cold sweat.
This is bad. Bad. This place is bad news.
Her instinct's alarm was ringing like crazy, warning her like she'll die if she doesn't get away from here now.
However, "she" decided to go inside her nest. She did not want to let go of the human that she just caught.
Her children lived here. They were all waiting here for new food.
They would probably be complaining to her like usual that they were hungry after she goes inside.
She must go in. No, she had no choice but to go in.
So what is going on?
――Why can't she see any of her children here?
――Why is it so quiet in her nest?
――Why…. Why was a human who was supposed to have gotten eaten standing there?!
「Haha! It looks really mad! If you can understand what's going on from this situation, it seems like you do possess some intelligence after all」
Shut up.
「You get it, don't you? I've already cut down all your children. They were all making some squealing sounds. I'm sure that they were all crying for their mother」
Shut uppp.
「But too bad! Their mother did not make it back in time! What a shame, if you made it back here a quat (author note: 30 minutes) earlier, maybe you could have saved half of them!」
Shut up!!
「Well, it is what it is. However, I did plan on killing you as well! Hahahhaha!! Thank you, Fly Lord! Thanks to you, my level has risen to 4. This place was a really good hunting ground!」
Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!!
Don't get ahead of yourself, you damned live prey!
After the Fly Lord casually tossed the girl that "she" caught aside in the cave, she silently roared as the four wings on her back started to flap violently.
Then, like a gust of wind, she charged at the human.
When she caught this human back then, he could not react to this attack at all. At that time, she had purposely missed his vital areas to leave him alive, but she did not need to do so this time.
I'll kill him!
It attacked with tremendous momentum. In that narrow cave, she could not control her speed and a loud impact was created as she crashed into the wall.
Rocks and earth fell onto her head from above due the tremor created from the impact inside this steep cave.
However, to "her", the Fly Lord, getting hit by those was the same as getting bit by a mosquito.
Swords and arrows cannot penetrate a Fly Lord's tough carapace, and even lesser and medium levels of magic would be repelled. Although greater magic could hurt her, it's not an easy task to land a spell on an agile Fly Lord that's flying in the air.
If a human was hit by such tough body armor, they would be crushed to pieces. That human would be no exception to that — "She" truly believed that.
「Sorry to disappoint you」
An unpleasant voice came from behind her.
When she turned around and stretched her head back, the human that should have been crushed to pieces was standing there calmly.
「Ahaha, my body feels so light! If I compare it to yesterday, it feels like I had lead armor on then」
「Come at me again if you're mad. It'll act as some good practice for me」
Her compounded insect eyes glowed red from anger as she unleashed another fierce attack at the human.
She charged again, and another clash happened.
Sand and rubble fell on her head again as "she" thought this time for sure–
But the human was still alive, and that wasn't all. The main source of her power, the hard outer carapace, a part of it was deeply cut. It shouldn't have been possible by a human's weapon.
『――！！ —？!』
「Hm so I can do this just from using my hands without drawing power from my hips or legs. It felt like I was cutting a slime!」
With an evil look on his face, the human spoke out as if he couldn't contain his delight.
And then, her carapace was cut up at an unbelievable speed.
Her legs were cut and she was sent flying through the air.
Her right eye was pierced.
"She" was also fighting with all she had, but she couldn't keep up with the movements of this human at all. She was just being cut, stabbed, and gouged.
She judged that she was no match for him and tried to escape, but she could not fly well with one of her eyes crushed. And since four of her eight legs were gone, she could not balance herself well in the air either.
Right now, the alarm in "her" head was going off like a storm.
I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm so dead.
I'll be killed if this goes on.
Even the anger she felt from losing all her children has drifted far away now.
If I want to survive, I have to endure-
Until I can get away from this human with this messed up body.
But of course, her resistance was futile as the attacks from the human did not stop.
However.
「Hm…? What's going on? The『Soul Eating』effect has suddenly gotten weaker」
The human suddenly stopped attacking when he mumbled something to himself in a confused voice.
Then, he continued to mutter some more.
「Is it because it's near death? No, not yet, but it's not too far from it. It's obviously trying to run though… Oh, maybe that's it! To eat a soul efficiently, it would depend on something like how active it is, I'm sure. It's natural that there would be a difference when trying to eat the soul of an opponent who was coming at me head on versus one that's getting cold feet and trying to back away. So I guess once it has gotten to this stage, dragging this on any more than that is pointless, huh?」
After the human said that, he readied his weapon at her again.
The moment that black sword was pointed at her, she felt a chill that she has never felt before.
If she were a human, she would have started screaming without a doubt.
I'm going to be killed. I'm going to be killed. I'm going to be killed.
I'll definitely die if I stay here any longer!
"She" moved the wings on her back with all her might. She tried to ignore her balance issues and recklessly flew up in the air. I don't care if I hit a wall. Fly, I have to fly away, I have to fly away no matter what!
She aimed at the exit above them single-mindedly.
Humans can't fly. She can get away if she just makes it out of the nest.
With that thought in "her" mind, she continuously flapped her wings.
But coming from behind her back—
「Phantom blade style…『Wind』!!」
She heard a voice.
The next moment, she felt a tremendous impact on her lower body.
From the extent of the impact, even her huge body that was about five meters in length was sent flying.
She was so close to the exit.
While confused by the unexplained impact, she kept moving her wings in a half conscious state. No, she was trying to move them.
But her four wings had already been lost.
From the attack just now, her wings were torn apart and the pieces of them scattered everywhere as she was sent flying through the air unbelievably—
After five blank breaths, she hit the floor of the cave.
The ground shook like an earthquake. Her vision was covered by the fluid that was coming out of her wounds on her body, and she lost her ability to see.
The human cackled as he walked towards her.
「That was a jumping slash attack that releases a slicing shockwave from the sword. "Wind" is a basic technique in the phantom blade style. Well, up until yesterday, I couldn't even bring out the power of this basic technique though. The ability to be able to use it so easily like this was thanks to you, my gracious Fly Lord」
The blackness of the night and the red glow of blood.
The sharp blade with those two colors struck down at her forehead.
"She" who has realized that she was being overwhelmed by this human, tried to block the attack with her remaining legs, but the black blade easily cut through her last form of resistance.
After losing all her legs and wings, she was just like a huge maggot.
「You can go say hello to your children in the after life」
Along with that voice, she felt something penetrating her head.
She thought of resisting one last time–but it stopped at only a thought.
From this human's mouth, she heard him say something about the "afterlife" where she could meet her children in, so if she remained still like this then she would be able to see them again. If that's the case, it was fine for her to die.
She thought that her children would surely be hungry, and she would again provide them with lots of food.
However, she would avoid hunting human males this time, she thought.
That was the last thought “she” had in her mind.
TLN: On the other side of the coin – when a nice mom meets a jackass perspective