episode_0062

*

It wasn’t easy to pinpoint the exact location by only hearing sounds in the middle of a forest where the view was blocked by trees on all sides.

The sound was so faint that you could barely hear it by straining your ears. Even if it were a plain and not a forest, I couldn’t guarantee that I could arrive before it was too late.

But even so, I moved my feet busily.

Because this was the first opportunity I might meet someone alive besides us in this goddamn world.

Kunat said that 90% of humanity had died, so this might be the first and last chance.

“No, this is the beginning. This is how it starts.”

I changed my mind.

I have to find and rescue more people in the future.

To gather people again, protect them, and preserve the civilization of mankind on this land,

As a human being and as a religious person, that would be my mission.

Kunat, including many demons, thinks that humanity must rely on and parasitize the power of demons in order to survive.

I wanted to deny it thoroughly, but now that all three nuns had contact with demons, I couldn’t recklessly denounce that proposition as false.

However, if people gather and live together, help each other, work, and laugh and chat again,

Even if it’s only a single village, if they can continue to maintain such an old appearance in the future,

At least I can confidently say that the whole world has not fallen into the hands of demons.

I can confidently declare that humanity will not perish.

That’s why I spent the past week busily.

If I only thought about me and the nuns, it would be enough to fix up four houses, but why would I go through all that trouble to fix and repair the entire village?

“Damn it, where is it?”

My heart grew impatient.

The scream was heard from very far away, enough to be buried by the sound of footsteps cutting through the bushes and the sound of my increasingly heavy breathing.

I had to keep running, holding my breath, and stopping to find the direction.

I didn’t have the leisure to dawdle, but having to stop to find the location made me want to stomp my feet.

The voice I heard was a sharp, tearing scream.

This clearly meant they were in great trouble.

Were they being attacked by a monster?

Or was it a robber?

I sincerely hoped for the latter situation, but probably not.

I had never seen a person since the world was destroyed, but I had seen countless monsters.

I knew very well what kind of monster it was, so I gritted my teeth and moved my body again.

I ran towards the direction where the sound was getting closer, regardless of the terrain.

I climbed hills and jumped over cliffs.

While grabbing the rough tree trunks and crawling up the hill, I suddenly looked to the side and saw Kunat flapping her wings, looking at me in a relaxed, lying-in-the-air position.

When our eyes met, Kunat smiled and said.

“Shall I help you?”

“…”

I bit my lip and shut my mouth.

I mustn’t say a single word.

If I carelessly asked for help or asked her to find out where this voice was coming from, it would be a big problem.

Because if I accidentally said something and Kunat listened to it, it would become a formal contract.

It means that Kunat can demand a price from me.

I’m doing this to maintain the human world from demons, and it’s not right for the help of demons to be involved,

But more than that, it was more dangerous that I didn’t know what that cunning bitch Kunat would demand from me.

Of course, I could make a contract that clearly limited the price and compensation, but now I didn’t have time to leisurely write a contract with her.

“Why don’t you just ask for help? You’ll need my help if you meet a monster anyway.”

“… I don’t need it.”

As Kunat said, I couldn’t be a match for the monster.

Kunat’s help was needed to defeat the monster.

But if I threw my body in front of the monster, what could Kunat do?

The fact that she needed me in her plan was clearly proven when the demons attacked the monastery last time.

Kunat, who needed me so much that she would turn her back on all demons, would not let me be torn apart by the monster’s hands.

If I rushed at the monster with the determination to die, she would have no choice but to save me.

“I know what you’re thinking, you crazy Priest.”

“…”

“Yes, of course I’ll save you. But I’ll only save you, I don’t care what happens to the other humans.”

“…”

“Are you going through this trouble just to see the sight of the few remaining humans dying? That can’t be it,”

“… Haa, it’s hard.”

“You just have to say one word to ask for help,”

“… Shut up.”

“Are you worried about the price? Then let’s decide it while we’re moving.”

“I need to hear the voice, so shut up.”

“Should I ask you to kiss me, or should I ask you to hug me tight?”

Kunat wriggled her body in the air and chuckled.

I silently activated the needle.

Kunat fell from the air and rolled on the floor like a crow hit by an arrow.

I used that gap to quickly crawl up the hill.

The increasingly intermittent screams were heard a little more clearly.

It was fortunate that I could still hear the sound even though I had spent quite a bit of time.

When I listened carefully, I could hear a man’s shout along with the scream.

The direction of the sound was below.

Beyond the hill, below the slope, there was a steep cliff, and below that cliff, there was a carriage lying on its side.

“… I found it.”

Next to the carriage, a man was standing with a large crossbow, and behind the overturned carriage, a woman was seen hiding.

Around the carriage, there were numerous corpses and monsters dragging those corpses, and monsters still surrounding the carriage.

Five… no, if you include the ones crawling down the cliff, there seemed to be about ten.

A monster was seen dead around the carriage, hit by a crossbow.

To be able to penetrate the monster’s tough skin, the crossbow’s power seemed quite strong.

But, was it because of that?

The man was having trouble loading the crossbow.

“Ughhhhh! Damn it, really!”

The man was shouting mixed with swear words, pulling on the string that wouldn’t budge.

Blood was gushing from the man’s hands, and seeing that, the monsters were getting even more excited and crawling down the cliff.

“May the Goddess have mercy on us.”

I prayed briefly and jumped down the slope.

My hair and the hem of my clothes soared upwards by the wind blowing on the cliff, and the carriage that had fallen below the cliff quickly approached.

I gritted my teeth and wrapped holy power around my whole body.

Holy power has no effect on monsters, but it has the effect of slightly strengthening my body.

I reached out and grabbed one of the legs of the monster crawling down the cliff.

“Kieeek,”

The monster made a chattering sound, gnashing its teeth, and fell, led by my hand.

They die if they fall from a high place too.

It was a fact I had confirmed while my stomach was being pierced.

“Die!”

I grabbed the monster’s neck and placed it below me.

No matter how strong they are, it doesn’t mean much in the air where they have no ground to stand on.

Behind the monster’s grotesque face, I could clearly see the monster biting the man and the broken carriage.

I tightly closed my eyes.

*

Bang!

A huge explosion sounded, and sand dust rose up.

“Kyaaak!”

“Damn it, what is it! Ack, kuek!”

The wreckage of the carriage and dust flying in all directions instantly filled the area below the cliff, obscuring everyone’s vision.

I gritted my teeth, swallowing my breath at the terrible pain.

Even though the impact was reduced thanks to the monster and the carriage, and I had strengthened my body with holy power, an indescribably strong pain spread to every corner of my body, making it difficult to breathe.

It felt like my whole body was being smashed.

I couldn’t even move a single finger.

In the meantime, I could hear the two men and women talking with the wreckage of the carriage between them.

“Cough, Paolo… are you okay? Are you alive?”

“I’m okay. That damn thing was biting my shoulder just now, but it fell off at that sound just now.”

“Be careful, I can’t see anything!”

“Why did this damn carriage explode? I’ve already used up all the bombs!”

“Something… fell.”

“Is it a monster?”

“Ah… maybe.”

“… Well, that’s just great, damn it.”

An unfamiliar voice.

I thought I would never meet anyone else again.

I made a strong resolution and swore firmly, but it would be a lie if I said I never doubted whether I could really meet other people.

However, now that I was hearing the voice of a stranger I had never heard before, I could feel an overwhelming emotion rising up from inside my chest, piercing through the pain.

I was almost in tears.

Of course, it might be tears coming from the pain.

“Hoo… at least I didn’t die this time.”

My body gradually started to respond to my will and move.

I gave strength to my trembling legs and waist, and slowly raised my body.

When I lifted my upper body and looked ahead, I could see the figure of a young woman in Priest robes through the sand dust.

“Kyaaak!”

The woman screamed when she made eye contact with me.

Did she scream at my face?

Just as I was thinking that, I saw the completely crushed corpse of a monster under my feet.

Sure enough.

The monster’s remains were splattered all over my body, and my face, which I touched just in case, was also full of traces of the monster.

I swept off the white liquid covering my face with my hands and opened my mouth while suppressing a groan.

“Ugh, I came to help you.”

“Wh-Who are you!”

“…”

I walked out slowly, pushing through the dust and the wreckage of the carriage.

As soon as I took a step, I felt a tingling pain throughout my leg, and I couldn’t help but groan.

The woman scanned me up and down and slowly opened her mouth.

“That outfit…”

“… The Goddess’s, ow, blessing… Aoo sseup,”

“Are you a… Priest?”

“Elena, who are you talking to…”

The man staggered through the dust and approached.

The man was covered in blood.

Especially his left shoulder, which had been bitten, and his right hand, which had its skin completely torn, had injuries that looked serious at first glance.

The man, who made eye contact with me, was startled and laboriously lifted his crossbow, dripping blood.

“Damn monster!”

“…”

“… Isn’t it?”

“I came to… help you.”

Gradually, the dust settled, and the monsters’ heads were revealed.

Their heads were all facing me.

It seemed that I was closer to death than that bloody man.

Well, it was only natural, since I fell from the cliff with my bare body.

“Who are… you…”

“Let’s introduce ourselves later. The situation is urgent.”

I slowly approached the man and took the crossbow from his hand.

The man gave strength to his hand to prevent his weapon from being taken away, but his hand was seriously injured to hold onto a huge crossbow that had to be held with both hands.

The man frowned at the pain and had his crossbow taken away.

“What are you doing all of a sudden,”

“You killed those monsters with this, right?”

“What?”

“There’s no time. Answer quickly. If you don’t want to die.”

The man bit his lip and nodded.

“… That’s right.”

The huge crossbow, almost half my upper body in size, had a wooden base, but the body was made of steel.

The weight was enough to feel overwhelming even for an average man, and the bolt was the size of ten arrows tied together, and the string that fired that bolt looked like it was made by twisting several layers of steel.

I’ve never seen a crossbow like this.

It was a weapon that seemed to be made on the premise of fighting monsters in the first place.

In other words, there are still people or groups in this world who make weapons and fight monsters.

I felt hope and lifted the crossbow.

The side of the crossbow was slightly broken.

Looking roughly at the structure, there was probably a pulley-like device here to wind the string.

It seemed that the pulley handle was broken while the man was fighting the monster, and the man was groaning and trying to pull the string with his bare hands.

That’s probably why the man’s hand became such a mess.

“Is this the only bolt here? How many extra bolts do you have?”

“… There are three left.”

“Hold them.”

I pulled the string with my bare hands.

The steel string was very stiff, and even slippery because of the man’s blood, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t pull it.

As I gritted my teeth and pulled the string all the way to load it, the man opened his mouth as if he couldn’t believe it.

“… No way. Are you even human?”

At that moment, a monster rushed towards me.

I lifted the crossbow and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

With a roar like a bomb exploding, the crossbow fiercely pressed down on my shoulder.

It felt like my shoulder was bruised by the impact of the recoil.

But, the power was certain as much as that.

The bolt pierced through the monster’s tough body and blew the monster away.

“Haa.”

Should I be impressed by the power that pierced the monster’s body?

Or should I be impressed by the toughness of that monster, which was not penetrated even by this power?

I sighed and loaded the string again.

“Bolt.”

“…!”

The man immediately held out the bolt.

If I don’t miss, I can kill a total of three monsters.

The problem was that the number of remaining monsters was much more than three.

“Are you really just going to watch? Kunat…”

Kunat wasn’t even showing her face.

Did she pout because I grilled her head?

“What are you talking about?”

“Haa, it’s nothing.”

I slowly took a step back.

The monsters made strange clicking sounds and slowly moved their gazes, following me.

Everyone’s heads moved at the same time, following me.

“Bolts. All the remaining ones.”

The man threw the remaining bolts at me.

At the same time as receiving the bolts, I forced my painful legs to step forward and started running.

Of course, it wasn’t to run away, but to get those two people out of their sight.

“Run away, quickly!”

“Y-Yes? Then what about the Priest…”

“Elena, let’s run away first!”

The man grabbed the woman’s hand and started running in the opposite direction from me.

I pulled the crossbow’s string and loaded the bolt.

At the same time, the monster’s tough hand brushed past my side.

“Ugh, I almost got pierced again,”

I swung my elbow and slammed it into the monster’s head.

The monster shook slightly, but didn’t seem to be shocked.

On the other hand, I felt like I had hit a wall with my elbow.

After all, I can’t handle them with my bare body.

Bloodstains scattered everywhere, and broken and damaged crossbows lying around.

Even with these weapons, so many people had no choice but to die.

They are literally monsters.

In the meantime, the corpses have already disappeared.

They will definitely lay eggs in those corpses again.

Disgusting things.

“Kuek!”

I barely managed to knock one away, but in an instant, the other monsters grabbed my legs and shoulders.

I twisted the shoulder that was grabbed and fired the crossbow.

The bolt, which was sucked into the monster’s suppurating maw, which was baring its teeth at me, broke the monster’s neck backwards.

That was the head of the monster that was grabbing my shoulder.

Feeling that my arms were free, I swung the crossbow and dropped the monsters.

The heavy steel crossbow was an excellent blunt weapon in itself.

I can’t kill them, but I can drop them….

“… Uh,”

My body was grabbed.

I was speechless in embarrassment.

It’s perfectly possible for a monster to grab me.

The reason I was embarrassed was somewhere else.

The monster’s arm that grabbed me was sticking out from the cliff next to me.

“Damn it…”

Right.

They can pass through walls.

Then they can hide inside.

If it’s a thick enough wall.

For example, something like a rocky mountain cliff.

“This is bullshit,”

In an instant, I was grabbed by numerous monsters.

The repulsive gums that had been opened up, revealing grotesque boils, and the teeth that had sprouted inside like mold, instantly filled my vision.

In the scenery seen through the monsters’ maws, the two people were already gone.

Fortunately, they seemed to have run away far.

“Kunat… that dirty bitch doesn’t move as expected.”

I spat out curses while feeling the touch of hard teeth reaching my head.

The monster’s uvula was visible in my vision.

The monster’s lower teeth touch below my nose.

Would a cylindrical tooth have upper and lower teeth separately?

Ah, shit, she’s really not helping.

Is she going to let me die like this?

You damn bitch.

The sensation of teeth piercing my head is felt.

In an instant, my vision darkened.

Is it because my consciousness was cut off, or because my eyeballs were swallowed into the monster’s mouth?

“Priest!”

I thought I could hear Lucia’s voice beyond the fading consciousness. .