Ch.23The Saint Has Realized

When Aila threw a stone, monsters revealed themselves beyond the path they had come from.

The other four quickly assumed combat stances, and Aila was bending down to pick up another stone when it happened.

“…Huh?”

As Aila bent down to pick up a stone, she felt a flow of air against her cheek.

It was strange.

Wind blowing from a seemingly solid wall.

Aila stood up and slowly approached where she felt the air current.

“Oh my.”

Seeing her arm penetrate what appeared to be a wall without any resistance, Aila immediately threw herself through the barrier.

Beyond the wall was an enormous cavern.

“Grrrub?”

“Kireeek!!”

“My goodness.”

The cavern was filled with what looked like hundreds of monsters.

The creatures that spotted Aila howled loudly.

“…So it blocks sound too.”

Aila muttered while covering her ears against the horrific noise.

It was strange that she hadn’t heard anything despite the massive number of creatures swarming inside.

Whatever method was used to disguise the passage as a wall must have included something to deceive hearing as well.

“Anyway… there are so many of them.”

Aila walked slowly forward toward the center of the cavern.

Front, back, left, right, and even above—small monsters were swarming everywhere.

Ignoring the creatures, Aila continued walking.

“Goblins… was that what they were called? I feel a bit sorry for them… being compared to these things.”

Aila recalled the goblins she had seen before.

Green bumpy skin, large heads with pointed noses…

The only similarity between those goblins and the creatures swarming before her now was something pointy on their faces.

Black skin with bizarrely bent limbs, smooth bald heads with pointed horn-like protrusions…

“Kraaah!!!”

“Impressive how they make such sounds without mouths.”

The goblins rushed at Aila.

At least several dozen of them surged forward at once, like waves rushing toward a shore.

A scene where ordinary hunters would hold their breath in tension.

Aila casually stretched her body.

Her joints made cracking sounds.

I’ve been stiff from learning to control my strength lately, so this works out well.

“Kieeek!!!”

“You’re too loud.”

Aila swung her fist toward the chest of a goblin that leaped in front of her.

She didn’t hold back her strength.

She had confirmed there was no core inside this cavern.

As long as the cave didn’t collapse, it didn’t matter how much force she used.

BOOM!!

With a tremendous explosion, the wave of goblins split in half.

Aila ran through the gap in the divided sea of monsters.

“[Body Enhancement], [Body Enhancement].”

With two layers of enhancement, Aila’s body shot forward like a beam of light.

At the center of the cavern, where Aila was heading, stood a goblin holding a staff.

Aila extended her fist toward that goblin.

“Krueaak?!!”

“Got you.”

CRUNCH!!

Her fist penetrated the goblin’s head.

Taking Aila’s punch directly, the goblin died instantly with its head completely crushed.

“Hmm, is this the artifact hiding the cave…?”

Aila took the staff from the dead goblin’s hand.

Branches wrapped around a blue sphere, converging downward to form a single pillar.

The sphere emitted a soft glow.

It was probably rechargeable.

“Krueruaap!!!”

“Kiret!!!”

“Kuierap!!!”

“I came in too deep.”

When Aila turned her head, goblins were rushing in from all directions.

She was now at the center, surrounded on all sides—a death trap.

As if to prove this, a dense crowd of monsters, so thick that the walls weren’t even visible, charged toward her.

Aila calmly raised her leg.

CRACK!

The goblin kicked by Aila had its waist instantly broken.

Aila quickly grabbed the dead goblin’s leg.

“Kuek!!”

She swung the dead goblin by its leg rapidly.

Goblin heads collided with each other, making dull thuds.

After about three such sounds, the neck of the goblin being swung snapped with a crack, and its thoroughly pulverized head slid off.

Then, she simply repeated the process.

Kill one goblin, use it to kill three more.

Aila picked up goblin corpses and continued swinging them.

“Kuaaang!!!”

“Ugh?!”

With a slicing sound, the goblin she was swinging was cut in half.

A silver flash streaked through the air.

Aila tried to quickly dodge backward, but the goblins rushing from behind made even that difficult.

“Tch!”

She blocked the sword with her right arm.

With a burning pain, the blade lodged in her forearm.

“Kiruruerap!!”

Aila frowned at the strange cry that almost sounded like laughter.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Kruk?!”

The sword was firmly embedded in her arm, not budging at all.

No matter how much the goblin pulled, it wouldn’t move.

SNAP!

Aila reached out with her left hand, broke the goblin’s neck, then threw the severed head straight ahead with great force.

“Kueek!!!”

The impact caused the head to burst, sending fragments flying like shotgun pellets over the other goblins.

Aila trampled the fallen goblins.

It was an unpleasant sensation.

“Still half of them left…”

Aila looked around.

The goblins were no longer mindlessly charging but slowly approaching from a distance, surrounding her.

Still, seeing their reduced numbers, Aila brushed off the flesh fragments stuck to her body.

“Come on.”

Aila wiggled her fingers tauntingly.

Whether this provocation would work on goblins was uncertain—

“KIEEEEEK—–!!!!!”

“I guess it does.”

The goblins charged.

The difference now was that all the goblins were holding something in their hands.

Stones.

Rocks large enough to easily crush a human skull.

“Kruaap!”

A stone flew toward her.

Aila responded by throwing her own stone.

The rocks collided, creating small sparks.

Those sparks signaled the second phase of battle.

The goblins charged with horrific screams.

Aila rushed forward as well.

“[Strength Enhancement].”

The goblin’s head caught in Aila’s grip burst.

Seeing their companion’s head explode so gruesomely, the other goblins momentarily hesitated.

Taking advantage of that opening, Aila continued her advance.

One.

“Kurup?”

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

She swung her fist, brought down her knife hand, broke spines with knees and elbows.

“K-krururup…”

“Last one.”

“Kie–“

CRACK.

Aila forcefully stomped on the neck of a goblin sprawled on the ground.

With the sound of something breaking, the goblin’s movements ceased.

“Hmm…”

Aila wiped her blood-covered face with her hand.

But no matter how much she wiped, the sticky blood streaming down her face wouldn’t go away.

Realizing her hands were also covered in blood, she tried to wipe it with her sleeve, but seeing that even her clothes were soaked in blood, she gave up and looked around.

Holes were scattered throughout the cavern walls.

One of those holes must be the one she came through.

That meant the other holes were probably hidden like the wall she had entered through.

It had been a dangerous situation.

They had been fighting under the assumption that their rear was blocked by fallen rocks and safe from enemy attacks, but if goblins had suddenly emerged from the sides during battle—

Without question, they would have been annihilated.

In that sense, her discovery of this nest was fortunate.

“But how do I get out?”

She had fought so intensely that she’d forgotten which hole she had come through.

Should I just wait for them to find me?

I wonder if they’ve noticed I’m gone yet.

The four others weren’t bad fighters.

Aila thought they had enough skill to handle hordes of goblins and ghouls.

Just enough skill, though.

Perhaps because her standard was the hero’s party, which had overwhelming combat prowess even by her standards, their abilities seemed woefully inadequate to Aila’s eyes.

Growl—

“Huh?”

Coming back to her senses, she felt hunger creeping in.

She hadn’t eaten breakfast, and she’d been running around a lot…

Plus, it was getting close to lunchtime.

Aila picked up the goblin corpse she had been stepping on and tore off a piece.

“Nom.”

She put one of the torn pieces in her mouth and chewed it slowly.

As expected, it’s not really edible.

It had been almost a week since she’d eaten monster flesh.

Compared to the many foods she’d eaten during the days she hadn’t consumed monsters, this was garbage barely worthy of being called food.

But what could she do? When hungry, you eat what you can.

Even Angelica, who had sworn never to eat such things, cursed profusely while chewing them after starving for about a month.

Still, it really tastes awful.

Monster meat had the trifecta of being tasteless, foul-smelling, and having a terrible texture.

The meat, which tasted like nothing—similar to chewing paper—released strange juices with a sensation like digging into clay every time she crushed it with her teeth.

Add to that a horrible stench like summer garbage left in a public toilet.

Back where she came from, she ate it silently because there was nothing else, but did she really need to eat this in a place with plenty of food?

Couldn’t she just wait and eat when she got outside?

“……”

Aila swallowed the meat.

Well, I should eat when I can.

At times like this, one shouldn’t forget the value of food.

Aila bit into the goblin again.

The only advantage was that it didn’t need to be cooked.

Whether grilled, steamed, or boiled, the taste never changed.

“What the… why are you just standing there…”

“Huh?”

A woman’s voice came from behind.

Her name was Ha Yura, wasn’t it?

A man stood in front of her.

If memory served, his name was Choi Jin-sung.

Are they finished already?

Aila swallowed the meat and said:

“Hmm? Oh? Are you done already?”

Not a bad pace.

Aila walked slowly toward them.

“Goblin?”

“H-hieek.”

Huh? Goblin?

Aila looked at the goblin in her hand.

Why were they suddenly talking about goblins?

She examined the two people.

They didn’t appear injured, but Yura was staggering weakly.

Are they hungry too?

“Hmm? Would you like some?”

“U-uaaah……”

Hearing Aila’s words, Yura collapsed backward.

“Yu-Yura!”

“Eh? Ehh??”

Aila immediately rushed toward Yura, but Jin-sung drew his sword, blocking her approach.

“Stop! Are you out of your mind?!”

“What… what are you doing?”

“That’s what I want to ask! With the smell of blood everywhere, are you really okay?”

Aila’s face slightly wrinkled.

His actions were threatening, but his words expressed concern.

She didn’t know how to respond.

Jin-sung continued pointing his sword at Aila while covering his mouth and nose with one arm.

“Um…”

“Don’t come any closer!”

Aila couldn’t understand what was happening.

All she had done was offer some goblin meat.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, it’s not about being wrong… Did you do all this by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“You created this sea of blood?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re completely unfazed?”

“Pardon?”

Aila asked back.

How could that question possibly follow from their conversation?

The answer lay in Jin-sung’s response.

“Monster blood is poisonous to humans. You’re saying you breathed it in and you’re fine?”

Jin-sung’s face contorted slightly.