Chapter 56: Slaughter

“Are we done talking?”

I couldn’t stand the boredom and jumped up from my seat.

My legs were numb from sitting for so long.

The human body is so uncomfortable!

Miel immediately flew up to my hair and found a familiar spot, and Cecilia sat on my shoulder, giving me warmth.

Lotte, as always, began to circle around me.

Except for Glessia.

That lazy big guy was still sprawled on the sofa.

I should have just left him in the deep end.

Evan hurriedly organized the papers on his desk, looking flustered.

“Are you leaving already? I have another question for you…”

“I’m busy. I have something important to ask.”

Disappointment spread across Evan’s face.

He sat down in his chair and asked, “Where are you going?”

I smiled happily, slightly raising the corners of my lips.

“To perform a sacred ritual for Master Mikel.”

Evan’s eyes widened.

I thought he was about to say something more, but I was already leaving the guild master’s office.

I heard Glessia slowly getting up from behind me.

What a slow guy!

As I went down to the first floor, all the humans followed me.

Ryandel, Revi, Torben, Carl, Terry, Elina, Rodrik, Evan…

“Are you guys following me?”

They all nodded at the same time.

Carl spoke with a lively tone, especially with his eyes sparkling.

“I would be honored to be able to participate in Lady Lycoris’s ritual!”

Hmm…

It’s a hassle to conduct a ritual with so many humans.

“Just Ryandel and Revi, come. The rest of you will be in the way, so wait quietly in the village.”

‘These two will be traveling together from now on, so let’s see what they can do!’

Carl, Torben, and Terry’s expressions sank at my words.

The other humans accepted it calmly, as if they had no expectations in the first place.

Suddenly, Evan approached me cautiously.

“By any chance… is that ‘ritual’ recreating the red moon and the scent of Lady Mikel’s flowers from three years ago?”

I looked at him and smiled brightly.

“Of course!”

Evan’s face was filled with anticipation and fear at the same time.

He lowered his voice and said, “Can I come with you alone? When I report to the central guild… I want to tell you about the evidence I saw with my own eyes that gave me the S-class adventurer rank.”

Well, Evan is also the guild leader of this town…

I could feel a pleasant smile when I imagined him spreading the right teachings of Michel to the adventurers.

“Okay! You too, follow me!”

As I left the guild, the full moon floating in the night sky caught my eye.

The perfect full moon was hanging large over the Sia Kalt Mountains, and the entire town was bathed in silver.

“This is a perfect day to perform a ritual!”

I jumped up and down in excitement. Miel, who was on top of my head, flapped her wings for a moment, unable to keep her balance, before settling down again.

Leaving the rest of the humans behind, I headed out of town with Ryandel, Revi, and Evan.

If I performed the ritual too close, it might cause damage to the town, right?

Heh heh.

The humans were weak.

I jumped moderately and moved a little further away from the town.

The snow-covered fields illuminated by the moonlight shone like silver silk.

The peaks of the Sia Kalt Mountains cast black shadows in the distance.

“Hehe, shall we begin~”

At my words, Revi, Ryandel, and Evan swallowed their saliva at the same time.

Tension was evident on their faces.

Revi, in particular, seemed to be trembling slightly.

“Hehe, if you’re scared, stay right next to me.”

Revi came to me with a slightly relieved expression.

Cecilia spread her flame wings brightly, conveying warm energy to her.

Now it was time to really begin.

I took a deep breath and concentrated all my mind.

I slowly prepared to sprinkle the pollen of temptation.

Pink pollen bloomed from between my hair.

At first, the pollen bloomed like thin threads, but it gradually thickened and soon spread explosively like a cloud.

Pink fog began to cover the entire field, and it spread to the Sia Kalt Mountains on the wind.

“Wow…”

Revi exclaimed.

The pink pollen shining under the moonlight was truly a fantastic sight.

It’s now the red moon.

I looked up and saw the full moon floating in the sky.

As I began to imagine the red moon with a sacred heart toward Michel, the color of the moon slowly began to change.

From white to light pink, then gradually darkened and finally turned red.

The bloody moon dyed the entire world red.

The snow-covered fields turned into a bloody sea.

“Wow… This is the ability that Michel gave me!”

I shouted proudly.

Especially, astonishment spread across Ryandel’s face.

A small groan escaped his mouth.

“Wow, really… the color of the moon…”

Rebi also looked up at the sky with surprised eyes.

Evan seemed to be trying to calm down, but the beads of sweat on his forehead showed his tension.

“This is really… the realm of the gods.”

At that moment, movement was detected from the direction of the mountain range.

“Hehe, here we come!”

The monsters, attracted by the pollen, began to rush toward us.

Snow hyenas running across the snow, ice goblins crouching and approaching, ice trolls walking slowly, flying reindeers soaring through the air, glacier floppers crawling down, etc. They were all monsters I had already seen enough to be sick of. I didn’t see any new bug monsters.

What a pity…

I thought they had all already joined my bugs.

“Now, let’s get started!”

I activated Dark Root Rampage.

Black roots rose up through the ground and danced.

They shot out sharply toward the monsters and pierced their bodies.

“Kwaak!” “Squeak!” “Greureureuk!”

The monsters’ screams split the night air.

The monsters stabbed by the black roots flailed and fell.

At the same time, they began to scatter a large amount of various pollen.

The monsters touched by the paralyzing pollen slowly froze in place, and the monsters touched by the bleeding pollen fell, bleeding from the orifices all over their bodies.

The monsters that touched the rotten pollen screamed as their flesh rotted away.

Glessia finally joined the attack as if she was in a good mood.

With her huge body, she charged at the flying reindeers and stabbed them with her poisonous needles.

One, two… The monsters hit by Glessia’s poisonous needles screamed and froze.

Cecilia and Lotte were still by my side, protecting me.

Cecilia prepared for any possible fire attacks, and Lotte orbited around me like a shield.

And Miel, who was not a combatant, was stuck to my head.

“Hehe! Kill them all!”

While I was lost in my exciting ritual, Rebi started to move.

At first, she had just stared with her eyes wide open, but now she seemed to have come to her senses.

She pulled out her elegantly curved bow from her back and pulled the string.

Whoosh!

The arrow cut through the air and pierced the flying reindeer’s eye as it soared.

The reindeer screamed and fell.

Rebi fired three or four more arrows in quick succession, all of which hit their targets accurately.

“Oh, you’re fighting better than I thought?”

I exclaimed, and pride spread across Rebi’s face.

“Oh, thank you!”

Ryandel also raised his crystal staff high, not to be outdone.

A magic circle was drawn in the air, and dozens of blue ice arrows appeared and flew toward the group of goblins.

The moment the goblins fell, he swung his staff again, and this time, an ice wall appeared, blocking the path of the hyena pack that was rushing toward them.

Evan, who was also the guild leader, drew his large axe and rushed at one of the frozen bears.

His axe accurately hit the bear’s leg, and when the bear stumbled, he quickly rolled backward to gain distance.

“Good, good~”

I nodded, watching the humans’ performance.

Of course, it was nothing compared to my ability, but it was still more useful than I thought.

Come to think of it, I haven’t used Crimson Bind yet.

I just brought it because it was my size, but Ryandel said it was a legendary weapon.

Should I try it?

I pulled out the Crimson Bind from my waist.

The sword began to vibrate and emit a red light.

Just like when it absorbed the blood of the Crystal Basilisk.

Blood from the surrounding monster corpses flowed into the sword like a river.

“Ooh! It’s so cool!”

The blade turned redder and redder.

The humming vibrations transmitted to my hand seemed to be happy.

I could feel an incredible energy from the sword, perhaps because it had absorbed a lot of blood.

‘This is truly a legendary weapon!’

I needed a target to test it on.

Just then, I saw an ice troll frozen in place by paralysis pollen.

The troll, with its large, heavy body and blue-tinged skin, stood motionless.

“I should try it on this one!”

I walked up to the immobile ice troll.

A huge monster with ice-blue skin and white steam.

When I looked up at the troll, its dull eyes were trembling in fear at me.

“Hehe, are you scared?”

I lightly swung Crimson Bind.

“Eight!”

The moment I was about to strike down the sword, the sword suddenly began to move in my hand.

It guided my hand as if it had its own will.

The humming vibrations grew stronger, and the sword swung in a direction different from my intention.

“Huh? Huh-huh-huh?”

I had intended to cut off the ankle, but the sword flew toward the troll’s calf in an elegant arc.

I twisted my body into a strange posture as if I was being dragged by the sword.

“Eww!?”

Swish—

As a result, the troll’s calf was cut off smoothly.

“Kewwww!!”

The troll lost its balance and fell to its knees.

Blood spurted out like a fountain, dyeing its eyes red.

“Wow! That’s it! … No, but what is this?!”

Did I just do such an uncool pose!?

I swept my waist and made a bewildered expression.

What the heck is this sword?

It has this kind of ability!?

The sword ignored my words and continued to move.

As a result, the troll’s tough skin was smoothly cut like tofu, but I kept losing my balance and almost fell forward. I barely managed to pull myself together, but the sword grabbed my hand again and stabbed me into the troll’s chest.

“Hey, wait a minute!”

I followed the sword’s lead, and it seemed to hit the troll’s weak point exactly.

But my body couldn’t keep up with the movement, so I stumbled awkwardly.

It was like someone learning to dance for the first time being dragged around by a professional partner.

“Oh, slow down! Let me follow!”

But the sword seemed to be out of my control.

I started to cut the troll’s body more while moving awkwardly.

Arms, legs, torso, head…

Every place the sword touched was cleanly cut off.

Red blood gushed out like a fountain under the blood moon.

“Wow, it’s pretty!”

I admired the sight of blood spurting out and being absorbed by the Crimson Bind.

“Heehee! Yes, yes! You want a sacrifice for Michel too! Good!”

“…Ugh.”

At that moment, I heard a retching sound from behind.

Rebi covered her mouth with one hand.

Her lips were pale and her eyes were filled with utter fear.

Ryandel held his breath with his mouth tightly shut.

His fingertips were trembling slightly.

Evan couldn’t look straight at the scene in front of him, and his gaze was slightly lowered.

I could see his lips trembling.

‘Huh? Why?’

I tilted my head, looking at the expressions of the humans.

Then I looked down.

It was then that I realized.

The troll’s body was completely torn to pieces.

One calf had been blown away and was hanging on a rock, and the severed head was lying behind me. The intestines and flesh were scattered everywhere.

‘I don’t feel anything…’

When I searched through my memories of my previous life as a human, this was a horrifying sight that I could never bear to see.

Hmm…

I thought back to the first time I hunted a snow hyena in the middle layer.

But until then, I felt cruel…

‘Now, I have truly become a different being…’

Since when did I start to take this kind of killing for granted?

No, I actually enjoyed it.

I realized once again that I was no longer human.

‘Still, I have no regrets because I met my master thanks to becoming a flower.’

And isn’t this appearance actually a good thing because it makes me braver?

At that moment, I suddenly felt a strong energy approaching me.

It seemed like a stronger group of monsters were coming.

‘Well, it won’t work against me anyway.’

I smiled and waited for new opponents.