episode_0012

The moment the shield that had caught the prosthetic hand swung by the opponent with another lunge began to crack, Emma turned her body and kicked the ground with as much impact as possible and took a big step backwards.

Even though my shield would be shattered and my arm would be throbbing, it would have been much better than having to take the same shock with my body.

It was not a move she made consciously, but rather an almost instinctive response as an excellent warrior.

It was fortunate for Emma. Her mind had just been greatly shaken by the shocking sight before her eyes.

If I hadn’t reacted unconsciously, I would have suffered serious injuries.

“…What happened to me?…”

In contrast to the bright blonde hair, he ends up asking the question in despair, even though he clearly knows that there is no way he will get an answer from the dead person’s eyes and closed mouth.

I could tell by looking at the scars on both arms. It’s not like he lost his arms in some accident and got prosthetic hands instead.

He cut off both healthy arms and replaced them with metal weapons.

Perhaps simply because the centaur’s owner decided it would be more useful.

Before the mental shock can be resolved, the physical shock follows.

The opponent jumps into the air again and lifts his leg and then slams it down.

The moment I cross my arms to block the blow, a small gust of wind briefly blows around me due to the impact.

The centaur, who had been thoroughly brainwashed as a slave, immediately turned the blocked leg, moved Emma’s arm aside, and inserted a metal replacement arm into the empty space.

Emma falls backwards and kicks up her leg, hitting the prosthetic hand that the opponent swings at her.

As the arm bounces upward with the sound of metal crunching, Emma kicks the ground with her other leg, turns her body in the air, and lands again.

Of course, this distance is only enough to disappear in an instant in a fight between two centaurs…

If she didn’t do that, Emma felt like she wouldn’t be able to suppress the thoughts that came to her mind.

‘Aim for the arm! Because if the leg is damaged, the value goes down! Even if you try to sell it as a stallion, everyone likes it when the leg is still intact!’

In the past, the cruel words shouted out loud by the humans who invaded the tribe.

Those greedy gazes that downgrade them, who are clearly intelligent people, to animals to be hunted and livestock to be bred.

Her mother, who was the chieftain leading the tribe, took the lead kicking and swinging her weapon, receiving all the words and stares from the front.

At the same time, he himself made it so that they could no longer use their tongues and open their eyes in such an irreverent manner.

However, there were too many humans who attacked the tribe, and although they were greedy evildoers, they were not foolish.

They probably attacked the Centaurs, the powerful warriors of the grasslands, because they predicted that they had a good chance of winning.

‘Emma! Run away! hurry!’

I remember my mother, who was fighting two silver-level adventurers who were the strongest fighters of the attackers at the same time, and fell down with a large cut on her arm and cried out urgently while holding back the pain.

Unfortunately, they had no intention of missing a single centaur, and as she was still young, she did not have the strength to shake off the chasers on horseback and run away.

In front of the captured Emma, the leader of the raiders was talking angrily to her mother.

She said that because of her rampage, the damage to the top was severe, and that even if she sold all of you, she would barely make ends meet.

However, what I said earlier is also true, so losing an arm that she probably won’t be able to use in the future won’t change her value that much.

Then, laughing in front of the child, they snatched one of the mother’s arms.

Therefore, after becoming stronger, if for no other reason, Emma never ignored those who said that the arms other than the legs of a centaur had no special value.

Just like earlier, in order to warn the other members of the gang, he landed a kick that shattered the shield of the person making a fuss.

But it also meant that those terrible memories were still tormenting her.

From the moment the wounds of the past had attacked her in the form of her wretched enslaved compatriots, her body had been shaking with violent emotions.

Things that cannot be expressed with simple words, such as anger, fear, and despair.

Unfortunately, those feelings didn’t seem to have a very good effect in a situation where there was an enemy at one’s back.

“!! Wow!…”

The moment I entered into a power struggle with the opponent who rushed at me again, an arrow came from behind and hit Emma.

“..ugh..”

Fortunately, it didn’t hit me too deeply, but for some reason I felt like my body was losing strength.

‘Paralysis poison?’

There was no time to confirm the suspicion.

Without even giving him time to pull out the arrow, the opponent rushed at him swinging his prosthetic hand.

“…No. No more.”

With that muttering, Emma changed. And then he quickly shot his body forward.

The other centaur that hit Emma’s shoulder was unable to withstand the sudden change in mass and was thrown off, rolling on the forest floor.

The surprised arrow aims at Emma once again, but even though the target has become bigger, the faster speed avoids it.

Then it turns and charges furiously towards the direction from which the arrow came.

A true half-man, half-horse form that is said to be the blessing of Epona, the goddess served by centaurs.

The blessing turns into the goddess’s anger, and she races forward, trampling everything in her way with her four legs and hooves.

The moment the archer arrows again, Emma, who has already reached the corner, jumps up.

Even if the arrow hit her, the subsequent fall would crush the enemy to death, and the enemy knew this well.

In the end, the archer gave up on shooting arrows and, to save his life, lowered his bow and rolled to the side to avoid Emma’s hoof that was trampling on the spot where his head had been just moments ago.

However, Emma was unable to avoid being hit by turning around, and flew away with a dull sound and hit the tree.

After falling again, Ema approaches once again and lightly kicks it with her front leg, causing the archer to scream and tumble on the ground.

Emma calmly looked at the writhing opponent, unable to properly control her body, then took a deep breath, returned to her two-legged form, and slowly approached.

I planned to check the identity of the neutralized opponent more closely.

It was difficult to simply pass him off as a talented adventurer among a ragtag group of people, because his skills were far too different from those of the others, and he even whistled to call his fellow countrymen who had been brainwashed into slaves, so there were a lot of things that bothered me.

If it weren’t for my compatriots rushing back, I would have definitely done that.

As she jumped up, kicked the wooden pole, turned around, and rushed at her again, Emma grabbed her two prosthetic hands, turned around, and slammed her to the ground.

Emma, who climbed on top of her and held her down with her legs, was embarrassed when she realized that her compatriot’s condition was not normal.

“Ugh…”

Seeing her moaning and writhing in pain, Emma became worried that she had used too much force earlier.

‘I tried to suppress it as much as possible… but I couldn’t have done anything wrong…’

“…Eh..Fonasi…”

At that time, when she tried to say something, Emma quickly lowered her head and listened, but it was a mistake.

“..for..seo…”

One of the prosthetic hands split open and the net hidden inside it unfolded.

Emma immediately tried to escape by kicking the ground, but because he was already close to her, he ended up getting entangled in the net.

“Ahh…”

The blonde centaur who was tying up Emma moaned as if it was painful to do such a thing, but was unable to stop his disobedient body.

“…Keuuu…”

As soon as the net tightened, she rushed towards Emma and strangled her, and the rough prosthetic hand made of steel had a stronger grip than Emma who was trying to shake it off.

In addition, it was difficult to use my strength properly due to the paralyzing poison I had received earlier and my body being tied up in the net.

Eventually, with her consciousness starting to become increasingly blurred, Emma ponders whether she should transform again.

However, if I were to return to my half-man, half-horse form from this position, I could see that the opponent’s prosthetic arm, which was entangled with the net, would be pulled out entirely along with the remaining part of the arm.

The unfortunate compatriot who was brainwashed and forced to attack her will die.

‘These… despicable guys… are aiming for even this…’

The person who brainwashed his fellow countrymen to attack her must have had this in mind.

Emma herself would hesitate to inflict life-threatening wounds on her own people.

But even though she was in tears and pain, she swore to her master.

I will always return to his side and be with him.

Emma gritted her teeth and prepared to transform again, taking one last look at her suffering compatriot.

To ensure that even Emma herself remembers her for a long time.

‘…master…’

Even in her determination, the wish that blooms is that her owner is here.

Just as I saved her, I wonder if there is a way to save that suffering compatriot other than through death.

On a more selfish note, I felt like I could get through this painful moment by being by his side.

She had one last wish.

Until the moment comes when that wish is answered.

“Ema!”

She opened her tightly closed eyes again in surprise at the voice calling her.

The anxiety that I thought might have been an auditory hallucination brought about by my desperation disappeared in an instant when I saw the scene I saw with my eyes again.

Her master was rushing here, riding on top of a red-haired centaur.

He approached in an instant and swung his spear as always, and the tough net that was tying the two centaurs together was cut off in one go.

Emma, who is finally free from her captivity, goes straight towards her owner.

Words were unnecessary to welcome the returning master, so one action, which had a clearer meaning than any rhetoric, was enough for the centaur.

She re-embodies the blessing of four legs she received from the goddess Epona, and now willingly gives her back and loins to the one she trusts most in this broken world.

Her owner also quickly changes from the red centaur to Emma and returns to his beloved horse.

He looks at the blond centaur who has staggered out of the net, proudly aiming his spear from above, which has knocked down countless threatening opponents.

Seeing one arm still cleft with the severed net hanging from it and the other arm once again in a fighting stance with its body, I feel as angry at the atrocities that have been inflicted on her as Emma.

And he put that anger on the tip of his spear, and his horse also put that anger on his hoof and kicked the ground, so there was no need for even a simple signal to be exchanged between the two.

Rider and horse shot as one in the intense emotions they shared.

In front of the charge, the brainwashed centaur quickly separated the net and threw it, tying Emma’s feet, kicking the ground and trying to target the rider with his still intact prosthetic arm.

However, the spear, with the destructive power of the horseman and the skill of the master, extends from the rider’s hand like a metal thunderbolt.

The spear cut the flying net in one go, and before he knew it, he pierced through the prosthetic hand that was trying to swing at him.

The blade of the spear, sparking and digging into the prosthetic arm, did not even give the opponent a chance to react, and swung by hooking itself tightly like a hook that caught a fish.

In accordance with the owner’s movements, the horse also turns its powerful half-human, half-horse body with all its might, and the owner’s spear, loaded with that power, easily catches and throws the opponent.

In the series of movements performed by one, not two, without even a single moment of silence, the person being fooled hits his back against a tree and falls down before he can do anything.

If the two hadn’t intentionally pulled out their strength at the end to save her, her back and spine would have been broken at the moment of impact and she would have died.

Nevertheless, the strong body unique to her species creaked and tried to move according to the spell placed on her.

If it weren’t for Luvia, who quickly took her in her arms and murmured soothingly while locking her red eyes with hers, she would have attacked her again.

At first glance, the act of a mother comforting a child who had just woken up from a nightmare and making him have a happy dream again ended with the image of a centaur sleeping peacefully, forgetting the pain and suffering.

Only then was everyone able to exhale the breath they had been holding.

For a moment, a comfortable silence filled the surroundings with only the occasional sound of breathing mixed with fatigue and relief.

Of course, they had something they couldn’t put off forever.

“…Okay. So I think we should tell each other what happened…”

Liber’s horse, still riding on Emma, breaks the silence.

“Who wants to talk first?”