Lego Carnage and Sisters' Hunt
Clearly a person's head had turned into block pieces, scattering in every direction. The remaining Candles panicked all at once.
"Wh-what?!"
"You bitch!"
Realizing too late that she wasn't someone they could take hostage, one of the Candles shoved the undying woman away from his chest and plunged his dagger straight into her head.
"Ah."
Her voice echoed out. No wound was visible, but it had to be a fatal blow. Yet her expression didn't change in the slightest. She just stared at the Candle with an utterly indifferent look.
"Wh-what the hell? Why won't she die?!"
The Candle backed away in terror. But it was already too late.
Annoyed, the undying woman lunged at him. From there, it was a one-sided slaughter. Every Candle who charged at her went flying through the air from her punches, slicing through empty space. One guy's right chest exploded on impact, scattering like feathers and vanishing.
It was pure, overwhelming brutality. After screams of agony filled the air, silence finally fell—and every Candle who hadn't fled lay broken on the ground.
"Ooh, my head's all jumbled up, total mess...."
The perpetrator of this horrifying beatdown uttered those bizarre words, then—with a cute pop—yanked the dagger out of her head.
No, seriously, how is a person that strong? Did the undying woman get this way from eating the cook's food earlier? But no, she wielded that power with the ease of someone who'd always had it.
A being this powerful couldn't possibly be ordinary....
"O! My eyes are red!"
Squatting down, fiddling with her eyes. To me, they just looked like a pile of Lego bricks scattered around, but she must see them properly. Maybe I'm not the real psycho here—maybe it's her.
Yeah, I'm totally normal. Leydan Tantun, this guy's past just screwed me over.
Having rationalized that to myself, I approached the undying woman.
"You okay?"
"Which part?"
"I mean, you were just fighting like crazy."
"Fighting? What are you talking about? More importantly, who are you again?"
When I asked if she was alright, she tilted her head, drool dripping from her mouth like she had no clue. What, she already forgot what happened minutes ago? At this point, it's just dementia.
I tried to keep talking, but she ignored me, too fixated on her "red eyes" to care. She just kept stroking the snowball crammed with Legos.
Whatever—who's worrying about whom here? The woman who ate Outer God food without batting an eye.
"Hmm... so all this is corpses, huh?"
The scene was so unbelievable as a murder site. It looked like kids had dumped out their toy box and played around. I stared at the Lego minefield dotting the ground.
No way piecing these shattered body parts back together would revive anyone. I knew they were all corpses, but seeing them like this made it feel oddly distant. Plus, these were people who'd tried to kill me, and I'm the type who judges by appearances over digging deeper.
That aside.
"Wonder if there's anything good here."
Call it heartless if you want, but looting's a must. If you're gonna steal, be ready to get robbed, right? The city and Candles are enemies, so bringing back proof of taking them down would rack up some achievements too.
There were bags around the Lego humans. Nothing special inside: half-eaten jerky scraps, a mystery water bottle who'd knows how old, and some firewood.
Guess they were just small fry after all.
"Ooh, food."
Before I knew it, she'd snuck up and snatched the jerky from my hand, chomping away. Nom nom nom. Doesn't she get sick of the cook's food after scarfing that down?
"O...?"
Then she spotted the firewood in my hand and tilted her head.
"What's this?"
"A person's hand."
This firewood was a human hand? Seeing it deformed like that, it must be Outer God-related.
"Dried up and shriveled—couldn't even eat it. Such a shame."
Saying that, she kept munching the jerky heartily. Tough stomach on her.
Come to think of it, those Candle bastards called us "sparks" or whatever.
...Just a hunch, but were they burning city folk and using them as firewood? Bodies blessed by the Hearth burn well—like mini braziers.
That would mean their bags were stuffed with human body parts. Useless info for now, so I'll ignore it.
After wiping out the Candle gang, we trudged through the blizzard for ages. The footprints we'd been following were theirs too, apparently—long gone by now. We'd been wandering forever, but nothing in sight.
Were we really lost?
"Ria."
Calling her out, she just peeked her head from my pocket—too cold outside, I guess. Petting her hair, she grinned happily, and I asked,
"From here, which way to Rondan?"
Hating the idea of coming out fully, she stuck out one arm and pointed somewhere. Sigh. Not another Outer God direction, I hope?
"Ria."
Getting my drift, she shook her head vigorously this time—nope. Kinda dubious, but...
With communication-working Outer Gods around, I wouldn't sweat it, but those caterpillar things on the Gardener's roses existed too. Were those even Outer Gods to begin with?
Whatever. Worst case, no loss. How else do I find Rondan in this vast wasteland if not her way? No room to complain—I gave Ria a trusting smile.
She even thumbs-upped like, Trust me for real this time. Let's give it a shot. Worst case, I can just beat 'em down now that I'm strong.
...Or so I thought.
"Hunting time!"
A shrill little girl's voice echoed from afar. Followed by massive engine roars. Vroom vroom. Cute sounds for such a huge noise, but the result was no joke.
A gigantic vehicle barreled past us, blasting snow everywhere.
"Wh-what the hell?!"
It looked totally out of place—like something from Mad Max crossing the blizzard.
"It's a horse!"
The undying woman bounced excitedly, yelling. No, that's a horse? How terrifying must real horses be to turn into that massive truck? A cat sticker doesn't make it cute, you damn mode!
The two girls at the wheel laughed, oblivious to my thoughts.
"Dodged it."
"Dodged! This prey's quick on its feet?"
Leather jackets, helmets—they screamed Outer God at first glance!
Outside the Hearth's protection, Outer God encounters skyrocket. Especially near the borders where they swarm.
I shot a glare at Ria peeking from my pocket. She made a super sad face, tears welling as she flailed. Her innocence convinced me—this one popped up out of nowhere.
I sighed in relief. No massive area effects, so not a Greater Outer God. Still, that mobility and power marked them as strong even among Common Outer Gods.
Even with my enhanced body, fighting Outer Gods head-on seemed dicey. Time to try talking first—my best weapon was that they could communicate.
"Hey! You two over there!"
"Huh? Sis, that human's talking to us?"
"Usually they freak out and run when they spot us. Surprising."
Makes sense—normal folk need mental resistance checks just to face Outer Gods. The undying woman was already zoning out in real time.
"Uh-heh."
Wait, was she always like this?
"Yeah, prey! Can you hear us?"
"Hellloo~"
I yelled over the engine roar.
"Yeah, I hear you! Let's talk this out!"
That must've touched them—they high-fived, clapping hands.
"Caw! It understands!"
"First enemy like this ever!"
They were thrilled like Lesser Outer Gods I'd met before. Might actually work.
"We're not here to fight you! How about we both pretend we didn't see each other?"
All Outer Gods I'd encountered struck back only after humans attacked first. No hostility here—just go our separate ways.
But their reply dashed that hope.
"Can't do that."
What? The calmer girl said it.
"Hunters don't let prey go. Even if it talks like an animal—cool, but nah."
"Hey, isn't that the scarred-face Candle's epic line from before?"
"...Shut it."
They seemed locked in their own world.
"The masked ones enjoyed catching people. That's why we do it."
"Yeah! If sis likes it, I love it!"
"You were coming back from hunting people too."
Damn. No way they'd let us go.
Sensing danger, I blew the Party Flute immediately.
"...The path's too narrow. Can't get through."
...Screwed.
Run? But against a truck?
Ria tugged my collar, pointing somewhere—the same direction she'd indicated first. Why there?
"Didn't expect the prey to come right to us."
A heavy voice boomed from where Ria pointed. Only one person I knew had a voice like that.
"...Hunter?!"
"Yeah, me."
Ahh, so this is why castaways cry when rescuers show up.
"You came to save me!"
A normal person might snap back, 'I'm trapped too.' But our Hunter was different.
"Not here to save you. Just happened to spot you while hunting Outer Gods."
Click. The sound of a heavy double-barrel shotgun cocking.
"Time to hunt."