Human Hunt (2)
"Man, you're damn slow. How is it that something flying is slower than me running?"
"That's because Papa runs too fast, that's why." Meari, sitting on my shoulder, adjusted her pointed hat and giggled. We were the only two who had arrived at the location I’d scouted in advance.
"Hehe, Papa's body is huge, but you're really fast."
"Hey, hey. Don't touch the belly." Meari rubbed her heels against my stomach, cackling. It was slightly annoying that this brat, who would have had bruised feet by now if I hadn't carried her here, was acting so cheeky without a shred of gratitude.
"Get down."
"Ah, why?"
"The owner of the spot is here."
Second place. Ryun. Having fully become a High Elf, Ryun had easily kept pace with my sprint and stuck to my back. Even if she were only 3-star, I felt like she would have overtaken my speed in no time.
Thump. Without a word, Ryun jumped from her spot and landed on my shoulder. Meari glared at Ryun with a sullen face, but Ryun just nodded, scanning the cliff below as if nothing were wrong.
"There are a few people. Maybe... twenty-six? Seven?"
"They said there were over 30, but it’s already dropped. They must have run away since the rescue team didn't return."
If they were scared and ran, it couldn't be helped. I would have liked to increase the difficulty perfectly through this battle, but there was no reason to be too impatient.
"So, Master, how will you raid them? Should I fire an arrow?"
"Papa! I can use some fire magic..."
"Ryun misses, and Meari is too conspicuous, so let's not."
Flap, flap. The harpies arrived. Then the ghouls arrived. And the slimes were either riding on the harpies' backs or being carried by the ghouls.
'It bothers me that I left Eila behind, but...' Since the gargoyles were guarding the dungeon entrance, there shouldn't be any major issues. 'There are no problems strategically.' Thanks to the ★★ monsters summoned via monster summoning starting at level 15 as experienced workers, I could deploy the gargoyles without any burden. I’d even taken out insurance, so there shouldn't be any trouble.
"Are they all here now?"
"It's over once the harpies arrive."
In other words, all our dungeon's forces, save for a few, were gathered here. Me, Ryun, Meari, the ghouls, the slimes, and the harpies.
"Fortunately, the humans crawled into the village. Originally, they had set up camp at that other site over there."
"It looks like they went back into the village because they were ready to run at a moment's notice? Wait a second." Ryun tilted her head, listening to the sound of the wind. She focused for a moment with her ears perked up, then frowned and shook her head.
"They are completely off guard. There are a few people running away, but they haven't discovered us yet."
"Are there many people running away?"
"No? Two, or maybe three?"
"Then it's fine. It's okay to let that many go."
In fact, it's better if the rumors spread further. The more people hear about this 'hot spot' and come to visit, the more food our dungeon children will get to eat.
"Then it's time for a night raid. Hehe. Harpies, you're all here, right?"
"Yeah. Haa, haa."
Each of the harpies was holding a Big Slime or a regular slime in their talons. They were all larger than usual, and Lime was riding on the back of the Harpy Angel.
"Then get ready. We're dropping."
"Dropping?"
"Yeah."
I stood at the edge of the cliff. It was quite high, but it was a slope sufficient to reach the village hill, and my body was hard enough to withstand the impact. "Ryun and Meari, just take the route down over there. Lead the ghouls with you. Got it?"
"Master, still, you should go safely..."
"We checked with the stud hunters, didn't we? There was no one stronger than the village chief."
So this night raid would be a trampling and a slaughter. All humans who resisted would die and become experience points for the monsters, and only those who surrendered would live.
"Hoo, hoo."
I adjusted my angle carefully. There were some thick trees on the way down, but I wouldn't die even if I got scratched by those. I had even experimented with Tural, so I definitely wouldn't die.
"Harpies, prepare for an airstrike."
The harpies caught their breath and flew into the night sky, clutching the slimes. They were ready to drop the giant slimes at any moment, and I took a deep breath and set the log I had cut myself at an angle on the slope.
Click. My feet fit perfectly into the grooves the ghouls had dug out with their mouths. I wiggled my feet, which were set properly front and back, and then shifted my weight to the front of the log.
"Then, groooaaar!!"
Without even a moment to speak, the log was pulled by gravity and weight, racing down the slope like a scooter. With gravity acceleration added to my own weight, the log began to grind against the ground in an instant. Kagagagak! The sound of wood grinding echoed through the night sky. I could hear the hunters, alerted by the commotion, tossing and turning one by one.
Thud, thud-thud-thud. But already, a rain of slimes was falling from the sky. The harpies flapped their wings to adjust their positions precisely, and the slimes fell toward the ground from a fairly high altitude. Toward the wooden ceiling.
CRACK!! The giant body of the Big Slime punched a massive hole in the ceiling. A startled hunter kicked the door open and rushed out. "W-what the?!"
"GROOOOAAAARR!!"
I let out a roar and kicked off the burning soles of my feet. The moment the end of the log hit a tree trunk, I used the acceleration and recoil to stretch my limbs high into the sky. Once, one of the guys in the tribe said this: Act your size. So, to act my size, I chose a method that would brilliantly announce the start of the night raid.
"Sorry to whoever gets crushed underneath!"
I curled my limbs toward the ceiling of the largest house. CRASH!! The wooden ceiling collapsed along with me. My limbs stung, but this was nothing. I squeezed my eyes shut, and my body soon landed on the floor of the spacious house. BOOOOM!! The vibration was so intense that even I thought it was a bit much. Although I had used a landing technique, my belly hit before my limbs, so it hurt a little.
"Kuh-hup."
It stung a bit, but it wasn't enough to kill me. I rose from the center of the collapsed house amidst the dust.
"......Tsk."
As the rafters collapsed, they covered a very unfortunate spot. The crushed planks of the ceiling fell and covered the bed. "Wh...at...?"
The man and woman, still joined at the genitals, were pierced by the planks at the same time. The man vomited a mouthful of dark red blood, and the woman underneath had to take all of it on her chest.
"Ah, AAAHHH!!"
"You're noisy."
I brushed the dust off my knees and cleared away the planks that were blocking my view. Thanks to the man thrusting from above, the woman was safe. "Tsk. Sorry about that. But isn't this 'death by sex' even if you die like this?"
I pulled the plank out of the back of the man who was gasping for air. They must have used cheap materials, as the torn grain wasn't straight. "This is completely useless—"
Stab. Something pierced my side. It was the sensation of a cold dagger, and I turned my back.
"Ah, how...?!"
Even while pinned by the man, the woman had raised her body and stabbed my side with a dagger. But my side was occupied by solid muscle and subcutaneous fat that was harder than muscle. "Ugh, blood."
Thanks to the dagger, there was a slight laceration on my side, but it wasn't very deep. I felt sorry for the woman who had risked her life to stab me, but honestly, it was shallower than getting a paper cut. "It would be better for you to come out and see for yourself."
I lifted the man who was crushing the woman and pushed him to the floor. The woman trembled with a terrified face, but I grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up. "Can you hear it? The screaming outside?"
I grabbed the woman and walked out the door. The door was already gone, and the outside was filled with hunters who weren't properly armed and all sorts of mixed monsters. "Th-this is...!"
"Your village attacked our dungeon, you see."
"Dungeon?!"
The woman's eyes widened in shock. I didn't care and pointed at the other hunters. "Look. See what's happening right now."
Crunch, crunch. The Big Slimes were covering people whole, trapping them inside their bodies, and eating them. The hunters struggled inside the Big Slimes' bodies, but soon, their arms, which had been sticking out, fell to the ground with a thud, devoid of any strength.
Groooar! The ghouls, with arrows stuck in their bodies, attacked those who had fired them with their long arms. The ghouls, who preferred eating dead corpses over living ones, were killing everyone they saw first.
Hohoho! The harpies flapped their wings freely, toying with the hunters. The hunters hurriedly aimed their bows to keep the harpies in check, but were instead struck by arrows flying into their own bellies and collapsed.
"Oh, nice shot."
Ryun's arrow hadn't just broken a hunter's bow; it had embedded itself in the hunter's thigh. The harpies swooped down from behind on the hunter who had fallen to one knee and lifted him into the sky.
"Master! Over there!"
Ryun screamed and raised her bow. In the opposite direction of our raid, a hunter was running away without even looking back. 'Should I just let him go?' Leaving him alive might be a source of future trouble, but he would lead more experience points to us.
"Just let—" THWACK—!! A red flame arrow embedded itself in the back of the fleeing hunter. The hunter collapsed to the floor and couldn't move anymore. "Ah, too bad. I aimed for the head." Meari smacked her lips in regret. The fact that she had no qualms about killing people didn't feel like the behavior of a newborn existence. 'Is Mei really reborn?' An existence reborn after inheriting a part of Mei. That was the only way I could think of it.
"Master, there are no more people running away."
Ryun pointed around, pulling her bowstring. There were hunters who were already dead, and some who were so terrified that they had dropped their bows and were going crazy in place. 'They're all low level.' Most were ★, and occasionally ★★ caught my eye. They were all under level 20, but thanks to that, the monsters were able to hunt them very easily.
"Then choose."
I placed the woman whose neck I was holding in the middle of the village square. "Will you die here, or will you become a slave to our dungeon?"
"......You think I'd be a minion of a monster?! I'd rather die!"
"Ryun."
Zip. An arrow embedded itself in the woman's forehead. The woman collapsed sideways, still wearing the face of someone screaming to be killed. "Uh, groooaaar...."
The pants of some of the hunters began to get wet. I had killed her because she asked to be killed, but perhaps they hadn't expected me to actually do it, as a few of them had truly pissed themselves.
"Tsk."
It would be hard to eat them if they were like that. It was a problem that the effect of the example was too good. I grabbed the neck of the man who was being pinned down by a harpy's claws and stood him up. "I'll ask one more time."
The man gulped and listened to my words. "Will you be my slave, or will you die?"
"......Give me time to thi—" Zip. Without even time to think, Ryun's arrow embedded itself in his thigh this time. "AAAAHHH!" The man with the arrow in his thigh screamed in agony. I grabbed his jaw to stop his body, then looked him straight in the eye and asked, "Are you not going to answer?"
"I will! I'll be a slave, I'll be a slave, so please spare me!"
The man begged for his life. I threw him to the floor. "It's annoying to do it one by one. It's a binary choice. Those who want to die, go over there; those who want to live, come here."
There was no one who wanted to die. Excluding the 10 who were already dead, I examined them carefully. They were terrified by the ruthlessness of the monsters that killed without hesitation. However, if they could just survive even after being caught by the monsters, they would look for any opportunity to escape. Just as Mei had tried to run away even after suffering that humiliation when she was caught by me, the hunters were all plotting to escape despite being caught.
Actually, that was to be expected. "Six men, eight women...." The numbers didn't match, but what did it matter? I had the Harpy Angel, who was still carrying Lime, come down. Under the Harpy Angel's claws, something like a large balloon was swaying.
"Pour it on them."
The Harpy Angel tore the balloon as if she had been waiting. At the same time, a thin membrane burst, and the 'Slahole's bodily fluids' that had been filling it covered the people.
Drip, drip. The slaves were covered in the Slahole's fluids. They seemed dumbfounded, wondering what it was, but the Slahole's fluids were an aphrodisiac with very rapid effects.
"It takes about two hours to get to the dungeon from here, right?"
I pointed the way to the dungeon to the humans who were writhing. "If you can hold it until we arrive, I'll let you go."
I can assure you, no one will.