Damnable Monster (2)
-Whoosh!
I drew my dagger and slashed the goblin's neck from behind. It couldn't even make a sound before its life was cut short.
-Thud!
That's the fifteenth one.
I was trying to be as quiet as possible inside the cave. Still, the bastards knew my position, so I had no choice but to deal with them as quietly as possible.
Even with a silencer on the gun, the sound would echo in the cave's confined space, and they might surround me from both sides. Still, the numbers had been greatly reduced. The blood that dirtied my nun's habit was the proof.
“……Ugh!”
Just as I was about to continue moving, a disgusting, bitter taste suddenly rose from my mouth.
“Damn it.”
Blood.
This wasn't goblin blood—this was my own.
Currently, I was forcibly enhancing my physical abilities using the church's tattoos, pushing my body to its limit.
That was becoming too much for my body to handle.
The power from the church's tattoos was forcing my body beyond its limits, and any excess would damage the flesh.
This was a skill that steadily shortened my lifespan.
But I couldn't release the tattoos here.
If I didn't use the tattoos given by the church, I wouldn't have more than the strength of an ordinary woman.
Back when I was younger, things were better than now, but as time passed, the fact that I was an Import—born with a body that gradually ate away at me—had only weakened the advantage I once had.
If I released them now, I would be no better than these fallen goblins.
“It should be somewhere around here.”
So, when would I find it?
More than an hour had already passed since entering this mountain.
I was searching for traces of the nuns, but from this cave onward, there were no footprints left, which was quite annoying.
I didn't know how long this cave had been here.
Whether the goblins had newly dug it out or if it had formed naturally when the 7th floor appeared—I didn't know, but one thing was certain: this place was a mess of complexity.
Whether naturally formed or artificially created, if I followed the right wall and kept going, it would eventually end.
“……This is.”
I had found a blood-stained veil while walking through the forest.
It was undoubtedly one of the nuns from our church.
I had also found soil soaked with blood on the floor.
It wasn't a huge amount of blood, but looking at the goblins' footprints on the ground, they had clearly been attacked.
Separately, of course.
I had been taught never to act alone... but now, getting angry about it was pointless.
I hurried to find the bastards and escape this place, then call for the church to exterminate the goblins inside the 7th floor.
“Uwaa, ah...”
At that moment, a pained groan echoed from somewhere.
It was a human voice.
More specifically, a nun's voice, as if heard from afar, and not too far from here.
Wait a little longer.
I hurried toward the source of the voice.
Fortunately, it seemed the person was still alive.
As long as they didn't die, treatment was possible.
If they had the will to live, the will to survive, they could stand up again.
So, I reached the place where the voice was coming from—
“……Ugh!”
-Thud!
The disgusting smell grew even stronger.
It was like the horrific stench of a carcass soaked in blood, something I'd only smelled in the past in Dawnfall.
Not just the smell was bad.
What exactly was I seeing?
The things hanging on the cave walls were meat.
Among them, there were what seemed to be boar, rabbits and birds that lived in the mountains... and the hand with fingers attached to that was human...
“Uwaa!”
...Disgusting.
This was too horrific.
At first, I thought the water pooling in the cave was rainwater, but the things on the floor were all blood.
All of it had dripped from those meat chunks.
Also, in the corner, there was a bucket filled with water, and an axe that seemed to have been used for butchering the meat.
As one might expect, the axe was covered in blood and flesh scraps, reaching a level of disgusting.
“Ugh, uwaa...”
In the end, I couldn't hold back and vomited.
I spat out a mixture of blood and stomach acid.
This was strange.
The goblins I knew normally used humans as decoys, not turned them directly into meat chunks.
Or perhaps they needed so much food that... but with the meat of the animals piled on the walls, they should have been able to feed on that alone. Why...?
“Kuh, ugh...”
I had to move.
It was better not to stay here.
“...It would have been better if it was the hell I saw on the 9th floor.”
The voice of the nun had definitely come from here.
The fact that the voice was heard meant the person was alive, and I could be sure they hadn't died yet.
One was already too late, but I had to save the remaining ones as much as possible and escape here.
“Hoo.”
I calmed myself.
Now, I thought I was getting used to such scenes, but still, I felt like a weak creature.
“...”
And finally, I found it.
After entering that horrific slaughterhouse and vomiting twice more, I finally found it.
“Ah... uwaa, ek...”
The bastard was groaning in pain.
I had found him.
Even though one leg was stuck with an axe, and he was laid bare on a table like a piece of meat, I had at least found him alive.
Now, I had to move him.
Since I found him, I had to take him out of here.
The bleeding was quite severe.
If I moved him like this, he would definitely die from excessive bleeding on the way.
First, I needed to stop the bleeding.
-Click.
I took out the bandages and holy water from the pouch at my waist. This should be enough for emergency treatment.
And the pills I was taking.
They had strong pain-relieving effects, so it would be much easier to take them, and they would also replenish the lost blood.
If I were the heroine, the Saintess, I could have healed such wounds instantly, but unfortunately, I was just a stray dog struggling to survive, and I couldn't do that.
“...If you want to live, you have to be as quiet as possible. Here, take this, and the pain will subside a bit.”
I carefully fed the pills and holy water to him.
Now, the bastard seemed a bit more at ease, nodding his head while shedding tears.
“Then, from now on, I'll pull out the axe stuck in your leg. Bite this and endure it as much as you can, as much as you can.”
I put the bandage in his mouth.
Thanks to the painkiller, it wouldn't hurt that much, but pulling out an axe stuck in the leg was painful to imagine.
“...It would be better to close your eyes.”
-Whoosh!
“......!!!”
Extracting the axe was instantaneous.
Still, the process must have been very painful, as his body trembled, but thanks to the bastard barely holding back his voice, the goblins didn't come rushing in.
I immediately washed his leg with holy water and wrapped the wound with a bandage, completing a simple but effective emergency treatment.
The holy water had healing effects, so it would work better than ordinary medicine. What remained for me now was just to get out of here...
“Yeah, you endured well. Now, slowly stand up.”
I cut the rope binding the bastard's body.
Now, he could move.
But since his leg was injured, he couldn't walk, so I had to personally support him.
That would make it difficult to respond to sudden ambushes, so I had no choice but to keep my surroundings on high alert.
Quietly, when I helped him stand up—
-Jingle! Jingle!
A bell sound that broke the quiet stillness.
“Ah.”
The bell sound that came to my ears made the plan I had just set up sound in vain.
The captured bastard had bells on his head.
“...Damn it.”
Goblins are very intelligent monsters.
That's why, to prevent 'livestock' from escaping while they were away for a moment, they set up such a simple device.
Or...
To prevent the thief cat from taking the fish.
-Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
They're coming.
The bastards are coming.
There were two entrances, not one.
And they were coming from both front and back.
The number was more than the goblins I had caught so far.
They must have seen the corpses of their comrades and believed I had disturbed their food.
When exactly the Gate had appeared, I didn't know, but the goblins had already formed a colony on this mountain.
And to handle that colony alone? That would be the ultimate suicide act that a low-rank hunter could do.
“Ha, hahaha...”
Somehow, in that situation, laughter came out.
Was I crazy?
In a situation where death was closer than ever, I was strangely laughing.
Was I happy about this situation now?
“Good, come on, let's see what happens... ”
There was a saying: If you can't avoid it, enjoy it.
No, perhaps I subconsciously wanted the bastards to come like this.
But my rationality judged that such an act was never allowed.
However, now rationality was no longer holding me back.
-Click.
I drew my gun.
Up until now, I had been conserving bullets.
There were still enough left for this crisis situation.
“...You damn monsters!”
I wasn't the heroine.
So, there was no white horse prince coming to save me in this crisis.
Even if there was, the probability of that happening now was very low.
Fate had always been tightening its grip on my neck.
If fate had been on my side from the beginning, I wouldn't have come here.
That's why I didn't believe in luck or coincidence.
To survive in this damn world, I had to become strong myself and move forward.
“Krrroar...”
Grant me your mercy, O Lord, bless the sinner.
In return, I accept death.
In return, I will face destruction.
Therefore, I will pray like this.
Let it crumble.
O wicked sinner who committed heinous sins, I forgive the sins of this evil and fallen one. May the forgiven flesh crumble into a handful of dust.
Let it burn.
O sinful soul, free yourself from the desires of the flesh and liberate your heart. I will purify the soul defiled by lies and evil. O forgiven soul, let it burn with the will of repentance.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I forgive your sins.
“...Amen.”
And I pressed my lips to the cross.
From now on, purification begins.
The meaning of our nuns' existence is to purify the wicked beings and to find rest for those who repent...
-Tick.
I pulled the pin of the grenade and threw it toward the passage.
In any case, I would die one way or another.
So, since I'm going to die, even if they are dirty monsters, it might not be bad to make them my traveling companions.