3. People (1)
3. People (1)
The Creature currently scouting is shaped like an eagle.
The difference from an eagle is that it has two heads. Because it has two heads, the scouting Creature's field of view is ridiculously wide.
In short, it means it's a Creature specialized for scouting.
I looked down through the Creature's vision.
'It's a person. It's really a person.'
A person with a face, upper body, lower body, hands, and legs all attached.
Just from that one person, I could see a lot of information.
First of all, this isn't Earth, where I used to live.
The bow visible on their back. The equipment that looked like leather armor, which couldn't possibly be modern clothing, was, to anyone's eyes, the appearance of a hunter or Adventurer in a fantasy world.
'Why did they come to the forest? Are they also here to obtain food through hunting?'
Not a man, but a woman.
She looked young. At most, maybe 20 years old? The fact that such a young-looking woman entered the forest carrying a bow means there is prey in this forest.
'But something is strange.'
Looking closely, the woman's condition wasn't normal.
I felt that the way she was running was a bit odd, but now I see an arrow stuck in her thigh.
She seems to be in so much pain while running that she's biting her lips until they bleed.
'Is she running away?'
I looked a bit wider, beyond the fleeing Female Hunter.
'Found them.'
I identified 5 men who appeared to be chasing the Female Hunter.
'Isn't this a total isekai cliché?'
The cliché where you reincarnate into another world, hear screams nearby, and save the heroine.
But it's a little different right now.
I am clearly licking my lips at the Female Hunter who is running away while bleeding.
Due to the Hive Mind, I can feel the Creature's consciousness. It is emitting a strong urge to eat the Female Hunter right now.
But I still have my last shred of human conscience.
Let's save that woman.
Ah, for the record, it's not because the woman is pretty.
==
Pishut!
An arrow with a sharp tip grazed the woman's thigh.
"Ugh...! They're really persistent!!!"
The pain spreading from the arrow stuck in her thigh made her want to scream and roll on the ground right now, but she kept running forward, enduring the pain until her lips were torn.
She had to run away from the people who kept chasing her to kill her, but her speed was gradually decreasing.
No matter how much she endured with willpower, the body eventually has its limits.
She had become much slower than at the beginning. But strangely, they were also slowing down...
'They're toying with me.'
At first, she hadn't realized it because she was running desperately, but now she gets it.
They are clearly toying with her.
If they had wanted to, she should have been dead already, but they are laughing while watching her run for her life.
'I will survive...!'
Her stamina had already reached its limit.
But knowing that the moment she stopped here meant death, she kept running forward.
It was so painful that she felt like cutting off her leg, but she still gritted her teeth and ran.
However, that escape didn't last long.
As her vision narrowed due to the pain, she didn't see the tree root below and tripped.
As she fell and impact was applied to her thigh, the woman grabbed her thigh and screamed.
'I have to get up...! I, I have to get up quickly and run away...!'
She tried to get up by punching her thigh, which she couldn't even feel anymore, but her legs, which had already exceeded their limits, refused to move.
"Impressive. To think you'd even consider running in here."
The man looked at the woman lying in front of him once, then took out the Pipe Tobacco from inside his clothes.
"Ugh...! Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!"
"Give up already. If we go any deeper, it'll be a headache. Who knows what might happen to everyone here."
As the man said, this place is a location called the Forbidden Forest, which has long been known as a place you should never enter deeply.
No one knows what is in this forest.
Because every living creature that has entered this forest has never returned.
From a young age, you are told not to go to the Forbidden Forest. Even if you do enter, you must come out quickly. These are the kinds of things you hear and grow up with.
There is a legend that in the past, a nation mobilized an army of tens of thousands to burn down the entire Forbidden Forest, but that nation was erased in just a single day, though no one knows the truth.
However, the man believed there was a reason why these stories had persisted until now.
"Boss. Can't we have some fun before killing her?"
"Who knows what might happen. That girl is also pretty skilled. Just kill her and enjoy it."
"Tsk. If we kill her, we can't enjoy it for long, can we?"
"It can't be helped. Never leave even a 1% chance. You know that's what I always say, right?"
"Tsk. Understood."
The man lit his Pipe Tobacco, blew smoke at the woman, and said,
"Don't hold a grudge. You know it can't be helped since you attacked a noble, right?"
The woman squeezed her eyes shut at the men approaching her.
"Hi, hiik!?"
"Bo, Boss...?"
But the men who were approaching started to tremble in terror.
"What is that...?"
The leader of the group of men who had been smoking dropped the Pipe Tobacco from his hand at the entity that entered his field of vision.
Something huge in the forest was looking at them.
It was an entity that even he, who had been active as a Mercenary for a long time, had never seen before.
'It's not a giant spider...'
It has a similar shape to a giant spider, but it is definitely not a giant spider.
Giant spiders are small and weak enough that even novice Adventurers can catch them. They are huge for spiders, but small compared to humans. However, the entity in front of them now was over 3M in size easily.
Normally, when a Monster appears, they should immediately form a formation and subjugate it, but he and his subordinates couldn't move.
They knew that the moment they moved, they would die.
Kkirik. Kkirik. Ttak. Ttak.
As the entity of terror, which seemed to draw out the primal fear of humans, began to approach.
"Aaaaaah!"
One of the man's subordinates screamed, turned his back to the entity of terror, and ran away.
The man's scream didn't last long.
Kwajik.
The man who was the leader of the group didn't have the confidence to turn his head at the terrible sound that started to be heard from behind after the entity of terror that had been in front of him disappeared.
Kwajik. Kwajik. Kwajik. Kwajik. Kwajik. Kwajik. Kwajik.
'I, I missed it...?'
It was clearly in front of him.
While living as a Mercenary, he had encountered numerous assassins and fast-moving Monsters.
Nevertheless, even though that huge entity passed by him, he hadn't felt anything.
'Wha, what the hell is that...? Is it okay for something like that to exist in the world?'
He had felt many fears until now, but the man's two legs began to tremble at the primal fear he was feeling for the first time.
==
I killed a person.
I thought about saving the woman and kidnapping the men all at once to extract information, but to the Creatures that had lived by cannibalizing their own kind for a long time, humans were such sweet food.
To the extent that even I thought I wanted to eat that.
Because of that momentary thought of wanting to eat, the Creature and my consciousness merged, and the Creature instantly killed the fleeing man.
It was a disaster caused by my immature control of the Hive Mind.
The fortunate thing is. No, should I call this fortunate?
Thanks to the Hive Mind and the Queen's consciousness, I don't feel any particular repulsion.
There is only joy in the Hive Mind for the food currently entering the Creature's mouth.
The remaining 4 men and the woman who had fallen to the ground are trembling in front of the combat-type Creature.
I am also an ordinary person, so I understand that fear all too well.
I was checking the situation with the scouting Creature and was agonizing over which Creature to send when I received a recommendation from Dagos.
He said it was a species similar to him and quite agile, so it could quickly reach where they were, so I called it out of curiosity about what it looked like.
The moment I saw the Creature, even I, who had the Queen's consciousness, was so terrified that I had the illusion that my heart had stopped.
If Dagos felt like a Queen Spider, the Creature Dagos recommended felt like a Combat Spider solely for killing someone.
But what would happen if an ordinary person saw it?
They would become terrified and turn to stone like those people.
The moment I spoke to relieve the tension of the stiffened people, only a Creature-like sound came out of the Creature's mouth.
"Kiik-."
I had been talking to Dagos normally, so I made the Creature speak without thinking.
The reason Creatures can talk to me is clearly because of the Hive Mind.
Come to think of it, a Creature has never spoken directly even once.
They have only communicated through the Hive Mind.
'I have no choice but to go there myself to ensure I get the information.'
There is a way to tell the Creature currently in front of them to bring them, but I felt like the Creature would eat them all before they could reach where I am.
Listening to their conversation earlier, this is a forest where people don't come often.
I cannot lose important sources of information in vain.
==
Kwajik. Kwajik. Kwajik.
As the sound of his teeth chattering from the fear caused by the entity eating the friend who had been alive right next to him until just a moment ago rang out, the man immediately covered his mouth.
He must absolutely not make a sound.
That entity must not show interest in him right now.
Both the men and the woman were frozen in place without even making a sound of breathing.
Kkirik.
Before he knew it, the eating sound had disappeared.
The man who had been crying while covering his mouth trembled and lifted his head as his surroundings began to darken.
The Creature, dripping saliva and blood from its mouth, was looking down at the man.
"Ah..."
The man intuited that it was his turn.
The moment he closed his eyes and waited for death.
"That's enough."
A voice that was alluring yet chillingly cold was heard.
Everyone's gaze turned to the direction the voice came from.
There was a very beautiful woman there.
If a God of Beauty existed, wouldn't it be the woman in front of them? That's what they thought.
The problem was that behind such a woman, there were countless things similar to the entity of terror that had just tried to kill them.
