Harpy Hunt (2)
As they stepped out of the cave, humid, fishy air enveloped their bodies like a damp shroud. Before them stretched the most despairing landscape human imagination could conjure: an endless black swamp. The cold, sticky water lapping at their ankles was no mere mud— it was a horrific brew of rotting plants, the putrid juices of undecomposed corpses, and decades-old grudges pooled together.
Twisted dead trees clawed at the sky like the fingers of giants dying in agony, while sickly green miasma rose between them, choking the life from everything it touched.
Jinwoo stared into the darkness beyond the swamp through his plague doctor mask.
"Well, shall we begin?"
The moment they set foot in the swamp, Jinwoo felt something squelch and yield stubbornly beneath his boot. Glancing down, he saw a familiar hiking outfit floating to the surface of the black water. Amid the shredded fabric, one arm was missing entirely from the shoulder.
As his gaze shifted, the full horror revealed itself, unveiling the colossal malice at play.
The swamp was a massive grave. No—grave was too mild a word. It was a vast slaughterhouse where a savage predator had dumped its half-eaten scraps without a care.
Amid the sucking mud and gnarled tree roots, mangled corpses were displayed like grotesque artworks. Some had their upper bodies torn clean off, pale entrails spilling like snakes into the muck, where unidentified swamp bugs devoured them. Others lay with legs splayed skyward like a ballerina's, spines snapped backward, black tear-stains of dried blood crusting their bulging eyes that seemed to curse the heavens. Every face bore the same expression: utter terror and abject despair. And one more chilling commonality—the victims' bodies were frozen in bizarre, frenzied poses, as if dancing madly even in their final moments. The instant they stopped, death claimed them.
And far off in the swamp's center, on a relatively flat clearing, that deadly dance was still playing live.
Dozens of people jerked their limbs like broken marionettes on strings, faces vacant, dancing in mad frenzy. No joy or rhythm animated them—only desperate thrashing to survive. Some wailed, others babbled meaningless laughter, refusing to halt even as legs shattered and ankles twisted. Their feet were caked in blood and mud.
Above them loomed a massive shadow circling.
"Kee-eeek—!"
"Dance! Dance! If you don't dance, I'll devour you!"
A colossal bird with a woman's face—beautiful, yet all the more grotesque and unholy for it—beat its wings, hovering over them. Ecstasy and madness filled that face, its tearing voice repeating the phrase endlessly in a dissonant melody.
The moment one man faltered, collapsing to his knees in exhaustion, the harpy dove like a raptor spotting prey.
"Aaaagh!"
Before his scream could finish, its razor talons pierced his shoulder, yanking him skyward. In midair, it tore his limbs off like a toy, raining blood and flesh onto the dancers below.
As Jinwoo watched this perfect tableau of hell, the Magic Grimoire beside him glowed crimson-black and flipped open on its own. A voice thick with rage and contempt echoed from within.
[Repulsive. Utterly repulsive. Those verminous outer god scum...!]
[Master. Do you know what that is? It is the defiled shadow of what was once called the 'Crane of Eternity'—a divine beast. In your human lands, Daoist thought revered it as a symbol of the emperor's eternal life and longevity. Its cry heralded the joy of dawn; its wings promised bountiful harvests. The creature itself embodied life and prosperity.]
⟨ Grimoire's Revelation ⟩
[Yet look at it now. The outer gods twisted its sacred soul while it lived, carved out its divinity, and stuffed the hollow shell with their madness and filth. The song of blessing became a curse urging death; the dance of abundance twisted into agony's throes. A symbol of life, now the cruelest tool for death's amusement.]
[This is their way. Lacking the power to create, they find the most beautiful and holy things that exist... and warp them into the ugliest, most loathsome forms. It is the only 'art' of those cosmic parasites, their very reason for being. Truly... nauseating drivel.]
As the Grimoire's furious explanation ended, the harpy circling the swamp skies finally locked eyes on them. Two alien presences standing motionless amid the puppet-dancers, observing without a twitch. They were a discordant note in its perfectly tuned symphony—rude intruders on its stage.
[...Hoh?]
"Two dolls that refuse to dance. Standing tall on my stage, ignoring my music... How insolent!"
"Kee-eeek—!"
With a mad shriek, the harpy spread its vast wings. One beat flipped the swamp's surface and whipped up a rotten gale. It plummeted toward them like a black meteor, intent on ripping their limbs apart and weaving their screams into its song.
"A swamp... the worst terrain, but my finest stage."
Jinwoo murmured low, extending the Grimoire before him. Without a hint of panic— as if he'd awaited this very moment— he issued a cold, precise command.
"Magic Grimoire. Restrict that winged vermin's mobility to the utmost. Bind its feet."
[Understood, Master.]
The Grimoire's pages flipped like a storm in Jinwoo's grasp. Pages governing 'Binding' and 'Gravity' opened, spilling crimson-black ink-like mana that spread across the swamp like spiderwebs.
"Grrr rumble..."
The swamp groaned to life. Beneath the charging harpy, the sticky mud twisted into a living beast. Black sludge erupted in dozens of arm-like tendrils, clawing at its legs and tail feathers. The water thickened to boiling tar, visibly slowing the harpy. Even the air grew heavy, weighing it down like hundreds of kilograms of lead— its dive drastically decelerated.
[Y-You bastard! What have you done?!]
The harpy shrieked in panic, sensing the instinctive threat as its body grew leaden like a fly in webs.
That was the moment.
"Hunting dog. Now."
"Yes, Master!"
Chiharu exploded with a shout, mana surging from her body. She dropped one knee into the muck for stability, her kappa yokai-gold magic bow pulsing with golden veins in response to her master's order. She nocked an arrow from her quiver— no ordinary shaft, but darkness essence from the bow, materialized by her mana into a shadowy black projectile.
Without hesitation, she drew on the harpy's right wing. The bow creaked to impossible tension with a human-shattering groan. The lewd mark beneath her latex suit blazed, amplifying her master's power through her body.
"Pierce it!"
Shuuuuk—!
The arrow sliced silently through the night sky in a black arc. No mere projectile— a cursed shot that never missed. The harpy twisted desperately, but bound by mud and gravity, it failed.
Krunch!
Flesh tore and bone shattered in a gruesome sound as the black arrow pierced the harpy's right wing base, where thickest muscle met bone.
[Kiiiiaaaaaak!]
A scream beyond all before tore from the harpy, pure agony. From the wound, black energy spread like rot, burning feathers and festering flesh. Balance lost, it plummeted into the swamp with a thunderous boom!, splashing blood and muck everywhere.
The crashed harpy thrashed in rage and pain.
[How dare you... wound me? You insects! You'll dance to my song as your bones and flesh tear apart!]
Flapping its wounded wing, it contorted its beautiful woman's face into horror. Then it gaped its maw impossibly wide, unleashing its sonic weapon of annihilation: the Aria of Despair.
"Kiiiiiiiiii—!"
No longer song— pure destructive waves vibrating the air into physical force. The swamp boiled where they spread; dead trees pulverized to dust. Chiharu clamped her ears instinctively, to no avail. The waves struck her body directly, bypassing the latex suit— an internal assault shaking her brain, twisting her guts. Her vision swam.
"Magic Grimoire. 'Veil of Silence'."
Jinwoo's voice remained calm amid the hellish din. Pages flipped again, unleashing pitch-black mana that formed a sound-absorbing barrier— a hemispherical dome of absolute silence around him and Chiharu.
Instantly, the ear-shredding roar vanished like a lie. Chiharu looked up dazed. No more screams from the cave folk, no harpy wails— only her heartbeat and ragged breaths. She turned to her protector. The crow hunter stood unmoved, eyes fixed on the fallen prey.
[Why... why can't I hear?!]
Its ultimate attack foiled, the harpy went berserk, flapping desperately to escape the mud. But its right wing hung half-rotted and useless; the sludge still gripped its ankles.
"The end, hunting dog. Cut its throat."
"Yes, Master!"
Chiharu regripped her bow. No single shot this time— she gathered all her focus and mana. Power from her blazing lewd mark, the kappa yokai essence in the bow, her burning will fused as one. Drawing the string, not one but three black shadow arrows materialized, crimson flames flickering at their tips like mirages.
She aimed at three vitals: the remaining left wing, the cursed singing throat, the heart in its chest.
"This... is my reason for being!"
Her cry unleashed them on divergent paths, cleaving the darkness. The first pierced the left wing, shattering flight's last hope; the second speared the heart, destroying its life force.
And the final third...
[Guh... ack...!]
Slammed dead-center into the harpy's throat. From that beautiful maw spewing death's song now bubbled only black blood and foam. The woman's face rapidly lost vitality, waxen as a doll.
The colossal body convulsed once, then stilled.
The symphony of madness filling the swamp fell silent at last. Distant dancers collapsed like marionettes with cut strings. Only the swamp water sloshing through corpses, the harsh wind, and the victorious hunters' breaths remained.