Chapter 148. Uninvited Guests at the Mountain Cabin (2).
"Hold on. We've got company."
The words I tossed out killed the mood in an instant. Even the girls, who had been letting out those breathy little moans, pulled back with frowns plain on their faces.
"Mmm... we were just getting to the good part..."
"..."
I gave each of them a quick peck on the forehead and stroked their hair to soothe them.
"Hurry up and get dressed. Let's go see what kind of bastards they are."
If anything, they seemed angrier than I was. Huffing, they gathered up their clothes and pulled them on. As we drew closer to the mountain lodge, they must have picked up on the intruders' vibe, because their movements turned cautious.
"No question about it — anyone giving off that kind of aura at this hour isn't good people."
Everyone finished dressing and stepped outside on their own. The bastards who had been creeping up through the undergrowth froze the moment we opened the door and walked out.
They probably assumed we didn't know they were coming. I strolled over to where we'd had the fire and sat down. Not much time had passed, so the embers hadn't completely died out.
Aside from the chirping of insects and the sound of grass being crushed underfoot, I heard nothing. I waited to see how long they'd keep hiding. They had patience, I'd give them that.
The embers were crackling and fading, so I tossed on some dry twigs and slowly nursed the fire back to life.
"That's enough. Come on out. You'll catch a cold hiding in there."
─ Rustle...
Startled by the sudden call, the uninvited guests let a sound slip.
"What could you possibly take from a place this remote that you'd come all the way back here for?"
Realizing they'd been made, they began emerging from the undergrowth one by one. Among them, I spotted faces I'd seen before.
"The lady and the old man I let live should've said thank you and left. So why'd you come back?"
The man's face was twisted with resentment. The woman looked furious, her expression screwed into a scowl.
"You rude little shit... think you're hot stuff clinging to those trashy cunts... What can you even do against this many people?"
I stirred the embers with the fire poker and answered without much interest.
"Old lady, watch your mouth if you don't want your jaw ripped apart."
"Wh-what...?"
She took it as a mortal insult. Even in the dark, I could see the muscles in her face twitch and her skin flush red. That was when someone who looked even older than the middle-aged man stepped forward from the side and spoke.
"Young man, watch your words if you want a clean death."
'A gun?'
It didn't look like a military firearm. He was holding a hunting shotgun.
"Does the sight of a gun finally scare you?"
"..."
"Even those bastards who swagger around calling themselves Awakened shut right up once they get shot."
He raised the gun and leveled it at us, menace in every line of his posture. The ones who had been approaching cautiously now poured out and surrounded us.
"..."
The middle-aged woman glanced around at her group, snorted, and said,
"The girls are good-looking. Tell the men to have their fun with them and then kill them."
"And the guy?"
"Kill him."
Convinced they held every advantage, they closed in without a shred of caution. A few of them were even fondling their crotches. The middle-aged woman frowned briefly at her companions' disgusting behavior, then added,
"Don't finish inside them. Cleaning that stuff up later is a pain."
"Heh heh, she's a real pretty one."
"Uncle'll treat you real nice."
─ Click!
I heard the shotgun's safety click off. He aimed it straight at me, clearly intending to kill me first.
"We don't even have anything worth taking. Is there seriously a reason a group this size came all the way out here for us?"
"Heh heh, when you've got a lot of mouths, you need food. Can't help it if we want to survive, right?"
"I went out of my way to spare you, and this is how it goes. Now I don't have a choice either."
I poured mana into the fire poker in my hand and hurled it straight at the gun he was aiming.
─ Boom!
A sound rang out you'd never believe came from wood hitting a firearm. Both his hands holding the gun burst apart, and he hit the ground, rolling in agony.
"Gyaaaah!!! My arms... my arms...!!"
Startled by the counterattack, the middle-aged woman shrieked, "What are you all doing! Kill that bastard first!"
They picked up speed and began to close the circle around us.
"Sihu, we'll handle it this time."
"Yeah. Oppa, you just rest."
I nodded, turned around, and zoned out, watching the firewood burn.
─ Whack!
─ Bang!
I could hear people falling, getting struck, and rolling on the ground, but I paid it no mind.
'The girls aren't so weak they'd let scumbags like that lay a finger on them.'
"Aargh...! Get those bitches!!"
"What the hell kind of strength do these bitches have...!"
"There's only three of them! Rush them all at once!"
─ Gulp...
Thinking 'wonder when this'll be over,' I drank a cup of coffee I had on hand. Soon enough, the sounds of bodies tangling stopped, and everything went quiet.
"Done?"
"Yeah."
I stood up and looked around. Not a single one of them was left standing except one person. Most had limbs twisted at wrong angles or faces beaten to a pulp. The one still in the best shape was that woman.
"Old lady, do you understand the situation now?"
"..."
"See? Wouldn't it have been great if you'd just left when I spared you?"
"P-please..."
"Lead the way."
"Wh-where?"
"To where your people live."
"That place is..."
There she goes again. Why the hell do I have to repeat myself?
"Want to die?"
I could see her racking her brain, trying to figure out how to stay alive. Her deliberation didn't last long.
"Fine. Let's go."
I'd already given them one chance, but now that this happened again, next time I'd make sure they pissed themselves from a single look.
"You two keep an eye on them."
"Got it."
"I'm saying this just in case — if they try anything, handle it without hesitation. I can't stand watching you get hurt because you went easy on them."
"Hehe, don't worry."
The woman and I moved to their base. If she stopped because she was out of breath, I kicked her forward; if she fell, I trampled her. Fleeing for her life, we arrived at a base that was utterly pathetic.
"What is this, some kind of African tribe..."
There was one small mountain lodge, and around it, shelters made of roughly thrown-together wood. It would've been pointless for her to run, but dealing with her would be a pain, so I broke her legs and tossed her aside.
"Hmm... is this a food storage?"
Most of the food they'd scavenged from outside had already been eaten and was gone, but the dried meat strips I'd first spotted in their bag were there. When I checked other areas, more meat was being dried.
The problem was...
"Fucking hell... This is sickening."
Dead people were hanging there. Judging by the drying process, they hadn't been dead long. Remembering I'd taken a bite of that jerky, I wanted to vomit right then and there, but my hardened body wouldn't allow it.
"Old lady, are there any people alive here?"
"N-no, there aren't...! I swear!"
I just stared at her without a word. She must have thought I was about to kill her, because she crawled over, grabbed my pant leg, and pleaded.
"I swear! There were some recently, but the guys... they just raped them and...!"
She babbled on with all sorts of details I didn't want to know, acting as if she were completely blameless.
"When we met again, what did I say?"
I could see her brain racing, trying to dredge up the memory.
"W-why did you come back...!"
"And after that."
She thought back over what I'd said, and when she remembered, her face went pale. I stared at her in silence, pressing for the answer.
"That you'd... rip my mouth apart..."
"That's right."
"Sihu, you're back?"
"Yeah."
I gave them a rough summary of the situation and told them there were no survivors. They didn't ask about the woman's whereabouts. It looked like the other bastards had been thrown into the mountain lodge.
"What's wrong with that one?"
One guy was practically foaming at the mouth, a stain on his crotch that I couldn't tell was blood or piss. At my question, the girls answered with disgust written all over their faces.
"He got hard looking at us!"
"Yeah!"
'Wow...'
Just imagining what they might have done to him made me clench up involuntarily. The sun was rising, and the sky was gradually brightening.
"Head down first and wait at the entrance. I'll be down soon."
They seemed to realize I was going to take care of things, so they nodded and turned to leave.
"P-please spare me...!"
A man with both hands wrapped in cloth knelt and begged. Seeing that, the rest of them all dropped to their knees and pleaded together.
"I don't care if you eat people or not."
To survive starvation, you eat whatever you can. Bugs, people — it doesn't matter.
Aren't there real cases where people survived by eating the bodies of their dead comrades?
"But the ones you picked a fight with turned out to be us. Just chalk it up to bad luck."
The sight of grown adults begging with snot and tears streaming down their faces was too pathetic to watch.
"Three."
"...?"
"Fight among yourselves until only three are left."
They looked confused for a moment, but once they grasped my meaning, they started brawling. They fought with whatever they could grab, biting and tearing at each other, going for vital spots without a shred of hesitation.
The outcome was decided faster than I expected. After all, every one of them was already half-dead.
"I don't care that you came after me. But since you put on a decent show, I'll send you off painlessly."
"A-aren't you going to spare us?"
"Did I ever say I would?"
"You said to fight until three were left...!"
"I told you to make it three. I never said a single word about sparing you."
"You son of a bi..."
─ Shhk!
I beheaded every last one of them on the spot. Even the ones who were already dead.
'How dare you look at the girls with those eyes?'
After I finished, I headed down. The girls were waiting.
"You're back?"
"Let's go home now."
Even though we'd skipped a day coming back, the group probably wasn't worried. I'd already told them we'd be away yesterday. On the way here, we'd taken our time sightseeing, but on the way back, we returned quickly.
"Commander, you've returned?"
"Has the old man been staying here this whole time?"
"Yes. The other members have also returned, and with you, Commander, now everyone is back."
"Let's go."
After that, no other incidents occurred, and our village stayed peaceful. Galrand and Edwin's ongoing research got on track, and the members had completely settled in here.
'I do need to go to China, though...'
Those Celestial bastards are probably feeling safe because I haven't shown up.
'But I have to put the screws to them periodically.'
I resolved to head to China soon, no matter what. Even now, a meeting was in progress as usual, but an extremely urgent report had come in.
"Are you saying there's bad news about our village from outside?"
It looked like the trip to China would have to be postponed for a while.