Prove Your God Exists

The number of women we'd taken from the village came to twenty-two. After selling off everything we'd plundered besides the consumables and weapons we actually needed, we'd come away with roughly a thousand gold. A few of my minions had been wounded and were still being treated, but beyond that, not a single monster had died or taken an injury.

It had been as close to a perfect victory as I was going to get. I didn't have the luxury of savoring it.

The raid had taught the villagers that we — monsters — were in the forest. They wouldn't know a dungeon existed here, not yet. But if they pushed into the woods far enough to reach this place, they'd find out on their own. A day from now, or two, or a week — sooner or later, they would come looking. To avenge their burned homes. To take back the women we'd stolen.

Which meant I had to prepare for what came next, and I had to do it fast.

The moment we returned to the dungeon, I impregnated every last one of the captured women without so much as a pause to breathe. Part of me had wanted to take my time — to ruin them one by one, slowly, while I used them — but the village bastards could come pouring in as early as tomorrow. I couldn't afford to linger.

"Sniff… Mom…"

"No… what is this…"

"No! I said no—!! I don't want to carry a monster's child…!"

In the third room — the last room, the one that held my heart — the women were bound in a line, sobbing, semen dripping from between their thighs.

"Let us go this instant!! You're worse than an animal—!!"

Grief and despair hung over the room like a weight. From among the hostages, the only man — a village guardsman — bellowed at me.

"You animal bastards!"

"What did we even do wrong!!"

"That's right!"

"People are going to come save us any ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠minute!!"

His shouting seemed to lend them courage. The bound women joined in, each of them crying out, glaring at me with whatever defiance they could still muster.

Naive little shouts, the kind you'd expect from country folk who'd never lived under a real threat. I almost laughed.

I know.

Seongha was right. I had too much to do, so I intended to snuff out their resistance as efficiently as possible.

Sword in hand, I strode toward the guardsman who'd shouted first.

And then—

"What—"

I seized him by the hair, yanked his head up, and drove the blade through his throat.

"Ghk!? Keh, krrr…"

Blood fountained. The sound of a man drowning in it filled the room. I wasn't finished.

Shnk. Shnk. Shnk.

I made a show of it for the hostages watching — ramming the sword into the dying guardsman's neck again and again. Every time the blade punched through flesh and came out the other side, blood sprayed in every direction.

He went slack and crumpled to the floor.

"Urgh…"

"Bleeegh—"

The hostages, who had been holding their breath through the whole butchery, started vomiting wherever they sat. Shock and terror swallowed the room whole, and the commotion from a moment ago died as if it had never existed.

Cut the head off and bring it to me. Eat the rest yourselves. And make sure the hostages watch you do it.

The monsters standing guard over the prisoners let out a pleased little kihi.

I finished my business in the third room cleanly and moved to the first.

The front line. The space where I would butcher the village bastards when they came for my life.

Install.

The thousand gold I'd made raiding the village went straight into those two traps.

Did I regret it?

Not even close.

The villagers' attack was a certainty, and if I lost that fight, I died. Death was the end of everything. Saving money for later was something you did when you could afford to. Doing it when you might be dead by morning was the act of a fool.

Besides — if we weathered this one assault, the village's wealth and its women would all be mine.

I armed the monsters with the weapons and gear we'd stolen from the village and stationed them to hold the first room.

I understood the metaphor well enough, and a chuckle slipped out of me.

Can't argue with that.

I agreed with the truth of it, and I went back to the second room.

Cecilia was there, stripped naked. Several monsters held ropes fastened to her neck and all four limbs, taut enough to yank her in any direction they pleased.

She was the only one receiving special treatment in the second room, and that was because of a promise I'd made regarding Karlson. That arrogant human had dared to wound one of my monsters. To drive him into despair, I intended to take my time ruining the woman in front of me.

"Kh…"

At my entrance, Cecilia hunched awkwardly and covered her breasts and crotch with her hands. Then she glared at me as if she wanted me dead — me, the one who'd put her down in the village. Shame was written all over her, and still defiance surged through her eyes and her bearing. The sight of it sent a thrill through me. I took my time looking her over, from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, drinking her in.

Training had carved a taut line of abs beneath her bronzed skin. Her thighs were firm and full of healthy strength, without a trace of softness. Her skin was so smooth it was hard to believe she was a guardsman who drilled under the sun every day. And those eyes — a steely lavender, with a glint of unyielding spirit.

I'd forced the village hostages to talk and had her investigated down to the last detail.

She had never been a person of unshakable will. As a child she'd hated fighting with a passion. The only reason she was a guardsman at all was that the village had so few young men — she'd been half-forcibly conscripted. Her sense of duty, at least, had been exceptional, so she'd become a guard against her own wishes, and then she'd come to admire Captain Karlson, and that was how she'd ended up as vice-captain.

Every step of it had been the product of circumstance, far removed from her own will. Once I understood that, I knew exactly how to break her.

"You lot! I'll never forgive you!!"

Cecilia shouted, straining to hide the tremor in her voice. The outburst was so trite, so unexpectedly adorable, that I went blank for a second — and then I burst out laughing.

"Kihelhelhel!!"

"Wh-what…!?"

Color flooded her face. The mocking laughter had thrown her completely.

It really had been an unbearably cute little cry. Watching her put on a tough front to hide how weak she was underneath only made me want to torment her more.

I stopped laughing and walked toward her.

"Ngh…"

She scrambled backward, terrified, until her back hit the wall and there was nowhere left to go. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lifted the bloodied sword, and fear surfaced on her face. Just watching her go pale at the sight of blood was enough to tell me she'd never properly wounded anyone in her life, let alone killed them.

Well. In a peaceful countryside like this, there was hardly going to be an incident that required hurting anybody.

I gave her stomach a playful little poke with the tip of the blade.

"And if you don't forgive me — then what?"

"Nh…"

Her whole body flinched. She clenched both fists, trying to hide how she'd shrunk back, fighting to keep the trembling under control. That pitiful, adorable effort sent my sadism surging.

I poked her again.

"Then what?"

"You devil…! You'll never return to Lesa's embrace!!"

She couldn't hold it in. Her eyes blazed and she shouted in my face.

Lesa. The god of light who guided the righteous to heaven — one of the gods many races on this continent put their faith in.

I sneered at those foolish lambs who went looking for a god instead of breaking their reality with their own two hands.

"There is no god. If one existed, an injustice like this would never have come to pass. The idea that a trial handed down to test the faithful should be priced in death is a contradiction."

Cecilia's mouth shut. She stared at me, eyes gone round — apparently she hadn't expected a monster to put something so philosophical in its mouth.

"You humans try to kill us for the sole reason that we're monsters. What did we do wrong? Why should we be cast out and attacked by you? Even if I grant you a hundred times over that it's natural — even forgivable — for humans to kill monsters, shouldn't the reverse hold as well? Because god is fair."

"God watches over humans alone! It doesn't apply to things like you!!"

She'd been holding herself back, listening. Now she leaned in and shouted it.

"Why? We're the same living creatures. Why treat only humans as special? Who do you people think you are?"

I could put real conviction behind those words. Because I had been human, once. Because my life as a human had been all the proof I needed that no god existed.

The thoroughness of the argument left naive Cecilia visibly shaken. She pressed her lips together as if swallowing her anger, then forced the words out.

"That still doesn't justify what you've done…!"

Oh. For the first time, she'd said something that was actually true.

She was right. I didn't justify what I did. I wouldn't deny that the things I'd done to survive were, to humans, vile atrocities. But that didn't mean I thought I was wrong, either.

Because right now, I was a dungeon. I was a monster.

I was not human.

I tossed the sword at her feet. The blade I'd taken from her village, still wet with her fellow guardsman's blood.

"Prove that you're a being under god's protection. Prove that you're a human who can protect others."

Cecilia stared at the fallen sword with trembling eyes, then slowly picked it up. She adjusted her grip and glared at me — standing there, completely unguarded.

Watching her seize an opportunity someone else had handed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her, and burn with it as if it were her own will, sent the blood rushing straight to my groin. Looking at that stupid, unsightly display, there was no way I wasn't going to get hard.

"Come on. Hurry up."

I gave my swollen cock a mocking little wag and urged her on. Cecilia's brow furrowed in disgust.

"Hyaaah—"

She let out a cry and raised the sword to charge.

And then the ropes snapped taut.

"—Ah!?"

She hit the floor in an unsightly heap. The sword flew from her hand, skidded across the stone, and stopped at the tip of my foot.

I picked it up and stood over her.

"Nh…"

The face she'd planted in the floor lifted into the shadow I cast. Blood was running from her nose. The eyes in that dazed, stupid face reflected a nightmare — me, looking down at her and smiling, and around her, my monsters, laughing.

"Kihehehe!!"

"Kilkil!!"

"Kiki…"

Fear began to spread, slowly, across Cecilia's slack expression.

"Eek!"

She scrambled backward in a panic. Watching her, my cock twitched. That terror-stricken face. The way she moved, her breasts swaying with it. A faint trickle of pale yellow leaking from between her legs, as if she'd wet herself. A face creased with fear. Eyes that wouldn't stop shaking.

Taking it all in, a pleasant laugh rose out of me on its own.

Ah.

This was fun.

Life really was meant to be enjoyed.