Chapter 11 - A Slaughter

Note: Was busy with Graduation, Horse Girls, and updating the cover illust.
But here's a 2k chap I've been so eager to write because it's the first main conflict I have concepted.

After I heard Yunemi's shout, I dashed to her side in front of path Y.

On that path, I saw... a pile of white fox monster corpses... covered in blood.

"What... is this…?"

Judging by how the durability system works, they must've been recently killed... so it must be when we're gone, raising our level in path A. Otherwise we could never not hear this slaughter occurring near us.

I certainly did the same to those bats, but the corpses here were full of scratch wounds and fangs dug deep in their flesh.

It is clearly done by a ferocious monster...

Now that I think of it, the way for monsters to level up must've been by killing other monsters, right?

So that means those monsters I have fought before were actually living peacefully with each other?

They are the same species after all… Come to think of it, I can’t imagine them as the species of monsters to feed on their kind.

That means they feed on something else in each path but not monsters, and that’s why they stayed level 1…?

“… that makes me a jerk, isn’t it?” I muttered really quietly.

Thanks to Yumemi, I started to think critically about every possibility, but thinking too deep about that possibility hurts my morality now.

I looked back to see how Yumemi handled her emotions.

I can see how sick she looked, holding the urge to throw up.

She somehow held the urge back and said to me, "Yuu-kun... sorry, this is too much for me..."

She turned her back so she wouldn't see the scenery again. I can hear she started sobbing a little.

"Yeah, leave it to me."

Even if I don't want to look at this scenery, someone has to. And between the two of us, I should take the job.

No ferocious monster sighted at the moment, so I braced myself.

I entered the path and picked up a corpse, bringing it back to the safe zone in just about 3 seconds.

“I guess corpses don't count as monsters that I can bring them in.”

“Huh…? Yuu-kun!? What were you doing!?” she yelled at me bringing in the monster corpse.

I guess she’s yelling at me because I went to enter the path while the culprit might be hiding somewhere nearby. I know she's excessively worried about me for some reason like maybe something happened to someone in her past, but I ignored her antiques for now and looked at the corpse.

A white fox monster with some red string-like pattern on their body. I tried to appraise it.

[Inari Fox Corpse] [Durability: 0.3]

"The durability is so low already..."

It got a lot of endurance to begin with, if they were already killed before we came back here.

The name really feels like those Inaris and Foxes you see on TV shows or masks that were sold in summer festivals.

This is the first monster not named by their color nor pattern I encountered. It sounds too special to be slaughtered like this…

Even though I want Yumemi to learn [Appraisal] at some point, I can’t just make her look at this corpse to unlock it.

I glared at it really close while thinking about leveling up the skill.

[Skill Unlocked: Appraisal Lv 3]

I got my [Appraisal] skill’s level up again, and it now gives a brief description of the monster...

[Inari Fox Corpse] [Durability: 0.3]
[Inari Fox, monsters that hold special blood. Drinking their blood will give a chance to mutate.]

“... Is that the reason?”

Then whoever did this must have great intelligence and ambition… even if it’s a monster.

An intelligent but might be a bad person, or a slaughterer monster with intelligence that's most likely I can't reason with… I wonder which is worse...

“Path Y is dangerous. I will mark it as no entry for now.”

I pulled my knife and crouched down near the entrance. As I carve down to mark the path entrance, I heard a cry.

"Kuuun!"

A cry of something more like an animal rather than a monster.

"Kuuun!" "Kooon!" "Kyauuun!"

Not just one, but many similar cries. They keep getting louder and louder, so that means…

“They are coming here!”

“What!?” Yumemi was startled by my exclamation.

Even if they sound harmless, I won’t let my guard down.

“KyauUUN!” "KyaIIIN!" I started hearing some shocked cries from among them.

… I was finally able to see using [Night Vision]. Some small figures running towards here.

“They are… the same kind as the corpses here…?” Yumemi seems to have looked to the path as well.

“Yeah, a pack of Inari Foxes…” I can even see their names with my [Appraisal].

“Wait… huh? One of them stopped and turned around?”

Right at Yumemi’s question, the very Inari Fox who turned around lost all its HP and the name’s gone from my vision.

“... It’s there…” I muttered.

“... You mean…”

“Yeah…” I nodded. “The very strong monster who’s behind all those corpses.”

Finally, I saw its visual… A giant gray wolf that’s almost twice of me, running, chasing the pack.

“My [Appraisal] won’t work on it…?”

It killed them one after another, stopping for a moment to drink their blood.

It was a brutal sight to see… every Inari Fox stopped to halt them as long as they could, so the front of the pack could escape further.

I lost my word, when I realized the front of the pack was holding their babies while running towards here.

They finally reached the barrier to the safe zone, and…

“Kyaun!”

*BZZT* sparks occurred, rejecting them from coming in.

Those foxes… were holding their babies to the front, like it’s begging me to let their babies pass.

Even if I wanted to, monsters can’t enter the safe zone…

The grayish wolf finally reaches the front pack.

[The object is at least 10 more levels higher. Unable to appraise.]

I was frozen solid in its presence. It feels like I was facing a kaiju even though I know it’s nowhere on their level of height… but still, the wolf is giving me a pressure my body never knew.

“Huff… huff…” I can’t control my breath. Even though I know I’m safe here, I panicked.

“KyaIN!” "KUUN!” “KyauUUN!” "Kyaun kyaun!”

Seeing the 3 meters tall wolf, mauling the foxes in front of me, feared me. Thinking it could be us if we went to the path…

It was targeting the grown ones, one by one like they are no threat.

After all the parent foxes were mauled…

When I thought the babies were not his target, he started throwing one baby in the air, letting it fall to the mouth and… *CRUNCH*

All the babies scrambled away back. The wolf chased them by skipping on toes like a happy dog strolling in a park, munching them one by one.

What a ruthless menace…to think such a monster exists in this cave…

“Yuu-kun…! Hey, Yuu-kun!”

“... huh?”

“Can we somehow save them!? Are we only able to see this happening right in front of our eyes!?”

I mean… even I want to save them. They are protecting each other like Lucky was protecting me back then.

It might be hypocritical for me to think of them like that and not the other monsters, but this is what I feel right now.

Then… I realized a baby fox was quivering near the entrance, by its dead parents. He didn’t follow the other babies.

… I hurried to check the ‘help’ about the safe zone. I scrolled down quickly to find a loophole. And then… I saw it.

“Yumemi, I’ll borrow this,” I said, taking a stun gun out of her bag.

“Huh?”

I entered path Y, and then quickly grabbed the one baby fox who wasn't running away.

I quickly chose the option, and sent the party invitation to it.

I managed to lead its paw to where the [Yes] button usually is, and it worked!

[Inari Fox A]

Its name and gauges appear in my vision. It successfully entered my party.

“Yuu-kun, your back!” Yumemi shouted.

It seems like the wolf realized and came back here running.

Again, fear rushed throughout my whole body and it’s getting hard to move. This isn’t normal… could it be a skill!?

[Skill Unlocked: Guts Lv 1] slightly resist the skill [Pressure] emitted by higher level monsters.

“Bingo!”

I’m finally able to move my body even though it still feels heavy thanks to the new passive skill I got!

The gray wolf opened its mouth and dashed at us.

“I have my portion of knowledge about canine, big guy!”

I quickly activated the stun gun, jumped and tased its nose.

“GROWWL!”

It tumbled, but its speed momentum didn’t stop and hit me.

“Ugh!”

The impact alone took 30 percent of my HP… just how high its level is…!?

The impact pushed me and the baby fox inside the barrier, back to the safe zone. So do the corpses of some inari foxes near the entrance.

“Yuu-kun!”

Yumemi tried to stop us, but it wasn’t enough and we ended up 5 meters from the entrance.

*BZZT* sparks occurred, rejecting only the wolf from coming in.

“Yuu-kun! Are you okay!?” Yumemi, shaking my body, looking worried.

“Yeah… just give me a moment and I’ll be fine…”

The shock still shook my body, but it didn’t hurt that badly compared to the first time I fell to the safe zone.

I released the baby fox in my arms. Thanks to me protecting it, it didn’t take any damage. But it seems it lost its consciousness for now.

I managed to regain control of my body. Yumemi lent me her shoulder and helped me to wake up.

In my sight, it’s the wolf cowering while holding its nose, and seems like it's still shocked by what just happened.

I remembered how Lucky was reacting so much due to dust, so I guessed the wolf would be surprised if I tased its nose.

It would eventually stand up, and glared at me.

“GRRR…!” it growled at me.

*SPLAT* It crushed one of the remaining corpses that didn't get pushed here, destroyed it like it’s more important than drinking its blood to mutate.

“Yuu-kun…”

“Yeah…”

I know what it means. It’s probably saying “I’ll crush you.” Seems like it’s going to pay me back for what I did.

It then turned his back to us, and went deeper to the path, disappearing from our sight.

I guess I made myself a scary enemy.

I don’t regret it any bit though.

If I have to regret anything…

“Yuu-kun…” Yumemi grabbed my shirt and glared at me. “Care to explain to me?” with a menacing tone…

It seems like she’s about to learn the skill [Pressure] at some point. Though I can tell she hasn’t because my body doesn’t feel heavy of fear right now.

“Uhm… it seems like if we add a monster to the party, they can enter the safe zone.”

“... now that you said it…” she released her grip and looked at the baby fox I brought in. “It entered the safe zone…”

Seems like she just realized the fact that a living monster managed to enter the safe zone.

“If only I knew sooner… I might be able to save some more of them…”

That’s my regret…

I wonder how that monster managed to reach the path where the Inari Foxes are. It seems like it just appeared out of nowhere, slaughtering almost the whole species.

How did it happen? Did the paths cross somewhere?

Or did it dig a new way to reach another path?

If so, it’ll probably kill more to raise its levels. We have to hurry and catch up to its level before it’s all too late.

“... thank you.” She suddenly thanked me.

“Huh?”

“For saving that kid…” Ah, come to think of it, she did beg me to save them.

“No worries, I feel the same way anyway. Seeing a canine made me remember Lucky, so I’m a bit relieved to be able to save even one of them.”

“You really loved your dog, I see…”

“He was the best friend I could ever have.”

I probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn't for him saving me from that speeding car.

“... that makes me a bit jealous…” she muttered something, but I couldn't hear her clearly.