Hunted

Ahem, quick word before continuing, this chapter has brutal gore and death. You have been warned. 

It was another ordinary day.

It’s been a few days since my last request, which was once again, slime killing.

Been earning quite the reputation for being a pest exterminator.

This has boosted my reputation with the farmfolk by quite a bit.

Apparently my efficient slime exterminating skills are well-known across the county and there’s a steady supply of farmers asking for my services.

From what I hear, most adventurers just slay the bare minimum of slimes to get it over with. This left the surviving slimes to repopulate and terrorize the farmers once again.

I, on the other hand, leave no slime alive.

Those things are so easy to kill, I wonder why people deliberately leave some alive.

Surely it isn’t as insidious as leaving a group to pester the farmers, forcing them to post the request again so the adventurers can extort them in an eternal loop for the meagre savings they have?

Ha! There I go again with my crazy train of thoughts.

Why am I always pessimistic, political, or just borderline schizo making weird references and jokes I never recall.

…

I’ll just keep these reflections to myself. I’m already socially isolated as is, I don’t need to put off people even more with my ravings.

I silently collect my pay from Mary, the shy receptionist with serious stuttering problems.

We don’t talk much, just a few greetings and then I go about my business. She’s warmed up to me considerably compared to my first day or two at the outpost.

What? You expecting me to rizz her? Sorry, but freckles aren’t my thing.

By the time I returned to the ranch, it was past noon, I just had another sandwich at the guild.

After coming to the guild on a daily basis for two weeks, I familiarized myself with some of the local adventurers.

Some of them invited me into their groups.

However, one look at them told me their skills were inferior to mine.

That and they were a rough and rowdy bunch whom I don’t think I can keep up with socially.

This might’ve been a bit rash of me, but I felt Alin was someone I must stick together with.

I had a hunch that if I officially joined an adventurer’s party, my partnership with Alin would evaporate into thin air.

Still, that didn’t mean I shouldn’t develop some good will here. Could prove to be useful later in the future, especially since I’m on the run.

I exchanged pleasantries with a couple and went off on my merry way.

After finishing today’s round of slime hunting and walking for some time, I’m back on the farm, but when I get there, I find the cows aren’t on the fields grazing like they usually are.

Weird, guess they’re still in their pens.

I’d herd them onto the fields myself, but cattle-ranching is something far different from tilling and harvesting.

Mighty unusual, Ralph didn’t say he was going anywhere today, but even if he’s absent, Jess would fill in his duties.

It’s hard to believe they’re both sick and unable to get out of bed to work. Farmers are a hardy lot.

Am I just overthinking things because I grew used to the sight of the cattle?

Eh, probably had business with a neighbour like Horace, I’m sure they’ll be back to take care of the cows soon enough.

But there’s something else missing.

The cries and laughter of children.

I look around, but don’t see Millie or Horace playing or helping around the farm.

Perhaps their parents told them to stay inside since they’re out and not able to watch over them.

Shrugging off my doubts, I head back, I’ll know soon enough.

Awfully quiet and empty today. Like I said, normally Rufes and Millie would be on the fields either playing or helping out.

Children are a noisy and energetic bunch when not glued to a screen.

Never liked them much, to be honest. I only interacted with them to fill out my mandatory volunteering hours after I was banned from pretty much every veterinarian in the city.

How can they possibly blame me for that euthanizing incident? That assistant was the one who forced me to inject those poor—

Actually I don’t like animals either.

Especially dogs.

There were a few cases when I went out for a jog in the local park, a dog would try to chase me.

One of them actually got close enough to bite me, but it was actually a lick.

That time I thought it’d actually bite me and make me contract rabies.

Oh, the horror!

Vile creatures, I cannot understand how people refer to them as man’s best friend when they can give you one of the most dangerous diseases imaginable.

What was I talking about?

Ah, yes. Children. How did it diverge from talking about children to rabies?

Well, rabies rhyme with babies, but Rufus and Millie are like what? Elementary school age? That’s way too much of a stretch.

I took a deep breath and stopped thinking for a bit.

…

Alright, I’m back to being sane and on track with the story again.

I wonder if attention problems and sudden spurts of nonsense are a side effect of using Eldritch powers.

I ought to check in with Alhazred on that. When he wakes up of course, or Enath if fate lets us meet once again.

Anyways, back on track, Rufus and Millie were slightly better than some of the brats I dealt with or encountered back on earth.

Most kids I knew would whine at the grocery store for sweets and junk food, bawl for no reason in public places, or constantly badger their parents to let them watch their cartoons.

Annoying little hellions.

But these kids are different.

Rufus and Millie, they aren’t like that in the slightest.

Sure they have their little quirks, Rufus can be loud and Millie needs to be more vocal at times, but they behave so much better than the blighters back home.

Perhaps it’s the simple lifestyle they lead.

The lack of violent media or abundance of consumer goods commonly found in my world have yet to worm their way into the skulls of those little runts.

I should buy them a gift sometime.

I always see Rufus swinging around that wooden sword of his. Maybe I should buy him a small cap from Garv’s or a little leather buckler to pair it.

As for Millie, I don’t know what girls like, but she carries her worn out doll wherever she goes.

I have yet to encounter a toy store in Tros or my brief visit to Brooks. I presume it’s something reserved for children of nobility. Typical for the medieval times.

Hmm, Aika, Rumi and some of the other girls in class talk about accessories on a frequent basis. Maybe instead of a toy, something like a hairbow will do? Not sure if hairbows exist, might need to go with ribbons.

Auntie Heather has some nice handkerchiefs, perhaps I can get one from her place next time I drop in for pie— I mean potions. Potions, I’m not a glutton going there solely for dessert, haha!

Then I can fashion the handkerchiefs into strips and voila! Two hair ties.

She can use them for herself or to decorate the doll.

Perfect, better remember to get those things next time I go back to Tros.

As I think about the presents I’d get for the two kids, I already arrive at the doorsteps to the ranch house.

The door was open. I figured out after living the fantasy farm-style life for some time that the farmers here only lock their doors at night. Throughout the day, it was left open.

After all, who's crazy enough to rob farmers? A feudal lord might during a war, but a burglar? Not unless they’re some grain enthusiast who wants to collect grain from all over the globe.

Wait, this is a rancher’s, the only thing worth stealing is cattle. Don’t tell me it's cattle thieves!

We don’t even have any plants growing right now, or do we?

Shaking myself free from my silly thoughts, I go up to the house.

Absentmindedly opening the door, the smell of iron and raw meat irritates my nostrils.

I turn my head away and breathe in some fresh air to clear my head.

Yikes! What a strong odour!

Did Ralph just butcher a cow and left the meat in the kitchen?

Hmm, maybe Jess will come and cook it.

I look down on the floor and spot a trail of red.

Shoot, there’s bloodstains on the ground, looks like he was careless.

Better go grab a towel and clean it up before it leaves a permanent mark on the floorboards. Wouldn’t look great when guests come around.

I walk in to find a towel.

I wander around the house and everywhere I go, the floor is just covered with splotches of red.

Geez, it’s like he splattered a can of paint everywhere, how much of a mess can a man possibly make carrying slabs of cow meat? Or ribs, not a big fan of ribs or any meat containing bone.

As I look around for a towel, something catches my eye.

In the hallway leading to the bedrooms, I see splotches of red.

Why does the trail lead to Rufus and Millie’s room?

Hunh?

…

At this point, warning bells are going off in my head.

I’m suddenly getting 90’s movie slasher vibes.

…

That was an awful joke.

I carefully go to the front of the bedroom and rap my knuckles against the wood door.

‘Knock!’ ‘Knock!’

“Rufus! Millie! Are you two in there?”

No answer.

Complete silence.

I try to listen to see if I can hear the scampering of feet or the flapping of blankets.

Nothing.

I try to think optimistically.

Maybe the kids were helping out with a surprise BBQ event with Ralph and Jess and aren’t here.

But with the amount of blood I’m seeing, it just doesn’t add up.

Ralph would never butcher a cow this badly. He always makes sure to drain it as much as possible before bringing in a piece.

The more I think about what might’ve happened to explain all this blood on the floor, the darker my thoughts became.

My rose-tinted glasses shatter by the realization there’s a high possibility this isn’t cow blood.

I turn the handle and open the door, it creaks ominously and I step inside.

Horror.

The first feeling that races across my mind and sends shivers down my spine.

Blood and viscera everywhere.

Lying on the ground is Rufus’s wooden sword and Millie’s doll, utterly doused with blood.

Shit! What’s going on here!?

“Rufus! Millie! Where are you guys!”

Shit! Shit! Shit! Why am I suddenly in a horror film!?

This is an isekai! An isekai! It should be filled with comedy and fast-food cheap cliches!

Not something out of Quiet Mound or Citizen Diabolical!

I dash out and check Ralph and Jess’ room. They weren’t there, but there was no blood in the room either.

But my worries and panic were hardly assuaged.

Only two more places left to check.

I first rush to the living room, the metallic scent of fresh blood is heavy in the air. The entire floor and animal pelt rug is painted with splatters of red.

Just like with the kids’ room, I found blood but no bodies. Not a single bodypart or clue that can tell me whether they’re alive or dead.

Last place left.

The kitchen.

For some odd reason, the kitchens in this world are separated from the living room instead of being combined as one with plenty of modern housing on Earth.

The dining space is combined with the kitchen, it doesn’t have a separate room of its own.

From how I take it, the whole thing was installed to keep the kids away from the hot stoves. Not a bad idea considering how primitive medieval cooking is.

One wrong step and you’re looking at a permanently disfigured and unusable hand.

I quickly place

My hopes of their safebeing are utterly dashed. Not just dashed, but in pieces.

Just like the pieces of their bodies lying on the ground.

A severed hand there, a bloody pile of hair there.

I keep looking.

An eyeball, a small foot, mangled set of ribcage.

Then there’s a tiny-

Oh god.

God no.

Not Shaun as well!

I stand there looking at the family I just saw healthy alive this morning.

What could have possibly done this and why?

This- this is just too malicious!

Only an animal could’ve done this, yet I found no trace of forced entry, no broken glass, splintered walls, shattered walls, none. Asides from being doused in blood, even the furniture was intact.

As I continue pondering what could’ve possibly killed Ralph’s family, out of the blue, a familiar loud voice screams in my head.

“Get out of the way!”

I instinctively throw my body off to the side and fortuitously so as something large smashes from the wall and into the kitchen. Ripping the wall to splinters and planks, crashing into the kitchen.

Before getting isekai-ed I would’ve stood there dumbstruck, but after going through various crazy encounters that’d make a schizophrenic’s visions seem normal by comparison. I’ve built up a resistance.

Not bothering with trying to identify what the thing invading the ranch house is, I quickly make a B-line for the kitchen door. Rather the giant hole where the kitchen door once stood.

I dash out attempting to make my way to the main exit. I turn a bend past the living room and find myself in an endless corridor that clearly wasn’t there before.

The frick? Why is there a spatial anomaly in a goddamn isekai!? This just turned into the bloody Backrooms!

As I stand there in shock, Alhazred wakes up and warns me, “Shit! Run boy! It’s a Tanglemaw!”

“What?”

A dark spiky tentacle burst out of the ground, lashing out blindly.

I fall on my butt and scramble out of its range.

First 90’s blood and body horror, then an anomalous sci-fi wiki horror, now a Lovecraftian monster!?

Which methhead is writing this script!?

“Oi! Alhazred! How do I beat this thing!”

“This isn’t something you can deal with by yourself!” He screams, “Get your ass to the nearest town right now!”

“Won’t that get innocents involved!?”

Another tentacle breaks through the wall to my right and almost catches my head.

I narrowly dodge it by rolling over.

Shit! That was way too close!

“You want to die boy!? Get up and start running.”

“Alright! Alright! I’m running!”

I hastily get back on my feet and ran.

I might’ve agreed to his plan, but that didn’t mean I knew where I’m going. With the countless doors in front of me, I had no idea where any of them could lead to the outside or deeper into this godforsaken labyrinth.

With the quick thuds growing ever louder, and the air of the whipping tentacles blasting my back, I had no time to check the doors.

Bit by bit, I could make out a dead end at the end of the path.

“Shoot the wall in front of you!” Alhazred screamed.

“What!?”

“Just do it!”

I threw a bolt of green eldritch magic in front of me.

The spell hit the wall and-

Did nothing to the wall.

In fact, it seemed to make my situation worse.

When I cast the spell, the monster chasing me increased its pace, like a wolf bounding toward a bleeding lamb.

“Nothing! Didn’t budge an inch!”

“Run through it! Don’t question! Run!”

I run through the wall full speed.

Not fully trusting Alhezrad, I expect to crash.

Upon running into the wall, my body passes through it. I stumble and nearly trip, but the thought of getting eaten by the damn thing made me forcibly correct my balance. Sunlight greets me and I find myself outside.

“What?”

“It’s an illusion! Now start running to the nearest settlement and get help!”

I did a quick calculation, the adventurers of Brooks can definitely take care of this bastard chasing me, but the city is too far away.

That just leaves Brooks.

Shit, I don’t know if the town has the people who can deal with this thing, but my chances of killing the Tanglemaw and avenging the family are much higher than trying to deal with it myself.

I haven’t participated in track for some time, but I guess we’re about to find out how much the stats boost my agility.