A Monster That Cannot Pray

The blonde female knight? Priestess? Anyway, that fool in front of me who firmly believed that what I was saying was a lie.

She seemed completely unaware of the huge monster behind her back, salivating and swallowing—the one that had been chasing me until just now.

“Haaah—!”

With a loud shout, she started charging towards me at tremendous speed.

As if waiting for just that moment, the monster also lunged, aiming for the woman’s back.

“Ah geez… really!”

And, as if she had finally noticed the monster behind her… the woman who had been charging at me with all her might turned around, but.

Since she had already launched her body towards me, it seemed truly impossible for her to avoid the monster.

‘…If I leave her like that, couldn’t I escape?’

Seeing that scene, thinking that there’s nothing I could do against such a monster anyway.

Rather, wouldn’t it be better to use that woman as bait and escape from this forest?

The devil’s whisper began to be heard in my ear.

Right. She’s a woman who came looking for me to take my life anyway.

If she hadn’t shouted aiming for me from the beginning, that monster might not have come, right?

But.

Even so, I.

“Move, you idiot—!”

Rather than turning around and running away, I hoped that the person in front of me wouldn’t die.

Even if I had become a body treated as a monster, I was still human.

There’s no need for a reason when a person saves another person.

So, I rushed towards the woman who was charging at me.

Thwack—!

“Ugh!”

Perhaps she had belatedly noticed me rushing towards her while she was momentarily distracted by the monster behind her, the woman who was hastily trying to swing her sword.

I dove into her arms and pushed her side with my two right arms.

“Over here, you big lump of a monster!”

I shouted towards the monster, which was flashing its blood-red eyes angrily, seemingly annoyed at not being able to catch its delicious prey in one go because of me.

“Grrr…!”

It deliberately came back to the place where it had missed me.

And, it had been waiting silently until the moment that woman charged.

Judging from these two facts, this monster clearly had some level of intelligence.

If so….

“Grooooar—!”

As expected. The monster let out a roar of anger as if it had understood my words.

“What…?”

I glanced at the woman behind me, who was staring at me blankly, not even thinking of getting up from where she had fallen sprawled.

“Yelling like that doesn’t scare me at all, you know!?”

Since I’ve conveniently grown to have four arms—even though this monster probably wouldn’t understand what this means.

I clenched my fists with all four hands and extended my middle fingers towards the monster.

“Try and catch me if you can!”

I started running away with my back turned to the monster, which was lowering its posture as if about to pounce on me at any moment.

Thump… Thump thump thump!

How much time had passed like that?

“Huff, huu, huak…!”

As if determined not to let me escape this time, I continued running while hearing the endless thumping sounds from behind.

Thok…!

“Huh…?”

While I was struggling to move my legs that felt like they would collapse at any moment, suddenly, as if I had caught on something—

Thud, whack!

I lost my balance in an instant and fell, rolling on the ground unsightly, hitting my whole body against protruding tree roots here and there.

“Ugh, ow….”

While groaning from the pain surging through my whole body, remembering that the monster was still chasing me, I tried to get up hurriedly, but.

Drip….

Faster than that, something smelly and sticky wetted my head.

“…Ah.”

I blankly raised my head… and had to look at the figure of the monster, heaving with rough breaths.

“Grrr….”

The monster, flashing its blood-red eyes.

“Uh, uwaaa… kuhup—!”

As I was trying to get up awkwardly to run away,

it pinned me down with its huge front paw.

“Mmph, this… let… go…!”

With strength too great to resist even with four arms, it opened its mouth full of shark-like jagged teeth wide and thrust it at me.

Crunch…!

“Kuh, aaaaargh—!”

As if savoring, it bit into the left side of my upper body.

Slurp, slurp.

Right after, as if sucking blood.

Controlling its strength just enough not to tear my body apart, it put its rough tongue under my cloak and licked my body along with the blood.

“Aak, uwaaak—!!”

It feels bad, it feels bad, it hurts—!

Crunch, munch….

Even in the midst of this, as I made eye contact with it, which was carefully chewing on my body as if it would eat every last drop of my blood.

Curving its eyes gently into arcs, the monster slowly removed its mouth from my body, then.

“Kuruk, kruk…!”

As if mocking me.

Squeeze, squeeeeeze—!

It started pressing down on my body with its front paw, squeezing out blood.

“Kuhek, uh, hukk…!”

If I had known it would be like this, I should have just run away earlier.

Even though I felt like I would lose consciousness at any moment, I blamed myself for stubbornly holding on without losing consciousness.

“Kill me…! Rather… ugh, just kill me…!”

At the moment I shouted towards the monster, which was now playing with me with even the corners of its mouth raised.

Squelch—!

Suddenly, a silver blade piercing through the monster’s neck.

“Kuh, ruk…!?”

“What…?”

Both I and the monster.

We stared blankly at the silver blade protruding through the neck, unable to understand the sudden situation.

The silver blade pulling back out of the monster’s neck again.

Splurt—!

At the dark red and sticky stream of blood bursting out where the blade had withdrawn.

The monster hurriedly raised its front paw to cover the hole in its neck.

“Hup—!”

From behind the monster, with a shout full of strength.

Slash—!

Surprisingly, on the monster’s neck, which was as thick as the waist of a good-sized adult man… a silver line was drawn straight across.

Thud, thunk… splash—!

I, forgetting even the pain I felt from the wound where the monster had bitten me.

Along with the monster’s head falling cleanly beside me, to an absurd degree.

While being sprayed by the stream of blood bursting from the neck of the monster, which was slowly fading after losing its head.

“Ughk…!”

At the pain that belatedly returned, I carefully covered the wound with the two arms on my right side that were still somewhat intact.

Then I looked at someone who was pulling the corpse of the monster, which must have been over 2m tall even without its head, with one hand to prevent it from falling on me.

“…Hup.”

The blonde woman with her hair now mixed with dark red from the blood that had burst from the monster—that woman called an Executioner who had come to kill me earlier.

“……”

For some reason, like a child who had done something bad for the first time, she bit her lower lip hard.

She quietly looked at me with complicated eyes, then.

“I…”

As she threw the monster’s corpse she had been holding with one hand behind her.

“…No. It seems I’ve had a hallucination after all.”

In a polite tone, unlike her intimidating manner from earlier.

“I shouldn’t have entered the Forest of Calamity after all.”

As if she couldn’t see me.

“I need to rest here for a bit… and take a break after leaving the forest.”

She quietly raised her sword, pointing somewhere.

“Monsters heal quickly even when injured, so it’s dangerous unless you’re in perfect condition.”

With that, she sat down heavily with her back turned to me.

“……”

Because I wasn’t a fool, I could immediately understand what she meant by what she just said.

She probably meant that since injuries heal quickly, I should leave this forest while she pretends not to see me.

But if I leave like this… will she really be alright?

Although I still don’t know how this world works, I could at least clearly understand one fact—that the woman in front of me was someone meant to hunt beings like me.

I didn’t know what consequences would come from a hunter letting its prey go, but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t bring about good results, at least.

“……”

However, that didn’t mean I could just quietly die here either.

“Thank… you.”

So, I quietly got up… and bowed to my benefactor.

Perhaps she hadn’t expected me to give words of thanks, the woman shuddered once.

“…If you’re going to hide, hide your eyes and arms.”

At the last moment, with a deep sigh… she turned her pained face towards me and said so.

“The pattern engraved in your eyes and your abnormal arms. The moment those are revealed, the Church will bare its fangs at you again at any time.”

Originally, she had intended to just let me go and pretend not to see.

Now that it had come to this, perhaps she wanted to show as much kindness as she could.

“…I’m still not sure if letting you go like this is really the right choice.”

In a voice full of anguish.

“Go. If by any chance I hear news that you’ve harmed someone after leaving this place… then I will surely cut off your head, and take responsibility with this life of mine.”

However, at the sight of her blue eyes full of determination turned towards me.

Instead of answering, I met her eyes and tightened my cloak that had become loose, then.

Nod.

As she said… feeling new flesh growing in an instant from the wound that had been mangled as if by the monster’s teeth, I nodded.

It was the day I learned how to survive in this incomprehensible world.