Edited by: KenChi死

I was sitting and wondering how I should proceed with this ungrateful task of slaughtering not so innocent barely considered by me human existences.

The killing was easy. Both physically and mentally. Physically, because most of them were barely aware of their surroundings… no, honestly – how could they survive for so long? I can acknowledge, that they weren’t killed by lone wolves. Those preferred easier targets and seeing a group of four could easily discourage an animal from attacking.

But for fucks sake! It was said to be the most dangerous forest on the continent! Where are the Behemoths when they are needed?! Gryphon-kun? Earth Dragon-dono? and even if not them, there has to be more monsters!?

Monsters I have never encountered… Something is fishy here.

“Sebastian… Do you know why we have never been attacked by some more powerful creatures? Somehow I start to doubt that this forest is all that terrifying.” “Monsters in this forest are dangerous. Or at least for most of the mortals, so please master, do not lose your focus. But it’s indeed strange. Looks like they usual lairs and hunting ground of most powerful monsters were moved… But it is still a few more months for a mating season to start. Other possibilities are that some new predator appeared in the vicinity… no master, I doubt that you are the predator I am speaking about. You could, with great effort, force the migrate of a few bunnies… or forest mice… maybe a cockroach…” “ho-ho, look who is having a nice day. But to think that you are joking… YOU?! The end of the world must have begun.”

Sebastian only twisted his face and beak in some kind of grimace that probably was supposed to be a smile as he performed apologetic bow.

It was nice to finally have someone to joke with. Sebastian-kun, as you would only ignore his twisted, wicked avatar, could be a really great comrade. As we were marching for those couple of hours through the forest we got along pretty nice, and as Garuda was still calling me master he allowed himself for a little joke from time to time.

But we had to stop our sweet chit-chat. We were getting close to our destination.

“Sebastian… Kaito… sides. Rest with me.”

There was no need to speak more. Everyone already knew their role. Sebastian took left route, Kaito right, and me and three other birdies were heading from the front just a bit slower then usually to let for the hellhound and giant raven to take their position.

I left the bow in the bush. There is to many vines, shrubs, trees, and shit for it to be useful. It will only be slowing me down. I could already hear them talking to each other quietly.

As I felt the presence of my familiars at the right spots I simply left my cover and started marching in their direction. They saw me almost immediately. Swords were pulled, as usually one of them was carrying a crossbow.

I HATE crossbows, it is way easier to avoid swords and damage made by those are easier to heal.

As I had their attention, Kaito started to creep from the opposite direction, behind the hunters backs. I was swinging my body from left to right in peaceful, almost dancing movement. Mostly to be in position were between me and the hunter with the crossbow place yet another human.

“Look guys! We were looking for this asshole for over a month, and here he is walking to us like an idiot! How could you, you idiotic brainless creature, avoid our brothers for so long.”

… I felt offended, you know? Amused is same time yes, but still offended. Should I toy with food? Mama taught me not to… in any other circumstance I would suspect that they are buying time for someone who was about to slit my throat. But there was no one else.

“I didn’t avoid them… Here’s the proof” I slowly put my hand into the pocket and grabbed a few of my trophies. The sun shaped medallions of my prey. Then I allowed them to hang out from my hand as I was holding 6 or 7 of them right in front of them. As I was sure they knew what I was holding I put my trophies back in my pocket. “And yours are about to improve my collection.”

From arrogance to surprise. From surprise into anger. How easy it is to control emotions of brainwashed idiots… Kaito was about 5 meters from the crossbow user and kept reducing the distance. A few more steps and he will be able to take a leap.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” “Awww! So she told you? Damn, it was supposed to be our secret…” “SILENCE YOU UNHOLY ABBOMI…”

It was already pointless, I was pretty interested and was he was about to reply, but the hunter was forced to quit his insult as his friend was being rude enough to let himself be torn apart.

The confused remaining three hunters turned around to see what is happening. I know that it was instinct and all… yet to stop looking at your enemy? They were literally attacked from back two times during one battle! Who are they hiring as hunter? Someone this dumb would have problems to catch a witch even if she/he was blinded, crippled and at the verge of death as he/she would be lying right in front of their headquarters…

I twisted the dagger before pulling it out from the area where the liver was supposed to be placed. The dark blood that came out from the wound told me that his organs are in the right places. Good for you for staying healthy until now. Have fun with stopping that, now excuse me as I will kill your fr…

What the fuck IS WORNG WITH YOU?! Why do you always start to run when someone (usually you or your friends) is dying?! No, wait. It actually pretty smart. Ya want to report me to your friends. Your hunting is not proceeding as planned, so it is pretty normal to change tactics. You want to inform someone to change the pattern of behaving?

Ho, You are even smart enough to run in different directions?! Sad thing is that one of you is running right into Sebastian…

You have slain [Witch Hunter of Holy Kingdom level 15]You have obtained 81 exp + 9exp

And here ruined my combo bonus for waiting too long with the killing. Maybe I should finish the one who is bleeding out? Nah, I will never run out of exp materials. And this asshole definitely deserves to suffer. Oh, he deserve far moooore… but we will have to enjoy with him only the feeling of his body getting colder and colder.

From Sebastian direction screams could be heard. Kaito was about to start chasing the one running into the different direction, but I stopped him.

“WAIT!” Kaito looked at me with questioning look, I smiled in reply and said:”Where is fun in it? Wait for it…. Waaait for it…” The man was about 50 meters away. I wanted him to feel that he could make it. But what are the possibilities for a human to outrun a hound? A demonic hound in the woods? Exactly. “Kaaaitooo… Fetch.”

The beast bolted after running prey.

You have slain [Witch Hunter of Holy Kingdom level 15]You have obtained 81 exp + 9exp

“Master, may I know why you let this man run so far? It’s an unnecessary risk…” Sebastian asked as he was pulling the battered corpse. “Kaito lastly had only sneaky jobs… It’s a good thing to let him run from time to time. You know, the owner is responsible caring about his pet’s condition…” “You have changed master… that is wonderful.” Once again on his face a joyful grimace appeared. “What do you mean?” “Haha… so you didn’t even notice? When you killed that hunter from the village back in dungeon, you were mad at yourself… even as it was a merciful act… Then you convinced yourself that it is all right if you kill as long as you are killing in self defense… then you started picking up trophies… and you are basically considering it as some kind of sport… it is wonderful progress… I have to say that I was concerned that it would take you much longer to…”

I didn’t know what hit me harder. The fact that he was right… or that I basically didn’t care. Like: he is right, what are you going to do with it? I knew I was supposed to feel somewhat bad.

You have slain [Witch Hunter of Holy Kingdom level 15]You have obtained 81 exp + 9exp

The bleeding one finally ran out of blood. About time, I haven’t got all day to watch just one man bleed. Your friends in the other parts of forest need my attention too, you know? Don’t be selfish!

You have slain [Witch Hunter of Holy Kingdom level 15]You have obtained 81 exp + 9exp

Looks like Kaito got a new chew-toy. Good for him

Once again I collected the jewelry from the bodies, touched the Queen’s mark And moved on.

There are still over 20 corpse-to-be.

~”yeeeesss… respect the pact… young one…”

Who the fuck told that? It wasn’t Codex-chan for sure… Sins neither… I am not getting mad, Am I?

Pov change

Ruby was looking at a semi-ethereal creature that was lazy writhing at her outstretched hand. She had a familiar. SHE JUST SUMMONED HER FIRST FAMILIAR! Wyrm the manasucker was now feeding on small portions of her magic powers that it used as food.

Those were pretty rare being, not as some god damned cats, ravens, bats or other funny animals that served almost no purpose but as sweet pets and companions.

Those being are extremely dangerous… as only they would grow bit bigger. The trick is that they can feast not only on their owner’s mana… but on enemies too. Because they were creature that do not belong to this realm they have almost no physical form, making destroying them extremely hard.

And now imagine the scenario where such a creature would stick to enemy wizard and kept reducing his mana pool during whole battle!

The advantages are great. There was only one thing that made Ruby feel bad about the whole situation. She was able to finally get a familiar only thanks to having her affinity unblocked… and it was unblocked thanks to someone’s potion. Someone, who was treated… not exactly fair by Ruby. She wanted to thank him once again. But she was afraid. And she was embarrassed to even show her face to him.

She was so, so stupid. It was sure that she would probably never be able to look at Zari the same as before, but when he was treated with fear and anger by the villagers she was supposed to do same thing as Hanna. She was supposed to show her support no matter what was happening. She just… panicked.

Damn! Stop thinking about it, stupid! You won’t change the past by simply scratching wounds and “regretting really badly”. Get over it, get over your own stupidity, get yourself together, stop being a god damned cry baby complaining how hard and unfair life is. Zari was living in that bloody forest yet you never heard him complaining! If you would see him in the future just apologize and do something to repay him!

In the end he is such a sweet and caring person…

Pov change

Haha.. I killed them… almost all of them… 48 hunters down… only two are left… I am also getting close to leveling up… while doing this somewhat refreshing task I leveled appraisal to 5 (for now it’s the skill that takes longest to level up… but well it is almost the most useful one), Dagger usage to 7 (getting passive sup-skill merged into it [Grievous Wounds]… just even more bleeding) Bow usage to 8 (nothing worth attention) Fire magic up to 8 (getting infernal breath and upgrading fire coat to imp clothing), Nature manipulation (which came with seed creation and wild growth – really nasty combo that I tested on one of the hunters – note to myself you actually can grow a plant inside a human… but it looks nasty when roots are coming out from ears and eyes sockets) And summoning to 8 (nothing as bonus), Hand to hand combat is 3 (actually I feel bad about leveling this one as it was simply bulling one guy… it also leveled up interrogation to 7) and finishing chaos magic to 4(with chaos bolt – pretty nice because beside damage may trigger some random status effect like fear, confusion, madness… and with yet another spell with proud name of [Curse Word: Exhaustion]).

So yes, one could tell I was pretty busy and productive at the same time…

Huh, you want to know how exactly I killed them? You blood thirsty bastards! Shame on you! ... but well, few guyz were burned (one even literally melted… but it made me start wondering on what level of fire magic would I be able to evaporate someone…) Few arrows to the knee… just kidding, to the rib cage, few skull bashes, and I simply couldn’t resist to see if I can make someone insane to death. It took lots of time, but yes I can. With the already mentioned chaos bolt, I could reduce the damage dealt to only apply status effects… after few confusions, fears, one terrify, those mixed into paranoia… And the dude’s heart gave up.

I was now sitting nicely under the tree meditating in order to restore mana that I bit foolishly used up. Core creation was just a nice side effect.

~”Killl theeem… So clooose…”

For fuck sake I am really hearing voices! The fuck are you!?

~”Behave yourseeelf… We are the forest. And you still owe us two souls…”

… Did I ever make you feel that I am not going to do so? But even as they are weakling I prefer to kill them with my mana full and in proper condition!... in the end I did get a bit exhausted with the last one…

~”unnecessary cruelty… but effective…”

See? So now please let me get proper rest. In the end… just saying… I am the one getting my hands dirty why you do nothing…

~”SILENCE YOU PATHETIC HATCHLING! You think we couldn’t get them killed by ourselves? You are the only reason why they are still alive! You did wonder correctly why you never have encountered beast out of your league! We find your presence amusing and entertaining. So we let you live… by request of mother Aira… Without you here, those “hunters” wouldn’t last a day.

So in the end I had someone look after me… I had no reply for that… and what could I possibly say? Better not to make someone angry who can move the houses of beasts “just like that”. Whatever they are… better not to pissed them off.

I got up, shook the imagined dirt out of my robe… that slowly start smelling like something definitely needing a good wash. Oh, as this whole game with hunters will be over I will take a nice and long bath... Encouraged by promises of relax as soon as it would be over, I headed into the direction of the last two silhouettes. There was something odd about them… those were a bit to small?

In about an hour as I found them I could easily tell why those were different. The last hunter… were kids… like 10-12 years old… Boy and girl. And even more, as they were perfect in acting I could just simply tell that they noticed me… even as they were acting as kids lost in the forest… oh my… there is no point in planning a sneaky attack… maybe… just maybe… no, it’s dumb… but I am so curious! And I am too far for appraisal to work… Fuck this. What could kids possibly do to me? I have a wolf, and birds and magic and shit. Here I come.

I entered the clearing, yet it still took a few good moments for the kids to “notice” me… or should I say show me that they have noticed me… gosh if not those marks telling me that they are hunters and exact knowledge that there are 50 hunters… I would probably rush to help them…

-“W..w…w…who are you!? Stay where you are”. Damn what an annoying voice… Or if you know my already possessed knowledge “adorable kid that tries to act brave in front of his sister”.

“Easy boy, I mean no harm… I am just leaving here… Are you ok? Are you injured? Maybe you need something to eat? What for the good gods are you doing in this forest?! Didn’t your mother or father tell you not to enter the woods?” “M… My name is Hansel.. and this is my sister Gretel…” No. Fucking. Way. NO. God, please no! NOOO! “And father bring us here as he told us he would work… We made a path of bread to get lost… but it looks like animals…” it’s true… oh my god… but wait, if those are kids lost in the woods, then an evil witch that was supposed to live in a house made of cake would be… me? “Please sir, do you know the way back? Or… do you have something to eat? We don’t have much but…”

And then I noticed it. The boy had a few bulges near his legs and hands. No, no physiological, more like he has something attached to his body… daggers? And girl placed as ranger… And I finally get in range of appraisal.

[Special Assassin of Holy Kingdom - Hansel von Morningstar]Age: 31Level 27Type: agile

[Special Assassin of Holy Kingdom - Gretel von Morningstar]Age: 31Level 27Type: magic

31 years old? What the f… And then kid moved, quickly. From under his sleeve a knife fall right into his hand. I reacted pretty much the same, getting daggesr out of my belt. We both throw them at the same time, and by pure miracle they hit each other in mid-air.

I knew who they are, and now they knew what I knew… The eyes of the kids changed dramatically. From children lost within woods into amused killers. Finally someone that has the title of hunter not just for show?

How happy I was that I actually took my rest before coming here…

I took a deep breath and focused my mind. I tried to predict all sorts of tactic that those two could have… in the end the true battle was about to begin.

TUM TUM TUM! A CLIFFHABGER! Enjoy about 24h till next chappy (evil laugh)