POV: Altair Oberon Lyrius

"Hey! We're back!"

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I didn't answer.

Who was that? Couldn't be a hunter, it's been three weeks since I arrived.

I stopped doing push-ups and looked around the corner of the house I had trained behind. From here I had a clear view of the dock with the rafts and boats as well as the other side where a raft was still bound to a wooden beam sticking out of the water. There were two people. Presumably humans.

Do they want to lure out Terror by screaming like that?

"Anyone there!?" one of them yelled, the same one as before.

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Again, I didn't answer, there was no reason to.

Maybe they'll leave on their own.

You really think that?

No...

I could now see them get on the raft and begin slowly coming here, to the village. The village that I assumed used to be their home. The village where I had slaughtered everyone they knew.

Better hide... and they might sense your passive mana output...

Right.

I activated my wood elven magic mark and used [Predator's Prowl] and [Predator's Instinct] to close my mana pores and stop my mana from passively leaking out. I then hid behind some houses to stay out of sight. Shortly after the two arrived. They looked similar, both had dark blue hair, brown eyes and were very athletic, around their necks they wore bronze necklaces with chips hanging from them. One had a bow and the other had a greatsword. Looked like brothers

"Man, where is everyone?" the one with the greatsword asked.

"Maybe they heard you scream and decided to hide?" the other one suggested teasingly.

They walked a bit further into the village and noticed the dried blood.

"No, something happened here... something bad," the one with the greatsword said.

"Shit, I hope they're okay..." his brother said.

They continued on.

"No... this looks really bad," the greatsword wielder said when he saw the partially destroyed houses and the large puddle of dried blood.

Both began running towards the edge of the village. I followed after them quietly, my footsteps silent.

They looked across the lake. For a while, nothing happened but then one of them sank to the ground.

"What happened?" the bow user asked.

His brother didn't answer, just pointed into the lake. Now both were on the ground.

You should probably kill them, Ira suggested.

When I got closer to them I felt disgusted. There was something about them that felt... just disgusting. Was it because they were human? No idea, and for once Ira also had no clue what I meant.

But there was also no use in waiting any longer. I got closer to them. Both of them were sobbing.

"Why?" one whispered.

"Who?" the other asked quietly.

I smiled.

"They made a mistake," I said as soon as I was right behind them.

They jumped up so hectically that one of them nearly fell into the lake.

"Who are you?!" the greatsword wielder demanded, his greatsword already close to my throat.

He's fast, almost fast enough to make dodging him slightly annoying.

"Altair," I answered.

"Were you the one who did this!?" the other demanded, already having drawn back an arrow, ready to shoot at me.

I activated both [Predator's Strength] and [Predator's Agility].

"A magic mark..." the greatsword wielder whispered.

"Yes," I answered, to both of them in a way.

I heard the arrow whistle through the air, it was aimed right at my head. All I had to do to dodge it was to lean my head back a little and the arrow flew right past my face.

Even their arrows are slow, how does that even work? Disgusting inferior humans, all of you should just go and die in a hole.

The one who had his blade already at my throat took a second to realize what I had said, but once he did he began screaming and let out a war cry as he swung his sword at my neck.

"[Needle Strike]" I whispered as my hand approached the flat side of the blade from below.

With mana formed into a sort of blade around my fingers, it was like I was using a blade of my own. A blade that easily cut through the greatsword and left it about a metre shorter than it used to be.

"So slow."

I couldn't help but chuckle. They didn't even make me angry with their presence. They just seemed pathetic as they desperately tried to hit me. At one point I caught an arrow and threw it back at the former owner. When I threw the arrow it was almost faster than when he shot it, but only almost.

"Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why! Why did you do it!?" one yelled as he tried to hit me with his destroyed greatswords, tears flying all around him.

The other brother's aim was getting worse and worse. I didn't even need to dodge most shots anymore. After a while, both of them got tired of chasing me and just fell to the ground. When they were looking up at me there was pure anger in their eyes.

"I would have enjoyed fear more," I said as I approached them.

"Just tell us, why? Why did you kill them all?" the greatsword wielder asked.

"I already told you, because they made a mistake."

I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up. He was still partially on the ground since he was taller than I was.

"W-What do you mean by that?" he asked.

I pulled him closer to me so I could whisper in his ear.

"They told those fucking bastards from the church where to find us," I whispered.

"Y-You're one of the... of the heretics," he said, or rather he managed to cough out.

Now I got angry.

"We were no fucking heretics!" I yelled as I rammed his body into the ground, bending it in a way where his spine snapped because part of his body was still on the ground when I had lifted him up. His head split open and blood began leaking out.

I let go of his crushed throat and turned to the other brother. And there it was. Fear. He was afraid of me, afraid of something I did. And it was just like I had imagined it... well almost.

Tears were running down the man's face, he was sobbing. There was fear written all over his face. He was on his knees. I felt great. But... there was no begging.

I walked up to him and kicked him in the face. I heard his nose break.

"Beg for your life," I demanded.

"Just kill me," the man responded.

How boring.

I looked down at the man who was taller than me with disgust on my face. There was still this feeling around him, it was disgusting, just plain disgusting.

I raised my foot over his head and stepped on it, crushing it beneath my dirty leather boot which I had found in one of the houses. Blood leaked out from beneath my foot.

I chuckled again.

"How week humans are..." I said.

But these were still only maggots.

Way to motivate someone Ira, good job with that.

For a moment I enjoyed the silence... or rather the sounds of nature, the wind and all.

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Today there were no voices, for some reason.