8. Wolf and Mermaid (1)
The intruder was popped like a balloon.
The wolf monster had run into it so fast that its momentum had crushed it into thin scraps of wriggling flesh. I was reminded of Newton's laws, an object in motion… I don’t remember the rest, but you get the idea.
You would expect something moving that fast to generate wind or a shockwave, but other than Miss Irene being turned into roadkill, nothing really happened.
Perhaps it was because its speed was beyond fast. It had traveled across thousands of meters in a span of five seconds, after all.
“…insane.”
I had to tilt my head upwards to view the monster in its entirety.
An amalgamation of human corpses soaked in darkened blood. The surface of the beast was covered entirely with bulging eyes, hundreds of them, stitched together by their corners. Mimicking a mane, a row of arms flailed around on its back, and human breasts hung from its underbelly.
“Um.”
I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
All the monster girls I had met before, like the intruder and octopus girl, were relatively humanoid. Thus, communication was easy.
However…
A low hum came from the gigantic wolf creature, all of its eyes directed straight at me.
This one seemed a little harder to deal with.
“Hello?”
…
The moment I blinked.
My surroundings, which had been the empty streets of the city, became dark.
And when I opened my eyes…
“…What!?”
In what could only be described as a scene of true darkness, I found myself standing in front of a mountain of corpses.
The bodies of men and women, children and elderly alike, stacked on top of each other, one after the other. They resembled discarded and broken dolls that had been tossed into the trash, their limbs completely severed, leaving only torsos and heads attached. Their stomachs had been ripped open from within, and their teeth, tongues, ears, and eyes had been plucked out.
As I laid my eyes upon the brutality, a wave of coldness washed down my spine.
I am a modern man, born into a civilized world. The violence that had been forced upon me by the intruder was the first in a while.
"What is this... the mystery of the human body?"
I muttered underneath my breath, feeling the corners of my mouth turn upwards into an involuntary smile.
Screeching vultures circled high in the air, occasionally swooping in and tearing off scraps of human flesh.
Of course, only one question was pounding in my head.
What the fuck is happening?
I blinked once and now I was in a scenery reminiscent of biblical hell?
Once again, I felt as if I had been wronged by the world.
…
After a few moments.
I slowly raised my eyes and saw the most peculiar thing.
Suspended in the air above the corpses was a white-haired woman.
Thousands of steel chains wrapped around her broken body, each link gleaming with fresh blood as she hung from the iron gallows.
Thick, ugly scars criss crossed her limbs, and her hair was matted, plastering itself across the right side of her face.
It was as if a butterfly had been ensnared in a spider’s web.
Despite that, her face, whose sublime beauty could entrance anyone, slowly turned downwards to face me.
In her ruby eyes of red, a diabolical glint of cruelty flashed.
[You have encountered a new monster!]
Another monster girl. This one was a wolf-girl, probably, as seen in her animal characteristics like her ears and fluffy tail.
The longer I looked…My head was starting to hurt.
I felt liquid on my upper lip.
When I touched it with my hand, my fingers became smeared with crimson.
Ah.
My nose was bleeding.
[...]
[Your Existence is too weak to view further information.]
How helpful.
After a moment, the mysterious woman opened her mouth.
The two wolf ears on top of her head bounced slightly as she moved.
“Innocent soul.”
It was a strange and almost indescribable voice.
If I had to say, then it would be something along the lines of mechanical, but also sickly sweet. There was a bitter metallic edge, reminiscent of metal screeching against metal, and an undertone of something wet and gurgling.
"Let me help you.”
She parted her bloodied lips and spoke with surprising gentleness.
Her face showed no trace of pain or suffering despite her mutilated state. It was pure serenity.
I stumbled forward, my body moving on its own, as if possessed.
“Take care of her…”
Our fingers interlocked and I felt her blood, cold and thick, mix with mine.
“And I’ll take care of you.”
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t think.
It was as if I was a viewer watching my body move on its own. A surreal experience.
The only thing I could do was stare into her red eyes.
Her eyes, which blinked once.
And when she opened them…
“And then, when I turned around, she was behind the statue! Isn’t that crazy?”
“...woof.”
I walked into my apartment with a small puppy in my hands.
Before I entered my door, I looked around to see if the mysterious neighbor was still laying on the floor.
Best case scenario, she got up and went somewhere safe.
Worst case scenario…she’s dead.
“Oh, and there was this really strange woman too. I ended up kicking her, haha.”
“Woof.”
I went in, taking off my shoes while carefully holding the dog.
There’s nothing like finally going home, right? After a long day, it's time to relax a bit.
And.
You must be wondering why I have this new friend.
I held the puppy outwards, observing it with a soft smile on my face.
With fluffy gray fur and long limbs, it was a rather elegant looking member of the canine species. It looked a lot like a wolf, if you disregarded the fact that multiple eyes were scattered throughout the body.
Yes, it’s the gigantic monster that had squished Miss Irene.
After holding hands with that strange woman in that strange place, I suddenly found that the giant wolf had shrunk down considerably to its current size.
…Along with a message from the system.
[Quest Accepted!]
[Runaway Princess]
[You have been tasked with protecting the princess from harm!]
[However, you must be careful.]
[Multiple assassins and bounty hunters will attempt to eliminate you at all costs.]
[Reward: One month of total protection (If successful)]
It seemed this little one was actually a princess.
I pet its head, and its numerous eyes closed with a seemingly happy expression.
However, my thoughts were in a little bit of turmoil.
This quest is a death wish.
If accepted, it's quite literally an invitation to being executed.
Number one, I will most definitely be killed by the assassins, along with the dog.
Number two, the princess dog won’t be able to revert to its gigantic form for at least a month.
Number three… well, I don’t know. But you get the point.
In a normal circumstance, I would’ve rejected the quest in a heart beat.
Hell no!
I don’t want to die.
But…
The moment I had taken the white-haired woman’s hand, the quest had automatically been accepted.
In other words.
I’m fucked.
“Haahh…”
My left eye twitched slightly.
“What am I going do, little guy…”
“Yah! Yah! Yah!!”
“What…?”
For a moment, I thought the dog had somehow talked to me.
I pulled it directly in front of my ear, a bewildered expression on my face.
“...Did you just say something?”
Considering it’s not just a ordinary dog, perhaps it was in the realm of possibilities.
“Yah! Yah! YAHH!!!”
Okay, no.
I put the dog down.
The noise was coming from my bathroom.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“YAH!!!!’
Someone… was in my bathtub.
I took a single glance at the dog.
She had fallen asleep.
With a small sigh, I got up from my sofa and picked up the gun I had dropped in my first confrontation with Miss Irene. Fortunately, there were still four bullets left. Though, I wasn’t sure if they would even work considering the fact that the intruder had shrugged them off fairly casually.
I stepped closer to the door, gun in hand.
“Yah! Yah! Yah!”
…
It must be one of the assassins who’ve come to kill me and the dog.
What should I do.
Use my words?
Or try to kill them with a gun.
Hm.
There’s a saying that says that the scariest animal on Earth are humans. Perhaps now, its monsters. But either way, I think the opposite. ‘Animals’ I can converse with are what reassure me the most.
I can not trick a bear. If I encountered a wild warthog, the least a weakling like me could do was get killed.
But people.
People could be deceived.
“Hello, Miss Assassin.”
Inside the bathroom was a girl with a tank top.
She was splashing around in my bathtub, a carefree expression on her face.
“Oi!!!”
She turned towards me, her sparkling blue eyes catching my attention.
“I’m Usavich!!”
“Um… what?”
