Strange, very strange.
The guards at the village entrance are nowhere to be seen.
There should have been two guards on duty. They were selected by Uncle Ron from the village’s young and strong individuals, underwent specialized training, and were equipped with homemade weapons and makeshift leather armor, constituting a formidable force. Even if they encountered regular soldiers from the Empire, they should have been able to put up a fight.
Where did they go?
The palpitations and unease intensify.
Theresa cautiously walks through the village and attempts to knock on the doors of the houses along the way.
However, either there is no one at home, and the doors are tightly closed, or the main doors have been forcibly destroyed, revealing chaotic interiors. On the walls, there are even dark red traces of a liquid that make the village girl feel uneasy.
But there is no sign of people.
Bandits, perhaps?
In the Forbidden Zone, bandits raiding villages for loot is a common occurrence. Although the security in the Nobos Iron-Blood Empire has improved compared to neighboring small countries, these incidents still persist.
The 27th village in White City, where Theresa resides, has experienced two similar situations since she can remember. However, since Uncle Ron, a retired high-level adventurer, settled here and trained a considerable village guard force, bandits haven’t visited the village again.
Moreover, those important figures from the Human United Kingdom have just passed by nearby. It’s unlikely that any bandit with a bit of sense would choose this moment to attack.
So, what could it be?
Although most of the villagers have gone to work in the fields, about one-third of the elderly, children, and village guards remain here—easily over a hundred people. Where could they have gone?
Theresa doesn’t head in the direction of her home. Instead, she decides to go directly to the village chief, the most powerful figure in the village. The former legendary adventurer, Uncle Ron, lives next door.
Despite injuries to his right eye and some inconvenience in his left hand, Theresa has witnessed Uncle Ron effortlessly take down four or five young village guards attacking him within seconds.
Finding him should ensure safety.
White City’s 27th village is not large, with approximately a hundred households, and the homes of the village chief and Uncle Ron are centrally located.
The road remains eerily quiet, and the occasional unidentified drag marks on the ground compel Theresa to quicken her pace.
Running at full speed, she arrives in less than three minutes.
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Uncle Ron’s house is closed. He is one of the few pure-blood humans in the village, nearly fifty years old. Although he has a laid-back personality, tends to sleep until almost noon, and enjoys teasing girls with strange remarks, he is, in fact, a reliable and gentle person.
“Uncle Ron! Don’t sleep, something’s wrong!!”
Frantically pounding on the door several times, there is no response from inside. Just as Theresa is about to take some forceful measures to wake up this usually lazy captain of the guard, the door suddenly opens.
It explodes open.
“Yiya!”
A sudden burst of force sends the girl standing outside flying backward, crashing heavily into a small tree in the courtyard before coming to a stop.
“Pain, pain, pain... What happened...”
Theresa winces in pain, with sharp wood fragments embedded in her arms and thighs. Fortunately, she instinctively used her hands to protect her torso, preventing any damage to vital organs. This was a technique Uncle Ron taught her in a rare opportunity.
Although her entire body aches, and her head feels a bit dizzy from the impact, Theresa is clearly not concerned about these now. She unsteadily leans against the tree trunk, looking ahead.
“Ah... ahh...”
A mournful cry escapes the village girl’s lips.
In front of her unfolds a scene worthy of being called despair.
A terrifying monster, standing over two meters tall, covered in black carapace with eight eerie compound eyes on its face, is slowly approaching her, treading over the shattered door from Uncle Ron’s house.
Monsters like magical beasts are not unfamiliar to Theresa. She has encountered mostly docile creatures during her travels, some even timid beings. She has even had the thrilling experience of peeking at adventurers from White City battling ferocious local monsters from a distance.
However, Theresa can guarantee that she has never seen anything as malevolent, chilling, and terrifying as this creature.
Compared to it, even the so-called savage beasts that occasionally descend from the mountains to attack travelers and villages seem cute and docile.
This creature looks like an upright beetle, its split, semi-circular shell resembling wings. It sports two antennae on top of its head with unclear purposes. If that were the extent of it, Theresa might have found it within the realm of acceptance.
However, the problem lies in the fact that this beetle is covered in spikes of various lengths all over its body. Apart from the sharp head with compound eyes, it’s as if it’s clad in armor adorned with thorns, ready to puncture anything it comes into contact with.
The evidence lies in the dark red liquid resembling blood that lingers on most of those spikes.
What truly shatters Theresa into despair is one of the six robust arms of the monstrous insect, adorned with menacing spikes, gripping a person-shaped corpse that is already shattered and difficult to identify.
Though the face is unclear, the blood-stained emblem of the village guard captain on the cuff, along with certain details and the location where the monster emerges, make Theresa associate the identity.
“Ro... Ron Uncle... How could this...”
That sword, rumored to be crafted by a master, close to a legendary magical weapon, often boasted by Ron, a cherished possession, is half embedded in the insect’s chest through the cracks in its carapace. The other half is securely held in Ron’s hand, long dead and stiff.
However, this kind of severe, even fatal injury for normal creatures seems to have no effect on the monstrous insect. Its eight compound eyes arranged in four rows from top to bottom rotate simultaneously, seemingly fixating on Theresa, who is petrified with fear.
Then, the creature’s abdomen suddenly splits open into a huge mouth about half the size of a person, swallowing Ron’s corpse along with the broken sword, forcibly devouring them.
“Ahhhhhh!!!”
Theresa collapses.
Witnessing this scene, even in her ignorance, she can’t help but understand where all the missing villagers and guards have gone.
They have all been eaten by this monster!
Theresa desperately tries to move her uncontrollably trembling legs, stumbling in an attempt to escape. However, overwhelmed by fear and hindered by the earlier injuries, she stumbles and falls to the ground after just a few steps.
The monstrous insect, astonishingly swift, unfolds wings behind it like a true flying insect, unhesitatingly swooping down from the air towards Theresa!
“Yi!!”
At a critical moment of life and death, the inexperienced and unwillful village girl could only cower like an ostrich, huddling and deceiving herself by holding her head, waiting for death to approach.
However, the anticipated intense pain and darkness did not arrive on schedule.
A loud “bang” echoed in her ears, and the overwhelming discomfort brought by the tree spirit’s bloodline, almost suffocating due to the impending death, gradually dissipated.
“W-What happened...?”
Theresa lifted her head in confusion, only to see two white-haired girls behind her, unfolding snow-white wings. They were engaged in a fierce aerial battle with a strange insect, one wielding a long spear and the other a staff.
The speed and power surpassed Theresa’s understanding completely.
She had encountered adventurers and monsters before, observed the interactions during training, but compared to the ongoing battle, those seemed like children playing house.
At that moment, someone patted the village girl on the shoulder from behind.
Simultaneously, a melodious voice, akin to celestial music, resounded.
“Are you alright? Do you need some healing?”