People feared me, and then they wanted to off me. I butchered her enemy, but she feared me.
My eyes quickly darted onto the leader. When his eyes saw mine, he quickly avoided eye contact, too. He adopted a sullen look and forced a burst of irritated laughter out.
Monsters turned to me with shock. They were most likely confused. It was too late to have any regrets.
I smirked at them. My smirk made it clear. I'm the real monster here. The only.
"Such a let-down," I said, dusting off my pants, also wiping the blood off my hands. My audience didn't smirk. Not this audience, at the very least. "In case it's not clear, I'm the big shot here. Get it? …Time to clean off more than blood, now. Right, monsters?"
At times like this, I took pride in being the Monster.
I scowled at them. Putting as much hatred, contempt, enmity, and abhorrence in my face as I could. My eyes were icy cold.
And so far, I didn't hide my monster-like aura from them. Well, my humans also got a taste of my grim aura, I'm afraid. They're barely experienced as mana-users, so they won't recognize me as a monster.
As it flowed and slipped out of me, I let it go out. It was intimidating and sowing fear into each of these monsters' hearts. Now, I took it upon myself to keep my fierce and unsettling magical aura within myself. Not out.
As I did that, all warriors proceeded toward me. As a group. As a strong, unified, and powerful team. That was the way to go. To greet the boss, they all came at me together.
I stepped up. I sharpened myself. I cleared my mind of everything. I was a weapon. A knife, a dagger, a sword, a spear, a bow, an arrow… everything. Using <Slash>, I mounted the insurmountable wall my enemies formed.
I killed the second hobgoblin like I did the first, spilling more blood. Surprised, my kill groaned. Drowning in his own blood, he sank down after I jumped on the third's shoulders.
I was simply too was for their eyes to see me. But by now, they would at least put up a little fight. The effect of surprise faded away. They got reactive and responsive. Not before I sliced that other one's throat, too, however.
The hobgobs' disbanded. Three left.
<Claws> Active Skill – No Elemental Attributes; MP Consumption: 30; Melee attack is increased by 125; Allows the Positive Effect 'Sharp Claws Attack Power' to take place. Said Positive Effect allows one's nails to turn into beast-like, sharp claws for the time of an attack. ?
I went straight for the closest one again. The monster tried to protect himself with his arms before he could swing his rusty war ax at me. Using the very simple "Claws" again, I made it clear I wasn't to be messed up with.
Going in full force, I cut off the hobgoblin's wrist, climbed up his bulk, and stabbed the green monster's chest. He was done.
The other two I killed as quickly.
Turning my attention to the lesser goblins, the group of tiny hideous creatures promptly decided to run for it. I was proud they made the right decision… but that wouldn't happen. I butchered them fairly quickly.
Blood painted my clothes and hands. A listless, passive expression adorned my face. I felt calm. Oh-so-calm. The last goblin I killed understood where I came from. Fear had now completely switched sides. It was only a matter of time before it did.
"Life… in its purest form, eh?"
The fight was over. Then it happened. The real fight hanging over us all began. Drama. To the adventurers, was I some kind of chivalrous savior who rescued them from imminent death? Was I rather a plain messed-up kid soaked in monsters' blood? Calmly yet violently standing above the pile of goblins I slayed?
The damage dealer's life wasn't on the line anymore. The sorceress came to her senses. My other "friends" were perfectly awake, too. All stared at me with either blank or fearful expressions. They were lost.
Confused, too. And fearful.
"...Well," I sighed. "Now, I think you understand, at least." I tried to smile at them, but I couldn't. "Your lives are worth more than that… don't you think?"
I dismounted from my pile of dead enemies, gave them a thumbs-up, and struck a superhero pose. My face was still listless.
"It's all right."
The battle was over. So I visited my friends, now. Walking to them, then among them.
Passing by the priestess, she still trembled a little. The damage dealer sat up when I walked past him, with respect. I told these two that everything was all right, that they fought well, and that I was glad to see the wound everyone thought deadly was successfully healed, in the end.
"Mm…yeah…"
I turned to the priestess, gave her a head pat, and congratulated her, too.
"Thanks, Aoi…"
I didn't want to be a monster around my "friends." So, to fit in, I tried to cheer up my troops. I hoped it worked at least a little. Turning to the tank, I told him he was a hero. Without his courage, his friend would have most likely died. "The damage dealer's an important asset, and you might've saved his life. You've done great." His leader had to be proud of him. "More importantly, your back all right?"
Hesitatingly, the chubby tank nodded again. I let him know he had better tell his teammates if he wasn't all right, though. "You mustn't tough it up now that the fight's over. If you need healing—"
"I-I do…"
"Good."
I surprised everyone and applied a healing spell to the tank.
"A-Aoi!? How!?"
"I just… learned it from you."
The skill was Active Skill: "Slow Heal." It was basically the low-level healing spell I learned from the priestess after seeing the skill be cast so many times. It wasn't like I could instantly copy any skill I saw as easily. I gave it a lot of time, the day before. If I wanted to instantly copy any ability, I still had the "Dwelling" Unique Skill anyway.
After I learned <Blade Shield> from the freak friend I made, I figured I could try and learn a healing spell from her. That was only a low-level healing, though.
This wouldn't be enough to perfectly heal the man, obviously. I barely mastered the skill. I knew the healer of the party was in no condition to help him any better than I could, however. So that was better than nothing.
"You." I faced the sorceress, now. "Do better, next time." I wasn't pissed at her; quite the contrary. Really, if it were just her and me, I would have congratulated her for making the right decision. But I figured people wouldn't be okay with that. Hell, even the sorceress might have told me that there was something wrong with me if I believed it was normal to abandon your friends, insisting I had to blame her. So I said what I said.
Before I gently pat the tank's shoulders in support, I stood back up and looked at the sorceress.
Keeping her gaze down, she silently nodded.
And then there was Leader. The party leader. Left alone, to the side, his forehead still dripping with blood, looking down at his hands, his back shoved into the tree behind him.
To him, there was nothing I knew to say. He had messed up, too, but worse. He was the man in charge here. His friends trusted him with their lives, and he failed them. And all of what happened, it was his fault.
He was a victim too, but it was his fault still. And looking so lethargically apathetic and ashamed, he knew that himself. It was unfair, but his teammates had bet on him with their lives.
"Damn it!"
He suddenly snapped.
He who had seemed so weak, fragile, and dispirited, finally burst out. Coming off the tree, he leaned in and punched the earth with all his might. One hell of an angry fist roared into the ground.
Thump.
"…Damn it!"
And he punched again.
"Damn it!"
He punched the earth several times.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!... damn it all!"
The man huffed. His shoulders were heaving. Soon, he stopped cursing altogether. The wheezing sound that came from his lungs grew louder, and he coughed.
He was raging, and now he became one pathetic mess again.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel