Chapter 15: The Forest and Demihumans

"Mc pov"

On our way, we came across some monsters that were instantly dealt with by Hajime's guns or got smashed in the wall by my shockwaves.

Shea has an awe-look seeing me and Hajime one-shoting any monster we come across. In a few minutes, we came across a place invested with Monster and some of the rabbit-eared demihuman running, "I guess we reached our target".

"Oh no… please help them", Shea panickingly said.

Roar, roar.

"What are those flying monsters" I muttered. 

Shea answered, "They are Hyeria they come in flocks and hunt their prey".

"I see" I mutter saying that I pulled out a gun similar to Hajimes, and then simultaneously we shoot at those Hyeria.

==IMG==

DOPANn!!DOPANn!!

Bang!! Bang!!

In a few seconds, we took half of them down. All the rabbit men were looking at us like we were some kind of Messiah, I just ignored them and killed those monsters. It took about a few more minutes to take all the Hyeria down.

Then I asked Shea to gather all the tribe members in one place. After everyone was gathered, I cast my new magic <Healing Domain> It is a magic spell I made combining hallowed ground, barrier and healing magic.

Shea then introduced us to her tribe. Shea's father Kam thanked us, but before he could speak anything more Hajime got straight to the point. "Where are the imperial troops."

Kam then informed us, "They are at the very entrance of this canyon".

I asked, "Why are you guys trusting us so much, we just met."

"We trust Shea and she trusts you that is enough for us", Kam said with a smile.

"Alright let's get out of this place before monsters gather here again", Hajime ordered. Kam gathered all of his tribe and we headed towards the entrance.

Hajime and I walked side by side towards the imperial soldiers who were standing a few meters ahead of us with a few horses with carriages. 

Observing the expression on their faces I already have a guess on how it's going to end. With a sigh, I pulled out a white mask and wore it on my face.

==IMG==

Seeing me wearing a 'Noh' mask Hajime looked at me questioningly but he didn't voice it.

"..."

Soldier A, "Oy, oy seriously. They are still alive."

Soldier B, "The fuck is wrong with those kids, grouping around those rabbits."

Soldier captain, "Aha.. maybe they are slave traders?" Saying that to his men he stood before us and said, "Thanks for leading those goods out of the canyon. We will be taking them from your hands."

"We refuse.", I said with a solemn voice.

Captain had a baffled look on his face he thought he had heard wrong. So, he asked in a threatening tone, "the fuck you said kid, do you have any idea who we are."

"We do not care who you are or where you came from, get out of our way or suffer the consequences," I said in an emotionless tone.

Unfortunately, the captain didn't understand his situation. He started to blatantly threaten us saying he would kill us and rape the girls behind us.

The more I heard him the calmer I got. I had a lingering denial towards killing, even though I had prepared myself to kill. [I have to change that.]

So, I asked Hajime, "Mind if I dealt with this prick," hearing the blatant dismissal from me, the captain pulled out his sword and swung it towards my head. But his sword never reached me. There was only a clattering sound of a sword falling on the ground.

Captain was confused, he just swung his sword but why didn't anything happen to the kid? He only heard a clattering of the sword. He noticed his hand up to his shoulder was gone, where did it go, what happened?

Then he noticed that the kid with the weird mask suddenly had a long curved sword. Where did it come from? And why is the other white hair kid looking at me like that? It was the same look that he gave to Demihumans whenever he killed them, and that's the last thing he saw before complete darkness.

Hajime watches this without flinching. He then looked towards the remaining soldiers who were preparing to attack them, before they started chanting magic, Hajime threw a grenade at them.

Booom!

With that explosion more than half of the soldiers were dead. The soldiers who survived the explosion were dealt immediately with Hajime's guns.

DOPANn!!DOPANn!!

Shea seeing us killing so gruesomely flinched in horror. She never thought it would be this gruesome.

Hajime deliberately left one alive for questioning. I put my blade on the survivor's neck and asked "Where are the other rabbit men you captured." In terror soldier spilt everything he knew "Th… they were sent to the capital, it too late for them".

"I see, so you are then useless to us."

The soldier realised he was going to die. Just when he was about to speak "p ple," I used <Flashing Strike> and slashed him to bits. I left nothing of him not even a single blood spill left.

Shea Flinchingly said, "It would have been fine if you let that one go." I didn't say anything, I just stared at my reflection in my blade.

Hajime replied to Shea, "Sheathing your blade because your opponent foolishly picked a fight with someone stronger and should be forgiven for it? That's too good to be true."

Hajime came close to me and put a hand on my shoulder "Don't think too much about them. They were enemies and scum, don't waste your breath on them."

I put my mask back in my <Item Box>. Then replied with an imperceptible smile, "Thanks for consoling me. I feel better now, and here I thought, I would be the one to console you but it was I who needed consoling," hearing me Hajime snorted.

Kam then apologises, "We are sorry, even though you protected us. We were taken by surprise by this sudden killing, we weren't familiar with this kind of conflict. It's not our intention to resent you."

I replied to Kam "No it's okay, anyway let's hurry up and go to the forest."

We took the horses and carriages of those soldiers. All the rabbit men were sitting on the carriage behind us. We were matching our bike speed to the carriages, so it was a slow journey to the forest.

In the meantime, Shea asked us about our past. So, to pass the time we told Shea about our adventures in Orcus labyrinth.

"..."

"Waaa sob, sob, it must have been painful. I considered myself blessed if I compared it to you guys' situation," Shea was crying after we told her about our story.

Hajime said," You don't need to feel sad for me, it's because of that fall I was able to meet, Yue. If I have to make a choice again between jumping and not jumping, I will jump every time in a heartbeat without a second thought," Hearing that Yue blushed and the pink atmosphere came again.

Watching the pink atmosphere between Hajime and Yue. Shea asked me "Are they always like that".

I hummed in confirmation, "That and more it's good that they were on the bike, if it was a hotel they would have started doing the act about now" I said with a dry voice. Shea blushed imagining things.

"What about you? What were you doing when you were trapped in the Labyrinth" Shea looked at me curiously.

"Well, most of the time I trained and killed monsters then searched for Hajime. After that, as he said because of the huge explosion I found him on the 100th floor."

Shea pondered for a while then she spoke out," I have decided that I Shea Haulia will assist you on your journey!! We four are the same kind. No, we are partners! Let's overcome our suffering together!"

"..."

Hearing the declaration Hajime and I did not say anything knowing that the decision was not up to her. But Yue made her displeasure known, "Just what is the one being protected talking about? What a cheeky rabbit, and are you planning on leaving your clan after you have guaranteed their safety? Our goal is to conquer the seven great labyrinths. If you even try to get inside those places with your current power you will be instantly killed, it's impossible for you," Hearing an instant denial Shea was dejected.

Kam announced, "The forest is ahead of us. We are going to enter the deepest part of the forest and arrive at the base of the largest tree."

I Questioned, "I don't think the forest is the true labyrinth, is it?"

Kam nodded, "The forest isn't the true labyrinth, but there are strong monsters inside this forest. If it were the true labyrinth, I don't think we would have been able to live this long. From what I have heard from other chieftains in the deepest part of the forest lies a huge tree named 'Ua Alt'. I think that should be the place you guys are looking for".

After listening to Kam, I and Hajime looked at each other and nodded. Hajime spoke, "Take us there."

Kam asked "Before we went there could you erase your presence beyond this? We people are prey here. It will be troublesome if the Fabelgaen found us."

I nodded, "That's alright." Then I activated my skill <Presence Assimilation> which can completely erase my presence and my intent of any kind.

Hajime and Yue used their <Hide Presence> seeing us completely hiding our presence Haulia were looking at us with awe.

Kam with an awed look said, "Hajime dono, Yue dono, and Rihito dono also can hide their presence so masterfully. Even we rabbit men who are quite talented at hiding aren't you guys' match."

Hajime suddenly said sensing something, "No, looks like we don't need to hide anymore."

Kam was confused then he felt it "No way! Have we been discovered?"

"No, it was just bad luck, that they found us", I said with a sigh.

Then 2 burly tiger-looking beast men came out of the woods "Don't move.

Huh… why are humans here?"

"..."

"Chapter end"

(a/n: here is an early chapter for you guys)

"Please give me Powerstones. It will motivate me to upload more early chapters."