Ominous Appearance

"Ugh…" Senna woke up with a crushing headache. It was so bad that he immediately wanted to puke.

"Sen bro. You're finally awake." Turning to the side of where he lay was Cybele sitting patiently waiting for him to wake up. "Goodness. I was so panicked seeing you collapse. Nobody was responding to me when I yelled at them about your condition."

'Yeah, all they see is you barking incessantly. Pretty everyone would just ignore you in that situation.'

Senna sat up with a groan. The headache he was having was similar to the one he felt just after he reincarnated. When he fought the Silverbacks.

"Ah, my mana must have gone in the red again…"

< Mana: 8/180 >

True enough, it was pretty much in critical condition. It seemed that the mana exhaustion was affected by the ratio percentage rather than the true value, as his initial capacity was a new 10.

"Dang it. That skill took that much mana? I thought it was just a simple horn blaring."

«The skill Horn Blast is an audiomancy that produces noise and vibration imbued with magical power. Since you used the last in maximum decibels, it took a lot of mana from your body.»

The system kindly explained it to him without any prompting. How helpful.

"Bel, where the hell am I?" Senna asked the dog. "I thought we were still fighting a freakish rhino when I passed out?"

"The monsters are retreating Sen. Probably because of your power. It was painful for my superb ears, just so you know!" Cybele tapped the floor with her paw. "This here is the village hall, I think they called it? That man with the axe carried you here."

Senna nodded with understanding. He stood up and left the bare room he was currently in. Peeking outside the door, he saw the villagers moving to and fro the building. Some of them still had grim faces, but a few seemed to be brightening up.

Since the monster attacks were letting up, they must have felt that they still had a chance.

"Oh, you're finally awake."

"Hmm?" Facing the source of the voice that called him, Senna saw Brad approaching. "Brad, thanks for bringing me here."

"Huh? How do you know it was me? I thought you fainted?"

"Oh, uh… I asked one of the villagers." Senna quickly covered the slip-up. There was no way he could say it was a Siberian Husky that told him.

"Really? Well, whatever. I'm pretty sure it was because of you that the monsters are backing away. I think you just saved all of our lives here man." Brad slapped his shoulder with gusto, the force worsening the migraine he was feeling in his head.

"Guh… N-No problem." Senna backed away since he felt the axeman was about to go into a slapping frenzy. "So are you saying we are saved?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure. I don't know whether they are coming back or leaving for good. This has been the first attack since the founding of Randel, you know?"

Brad explained that while small incursions of wild beasts were common, no deliberate assault by the monsters had ever happened. That was why the village had fences, but no real fortification.

"We don't know what will happen next, either."

As they talked amidst the throngs of villagers, a shriek echoed throughout the hall.

"NO!! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"

The two men shared a glance. Without any words, they ran to the source. The headache didn't seem to be receding anytime soon, but Senna couldn't care less about it at the moment.

The voice came from the back of the building. It was a spacious room with a purpose that was unknown to the modern man, but asking questions could be saved for later.

On the floor were dozens of bodies covered with shrouds.

'…The casualties.' Senna immediately deduced what they were.

Among those, near the middle of the room was Ran, the receptionist he brought with him. She was kneeling and grasping the body in front of her. The shroud covering its face was peeled back, revealing a kind-faced older woman.

She looked like Ran if she was older.

"Ah…"

"…So she finally found her."

Her sobs echoed through the expansive room, permeating it with her sorrow.

"Besides her mother is her father. The elder told me their fate earlier. You know, when we arrived here she said she wanted to check your condition first." Brad leaned to the wall, crossing his muscular arms. "Guess that's why it took her pretty long. Amazing girl, she is."

"…I see." The nearly inaudible whisper left Senna's mouth.

'This is… my fault?' The question repeatedly surfaced in his mind ever since he arrived in Randel. It was unknown just how much Senna could bear the guilt.

He clenched his fists. Wasn't he brought here as a hero? What happened with saving the world from a crisis?

It only took 1 day for his presence to cause a tragedy.

"I…" Senna wanted to walk to Ran. He wanted to confess to her his guilt, begging her for an apology. But his feet wouldn't move.

So far, no one had known of his involvement with the fire. All except one dog who nobody could understand except him. The selfish ego deep inside prevented Senna from throwing that fortune away. It wouldn't let him unmask himself as the cause to be blamed.

The miserable figure of the receptionist girl cradling the lifeless body of her mother burned itself Senna's eyes. It was a sight that would haunt him for long in the future.

"Emergency! Brad, come to the front! The monsters are back!"

A messenger ran through the corridors and pulled on his arms without any permission. "Easy there! No need to pull me, I'll go!"

"…I'll come too."

The messenger didn't seem to care about his presence. Or rather, he was too frantic to register him at all.

The three men and one dog ran into the front yard where earlier was the site of a desperate siege mounted by Red-Eyed monitor lizards. They had retreated due to Senna's Horn Blast, but it was apparent now that it wasn't for good.

"The pack is back…"

"I-Is that someone standing in the middle of them?"

Brad had noticed it first. In the midst of those Komodo dragons lookalike was a humanoid figure.

It was feminine. She had darkish brown long hair like the color of mud. Her garment was rather strange, it looked like armor made with scales from reptilian creatures. Golden spots decorated its surface, giving it a luster of dirty radiance.

From this distance, her face wasn't clear, but the men saw clearly the horns jutting out of her forehead. And also, the tail coming out from her rear.

She wasn't an ordinary human, at the very least.