Ha!

　I - Sasaki Aya woke up.

'Huh?'
　Am I not dead?
　I'm going to look at my body.
　No major injuries.
　I have memories of being torn to pieces.

　I look around.
　This is the clearing behind my favorite waterfall.
　It's just outside where I live.

"Great Mother!　Guys!
　I ran off towards my residence.　
　It was a dream!　Everybody's alive!
　That's right!

　The large rock that guarded the entrance to the familiar abode had been broken from the inside.
　The inside of the cave, which was always crowded with people, was completely empty.

'Cold....'
　This isn't our usual haunt.
　It's the same as in the nightmare.
　That wasn't a dream....

Ugh, ugh, ugh...
　Tears well up in my eyes.
　The last scene of everyone's life is burned into my eyes and never leaves me.
　Those empty eyes.
　The bloody Great Mother.
　Why did they do that........

　The dwelling place of the Lamia tribe was enchanted to allow only the Lamia tribe to enter.
　So it was impossible for the enemy to enter.
　Unless someone betrays them.

　Big sister, no.
　That son of a b*tc*........
　Kyoudai, Great Mother, and my sisters........

　I don't know why, but I'm alive.
　Then I will avenge my enemies.
　Until then, I can't die.


　After that, I hunted and hunted and hunted and hunted and hunted and hunted and hunted and hunted and hunted and hunted.
　Especially the harpy.
　I tried to crush them thoroughly, hoping that someday that masterpiece would come out, but those guys run away to the sky, so they're hard to get a hold of.
　Lately, they've been running away when they see me.
　d*mn it!

　The place to sleep is an empty Lamia sleeping quarters.
　The door had been broken down, so I didn't know where else to go, though it wasn't as safe as before.

　I thought that maybe that traitorous guy would come back, but he didn't show up.
　I wonder where he went.
　Maybe he's dead in the wild somewhere, as I suspected.

　But if he's alive.
　I'll kill him.
　Killing that traitor and his harpy masters is all I want to do.
　But I'm not that strong.

　Isn't this what our Great Mother used to say?

If you want to be strong, eat a man. They have strong power, blessed by God. If you eat a human with high magic power, you will become strong. Just like me.

　I'm no match for the Harpy master now.
　I have to be stronger than that....
　I can't pick and choose my means.


　◇


　For a while, I continued to fight alone.

　One day.
　I heard a loud noise coming from the subterranean lake.
　In a panic, I jumped out of bed.
　I thought it was the enemy attacking me, but apparently that wasn't the case.

　The demons were swarming around something.
　Was that a human?
　You're the adventurers your sisters mentioned.

　There are two people.
　A woman with bright red hair and a man dressed in grayish clothing with black hair.
　The woman is probably a wizard, with a wand.
　The man is wearing light clothing and a dagger.
　He's a thief.

　The female wizard is full of magical power from her body.
　Has a strong life force.

(If I attack her will I become stronger if I eat her?　

　But first, there are these hateful harpies.
　I'll take care of them first!
　I observe the two of them as they kick the harpy around.

　In comparison, it's the female wizard who is by far the strongest.
　The male one only feels about as much life force as those goblins.
　At first, I thought so.
　But.

(No.......... It's the men who are the trouble.

　Surrounded by dozens of demons.
　The female wizard is chanting her magic in a desperate manner, screaming and running away from the great sea serpent and the threads of Arachne.

　On one hand, that guy with the dagger.

(Does that guy have eyes in the back?)

　Fend off a harpy that attacked from behind with minimal movement.
　Fleeing lightly from a large sea serpent that leaps out of the water.
　Cutting through the arachne's strings with a crisp, crisp slice.

　He doesn't seem to have much physical ability, but he defends all of his attacks as casually as if he were dancing.

(And what's with all that composure?)

　While exchanging lives just in time.
　Suddenly, in the small amount of time that there was no attack from the demons.
　He was scratching his cheek, purring.
　Oh dear, I'm in trouble," he said.

(The trouble is, that black haired guy.... Let's hunt him down.

　I concentrated harder.
　But still, that cheek scratching gesture.
　I remember seeing it somewhere, but I can't remember.

◇

　-A true perspective.

d*mn it, they're not diminishing.
"Meteorite drop!
　The magic released by Lucy generates a huge column of water.
　This is already the seventh magic shot.
　It engulfs several demons, but there are still a lot of them.

''Are you okay?　Lucy.
Yeah, I'm not quite ready for magic.
　As expected, you're a bottomless, king-class wizard.
　However, my concentration might be at its limit soon.

"Lucy, don't use magic for a while. I'll get around it.
Okay, okay....
　I hug Lucy's wobbly shoulders and look around.

　There are more than 50 demons surrounding us.
　Most of the demons are lower to middle class demons.
　There are two of them that we have to watch out for.

　One is a big crocodile-like demon.
　The Great King Crocodile (King Crocodile).
　I found information about this one in the guild.
　It seems to be the master of the subterranean lake.
　But it doesn't seem to be interested in us at the moment, attacking orcs and goblins.
　So I'm not that worried about it.

　The problem is, there's another one.
　One lamia, which I noticed was mixed in with this crowd, a lamia.

(Normally, I've heard that lamia act in packs...)

　This lamia is acting with only one of them.
　At first glance, it is fighting with the Harpy and Arachne, and doesn't seem to be interested in us.......　

(You're aiming at us.)

　I'm constantly getting alerts for my danger-sensing skills.

(And it's insanely strong. This guy.

　The Lamia are a middle class of demons.
　However, this guy crushed the orcs with a single blow and tore off the harpy's wings like paper.
　Or rather, the harpy saw this lamia figure and ran away.
　I was lucky in that respect, but that one lamia is more careful........

　It's been long enough since I used my spirit magic earlier.
　I'd like to use a big spell to scatter the demons around, but....

(I don't want to use magic under the circumstances that Lamia is after.)

　It creates an opening.
　It would be a distraction if I could.

"Lucy.
Huh, huh... what?
No, it's nothing.
　I was going to tell you to watch out for the lamia, but you don't seem to have the luxury of it.
　I'll take care of it.

　I dare to turn my back(...) to Lamia.
　Since I have a 360-degree view with my skills, I won't divert my attention away from Lamia in particular.

(I guess I'll take the invitation...)

　For a while, he avoids the attacks of the demons around him with his back to Lamia.
　He readies his dagger and waits for the moment.

(Here it comes!)

　All at once, Lamia is closing in on me from a distance.

(Quick!)

　He turned around and swung his dagger, but it cut the sky in vain.

''Water magic, ice needle!''　
　He unleashes his real-life eye-crushing magic.
　A needle of ice is born and fired in front of Lamia's eyes.

(Averted!)
　It's the first time I've been able to avoid this magic.

''d*mn it!''

　Okay, this isn't good.
　I've never been a fan of melee combat.　
　At close range, eye contact is made with Lamia.　

She's a beautiful monster.
　Feeling out of place, he reasserts his dagger to protect Lucy.
　However, it doesn't attack at all.　

　The demon looming in front of me, eyes wide open in surprise, said

Takatsuki-kun...?