One, two, three, four.......the number of corpses found kept increasing with every passing moment.

　The total number of "Grim Reaper's Scythe" is eleven. Three of them had escaped to the city ahead of the others, so there were only eight left. Half of them had already left this world.

　There were various ways to die.

　Some had lost half of their faces from a direct hit of the poisonous liquid.

　Some had been cut in half at the waist by claws or something.

　Some had their necks bent at impossible angles, spewing blood.

　One whose whole body was in a heap like a crushed frog.


　Perhaps the third had his neck snapped off by a powerful tail blow, and the fourth had been crushed to the ground by a huge, rock-like body.



　Whichever corpse they found, there were signs of decay hovering around them.

　At this point, it was almost certain that the enemy was a basilisk. From the state of the bodies, the attack must have happened shortly after we headed to Ishka.

　If I had taken a little more time to prepare for the retreat, I might have been attacked by a basilisk as well.



　Even as I was thinking about this, I found two more bodies.

　I wondered if the reason they were lying in a folded-up position was because they were defending their friends. More than half of their bodies had been dissolved by the poisonous liquid that was spat at them both.

　The puddle that was formed when the monster's venom and human flesh and blood melted together emitted a tremendous stench. The poisonous air that rose up stung my nose. Tears welled up in my eyes.


　I couldn't help but avoid the puddle and move on.

　And in less than a hundred paces, I saw a sight even more disastrous than the one I had just witnessed.



　-- it was, in a word, a sea of blood.



　The ground was gouged, the grass was torn to shreds, and the trees were snapped, as if to show that a fierce battle had taken place. And all of it was splattered with blood, blood, blood.

　How in the world could I spill blood like this? It was so bloody that such a question crossed my mind.

　There were many lumps of red and black flesh scattered in the sea of blood.

　The largest one was about the size of a human torso.

　With that in mind, I scrutinized my eyes and saw the blood- and mud-covered clothing that I recognized. I also remembered the iron equipment that the long, slender chunks of flesh scattered around them wore.

　Those are the end of the human being who was once called Pelly.


''You ... didn't make it in time.''


　Tsk, and a tongue lashing is leaked out.

　They decided that they couldn't escape any further, so they intercepted the basilisk here and were beaten back - or so it seems.

　At this rate, it is highly likely that the last one was also killed here.

　As I examined the surrounding flesh masses with that thought, I raised an eyebrow at the first one.

　It was covered in scales, because it wasn't human by any means.


'Are these the legs of a basilisk?　One, two, three........hmmm.


　Is it the result of Pelly's work?

　Perhaps the fact that this place has become so wild is the result of the raging basilisk that received a painful counterattack.

　Once again, I check the number of flesh.

　For two people killed, the number is small. Based on the size of the body, Pery is a definite, but the other one could have escaped - well, it's possible that he was eaten by the basilisk.


'I don't want to go back without results. Let's look around some more. Besides, the basilisk seems to be pretty badly wounded too. Leaving a wounded poisonous beast unattended, I just have a bad feeling about it.


　Basilisk riots. The monsters run away. Ishka is attacked.

　It would definitely be like this.

　Now that I think about it, we encountered a group of manticores in the forest a while back. They were probably driven out of their homes by a basilisk.

　If those kinds of magical beasts start appearing on the perimeter, I wouldn't be able to collect medicinal herbs in a hurry.



　As I was about to leave this place with that thought, the nearby bushes suddenly shook loudly with a rustle.

　I reflexively jumped away from the spot and held my black sword towards the bushes.

　There was no sign of a demon... but to be honest, his senses weren't working properly due to the overflowing smell of blood.

　I tensed at the thought that there was a basilisk left, but it was odd that it didn't appear at all.

　Judging from the appearance of the corpses up to this point, I think they are the type to consider humans as bait and come at you mercilessly.......



　As the strange state of attachment continues, I suddenly come across a possibility, and I carefully search through the bushes.

　There, I found the last of the "Scythe of Death" with a pale face, eyes closed, mouth covered, and body shaking with a rattling sound.



◆ ◆ ◆



　After that, I called the Indigo (Indigo) Winged Beast (Wyvern) back to the ground and put the survivors of The Scythe of the Death God on the saddle.

　However, I can only let one person ride it. I will remain in the forest. I'll tell the wyvern that he can rest after I get the survivor back to Ishqa.

　According to the survivor, Pery was the first one to be wounded in the fight against the attacking basilisk.

　Pery didn't use his men as bait to escape this far, but rather his subordinates were trying to escape the leader.

　The Grim Reaper's Scythe fought to protect the poisoned Pelly, but one by one, the demonic beasts killed him, and then he was finally cornered here.

　Prepared to go this far, Pelly hides his last surviving subordinate in the bushes and takes on the basilisk desperately - in exchange for three legs, he loses his life.

　Perhaps to relieve his wounded rage, the basilisk laid waste to the fallen Pery's body in a scattered manner. The devastation of this place is a remnant of that.

　And so, the basilisk that was about to eat Pelly - suddenly, as if it had noticed something, it stopped moving.

　It seems that the basilisk, which spat out the body of Pelly that he was holding in his mouth, ran off in the direction of the north without noticing - or, after noticing, ignoring the person who was hiding - without noticing.



　The survivor, who told me the sequence of events in a trembling voice, had his face crumpled with regret for leaving the Commander to die.

　I didn't say a word to him. What can you say to me, who I just met today? I'll leave the follow-up work to the XO.

　I decided to follow the basilisk that left for the north. I've decided to follow Basilisk, who is said to have left for the north, because the opportunity to defeat the serpent king is now.

　Besides, the "something" that attracted Basilisk's attention was bothering him.

　After seeing the wyvern flying off towards Ishka, I quickly turned on my heel and started running straight to the north.