The cause of today’s mess—yesterday’s mistake. Leaving the corpse of the dragon unattended.
Even though there was certainly nothing we could do about it at that point, I still left the corpse as it was and went to bed, which brought it to us in the middle of the night. I let it think that this was a good feeding ground which led to its return visit earlier today.
If we leave the shock bear’s body there, the same thing will happen again.
I wonder if I will be able to stay sane if a creature greater than this one appears to eat it…..I’m already afraid of being in that situation much more thinking whether I can win against it or not!
I leave the house from the gate and stand in front of the corpse. As I had predicted, the shock bear has split into shock and bear. In a pool of blood, the shock and bear are only barely connected to each other. It was so gruesome that I felt like I was going to throw up.
「Should I bury it in the ground or pour gasoline on it and burn it?」
I’m worried about the smell of blood. It’s likely to lure beasts.
Gasoline would give off a chemical smell. Would it be able to disperse wild beasts?
As I looked at the corpse, I had that thought in my mind, then, I noticed something odd.
「Areh? That’s……」
The crystal on its back was glowing dimly.
The body itself is not moving and there’s no way it’s still alive. However, the crystal is flickering dimly as if there’s an LED inside.
From the isekai stories I’ve read monsters have some kind of magic stones inside their bodies or something like that.
Could this be that thing?
「Get away from it!」
Thin but sharp—a woman’s voice, as beautiful as a clear glass, pulls me back to reality. The voice has a high sense of urgency.
「Get away from it!」
I jumped back in panic as I heard that again. My leaping power is a little strong so in an instant, I’m already inside the barrier.
「Blurry 苑 garden of 夢 and 兆 sign 呼 my call——」
TN: It’s a nonsense chant. It uses roman letters in Japanese so I did the opposite.
What reached my ear was an incomprehensible murmur.
The words sound like consonants and vowels are all over the place. It doesn’t make any sense at all.
The corpse of the shock bear, more specifically the crystal, emitted brighter light.
It glows dazzling red and makes a buzzing sound.
The next moment.
「……『Sand fog』!」
Boooommmmmm!
The woman shouts and at the same time, an eardrum shaking thunder resounds.
The crystal of the shock bear exploded as an oversized lightning.
The lightning, which seemed to be going in all directions, however, did not reach us.
A pale white fog enveloped the shock bear’s corpse just before it was released.
It’s like flickering in white, like a flash of lighting on the clouds.
For a good ten seconds, the electric shock continued to smolder in the fog and then, the sound stopped, and the fog dissipated—like a magic trick, everything’s gone.
Not even the corpse of the shock bear is left, let alone the crystal. There’s no trace of them.
「That was close」
A lone figure steps from the shadows of the forest.
「After a mutant dies, it releases its attributes from the crucible crystal in its body. It swells to feed on the corpse and then explodes, destroying everything around.」
She’s very beautiful.
I have never seen anyone like her on Earth—even on TV.
She is probably as old as me or slightly older.
She has neat eyes and a nose which is neither western nor oriental as if she’s been created to transcend race. It is as if she is the epitome of perfection.
Her golden hair was pale, reminiscent of sweet honey.
Her slender body was perfect, as perfect as her face, and she was just gracefully standing there.
The clothes she’s wearing are dirty here and there and she’s breathing heavily. Even her cheeks were covered in dirt. It is as if she had been running through the forest for a long time.
But even so, her beauty did not waver in the slightest.
This person—the girl walks up to me.
She easily passed through the barrier and the gate and walked to the courtyard of the house.
Two meters, one meter, fifty centimeters—
Her hands grab my cheeks and pat them.
I feel a chill as if she’s checking the shape of my face.
「This face」
「Y-yeah?」
「……Sui. Sui Hatano. Aren’t you?」
「Y-yes……」
Right, my name is indeed Hatano Sui.
However, how did this beautiful woman come to know me?
She stared at me and I looked back into her eyes, unable to remove my gaze.
Clear green. Jade color. Jade—green(sui).
A girl with the same eye color as my name—
Just as I am about to ask her a question, her face comes closer.
「I’m glad you’re safe. I missed you,, Sui.」
「……hmmmm!?」
She—
Embraces me and puts her lips on mine.
Her soft arm wraps around my back, the softness of her lips that are kissing mine, the tenderness of her chests that are pressing against me, no, sorry, the softness and tenderness made my heart thump so hard to the point it hurts.
Karen.
The name vaguely appeared in my head.
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