“No way, what the hell did this crazy girl just say…!”
Was that jab about my mother being the corpse in the toilet so shocking?
Right after throwing her words back, the riffraff guy charged at me, throwing punches without a shred of conscience.
It was hilarious that he aimed for my gut instead of my head. Is it no fun if I smash his face in?
“Hey, you’ve got armor on.”
Even if I left him alone, it’d be obvious that he’d hit his own fist against my steel. But hey, there’s no reason for me to take those hits.
I twisted my waist and drew my sword while swinging it.
CRACK!
A lightning-fast strike. A gray flash sliced into his side, bursting out through the opposite shoulder.
Ribs, spine, collarbone—almost all the bones in his upper body shattered with a delightful crack.
“Ugh….”
Like a peninsula split in half at the DMZ, the top half of the riffraff man, frozen in his punching pose, turned a vivid red before falling apart.
THUD.
“U-uh…? Ugh?!”
Caught off guard, another riffraff guy who grabbed the dismembered upper body gaped in horror, uttering bizarre moans.
What’s with the surprise? Is this the first time he’s seen a person sliced in half? Guess he hasn’t met a beastfolk warrior before.
CRUNCH!
Seizing the opportunity, I stabbed the face of the guy who had swung his axe at me, piercing it cleanly.
“First time being punctured, huh?”
Guess he won’t need to go looking for holes in others; he’s got a proper one formed in his own face now.
“Ghh, cough, gghhhh….”
“What do they usually say at a time like this…? Pain is only temporary, and soon you’ll feel good again? How’s that working out for you?”
Looks like he’s already starting to feel good, quivering in a delightful fashion.
“…what a smell.”
I kicked the twitching corpse aside and swung my longsword to shake off the filth stuck to the blade.
Blood from the freshly splattered corpses of his former friends splattered all over the faces of the riffraff who had been knocked back.
“What the hell is this craziness…!”
“You damn it! Were you sent here to cause trouble?!”
Finally coming to their senses, the riffraff, stunned and realizing the chaos was too great, raised their weapons and shouted in unison.
“Oh, so you’re finally getting it?”
I chuckled and shrugged.
It was absurd seeing these guys clutching their shoddy weapons like drunken alcoholics who’d smashed their soju bottles.
“You bitch! Where the hell are you from?!”
Wondering if they’d ever heard of Earth, I thought, ah right, back then it was ‘where the hell’ instead of ‘where the girl.’
“Those Bagest beastmen? The Guild? Don’t tell me you’re from the Piacere Family!?”
“It’s a woman! She’s obviously one of those Maenades whores!”
As the riffraff approached me cautiously, they began chanting the names of the local organizations one by one.
The Piacere Family, the mafia ruling the pleasure district, and the largest crime organization in Pesengwigel.
The Maenades, a group of whores working under Piacere and running the brothels they ignore.
And the ruthless beastfolk association, Bagest, made up of half-beasts.
They were suspicious of every organization except their own—Abandon.
The guy who mentioned the Maenades even went as far as to call me a whore.
“Hmm, what’s the correct answer? Maybe they’re all wrong?”
Instead of giving them a straight answer, I laughed outright, then lunged at the guy who called me a whore.
With light steps, as if on a stroll.
But I was faster than they could react, and my follow-up strike easily deflected the axe swung by the guy who had just shouted.
CLANG!
“Wha…?!”
“Sorry, you’re wrong.”
Staring at me with a dumbfounded face, the guy missed his axe, and I caught it with my left hand and brought it down.
THUD! The sound of a burst echoed as the guy’s skull split like firewood, and he fell, eyes wide.
“Next….”
I sidestepped to avoid touching the filthy corpse and took a quick glance at the remaining riffraff.
“Wood! This crazy girl is—”
“Ah, so your name is Wood? No wonder the axe fit so well.”
How does a person get named Wood?
And the weapon he carried was an axe, seriously, did he have a destiny to become firewood from the start?
I just might’ve expedited that destiny a little.
“Eeeek…! It’s just a woman! A handful of us can just grab her—no, just chop her up!”
As someone shouted that, the riffraff I’d been keeping at bay suddenly gained courage, charging at me in unison.
“Oh, so you’re finally coming at me.”
Should I commend their guts or call them morons for not grasping the situation?
“Hell! Just bring your buddies! Hurry!”
“Y-Yeah!”
The young man who nodded in agreement turned to run back.
Is he going to fetch more people? That’d be troublesome; that would make it too annoying to catch them all.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I threw the axe I used to split Wood at the back of the guy next to him with full force.
THUNK!
“Ack!”
The young man let out a quacking scream as he fell forward after being struck in the back by the axe.
It was just a small hand axe, but it looked like a wagon had hit him. He collapsed and squirmed a few times before going limp.
“This crazy girl is insane!”
“Die, die!”
The riffraff charging at me hurled petty curses while swinging whatever sad excuse for weapons they had.
WHOOSH!
A wooden club wrapped in metal chunks swung heavily toward me from the front. A middle-aged man brought it down. I raised my left arm to block like a shield.
CLANG!
“Wh-What!? Armor!?”
“…You just figured that out?”
Why the hell do they have eyes if they can’t see? With the way they’re performing, I’d propose they throw them away.
Pushing the halted club aside with my arm, I jabbed my left hand into his face. THUD! with the sound of flesh smacking as my two fingers sank deep inside.
“KYAAAAAH!”
Ah, the smell is unbearable.
Maybe due to his mouth being wide open, the stench intensified, becoming unbearable, so I kicked him away behind me.
BAM! He slammed against the alley wall, blood streaming from his eyes as his head hung down.
HAGH!
Meanwhile, another riffraff guy jabbed a short knife at me from the side.
Charging at someone with a dagger when they’re holding a longsword is like a madman’s move.
Does this beggar know what a street corner is?
If he did, he wouldn’t have come charging like this.
CRUNCH!
Before the dagger even touched my clothes, the guy’s head left his shoulders first.
“AAAAH!”
“Die! Just die already!”
More makeshift weapons came rushing at me.
Axes, swords, daggers, clubs, fists, and even rocks. Everything was coming at me from all directions.
‘What’s with the rock? Are you a monkey? Throwing it?’
It just made me want to laugh. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I danced around.
I sliced the hand axe right through its owner’s wrist, crushed the club with my left hand, and simply ignored the dagger, smashing the guy’s skull with the sword’s hilt.
“AGH!”
“Shut up.”
I stabbed both axes into the chest of a bald guy, pinning him to the wall.
In pain, he dropped the axes, twisting around helplessly. I kicked one of the axes toward the gangly riffraff charging at me.
THUD!
“KYAAAAH! My leg! My leg!”
The beggar lost his whole right leg and rolled around, clutching the severed end, screaming.
WHOOSH!
Intersecting with his scream came the sound of shattering as I swiftly turned and swung my left arm. The club aiming for my back shattered into pieces.
“Wh-What kind of strength…?!”
Quickly tossing the club, a muscular brute came in for a tackle.
Before he could grab me, I caught his head and pulled, smashing it into the wall where the bald guy had been pinned.
THUD!
“YEEEEEH!”
Since I eased off on the force while smashing him, only half of his face crumbled, and he was still alive.
Holding his head firmly against the wall, I dragged him sideways like I was mopping the floor.
The scream that escaped him was so brutal that even the hardened riffraff nearly crumbled and fell.
“Th-this mad—!”
Ah, brings back memories.
Back when I first got in, suffering from thugs turning on like crazy lower-class citizens; I used to do this often.
Anything, once it’s passed, turns into a memory, right?
At the time, it was truly hell, but reflecting back now, it was a fulfilling period in its own way.
Not that I miss it, though.
I dropped the head that had its face entirely stripped to just the scalp, ending the still-twitching bald guy quickly.
About fourteen of them down, maybe?
The once dark, foul alley had transformed into a hellish scene that I might start to miss its stench.
Like a cheap splatter film, blood dripped down the walls, painted all over.
Entrails hung from the broken wall like Christmas decorations.
Crushed flesh and popped eyeballs floated in a sea of blood, and severed bits and limbs lay scattered everywhere.
…It truly made me nostalgic.
I laughed softly at the sight that was so familiar I felt warm seeing it.
Looking down at the three trembling beggars who couldn’t meet my eyes, shaking like leaves.
“Three of you, huh? Just enough to kill. If there were four, I’d have to kill one more.”
I initially meant to leave just three alive; I had questions for them.
With one, you would never discover a lie. With two, you couldn’t tell which answer was the truth. So three was just right.
Isn’t that so?
“I wanted to ask you something, and now I feel like you’re ready to start answering?”
The three riffraff stared blankly at me as if they didn’t understand what I was saying but soon nodded frantically like crazies. They’d answer anything I asked.
Their sudden willingness to cooperate was quite pleasing.
Depending on their answers, maybe I’d consider sparing a few of them.
