“““―――”””
It was the fourth day.
Thanks to the combination of the forest environment and the fact that monsters parasitized by it were moving around, I could kill the Demon Race before they even spotted me, without needing to conceal myself.
However, if they managed to let out even a single shriek, it would become troublesome, or rather, it could expose my presence in the forest. So, I destroyed their vocal cords with a single blow and crushed their heads and hearts.
That made seventy-six of them.
Including yesterday, that was one hundred and twenty-three.
There were four High-rank Demons and eight Upper-rank Demons. As an invasion operation, it was quite a large scale, but I couldn’t understand why the Demons were moving around while hiding.
It was pointless to try and understand the thoughts of such trash Demons, but I couldn’t comprehend why they would gather such a large force and, despite being able to parasitize living beings regardless of their intelligence, they were still hiding even in the forest.
Well, it was pointless to think about it. I just needed to kill them all. Whether they hid, plotted, schemed, or caused absurd events, I just needed to crush them all head-on and kill them all.
“…Come to think of it, they’re not here.”
While crushing a Demon hiding in a nearby thicket, I suddenly realized that there were no human or Elf parasitic entities among those I had killed so far, and muttered to myself.
I had seen and dealt with monster parasitic entities, plant parasitic entities, and parasite parasitic entities, but I hadn’t seen any human or Elf parasitic entities, not even corpses.
I was asked to retrieve or confirm any undiscovered corpses if possible… but I haven’t seen any at all.
I had found and picked up their belongings.
Tags proving they were Adventurers, rings with jewels that they wore, and residence certificates with their blood seals officially issued by the state.
Items that no one but the owner would have were lying around without an owner, which was proof that the owners had come to this forest and died.
Yet, I hadn’t seen their corpses, nor had I seen them moving around as puppets after being parasitized. I couldn’t say I had covered the entire forest, but I had been running around a wide enough area that I should have found them.
There was a possibility that they had been killed and devoured. But it was strange that they would parasitize even weak animals and weakened monsters, yet they would kill humans and Elves without parasitizing them.
I thought it would be excellent for expanding parasitism by infiltrating them.
“Well, there are many questions… what do you guys think?”
I spoke to the Elves surrounding me in the trees. I didn’t say it out loud, and I didn’t feel like they were reading my thoughts, so I didn’t think they understood what I was talking about.
I had sensed their gazes, which were filled with hostility, since I killed the sixtieth Demon, and I thought I was being surrounded, so I had left them alone… but it seemed they had no intention of talking.
The response to my question was the firing of poison-laced arrows.
Judging by the smell, they were probably laced with poison that caused paralysis or weakness. It wouldn’t affect me even if I was doused with liters of it, so I could just take it.
Well, I couldn’t leave Ina alone, and I wanted to go kill the Demons rampaging in this forest.
“I’ll just give you a light tap, don’t die.”
I decided to make them lose consciousness.
I would hold back so I wouldn’t crush them, but if I hit them in the wrong place, they might die. Well, if that happened, it happened. They should just think it was a mistake to pick a fight with me.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
“Seven of them, all wielding poison bows, huh?”
“““ッッ!!!!”””
““““――――!!!!””””
“Don’t be surprised by something like this. Ah, you three over there, don’t be so hasty in aiming. It’s making me want to kill you.”
Three of them were aiming at my head out of impatience.
Four of them were frozen in surprise.
For now, I’ll deal with the three first.
“You’re all flustered. You can’t hit me with that.”
I caught all the arrows that came flying and dropped them on the ground. Then, I walked to the tree where the closest Elf was and kicked it down.
As the tree fell sideways, the Elf tried to jump to another spot, but I caught them and slammed them to the ground. Before they could catch their breath after hitting their back, I landed and stepped on their chest as they tried to get up.
“One down. Next is you.”
I left the Elf who had lost consciousness while coughing up blood and, while grabbing the second arrow that was fired since the start of the fight and crushing it, I turned to the one who was trying to escape and kicked them to the ground.
They rolled away, breaking their arm bone, and tried to pretend to be unconscious to escape, so I went over, grabbed their head, and slammed it into the ground with all my strength.
“That’s two. Can you stop being so predictable?”
While I was getting up from slamming their head, three arrows came flying, so I caught them all, crushed them, and threw them on the ground as I walked towards the direction they came from.
If I used a little force and went behind them, they would lose sight of me in that instant, break their aim, and expose an opening. So, I grabbed the back of the heads of the two who were on the same tree and slammed their foreheads together. They still didn’t lose consciousness, so I grabbed the chins of the two who were in a daze, shook them lightly, and then threw them towards the first two I had knocked down.
“That’s four. Well then, next is you.”
I pointed directly at where they were and slowly walked towards them without running. I caught and crushed every arrow that came flying as I approached. When I reached right below them, I jumped up and grabbed their face.
Then, I placed my palm slightly below their chest and pushed my hand in while crushing their chest bones. When they looked like they were about to cough up blood, I threw them to the ground.
Unfortunately, they still hadn’t lost consciousness, so I grabbed the back of their neck with pity and knocked them out with a chop, then dragged them to where the others were and cut off their consciousness.
“Two left, you’re first.”
I pointed at one of the two remaining Elves who were in a state of panic but not trying to escape. They turned their back and tried to run, so I scraped the soil at their feet and threw it at them.
Because it was mixed with stones and I had hardened it, the one who was hit fell like a shot bird, so I caught them.
They tried to break free with brute force, so I let go and, just before they fell, I grabbed their face and slowly applied pressure while placing my other hand on their stomach and shaking them.
They let out a sound like air escaping and lost consciousness. I threw the sixth one towards the pile and turned my attention to the last one who had escaped.
They had fallen from the tree in a pathetic manner and were desperately running on the ground towards the area where there were many Elves. I followed the last one’s presence and went in front of them.
I stood there waiting in a dignified manner, as if I wanted them to see me, and when they came running out of breath, I called out to them.
“You’re late. While I was waiting, I managed to crush another group of your acquaintances. It’s all because you were too slow.”
As I scattered the broken bows and arrows that the unconscious ones had dropped on the ground, I spoke to them. The last one collapsed with a look of despair.
They were out of breath, but they didn’t show any sign of moving again, so I approached them and swung my leg at their head, which was in an easy position to kick because they had collapsed.
Of course, if I hit them, their head would explode, so I stopped with plenty of room to spare. But they had lost consciousness with their mouth wide open, so I grabbed the back of their neck and threw them back to the top of the pile of Elves.
“If you don’t want to die, wake up quickly.”
I said that as the last thing and decided to go back to exterminating the Demons and monsters. With the relocation of the base, there wasn’t much time to spare, or rather, it was almost evening, so I would go back to the stone chamber while killing anything I found.
As for the Elves I had knocked out, well, if they could make poison, they could probably make the antidote. If they woke up and got treatment before being attacked and devoured by monsters, they would be able to survive in one piece.
If they didn’t wake up, then unfortunately, they would become monster food. If they were used as a medium for parasitism, that would be fine too. It would confirm that humanoid creatures could also become parasitic entities, and it would also give me confirmation that there were others.
“Well, if you had shown the intention to talk without attacking, I wouldn’t have done this. Remember that.”