Gently caressing the footprints with my fingertips, I checked the condition of the earth .
[By the looks of it...... Itâs already been a long time since these people passed through here . ]
If theyâre on the move, it doesnât seem like they would be around anymore huh .
I stand up .
[We should go . ]
[Yes . ]
We began advancing with caution .
Like that, we made our way through the dense bushes......
[......This . ]
Seras gasped .
There were several Golden-eyed monsters before our eyes .
There were around twenty of them...
And all of them were corpses .
Blood was splattered all around .
They were splashed on the trunks of trees and the grass . n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Fragments of flesh were also scattered about .
If this was a scene of a crime, it would have been quite a âgruesome sceneâ .
Kneeling down in front of the nearest corpse, I examined it .
I then raised my gaze and looked at the other corpses .
[What a surprise . ]
This isnât within the depths .
But even if it wasnât, the monsters in the Golden Demon Zone were feared in this continent .
Even so...
[Some of these monsters tried to get away . ]
There were signs that they had tried to escape .
A monster from the Golden Demon Zone had been frightened so much that it tried to flee .
The people responsible for this carnage, they were at leastââ
People that donât have any problem fighting against Golden-eyed monsters in the Demon Zone .
I can see it in the bodies and the conditions of the scene .
All in all, these monsters were killed without being able to fight back at all .
Moreoverââ they werenât overlooked .
Itâs not just one or two monsters that tried to escape .
Thereâs also one that had its defenseless back slashed......
They didnât overlook the monsters that tried to escape and went out of their way to chase them down and kill them .
[There are a lot of monsters that seem to have been slashed with swords...... From Serasâs eyes, how good are they?]
[They must have been quite experienced in the way of the sword . ]
Seras guessed without a second thought .
[Even more than you?]
[ââIâm not sure without seeing them myself . However, Iâm sure that their abilities arenât average . Most of all......]
[It doesnât seem like they were seriously fighting these monsters huh?]
[Yes . ]
[........................]
Who are they?
What the heck are these people doing here?
We followed more footprints .
Looking at the direction of the footprints...
For now, it seems that they were headed in the same direction weâre heading .
The corpses of monsters lying around became a familiar sight for us .
There were even some corpses that were being pecked by a bird .
Judging by the footprints, there must be at least eight of them .
Speaking of which......
I havenât encountered any monsters since I left that ruins where we interacted with Erikaâs familiar .
Were the monsters within this area hiding in fear of the people who did this?
[If they were on the opposing side, it may be quite troublesome . ]
[......The closest forces from here would be Mira and Urza but...]
Speaking of proximityââ the Faraway Country is also around this area .
The Magic Knights?
Or the Brilliant Squadron?
Or perhaps......
Thereâs another group around .
[Speaking of being curious, we still didnât receive any information at all......]
*rustle*
As we passed through the bushes, I stopped talking .
Serasâs eyes opened wide .
*Gulp*
And then, she gulped down .
[This isâââ-]
Different from a while ago...
Seras reacted differently than when she saw the group of Golden-eyed monsters .
This time, she could feel surprise from seeing something beyond her imagination .
[........................ . ]
Well, it canât be helped .
Corpse .
No matter who looks at it, it would be a corpse of âthatâ .
I look towards âthatâ .
With a slightly dry voiceââ Seras spoke out what âthatâ is .
[âââ-A Human-Faced . ]
Sogou Ayakaâs name has recently been spreading out in the public .
However, it was once thought that one would have to rely on the Goddess or on the âHumanityâs Strongestâ to defeat these vicious beings .
[..................... . . ]
I check the corpse and its surroundings again .
Judging from the traces I found, this Human-Facedâs opponent was a humanoid using a weapon .
It most probably doesnât seem like a fight between two Human-Faced .
Nevertheless .
This Human-Faced has been miserably torn to shreds......
I donât know how strong this Human-Faced was when it was alive butââ
[This Human-Faced tried to run away once . ]
That Human-Faced with someone holding strength that made it try to escape .
Speaking of the powerful people that I know of...
The Goddess .
The Heroes .
Alionâs Sixth Cavalry .
White Wolf Knight Commander, âThe Black Wolfâ .
The Mad Emperor .
Other than them, yes......
There are also some people we havenât heard anything yet .
I think I first heard of him from Eve?
Heâs apparently one of the powerful people .
However, there was very little information about him .
Eve, Seras, and even Erika donât know about him that much .
If I remember correctly, his name isââ
[It may have been that âHeroic Swordâ fellow huh . ]