“There was a similar white lump in 3 feet and fingers before. You can’t call it bones. Besides, the number of bones in the hands and feet was the same as the other guys.” (Hifumi)
“So, what about it!?” (Laboras)
“I’m investigating the cause for you guys gradually changing once you got old. You not interested in it? How you will die? To what manner of dying you will be exposed?” (Hifumi)
Hifumi points at the scattered corpses.
“It might be your fate to die like that if you throw yourself into combat. It’s like that for me, I guess. But, how about if it isn’t related to combat? If you were lucky enough to survive?” (Hifumi)
“We can return to the forest! We will become a part of the forest as people of the forest! It’s different from you humans!” (Laboras)
“Yea, true.” (Hifumi)
Hifumi discarded Laboras’s frantic objection indifferently.
“Rather than that, try looking at this.” (Hifumi)
Hifumi began to walk quickly and stopped next to a pool of blood which was located at the root of a tree.
Of course it was created by Hifumi diligently carrying over corpses.
“Do you see that only the part close to the trunk of the tree has become slightly white?” (Hifumi)
“White… what’s this?” (Laboras)
Once Hifumi stabs a tree branch he picked up into the blood pool and pulls it back up in front of the elf who is tilting his head to the side, the branch is entwined by white strings, similar to a spider web.
“At first I wondered whether it originally was a component that exists within the blood of you elves, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. The blood pool over there hasn’t changed, right?” (Hifumi)
As Hifumi says, an identical pool of blood had been created in vicinity while leaving some open space in-between. It’s a puddle giving off a dark red colour where one can’t see a change similar to turning white in particular.
As Hifumi prepared a controlled experiment in high spirits while recalling the scientific experiments at school so far, he nodded in satisfaction as he got the main gist of the situation.
“It’s nothing but a hypothesis.” (Hifumi)
The elves’ looks gathered on Hifumi who began to talk while giving such preface.
“One of the reasons is that after you entered the area of the elves the kinds of trees growing here and the atmosphere is unusual. But the cause is this tree which is composing the forest in the vicinity of the village, I guess.” (Hifumi)
Hifumi slaps the trunk of a large tree standing next to the pool of blood.
“I don’t know whether it’s from the trunk or the leaves, but if you accumulate components of this tree in your body, it will likely change your bodies’ composition to something similar to a tree by becoming solid within your body. I guess the flesh and blood which composed your body originally gets corroded by it.” (Hifumi)
Once he finished talking in a way of obviously persuading himself, Hifumi surveyed his surroundings by turning around.
“So, what do you think? Do you guys choose to die by turning into a tree? Will you end your lives and become mere lumps of meat just like these fellows by clashing with magic and drawing your weapons here? Or, will you run away from the curse of this tree before it’s too late?” (Hifumi)
No one is able to return an answer to Hifumi’s words.
Looking at each others’ faces, they are simply talking with each other noisily.
“You bastard are…” (Laboras)
Only Laboras trembles in fury due to his brethren being flustered by the words of the human who was to be their subjugation target, due to the cruel manner of his brethren’ deaths and due to Hifumi toying with their corpses.
“Do you intend to cover up your crimes by lining up incomprehensible theories!?” (Laboras)
“Are you unable to… no, unwilling to understand your mistake?” (Hifumi)
While giggling, Hifumi tossed away the branch he was holding.
“Don’t avert your eyes from death. It’s something everyone, without fail, will experience. There’s no need to be scared of it.” (Hifumi)
Drawing his katana, Hifumi takes one large breath.
“Hey, choose. Will you persist in your obstinacy to fight here? Will you calmly review your own circumstances?” (Hifumi)
Several elves quietly took a distance due to those words.
That matter is irritating Laboras as well.
“Don’t you weaklings have no pride as people of the forest!?” (Laboras)
“Don’t talk such rubbish.” (Hifumi)
Hifumi bluntly tells the enraged Laboras while baring his displeasure and composure.
“Pride or such is a dream bringing people close to death. Thanks to your guys’ stupid ‘law‘ the chance to face death was stolen from the elves.” (Hifumi)
Hifumi showed an expression of ecstasy while gazing at the charm of the hamon.
“Dying is something that completes one’s character. Did they follow their way of life? Or, was it filled with unhappiness? Was it an unnatural death in the middle of their aspirations or did they achieve something?” (Hifumi)
He calmly shifts his attention to Laboras who glares at him and puts strength into his muscled body which is unlike that of normal elves.
“Your desires, your objectives and your future comes to an end once you die. What’s left is a completed life. Being killed is something that completes that life.” (Hifumi)
“Therefore”, he prepares the katana by aiming at Laboras’ eyes.
“Let me bestow that end upon you, if you so desire.” (Hifumi)
“This human is…”
Half of the followers are gradually withdrawing while the other half is waiting for Laboras’s judgment.
Laboras who had the looks of his comrades gathered on him quietly took the knife at his waist into his hands.
Hifumi laughs.
☻
When Shiku observed the state of Zanga’s house from the shades of a tree, the two elves in front of the entrance stood there listlessly.
Shiku who moved his lips with a *monyumonyu* while lowering his eyebrows frantically performs a chant within his mouth.
“S-Sleep…” (Shiku)
His magic is at a level where Shiku might be able to barely use hypnotism magic. On top of requiring a chanting time to the degree of making an elf yawn, it hasn’t much of an effect on a completely awake opponent, however it will somehow work on opponents who are only standing around absent-mindedly.
“I-I did it.” (Shiku)
Confirming the two guards sliding down to the ground after leaning their backs against the wall, he quietly enters the building.
There he found the figures of the leader Zanga and Puuse sitting next to each other.
“Shiku? You were safe?” (Puuse)
“Puuse-neechan…” (Shiku)
Shiku who lost strength in his knees sits down weakly.
“Excuse me for telling Laboras about the human after he asked about it…” (Shiku)
Puuse snuggles up to Shiku who sheds large drops of tears in a rush.
“It’s alright. I healed the injuries by myself, okay?” (Puuse)
“B-But, I was told that Laboras will banish you, Puuse-neechan…” (Shiku)
Noticing Shiku who has a pale face quivering, Puuse comforted him by hugging him reassuringly.
However, her words aren’t coming out smoothly.
It’s because she’s truly scared of being banished.
“Shiku, do you know what that human is currently doing?” (Zanga)
“Yes…” (Shiku)
Shiku corrected his posture upon Zanga’s question.
“I don’t quite understand, but he spoke about comprehending the reason why elves get absorbed and arbour or something like that. However, many adults were killed…” (Shiku)
“Come again!?” (Zanga)
Zanga raised her voice which was unusual for her.
That gaze seems to be looking in the far distance.
“The things that human is pondering about is something I didn’t understand well either. Don’t tell me, it’s because of our conversation… So, did you hear that reason?” (Zanga)
“Umm, I don’t know whether it’s really true or not, but bad stuff is entering one’s body from the forest’s trees or something like that…” (Shiku)
The explanation of Shiku who honestly didn’t understand half of it either is ambiguous. Puuse who was listening next to him was only cocking her head in puzzlement, but Zanga was able to grasp it.
“I see. It’s because I lived for a long time.” (Zanga)
Zanga who laughs with a *hi hi* slowly speaks to Puuse and Shiku.
“You know, as child I was afraid of the forest. I practically never left the house.” (Zanga)
“The reason I heard is that you complied with the location which was decided in order to listen to the stories of many villagers at all times, but…” (Puuse)
“That is, well, an excuse in concern of my dignity. It’s story which was used to cover it up. In truth I had only become afraid of the forest.” (Zanga)
“In spite of being an elf”, she laughs at herself.
“Being afraid of the forest, you say. What’s this about?” (Shiku)
Zanga muttered a small 「Will they let me speak, I wonder?」 due to Shiku’s question.
“You guys also saw it in the forest, right? The manner of an elf’s death, that is.” (Zanga)
Once being told, Puuse recalled the elder elf who begged Hifumi to kill him and gulped.
For Shiku it was faint due to his half-awake state, but he has vague memories of it.
“Me too. When I was younger than Shiku is now, I saw it in the forest. The figure of an elder elf heading towards death. … And in addition to that it was my grandmother’s death.” (Zanga)
“Fuu~”, she exhaled.
“My grandmother, you know, told me that it was painful and agonizing and that she wanted me to give her relief, but… the me who was nothing more than a small child couldn’t do anything. In the end I ran away from grandmother while she continued to call my name.” (Zanga)
“And then it reached the point of even feeling disgust towards being an elf, unable to get rid of my dread of the forest”, she says.
“However, if what the human has said is really true, I will be saved a little bit as well. If it’s really because of the forest’s nature and not because I’m an elf…” (Zanga)
Breathing out once again, Zanga turned her look which was fixed on the fire towards Puuse and Shiku.
“I wish for that human to survive. I want to talk with him once more.” (Zanga)
Those were, in short, the same words as if desiring the death of her brethren.
Chapter 103 – Dare
“I want to ask you one thing.” (Laboras)
While grasping the haft of the knife tightly, Laboras asks without drawing the blade out.
“Why did you come to this forest?” (Laboras)
“I heard that the demon race is deep within this forest. I came to visit them.” (Hifumi)
“You plan to meet the demons, huh?” (Laboras)
“That’s what I said.” (Hifumi)
Hearing Hifumi’s reply, Laboras swiftly draws his knife.
“That means there’s even less reason to let you leave this place alive.” (Laboras)
While having a stance of aiming at the eyes with his katana, Hifumi doesn’t move.
“The demons are dangerous. I don’t know what you intend to do, but even though we are imprisoning them on behalf of this world, you are only bringing unnecessary turmoil.” (Laboras)
Laboras kept his left hand free to use magic while holding the knife in a backhand grip in his right hand.
The five elves who saw that change, similarly set up their bows and knives.
“Get out of my sight, you weakling who want to escape! The ones who are to stay here are only the elves who have the resolve to protect this forest and world.” (Laboras)
Having started to retreat bit-by-bit, the elves stopped their feet.
Hifumi is also waiting to see which choice they will make.
“For me… impossible.”
“For me as well.”
One after the other two elves ran away, however the remaining three elven youths readied their weapons.
“The actors have assembled. Let’s begin?” (Hifumi)
“Don’t talk such crap!” (Laboras)
The beginning was a magic attack by Laboras.
Several tens of fist-sized pellets which had sharpened points assault Hifumi in succession at a speed similar to a machine-gun.
Taking a stance with his legs in a L-shape, Hifumi evades those while using the katana as support to shift their trajectory.
Although Hifumi dashed forward swiftly and greeted with a thrust, Laboras roughly repelled it with his knife.
“Humph!” (Laboras)
Laboras drives his free left hand into Hifumi’s abdomen with the momentum of the swung knife.
Kicking the ground at the moment of being hit, Hifumi who became unsteady used the force of being struck to take some distance.
Once again they face each other at the same distance.
Due to the sudden close combat, the surrounding elves are unable to give cover or to do anything else. Even though they have readied their spells and arrows, they have no choice but to watch attentively.
“You are quick and you are even able to hit me, huh?” (Hifumi)
Hifumi fixed his stance once again.
The hit abdomen is painful to the extent that I can at least expect a bruise though it’s unlikely to have reached as far as my internal organs.
“An incompetent person who completely relies on magic isn’t fit to act as mediator between men. It seems that you avoided it skilfully just now, but next time that won’t work.” (Laboras)
Changing his hold of the knife to an overhand grip, Laboras takes a stance of curling up his back.
Holding out the knife he held in his right hand, his left hand supports in a style of enabling him to release magic at any time.
“It’s a different stance. However, it looks like you are familiar with it.” (Hifumi)
“Indeed. This is an elven technique we have fostered in this forest. It’s at a different level in skill, weaponry and magic in comparison to you lowly humans.” (Laboras)
Making sure to slide his feet, Laboras slowly closes the distance.
Hifumi doesn’t miss the instant Laboras shifted his sight.
A wind spell burst open underfoot the spot where Hifumi moved away from with a single step.
“… Avoided, huh?” (Laboras)
“Don’t leak such easily detectable signs. It’s a kill-joy.” (Hifumi)
“Humph… do it!” (Laboras)
Upon Laboras’ command arrows and spells attack Hifumi all at once.
Their speed is much faster than that of the elves who attacked Hifumi a while ago. The power is higher as well.
Hifumi avoids them by shifting his body and repelling them with his katana, but in a style of matching the saturation attack, Laboras adds attacks with his knife and wedge-shaped stones with a perfect timing.
“You are doing nothing but avoiding!” (Laboras)
Laboras increases the speed by stacking up even more attacks.
Hifumi, who knocked aside the thrust out knife among those blows with his bare hand, turned around and ran off.
“Are you running away?” (Laboras)
“Certainly not.” (Hifumi)
Swinging his arm which was wounded by the knife, Hifumi steals the sight of an elf with his blood.
“Ugh?”
The elf, who tried to fire an arrow, faltered only for an instant due to his abruptly dyed red field of vision. Tha
t became this man’s final moment.
Alongside the wooden bow he grasped in his hands, his body was was bisected into two parts at the waist in a flash.
“It’s only vaguely, but…” (Hifumi)
As result of their companion being killed by the opponent who was showered with a saturation attack, they unintentionally cease their attacks.
“The style of the archery is harder to grasp than the magic. No, it’s the other way around. I reached the point where I can somehow understand the magic.” (Hifumi)
While saying that, he struck the wind spell approaching from behind with the hilt of the katana and scattered it.
“… You bastard, are you really a human…?” (Laboras)
Due to the subdued voice of Laboras who spilled drops of sweat, Hifumi answered with a smile,
“That’s obvious. You, me, you guys will die if we are cut by a blade. We are normal people. Just like him.” (Hifumi)
He points at the corpse which had its body split in two.
“That’s probably why we get thrilled by killing each other, because starting over is not possible.” (Hifumi)
Without minding his injured left hand, Hifumi grasps the katana tightly with both hands and assumes a hachisou* stance. (T/N: google 八相 to see pictures. I explained it in some chapter beforehand but I forgot where and can’t be bothered to check through over 100 chapters. :p)
“I will kill you here by all means.” (Laboras)
“I see. Do your best.” (Hifumi)
Once again the magic attacks concentrated on Hifumi who muttered that as if it was someone else’s problem.
Different to before, Hifumi lets the spells go past while running around as he pleases. He slips through the spaces between the lined-up elves just like a whirlwind.
“Auu!”
“Guaaa?”
The elves in all directions raise screams and collapse in fountains of blood.
While being hindered by their brethren making them unable to take aim, three more got killed.
Suddenly noticing something, Hifumi pushed the back of an elf.
“Eh…? Eh…”
The elf didn’t comprehend what was done to him for an instant, but once he lowered his look due to an intense impact, he saw a large wedged stone piercing into his own chest.
“Why…?”
Summoned Slaughterer - Book 6 Page 5
