The Avenger Shows Himself

“Chiwawawaaaa!!”

I split the leaping Assault Chiwanwan right down the middle with a hand chop...... 【Mantis】.

“Migyaaaa!!”

A Forest Topopolock tries to slip past me through that opening, but I slice it into pieces with 【Magic Slash Thread】.

“Bubububu!!”

I swat away and crush a softball-sized beetle that charges at me with an unpleasant buzzing sound.

I punch the next Mountain Topopolock to death.

I kick a Grim Wolf to death.

I kill a Noshteruketch.

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

Even so, the monsters' assault doesn't stop!

Every one of them drools, eyes dyed with murderous intent, and charges recklessly again and again!

“Don't...... SCREW WITH ME!!”

Out of irritation, I end up putting too much power into every swing of my arms.

I punch a Grim Wolf with all my might.

The fragile monster's body bursts apart with ease, and my fist strikes the ground without losing any of its momentum.

zun......!!

A low sound echoes, and a small crater is formed.

And that creates a slight gap.

“““Migyaaaa!!”””

The Forest Topopolocks don't miss it and try to invade the base!

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

I scream in sheer rage!

Don't screw with me!

Don't screw with me! Don't screw with me! Don't screw with me!

That is my home!

You lot!

Have no right to set foot there!!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

I grab handfuls of earth from the ground and hurl them instantly!

【Infinite Pebbles】!!

The hurled clods of earth hit the trespassers' heads with pinpoint accuracy, turning them into silent corpses!

<Ca, calm down! Please calm down, Emi! You're far too angry!>

As if I can calm down!!

These things!

These monsters!!

Are trying to make a mess of my base!

I can't forgive them!

I'll kill them all!!

<Emi, if you want to protect the base, of course you have to kill the monsters! But calm down! Your movements have gotten too big, and you're wasting stamina and magic power! This is a battle of endurance! Don't forget that!>

“............”

Omake-sama's advice is so spot-on that my head actually cools down a bit.

Catching a leaping Forest Topopolock by the neck and tearing it apart, I take a deep breath.

I look around while slicing the surrounding monsters with 【Magic Slash Thread】.

Bodies piled on bodies—that's exactly what this is.

The carcasses of the monsters I've crushed and sliced lie strewn every which way, and the ground is pocked with craters and gouges.

And yet, the monsters' will to fight has not diminished; they come at me without fear.

<Some kind of drug may be in use. Something like a stimulant.>

Stimulant?

<And most likely, Emi, you are somewhat under its influence too.>

Ah, I see.

No wonder however many I kill, and kill, the anger won't settle.

Even now, it keeps bubbling up.

The anger.

The murderous intent.

Monsters that let out grating screams and attack the things I hold dear.

I will absolutely not forgive them.

Kill.

Kill them all.

<Emi, calm down!>

“............”

Once again, just as the rage is about to swallow me, Omake-sama's voice cools me down.

This is...... bad.

Worse than I thought.

I can't control my emotions.

Because of that, I'm certainly using too much magic power.

How long have I been fighting?

I wasn't even calm enough to know that.

I'm quite tired.

<There were dragons on the eastern mountain. There may well be other strong enemies of their rank. If one of those attacked you now...... you couldn't avoid a hard fight.>

Omake-sama sugarcoated her wording quite a bit.

But I understood exactly what Omake-sama meant.

It's not just a matter of a hard fight.

I could die.

That's how tired I am.

A huge blunder.

“............”

Okay, I've, calmed down.

I'll change how I fight.

“Mi”

“Gi”

“Chi”

I kill a Forest Topopolock, a Grim Wolf and an Assault Chiwanwan each with a single blow and quickly gouge out their meat.

The meat goes straight into my mouth.

Cramming as much life into my stomach as I can, I recover my magic power.

I resent my own small mouth, which can only eat a little at a time.

“Gi”

“Bu”

“Gu”

“Gu”

“Ga”

This is work.

This is work.

Pest-extermination work.

Chewing on meat as I go, I kill, making myself stay calm.

I kill them before they can let out those unpleasant screams.

<Good, keep it up! You're fighting calmly, Emi! Right now you're just like a cold-blooded killing machine!>

Is that really a compliment, Omake-sama!?

......But, good!

I'm fairly calm now!

I can even talk back to Omake-sama!

Tearing apart the monsters that keep charging in, undeterred, I felt a little relieved.

I can still fight like this.

I can kill plenty more!

But then.

That relief, and my piled-up fatigue, made me let my guard down slightly.

A gap opened.

And there was one who did not miss that gap.

◇ ◇ ◇

He had been watching for his chance.

From high, high atop the cliffs of Mount Nanga, he had been watching his mother's killer all along.

Astonishingly, his keen eyes could make out clearly the new human territory that had sprung up far below, at the foot of the mountain.

Of course, he could also see everything the devil living there did.

He bided his time, keeping himself hidden.

He was waiting for the moment when he could be sure of putting the devil in the ground.

And that time had finally arrived!

On this day, the forest at the foot of the mountain was strangely noisy.

Several streaks of strange red smoke rose up, and the rabble, raging and screaming, began their attack on the humans' territory.

The chance had come!

He was sure of it!

And conveniently, the devil, his enemy, had started fighting at the eastern edge of its territory—in other words, on the mountain side, where he could watch without being watched.

He kept watching.

The devil, with a pitch-black haze drifting around its body, swung its arms, swung its legs.

That alone was enough to burst the rabble's bodies apart.

A terrifying power.

But, still.

He turned his attention to the immense power surging through his own body.

His own power could stand against that.

He had trained.

Trained, and trained.

He had no more room to grow.

He had trained until he knew it himself.

Now that his mother was dead, and the dragons were dead.

He was lord of this mountain, in name and in fact.

But still, unlike the foolish dragons, he had not the slightest interest in the seat of the lord.

What did it matter, sitting at the peak?

His purpose was revenge.

That, and nothing more.

As he kept watching, something about the devil changed.

Until then, the devil had been ripping lives apart carelessly, as if mowing weeds, but now its movements grew slightly smaller.

While it was still killing, the movements clearly betrayed fatigue.

Now.

Now or never!

He stood up!

He somehow held down a heart racing and raging with hatred, and fought back the urge to scream!

He gathered his strength into all four legs!

And then, he released it with all his might!

The next instant, his gigantic body was sailing through the air with a byun as it cut the wind.

From high, high atop the cliffs of Mount Nanga.

To where the devil was, in one bound!

He leaped!!

◇ ◇ ◇

It was sudden.

Something gigantic suddenly fell in front of me.

<Wha>

The thing that fell with a tremendous impact.

Without giving Omake-sama even time to say a word.

Swung something huge and thick sideways into me with all its strength!

“Gu!!?”

That was probably an arm.

I realized that the instant I was blown away and slammed pathetically into the defensive wall.

“Geho......”

In spite of myself, I cough.

A split-second magic power conversion let me spread out some of the impact.

The defensive wall only got a few cracks.

But I took the first blow head-on.

My body is very sturdy.

And because it's small and light, a heavy blow sends me flying first.

That lets me soften an attack's force to some extent, which is a big advantage of this body.

Even so, though.

It's quite a bit of damage.

It hurts a lot.

<A, are you okay, Emi!?>

I push myself up from the defensive wall, which had caved in a little, and jump down to the ground.

I land on one knee.

I stand up and shake my arms and legs.

I rotate my hips.

Yeah, I'm fine.

Nothing's broken.

<What exactly......>

What exactly happened?

It's simple.

I got punched.

By the big lug in front of me.

<......!!>

Yes, in front of me, appearing from who knows where...... was a big, big...... probably bigger than a two-story house from my previous life...... bear.

A bear.

It's far too gigantic, but its shape is unmistakably a bear's.

And distinctively, its fur is golden and glitters in the sunlight.

A golden, gigantic bear.

I've fought similar types before.

This thing is......

“GUOOOOOOOOOH!!!”

“!!!”

It came the next instant!

The Golden Bear leaped with an agility unimaginable for its size and swung both its arms down toward me!

No choice but to jump sideways and dodge!

But the Golden Bear's attack doesn't end there; it swings the arm it slammed into the ground sideways this time!

“Mu!!”

This time, a direct hit!

But I cut the damage with magic power conversion, turn the bear's own momentum against it, and let myself get knocked back a little on purpose to open some distance.

That makes two hits I've taken.

“Gururururu......!”

And yet I'm still in one piece and still moving around, and the Golden Bear growls at me in clear displeasure.

“............”

With 【Infinite Pebbles】, I keep killing the monsters trying to slip into the base in all the confusion, but I never take my eyes off the Golden Bear.

Because it's obvious that the next instant I show even a slight gap, I'll probably take another painful attack.

This bear is different from the other monsters.

It keeps its reason, and doesn't seem interested in getting into the base.

That bear is after me.

What burns in that bear's eyes, what mixes into its growl, is fierce hatred and murderous intent.

Toward me.

“......You're.”

The words slip out of me quietly, in spite of myself.

I had an idea of where that hatred and murderous intent came from.

“That thing's...... family, or something...... its child?”

“GUOOOOOOOOOH!!!”

A bear can't understand human words.

So that cry probably isn't any kind of answer.

But I was sure.

This bear has come for revenge.

To kill me, who killed its family!

Yes!

I know where this comes from!

Once, after a fight to the death, I killed a bear as huge and golden as this one!

And ate its meat!

And this bear in front of me is far too similar to the bear from that time.

There's no mistake.

This thing is the flesh and blood of the bear I killed.

It hates me more than anything.

I can tell by looking at those eyes.

I can tell by hearing that voice.

I.

Have killed so, so many, to live.

But like this.

Having the hatred born of it hurled at me.

That's not something I've known much.

The grief of having someone precious taken.

The hatred and the anger toward me, who took them.

An all too justified thirst for revenge.

Having that hurled at me.

I.

I......!

<Emi......!>

Didn't feel anything...... in particular......!

<Wh, wha......!?>

Revenge or whatever, for a bear, it seems to be carrying some grand backstory.

But in the end, to me, it's nothing more than an enemy.

Nothing but an obstacle in the way of my life.

There's no way I have any sympathy to spare for something like that.

I did it to live.

And so, you hate me.

Go ahead.

But.

But I can't let the likes of you kill me.

I will live.

Even if I sacrifice everything but my own life and Omake-sama's, I'll survive!

Am I saying something strange, Omake-sama!?

<......No, I think it's a very desirable way of thinking...... Ufufu, for me, at least.>

I drop my hips a little and raise my fists in front of me.

I glare at the Golden Bear.

“GUOOOOOOOOOH!!!”

As I take my combat stance once more, the Golden Bear answers with a single roar, a threat display.

That cry alone sets everything around shaking biri biri, and the great nishakasha tree growing behind me falls with a mishi mishi.

“All voice and bulk, you big oaf......”

Not to be outdone, I return the 【Intimidation】.

The pitch-black haze drifting around me grows even thicker.

“Where your, revenge, ends up...... I'll tell you......”

With 【Body Strengthening】, I push my body's toughness higher, and higher.

I take one step forward.

And then, I.

“It's!!! In my!!! STOMAAAAAAACH!!!”

I swung at the Golden Bear with everything I had!!

At last, this arc's boss, the Golden Bear Gaharingki Junior, appears!

That's the true identity of ???.

Even if you didn't guess it exactly, it was pretty obvious that the identity was “the child of a monster that holds a grudge against Emi,” wasn't it.