‘It’s one thing after another…’

Rakshas stood, perplexed. Recent events had been odd and tumultuous, with one thing happening after another. The sudden departure of Karshak was enough alone, but with the new arrival of a ‘greater threat’ in the west, the situation was looking all the more worrisome. Additionally, there had been reports of a pest making a mess somewhere towards the south… In the eyes of Rakshas they weren’t seen as much of a concern, but another variable certainly wasn’t welcome.

A good look around the camp was enough to see the state of things. Canisfangs worked diligently, fulfilling their roles and adhering to what was asked of them. The only problem was that there were clear signs of distress among them. Rakshas himself didn’t see the fool down south as too much of a threat, but they were different.

‘Though I do not care for it, their ruthless butchering methods don’t bode well for pack morale…’

Morale among the entire pack had already taken a hit. The power dynamic of monsters within the forest was beginning to shift, and the safety and order of canisfang kin was being threatened. During a time like this, a savage that tears apart canisfang without a shred of sympathy would only spread fear and distract them from the main concern; for the sake of restoring this power dynamic, battle on a large-scale was becoming likely.

‘It would be best to avoid that at all costs. If the one in the west is indeed who I think it is, they are by no means a weak individual.’

The best-case scenario was that where the crystals stretched remained canisfang territory, and the one to take the scorched land is satisfied with just that. That way the natural order isn’t dishevelled. In the worst-case scenario: An all-out turf war.

“Artoria… there is a limit to greed, you better not push it too far.” Rakshas muttered. The words were unlikely to reach the intended audience, however, it was better that they did not. The route where no interaction’s made is the least likely to shed blood. It was better to let sleeping dragons lie.

Nearby, blood was already being shed. A katana cut through canisfang flesh with precision and haste. Kurushimi’s ability to butcher a canisfang in record-time was almost absurd; a frightening display of proficiency in dealing with one particular type of enemy. In the usual Kurushimi ‘act first, figure things out later’ fashion, her total planning before going in was almost void as she cut through all the canisfang groups she came across.

In general, what she aimed to do at the moment was get an eye on their dwelling and their boss. With the unfitting begging of her divine companions, she had considered taking the stealthy option and sneaking in to scout. However, after the three sat down together and butted heads, they ultimately came to the conclusion such a strategy was meaningless.

The fact was: Kurushimi couldn’t use camouflage and the scouts would always detect her immediately. Even with the newly-learned skill ‘featherweight’, which made her steps lighter and significantly reduced the noise footsteps produced, they would still find her in the end. It proved to be more efficient to just run in as she originally intended.

“It seems featherweight is too underleveled against these scouts specifically built to track movement.” Atelier commented.

She was right about that, but even then that wasn’t the only problem here. Their canine constitution also meant a good nose. In general, their senses were already good. With their enhanced tracking ability on top of that, it didn’t matter if Kurushimi continued layering skills to hide her tracks. As long as there was something, they could latch onto it and sniff her out.

“Maybe if I get all the stealth skills, I can combine them into one super stealth skill…” Kurushimi sighed as she expertly sliced apart another canisfang. Her ability to talk and think about miscellaneous ramblings was also getting highly proficient.

With a ‘whew–!’ Kurushimi wiped her forehead of sweat and blood alike before idly looking around her. The number of canisfangs surrounding her was a decent amount, all being the feisty types from the attack units. Getting closer and closer to the growl’s origin point was making them swarm even more. It got her curious, how many were there in total? She had been slicing and dicing for a while now but they just kept coming… In fact, it felt like they were only increasing in number.

“I’m finally gonna get to use this combo!” Contrary to how a reasonable person would react, being surrounded reinvigorated Kurushimi. There was finally a good number of them and she could now properly test a combo that had only been theorised until now. Raising her hand in the air she shouted “Domain of water!” overdramatically.

“Why is she announcing her skill like that…?” Kurono looked on with a mix of confusion and second-hand embarrassment.

“I think she’s making it out to be a special move of sorts? Like out of an anime.” Atelier replied.

“Ani– what?” Kurono struggled to understand.

Kurushimi paid the gods no mind as she continued her combination. Holding out her hand and clenching onto a spark, she activated ‘resentful storm’ and allowed it to surge across her arm. A smile that could only be described as wicked crawled across her face: “Burn to crisp!”

As she slammed her fist down, the ground beneath her and the canisfangs instantly became a field of purple electricity. It was truly a cruel combination. Every canisfang around her was trapped in it. They couldn’t leave because of domain of water’s slowing effect. Thus, all they could do was be slowly burnt to death from below. Any canisfang that fell unable to stand any more was only subjected to more suffering as their entire bodies were encased in the sweeping current. Meanwhile, Kurushimi laughed madly as if she’d lost her wits.

“Mm, if this were an anime, she would be the villain no doubt.” Atelier held her chin, satisfied with her appraisal.

“Again, what are you talking about?” Kurono once again asked in confusion. Atelier was still going on about inexplicable things. But as always, there was no elaboration. Kurushimi’s field of electricity slowly died down in the meanwhile. There wasn’t nearly as much blood soaking the ground as there usually would be, but the charred-black bodies of the canisfangs were not an easy sight either.

Kurono looked at the canisfangs littering the ground and thought about their purpose here. It had become silent now, but the silence felt even louder than the chaos ensued just a moment ago. They had come to the decision earlier that it wouldn’t be effective to try to sneak in because of the scouts but… “Couldn’t you have at least tried to sneak in?” She asked, dissatisfied.

“You’re thinking too hard…” Kurushimi gave this simple response.

“...?” Kurono didn't say anything, allowing Kurushimi to further elaborate.

“The problem is the scouts, right?” Kurushimi said.

“Mhm.” Kurono nodded.

“What good are scouts if they’re dead?” Kurushimi’s ultimatum was simple as usual. Dead men tell no tales, or dead dogs in this case. It was a brutalist approach that relied on not a single scout being let go; a fitting style for Kurushimi’s ruthlessness in how she dealt with them. Her bow, contempt, was perfect for this job as it allowed her to catch up to any strays.

“That logic feels flawed…” Kurono muttered. She wanted to dispute it further, however… In the corner of her eye, she caught Atelier smiling in her direction. Kurono felt a condescending and almost mocking attitude behind that smile. “What?” She asked, not hiding her malcontent when addressing Atelier.

“You’re thinking too hard~” Atelier parroted Kurushimi’s words.

Almost letting her irritation show, Kurono sighed to release it. Kurushimi was expected to follow this kind of philosophy. Her carefree and simple-minded nature made her a free spirit. She prefers to follow her instinct and gut-feeling, caring about the consequences afterwards. Kurono didn’t hate this about her. It’s just that at the rate she’s going, she’s bound to trip and fall at some point. If possible, Kurono wanted to be the one to prevent that.

Atelier was different on the other hand. Kurono could tell she was smart. Her aloof nature wasn’t a result of simplemindedness or anything like that. Her attitude opposed Kurono in everything; seemingly uncaring of what was to happen, almost throwing Kurushimi into dangerous situations intentionally. Contrary to Kurono’s wishes, it would seem she wants Kurushimi to fall. But for what purpose? Malice alone didn’t make sense.

Kurono looked at her own status. It was rare that she spent any time looking at herself like this; her lack of any development on skills or the like being evidence of her negligence. So far, the only real skills she had were appraisal as she’d decided to learn before and her unique skill ‘assistant’. She also had the ‘kami state’ to give Kurushimi for what that’s worth.

In terms of her independent capabilities, Kurono knew she couldn’t do much. It would be good to develop herself in an attempt to rival Atelier. Acting as a counterweight, she could restore balance that way. The problem was that she had 5073 years of experience to oppose. No doubt, it would be an uphill battle.

“Welp, the camp shouldn’t be too far off now!” Kurushimi proclaimed as she ascended the hill. She had gotten fairly acclimatised with the terrain in this area and knew some recurring patterns. Generally, this kind of steep ground led to a crater where water gathered in larger quantities than other places. Like with the vengeful spirit, who made such an area its domain beforehand, monsters preferred to settle in these craters. The span of this lengthy slope meant it would probably be a rather large crater.

“You aren’t going to take their stats?” Atelier asked after catching Kurushimi move away from the corpses without following her usual routine. Kurushimi froze similarly to a child caught in the middle of something. Her mouth still agape, she shifted her eyes as if to feign ignorance like she didn’t understand what Atelier was talking about.

“I’d… rather not…” She imagined actually biting into their flesh as they were now… She didn’t want to. In fact, she didn’t even want to imagine it until Atelier brought it up. For normal killings… Kurushimi decided from this point onward it would be better not to use resentful storm too much. Or at least, to be careful not to overcook them.

As they talked they reached the top of the slope, the ground slowly rescinding to reveal the vista ahead. It was exactly as she’d expected. On a slightly steeper decline, it led into a pit with accumulated water reserves and small to large islands spread across it. The climate was almost identical to the one she fought the vengeful spirit in, featuring more abundant growths of plant-life and sturdier-looking trees. The main difference in this one being the apparent size of it.

“...I can’t see anything!” Kurushimi exclaimed as she tried to look between the trees and foliage. She had seemingly dropped right into a thicket, blocking her vision of anything beyond the immediate area. But this wasn’t particularly a bad place to end up…

“The usual?” Atelier asked knowingly.

“Yep, I can get some good scouting done this way!” Kurushimi leapt into a tree, landing on one of its branches. The tree's sturdiness was a nice touch, allowing her to feel reassured that she wouldn’t suddenly fall through a weak branch.

Despite her rash nature that would tell you otherwise, Kurushimi was also keen on sneaking around when the time favoured it. The inability to camouflage greatly inhibited her from doing so. She couldn’t even use it in this kind of area, where there were no immediate large crystals. Their presence in the area alone stopped her.

In this kind of forest where most monsters stuck around the ground and field layer, skipping along branches in the canopy layer was Kurushimi’s best friend. Her high agility stat made it laughingly easy compared to attempting anything near it in her old world.

Keeping track of her constantly updating map, she was able to estimate where the thicket ended and stopped just before there. Beyond this would lead to a more open area of exposed islands and shallow water where the most of the canisfangs would presumably be. After finding a suitable spot, Kurushimi popped her head out of the thicket.

One of the larger lakes in the area separated her from an island where some canisfangs could be seen. Obviously not wanting to run in blind and end up face-checking enemy territory, she strategically picked this lake to pop out in front of. That way, unless the canisfangs felt like enjoying a little swim, she would still be a distance away from them; thus the scouts’ keen noses wouldn’t detect her.

“What are they doing?” Kurushimi squinted, trying to see better.

“Those are… living armour?” Kurono said.

“So many!” Atelier exclaimed.

Escorted by the attack units, muscle-bound canisfangs were working in unison to drag a multitude of bodies. But oddly enough, the majority being carried were that of the living armour – a supposedly rare monster Kurushimi had only encountered twice when not counting the ones she’d seen repeatedly through different runs.