- You changed me, you know? -

Outside the forest, Garon looked impatient.

"Why... took so long?"

It’s been almost two hours, yet they didn’t catch Mika yet, nor did they hear news of her demise.

Yet, what kept returning from the forest were his wounded and battered subordinates.

"Kuh apologizes, but she was more troublesome than we thought."

One of injured subordinates kept screaming "I'll kill her! That bitch...! aargh!" while kept down by the others. It seemed like he wanted to go back personally despite his injury.

"Quiet down."

With one word from garon, everyone there stopped moving.

"Can’t... be... helped. I'll,.. go."

"Ooh, leader is gonna go personally" everyone there awed.

He turned down and opened the chest behind him, taking out a giant axe with bloodied engravings on it.

"Tha...that’s, the crimson soaring axe. The weapon that made boss renowned before he retired as a B-ranked adventurer."

"I'll... go."

Saying these short words, he started to move.

Joining the fray, the former adventurer known as fresh blood Garon went inside the forest.

-Inside the forest-

"Do not let her get away! Kill her!"

"Aargh, aargh. Shit, my stomach!"

"Fuck you bitch! Come out!"

Within a sea of bloods and screams, many got wounded.

Amidst all this, a girl hid behind a tree not far from there and silently held her breath.

"Ssh haa ssh haa"

A faint breathing.

Her arms trembled a little, although it’s already calmed down somewhat.

Shit, calm down, calm down. They're not that different from animals

Although she usually spats abusive words like kill and fuck so easily, that didn’t change the fact that she had lived in a peaceful country before.

Forget killing, even wounding other people were a first for her.

Tsk, move move. Don't let me down, you useless piece of junk body. Don't be scared. Those guys are probably only trash that bully weaker people. Such piece of shit scums are better off dead anyway.

Starting to hurl abusive words to forgot her fear, she started to move again.

"THERE SHE IS! DO NOT LET HER GET AWAY!"

Her hand carried a bow as she ran away. She shot at the guy who talked through his head.

Shit, that's the last arrow. My MP already was depleted long ago too. I can probably shoot one fireball.

While she kept fighting and running away, she managed to survive for so long.

However, her stamina and concentration were going to reach their limits too, after using everything she had at hand and outwitting them inside the forest.

Thankfully their numbers decreased and I don't see many pursuers already. If I kill half of them, they might retreat.

After thinking that, some hoodlum attacked from above Mika

"diee...!"

Shooting her last fireball at his vital spot as a desperate attempt, Mika managed to hit him.

His tools burned to crisp and he probably won’t have any children for his life, but Mika was too busy to think of that.

Guh, I'm dizzy. Don't faint, don't faint...!

Trying to remain conscious, Mika tried to pull her body together

Now I am out of options. I have one trump card left, but it's probably only going to kill one of them. I always have the option to commit suicide than letting them get what they want, but...

Mika gritted her teeth.

Thinking like that is the same as losing. Like hell I can accept that...!

Thoughts that she hated losing gave her legs strength. She got back on her feet and prepared to fight again.

But, a loud voice suddenly appeared.

BOOM!!!!

A voice that sounded like an explosion cried, and all surrounding trees went flying away.

In no time at all, the area that Mika was in became an empty field.

"Whoaaa, it’s boss!"

“Leader, awesome, fuck me"

With the cheers that resounded, the area surrounding Mika could be seen clearly.

Amidst the field, Mika could see clearly...

No good. Just from one glance, even without appraisal, I can see he's not normal. Furthermore, this feeling...

She just got the danger sense skill. Thanks to killing some of the hoodlums, her lv increased to 9 and she got a lot of skills. One of them was danger sense.

However, even that much of an increase in level didn’t seems to mean in front of this man.

Shit, I can't stop trembling.

She tremble so much that if she loosened up, it seemed like she would fall down and die.

But, despite that...

"Haha..."

Mika laughed.

"Haaahha hahahahahahaa hahahahahahahaha!"

It’s really strange!

I should be afraid for my live

I should be thinking of running away from this place!

Just the thought of fighting that thing was impossible.

Just encountering that meant certain death.

But...

But...

"Ahahahaha... haha…” She inhaled.

"Thank you"

It was coming from the bottom of her heart.

"What… are you thanking for, young girl."

Garon muttered like he heard something incomprehensible.

"No no, the truth is, I don’t know myself. No, actually I didn’t even realize it myself until I met you."

Garon still seemed to be confused, but Mika continued.

"You see, living in such a peaceful world until now, I never thought that I was..."

Mika smiled.

"Such a battle maniac like this."

It was joy.

Truthfully, without Mika realizing it herself, she was smiling all the time.

At the time she blew up one of hoodlum’s head, at the time she almost died from the enemy arrows.

The moment where live and death were separated only by a thin thread.

At that moment, she felt like "living".

"That’s why I'm thankful. You know, at times like this."

Mika stared at the man.

"I can clearly feel that I'm alive." Mika declared.

"I see..."

Garon readied his stance without a change of his expressions.

But, truthfully, he felt like laughing.

At first he thought this was just a boring hunt.

Despite being Rank B, he got enough strength to match A-class adventurers.

However, because he often killed so much, that most of the monster he beat became intangible and couldn’t be sold anymore...

Furthermore, garon often killed adventurers that try to defeat him to get famous.

It’s probably justifiable self-defense, but the guild decided he's more trouble than worth and chased him away.

Even this job, he only accepted it without thinking too much about it. Thought, it’s just same as usual.

That’s why this was an unexpected harvest.

Perhaps, this time,

he could "find" it.

A fitting sacrifice for "his" axe.

His promise with the devil of the axe to grant him his wish after taking the blood of a "fitting" soul.

After countless killings of humans, demons and monster alike,

this time, probably...

"I... too..."

Garon said with an honest voice.

"Wants to fight... A battle with everything I got."

Hearing that, Mika only nodded while grinning.

All of her hesitation disappeared.