When I pierced the king of Fliesâ forehead, a huge soul that couldnât be compared to the ones from the maggots flowed into me.
After I enjoyed the body-trembling pleasure, I laughed as I thought of the things I said just before.
ăAhhhhâŚThatâs the stuff! But you know, even though Iâve said all that stuff about the afterlife, I donât even know if you can go there since Iâve eaten all your souls, ahahaha!ă
While I was laughing, my body trembled again.
When I displayed my level with a happy look on my face, the number ă5ă was displayed. I couldnât stop laughing as if my level going up was something really funny.
However, I could not sit there and laugh like an idiot forever.
Even though I leveled up, Iâll starve to death if I donât escape from this nest. Itâll be embarrassing if that happened.
I have already confirmed that there were no side exits in this place when I was killing the maggots. It has to be through the hole at the top if I want to escape.
ăWell, that should be a piece of cake for the me nowă
When I was fighting the king of flies earlier, I increased my physical abilities by covering my entire body with âkeiâ.
To put it simply, âkeiâ is a type of magic energy that is created from inside the body.
If I borrow the words of a magician, it would be called life force (Od). By the way, magic energy that exists in nature is referred to as âManaâ.
When comparing which source was better to use when using magic, usually the latter was better.
If you look at it as personally generated energy versus nature-generated energy, of course nature-generated energy would seem better, but that isnât the case when it came to users of the phantom blade style.
The secret of the phantom blade style lied in the manifestation of the existence of the same origin called the âanimaâ. Phantom blade style users have an incomparably greater amount of life force.
Of course, the actual amount of life force each person has depends on the person, but for those who have obtained their soul equipment, the amount of life force they possess would definitely exceed a magicianâs.
Naturally, techniques known as kei arts that use oneâs life force have emerged and they have been getting polished over time.
It was essential for one to master using âkeiâ if they want to master the phantom blade style.
Anyway, the amount of âkeiâ I possess has skyrocketed ever since I managed to manifest my soul equipment. Now I feel like thereâs a fountain inside of me that surges out kei endlessly.
And when I enhance my body with kei, my physical abilities will also improve by the same ratio. Right now, I could climb a cliff without the need for any tools.
Even though I was in a situation where I was stranded at the bottom of a deep hole, I wasnât worried at all.
ăMore importantly, the problem is thată
There was a girl lying on the ground in front of me. She was a victim of the king of flies just like me.
She looked to be around 13 or 14 years old⌠if I compared her to a human that is.
There were horns on her forehead. Two visibly long and thin horns were clearly growing out from there.
In this world, there are races other than humans. I only know the elf called Lunamaria directly but it wasnât that uncommon to see dwarves or therianthropes in the city of Ishka. Iâve also heard that races like lizardmen, mermaids, and dragonewts also existed.
However, among all the demi-human races, I only know one race that had horns growing out of their forehead like this.
ăA kijin, huh⌠itâs my first time seeing oneă
A race that worshipped one of the mythical species of this world -the demon gods. They are a race that is hostile to humans.
There was also a theory that said demon gods were evolved from an adult kijin.
Humans and kijins have been killing each other since the war three hundred years ago, and that relationship still continued today.
However, after the demon god was sealed, the kijin tribes were overrun by the humans and they are now nearly extinct. And yet, even though they arenât a threat compared to what they used to be three hundred years ago, humans will still attack them in groups once they see one.
Itâs because humans had never been able to get rid of the fear they had from 300 years agoâ is what I would have liked to say, but there is probably some greed involved in their motives.
The horns of a kijin possessed fairly powerful magic energy, so they are prized as a high-quality magic medium.
Their horns could become medicine or material for high-class armors if you grind them up, and you can even use them as an excellent tool to get rid of the poison in a drink if you hollow out the horn and pour the poisonous drinks in one.
Itâs said that one of their horns could amass a fortune, and in fact, I have seen it pop up on auctions randomly from time to time and what it was being sold for was truly staggering.
Thinking up to this far, I remembered the rumor that I heard before.
ăThere are mythical races living in the depths of the Titis forest, was itâŚ? Looks like it was unexpectedly trueâŚă
I muttered as I looked at the girlâs face.
âŚTo be honest, she was a little dirty.
Her face and hair looked barely groomed, but everywhere else of her body seemed to be as dirty as bums you find on the streets.
Even the clothes she wore were just big leaves that were forcefully tied together with vines. I could even see parts that I shouldnât look at when sheâs lying there on the groundâ Yup, but I was looking.
âŚHm, her breasts are bigger than they should be at her age though. Well, I canât tell how old a kijin is for sure just by looking. She could be way past her twenties.
Oh no, I got sidetracked.
ăNow then, what should I do about this?ă
Frankly, this was a chance for me to get rich quickly.
The kijin has two horns. I would make enough money to play around for the rest of my life if everything goes well. If I feel like it, I can just put a rope around her neck and bring her back. In a sense, it would probably be more profitable than selling her horns.
This girl⌠she is a little dirty, but she has a very cute face. I could see her grow into a beauty over the next few years.
Moreover, I can tell that she has a rich soul just by looking at her. The face I had from before was showing again as I felt a desire to eat her up here.
When I realized that, I instinctively made a bitter smile.
Then I slapped myself on the cheeks to snap out of it.
Strangely, ever since I got my soul equipment, I started to become a different person. And I didnât hate that at all. If anything, it feels like I became more cheerful somehow.
Is that due to my soul equipmentâs influence? Or is this how I am originally?
Either way, I donât mind. I will be proud no matter the case since I am who I am.
However, thereâs that.
Thatâs why I have to draw a clear line as I yield this power. If I use this power without caring about anything at all, I might drown in the power and become a monster before long. I will not be resigned to a future like that.
So to be more specific about where that line will be drawn, it will be at whether or not the other party wants to harm me.
I shouldnât eat someone if theyâve done no harm to me even if they are of the kijin race.
On the contrary, if someone tries to harm me, I will eat them regardless of what they are!
Those guys inăFalcon SwordăâŚIâll make them pay when I get back!
When that flame ignited in my chest, a faint sound of groaning came from the young girlâs mouth.
As I took a look at her, the girlâs head was shaking left and right with knitted brows as if she was in pain.
She was probably about to wake up.
As expected, after a few secondsâŚthe girl slowly opened both of her eyesâŚ