Chapter 148 148: Collateral Damage (1)

Out of the three girls in the Protagonist's harem, I couldn't really claim to have gotten close to any of them. The most rapport I had built was probably with Cassie purely due to her simple and over-friendly nature, but it also wasn't like I had done much to befriend her in any special way. Because of the Protagonist's Beast Taming, I didn't think that strategy would ever work out, so to be honest I never gave it a serious amount of thought. In any case, out of the other two the harpy girl Feanya and the cat girl Katya, both of them I rarely interacted with, if ever at all, but I guess Feanya would see me in a better light thanks to the fact I had used a potion on her during our first meeting. As for the cat girl, not once had I ever spoken to her directly, and I could even count the number of lines I had heard exit her mouth with a single hand. "―Katya?" "..." So, when she suddenly appeared before me on this night, I was exceedingly curious. Did she need something, or was it just a coincidence that she came out here at the same time as me? Somehow, I couldn't bring myself to believe it was the latter. "...Enki." Eventually, she opened her mouth, and when she did, I was surprised she even remembered my name. But she didn't stop there. "Enki's been watching Master. Very carefully. Too carefully." The moment those words left her mouth, I had a bad feeling. "From the start, Enki acted strange. Too nice. Too friendly. Enki's eyes never smiled with Enki's mouth." As she continued to accuse me of things which, frankly, I had no way of disproving or arguing against, I noticed gradual changes in the cat girl's appearance. "Now hold on, I think we have a misunderstanding here--" Her nails sharpened into claws. "Don't think I didn't notice. Enki always looking at Master, observing, cunning, scheming. Enki has bad intentions. I know it." Her wide eyes, glowing vividly in the stark darkness, became fierce. "No, listen, that's not it--" Her long, silver hair grew wild, even seeming to defy gravity as it flowed into the air behind her. "Most of all, unforgivable..." Ultimately, she growled, bearing sharp canines as she lowered into a posture as if ready to pounce. 'Oh, shit...' "――Enki smells cold." "..." There was a pause. And then, all of a sudden. "...I don't like cold." Thud-! "Gah, hk...!" She pounced, and before I even realised she moved, I already found myself knocked to the ground, lying helplessly on my back as she pinned me down, too strong to pose even a fraction of resistance. With a sharp intake of breath to replace that which had been knocked out of my lungs, I glared up with wide eyes, barely able to perceive her face before the backdrop of the observing moon. Feeling a cold, sharp sensation poke at my neck, I immediately realised it was her claws, upon which she continued to growl menacingly in my face. "What are Enki's intentions?! Tell me..." Instinctively craning my neck to tilt away from those knife-like claws pointing right at my arteries, I gave a strained breath. "I-I'll tell you! I'll tell you, I promise, so if you let me g--" "Liar!" "Ghk-!?" Shaking me and slamming my back against the stony ground once again, my vision blackened for just an instant as I cried. "I'm not lying...! Please, if you let me go I swear I'll tell you!" "No, no, no, no! Lies, lies, lies! Stop lying, I'll kill you!" Feeling her claws scratch my neck ever-so-slightly, I didn't need a mirror to feel the prick of blood leave my body, causing my breath to hitch. At that moment, gazing up into those fearsome, glowing eyes, I knew I had to make a move. Lying wouldn't work. Bluffing wouldn't work. From out of her sight, I summoned the Villainous Blade. "Gh... Fuck off!" "Nyaaeehk...!?" Thrusting the black knife into the side of her waist, I felt her body recoil with a shriek, giving me the opportunity to push her to the side, roll over and jump to my feet, freeing myself from her hold. I instinctively dashed back to make some distance before patting my neck with my hand―confirming it wasn't too much blood I had shed, I wiped it away and stood on guard. Unfortunately, though she leaked a lot of blood as she rolled into position to pounce again, this time with an expression on her face that could only be called ferocious, there wasn't time to take advantage of that weakness. Growling in what was probably a mix of anger and pain, she wasted no time in pouncing at me, which I was able to counter by throwing a kick just before she reached me, her movements heavily slowed by the previous wound. Seemingly not resisting the attack, she hit the ground again and rolled, going off the edge of the stone terrace and disappearing down onto the sloped hill of dirt below. Summoning the Black Wisp, I hurriedly ran over to the edge to gain sight of her, seeing her rise from the dirt with gritted teeth. Her insane senses making her act fast, she instantly dropped back down and rolled to the side the moment I pulled the trigger, causing a miss. I took a few more potshots at her as she rapidly climbed the hill, missing each one by just a hair's breadth. I couldn't tell if my aim was off due to the prevailing darkness, nerves, her sheer instincts and speed or even a combination of all of the above, but there was no time nor luxury to wonder―just before she reached the top of the hill I backed off to make distance, expecting to see her emerge just a second later. And yet. "..." There was nothing. I knew she wouldn't have run away. There was absolutely a zero chance possibility of that happening, so she had to be nearby, but I had no idea where. There was no noise, nothing I could see in this almost pitch darkness, and frankly, I didn't have enough battle sense to figure out where she might have gone in this situation. Still, I maintained my guard, watching all edges of the terrace, which she should have still been beneath. And then, my head hit the ground. "Gaa--ghk...! Fuuuuck...!" My vision blackened and brain shook from the impact, all I could feel was that I was pinned down again, my body being torn to shreds by a disturbing fusion of claws and teeth. Not able to think about, see, hear, or do anything at all, part of me thought I was already dead. Perhaps it was Professionalism that acted at that moment. My hand summoned the Villainous Blade again, and just like the last time I mustered all of my strength to jam it into the opponent's body. I didn't know where it entered because I couldn't see, but I sure as hell felt the impact, as alongside the gushing of hot blood that coated my hands, I was sure I felt that slashing and biting momentarily pause. It didn't save me from the searing pain, but that didn't matter―not leaving it there, I quickly resummoned the Black Wisp, positioning the barrel right against the enemy's body. By now, my vision had just about recovered enough to glimpse her face, evidently in a reactive shock from the secondary stabbing. Of course, to get her back in full, I couldn't just stop there. ――I pulled the trigger a number of times, only bothering to count by the number of times her expression shifted from bad to worse to terrible to unspeakable. When I finally felt it was enough, the force of her pinning me down was long relieved, and albeit with rough breathing and an unsteady gait, I slowly managed to push myself to my feet, leaving her body motionless like a doll on the ground. To my current state of mind, that was no guarantee solid enough, and so I gave it one more shot to the back of the head for good measure. Then and only then did I look down to face my own grievous injuries, putting away the weapons and retrieving some blankets from the Storage to use as a makeshift bandage, soaking all of the blood I could see and wrapping it around my body. "Tsk, goddamnit... Fucking bitch... Maybe if I didn't waste that potion... Fuck, it hurts... Shit..." Fortunately, though there were indeed countless bites and scratches adorning my entire upper half, not all of them were deep, meaning at least that I likely wouldn't die. Slowly, the adrenaline began to fade, and although the pain inflicted upon me only grew more severe as I had the luxury to bathe in it, my head continued to regain its cool. Glancing at the now lifeless corpse of the cat girl, ceaselessly leaking copious amounts of blood onto the stone terrace, dying it a deep, fresh red as it only grew ever colder beneath the faint moonlight, just as pale as it was before. "...God... Shit, I really fucked up this time..." Wearing a complicated look as that sight bore itself into my eyes, I could only curse.