## Chapter 731 – Paladin Kim Kat

Looking at these incredibly miserable skeletons, I tried to picture the attacker in my mind.

The corpses were mostly clustered together.

Were they ambushed while grouped up?
Or were they surrounded?

Whatever the case, judging by the way the iron plates were torn to shreds, this was no ordinary bastard.

First, the arms would be muscular and long enough to be swung like whips. Attached to those long, muscular arms would be a powerful grip. And on that grip would be terrifying claws, capable of tearing apart even its own nightmares.

Strong claws, like those of a bird of prey.

“A gibbon.”

If the attacker was larger than a human, wouldn’t its long arms practically drag on the ground? If so, it might have a hunched back.

Long arms usually meant a hunched back, after all.

Looking at the marks on the torn armor, some had three scratches, others four. That meant the attacker probably had five fingers, excluding the thumb… If the arms were muscular, the torso would be muscular too, right?

“…”

Only suspicions continued.

In any case, the attacker would be quite strong. Judging by the mercenaries’ state, they were helpless. Stronger than a troll, and even stronger than a sasquatch. An owlbear would be complete fodder.

Swords, shields, everything seemed useless. You could feel that those who wielded weapons died too pathetically. Mercenaries were supposed to be somewhat capable.

But then again, I could do the same to guys like them.

I looked around some more.

Scanning left, right, forward, backward, and above. It might be nearby, ready to attack suddenly.

Anyway, looking around, I found corpses scattered here and there. Judging by the circumstances, these corpses were killed while trying to escape. The mercenary company was about two squads in size.

Only one survivor, was it?
Lucky if it wasn’t deliberately let go.

The attacker is fast.
Quite agile.

The image in my head was becoming clearer.

Legs shaped like lightning bolts, with reverse joints. Boasting explosive speed. Therefore, the thighs would be thick, the ankles strong, and the upper body muscular as well. Especially with long arms, the pectoralis major would be impressively developed.

Perhaps it sometimes moved on all fours? If so, it would have a tail. A long tail to match its size. Then the face would be that of an animal? If it was a carnivorous monster, it would probably have a dog’s head or a bird’s head.

But looking at the state of the corpses, it was a bit strange.

It was as if it killed not to eat, but simply for the sake of killing. In other words, it killed people and left the corpses without eating them. Any further damage seemed to be done by other monsters that were drawn in by the smell of blood.

Was it not hungry?
Still, just killing for the sake of it?

Killing people for personal desires, not instinct.
—That meant it was highly intelligent.

No matter how driven by destruction a monster might be, it was still a living creature. It wouldn’t play around with its own life.

Fighting like this was either to protect its young, because it was incredibly hungry, or to defend its territory. It would never try to commit a potentially dangerous series of murders just for fun.

But this bastard was moving around and committing murders.

Too active to be protecting its young, and not many signs of it eating to be incredibly hungry. Then to defend its territory? That wasn’t it either. It appeared suddenly.

In other words, a highly intelligent monster that clearly knew what it was doing. Well, it was common sense that strong monsters were intelligent, but this wasn’t a classic monster. At least a monster with the intelligence of a harpy. And with the combat power of a knight.

No, the more I thought about it, the less I knew about this monster.

A silver-furred monster with that kind of intelligence and combat power? I’d never seen it. The closest thing to what I was imagining was a gnoll, but gnolls were complete fodder.

Even an E-rank adventurer could handle one alone.

Could this be a demon?
But is there a silver demon?

Demons had diversity, but they were basically black. Everything I’d seen and heard was black. Except for Hilde, the succubus. Whatever it was, this monster had a chance of coming from hell.

If not, it might be a higher-level gnoll that I didn’t know about. Roughly based on what I was imagining, a large gnoll. With abnormally developed muscles and longer arms.

It was like reconstructing their appearance from dinosaur bones.

It was so strange and changing day by day.

“Ugh, damn it.”

Screw it all, I was going crazy wanting to see what it looked like. The urge to shove the Holy Sword Vygál into that ruthless bastard’s mouth was rising to my throat.

“—KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!”

So I screamed, and — rustle! The birds sitting in the trees flew away at once, scattering leaves.

“This insane stress!”

There was no way to relieve it except by robbing the mercenaries!

In this era, it was only natural that the belongings of the dead belonged to the one who found them! I immediately searched the corpses’ pockets! Fortunately, no one had been here, so their wallets hadn’t disappeared!

After robbing the wallets of two squads’ worth of corpses, I was able to pocket a decent side income. In the old days, I would have taken all the relatively intact equipment and clothing, but that wasn’t important now.

I could do that anytime, and even if I couldn’t, it didn’t matter. I had to find the monster now.

“…Hehehe.”

This, rather than worry, I was getting energized and enjoying it. At the same time, I was getting impatient. I wanted to meet that bastard quickly.

Recently, I had only been training and hadn’t fought properly, so my body was feeling stiff.

—Thump, thump.

I walked through the forest, making loud footsteps.

Marking the trees as I moved. It was so dense that I could get lost if I wasn’t careful. If I kept wandering around like this, there was a high chance the bastard would notice me and come.

If not, I would just have to keep searching this forest. Either way, the job wouldn’t be done until I caught it. Seeing this bastard, not only was it killing anyone it could get its hands on, but it was even crazy enough to take out a mercenary company that came to kill it. Seeing that it fought even when it didn’t have to, it would definitely come looking for me.

But well, in the end, I couldn’t meet it that day.

I gave up before it got dark and returned to the inn.

* * *

On the second day of the search, I re-entered the Dark Forest and went on an inhuman outing. Finding where the elusive bastard was hiding was almost impossible.

I had to induce it to move first.

That’s what I thought, and I sprinted towards the center of the forest. First, I would go deep inside.

—Chwak!
—Krelek!

After entering, I killed all the small and medium-sized monsters I could find and scattered their blood on the ground and surrounding trees. Monsters were like beasts and could run faster than ordinary people, but they weren’t faster than me.

I just had to go and kill them when I saw them.

I scattered the blood and left the corpses.

If the bastard considered this place its hunting ground? It would be displeased if I just wreaked havoc. And since it was smart, it would understand the concept of displeasure.

If it was displeased?

It would come to see what was causing the displeasure. As expected, if it was smart, that was the obvious thing to do.

Very carefully.
Slowly.

It would approach, mindful of a surprise attack, since we might end up fighting. Trying to hide before fighting was natural for both monsters and people. It would check out the displeasing bastard, and if it seemed manageable, it would attack, and if not, it would run away.

But that level of stealth wouldn’t fool my senses, and once it came within my range of perception, it couldn’t escape me.

If I could just lure it out, I could chase it down and kill it.

Cheonma Kim Kat was confident in that.

—Tsupat.

And when I sensed something moving at the edge of my vision, I threw myself in that direction. —Gwak. I tightened my grip on Vygál.

—Papat!

Inhuman power surged into my legs.

A speed that far surpassed the limits of humans. Each time I kicked off the ground strongly and shot my body forward, the scenery changed rapidly, and the bushes brushed past my entire body. I could feel the hair tied back fluttering due to the air resistance.

—Paat!

And up ahead.

“Unstoppable urge dejaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!”

Something was `running away`.

And at a considerable speed.

I, who could easily chase down and kill most monsters just by running lightly, had to keep `chasing` it because it was running away so fast.

What could be moving so fast in this forest right now?

There was no one but that monster bastard.

“Stooooop—!!!!!!!!!!!!”

—Papat!

While sprinting, I kept an eye on my surroundings and kept it in sight. It was quite fast. If I wasn’t careful, I might lose it.

There wasn’t anything around, and there were no traps in its path.

I chased it at full speed.

—…

How long had I been running?

I felt like I had come very deep inside.

The scenery had changed.

The place I stopped was, well, a small plain in the forest. Should I call it a basin? Tall, old trees lined the edge of the round plain, where lush weeds grew, like prison bars.

It was an unusual terrain.

“Krrr…!”

The monster with silver, shining fur was standing there, turned around.

Its back view was not much different from what I had imagined.

—Sabak sabak.

I slowly approached it, trampling the weeds that grew up to my knees.

The hand holding Vygál was trembling.

Because of excitement.

“Hehehe, did you lure me to the plains? Why? Do you have your friends hidden here? Or do you think an open space will be advantageous?”

My rapidly throbbing heart spread fighting spirit and anger throughout my body. My lungs heaved as if a scream would burst out at any moment. It felt like my head was spinning, and each time I inhaled and exhaled, it felt like my brain was burning.

“Krr…!”

Finally, the monster turned to look at me.

“A wolf?”

It was a wolf. A cruel wolf that enjoyed inhuman bipedalism.

Its body was exactly as I had imagined.

The arms were long, muscular, and the upper body was abnormally developed. In contrast, the waist was quite thin. The abdomen was also tucked in. How could that waist support that muscular upper body?

Of course, the thighs were incredibly thicc.
The legs were also in the form of reverse joints.

Above all.

The claws were very vicious.

In addition, the red, glowing eyes were fierce, and the face was similar to a wolf’s but felt even more cruel. Yes, a silver-furred monster with the head of a wolf was standing on two feet and glaring at me.

With a lush tail hanging down its back.

About 2.5 meters tall.

“A werewolf…?”

Was it something like a werewolf?

—Kruauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!

The bastard who saw me roared loudly.

—Flap!

At that wild and ferocious sound, the forest seemed to shake for a moment. Birds flew, insects stopped chirping, and small creatures scurried away.

“Krrr! Finally found a decent prey!!!”
“It speaks?”

—Prrrr!

The werewolf, spitting saliva in all directions, opened its mouth and pointed at me, talking about decent prey. A monster being able to speak? It wasn’t that strange. Harpies spoke, and succubi spoke too.

“A strong prey?”

It was looking for prey?

I felt like this bastard had been carrying out this series of serial killings to perform some kind of ritual.