Chương 68: Uninvited Guest

"What are your thoughts?"

"There have definitely been many Walkers on the farm… And also something else that I do not recognise. If we had that to the fact, one of our own met their end nearby… There is definitely something off around here""Could it be…?"

"Don't be ridiculous, this farm has been here for generations upon generations, and I detected no traces of malice from them… No, it's more likely that something is hiding around, or perhaps even inside the farm itself… That thing's presence is all over the place""If I had to make a guess, I would say that it has probably been slaughtering the Walkers in the area from the very beginning.

Whether because it is territorial, sees them as prey, or for some other reason, I cannot tell" Several forest elves, all members of the Forest Rangers, had gathered together inside the woods just near the farm. They had the means to tell that something was wrong, but due to the many passages that the unknown creature had made all over the farm, it was impossible for them to actually track it down.

To have a chance at latching onto the most recent 'trail', they would need to seek it out as soon as possible after the creature roamed the area. Which was easier said than done. None of them had any means of knowing when, or if, the mysterious creature would even be around tonight. For all the elves were aware of, the creature could not have been around for several days already… Though all thought it more likely that it would indeed still be around.

For the simple reasons that the 'Walkers'–Which were the name given to the lanky creatures that wandered the woods once night fell–Simply never stopped coming, these beings were bizarre, but they were far from overly mysterious. A little bit of research had been enough for the rangers to learn about it. The Walkers quite literally sprouted out of the ground, and to most people, they were rather harmless. They were tall, but slow, almost sluggish even.

Their only real strength was their bite, but even a regular person could easily bring one done as long as they were careful. All one needed to do was move in a circle around the Walker, and it wouldn't be quick enough to actually follow the movement. And since they always waited to be properly orientated to lunge and bite, they would never even attack. Allowing even a child to hit them in their frail legs until they fell and could be slain in a single strike at the back of the head.

Normally, the presence of Walkers would be a bad omen, but the rangers had quickly found reassurance, as the cause of their appearance had already manifested elsewhere and had been swiftly taken care of… Walkers would soon stop popping out. That was one crisis averted, but they knew very well that two of their fellows had been murdered recently. One had died before any Walkers even showed up, and the other had been a competent druid who would have never fallen to such weak and predictable creatures.

The rangers knew that something dangerous was lurking around, and they needed to take care of it in some way. Be it by slaying it or simply running it out of the forest. They assumed the creature to be a beast or monster, so they didn't really hold a grudge against it, merely believing that it was an instinct-driven entity. That assumption was incorrect.

"O–Ophelie. I will need to go outside again tonight… I must de–de–defend the farm""But… The Forest Rangers said that they would stick around tonight… So… You don't need to go out, you could stay with me tonight!" Why did she have to stay awake, specifically this one time? Can she sense that I have bad intentions or something?

"You and I… We a–a–are not the same. You are a normal hu–huma–an girl. I am a mons–ster. These ran–rangers want to kill–kill–kill me""K-Kill you? But… You did nothing wrong! You're so nice!"

"Sometimes–times… People who are good to you are bad to others… And–And vice versa. So–Some–Sometimes, you need to defend yourself""Defend?"

"Kill. I am a monster, what do you–you think I did to th–those creatures on the farm? Ki–Killing is of tremendous–dous importance. It is the only–only way for me to keep my life""But…"

"Shhh… You are–re my little sister now, aren't you?" Ophelie raised her head and nodded. Good, that was very good.

"Sisterhood means a lot–lot. I will not only be by your–your side fore–forever but also… Your enemies will be my enemies, and your problems will be my problems… Do you know what this means for you?"

"That… That your enemies are my enemies, and your problems are my problems as well…?" This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Pre–Precisely""So… The Forest Rangers are my enemies?"

"Yes. What do you-ou think they will do if they fi–find out that the monster they de–despise had been hidden here?" I didn't actually let her answer.

"They'll want to kill–YOU–as well" Ophelie was clearly quite shaken by the thought, and I reached to 'comfort' her. Placing my large, metal hand atop her small head.

"I will kill–kill them, to protect you" I soon changed form, first in the 'Passive State' of my new form, and then to the 'Aggressive State', using my smaller and more dexterous hand to slightly pinch the girl's soft cheek. These things were indeed very satisfying to pinch and pet. I couldn't say anything else, so I merely stood tall and left through the open window, disappearing in the darkness.

Ophelie tried to go after me, certainly worried for my safety, but I had already let out the quintet, and Elowen stopped her. In my knightly form, I couldn't call out my spirits, but I could still control those who had already been let out prior to the transformation. So I left it up to the quintet to watch over Ophelie. Heh… I really outdid myself there, don't you think, Nara? Seems like you could have been both a singer and an actress, Mara I am a woman of many talents. I can definitely see that…

But is it really wise to target these elves? I know that you want to test your new form, but some of them could be a bit problematic or tricky to deal with… Don't tell me you are following your instincts again… Listen, the druid from last time, you saw how he behaved, right? This was clearly someone who thought himself to be a pretty big deal, but most elven species aren't the sort to boast or be prideful… These guys are some variations of Wood Elves, clearly not High Elves.

Therefore, I guess that he was, in fact, a big deal amongst the forest rangers and that his attitude was warranted. You know, rather than him just thinking himself above me because he is an elf, and I am not. This… This is basically just following your instincts, you have no clue how this particular elven species behaves or if they even have a pattern of behaviour to begin with… Have my instincts even been wrong? I would say that they have been on several occasions… Heh…

If you had a physical form, I would have definitely pulled on your ear for that one. You aren't supposed to actually give me a truthful answer, just nod along, Nara! Just nod along, and I'll give a kiss on the forehead. That's how this works. I think I would rather get my ear pulled than potentially agree to let you do something dangerous You're such a lovely little sister… But you need to believe more in your big sis. I haven't just been sitting around and killing lanky bastards.

My five cute assistants were busy patrolling the forest and gathering some intel on the Forest Rangers, and so, I am quite well aware of how strong a singular one of them typically is. And frankly, apart from their agility, they don't have much to bring to the table.

Which makes sense, they are rangers who protect the forest, not exactly professional warriors, they don't have the combat experience to make full use of their capabilities, and what little experience they might have is mostly against random bandits and unintelligent creatures. I am a completely different beast for them to deal with. Even that druid that I had Elowen ambush… He might have had a respectable level as a spellcaster, but he was simply not ready for a real fight.

I might have never been given the proper title, but I believed myself to have all the qualifications to be a knight. So, using my new form, I silently walked into the night, hugging the walls of the house before swiftly making my way into the woods. I could not see well, but my ghostly little sisters had been busy with scouting duties. The elves might have better eyesight than I, but they couldn't see in the dark either.

They had settled into their spots long before nightfall, and assuming that they had not decided to move for no discernible reasons, I kept these positions in mind to move around undetected. Unlike with my 'Base Form', moving silently was rather easy with what I had decided to call the 'Aggressive Plush Form'. It felt like I was moving around weightlessly with how great my sense of balance was at all times. Knowing where to look for my prey, it was especially easy to find them, even with the ambient darkness.

I approached from an odd angle, letting the lanky creeps attract the attention of the elves in the opposite direction. Elves really do love their bows, don't they? I reeled my right arm back and used 'Steel Shaping' to create myself a javelin. Alright, you better stand still… The elf was standing on a branch, not too high from the ground. His back was exposed as he had taken a step forward to take aim at a few lanky freaks that were popping out of the ground like they were corpses being reanimated by a necromancer.

I let go of the javelin, performing a most gorgeous motion with my entire body. I wasn't certain where exactly the javelin struck the elf. It might have pierced his heart, or one of his lungs… But I wasn't aiming for that in the first place. The projectiles went right through his spine, causing him to fall like a sack of bricks, directly into his head. Which definitely finished the job, the initial strike hadn't been enough. I stood still for a few moments, listening. It would appear that no one noticed a thing.

Grandiose, I might just be able to murder them all without even having to actually fight. I didn't really believe that this would be the case, though. There was a limit to how oblivious they could be… Was there? Next, I snuck up on an elf who had decided to take position on the top floor of the barn.

This one was especially easy to deal with, in the sense that there were walls around us, so when I grabbed this one in a chokehold and squeezed their neck until they stopped moving, there was no line of sight for anyone to even notice the movements in the night. I am sure quite a lot of people would be very happy to have their head pressed against my chest as they die. You can count yourself lucky, pal. I knew that what I was saying wasn't nonsense either.

I've had quite a lot of weak men, who had pretty obviously tried to tell me that they would very much enjoy it if I could choke them… I swear, how unlucky can I be? A man should want to choke ME, and what was up with their hyperfocus on getting choked by my thighs in particular? Nara, any thoughts on that? None Heh… Let's just focus on killing for now. Wasn't there supposed to be an elf over there? Instead of an elf, I only found two feet still in their boots.

Why does every time I do something, something else happens at the exact same time? Another creature had been lured over by the presence of the Forest Rangers…