Volume 6 Chapter 18 The Predator’s Corridor
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
The moon scorched the zenith; the night was at its deepest, most stagnant hour. At the perimeter of the village, right at the edge of the barrier, the world held its breath.
The scent of burning torch-fat hung in the air, punctuated by the dry, snapping sound of carbonized wicks. The flickering firelight licked at the faces of the chosen Elven elite and three shadows that carried the alien stench of beasts. Twenty-seven in total. Their gazes did not meet; they were held together only by a chain forged from the King’s command—a mixture of frigid tension and raw, untamed wildness.
”…Confirming,” Farrell said, his voice clipped and procedural.
The sound of gravel crunching underfoot signaled his movement as he stepped out in front of the Beastmen. His voice, squeezed from the depths of his throat, shivered the night air.
”I won’t waste my breath on formation lectures,” Farrell stated, his tone rigid. “Just stay out of our line of fire. I don’t owe you any protection, but I’m not in the mood to climb over the corpses of my own allies.”
At those words, Lara curled the corner of her lips. She toyed with a lock of blonde hair, looking back at Farrell with an expression that judged him like potential prey.
”Oh, I understand perfectly,” Lara replied, her tone neutral and precise. “We’ll leave the ‘tastiest’ parts for Gauz-sama. You lot can just watch from the front-row seats.”
Lara turned, pointing toward the forest that stretched into the depths of the darkness.
”Humans are creatures that fear the night. They will always build fires, crawling into that membrane of light. …Their preparation process is three stages.”1
Lara held up three fingers with graceful precision.
”First, ‘Blinding.’ Use the Elven bows to dispose of the sentries standing outside the light. Silently, unilaterally, from the shadows.”
”…Hmph,” Farrell grunted, his response short and military. “Simple enough.”
”Second, ‘Erosion,’” Lara continued, her voice maintaining its steady rhythm. “Slip into their camp quietly and slit the throats of the sleeping soldiers. Stages one and two happen simultaneously. Thin their numbers as much as possible.”
The third finger curled into her palm.
”Third, ‘Trampling.’ The moment the enemy realizes something is wrong and their terror reaches its peak—Gauz-sama strikes the dead center of the light.”
”Huh?” Gauz interjected, his voice dripping with an aggressive, urban street-slang edge. “The hell you talkin’ about?”
”Directly under the light, the contrast will be intense,” Lara explained. “Their pupils will snap shut, and the prison of light will be complete. They won’t be able to see the darkness outside.”
”I see…” Farrell noted. “So we just shoot them down from the darkness again, one-sidedly.”
Beside them, a rough, ragged gasp leaked out. Sasha, the magic tool researcher. She had her oversized robe pulled open, clawing at her tangled, reddish-brown hair, her eyes bloodshot behind thick, bottle-bottom spectacles.
”Hii… Ah, that… th-that theory… is so… beautiful…!” Sasha stammered, her voice frantic and academic.
The pen gripped in her trembling hand raced across the parchment.
”Light-source-based exploitation of dark-adaptation lag—latency… a visual-blocking tactic that strikes at the flaw in the human retinal structure…! I-it makes perfect sense! Ah, amazing, this doctrine… it’s like the Master’s theories—perfect, and it gives me chills…!”
”…What a strange girl,” Lara muttered.
”Heh, so you’re saying my turn is at the end?” Gauz laughed, a bored, jagged sound. “I might just fall asleep from the wait.”
”――Sylvia,” Farrell called out.
There stood a crimson haze in the shape of a person. Her fingers, resting on the hilt of her sword, were white-knuckled.
”We’ll handle the cleaning of the small fry. You… you understand, right?” Farrell asked.
”I shall settle this matter myself,” Sylvia replied, her voice filled with archaic, dignified intensity.
”The filth that soils the garden of the Spirit King,” Sylvia declared. “…I will burn it all to ash.”
”…I’m counting on you,” Farrell said.
Farrell thrust his torch into the mud on the ground. With a hiss of steam and the smell of scorching, the world sank into darkness.
”Let’s move,” Farrell commanded.
With that, Gauz’s foot shattered the mud. The massive weight churned the wind, and he slid soundlessly into the bottom of the abyss. Twenty-six shadows followed the scent of the beasts, sucked into the forest. The march of death had begun.
The group passed through the village barrier. The air that clung to their skin became viscous and heavy. A sea of rot. The stench of decay pierced their nostrils, and the humidity felt like it was burning their lungs. The canopy of giant trees overhead rejected the moonlight, and their visibility sank into a mud-like darkness. However, from the gaps in the leaves swaying in the wind, light like silver needles fell slightly. That unreliable twilight was their guide.
They cut through the darkness and pushed forward relentlessly. The monsters that attacked them repeatedly during the journey didn’t even have time to scream. The sound of Elven arrows being sucked into eye sockets. The sound of Beastmen claws tearing flesh from throats. Those sounds became part of the forest’s rustling, disappearing behind them without even the sound of footsteps in their march. All that remained were mounds of silent corpses.
It was then that a silver cliff blocked the path of Gauz, who was in the lead.
A Tungsten Bear.
A massive body that made one look up. The armor covered in silver heavy-metal crystals reflected the moonlight, shining dully. Just by the mass of it moving, the ground rippled and the surrounding bark was scraped away. The master of the forest recognized the intruders and swung up a foreleg like a log. The air shrieked.
Gauz did not decelerate.
Just before the shadow of the falling limb descended, he twisted his body into the creature’s chest. The foot he planted gouged the mud, and he poured the vibration of kicking the earth directly into his fist. A forceful blow, thrusting upward at the shortest distance.
Crush.
It wasn’t a hard metallic sound. It was the wet, shattering sound of the skull and brain matter inside being crushed within the armor. The eyeballs popped out, and the silver mountain collapsed according to gravity.
Thud.
While mud splashes flew high into the air, Gauz used the corpse as a wall to accelerate even further.
Immediately after, killing intent fell from above. Obsidian Ape. Four arms. The held obsidian knives sliced the wind like sharpened glass. Sylvia’s reaction speed surpassed thought. The afterimage of a sword draw. A trajectory at a sharp angle that didn’t even create wind pressure passed through the monkeys in mid-air. Without even a sound of contact, arms and necks slid off with a delay. As fresh blood sprayed from the cross-sections, Sylvia passed underneath without even shaking the blood from her blade.
To the side, at the three o’clock direction. Mud-colored scales. The thrust of a raptor. Volos’s tower shield cut into the trajectory.
Scrape!
With sparks and an unpleasant friction sound that resonated in the bone, the scales creaked the moment the impact couldn’t be fully killed. From the shadow of the shield, two blades ran. Lumi’s curved sword severed the tendons, and Hugh’s two-handed sword slid smoothly into the gap of the ribs. The lizard, heart pierced, convulsed and sank into the mud.
Their breathing did not falter. The stench of rot grew thicker. Oxygen was thin. But Gauz’s walking speed did not drop.
A blind spot overhead. Silence. Strix, the giant bird. The down killed the wind-cutting sound, and death itself fell from directly above. A beak that could pierce even a helmet aimed for Gauz’s medulla oblongata.
Gauz stopped abruptly. A reversal that ignored inertia. A silver beak reflected in his entire field of vision. An intercepting fist. At the moment of impact, flesh burst at the point of the fist.
Squish.
A sound like wringing out a wet rag. The head, crushed like a tomato, was slammed into the ferns. Gauz brushed off the greasy feathers attached to his fist and began walking again.
Suddenly, Mimi stopped. Folding her long ears, she hid behind Gauz as if frightened.
”…There is no sound,” Mimi whispered in her soft, childish tone.
Her ears had caught an abnormal boundary line. From this point forward, the presence of monsters had vanished. All that remained was the breathing of beasts, the buzzing of insects, and unpleasant noise like a rusted needle piercing the core of the brain.
At the same time, Melis narrowed her eyes. In the humid heat of the subtropics, a lump of unnaturally dense heat sources was emerging only in that blank zone. Humans. And many of them.
As they proceeded through the darkness without a sound, artificial light began to leak from between the giant ferns and black trunks.
Ahead, an alien white cut through the darkness. They were forcing their way through the gaps between dense buttress roots and trees to set up a camp.
In the midst of the deep darkness, clusters of pure white tents were forced inside. The light of the magic lanterns placed around them created an artificial sanctuary, as if rejecting the darkness.
Standing at the edge of that light were several soldiers clad in rugged iron armor. They pointed their blades into the darkness of the forest, keeping an alert, vigilant watch in the silence.
It was exactly as Lara had predicted. The enemy was a group of highly trained regular soldiers. They were holed up in the light.
—
Summary:
Farrell, Gauz, and their team navigate the treacherous, rot-filled forest to reach the human encampment. Along the way, they execute a series of swift, brutal encounters with various monsters, demonstrating their coordinated combat efficiency. As they approach the camp, they discover the humans hiding within a concentrated, artificial barrier of light, confirming Lara’s tactical prediction. Tension mounts as the group prepares to strike the fortified enemy position.
—
Trivia:
Sasha displays signs of psychological instability linked to her intelligence-gathering.
The forest acts as a natural barrier where monsters reside, creating a “Rotten Sea” effect.
The enemy forces are not mere fodder but highly trained regular soldiers utilizing defensive light-based barriers.
The tactical doctrine relies on manipulating human retinal response to darkness and light.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• King – A powerful, authoritative male lead who possesses immense physical strength and magic. He commands absolute loyalty and submission from the inhabitants of the Silver Moon Village.
• Farrell – An elf garrison captain restored by the protagonist, this determined swordsman leads village security with grim resolve and sharp authority. Eager to regain lost honor, he wields a vacuum wind blade and green aura. Shaped by a past defeat by Ryuichi, he respects his King, loathes the beast Gauz, and maintains a tense alliance with the protagonist while tactically protecting his people.
• Lara – A refined, nine-tailed golden fox-woman of the Hundred-Beast Federation with long eyelashes, serving as a cunning strategist, advisor, and receptionist. Highly intelligent and calculating, she uses Illusion Magic to project power and manipulates Gauz for political goals to survive her own fear. Now a captive subjected to a body search, she observes the protagonist’s magical experiments with visible distress and confusion.
• Gauz – A giant, steel-furred feline beast-man with golden eyes, a massive mane, and dense muscle armor. This hyper-durable, predatory commander wields the axe Agito and possesses an abnormal sense of smell. Arrogant yet fiercely loyal, he led a 30,000-strong force and views the protagonist as the only leader strong enough to hold his leash. Tied to a past security failure, he is now a charred runaway.
• Sasha – A researcher who serves as a partner to Elie-na and shares her fear of the King’s punishments.
• Sylvia – A voluptuous, silver-haired elven swordswoman with blue eyes and a heavily scarred, porcelain body, Crimson Lotus is a battle-hardened Silver-rank vanguard and living weapon. Enshrouded in a dark-red Spirit Shroud, she wields immense strength and mental fortitude. Despite being battered by a grueling sacrifice against Gauz, she remains a devoted protector with deep affection for Ryuichi, John, Nier, and her King.
• Spirit King – The male protagonist who acts as the sole source of mana for the Elf village ritual. He possesses limitless stamina and approaches his duties with detached efficiency.
• Volos – A muscular, giant Elf guard wielding a tower shield as tall as himself that absorbs massive kinetic impact. He utilizes Spirit power to manifest defensive barriers, possessing immense physical power. He is the first to be crushed by Gauz, suffering shattered arms and internal injuries.
• Hugh – A young dual-wielding blade user who specializes in precision strikes against tendons and cores.
• Lumi – A warrior whose curved blade utilizes centrifugal force to deliver logic-defying, bone-severing strikes.
• Mimi – A petite, rabbit-eared Beastman from the Hundred-Beast Federation with translucent skin and high auditory sensitivity. Traumatized by the sound of the world’s life force being consumed, she acts as a sensory receiver and interface for the protagonist. Characterized by extreme fear, intense submissive loyalty, and strong physical reactions to magic, she is currently a captive with her companion, Lara.
• Melis – Voluptuous 160cm elf watchtower guard and scout with blonde hair in a high ponytail, a seductive aura, and a low-cut tunic under a grease-stained leather apron. Married to dwarf artisan Kulum but infatuated with Ryuichi. Altered by Ryuichi’s essence, her acute senses grant the supernatural ability to perceive heat fluctuations, tracking heat signatures and anomalies from afar.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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