Chapter 3: Episode 1 Forest of the Dead - Part 2
--
"Wait-- who said I could leave my post?"
The captain rushed out in a panic. He was surprised and frightened, but the captain had not forgotten his duty.
Linda was quick, too. The moment the captain's hand loosened, she slipped out of his grasp and ran for her brother.
"Wait!"
The captain shouted, absentmindedly forgetting about the deformed thing and took a step forward.
"You will capture the twins of Paros--"
But at last the captain was not able to give the order to the end. When the monster's straight outstretched hand grasped the captain's headpiece and its two huge hands grasped his throat and neck, the captain screamed and struggled to remove the sword from his waist. But before the sword was half out of its scabbard, there was a cracking sound and the captain's neck, gripped by the strong arms, was snapped back.
"The captain--!"
The men paused. They were trained soldiers, not a band of cowardly women, though they were nearly blinded by fear. When they saw the horrible end of their captain, instead of running away on their horses, they drew their swords and seized the monster.
A strange and terrible roar came from the monster's mouth. One of the knights hurriedly slashed at it, and the monster returned fire, lifting up the corpse of its captain. Immediately, the depths of the Forest of Ludes were filled with screams and shouts, and the cracks of swords and armour.
The twins of Paros were utterly forgotten by the knights, and they themselves, forgetting even to flee, watched the strange battle, fascinated and frozen with fear. Their bodies were trembling as they held each other's hands tightly and leaned on each other. They had watched, hand in hand, only a few days before, a battle on a much larger scale - a hell-fire which was the reason why they had wandered to such a remote land, but even the great battle of Ghora, the battle of Paros However, even Gora's great battle for Paros could not compare to the bizarre and strange battle that was now raging deep in the forests of the Ruud.
"Li--Linda."
Remus whispered, his whole body shaking in little knots, mesmerized.
"What the--what the hell is that?"
"How would I know!"
Linda clicked her teeth and finally whispered back in a muffled voice.
"Maybe--maybe it's a demon doll."
"Oh, God!"
The groan escaped the boy's lips. In front of him, it dodged ten skilled swordsmen who were cutting at it with a smoothness of foot that belied its massive size, and slowly but surely spread death. The monster's only weapons were its might and the corpse of its captain, but the heavy armor it wielded crashed into the captain's corpse, crushing the heads of three more knights and breaking the arms of two more.
"Doll! He's like--he's as strong as a god!"
Remus looked at his sister in surprise. Linda was slowly losing her mind, almost in a trance, as she watched the monster fight.
"Why can't I just pick up a danbira and fight with it instead of a corpse--why!"
She whispered as she clogged the ground. But the warrior had thrown the heavy corpse around and buried them both under it at once. The three of them were getting desperate.
Enraged by his colleague's moaning and spilling blood, the man suddenly attacked him with his sword without looking at him. The monster opened its body, grabbed the man and wrapped its arms around his torso, which were as long as a normal man's thighs. The arms did not loosen until they broke the spine of the man, who screamed as if he had been entangled in a serpent, armor and all.
"Two more!"
Linda whispers wildly.
"Get behind me!"
One of the two men cried out, and the other darted round between the trees. But the monster turned his head away from the swordsman, who was coming at him head on, and quickly backed him up against a great tree to stop their scheme. The swordsman regains his sword and throws it at the monster with a spear. It is a common tactic in Ghora. Just as it seemed that the broad sword might pierce his bare arm without armour, he dodged and struck it down with his hand, then picked it up and rushed forward like a flash of lightning.
It was obvious that the reason he did not take the sword from the fallen one was not because he was not skilled in handling it. As if he had been raised with a sword in his hand ever since he was born, he maneuvered the heavy greatsword with ease. In the next instant, the head of the Gora warrior who had tried to flee flew up into the air, spurting blood. He ducked and smashed the last one, who was trying to flee deep into the forest, from the back of the head to the back.
"I did."
Linda screamed. Remus pulled on Linda's hand.
"Come here!"
The monster was looking back at the twins of Paros with its strange eyes, holding up the great bloodstained chimney in the forest. For they were the only ones standing there safe and sound. Linda looked back at him as if fascinated, her fear forgotten. Remus grabbed Linda's hand again, but when he saw the monster coming, he stepped forward and picked up his sword,
"Linda, run!
I yelled.
Linda hadn't even heard her brother's screams. Her eyes were drawn, as if by attraction, to the monster's horrible form, and she could not look away. In the blink of an eye, with his bare hands, he had struck down eleven mounted warriors of the mighty Gora, and the astonishing question arose: Was it a man, or was it something other than a man? The question that occupied her mind was filled with surprise.
Linda didn't know if she could call it human or not. From the neck down, it was definitely a human being - albeit one with a tremendous physique. In fact, he had a magnificent physique that would have made even the winner of the Grand Tournament pale in comparison. His entire body was unusually large and well toned, armored with muscles of great strength, softness, and agility, and his chest, shoulders, and arms were full and ample. The contrast between the breadth of her shoulders and the firmness of her torso was something to behold. In addition to the shallow wounds and blood from the battle just now, I saw that some old but untreated wounds had stained many parts of his incomparable body.
This was because he was naked, with no shoes on except for a pair of leather footpads that barely covered his waist, but even so, if he was that naked, Linda had no reason to worry about whether he was human or not. She had no reason to be troubled about whether he was human or not.
But from the man's neck up--
Linda's eyes were blinding, her pretty fist unconsciously clenched against her mouth as she stared at the dreamer's form that had wandered out in front of her.
From the man's neck up was the head of a full, giant Leopard.
Huge fangs peep out from its fiercely ripped open mouth, and its eyes are two yellow flames. The leopard-headed monster slowly approaches Remus and Linda, who are standing still, with its umbrella in its hand.
That's when Linda saw it. Behind the leopard-headed monster, one of the knights who had fallen under the captain's corpse gasped for breath, turned his body away, and drew back his arm to throw his sword silently.
"Behind you, behind you! Watch out!"
Linda didn't know why she had sided with a monster that was slowly approaching with the dark intention of possibly, but certainly not necessarily, condemning them to the same fate as the knight lying there. Linda did not know.
But before she knew it, a warning cry escaped Linda's lips and the Leopard-headed monster's response was swift.
He turned around, brushed off the sword that had just been thrown at his broad back, and ran at him on two feet, piercing the knight's neck to finish him off. With a precise and merciless movement, as if he was used to bloodshed.
Aah! Me and Remus are next. Janus!
Linda covered her mouth with both hands. Remus grabbed his sword with a shaking hand, but it seemed that his tired, crunchy hand could barely hold the heavy sword.
The beastman turned his head. His two eyes flashed with a ghostly light and caught sight of the two children.
The petals fell helplessly from his hand. Linda and Remus watched in amazement. Suddenly, the Leopard seemed to lose all strength in his body. His body, which had seemed so full of power and life, suddenly began to sway slightly from side to side, and he finally fell to his knees.
"I don't know what's going on."
Remus said in a trembling voice. Linda noticed the beastman's face, and the movement of his hand as if he were appealing to them. His mouth moved as if to say something, but all that escaped was a strange, crushing growl.
"Something--I'm asking you to do something. I'm asking you to do something."
"Linda, we have to go. There's a knight and his horse--"
"Remus!"
Linda said with a reproachful look on her face, as if she were surprised.
"He has helped us."
"He"? You're saying this is a man, Linda--"
"Look!"
Linda interrupted. The leopard-headed man's strong hands were on her throat. With his left hand he grasped his throat painfully, and with his right he repeatedly rubbed his head.
"All right!"
Linda cried out, clapping her hands together, and sprang forward. The younger brother threw out his sword and rushed to restrain the senseless sister, but Linda did not even look back.
"He's human. He's just a Leopard in a Leopard suit. Look, he wants you to take it off."
"Linda, I think it's best if you leave me alone.
"Well, are you going to be a coward over ingratitude?"
Linda strolled in unafraid.
"What do you want me to do? Hey, what do you want me to do?"
She puts her slender hand to the bloody head of the beast-headed man and looks into it. When she, in the guise of a crisp, slender boy, peers anxiously at the huge leopard-headed man, it reminds me of a rabbit or a small bird circling a lion, such a lovely sight.
The Leopard said something. Rather, the voice that he had been uttering for some time now finally became clear enough to be heard.
"Guin--Guin."
He was indeed repeating this.
"What? What is it? Hey, is there anything I can do?"
Linda patiently repeated the process. But then the Leopard man's body lurched and he fell on his side on the undergrowth of the rude forest. Linda sprang from his heavy body with a thud, and then, with less restraint, put her hand on the man's thick, blood-stained shoulder.
And then a small gasp of surprise.
"Well-- hey, Remus, he's sick. He's very weak. He didn't look like that at all before. ... Remus, come on, Remus, go to the spring and get some water. If you don't take care of him, he's going to die."
"Linda, hey, Linda ..."
"Don't dawdle. Night is coming."
Linda points out the depths of the forest with a dignified gesture to her brother, who still looks like he wants to protest. Grudgingly, the boy stands up. Linda was now completely captivated by the Leopard-headed monster. She shook out her platinum blonde hair, a determined look on her pretty boyish face, and knelt down beside the leopard-headed man once again.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone