CHAPTER 72: DESU? NYA? NO, IT’S -RAS!

The monsters were beings far too similar yet different from ones I knew well.

’They really look like harpies.’

If harpies had a male form instead of just female, they’d definitely look like that. My subordinates and I held our breath and quietly observed them.

"Anyone know them?"

"..."

No one answered. Not just the hunters and Lune, but even Eila seemed to be seeing them for the first time. In the end, none of us knew the identity of these monsters.

’Bird-head humans.’

That’s exactly how I could describe them. Above the neck was an enlarged crow’s head, but below that was a human body.

’How do they not even have wings?’

Naked humans with just bird heads attached, so I thought maybe they were masks, but I changed my mind when they started tearing with the beaks in their mouths.

"Soon we’ll be at the land with humans-ras."

"We’ll attack as soon as the boss returns-ras."

"...Why the hell do those bastards talk like that?"

Are they crazy, or is it a species trait? Aside from their weird speech pattern, the bird-heads were definitely having normal conversations.

"I’m gonna confess to the boss later-ras."

"You’ll get rejected anyway, but I’ll cheer you on-ras."

"Fucking idiots."

"Master, they’ll hear you...!"

Lune actually warned me instead. But I found it too absurd that the bird-heads were talking.

"Those things are right now—"

"They’re coming."

We held our breath. From the opposite side of the path below, a bird-head monster flying horizontally 50cm above the ground appeared. On its back, very small wings were flapping.

"No, seriously."

The bird-heads were avian-type monsters exactly like harpies. But if harpies had human appearance with only their arms and legs being different, these things had human bodies but bird heads instead.

"Everyone gathered-ras?"

The one presumed to be the leader appeared. The body wearing not a single thread had small breasts, but the line from the waist down to the pelvis curved in an S-shape, narrowing attractively.

Though the head was a bird head.

"Boss, we’re ready-ras."

"Then prepare to move-ras. The humans in the village are all already dead-ras."

"Hup."

One of the stud hunters covered his mouth. We warned him, and the bird-head Ras looked toward us for a moment before starting to talk among themselves again.

"Seems like a wild animal-ras."

"Got scared for nothing-ras."

"We’re hungry, so we need to move quickly-ras."

"No, seriously, I want to rip those beaks off."

"Should I shoot?"

Lune raised her bow. The stud hunters also carefully lifted the bows they’d looted from the village.

"Nah. As much as I want to put an arrow through their heads right now, let’s wait."

"Are you thinking of following them?"

"Yeah."

They already killed all the humans. They’re hungry. That meant as monsters, they just needed to massacre and eat humans.

"Let’s see how many other monsters there are. By following them."

"Wise thinking."

"Archers, prepare to fire at any moment."

I also rubbed my tattoo with my fingers and prepared to enhance my body. We carefully followed the temporarily named [Bird-head Ras] creatures.

Sniff sniff.

The farther we went, the stronger the thick smell of blood that made my head hurt stabbed at my nose. One of the hunters who’d first covered his mouth—the man who’d first been bred by the harpies and fathered three—carefully spoke to me.

"...Master. There was another slash-and-burn village ahead."

"What about now?"

"...Until a week ago, about 20 people were living there."

One week. That meant something might have happened during that week. I had a strong feeling some kind of incident had occurred.

"Absolutely don’t startle them."

I didn’t know what kind of enemy we’d end up fighting, but nothing good would come from carelessly provoking them.

A moment later. We lay on top of a fairly high hill and looked down. Below, there were monsters squatting in front of human corpses, pecking their heads against the ground repeatedly.

"How terrible..."

Eila immediately frowned deeply and growled. I was very curious about their identity, but watching them chew and swallow humans, I realized the bird-head Ras were definitely not monsters friendly to humans.

Crunch, squelch!

The bird-heads squatted in front of the human corpses, slamming their heads down and tearing the humans apart with their beaks to devour them. The ones we’d followed were the same.

"Ugh."

It was far away so I couldn’t see well. I squinted slightly and looked down at the bird-head Ras from a distance, checking their status. If I could at least know their rank—

...v.20, ★☆.

"Oho."

It was too far to see clearly, but the information I wanted to know was enough. The bird-head Ras with red blood in their beaks still didn’t notice our presence.

"Eila, guard this place. Archers, start firing as soon as I go down."

"Master?"

"I’m going down while attacking."

When I raided the human village, I had to waddle and roll down the cliff with my body, but now it’s different. I rubbed the top of my fingers with my hand and took a deep breath.

’Strength Enhancement, Blood Flow Acceleration.’

Power and speed. I gained the confidence to run down the cliff.

My target was the female-type bird-head Ras called the boss. I gulped and threw my body toward the cliff.

Fwoosh, fwoosh!

Lune and the hunters’ shots grazed above my head. The arrows shot precisely toward the bird-head Ras’s backs—two hit the bird-head Ras, and two stuck into the innocent ground.

"What is it-ras!"

"Enemies-ras!"

The bird-head Ras quickly noticed our presence. But by the time they urgently turned their heads, I’d already run down the cliff.

"Mraaah!"

With a short battle cry, I clenched both fists and brought them down on the beak of the female bird-head Ras that thrust her beak at me.

CRACK!!

The bird-head Ras’s beak shattered into pieces. The monster looked completely shocked, never expecting her beak to break.

Thud!

I used the momentum of landing on the ground to leap forward forcefully. My kick was aimed at the bird-head Ras’s abdomen, and her waist instantly folded in half.

"Kuh, kuhck."

"Don’t you guys say ’ras’ when you scream?"

I stomped on the back of the boss creature collapsed on the ground. The other bird-head Ras hesitated and pulled their beaks away from the human corpses.

"Kuh, kueeek!!"

The bird-head Ras, true to being bird-brains, couldn’t recognize the strong. They all glared with eyes that clearly didn’t understand the strength I showed killing the boss, then charged at me.

Crack, crack.

So I just snapped their shins. Even if their heads were avian, their joints weren’t much different from humans’, so the bird-head Ras quickly fell face-first with both arms on the ground.

"Run away-ras!"

One bird-head Ras urgently turned around trying to escape the village. But behind that one, a wind arrow was already flying in pursuit.

Fwoosh, fwoosh!

"Gahk."

The bird-head Ras with a wind-hole in the back of its head flopped forward and died. Lune’s shot precisely pierced through the bird-head Ras, and the other stud hunters also sniped them with fairly accurate shots.

Thwack thwack thwack.

A bird-head Ras rolling on the ground after I broke its shin took an arrow to the knee and screamed silently. Before the bird-head Ras could scream, I lifted my leg and stomped on the feathered area presumed to be its neck.

[Andras: Lv. 13 ★☆]

The bird-head Ras, no, the Andras weren’t very strong monsters. But the fact that there were unidentified monsters we didn’t know about was concerning.

Screeech!

One wind arrow grazed my head and pierced through an Andras’s beak. The Andras that had been charging with its beak open toward me immediately flopped to the ground and died. Their mouths reeked of disgusting blood and the thick scent of intestines.

"These monsters..."

"Master, this is..."

"They raided the slash-and-burn village and ate the villagers."

That was the situation. The slash-and-burn village where 20-some people lived had become a wasteland from the Andras’s attack, and there were no survivors.

"Weren’t there any strong hunters here?"

"...Yes, this place was where people who actually cultivated fields to live gathered."

The stud hunter pointed to the village residents with a troubled expression. There were only 7 houses, and around the village, very small vegetable gardens were struggling to sprout.

"They got hit out of nowhere."

The slash-and-burn village was attacked by monsters called Andras. That’s what the information before my eyes showed.

’To check where these guys came from, I’d have to go back that way.’

The path below the hill. The place where the Andras had been walking one by one. Maybe there’s an Andras nest inside there.

"Lune. Can you kill them?"

"Of course."

Lune showed more enthusiasm than ever. When she first fired, it was Lune who made a wind-hole in the Andras’s head.

"Good. Then let’s do some work before we go."

I gathered the Andras corpses in one place. Then I took out a shovel from the village and dug a pit.

"Master, what are you doing?"

"Bait."

I dug an appropriate pit with the shovel.

"Making bait that other Andras bastards will definitely rush toward when they see it."

I picked up the Andras with the broken beak.

Thud.

***

"Something’s strange-ras."

One Andras tilted its head. The Andras carrying human corpses beside it also tilted its head together.

"What’s wrong-ras?"

"The kids aren’t coming back-ras."

"Even though a lot of time has passed since we attacked the village, they still haven’t returned-ras."

The Andras clicked their beaks together expressing concern. They had already come down the slope and stood at the cave entrance.

"If you’re that worried, go back and check-ras."

"The mistress probably won’t allow it-ras."

"What?"

A woman with wings on her back appeared behind the Andras. The woman’s eyes, wearing an appearance like a crow-pattern pajama turned inside out, were dyed red.

"M-Mistress."

"What’s not coming back?"

"W-well..."

The Andras hesitated and couldn’t answer. But when the crow woman glared at them, they hurriedly bowed their heads.

"The young children haven’t returned yet-ras!"

"The young children? Hmm... Was it their first time eating humans?"

"That’s correct-ras."

The woman sighed as if it couldn’t be helped and took the human corpses from the Andras. With blood dripping from their bellies, they seemed to have had their intestines pecked out by the Andras.

"Bring the kids back safely. If they get a taste for humans the wrong way, they can lose their minds."

"Understood-ras."

"Sigh, they better not spill anything anywhere, got it?"

The woman permitted the Andras to go bring back the children. The Andras bowed their heads and turned around.

"Lucky the mistress allowed it-ras."

"Well, the mistress is also an Andras, so that’s why-ras."

"Our whole species is named after the mistress anyway, isn’t it-ras?"

"That’s right-ras. I also want to evolve quickly and drop this speech pattern ending with ’ras’-ras."

The two Andras chatted as they retraced the path they’d brought humans from. And they were left with mouths hanging open at the shocking sight placed in the human village.

"Screeee?!"

"What the hell is this disaster-ras?!"

The young Andras who’d been absorbed in eating humans were all sprawled out with their heads stuck in the ground. Their legs were bent in various directions, forward or backward, and all their bodies were bent like reeds.

"Urp!"

The Andras’s heads spun at the pools of blood around them. Had they been attacked by humans? The Andras urgently approached the young Andras.

"This is... an arrow?"

Arrow marks were embedded in the young Andras’s bodies. And right next to them in their confusion, in the building beside them.

CRASH!

The dirt wall collapsed and a green monster wearing a robe appeared. The Andras were startled and raised their fists, but the monster spread both arms toward them and grinned widely.

"Welcome-ras!"

"?!!?"

"Now die-ras!"

BOOM!

The monster swung its fists at the Andras’s heads. The Andras tried to block it, but before the monster’s punches imbued with green energy, their consciousness grew hazy. Meanwhile, the orc with the bulging belly brushed off its hands and mocked the Andras.

"Aren’t you embarrassed going ’ras ras’ all the time?"

The Andras felt wronged but couldn’t refute.

And they lost consciousness.

***

A moment later.

I won the gamble I’d set using the bait. After leaving behind the strangely weak Andras, some slightly stronger Andras had returned to the village.

Ah Andras. Lv.28. ★★☆.

Thanks to catching them very easily, I could understand their characteristics well. 1-star ones are just Andras, and the more they evolve, the more gets added to the name Andras.

"Hey, wake up."

I laid the beak to the side and kicked the unconscious Andras to wake it. The Andras was half-asleep, and I grabbed the Andras’s beak and shook it.

"I’m really curious about something. Won’t you answer?"

"...What is it-ras."

"What I’m curious about is this-ras."

I stomped on the Andras’s breasts. While the head was a monster, the torso had the perfect form of a woman.

"Your boss or chieftain or strongest one, is it female?"

The Andras looked at me with a face that said I was ridiculous and sneered.

"Hmph, she’s a woman with outstanding beauty incomparable to a monster like you-ras."

"Then that works out great."

I patted the Andras’s shoulder.

"I can go eat her right now."

Screech.

A wind arrow pierced through the Andras’s neck.