CHAPTER 44: HARPY

"Hic hic... Waah waah."

"What are you doing? You’re supposed to be a hero!" the woman screamed as I pressed her head down to the ground with my boot. "Give me my baby!"

"This thing," I said, raising the squirming, crying bundle in my hand, "is this even a baby?"

I raised the blade of calamity to its neck, making it look like I was about to slit its throat.

"NOOO!!"

There it was—the voice that seeped out wasn’t human. It was sharp and twisted. As I suspected, this creature that was carrying itself like a young mother wasn’t even human in the first place.

Whatever it was, it was weak, barely putting up a fight against my boot pressing down on its head.

With the least amount of effort, I could crush her head like it was nothing.

"What are you?" I asked, not mincing my words or raising my voice. "Tell me the truth, or I’ll slit this baby’s throat."

"I-I... I’m a..." She hesitated, clearly frightened with my weapon so close to her child. I knew she couldn’t hesitate for long. She gave a defeated look before finally answering, "I’m a harpy. Just like all the others you saw."

I knew it. Who flaps their arms while falling from the sky? Why she was falling, I noticed something strange in the there harpy’s movements—that was the second thing that threw me off by the situation.

Their movements were perfectly clear to me and I could see they were planning to save her. Why they threw her up in the air in the first place, I didn’t know, but I ended up using one of them to break our fall.

What was left of it was splattered across the street. I had so many questions to ask, but now wasn’t the time. More harpies were approaching us fast. I quickly hoisted her up over my shoulders and made a break for it with her and the baby.

"Let me go!" she screamed, kicking her legs.

I carried her to a secure place inside one of the buildings. This building looked to be a bakery shop.

Luckily, it was empty due to the commotion with the labyrinth break.

I placed her on her feet and handed her child back.

"Talk," I ordered. "How are you one of those things?"

She stared at me with bloodshot eyes. For better or for worse, she didn’t look like one.

She looked like a regular woman; I might not have caught on to what she was if I hadn’t noticed the irregularities in how she was acting.

"How can you be so cruel? To threaten me... to threaten us like this?"

"Cruel? I was sent here to kill monsters from the labyrinth. You are a monster from the labyrinth. Keeping you alive for this long is a mercy."

"But I look human; isn’t that enough for you?"

I stared at her without muttering a word. She must have known she couldn’t sympathize her way out of this.

Meanwhile, the baby in her arms was crying profusely, and she was trying her best to calm it down.

To be honest, I couldn’t tell what her child was—whether it was human or not.

"I am from the labyrinth," she said in a solemn voice, "but the moment I had this child, I became human."

It was a ridiculous claim—turning into a human after having a human child.

That was it? No, she was lying.

I couldn’t help but sigh, causing a look of confusion to cross her face. With nothing to gain from questioning her any further, I decided to leave.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"You’re free to do whatever you want," I replied simply before leaving.

Everyone was still engrossed in battle, and a number of harpies were still overhead in the sky. Since the group I was supposed to clear the South Ward with was gone, that meant it was up to me.

The harpies were out for blood; I noticed most of them gathered where people were, picking them off one by one. The sight was disturbing, to say the least. I had never had to watch people getting killed before. Though, them going after the common folks made them an easier target.

All I had to do was wait until they dove in for the attack before I struck, using the rooftops as stepping stones to make up for the height advantage. I slashed them down mid-air as I leaped from roof to roof.

During my fight, I even spotted the heroes I was supposed to be leading. They were cowering, luckily deciding to do it where the common folk couldn’t see how pathetic they were.

"ArrrraaaaH!"

As I was making my way around the South Ward, I spotted a certain red-haired girl fighting for her life. Those around her were already dead, leaving her to fend off a harpy by herself. She was dressed in armor from head to toe, like a knight, and brandished a sword almost as big as she was. It was the princess, the first daughter of the king.

"With this sword in hand, I will use this power to vanquish all that I can. O hear me, blade of light, shine now; let’s show them your light!"

Is that a chant? Out of nowhere, her sword began to emit a bright golden light. The harpy must have stood around ten feet away, but without even closing the distance, she managed to cut the creature in half.

"What kind of sword is that?" I mumbled, unable to help but wonder. And that chant—was it some kind of magic spell? Did she somehow infuse magic into her blade?

Their magic was interesting; if I could somehow use it... After a while of staring at her for too long, she noticed me.

She was bleeding from numerous cuts across her body. I guess the normal thing to do would be to help her or at least pretend to care.

Just as I thought that, she began to falter. I swooped down from the building I was on and caught her right before she hit the ground.