There they were. The gangrenous green bastards stood in a circle, cackling like they were natural-born comedians. It was four spearmen with two archers tucked away in the far back of the room. Sekh tapped my trembling shoulders, and I forcibly got my breathing in order. Tilde was standing on my backpack, and Irisa was waiting with her weapon ready. Glimmers of that awful encounter flashed through my mind.  

I was totally helpless once they had closed the distance. My strength reigned supreme at range, where I could pick off these detestable creatures with sharp, pinpoint accuracy.  

Shit... If Sekh wasn’t here, those bastards would have used me like a whore and implanted their larvae within me... It makes me sick to my stomach... 

“Mila.” Irisa crouched down and held my shoulders. “You can do this. I know you can. I promise I’ll protect you if they ever get close. And Sekh will too. Once you launch the opening strike, we’ll handle the rest.” 

Sekh gave me an affirmative nod, and Tilde flew away to watch our backs. I nodded, then steadied Reina’s gun and took a deep breath. With my finger on the trigger, I waited for the green deviants to line up so I could take out two at once with [Piercing Thrust].  

Until I find another gun, I have no choice but to rely on this. 

Bang! 

The earsplitting noise recoiled all throughout the mine, marking my return to harvesting this hunting ground. Sekh and Irisa ran forward, killing the surprised goblins with ease. The two at the back readied their arrows, but I sent them to the afterlife.  

The whole battle took just a few seconds, but goddamn if it didn’t feel like a handful of minutes. I walked towards my companions and their bloody weapons while storing my gun in my mana. 

Tilde said the coast was still clear, so I ate. I devoured these ruthless annoyances, chopping through their weakened bones and crunching their sorry flesh with the largest boar head hand I could make.  

New Skill: [Bow] 

And that’s another weapon skill. Maybe I should use Susize’s bow? That’s worth thinking about. 

Irisa stared curiously, asking how it all worked.  

“Truthfully? I have no idea. It just kinda…teleports to my stomach when I ‘swallow.’ And yes, I can taste every bit of it. I feel the bones when they break.” I searched my map for iron, and there were many hits. This side room was just the closest one, so that was our first destination.  

The pathetic goblins were guarding a couple of iron veins. Amongst the three of us, Irisa was the only one strong enough to wield Murag’s warhammer with no issue, so she used that while I used the pickaxe she brought. Sekh relied on her mace. And so, we started to swing away. I lifted it up like Irisa showed me and brought it down. The angle must’ve been wrong because the impact failed to break any ore off, and it sent a tremendous jolt up my arm, causing me to drop it.  

I rubbed my wrist and cursed. To my left, Irisa was nonchalantly hammering away, and I was impressed by her sheer strength. She wasn’t even looking, choosing to watch Sekh work in a smooth rhythm. It was supposedly hot inside the dungeon, and with that armor, including the hard labor, she sweated like a storm. Still, she looked so beautiful and powerful. After clipping her helmet to her belt, she retrieved a rag and wiped her drenched face.  

Sekh was inspiring, and I went at it until I was totally out of breath. 

“Woah… That’s seriously helpful,” Irisa commented on my unique abilities as a dozen chunks of ore were stashed away at once after I connected my webs to them. Tilde proudly hovered in front of her.  

“Whahaha!!! I’ll take your praise, and I’ll take it some more. I’ll even let you worship me if you keep gushing about my super helpful skills! Yes, Master only has them because of me! Bwhahahaha!” The flying annoyance let the praise get to her head, but it was cute seeing her in such a happy mood. I knew we all needed it after the disgrace I put the three of us in because of my stubbornness.  

As we started to leave, we saw the accumulation of mana and prepared for a fight. And yes, it was a squad of goblins sent by the dungeon to kill us. I aimed my gun to deliver them a quick death, but it couldn’t have been that easy. One of the bastards stared at me with a look. I had to vent my growing displeasure. I approached them with a boar’s head on my hand, bringing one of them towards me with [String Shot] like that web-slinging superhero Greggie liked. 

“Guu!!!! Gue! Gue gue!!!” They were laughing, but the screams of that goblin being eaten alive quickly shut them up. But this wasn’t enough. Assimilating a live target was just a drop in the proverbial ocean of what I wanted to do these bastards that nearly succeeded in filling my belly with their sickening parasitic offspring. 

You fuckers… You’re better off dead… 

I saw Sekh’s black hair rush past me when they charged at me, but I told her to stop because I wanted to personally kill them. Four quick uses of [Web Bomb] immobilized the rest to the ground. Their weak strength couldn’t break my webs, so I had the perfect subjects to further test my Chimeric prowess.  

First, I produced a spider leg from my hand because I wanted to take their eyes. Tilde stood guard while I took my time caressing their ugly faces before finally popping those bulging things out of their socket. Eight eyes were stabbed on the end of my arm, and like they were grapes, I popped one into my mouth and chewed. 

Those blind, vile creatures produced the most unholy noise while staring up with those empty, bloody sockets. I had fun with them, though. From stomping onto their crotches and hearing the satisfying pop of their tiny testicles exploding to carving my name into their naked chests and ripping away the skin, I put them through hell.  

I even used my web abilities to hang one of them. Oh! How humorous it was to watch that little green body swing, seeing his stubby legs kick and flail and fail to find any hard ground while blood from his mutilated crotch fell. While the son of a bitch was on its last breath, I went behind and jabbed my spider leg up its ass so hard and far the tip sprouted from its gaping mouth.  

I almost removed it, but I jammed it back in, forcing the goblin to experience what its kind did to the poor men and women that became their victims.  

I removed my arm and left the bastard bleeding while I used [String Shot] to retrieve the last living goblin. It grossly squirmed and struggled with all the strength its frail body had.  Looking back, Irisa was spewing the contents of her stomach over the ground while failing to hold back her tears. 

“You can’t be crying for them, right?” I asked, not hiding my displeasure.  

“This… It’s brutal, Mila,” Irisa whispered, her head angled towards the ground. She only vaguely stared at me out of her peripherals.  

“They deserve this and far, far more than I’m able to give them. Sekh, new order. If you see any goblins, end their wretched lives.” 

“Gladly.” 

I strung up the last survivor while finishing off the one I impaled in the ass, and then it was time to eat it alive. Slowly, so very slowly, I used the boar head to eat an inch at a time, making sure to use the boar and everything this head offered me. The scratchy, coarse outer coat had a reputation for being rough, which made it perfect to rub against the exposed flesh and bloodied crotch.  

The tortured bastard screamed. For once, they felt the true despair their kin brought to men and women. They felt the torture of being eaten alive, bit by bit and piece by piece. From its nasty feet to the bloody legs and piss-soaked thighs, its scabbed-filled belly, and its scarred chest, I devoured every ounce of this inhuman monster.  

“Irisa, this is what I am,” I said, turning my arm back to normal. I turned to find her motionless and crying. “Can you accept a monster like me? I get revenge on those that fuck me over. I have to eat to grow stronger. Even if it means devouring someone alive, I will do it. Those fucking goblins came this close to raping me. In my eyes, they deserve something far, far worse than what I was able to give them.” 

I waited for a response, but Irisa just silently hugged me. I patted her back. We remained like this until she stopped crying. 

---

“Holy shit! That was hardcore!” Tilde exclaimed. The gruesome, gore-loving fairy was flying in circles around me as l took aim with Susize’s bow. Pulling back the string produced a magical arrow, and the strength was determined by my mana. 

In short, it was weaker than using a regular bow and arrow, but it used far less mana than if I were to use Reina’s gun. With [Deadeye], I felt like an archer who had been training since birth. I probably couldn’t outshoot my soon-to-be-dead sister, but I’d give her a run for her money. 

“Look, it’s one thing to chop off someone’s dick and choke them with it. But to chop off six and force them down one’s throat? Then waiting for them to die and do the same thing to the other one? Even while forcing them to watch with Web Bomb to keep their eyes open? I didn’t think you had it in you. Glad to be proven wrong, though.” 

We had been here for four hours, going from room to room to mine all the iron with the goal of not stopping until my map told me there was no more left. That was our focus, but our secondary objective was to commit genocide on all the filthy, green-skinned beasts.  

“So that’s what you’re surprised about?” I replied, releasing the arrow to kill a goblin I had strung up by their gross legs via [String Shot]. It was riddled with cuts and lacerations. The horrible existence bordered on death after watching me torture the five other goblins it had spawned with. “You didn’t react when I split that one goblin in half and drowned the other in its stomach acid.” 

Besides, I didn’t touch those gross things with my bare hands. I used [String Shot] because I can tense the string and make it stiff. 

“Surprised isn’t the word I would use. Besides, it doesn’t matter how the bastards die if they die, right?” 

I nodded towards Tilde as we walked to the iron ore. Sekh started to mine while I devoured. Irisa had stopped crying since she understood the goblins needed to die, but that didn’t mean she was fine with my gratuitous violence.  

That was fine. 

Suddenly, Sekh’s ears twitched, and she took off, leaving the pickaxe behind. After storing it, Irisa, Tilde, and I rushed to follow her as she darted out of the room and turned left. She ran past the following four rooms. She slammed on the brakes and quickened into a small chamber where I heard fighting.  

Four robed humans were fighting against a goblin. Sekh’s weapon smashed into the green bastard from behind, hitting it so hard that her mace pierced its chest and came out from the front. She removed the corpse from her weapon, threw it down, stomped its head, and turned the crimson-soaked mace to the group.  

“I made it clear that I would act on my promise,” she growled. She intimidatingly marched forward with a vicious snarl, baring her teeth and causing the party of four to slowly retreat. 

“What?! Why are you—it’s you… You’re the bitch who kicked me!” shouted the leader of this group. He and the others wore dark blue robes, but I saw a sword and dagger hanging off two of them. The only girl amongst them held a weird type of animal. I would later be told it was a spirit summoned from the Spirit Realm using [Summoning Magic: Spirit]. The opposite of that was a demon, which required [Summoning Magic: Demon] to call forth their power from the Demon Realm. 

But demons weren’t inherently evil, and spirits weren’t automatically on the side of good. This world was painted in tones of gray rather than black and white.  

“You almost killed my Master and me!” Sekh rebutted. Irisa and I ran up. Even though my Wrath was 0, the discomfort of standing face-to-face with the ones who were the reason I stared death in the face filled my soul. Slowly, I raised Reina’s gun and saw the fear of God flash through their faces. Irisa panicked and lowered my arm.  

“Mila, you can’t just kill them!” 

“They tried to kill us, Irisa! Sekh had to fight to the bitter end to save us! And these bastards just had a leisurely stroll out of here and didn’t care if we died!” I turned my head for one moment, and the girl with the spirit made a run for it. I shot at the space just immediately ahead of her. The bullet flew through her brown bangs, not even half an inch away from tasting her skull. 

“Get the fuck back here. My next bullet? Well, you won’t even feel it,” I said. The girl was teary. The feline-like spirit in her arms hissed and tried to bare its claws.  

Two of the guys had lost strength in their legs and bladder. The other one trembled awfully hard on his trembling legs.  

“Mila…” Irisa whispered. “I…” 

“Remember how Sekh brought me back? How I had my damn guts falling out? If there had been just a few more monsters, we wouldn’t be here!” 

“We were coming back. I swear we were!” cried the leader. He tried to walk forward, but Sekh kicked him in his stomach, causing him to slam against the uneven, rocky wall. When the girl attempted to use a skill, I filled her mouth with my gun. 

“Are…are you gonna kill us?” asked the two on the ground. Their voices quivered in different ways.  

“I might… It just feels right, doesn’t it? I mean, you jackasses were too slow in coming back. Sekh told me she ran to the lobby on death’s door. Have you been bitten by an araneae? Have you felt what it's like for its poison to travel through your veins, halting your extremities from moving before your heart freezes? Suffocating when you have all this air around you, and it's impossible to sate your screaming lungs? 

“Or how about experiencing a group of parasitic goblins clawing and scratching your clothes off? Then they remove their loincloths and jerk off with lust in their eyes because they want to put their parasitic offspring in you. Have you imagined that? Do you know what that’s like when you’re on death’s door, and being raped is a very real fucking possibility? I mean, there we were, minding our own goddamn business, and you fuckers throw a goddamn lure into the room? You really think someone can forgive that? Huh? Fucking answer me, goddamnit!”  

I can still pretend to be angry.  

I fired my pistol, making them yelp in fright. Sekh added to the fear when she swiped her bloody mace down, sending the wet crimson to splatter on their faces. 

“Mila, I don’t want you to do this…” Irisa whimpered. She held my left arm and started to whimper. “Killing them… I mean…” 

“Master,” said Tilde, who tapped me on the head. “Our clothes and backpacks were destroyed, and we lost quite a bunch of cores. There needs to be repatriation.” 

I grinned, flashing a hungry smile while continuing the small lie. “Yeah, we lost it all. So, how much do you value your lives? Start stripping and give me everything you have. Hell, I’ll be nice and let you keep your underwear. You won’t have to experience the shame of walking out naked.” 

“No, I’m not doing that. I said I was sorry. Besides, you didn’t even let us speak,” said the leader, who had found his voice. “We didn’t have a choice. If we hadn’t thrown that lure, we would have died. We weren’t about to let ourselves be killed. It was your bad luck that you happened to be in the room.” 

“Bad luck?! The life of my Master is far more important than you miserable pissants!” Sekh snarled. She dropped her mace and punched the jackass in the stomach. He fell to his knees, vomiting the contents of his stomach while Sekh grabbed a handful of his hair. Black flames wrapped around her raised fist. “Master, give me permission to kill him! These wretches are full of cowardice and deserve death!” Sekh demanded.  

“No. We won’t kill them. But who’s saying they’ll leave alive? With no gear, no money, and no fucking clothes. If you keep talking, you might die.” I fired my gun thrice in the air.  

I still feel tired, but not like I used to be.  

“Oh no! If I keep this up, something awful might come this way. If you don’t want to nurture the next generation of those snarling bastards, you better hurry. Hmm, it would be a shame for you three to watch while three goblins go to town on her ass before doing to the same you. Is that what you want? Just tell me—” 

“Fine! We’ll… We’ll give you what we have… Just don’t hurt—” said the girl, who cowered and made herself seem smaller. Her eyes were full of tears. 

Sekh released her grip, but Tilde flew down to cuss them out. Sekh and I gathered their enchanted robes. They all came with a minor mana restorative effect. The sword and dagger weren’t special, but they could be useful. 

The three men wore a pair of ripped shorts and torn shirts under their robes, and they almost shared the same black hairstyle. According to [Analysis], the leader’s name was Max, and his hair was longer in the front.  The girl with medium-length brown hair was topless underneath it all, which was why she was hesitant when taking off the robe. She bared her flat chest and string panties to the world with an embarrassing expression. Her hands and arms tried to cover herself.  

She started to cry harder, and green snot slowly trickled down her nostrils and onto her quivering lips.  

“Don’t make my sister do this!” Max said as traces of vomit dribbled down his lips. 

“You’re all family?” He weakly nodded “I’m not a hypocrite,” I said, giving back a robe for the girl to cover herself. “As much as it would amuse me to have you run around naked, I won’t go that far.” I handed my share of the unlawfully gotten loot to Sekh while I delivered one more threat and collected their money. 

I don’t give a fuck if they’re poor. I’m taking all they got. 

“You almost killed us. It may have been an accident, but it still happened. With this, consider us even. But should you try to get retribution?” I made sure to press my gun against each of their temples, glaring with a merciless smile. “I will end your lives. And that little spirit.” It shivered and hissed, its white fur standing on end. “I will wring its scrawny fucking neck, and you will watch it die before I disembowel you four fuckers. Now get the fuck out of here,” I said, waving my hand towards the only exit in the room. In seconds, they all scrambled to get as far away from me as possible.  

Irisa was relieved because it didn’t turn into a bloodbath, but Sekh was upset. She avoided meeting my gaze. When I tried to touch her, she moved at the last second and sulked while leaning against the wall. The flames of violence were alive in her silver eyes, and she wanted to spill their blood. 

Yeah, she’s pissed. I know she wanted them dead—I did too— but we’d be the first suspects because people saw Sekh kick him when she ran out of the dungeon with me. We aren’t strong enough to deal with the trouble. My instincts tell me it’s different than when we killed Martin and his cronies.  

But I know something Sekh doesn’t... I’ll have to talk to her about the different flavors of revenge when I have a chance. Killing them offers immediate satisfaction, but destroying their world? Flipping it upside down? Causing strife and mayhem within a group to make suicide seem like the golden option? That’s the revenge I want on these bastards.  

Irisa grabbed my cheeks, stared into my eyes, and sighed. “I don’t care if you’re disappointed,” I told the Oni. “We almost died, and those four were responsible for it.” 

If I’m right, retaliation might come very soon... I’m hoping for it.  

“I know, but—” 

 “I said it before, but this is who I am,” I said, storing the robes and weapons in my storage. Its limit was 95lbs, which was nice. “If it had turned violent, I would not have hesitated to put a bullet in their brains and eat them. I almost wished they were foolish enough to attack.”  

“But what if they tell someone about this?” Irisa argued. 

“So what? Everything is in a place that’s only reachable by my Master and me. Hey, don’t forget to stash the money,” Tilde said.  

“Are you still comfortable teaching me how to craft?” I asked while doing what the fairy wanted.  

Irisa didn’t hesitate at all. “We’re friends, right? I know you suffered a lot, and I haven’t experienced your pain. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably want to get payback against the goblins and that group. I’m sorry, Mila.” Irisa hugged me. She was half-a-foot taller than me, so it felt like I was a little kid.  

“You don’t have to apologize. It’s not like I’m upset or anything,” I replied from Irisa’s comfortable embrace. After this, I tried to hug Sekh, but she was still silently fuming. 

---

Upon leaving the dungeon, we were stopped by a man you’d find in the dictionary under the definition of large. The badge on the handlebar-mustached fellow’s chest signified he was with the guild as an officer. The jackasses we robbed were standing behind him. Max looked smugly at us, but his sister jittered with anxiety. With a deep voice, the officer asked if we had encountered the four standing behind him, and I shook my head. 

“Bullshit! Look inside those packs,” Max demanded. His mouth still had traces of vomit around his lips. “You’ll find our equipment!” 

“Fine. Then look.” After a quick search that resulted in nothing but wasted time, the officer let us go and apologized, much to the dismay of Max. The fool started talking about how we must’ve stashed them inside the dungeon. 

“What? Are we really that petty to steal from you and leave it behind? It was your fault we lost everything. If I did have your gear, I'd try my hardest to sneak it out. We clearly don’t have it, though. You already tried to kill us, and now you want us to blame us for this? What did we ever do to you?” I asked, carefully keeping my face composed. The leader’s smug grin slowly vanished while I searched amongst my skills.  

Yeah, there it is. I saw [Lying] earlier, but I might as well take it. It’ll come in handy. 

New Skill: [Lying] 

It was their word versus ours, and evidence of the robbery didn’t exist. Using my new skill, I lied just a little bit more to throw the situation even more in our favor. I told the officer that the four siblings were out of line because they threw a lure to send a horde of monsters after us. I exacerbated how awful it was for us.   

But only very slightly. 

He said he’d heard about that and was about to start that investigation. Irisa mentioned the witnesses Sekh had told her about that saw Sekh leaving the mines with my unconscious body.  Irisa also said she had helped her mother nurse our wounds, strengthening our case. 

“Out of curiosity, what’s the punishment for something like that?” I asked the large man.  

“It isn’t pretty, I’ll tell you that. Accidents do happen, but even those aren’t immune from justice. An accidental death is still a death. Let me get your statements while I’m here,” he replied.  

After spending a few minutes telling him our story and mentioning Chax, Ginnie, and the two Racoonfolk, he thanked us for our time and apologized for what we went through. The siblings were ‘kindly’ escorted back to Ria, where, according to Irisa, they would lose favor with the guild, lose any points towards promotion, and even be sentenced to pay a fine.   

I didn’t know if I would get a portion of that since I had all their money, but the bells of justice rang in my favor.  

But it wasn’t enough for Sekh. She walked a few feet ahead of us under claims of wanting to protect me, but I saw her shoulders sag from a conflicted sigh. 

It hurts me to see Sekh like that, but I don’t think she understands what I put into motion. I definitely have to talk to her after she has a chance to simmer off.