Lucy wasn't sure what to do in the current situation because she didn't have many clues about the identity of the people approaching her. From what she understood from their shouts, they had a camp nearby, so it's possible they are a group of hunters. But what if they were thieves hiding in the woods from the long arm of the law? What would they do when they found a very beautiful girl alone in the middle of the forest? And even if they weren't criminals, there was a high chance that they might have ill intentions toward her. Who would hold them accountable when there were no witnesses?
'I didn't want to encounter people so soon. I wished to spend a few more weeks in the forest to raise my level even further, so I could handle any situation I might face in the future unharmed. With beasts, you know what to expect, but with humans, it's harder to deduce what truly lies in their minds. Who knows what macabre thoughts may hide behind an innocent smile? So, should I hide and follow them to see what they do? But what if they have someone on their team who can detect me? In that case, the chances of a friendly meeting would drop close to zero. Who would be willing to talk to a person who follows you from the shadows? Anyway, I think I'll first check their levels and then make a decision...'
As they approached, Lucy activated her ocular ability, which allowed her to see their levels, and she began to analyze the group of four individuals who hadn't discovered her yet.
'Hmmm, it appears they are indeed humans, not another humanoid race. They are four men, all around 30 years old. The one who shouted first is at level 34, making him the strongest. The others are at levels 29, 27, and 24. Considering they all have swords as weapons, and the strongest one is fully armored, I can deduce that they are not here for hunting. Yes, this is not hunting equipment. They seem more like adventurers or mercenaries... Anyway, even in the worst case, if they attack me directly when they see me, I believe I can easily escape using the Steps of Light skill, so it's not such a great risk to wait for them here and try to gather some information about the world I find myself in. Plus, I have enough time to set the stage in my favor...'
After deciding to meet the group of men, Lucy immediately bought 200 meters of steel wire and 10 explosive papers from the Ninja Shop. Then, she started attaching the steel wire to the surrounding trees, following the instructions from the manual she had read while having breakfast.
'Yes, it turned out very well. In case the group of men doesn't have good intentions, I can immediately activate the trap to capture them, and then I'll have enough time to flee...' Lucy thought after finishing attaching the steel wires and seeing that everything seemed to be in order.
In less than a minute after Lucy finished her work, the group of four men managed to spot her among the tree trunks and headed towards her with their swords drawn.
"Look what we have here, boys. Seems like we hit the jackpot..." said the massive man dressed in armor, who was walking in front of the group and had the highest level.
Lucy didn't like his tone, but it was too late to change her decision now, so she had no choice but to wait for the group of men to reach her.
"Huh, isn't she a lionkin? What the hell is a catgirl doing in a place like this? Does anyone in the camp have a catgirl as a slave?" the man with the highest level asked the other three behind him.
"I don't think so. If there was such a beauty with us, I'm sure I would have noticed..." one of the three men replied.
"Hey, boss. Isn't that Jacky's corpse next to that dead lizard?" one of the other men asked after taking his eyes off Lucy and looking behind her to see if anyone else was in the area.
"Yeah, that's Jacky... Haha, he died with his pants down. I told you he's an idiot. What kind of hunter gets taken by surprise by such a big lizard..."
Realizing how he died, the other three men followed their leader's example and started laughing and mocking Jacky, remembering all the foolish things he did while accompanying them in the forest.
After a minute of laughing at Jacky's pathetic death, the four men turned their gazes back to Lucy, who was still standing in the same spot where they found her, without saying a word.
"Boss, what should we do with this catgirl? Do you think her master is nearby? He probably killed the lizard..." one of the men from the back asked their leader.
"Take a closer look, she doesn't have any slave collar. Probably the lizard was killed by some lionkin, and she got left behind to butcher the prey. Seems like we got lucky. We can gather information about the location of the lionkins' village and have some fun at the same time. Hehe, this time I'll be the first. You won't find such beauty even in the capital's brothels."
"But boss, the employer said to deliver his goods as intact as possible. He clearly specified not to touch any females..."
"He said not to touch any liongirls, right? Do you see any liongirl around here? So shut up and let me do my thing if you want your turn with her when I'm done...", said the man in front of the group to one of his subordinates who interrupted him and then began taking off his armor.
As the four men in front of her discussed how they would use Lucy to satisfy their sexual needs, she looked at them with such a cold gaze that it could freeze the flames of hell.
'What does this mean? What are these bastards saying? Slavery? Having their way with me? Who do they think they are? Thinking they can do whatever they want without any repercussions? They're truly disgusting... worse than wild animals. No, Lucy! You mustn't run away! You must do something! You can't allow such people to exist. If they leave here alive, who knows how many innocent people will fall victim to their cruelty. Yes, I have to do something. In my previous life, I didn't have the chance to make the one who took my parents and my leg pay, and even if I had managed to put him in jail, true justice wouldn't have been served. But right now, I can create true justice with my own hands. Yes, true justice can only be done before the crime... They think others' lives are worthless, they think they're superior. They believe the strong can do whatever they want with the weak's lives... Such trash shouldn't live. Maybe if someone else had been brought into this world instead of me, they wouldn't have had the courage to do this... but I am capable. I can sleep better at night knowing that I made the world a better place...'
Yes, Lucy had no intention of running away. She couldn't allow such people to remain alive. Wasn't this what she always wanted? Didn't she always want to be able to deliver justice with her own hands? Why would she hesitate now when she had the chance to do it? No, she wouldn't hesitate. She was ready to stain her hands with human blood. So Lucy reached out and grabbed a section of steel wire in front of her, and after activating the Wind Blessing skill, she pulled it with force, turning the trap, initially meant only to slow down opponents, into a deadly weapon.
'Kill them, Lucy! Kill them all! Remove such bastards from this world!'
First human blood.
My bet is that Lucy will find the lionkin village.
Dear Author, I know this is an old chapter but I feel like there is an issue with the steps of light spell. I feel like there was specific mention about the MCs path must not be obstructed for the skill to work, yet as far as I can tell the MC just ran through a big wire trap to get to the back of the bad guys. If it's supposed to act like a teleport then that's fine, but otherwise if she is just moving really fast, she would have ended up sliced into little bits.
I'm glad for the attention you give to my novel.
Well, the skill's condition is that there must be a path between the user's current position and the desired destination, which the user could traverse normally. However, it's not specified that this path must be a direct one. (Steps of Light (E): A movement skill that allows the user to move almost instantaneously up to a distance of 20 meters, with a speed close to that of light, provided there is an obstacle-free path between the original location and the target location that the user could traverse in a normal manner. This skill consumes 5 mana points and 2 stamina points. It has a cooldown period of 5 seconds.) Furthermore, there weren't many steel wires, and Lucy was acquainted with their positions. This means that even if she had been surrounded by them, she wouldn't have encountered any issues while using the skill.
@Cantis I guess in my mind it seems like a skill where you are moving an object at the speed of light. To me that sounds like a straight line type of skill where it would be hard to do things like crouch under or jump over things mid skill usage. Even just going around a corner in my mind should be impossible for what is only a rank E skill. If you could use the skill back to back to move around stuff it makes more sense to me. Obviously it's your story so do it however you want! 😁👍
Thanks for the chapter.
If slavery is going to be a major topic in your novel, you might want to add the slavery and/or slaves tag, so that people who generally detest it (like me) can avoid it.
If those people are just exceptions and slavery is not actually common or at least isn't planned to appear much in your novel, it might be fine to leave it out (probably).
Additionally i wanted to warn you that using slavery in your novel can potentially kill it if you're not careful. Many amateur authors tried to incorporate it and just as many failed in doing so (in my opinion at least), which I mainly attribute to an authors inability to experience their own story the same way a reader would, as in: I believe it's *impossible* for an author to ever view their story the same way as a reader, therefor are inherently unable to see how difficult reading through passages containing slavery can be for a reader.
Now this chapter was still fine, as it can still be interpreted in a lot of way.. like those "adventurers" might actually do something illegal here or similar... but I have a feeling that's not going to be the case (prove me wrong please! ).
Depending on where it goes I might end up dropping your story. I hope you can understand.
Greetings
Nitori
Thank you for your opinion. For now, slavery will not be a very important topic, so I don't think I should add such a tag. If there will be changes in the future, I will take the necessary measures. Anyway, I must warn you that slavery exists in this fantasy world, just as it has existed on earth since the beginning of civilization until now, and there will be some moments where slavery will be brought up, because Lucy has a strong sense of justice. So it is possible that she will have some missions in which she will try to free some slaves or something similar.
Hi @Cantis,
That sounds fine to me. Thanks for your response, and I look forward to more of your story.
Thanks for the chapter.
You’re welcome.
Thank you for the chapter!
You’re welcome. I hope you enjoyed it.
BLOOD FOR THE EMPEROR
DEATH TO THE SINNERS
Oh, seems like lionkin/catkin position is not good in this world.
Parece haber algo torcido en su forma de ver la justicia
She snapped already
These guys seem to underestimate Lucy a lot, it's like they say there are always goons and idiot thugs