Carly hurriedly rolled over.
The axe crushed the floor, but that wasn’t what she was worried about. Carly’s skin stood up as she felt all of the hair in her body rise.
Without thinking, she ran to the living room.
Why did this happen? Who was the man trying to kill her? Why was he trying to kill them?
There was no time to worry about this.
If she stayed still, she would die, and she wanted her family to come out alive from this.
“This way! Quick!”
“Ehh… sleepy…”
The young daughter groaned but Saika couldn’t soothe her. He threw open the window and held out a hand to Carly.
First, he had to let Carly out.
“Do you think such a wicked thing can escape?”
The voice came closer.
“Q-Quick!”
“Dad…? Mom?”
“Come here!”
The daughter, who didn’t realize what was happening, looked at her parents, who were moving so fast. Carly grabbed her daughter and held her in her arms while reaching for her husband, who was behind them.
“Hurry!”
“What is it? What happened?”
Viya felt something was odd and asked them, but they didn’t answer.
Saika couldn’t precisely answer her.
Kwang!!!
“Kuak!”
Saika, who was escaping, avoided the axe from behind and fell to the ground. He sprained his ankle in the process.
“Euk.”
“Are you fine?”
“Dad!’
Carly and Viya called him anxiously. Saika nodded that he was fine and jumped up.
His ankle throbbed a lot, but getting out of there was more important.
“Fucking rats!”
Kwak!
The axe scraped through the wooden wall.
The shards of wood scattered everywhere.
“Run!”
Saika ran with his wife, and Taika, the owner of the ax, snorted, looking at the family escaping.
“Wicked things. Think you can escape?”
Taika didn’t follow them. The followers of the Demon King. Those filthy people needed to be punished.
The punishment was fear.
It was only right for the bugs who followed the Demon King to die in fear.
“Purification of the village has begun. There is nowhere for you to run! Hehehe!”
His laughter didn’t last long as his expression hardened, and he stared at the empty land.
‘The monster would surely come out. Until then, we have to make this small village a fortress.’
Taika thought about the monster that attacked his unit.
‘Damned that…’
He thought about how humiliating it was, and he still couldn’t believe a little monster had slaughtered his men.
The world knows that absurd beings appear in the name of talent. Still…!!
“Phew. Let’s calm down as we have things to prepare.”
We need this village to hunt that little monster!
Saika ran with his family.
He didn’t know what had happened, but getting his family out of there was the most important thing.
It was then…
“W-Why is this? Uh… AVKKKKKK!”
A familiar voice could be heard, along with a scream.
“… Mister Vito?”
It was the voice of his neighbor, Vito, who lived near them. And the sound came from where his house was.
“Mom…”
Viya pulled Carly. Her tiny hand was shaking in fear, so Carly hugged her.
“I am out of breath…”
Eve when Viya said it, Carly wasn’t going to relax the grip around her because fear had taken over her.
Saika and Carly didn’t say much, but they knew what to do.
They had to move quietly without saying anything.
The only thing they could trust was the hearing that Carly had.
“I will take the lead. Viya will….”
“… you will be fine?”
“Mom… Dad…”
Despite being young, Viya was aware that the situation was serious. She was scared, but looking at her parents’ faces, she knew that crying would cause something bad to happen.
The child was carried by her father, and Saika smiled as he looked at her.
“Everything will be fine.”
It was just a small whisper, but for some reason, Viya felt a little reassured.
When the child calmed down, Saika also felt calm.
A strange feeling arose inside of him, but unfortunately, they weren’t in a good situation. Carly took the lead while focusing on the sounds she could hear.
“The sound of knives… isn’t too far.”
When Saika tried to listen, he could barely hear it.
It wasn’t the sound of blades clashing but of blades being thrust into something.
They turned away from the sound. They knew that the village was in danger, but they couldn’t do anything either. Even if they would get cursed later, they had to do this.
It was then…
“S-Saika! Carly!”
Someone called.
They wondered if it was an enemy, so they hurriedly turned, only to find a familiar face.
“San!!”
A villager named San. He stood, gasping for breath.
“Y-You people are alive!”
“Lower your voice.”
Carly put her finger on her lip and looked around. Scared of her eyes, San closed his mouth.
And heard a small voice.
“What is all of this about? I suddenly heard a scream, and then the door of my house was smashed open. I escaped through the window…”
“There are robbers in the village. The one who came into our house carried a huge ax, and we almost died.”
“R-Robbers?”
“I don’t think there are many.”
Carly had a rough idea based on the sounds she heard.
“They aren’t over ten.”
“How do you know that?”
“I have always had good hearing since I was young. It doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s run! We need to get out of here.”
If they hadn’t met him, they wouldn’t have cared, but now that they did, they couldn’t leave him.
San nodded and followed.
They moved to where there was little noise, and they finally made their way out of the village.
Pung.
It was when they had reached the outskirts, Carly heard something.
“Euk!”
The sound of stabbing something suddenly and the sound of something falling on the snow. She didn’t have to turn to know what it was.
Saika’s eyes widened as he held his child.
“Dad?”
Only the child, who didn’t know what was happening, tilted her head at the strange situation. Carly glanced back and closed her mouth.
Saika bit his lip as he said,
“Hurry faster.”
“H-Honey.”
“I said leave.”
They could hear the voice of San. One could never know when the arrows would fly in.
“This way.”
They moved to the side of the road.
They didn’t know where the arrows were being shot from, but if they ran in different directions, they wouldn’t be hit.
They stopped walking and ran. Despite being out of breath, they didn’t care.
“Hahaha! Run! Run away, you worms!”
Someone jumped over the roofs of the building and ran to them.
Like the ax man who raided their house.
Could they outrun him?
‘Just the child and wife should do.’
The distance was getting smaller.
“Demon King followers! Fucking lay your heads down and die!”
Why were they being called this?
None of the people who lived here were the Demon King’s followers! In fact, they hated the Demon King.
This was unfair.
They were being called the people whom they hated, and they might die from the misunderstanding.
Everything…
“W-We are not his followers!”
Saika stopped running and shouted.
Carly turned back, shocked at his unexpected behavior.
“Why are you stopping? Run fast…!”
“Hug Viya.”
He handed Viya to Carly.
“You….?”
“We are not the followers of the Demon King! There is some kind of misunderstanding, and you are killing us because of it!”
The reason they were killing the villagers was all because of a misunderstanding.
The ax man who raided the house said so.
Then clearing up the misunderstanding would help them.
‘We have no place to escape to.’
At first glance, this man could probably catch them instantly, but he was playing with their lives.
“What?”
The man asked while standing on the roof.
Saika gulped, and said,
“We are not the Demon King’s followers! Rather, we are people who hate Diablo Volfir!”
“Oh.”
“Really. We were born in this place, so we had no choice but to stay here.”
“Such a sad story.”
“Y-Yes. If only we get left out…”
“Prove it.”
“Prove how…?”
The man pursed his lips.
“I mean, prove it with your death! I will judge whether your soul is good or evil!”
“W-Wait!”
The man jumped as if he didn’t care, and the speed of his movement was so different that normal eyes could not see it.
It was the moment when death felt so certain that the man smiled madly.
Only then did he realize.
‘He was planning to kill us all.’
They saw the people in the small village struggling as nothing more than toys to play with.
Swish!
“Honey!!!”
Carly ran, but she couldn’t move faster than a sword.
“Shhh.”
Brown hair about the length of a bob fluttered and large, sharp eyes.
[Welton Vision.]
A thin sword cut through the blizzard.
[Futility Divide.]
The space was cut.
The blade, which flew with force to kill Saika, was cut.
A boy with a small body.
No, it was hard to tell if this was a boy or a girl.
“You… You!”
“Found you.”
The child had cold eyes, and a white breath came out from the child’s small lips.
“You cannot run.”
“W-Wait!”
The aura shook.
Puak!
Blood welled up onto the white, snowy land, and Saika stepped back. In his eyes, he could see a small child swinging a bloody sword.
The big eyes turned to Saika.
‘What is this…’
Saika felt that this child was a lot smaller than him, but at the same time, looked bigger than him.
And the child said,
“If you run there, you will be safe.”
The child said so and ran towards the village. There was no emotion in the child’s dry voice.
