Science/Magic

Bloed and Aya waited in the square for the enemies.

"… Do you have a plan?" Aya asked.

Bloed thought for a moment and nodded.

"I have one… Aya, the opponents are a wolfkin, a raccoonkin, and a batkin, which do you think we need to take out first?"

"… Wolfkin, raccoonkin, and batkin, huh… I think it's better if we take out the batkin first…"

Bloed raised an eyebrow and waited for her explanation.

"You see, batkins are born with the ability to fly. Although in the lower ranks they can't keep flight for long, a B-Rank batkin can easily fly for twenty minutes to an hour. Moreover… I heard once a rumor that some batkins can use a special kind of magic."

"… Huh? A special kind of magic?" Bloed asked curiously, but Aya shook her head.

"I don't know much. There are very few batkins in existence. In the past, most of them were hunted down because other races thought of them as devils. Therefore, very few batkins remain today, and they are normally very secretive."

Bloed nodded. He had heard about that story before.

Due to their 'leathery wings' and rat-like ears, the batkins were treated as creatures of bad omen and devils. Even when other beastmen were treated like slaves, batkins were killed at first sight.

In the worst days, killing a batkin was an honor worthy of praise.

It was almost a miracle their race was not completely extinct.

"… I see. Okay, I'll try to take out the batkin first." Bloed said.

Aya tilted her head curiously. But Bloed did not explain his plan to her. Instead, he gave an order to Leto.

Nodding its head, the metallic wolf turned into metallic particles that spread through the square. In less than ten seconds, the metallic wolf had disappeared completely.

Except for people that knew about Leto's ability to turn itself into grains of sand, nobody else would be able to find a trace of the wolf in the square.

Bloed took a deep breath. With a thought, the gun in his hand turned into the sniper rifle, readied to fire at the enemies.

At the same time, he told Aya to get ready.

Two minutes later, the three enemies appeared.

Gorde, the wolfkin, Tyke, the raccoonkin, and the unknown batkin. The three of them appeared on the other side of the square.

As soon as they saw Bloed and Aya, they smiled.

"So you were waiting for us, huh," Gorde said.

Bloed sighed tiredly. "Of course. You were chasing us for so long. It would have been impolite of us to not welcome you."

Gorde smiled wickedly. But his fried, Tyke, frowned.

He felt that something was wrong.

Tyke was not the only one that thought so. Just like him, the batkin also frowned when he saw Bloed and Aya waiting for them.

After all, his echolocation technique was virtually undetectable for other races. The fact that Bloed and Aya managed to detect them beforehand spoke highly of their abilities.

The batkin looked cautiously to his surroundings and used his echolocation technique to find anything wrong, but he failed to find any sign of a trap.

Even so, he did not lower his guard.

Bloed observed his three opponents and squinted.

"… I'm curious about something. Why are you coming for us? Two of you are also of Moonlight Glow, right?"

The wolfkin, Gorde, smirked. "Don't you know the answer already? It's because you are human."

"As expected." Bloed smiled wryly. It was the first time he experienced how troublesome it was when you are discriminated against due to your race.

In all honesty, Bloed thought of such thoughts as rubbish. He had been raised by Camilla, a human ESPer and scientist belonging to a civilization that had long stopped caring for such trifling things like race or skin color.

But it was undeniable that in this world, racial disputes were all too common.

And in this kind of world, the fact that the saintess of the beastmen race chose a human instead of a beastmen for this kind of event would obviously lead to resentment from some people.

'… Well, I suppose that this level of difficulty is normal.' Bloed thought to himself.

At that moment, Tyke spoke to Aya.

"… Miss Catkin, our business in only with the human. You should not interfere with this."

Aya frowned. But instead of leaving, she held her daggers tighter.

Obviously, she was not planning to care about Tyke's words.

If she abandoned the person that helped her before, she would be too ashamed to call herself an assassin of the Sharpclaw family.

Seeing that Aya did not intend to leave, Tyke shrugged.

"I warned you."

He then stared at Bloed.

"Mr. Human, I hope you don't hate us after this. To be honest, although I don't like humans very much, I don't have anything against you. It's just that… You should have not participated here."

"Tyke, why are you giving him so many explanations? Let's just get done with this quickly." Gorde smirked coldly.

Bloed nodded.

"You are right. It's time to start."

As soon as he spoke, Bloed's eyes lit up.

In the next instant, countless grains of metallic sand surged from the ground, stones, and buildings in the surroundings, trying to engulf the three beastmen.

Gorde, Tyke, and the batkin changed their expressions. The three of them did not hesitate to move away, showing their formidable battle experience.

Gorde roared and kicked the ground, opening a path in the direction with the least grains of sand; while Tyke jumped towards a wall, kicking it and moving several meters away in an instant.

As for the batkin, he extended his membrane-like wings and rose to the sky.

Unfortunately for him, he was Bloed's target since the start.

Suddenly, the metallic sand turned into destructive whirlpool pulsing with electricity that chased after the batkin and grabbed his legs, stopping his movements briefly.

The batkin panicked. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth.

And–

*OOOOoooooOOOOO!!!*

Waves of high-intensity sound filled the square, attacking Bloed from all the directions.

The consequences were immediate. The soundwaves ravaged his body and injured his ears, causing blood to flow from his ears, nose, and lips.

By that point, though, Bloed's sniper rifle was already aiming to the batkin.

Thus, enduring the biting pain, Bloed pressed the trigger.

Then–

*Bam!*

A flower of blood bloomed on the batkin's abdomen.

...

P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels