Chapter 94
The beastkin girl's head snapped up.
She had said that the other Constellations' incarnation contracts were annoying and pushed them aside, but this time was different.
She stared at the blue light for a long while, then blinked her eyes wide.
Whoosh—!
"Huh?!"
Suddenly, a powerful wind arose around the beastkin girl.
My bangs whipped wildly in the wind.
Because my bangs kept blowing into my eyes, I covered my face with one hand and endured it for a moment.
Then, when I opened my eyes—
The beastkin girl was standing there.
It was the same face. The same height, the same clothes, the same posture.
But something was different.
The atmosphere she gave off and the energy surrounding her felt slightly different from before.
"Did you make a contract?"
"Yeah."
When I asked in confusion, the girl nodded as though it were obvious.
“Why?”
The girl opened her eyes wide at my question, then tapped her chest and gave a short answer.
“Instinct.”
That one word left me speechless.
If an ordinary person had said that, it would have lacked credibility, but hearing it from a beastkin girl made it strangely believable.
"Eee..."
Then she suddenly let out a feeble sound.
"...Are you okay?"
"Don't know..."
As though something were bothering her, she was staring intently at her own hands.
She clenched and unclenched them, as though trying to gauge something.
"Ah, monsters."
"Monsters?"
At the mention of monsters, I looked in the direction the girl pointed.
But I couldn't see anything.
Even so, her tone and expression were so certain that I stared at the spot carefully as well.
It was an ordinary-looking clothing store with clothes displayed on mannequins.
There was no sign of any monster.
"...Looks like there aren't any—"
Crash—!
Just as I began to speak, a window shattered.
"Grrr..."
The cry of a beast.
It wasn't just one.
Three, then five. Monsters came pouring out in a rush.
"...They're real?"
The monsters were orcs again.
It seemed that only orcs appeared throughout this area.
I reflexively grabbed the shaft of my spear.
"I'm going."
"Huh?"
The beastkin girl moved before I did.
She took one step.
Exactly one step forward.
Rustle—!
Then vines rose from beneath her feet.
They spread rapidly along the ground and wrapped around the lead orc's ankle.
"Huh?"
Thud.
The orc whose foot had been caught lost its balance and fell.
Tap—!
Without even watching the orc fall, the beastkin girl ran.
But the height she reached was strange.
How was she leaping that high without a Leap skill?
She jumped nearly as high as the fourth floor of a commercial building.
As though she weighed nothing.
Then she fell from that height, stepped on the orc's neck, and drove her full weight into it.
KWAANG—!
The ground caved in.
"...She jumped that lightly?"
Yet her landing was heavy.
The dust settled.
The beastkin girl slowly rose to her feet.
Then she turned toward me.
"Ooh...?"
Seeing her marvel at it herself, it seemed that her physical abilities had been strengthened after becoming an incarnation.
There were still four orcs left nearby.
"Krrrwoar!"
The four remaining orcs, having witnessed their companion's head being crushed right before their eyes, roared in fury.
They raised their crude axes and clubs and charged toward the beastkin girl with heavy footsteps.
Normally, anyone would have hesitated before such killing intent, but the beastkin girl was different.
Fwoosh—!
The girl kicked off the ground once more.
Her movement was far more nimble and feral than before.
"Beastkin..."
Her irregular movements made me feel once again that the girl was a member of another race.
The first orc to charge in tried to swing its axe in a wide arc.
But the girl didn't even need to dodge.
Suddenly, green vines thicker than my thumb burst up like whips through the concrete floor of the ruins.
Rattle—!
"Kek?!"
The vines that shot out in an instant tightly bound the axe-wielding orc's arms and neck.
While the orc struggled, the girl lightly stepped off its shoulder as a foothold, leaped, and drove a powerful kick into the back of its head.
CRACK—!
The weighty kick sent one orc crumpling helplessly to the ground.
"Again?"
What in the world were those vines?
The beastkin girl also seemed puzzled after delivering the kick, as she looked back and forth between the vine-bound orc and me.
It was as though she were asking if I had done it.
I waved my hand.
I hadn't done it.
"Is that also the thing called a Constellation's blessing...?"
The blessing of the Constellation that had contracted with the beastkin girl seemed to do more than simply strengthen her body.
There were still three orcs left nearby. Her eyes turned toward them.
Her ears stood straight up, intoxicated by her sense of accomplishment from a moment ago.
Just as she was about to kick off the ground and leap again—
Thud.
"Eee...?"
Crash!
The beastkin girl tripped spectacularly over the vines spread across the ground.
"Eee!"
Then she let out an irritated cry, as though asking why there were vines here.
Was 'cry' even the right word?
I took advantage of the opening to leap between the charging orcs and the girl.
"I'll handle the rest."
While the girl stopped with a puzzled expression, I drew my spear.
I had been meaning to properly test the skills Jiwoo had drawn for me.
'Tough Physique, which raises my overall physical abilities, and two Strength skills.'
Although I had gained three skills related to physical ability, I hadn't felt much of a difference before getting into combat.
This was my chance to test them properly.
As I lightly gripped the spear shaft, the spear seemed to fit my hand even more snugly than usual.
"Well, then."
KWAANG—!
The moment I kicked off the ground, the asphalt split like a spiderweb and fragments flew in every direction.
Fwoooosh—
"Huh?"
Even I was surprised by my own speed.
It felt as though my body were being sucked forward.
Compared to the Leap I had used before, its height and speed both felt several levels stronger.
"Kwor?"
The orcs hadn't even recognized my speed yet.
My body was already cutting through the middle of the three orcs.
Slash—!
I didn't even need to swing the spear with force.
I simply swept it sideways with the speed of my passing body.
The spear's trajectory drew a single line through the air, and before even a second had passed, all movement in the orcs stopped.
"..."
Silence.
Then, a beat later, dark-red blood burst from the necks, waists, and chests of the three orcs, which had been frozen upright.
Their massive bodies were severed simultaneously and collapsed to the ground.
"...Oh."
I lightly spun the spear, which wasn't stained by even a single drop of blood, and muttered in satisfaction.
So this was the level of destructive power that came from combining my enhanced physical abilities with skills.
Sssrrrk.
At that moment, I turned my head at the strange presence I felt behind me and saw the beastkin girl standing there, frozen like a stone statue.
"Eee..."
Until just a moment ago, she had been triumphantly wagging her tail after overwhelmingly defeating the orcs.
Her two perked-up ears had drooped, and her bristling tail was tucked completely between her legs.
There was a hint of fear in the girl's eyes as she looked up at me.
"Ah."
That reaction...
Was she afraid of me?
The girl swallowed hard and took a stumbling step backward.
Somehow, it seemed our hierarchy had been decided.
I smiled awkwardly as I approached and gently stroked the girl's head.
The girl had initially flinched and hunched her shoulders, but then, at my touch, the tip of her tail swayed ever so slightly.
"Let's find some boxes, then go back and eat snacks."
"Snacks..."
Although she kept sneaking wary glances at me, she swallowed at the mention of snacks, so it seemed her appetite was stronger than anything else.
Before returning to the train, I opened the Gallery's trade board and sent messages one by one to the Constellations who had been desperately searching for beastkin.
Of course, she had just formed an incarnation contract, but after thinking it over, I realized that not a single line in the trade posts said the beastkin had to be uncontracted.
They only asked people to report any beastkin survivors they found.
'Will they resent me if I introduce them to a beastkin who has already formed a contract?'
I was briefly worried, but I needed high-grade mana stones to pour into the train's equipment right away.
I shamelessly sent the coordinates to the Constellations who had posted the requests.
Surprisingly, the Constellations paid for the high-grade mana stones without asking a single question.
When I returned to the train, unpacked my haul, and checked the Constellation-only board, I learned why no complaints had been filed against me.
"That's a relief. They're not angry at me—they're fighting among themselves."
Rather than blaming me for reporting a beastkin who had already formed a contract, the Constellations mistakenly thought that another Constellation had snatched her away by a hair's breadth and vented their anger at one another.
Thanks to that, I was able to obtain no fewer than ten high-grade mana stones without worrying about the consequences.
I gathered the mana stones, the orcs' loot, and the box scattered on the ground, then returned to the train.
***
"By the way, what's your name?"
While I was happily organizing the mana stones in storage, Jiwoo asked as Jiwoo followed the beastkin girl's tail with his eyes.
I turned and sat facing the girl, who was crunching on snacks.
"I don't have a name."
"You don't?"
"Because I was abandoned."
She said it so calmly, crumbs clinging to the corners of her mouth.
Right. She had said that before.
At that moment, Jiwoo and Sua quietly exchanged glances, then cautiously spoke up.
"Then, would it be okay if we gave you a name...?"
"Nabi!"
"Nabi?"
I smiled at Sua's suggestion.
Calling a cat beastkin Nabi was rather intuitive.
Almost too intuitive, in fact.
But—
Purr.
A small, pleasant vibration escaped the girl's mouth as she chewed her snack.
"Huh? You like it?"
When I asked with a smile, the beastkin girl was startled and whipped her head around.
"I-I don't like it!"
"Really?"
"Of course not!"
Nabi folded her arms and snorted, but unfortunately, her tail was saying something completely different from her mouth.
Sway—
The long tail stretching out behind her was wagging happily.