酷视

"There\'s no need for you to get all this blood on your hands!" Fay protested from the other side, catching up just a moment sooner than her mother and reaching out to grab my arm.

I didn\'t escape with my hand but opted not to stop either. In fact, I hardly even bothered with Fay for the moment, busy throwing the neugarand over my back while nestling the much simpler weapon in my hold.

This was the one piece of equipment even Makary was reluctant to sell. Only after promising him with all my secrets on the line that I would use it anywhere in the city and raising the price for this particular piece did I get him to loan it to me.

Because even when compared with the long-range assault rifle and the smaller, rapid-fire p90-based weapon…

It was the shotgun that was both the most crude and, at the same time, the most sophisticated device out of all three I bought.

In theory, its launching mechanism was simple, consisting of a short rail for magnetic drive and then a complicated mechanism covering the front half of the barrel. The muzzle of the shotgun was nearly thrice as wide as its main body, finished with a complex set of flash-breakers and recoil-dampeners.

It wasn\'t the gun itself, though, that was the absolute peak of the engineering.

This spot belonged to the bullets, consisting of three different elements and turning this relatively simple weapon when compared to the others of its kind into a devious machine of technological destruction.

\'Even though I\'ve only got a few words of explanation on how it works, it is hella brutal…\'

I shook my head before finally allowing Fay\'s hands to put my march to a stop.

"Dear, listen. Whether it\'s our war or not, holding the invasion back is the safest option. Stepping into the misty valley comes with an obvious risk, while there will be no safe place to hide if the humans overrun this entire forest."

That much I could tell from the spare few words of explanation that Madam offered.

At the very least, judging by her silent reaction to my guesses from earlier, my weapons might actually come in handy. After all, what could do a better job of eliminating a few powerful humans if not a rifle capable of carrying its armor-piercing, cumulative projectiles?

\'Even if their barrier can hold back a single shot, it will only serve to contain the force of the burst charge,\' I thought, absentmindedly caressing the long barrel of the neugarand that poked out from behind my back.

"I don\'t want you to fight my wars!" Fay finally revealed with a pained look on her face. "I don\'t want you to see the ghosts of the people you would kill for the sake of those who shunned me." Fay brought her hands to my shoulders and then dug deep down into my flesh with her fingers.

"Fay, dearest…" I heaved a deep sigh, lowering the barrel of my shottie and freeing my left hand to pull her into a light embrace. "For some reason, I don\'t really care about those people. They are here to harm your place, so it\'s obvious I will step out to defend it," I explained my reasoning. "Aren\'t you the same? Back at the shack, weren\'t you ready to intervene were things took an ugly turn?"

My words had to strike a vital cord in Fay\'s brain, given how her face tensed up.

She couldn\'t refute my words… but that didn\'t mean accepting the dangers any easier.

Just like I didn\'t enjoy the idea of putting Fay in danger when my aunt came out to confront me, she now had to hate the idea of putting me on the frontlines of a war… The war she clearly cared very little about.

"If we don\'t deter those invaders for at least a few days, we won\'t find a safe haven in this forest," I pointed out my main concern again. "And with those weapons, we might be able to push the humans back without putting…"

I suddenly ceased my words and my entire body trembled under the pressure.

A pressure that somehow crept unnoticed to my spot, only to nearly squash me like a bug when I noticed it.

\'Shit!\'

I expected this development. I\'ve even called it out back when talking with Madam! And yet, when the moment came…

\'No fucking way!\'

Feeling the pressure only intensify as the ground started to shake under my feet, I gritted my teeth… And broke past the aura that assaulted me, turning the gun and pointing it toward the source of the tremors.

"Buy me just a few seconds…" I muttered through my gritted teeth, keeping my finger far from the trigger. Keeping it on the trigger would be no different from asking for a disaster, given how this potential enemy could make my body move against my will.

"Karlan, stand down~!"

Madam\'s voice echoed through the entire forest… slightly… vibrant.

As if someone recorded her line, copied it, slightly adjusted the tone of the copies, and then mixed all the different voices together.

And for but a moment, the tremors stopped and the pressure lifted.

"Before we fight, I only want to ask one question," I called out loud in the general direction of the threat.

Then, I pulled my shottie forward… only to turn along with my entire body and point it sideways, away from the threat while grinding my feet down into the soft ground to reinforce my position.

"Do you want me to use those weapons on you," I squinted my eyes, "or the humans that are coming to attack?"

Right as my words voiced out, I braced myself… and pulled the trigger, causing the weapon in my hands to explode and spit vicious fire in a wide cone starting at the end of its barrel.