Chapter 16: 16

Is this Hero for Real?

Chapter 16

[A certain god is anxious.]

“…It’s fine.”

I knew it would be difficult to grow because of the evil goddess with the mask of a hypocrite from the beginning.

[Hero]

> Experience that you gain from hunting and achievements is greatly diminished!

It was just that the ‘significantly’ was a lot more than I thought. 

I didn’t imagine I wouldn’t level up at all.

“She’s set on killing me…”

She wasn’t satisfied from putting me in a forest full of cannibals and putting a horrible curse on me.

How can you not level up in a world that functions through levels?

It was no different from a death sentence.

[A certain god looks into the far galaxies.]

[A certain god says the galaxies are full of stars as always.]

“What’s up with you all of a sudden?”

I thought they would be glad and send prayers for the outsider’s soul.

I took whatever looked valuable from the gnolls’ corpses.

Rings, necklaces, bracelets, jewels…

The craftsmanship was much too detailed to be done by a gnoll. It must have been stolen from the humans and fairies.

Why did I come to that decision?

—There were the heads of humans and fairies on stakes decorating the gnolls’ caves.

“I was going to just take a moderate amount, but…”

As long as I knew I couldn’t level up, I had no choice but to change my plans.

What did I have to do to get stronger?

Money! Money! Money!

As a cultured civilian who was drenched in capitalism, I knew the importance of money.

The card is mightier than the sword!

Getting physically stronger through the ‘good weapons’ I got with a large amount of money was also a strategy to become stronger.

“Scary meat!”

“Meat isn’t weak!”

“I will kill the meat!”

“Human meat! Revenge!”

‘Oh! Were there still gnolls left?’

Gigantic gnolls crowded out from the dark caves.

Looking like vengeful warriors who’d been through all sorts of things, every single one of their bellies were round, and they were fully loaded with armor and weapons stolen from humans and fairies.

[Name] Hook that Makes Fairies Cry

[Level] 9

[Blessing] Warrior F

[Curse] Fairy F

So there was a reason I couldn’t see it. 

Those bastards took their time to get ready because they knew they couldn’t win with numbers.

Gleam! Gleam! Gleam!

One by one, the fulfilled gnolls used their ‘Power of Meat’.

There were about a hundred of them.

I wasn’t scared, though.

[Outsider]

It wasn’t just because I couldn’t feel emotions from my blessing.

I got better at using the ‘Power of Meat’ every time I used it, and I had strengthened it with endless improvements and experiments.

And I had just learned something new again.

“Strong meat! My meat!”

“Male meat! I hate it!”

“Eyeball! Give me eyeball!”

As different as their eating habits were, the gnolls’ ‘Power of Meat’ was slightly different as well.

Although its objective of becoming stronger was the same, the slight difference in power management changed its efficiency.

“I’m rather thankful.”

As I watched how they managed their powers, I dropped the useless parts and applied the useful aspects to my powers.

The result?

Spark-!

I couldn’t imagine losing at all.

I put my strength into the blue dagger since I didn’t have big, strong nails like the gnolls.

[Outsider]

[Fairy]

Blood-red jelly covered my blue dagger.

“M-meat?!”

“What is this?!”

“Dangerous meat!”

“Strong nails!”

I didn’t feel a need for it before, but I needed to strengthen my weapons if I was going to rip through the gnolls’ armor in one blow.

My preparation was finished.

I jumped right into it.

Fwt.

“M-meat-?!”

The gnoll’s body was cut vertically.

The thick, hard force wrapped around my right hand, and the blue dagger tore the iron armor apart like a sheet of paper.

Kendo? Martial arts? Technique?

I’d never learned it before and I didn’t need to.

The sheer destructive power alone was a perfect attack in itself.

“D-danger!”

“Too strong!”

“Dangerous meat!”

“Escape…!”

My absolute advantage did not change, even if they had strengthened and armed themselves with the ‘Power of Meat’.

[Slaughter]

“I get that you guys worked really hard to prepare for this, but it’s nowhere near enough.”

‘None of you are ready yet.’

* * *

* * *

The second day of group hunting to level up the heroes…

Although they were stronger from experience, the total number of heroes had slightly lessened.

The Saintess did not hide her discomfort as she explained the reason.

“We removed those who got scared and went against their duties. We are going to reduce the budget allocated to them and invest more in you, so do not worry.”

“Wow!”

“Good!”

“Nice!”

The heroes lightened up at the news of getting better service.

Fellow schoolmates who were too scared?

Most of the heroes wished there would have been more of them. That way, the gear and treatment would be even better for them.

Prince Alsus reported,

“The speed you all are leveling up is extraordinary. Even with the help of the knights and high-quality gear taken into consideration, three levels in just a day is an amazing result. It is not an overstatement to call you the hope of humanity.”

“Hehe.”

“Hahaha!”

“Hoho!”

Although it was because the blessings were extraordinary rather than the heroes, Prince Alsus shook off the negative thoughts.

That was ‘forbidden’.

As the heroes had the hero’s blessing, mages depended on the magic blessing. It was the same with the high-ranking hierarchs and knights.

He had to be wary of his words if he wanted to stay on good terms with all of them and keep his right to the throne.

“Prince.”

A knight who hurried over on his horse reported the situation of the hunting grounds.

Prince Alsus, judging that the matter was too big to handle himself, asked for the Saintess’s opinion.

“Saintess. They say there is a gnoll who is binging.”

“What level are they?”

“Five.”

“Hm. Hero Choi Gangmin, Jang Miyeon, and Yoo Bora are also level 5s. Go ahead with it, as it is not a common opportunity.”

“Yes, maam.”

And so the heroes moved hunting grounds for the first time.

Until then, they had hunted in the same location where Prince Alsus and his knights gathered the gnolls to them, but they couldn’t do it like that this time.

Rustle.

Prince Alsus, hiding behind the leaves, pointed towards the waddling gnoll.

“This gnoll is a special individual. Please be careful, as it is in an aggressive state where it will attack even those who are strong.”

Princess Athena, who had been quiet thanks to the elderly mages meddling, cried out for the first time.

“Full gnolls can use powerful black magic! Be especially careful when their eyes glow red!”

“$?” $#%?”“Oh! I-I’m sorry. You all got caught because of me…”

“$#! #$ $! #$! $ #$! $ #$! $ #! #$ #$! #$…!”

Snap!

Turning its head at the sound of a female human’s voice, the gnoll’s eyes started glowing red.

Woosh-

Its plump body started deflating like a balloon and turned heinously muscular.

—And it attacked head-first.

“Best of luck.”

“Good luck!”

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Prince Alsus and Princess Athena stood far back so as to not take away their accomplishments.

And only the heroes were left.

“It’s coming!”

“It’s… it’s fast…!”

“Eek?!”

Although it looked strong like the prince and princess advised, they weren’t the ragtags from the previous day, either.

Level 3s on average…

Their overall strength had improved enough to defend themselves, even when numerous gnolls attacked at once.

“There’s no need to be scared!”

[Command]

Hero Choi Gangmin blocked the gnoll and reassured the heroes.

There was a positive winning strategy for him now.

[Grit]

Since the fight just started, he needed to buy enough time for this blessing to show its true effects.

[Acceleration]

After quickly dodging the gnoll’s attacks and blocking its blows—

Pow!

“Eeek?!”

“Gangmin?”

Choi Gangmin’s head flew through the air after getting slapped by the gnoll.

Losing the head that sent out commands, his body collapsed.

“$#…!”

The gnoll didn’t stop there and continued to attack, colliding head-first with a group of heroes cluttered together!

“Eeek~?!”

“Kirk?!”

“Aak?!”

The heroes, armed with fairly heavy suits of armor, flew in all directions like bowling pins.

The gnoll also faltered from the impact of the collision.

“Hyap!”

“-?”

Poow-!

Hero Yoo Bora had been waiting for this moment, and her magic exploded in the gnoll’s face.

That wasn’t all…

[Weapon]

She’d become stronger from her blessing. Her now iron sword stabbed the gnoll’s side.

Stab-!

But an immediate aftershock swept over Yoo Bora.

“Eek…?!”

Her torso folded like a shrimp from the gnoll kneeing her.

“#@ $?”

The gnoll came to a very fast conclusion after seeing the female human who strangely didn’t die in one blow.

Grab.

Snatching Yoo Bora’s neck, which was exposed from getting bent, the gnoll swung her like a club.

“Eek?!”

“Kirk?!”

“Kiirk?!”

[Weapon]

Thanks to her blessing, Yoo Bora could use her entire body as a weapon.

Sturdy, durable, flexible…

And now, she had become the gnoll’s weapon in attacking the heroes.

[Weapon]

Pow! Pow! Pow!

The gnoll ripped the fallen heroes with its teeth and devoured their flesh and blood. It didn’t want to be hungry.

It continued its hunt, maintaining the ‘Power of Meat’.

“Some… somebody, please…!”

Hero Jang Miyeon froze in horror as she was exposed to the danger from her defense line falling apart.

[Charm]

[Color of Beauty]

She activated her blessing as much as she could, but no one moved—all of her followers had fallen.

“%$ #…?”

“Eek?!”

Jang Miyeon’s legs gave out when she met eyes with the gnoll’s.

“#? $# $!”

Fwp~

Yoo Bora, the battered weapon that knocked down countless heroes, was tossed to the side like trash by the gnoll as it slowly approached Jang Miyeon.

“S-save me… eek?!”

The gnoll licked her cheek with its tongue, stained with the flesh and blood of the heroes.

“…”

Jang Miyeon’s train of thought came to a complete stop the moment the gnoll’s mouth went down as it shoved its nose between her legs and sniffed.

There was only one reason:

[Charm]

[Color of beauty]

There were no species restrictions on Jang Miyeon’s blessing.

[A certain innocent goddess shudders at someone’s taste.]

[A certain male god shouts that it is only just to respect peoples’ tastes.]

[A certain bold god of beauty gets excited from anticipation.]

[A certain god…]

It was right when the aroused gnoll was about to move on to the next act…

“#$ $”

Snap!

Prince Alsus snuck behind and beheaded it.

“Hero Jang Miyeon. Are you alright?”

“…”

Face pale, Jang Miyeon barely gave a nod. 

[A certain god groans.]

[A certain god is disappointed.]

[A certain water god splashes cold water.]

[A certain male god freezes.]

[A certain evil god freezes.]

“Urrhh..”

“Hurry, we must treat them…!”

“S-Save…”

The knights and hierarchs cleaned everything up in perfect order.

They were neither disappointed nor surprised after seeing a similar event happen the day before.

Just one gnoll…

They decided not to think about it.

The Saintess’s attitude was especially honorable.

“May god be with the heroes who fought against a powerful opponent.”

***

I took a bunch of jewels and gold from the gnolls’ cave.

I’d hunted so many of the gnolls, who didn’t get along with me since the first day I was kidnapped to the fantasy world, but I didn’t feel anything.

[Outsider]

The fates of the gnolls who couldn’t capture or kill me in one blow had been sealed from the start.

And more importantly…

[Slaughter]

> Friendly races will slightly fear you and find you appalling.

> The chances of them opposing your cruel actions increases a lot.

“This curse… is just pushing me further to be an outsider.”

[A certain god is gleeful.]

“I wish I could join you.”

[A certain god twirls.]

“…”

As provoking as the joyful god was, what else could I, a level 1 piece of low-level trash, do but be patient with them?

Clink!

My trophy-filled bag made me feel a little better.

My real problem was language.

If I couldn’t sell those at a justifiable price, they were nothing more than mere rocks.

“Welp.”

How nice it would be if I could befriend a gnoll with the intelligence of a human!

‘I can trust(?) the gnolls, they’re bad at li—’

“Level 1 human over there. Where did the one who slaughtered all these gnolls go?”

“It’s real!”

I found a smart, male gnoll who looked like a handsome human.

He had horns on his head and didn’t cry out for meat, but that was a small issue compared to the flawed language barrier.

“…Can you not hear me? I spoke in human language- kirk?!”

“Got you!”

“Kirk! I can’t b-breathe…!”

“What’s your name?”

I didn’t know what kind of gnoll it was, but I was sure we could become good friends.

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