Chapter 3: 1.1

A sudden start shook the wagon, sending everyone inside falling and colliding against one another.

“Uwah...?! You old geezer!” Noburu yelled at the teamster as he stumbled about struggling to pick himself up from the floor. “Oy, did you fall asleep on the wheel?! Oy!”

“Is everything okay out there?” Yamato was about to take a look outside when something struck the wagon at a high velocity, piercing through the grey canvas enveloping it.

…Huh?

A jolt of pain shot through Sakuta’s left shoulder. At first, the sharp and burning sensation didn’t register in his brain. It was only when he looked down and saw an arrowhead sticking through his shoulder, fresh with blood, that his arm went ablaze.

Sakuta screamed.

A wild commotion ensued. The passengers broke into a panic and there seemed to be strange noises coming from outside.

“Gnolls...!” the teamster hissed with what sounded like shock and terror in his hoary voice. “Everyone, be careful!”

The canvas was ripped open and on the other side appeared some beast-like creature. It had the head of what Sakuta could only describe as a hyena; greenish-grey skin; a dirty yellow mane; and dark fur scattered with black spots. It glared at each and every one of them inside the wagon with beady black eyes. Then, it roared, and the sound was gruff and fearsome.

There was a shrill scream from one of the girls. The beast reacted violently, pulling her by the hair and dragging her without the wagon. More of the creatures stood outside, barking things in a language that consisted of nothing but guttural bays and growls. Everyone in the wagon was dragged into the night and upon further observation, Sakuta noticed that although the beasts had the heads of a hyena, their bodies were almost humanoid and they stood at about seven feet in height. There were a number of them and they were all armed with various types of weapons: axes, curved longswords, and bows.

It was clear that they had just been ambushed. The wheels of the wagon were destroyed and they were surrounded on all fronts. The creatures appeared seemingly out of nowhere under the guise of darkness. They were hostile. The pulsing pain in Sakuta’s left shoulder was undoubtable proof of that.

One could almost feel the distress in the air at the sight of the beasts. The entire group of thirteen was shaking, quivering within their own qualm. They all had this feeling that none of what was happening should have been real. That none of it should have existed within their realm of possibilities. And yet it was and did. Their lives were at stake and that was the current reality they faced. They all realized that much instantly.

The beastmen forced them into a line on the ground, leaving everyone at their mercy. They were belligerent, hideous things with no sympathy for their wellbeing.

“L-leave us alone, you devils!” the teamster shouted at them. “We've done nothing to you! You’re threatening the peace of Aranea!”

One of the beasts sneered at the old man. Saying nothing, it kicked him so hard everyone could hear the cracking of his ribs on impact. It continued mercilessly stomping on the old man until it looked like he couldn’t move anymore. The other beasts were cackling, amused by this horrific display.

When it was done, it spat on the teamster’s body and made to walk away, but what happened next caught--not only it--but everyone else by surprise. The old man suddenly sprung forth off the ground and grabbed at the beastman's legs. The beast let out a bellow of pain. Apparently, the old man had stuck a knife in its foot, and was twisting the blade.

The beast shoved the teamster off and began stomping at him once again. It was even more enraged now, striking with greater force. They all watched as the teamster was brutalized. Sakuta wanted to help, but the words of intervention caught in his throat. Sakuta got the feeling he would be next if he did. He was sure the feeling was for everyone. So, all they did was watch without daring to utter a word.

The beastman then grabbed the old man’s head and rose its curved longsword to the sky. It roared something harsh and throaty, and then with one sure stroke, the blade came flickering down.

Sakuta heard a gasp.

When he looked, the old man's head had been cut from his shoulders.

At first there was no reaction from any of the passengers. They were all in complete, stumped silence. Around them, the beastmen were chanting and howling as the teamster’s head was raised to the sky for all to see like some sort of trophy. Even Sakuta refused to believe what he had just witnessed. But no matter how many times he blinked, the scene before him did not change. They had just witnessed a man be killed. The proof was in the headless carcass laying on the ground and the river of blood sinking into the soil, turned black by the moonlight.

“No!” A scream from one of the girls pierced into the deep night as she tried to make a run for it.

A beast quickly grabbed her by her flaxen hair before she could get far and pulled her to the ground. It then began tearing the girl of her clothes and stripping her naked. The girl's wails hung in the air like a cruel threnody as she desperately struggled beneath the beastman’s heavy clutches.

Yamato stood up without a moment’s hesitation at the sight of this assault. “Let her go!” he demanded, his voice unwavering even in the face of such danger. He was admirably brave in this situation. Or was it just plain stupidity? Sakuta wondered.

One of the creatures regarded Yamato as though he were nothing short of an insect, and it treated him no less like one. It walked up and grabbed the boy by his face and ferociously slammed him into the ground. Yamato could barely offer little resistance at the sheer power of the beast as he was knocked out cold.

The beasts continued their feral assault on the rest of the girls. It was clear that they wanted them more than anything. Sakuta could only guess why, and the reason was horrifying to think of.

“Y-Yamato?” Sakuta slowly crawled to check up on the boy. He was still alive and breathing, by the look of it.

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As the commotion continued to rise and stir, Sakuta noticed that a couple of the other passengers were up to something. Delinquent was slowly creeping up behind one of the beasts and a few of the other boys were following his lead.

In that same moment, Student Council President suddenly rose to her feet. “That’s enough!” she yelled out for all to hear. The beasts all turned their attention to her. She stood her ground even as the centre of attention, unbent and unwavering, but Sakuta noticed how she crossed her arms to try and hide the fact that her body was shaking. “Leave those girls alone. Now.”

The beastmen were far from amused. One grabbed Student Council President by the neck and ran its long and slimy tongue across the girl’s face. The sensation alone must’ve been overwhelmingly revolting and intolerable, yet the girl barely flinched.

What the beastmen had failed to realize, however, was that it was all a ruse. In the very next instant, Delinquent appeared with a giant rock in his hands and smashed it against the beastman's head. The creature stumbled forward but managed to stay on its feet, though, it was clearly disoriented. Immediately after, Delinquent wrapped his arms around the creature’s waist and with incredible strength, managed to lift it from the ground and flip it over his head.

What power…

The beastman must have weighed over one-hundred kilograms and Delinquent lifted it with barely any struggle at all. Sakuta was astonished by that raw display of strength.

Another boy with dark skin quickly acted on Delinquent’s attack and moved to disarm the fallen beastman of its axe. He managed to get a hold of it but the weapon seemed too heavy for him to wield.

The rest of the beasts did not react to this in kind and the situation only escalated from there. One of them charged towards Delinquent but suddenly slammed into the dirt. Apparently, it was tripped over by the boy with silver hair.

“Kerghh!” the beasts howled and cried and began relentlessly attacking everyone as they all tried to run for their lives or fend them off as best as they could. Meanwhile Sakuta could only spectate, completely immobile and petrified for his life.

During the midst of the turmoil, there was a girl walking around casually--carefree almost. She had long white hair and cat-like yellow eyes. She and the boy with similar coloured hair looked almost completely identical. Were they twins? It looked like it.

No one noticed the girl as she strolled, not even the beastmen. It was as if she were completely invisible, moving silently, gliding through the disarray like a phantom. Something about the way she moved was absolutely breath-taking. She creeped behind one of beasts and pulled out a knife.

It was the teamster’s knife. When had she gotten her hands on that? Sakuta didn’t see her anywhere near the old man's body. In fact, he didn’t recall seeing her moving at all. Had she somehow retrieved it without anybody picking up on her at all? It was the only explanation but seemed so unlikely. But that was undoubtedly the same knife, and she was planning on using it now.

With deft and clinical precision, the white-haired girl stuck the blade into one of the beastman's Achilles tendon and ripped it open.

“Gahhhh!!” The beast, now crippled, yelped and stumbled to a knee. One of its comrades witnessed this and sent itself headlong at the girl with its axe at the ready to carve her open.

“Watch out!” Sakuta warned her, but it looked like she didn’t even need his help. She must have seen the beastman coming sooner than he because as soon as it lunged at her, the girl swayed to the side and avoided the attack effortlessly. She then ran the blade in her hand against the creature’s abdomen before flipping away to put in some distance. The beast touched at the gash in its torso, almost surprised to see blood pouring out of it. It must’ve not been expecting to get hurt. It then turned to the girl, howled viciously, and began to barrel at her once more. The girl simply crouched low, twirled the knife in her hand, and calmly prepared for combat against something that was over twice her weight and size.

And that was when another arrow left its bow from behind all of them.

It whistled through the air and struck the beast the white-haired girl was fighting in the nape, killing it nigh instantly. It was dead in what felt like the blink of an eye.

Sakuta heard footsteps in the nearby distance. Based on how loud and deep they were, he doubted that they were human. They sounded like horses galloping, heading their direction, and they were getting closer and closer by the second. Everyone turned their attention to the source of this sound and soon they saw a group of people riding towards them.

One more arrow flew by and with pinpoint accuracy, struck its target in the chest. Just like that, another beastmen was killed. Before any of them could realize what was happening, the newcomers were there. The rider at the forefront of them all was a man with fiery red hair and intense eyes that were fixed on the beastmen. He leapt off his horse and toward one of them, wielding a longsword that rippled in the moonlight. The creature could barely react in time as the man cut it down in blinding speed.

The rest of the beastmen were attacked by the other riders who rode up behind the man. One of them, a woman on a grey horse, charged forward fearlessly. She chanted something in an obscure tongue and ice formed at the tip of the staff she was holding and struck a beastman, riddling it with a mess of frozen shards.

The other four riders chased the remaining creatures away whilst Sakuta and everyone else watched this all unfold, both amazed and terrified at the same time. Before they knew it, all of the beastmen were disposed of and the entire incident was over just as quick as it had begun. The strangers that came to their aid were all that remained. Or had they even come to help them?

Sakuta gulped.

They were all human, so maybe that was a good sign. The man who’d rode in first cleaned the blood from his sword and then turned to everyone. He was tall, maybe six feet? And was dressed rather peculiarly. Was that…armour? It looked skin-tight but Sakuta was certain that it wasn’t made from any elastic fabric. It was steel hard. The hue of it was black and it had an orange pattern, almost like lava, flowing throughout the set. Whoever this man was, he looked very dangerous.

But any and all fear Sakuta might have had disappeared with the smile he gave them. “My name is Ren. Is everyone all right?”

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