Soul Eater Of The Rebellion Chapter 23

The Blue Winged Beast (Indigo Wyvern)

Manticores are beasts with the face of a human that live in forests .

The face is one of an old man who has lived for many years and they have the ability to speak the human tongue .

However, they are far from being called friendly . It’ll almost always come down to a fight if you run into one .

Their lion body makes them as agile as they look, as they’re able to run through the forest as if it was flatlands . It is nearly impossible to escape this monster’s pursuit inside of a forest .

Their scorpion’s tail is filled with deadly venom . With twenty four spines growing out of it, one hit has the destruction power enough to take down a huge tree . On a side note, there are also some people out there who go after the manticore’s spines to make projectile weapons out of them .

In any case, this is one type of demonic beast that I didn’t really want to run into inside this forest .

「There are ten manticores in this pack . Sheesh, what are the chances?」

The group of manticores that was after the winged beast appeared one after another .

I put the herb bag down on the ground as I sighed .

It’ll get in the way whether I’m going to fight or run . I swear I’ll get it back when this is over .

「Hahaha!  It’s not the same as eating a winged beast but a human has their own unique flavor! It’s just bad luck for you to run into us here」

The manticore mocked me . I decided to try to see if what I read about them before in doc.u.ments was true .

「The sun rises from the west, the river flows backwards, and fire burns in water . What does that mean? 」

「Bark all you want, your destiny has already been decided, hahaha 」

The manticore did not care at all about the nonsensical things I had just said .

Just because they could speak the human tongue, it doesn’t mean that they have the intentions to talk .

They only say the things they want to say and they have no desire to interact with others .

Yup, it’s exactly as it was written in the doc.u.ments that I’ve read about them .

「The winged beast will fall, the human will die, and our bellies will be filled . Hahahha! How delightful, how truly delightful!」

「You can die in your delight then– Soul equip」

A black blade appeared in my hand with those words .

The herd of manticore swayed like reeds that were getting blown by the wind . The one that was mocking me had also stopped running its mouth .

It was clear that they were being cautious, but they didn’t move . They probably thought that if they were staying on guard anyway, it would be fine to wait until I make the first move . My soul equipment in this state was just merely a weapon to them .

「Devour, Soul eater」

Sword drawn .

The manticores backed up in fright as an explosion of dark light flashed before their eyes .

I lowered my stance as I looked at them . My blade was on the left side of my waist . The point of my sword was pointing behind me .

It’s close to a posture of drawing the sword, but it’s only similar to it since my sword has no sheath .

In that position, I infused my Kei into the blade . The move I’m about to use is the jumping slash attack, the same 『Wind』 that I used in the battle with the Fly Lord .

However, that move was only something that I picked up from seeing it in a demonstration back on the island .

Still, I did not mind because it was strong enough, and I’m curious how powerful it would be now if I use my full strength with it .

I put a lid on the joy I feel from being freed from my level one curse .

I put a lid on the wrongful a.s.sumption that I’m only a level six .

I put a lid on the common sense of humans .

There’s no need to underestimate or overestimate myself . I just need to focus on the “present” .

Increase the Kei amount . Increase the quality . Maximize it .

The Kei that was covering my blade was in a frenzy as if it was roaring . It covered the blade in a fiery spiral as if it were a small dragon .

The air around it creaked . It was like my soul equipment was telling me to hurry and eat their souls .

I could instinctively feel the rise of that power .

The manticore who spoke out earlier called out to its brethren around it .

「Not good . Jump!」

「You’re too late!」

With my yell, my black sword slashed across in a stroke 一 .

It was from a distance where even the enemy did not think that it was going to reach . However, the slash attack that had taken plenty of my Kei nullified that distance to zero .

Rather than a jumping slash, it was a different slash that ate away the distance .

No matter how agile those demonic beasts are, they could not have evaded this attack .

Several manticores cried out in pain and astonishment as their blood sprayed onto the ground .

There were five of them left, so I got just about half of the pack . The others were either not in the slash range from the very beginning or they responded quickly to their leader’s command .

I curled my lip as I looked at the three of them that had bounced up into the air .

I fixed my sword stance by correcting the point of the sword as I aimed it at the three manticores in the air .

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the shocked expression on their leader’s face .

「Die!!」

They can’t dodge attacks in the air with bodies that don’t have any wings .

My second attack easily pierced the three of them .

Normally, since a manticore’s body is made of tough muscles, with layers of fat over its outer skin, it’s not easy for blades to penetrate into their meat .

However, the black sword cut through their bodies like tofu .

The man-eating demonic beast’s blood sprayed out in three lines like a flower blooming .

Immediately after that, a happy giggle slipped out of my throat as a tremendous amount of souls flew in .

It looks I am strong as I thought I was . I killed the man-eating manticores that are well feared by many, instantly . Of course, although it’s because of my soul equipment, it’s still undeniably my strength as well . I obtained this with my own strength in the first place, so no one has any reason to complain .

My theory about leveling was right . At the very least, it meant that my understanding of it up until now was wrong, I’m certain of that .

Now then, let’s deal with the remaining two .

As I turned to look at the remaining manticores with that thought in mind–

「Grrrrrrgrrarrr!!」

I saw the winged beast crus.h.i.+ng one manticore’s skull with its teeth and smas.h.i.+ng the other one’s body with its tail .

Both of them probably died right away .

There isn’t a part on the winged beast’s blue scales that was without blood stains, and more than half of its scales were torn off, showing its red colored flesh from below .

It had sustained serious injuries no matter how I looked at it . It’s safe to say that it’s on the verge of death, but as expected, it was still a well-known, ferocious blue winged beast even amongst wyvern kind .

No matter how much damage it had taken, it still had enough power to take down one or two manticores in a blow .

…Now then, the question is if this winged beast would turn its mighty fangs against me .

I ended up helping it in the end, but I don’t think it knows that .

In terms of viciousness there’s no difference between the blue winged beast and the manticores . They are both hostile to humans in the same sense .

It wouldn’t be strange if it came at me right now .

By the way, there are winged beasts out there that are tamed by humans . Here, the dragon knights of the Canaria kingdom use the winged beasts they have tamed as their mounts .

It’s just that basically, such winged beasts would have to be hand raised by humans from the moment they are born out of their eggs . Wild winged beasts would only see humans as food no matter how generous you treat them, and they won’t be tamed .

I heard that with the blue wyvern, that tendency is particularly strong .

Because within the wyvern species, the stronger is placed higher on the hierarchy . No matter how hard people tried to tame them, I have never heard of a successful case .

The blue winged beast spat out the manticore’s head after crus.h.i.+ng its skull and stared at me .

Is it coming? I readied my sword as I pondered, but unexpectedly, it did not attack .

It kept on staring at me with its pair of big round eyes that were cuter than I thought . Its long snake-like pupils had my figure reflected in it .

Then, it suddenly took its eyes off me and turned to another direction .

I looked in that direction at about the same time . The leader of the manticores was still alive as it stood back up at that spot . .

Did I misunderstand the situation? I thought as I clicked my tongue .

And so, the blue winged beast started to move again .

It probably had a bone left to pick with the manticore as it was all beaten up a little while ago when it was about to be eaten . The winged beast’s long neck swelled up greatly as something like steam started to come out its mouth .

What? The blue winged beast can breathe fire?!

Wait a minute . Will it be alright for it to breathe fire in a forest like this?!

That’s what I was wondering, but it would be troubling if I made a move here to stop it and then it turns hostile towards me .

Besides, I can still remember the anger, fear, and regret I felt when I was the one that was about to be eaten . I can’t get in the way of this winged beast’s revenge .

As the result, the blue winged beast released its fire breath in the form of a fireball the size of a human’s head . It fired it directly in a straight line through the air and hit the manticore that was trying to escape from here .

It’s too bad, but the manticore was eradicated as it was engulfed in flames .

After that, I explored the nearby area around the forest for a bit .

A herd of manticore– Moreover, I’ve never heard of a group of ten of them gathering together before .

In the first place, it’s the first time I’ve seen a manticore here . They probably lived deeper in the forest normally, then they came out in a group .

Were they kicked out of their previous habitat? I wondered .

However, I could not find any clues related to it for the next thirty minutes or so .

If I trace the manticores’ tracks to the deepest part of the forest I might be able to find something there, but I’m not prepared for that . Above all, there would be no point in having caught Miroslava if I were to go off to do something like that .

For the time being, I’ll just remind myself to pay attention to the movements of the forest .

And so, when I walked back to where I was, I was surprised .

The blue winged beast was making painful sounds as it fell on the ground with a bang .

Just when I was wondering what’s going on since nothing was happening earlier, I realized it .

The tails of the manticores have deadly venom in them . Luckily, I was never hit by one, but it’s not hard to imagine that this winged beast was stabbed by them multiple times .

What to do, what to do?

I did fortunately gather some medicinal herbs earlier, but there aren’t any that could neutralize such strong venom of a manticore .

There are some detoxing herbs back at the nest that I prepared in case of anything happening during the captivity period, but the amount is minimal . Considering the huge body of this winged beast, would it be enough even if I gave it all of it?

Before that, would herbs that work on human work on winged beasts in the first place?

「To remove the poison…remove poison…how…Ah, that’s right! There’s that! The thing that person used to neutralize the paralyzing poison from the Fly Lord!」

The Jiraiya Oak tree . It’s not that far away from here .

If I run there with full power using my Kei, I should be able to get back here within an hour .

…When I think about it calmly, there’s not really a reason for me to help this wyvern, if anything I could cut it down right now– but when I thought of those big round eyes when it was looking at me earlier, I felt hesitant .

Well, I’ll see it as a temporary alliance for now . If it ungratefully attacks me after its poison’s cured, then I will take its soul .

As I took a look at the winged beast’s long neck that lay flat on the ground in pain, I bent my knees slightly before I dashed out at full speed .