By Zephyria =======
“Brothers. You’ve taken too much of the drug.”
Wolf stood up abruptly, pivoted half a turn, and delivered a powerful kick to his opponent. A crack—the sound of ribs breaking echoed loudly. With a single kick, the man flew back like a piece of white bread, slammed into the wall, and slid down slowly. Knocked out.
“Die—!”
Another man charged, swinging an axe. Again, Wolf easily dodged and grabbed the man’s wrist. As soon as he applied pressure, the axe slipped from the man’s grip.
“Ugh… aaah! L-let go of me!”
The man frantically struck the back of Wolf’s hand with his other fist. Wolf didn’t budge.
“Brothers, this isn’t a slaughterhouse. It seems you see me as some plump pig, but we are strictly human beings.”
“Who doesn’t know that! Let go, you son of a… u-uwoah! Ack!”
“What, you recognize us? Then you really were trying to kill us? Strange, because despite appearances, we’re the diligent fellows who cleaned up the kitchen flood yesterday. What’s the reason? I love a good speech, so please, explain.”
“Just knock him out.”
Silver’s voice drifted over. He was sitting with his back against the wall, pinching his nose shut with one hand.
“They’re the ones on the drugs. They won’t remember a thing when they wake up.”
“That’s true. Then—.”
The moment Wolf raised his fist high,
“Wait.”
Silver raised a hand. Wolf arched an eyebrow.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“There is.”
Silver gestured with his chin toward the man Wolf was holding.
“Look at his neck.”
“It’s clean. I don’t see anything.”
“If he’s a senior, there should be something. The Shark Tooth Gang tattoos a rope around the neck when they’re promoted to official members.”
“Don’t tell me these guys are…”
“Yeah. They’re prisoners.”
The warehouse where the prisoners were kept had collapsed in the heavy rain. It seemed the prisoners, who had rushed out like a swarm of bees along with the grunting pigs, were now waging a war of revenge.
Wolf released the man’s wrist and took a step back. The man gasped for air, glaring at Wolf. The one who had been briefly knocked out by Wolf’s kick also stumbled to his feet and approached.
“Don’t be tense. I understand you guys.”
Wolf gave the prisoners a beaming smile.
“If I were locked up with pigs for even one day, I’d have lost my mind too. Killing every single pirate here probably wouldn’t even be enough. I want to emphasize that I have no intention of fighting you. I just happened to be pushed here and joined the gang by accident.”
Wolf suppressed a gag reflex and stepped closer to the prisoners. He brushed the straw off their rags and neatly straightened their crumpled collars. He even picked up the axe and placed it back in their hands.
“Now, let’s do this. I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything, so you guys just get out of here. We’re going to have a nice long nap, so feel free to steal a ship and leave or do whatever you want. The seniors are out of it from the drugs, so it won’t be hard. Got it? Goodbye—. Don’t ever come back—.”
It was just as Wolf was grabbing the prisoners’ shoulders to turn them toward the door. Silver spoke up again.
“Those guys aren’t civilians.”
“What?”
Wolf looked back at Silver. Silver pointed a finger at the prisoners.
“They’re pirates too. Professionals whose livelihood is piracy, just like the Shark Tooth Gang. They invaded to take over these waters, but they got caught by the Bone Flute Tower, lost their ships, and were captured.”
Wolf frowned slightly. One of the prisoners spat on the floor.
“What kind of ancient history are you blathering about? You’re finished, fuckers. My brothers are tearing this island apart right now. While you drug-addicted bastards can’t tell the difference between an axe and your own dicks.”
The other one chimed in.
“We’ll kill every last one of you. We’ll skin you to make wallets and sails, and scatter your flesh as pig feed! We’ll carve your bones into dog bowls. Know that today is the day the Shark Tooth Gang vanishes from the world!”
At this point, Wolf was simply baffled. Fuck, what kind of bad luck is this first thing in the morning?
“You heard them? Let them out.”
Silver said indifferently.
“There are probably about thirty prisoners. With those numbers, they can wipe out the junkies in a couple of hours and still have some left over. We should side with the prisoners.”
“Quick calculations. Right, you have to side with the winning team.”
The prisoners grinned.
“You, big guy, did you hear that? Learn something from the little guy.”
“If that head of yours isn’t just for decoration…”
Before he could finish, screams erupted from outside.
“Hear that? That’s the sound of my brothers paying back their debts! Stay shoved in here while we hunt the pigs! Unless you want to be skinned alive!”
“Especially you, big guy! Consider your life saved thanks to that mouth of yours that told us to steal a ship and run! Keep your head pressed to the floor and st-stay there!”
The end of the coarse voice trembled violently. He sounded bold, but he was clearly flustered and eager to retreat for fear of being hit again. The prisoners turned toward the door. Wolf, who had been silent until then, suddenly closed in right behind them.
Thick forearms wrapped around their necks. Snap, crack—. Two sounds of neck bones breaking. The sensation of cervical vertebrae shattering traveled straight up his arms. The axes dropped from the prisoners’ hands.
As Wolf released his grip, the prisoners slumped over. They were like deflated leather sacks. For one of the fallen prisoners, a fragment of bone had actually pierced through the skin of the back of his neck.
“What are you doing?”
At the sound of the voice, Wolf turned around. Silver was looking at him, leaning his upper body forward just a bit. He was shocked.
“Answer me. What the hell did you just do?”
“Killed some people. Two of them.”
Wolf picked up the corpses and tossed them out the door one by one. Picking up an axe from the floor, he added,
“They said they were going to kill all the Shark Tooth Gang brothers. I couldn’t just watch.”
“What?”
Silver let out a hollow laugh.
“Stop talking nonsense. It’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking!”
Wolf shouted.
“They are my precious brothers! I can’t let them die! You stay here! I’m going to save my brothers!”
“Are you cra… Hey, hey! Wait—!”
Silver’s voice rose. But Wolf was already sprinting outside. Ice-cold rainwater pelted his entire body. Irritation surged at the sudden, unexpected situation. Damn it, I haven’t even eaten since yesterday, and what is this manual labor?
Most of the houses lining both sides of the hill road were belching thick smoke. Inhaling drugs as soon as they woke up without even eating. Two hours was too long. If the prisoners moved quickly, it would be over in one.
At a crossing where the road curved, a corpse appeared. A woman whose white spine was exposed through a back split in half. A man displaying his long intestines on the road, his face still wearing the ecstasy provided by the drugs.
Wolf stopped and scanned the surroundings. From a narrow alley between houses across to the left, men emerged. Seven in total.
“Feels like stealing a pie from a snot-nosed kid.”
“I’ve never killed people this easily in my life.”
“Hahaha!”
The men burst into laughter. Wolf strode toward them, leveling the axe.
“Hey! You there!”
The men flinched. In that instant, Wolf lunged forward and slammed the axe into the leader. His movements were so fast the opponent had no time to dodge. White brain matter and blood sprayed out through the rain from the crown of the head with a shhh sound. The axe sliced diagonally down to below the ear. Eventually, half of the skull flopped onto the ground. An eyeball popped out like a bird’s egg and rolled across the floor.
“You bastard!”
The men surrounded Wolf.
〔Crisis detected… Multiple lethal threats.〕
〔Combat seq—〕
“Get lost! Reject!〕”
The moment he shouted, a fierce wind sounded from behind. A blunt weapon was flying toward him. Without even looking back, Wolf caught it firmly with one hand. As he squeezed hard, it crumpled with a crack and a crunch.
“W-what…!”
“It’s a monster!”
The prisoners recoiled in horror. One of them even fell flat on his backside. Wolf, also stunned, looked down at the blunt weapon in his hand.
It was a combat mace reinforced with iron bands. The iron bands, which could break human bone in one hit, were crumpled like sheets of paper, and the oak inside was split in half. It was absurd.
I did this… with my bare hands?
Silver stared for a long time across the entrance where a grey darkness had settled. As if, by glaring long enough, the darkness might spit Stuffy Field Mouse back out.
The wide-open door creaked and swayed in the wind. In the meantime, the intensifying rain cut through the threshold and intruded diagonally. Rainwater scattered stains across the wooden floor like bruises.
He should have stopped caring and just lied down. He should have thanked God that a noisy, talkative giant had exited on his own and tried to sleep again. If he had the slightest bit of discernment. Despite knowing this, Silver couldn’t lie down and only stared blankly outside.
That guy. Is he clever, or is he an idiot?
96 – Hell’s Execution Order