"These bastards are asking for it!"
"Wh-what!?" As I cursed and charged forward, the three menacing-looking guys turned to look at me in alarm.
Even so, by the time they could see me sprinting at full speed, it was already too late.
I somersaulted in mid-air, lunging at the guy tearing at Claire's clothes, using the momentum of the spin to deliver a powerful back kick.
"Cough!" The man, struck in the abdomen by the back kick, flew like a kite with a broken string, crashing into the dungeon wall before collapsing to the ground.
"Big Brother!" I glanced coldly at my two accomplices running towards the fallen man, while simultaneously approaching Claire protectively to check on her.
"Claire, are you hurt?"
"Ah...ah...Mr. Se-Semo..." Claire seemed still deeply gripped by fear, her lips moving like a fish out of water, unable to utter a complete sentence. "These bastards! They actually tried to gang rape an invisible woman?" I completely forgot what I had done to Claire; I was simply enraged that this woman, who would become my female, had almost been violated, letting the profanities spurt from between my teeth.
It was as if reason, which had burst through the gates of my mind, could never return. Only by beating those bastards like dogs on a sweltering summer's day would reason shout, "I'm back!"
"Haa…!"
"Dead, dead…!" The reason I had thought would never return was frantically brought back to its place by those guys' shouts.
What?
Dead?
Just that?
Wait, did I kill someone?
"This, this damned monster brat!"
"That thing is really a monster!? It can even talk!?"
"To hell with it! Kill it first!" Two men who looked like bandits cursed and drew their knives at me… Have I gone mad…? I actually killed someone? ...Strange.
Why don't I feel any guilt at all?
It feels like that damned guy died...is it because he killed an illegal adventurer?
Or because I slaughtered those scum who attacked Claire?
I killed someone, yet this is all I feel...it's a bit absurd, but now's not the time to dwell on that.
The most important thing is to deal with these two bastards who drew their swords.
"Claire. Just a moment. Almost there."
"Ah, almost? Ugh...be careful..." After saying that to Claire, I looked at those guys and was met with their incredibly irritating, rotting expressions.
Although I really wanted to immediately transform into my half-human, half-beast form and teach them a lesson...the transformation skill involves my body swaying like smoke, and it takes several seconds to fully transform. There are too many openings.
Thinking this, I simply raised my horse's hooves and glared at those guys.
"This...this damn...arrogant monster brat...do you even know who we are...?"
"What the hell are you brats acting all high and mighty for?!" These aren't minor crimes; they're violent criminals who've committed rape, murder, and all sorts of heinous acts. There's no need to listen to their nonsense.
I interrupted them and charged forward.
The guy behind me, observing their reactions, dodged to the side, but the guy muttering in front was caught off guard and knocked down by my shoulder.
I immediately raised my foreleg and stomped down on the fallen guy's head.
In a pure hand-to-hand combat, even 2 against 1 wouldn't necessarily be a loss...but considering they were armed and might use aura, I didn't hold back and stomped down with all my might.
With that stomp, accompanied by an unsettling sound, I felt something collapse under my hoof.
Ugh...try not to look over there. Thinking this, I turned to face another guy...
"Cough!" The guy who had somehow gotten close to me swung his sword at me.
Despite desperately twisting and turning to try and dodge, my side was still slashed open, blood gushing out.
'Damn it…!' A burning pain spread throughout my body from the wound, and I cursed inwardly.
Judging from the red heat emanating from the guy who injured me, he most likely used battle aura. He charged at me with battle aura in less than a second; this guy's reaction speed was… quite… impressive.
I originally thought it was just a regular rapist…
I dripped blood, my whole body tense.
If an opponent attacks with battle aura, even if I'm a large, muscular horse, I can't underestimate them.
After all, battle aura, this cheat-like skill, can inflict serious wounds on those who can't even leave a scratch with their bare hands.
Of course, even so… since it's a cheat-like skill, its weakness is also obvious.
"Die, you monster bastard!" I feigned exhaustion, dodging attacks while creating distance to carefully observe the creature.
If it were Ars's ridiculously fast warrior aura, that would be one thing, but this kind of lowly criminal's aura was easily dodged with focused concentration.
I gradually distanced myself from Claire, maneuvering and dodging for a while. The red aura began to weaken, and sweat started beading on the creature's face.
"This...this damn...you monster brat's trying to be clever..." The creature seemed to sense something was wrong, and as the red aura disappeared, it re-established its fighting stance.
It turned off its aura? But...without aura, what are you going to use to fight me? I was also injured and couldn't fight for long. The moment the red aura disappeared, I rushed forward and flipped the creature over.
It raised its sword to defend its head, but I wasn't aiming for its head.
I directly swung my front leg, aiming for the shoulder blade where its arm and shoulder met.
"Gahhhhhh!" Although the sword that fell as the guy convulsed grazed my leg, his piercing scream echoed as his arms fell limply as if severed.
Immediately afterward, I pushed his body down and stomped on his front leg, breaking it.
"Aaaaaahhhhh! Ugh, ugh…!"
"Huff, huff…! You damned criminal who wants to die…! Huff…!" As my body relaxed, the deep pain from the cut on my side was excruciating. I endured the pain and regulated my breathing before speaking to the guy.
"Answer my questions if you want to live. Understand?"
Hearing this, the guy, who had been biting his lower lip and convulsing in pain, nodded.
"Huff… Damn it. How many of you are there? When did you get in?"
"I…we all…came in two days ago…" I was lucky. Lisbeth and Ars, who haven't been found yet, should be safe except for monsters.
"Ha... If a criminal sneaks into the dungeon, they should just hide, grab what they need, and leave. Why did they have to touch Claire? Are they looking for death?"
"I-we're not illegal adventurers..." This guy is spouting nonsense. "Uh...! We're... members of the Serpent's Fang Guild... Because we urgently needed money... we didn't accept the dungeon assignments... we just randomly chose a dungeon to enter... we just wanted to grab some stuff and leave...!" What's wrong with him?
Isn't this just being a criminal?
Compared to that...
"Hey, you! Why did you touch Claire? Didn't you expect there to be teammates around? What gives you the right to be so arrogant after sneaking in?"
"Ugh...! This woman... is the nun we've been eyeing... ugh...!" What? You've got your eye on Claire?
"What nonsense. Why are you eyeing Claire?"
"Th-that's because..." The guy who was crying in anguish suddenly rolled his eyes, revealing an expression as if he were looking for an excuse. "Uh... I just... wanted to have some fun..."
"Don't change the subject! Why were you targeting her?!"
"Gahhhhh!!!" After I stepped on his leg, he screamed and howled in agony.
"N-I can't tell! If I tell you, even if you let me go, my boss will kill me!"
"You mad dog!"
"Ugh!!!" He was practically on the verge of death, yet he was still shouting that he couldn't tell. This enraged me, and I ripped open his chest.
Then the guy trembled violently, then the trembling stopped abruptly, and his body went limp.
...Huh? I hurriedly pressed my ear to his heart, but I couldn't hear a heartbeat.
No... he's dead like that?
The other two guys certainly didn't have time to hold back in that situation, but I didn't intend to kill this guy... Oh damn... I should have asked them why they were targeting Claire.
I feel a tightness in my chest.
What's even more upsetting isn't the fact that I killed someone, but the fact that I feel almost no guilt. Am I really such a cold-blooded human?
I sighed and walked towards Claire, who was huddled in the corner, her face filled with worry.
"Phew... Claire. It's over."
"Are you... alright? Mr. Shimo...?"
Claire asked with a worried voice. Her previously pale face gradually returned to normal, and her trembling subsided; she seemed to have calmed down a bit.
"I was slashed in the side and arm... Excuse me, could you heal me, Claire?"
"Yes, yes! Please turn the wound towards me!" I turned the wound towards Claire and lay down in front of her. As light surged from Claire's hands, the wound rapidly healed and disappeared.
The side wound was clearly deep, yet it healed in just a few seconds. Claire's regenerative abilities truly deserve the title of Saintess candidate.
"Thank you, Claire."
"Ah, no...it's me...I'm sorry. Mr. Shimo..."
"What's there to apologize for? These guys are the bad guys...Speaking of which, these guys came for you, do you have any leads?"
"Ah, not at all...come to think of it, they even know my name..."
What's with these guys?
Since they even know my name, it seems like this was premeditated... After finishing the treatment, I got up to examine the corpses of the dead guys and found a snake-shaped emblem drawn on the back of their hands.
That should be the guild emblem, I'll have to investigate later.
After seeing that no one was around, I returned to human form and searched their backpacks, finding them filled with what appeared to be mineral-like items collected from the dungeon.
These bastards.
There's a limit to greed... After examining the corpses and packing up the valuables, I piled the three corpses in a corner and transformed back into my Malboroughi form.
Then, with Claire's help, I strapped their luggage to my body and carried Claire, whose nun's habit was torn, revealing her underwear and stockings. "Let's pack my things first. It's a bit far, but there don't seem to be any other illegal adventurers besides these guys, so Ars and Lisbeth shouldn't be in too much danger. Besides, they have more adventure experience and knowledge, so let's pack my things first, give Claire some clothes, and then go find them." After saying this, I slowly ran towards the direction where the luggage was scattered.
............ Returning to where I had put the luggage, I put Claire and the luggage down and walked towards the flowing stream.
Because after transforming into a horse, the bloodstains didn't disappear; instead, they were firmly stuck to my Marlboroughini form.
Every time my body transforms, it feels like it's being reconstructed after turning into smoke… or rather, calling up a stored form?
Although it felt strangely off, I couldn't go back to Radia covered in blood; I had to clean myself up first.
Thinking this, I approached the puddle seeping from the corner of the wall and called out to Claire.
"Claire. Excuse me, could you help me wipe the blood off? Anything will do…"
"Ah, sure. I'll help you."
But as soon as Claire took a step towards me, she suddenly collapsed to the ground.
"Ah, ah!? Claire!? What's wrong!?"
"I'm so sorry… Mr. Shimo… I'm only just relaxing now…"
Claire tried to get up, trembling, but her legs seemed to give way, and she couldn't stand.
As she tried to rise, tears streamed down Claire's face.
"Claire!?"
"This, this is the first time… I've felt someone's intent to kill me… That… it was terrifying…"
This so-called targeting… was it with murderous intent?
Why?
What benefit would there be in killing a blind nun?
"And... when those people died... I actually felt at peace... as a clergyman, to feel at peace because of the deaths of others... thinking about it makes me feel so..."
"Ah, no. Claire! Those guys deserved to die!"
I walked towards the weeping Claire, managing to squeeze out the words in a panic. "Think about it. Those bastards illegally invaded the dungeon, not only trying to violate Claire but also trying to kill her to silence her, right?
They were scum! The death of those kinds of people is actually a greater contribution to the world, isn't it!?"
Seeing Claire's shocked and tearful expression, I felt I should say something to comfort her, so I blurted out these words. "Men actually tried to assault a woman with visual impairment! Ugh! They were utter trash…" Those words blurted out, then I instantly realized that the trash I was referring to was myself.
"…I'm sorry…so that trash was me…" I buried my face in my hands and apologized to Claire.
Claire, who had initially looked sad, chuckled and said to me.
"Um…Mr. Semo, it's alright…it's a little strange, but you kept your chastity…and even saved me…" With a strange expression of tears in her eyes yet a smile on her face, Claire continued, blushing. "The emotion I felt from those people was just…fear…but Mr. Semo, how should I put it…it was like he really wanted me…it felt a little different…" Even so…thinking that I was the same kind of criminal as those men, and that I had done something really wrong, I felt so sorry.
Just as I was wallowing in guilt, Claire got up and came to me with a cloth.
"It's alright now. Let me help you dry off."
She said, sitting down beside me, wetting the cloth, and began wiping the areas I pointed out.
As we talked, I watched Claire as she wiped my body, and through the gaps in her torn nun's habit, I could see her underwear and breasts. At that moment, my previously silent conscience suddenly leaped out, as if shouting, 'I'm sorry, you bastard…'... But then again, isn't it irresistible for a male to see such a sight…?
Unconsciously, my manhood also became erect, dripping with viscous fluid and throbbing. Ugh… Normally I'd just ask Claire for help…
But after what happened, it's really hard to bring it up…
However, Claire, who had fallen silent at some point, blushed as she slowly wiped my body… finally stopping and lowering her head.
"Claire?" I called out hurriedly. After a moment of silence, Claire quietly looked up at me and said, "…Th-um…do you need my help, Mr. Shimo…?"
Hearing this, my Cock jumped up.