Chapter 31 - A Long Tail Gets Caught
Beastkin were different from ordinary humans.
They had gained strong bodies by combining features of various animals.
SQUEEZE!
But that also simultaneously created weaknesses that humans didn't have.
"Gah?!"
Nael, whose tail base was grabbed by Clay, twisted her face in pain and staggered.
And that momentary imbalance caused her body to collapse.
CRASH!
She fell to the ground, sliding, and lifted her scraped face, turning her gaze.
"Clay...!"
She was worried about Clay, but what she actually confirmed was only a shocking truth.
"What?"
Clay was holding the base of her tail.
She murmured in disbelief at the sight.
"..."
Then Clay, who had fallen with her but hadn't let go, slowly raised his head.
"Nael, do you still truly regret it?"
Clay asked, unconcerned by the injuries he sustained from falling.
"I intend to obstruct you with all my might."
"Clay!"
She cried out loudly.
"Snap out of it! This isn't your true self!"
True self.
Clay had dedicated himself to everyone as a Hero, and he hadn't betrayed his comrades.
But that was only when he was a Hero.
"My true self?"
Clay scoffed, looking at Nael, who still thought he was brainwashed in this situation.
"Is my true self to quietly accept death even when framed?"
He had lived as others wished.
He also had talent.
Clay could have lived a life that everyone respected.
And as a result, he had quietly accepted death as those who had changed their minds wished.
"Nael, you are greatly mistaken."
It was none other than his former comrades, including her, who had driven Clay to this point.
"I am not an ally."
Whether it was regret, lingering attachment, or guilt.
"Treat me as an enemy, Nael."
Clay spoke as if none of that mattered.
No, it truly didn't matter.
Even if the absurd situation where she recognized him as an enemy were to occur, he already held her weakness.
"Beatrice!"
As he shouted, Beatrice rushed over and slapped Nael across the face.
"Gah?!"
Beatrice instantly took over Nael's weakness, whose vision blurred for a moment.
"Clay."
Beatrice turned to him and said.
"Now, don't exert yourself further and stay out of it."
In her opinion, he was overexerting himself more than necessary.
Stepping to the front like this wasn't safe for him either.
'He seems emotionless, but he's not.'
From the beginning, Clay's decision to sit on the Demon King's throne was something that could never be chosen if he were emotionless.
Now, Clay was questioning Nael.
How could she have abandoned him so easily?
And that meant that Clay also had some kind of lingering attachment, in whatever form.
'Right now, revenge is enough for Clay.'
Other emotions would weaken Clay.
Beatrice intended to faithfully carry out the task Clay had asked of her.
She would clearly show him how to live unforgiven in the world, and how he would come to sit on a new throne.
"To do that..."
Beatrice raised her fist high, still holding Nael.
"Hypocrites like you must disappear, right?"
CRASH!
"Ugh!"
Nael, who reflexively raised her guard, couldn't completely absorb the impact and let out a groan.
Beatrice raised her fist again, as if it were just the beginning.
BANG! BANG! BANG BANG BANG!
Punches, almost like explosions, continued.
Nael, caught by her weakness, couldn't easily escape Beatrice.
'Damn it, my strength...'
When the base of her tail was grabbed, Nael couldn't properly exert force.
It was like the gathered strength was being sucked away by a drain.
'I was careless.'
Clay's brainwashing hadn't worn off.
She should have anticipated the possibility of him grabbing her weakness, but she hadn't.
Furthermore, handing over her weakness to the enemy was a shock in itself for her.
"Ughhh!"
Her strength lay in her body.
If she couldn't exert that strength, no matter how strong she was, she would only continue to be beaten.
Moreover, Beatrice was a monster with a strong body.
Having both a dragon's body and magical abilities was nothing short of cheating.
"Arghhhhhhh!"
However, the degree of training was different.
Nael had fought relying solely on her body.
But there were various enemies in the world.
To become the strongest, simply hitting wasn't enough.
WHIRRR!
Red light rose between her muscles, becoming vivid.
"Beatrice!"
Clay shouted.
"It's Berserk!"
The sight of him shouting for Beatrice struck Nael's heart deeply.
But she had no time to care about that now.
"Arghhhhhhh!"
Nael placed her hand over Beatrice's hand, which was holding her tail.
CRUNCH!
Strength surged.
Faster than being sucked into a drain, power surged through her body.
And the mechanism that had elevated her to the pinnacle of martial arts tore the Dragonkin's hand away with sheer brute force.
"!"
Seeing Beatrice surprised, Nael momentarily raised the corner of her mouth.
"It's free."
WHAM!
Nael's fist slammed into Beatrice's face.
There wasn't even a groan.
Beatrice flew away at high speed.
Nael immediately leaped up and mounted Beatrice, who had just fallen onto her back.
Berserk Pounding.
Her lethal technique of wildly raining punches from above her opponent exploded like a roaring beast.
"Arghhhhhhh!"
Punches rained down like a storm.
The fleeting red light was indistinguishable whether it was the effect of Nael's Berserk or blood.
Clay ran towards Nael.
"Again!"
As Clay reached for her tail, Nael, who had reflexively turned, shouted.
"What on earth..."
Even though she clearly believed him to be brainwashed, Nael lost her composure.
Her face crumpled in frustration.
And at that moment, Beatrice's knee, from beneath, connected with Nael's solar plexus.
"Gasp!"
Everything was meant to make her drop her guard.
Her eyes, staggering backward after being hit in a vital spot, caught sight of Clay checking on Beatrice.
"Clay..."
Brainwashing, is it?
Nael momentarily wondered if Clay was truly acting this way because his mind was controlled.
As a question mark formed, her mind felt distant.
So Nael squeezed her eyes shut and banished the momentary emotion.
'Don't waver.'
Nael was originally a member of a wolf beastkin tribe that had been subjugated by an unknown nomadic tribe, but she was abandoned, not even made a slave, because she was deemed too weak.
Nevertheless, her spirit was considerable, so she struggled to survive alone, and as a result, she became a strong adventurer.
However, because she tried to solve everything by simply increasing her strength without a system, she quickly hit a wall.
She had faced many crises.
There were dozens of times she almost fell to monsters stronger than herself.
To survive, she had to change.
And Clay, whom she met by chance one day, taught her that.
It was the day she was truly on the verge of death.
Clay, who saved her from a large monster, changed her mindset.
-Don't keep thinking of yourself as weak.
She thought she had never done that.
But she had.
From the moment she was abandoned by her tribe, she had thought of herself as weak.
So she devoted herself to building strength.
She believed that was how she could make up for her shortcomings.
Clay taught her how to wait.
How to have composure after sufficient training, how to read the timing in combat with an enemy, how to create a momentary gap before extending a punch to make a judgment.
Clay told her that all of that could be gained by trusting in her own strength and waiting.
'But...'
Why did it get tangled this time?
When Clay awaited death at the execution ground, she also waited.
For a moment when she could do something.
But she couldn't do anything.
At the execution ground, there was the wolf tribe.
Her tribe of origin, whom she had been searching for to free from slavery, suddenly appeared after being unseen for so long.
As if someone had put them on display as hostages.
She didn't know why they were there.
But Nael knew one important fact.
That if she moved, they would be annihilated.
Because she saw the unknown tribe with white masks, who had subjugated the wolf tribe, standing next to them.
'Ah.'
Only then did she realize.
She had waited too long.
She waited for the investigation to show that Clay's crime wasn't a capital offense, or for Clay to realize some hidden plan, or at least to ask her for help.
She waited to gain some certainty.
In the past, she might have jumped in without waiting.
But it was Clay who taught her to wait.
'If I waited, everything should have turned out well.'
She only later realized one thing was wrong.
The important thing wasn't waiting.
It was trust.
The trust that he hadn't committed a wrong.
But she wavered.
By the words of the investigation priest that Clay had actually hidden her tribe, by the persuasion that he had orchestrated everything to help the Demon King and use her.
So she couldn't do anything and it was too late.
"Clay!"
His neck was tied to the gallows, and he closed his eyes before her.
"Not that way!"
It was late, but now she had to end the waiting.
Because what Clay had taught her wasn't that kind of waiting.
"Come back!"
She reached out her hand.
"You can still come back! Still!"
She could now understand what Clay was trying to become.
But that path was heading somewhere he absolutely shouldn't go.
She couldn't give him trust.
So she knew well that she had no right to say these words.
Nevertheless, the one who was late had to make excuses.
"I, I was too late, Clay!"
She made a sorrowful expression.
"Please come back! If you can hear my voice!"
SPLAT.
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her solar plexus, and she looked down.
There was a dragon sword impaled there.
Beatrice's dragon sword.
"Gah?!"
Blood gushed out.
"If you're so distracted, you won't even know what attacked you, will you?"
Beatrice said, getting up from her spot, holding Clay's hand.
"Too late?"
She scoffed.
"Then you should have moved before it was too late."
"I..."
"You should have made a decision before it was too late."
Her expression hardened.
"Clay has already waited long enough."
Meaning he wouldn't acknowledge her regret.
"You could have avoided regretting it."
WHOOSH!
Two large wings spread from Beatrice's back.
"It seems we need to regroup for now."
From somewhere far away, people were approaching.
Shouting Nael's name.
"Then. If you don't die, we'll see each other again."
Beatrice said that, then embraced Clay and flew up.
Nael looked up at the sight in despair.
"Clay..."
THUD.
She collapsed to the side.