Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“BUMOOOOOO!!”

The axe I swung horizontally sliced through the air in vain. I thought I’d hit it perfectly, but I missed.
In fact, it was my own arm that got cut. The wound was shallow, but blood was definitely flowing, staining the ground.

……What the hell is going on!?

Even if I couldn’t understand it, I had no choice but to keep swinging my weapon. The battle was still raging.
But no matter how many times I tried, my attacks wouldn’t land. Only my opponent’s “invisible attacks” were slowly carving up my body.

“You’re so slow… Slowpokes like you have no right to live, you know?”
“…!?”

A terribly cheerful voice sounded right by my ear. Someone was on me. On my shoulder. When did that happen?
At the chilling sensation of fingertips running down my spine, I obeyed instinctively. I let go of the axe and slammed a backfist into the side of my face.
An instantaneous move—speed gained by abandoning my weapon. The response was—

“—Flow.”

It was handled with ease.
It was dodged. It didn’t work.
That wasn’t all. The sensation in one ear—along with my hearing—had vanished. All I could feel was sharp pain.
The opponent moved away from me in an instant, holding up my right ear as if it were a leaf.

“Guh, ugh…!”
“Ahaha~♪ Is life really that fun when you’re such a slowpoke? If I were as slow as a cow, I might die from boredom! Kyahahaha!”
“Don’t underestimate me… You poacher!!”

I didn’t have time to think about my torn-off ear.
I didn’t pick my weapon back up. I figured swinging an axe would be too slow.

…Damn it, I’ve been getting toyed with all day!

I haven’t even been able to land a single hit on either Arje-neesan or the poacher standing right in front of me.
Both of them are incredibly slender; if I could just land a hit, I could probably take them down in one blow. But I just can’t seem to land that one blow.
Arje-neesan was just fast. But this woman—she’s like a ghost.

“Waver, and Flow.”

Even when I thought I’d landed a hit, she’d just waver like smoke. And the next moment—

“Guh!?”

—I’m the one who’s injured.
An incomprehensible strike. My forehead was split open slightly. The blood flowing out blocked my right field of vision.
Not only do I not know how she dodged me, but I don’t even know what kind of attack it is. Considering how it’s tearing my flesh thinly yet sharply, it must be a slash, but as far as I can tell, my opponent is unarmed.

“Uuuu… Bumooo!!”

I couldn’t see her, but reasoning that if I’d been attacked, she must still be nearby, I unleashed a roundhouse kick in all directions.
My feet are hooves, and my legs are masses of muscle. It’s just my own assessment, but if it connects, she won’t get off scot-free.

“Would be pretty devastating if that hit. If only, though… Flow!”

With those words, my hearing in the other ear was severed as well.

“——!!”

I can no longer even hear my own cries of agony.
It’s likely not just a simple severing, but an attack imbued with some kind of curse. It clearly resonates even within the Minotaur’s pain-resistant body, and since my eardrums were ripped out along with my hearing.

“——”

My opponent is saying something, but of course, I can’t hear it.
It’s a malicious grin. She’s probably speaking knowing full well that I can’t hear her. Laughing, she tossed my other ear aside like trash.

I feel no anger. Only urgency.
If I die, that poacher will take everything from the forest.
Both the forest’s bounty and those who deserve to receive it.

“————!!!!”

The words “I won’t let that happen” didn’t reach my ears. Still, I form words to spur myself on and charge forward.
I don’t think I’m moving fast. I don’t know the true nature of my opponent’s fighting style, nor can I figure out what tactics might work against her.
She’s clearly toying with me. She could kill me easily if he wanted to, but she’s just tormenting me. That’s how great the difference in our abilities is.

…Even so, I can’t back down!

I have something precious behind me. The forest we’ve been protecting since my grandpa’s generation.
The place I decided as a child that one day, I would be the one to protect.
My home. The place I must protect. Where my beloved comrades are.
The songs of birds and beasts, the sound of the wind, the flow of water, the warm sunlight filtering through the trees, the daily lives of the monsters.
I won’t let a single one of them be defiled. I won’t let them be ravaged.
This is our place. The world we’ve lived in.

The other Minotaurs are huge, but most of them are gentle and not cut out for battle. The kobolds and goblins are also timid by nature.
I’m the only one who can fight properly. I have to protect this place.

“——”

The opponent’s smile wavers. Again. Another invisible attack is coming.

“——!?”

Just before I was struck, a flash of silver suddenly appeared in my peripheral vision.
Where did she come from? No, when did she arrive? She tossed her silver hair and turned her gaze toward me.

“——”

Her small lips moved.
I couldn’t hear her voice. Yet I knew exactly what she had said. Because I had seen it before. I had heard it before.
It was a phrase I had heard for the first time today.
Words that sounded gentler than a bird’s song, like a melody.
Words I could clearly recall, even if I couldn’t hear them.

*“Pain, pain, go away.”*