Chapter 49

< Witch and the Hunter (Part 2) >
Devil’s blood!

The words echoed in Zin’s head. Drinking a devil’s blood meant that the hunter had to kill the devil. By consuming the blood, Zin would be draining the life of the devil as well. Absorbing a devil’s blood had much more effect than simply drinking the blood.
Drinking the blood of Leona would cause the life of Leona to shorten as the source of her life would be drained. And it mattered even if a single drop of blood was consumed.
Zin held on to his trembling hands and tried to remain calm. But Leona noticed that Zin was not normal.

M… mister, what’s wrong…?


No, it’s nothing. Tell me what’s going on.
Zin was barely able to remain composed, and asked a different question.
I can’t believe it. I am not even a vampire, and I’m getting excited over blood.

Zin felt horrible about himself. Leona started to think about the nightmare that she dreamt, and frowned. And she started talking after she realized what it was about.

I dreamt a nightmare… but now that I think about it… it’s not a nightmare.


It’s not a nightmare?

She thought she was having a nightmare at first, but after waking up, she was certain that what she saw was not part of a dream. Leona pointed down below.

I was watching the cave ants dying underneath us…

Leona’s dream was about thousands of cave ants struggling and dying because of the epidemic. It was a horrible scene to watch as the monsters were dying in agony.
Leona was thinking that what she saw was not a dream, but something that was happening right now.
Leona murmured,
I think I can still see it now.

She was not able to sense it as exactly as before, but she was feeling that the monsters nearby were in pain. It was not something that could be easily explained, but Leona was surely getting feedback.
Is her empathic power awakening?

Zin was not sure if Leona was starting to realize her power because of the many cave ants dying, or because she maturing as a witch. But it was certain that Leona would become a true witch through these events.

Why am I seeing things that I don’t want to see…
Leona frowned and talked to herself while grabbing her head. Leona still acted like Leona even though she was gaining power as a witch. She was extremely upset that she was sensing the pain of the monsters that she did not care for. She was getting a headache, and she continued to curse and shout.
And then she realized something.
Leona started to concentrate on the painful feeling she was able to pick up, and focused on the subject that was in pain.
She was able to do something that she couldn’t do before.
Leona was able to sense a monster that was much bigger than the other cave ants.
And Leona had a good memory.
It’s a pity I couldn’t extract the chips from the queen ant, but oh well.

As soon as she remembered what Zin said, Leona lifted her head.

Mister.


… What’s up.


I think I found the queen.

Zin was very surprised at her words.
No way.
He cut her off even before she started to speak.

You are thinking about extracting chips from the queen ant, but the tunnels are too complicated for me to navigate easily.

But Leona also remembered the other comment that Zin had made.
The tunnels that the cave ants go through are not wide enough for me to crawl through.


I can go through the tunnels.


What?


I can go. The tunnel should be wide enough for me to walk through, right? And I can sense what the tunnels look like.

Leona was able to figure out how the tunnels looked like by detecting the dead bodies of the ants, and feeling the emotions of the ants. The power of a witch was unexplainable. It wasn’t just a simple mind-controlling power.
Zin shook his head, as he was not going to allow Leona go through the tunnels.

You can’t go through the tunnels. There is an epidemic all under the ground.
The cave ant tunnels were contaminated with the disease, and if a person were to enter the tunnel, he would get exposed to the epidemic and die.

You are not immune to the epide…
Zin did not finish his sentence. The current epidemic was caused by sorcery, and such an epidemic would have no effect if one carried an anti-curse item. The epidemic itself was not going to be an issue for Leona. But Zin shook his head one more time.

No, no. The cave ants that are still alive might attack…


Did you forget?
Leona smiled.
Monsters don’t attack me.

Leona was a witch. She was a witch who was trying to extract chips from the dead monsters. As Zin watched the confident Leona, he thought that things were getting weird.

Something doesn’t feel right.

Zin started to dig up the location that Leona point out. Although Zin wasn’t feeling easy about it, nevertheless he was digging into the ground at great speed. Zin was immune to the epidemic in the first place, and was not affected by it.
—Rumble! —

As Zin dug up the hole, a cave ant tunnel was revealed. The heat inside the tunnel blew out into his face. Zin was surprised at how Leona was able to point out the location where the tunnel would be, and he came up out of the hole and looked at Leona.

You know, I want to become a hunter as well, so I need to prove my worth so that you could start teaching me the skills. Don’t worry. As long as the tunnels don’t collapse, I can pick up the chips easily.

She was right about that. It was going to a simple mission, where Leona needed to retrieve chips from the dead ants.
Zin was still worried, and Leona nudged Zin in the waist.

Do you really want to become a hunter?
Zin asked.
Leona was slightly upset.
What. You thought I was joking about it?


…


I am really going to become a hunter. It’s such an easy job. The monsters will come to me and die willingly.

Zin had never heard of a hunter who had the power of a witch, and he had never seen such a witch.
In the end, Zin gave Leona a chipbox, chip extractor, lantern, spellstone, and a shotgun. Leona picked up the shotgun and frowned.

This is stinking heavy…


Alright, let’s be clear. If something happens, you are coming back up right away. If the tunnel is about to collapse, if you have trouble breathing, or if your body doesn’t feel right, you need to come back out. If a monster attacks you, you can shoot this shotgun. The shotgun will recoil and you might hurt your chin or face, so don’t aim and shoot. Just hold it to your side and shoot.


Wow, you are really worried, aren’t you?

Leona shook her head as Zin gave her a long sermon. As she was ready to go down the tunnel, she looked up at Zin.

Well, it feels great that you care about me.

Leona was still carrying the shotgun, but it was too dangerous for a kid to carry around and use. However, Leona jumped into the tunnel without worrying too much.
—Whoosh! —

As a witch, she did not have to worry about the monsters, and she did not have to worry about the epidemic because she was carrying the spellstone. The tunnel was wide enough for oxygen to flow through, and it had a low risk of collapsing.

…

But Zin could not take off his eyes from the tunnel that Leona had jumped into.
—Ah, smells like crap. —

As soon as Leona went under the tunnel, she was grumbling without much fear.
Leona had a clear memory of how the cave ant’s tunnel looked. It was a very strange experience. She was not a monster, but a human, but the monsters’ knowledge was transferred to her and became part of her knowledge.
At first, she wasn’t exactly sure what she had to do, but after feeling the pain of the cave ants, she was able to gain their knowledge.
She was aware where the eggs, food, and the queen were. Leona checked the surroundings with her flashlight and kept going down the tunnels.
Leona spotted many cave ants that were lying dead in the tunnels because of the epidemic. The cave ants looked like giant moles, and they were covered in blood. The dead bodies of the ants looked horrible, and some were still spasmodically shaking their legs.
At times, the tunnel widened or narrowed down, but it was high enough for Leona to walk through it.
Real sorceries require this type of ceremony, but you will not remember these forever.

It’s because the outcome of the sorcery is far more horrible than the ceremony itself. The outcome is something that people will remember for a long time.

As Leona passed through the tunnels and looked at the ants that were killed horribly, she realized what Zin had meant earlier.
The sight of the dead bodies of the ants was gruesome and nauseating. Initially, Leona thought that offering a cow as part of the ceremony was a waste.
But after witnessing what the sacrifice of a single cow could cause, she thought that it was crazy that the ants were decimated by it. Leona’s nose was getting numb after inhaling the stench for too long, and she was soaked with sweat because of the heat and humidity inside the tunnel.
She was able to breathe fine, but travelling down through the tunnels was physically demanding for her. The ant tunnels were very steep, and it was tough for Leona to get through the steeper sections.
Fortunately, the queen was not too far from Leona’s current location.

Oh, aaaah!

—Frrrrrr! —

Leona slipped up, and fell down and rolled down the steep slope. She stood up in pain, muttering,
Crap… why did I volunteer to come here?

Leona regretted that she decided to come inside the tunnel. Leona looked up where she rolled down from, and she wondered how she could get back up.
Leona passed through the sleeping areas of the ants, areas where the ants were dead in groups, areas where the eggs were turned black, and food storage where the food was spoiled with a nauseating stench.
Ordinary people would have run away from such a horrendous place, or freaked out in terror.
Leona occasionally cursed, but she was not frightened at all.
Leona’s mother used to be a coward, and Leona despised cowards. She believed that fear and terror was a stumbling block to survive. Leona wanted to exclude such emotions from her completely.
It was not that she was without fear.
She did not stop moving on, because there were things scarier than gruesomeness and terror. And as she approached the area the queen was at, she wasn’t surprised looking at the gigantic ant.
—Sheeeeeeck… Shhheeeeck…—

The giant queen ant was a hundred times bigger than a regular cave ant, but it didn’t look like a boss monster. It looked like a bug that had a huge abdomen. It was so incredibly big, but it didn’t seem dangerous.

It’s not dead yet.

The queen ant was barely breathing and wasn’t dead yet. Contrasting its gigantic abdomen, its head was very tiny.
Eggs were laid from the tip of the abdomen, and cave ants that hatched from the eggs built the huge colony.
The queen ant had very thin legs, and was immobile. The queen ant was fed by the worker cave ants that brought food for her. If all the cave ants died, the queen would die as well, because there would be no cave ants to take care of the queen. Leona thought that the queen ant was merely an egg laying machine, not the ruler of the ant colony.
The queen laid eggs like a machine, and the eggs became worker cave ants that assisted the queen and gathered food.
The queen ant was looking at Leona. The insect monster did not have any facial expression, and Leona did not know what the queen ant was thinking.
But, she was able to feel something.
Leona felt bits of emotions here and there. The monster was relaying emotions, and Leona was decoding the emotions in her mind.
I want to live.

My babies

My colony is destroyed.

It hurts.

O great one.

I don’t want to die.

Save me.

O great one.

Leona felt waves of emotions flow into her mind just by watching the queen ant. Leona felt the sadness of the monster fill up her heart.

What, what… shut up. Stop talking to me…

As Leona had a strange feeling when the emotion was relayed to her, Leona felt sorry for the queen ant. She felt compassion for the queen, and sorry for the pain.
A skilled witch was able to empathize with the monster completely. A witch would become the ruler of the colony of the monsters and control them. It was the same as the monsters becoming part of her.
As Leona who did not know how to fully control the monsters, she felt helpless at the fact that she was forced to empathize with the queen ant.
O great one.

Save me.

Did they have to die? Did they do anything wrong? Monster is just a monster. Should the whole colony be eradicated to earn couple of chips? Why…


As Leona was thinking about the reasons behind the whole series of events, she shouted out to snap out of it.

SHUT UP! It’s annoying!

—Clack. —

With her eyes swelled up, she loaded the shotgun and aimed it at the queen ant. Leona yelled like a mad person and pulled the trigger.

I! am! Not! A monster!

—Bang! —

—Boom! —

A shot was fired off the shotgun, and the queen ant’s abdomen got a hole blasted into it.

Ack!

Leona was stunned as the gun recoiled, but she held her position and continued to pull the trigger. The automatic shotgun continued to fire one shot at a time.
—Bang! —

—Bang! —

—Bang! —

As the shotgun blazed with gunshots, body parts of the ant splattered and the abdomen busted open.
Leona fired the last shot at the head of the queen that was struggling in pain, and blasted it into pieces.

Don’t you ever get into my head.

Leona swung the shotgun and smacked the smashed head of queen off the body. The queen ant was dead.
Leona walked up to the queen, and stuck the chip extractor into the body of the queen. Leona breathed hard as she gazed at the chips getting extracted from the queen.
She was not going to empathize with the monster. She thought that a monster should die to have its chips extracted.
Leona looked at the dead queen ant, and spoke as if she was declaring something.
I decide what I want to be.

She kept on looking at the pile of chips that were getting extracted.
As if she was brainwashing herself, she added one more sentence.
Similarly to how Zin struggled with dealing with Leona, Leona struggled and promised to herself as she watched the monster,
I am a human.

There was no reason for Leona to remain as a human.
Leona did not care about it much before.
But she was different now. She needed to be a human so that she wouldn’t be alone.
Although, Leona was a small kid, she acted like a hunter as she extracted chips from the corpse of the queen ant.
And even her serious facial expression resembled that of Zin.