Chapter 20

'Nah...Nah...Nope...there is just no way... isn't this body a bit too broken?' Yomite thought as he stared at his bloodied and trembling hands. He didn't feel much resistance when he punched the Hilichurl so he was a bit suspicious ever since the beginning, but to completely annihilate its head like that was beyond what he thought would be possible.

The other Hilichurl who was currently laying on the muddied ground was equally as scared and confused as he was. He picked himself from the ground and rushed at Yomite as his last desperate attempt to live.

'The head isn't supposed to just explode like that though...But that's good. If my body is like this, I will have a much easier time in this world.' he contemplated as he bend his body downwards and swiped the Hilichurl's feet.

Keeping the Hilichurl from standing up with his foot and then stabbing him with the claymore straight through the neck, ending its suffering.

"It seems like I am done here, but jeez, there is so much blood on me..." He tried to wiped the blood with the sleeves of his martial arts robe, but the blood on his face had long dried up, leaving him with no choice but to find a pond or a river to clean himself off later.

But the smell of blood was disgusting.

It made him want to vomit. This was the first time he killed something so he knew that it would rile up his stomach a bit and make him question reality like in most novels.

He glanced at his two teammates, curious on how they were doing and they were handling their own opponents without much difficulty despite being both heavily outnumbered.

Kaeya knew he was outnumbered, but he wasn't given the title of Captain for nothing.

He took pride and confidence in his skills. He left a trail of blood and mutilated bodies in his wake, easily besting them.

Kaeya's sword whipped out in two slashing arcs, cutting through the Hilichurls' flesh with ease. Instead of engaging the next, he slipped past him, uncannily fast, fueled by enjoyment and fun. Before the Hilichurl could turn, he jabbed his blade into the space between his thigh and knee. The Hilichurl fell with a strangled cry, and in the next second, was beheaded in a one clean sweep.

"Whoops, even I felt that one." He grinned with excitement while running towards another one.

Most Knights already knew about this, but

Cavalry Captain Kaeya could be as ruthless and unforgiving as the bitter frost.

Hillichurls' blood trickled down his coat, making him shake his head in annoyance.

"You sad creatures, do you not know how hard it is to scrub blood from the white fabric? So lame..."

He shot out a burst of Cryo at the source in front of him, freezing a Hilichurl archer to death, but just in case, he didn't forget to cut him down as well, granting him certainly not a peaceful death.

"What's wrong? Can't handle the cold?" Kaeya taunted as he faced another onslaught of enemies.

During all of this, Hu Tao was also doing her part. The chestnut-haired goddess had descended onto the field of battle.

One hand tightly grasping the iron handle of the polearm, the other one holding her precious hat.

Spear was a destructive and precise weapon, capable of a long distance fight with insane reach and speed, and in the hands of someone with Vision, it could do miracles.

Hu Tao made a small cut on her hand, and slowly, her Vision had ignited. The spear became coated in something that resembled a fire aura, ready to burst forth.

"Pyre, pyre pants on fire!"

Her right arm, wielding the spear of death, whipped sideways, unleashing a fierce fire slash, cutting through five Hilichurls at once and if one looked closely, a small apparition could be seen, fueling the flames.

Each swing with her polearm utterly pulverized everything in its path. The shockwave of its might moved down branches and snapped tree trunks before piercing another Hilichurl fighter. The weapon connected with such power it not only split the shield of the Hilichurl fighter in two, but also his torso, turning it into a fertilizer for the forest.

'Amazing...' Yomite commented while feeling the wind pressure from her attacks from at least ten meters away from her. That was a true fighter. He had plenty to learn.

But despite it being his first real battle, not counting the dragon, he did pretty well and he now had a small grasp of his godlike body strength, so he won't be hesitant to use it more boldly in the future.

The group cleaned up the location relatively fast despite it being a huge Hilichurl's settlement and the last living Hilichurl was currently stomped to death by Kaeya's foot.

"Why don't you...Squeel a bit for me?" He put a bit more pressure with his foot, almost closing up the Hilichurl's windpipe.

Kaeya liked to do this. It brought him joy. Watching them squirm. He took pleasure in watching people's eyes widen in fear, but people weren't the only living beings capable of feeling fear.

The monsters and animals were the same.

The enemies such as Hilichurls were a prime example of that.

"Re...venge...aby...ss..." were the Hilichurl's last words before his throat was crushed.

Kaeya turned to the two and spoke with smile, "Good job, Good job! That was a fast sweep! Let's check their tents for some hidden treasures or items we could use for ourselves! Hilichurls often pick up stuff they find or steal from people they defeated! They also love shiny things like Mora so there is bound to be some juicy reward!"

Yomite and Hu Tao nodded and after looting the place, they went straight up for the Domain.

During the trip, Yomite was feeling a bit weird and had this look of uncertainty on his face.

Seeing that his little brother was struggling with something, as the big brother, he felt inclined to listen, "What's up, lil bro? You looking kinda down."

Yomite sighed and replied, "Let me just ask you then...as you are pretty well versed with things like Hilichurls... Couldn't you...hear what they were saying? I heard some weird bits..."

Hearing this, Kaeya stopped at once, feeling his blood freeze in his veins.

"...is that so? And? What did they...say?"

Hu Tao jumped right in and looked at him weirdly, "No way, silly~! Although I am quite the studious type, I never bothered learning Hilichurlian because the language simply isn't complete! There is hundreds of missing fragments, so it's impossible to understand them! You must be hearing things!"

Yomite shook his head, "No, I could clearly hear it, they said revenge and abyss and other things..."

*Pfft!* "I didn't take you as the type to tell jokes, but I guess I have to change my opinion about you, Assistant-kun~ All that comes from their mouth and is coherent, is just Muhe ye and Ye dada, otherwise they are pretty stupid and their language is dead. Although I do admit they can be quite cute sometimes." Hu Tao snickered.

"Oh shut up! Try me again and I will smack you! As I said...I am not joking...It was quite weird...It felt like I was actually killing a person..." Yomite had a bad aftertaste in his mouth. At that point, he found the thing that truly differentiated goblins from Hilichurls.

Some remnants of humanity?

While the two were bickering, Kaeya was silently staring, as if, straight through Yomite's soul.

"Little bro."

Kaeya walked closer to him, and stopped a few centimeters away from Yomite's face.

"...What is it...keep your distance dude...There is this thing called personal space..." Yomite was becoming visibly uncomfortable.

Kaeya leaned forward and whispered into his ear, as if he was whispering a prayer, "Have you heard of the word...Khaenri'ah before?"