The Revenge of the Soul Eater

An Encounter at the Bottom of the Cave

When I pierced the king of Flies’ forehead, a huge soul that couldn’t be compared to the ones from the maggots flowed into me.

After I enjoyed the body-trembling pleasure, I laughed as I thought of the things I said just before.

「Ahhhh…That’s the stuff! But you know, even though I’ve said all that stuff about the afterlife, I don’t even know if you can go there since I’ve eaten all your souls, ahahaha!」

While I was laughing, my body trembled again.

When I displayed my level with a happy look on my face, the number 『5』 was displayed. I couldn’t stop laughing as if my level going up was something really funny.

However, I could not sit there and laugh like an idiot forever.

Even though I leveled up, I’ll starve to death if I don’t escape from this nest. It’ll be embarrassing if that happened.

I have already confirmed that there were no side exits in this place when I was killing the maggots. It has to be through the hole at the top if I want to escape.

「Well, that should be a piece of cake for the me now」

When I was fighting the king of flies earlier, I increased my physical abilities by covering my entire body with “kei”.

To put it simply, “kei” is a type of magic energy that is created from inside the body.

If I borrow the words of a magician, it would be called life force (Od). By the way, magic energy that exists in nature is referred to as “Mana”.

When comparing which source was better to use when using magic, usually the latter was better.

If you look at it as personally generated energy versus nature-generated energy, of course nature-generated energy would seem better, but that isn’t the case when it came to users of the phantom blade style.

The secret of the phantom blade style lied in the manifestation of the existence of the same origin called the “anima”. Phantom blade style users have an incomparably greater amount of life force.

Of course, the actual amount of life force each person has depends on the person, but for those who have obtained their soul equipment, the amount of life force they possess would definitely exceed a magician’s.

Naturally, techniques known as kei arts that use one’s life force have emerged and they have been getting polished over time.

It was essential for one to master using “kei” if they want to master the phantom blade style.

Anyway, the amount of “kei” I possess has skyrocketed ever since I managed to manifest my soul equipment. Now I feel like there’s a fountain inside of me that surges out kei endlessly.

And when I enhance my body with kei, my physical abilities will also improve by the same ratio. Right now, I could climb a cliff without the need for any tools.

Even though I was in a situation where I was stranded at the bottom of a deep hole, I wasn’t worried at all.

「More importantly, the problem is that」

There was a girl lying on the ground in front of me. She was a victim of the king of flies just like me.

She looked to be around 13 or 14 years old… if I compared her to a human that is.

There were horns on her forehead. Two visibly long and thin horns were clearly growing out from there.

In this world, there are races other than humans. I only know the elf called Lunamaria directly but it wasn’t that uncommon to see dwarves or therianthropes in the city of Ishka. I’ve also heard that races like lizardmen, mermaids, and dragonewts also existed.

However, among all the demi-human races, I only know one race that had horns growing out of their forehead like this.

「A kijin, huh… it’s my first time seeing one」

A race that worshipped one of the mythical species of this world -the demon gods. They are a race that is hostile to humans.

There was also a theory that said demon gods were evolved from an adult kijin.

Humans and kijins have been killing each other since the war three hundred years ago, and that relationship still continued today.

However, after the demon god was sealed, the kijin tribes were overrun by the humans and they are now nearly extinct. And yet, even though they aren’t a threat compared to what they used to be three hundred years ago, humans will still attack them in groups once they see one.

It’s because humans had never been able to get rid of the fear they had from 300 years ago– is what I would have liked to say, but there is probably some greed involved in their motives.

The horns of a kijin possessed fairly powerful magic energy, so they are prized as a high-quality magic medium.

Their horns could become medicine or material for high-class armors if you grind them up, and you can even use them as an excellent tool to get rid of the poison in a drink if you hollow out the horn and pour the poisonous drinks in one.

It’s said that one of their horns could amass a fortune, and in fact, I have seen it pop up on auctions randomly from time to time and what it was being sold for was truly staggering.

Thinking up to this far, I remembered the rumor that I heard before.

「There are mythical races living in the depths of the Titis forest, was it…? Looks like it was unexpectedly true…」

I muttered as I looked at the girl’s face.

…To be honest, she was a little dirty.

Her face and hair looked barely groomed, but everywhere else of her body seemed to be as dirty as bums you find on the streets.

Even the clothes she wore were just big leaves that were forcefully tied together with vines. I could even see parts that I shouldn’t look at when she’s lying there on the ground– Yup, but I was looking. 

…Hm, her breasts are bigger than they should be at her age though. Well, I can’t tell how old a kijin is for sure just by looking. She could be way past her twenties.

Oh no, I got sidetracked.

「Now then, what should I do about this?」

Frankly, this was a chance for me to get rich quickly.

The kijin has two horns. I would make enough money to play around for the rest of my life if everything goes well. If I feel like it, I can just put a rope around her neck and bring her back. In a sense, it would probably be more profitable than selling her horns.

This girl… she is a little dirty, but she has a very cute face. I could see her grow into a beauty over the next few years.

Moreover, I can tell that she has a rich soul just by looking at her. The face I had from before was showing again as I felt a desire to eat her up here.

 When I realized that, I instinctively made a bitter smile.

Then I slapped myself on the cheeks to snap out of it.

Strangely, ever since I got my soul equipment, I started to become a different person. And I didn’t hate that at all. If anything, it feels like I became more cheerful somehow.

Is that due to my soul equipment’s influence? Or is this how I am originally?

Either way, I don’t mind. I will be proud no matter the case since I am who I am.

However, there’s that. 

That’s why I have to draw a clear line as I yield this power. If I use this power without caring about anything at all, I might drown in the power and become a monster before long. I will not be resigned to a future like that.

So to be more specific about where that line will be drawn, it will be at whether or not the other party wants to harm me.

I shouldn’t eat someone if they’ve done no harm to me even if they are of the kijin race.

On the contrary, if someone tries to harm me, I will eat them regardless of what they are!

Those guys in『Falcon Sword』…I’ll make them pay when I get back!

When that flame ignited in my chest, a faint sound of groaning came from the young girl’s mouth.

As I took a look at her, the girl’s head was shaking left and right with knitted brows as if she was in pain.

She was probably about to wake up.

As expected, after a few seconds…the girl slowly opened both of her eyes…