Apocalypse Dark Elf Style -Magical Tribes Reincarnated in the Modern World

TL: Xean || ED: Cubic || PR: SevenTails

── Creak ──

I felt a creak inside my body, like a heartbeat. *Creak creak* *Creak creak*.

It didn’t feel uncomfortable. It was not something that hindered movement. For example, if the contents of something that used to move with blood and muscles were replaced with gears, you would start to hear the sound of the gears meshing together instead of a heartbeat.

Just like that.

I felt the sound of creaking wood emanating from within me.

I didn’t have time to think about its meaning any further.

In the split second that I was distracted by the changes in my body, Aguyanuba suddenly appeared right in front of me. Maybe he was playing around, but he didn’t simply end me with its claws—he opened his fanged jaws wide as if instilling fear into me. I can see the drool trailing down his face.

“Aaaaahhhh!?”

The bite was deep enough to reach several ribs and bones between my neck and shoulders. The weight of his huge body pressed down on me through his fangs. Naturally, I experienced pain and agitation, but the panic I expected did not come. It was an uncomfortable, mysterious feeling.

The next moment, I saw the slime’s fangs biting my head, making a crunching sound, right next to my face. Did all the flesh in the bitten area get gouged out and eaten?

No.

While I was figuring out what was going on, I noticed a lump of wood chunks flying alongside me.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a hole on my shoulder that was gouged out cruelly. It was just big enough for the lump to fit in.

No blood flowed out of the hole, and it showed a light yellow cross-section that looked like a tree.

What was I looking at right now? What was going on beyond the skin of my flesh, and why was this happening?

These questions.

“It’s alright. You’re not going to die from that. And your body will be given tremendous strength.”

With her words, I decided to leave it be.

I switched my mind. If she said I could do it, then I could do it.

That trust was the only thing that kept me standing after losing my composure. Meeting her was like a miracle.

I’ve always believed that she was a dark elf, that she came from another world, and that she was killing other races. Then I guess this was just further proof of that belief.

And.

“*Blood rising*!?”

I clenched my fist and slammed it into Aguyanuba’s face with all my might. I wasn’t sure if I was able to hit him the way I did with the martial arts from school or not. I just hit him with all my might. I felt a heavy resistance, but the damage seemed to go all the way through. I felt a tremendous force surging through my body.

It was just as she had said. But that wasn’t the only thing that made my fist go forward.

I wanted to hit him. I wanted to beat this guy up as hard as I could from the bottom of my heart. He had hurt the girl I loved. He made her shed blood.

The ‘rage’ that I had forgotten for so long burned brightly in my heart. It was a very simple emotion that had been buried in the depths of my days of trying my best to lie.

The slime was unable to recover its stance from my unexpected counterattack. With another blow from my fist, the slime stumbled back.

Power was coming from deep inside my body like never before.

*Creak*Rustle*Creak*.

My insides creaked and squeaked with energy, harder and softer than muscles that were thick and fleshy like a no-limits internal combustion engine. Following the violent impulse of overflowing power and anger, I grabbed Aguyanuba’s arm with both hands.

I think I could do it because she said I could.

─Then, I twisted off his wrist.

“*Roooaarr*! You little bastaaard!”

This was possibly due to the fact that the original nature of the amorphous creature was still in place. It was unexpectedly easy.

The slime jumped and took a step back away from me.

“Are you a member of the close range combat family? The ones who protect the dark elves that shoot with their bows…!”

“What’s that, I wonderー? I wonder if I’m only good for melee combat?”

Then, I heard her voice and footsteps and felt a sense of relief. While I bought myself some time, I pushed the steel frame out of the way to regain my freedom. No—the first steel frame that pierced the dealer’s corpse had melted, so the duplicate metal that the slime created might only last a certain amount of time.

Sheena stopped beside me, her body still showing fresh wounds. With her usual expression, her lips curved fearlessly as she held up her bow.

“I’m back, you sh*tty slime. What you did to me was rather painful, you know? I can heal my wounds with magic, but I wouldn’t want to waste it on the likes of you.”

Aguyanuba took a moment to look at the end of his lost arm. He was quick to discern.

“Damn. In this situation, the amount of calories was not enough. I need to eat more…! The taste of humiliation, how unpleasant this is!”

After he clucked his tongue, he flipped over and turned his back to us.

“Eh? What’s with you looking like acting like a small-fry enemy all of a sudden?”

Sheena shot an arrow, but Aguyanuba jumped. He jumped onto a steel frame that was in the process of being built and moved upwards to avoid the series of arrows.

“Are you okay? Shouldn’t you be taking it easy?”

“I’m fine. I can aim from there, no matter where he jumps next. A high, long jump is a good target. Though the next one will bring him down…”

Sheena took a breath and drew her bow. Like aiming at the stars in the night sky, the tip of her arrow pointed the slime on the steel frame─.

Then, suddenly, there was a sound of flapping wings.

It came from the very night sky where she had pointed the arrow.

Looking up, I saw a new anomaly in my vision. There was a shadow blocking the night’s starlight.

A human being with the wings of a bird on his back swooped down from high above the steel frame where Aguyanuba was standing.

It was a petite shadow. Although they are completely opposite in build, they were wearing hooded jackets similar in style. The hood was pulled down enough so that I couldn’t see the face very well.

However, it would have been easy for the other side to catch sight of our figure below. I felt the gaze of that presence reach me. It was a short while, but I was sure of it.

“You’re late! Hurry up, you fool! You’re such a disappointment!”

At the slime’s exasperated yell, the winged figure flinched in the air and reached down its arms. Aguyanuba hopped to it. His goal was not to attack but to hold onto the winged figure. Despite the unbalanced volume relationship, it maintained its buoyancy. Treating the winged figure like a human glider, it began to glide─.

“Winged Human, Raniansier species’s magic… No, it’s different. I can’t feel the root magic. That means it’s the slime partner.”

Sheena shot an arrow at the two figures flying in the night sky. However, the human figure above them lightly moved its wings to alter their trajectory, causing the arrows to lightly graze past them. It fleetingly flew away into the starry sky. Sheena shot a few more arrows, but they dodged them all, and eventually flew over the sheet barrier, making their way out of the construction site.

As soon as they were out of sight, Sheena extinguished the bow in her hand, her mouth agape with frustration.

“That’s right, he also has one. It’s probably the type of person who isn’t suited for combat, so he put him or her on standby.”

“We’re not going to… go after them?”

My words made Sheena shrug her shoulders as she lightly stroked her abdomen.

“Well, no. And also, he didn’t take enough damage for us to be able to chase vigorously. I wanted to settle it right here, but I guess we’ll have to settle for a draw this time. It can’t be helped.”

Then, Sheena slowly turned to face me.

Her eyes looked gentle for some reason. After looking at the gouged out shoulder of mine for a while, she gently traced the inner, tree-like contents with her index finger.

“Is it painful?”

“It probably hurts, but my head doesn’t seem to recognize the pain very well. Right now, I’m feeling strangely… ticklish.”

“That’s a really weird way to put it.”

Sheena giggled. I know there was a lot more to it than that.

So I asked her frankly.

“What’s going on here?”

“Hmm. 一To put it simply, it’s because you’ve become my partner.”

“That’s really not enough of an explanation.”

“I thought so. I can explain it to you. But is it okay if I do it here?”

“Maybe it’s not a good idea to explain here.”

I looked at the corpse of the dealer killed by the slime. It was really good that there were no surveillance cameras here, but we would have to at least cover our tracks before leaving. The cleanup was up to us.

We couldn’t stay here forever. The battle with the slime had made quite some noise. Although it was late at night, there was no guarantee that someone would not come here and call the police.

Then, Sheena curved her lips. Her wicked grin showed that she had a good idea.

“Let’s go to Rensuke’s house. I’m a little dirty, and hungry from moving around. Also, I told you before, didn’t I? It’s better to talk about important things over a meal.”