The Otherworld Was Way Too Brutal – After I Healed the Mutilated Girl, She Turned Into a Completely Obsessed Yandere Guard Dog - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Something weird was going down in the northern forest.

Ray’s words turned out to be dead-on, and we found out the hard way.

The next day.

Me and Cattleya were moving through the woods way more carefully than usual.

The air felt heavy and stale.

It wasn’t the same lively forest packed with animal presences like before.

A rotten stench mixed with the metallic smell of rust and blood filled everything.

“…It’s way too quiet.”

Cattleya kept her hand on the hilt of her sword, eyes sharp and scanning all around.

I gripped my knife tight too, staying super focused so I could fire off healing magic any second.

Back when the Mad Bear was around, that absolute top dog kept some kind of order in the forest.

But not anymore.

With the throne empty, all the tough guys started yelling “me next!” and jumping into a bloody free-for-all.

“Jin, hold up.”

Cattleya snapped the order.

The bushes ahead rustled hard.

What came out was a massive snake.

But not just any snake.

Purple smoke rose from all over its body, and the skin looked rotten and falling apart.

And worst of all— it had two heads.

“Twin-Headed Viper, huh…!”

Cattleya muttered it like the thing really pissed her off.

This kind of magic beast wasn’t supposed to live in this forest normally.

It probably lost a territory fight deeper in, got hurt bad, and dragged itself toward the shallower areas.

Even injured, though, a top-tier magic beast is still a top-tier magic beast.

Its danger level was insane.

“SHAAAAAHH!”

Both heads reared up at the same time and spat purple liquid from their mouths.

“Scatter!!”

At Cattleya’s shout we both leaped sideways.

The second the liquid hit the ground—juuuu—grass and trees melted instantly, nasty smoke curling up.

Super strong acid plus deadly poison.

“Pain in the ass. Get close and it’s poison gas, stay back and it’s poison spit.”

Cattleya kept distance while she readjusted her grip on the sword.

Even with armor, getting hit by that acid wouldn’t end well.

And breathing the vaporized poison? Lungs would get torched.

But I grinned.

“Cattleya, can you charge in?”

“Huh? You serious? That’s a poison fog cloud.”

“I’m here.”

I smacked my own chest.

“With my skill right now, I can cure poison and sickness. Even if you breathe it in, I’ll purify you instantly.”

Level 3 effect.

‘Regenerate lost organs (small) and remove disease.’

That “disease” part should cover toxins eating away at the body too.

No guarantee, but it was worth testing.

No— we had to test it, or we had zero chance.

“…You really say the craziest shit.”

Cattleya gave a stunned laugh, then dropped her helmet visor.

“Fine. I’m trusting those words of yours!”

Cattleya kicked off the ground.

She charged straight into the purple poison fog without a second thought.

The Twin-Headed Viper froze, clearly shocked.

It probably never expected its prey to jump willingly into the poison.

Cattleya disappeared into the mist.

Of course, poison gas would slip through the gaps and start eating her lungs.

“<Repair Evolve>!”

I pictured the magic shooting out toward her back from a distance.

Strictly speaking the effect gets weaker without touch, but at this range the mana path should still connect.

A faint light wrapped around Cattleya’s body.

“—It’s working!!”

Her voice rang out from inside the fog.

Not a scream of pain.

A sharp, pumped-up battle cry.

The Twin-Headed Viper finally realized the poison wasn’t working and frantically swung its tail to counter.

But the current Cattleya wasn’t stopping for anything.

“Too slow!!”

A silver flash.

The left head flew through the air.

“GYSHAAAAA!?”

The remaining right head screeched and thrashed wildly.

I didn’t miss the opening.

I sprinted down the path Cattleya carved, slipping right into the snake’s blind spot.

All around me was deadly poison fog.

The instant I breathed it in, my throat felt like it was on fire.

Vision blurred.

I cast healing magic on myself.

Alveoli regenerating, toxins in my blood breaking down—I could feel it.

Pain and pleasure slammed my brain at the same time.

I ignored it and raised my knife.

“This ends nowww!!”

I stabbed deep near the reverse scale on the right head’s neck, then slashed sideways.

I felt the artery snap.

Blood sprayed everywhere, soaking me head to toe, and I shoved the knife even deeper.

With a heavy thud, the giant snake collapsed.

“Haah… haah… haah…”

I dropped to one knee right there.

The poison was gone, but my stamina was wrecked.

Neutralizing poison apparently ate way more mana than healing wounds.

“What a reckless way to fight.”

Cattleya walked up and looked down at me.

She was breathing hard through her shoulders too, but her face looked fine.

My detox must’ve made it in time.

“You’re one to talk… charging straight into that fog like that.”

“You said you’d heal me. What kind of patient doubts their main doctor?”

Cattleya took off her helmet and flashed a bright, refreshing smile.

She trusted me.

That fact alone gave my exhausted body a tiny bit of strength back.

I checked my status.

Still level 3.

But I could feel progress.

Keep hunting beasts at this level and the path would open eventually.

We collected the magic stone, poison sac, and fangs, then left the forest.

But when we got close to the entrance, something felt off.

The ground was shaking.

And a deep rumbling came from far away.

“…What’s that?”

“Hoofbeats? No, this is…”

Cattleya’s face turned grim as she stared toward the sound.

Trees in the forest were getting knocked flat, dirt clouds rising.

And bursting out of that dust—

“A stampede of magic beasts…!?”

Almirage, Wild Dogs, Forest Apes.

All kinds of magic beasts were charging straight toward us like an avalanche.

Easily fifty or more just from a quick count.

But something was wrong.

They weren’t coming at us.

They were running from something.

“Run, Jin! We’ll get caught up!”

Cattleya yanked my arm and I snapped out of it, sprinting.

It was a stampede.

Even a small one—with this many panicked magic beasts rushing the town—would be catastrophic.

“We gotta warn the town…!”

“No time! All we can do is pray the gate guards notice and ring the bell!”

We tore through the rest of the forest at full speed and kept running across the plain.

Behind us the screams of magic beasts and earth-shaking thuds got closer.

That’s when it happened.

The Forest Ape at the very back of the herd suddenly floated into the air.

No—it got grabbed.

A thick, long, tentacle-like tongue stretched out from the dark forest.

It wrapped around the ape’s body and yanked it back into the trees in one motion.

A short “gyah!” death cry, then right after—crunch crunch—the sound of bones being crushed.

“Wh… what the hell was that…”

I looked back while running and felt my blood run cold.

A massive shadow peeked between the trees.

Bigger than the Mad Bear, and way uglier.

Huge frog-like body, lizard tail.

And its back was covered in countless spikes.

But the creepiest part was the mouth.

A mouth so huge it looked torn open, constantly dripping thick yellow slime.

“Gluttony Frog… Gratony Frog…!?”

Cattleya let out a stunned shout.

I’d seen it in the monster book too.

The lord of the swamps.

Why the hell was it in this forest?

“The ecosystem collapsed… so it came up from the swamp looking for food…!”

Cattleya’s guess sounded right.

With the Mad Bear gone, the forest turned lawless.

Then an even stronger predator moved in looking for a new hunting ground.

The stampede was fleeing from this thing.

“This is bad. If it keeps going, the whole herd’s gonna slam into town.”

The front of the herd was already close to the town walls.

Bells were clanging wildly on top of the wall, guards panicking.

If magic beasts got inside, the town was finished.

My house was in there too.

“Tsugumi…!”

Her face flashed in my mind.

Her legs don’t work right—she couldn’t even run.

“Cattleya! I’m going!!”

“Wait! What about that giant frog! If we don’t stop it, nothing else matters!”

She was right.

Even if we stopped the herd, that monster showing up later would still end the town.

But if we ignored the herd, the frog would arrive after the place was already flattened.

Ultimate fork in the road.

No—there wasn’t even a choice.

We had to do both.

“I’ll stop the herd! Cattleya, hold that giant frog back!!”

Crazy plan.

Me alone against fifty rampaging magic beasts was basically suicide.

And Cattleya taking on that monster by herself was way too dangerous.

But Cattleya locked eyes with me for a second, then grinned wide.

“Pretty ballsy. Don’t die, Jin!”

“You neither!”

Cattleya spun around and charged straight toward the Gratony Frog by herself.

Her black back headed right into that massive despair.

I turned forward.

The wave of magic beasts bearing down.

Every single one crazed with fear and bloodlust.

I drew my knife and took a huge breath.

“Not a single one gets past me from here…!!”

My skill is healing magic.

It’s not supposed to be for fighting.

But to protect something, sometimes you gotta fight.

Even if I bleed out, get my flesh torn, bones shattered—

I’ll regenerate.

I’ll stand back up.

No matter how many times.

That’s how I fight now.

“OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

I roared and charged head-on into the wave of magic beasts.

The moment we crashed, brutal impact slammed my whole body.

Wild Dog fangs sank into my shoulder, Almirage horn stabbed straight through my thigh.

It hurt.

It burned.

But my head stayed clear.

Heal.

Slash.

Heal.

Stab.

I spun like a blood-soaked top, dancing the dance of death.

All of it—

—for the sake of protecting the one girl waiting back home.