Mob Yandere

[Part 2/4]

Kaede cursed, mocked, and confronted with a fierce expression. But looking at her pitiful state, it seemed like empty bravado. It was too miserable, too pathetic. It was as if...

(Hmph. A loser indeed. Truly... pitiful.)

"Don't pity me, reptile...!!"

Kaede felt infuriated by the condescending and arrogant gaze from above. It felt like there was more to it than just being looked down upon.

Her anger stemmed from her concern for her comrades...

(God's will. Everything is as it should be under God's actions. So, I have the rightful reason to pity. Have people these days forgotten even that?)

"I don't care. Stop blabbering...!!"

Kaede retorted to the one-sided conversation. But in this situation, it felt too hollow. No matter how much she cursed or condemned, the hopeless situation wouldn't change.

"Kaede, go! Do it...!!"

"Alright!!"

Kaede, catching her breath in the time she earned, nodded firmly as I yelled. With a cheer in response, she clapped. It was the activation of her special ability.

"...!?"

Suddenly, my vision spun. I reached it. The slippery, scaled skin loomed before me. Without hesitation, I slipped out from Kaede's side and dashed forward.

During the aerial battle, in the midst of swinging the dagger, Kaede's feathers were aimed at the small gap between the scales on the snake's spine. The foundation of supernatural powers. Swapping places there, I wielded the rope as planned.

(Oof!?)

"You fool!!"

The snake's quick act of turning its head backwards was counterproductive. If the rope wrapped around the snake's neck, I would end up swinging in the air like a pendulum. Putting my weight on it, I quickly did a full turn and cut the rope. I cut it and landed.

On the head of the giant snake. I'll step on the summit and bring it down.

"Stupid snake, release light or poison towards your own head!?"

(You...!?)

The snake instinctively shakes its head to try to shake me off. It's fine that I can't tell front from back, left from right. My body can't move on its own anyway. The rest of the cut rope and supernatural powers automatically guided me. I quickly grip the snake's skin with my nails, resisting being shaken off. Some nails come off. But I don't mind. This kind of thing is cheap.

"I think... it's around here!?"

Anticipating the congested area in the brain. I aimed the Tantō. With the power of the Earth Mother imbued in the cursed blade stained with the blood of the gods, wounds caused by divine power couldn't be healed by this snake's ability. However, delivering a fatal blow with the Tantō wasn't easy. Hence, I aimed for the vital points.

"Alright, I'll make you match for a loser like me...!!"

As soon as I said that, I deeply thrust the cursed blade into the top of the head, just as I had done to Tsuchigumo before.

(Gaah!!?)

The giant snake screamed with its snake eyes wide open. Its long body convulsed. I pulled out the Tantō. Red fresh blood scattered. It wouldn't regenerate. I could do it!!

"Inaba-hime, please give it your all this time...!!"

My shout directed at the hanging conch shell. Spiritual power gathered in my arm. It was a body strengthening using gathered spiritual power. Increasing my strength to the limit, I thrust the cursed blade towards the wound.

(Gaah!!?)

My arm twisted into the snake's head around the elbow area. The snake's eyes widened, convulsing fiercely and foaming. It was a natural response to brain damage.

'We did it...!?'

"Did we...!?"

A joyous, childish voice leaked from the conch shell. Below, the voice of the Tengu, likely still clinging to the snake, echoed. However, I didn't agree.

"Isn't it too soft...!?"

That impression stemmed from a similar experience with the spider deity's head before. The snake's head was clearly softer than Tsuchigumo's. It was unthinkable. How could a snake, closer to divinity than that damn spider, have softer skin?

(Oh. Do experienced ones speak the truth? You've seen through it well. Even seasoned ones can be fooled, huh?)

""!?""

A mocking voice echoed in my head, and I turned around to a dreadful growl. The giant snake looked down with amusement. No way. Could this be...!?

'It's withering!?'

"This is...!?"

"Tch, is it shedding!?"

The snake that had a tantō stabbed in its head suddenly crumpled and collapsed. Kaede, I and perhaps even Inaba-hime, all understand that the giant snake we were fighting moments ago was a deception.

The shedding of the divine snake had powers beyond simple regeneration. By leaving a part of its own soul behind, it was able to temporarily control a separate body like a puppet. When and from where it had been switched out... was completely unclear.

(There!)

"Damn!! Monkey, hurry over here...!!"

The snake's tail was about to sweep everything away. Kaede called out to me. Unable to fly properly, I prepared to face it as soon as I returned. However...

"Aaah!"

The female Tengu screamed. Kaede's body stiffened. Her body was bitten by the countless venomous snakes overflowing from the shed skin. The Tengu's body twisted and spasmed. Her pupils trembled. Multiple baby snakes quickly coiled around her limp body.

"There's no way I’ll let this happen!"

I leap from the snake's discarded head and head towards her. I rush over, dive in, and peel off the baby snakes before embracing her. Meanwhile, the giant snake's massive tail looms closer and closer...

"Just in time..."

With a deafening roar, the snake's discarded head explodes. I, along with the baby snakes, are blown away. As we plummet, she embraces me tightly. Looking downward, we see the water's surface rapidly approaching as we free fall...!!

"Oh crap!!"

"The rope, quickly...!!"

"Huh!? Right!!"

In response to Kaede's call, I manipulate the rope wrapped around me. The rope, fueled by my spiritual power, extends and coils around Kaede's hands, forcing her to move. She claps her hands together.

"Whoa!!"

The scenery changes abruptly. We teleport to a predetermined point, the mountaintop, which I had assumed would withstand even a tsunami of hot water. But with Kaede's wings torn and poisoned, can she endure any longer...!!?

"Can you stand!? Is it hopeless!!?"

Kaede tried to stand up, but immediately realized the futility of it. One of her legs was twisted in an unusual direction by a strike from the snake's tail. It would be impossible to walk like this, even if she tried her hardest.

"Medicine, medicine!! It's in my hip...!!"

Kaede pleaded, her face turning as pale as a dead body, sweating profusely. In response, I quickly took a pill from the medicine box by her side. It wasn't an antidote, but rather an anesthetic and painkiller to help alleviate her suffering. When I offered her the pill, she shook her head. I crushed it and pushed it into her mouth.

By the way, all of this was being controlled by Inaba-hime, who was observing the situation through her conch shell.

"Eww. Bleh... Ugh!!? Haa... Haa... Can't you be a little gentler? I asked for a drink, but when it's a lady you should show some mercy, right!?"

"It's payback time, isn't it!... But more importantly, do you think you can do it?"

I spoke for Inaba-hime and asked Kaede. She stared back at me.

"...Is there any reason I can't go? Anyway, did you see it? Is the plan still on track?"

"I confirmed the damage from the last hit. No mistake. We're not off course."

Answering Kaede's question with a face that looked like death was near, I assured her. Yeah, it's fine. I made sure the seeds were real.

(Oh? Still scheming something? That's intriguing.)

"...!"

I pushed the female Tengu making her lie down. The beam passed above us, sweeping through the area, cutting, crushing, melting, gouging...

"This isn't Apsaras...!?"

I found myself falling into a huge hole in the mountain behind us. The beams were on a whole different level. I could see the other side of the mountain, with a clear blue sky and lush forests.

"You've been messing around, playing this whole time...!?"

"Don't move, monkey!!"

"Huh!?"

At the same time that I complain, a shadow covers me and Kaede. Black splashes scatter like buckshot. Kaede spreads her broken wings to their limit. She spreads them, covering both me and herself.

The air filled with the acrid scent of burning flesh. Kaede's anguished screams pierced the air as she writhed in agony. Amidst the splashes of dissolving poison, she shielded me with her wings. But in her effort to protect me, her wings began to rot away...

"Kaede...!!"

"Cut it off, quickly, do it quickly!!"

"Huh! You beast!!"

I touch her decaying wings with a special glove on my tanto. The wings, originally eaten away, were now even more miserable. They had holes where they had dissolved in places. The holes were spreading as they melted. There was no choice but to cut them off in one go.

"Hang in there...!!"

"Ugh...ah!!?"

From the base, I thrust the tanto into the wings, cutting them from the very edge to leave as much of them as possible. I tear them apart.

I cut off her proud wings.

"Phew...phew!?"

Kaede writhes on the ground, drooling from the corner of her mouth, and I can do nothing to comfort her or help her.