Soul Evolution System - Chapter 440 Gaia, In the mountains 2

(POV Rei)

“D-Damn it!!”

“F-Fucking harpies, I’ll catch them and sell them to the cheaper brothel! No, I’d better give those damn Harpies to Ricky and the other monsters in our sect!”

“W-What do we do? N-Now we are surrounded and we cannot escape… besides, none of our monsters will be able to continue fighting any longer! ”

…In the end, there were only 3 tamer humans left with 2 Monsters trying to resist the Harpies’ attacks that remain. They also looked more tired and apprehensive than people on the ground and only flew around to harass them occasionally.

Well, without a doubt that group put up a good fight… of about 30 harpies that were in this nest in the beginning, now only about 10 were seen in the air. Unfortunately for them, that was at the cost of almost all the people of their group and last-resort and prized items to save their lives.

…It seems that the last to resist were the strongest. I can feel a similar aura from those 3 people and two monsters that the girls in our group with a level 2 soul have. But the adult harpies were already monsters of the same level… so their situation was still pretty bad.

Although, from what the two girls who had the most knowledge of this place mentioned, the harpies were considered monsters with a very weak defense that even people in the 9th limit could cause them harm. The most annoying or advantages of these was that they attacked in groups, their agility and that they could fly in the air freely.

If you could counteract its advantages, the truth is that it was not very difficult to take care of a group of about 5 with a team of people like ours by taking adequate precautions.

But to attack a nest… I can only think of them as idiots or too greedy! They might have thought to take the harpies by surprise at first and take out quite a few of them, but that was simply too risky. If they didn’t reduce their numbers enough before the harpies regrouped, the final situation would be the same as these guys face now.

…Besides, given the advantages that harpies had, it was difficult to escape them when the going got tough.

“Well, I think it’s time for us to go out and collect the profits~”

“…first let’s further reduce the number of the remaining harpies”

“”Yes””

“…”

Honestly, I have a slightly bad taste in my mouth now… we just stared and did nothing as both groups kept reducing their numbers. It’s not that I don’t understand other girls, but… I feel a bit like a bad person for not even trying to help other people when they are in trouble.

Well… that’s probably just due to the way I had lived until a little over a year ago. Now I also know that people can be quite cruel when they are in desperate situations… I saw it first hand when my world went to hell.

I cannot deny the possibility that, if we had gone out to help those people earlier, they would use us as a distraction to try to escape on their own. In the end, our group would be the one who has to face a bad situation for just being “good people”!

…Or they might even attack us from behind. After all, we had recently fought each other… it couldn’t be said that we were on the best of terms.

Because of that, for now, I shouldn’t think too much about all this and I better also prepare to attack the remaining harpies like the other girls. I take my rifle, and target one of the enemies in the air just like Cleirsa-san does with her bow.

On the other hand, Vrana-chan reverts to her full harpy form and prepares to fly while the others also take up their weapons.

[Bam!] [Tsun!]

After exchanging glances with each other, we nod and the two of us who can attack from a distance shoot at an enemy! My bullet opens a hole in the chest of one of the harpies, and Cleirsa-san’s arrow pierces the head of another!

“E-Eh?”

[Greeh!] [Greeh!] [Greeh!]

Taking the sound of the impact that those two harpies make when falling as a signal, the other girls leave where we were hiding and charge towards some enemy while I and Cleirsa-san just switch to another target!

We ignored the surprise of both groups that were fighting and took the opportunity to continue taking down several more harpies. The good thing is that Saeko-san, Scythe, and Vrana can deal with enemies in the air as well. While it was easy for Vrana because she was also a harpy, the other two could now use ranged attacks thanks to their weapons.

On the other hand, Mary-san and Turla-san could only target harpies that had descended far enough to attack the group of Monster tamers. Even so, the first one was quite surprising because of how she jumps and manages to subdue one of them in the air… I really don’t know if when they both fell to the ground the harpy was already dead with her neck twisted towards her back or she finished her when she was still it was in the air! I just know that Mary-san was pretty fast on that!!

As for Turla-san, it seems like it was more difficult for her to deal with the harpy. In the end, it is another arrow from Cleirsa-san that ends up with her enemy. But her work cannot be said to be useless as it was easier to take down harpies while they were distracted facing another person for me and Cleirsa-san.

A few minutes later, all the harpies were on the ground. Thanks to the surprise attack and that we had quite effective weapons against them, the truth is that it was not something that difficult to do. Also, they were probably a bit tired from the fight with the group of monster tamers.

“…T-Thank you.”

“… y-you have saved us”

“Y-Yes! I-I thought it was over for us… if it weren’t for you, then we would be- ”

[Crack!]

“E-Eh?”

W-When I thought that everything was over and we could just rest, another person from that group died again! And the most surprising thing was that the person responsible for that was not another person than Mary-san who had placed herself behind that person and broke his neck as she had done with some harpies before!!

“Sh-Shit! N-No, p-please… I-I don’t want to die !! G-Gyaa!! ”

“I’m sorry, but it would be troublesome for you to live.”

“F-Fuck wom-Kueh !!”

“It is not personal…”

…N-Not only was Mary-san who ended up attacking those people, Saeko-san plunges her sword into the chest of another of them, and Turla-san does the same with the last one… also, Vrana and Scythe finish with their monsters that had barely survived as well.

I understood that rescuing them before was quite risky for us, b-but killing them now… I think that was a bit too much! T-They probably couldn’t fight anymore!! Before I knew it, I was questioning the girls who had ended the lives of those people.

“W-Why? I-I think they would no longer cause us problems… ”

“Fufufu… you are quite naive, Rei-chan~ These people’s eyes were still watching Vrana-chan and Scythe very closely, you know? They might not be dealing with anything now, but they surely hadn’t given up trying to capture them. ”

“Yes, it would be problematic if they came back with more people after us after all this. Without them causing trouble, now we probably won’t have to worry anymore and we can continue hunting in these mountains without a problem. ”

“…it’s true. Besides, they would surely start saying that they were entitled to some of our earnings. ”

“…”

…I could only remain silent since I couldn’t refute what Mary-san and Saeko-san were saying. Furthermore, while Turla-san’s words seemed a bit cruel as she seemed to be more concerned with profit, I also understood her point of view a bit.

As far as I know, one of the main reasons for death in this world is precisely that… people fight to death for benefits, resources, weapons, techniques, or anything that can improve their strength or position! In fact, that’s why they had attacked us in the first place! They wanted Vrana and Scythe as it seems they were rare monsters!!

“…They are right, Rei-san. Even though you come from a peaceful place, you shouldn’t use the standards of your world to live in this one… you are a nice girl but if you are too kind here, others may see that as weakness. ”

“…”

… The truth is that I did not consider myself to be very kind, in fact, I think that description fits more with Cleirsa-san who tries to cheer me up. But it is true that perhaps I have not yet detached myself from some ideologies of my world…

“Everything will be fine, Rei-chan.”

Thinking about that, I couldn’t help but look back at Saeko-san who also came from the same place as me… s-she didn’t get used to the way of thinking in this world too quickly? She shows me a smile to reassure me, but…  now I couldn’t see her very different than Mary-san! S-She could kill people in cold blood just like those other girls!!

“Haa~”

… well, that chill that runs down my spine when I see her only lasts a moment. I can only think that Saeko-san was a strong-minded woman or that she adapts very well to this world. I certainly cannot say that she is a bad person… probably. Either way, she has helped me a lot so far.

After making a sigh to get those other thoughts out of my mind, I also decide to try to adapt even more to this world. The others are right, I can not evaluate things in this place with the same standards where I come from.

…Otherwise, I might just become a burden to the other girls and… especially Alexander. I really don’t want him to think of me as a nuisance.

“Shall we collect our loot then?~”

“…I had forgotten about that. I … I don’t think I can do that yet! ”

…although I said that I should try to adapt to how this world was, I can do it one step at a time, right ?!

By loot, of course Mary-san meant the pubic feathers that we’ve been collecting so far! I still really couldn’t go and pluck those feathers from the harpies as if it was nothing!!

“Yes, this… I think it’s too much for me too.”

“…I don’t want to do it either”

“…”

Well, I wasn’t the only one with that thought. Cleirsa-san, Turla-san speak to avoid doing that! The first had a flushed face, and the second also looked a bit uncomfortable with that. Also, even though she doesn’t say anything, Saeko-san doesn’t move and just looks away as if she’s guarding the place to watch out for any danger! It was obvious that she didn’t want to do that either and she’s just trying to ignore this issue!!

Wasn’t she one of the most motivated to do this to get enough feathers for a pillow for Alexander?! Where is that determination from before?!!

“Fine, I and the other two will take care of that, but you should check the other people to see if they have any useful things~”

“”…it’s ok””

Since we couldn’t leave all the work to those three either, the rest of us moved towards the bodies of the men from the group of tamer of monsters. If I think of them as a bunch of thieves, then it should be easier to do this.

…Well, it wasn’t very difficult to do it since they wanted to steal Vrana and Scythe from us before, that’s surely what they were. Or they could even be considered kidnappers or slavers.

Since there were several who had a level two soul, surely they should have some good things… if they didn’t use it before to save their lives. Well, at least their weapons will be of good rank. Surely Saya will be happy to get more items for her stores… speaking of her, I forgot to contact the girls in Delna to tell them that we were fine now! I-I should do it soon to prevent them from worrying.

“Well… should we also check out the harpy nest?”

“Yes, they have a habit of kidnapping men to… you know, that. Besides, they also like to collect shiny objects… there should be some valuables in their nest ”

“…Then maybe we should avoid going in. It would be problematic if a group of naked men asks us for help… and also we have to accompany them to a safe place after that!”

“No, well… usually, after they mate for a while with their prey, they end up eating them… as you have seen, these harpies are not very intelligent like Vrana-chan. But surely we could find some objects that belonged to those unlucky people”

In the end, after hearing the discussion between Mary-san and Turla-san, we decided to enter a cave that was the nest of the harpies. So, when we get to the entrance…

[Grreee!!]

…A loud scream echoes throughout the cave.