In the final analysis, the emotions that humans have towards most creatures other than themselves, including members of a specific group, are not all innate.
Communalism, combined with the culture passed down through writing, painting, singing and oral tradition, enables children and teenagers who have just learned to understand what to love and what to hate to quickly understand.
People cannot escape from the cultural background of the ethnic group into which they were born.
What they hear and see while growing up, and the words and deeds of the adults and elders around them will have a profound impact on the next generation, and when they grow up, they will teach all this to their next generation:
"The Luoans are damn thieves and robbers." The farmers of the West Coast Kingdom said.
"Avenella people are just a bunch of ignorant and ridiculous untouchables." The nobles of Sivalier still promote this concept even today - although they have become much quieter.
Stereotypes that were formed at a specific point in time or due to specific events spread in the same cultural circle, and eventually evolved into the idea that the younger generation fell into a fanatical obsession with "loving a country you have never been to, and hating a group of people you have never been to". The dead situation of "unseen people" can be said to be one of the shortcomings of civilization.
But most of the time this traditional experience is still valid.
For example, the rats and flies that everyone shouts about are causing harm to the food that humans have worked so hard to hoard, contaminating the food and spreading diseases. But even this creature, which is supposed to be hated by all farming civilizations, has a culture that goes the opposite way and worships it as a god.
Therefore, many of the things humans hate or like are not innate or common.
——But this time is different.
When everyone present, including the gangsters, heard the noise and turned around, the first emotion that emerged in the hearts of these witnesses, who clearly came from different classes and even different cultures, was rarely the same -
The fear that makes the whole body feel like falling into an ice cellar, and the disgust and hostility that tenses the muscles and makes the hairs stand on end.
"Cough - bah! What is this, a disgusting thing." The bolder among the gangsters turned around, spit across his neck and yelled, but his pause and the trembling in his words showed that he He is just covering up his fear with disdain and contempt.
"The Southern Barbarian's ghost thing? There's nothing to be afraid of, just one!" Another gangster also turned his head and shouted loudly, but at the same time he retreated behind his friends and kept looking at the alley on the other side. corner exit.
The ghoul stopped in front of them.
It is roughly the same as what Mira has seen on the east coast in the past, but there are some subtle differences - its skin is covered with snake-like fine scales, and its human-like and non-human body is much elongated, making it appear tall, not thick but But the body is wrapped in solid muscles. Although it walks on four legs, its forelimbs with slender fingers can be seen to have retained the ability to grasp, while its hind limbs are on tiptoes like a cat, dog, tiger or leopard.
Ling, who was born as Dr. Xingyong, immediately noticed the physical characteristics of the species in front of her, and the hunter's intuition also made Lulu tense up like an unsheathed sword, ready to act at any time.
Neither of them knew this creature, nor did Mira have any experience fighting against it, but their knowledge was enough to recognize the horror of this creature.
The cat-like soft and slender spine and hind limbs that rest on toes indicate that it is a powerful and fast predator. The human-like palms are obviously evolved for the use of tools.
The Yi people in the north have an old saying: One pig, two bears and three tigers - this does not refer to the strength of the fighting power, but the degree of threat to human beings.
Wild boar's territory is close to that of humans, and their size is smaller than that of the latter two.
Creatures as huge as Rigal's dragon are indeed terrifying, but humans are insignificant little things to them. When humans hide in narrow cellars for refuge, dragons will not go to great lengths to kill them, but they A palm-sized creature.
Large dangerous creatures are like natural disasters, threatening cities, villages, even kingdoms, and the rise and fall of a civilization.
But the greatest threats to individual humans are often creatures that are similar in size to humans.
Because they can enter shelters where humans hide and search every corner.
This is a very strange feeling. Although it is the first time to meet, this creature whose face is so similar to a human but has many details that can be concluded that it is not a human, instinctively makes people feel the ultimate disgust and contempt in their hearts.
Just like an entity that is the opposite of all the good things in the world, even a gangster with many crimes feels that he is nobler and brighter than this dirty dark creature at this moment.
The ghoul ignored them. Even though these young or adult men made a series of emboldening and intimidating noises, its pure black eyes without pupils kept staring at the ground——
Locked on Mira who fell to the ground.
The clever Luoan girl reacted immediately after considering the situation. She subconsciously glanced at her cramped left hand - the aftermath of the immature use of magic was still there - was it the magic that attracted it? But isn't this Kazuto's town? How did it sneak in?
You shouldn't continue to think about problems you can't figure out, especially at this critical moment - she immediately made a decision: "You are coming for me, you separate from me." The Luoan girl said to her companions, she was like this The judgment was not that she wanted to stand out individually, but that among the four companions, only Lulu was the only one who could keep up with her speed. If they acted together, they might become a burden.
As for a head-on confrontation, she wouldn't consider it unless she had to.
The Luoan girl who has fought against such rough-skinned and fleshy things in the past knows very well how difficult it is to kill a ghoul. Their thick hardened skin has a defensive power comparable to 30 layers of linen armor or nitrated armor. The surface of the hardened cowhide armor can only be penetrated by a sufficiently hard and sharp weapon coupled with high-speed stabbing or chopping at the correct angle - and underneath there is a layer of muscle and bone that is strong enough to jam the blade.
Even though this kind of weird thing has the appearance of a living thing, it cannot be considered a living thing. They have no or only very slight pain and have very few vital points. Even if their internal organs are pierced by several spears, they can still maintain their amazing fighting ability for more than ten minutes. .
With its hard skin, tenacious vitality that is difficult to kill, sharp claws and powerful biting ability, the only people who can fight it one-on-one are fully armed soldiers or top swordsmen.
The Luoan girl was lightly dressed, her left hand was cramped and numb due to the backflow of magic, and she only had a short one-handed sword. Even though she could barely reach the level of an experienced swordsman technically, her equipment and her own condition were not ideal. .
So running away was the best option - but just after she finished speaking, before the other people had time to react, someone made some noise on the little gangster's side.
The middle-aged gangster who pushed his companion up finally encouraged the young gangster who had not been in the industry long enough and did not understand the world of the world. The young man who thought his brother was behind him yelled and cursed loudly in Japanese language to embolden him, roaring angrily. They stabbed the dagger at the dark creature they thought was summoned by Mira.
"Hey -" "Huh?" Even the attacker himself did not expect to succeed so easily. The ghoul was stabbed into the left shoulder accurately like a target that could not move. Flesh——'Defense is worse than expected? Mira frowned immediately. The scales on her body seemed to be less defensive than those on the east coast - but what surprised her even more was yet to come -
"Hiss-ouch-it hurts-" the sound of air flow and whine, followed by Kazuto's language with strange pronunciation but roughly identifiable syllables.
"Speak!!" The gangsters all retreated in panic and crowded together. Then someone stumbled with his left foot and fell with his right foot, knocking everyone down. The people who fell heavily to the ground began to cry, and because of the unexpected situation And the young gangster who was in a daze also lost himself due to a series of changes——
Last chance to escape.
"Ouch -" In an instant, the jumping ghoul grabbed his shoulders with its long claws and threw him to the ground, then bit his head across the head and tore his throat open.
"It's like a trained hunting dog." Although her face turned green with fear, she still stared at the ghoul and refused to blink because of her curious nature, and said to herself, The oiran behind her grabbed Ling's collar and pulled her behind her.
"What research are you doing if you are going to die!" Sakura was probably the only one among the five who could still think normally. The Luoan girl, who had been stunned for a moment because the situation was different from before, also woke up because of her voice. She scrambled to her feet and gripped her weapon.
"Let's go!" Several people at one end of the alley hurriedly ran to the other side.
"Get up!" "Get away!" The gangsters near the ghoul also fell into anxiety and confusion. They kicked or pushed their companions away with hands and feet, tried to distance themselves, got up and escaped, but killed the young man. The gangster ghoul shook his head, then lowered his body.
"Bang!" The slender goat-like hind limbs touched the ground on their toes, and with one hard kick pushed its body weighing dozens of kilograms into the air.
"Crack!!" The falling movement was much heavier in comparison. A large hole was directly trampled through the poor house's old and disrepaired roof tiles, causing half of its body to sink in. The falling roof tiles and a dark claw that suddenly stretched out from the sky caused a burst of screams from the residents in the house who turned a blind eye to what was happening outside, but the monster ignored them and withdrew from the breach. He stretched out his forelimbs and then crawled like a leopard and quickly climbed on the ridge of the roof.
In less than 10 seconds, it had shortened the leading distance of the Luoan girls who had jumped ahead.
——There is no escape.
"Britt." Mira couldn't help but cursed, and then stopped: "You go, attacking it will cause a counterattack." She flicked the one-handed knife, opened and closed her left hand several times to confirm that it was numb. I recovered a little from the cramps.
"Bang!" The eighty- to ninety-kilogram ghoul jumped down from the ridge of the roof. It stood upright and was over two meters tall, with its slender forelimbs hanging down to around its knees.
The strange eyes without pupils looked at the Luoan girl in front of them. Perhaps because the weak magic backlash in her body, which was not a high magician, gradually disappeared, it did not attack immediately but seemed to be hesitantly observing.
Mira noticed this, so she didn't rush to attack when she didn't know the opponent's situation. Instead, she seized this short opportunity to evaluate the ghoul.
It was obviously not the same type as the ghouls she had encountered before - just a few minutes of contact was enough for the Luoan girl to make a judgment.
The dagger that the young gangster stabbed at the cost of his life was more than halfway inserted. It was obvious that the skin of this ghoul was more slender and thinner - was it a different species? Because of the difference between Rigal and the Kingdom of the Moon?
No, there seems to be more than just a distinction in epidermal defenses.
The ghouls we encountered back then were thick-skinned and numerous in number, but the price was low individual intelligence. If command was cut off, they would turn into monsters with only killing instincts, and would fall into simple traps and be killed.
But this one is different.
From the very beginning, it showed its pertinence towards Mira, and even had the ability to sense pain and be able to identify who was attacking it and prioritize the elimination of threatening targets.
At this moment, like an experienced swordsman, it began to evaluate and confirm the target in front of it.
Mira suddenly remembered what her old friend once said:
"It's like living things have gone through generations of natural tests and finally evolved individuals that adapt to the current environment."
"These things will evolve as well."
"Stronger body, thicker skin, longer and sharper claws and teeth, faster speed."
"They're evolving."
“To become.”
"A better killing machine."
Like a thunder, combined with her knowledge of combat, she immediately understood why the ghoul in front of her was so different——
The ones I encountered on the east coast can be considered the main type: they move in groups, have rough skin and thick flesh, but lower individual intelligence. They have no independent perception and judgment ability, which means that they can go forward without fear of death to attack human defense lines and consume their vitality.
In a frontal battlefield environment, the tenacious and overwhelming number of ghouls who are not afraid of death are mankind's most terrifying nightmare.
But what if what you need is a hard kill on a specific target?
A large-scale attack is not only costly, but also easily attracts attention, causing the opponent to mobilize troops and launch a large-scale counterattack.
If one's own combat power is still not enough to ensure victory, then this too hasty approach will usher in its own demise.
Therefore, what is needed is an assassin who can sneak into the target area without anyone noticing, rather than a main force.
If a single individual goes deep, it must focus on adaptability to ensure that it can kill specific targets rather than attracting too much unnecessary attention by killing everyone it encounters, and that it has the ability to protect itself.
So it has been endowed with higher intelligence, some - I don't know if it's right to think so - the ability to think independently or at least to adapt.
Drenched in cold sweat.
After thinking about this, the Luoan girl once again confirmed the fact that these filthy creatures were completely killing weapons designed for humans.
After humans established civilizations and city-states, apart from similar species and other races, there were very few such species anymore.
A targeted existence like a natural enemy.
"Ah -" She suddenly thought of something.
——The rebellion intention of the northern vassal king.
——The inner world that unfolded inexplicably before.
——The reaction of the wise man at that time.
——The familiar Kuroyukihime.
——A specialized ghoul that responds to magic and has the ability to move independently, sacrificing strength and armor in exchange for faster speed.
A series of experiences after arriving in New Moon Continent are like points one after another.
Connected at this moment.
But here comes the question - her teacher should have noticed this earlier, why did he - 'Stop thinking about it, Mira' she warned herself.
Focus on the fight at hand.
This is by no means an opponent to be taken lightly.
She moved the fingers holding the knife to avoid subconsciously exerting force, causing her fingertips to become numb and inoperable, and then.
Take one step.
