บท 19: Meeting Hilichurls
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***
The Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
The name Hu Tao brought fear to many.
Funeral ceremonies allowed mortals to leave this world with dignity.
And Liyue's Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was said to be painting the last strokes on the scrolls of people's lives in the most respectful way.
Traditional funerals included multiple steps such as holding a wake, burial, putting up a memorial plaque... All of which were subjected to strict rules.
Regardless of their social standing and level of wealth, all who departed deserved a ceremony that would do them honor. This was the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's client service philosophy.
One would think that such a reputable organization ought to be led only by an individual of utmost learning and sagacity.
Yet the heavy mantle of the 77th Director has fallen on the shoulders of a young lady like Hu Tao.
She has got quite a reputation in Liyue. She was mostly infamous though.
Whenever someone mentioned Hu Tao, their neighbors found it extremely hard to navigate the conversation. Whenever someone mentioned her name, something bad happened.
Citizens of Liyue had decided to stop saying her name out loud altogether, and instead referred to her as 'You Know Who.'
Although she was widely praised for her wit and shrewdness, her eccentric and inconsiderate notions were not as welcome, as she often let her imagination run wild, doing whatever she wanted without a care in the world.
Hu Tao was always special.
As a three-year-old, she would read through volumes of classic texts while doing handstands.
At six, she would cut classes and fall asleep in the coffins.
When she was eight, she started living in the parlor and learning the etiquette of funeral ceremonies...
One would never use the word "measured" to describe her behavior. She was simply crazy. Simply too different. Simply not of this world.
During her teenage years, Hu Tao was tasked with conducting a funeral ceremony for the first time.
The parlor's undertakers and consultants were anticipating her debut with their stomachs in knots as if they were suspended over the peaks of Jueyun Karst.
But unlike they expected, everything was going smoothly.
Until that incident happened...
***
As the trio of Kaeya, Hu Tao, and Yomite were walking towards the Domain, a silent atmosphere was ruling.
Kaeya was busy looking through a map and didn't pay attention to anything else, and Yomite disagreed with the behavior that Hu Tao was showing, not wanting to talk to her right now.
Hu Tao on the other hand was humming a tune, peacefully without a care in the world.
Just then, Kaeya suddenly stopped and raised his hand, indicating his teammates to stop.
"We are near a Hillichurian settlements. The question is, do we want to avoid them and potentially lose time by going all around the cliff, or should we intercept them?" Kaeya inquired while gazing at the duo behind him.
He knew there was some heat between the two of them as his little brother Yomite was looking into the ground while Hu Tao was avoiding his gaze at any moment she could. It felt like an old married couple fighting.
Kaeya chuckled and continued, "Alright guys, then I shall take your silence as a yes. I dislike avoiding fun either way. Let's fight then~!"
Both of them sharpened their gaze at his words. Yomite and his group was about to face a group of unknown enemies, and if it weren't for the dragon that attacked the city not too long ago, he would be quite nervous about his first monster encounter.
He silently observed the weird humanoid monsters from within their hiding spot and he had to agree with himself on this one. These were definitely some alternatives for goblins.
The only difference from goblins would probably be the color of their skin and the traditional masks they wore.
"I will count to ten and we will ambush them, got it?" Kaeya glanced at them and they immediately nodded. Preparation and strategy were the key to every battle.
"One...two...ten!" Kaeya dashed forward, leaving behind a dumfounded Hu Tao and Yomite.
"Hold on a minute!? Where the hell did you leave the other numbers!?"
"Hahaha! Little bro! What's the point of ambushing such lowly creatures!? Enjoy your life!" Kaeya shouted and laughed, Hilichurls immediately noticing his presence, but they were far too slow on the uptake as he effortlessly started cutting them down one by one, staining his sword with fresh blood.
Hilichurls started panicking and went into their tents to grab some weapons. Despite being monsters, Hilichurls were smart enough to use weapons and in some cases, even magic.
Up to this day, no one has ever found out how they could use elemental magic or magic reactions without a Vision. They were simply mystery.
"Ah! He is having fun all by himself! No can do!~" Hu Tao pulled out her polearm seemingly out of nowhere and ran in to help.
"Tch! Those stupid battle junkies!" Yomite clicked his tongue. He pulled out his claymore from his scabbard and rushed in as well.
Most Hilichurls had already encircled Hu Tao and Kaeya, but there was one lone Hilichurl that noticed Yomite's presence.
It's two red eyes behind the ornament mask met Yomite's gaze.
"We...hate...you...Die!"
Yomite bathed in the monster's overwhelming enmity as he mumbled,
"What the..."
Surprisingly, the monster could actually talk, which caught Yomite off guard.
The Hilichurl grabbed a nearby wooden club and lunged at him.
While watching the strike, Yomite dodged the attack completely. He was confident that he could avoid the attack from the get go as he could see the movements of his opponent, just as the trajectory of its club swing.
"So slow...This monster truly is weak." He reminded himself, boosting his confidence a bit, but still staying on guard.
These were truly tutorial monsters.
Predictable and weak, nothing like a dragon.
But even weak monsters like goblins were dangerous in packs.
Hilichurls were similar to goblins to some extend. That's why he was still cautious.
Yomite knew that his new body was much stronger than his old one, and he could feel the strength flowing through his veins.
'It feels as if I got some kind of physical strengthening ability from the goddess. I can swing this claymore without any trouble.'
As the Hilichurl missed its strike, Yomite was about to slay him with his claymore when out of the corner of his eye, he saw another Hilichurl, that was hiding up till now, preparing for a sneak attack.
'I knew it. Damn goblins.'
He parried the incoming attack with the claymore and poured strength into his left arm, tightening the muscles and sending a punch at him as a payback—
And as he did that.
—The head of the humanoid monster before his eyes exploded like an overripe melon.
'Huh?' Yomite stared wide-eyed at the falling parts of meat and brain matter.
Bludgeoned to death at point-blank range, its still fresh blood showered Yomite's face. The Hilichurl's headless body sailed forward and crashed into him, dropping the club in its hands onto the ground with a loud *thump*.
"Wh-What just...happened?"
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บท 20: Massacre and Hidden Intentions.
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***
'Nah...Nah...Nope...there is just no way... isn't this body a bit too broken?' Yomite thought as he stared at his bloodied and trembling hands. He didn't feel much resistance when he punched the Hilichurl so he was a bit suspicious ever since the beginning, but to completely annihilate its head like that was beyond what he thought would be possible.
The other Hilichurl who was currently laying on the muddied ground was equally as scared and confused as he was. He picked himself from the ground and rushed at Yomite as his last desperate attempt to live.
'The head isn't supposed to just explode like that though...But that's good. If my body is like this, I will have a much easier time in this world.' he contemplated as he bend his body downwards and swiped the Hilichurl's feet.
Keeping the Hilichurl from standing up with his foot and then stabbing him with the claymore straight through the neck, ending its suffering.
"It seems like I am done here, but jeez, there is so much blood on me..." He tried to wiped the blood with the sleeves of his martial arts robe, but the blood on his face had long dried up, leaving him with no choice but to find a pond or a river to clean himself off later.
But the smell of blood was disgusting.
It made him want to vomit. This was the first time he killed something so he knew that it would rile up his stomach a bit and make him question reality like in most novels.
He glanced at his two teammates, curious on how they were doing and they were handling their own opponents without much difficulty despite being both heavily outnumbered.
Kaeya knew he was outnumbered, but he wasn't given the title of Captain for nothing.
He took pride and confidence in his skills. He left a trail of blood and mutilated bodies in his wake, easily besting them.
Kaeya's sword whipped out in two slashing arcs, cutting through the Hilichurls' flesh with ease. Instead of engaging the next, he slipped past him, uncannily fast, fueled by enjoyment and fun. Before the Hilichurl could turn, he jabbed his blade into the space between his thigh and knee. The Hilichurl fell with a strangled cry, and in the next second, was beheaded in a one clean sweep.
"Whoops, even I felt that one." He grinned with excitement while running towards another one.
Most Knights already knew about this, but
Cavalry Captain Kaeya could be as ruthless and unforgiving as the bitter frost.
Hillichurls' blood trickled down his coat, making him shake his head in annoyance.
"You sad creatures, do you not know how hard it is to scrub blood from the white fabric? So lame..."
He shot out a burst of Cryo at the source in front of him, freezing a Hilichurl archer to death, but just in case, he didn't forget to cut him down as well, granting him certainly not a peaceful death.
"What's wrong? Can't handle the cold?" Kaeya taunted as he faced another onslaught of enemies.
During all of this, Hu Tao was also doing her part. The chestnut-haired goddess had descended onto the field of battle.
One hand tightly grasping the iron handle of the polearm, the other one holding her precious hat.
Spear was a destructive and precise weapon, capable of a long distance fight with insane reach and speed, and in the hands of someone with Vision, it could do miracles.
Hu Tao made a small cut on her hand, and slowly, her Vision had ignited. The spear became coated in something that resembled a fire aura, ready to burst forth.
"Pyre, pyre pants on fire!"
Her right arm, wielding the spear of death, whipped sideways, unleashing a fierce fire slash, cutting through five Hilichurls at once and if one looked closely, a small apparition could be seen, fueling the flames.
Each swing with her polearm utterly pulverized everything in its path. The shockwave of its might moved down branches and snapped tree trunks before piercing another Hilichurl fighter. The weapon connected with such power it not only split the shield of the Hilichurl fighter in two, but also his torso, turning it into a fertilizer for the forest.
'Amazing...' Yomite commented while feeling the wind pressure from her attacks from at least ten meters away from her. That was a true fighter. He had plenty to learn.
But despite it being his first real battle, not counting the dragon, he did pretty well and he now had a small grasp of his godlike body strength, so he won't be hesitant to use it more boldly in the future.
The group cleaned up the location relatively fast despite it being a huge Hilichurl's settlement and the last living Hilichurl was currently stomped to death by Kaeya's foot.
"Why don't you...Squeel a bit for me?" He put a bit more pressure with his foot, almost closing up the Hilichurl's windpipe.
Kaeya liked to do this. It brought him joy. Watching them squirm. He took pleasure in watching people's eyes widen in fear, but people weren't the only living beings capable of feeling fear.
The monsters and animals were the same.
The enemies such as Hilichurls were a prime example of that.
"Re...venge...aby...ss..." were the Hilichurl's last words before his throat was crushed.
Kaeya turned to the two and spoke with smile, "Good job, Good job! That was a fast sweep! Let's check their tents for some hidden treasures or items we could use for ourselves! Hilichurls often pick up stuff they find or steal from people they defeated! They also love shiny things like Mora so there is bound to be some juicy reward!"
Yomite and Hu Tao nodded and after looting the place, they went straight up for the Domain.
During the trip, Yomite was feeling a bit weird and had this look of uncertainty on his face.
Seeing that his little brother was struggling with something, as the big brother, he felt inclined to listen, "What's up, lil bro? You looking kinda down."
Yomite sighed and replied, "Let me just ask you then...as you are pretty well versed with things like Hilichurls... Couldn't you...hear what they were saying? I heard some weird bits..."
Hearing this, Kaeya stopped at once, feeling his blood freeze in his veins.
"...is that so? And? What did they...say?"
Hu Tao jumped right in and looked at him weirdly, "No way, silly~! Although I am quite the studious type, I never bothered learning Hilichurlian because the language simply isn't complete! There is hundreds of missing fragments, so it's impossible to understand them! You must be hearing things!"
Yomite shook his head, "No, I could clearly hear it, they said revenge and abyss and other things..."
*Pfft!* "I didn't take you as the type to tell jokes, but I guess I have to change my opinion about you, Assistant-kun~ All that comes from their mouth and is coherent, is just Muhe ye and Ye dada, otherwise they are pretty stupid and their language is dead. Although I do admit they can be quite cute sometimes." Hu Tao snickered.
"Oh shut up! Try me again and I will smack you! As I said...I am not joking...It was quite weird...It felt like I was actually killing a person..." Yomite had a bad aftertaste in his mouth. At that point, he found the thing that truly differentiated goblins from Hilichurls.
Some remnants of humanity?
While the two were bickering, Kaeya was silently staring, as if, straight through Yomite's soul.
"Little bro."
Kaeya walked closer to him, and stopped a few centimeters away from Yomite's face.
"...What is it...keep your distance dude...There is this thing called personal space..." Yomite was becoming visibly uncomfortable.
Kaeya leaned forward and whispered into his ear, as if he was whispering a prayer, "Have you heard of the word...Khaenri'ah before?"
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