Episode 14: The Law of Nature

“Do you realize what you’ve done?” “What? Like you haven’t been doing things behind my back, too?” “Don’t be ridiculous!” “Hmph, I wonder about that!”

Even when her affair was discovered, my wife didn’t apologize; she just became defiant. We had been married for 20 years—nearly 25 if you count the time we dated—but it ended easily.

The cause was my wife’s infidelity, but due to differences in hobbies and ways of thinking, our conversations had gradually decreased starting around the fifth year of marriage, and our sex life had vanished. We passed each other by more often, and I had thought divorce was just a matter of time.

But when I actually learned the fact of the cheating, the shock was greater than I expected.

My wife seemed to have given her heart to her affair partner; she wouldn’t listen to a word I said. Since she tried to protect him no matter what, I completely lost all affection for her. Even when I proposed divorce, she wouldn’t accept it. I had no idea what she wanted to do.

I found out later that the affair partner was a former classmate of hers who had a wife and kids. On the surface, he seemed to have listened kindly to my wife and offered advice on her worries.

My wife might have been seeking the role of a husband from him while maintaining the form of a family with me. Since she and I were no longer having proper conversations, that must have made her happy.

However, once the affair was exposed, the man cut ties with my wife instantly. Well, of course. His goal was just my wife’s body. He didn’t like or love her. He just listened to her appropriately to enjoy sex with her.

Knowing the truth, my wife asked me for reconciliation, but by then we were already separated. From my perspective, it was like, what are you saying now? When she was dating him without my knowledge, she constantly complained about me, saying I had no backbone or earned too little. When I discovered the affair and saw the email exchanges between her and him, I saw that amidst their lovey-dovey messages, she had written all sorts of bad things about me.

I think the fact that her partner, a former classmate, was an executive at a decent company, while I was a humble salaryman off the promotion track, also had an influence. To my wife at that time, I must have seemed like nothing more than a pathetic old man. Her attitude back then still makes me angry when I recall it.

However, the moment she was dumped, she flipped her attitude and brazenly pressed for reconciliation; I was truly fed up with her thick skin. She stalked me for a while after that, but the divorce was finally finalized after three years. I don’t know if she finally gave up or found a new man, but I received notice of her consent to divorce. I had no interest in her anymore, nor did I want to know.

When the divorce papers were accepted and I became truly single, I was genuinely relieved to be free from the hassle. However, it is also true that there was an indescribable sense of loss at the same time.

Even if we got along badly halfway through, I had been with my wife for nearly 25 years. That means we spent nearly half our lives together. Denying a relationship that took that much time is, after all, painful and lonely. I started living alone after passing 50, but that sense of loss has always nested within me.

[ Lusine — A woman liberated from Goblins sleeps here eternally ]

I was recalling those things in front of Lusine’s grave. Divorce from my wife brought me loneliness, but parting with Lusine brought, in a sense, an even greater loneliness and sense of loss.

Even after divorcing my wife, I had friends, colleagues at the company, and work-related acquaintances. I had siblings, though we were estranged, and acquaintances I exchanged greetings with. It wasn’t absolute solitude.

But Lusine is different. I don’t know if this is another planet or another world, but she was another human I finally met after coming to this world post-death, just when I thought there were no humans other than me. I thought I was finally saved from absolute solitude, yet for it to end like this…

After separating from my wife, I took up hiking and learned the joy of interacting with nature alone. That was enjoyable because there was the joy of distancing myself from the hassles of human relationships in daily work and life. Once I came down from the mountain, there were towns where people lived, and if I popped into a shop or convenience store, I could easily have a conversation.

But now that I’ve lost Lusine, there is no one else. I don’t know where other humans are. I can’t talk, laugh together, or fight.

What exists is the absolute solitude that has visited again.

And I just feel endless pity for Lusine, who died in such a way.

I regret that I couldn’t do anything for her even though I noticed her pregnancy. The reality is I couldn’t have done anything even if I knew, but judging by the size of her belly, I thought the birth was still a ways off. I had vaguely thought that if we could get to a human town by then, we could manage something…

Thinking of Lusine, tears of sadness and regret won’t stop. I hope that meeting me was even a slight salvation for her.

I received hope from Lusine that was greater than anything else.

After that, I trampled the newborn Goblin babies to death.

Not satisfied with just that, I returned to the Goblin dwelling and massacred all the remaining Goblins inside. Some tried to flee or made gestures begging for help, but I beat them to death without mercy.

I hated the Goblins so much I couldn’t help it; after killing them, I carried them to the small room where Lusine had been imprisoned. Then, I crushed the corpses with rocks until their shapes were unrecognizable and piled them up.

A while later, after calming down somewhat, I was surprised by my own cruelty, but I still didn’t think it was wrong at all. It was the first time in my life I had felt such hatred. From that moment, Goblins became my natural enemy.

After wiping out the Goblins, I looked all around the dwelling, but unfortunately, there were no other living humans. There were only a few skeletonized corpses that seemed to be human. Judging by their decay, I felt their connection to Lusine was thin.

There were items near them that seemed to be human belongings, but nothing that clearly belonged to Lusine. There was one ornament that looked like a hair accessory, so when I buried Lusine, I buried it with her along with the fur poncho I had given her.

Returning to Lusine, I said my final goodbyes and carried her body to the water to clean it. I initially thought to use the lake water and stepped in, but immediately, fish resembling piranhas gathered in droves, and my legs were nearly bitten off. Good grief, everywhere in this world is just full of danger.

Even after cleaning the dirt from Lusine’s body, the cuts and bruises remained, looking painful. When I washed her hair, beautiful chestnut-colored wavy hair appeared. Once her face was cleaned, she had very beautiful features that still retained the traces of a young girl.

After cleaning her body, I dug a hole at the base of a tree standing on a small hill overlooking the lake and buried her. Since I didn’t have a shovel, I made a pointed log, stabbed it into the ground to loosen the soil, and scraped it out by hand. Digging patiently for hours, it took about half a day to finally bury Lusine.

I’m not a Christian, but I assembled tree branches into a cross and stood it on the grave, carving an epitaph. The reason was simply that I thought it looked more like a grave, and I couldn’t carve letters into a gravestone.

[ Lusine — A woman liberated from Goblins sleeps here eternally ]

Putting my hands together, I prayed for her to rest in peace without lingering. I felt unbearable pity for Lusine who died in such a tragic way, and wished that if there is a next life, she would absolutely be happy. Tears overflowed and flowed endlessly.

However, this world is truly heartless. While I prayed with my hands together, a pseudo-panther was closing in behind me. With the Hobgoblin gone, the power map of this region was about to be rewritten.

Honestly, I didn’t want to fight. Since finding Lusine yesterday, I had been moving almost without rest and was exhausted. My broken ribs hadn’t healed. Also, I was mentally exhausted even more than physically. This world is too cruel to me.

Checking my weapons, I only had the pseudo-boar tusk, the whip, and a few stones for throwing and finger flicks. It was precarious, but I had no time to replenish. I moved away from Lusine’s grave. I didn’t want the grave I took such trouble to build to be desecrated.

I glared at the pseudo-panther and released Pressure. Just as the Hobgoblin had done, I imbued my Will with hatred and killing intent and scattered it around. The pseudo-panther’s body shook greatly and froze.

Surprised that it went better than expected, I closed the distance instantly. The pseudo-panther’s eyes glowed, and it roared, shaking off my Pressure. But it was too late; by then, I had thrust the pseudo-boar tusk I took from my pochette into its throat and right eye.

“Gyauuunnn!!!”

I lashed the writhing pseudo-panther’s head repeatedly with the whip. Its head was gradually whittled down, and finally, the skull cracked, scattering brains.

Normally, I would attack by combining stone throwing with Telekinesis, but with broken ribs, I couldn’t put force into throwing stones. Because of that, the power of the whip was also low. Struck repeatedly by a weak whip, the pseudo-panther died with increased suffering.

When the pseudo-panther died, a black mist-like thing appeared and vanished as expected, but this time I saw it more clearly than before. I saw a phenomenon where the space seemed to tear just before it vanished, and the black mist was sucked into it.

It felt strange, but fatigue rushed in more than that, and the pain in my flank became severe. Anyway, I want to rest. That was all I could think about. I returned to Lusine’s grave, put my hands together to pray once more, and left the place.

I gathered some tree nuts in the forest and then headed to the cave that was the Goblin dwelling. I thought if I blocked the entrance with a rock, I could rest slowly without being attacked by beasts.

When I got to the front of the cave, I sensed beasts inside. They seemed to be scavenging the Goblin corpses inside. Sharp-sensed beasts must have already detected the Hobgoblin’s death.

I sighed. It seems I can’t rest without doing one more job.

I probed for presence just inside the cave. The inside was as smelly as ever, enough to make my nose crooked, but I somehow sharpened my nerves, strained my ears, and searched for disturbances in the Field.

Having entered twice, I generally understand the cave’s structure. On top of that, somehow, I can see or grasp the movement of the beasts. There is one large beast and three small ones, scavenging Goblin corpses. I don’t sense any other presence.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness, allowing me to see inside, and my nose got used to the smell, so I advanced deeper into the cave. I thought it would take more time to adjust from the intense daylight to the cave’s darkness, but this body really is superior in every aspect.

I advanced slowly while erasing my presence. The beasts didn’t seem to notice me yet. Advancing to the depths of the cave, I saw the beasts eating the Goblin corpses. It was the pseudo-Tasmanian tiger and its children.

They had collapsed the pile of Goblin corpses I built and were eating messily. They seemed to prefer Goblin entrails, tearing open the bellies of many Goblins. They didn’t touch other parts at all. It must have been a mountain of a feast for this parent and children; there was no sign they noticed me watching them for a while.

I have no particular complaint about them collapsing the pile of corpses or eating Goblins. Conversely, I’m impressed they can eat such smelly things. However, messing up the place where I thought I could finally rest is unacceptable. I picked up a stone about the size of a bowling ball lying nearby. My flank hurt at this moment, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.

I suppressed my anger, erased my presence, and quietly crept up behind them. Curious about how close I could get without being noticed, I approached while paying attention to erasing my presence. Surprisingly, even when I got within a meter of the parent pseudo-Tasmanian tiger’s back, it didn’t notice.

Perhaps using Will to prevent disturbing the Field and erasing my presence paid off. Though, the reality might just be that it was engrossed in eating and its nose was paralyzed by the Goblin stench. I’ll try this method of hiding presence again if I get a chance somewhere.

I dropped the stone with momentum onto the parent pseudo-Tasmanian tiger’s head. At the moment I dropped it, the beast noticed, but it took the stone directly and collapsed. The three children jumped in surprise and instantly backed away.

I swung the whip, but my flank hurt, and I missed my aim. And when I struck the stone on the ground, the tip of the whip tore off and flew away. Panicking that the whip became useless, the three pseudo-Tasmanian tiger children pounced on that opening.

Though they were children, having been raised in this world, their ferocity was no different from the parent. I instantly fired a finger bullet to repel one, but the other two closed in from left and right aiming for my throat. I thrust my left arm out to the one approaching from the left, daring it to bite the bracelet. I delivered an uppercut to the one coming from the right.

The uppercut landed on the throat, knocking the pseudo-Tasmanian tiger child far away. However, at this moment, intense pain shot through my flank. Maybe a broken rib pierced an internal organ somewhere.

The one that bit the bracelet thrashed while still biting. The bracelet, which didn’t budge no matter how much it chewed, was stuck in its mouth and wouldn’t come off. Since it bit with its mouth open to the max, it couldn’t open its mouth any wider, and its fangs acted as stoppers, preventing it from pulling off.

It scratched me with its front paws, leaving my arm covered in wounds, but I immediately slammed the pseudo-Tasmanian tiger child, along with my arm, onto a stone on the ground. The arm came free at that moment, so I stomped on that child’s head.

That child died, but the others were all still alive. Stubborn bastards. The one hit by the finger bullet seemed to have been blinded, but it was trying to attack again. I tried to use Pressure to seal its movements, but I couldn’t concentrate due to the pain in my flank and failed.

Unavoidably, I fired another finger bullet, guiding it with Will to blind the other eye. Losing its vision, it started spinning in place. I kicked it, sending it flying. It hit the wall and fainted, so I stomped on its head right there.

The parent pseudo-Tasmanian tiger, having two children killed before its eyes, stood up slowly, burning with rage. It was emitting tremendous Pressure. Its head was caved in from the stone I dropped earlier, but despite being covered in blood, it attacked with tenacity.

It lacked momentum, so I barely managed to dodge, but the moment I dodged, it Space Moved its body and thrust its fangs at my throat.

Bad!

I thought so, but by a hair’s breadth, its fangs only sliced the skin of my throat. The moment it Space Moved, I saw the Field distort. By unconsciously Willing to reject that Field, the trajectory diverted slightly, and I seemed to have dodged by a hair.

My body, too, had Space Moved, if only very slightly.

In the instant I prepared for death amidst the intense Pressure, sparks flew in my head. My brain probably performed a feat of hysterical strength.

I slammed my fist into its caved-in head as is. I felt the sensation of the shattered skull piercing the brain against my fist. It collapsed to the ground and died.

Immediately after, terrible pain shot through the back of my neck, and I was hit by intense nausea. Unable to endure, I crouched on the spot and vomited. But in the corner of my vision, I saw the last survivor standing up.

It was the one I had kicked away; it had been writhing in pain until a moment ago, but seeing its parent’s death seemed to awaken it. Though not as much as the parent, it was emitting considerable Pressure. It built up momentum and charged at me.

Good grief, why do the beasts of this world want to fight so fanatically? Like it or not, I have to become a battle maniac too. Otherwise, I can’t survive. While vomiting, I took aim at it and fired a finger bullet.

The pebble accelerated and closed in on the last survivor, but its eyes glowed, and its body Space Moved. But I had anticipated that. I applied Will to the pebble to interfere with the Field it generated. The pebble curved to chase it, and although it missed the intended brow, it caught the hind leg and succeeded in making it lose balance.

It tried to Space Move again upon landing to regain posture in the air, but failed and slid across the ground. It probably had never used Telekinesis before. I could tell at a glance it wasn’t used to it.

While it was trying to get up, I took out the pseudo-boar tusk and approached. Mustering my last strength, accelerating my arm muscles with Will, I thrust it deeply into its throat. Then, I forcibly tore it open.

“Gyoheeee!! Pshhh…”

The scream turned into the sound of leaking air midway, and blood sprayed out. It writhed on the ground in agony and breathed its last. A faint black mist appeared and then vanished.

Somehow, I defeated the pseudo-Tasmanian tiger family, but the whip becoming unusable was a miscalculation. Thanks to that, I ended up struggling quite a bit. Originally, it was just a pseudo-croc tail I cut off, a whip with no processing. Superficially covered in scales, the inside is raw meat. It’s been four days since I cut it, so the meat fibers must have deteriorated. It was about time it started rotting.

Losing the whip will definitely be a significant disadvantage in future battles. But what’s gone is gone. I have to deal with what I have. Anyway, I want to rest now more than anything. My physical and mental strength had reached their limits long ago.

I mustered my last ounce of will and walked to the cave entrance. There was a large rock to cover this entrance on the side, and rolling it would close the entrance. Once that was done, I could rest my body without thinking about the danger of beasts.

When I returned to massacre the Goblins, the entrance was closed. At first, I wondered how to open it, but the answer was simple, as expected of something devised by low-intelligence Goblins. This rock wouldn’t move if pushed toward the back of the cave, but if I put my hand in the gap and rolled it sideways, it would move. Since beasts without hands couldn’t move it, it must have been sufficiently useful.

I moved the rock to block the cave entrance and collapsed on the spot. Now I can finally rest. That thought stripped away all my remaining energy and strength.

Losing consciousness, I just slept.