Tamed Monster - Chapter 117

After Kuinan had cleanly severed and taken his right arm, Hector found daily life far more inconvenient than he’d expected.

At three hundred years old, he could no longer even walk steadily through the swamp without stumbling, and his comrades mocked him openly for it.

He had said they could take his arm—but that didn’t mean he’d handed it over willingly. It had been stolen, and the bitterness lingered. Today, once again, Hector dealt with one of the monsters who’d dared to laugh at him.

“Kgh—!”

“You should watch your mouth. You don’t flap it around just because someone limps like a newborn foal.”

He’d never even seen a foal in his life, yet the comparison had been uncomfortably accurate. That was what truly infuriated Hector.

Why was it that this one-eyed bastard’s way with words skyrocketed only when he was mocking others? Maybe cracking his skull open would finally explain the phenomenon.

“Gah—! Ugh—! I’m sorry! I said I’m sorry!”

The moment Hector’s claws dug into the top of the monster’s head as if he truly meant to split it open, the one-eyed creature shrieked like a cornered cat and thrashed wildly. Even without an arm, pinning him down with both legs and sheer body weight was easy enough. Hector pressed harder.

“KYAAAH—!”

“Hector, seriously. Why give that runt so much attention? Normally you wouldn’t spare a glance for a one-eyed nobody.”

From beneath the once-still surface of the swamp, a tall figure—nearly Hector’s equal—slowly emerged. Hector had sensed his presence long before, so he didn’t bother turning to look.

Unlike with the one-eyed monster, he kept his tone measured; this was not someone to antagonize lightly.

“It’s my business. I’ve been in a goddamn foul mood lately.”

Truthfully, the one-eyed monster’s pathetic metaphor wasn’t the real cause of his anger. Hector had already been seething over something far bigger, and the irritation had simply spilled over. The true target of his fury wasn’t this fool—it was Kuinan, who was coddling a human woman and threatening to botch everything.

“Hm… Kuinan, then?”

Large eyes, a sharply defined brow, a split mouth lined with jagged teeth—this monster bore a vaguely human shape. About two hundred years old, he was only slightly weaker than Hector or Kuinan. Hector couldn’t afford to let his guard down around him. His tone softened a little.

“Yeah.”

“Kh—huff…”

Hector shoved the one-eyed monster aside like discarded trash and fully turned toward the two-hundred-year-old. The swamp’s sticky mud soaked their abdomens and everything below.

With a sigh, Hector glanced at the area beneath his right shoulder, where his balance kept failing him.

“You think he’ll succeed?”

The other monster asked casually. Hector shook his head just as lightly.

“He’ll f**k it up and come crawling back into the swamp.”

With no connection left to his severed arm, he couldn’t even approach Kuinan directly. All he could do was sit here, waiting from afar, hoping that damned leech would somehow obtain the poison.

The stress was enough to make clumps of his hair fall out—though they always grew back quickly enough.

“Oh. I see.”

“Hah…”

“Then we can’t just sit around. We’ll have to make contact with him somehow.”

In the Blavat Swamp, there were three monsters considered leaders. The one stronger than Kuinan and Hector had been in hibernation for years now. Such creatures existed—powerful, yet so lazy they found even fighting bothersome. Hector could barely even remember the bastard’s name anymore.

If a dozen weaker monsters banded together, they still wouldn’t match that nameless one. How were they supposed to break through human surveillance and reach Kuinan?

Were they supposed to keep creating clones and sending them out, sacrificing body parts one by one? Hector had no intention of losing any more of his precious flesh.

“So how?”

“A letter.”

“…Huh?”

“Just contact him pretending to be human. Set a place, meet there. Talk in a neutral zone where human eyes don’t reach. If we like his answer, we let him go. Simple.”

Ah. So that was it.

Hector nodded slowly, clicking his tongue at himself. No wonder this guy had so many followers—he wasn’t just strong, he was smart.

‘Here I was, sending crow clones at dawn over and over just to avoid human eyes… maybe I’m not clever—maybe I’m just an idiot.’

Having finished berating himself internally, Hector shrugged in agreement. The monster whose skull had nearly been split glanced at the two of them and quietly slipped away. Hector scowled at his retreating back.

The perceptive monster, watching Hector’s expression, offered a casual suggestion.

“Why don’t you find a woman you like?”

It was so unexpected that Hector didn’t even realize it was advice meant for him.

Only after a long silence did he notice the other monster was looking directly at him.

“…What?”

Despite being far uglier than Hector, the monster’s face remained serious.

“I don’t think Kuinan is the only reason you’ve been so angry lately. Monsters get pent-up far more easily than humans. Go slaughter some beasts somewhere. Or find a woman and blow off steam. Anything. Just stop cracking the skulls of innocent kin.”

Having said his piece in a calm tone that somehow cut deeper than the one-eyed monster ever had, the perceptive monster turned and slowly sank back beneath the swamp’s surface, as if his business here was done.