The Long-Whiskered Beast

Rumble!

“Roar—!”

A deafening roar suddenly pulled me back from my myriad of thoughts and into reality.

…Is it coming from over there?

After determining the source of the sound, the situation became understandable. Looking in the direction of the noise, in a massive iron cage to the front-right of mine, a black leopard-like monster was roaring. It was scratching the iron bars frantically with sharp claws, its two whiskers—longer than its own body—dancing wildly as a result.

That fellow had never been particularly calm; it had howled like a maniac when I was first locked in. I suspect the crew did something to provoke it… hm?

Peering into the distance, near that iron cage, the rookie crew member who had just passed by was panicking, his gaze darting nervously between the monster and his so-called senior. The senior punched him in the head without mercy, but that wasn’t the point… something had spilled out from a bag that fell by the rookie’s feet.

White… powder? Flour or lime? No, now wasn’t the time to judge that.

Bang!

The monster was slamming against the door.

Bang!

Once, twice, three times—each hit more violent than the last.

The two crewmen seemed indifferent; the senior continued his self-righteous cursing of his junior, seemingly unconcerned by the caged beast.

Wait, something feels wrong.

My gaze no longer lingered on those two fellows. Over at the iron cage holding the monster, with each successive impact, the swinging arc of a certain object changed visibly.

The lock. It had been tampered with.

Hey, hey, hey, this is no joke. If this big guy actually gets out…

Boom!

Other crew members who heard the commotion were rushing over. They seemed to sense something was wrong behind them, and the senior snake-man turned around.

The iron door was smashed open by the monster.

From my perspective as an onlooker, the fate of that senior was obvious.

He’s finished.

“Aaaaaah—”

A heart-wrenching scream, followed by splattered blood.

The snake-man didn’t even get to finish his sentence before the monster bit down, swallowing his head and torso in one gulp. With half of a snake’s tail left hanging out of its mouth, the monster—seemingly uninterested—gave a violent flick of its head, slamming the remains onto a pile of cargo. The corpse left a massive bloody print upon the goods.

“Wakakaka!” “Basala—!”

The crew members fell into a panic. However, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that several crewmen, seeing the situation turn sour, immediately ran out—they would likely bring reinforcements before long.

But none of that was what truly surprised me. What my gaze hadn’t left since the beginning was the snake-man junior who had been constantly berated. Of course, he had already fled far away by now, but just a moment ago—

A smile.

I saw it… no matter how chaotic the scene was at the time, my vision bypassed the forest of iron bars, cut through the surging crowd, slipped past the flickering lamplight, and landed squarely on that snake-man’s face. When he saw the senior who had been constantly scolding him turn around—

That guy smiled.

With a look that said “you got what you deserved,” he revealed a sinister grin.

It seems things are the same everywhere, whether it’s humans or demons.

“The only one I can trust, after all, is myself.”

Clang!

Just as I was lost in my cynical reflections, the battle had already begun.

Crew members who had brought reinforcements from outside stood ready with various weapons. Taking the lead to meet the monster head-on was a muscular male snake-man with kelp-like hair, his hands tightly gripping a trident to block a swipe from the beast’s claws. That silhouette… I see. He was the one who fished me out of the sea and flung me onto the ship, wasn’t he?

“Roar—!”

The monster, standing three meters tall—let’s call it a Long-Whiskered Leopard for now—howled in rage. As its long whiskers danced, I could see it constantly pouring strength against the trident.

“Heh.”

Yet the man showed no sign of struggle; instead, he wore a relaxed smile.

This strength… no wonder he could easily toss me onto a ship at least five meters high.

“Barbara-sa!”

A familiar voice echoed from the direction of the exit. Along a path cleared by the crew, a female snake-man wearing a black pirate hat came slithering over. The man fighting in front smiled and said something to her; the woman simply walked to his side, smiled, and patted him on the shoulder.

“Roar-ah!”

The Long-Whiskered Leopard seemed enraged at being ignored. It lunged at the woman, opening its mouth to reveal sharp teeth still stained with blood.

—And then, it froze in place with its mouth wide open.

Before it could even complete its attack, its movements were restricted in less than a second. Subsequently—

Thud!

It collapsed to the ground.

…The exact same move. The purple light.

Even from a distance, I clearly witnessed that purple light radiating from the woman’s eyes. The Long-Whiskered Leopard fell directly after making eye contact with her for less than a second.

Truly, if the heart, lungs, brain, and all bodily functions are restricted in an instant, any living creature would inevitably lose consciousness.

This is 100% a magic technique. Just as I thought—if humans can use magic, there’s no way demons can’t. It seems certain now that this is a spell. However…

It’s so fast.

The monster fell almost the very instant it met her eyes. But I clearly remember yesterday… I held out for longer than that. At least I was still thinking; I didn’t just drop instantly.

Or was that just my personal perception of time?

I’ll set that question aside for now… In short, based on the situation just now, the only one capable of using this technique is that woman—the captain. In terms of magic skill level, the quality of this ship isn’t great. While that counts as good news, even so, I have no way to compete with a snake-man barehanded.

I never learned martial arts to begin with, and the smallest of the snake-men seems to be about 1.8 meters tall. The demon race is quite sturdy—

“…”

“…”

Right in the middle of my deep thoughts, my gaze collided with hers.