She is not an investigator.

"No."

Igris shook her head, but the words she uttered remained unchanged.

Perhaps it was indeed Nyarlathotep's quirky sense of humor, so for that impatient fellow, Igris wasn't affected by every word they exchanged.

If Nyarlathotep really intends to misinterpret every word Igris says, then Igris will have to start to doubt whether that guy is truly in love with her.

Semia sat back against the cashier with a sigh, aimlessly gazing out the window at the noisy street, just like Igris.

It was bustling with activity, but there was nothing else to be seen. Even on the snow outside, all that could be seen were the footprints she and Igris had left behind, and nothing more.

If this situation continues for too long, it can make people wonder if they are hallucinating.

“I said—Igrid…”

Clang—!

Before Simia could finish speaking, Igris, who had been standing in front of the door, suddenly drew her weapon and raised her hand to swing it out at the air in an extremely strange manner.

With a clear clanging sound, a massive figure instantly appeared before Igris.

It seemed to appear out of thin air, standing at least 2.5 meters tall, yet moving silently. Its massive body was composed of brown skin and tender green vines, resembling a hybrid of plant and human, making it both ugly and powerful.

Its head is that of a male, with short black hair covered in dirt, his head slightly lowered, and a mask that has been partially removed from his face.

Igris recognized the mask, or rather, everyone in the shop recognized the mask.

Those are masks belonging to the border garrison troops, and they have a certain degree of effect in blocking visual pollution.

And now, judging from its size, it is easy to see that this thing in front of us is pieced together from the corpses of many people. Most of the corpses are wearing uniforms, and what connects the corpses together are the tender green vines.

It is a plant.

Trouble has come knocking, something none of them expected.

"Help me!"

So does that guy have to play a prank at times like this?

Igris shut her mouth angrily, and swung her sword downwards. The huge body in front of her involuntarily took a few steps back, trying to dodge the attack.

Compared to most of the larger enemies Igris has encountered, its agility is far inferior to that of the Butcher, and its physical strength is also considerably weaker. It even seems to be afraid of attacks and inevitably tries to dodge them.

The moment Simia spotted it, she instinctively raised the heavy muzzle of her gun, but before she could fire, Igris stopped her.

The weapon in her hand was clearly an anti-materiel sniper rifle. Regardless of how much damage it would cause, the sound of that shot would probably be heard by most of the creatures in the city.

That wasn't the kind of trouble Igris wanted. Besides, she had some more discreet ways to deal with a creature whose weaknesses were particularly obvious and which posed no threat other than bluffing.

At least when dealing with normal creatures, Igris never comes out on the defensive.

Of course, this also includes less normal creatures.

"You guys go first, I'll go hide."

"...You mean we'll hide and you'll handle everything by yourself, right?"

Igris looked at the understanding Simia with some emotion, while inwardly cursing the guy who was so bored that his brain was about to break down.

She wasn't going to speak anymore; at least not at this moment, every unexpected word she uttered could potentially affect her own fighting ability.

White bandages quickly wrapped around her face, covering her cheeks layer by layer until they were completely covered. Igris also raised the straight sword in her hand, pointing it at the big guy who was still hesitating in front of her.

It couldn't find a suitable opportunity to attack Igris, but Igris did the opposite.

Because it is full of flaws.

The Gods' Folly - Beyond the World: Chapter Fourteen, Facing the Enemy

"Are we...really not going to help?"

"She won't let me help, so I'll just obediently listen... As for you."

Simia glanced at Vicatina and gently shook her head.

"You're clearly a witch, but you look incredibly weak. I really don't know how you've lived to be over six hundred years old."

"Because I'm just a blacksmith...?"

You can't expect a logistics person to be good at fighting, just like you can't expect a detective to be a good cook.

However, since Simia had said that, Vicatina became much more obedient and quietly watched the battle from behind Simia.

Soon, her gaze was drawn to Igris's movements.

Or rather, the weapon in her hand.

"Ugh... Ahhh—!"

The big guy tried to attack Igris countless times but still missed. Instead, he was restricted by the narrow space at the shop entrance, which allowed Igris to leave several wounds on him with almost no pressure.

The wound wasn't very deep. Given its physical strength, Igris could have cut much deeper, but she seems to have recently developed some strange hobbies, such as... enjoying watching others bleed.

Therefore, her wounds were cut very carefully, to a depth that did not damage more flesh, and as it continued to move, the blood flowing from those wounds would only increase and last quite a long time, rather than flowing out quickly in a short period of time.

Although this is no more effective than a direct crippling strike in combat than torturing the enemy, it is certainly more cruel. However, Igris naturally has no sympathy for these monsters.

Once the monster realized that it had absolutely no chance of hitting Igris under these circumstances, it turned around and prepared to flee almost without hesitation.

This wasn't the first time Igris had encountered such anomalous creatures that chose to flee, which perhaps indicated a significant improvement in their overall intelligence and their integration into the natural food chain.

They will no longer fight for slaughter, but like most animals, they will fight for their own survival.

Igris didn't know if this was a good thing or not. Perhaps it would reduce the number of casualties they caused, but it might also increase their numbers.

From Igris's perspective, she would much rather these things be in a museum than in the wilderness.

Therefore, it cannot escape; at the very least, Igris cannot give it the opportunity to leave.

Clang—!

Igris' figure rushed out again, sliding across the street from the shop door she had flung open.

The sword in her hand suddenly pierced between his legs from below. After confirming that her attack had hit, Igris did not hesitate at all. She twisted her body and, with her strong body control, spun around along with the blade, cutting a long gash on his leg, and then flashed in front of him.

At this moment, it probably realized that it had no chance of escaping intact from Igris's high-frequency crippling attacks, so it simply gave up the idea of ​​escaping and slapped Igris, who was barely standing upright in front of it, with both hands.

If its body were as hard as steel as the butcher's, Igris would probably be very troubled by the current situation. But the behemoth in front of her was almost no different from a human in terms of physical strength, only a little bigger.

Therefore, Igris made no attempt to dodge. Facing the palm that was slapping at her, she held her sword in one hand and supported the bottom of the hilt with the other, charging towards the attacking arm in a cavalry charge.

The blade arrived before its attack, and with almost no resistance, it easily pierced one of its arms.

Behind her, another arm was about to strike her, but using the force of the charge, Igris turned around and used the hand that was supporting the bottom of the hilt to grip the blade that was still stuck in the arm.

He then swung his weapon violently, as if performing an over-the-shoulder throw.

The sharp blade pierced through the flesh almost effortlessly, severing the arm completely while simultaneously slashing at another attack in front of it.

There was almost no doubt that the consequences of a flesh-and-blood body colliding with a blade would be severe. However, at the instant of contact with the blade, its other arm was also torn open with a long gash by the sharp blade.

The fact that it wasn't completely cut off only shows that Igris's power was simply insufficient.

Having lost an arm, it would be almost completely incapable of fighting, and facing Igris, whose breathing had only become slightly heavier, it had no chance of winning.

Therefore, at this moment, its body underwent an unprecedented change once again.

The body, pieced together from countless corpses, suddenly began to detach, splitting into individual entities that all rushed toward Igris.

Meanwhile, the original entity took this opportunity to use its tentacle-like vines to drag its body away from here.

Clearly, its true form is those plants, and these corpses are merely nutrients it has collected.

For some reason, Igris suddenly thought of the file she had seen at the police station.

Perhaps that is the very thing in front of us?

"Hiss—!"

The split individuals simultaneously emitted strange sounds similar to snakes, and leaped up from the ground, rushing straight at Igris's face.

Seeing this, Igris simply held her sword up in front of her, and watched as those things crashed into her sword one by one, and with a flick of her wrist, they were sliced ​​in two and lost their life.

These things are quite different from the intelligence of the original body, so it's no wonder that it didn't hesitate to throw them away and prepare to escape.

However, it's suspicious that this guy isn't exactly smart either.

After all, a smart guy wouldn't be foolish enough to throw away his legs before running away.

Looking at the figure being dragged forward by vines, Igris suddenly felt a little sorry for it.

It dragged a long trail through the snow on the ground, and Igris didn't hesitate to step on the trail it had left and quickly followed its fleeing figure.

Finally, it stopped running and lay down on the snow as if it were dead, except for a few vines that were still swaying slightly.

Perhaps they were tired, or perhaps they had completely given up resisting.

Anyway, Igris was starting to feel sorry for it.

Just kidding.

boom--!

A surge of flames erupted instantly, easily igniting the chunks of flesh and vines in the snow, accompanied by piercing screams and cries of agony.

The flames will eventually turn its body to ashes and disappear from the street.

The Gods' Fool - Beyond the World: Chapter Fifteen, The Vanished Team Members

She stood up from beside the mangled body and looked up at the sky above.

Unexpectedly, at some point, the shadow covering the sky had disappeared, and the noise in the street had also vanished without a trace.

The anomaly seems to have ended, and although it's unclear why, the streets are currently relatively safe.

Igris waved to the two people inside the shop, as if to call out, but hesitated.

After all, she was afraid that she would say something strange as soon as she opened her mouth.

However, when Simia saw Igris waving, she seemed to understand something and took the initiative to pull Vicatina out of the store.

As of now, apart from the monster that is still burning, there is nothing else to be seen on this street.

"So, shall we go back now?"

Simia asked Igris, who nodded.

"Going back early is never a bad thing, and it'll save everyone from worrying, but before that..."