Free Web NovelChapter 164: Neither Monster Nor Human
"Hrngh..." Lily groaned silently as she slowly woke up.
It was already night when the entire group camped in front of the entrance to the Great Jungle.
Everyone blankly stared at the campfire.
They were all banged up and only applied first aid on themselves.
"Are you awake, Lily?" Louis asked, without turning his head from the campfire.
"Yes..." she replied softly.
She looked over to Sylvia, who was hugging her knees tightly with her head hung low.
Meanwhile, Ren was still unconscious.
"Dad... Where’s Mika? I don’t see him anywhere." she asked confused.
"..."
Zhen closed his eyes whereas Louis balled up his fists strongly.
"I’m sorry..."
His response was filled with regret and guilt.
"Wh-what do you mean by that...?"
"The king got away with Mika." Zhen admitted.
"What...?! No way...!"
Her eyes widened even more and she lightly stumbled back.
"W-we have to rescue him! Sylvia!"
Again, her gaze wandered to her friend, who was silent for the entire time.
And even though Lily called her out, Sylvia did not respond.
"We can’t." Louis said frustrated.
"But why?!"
Due to the shock of her friend being kidnapped, she temporarily lost her ability to think logically.
"Just look at us..."
"..."
Then, Lily took a look at everyone.
Ren would not wake up.
Sylvia was not talking and hid herself in her shell, which was unlike her.
Zhen and Louis were barely treated as they had decided to use the bandages primarily on Sylvia, Ren and Lily.
"Don’t you understand that we can’t do anything against it?" Louis continued.
"Even with Zhen, we were at the king’s mercy..." he added, biting his lips.
"So what..."
Lily clenched her fists tightly until blood started to drip from her palm.
"..."
Sylvia slightly lifted her head for the first time.
"Are we really going to do nothing and leave Mika behind?!" Lily yelled full of concern.
"Lily-"
"I know that we’re no match against that monster! But still!"
Her eyes were fierce.
"I won’t leave anyone behind!" she declared.
Following that, she turned in the direction of the jungle.
"Lily! Where are you going?!" Louis shouted after her.
"I’m going after Mika. Even if I have to do it on my own." she stated sternly.
"Do you really think you can do it alone?!"
Sylvia got up.
"I will go with her." she stated with sharp eyes.
"Still- Ugh!"
When Louis tried to get up, his body ached.
"Stay back with Ren. I will watch them." Zhen said followed after the girls.
He, too, still suffered from the wounds caused by the king but he was at least in better shape than Louis.
Louis was grumbling in frustration.
"Thanks..." he muttered reluctantly as he himself wanted to go.
Thus, Zhen, Sylvia and Lily entered the dark jungle again without exchanging any words with each other.
In the meantime, Mika found himself in a strange situation.
He was in front of the entrance to a small cave.
Two monsters from the type black panther were holding Mika down on his knees.
"..."
Nervously, he stared at the king of the jungle, who was sitting in front of him on a throne made out of animal bones.
It leaned forward and returned Mika’s stare intensely.
It was dark but Mika could still see a horde of monsters surrounding him. And their numbers exceeded that of the group from the afternoon by a mile.
[It feels to me like the group of monsters from back then was used as a scouting team.] frёewebnoѵēl.com
"..."
In his current situation, Mika could hardly answer the system.
"Speak up if you want to."
Mika was startled again when the white panther began to talk.
Hesitatingly, Mika opened his mouth.
"T-then... What are you...?" he asked vigilantly.
"I’ve never heard about monsters talking before..." Mika elaborated.
The king huffed.
"That’s because I’m not really a monster." the king replied, sounding like it was smiling.
"W-what do you mean...?"
"Didn’t you get a glimpse at me today?" frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"!"
Mika remembered the moment when Excalibur came in contact with the monster.
It was just for a split second, but he saw how the white panther changed into the appearance of a human.
"But..."
It stood up and slowly approached the confused Mika.
"I was a former human." it stated.
"...?"
Mika only looked up to the king.
"I don’t know how much time has passed since then but I was a human."
It shifted its sharp and threatening gaze at the monsters, who were holding Mika down.
Following that, those two monsters obediently let go and walked to the back.
"One day, I was sent to the Great Jungle because of a mission. I was traveling with a group but when we faced the previous king of this jungle, I lost all of my comrades."
Mika kept his mouth shut as he listened to its story.
"Facing the king and monsters, who were scattered everywhere I looked at, I thought to myself that that would be it for me."
It chuckled.
"Still, my pride wouldn’t allow me to die without fighting back so I resisted against all of them with everything I had left."
"And the next thing I knew was that my appearance changed."
The king looked at its hands.
"I had the appearance of a white panther-type monster, which was the same as the previous king. However, I noticed that my strength went up by a lot and was not comparable with any other beings I’ve faced in my life before."
"I had the appearance of a monster but my mind and heart was that of a human."
It sounded somewhat sorrowful.
It remembered the times when it attempted to escape the Great Jungle, seeking human companionship again.
However, every time he was near the exit, humans came and tried to subjugate it.
It was at that moment when it realized that humans feared it and treated it like a monster.
’How would it look like if I was in the midst of a city?’ it thought one day.
And the answer was clear to it. Everyone would run and cry in fear.
With its new appearance, it lost its place in society, thus it decided to live in the jungle, where it eventually became the king of the monsters residing there.
"You see, it’s not me, who’s hostile towards humans. I’m just trying to protect myself and my comrades."
After a certain amount of time passed, it came to the conclusion that every human, who entered the jungle was a threat to it and the monsters.
"But weren’t you cooperating with a demon...?" Mika spoke up nervously.
"Demon? Ah, do you mean Zantar? Rather than cooperating, I just let him do what he wanted."
When the two first met, Zantar immediately pledged to the king that he was not hostile towards any monsters here and just wanted to find a place, where he could hide for a while.
"It took me some time to realize what he intended to do but it seemed like a group of people had already dealt with him. After that incident, I regularly patrolled the place, making sure that nothing strange was happening here."
[That could explain the reports about the king assembling a group of monsters to escape from here since the king was most likely patrolling with a scouting group.]
The king crouched down.
"Enough about me. Now, it’s your turn to speak."
"..."
Mika tensed up after meeting the fierce eyes of the king.
"During our fight, I noticed how my appearance turned back for a moment. How did you do that?"
Reluctant at first, Mika revealed the ability of Excalibur.
"I see... So if I touch it, I will turn back."
"Y-yeah."
"Good. Then, let’s do it now."
"..."
[You can give it a try. I am also interested in this matter.]
Thus, Mika transformed and drew Excalibur.
The monsters in the area started to grumble and to emit their hostility until the king hushed them with just its stare.
Gently, Mika pressed Excalibur against the king’s right forearm.
"!"
Both of them widened their eyes.
In an instant, the white panther monster turned into a naked middle-aged man with a well-toned and scarred body. His grey hair was long and disheveled.
His beige eyes were hidden by his long bangs.
"..."
Tremblingly, he gazed at his body and led his hands closer to his face.
However, Excalibur’s blade would not touch him anymore, which led to darkness immediately taking over his body, changing back to his monster appearance.
"!"
His expression turned into a saddened and shocked one.
[I understand. It seems like Excalibur can only undo the transformation while there is contact. Once there is no contact anymore, he will change back instantly.]
"Isn’t there anything we can do...? I thought Excalibur could cure anything..." Mika, who undid his transformation, murmured to himself as he watched the king clenching his fists in frustration.
[We have too little information as of now. Therefore, we cannot help him further.]
"..."
Mika started to feel pity.
However, the silence was broken by a monster, jumping out of the bushes.
It was a fellow panther-like monster, who was reporting to the king in a language Mika could not understand.
"..."
The king sighed.
"W-what’s wrong...?"
The king shifted his tired look to Mika.
"It’s about your friends. They’re causing some trouble."
