Free Web NovelAn orange sunset.
Wild geese flying in pairs across the sky.
A boundless green forest, rolling like waves.
Such a peaceful, beautiful scene—enough to make any Earthling marvel at first sight.
But Ye Chi had no mood to appreciate this beautiful CG right now.
By the riverside, a group of pale-blue slimes hopped around a girl who looked like she was only thirteen or fourteen in human size. They were bouncing, very excited.
“Phew... good. Even after turning into a slime, the Hero’s Seal hasn’t disappeared. There’s still hope.”
The girl with moon-white hair falling past her shoulders pressed a hand to the golden mark on her chest. Kneeling on a rock, her tone carried the relief of someone who had survived disaster.
At Level 60, the job-change function unlocks.
She could also change back from this unclassed aberrant monster body into a Hero, becoming the very first monster in the world with the Hero job.
Could other monsters do that?
Heh. Not even the Demon King could, right?
At that thought, the slime girl with white hair and green eyes couldn’t help but sigh inside.
Heaven knew, three years ago she had been the Night Hero, famous across the world.
Every time she cleared monsters and returned victorious, riding into the palace for her honors—the whole city, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ inside and out, would greet her. Red sleeves waving from balconies. Crowds lining the streets.
Only in moments like that, under the gazes of countless familiar or unfamiliar eyes, did Ye Chi—the transmigrator—feel a true sense of reality in this world.
She really loved that feeling.
But anyway—
On this continent, not too many and not too few people were blessed with the Hero’s Seal. But only very few managed to keep walking down the path.
Most died, or went missing. Later, years afterward, their corpses would be found by some adventurer in a desolate place.
Ye Chi had made it. She survived, and even became one of the strongest.
From an obscure candidate Hero to the named Night Hero.
Later, she used that name to form her own Hero Squad and established a foothold in this world.
Just like playing a game before she transmigrated, Ye Chi naturally began carefully selecting all kinds of party members.
Shield with strong aggro, AoE mage, elite warrior, buff healer... Whatever others had, she needed. Whatever others didn’t have, she wanted too.
She poured her heart into this Hero Squad. And the members repaid their captain’s effort.
Until one day, she recruited a special member. From then, the Hero’s fate began to shift.
In her memories, the slime girl’s clear green eyes dimmed.
She lowered her head slightly, picked up a blue slime that had crawled onto her pale ankle at some point, and threw it back into the rushing river. Her tone carried irritation at being disturbed.
“That tickles!”
Plop!
The slime thrown into the river didn’t even have time to bubble before a bigger slime swallowed it whole.
Ignoring the commotion in the water, Ye Chi wrapped up today’s harvest, stood, and followed the familiar path away.
That battle three years ago—no one could really say who won or lost.
Even now, Ye Chi still refused to recall too many details, or what feelings she had carried when ending that fight.
All of it had lost meaning.
From the world’s perspective, the strongest Hero and the most terrifying Demon King had perished together.
The world continued. The Night Hero became a legend.
That was enough.
No one knew that the supposedly dead Hero still lived—cursed, surviving miserably as a monster girl near the human border.
After nearly half an hour of walking, she finally saw a signpost. On her pale yet delicate face, a flicker of emotion finally appeared.
“Fengxiang Town...”
A small town at the edge between the Monster Forest and human lands. The place where adventurers picked up bounty quests, and also a resting stop for candidate Heroes.
With the Hero’s Seal and her memories as a Hero, Ye Chi could easily slip past the checkpoint at the gates and enter this human settlement.
At dusk, Fengxiang Town had its own flavor. From outside came the occasional roars of monsters. From within came the boasting and drinking of old adventurers. The smell of wine mixed with the faint stench of ammonia from the sewers. Strange as it was, it gave Ye Chi a sense of calm. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Not long after, shouts of alarm came from the city wall.
With a roar of wind, a massive beast-shaped shadow rose from beyond the wall, blocking out the orange sunset and casting darkness over the town.
Huge lantern-like red vertical pupils peered inside. Truly terrifying.
A dragon-shaped monster. Its level no less than 100—Ye Chi judged at a glance from experience.
Such monsters often appeared to attack human settlements, causing indiscriminate destruction and slaughter.
Among monsters, only a very few, like the Demon King, possessed human-like intelligence and the ability to hide it.
Ye Chi pulled her white hood lower, covering her pretty face.
She wasn’t worried that the dragon beast would break through the city.
Even three years ago, before she had led the allied armies to slay horrors and seal titled Demon Kings, humans and other intelligent races already had solid defenses.
Sure enough, before the dragon could act further, a streak of purple light flashed across the twilight sky.
Dazzling, like a falling star.
The dragon raised its savage head toward the glow, baring rows of sharp teeth, hot breath snorting from its nostrils. A response to the provocation.
Such a scene—Ye Chi knew it well. She herself had liked doing the same in her Hero days.
Soon, the streak of light clashed with the dragon.
A deafening explosion erupted at the wall. The shock nearly knocked people off their feet. Smoke and dust splashed high, covering half the sky.
Whistles blew. Squads of soldiers poured from the streets and alleys to gather in the central plaza. Under the gaze of a faceless statue, they marched in unison toward the scene.
The human alliance’s stance toward monsters had always been the same: kill to stop killing. Never spare one.
Soon.
Ye Chi heard the crowd’s noise—cheering, relief, excitement—spreading from the direction of the gate.
Clearly, they had recognized the person who fought the dragon beast—a named Hero.
In their eyes, no matter how many decades or centuries passed, no matter how many times monsters descended, they had never broken through the Hero’s defense.
No matter how strong or cunning, monsters were born only to be defeated by Heroes of justice.
After exchanging some rare materials from the Monster Forest for gold, Ye Chi neither joined nor watched the human hunt. She returned to her rented room on the tavern’s second floor.
She had lived in this human town for a while. Whenever she grew tired of the forest, she came here to relax.
Her room was lonely and cold. A few empty bottles lay in the corner.
The dim lamp flickered.
Without meaning to, she remembered again the days when her Hero Squad was whole.
The crackle of campfire. The heated discussions of comrades. The laughter of friends. The whispers of a lover. They all seemed to echo by her ears.
Sitting blankly at the bed’s edge, Ye Chi felt her chest tight, unable to breathe—until the patter of rain against the window pulled her back.
She sighed. Ever since becoming a monster, her thoughts had slowed.
Was she too caught up in the past?
Or did alcohol affect a monster’s body even more?
Her small figure knelt on the bed, shaking her head, patting her cheeks to clear her dull brain.
It must be because she had cared too much before, and too little now.
Given time, she would adapt.
It was already night. By human habit, time to eat.
The world was vast, but eating came first.
Thinking that, Ye Chi pulled herself together, barefoot, walking to the door.
Suddenly—
A sharp knocking broke her thoughts. She froze before the door.
Bang, bang, bang!
“Open up! Demon-Hunting Order inspection!”
