Yaeko was startled by the sudden thunder and fell in the snow.
In the middle of winter, with the wind and snow raging, how could there be thunder? What exactly was happening ahead? What had happened to her Taro!?
All sorts of questions filled Yaeko's anxious and unsettled heart.
Just then, Yaeko saw her dog, panicked and fleeing back, with obvious wounds and bloodstains on its body. It had clearly been through something very dangerous!
Yaeko swallowed, stood up from the snow, and cautiously continued trudging forward, one step deep, one step shallow.
As she got closer, Yaeko heard a roaring sound from ahead, like a wild beast mixed with a human's cry.
Years of hunter's intuition and experience immediately made Yaeko lie flat in the snow, camouflaging herself, and carefully crawling forward.
Her dog, a well-trained hunting hound, seeing its master in this posture, also crouched in the snow, following by its master's side.
Crawling forward like this, gradually progressing for a while, through the wind and snow, Yaeko could see the situation there.
On the snow ahead, there was a green-skinned humanoid monster, rolling and howling in the snow. It looked as if it was injured.
Yaeko couldn't help but recall the thunder just now.
Could it have been struck and injured by that lightning bolt? But how could there be thunder in the middle of winter?
Yaeko also noticed that the snow around this humanoid monster was stained with scattered blood, she didn't know if it was the monster's or her dog's.
Perhaps both.
Looking at the shadow of this green humanoid monster, especially at the ragged clothes on its body, Yaeko tragically discovered that this monster gave her a sense of familiarity. The monster's shadow was gradually overlapping with someone she knew...
With a sad pressed lip, Yaeko raised her hunting rifle and aimed at the monster...
Bang! She fired!
The bullet from the hunting rifle struck the monster's shoulder!
Although Yaeko was young, as a hunter, she was highly experienced, and her marksmanship was first-rate.
Even with her current panic and complicated emotions, Yaeko would never make a mistake of missing. She deliberately aimed for the monster's shoulder, not directly for its life.
Yaeko just wanted to see what the monster's face looked like, whether it was as she had predicted.
Struck in the shoulder by the hunting rifle bullet, the wound on the shoulder could heal, but the bullet remained in the flesh.
The demon let out a painful scream, twisting around, revealing its green face and sharp fangs.
Although it had turned green-faced with fangs and an ugly appearance, Yaeko was familiar with this face!
Yaeko stared at this face, still lying in the snow, one hand clamped tightly over her mouth to prevent herself from crying out, but tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
"Papa... how could this be? It's really true!"
That's right, this demon was Yaeko's father.
This demon was the so-called man-eating bear that had already devoured nearly twenty people!
Seeing that this monster was indeed her father, Yaeko's heart was twisted in agony. She couldn't help but recall the tragic past, the horrifying catastrophe that had wiped out her family.
Indeed, there was no such thing as a man-eating bear here, only a man-eating demon like this.
Back then, Yaeko, returning from hunting, found her home covered in blood, and the scattered bodies of her family members.
Her father, for some unknown reason, had turned into a monster, gnawing on his own family!
The father, who had turned into a terrifying monster, had run away without looking back after seeing her!
Another human tragedy, and the world gained another tormented soul.
Watching her demon father twisting and rolling in the snow, Yaeko, lying there, suffered immensely, silently shedding tears.
She had never found her father before, only allowing him to continue eating people, to continue harming lives.
Now that she had found him, she couldn't just stand by. Even if he was her father, she had to deal with him, to set her father free!
Thinking this, Yaeko painfully raised her gun again, pointing the muzzle at her demon father.
Bang! The second shot rang out!
This shot, Yaeko didn't miss. The bullet hit the demon's head squarely. Half of her father's head was blown off! Red and white matter scattered across the snow!
Yaeko leaned on her hunting rifle, kneeling in the snow, tears flowing like a broken dam. She cried uncontrollably.
For a child, being forced to kill her own father with her own hands, how painful an ordeal this was.
However, it wasn't over yet.
Yaeko suddenly heard a sound from ahead.
She looked up. Her father, even with half his head blown off, could still move!
Not only could he move, but the half-blown head was rapidly regenerating!
At this moment, Yaeko remembered something Horitake had said earlier today:
"Demons possess astonishing regenerative and recovery abilities."
But this regeneration and recovery were too absurd, weren't they!? Half its head blown off! And still rapidly regenerating! Is this what a demon is!?
As Yaeko stood in shock, her father had fully recovered. He bared his fangs, ignoring the gushing, unhealing wounds on his chest, and with a cruel expression, lunged at Yaeko!
Yaeko was terrified. She hastily reloaded her hunting rifle.
Unfortunately, it was too late. The demon's speed was too fast!
Her father, now a demon, howled, cruelly knocking Yaeko down, and with his fanged mouth, moved to bite Yaeko's neck!
Fortunately, at the last moment, Yaeko held up her hunting rifle horizontally, wedging it into her father's mouth. She held him at bay like this, desperately resisting her father's pounce and bite!
The hunting rifle's material was very sturdy; even with the demon's bite force, it couldn't be broken immediately.
Yaeko resisted with all her might, looking at her father, who had become a demon, at his terrifying, grotesque appearance with a green face and fangs, at the sin that covered his entire body.
The demon's strength was too great, and her fever had just subsided. She couldn't resist him.
Was she... going to be eaten by her own father? Was she going to be killed by her own father?
If that's the case... back when you ate my family! Why did you leave me and run away alone! Now you're coming to eat me too, what kind of person are you, really!?
"Papa..."
Yaeko cried out, calling for her father.
This cry of "Papa" seemed to regain a shred of his humanity. Her father, who was about to bite and devour his own child, at this moment, his chaotic eyes seemed to regain a moment of clarity.
His upper and lower fangs were jammed between the hunting rifle, and with a trembling sound, he uttered:
"Yae... ko..."
Although he made such a sound, and although he seemed to recognize his child, the cruel nature of a demon still drove him to bite and kill.
Suddenly, a swift wind blade shot out from the wind and snow!
This wind blade immediately sent the demon flying, leaving a large wound on its body. The demon spewed blood as it flew through the air, finally crashing onto the snow.
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