Okami Wa Nemuranai

Episode 1.4

Lecan thought he heard a voice for a moment there. But that's impossible.

There is no human presence in the basic range of <Life Detection>. Yet, for a scream to be this loud, it must have been emitted through mana.

Lecan adjusts the <Life Detection> range and probes for the source of that scream.

<Life Detection>'s range is shaped like a circle, and the location of that circle can be changed. However, the images come up fuzzier the farther it goes away from Lecan.

--Found it. That's the place.

Lecan began to run. Starting slowly while gradually raising his pace.

He could run freely like playing even in a forest full of trees and branches by making full use of <3D perception>.

His coat is fluttering noisily. He's running while making sure his coat does not get entwined on branches. All the inhaled air turns into strength. Powers are overflowing out of the deep of his body. It felt pleasant.

He's close to his destination. There's two red dots. Which means there's two humans.

There's five green dots and one blue dot near those dots.

The blue dot is a bit big, and bright too. It's a strong magic beast.

Lecan slowed down his running pace.

He doesn't want to get in contact with the locals yet. He intends to check on the situation and if possible, leave without showing himself up.

He erases his footsteps and comes closer stealthily.

When he got behind a place with thick trees around, he could see the entirety of the site from above with <3D Perception>.

There's a wagon. With two women inside. The horse, or a creature resembling horse is scared of something, the coachman is desperately trying to calm it down.

One horse lies down near the wagon. A person is lying beside it.

One man is fighting a magic beast while riding a horse.

The magic beast seems to be the same type as the one Lecan killed earlier. However, this one is far bigger. It's about twice as big as a grown man.

The magic beast keeps charging at the man on horseback. The man is using his horse's mobility to dodge the magic beast's charges and slash back at it, but he only manages to send out weak slashes. He's not going to beat the magic beast at this rate.

Right beside him, another man who's dragging one of his legs are swinging his sword around, but none of the swings hit the magic beast.

Lecan received a shock.

There are two women and four men over there.

And yet, he could only detect the two women with his <Life Detection>. He cannot sense the men.

This is something that overturned Lecan's common sense.

<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>

--Do devices or abilities capable of escaping <Life Detection> exist in this world?

While still stricken by surprise, he activated <Mana Detection>.

<Life Detection> and <3D Perception> are always active as long as he's conscious. It's like how you see things with your eyes.

<Mana Detection> is only active when he needs it. Since it consumes mana even a little, so the enemy could detect you easier.

Cold sweat ran down Lecan's spine when he got the result of <Mana Detection>.

--These men don't have mana!

Mana is the root of all life. Mana dwells on everything that's alive. Even the smallest bug is no exception to this. Having no mana means it's not alive.

In other words, these men are human-like non-human. Repulsive imitations that assume the figures of men.

While Lecan was hiding behind a bush, the situation progressed.

The horse-riding man was hit by the charging magic beast and fell down his horse. The woman on the wagon fired a lump of flame toward the magic beast that was going to charge at the fallen man.

--Fire magic?

The lump of flame hit the magic beast's side of face, stopping it on its track as it screamed. The flaring flame disappeared in an instant, half of the beast's face has been scorched.

The magic beast glared at the woman who was peeking from the wagon's window, and then it charged straight toward the wagon.

Lecan had already jumped out then. He reflexively rushed out the instant he felt the magic beast would target the wagon's woman.

He rushed toward the magic beast at a tremendous speed. The men screamed out. When the magic beast was about the destroy the wagon, Lecan rushed out from behind the wagon, and passed by the magic beast.

The magic beast who was charging straight to the wagon slipped off its track slightly to the left and plunged into the shade of trees behind it. Lecan slowed down and stopped after he passed by the magic beast.

The two men stopped screaming, looking dumbfounded. After a slight pause, the man who fell down the horse stood up and noticed the existence of Lecan.

The man muttered something but Lecan couldn't understand a word he said.

They probably think that Lecan is staring straight at the magic beast. That is a correct assumption. However, Lecan is watching the magic beast through <3D Perception> instead of his eyesight. At the same time, he's also standing guard over the three men and the two women inside the wagon. He's been through countless battles where he was attacked from behind. More so when these people aren't necessarily his allies.

The magic beast showed itself up while breaking trees around.

It has lost its left front leg. Lecan had cut it off when he passed by the beast earlier. That's the reason why the magic beast didn't hit the wagon.

Lecan slowly approaches the magic beast.

--Alright, I can do it.

He could have killed the magic beast with the first strike. However, if he failed to kill it in one hit, the wagon could have suffered damages. That's why he aimed at its legs. Even if he couldn't cut it off, it should be enough to get the beast out of track.

The magic beast howled fiercely and charged forward abruptly. At a speed unthinkable of a beast that's lost a leg. With such a violent attack, a slight graze would be enough to cause fatal wounds.

Lecan put his left hand forward, dodged and slashed once with the sword in his right hand.

The earth shook as the magic beast fell down on the ground.

Its neck has been lopped off from above. Lecan knows not the name of this magic beast, but the neck leather of this kind of beast is very tough. Going from below is one thing, but cutting the part from above is quite difficult.

Lecan challenged himself to execute an exceedingly difficult feat. In order to clearly demonstrate, who's the strong one between him and this magic beast.