The Black Heritage

Chapter 11: Slaughter - Part 2

Two monsters at once tried to attack Ethan from behind him. Fortunately, Ethan was fast and had a sharp sense of feeling and immediately noticed the dirty bloody nails approaching him, one aiming at his chest while the other was on his nape.

Ethan leaned over and rested his palms on the ground. He raised his feet in the air and hit two monsters in the face with a series of powerful kicks. After the last crunchy kicks, Ethan dropped his feet to the ground and straightly swung his dagger horizontally to cut the stomach of the two monsters that were still staggering backwards at the same time. 

The stomachs of the two monsters were cut with their viscera's bursts out hanging but they still could not be killed, so while in a fit of rage, Ethan jumped high towards the two, stepped on both arms between the two monsters and from behind above them, Ethan pressed the dagger around their necks and sliced it quickly in a row. One by one the heads of the two monsters flew to the ground before the lifeless bodies fell while its blood was still dripping from their severed necks. 

Ethan ran to Penthelope who was lying on the blast of his father's body as he threw his dagger at the monster that was starting to devour her. The dagger pierced the monster's neck and penetrated. Its trembling body flew to the side with an accented growl.

The father and daughter were already both bathing in their own blood. Penthelope's chest was pierced open and her still-beating heart was exposed. The girl was panting weakly and was almost out of breath. 

"Penthelope, hang on. This will be over soon. Hang on okay?" Ethan said breathlessly. 

Penthelope shook her head as she gave Ethan a fine smile. "Ethan, I won't be staying long. But I want you to know that I will be happy in the afterlife because I was by your side before I passed away. This is the best gift you can give me."

"Pooh! Poooh! Nonsense. You will not die. I will not allow it. Hang on okay? Don't you want to marry me? Let's bet. If you don't die tonight, I will marry you. What do you think?" 

Ethan shook Penthelope's arm when he saw the girl's eyes slowly close. Ethan couldn't help but cry seeing the tragedy that befell to the girl. "I said, wake up! Didn't you hear me? I said I will marry you, so don't sleep." 

Penthelope smiled again and forced her eyes to open. She looked at him with admiration and affection. Slowly she raised her left hand and touched Ethan's cheek and caressed it. She blinked her eyes and whispered, "Ethan, don't feel sorry for me and don't waste any more words to make me happy. I have accepted my destiny. This is my fate and we can't change that. Since you and I can't be together, let's be together in the next life, okay?" 

Ethan burst into tears.

"Don't cry. You don't look good when crying. Smile there. I want a smiling face, the last I will see drawn on your face."

Ethan forced a smile for the girl. 

"You are really handsome. If we had only met earlier, it would have been nice." 

"Enough! Stop talking. Save your energy. Force yourself to catch up in the morning. I will take you to the hospital." Ethan knelt on one of his knees and laid the dagger aside. He was about to lift the girl and leaned her on his shoulder when she suddenly pushed him at her back and blocked herself from the nails that would have grabbed the young man. The monster's fingers penetrated at the girl's back even reaching Ethan's right chest. Ignoring his own wound, Ethan's eyes widened as the lifeless maiden fell in front of him with eyes still open. 

"Penthelope!" Ethan's voice echoed. 

Ethan crawled closer to the girl who was still hiccupy and had little life left. She forced herself to whisper, "You don't owe me anything Ethan. I save you to return the life you lent me that was supposed to be gone last night." Penthelope did not last long anymore and was completely out of breath.

"Ethan, what are you doing?" Logan shouted angrily as he kicked the monster on the head that was supposed to jump on Ethan and straightly chased the monster to stab him in the chest with the sharp end of a bamboo. Afterwards, he pulled its head just by pricking its nails deep and tight. It was as if he were just pulling the head of a frog. "Didn't we tell you to run away? What else are you staring at there? This is not the time to flirt."

"Brother, I wasn't flirting. Penthelope just died of saving me. How could I just ignore her?" Ethan said while standing still. 

"Is staying with her can revive her? You are only putting yourself in danger. Hurry, cover your mouth and leave. If something happens to you, you are not only going to hurt us your brothers, you are also letting Miss Penthelope down. She exchanged her life for the sake of your life. How could you waste it?"

Ethan's eyes glazed over as he clenched his fists and watched the monsters which were still constantly preying on the villagers. Others have demolished the houses and dragged the owner out from hiding into the corner with their mouths.

"Brother Logan, I am sorry but I am not leaving. I am going to annihilate these monsters." Ethan took off his shirt and tied the part of the clothes that had not been stained with blood in his mouth. Enraged, he picked up his dagger and floated speedily around in the wind. Ethan ran the blade of his dagger into each monster's throat. As he stepped on the ground, monsters fell with their heads falling behind. The cut is halfway around their necks. 

"I told you to run away not to kill around. Won't you really listen." Logan was about to chase Ethan when four monsters attacked him at the same time and his attention was turned to dodging and killing them.

So did Brayden, aided by monsters. Gladly, he was also good at fighting so he managed to avoid every deadly attack of monsters. Because of this, he could not get close to Ethan even though he tried to run over towards his brother in great anxiety especially when he saw that his brother was injured in the right chest. Even though he was exhausted and also wounded in various parts, he still did not lose sight of Ethan.

"Lord, guide and protect our Little Brother. If he is safe and sound, we have nothing else to ask for." Brayden prayed silently. "Little Brother, be careful. We can't protect you now. You are all by yourself tonight. We are sorry for that. We are useless brothers but please, look after yourself."

With the mind fully occupied, Brayden did not notice the approaching elastic yet sharp tongue of a monster who tied his tongue to Brayden's arm and slowly pulled and squeezed it until it stuck to the young man's flesh.

Brayden moaned in pain especially as the monster scratched the nails on his back, causing his clothes and flesh to be torn. Fortunately, it was something not serious. 

Ethan saw it, so he pulled out another dagger that was slung over his shoulder and threw it around. The monster did not notice the approaching dagger and it immediately cut the tongue in the middle that was still sticking out and coiled tight at Brayden's arm. The monster screamed and jumped while holding on his bleeding tongue that had not returned inside its mouth. 

Brayden nodded and gave Ethan a proud and grateful smile. He was very proud because his former dependent and weak brother was now able to save him.

"Brother Ethan, save me! Save me!" The villagers shouted for help again in Ethan's name. Alive villagers could only be counted on his fingers and toes.

There was no more fear in Ethan's eyes, but it was filled with anger and a strong desire to take revenge and destroy all the monsters. 

With villagers in the scattered corner, Ethan remembered to use his shooting skills. He pulled out arrows that were also attached to his back and shot the monster's one by one straight all to their fatal wek part which was the throat. Every monster fell at once. 

Ethan was feeling rejoice of a thought that they had all been killed off until at his last turn, he saw Uncle Simon still feasted by two monsters. The two recklessly stabbed their nails from behind the old man while lying down and hugging his granddaughter and daughter. He did not even give the monsters a chance to devour the poor mother and daughter even though they were no longer alive. 

"Monsters, you all die and go to hell." Burning with anger, Ethan screamed aloud. He drew four arrows and released them all at once on the bodies of the two monsters. They swayed to the side and angrily turned to Ethan. Even though the arrow hurt them, they did not care much about it. 

Teeth clenched, the two monsters jumped at the same time to devour Ethan but Ethan became worse than a mad dog. The young man also jumped up and met their attack with his daggers. The dagger was raised and it was ready to be placed on the bodies of the two. Reaching the middle while still floating in the air, Ethan slammed the dagger vertically from the head into the monster's crotch and split it into two.

Meanwhile, one foot of Ethan kicked the arrow pricked at the other monster's body. As they landed on the ground where in the two halves bodies of a monster scattered as it fell, Ethan followed successive cuts on the abdomen of the living one. The living monster would have grabbed Ethan's neck to break it but Ethan thrust the dagger on the monster's arms and it was cut off. Afterwards, Ethan spun around as he swung the dagger into the monster's neck and the head flew away. 

"Uncle Simon, I am so sorry. I hadn't protected you. I didn't manage to save the village and the villagers." Ethan fell down his knees on the ground right as he approached the old man and sobbed. "I am sorry. I am sorry. I am incapable."

Although the pain on the old man's face was evident from the deep and large wounds on his body, he was still able to smile at him despite the fact that he was dying. 

"Do not blame yourself for this heinous murder, son. It is not your fault and especially not your responsibility to protect and save us. So do not blame yourself." Said the old man in a broken voice. 

"But I have the ability and still I failed. I'm really worthless. I never did anything good. This was the biggest shock and disappointment in my life." Ethan punched his fists to the ground. 

"Listen to me, son. It is not your fault. But I have something to ask you. I hope you will agree and you can do it." 

"What is it Uncle Simon?" Ethan wiped away his tears with his hands.

"Save Jotun. Please."

Only then did Ethan remember the boy when the old man mentioned his name.

"Right, where is Jotun?" Ethan's eyes immediately searched for the missing child.

"No matter how I stopped him, while everyone was fussing, he slipped out and returned home to get his puppy."

The old man had just finished speaking when the little voice of the child suddenly thundered. It came out of hiding among the standing and lined large bundles of dry straw on the side of Uncle Simon's house when two newly arrived monsters suddenly jumped on both sides.