Chapter 3. Of All the Women in This World, Mine Had to Be the One Ready to Eat Me Alive

Chapter 3: 3. Of All the Women in This World, Mine Had to Be the One Ready to Eat Me Alive

The system, which I was starting to think had a mean streak, helpfully reminded me that my energy was dropping again. I told it to go fuck itself and kept walking.

Finally... after what it felt like years of walking, I found her between two enormous pines, in a clearing where the snow had turned the color of rust.

At first I thought it was just a dark shape slumped against a tree. Then it moved, and I realized I was looking at a woman on one knee, breathing like every breath cost her something.

She was tall, much taller than most men I’d ever met, and even kneeling, she seemed to take up more space than she should have.

Her long black hair hung around her shoulders in tangled strands, and she wore a dark winter coat lined with thick fur and patched with pieces of metal armor that had been smashed and bent by something powerful.

Blood soaked her left side and the snow around her, and one of her arms hung at an angle that made my stomach turn.

But what really stopped me in my tracks were the ears.

Two black wolf ears sat on top of her head, twitching slightly in the wind, and behind her I could see the edge of a thick, bushy tail curled protectively around her legs. They weren’t fake.

They weren’t plastic or fabric or clipped to a headband. They were warm, alive, and attached to a woman who looked like she had just survived a war.

I had spent years of my life pretending, and here was the real thing... fucking finally...

Then she looked up, and pure survival instinct buried any romantic thoughts I had left in my brain.

Her eyes were a deep, glowing red, and they locked onto me from behind her hair like two coals in a dying fire. It wasn’t the look of someone asking for help.

It was the look of an animal that was bleeding to death and still fully prepared to take whoever came close down with her. In her good hand she gripped a long, curved blade that was also covered in blood, and she held it steady despite everything.

’Alright, Leon... this is it...’

’It’s just like what you used to do... seeing a lonely woman sitting on the bench in the middle of the park at midnight...’

’I’ll just have to give her some real comfort without trying to manipulate her."

But apparently, talk was the easiest thing to do. My feet stopped moving on their own.

I wasn’t a hero or a fighter, and my own body could barely stand upright. Every instinct I had was screaming at me to turn around and run.

Ding!

[TARGET IDENTIFIED]

[SSS-Rank Beastwoman: Wolfkin Warrior]

[Current state: Near collapse]

[Warning: Hostile response highly probable.]

"Thanks," I whispered. "Super helpful... Really glad you told me that shit."

I swallowed hard and looked back at the woman.

"Of all the women in this world," I said under my breath, "why did my first SSS-Rank encounter have to be one who looks ready to eat me alive?"

Her ears flicked toward the sound of my voice, and she lifted her head a little higher.

"Grrgghh... One more step," she said, and her voice was raw and hoarse, like she hadn’t had water in days, "and I’ll tear your fucking throat out..."

I raised both hands slowly, the way you would approach a growling dog that was bigger than you. "Alright, let’s calm down for now... I come in peace."

"Fucking wonderful," I said to no one in particular. "She’s beautiful, she’s an SSS-Rank, and she wants to murder me..."

"My luck is truly extraordinary in this second life."

For a moment I thought about leaving. It would have been the smart thing to do, and no one could have blamed me.

But then I noticed how much blood was in the snow and how her hand was trembling around the sword, and I realized that she was running on pure stubbornness.

She wasn’t strong enough to stand, but she was too proud to let anyone see it. And I can’t be a fucking asshole about this... I really need to lend her some help just so that she can survive.

Furthermore, if I walked away now, I would probably freeze to death by morning, and the radar would never show me another target like this one.

That’s a very selfish reason, and I’ll be fucking honest about it... But a small, stupid part of me, the part that hadn’t completely died with my old life, also just didn’t want to leave her out here alone.

I really want to fuck my first-ever real beastwoman, and this is the perfect chance. A wolfkin!

"I’m going to check your condition now, sounds good...?" I took a careful step forward.

"I said," she growled, "not one... more step..."

"I heard you clear," I said. "I’m just going to stand here with my hands up and talk like a reasonable person..."

"As you can see with your keen eyes... I’m not armed or anything..."

"Well, I technically have a sword, but it’s very heavy and I don’t know how to use it yet, so I’d say it doesn’t count... and yes... I can’t perform any magic as well."

Her eyes narrowed. She tried to push herself to her feet, planting the tip of her sword in the snow for balance, and for a second she actually managed it.

Then her knee gave out, and she dropped with a sharp breath that she tried and failed to hide.

Up close, I could see how terrible it was. The wound on her side was deep, and it was still bleeding, slowly but steadily.

The cold had turned her lips a faint shade of blue, and I knew that if she stayed here for another few hours, the snow would finish whatever attacked her had started.

"You know... You’re going to die if you stay here," I said.

"I have... survived... worse."

"You really haven’t... I mean... Look at your arm right now."

"Leave," she said, and she lifted the sword a few inches toward me.

Her hand was shaking so much that the tip wobbled in the air. "Leave now, human... and I might let you live..."

I should have listened. Honestly, that was the smartest piece of advice anyone gave me that day.

But fuck it! I want to fuck with her!

Instead, I kept my hands where she could see them and took another slow step, then another. I didn’t try to touch her, and I stopped a few feet away so she could see that I wasn’t going for her weapon.

I wasn’t trying to be gallant or anything. I was just too cold and too exhausted to think of a better plan.

"Look," I said. "You don’t have to trust me..."

"You don’t even have to like me... But there’s a big rock formation about fifty meters that way, and it’ll block the wind."

"Let me help you get there, and if you still want to kill me tomorrow... well... I won’t stop you."

She stared at me for a long moment. Something unreadable passed behind those red eyes, and then she opened her mouth to say something sharp.

Her body made the decision for her. Her eyes rolled back, her sword slipped out of her fingers, and she pitched forward face first toward a rock half buried in the snow.

"Oh, you stubborn fucking bitch," I said, and I threw myself forward.

I caught her just before her head hit the stone, and I immediately regretted it. She was a lot heavier than she looked, which makes sense when you consider that she was tall, strong, and built like someone who fought for a living.

My knees buckled, my back screamed, and I went down on one leg with an ugly grunt, but I managed to keep her head from cracking open.

"Fuck," I wheezed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, what do you even eat!?"

"Cows? Like whole fucking cows?"

She didn’t answer, because she was unconscious. I tried lifting her but failed... and I tried again and eventually settled on dragging her by the arms while cursing the entire way.

It took me a very long time, and by the end of it... I was soaked in sweat that was already freezing against my skin.

This shit better be worth it. Getting rewarded with some of that wolf’s puhh... pussy.

When I finally got her behind the rock formation, I dropped onto the ground beside her and just lay there for a minute with my chest heaving.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

"I fucking hate this body..."

The wind was much weaker back here, which was something, at least.

I took off my outer coat, which wasn’t much of a coat, and wrapped it around her shoulders. Then I ripped a strip off the bottom of my shirt and tied it tight around the wound on her side.

I’m no doctor, and I definitely didn’t do it right, but I had once watched a documentary about medics, and I remembered the part about pressing hard.

The bleeding slowed, though it didn’t stop, and I let out a shaky breath.

When I looked up, her eyes were open.

They were still red, still sharp, but a lot less focused than before. She watched me quietly for a few seconds, like she wasn’t sure whether I was real.

"Why..." she said weakly, "...did you help me? I’m just... a pest for your kind."