Krafft's Notes on Anomalies

Kupp put his hand on the door gate. A flattened wooden bar was loosely stuck on the wooden buckle. Such a door could only serve to remind the owner when it is easily broken open, symbolically signaling that no one is allowed to enter. enter.

In other words, there is no such thing as holding on to a door, because this door has nothing to do with the word "strong".

The feet seemed to have just been fished out of the water and had been blown by the winter sea breeze all day. They were hung with solid ice and were so heavy that every step was embarrassing. The delay is not enough time to come up with a better way. It is only a matter of time to open the door sooner or later. It is nothing more than active and passive.

The urging of a middle-aged female voice came from outside the door. She didn't sound like someone who had experience in disguising her emotions. Even though she was trying to act like she was just returning to get some firewood, the urgency seemed unnatural from Coop's preconceptions of nervousness.

But really speaking, there's nothing "normal" about being bothered in the middle of the night just to get some firewood?

He stood against the wall and left the door panel's range of motion to ensure that he would not be hit by the violent push from the outside. He reached out and pulled out the door bolt, "Please come in."

Deliberately leaning the door bolt against the wall, the knock was loud enough for people outside the door to hear.

The person outside the door started to move, and the sound of the soles of straw sandals scraping against the dust made him feel at ease. At least he couldn't think of any inhuman things that would wear woven artificial things obediently and respond to them.

The landlady didn't answer. If she were standing in front of the door, she should open it immediately instead of taking a few steps.

"What's wrong?" He touched the doorknob with his finger and opened a gap inward, which was enough for the lights in the house to form an obvious bright line at the door, sending out the signal that "this place is undefended".

The effect... is very significant.

Almost at the same time, the sound of heavy shoes, which was very different from before, quickly approached in a few steps. It was a man who weighed a lot.

[He is running]

No need to think too much, as soon as I thought of this, my hand retracted as if being stung.

The next moment, the door panel swung open and a figure crashed into the house.

The top, which is not much better than a hole-in-the-wall bag, reveals the shoulders that are still in a rebuttal posture. Under the dirt-sticky hair is a rough and wrinkled local face. The ferocious expression has deep lines on the face, and it is in contact with his hands. The mining pick has also suffered the ravages of cave life.

In his imagination, there should be an unprepared victim standing behind the door, about to be beaten to a bloody head, so he used the greatest strength.

However, this collision only pushed open the unsupported door panel. The inertia caused him to lose his balance and he threw himself top-heavy. The expression on his face changed from ferocious to weightless confusion, and he hit the ground paved with sand and gravel.

The skin was eroded all over the ground, and blood and sand irritated the exposed wounds. The man turned over and screamed in pain, trying to touch the mining pick that had fallen out of his hand.

What responded to him was the falling page hammer.

Following what he had learned in training, Kupp swung the hammer and struck it down on the man who was still dazed on the ground. In desperation, there was no time to hesitate. He only knew that this was a signal, like the order given by Kraft. It formed a conditioned reflex through repetition, and he quickly counterattacked after knowing the location of the enemy.

He came to knock on the door with a mining pick in the middle of the night. It couldn't be to knock rocks, right?

In the fright, he unconsciously used more force than usual. Coop felt that he was not controlling the weapon at this moment, but the metal hammer was moving him.

The steps moved out with a wave, stepping on the bloody upper arm. The huge pain made him lose control of his breath. The second half of the sound was like a large piece of gravel stuck in the spasming throat, and the bloodshot eyeballs bulged.

This was especially true because the man was still using his other hand to reach for his lower leg, trying to pull Kupra to the ground. But he had no chance. A dangerous shadow covered his vision, and the cold light of the page-shaped iron reached his eyes.

The wing design effectively reduces the striking area and concentrates the force on one hammer edge, giving the hammer that is supposed to be a blunt weapon some sharp-edged properties. Especially, the metal piece of this weapon also has sharp corners. The danger is obvious.

The toughness of the soft tissue was not worth mentioning in front of it. The metal embedded into the skin without any hindrance. Before the user knew where it hit, it ignored the dispensable elasticity and contacted the underlying bone plate.

There seemed to be an indistinct crisp sound that was transmitted along the metal and hammer handle. The clenched finger bones recognized it as the reverberation of the same kind of destruction, which made people feel instinctive resistance.

But the brutal atrocities did not end there. After the bone plate, which was designed by the Creator not to be used to bear force, shattered and inserted into the cheek, a water balloon-like thing was squeezed like a tightly held fish bubble and became jelly-like. Transparent material flows out from the breach.

This sphere had an exquisite structure, consisting of several layers of membranes with different functions and various appendages, allowing it to achieve a series of transformations from light to things that Coop could not understand when Kraft emerged.

But not anymore, these things have become unbearable substances, crushed and mixed together with the complex bone maze behind them, becoming a visual death of a mixture of solid and liquid.

Half of the man's face is sunken and collapsed, and mixed-colored objects hang from the potholes, smearing the other half of the deformed and displaced facial features. The thirsty sandy ground sucks the moisture that has lost its restraint.

And the person who created all of this felt like he was boiling, with inexplicable emotions heating up every message. Fear, guilt, and hatred appeared in turn like stew on a hot pot. This association made him feel sick, and he struggled to look away from himself. Move away from the results.

【That guy is dead】

Coop realized that he had accomplished the first step. No one could survive such an injury. So what should you do now?

Turn around, yes, he should turn around and take the next step. The experience taught by Kraft and coming from the baron he had never met was solidified by repeated training. When there are no enemies in front of you, you should turn around and check immediately.

This was wonderful, and of course saved consciousness from that unacceptable sight.

He picked up the page hammer and turned towards the door. The woman who knocked on the door was restrained and dragged aside. There were longing figures in the shadows outside the door. Under the torch were ferocious and frightened faces, as well as illuminated iron tools.

From opening the door to losing a companion, it only took two breaths. Their reaction was much slower than that of Kupp, an instant amateur. They even gave Kupp room to adjust. They looked at each other for a few seconds before rushing forward in a swarm, encouraged by their numerical advantage. Come up.

The leader swung his pickaxe at the hammer with a fearless attitude, forcing Kupp to cross the handle of the hammer to parry, while the long and pointed pickaxe danced in front of his eyes.

The small space at the door prevented them from taking advantage of their numerical advantage. The man increased his strength and tried to force Coop back into the house to make room. But the long-term life of a miner not only brought strength, but also increasingly serious lung diseases.

During the wrestling match, Coop unexpectedly found that he still had the upper hand. Faced with this situation, the Wood family has always had a way to break the situation.

The party outside the door put all their strength and attention on the mining pickaxe, and was pleasantly surprised to feel that the resistance was slightly lighter. Just when I thought I was about to succeed, a cool breeze blew through my pants, and I felt a sharp pain.

The most lethal and hard part of the lower body hit the most vulnerable part of the lower body, and a burning pain emanated from there. It spread along the groin in an instant, permeating the entire lower abdomen. The will collapsed, and the limbs were uncontrollably detached and knelt down.

The page hammer hit again, this time much better. It was impossible to see what was happening in the chaos. Coop could only feel something was broken again. Mentally numb, they just follow the simple movements of daily training. These guys are not as fast as Kraft's wooden sword.

Before he could kick this guy away, the second person pounced on him. The hammer that has not yet been lifted lacks room to exert force, but this weapon has many more uses than a pickaxe.

The hammer head stabbed straight out, and the metal tip hit his ribs heavily, interrupting the opponent before he could complete the powerful, heavy and slow swing. The bonus kick made him temporarily, or possibly permanently, lose all sense of strength. combat effectiveness.

The third attacker did not expect this to happen. After being stunned for a moment, his reaction was to turn his head behind him and call out a name with a strong dialect pronunciation.

Only then did Coop realize that there was a short guy wrapped in a burqa who had not kept up and was lagging behind.

This did not prevent him from seizing this flaw, and struck the side of the distracted opponent with a hammer. Several ribs were broken horizontally, and the softened chest rose and fell like a flail, swelling and collapsing. Every breath caused a tearing of the chest wall. of pain.

The injured person staggered back a few steps, clutching the injured part, and fell down.

Only the last enemy was left who reacted too slowly. He had not noticed the activities of his companions before. Now when his name was called, he started to move like he was waking up from a dream.

Like a puppet lacking self-awareness, he crossed the blocking limbs and walked into the light with a very awkward walking posture.

The figure that is obviously shorter than ordinary people is caused by the weird rickets movement. The clothing is not a burqa, but is made of different fabrics. In order to cover the head, face and back, no inch of the body is exposed, and even the lower half of the face is covered with cloth strips.

Similar to the outcome of some childhood malignant diseases, which resulted in joint contracture and limited movement, he always maintained the movements of raising his back and bending his limbs. In his hand was a small iron tool that was different from others.

Coop watched him running with confusion - if that could be called running, the curvature of his legs that could not be straightened made the movement of his legs go against normal people's habits, contracting and then springing up. It's like the restricted posture caused by the disease is being driven in an irrational way.

The speed of this weird movement was not slow. He approached the murderer who had just knocked down several of his companions. The iron tool in his hand could be clearly seen at this moment. It was a rusty dagger.

It was poorly maintained, but it was the only real weapon they saw in their hands.

This made Kupp alert, he carefully concealed his movements, counterattacked before launching a move when he got close, and then feinted with his strength. Although he had never deceived Kraft since he learned it, and he used it very poorly, he might not be able to give it a try here.

The hammer head was raised from the bottom, the ricket figure did not dodge, and the flexed wrist of the dagger was controlled to turn slightly. Considering the length of the weapon and arms, Coop was sure that this strange guy couldn't hurt himself before dying.

He applied more force, and the hammer head would land on his shoulder or chest. If there were no accidents, his first battle would be over.

No, nothing. A sense of emptiness appeared on the sure hit, Coop didn't even touch half of the fluttering fabric, and there was some kind of confusion in the scene where the firelight and shadow each occupied half.

The chaos spreads out from the rickety figure, like tearing apart a canvas, replacing one piece of it with another blank layer.

Familiar yet unfamiliar feelings, confusion and transformation, the target disappears from sight, and a sharp pain hits the lower back.