Chapter 44: Harpy
"Hic hic... Waah waah."
"What are you doing? You’re supposed to be a hero!" the woman screamed as I pressed her head down to the ground with my boot. "Give me my baby!"
"This thing," I said, raising the squirming, crying bundle in my hand, "is this even a baby?"
I raised the blade of calamity to its neck, making it look like I was about to slit its throat.
"NOOO!!"
There it was—the voice that seeped out wasn’t human. It was sharp and twisted. As I suspected, this creature that was carrying itself like a young mother wasn’t even human in the first place.
Whatever it was, it was weak, barely putting up a fight against my boot pressing down on its head.
With the least amount of effort, I could crush her head like it was nothing.
"What are you?" I asked, not mincing my words or raising my voice. "Tell me the truth, or I’ll slit this baby’s throat."
"I-I... I’m a..." She hesitated, clearly frightened with my weapon so close to her child. I knew she couldn’t hesitate for long. She gave a defeated look before finally answering, "I’m a harpy. Just like all the others you saw."
I knew it. Who flaps their arms while falling from the sky? Why she was falling, I noticed something strange in the there harpy’s movements—that was the second thing that threw me off by the situation.