A thunderstorm hammered down.
Bashabasha-gashaga, the sound of footsteps echoed through the dense subtropical forest as figures sprinted.
Amidst flashes of lightning, they screamed something, running desperately.
Their tattered clothes and the often-visible crimson stains marked them as defeated survivors.
Then, suddenly, their view cleared.
A shallow river.
Not usually a river, but in the dry season, it was a path for people to cross.
The defeated men clicked their tongues and glanced back.
There, lightning flashed repeatedly—pursuing them slowly.
As if there were no other choice, the men stepped into the swiftly flowing shallows.
“Thought you’d never show.”
Before the men could cross, something surged up from the water.
Five of them.
The crossing halted, and through the veil of rain, they braced for the enemy’s appearance.
There stood subhuman soldiers with crimson eyes gleaming in the rainy twilight—Lizardmen.
“Tch."
"Lizardmen, huh?!”
The defeated men staggered against the current, each gripping their weapon.
Broad swords, short swords, wing-blade spears.
Weapons suited for lightly armored mobile units—perfect for this region where footing was treacherous and soldiers rarely wore armor.
But.
”Is that all you could bring? How pathetic.”
The Lizardmen revealed their weapons with mocking laughter.
Great axes, chain balls, or two massive tomahawks each.
A collective gasp rose from the defeated men.
Even without armor, the rain-soaked scales of the Lizardmen deflected and repelled even crude attacks. And their heavy weapons could shatter opponents—defense and all—before they could even attempt finesse like swordplay.
Moreover, this rushing current was little different from flat ground for Lizardmen with their thick tails and low centers of gravity. There was no escape.
The men were overwhelmingly outmatched.
“But compared to fighting Overnights, a few lizards ain’t nothing!”
The men rallied.
And without fear, they leaped at the subhumans before them.
It was common knowledge that no warriors could match the Lizardmen’s stability in wetlands.
Too shallow for Merfolk to move well, too unstable for Humanoid-types—there, the Lizardmen’s awkwardly low stance and powerful tails became a formidable weapon.
Their transparent inner eyelids, impervious to water spray, surely contributed to their combat prowess.
But…
“You dare… a lowly thief like you, huh?!”
“Shut your mouth, merchant’s pawn! Don’t act so high and mighty!”
Before they knew it, it was one-on-one.
Most of the defeated… no, the thieves were helpless against the lizardmen, but there was one exception: the winged spearman. He possessed the skill to strike precisely at the lizardmen’s weak point—their bellies—with deadly accuracy.
The lizardman squad, which had once been pushed back to a 5-on-2 disadvantage, now lay in ruins. The winged spearman had pierced them one by one—first one fell, then another—and finally, only Gash Zapper, the twin tomahawk wielder, remained standing.
Gash had survived thanks to his exceptional defensive skills, rare even among heavy weapon users. Still, this winged spear thief must be exhausted from leaping about like a river cicada in battle.
Gash hurled his axe, hoping to drain the thief’s stamina.
“Tch!”
The thief didn’t meet it with his spear but instead dove into the water as if throwing himself at it to evade.
A tomahawk strike exploded on the surface of the river.
But Gash immediately reeled in the weapon. His twin tomahawks, family heirlooms, were connected by a dragon’s treasure—a strong yet thin cord known as “Silken Chain.” In this rain, it might appear as if he was pulling them back with magic from that thief.
And Gash deflected the thief’s spear thrusts, using both tomahawks as shields. The fact that the lizardman’s brute strength couldn’t break through his forged tomahawks was a small mercy for Gash.
The same thing repeated.
The thief knew he couldn’t outrun Gash if he fled on foot. And Gash, upholding the honor of the national army, would not let him escape.
Time alone flowed in this stalemate between two men.
Then, signs of reinforcements appeared.
Lightning was drawing near.
“Heh, time to pay your dues, you rotten thief!”
”…Is that so?”
The thief grinned, his face caked in mud.
Gash saw through the bravado—born from the thief’s overconfidence due to the approaching reinforcements.
He would strip away that false confidence, and with it, Gash unleashed his trump card.
“Then die easy!”
With all his might, he threw both tomahawks simultaneously.
“Hahahaha!!”
The man twisted to dodge the axe… but the razor-thin “Silken Chain” between them restrained him, forcing him backward.
Gash charged in. His final weapon was a tribal ancient martial art—a sideways tail swipe honed to break even a large tree with one swing.
Just as he was about to unleash it on the thief, a fist-sized stone flew toward Gash from beyond the rain.
”!!”
Without thinking, Gash weakened his momentum and caught the stone in his hand.
Beyond the rain, he saw one of the thief’s comrades—who he thought he’d defeated—climb onto the shore and hurl it at him with an impromptu slingshot made from a belt.
Before Gash could even register his frustration, the thief before him quickly rose to his feet, raising his winged spear from the water.
”!!”
Thrust.
Gash’s tail was severed.
The blade sliced into the soft underside of his flank, leaving only a single layer of skin before it dangled limply in the air.
“Ugh… Aaaah!?” Even a tail is a living organ, after all. Gushing blood, Gash falls to the riverbed. ”…I win, you lizard.” The Winged Blade Thief grinned as he stood up. Gash pounded the riverbed with his fist. A real lizard could probably lose its tail and keep running, but a Lizardman’s tail had become too developed for that. The pain nearly knocked him unconscious. He was weaponless now. He lost the moment he let his guard down. “Kuh… damn it… oh.” Waiting for the finishing blow. …But it doesn’t come. ”…?” He looked up. The Winged Blade Thief wasn’t there. Only a mountain of corpses and torrential rain surrounded him. The thief had judged Gash to lack tracking ability and fled with the survivors. ”…Damn it… damn it all…!!” Intense pain. Blood draining from his body. Humiliation. Gash screamed, riding the wave of hot, bitter emotions as his consciousness faded. “KU-SO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-OOOOOOH!” And then, he collapsed onto the riverbed. Even a Lizardman’s hemostatic abilities are weakened in water. Knowing that this could cost him his life, he was reckless from sheer humiliation.
◇◇◇
A rainbow arched against the dawn sky. After the intense rains of the rainy season, thick, beautiful rainbows sometimes appear. According to Lizardman oral tradition, those seven colors were the lingering afterimage and flight trail of the Origin Dragon that created them in ancient times. The Origin Dragon loved the Lizardmen it had created. Even after death, it became a spirit, guiding Lizardmen to paradise with a kiss at the moment of their passing. ”…A welcome…” Gash muttered, gazing up at the rainbow. That was fine. Gash Zapper, Lizardman soldier, had died in battle against a formidable foe. It was easiest to believe that he died from that one blow. But a scoffing voice laughed at Gash’s comfortable delusion. “Hah, you mean that thing about lizards riding rainbows to paradise? Don’t make me picture it, it’s gross.” “Who the hell is that?” Gash couldn’t help but widen his eyes and lift his head.
Gash, being a soldier and all, considered himself less prejudiced against other races compared to the lizardmen holed up in the colony. But that didn’t mean he was so eccentric as to lust after other species. Skin without scales or color gradients wasn’t exactly sexy, and he preferred faces that were more lizard-like anyway.
Or at least, that’s what he thought until now.
The bare body of a girl who appeared to be human, perched sideways on his hips while raking her fingers through her hair… He couldn’t suppress the sudden throb of desire.
”…Whoa, you got hard."
"!?”
The girl said it like it was nothing, devoid of any sensuality, as if bugs were crawling under her skin.
In that instant, Gash realized one of his hemipenes was already inside her.
“W-What the hell are you doing?!"
"Rescuing lives… Whoa, whoa, you’re getting even harder? Like, seriously, how big is this thing?!"
"W-Wait a minute—”
Gash was confused. Not only was this the first time he’d ever felt lust for a human, but it was also the first time he’d woken up to find himself already having sex. And on top of that, he should have been near death, yet he felt surprisingly energetic—none of which made any sense.
This guy was used to inconvenient miscalculations going wrong, but never the other way around.
”…Ugh, fine! Just let me do it!”
And so, in his confusion, he decided to completely abandon reason and rely on instinct. Having already resigned himself to death, he felt like dealing with things rationally was pointless.
“Huh? Huh?”
The girl was flustered by the suddenly erect hemipenes inside and out of her, but she hadn’t expected Gash, who had just woken up, to suddenly demand sex with bloodshot eyes.
He grabbed her waist and arms, thrusting one side of his bifurcated penis in and out without any preamble or atmosphere—just forceful riding.
“T-That hurts… Wait, like this…!?"
"You were the one who suddenly shoved someone else’s dick down your throat, so don’t act all innocent!"
"Y-Yeah, that’s not—Ugh, stop it…!!”
The girl slapped Gash across the face with her free hand.
Gash didn’t feel a thing and tried to keep thrusting. Lizardmen could maintain their position using their legs and tails, making them good at ramming.
He realized halfway through that he was missing his tail, and vaguely understood that this wasn’t heaven and that last battle hadn’t been a dream.
The girl had been slapping Gash’s face repeatedly, but she seemed to give up—or rather, she started feeling it—and stopped hitting him.
“You… you ungrateful lizard bastard…!"
"Haa, haa… Who cares? Screw you, screw you, screw you! You’re being disrespectful, making lewd moves while someone’s dying slowly…"
"…I’m gonna make you beg for forgiveness later, you hear me?!"
"I said I don’t care!! Oh man, this feels so good in your womb—”
Gash was now raping her without mercy, grinding his penis against the squirming girl’s vagina.
He’d had sex with lizardman women before, but this felt completely different.
Instinct commanded him. He wanted to unload inside the girl’s vagina. He wanted to force her to lay eggs deep within her womb.
He wanted to make her birth eggs filled with his seed, one after another.
Pre-cum began to overflow from the penis outside, and Gash slammed that one against her stomach as well while pounding his hips, finally ejaculating.
“Guh, ohhhhhh!!"
"Ngh… W-Whoa… This is tight… Haaah!!”
He simultaneously unloaded a massive load of cum into the girl’s womb and onto her stomach.
Deep inside her womb, on her stomach, navel, breasts, nipples, jaw, collarbones—
A shockingly large amount of thick semen was being ejaculated.
”Hyaa… damn it… my stomach’s gonna burst…”
The girl’s face was slick with sweat as she strained.
Her cervix was being impaled by a penis that had grown far larger than expected, and on top of that, she was relentlessly bombarded with an impossible amount of viscous semen for a normal human being—her navel area kept swelling up, then shrinking back down the length of the shaft in a relentless cycle.
”Haa… haa… a human female… nice…”
Gash was still fully prepared to continue. He’d been dead, so he had nothing else to think about. Or rather, didn’t want to think about anything.
But the girl finally slapped him with an open hand.
”I’m not human!! I’m a spirit, a water spirit!"
"…Huh?”
──A legend passed down in the lake and marshlands.
Somewhere in these swamps lives a water spirit.
Its power sometimes surpasses even dragons, and can be described as nature itself.
The people must revere its power and be grateful for being sustained by it. Otherwise, this region will become as dry as the northern Russell Desert—a barren wasteland inhabited only by desert lizards and monsters…
“Why’s that water spirit boning a lizardman, you idiot?"
"You saved me, and that’s how you talk to me?!”
The naked girl, freed from Gash’s crotch, glared at him.
”That was just a convenient position for transferring ‘ki,’ I didn’t need your seed or anything!"
"…Huh.”
He’d heard of it before.
Fuzhun Jiu.
A ridiculous health-boosting technique used by some dark elves and ogre women.
He’d always assumed it was just exaggerated advertising from the sex industry.
Never thought he’d be saved by it.
”…So… uh… why did you save me?"
"Why shouldn’t I have saved you?"
"A lot of other people died too, you know.”
Gash wasn’t some special lizardman. Not even the strongest one, and his bloodline wasn’t that prestigious.
”…Because I smelled something familiar."
"Huh?"
"The smell. That’s all. And I happened to be nearby when you were about to die."
"…That makes no sense."
"Whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
Gash felt dizzy. Saved me and that’s how you talk?
“But if you feel indebted to me—“
The girl took a branch (she’d picked it up since hitting him with her hand didn’t work) and smacked Gash’s head.
”Cooperate a little, Gash Zapper."
"Huh?"
"I want to see the Spirit Festival."
"…Spirit Festival?”
A festival held nationwide once every six months to give thanks to the spirits of heaven and earth.
Originally, it was supposed to be a wild celebration dedicated to the spirits.
”…You haven’t seen that yet?"
"You can’t just go and see it. The spirit’s core element doesn’t move where I want it to on its own."
"…”
The spirits are recognized in the country as an omnipresent, yet absent, existence.
The shocking truth that they weren’t quite like that was revealed to Gash, who hadn’t been particularly interested until now.
”No good?”
He sighed.
”…Fine. You’re a life I dropped and you picked up, so I’ll give it to you. …Where do you want to go? What should I do?"
"Yay! Well, take some water from around here… fill a bag or something with the water from this area…”
◇◇◇
Time passed since that day in the middle of summer, and the season for the Spirit Festival arrived.
”The season you’ve been waiting for is almost here, Heili."
"Yeah.”
A dive bar located between a desert and a lake.
A lizardman without a tail and an elf with an oddly strong presence were leaning against each other, drinking.
Gash Zapper and Heili Water. A veteran and a fake half-elf.
The water spirit, who made her ears long to appear magical since humans couldn’t use much magic but also called herself a half-elf so real elves wouldn’t ask about her origins, had somehow become Gash’s good partner, despite his tendency to get angry easily.
”…Hey, after the Spirit Festival—“
Before Gash could ask what she was going to do, Heili tapped him on the head with the short wand made from that branch back then, smiled slightly, and raised her index finger.
”We don’t talk about what happens before a fun festival starts or after it’s over."
"Even if you say that, I can’t talk about next year either!"
"Yeah. The most we can do right now is…”
She brought her lips close.
”What are we going to do tonight? Maybe?"
"…This nympho spirit—"
"Was taught by some perverted lizardman every night, wasn’t she?”
Despite all the curses they exchanged, the two seemed surprisingly happy.
(To be continued)
(Note: Since the provided text is simply “(続く)” (tsuzuku), which means “to be continued,” there is no additional content to translate beyond this standard phrase. If you have more text, please provide it for a full translation.)