52. Death to the Living
A stall that breaks without power. Burning wooden buildings. Acrid smoke vibrates from all sides.
“What the f*ck is this…”
With my eyes fixed on the unidentified monster glaring at me right in front of me, I held the crossbow, my always trustworthy friend, in my left hand, and the sword Mogdan entrusted to me in my right hand.
“…Galan.”
It’s clear what he did. By now, you’re probably watching this horrendous situation from somewhere safe.
This sh*t. I felt a strong urge to pull my hair and beat it mercilessly.
“Robin.”
“Yes, senior.”
“You go to the inn and send Royman and Luna this way. Leave Sylvia at a shelter somewhere.”
Even in the middle of saying that, whenever the monster moved, it moved to a good position for a counterattack, and made Sylvia step back from her.
Sylvia, who took a step back from my gestures, made a complicated expression while looking at the monster in front of her eyes.
“Austin. Also, I’m with…”
“No. Sylvia, you are an ordinary person. Don’t get caught up in this, and it’s better to quietly take refuge in a shelter.”
“……”
“I don’t know how you fight, but I can’t deal with that guy with mediocre skills. So hurry up and evacuate.”
After hearing her words, Sylvia put on a complicated expression for a moment and she was confused, but then she straightened her face and took Robin’s hand.
“…Be careful.”
“Don’t worry.”
Even though it’s only been a few days since we met, I wonder if it’s been a while. Sylvia worried about me with a dark expression on her face and left.
She sent Sylvia and Robin off with a sidelong glance, then she looked at her again.
Chwiik from her mouth — her eyes met the one who breathed with a sound.
In the illusion that monsters and things other than me are gradually slowing down, I sharpen her nerves.
After a confrontation lasting less than 10 seconds, which felt like minutes had passed, he lost patience and rushed towards me…
“What… What…!”
From noble mtl dot com
No, what’s so fast?!
I managed to avoid the horns of the monster that approached my nose in an instant, and threw my body as hard as I could and rolled on the floor.
Gulp—
It seems Galan has sharpened his sword properly. This, if you touch it, you will die.
Don’t underestimate that it’s a monster. He is a monster Galan has remodeled over and over again. He needs to figure out his patterns and weaknesses as quickly as possible, and kill his breath quickly.
And fortunately out of misfortune, that’s my specialty.
Once again, I read the movement of the monster rushing towards me with my eyes, and this time I narrowly brushed my cheek and avoided the horn.
However, I was not alone in suffering.
While avoiding him by turning around, he aimed the loaded crossbow in his left hand at the guy’s neck and fired.
Too fast to hit the vitals, but the solid bolt went deep into his shoulder, scratching the bone that covered his face.
[ Kreukreuk…!!!!!! ]
“Such a stupid bastard. Am I being funny?”
I tried to smile and wipe the blood from my cheek, but honestly, I can’t say how quickly I can defeat him.
As I took a evasive posture again, the star knight approached me and drew a sword and stood next to me.
“When a disciple jumps into a dangerous task, the human being called the teacher cannot sit idle.”
“Uncle. The horns on his head are disproportionate. Since the right side has grown a little thicker, the right side will have a slightly narrower field of view. Aim for an opening on the right.”
“Sure.”
As soon as the conversation between me and the star knight was over, the unknown monster that had been glaring at us for a long time rushed at us with its eyes glowing red.
“I… I will stop you!”
– Kaga-ga-ga-ga-!
The horns of the monster charging like a raging bull and the shield in Princess Alexis’ hand clashed and sparks flew.
“Ugh…! What power…!”
“Hold on for a moment!”
The Knight of the Stars, who immediately drew his sword and ran out, turned to the monster’s right side and swung his sword like lightning, but he twisted his body at high speed as expected and avoided the uncle’s sword.
However, despite the speedy monster’s evasion, the knight’s sword slashed the face and horns a little, leaving a huge cut.
[ …!!!!!! ]
Perhaps surprised by the bleeding wounds, the monsters quickly distanced themselves from us and covered the wounds.
And again, the confrontation situation.
After wiping the blood off the sword, the knight of the stars took his posture again and said.
“Tsk… You only scratched the surface. Be careful, Austin. He’s faster than you think.”
“…I have to aim for the hind legs. Please join us.”
“Signal when ready.”
Put Princess Alexis in front, and when the star knight attacks his leg, I will suffocate him.
Okay. It is a simple and effective tactic. Do you like it.
I took a deep breath and didn’t take my eyes off the excited monster in order to aim for an opening.
I loaded the hook bolt into the empty crossbow and aimed at the monster’s left hind leg.
The monster that was glaring at us assumed a charging posture again, then turned right in an instant and charged at us.
The distance is getting closer. Twenty steps forward… Fifteen steps… Ten steps… And…
“…Now!”
“Huh…!”
– Caang!
Princess Alexis’s shield struck the horn of the one who rushed in, and the monster’s head was twisted to the left in the wind, so in an instant, the right side was empty.
The sword of the Knight of the Stars, heated by the light of the stars, passed through the right front and back legs of the bastard.
– Tung!
The monster’s body, whose right leg’s tendon was cut, tilted slightly, and at the same time, the hook bolt fired from my crossbow caught on the monster’s left leg.
When I pulled it straight, the monster’s large body lost its balance and fell over.
“Die you motherf*cker!!!”
I quickly severed the hook bolt’s rope and, gripping my sword tightly, ran up to him and stabbed his soft, unbonded neck.
Dark red blood gushed out from the wound torn by the jade-shining blade.
The monster trembled for a while, but before long, her legs were drooping and her strength was exhausted.
“Whoa… Alright, got it…”
After fighting a fierce battle for a long time, her body felt heavy at once. After all, muscles need to be trained without rest, and if you use sudden strength like today, muscle pain is unavoidable.
“Austin… That arm is numb…”
“Ah, princess. Thank you very much for your hard work. Get some rest.”
I received a headbutt from such a strong guy from the front, but it’s rather amazing that his arm ended with numbness.
I left behind Princess Alexis, who was shaking her arm, and approached the corpse of the fallen monster to look for traces of Galan.
After breaking the cracked bones that covered his head, he saw a wheel-shaped mark engraved on his forehead.
“As expected…”
“Are these traces of him?”
“It’s a monster Galan remodeled. Here… Gahlran’s mark is engraved.”
“Interesting.”
I don’t know what the hell is interesting about it, but I don’t have time to be like this anyway.
Just in time, we saw Robin, Luna, and Royman running towards us with their respective weapons in the distance.
“Here! This way!”
“Heo Eok… Brother…! You already caught it…”
“Did anything happen on the way?”
“We were a bit late as we were also dealing with monsters that looked like this on the way back. Uhh… it was so fast.”
Robin, Royman, and Luna also said that they encountered monsters on their way from the inn, but were able to kill them quickly thanks to the monsters being crushed by the wreckage of a collapsed building during the fight.
“Austin. What should I do now? The monsters spreading in the city have not yet been sorted out.”
“If we leave Galran alone, the next opportunity might be gone forever. First of all, I have no choice but to clean up the monsters that are spreading in the city while looking for Galan, and leave the rest to the garrison…”
Everyone in the party nodded heavily, as if agreeing with what I said, and we immediately moved to find Galan.
“Sup… Haa… This way.”
“…Royman. You’re really here, right?”
“The smell of filthy blood is strong. My nose is not wrong.”
If it’s Royman, then it must be so.
After walking along with Royman for a long time, I felt a strong energy from far away.
“…Everything stopped.”
Roy Man, who was standing in the lead, drew his weapon, and we stood there, staring at the black figure in front of us.
A tall body taller than Royman’s, a bit skinny, and a disc strapped to his back wrapped in cloth.
“…Galan.”
Galan, who was slowly walking toward us, stopped at one point and stared at us.
Galan’s blood-red eyes gave us a bad feeling as they licked and passed us.
“As expected, he wasn’t a hero.”
…A warrior?
“I thought you were a hero, because I felt the immense power… But was it you, the Knight of the Stars?”
At Galan’s voice, the Star Knight took a step forward and opened his mouth.
“…Did you mean to touch the hero?”
“You guys will get in my way. Especially… You, the Knight of the Stars.”
Galan’s pale finger lifted slowly, pointing at the star knight.
“Moreover… Knight of the Stars, this isn’t the place for you to step out, right?”
“…I have nothing to tell you. I will punish you on the spot.”
“Surely, it would be foolish to deal with all of you here.”
After saying that, Galan wore a relaxed smile even though we slowly surrounded him.
“Huntly. Drag it away.”
“What…”
At that moment, the corpse suddenly pierced the ground and began to swallow the star knight in an instant.
“Keuugh…?! What…!”
The bewildered Knight of the Stars cut off the rotten arms clinging to his legs, but the corpses protruding from the ground began to grow faster than the arms being cut off.
“Uncle!!!”
It happened so quickly that before I could pull out my sword and help the star knight, the piles of corpses grabbed and dragged the star knight and disappeared into the ground.
“These are the ghouls I modified myself. Do you like it? A star knight will have to deal with thousands or tens of thousands of such ghouls.”
“…Was Huntly here too?”
“Sorry, but I have no reason to answer you guys.”
“Okay. Let’s see if he won’t open his mouth after being beaten.”
We braced ourselves for battle, glaring at Galan as he slowly approached us.
Galan walked toward us for a moment before suddenly stopping, taking a deep breath and eyes shining.
The red veins on his skin began to glow more and more red.
“This smell of fresh blood… You…! You don’t have a mana core! Ha ha ha!!! It will be a good ingredient!!!”
“f*ck you bastard!!!”
As soon as I fired the crossbow, Robin, Luna, and Royman, who were aiming their weapons at each other, rushed towards Galan.
“I’ll use all of them as my research materials!”
The smell of blood started getting thicker.
* * *
“Keuuugh…! This disgusting bastard…!”
The Knight of the Stars, who was being dragged across the ground without hesitation, was soon tossed out with a loud roar.
Thanks to not forgetting to swing the sword even at the moment of the bounce, the sword energy imbued with the power of the stars cut through dozens of ghouls.
The Knight of the Stars, who had barely landed on the ground, looked around as he brushed off the dust that was rising up.
“Cough Cough! Go, what is this all of a sudden!”
“Maya! Light source magic!”
“Coke…! Ah, I see…!”
Familiar voices heard at first glance.
In a place where the dust had cleared to some extent, a party of warriors stood by the wagon, guarding the surroundings.
“…A hero?”
The eyes of the warrior party and the star knight, and the eyes of Gracie and the star knight stared at each other.
“Oh, Dad?”
“…Gracie.”
“Wait a minute! Gracie! Dad?!”
For a moment, the hero and the rest of the party looked puzzled at Gracie’s remarks, but soon they saw a man digging through a pile of dirt and coming out with a loud roar.
A shovel with a lantern dangling from the handle, a tall coat with dust here and there, and a strange muzzle covering the lower part.
Battlefield Undertaker, Corpse Collector, Huntly.
Huntly, who gained tremendous power with the help of Galan, lifted his shovel, satisfied with the strength of his minions, who had become reassured as if they had gained an army of ten thousand horses.
“…Galan told me to only deal with you, but it would be perfect if I dealt with the hero as well.”
“Gracie. Let’s talk about it later.”
“…Yes, uh… Father.”
While gazing at the warrior party and star knights in combat readiness, Huntly raised his shovel head and struck the ground with a brazen spirit.
“Wake up!!!”
– Quaang!!!
Hundreds of zombies and ghouls burst out from the ground in an instant, surrounding the party of warriors and the knights of the stars.
“Death to the Living! Take their lives!!!”
Watching hundreds of strengthened corpses rushing towards them, the warrior party and the star knights asked their teeth.
Anyway, it seems that it will not be an easy fight.