Chapter 44
I’m translating the chapter into the required HTML format and keeping the special system/status content in styled blocks. I’m also preserving the combat rhythm and the nicknames/terms consistently with the glossary.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Countermeasure to a Taunt
“W-what in the world is happening? First mino-centaurs, and now hoggrifons? And not just one or two, but dozens of them!”
Baron Tomikan Kihara briefly wondered if what he was seeing was some kind of illusion spell, but he could feel no mana flow at all. He even pinched his cheek; the wrinkle it left behind was very real.
“Uncle!”
Whether the timing was good or bad, his eldest nephew by marriage arrived just then.
“Shrakhim! What brings you here? How did you get out of Auphocalypse?”
Ho-yeong gave a discreet cough from behind him.
“Uncle. First, please calm down. There is someone I would like to introduce.”
Shrakhim was clumsy in many ways, but not so oblivious that he missed the cue.
“This is the lord of Tamer Territory, Joren Tamer, the Byeonbangbaek. Count Tamer, this is my maternal uncle, Baron Tomikan Kihara, who governs Kihara Territory, ha-oidah.”
“A Byeonbangbaek? Then you are the one….”
Baron Kihara stared in shock.
Tomikan Kihara ★★★
[ Stats | Rank | Base Value ~ Max Value ]
Combat Power D: 12 ~ 19
Intelligence B: 61 ~ 75
Magic Power B: 68 ~ 74 (Specialty: linked chant casting)
Charm C: 33 ~ 40 (Still unmarried.)
Command B: 41 ~ 43 (His public standing was not bad.)
Mentality B: 49 ~ 57 (Quirk: he had no children, so he was sensitive about his heir problem.)
Edification F: 1 ~ 3 (After listening to Shrakhim’s distorted and biased report, he had a poor impression of the Guardian.)
*Background*
The head of the Kihara family, a line of magicians.
Because of some circumstances, he had been unable to marry, and he worried deeply about the lack of an heir. He had built connections by offering “gifts” to influential people in the capital, but that alone was not enough to put his mind at ease.
Ah. His stats weren’t as bad as I expected. He’s nothing like his nephews.
Ho-yeong was a little surprised by the man’s unexpectedly decent abilities.
“A pleasure to meet you, Baron. I’ll keep this brief. We heard your territory was in grave danger, so we temporarily recalled the dispatched guards. We traveled here by warp gate with the forces of Tamer Territory.”
“Then… what on earth are those hoggrifons? Don’t tell me they followed you through the dimensional gate?”
“Yes. As expected of a magician, you understand quickly. Though to correct you, it’s less that they followed us and more that we dragged them here.”
“What?! Have you lost your mind? Why would you do something like that! We already have the mino-centaurs to deal with, and you’re dumping water on a man who’s been struck by lightning!”
Baron Kihara roared at the top of his lungs.
“Well, I was trying to show you some respect as my elder, but your words are far too harsh, aren’t they? I came all this way to deal with the monster you couldn’t handle on your own.”
“Deal with it? What do you mean by that—what’s that noise now?”
The baron’s words were drowned out by the uproar.
“My lord! P-please look over there!”
“Me?”
“No, Baron Kihara, sir!”
Following the soldier who came running in a panic, they hurried down the corridor and found something unbelievable unfolding before their eyes.
- Ho-guuu!
- Minooooork!
The hoggrifons and the mino-centaurs were tangled together in battle.
“W-what in the world is going on?”
“Ah. This is a tactic called yi yi zhi yi. Use one barbarian to control another. The hoggrifons are fond of horses. The bigger the better, just like mino-centaurs. On the other hand, mino-centaurs despise eagles. So of course they’d tear at each other like mad.”
“So you meant to do this from the beginning?”
“Of course. I came to deliver your troops, and while I was at it, I dropped off the hoggrifons too. Or should I say recalled them? Either way, your territory’s troubles are lighter now, aren’t they? Ahem.”
The real main objective had been to get rid of the hoggrifons, but that detail could wait.
“Then what should we do now, Uncle? Shall we line up ballistae and snipe them one by one?”
“No. There’s no need to stir them up for nothing. We should simply wait. Still, prepare the ballistae just in case the hoggrifons take to the air.”
“Yes, sir!”
“And go fetch your aunt.”
Baron Kihara had regained his composure and issued his orders.
“A fair point. I don’t care which side wins, so I’m content just watching. Does anyone have popcorn and cola?”
Ho-yeong, too, settled in to observe the fight with comfortable ease.
The mino-centaurs, who had scattered to batter the walls, sensed the danger and gathered together. Even so, there were only seventeen of them altogether, so they were naturally outnumbered by the twenty-eight hoggrifons.
- Minoooock!
Still, the mino-centaurs had the advantage of the first strike, and in size and raw strength they were superior.
- Hooghuuuk!
The hoggrifons instantly realized that a direct clash would put them at a disadvantage, so they rose into the sky and surrounded their foes.
“Wow. Since they’re huge, this looks less like a mutalisk ball and more like a guardian ball.”
“What does that mean? Is that a knightly tactical term?”
“Ah, just talking to myself. Don’t mind me and go about your business.”
Ho-yeong was having a grand time watching the monster brawl, when Baron Kihara approached him.
“Ahem. Thank you, Byeonbangbaek. For helping us.”
He cleared his throat, visibly carrying some guilt.
“Have you received any word from the capital lately?”
“I have. Thanks to someone sending an appeal through the hotline.”
“Ah, so you knew? And even so, you came to help me….”
“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t come because I especially wanted to help someone I don’t even know. But the people living in this territory did nothing wrong, did they? I came to help them, so you don’t need to be too grateful.”
Something flickered through the baron’s drooping eyes.
“Uncle, the Byeonbangbaek also saved my life. I was nearly eaten alive by the hoggrifon, and he pulled me out of it.”
“Is that true?! Are you hurt anywhere?!”
“I’m fine now. My leg was smashed, and there was a moment when it was nearly cut off, but….”
“What? Your leg was cut off?”
“No, that was during the treatment process.”
The baron looked shocked. He glanced over Shrakhim’s legs, which were surprisingly sleek for such a massive upper body.
He’s kinder than I expected. Well, he did say he has no children, so he’d be especially attached to a nephew. If Shrakhim is his maternal nephew, then that makes him a nephew on the sister’s side. So the “sister” he mentioned earlier must be Shrakhim’s mother. Either way, even an unlikable pig like that is still blood.
Ho-yeong felt, very slightly, that saving Shrakhim had been worth it.
“I’m sorry. It seems I let my foolish nephew’s words lead me into a misunderstanding. Still, this matter—”
“I was going to confront you about that later anyway, so let’s leave it for now. I’m not about to let this become some half-hearted apology and be done with it.”
He cut him off; his irritation had not vanished.
“If you won’t accept my apology, then at least accept my thanks. I am truly grateful for saving my nephew. And even more so for saving our territory’s people….”
At the mention of the territory’s people, Ho-yeong’s mood eased a little.
So he’s not just looking after his own blood. He does care about the territory too, huh? The background notes said his public standing wasn’t bad, so I guess he’s actually been doing a decent job as lord.
He uncrossed his arms and accepted the greeting.
“Well, if it’s thanks, I’ll gladly take it. Ahem.”
“I will certainly repay you, my lord. Once this is properly settled, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“Of course I’ll take it. I did this expecting repayment in the first place.”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, no, I meant I did it for fulfillment, not repayment. Yes. Fulfillment.”
Baron Kihara’s Edification rate has risen significantly! Depending on the Guardian’s future actions, the baron may become an ally.
Ho-yeong was not exactly pleased. It was good if the baron turned into an ally, but that didn’t seem likely to soften the reprimand he was going to get from the capital.
“Still, this is tighter than I expected.”
The hoggrifons were carrying out a feinting strategy.
The nimble ones took to the air and aimed for the mino-centaurs’ heads, while the heavy ones spread out on the ground and blocked their paths, hemming them in.
“Oh? Covering both the ground and the sky at once. Not bad. Now what happens next? Neither side has a long-range attack, so they’ll have to probe each other carefully. Which side will go first?”
The airborne hoggrifons and the mino-centaurs were locked in a contest of nerves.
- Minoooock!
Whenever the aerial monsters tried to descend, the mino-centaurs swung their weapons high to keep them in check. But the hoggrifons, who could hover in place, simply rose again and dodged.
The problem was that the hoggrifons would eventually have to come down if they wanted to attack, and if they dove recklessly, they could be shot down by anti-air strikes.
Damn. What kind of fighting game is this? They’re both just saying, “You come at me.” If they don’t start fighting soon, this’ll get annoying. Isn’t there some good way to break it?
With both sides stuck in a long standoff and no attacks landing, Ho-yeong grew restless. His eyes drifted to the spear he had prepared as a javelin.
Should I step in myself? If I throw it with all my strength, I should be able to hit a hoggrifon hovering in the air. The one I hit would crash down and flatten a mino-centaur, which would naturally start the fight. That would be the trigger.
But the world did not always unfold according to plan.
But what if I miss, or fail to kill it outright? Then it might get aggroed onto us and come flying this way, right? In that case, should I have Baron Kihara make this spear turn invisible just to prepare for that? ...No, forget it. We can just watch from a distance. No need to poke the hornet’s nest. Hold on. From a distance?
Something suddenly came to him.
Remote Command.
The skill tree he had chosen as the reward for reaching level 4 in the passive skill Communion, Remote Command. Not only could it issue orders to allied monsters or monsters far away, it also affected his main skill, Edification, dramatically extending its range.
“Good, the range reaches. Daliha, how much EP would it take to edify a mino-centaur?”
Edification success rate decreases with distance from the target. Based on your current position, fully edifying a mino-centaur would consume 50 EP, with a success rate of only about 25%. Furthermore, even if edification succeeds, it is likely the target will be attacked by other creatures, so I cannot recommend it.
Daliha voiced her concern.
“No, I’m not trying to fully edify it in one shot, and I don’t need to. A temporary edification that gets it to do something simple, like throwing the weapon it’s holding at the hoggrifons, will be enough!”
The action you described would consume 1 to 2 EP.
“Huh? It only costs that little? Even if it’s one-time edification, that’s way too cheap for making a monster that strong do your bidding.”
The cost was lower than expected.
Command execution through temporary edification costs more EP and has a higher refusal chance the more the target resists the order. For example, if you order a goblin overflowing with survival instinct to commit suicide, he will almost certainly refuse. The reverse also applies. Recall Troll Spearman #002, whom you encountered on the road.
Was that the day he met Mr. Berneval? Now that he thought about it, he had edified a troll back then.
“Ah, right. It was when I was saving the relay station manager named Rio. When I told the troll to throw away his weapon, he didn’t want to listen very well. So that’s because of this refusal thing you just mentioned, right? He was already disgustingly ferocious, so of course he’d resist being disarmed.”
That is correct. By contrast, #002 obeyed immediately when ordered to attack Club Troll #005. This was because #002 was hostile toward the club troll, and therefore had very little resistance.
Ho-yeong grasped the idea.
“So that’s it. Then the same principle should apply to the mino-centaurs. Those guys want to attack the hoggrifons, but they’re holding themselves back because of the situation. If I tell them to attack, they’ll have no choice but to obey. My command will smash their restraint.”
Correct. Additionally, because ordering the hoggrifons to be attacked does not feel unnatural to the other mino-centaurs, there is no need to worry about internal conflict.
Having completely understood the logic of temporary edification, Ho-yeong acted without hesitation.
“Good. Here goes, area edification!”
Thus Ho-yeong edified five mino-centaurs.
『Take what you’re holding and throw it at the ones in the sky!』
- Minoook?!
The creatures were startled by the unfamiliar voice that pierced the taut air between them.
“If you’re going to do it, better hit them than miss. Blooming!”
“I’ll turn you into long-ranged fighters!”
Using his newly learned active skill Blooming, Ho-yeong raised the throwing ability of the creatures he had edified.
In truth, the mino-centaurs had already considered throwing their weapons, but they didn’t especially like hurling things and weren’t very good at it, so they had never gone through with it.
What if they threw their only weapon and missed? Then they’d be left bare-handed, and all they’d do would be help the hoggrifons.
- Minoooook!
But the five edified ones now felt confidence surging through them. For some reason, it seemed as though they could shoot down not just hoggrifons, but even dragons.
“Yes, throw them! Toss them like you’re hurling your hat on graduation day!”
The highly energized monsters hurled their weapons sky-high.
- Hoogh!
Four of them hit their marks, and three hoggrifons came crashing down.
Achievement Combination 2 unlocked! Guardian, you used two active skills in succession. Excellent technique. As a reward, you gained 15 EP.
Recovering the EP he had spent on edification and blooming was a nice bonus.
- Minoooo!
Inspired by their comrades’ success, the others launched their own weapon throws as well.
- Minooo?
Of course, most of them missed. The buff had boosted their enthusiasm, not their throwing stat.
- Hogri!
Seizing the moment while the mino-centaurs stood disarmed, the hoggrifons on the ground charged in.