The Reaper of the Wheat Fields and the Heavy Smoker (10)
The name I’d first heard when Gentric explained the request. It referred to those damn bonodeer. ‘─Where’s Franc?’ That was the first thing that crossed my mind. I flung the scythe aside and drew the sword from my back. It would be tragic if the others got beaten into vegetative states for the next hundred and twenty years, but the thought of Franc getting hurt was a hundred times more horrifying.
“Aaaaghmi.”
I strained my ears at the sound, but all that came out of my mouth was a curse. Screams and the clamor of battle echoed from every direction, making it impossible to pinpoint anything.
“Magic!!! Is there no mage here?!?!”
“Aaaaaargh!!! There’s a shit-ton of them!!!!”
“Gek!! Gek!! Gek!! Gek!! Gek!!”
“Whyyyyyyyyy!!! (Food!!!)”
Thudthudthudthudthudthud!!
The bonodeer’s main weapon was punching. Or maybe it was more accurate to call it “hoof-stomping.” Either way, the sound of adventurers getting pummeled as the creatures passed by was exactly like someone taking a baseball bat to a sandbag. The trained forelegs of wild animals were not to be underestimated. Humans are such fragile creatures that they have to risk their lives even when fighting a golden retriever.
Earth’s bonodeer also rear up on their hind legs and strike with their front hooves. But these ones fully utilized the advantages of bipedal movement, unleashing merciless barrages filled with murderous intent. What a brutally vicious omnivore.
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump!!
Right in front of me, someone was getting tastefully tenderized. It was a young-looking auntie, though I couldn’t tell if she was an adventurer or a serf. Her armor and equipment looked no better than ordinary clothes.
“Guhk…!!”
Even as she was being pounded by those massive hooves, the auntie kept her guard up. But after taking a few hits, the pain must have drained her strength—her arms dropped. That left her skull wide open to a direct strike, and she collapsed.
Thump.
The bonodeer didn’t seem to know whether it had come to devour wheat or to kill people. It climbed on top of the fallen woman and began raining down a bonodeer rush from a full mount position. A brutal performance of violence, performed on human skin, was now unfolding in this wheat field!
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! (Die!!!!)”
Because it was a wild animal, my translation function rendered its speech in a low-class, crude tone. Even while spitting out idiotic-sounding threats and delivering those savage barrages, its bright, sparkling eyes never wavered. The walking bonodeer was a paradoxical creature—like an angel of slaughter fallen into hell!!
Even though I was desperately busy looking for Franc, I couldn’t just ignore this. If I left it alone, that person was going to end up a corpse!
“Bicheonsamgeom Style──.”
I lowered the drawn sword and activated the technique.
“──Three-Flash!!”
Three-Flash was a move that unleashed three slashes in succession. It was a secret art that sequentially severed the arm, torso, and head to incapacitate and kill the enemy! You could call it an isekai-style remix of the modern shooting principle “three in the chest, one in the head.”
It was barely even worthy of being called a technique, but with my overwhelming strength, fancy techniques weren’t necessary. If an Earth hero is fighting for the suffering common people, what does it matter if the technique is crude! With bear-like brute force, I swung my sword and sliced the bonodeer apart.
Slice!
Thud!
Crunch!
“Kweeeeeeeeaaaaaaa!!! (It hurts!!!)”
The finishing blow had been sloppy, so the bonodeer didn’t die instantly. It flopped over and thrashed around in agony. The auntie who had barely survived sobbed as she spoke.
“Th-thank you!!”
“Save the thanks and go find Hotulusil right now! Wait, damn it, not Hotulusil—who was it again? Anyway, go tell the straw-hat smoker uncle to cast some magic!”
“O-okay!!”
──Dash!!
The adventurer auntie sprinted off toward who-knows-where. The walking bonodeer was still not dead, bleeding all over the wheat field, but I left it alone. I was already insanely busy; I didn’t have time to waste stabbing a creature that was going to die anyway. So who was it again? Right, Hotulusil. If that damn elf could use magic, maybe he could put an end to this mess.
That’s what I thought, but at the same time, doubt crept in. In this chaotic melee, was it even possible to selectively target only the walking bonodeer? If not, it would be easier to just wipe them all out with an area-of-effect spell. But if he did that, the wheat field wouldn’t survive either. It would end up looking like the skin of a pockmarked boy who popped every pimple the moment it appeared during puberty.
“Fuck it, I don’t know!!”
Anyway, that was Hotulusil’s problem to figure out. Other things might be someone else’s responsibility, but protecting Franc was something only I could do—something only I had to do. Where was Franc? She was probably at the threshing area where they moved the harvested wheat to separate the grains. I set everything else aside and sprinted there.
“Hiiii──.”
At the second harvesting shed I reached, I finally spotted Franc. She was facing off against a single walking bonodeer with a cart full of harvested crops between them. It looked exactly like Tom and Jerry dodging around a pillar!!
“Whyyyyyyyyy!!!! (Food!!!!)”
The walking bonodeer raged and rampaged. Its gaze was like that of a Tinkerbell who had occupied the cafeteria on the day samgyetang and stir-fried pork were served!! The creature climbed onto the cart and swung its arm at Franc!!
“Eek!”
Franc dodged in surprise. Whether by luck or skill, her counterattack with the hammer she’d pulled out sent chunks of flesh flying from the bonodeer’s torso, as if she’d struck rotten wood.
“Waaang!!”
With a dying scream, the walking bonodeer perished. Franc had succeeded in dodging and counterattacking at the same time with light, nimble movements.
“Whyhuuaaaaaaaa!! (Friend!!)”
“Whyhuuaaa waaaaang!! (Friend is hurt!!)”
But before I could arrive, new bonodeer appeared around Franc. They had gathered after seeing their comrade beaten to death. Surrounded by several of the creatures, Franc’s face turned deathly pale. Seeing her pitiful state, rage surged through me from head to toe.
“You fucking deer subspecies bastards!!!!!!!!!”
Mere beasts daring to torment our Franc!!!
Shwaaaaaaaaak!!
As unbelievable fury engulfed my body, it felt as if the output of Beast Regression had risen even higher. The speed at which the wheat field scenery flew past me increased. But the distance I needed to cover was still far too great. In that instant, I used a flash of wit and shouted!!
“Whyuuuak, whyaaauuuuaaaak!! (Get over here, you idiot bastards!!)”
The bonodeer language rang out!!
“Whyuuuak, whyaaauuuuaaaak!! (Get over here, you idiot bastards!!)”
─Whoosh!
The primitive animal-call conversation made all the walking bonodeer simultaneously turn their heads toward me. Just like meerkats. Under normal circumstances, their perfect synchronization might have given me chills, but seeing Franc scared had already pushed me past the point of caring.
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! (Food!!!)”
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! (Food!!!)”
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! (Food!!!)”
The five bonodeer, furious at being insulted, charged straight at me. But they were still nothing but beasts. Their movements were nothing more than an attempt to surround me without any formation or coordination.
Swooooosh!!
I swung my sword-holding fist and smashed the face of the foremost walking bonodeer.
“Go die, you son of a bitch!!!”
“Waaang!!!”
Crunch!!
The moment my fist connected, the bonodeer’s face exploded in a grotesque display that looked like a stomped watermelon. Blood splattered everywhere, including on me, but I didn’t care.
“Whyuuuaaaaak!! (Scary!!)”
“Whyuuuaaaaak!! (Scary!!)”
The terrified bonodeer hurriedly stopped, switched to quadrupedal movement, and scattered. That bastard picks a fight and then runs away the moment it gets scared? I was extremely pissed, but instead of chasing the fleeing creatures, I chose to check on Franc’s condition first.
“Franc!”
I ran to her in a panic. If she was even slightly injured, I needed to treat her immediately to prevent any lasting effects.
“Nord! Are you hurt anywhere?!”
Franc, recognizing me, pushed back her hood and spoke.
“That’s my line. Are you okay, Franc?”
“Hehe. I dodged everything. See? I’m perfectly fine, right?”
Franc swung both arms wide in a jumping-jack motion. She didn’t seem to be bluffing. Thank fuck. I felt like my liver was about to drop out of my body.
Whoosh─.
Once I confirmed Franc was unharmed, the rage inside me toward those bonodeer bastards burned even hotter. ‘They’re dead. For real.’ How dare they lay a hand on my girlfriend? I could forgive someone for messing with me, but anyone who touched my thesis or Franc would never be let off.
“Wait here. I’ll go slaughter every last one of them and come back.”
“Ah, okay. Got it. You can’t get hurt either, Nord, okay?”
“Yeah.”
As long as I had Beast Regression, getting hurt was difficult. In a one-versus-many battle, the most important thing was the skill to protect your own body. You could call it the art of not getting hit. Wide-area annihilation techniques or nimble movements that dodge every attack were prime examples. I was neither. If anything, I was the type of heavy warrior who took hits and endured with raw durability. With the defensive power of Beast Regression, it wouldn’t be difficult at all.
“I’ll be back!”
With those final words, I surrendered my body to rage. Like a distorted little locomotive straight out of a horror game on NewTube, I rampaged through the bonodeer with murderous momentum. Who’s the half-human half-beast? I’m the half-human half-beast! Half-human, half-Vector-Man!
“Dynamite!!”
“Waaang!!!”
I unleashed the wild nature of an Earth hero without restraint. I skewered a bonodeer on my fist, then used a giant swing to smash it like a hammer into its friend.
Boooom!!
“Whyuuuaaaaak!! (Scary!!)”
“Whyuuuaaaaak!! (Scary!!)”
After turning about five of them into pulp, the remaining walking bonodeer started fleeing in quadrupedal mode the moment I approached, even if they were in the middle of eating. With Beast Regression active, I was faster than them, but chasing each one down to kill them was incredibly annoying.
“Don’t run!! Don’t run from your fate!!”
I shouted like the grim reaper. The bonodeer had a crude language system. There was no way to convey my rage to them. When those bastards got angry, they just stood up and started windmilling with their front legs; the concept of expressing anger through words didn’t even exist for them!! So the only phrase my boiling fury could produce in the bonodeer language was this.
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! (Die!!!!)”
“Whyuuuaaaaaaaaak!! (Scary!!)”
I chased down the zigzagging quadrupedal bonodeer and beat them to death. My entire body was drenched in the stench of blood, and the sword I had used so violently was also covered in gore, its edge completely dulled.
“Tsk.”
This was exactly why I hated these primitive weapons. I clicked my tongue and was about to wipe the blade when─
─Thud.
With a heavy footstep, a massive walking bonodeer appeared. It was noticeably larger than the ones I had killed so far.
“──So you’re the boss of the bonodeer.”
King Walking Bonodeer had come to kill me after I slaughtered its subordinates.
“Whyyyak.”
A deep, resonant voice befitting an overlord! Its face still looked stupidly docile, but my senses could clearly feel the aura emanating from the bonodeer king.
─Tingle. Tingle.
The sensation of the fine hairs on my skin standing on end. It was an aura that mere beasts should not be able to emit. From that, I understood this bonodeer was closer to a predator than a simple animal.
“You son of a bitch, don’t tell me….”
For a bonodeer that merely walked on two legs to possess such an aura──
“──You’re a mana-wielding bonodeer!!”
This creature possessed something that transcended common sense! Realizing that, goosebumps rose across my body. Mana was something even many humans couldn’t handle—how could a mere beast wield it?! These bastards had already started walking on two legs; if left alone for another thousand years, “bonodeer people” might one day be added to the list of humanoid races. A new humanity with a different lineage from the Homo sapiens that evolved from monkeys.
“Heh heh heh.”
Understanding that, I laughed. Darwin had said through natural selection that it is not the strong who survive, but the survivors who are strong. If this bastard died by my hand here and its bloodline was cut off, the new species of bonodeer approaching humanity would be culled by nature. The technique of handling mana would be lost forever. And this creature was the boss of the pest animals! If I cleanly severed its head and brought it to the Aumdura Guild, Bronze Class would be right in front of me!
“I will tear out your entrails and kill you.”
Before the bonodeer king, I calmly declared.
“Big guy! Your guts must be huge too! I’ll tear them out and kill you! The midnight express little locomotive is coming!!!”
─Tatata!
I dashed forward with a savage roar!! The sword was now closer to a club, coated in blood and fat. But even with fists carrying the heart of this beast, it was more than enough to kill this vegan hell-chang bonodeer!!
“Vector Hit-and-Run!!”
CRAAAAAASH!
My thrust fist struck the bonodeer’s stomach. It was the cleanest hit of the entire day.
“Whyyak.”
But why the fuck is this bastard perfectly fine?
“──What the…?”
Shweeeeee….
I realized that the green mana flowing from my outstretched arm had almost completely vanished. Come to think of it, I had wasted more mana today than usual. Chugga chugga choo choo.
“……Beast Regression Mode terminated. I’m no longer invincible.”
Time to revise the plan.
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!”
King Walking Bonodeer roared! It was a primitive war cry completely devoid of any intent to communicate!!
“Fuuuuuuck!!!”
─Whooooosh!!
I screamed and dodged the front-leg windmill. With my mana completely drained, I couldn’t use any buffs! Without Beast Regression, I was just a novice adventurer whose body was only slightly reinforced by mana!
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!”
“Gyaaaaaaaah!! Don’t follow me!!!”
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump!!
I ran for my life, but the distance didn’t widen. Fortunately, since the walking bonodeer were also slow when running on two legs, I avoided having my skull cracked open.
“W-weapon! Don’t I have a weapon?! Weapon!!”
My sword was so covered in blood that its edge was useless! I needed any usable weapon, anything at all. Humans are not creatures that can fight wild animals without weapons!!
─Flash!
At that moment, a metallic glint shone from the ground ahead of me! Before King Walking Bonodeer could decide to charge on all fours, I snatched up the weapon.
Sliiing─!
“Ah, fuck, it’s a scythe!!”
The weapon I found was a large farming scythe. Well, it’ll do. Better than nothing! I equipped the weapon and stopped in place. Any further running would be a waste of stamina. If that thing started running on four legs, it would catch up in an instant.
Screeeech─!
“Wak!!”
King Walking Bonodeer also skidded to a halt, leaving scratches on the ground. It seemed to have noticed that I had armed myself and was ready to counterattack.
─Whiiiir.
An autumn breeze blew between us. A single spark away from violence! The distance was exactly five steps for the king bonodeer—close enough to bring my skull within striking range.
“Fuuuuuuu….”
I took a deep breath and focused. Just for a moment. A very brief moment. I would activate Beast Regression for only one or two seconds while launching my attack. That would be enough to win. There was no way the me in Beast Regression would lose in raw strength. I had already mastered chantless casting. Spells were unnecessary. All I had to do was time it perfectly the moment the creature charged!
──Whiiiiir….
The wind died down, and dry straw fell between us.
──Clack clack!!
The bonodeer charged with the sound of hooves. I gripped the scythe with both hands, pouring strength into my arms.
─Flex!
“Infantry Style Secret Art.”
The green mana of Beast Regression rising from my biceps illuminated my arms and shoulders.
“──Song of Reaping.”
Swooooosh─!!
A full-power strike! The strength maintained by Beast Regression made the scythe vibrate as it flew toward King Walking Bonodeer!!
“Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyak!!!”
Whoosh!!
At that moment, the bonodeer ducked its body and dodged the scythe aimed at its neck! ─Clatter clatter!! No, it wasn’t exactly a duck. The creature had switched from bipedal to quadrupedal stance! It dodged the scythe, accelerated, and closed in!! Then it switched back to bipedal right in front of me! From that posture came an uppercut combining deltoid power and hoof strike!! King Walking Bonodeer was truly a warrior that possessed both human and beast strength. The only thing it hadn’t expected── was that I was the same.
“Blink.”
I whispered and evaded backward. Since I had predicted it might switch to quadrupedal to dodge when I aimed for its neck, the evasion was effortless. Whoosh!! Dodging the hoof that grazed right in front of my face, I planted my hands on the ground behind me with a backspin. From that exact posture, I shot my right foot toward the creature’s vital point……!!
“Genetic Destruction Technique!!!”
─Crack!!
The spinning back kick I launched while planted on the ground struck the mana bonodeer’s testicles perfectly. The weight of the steel greaves on my leg combined with mana-reinforced quadriceps unleashed a kick at UFC-champion speed!!
──Ah, it was truly a sight that directly defied the laws of nature. A bonodeer standing on two legs throwing an uppercut, and the human who dodged it planting his hands on the ground like a horse to deliver a spinning back kick—an apocalyptic scene!! It was like a masterpiece of surrealism rejecting nature, but there was a crucial difference between that bonodeer and me. I was a human who wielded the power of beasts, while the bonodeer was merely a beast imitating humans.
──That was the decisive difference.
“Oaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak──!!!”
King Walking Bonodeer clutched its groin and collapsed, roaring like a Ph.D. holder who had lost his country. I stood up, assumed a drunken-fist stance, and whispered solemnly.
“Eunuch-deer bastard. As of this moment, your genetic bank has been delisted.”
I picked up the scythe. The eunuch-deer whose balls had been crushed couldn’t even resist as it stared at the blade pressed against its neck.
──Do you understand, O King of the Bonodeer? A king is nothing but a powerless loser purged by a righteous revolution.
“Reverse Gravity Guillotine.”
─Slice!
The farming scythe severed the neck of the bonodeer king. It was a difficult weapon to wield, but a scythe was undeniably a weapon of slaughter. Before a killing weapon, kings and soldiers are equal. Come to think of it, the scythe I held and the hammer Franc carried were symbols of laborers and equality. A scythe and hammer drenched in red blood. This was, in a way, a communist revolution.
“A communist revolution in a slave plantation.”
It really was an ironic affair.