Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Full Moon in Marin Forest
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“You lot.”
“Yes, Sir Knight.”
The guides sent by Count Lucas bowed and scraped.
“The path to Marin Forest. Is this the right way? You sure?”
“Y-Yes, it is. This is the fastest and safest route to Marin Forest.”
“Hmm.”
Under Eugene’s cold gaze, the guides hurriedly bowed their heads and trembled.
‘Look at these bastards?’
At a glance, they seemed merely tense in the presence of a high-ranking noble, but Eugene sensed something off.
The guides were excessively tense and terrified. And it wasn’t just now—it had been like this the entire two days they’d been leading them.
“Fastest and safest? We’ve spotted Roamer packs three times already.”
“B-But the other paths have even more Roamer monsters! It’s true, sir!”
Eugene glanced down at the guides bowing and sweating profusely, then turned away.
“Luke.”
“Yes, Master.”
Eugene called to Luke and spoke in the Cayler Kingdom tongue.
“Are these guys actually guiding us properly?”
“It feels a bit roundabout, but it is definitely the way to Marin Forest.”
“I see. Back when you lived here, did you see Roamer monsters this often?”
“No. And with armed soldiers around, Roamers rarely approached within sight.”
Yet Eugene’s group had already spotted and dealt with three Roamer packs in just two days.
They were all low-tier monsters, around 40 to 50 in number, but that would have been disastrous for a small merchant caravan or group of travelers guarded by just five or six ordinary mercenaries.
‘Something doesn’t add up.’
Though few in number, Eugene’s group was a formidable force that even mid-tier monsters like trolls would flee from.
It made no sense for Roamers—creatures that had adapted to the outside world without magic and learned to avoid the strong—to approach not once, but three times.
The fact that it was happening meant one thing.
‘They’ve been deliberately leading us through monster-infested areas?’
“Hey.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
The guides tensed even more as Eugene’s tone shifted.
“Get lost. Now.”
“Pardon?”
“From here on, we’ll handle it ourselves. Tell those porters to drop the supplies and scram. Do it.”
He pointed to the porters carrying packs mostly filled with meat and pulling carts. The guides panicked further.
“B-But Sir Knight, Count Lucas ordered us to escort you all the way to the edge of Marin Forest. We’re almost there—if we go back now, we’ll be in big trouble...”
“I said scram.”
Fwoosh!
“Eek!”
“We’re going! We’re gone!”
As Eugene released a hint of his presence, the guides fled in terror.
The porters, sensing Eugene’s ominous aura, dropped their packs and bolted back the way they’d come.
“Hold on, Lord of Darkness. You’re just letting them go? What about the supplies?”
Wolfgan approached, tilting his head.
“Most of the food is meat. It’s all for you lot. So you carry it.”
“Oh, right. Yeah, that makes sense.”
Eugene turned from the sheepish Wolfgan and addressed the group.
“Something’s off. Even with Luke, who’s from around here, they insisted on sending guides, and they took detours blaming Roamers.”
“Hmm. Want to grab those guide bastards and beat the truth out of them? Break a few spots, and they’ll spill everything.”
Galpredic glared at the guides sprinting across the field, cracking his knuckles.
“No. Leave them be.”
“What if they run back and tattle that you chased them off?”
“If we’d come this far without noticing anything suspicious, they’d find that even stranger.”
“Hmm. Fair point.”
Galpredic nodded at Ranslo’s words, then turned to Eugene.
“So, what now?”
“What do you mean? We hand it over to the one who knows this area best.”
Eugene turned his head as he spoke, and everyone’s gazes followed.
“...Me, sir?”
Eugene addressed the slightly flustered Luke.
“Who else? And you went deep into the forest often with your father, right? You do know the woods, don’t you?”
“Of course! I know them very well!”
Luke responded energetically, grasping Eugene’s intent.
Marin Forest had been like his front yard since childhood. Forgetting the paths after just a few years away was impossible.
“Good. Take this.”
“Ah...”
Luke’s face flushed with excitement as he reverently accepted what Eugene offered.
It was the black dragon banner, practically Eugene’s symbol.
“Squire Luke Bosch. From here, you lead us.”
“Master! I’ll stake my body, mind, and soul to protect your banner of honor!”
The squire, granted the great honor of bearing his lord’s flag, shouted with tears in his eyes.
“Kiek! Squire No. 2 hits the jackpot. This punk’s getting cocky, ain’t he? Hey! If this body of mine were bigger, huh? Our lord’s flag? I’d hold it! I did it all! Ugh!?”
As the spirit vented its envy and jealousy, Ranslo chuckled, Eugene looked embarrassed, and the group set off again.
* * *
Thanks to Luke’s direct route—ignoring Roamers and all—they reached the edge of Marin Forest in less than half a day.
The western sky was dyed crimson.
Eugene fed the Beowulf warriors their fill, then ordered them to enter the forest immediately. In human form, not transformed.
“But you lot—in human form. Any issues at night?”
Wolves hunted well at night as far as Eugene knew, but he asked Wolfgan just in case.
Wolfgan blinked as if it were a silly question.
“What? Don’t you know it’s not just the Night Clan that’s blessed by the night? And Lord of Darkness, have you forgotten what day it is?”
“...?”
Wolfgan pointed to a spot in the sky with a grin.
“It’s the night of the full moon.”
Crack! Pop!
As he spoke, the muscles of the Beowulf warriors in human form swelled, their bodies growing slightly larger.
Not only that, but their eyes—ordinarily no different from a human’s—began to glow red.
“On full moon nights, we’re stronger than the Night Clan.”
“Hoo? Enough for a real fight with me?”
Wolfgan shook his head wryly at Galpredic’s blunt Brantia dialect.
“Afraid not, I think.”
“Keuk.”
Galpredic grinned, reading the meaning from his expression alone, and Eugene stepped in.
“Hmm. Anyway, no worries then? No wolf scent?”
“Of course. But why bother with this form when we could just transform?”
“Seven armed humans with thirty unarmed ones. Or seven armed humans with thirty Beowulfs. Which looks easier to you?”
“Ah...”
“Right. Let’s go.”
Eugene’s group and the Beowulf warriors entered the forest en masse.
The woods, where pale moonlight filtered through sporadically, were damp and oppressive.
Their goal was Kroll Lake at the forest’s heart, where Lycanslopes hunted and beasts gathered in abundance.
Luke, with exceptional night vision for a human, guided them only along clear paths.
Eugene expanded his presence, sensing life within 200 meters as he followed.
Less than ten minutes in, Eugene murmured.
“They’re coming. Looks like they took the bait.”
“Oho. Lycanslopes? Others too?”
“How many?”
Galpredic and Ranslo asked.
Eugene drew Wolfslaughter and gripped Madarajika in his other hand, replying curtly.
“Just a shit-ton.”
Kyaooooo!
Kyaoooo!
As Eugene finished, wicked howls—unlike the Beowulfs’ sturdy roars—shook the entire forest.
“Galpredic!”
At Eugene’s command, Galpredic turned to the Beowulf warriors and bellowed.
“You dog bastards! Practice time—begin!”
Kworrr!
The Beowulf warriors’ bodies tripled in size in an instant, forming groups of three.
It was the individual assault formation Galpredic—who claimed to be the best at training mutts—had drilled into them over days.
Kworrrrrr!!!
The bloodthirsty roars of the two vampires and Beowulf warriors crashed through the forest.
But then.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Kyawl?”
Eugene, Galpredic—who sensed monsters by scent—and the Beowulf warriors froze simultaneously.
“Master?”
“Men! What’s wrong?”
As Luke and Partek’s team looked baffled, Eugene exchanged incredulous glances and whipped his reins.
“The monster bastards are bolting! Everyone, after them!”
The Lycanslopes had ruled Marin Forest for years, backed by hundreds of Roamer monsters.
And with the full moon tonight, they were at peak strength, like the Beowulfs.
Yet the Origin vampire and Beowulfs’ roars had frozen their souls with sheer shock and terror.
Kworrr!
Kyaooooo!
Kieeeek!
Uwaaaaa!
Something weird mixed in the cries, but a chase unfolded under the moonlit forest.
As vampires and Beowulfs blessed by night unleashed their presences in competition, every creature in Marin Forest quaked in fear.
White breath from slaughter-lust and blazing red eyes shredded branches and flattened underbrush in their wake.
Amid it, Eugene’s presence clawed wildly through the forest, perfectly tracking the Lycanslopes’ rear.
“Kruk!”
Catching his breath on the bucking saddle, Eugene arched his back fully.
Ziiing!
Madrarajika, sensing its blood-bound master’s presence, vibrated eagerly—and Eugene unleashed what would later be called the Dark Demon Spear.
Kwarararara!
Madrarajika tore through everything in its path, piercing straight through the dark, tangled woods.
The black meteor flew faster than an elf archer’s arrow, impaling the rearmost fleeing Lycanslope.
Boom!
No—exploding it!
Leaving only head and lower body, spraying dark red gore and fur like a fountain, yet the Dark Demon Spear of the Origin vampire’s servant didn’t stop.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!
Crash!
After shredding over ten Lycanslopes into chunks, Madarajika embedded in a great tree.
But its job wasn’t done.
Thud thud thud!
The loyal steed sharing its master chased the spear’s path, and it gleefully responded to the call.
Crack! Shrieeek!
Recovering Madarajika, Eugene swiftly reloaded it into the atlatl.
That’s when it happened.
Kuuuwaaaaaarrr!!!
Hiiing!
A roar that tore at eardrums made Silion rear up in shock, halting in place.
“...!?”
Eugene’s eyes narrowed at Silion’s unprecedented reaction—obeying no foe save griffins.
More importantly, that previous forest-shaking roar.
Only one thing in Eugene’s memory gave such intensity.
Kruwaaaaaarrr!!!
The roar brazenly shredding Eugene’s presence and taunting him resembled the undead twin-headed ogre’s.
‘This is why they sent us here?’
Even as he spoke of gratitude, Eugene now knew the vile glint in Lucas Crawmarin’s eyes.
A cold smile curved Eugene’s lips.
(To be continued)
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