Chapter 19
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Krekator Hunt
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Smoke billowing from the carriage chimney rode the night breeze, spreading through Horhe Root Village.
The deep, savory meat aroma, subtly infused within the salty scent, naturally stirred curiosity about the dish.
But the door remained shut to those milling around the carriage.
There simply wasn't enough "Gork mid-paw stew" to share or sell.
"Let's figure out how to deal with the Krekator first. Business comes after." River said.
Dane and Bankers, having licked every last drop of sauce from their bowls, finally nodded in agreement with the vice captain.
"Why hunt so early?" Dane asked.
The joint hunt was scheduled for just before dawn. To reach the twin stone mountains outside the village where it lurked, they'd need to leave even earlier.
"Because that's when its body temperature is lowest and its activity is weakest," Bankers explained.
Krekators couldn't regulate their body heat, so they moved during the day to trap warmth inside. After sunset, they slept until sunrise—that was prime hunting time.
"Figures a lizardman would know." "Well... distant kin, maybe?" Bankers didn't deny it.
"What's the plan?"
River asked Dane. Before long, Dane had become the leader in hunts. They had to follow his decisions.
"You have no idea how lucky we are that Pohen's taking point. If we'd gone together for no reason, the meat would've just spoiled." It wasn't exactly an answer to her question, but it was enough.
Dane was already thinking beyond the kill. He wasn't even giving the Pohen Hunting Party a shot at it.
"Gonna go solo again?" "I'll handle the hunt alone for now. You two keep your distance, watch the situation, and provide support when needed."
"Got it."
"And focus more on blocking Pohen than the Krekator. Make sure they can't interfere."
"...Understood."
It was just a bigger monster—nothing had really changed. Dane intended to clash with it head-on, testing himself as always.
Dane asked.
"Any info I should know beforehand?" "Two heads on a long neck means no blind spots. Getting close without getting bitten is key." "Its hide'll be thicker than anything you've faced. Severing the neck in one go won't be easy." "Don't push too hard. It's a joint hunt, so use the Pohen guys behind you wisely." Dane nodded at his comrades' advice, then asked again.
"Even if I butcher it, the size should give plenty to eat and sell, right?" "Even if you leave just the bones, I'll make something delicious, so don't worry." "As long as the tail's intact, we'll be fine. Never tried it, but logically, the tail's gotta be the best part," Bankers said.
Dane glanced at his thick tail and nodded.
* * *
Hunters gathered at the east gate of Horhe Root Village. The world was still shrouded in bluish light.
Pohen smirked faintly.
"You're here. Thought you might chicken out and run."
He said that, but he was the tense one. He just hoped Dane's group would drag things out as long as possible.
Dane ignored Pohen entirely and spoke to River and Bankers like he was extracting a promise.
"No matter what happens, don't step in until I say so. Even if it looks like I'm about to die."
His eyes glowed with red intensity, so serious that his comrades silently nodded in firm agreement.
"Alright, let's go get that meat." The Lucas Hunting Party pushed past the tense-faced Pohen Hunting Party and took the lead. They'd memorized the terrain from villagers, so the darkness didn't slow them.
Beyond the open root grasslands lay the large fields that fed Horhe Root Village. The crops growing in such vast numbers were impressive.
"Leaving this unattended must be eating them up inside," Bankers muttered as they crossed the fields. The twin stone mountains soon loomed ahead.
Two low, similarly shaped stone mountains faced each other, red hues slowly overtaking the green between them.
Dawn was breaking. The joint hunting party headed straight for the path in between.
A narrow ravine.
"I'll go alone from here. Keep an eye on Pohen's crew." Dane handed his cloak to River and advanced solo. The Pohen Hunting Party had already stopped at a safe distance.
'Where's it coming from?'
Dane stopped in a suitable spot and alternated stares between the left and right mountains.
He listened intently to his chest. It was a mid-to-large monster—the heartbeat would feel different from usual.
-Meat... meat... meat... meat...
The faint meat bell grew steadily louder.
With the resonance, red glow filled Dane's eyes. Like the rising sun reflecting in them.
His vision blurred, but locked onto the alien shape. From behind a massive boulder on the right mountain, it emerged.
'That's a mid-to-large Krekator.'
A hideous, enormous dinosaur-like monster, a cunning blend of Komodo dragon and two-headed snake. Even more threatening than described or imagined.
From afar, Bankers and River spotted it too.
They gripped their weapons tighter, aiming at the distant foe. Even Bankers, who didn't sweat, felt his hands grow slick on his spear.
'How's he gonna take that giant thing alone?' River watched Dane anxiously. For a split second, he seemed to smile, sending a shiver through her silently.
At the same time.
"Krekator!"
Dane roared and charged.
It sensed him too. Their killing intent had already bridged the distance.
"ZRAAAK!!!!" "ZRMFPXH!"
The cries cleaved the air, their stomping shaking the ground.
Two heads unleashed chilling roars that echoed through the ravine.
Sharp teeth in the rapidly snapping jaws caught the morning sun, scattering blinding light everywhere.
'The tail glows, as expected.' Amid the gleam, he spotted another shine and quickly scanned its body.
He analyzed how its organs and muscles moved, gauging speed and power mid-charge.
'Power built since joining Lucas Hunting Party: 192. This thing's at least 300. No easy catch.'
If he couldn't close in, he'd get bitten.
But he wouldn't die. That was his way of closing gaps—the most effective, swift method to hunt this beast.
He charged straight ahead, no tricks.
Monster and man hurtling toward each other!
Onlookers groaned in dismay. Even as bait, wasn't this too reckless?
The hunters felt awe toward Dane, charging as if embracing death. Even Pohen, who'd schemed this, did.
"Closing distance!!!"
He shouted without thinking.
Dane's back surged with fighting spirit, and Pohen feared missing his chance.
"WAAAAH!"
The twenty hunters charged as one. River and Bankers, midway between them and Dane, turned toward Pohen.
"Don't interfere!"
With River's shout, Dane launched himself.
"ZRM! ZMFPZPP!! XHFMP!!" "ZMFPP!! ZMFPP!!"
A long, shrill metallic screech rang out as the Krekator's twin heads lunged at Dane's upper and lower body side by side.
"GRAAAK!!!!"
Dane's body was bitten and flung into the air while still clamped.
A bold charge ending in absurd failure!
"Ugh! What the hell!!"
"Damn iiiit!"
The charging hunters halted abruptly. The shock was that immense. To go down so pathetically without swinging once?
"Daaaane!!"
River screamed his name reflexively.
That was when.
"FPP! ZMFP!!!!" "XHFM!"
With a scream tearing the air, another Krekator leaped from the left mountain, crashing to the ground.
-KABOOM!
The booming monster landed between the Lucas and Pohen Hunting Parties, then charged straight at River and Bankers.
They froze. Another one? Shock and terror swiftly overtook disbelief.
The Pohen Hunting Party was no different.
"Run!!!!!"
Pohen spun and yelled instinctively. The second beast hadn't even glanced their way, but they panicked anyway.
"ZMFPP!!!!" "FPP! FPP!"
The overwhelming roar snapped Bankers back. They'd all die like this—his scales bristled at the thought.
He grabbed his tail tip and yanked.
-SNAP!
The thick root section came clean off into his hand. He swung it in a wide arc overhead.
-WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
He hurled it beyond the charging Krekator.
Immense force! The tail soared high!
"Zm?"
"Zm!"
Blood sprayed from Bankers' airborne tail, along with an intoxicating aroma bursting from it.
The monster's long necks curved, following the tail's parabola. Its gaze shifted from them to the Pohen Hunting Party.
"Huh?"
The tail dropped from the sky, landing 'thwack!' atop Pohen's massive head.
"FPPFP!!!!"
"Zm!!"
Seeing the Krekator turn and chase the Pohen Hunting Party, River and Bankers exhaled sharply.
Then they turned fearful eyes toward Dane.
"Uh?"
Dane was still alive.
* * *
"GRAAAK!"
Dane had let himself get bitten on purpose, but the pain was excruciating anyway.
Agony shot through his side and left leg simultaneously. Even so, he reflexively thrust his cleaver under the head biting his side and scraped.
-KRRRRRRRIND...
Its tough scales ground as part of its jaw muscle tore free.
'It works!'
He weakened its bite and partially regenerated the wound.
Its teeth hadn't pierced organs or ripped out guts. That split-second counter saved him from instant death.
But it enraged the beast.
Frustrated at not chewing him, the Krekator tried to tear him in half instead.
The head loosely gripping his side and the one clamped on his left thigh pulled in opposite directions.
"ARRGH!"
He tensed every muscle to resist, but the brute force was overwhelming.
Tremendous tension tore at his side—skin split, blood bursting forth.
Upper and lower body on the verge of parting.
"It huuuurts!!!!!!" Without focus, he'd have blacked out. That only fueled his rage more.
Dane sawed the cleaver along the muscle grain under its jaw, in and out like a saw.
-ZRRRP ZRRRP!
He had no time to hesitate—cut to regenerate.
"HRRRRGH!"
Slicing it made his torn waist reattach. The monster yanked again, tearing him; he slashed back with the carving knife.
He severed its flesh to replenish his own, tug-of-warring with the beast using his body.
The pathetic, brutal struggle using himself as rope was absurdly gruesome.
"Ah...!"
River groaned low, inhaling the mingled blood stench.
What the hell was that? She'd never seen, heard, or even imagined such madness.
The gruesome cycle repeated, but the outcome was set.
One inflicted wounds, the other healed them.
Dane's cuts gained power; the Krekator's neck, enduring them, finally gave way.
-THUD!
One neck severed, it released in pain.
"FPPFP!!!!" Freed, Dane reversed up its back, swiftly circling the remaining neck.
Bereft of attack will, the monster—KABOOOM!
—crashed down with a boom. Dane hit the ground too, scrambling back without a breath.
He knew one more remained.
"1 plus 1!"
He roared in fury.