Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Counter-Pursuit (2)
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The rangers of the Frosange House gathered here were the ones who had ambushed the Meursault House's merchant caravan in the past.
And they were now paying the price for that ambush.
But the entity that attacked the Frosange rangers was no human.
Ku-ududududududu...!
The ancient frozen wasteland, locked in ice for thousands of years, began to crack and shatter like thin ice under the feet of a mischievous child.
Sheets of ice dozens of meters thick split apart, unleashing frigid gales from the depths below.
And the sharp-eyed Frosange rangers saw it clearly.
From the fissures—like a nightmare awakening from the heart of the earth—a colossal form slowly rose.
As ice and stone crumbled, sending white snowflakes scattering in all directions, the king of the frozen wastes lifted its head.
[U-ooooooooh!]
How to describe its ferocious visage?
A gigantic centipede.
But its sheer size defied simple words like "gigantic."
It felt like the spine of a massive mountain range had been ripped out and was writhing.
Long, sharp ice spines covered its entire back, piercing toward the sky.
Each segment of its elongated body was wide enough to build a small village on, and beneath them, hundreds of long legs scraped violently against the rocks and snow.
[Kyaaaaaaaak!]
It split open its compound jaws—layered dozens, hundreds, thousands deep—as if to tear the eardrums of every living creature in the area.
Some of the Frosange rangers collapsed to the ground.
Overwhelmed by the primal hatred and destructive instincts emanating from the eyes of the Frozen Horror.
This colossal monster, a symbol of nature's fury, raised its head to gaze down at its offspring.
[......]
Its pup, groaning with countless arrows embedded in its body.
And those arrows reeked of the hairless monkeys nearby.
A remnant from the mythic age of old roared in rage.
B-uuuuwung! Puffuffuffupupuk!
With a single casual swing of its tail, the Frozen Horror pulverized over thirty rangers into minced meat.
"R-Run away!"
Pinin cried out in a voice thick with terror.
The Frosange rangers immediately whipped their horses.
However.
Ping-
The lead ranger fleeing tumbled down along with his horse.
"Th-There's a trap on the ground!"
"What!?"
Pinin quickly scanned the ground.
In the dug-up snow, snares made of fishing line were visible.
Between trees, or not far from rocks.
Everywhere, thin fishing line nooses had been set, ensnaring the Frosange rangers.
The horses they rode tripped and fractured bones in succession.
Pinin shouted.
"Abandon the horses!"
There was no choice if they wanted to avoid the fishing line traps hidden beneath the snowdrifts.
But.
Puk-!
Without horses, they had no mobility to escape the Frozen Horror, maddened by the loss of its offspring.
[Ku-waaaaaaargh!]
This massive centipede, largely unchanged since the mythic era, began crushing and killing every hairless monkey in sight.
Pinin ground his teeth.
"Those damn Meursault bastards! Setting these pathetic traps!"
They had been completely played.
Federback, that cursed fool, had kidnapped the Frozen Horror's pup from somewhere and tied it up here.
When the pup screamed and bled from Frosange arrows, its mother, prowling the area, came rushing in.
[Kuo-oooooo!]
The Frozen Horror had already massacred over a hundred rangers.
"Damn it! We didn't kidnap your spawn!"
Pinin screamed in fury, but the centipede couldn't understand him.
Right then.
"......Huh?"
Pinin's eyes widened.
The rangers fleeing in the opposite direction from the Frozen Horror.
For some reason, they were collapsing with short screams.
'They abandoned their horses, so why?'
Horses might trip on snares, but why were the men falling?
Pinin stared wide-eyed, clueless.
"......!"
Soon, he realized the reason.
...Snap!
Something lurked in the snow-covered ground, slicing through the rangers' ankles.
...Snap! ...Snap!
White hair matching the snowfield's hue, a white shield covering its back, and a white blade swinging at speeds too fast for the eye to follow.
...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap!
Federback crouched low in the snow-filled trench, slicing down the rangers above.
Federback lay prone in the trench, observing the situation.
'......Washing off the scent was worth it.'
The day before the Frosange rangers would fall into the trap, Federback had broken the ice, entered the seawater, and thoroughly erased his body odor.
Thanks to that, all the knights—including Haundid beside him—had groaned from the cold.
"Centipedes have keen senses of smell, right?"
"Good thing I washed off the armpit and groin stink."
"Yeah. You needed it. I thought my nose was rotting."
"Floating in icy saltwater all day, scrubbing away—it paid off."
Now, seeing the adult Frozen Horror's massive bulk, they could only mutter that following Federback was the right call.
Soon, Federback drew the Dragon Fang Sword Adara.
"Alright, let's work."
The entire area was covered in steep slopes, so escape meant coming this way.
They could take other paths, but chased by the Frozen Horror, they'd choose the easiest downhill route.
Sure enough, the Frosange rangers charged madly toward the trench where Federback lay in ambush.
Darkness ahead, nothing visible but flat ground.
With a monster centipede rampaging behind, who cared if the ground was thin ice?
Soon, the Frosange rangers stepped into the trench.
The thin layer of branches and snow atop it collapsed, claiming victims one after another.
"Kek!"
The first ranger to fall into the trench was impaled through the throat, heart, and groin by wooden spears stuck in the ground—instant death.
The next one was lucky, only pierced through both thighs.
"Welcome, rookie. Now die."
But he couldn't dodge Haundid's blade plunging into the back of his neck.
...Puk! ...Puk! ...Puk! ...Puk! ...Puk! ...Puk! ...Puk! ...Puk!
The Frosange rangers, thinking it solid ground, plummeted into the trench—skewered by neck spears or beheaded by waiting Meursault knights.
"You lot keep cleaning up in the trench. I'll step out for a bit."
As the Meursault knights handled the fallen Frosange rangers in the trench, Federback grabbed his sword and climbed out.
His small frame, shielded by the white shield and crouched low, blended seamlessly with the snow-covered ground.
The Frosange rangers mistook the huddled, shielded Federback for a snow mound and stepped forward.
The result, of course.
...Snap!
Ankle severed.
...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap! ...Snap!
Federback methodically culled the Frosange rangers.
A severed ankle let the chill seep into the bones, paralyzing the lower body. The spine would freeze like thin ice.
The cold climbed to the brain, contorting the body like a bug's.
In the end, a slash from Federback's blade meant instant death.
Je-ek! Puk! Puuk! Jjeok!
Federback avoided the rampaging Frozen Horror, slicing down the fleeing rangers.
Similar to how he'd cleared the snowy mountain orcs before.
Then.
"You bastard!"
Suddenly, an arrow struck Federback's shield.
Ting-
The frost-covered arrow fell limply to the ground.
Pinin glared at Federback with bloodshot eyes.
Federback said,
"You managed to reattach your right wrist. Expensive herbs, huh?"
"Shut up!"
Pinin loosed another arrow.
Federback blocked with his shield and kicked an ice chunk on the ground.
Ppuk-!
The ice block flew toward Pinin.
Pinin twisted his arrow to hit the ice.
Pa-sak!
The ice shattered into fragments.
Right then.
Whoosh!
Federback's face was suddenly inches from Pinin's nose.
"Hek!?"
The moment Pinin gulped in shock at the enemy's impossible speed.
Ppak-!
Federback's shield smashed into Pinin's body.
The shield's edge struck his neck, feeling like his neck bones snapped.
"Kekek!?"
Illusion or reality? His body wouldn't respond.
Pinin flopped like a frog shot dead, wetting himself.
But Federback showed no mercy.
"Get up."
Federback roughly grabbed Pinin by the hair.
Then, he stripped Pinin of his cloak, bow, and dagger.
Hwik- Hwik- Puk!
He hung the bow on a random branch, draped the cloak over a rock.
And stabbed the dagger into the center of a tree trunk.
"That leaves the traces."
Federback's gaze returned to Pinin.
Pinin tried to flee, but since the shield's heavy edge hit his neck, sensation in his lower body was gone.
Puk-
Federback kicked Pinin's side, sending him tumbling down the hillside.
There, the Frozen Horror was just swallowing a ranger.
"Heek!?"
Pinin desperately clawed through the snow, crawling back up the hill.
Dragging his unresponsive lower half with upper body strength alone—but Federback waited there.
Jje-ek!
The Dragon Fang Sword Adara, swung from above, severed Pinin's right wrist.
"Kuhk!?"
Pinin couldn't scream.
Behind him, the clear sound of human flesh and bone crunching in the Frozen Horror's maw.
Then, Federback spoke.
"Remember what I said before?"
"......?"
"I said if you squirmed annoyingly once more, I'd take the left wrist too."
"......!"
Pinin had no time to reply.
Federback's blade flashed, severing the left wrist as well.
"Aaaaaaagh!"
Now bereft of both hands, Pinin screamed.
Federback shrugged.
"Killing Frosange's young lord directly might cause some diplomatic hassle."
"Y-You... youuu... how dare y-"
"So you're dying to the centipede. For stupidly touching the Frozen Horror's pup and getting caught by the adult."
With that, Federback kicked him.
Puk-!
Pinin tumbled backward, face kicked.
No hands to grab anything.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
A howl of rage, terror, or both.
Behind him, the Frozen Horror waited with jaws agape.
Kwa-jik!
Pinin's upper body was shoved into the centipede's mouth.
...Wooduk! ...Wooduk! ...Wooduk! ...Wooduk!
The young lord of a noble house lording over the North became frozen ground meat.
Federback shrugged, looking down.
"Now Frosange has no claim."
If Meursault ambushed and killed their young lord, they'd face moral condemnation.
But here, no evidence Federback killed Pinin.
"Tonight, no Meursault was here."
Behind the departing Federback, only Frosange ranger corpses and the enraged mother centipede remained.
A clean night.