The Bonefang Hunt
Joseph found the situation somewhat surprising.
In this world, how many people had offered to fight by his side?
A noble, no less.
Hmm.
As he turned, Davie already had his hand on the sword at his waist.
He looked ready to draw at any moment.
“Davie, you...?”
“I have no intention of interfering with the mage’s performance. However, if I try to face all four of them alone, it might result in casualties among our troops.”
For the time being, we’d have to roam the forest hunting monsters.
It was inevitable that injuries would occur.
“...Then, would you mind if I ask for just one of them?”
“Of course.”
Davie nodded and walked past Joseph to take the lead.
A long longsword was drawn in a flash, making a scraping sound against the scabbard.
Srrring—
“Oh...?”
The sight was so elegant that everyone, including Joseph, let out a small sigh of admiration.
A knight clad head to toe in metallic armor raising his longsword was, quite frankly, magnificent.
And then he lowered his body and took his stance.
After extending his sword tip to touch the ground, he stared silently at the Bonefang.
“...”
A heavy silence fell.
Nothing had changed.
It was simply that the overwhelming presence of the single knight had silenced everyone.
“Frrrrr!”
And the Bonefang, which had been looking this way, let out a series of threatening sounds as if it sensed something.
“The first one to charge will be mine. Mage, please handle the rest.”
At those words, Joseph nodded.
“I understand. Derek! Auk! Jiren!”
“Sir!”
The soldiers, who had been staring blankly at Davie in response to Joseph’s call, quickly approached him.
“I’ll stand in front as usual.”
“Understood.”
They immediately pulled out their shields.
Unlike their usual ones, these were reinforced with iron on solid wood.
They had been newly purchased for this hunt.
“Don’t try to block them head-on. These things can’t be stopped by human strength.”
No matter how well-trained a human was, if they charged straight at a boar, they’d die on the spot.
Even if they didn’t die instantly, they’d at least suffer broken bones.
Moreover, this wasn’t just a boar—it was a monster.
If they tried to endure it, their spine would likely snap.
“You know the basic tactics, right?”
“Yes.”
Apart from that, the soldiers were far superior to the mercenaries in using shields.
At least, that was Joseph’s opinion.
These were the ones who had survived with just a shield and axe amid monsters and soldiers in Malešov.
As long as they didn’t provoke psychological warfare like Davie, it wouldn’t be too difficult.
Kung!
Suddenly, a loud sound echoed.
Davie had slammed his extended left foot hard onto the ground.
“Frrrrr—!!”
And in response to that sound, the largest Bonefang in front began to charge.
Wet mud from its hooves was scattered roughly.
The other three Bonefangs soon followed suit.
The largest one led, with the others running in a row behind it.
“Hah!”
At the same moment, Davie kicked off the ground and dashed forward.
Just like in the duel with Jiren, he leaped over long distances.
Then, at some point, he suddenly turned direction and threw his body to the right.
“—!”
The leading Bonefang instantly turned its head to the left.
It was clearly chasing Davie.
The leading one turned, but the other three continued straight toward Joseph.
“Prepare!”
In response to Joseph’s command, the three soldiers stepped forward and raised their shields.
Unlike before, they maintained a certain distance, making the gaps between the shields more noticeable.
The mercenaries, each holding their weapons, spread out widely behind the soldiers.
From above, it would look like a human-made noose.
Meanwhile, Joseph swung his staff and summoned a Mana Orb.
Then he waited quietly for them to come closer.
Once the Bonefangs were within range of his gaze, he shot the mana orb in a flash.
Sii!
The fast-flying mana orb seemed to be heading straight on, but then it slightly veered.
It passed the two in front and struck the face of the rearmost, smallest one.
Boom—!
Siiiiik!
At the same time, smoke from burning mana flared around the monster’s face.
“Kuueek!”
The body of the small Bonefang hit by the mana orb floated into the air.
Joseph, having confirmed this, immediately shot a second mana orb.
“Flame Bite!”
The mana orb flying toward the monster erupted into flames in the air.
The Bonefang, unable to dodge because it was in the air, took the direct hit of Flame Bite.
Meanwhile, the remaining two Bonefangs charged toward the soldiers.
When the monsters collided with the soldiers, Jiren, standing in the middle, raised his shield and thrust his body forward.
He squeezed his body into the gap between the two monsters and struck the side of the Bonefang with the shield’s edge.
It was similar to how Davie had previously pierced his own gap in the duel.
Kung! Kung!
The Bonefangs hit in the side by Jiren’s shield lost their balance and staggered.
Nevertheless, they didn’t fall and charged again toward Derek and Auk.
“Kraa!”
“Hah!”
They impaled their massive tusks into the two men’s shields.
But because Jiren had struck the side earlier, their speed had decreased and their power weakened.
In the end, they were blocked by the metal shields.
“Eiiiiik!”
“Uaaaaaaa!”
They pushed sideways with all their might, as if swinging the shields.
As a result, the Bonefangs with tusks embedded in the shields rolled sideways on the ground once.
“Now!”
At the same time, Jiren, who had fallen from the impact, shouted to the mercenaries.
The mercenaries simultaneously stabbed their weapons into the fallen Bonefang.
Puk puk puk puk—!
“Kuueeeek!”
The monsters, pierced through the body in an instant, began to thrash in agony, screaming painfully.
It was said that a thrashing pig was comparable to a wild beast.
They raised their bodies with swords or spears stuck in their backs and flailed around.
“Waaak!”
Some mercenaries were hit by the weapons swinging on their backs and fell off.
They weren’t seriously injured, but if they continued like that, it would become harder to approach.
Tadak!
At that moment, two of Davie’s soldiers, guarding the rear, rushed toward the dying Bonefang.
One soldier jumped beside the monster and then drew his waist sword and stabbed it like lightning.
Puk!
When the sword was deeply embedded in the front leg, the thrashing monster tripped over its own feet and fell forward, smashing its face into the ground.
“Haah!”
And then the other soldier thrust his sword down toward the face of the Bonefang lying on the ground.
Precisely toward its eyeballs.
Even after the sword pierced through the eyeballs, it continued to stir the brain inside.
Kung!
And soon, one of them fell and stopped moving.
“What’s this? There’s still one left, isn’t there?”
At those words from the soldier, the mercenaries, belatedly, rushed toward the remaining one and swung their weapons.
Since most of the weapons were stuck in the monsters, they started beating them with clubs.
Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!
The last struggling Bonefang was beaten like chopped meat.
After taking dozens of hits, it finally slumped.
“It’s over, it’s over.”
“Mm.”
Derek, who had been observing the situation, immediately reported to Joseph.
Joseph answered without turning that way.
His gaze was fixed on Davie, who was still facing the last Bonefang.
“Frrrrr!”
He was evading the Bonefang charging toward him with smooth movements.
The ground beneath him was already soaked with blood, but upon closer look, there were wounds from the Bonefang’s stabs all over its body.
Indeed, the levels are different.
Joseph was purely admiring the sight.
Of course, Manir’s movements had been amazing too, to the point of facing a troll.
He had been amazed then as well.
But Davie gave the impression of being clearly different from him.
If Manir was like a rough, jagged saw blade, Davie was like a smoothly curving stream of water.
The movements honed over a long time since childhood flowed smoothly without even a moment’s error.
Puk!
Davie, having confirmed that the surroundings were mostly cleared, thrust his sword toward the Bonefang’s eyeballs.
Just like the soldier earlier, he pierced the eyeballs in an instant and then shook it vigorously to stir the brain.
Kung!
In the end, the last Bonefang thrashed in pain and fell to the ground.
“Bonefangs are all tough, so it takes a long time to hunt them, which is troublesome.”
Davie said, wiping the blood and ichor from his sword.
“Have you fought these before?”
“A few times when I was training as a kid.”
As a kid?
Davie had already known from childhood that he wouldn’t inherit his father’s title and territory.
So, he had thrown himself into training to become a knight earlier than his siblings.
Naturally, he had also participated in monster hunts.
“The mage isn’t ordinary either.”
His gaze turned to the small Bonefang that Joseph had burned.
Its skin was torn from the explosion of Flame Bite.
“I killed the smallest one, after all.”
“Impressive power, but precisely, it’s about handling magic at the right time and place. You seem quite familiar with such fights.”
After using the power of the charging monster to lift it into the air so it couldn’t dodge, you pour in a single attack.
It sounds easy in words, but how many people can actually do that?
Perhaps even more skilled than Davie.
“...Well, after experiencing various things, I’ve gotten used to it a bit.”
Joseph answered with a slight smile, recalling the things he had fought for his life over.
In fact, he didn’t particularly want to mention the events in the Valois Territory.
But Davie was looking at Joseph with eyes sparkling as if he were looking at a well-tempered weapon.
***
After catching four Bonefangs, the party took a short break.
Of course, no one was seriously injured, but they were quite tired.
“It seems a bit strange.”
Then, one of the mercenaries showed a thoughtful expression.
He was the one who had looked particularly worried when seeing the Cry Peeper earlier.
“What are you talking about now?”
At his words, the other mercenaries frowned.
This mercenary believed in superstitions a lot, so he often brought up ominous stories.
Like, if you don’t wrap your feet well when traveling far, your knees would be cut in half within half a year, or as the moon brightens, you should avoid the shadows of the city... etc.
Most of them were baseless nonsense, but hearing them, most were unpleasant stories.
“No, it’s not about rumors.”
But he shook his head as if denying that kind of talk.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s about the Bonefang. Have you heard that they appear in the Harbert Forest? I haven’t.”
“...”
At those words, the other mercenaries’ gazes converged on the corpses of the Bonefangs piled up in one place.
Clearly, none of them knew that these monsters had appeared here.
Their ecology was basically similar to that of ordinary boars.
Therefore, they were usually found in deeper forests than the Harbert Forest.
“It happens sometimes, right?”
“But the Burrowing Spider was weird too.”
The Burrowing Spider that had previously slashed the ankle of the unlucky mercenary.
That monster usually should have been hiding in dark, damp places.
Yet it had appeared first and attacked them.
“...”
At those words, the other mercenaries’ expressions also subtly crumpled.
“...But it’s not a big deal, is it?”
Then, one of the other mercenaries spoke up.
He held a small sword and pointed to one side.
“...I see. Indeed.”
The mercenaries’ expressions immediately relaxed.
The seriousness they had been about to feel a moment ago now seemed foolish.
Knight and combat mage.
On the battlefield, the monsters that no one here could defeat while all of them ganged up on them were sitting calmly, chatting as if nothing was wrong.