Cry Peeper
Joseph quickly assessed the situation.
Two Cry Peepers were charging toward the soldiers, one of them already stumbling and trying to rise again only to collapse once more, as if it had taken a hard blow to the head.
'Flame Storm won't do.'
This wasn't some other place—it was a forest.
If a massive flame storm spread into a wildfire, it would turn the entire area into hell.
Especially with the third son of the Fabidea family present; if something like that happened...
'Not just Caladon, the wanted poster could be issued for the entire Fabidea territory.'
The only fire magic he could use right now was up to Flame Bite, and even that he had to be careful not to set the trees ablaze.
The one who had fallen from the Return a moment ago had only taken a shock to the head.
So Flame Bite's power was still insufficient.
'Then what's left is one option.'
Joseph rapidly circulated the mana inside his body.
At the same time, he swung his staff and summoned two mana orbs.
"Slicer!"
As he shouted, one of the mana orbs began to compress rapidly into the size of a fist.
Siiiiii—
At the same time, a faint sound of wind began to resonate from the mana orb.
"Eh!"
The soldiers in front let out a startled sound.
"It won't detonate!"
Joseph shouted reflexively.
These soldiers hadn't followed his magic training because they had been busy with the mercenaries recently.
Thanks to that, Joseph—who had trained alone for a while—had no idea how well he could control wind mana.
"...Understood!"
The soldiers nodded at Joseph's shout and turned back to the front.
But in contrast, the mercenaries' expressions turned subtle.
They couldn't deny that the word "detonate" didn't feel good no matter what the situation was.
'In fact, this is the first time using it properly...'
Considering the power, this was the best option for now.
Joseph's gaze turned to the mana orb that was compressing.
It was stable enough thanks to training, but moving it like shooting a mana orb or using other magic simultaneously was difficult right now.
"Here it comes!"
And at the same time, one of the two— the one in front—charged toward the soldiers.
The three soldiers lowered their bodies as much as possible, sitting down as if they were about to collapse while creating a wall of shields.
And gripping the edges of the shields with both hands, they extended forward as if breaking through in a martial arts competition.
The Cry Peeper, like the first one, stretched its neck to the limit backwards.
Then—
It whipped its head at lightning speed.
The long swinging neck immediately slammed into the metal shield.
"Hah!"
At the same time, Derik twisted the shield in the same direction and brought it down.
Screeeek!
The beak flying toward it quickly scraped the surface of the metal shield.
Soon, Derik's shield and the beast's beak hit the ground simultaneously.
It seemed the impact was distributed to his legs, causing Derik's body to shake greatly.
"Guuuuuh..."
The pain spreading from the hand holding the shield to his whole body made Derik clench his teeth.
If he hadn't prepared his posture, his skull would have been shattered by the shield.
"Now!"
While Derik and the Cry Peeper were bickering with each other.
Jiren and Auk, who were blocking the side, raised their shields and rushed toward the beast's legs.
Then, they struck the metal shields directly at the staggering legs.
Precisely, the beast's hooves.
The roots of the claws.
Crack!
"───!!!"
The Cry Peeper let out a scream-like sound.
It was Auk's idea to chop off the roots of the claws.
Although it was a demonic beast, its basic structure was close to that of a living creature.
'Then, its vital points should be similar too!'
───!!
The Cry Peeper, which was screaming, spread its wings while howling in pain.
Thanks to that, Jiren and Auk, who were trying to dodge, collided with the wings and rolled on the ground.
"It's flying away!"
The mercenaries, who had been sneaking around to look for openings, shouted urgently.
"No, it can't fly."
But that worry was dispelled by a word from the mage.
The mercenaries turned around simultaneously.
Siiiiiiii—
The blue orb compressed to its limit.
The turbulent wind around it due to that.
The mage holding the staff behind it, glaring at the Cry Peeper.
"...What?"
One of the mercenaries muttered.
The appearance of that mage in front of them felt strangely more eerie than the demonic beast.
"Die."
He muttered softly.
Piiiiiiik—!!
At the same time, a sonic boom rang out.
Boom!
The condensed orb exploded, unleashing a fierce impact that tore through space.
"Aaah!"
The wind that burst out from there caused the mercenaries to lower their bodies collectively.
A strong wind swept through their entire bodies.
For some reason, the mercenaries gripped their weapons even tighter without realizing it, feeling a chill.
Whoosh—
"..."
In the situation as if a storm had passed, the mercenaries momentarily lost their words.
Then, they quickly regained their senses and turned their heads.
"Hah!"
And naturally, they couldn't help but gulp down their saliva.
"..."
In the center of the chest of the Cry Peeper that had spread its wings wide.
A large hole had appeared.
Thud!
The one with the hole in its chest fell backward with a loud sound.
A large amount of blood scent flowed out from the large hole and spread instantly around.
"It's not over yet!"
"Ah!"
At that moment, Davie, who had been standing in front of Joseph, shouted.
It was indeed surprising to have taken down one in an instant, but the situation wasn't completely over yet.
Two more remained.
The other one that had been charging toward the soldiers was gradually wounding Davie's soldiers like Davie was dealing with the Bonefang.
And the other one had finally come to its senses.
It was turning its head left and right, trying to figure out the situation.
Then, its gaze turned to the corpse of the other one that had died with its wings spread.
"..."
It stared at the corpse for a moment.
Then, it lifted its head.
"..."
Its gaze fixed on Joseph.
The eyes that had been unfocused just a moment ago now seemed to be precisely looking at Joseph.
────!!
It let out a loud cry and then spread its wings.
It felt about 1.5 times larger than the one that died earlier.
Flap!
Then, it immediately flapped its wings and disappeared from sight in an instant on top of a tree.
"Damn it, one escaped! Catch the rest!"
Following Davie's instruction, the mercenaries joined Davie's soldiers.
The last one, which had already been mutilated by Davie's soldiers here and there, couldn't resist the larger number and fell to the ground.
***
When the last Cry Peeper fell to the ground, the mercenaries sat down one by one.
They were already unlucky symbols to the mercenaries.
Having fought such a thing, their legs would naturally go limp for a moment.
And this was the same for the soldiers.
Derik, Auk, and Jiren all sat leaning against a tree.
"Are you okay?"
Joseph approached Derik and asked.
Even if it was deflected, there wouldn't be no impact.
Fortunately, Derik didn't seem to have suffered major injuries, as he nodded.
"My body still feels a bit sore... It should be fine if I rest a bit."
"Yeah. If there's a problem, tell me right away. No point in pretending to be tough and getting worse later."
"Understood."
Derik had already been injured in Malešov while saving Joseph.
Joseph had no intention of losing such talent over pride.
"I thought it was just a new demonic beast that flies around... I can't afford to be careless."
Once the situation was roughly over, Davie said with disbelief.
He seemed to have the same thought as Joseph.
Although it had size, fundamentally it was a creature that flew in the sky.
Of course, he thought it would use that when attacking, but what it did was like a giraffe or an ostrich.
'Common sense doesn't apply, really...'
It was a world he couldn't understand even if he knew it.
After that, the group returned to the campsite after resting a bit more.
Derik kept complaining about muscle pain, but fortunately, no one else had major injuries.
After eating dinner, Joseph immediately gathered the soldiers.
He looked at their faces.
Thanks to no injuries from the Cry Peeper, there were no frightened ones.
Perhaps continuing the extermination like this wouldn't cause much dissatisfaction.
But Joseph pointed to the still empty carriage and said.
"I will hand over all the spoils to you."
At that, the mercenaries' expressions brightened instantly.
Originally, there was nothing more to gain from this extermination after deducting the reward.
So some had been secretly taking out some spoils.
But suddenly saying they would hand over all the spoils that would fit in one carriage?
Their expressions couldn't help but brighten.
"Ah, don't forget this too."
And he pointed to the luggage placed next to his carriage.
There were five metal shields for the soldiers' reserves placed there.
Precisely, not solid metal, but reinforced with wood, leather, and metal as much as possible.
"...Are we perhaps going to a very dangerous place?"
Then, one of the mercenaries asked with a slightly worried face.
Among the mercenaries, there was a saying 'be careful when the employer is too kind'.
So, when it was said that they would be paid for one carriage of spoils and metal shields, they became inwardly anxious.
Honestly, if it were another employer, they wouldn't have asked so openly.
But these soldiers had been working under Joseph for over a month and roughly understood his personality.
So they asked with half suspicion.
"...What? You knew that Harbert Forest is a dangerous place, didn't you?"
"No, that's not it..."
The mercenaries glanced at each other and honestly revealed the reason for the question.
"Because the reward is too generous, are we not going to a more dangerous place...?"
Hearing that, Joseph scratched his chin.
Actually, there was nothing particularly strange about Joseph wanting to give them even more reward.
"You saw it today too. There's no guarantee there won't be more Cry Peepers inside the forest."
Even the Cry Peeper they faced today, one had escaped somewhere.
Joseph somehow anticipated that he would meet that one again later.
So, to be prepared, he was throwing a carrot to the mercenaries.
Especially giving metal shields was to prevent a situation where one of the soldiers gets injured like Derik today.
"So, I want you to stand in front more actively."
Joseph laid his cards on the table and said everything.
The additional reward wasn't bad for them either.
After all, mercenaries are people who risk their lives jumping into danger for others, so they wouldn't think they were being used.
Moreover, Davie was behind Joseph.
Giving additional reward for something that could be forced was sufficiently kind.
"Yes."
"Understood."
And fortunately, no one objected to the opinion.
Rather, they thought how much this employer was paying attention.
Actually, they had no choice but to go forward if Joseph just ordered them to.
Among the employers they had met so far, it was really rare for one to erase options one by one like this.
Had they not properly commanded people before?
Or were they too timid?
Then, they looked at each other and had the same thought.
'Too timid... That appearance earlier wasn't a monster?'