The Tutorial Boss Receives Nursing Care
They raced through the forest. Elena carried Pila on her back while Barie led the way, cutting down monsters.
They'd put some distance between themselves and the monster wave, but monsters that had strayed from their paths were chasing after the women with overturned eyes. Pila raised her staff. Strapped to Elena's back, she chanted a spell.
"Explode!"
Red magic erupted amid the monsters, unleashing its power. The intense blast swept them away. A few chunks of monster debris splattered at Elena's feet, and even from a good distance, the shockwave shoved at her back.
"It's nearby!"
Elena shouted, scanning the terrain. At the same time, a foul stench assaulted her nostrils. The rancid rot of entrails hung thick in the air. Corpses of wolves, orcs, trolls, and the like littered the ground. Following the trail of bodies swept by the old man's sword aura with her eyes, she saw bloodstains splashed across the grass and scattered remains stretching out in a long line.
It drew a single straight path. The monster wreckage lined up like he'd sliced them down one by one while fleeing, and at the end of that line, she came face-to-face with a familiar figure.
"Even guys like this show up in a monster wave?"
Barie spotted a massive wolf. Its head was partially severed—a giant wolf. Elena's pupils trembled faintly. It was the leader of the pack that had cornered her before.
The old man won.
He did all this by himself.
Even the monsters they'd found so far were enough to drain anyone's stamina, but the old man's trail continued deeper inward. The higher they followed his traces, the stronger the corpses got. From wolves to orcs. Orcs to trolls. Trolls to ironclad boars. The ironclad boar's steel plating was split like paper. And then... an ogre.
"Eck did this?"
Barie swallowed hard at the sight of the ogre's corpse, cleaved clean in half.
"How many A-rank ones are there?"
Besides the giant wolf and ogre, A-rank monsters were mixed in with the lesser ones.
"Impressive."
Awe crept into Barie's voice. How many knights could pull off something like this? She scrutinized the wounds Eck had left on the monsters, but—
"Ex, explode!"
A thunderous boom exploded behind her. Scorching heat and a shockwave slammed into her back. From Pila's outstretched staff, fierce magical light condensed and detonated, sending the monsters sniffing after the woman flying.
"Wh-why is the doll in a monster's hands..."
Light poured from Pila's body as she unleashed another explosion spell. Boom!!! Light burst in the middle of the forest. It engulfed even the trees, leaving nothing at the epicenter. Destructive power erupted like a volcano. A eardrum-shattering roar filled the air as dust clouds blanketed the sky. Monster remains rained down in shattered pieces.
It was overwhelming destructive force. Barie broke out in cold sweat, eyes wide at the explosion's power.
"Eck's in danger! He said to use that thing only if things got really bad, and now it's in monster hands! W-we have to find him quick, or he'll really be in trouble!"
Pila's face was a mess of cold sweat and tears. Gone was her usual cringing, timid demeanor. She desperately wanted to rescue Eck.
"We can't afford to linger here, but the trail gets messy from this point."
The monster corpses cut off midway, and footprints scattered everywhere. That was why Barie hadn't charged ahead immediately.
"Should've brought a hunter along if I knew it'd be like this."
"Th-that way, I think!"
Elena, eagle-eyed as she scanned the traces, pointed in one direction. There, snake tracks were etched into the ground. The groove's width was unnatural—big enough to swallow a horse whole. Only a few snake monster species came that large. Even Barie needed courage to head that way.
"The old man's gotta be where the stronger monsters are! If he's in danger, it'll definitely be that way!"
"Very well. Let's go."
Barie channeled mana into her sword ahead of time and dashed after the snake trail. Soon, the forest's colors turned eerie. Green leaves and brown earth had bleached to ashen gray, drained of life. At the center loomed the overwhelming carcass of a massive serpent. Its head was severed—a basilisk. Blood from the neck stump pooled around it. The surroundings were all gray. A frog monster frozen mid-leap, a bat with wings half-spread, an orc solidified unaware—all turned to stone.
Barie got chills all over and raised her arm to block Elena from approaching. Pila paled and shouted.
"B-basilisk poison! Don't touch it! Th-there's a way! I read in a book—you soak cloth in water and cover your mouth and nose!"
Pila hurriedly pulled water and handkerchiefs from her pouch and handed them over. Barie covered her mouth and nose with the cloth, staring at the monster in disbelief.
"The basilisk... is dead?"
That basilisk? Her jaw dropped halfway. Top-tier A-rank. Even knight orders took casualties from its petrifying venom, as stated in the manuals. And here it lay, decapitated.
"Eck, you were on this level?"
Whether admiration or shock, she muttered as she searched around the basilisk for Eck. As the three scanned the area—
Beyond the basilisk. Monsters had gathered in a circle—orcs, goblins, wolf pack—all bristling with killing intent toward something. They'd surrounded someone out of the petrifying poison's reach. Through the gap in the monsters, a familiar-colored cloak fluttered into view.
A goblin picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it. It arced through the air and struck the head of the figure leaning against a tree. In that instant, something snapped—like the thread of reason breaking.
Brilliant blue mana exploded outward as Elena shot forward like an arrow. Mana surged wildly along her sword.
"Get out of my way!!!"
A storm raged. Sword aura tore through space, obliterating dozens of monsters in a flash. The wall of monsters crumbled, revealing the one slumped before the tree.
The old man.
"Old man!!!"
Elena rushed to him. He didn't stir. His body was cold. He didn't seem to be breathing. His bloodless face looked eternally at peace.
"N-no, this can't be."
Elena shook his chest.
"O-old man, you can't fall asleep here."
She shook him to wake him, but—
"Old man? Old man!"
No response. Thick teardrops fell. The world shattered. The back that had saved her, guided her, stroked her hair, shielded her from monsters—it crumbled away. Her trembling hands clutched and shook his body.
"O-old man. Open your eyes, please..."
Her voice cracked pitifully. She buried her face in his chest and begged.
This is a lie.
He couldn't be dead. Not after fighting this hard. He'd said he was retiring to live easy. Said he'd leave me in charge and live off that. Was it all a lie?
"Old man... sob..."
This has to be a lie.
"...."
Then Barie rushed over, removed her gauntlet, and pressed her fingers deep into Eck's neck. She held her breath, focusing on the sensation. Her eyes sharpened.
"Don't cry."
Barie let out a sigh of relief.
"He's alive."
Elena looked up. Her tear- and snot-streaked face stared blankly at Barie.
"He's paralyzed from the poison. His breathing and pulse are just extremely faint. No threat to his life."
Barie eyed the petrifying poison on Eck's clothes, stripped them off, and hoisted him onto her back.
"I-I'll carry him."
"No need. This isn't the time to argue. You carry Pila."
"Hic... hic... Wh-what about Eck?"
Pila, who'd barely made it avoiding the poison, saw him on Barie's back and swung from worry to relief, then back to worry.
"Y-yeah! Pl-please take good care of the old man!"
"Heh. Leave it to me."
Elena coolly grasped the situation and hoisted Pila onto her back. Squeak? Growl? Monsters straying from the wave caught the women's scent and appeared one by one. Barie took point, raising her one-handed sword to clear the path.
Two days passed since then. It took a full two days for the petrifying poison's effects to wear off completely. My fingertips still tingled faintly. Thanks to the antidote Pila brought, there shouldn't be any lingering aftereffects, but they forced me to stay in bed just in case the basilisk venom had some unknown properties.
Lying in bed, I heard alarm bells ringing outside the window. Ding-! Ding-! Ding-! A signal that the battle at the walls continued. Every time a powerful monster attacked the walls, the bells rang urgently. But yesterday, the chimes that had rung dozens of times a day dropped to just five or six. Not a worsening situation, but stabilization.
The door opened.
"Old man, I'm here."
Elena entered in her armor. Dust and dried blood stained her here and there, but no injuries. She squeezed in visits during shift changes at the walls. She looked utterly exhausted, but her eyes always sparkled with vitality. Panting, she gulped down the water prepared in the house.
"How're you feeling today? Any discomfort? Even small stuff."
"Better than yesterday, thanks to you."
"Hehe. Then let me wash you now."
Elena soaked a towel in water and wiped down my bare upper body. The antidote had left me feverish and sweaty; she rubbed it clean. As she tended me, I got an update on the situation. The clans had prepared defenses in advance, so when word of the monster wave spread, they formed up immediately. Potions were plentiful, gear abundant. Above all, the nobles had joined with their knights, keeping casualties minimal relative to the scale.
Elena clenched her fist.
"Everyone's saying if Lady Lijet hadn't tipped off the guild ahead of time, it would've been a disaster. They say she called in the knights too."
"Good."
I felt relieved. Even while I was out, the groundwork I'd laid was working smoothly.
"Old man."
Elena looked up at me.
"Did Lady Lijet tell you too, so you assigned me that dungeon search mission?"
"Eh, something like that."
I nodded vaguely.
"Why ask?"
"Hehe. Makes me think you're the guy who handles big things. Feels like I'm pretty great too for taking care of you."
"Flatterer."
Elena dressed me in fresh clothes and finished tidying up. Ding-! Ding-! Ding-!
"Ah, gotta go."
Elena grabbed her sword by the door.
"I'll be right back."
Looking out the window, I saw Elena's back heading to the walls. Sensing my gaze, she turned and waved vigorously.
Does that girl think I'm some old geezer already?
Elena vanished from sight, the bells fell silent, and quiet settled in. As I deeply breathed the still air of the room, an ominous voice tickled my ear.