Chapter 63: Behemoth (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 63: Behemoth (5)
After discussing it with Frillite, I decided to head back. She would be more help in subjugating the Behemoth right now than I would be.
Besides, all I needed was the Behemoth's soul to absorb into the pattern, so I had no lingering attachment to the subjugation itself.
And so, I led my party and the cavalry out of the forest.
No matter how hard we rode, there was no way the soldiers could outrun the beasts. By the time we emerged from the forest, the creatures were gone, and we could only find the tracks they'd left behind.
“Mount up, quickly!”
Before leaving the forest, I'd received command of the soldiers from Randolph. This meant I had the authority to lead these men now.
At my command, the soldiers hastily mounted their horses.
“Follow the monsters!”
With my party and I at the lead, 300 cavalrymen began to gallop, following the monsters' tracks.
Their trail led not to a village, but toward the city.
I hope we’re not too late.
If the city gates hadn't been breached, we could still manage the situation somehow. But that was just wishful thinking.
When we arrived at the city, we were greeted by wide-open gates and the horrific screams echoing from all directions.
The situation inside the city was, as expected, a complete mess.
Beast-type monsters were rampaging through the city at will, and the citizens were busy scrambling to escape. The city guards lacked the strength to subdue them.
Why can’t I see any soldiers or knights?
Even if they sent more than half their forces into the forest, they should still have some to spare.
My moment of doubt was brief.
The more time I wasted on useless thoughts, the more people would die. I turned my gaze to the knights among the soldiers I’d brought with me.
“Are there any knights with command experience?”
A few of the knights raised their hands.
I picked five who stood out. There was no time to question how skilled they were.
“Listen carefully. We will divide the soldiers into five units. The knights I just pointed to will each take command of one unit. Understood?”
“We’re to take command? Sir Hero, what about you...?”
“I’m an outsider. You know the geography of this city better than I do. So take command of your respective units and subjugate the monsters rampaging through the city!”
“Yes, sir!”
The knights bowed their heads and began dividing the soldiers into five units.
They would handle the rest.
What’s left...
“Kee-hahahat!”
...are those harpy bitches flying in the sky.
The harpies would snatch people with their talons, fly up high, and simply let them go. They cackled as they watched the people scream.
Goddamn bird bastards.
They must think they’re safe because they can fly.
That’s why they can cackle like that.
Just you wait, you fuckers.
Let's see if you can still laugh after I put a hole in your bodies.
I led my party members up a tower.
It was slightly taller than an ordinary building, with a wide-open top that offered an excellent view.
This should be good enough.
“Eri, prepare your magic.”
“Got it.”
Eri nodded. It seemed she understood that we’d climbed the tower so she could use her magic.
“Should I just wipe them out with the most powerful spell I have?”
“Huh? No, what kind of crazy talk is that?”
Are you trying to bury innocent civilians too?
“Clairvoyance and Magic Missile. You know how to use them, right?”
She had learned both spells in the dungeon.
In the game, Clairvoyance was a buff that increased accuracy, but in reality, it literally widened one’s field of vision.
Magic Missile was the magic version of [Wild Strike] in the game, but here, it was a controllable mass of magic power.
As if guessing why I’d mentioned those two spells, Eri’s eyes widened.
“You’re not telling me to use Dual Casting, are you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
“Do you have any idea how much concentration and mana Dual Casting requires?!”
“We have those mana potions we found in the dungeon. You can use them all.”
Mana potions were far rarer than healing potions.
Even after scouring the entire dungeon, we had only managed to find five of them.
It’s a waste, but...
This wasn’t the time to be frugal.
Even with my permission to use the mana potions, Eri shook her head frantically.
“I’m telling you, it’s impossible! You want me to survey the area with Clairvoyance while meticulously controlling Magic Missiles to kill the monsters! Do you know how much concentration that takes?! If I mess up even once, I'll pass out on the spot. I’d rather use a different spell...”
I placed a hand on the shoulder of Eri, who kept insisting it was impossible.
“Eri, this isn’t the time to argue about whether it's possible or not.”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
A scream tore through the air.
Splat!
The sound of a body crushing against the ground after a long fall followed.
I looked her straight in the eye and said, “You have to do it.”
Eri’s gaze darted between me and the spot where the person had just fallen. She bit her lip hard, her expression turning venomous.
“Fine! I’ll do it, I’ll do it! But don’t blame me if I screw it up!”
“I trust you.”
“Don’t! Don’t you dare trust me!”
Eri shrieked, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The indigo gem at the tip of her staff began to glow.
She was beginning her incantation.
I turned to the other two.
“You two protect Eri here.”
“You two? Cloud, are you going somewhere else?”
“The two of you are more than enough to protect Eri. I have to do what I can.”
With that, I kicked off the edge of the tower and leaped.
“Keeheeheehee...?”
A harpy that had been cackling at the corpse of the human it had just dropped saw me and flinched in surprise. It belatedly tried to flap its wings and escape, but...
Too late, you piece of shit.
I grabbed the harpy by the scruff of its neck and landed on the roof of a building across from the tower.
Now, let’s see if you can keep laughing when you’re about to die.
“P-please, spare me...” the harpy stammered, trembling.
...?
“What, you can talk?”
“Y-yes! So please, let me li—”
“Then why the fuck were you cackling like an asshole?”
Crack.
I twisted the harpy’s neck. After tossing aside the lump of organic matter that was once a harpy, I scanned the city to assess the situation.
It wasn’t good.
Even though reinforcements had arrived, the monsters’ resistance was fierce, and most people didn’t even know help was here. The city guards were being pushed back by the powerful beast-type monsters, and their morale was steadily crumbling.
Anything else is one thing, but their morale can’t be allowed to break.
In a situation where they were already at a disadvantage, breaking their morale could lead to irreversible damage.
I had to raise their spirits, somehow.
“Ah. Ahem.”
I cleared my throat.
It’s been a while. I wonder if this will work.
“Proud children of Alberton!”
I imbued my voice with mana and shouted.
*
It had been a peaceful day, no different from any other.
A day of routine patrols, of getting an apple from the lady at the fruit stall, of responding to a citizen’s report to chase off a drunkard.
Hans had heard that the number of beast-type monsters outside the city was increasing and that soldiers and knights had been dispatched, but he hadn’t paid it much mind.
He never doubted that the thick city walls and gate would protect them.
He just wished the country bumpkins from the outer villages, who were disturbing the peace, would hurry up and leave the city.
Such were his complacent thoughts.
Until the harpies opened the gates.
The moment the gates opened, the beast-type monsters that had been waiting outside swarmed into the city.
No one had expected the gates to be breached so easily. As such, the monsters’ attack was no different from an ambush. People fell into chaos, screaming and running for their lives. The guards fought back against the monsters to protect the citizens.
Because that was a guard’s duty.
But the beast-type monsters, strengthened by the appearance of the Behemoth, were far stronger than the guards had anticipated.
“Guaaaah...!”
“Oink! Oink!”
Hans was wrestling with a boar on the ground, the result of tackling it as it charged a woman. The boar struggled to get back on its feet, and Hans used all his strength to hold it down.
But the boar’s strength was greater than his. As it thrashed about, he was slammed into the ground over and over.
“Guhk...!”
This couldn’t continue.
Deciding this, Hans drew his sidearm, a dagger, and stabbed the boar in the eye.
The boar shrieked in pain and thrashed wildly. Hans held on for dear life, twisting the dagger.
“Screeeee!!!”
With a final, massive squeal, the boar took a few more steps before collapsing.
“Hah... Even boars now...”
Hans gasped for breath.
He had only killed three of them so far, but his body was already a wreck. His thick cloth armor had long since been torn to shreds, and there wasn't a single spot on his body that wasn't covered in scratches.
He wanted to rest for a moment, but the urgent situation wouldn't allow it.
“Aaaah! Somebody help!!”
Hans turned his head at the familiar voice.
“Captain!”
The guard captain in charge of District 2 was being mauled by a wolf. Hans picked up a spear lying on the ground and threw it at the wolf.
Thunk!
The spear struck true, embedding itself in the wolf’s side.
The wolf staggered.
The captain didn’t miss the opening, swinging his sword and cutting off the wolf’s head.
Then he collapsed to the ground.
Hans ran to him.
“Are you alright?!”
“I’d like to say I am... but damn, I’m a mess.”
The captain’s condition was far worse than Hans’s. Not only was he covered in bruises, but the place where the wolf had just bitten him was a deep, gouged wound.
“Captain, when are the reinforcements coming?!”
The guards were being pushed back by the sudden monster attack. But if soldiers and knights came from the inner city, the situation would improve greatly.
Hans asked, holding onto that hope.
“They’re not coming.”
“What?”
“They’re not coming. That damned young lord took a quick look at the situation with his knights, then went back inside and locked the inner gate.”
“W-what does that mean! Are you saying the Duke, the young lord, has abandoned Alberton?!”
“It’s not so much abandoning us as it is waiting. He must have sent a carrier pigeon to the dispatched army. Those bastards plan to hold out in the inner city until that army returns.”
“...So the young lord didn’t abandon Alberton, he abandoned us.”
The captain let out a bitter laugh at Hans’s words.
“When have those high-and-mighty types ever treated us like people? They've always seen us as livestock to grow their wealth. And anyone who can’t pay taxes is less than that. They probably think they can just bring in new livestock.”
After all, there were plenty of people who wanted to live in the city.
“...”
Hans fell silent in the face of the cruel reality.
Though he never said it, he had taken a quiet pride in his job as a guard. He felt a deep satisfaction in protecting Alberton and, by extension, serving the nobles.
But now...
The very nobles he had looked up to had cast him and the citizens of Alberton aside like a worn-out shoe.
After all their talk about demanding loyalty and devotion to their noble blood...
Hans felt a profound sense of betrayal.
He rose weakly to his feet and looked around.
“Aaargh! My leg! My leg!!!”
“Mary! Aaaaaah! Let go of me! Gyaah?! Aaaargh!!”
“Mommy! Mooooommy!!!”
“Help! You there, guard! Get me out of here!”
A man whose leg had been bitten off couldn't escape. He was surrounded by several beasts and eaten alive.
A harpy snatched a mother, and as her child ran after her, another harpy snatched the child. The two harpies looked at each other, laughed, and then dropped the mother and child at the same time. Falling from such a height, they crumpled like clay the moment they hit the ground.
Someone was screaming for help from under the rubble of a collapsed building.
It was pandemonium.
In the midst of it all, Hans locked eyes with a wolf.
The large, white wolf bared its sharp teeth the moment their eyes met.
Hans’s grip on his sword loosened.
He let his arm go limp and closed his eyes.
He no longer had the will to live. He had no confidence he could survive.
It was in that moment, as he was about to give up on life...
“—Proud children of Alberton!”
A man’s voice echoed throughout the city like a clarion call.