Chapter 358: Bread and Dagger (56)
Chapter 358: Bread and Dagger (56)
Sword and axe danced.
The silver flashes tearing through the air were fierce. Every time blood sprayed, bits of bone and flesh hit the ground with a wet thud.
I stepped forward through the filth until a snow-white shadow suddenly lunged before my eyes.
Strength immediately flooded my hand gripping the sword.
Slash.
A vertical strike came crashing down.
One of the snow leopards leaping at me was split in half. It had lunged with its claws bared, but it was far from enough to overcome my Aura.
A hand axe circled through the air like a swallow.
Before long, the axe returned. With a sharp clack, its smooth handle settled back into my palm.
The area was already littered with carcasses.
The number of fallen snow leopards had already surpassed ten. The demonic beasts howled desperately as they called for reinforcements, but their eyes betrayed a fear they couldn't hide.
They were no match for me.
This wasn't a boast or an arrogant assessment. It was the objective gap between me and the snow leopards.
No matter how many of them swarmed me, the outcome of my victory would not change.
If they were high-ranking demonic beasts, it might be different, but these snow leopards appeared to be mid-ranking at best.
The wolf demonic beasts I had hunted just before the Hunting Festival were mid-ranking. I had taken down more than ten of them back then; now, I was confident I could handle twenty at once.
I had grown at a dazzling pace over the last few months.
I had been lucky, and I had crossed the line between life and death several times. Thanks to that, I was incomparably stronger than before.
The proof of that was laid out right before my eyes.
The snow leopards bared their teeth and growled. They seemed to want to show their hostility, but their bodies were instinctively recoiling, stepping backward.
If they ran away, that was fine by me.
I already had enough prey to take back to the village.
There was no need to spill blood unnecessarily. Furthermore, the snow leopards served a role in deterring humans from coming here.
However, demonic beasts did not move based on rational judgment.
They were creatures guided solely by hatred and violence. They showed no intention of running away and leaving me and the elves behind.
Instead, they scattered and began to reorganize their formation.
Their scheme was transparent.
While a few strong individuals kept me occupied, the rest of the pack would tear the others to death. It was a reasonably effective strategy.
The only one besides me who could handle a snow leopard alone was Old Man Pope.
And even Old Man Pope was reluctant to face the beasts head-on. There was no way Isha or Avian could withstand a snow leopard.
Avian, in particular, had long since collapsed to the ground, her face deathly pale. Judging by her trembling legs, I doubted she’d be able to move for a while.
I exhaled a sigh and readjusted my stance.
The heat of battle that had warmed my body dissipated into white mist with my breath. It was then that a faint instruction escaped my lips.
"……Isha."
"Wh-what?!"
At my low call, Isha jumped in surprise as she answered.
Seeing her practically leap out of her skin, it seemed she had been dazed for quite some time. I could sense an unidentifiable mix of emotions in the gaze she directed at me.
Shock, admiration, and fear.
It meant she still didn't fully trust me.
Since I hadn't expected her to, I wasn't disappointed. I simply told her what she needed to do.
"Fall back and use your bow. Focus on the ones trying to get close to Avian."
"Wh-what about you and Old Man Pope…?"
"Old Man Pope can take care of himself…"
I tucked the hand axe I was holding into my belt and finished my sentence.
"And I’ll take care of myself, too."
Awoooo! A snow leopard howled like a wolf.
Taking that as a signal, the predators of the snowfield lunged off the ground. Their supple muscles provided terrifying acceleration.
Three snow leopards lunged at me simultaneously.
As I put strength into the legs planted on the ground, snow sprayed into the air. I grit my teeth; the world seemed to compress for a moment, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of a snow leopard.
This individual was significantly larger than the others.
It looked like a high-ranking demonic beast rather than a mid-ranking one. If so, finishing it in a single blow would be difficult.
Clang!
Sparks flew as blade and claw collided. The snow leopard pulled as if trying to seize the blade, thrusting its snout toward me.
Snow-white fangs revealed their majestic, lethal form. Before its maw could fully open, I slammed my forehead into its pitch-black nose.
With a sickening thud, the beast's jaw muscles seized up.
Seizing the opening, I arched my back and flipped the snow leopard's body over mine. Immediately after, I twisted my muscles and slammed it down with all my might.
It was an application of the Holy Kingdom’s secret art, Moon Reversal.
With a heavy boom, dirt and moss erupted. Simultaneously, the two snow leopards lunging from the flanks threw themselves forward.
My sword was still caught in the claws of the snow leopard I had slammed into the ground.
I decided to abandon the sword cleanly. I had my sidearms, after all.
The hand axes flew through the air once more. I hoped that would be the end of it, but snow leopards possessed the ability to learn.
Clang, clang! The snow leopard swatted away the successive flying axes.
Regrettably, it seemed the hand axes wouldn't do much more than act as a distraction. I ducked low, diving into the personal space of the beast that hadn't been distracted by the axes.
However, the snow leopard was no easy opponent.
Using its flexible muscles, it immediately curled its body to respond. Its rapidly dropping weight sent us both rolling across the snowfield.
We tumbled back and forth, but in terms of raw strength, I was the victor.
Pinning its forepaws with my knees, my fist crushed the snow leopard's snout.
The sound of cartilage shattering echoed.
In the midst of the struggle, the flailing beast's hind claws managed to rake across my back. But claws that barely grazed me couldn't possibly carry much power.
They merely left shallow marks on a body protected by mana.
Meanwhile, the snow leopard that had escaped the distraction of the hand axes let out a thunderous roar.
Grrrrrrr!
Seeing as it didn't rush in recklessly, it seemed to have realized the tide of battle had turned against them. I took a breath, exhaling a long whew as I stood up.
Our eyes met for a brief moment.
The beast, cunning as it was, turned away and changed its target.
It headed toward Avian.
"Isha!"
"There's one more!"
But Isha was already nocking an arrow to her string.
Just as she said, there was another beast lunging at Avian. While Isha struggled to keep one at bay, the snow leopard that had been targeting me began to go after Avian instead.
It was a difficult situation. I had no weapon in my hand at that moment.
That was when a strange sight caught my eye.
Between the trajectory of the lunging snow leopard, a tiny sprout was budding. As soon as I saw it, I ran toward the hand axe lying on the ground.
The moment I grabbed the axe, tree roots erupted as if they had been waiting.
They coiled around the snow leopard to bind it.
It was support from Old Man Pope. Although the snow leopard quickly tore through the roots, that brief moment was more important than anything else to me.
"Good job, Old Man Pope!"
"I didn't do it to help you! I was saving the elf!"
Of course, Old Man Pope couldn't accept my praise honestly.
Listening to his shout as he struggled with his roots and bow, I cut through the air.
My body, thrown forward, collided with the snow leopard that had just freed itself from the roots. Before the beast could do anything, I brought the hand axe down repeatedly.
Thwack, crunch, crack.
Three strikes were enough. The beast's four legs twitched as if electrocuted, signaling its end.
Now, was there only the one lunging at Old Man Pope left?
Just as I let my guard down, a sound brushed past my ears.
Thud. The dull sound of something bouncing off hide.
My eyes blankly turned toward the source. There was yet another snow leopard lunging at Avian from the opposite side.
Isha's arrow had failed to penetrate the beast's hide.
I threw my hand axe instinctively. As if expecting it, the snow leopard curled its body into a ball and took the blade on its back.
Blood sprayed, but that was all.
The snow leopard rolled once on the ground and then sprang toward Avian like a coiled snake.
Fierce killing intent radiated from its eyes in waves. I could feel its sheer will to tear at least one person to death.
"Kyaaa—aaaaaah!"
The source of a demonic beast's hostility was truly incomprehensible.
What could possibly drive them to harm others even at the cost of their own lives?
Not that I was in any position to judge.
Crunch. The sound of powerful jaws twisting bone echoed through the air.
Avian's body trembled. Through her hunched posture, I could see her eyes wide with terror.
And then, drip, drip. Blood began to fall.
The snowfield was stained crimson.
An arm had been bitten.
Not Avian’s, but mine.
Realizing this, Isha let out a scream.
"H-Human!"
It hurt enough to make my jaw tremble. The sensation of a beast's fangs trying to crush my bone in real-time was far from pleasant.
But I was used to pain.
I grit my teeth and put strength into my arm; the muscles contracted, clamping down on the snow leopard's teeth. The beast struggled, its forepaws raking deep gouges into my arm.
Until my remaining fist slammed into its brow.
As my fist connected with a heavy thud, the snow leopard let out a mournful whimper. With its teeth stuck, it couldn't make any more noise than that.
It could only endure the repeated punches, waiting for me to hurl its body to the ground.
Only then did Avian lift her head, trembling violently.
Her gaze was filled with incomprehension.
So, I gave her a bitter smile.
"I told you I'd protect you."
A great knight does not lie.
Anytime, anywhere, a noble must fulfill their duty. Just like now.
I finished the job with the hand axe still embedded in the snow leopard's body.
The snow leopard that had been grappling with Old Man Pope couldn't dodge my axe. The battle ended there, leaving only one problem.
"……How am I going to carry all this back to the village?"
I was simply worried about how to transport the results of today's hunt.
Still, this would be enough to relieve the elf village's food concerns for a while.
However, there was one more thing weighing on my mind—the strange presence I had felt before the snow leopards ambushed us.
I thought I had seen a flash of reflected light.
I tilted my head in thought but soon pushed it out of my mind.
Hoping it was just my imagination.
For some reason, my heart felt restless.
"One of the scouts reports finding a human captured by the elves."
In the dark of night, inside a temporary tent set up within the coniferous forest.
A girl with gray hair listened to the report in silence. Her eyes were hollow, caked with fatigue from the immense emotional toll she had endured.
Despite that, the girl could not sleep.
She had resolved not to until her goal was achieved.
The girl spoke in a weary voice.
"A human? In this deep coniferous forest?"
"Yes, that is correct. We couldn't confirm his exact identity. He was being attacked by snow leopards at the time, so from a distance, we could only confirm that he is a young male……."
The girl's breathing stopped dead.
Then, a deep breath.
After several seconds of inhaling and exhaling, the girl looked at the soldier with eyes like aquamarines.
"How do you know he was captured?"
"His hands appeared to be bound by something, making his movements awkward."
The girl fell silent. For a long time.
When those lovely lips finally parted again, a desolate chill had settled over the tent.
Like frost.
"……We move there immediately."
Fate was drawing near.