Giant Hunt (2)
The ogre could not quite pin the Baron down.
It swung both arms without mercy, thrashing this way and that, trying to crush him underfoot — all to no avail. Frustrated, it hammered the ground with its open palms, but the Baron simply slipped away each time, unhurried and untouched.
From the hilltop, the watching mercenaries began to murmur in open admiration.
"Holy shit… that's insane."
"So that's what a lord's bloodline looks like."
"I want that sword. The mana coming off it doesn't even compare to what we got."
"Bullshit. How would you even feel that?"
"You crazy bastard — can't you see it? The finish alone is nothing like our blades!"
This was a world of the strong devouring the weak. On a continent where power was authority, no one could rule a territory on talent for mana alone. Even among the same bloodline, only one ever stood at the peak.
The Baron had climbed past his own elder brother to the lordship on precisely this kind of fluid movement and swordsmanship.
—Wooooaaaaargh!!
The ogre's fury peaked at the Baron's ceaseless evasion of every attack. Its roar tore at the sky itself. The spells the mages had been chanting cut off at once.
Black veins, previously hidden beneath pallid hide, rose dark and livid across its skin — from the backs of its hands up its arms and neck, even across its chest and face. The network of black vessels was so grotesque it was hard to look at.
The Baron paid it no mind. He simply repeated his pattern: close carefully, strike the spot he wanted, then draw back at leisure. Not a moment of carelessness. No greed for a single finishing blow that would deal massive damage all at once.
It's not immortal. If the wounds keep opening and it keeps bleeding, sooner or later…
Still, he could not afford to drag this out. His own mana had a hard limit. The moment for a true killing stroke would come, and if he missed it, they would not be hunting an ogre — they would be wondering how many lives were about to be lost.
"…!?"
Then it happened.
Kuguung—
One massive leg suddenly shot out from under it, and the enormous body crashed to the ground.
"Ice…?"
The ogre had stepped onto a sheet of ice and gone sprawling. The magic had come from none other than Geren.
I never thought the spell I learned from Roy would help in a situation like this.
It was a spell Geren had learned, in reverse, from his own student Roy. Megan's and Shepherd's chants had broken under the ogre's roar, but Geren's had held and gone off cleanly. It was a relatively simple spell — and that simplicity was exactly what made it work. His concentration had not shattered under the roar. And given the size of the thing, the impact of its fall was anything but trivial.
"Now! Get in there!"
The Wolves, who had been waiting for just such an opening, surged onto the fallen giant. Mana-charged blades of every color carved into the ogre's body. In ordinary circumstances they would have doused it in oil and set it alight — but what they held now were enchanted weapons. The hide parted far more readily than they had expected.
"It's getting up! Fall back! There will be another chance — don't get greedy!"
Even so, this was no ordinary monster. Sharp as their swords were, it was still no easy work. Tough, thick skin; fat and muscle beneath. The Wolves' blades rarely reached bone, and even when they did, the sheer hardness and thickness made it nearly impossible to sever. Unable to cut the thing down in one rush, they watched the monster roll and haul itself upright again.
Dark blood ran from wounds all over its body; hide and flesh hung in strips. But nothing was broken. The small mercies were that they had burst one of its eyes, and that a slash across the neck had severed one of those black, bulging vessels.
"Just hold on! Time is on our side!"
Once the bleeding started, endurance meant victory. Most of them shared that thought. The beast would thrash itself into exhaustion under the pain and destroy itself before long. With one eye gone, they were all but certain they had seized the initiative.
The reality was a little different.
The stupid monster that had been simply hunting prey was gone. The ogre now drew rough, measured breaths and did not charge in lightly.
"What the hell is it doing…"
"You think you're human, you monster bastard?!"
Had the dull-witted giant actually started thinking?
The ogre rolled hard to the side, then scooped up a fallen tree. It was one the mercenaries had cut and stacked in advance — and it meant to use it as a weapon.
—Whoosh!
A massive trunk still thick with branches and leaves swept through the air. Its targets were the Wolves who had just carved it open.
"Dodge—!"
"Aaaagh!"
"Guh—!"
Everyone scrambled clear, but two men caught in the dense branches. That it was not a sword was a blessing, yet the force still hurled them more than ten meters before they slammed into the ground. They lived — and in an instant they were out of the fight.
"Neiss! Roni!"
"I told you to get clear, you idiots!"
There were wounded now. Terror wrapped itself around every body in a heartbeat — the terror that they might die right here. And fear dulled every mind.
"What are you doing?! Widen the distance and ready the next attack!"
The Baron roared until his throat nearly tore.
"The mercenaries will get the wounded! Forget them and keep your focus on the ogre!"
Someone had to keep their head. If the commander lost his, comrades died. No one knew that better than the Baron.
"Mages! Do whatever it takes to keep that thing from moving freely! And you in the back — don't spare the arrows! The eye! The eye! Hit the eye that's left!"
The exchange with the giant ogre resumed.
From a short distance away, Padec watched the fight and snapped out orders.
"Team One — secure the wounded, now! Team Two, cut the fallen timber around us and set a barricade out front. Move!"
Treatment could be interrupted by another attack at any moment; the injured had to be brought somewhere safe. There were only five priests in the detachment. He would not risk precious healers by dragging them close to the ogre.
Orders given, Padec found his gaze snagging again and again on one man.
Geren…
It was Geren who had ordered the trees cut at the foot of the hill, and Geren who had proposed building the facilities under the pretext of a butchering yard. That same yard was now the safest place below the ridge. Under ordinary circumstances the priests would still have been waiting up on the hill — stepping down would have meant walking straight into dangerous forest. Instead they were already here, all because of Geren's planning. That slight difference was the reason the two men lying there would live through the day.
How far ahead had he seen? Padec looked at Geren and clicked his tongue in something like awe.
Geren. If I could only bring that man into our mercenary company…
While Padec entertained the thought on his own, Team One returned with the wounded.
"Looks like a broken arm, but nothing critical. Mostly bruises and scrapes from the branches."
"Same on this side. The bleeding's bad, though — we need recovery spells right away…"
The priests, already holding their chants ready, poured holy magic over both men. The wounded men's faces eased almost at once.
"Can we win, though? Shouldn't we go help somehow…"
"We hold here. We have no coordination with them. Charging in would only add to our own losses."
"But if the front line is wiped out…"
"Don't speak ill omens so freely!"
"Ah… yes. Forgive me."
Padec was just as uneasy. He watched the lord's back as the man fought the ogre, his expression grim.
What else was there to do but pray? Pray that the Lord of Greenhilt would prove his strength here and now.
"Hm?"
Something odd caught in his vision. Padec rubbed his eyes hard and forced them to focus.
"What is that? A goblin?"
What he saw was a dark shape. About the size of a dwarf; the surrounding gloom made it hard to be sure, but something living had just moved past in front of him.
"Where, sir? I don't see anything."
"There. That thing closing on the ogre. What is it?"
"Ah — I see it. Looks like it's wearing a cloth over its head. Judging by size… a goblin, maybe?"
"You ever seen a goblin in this forest?"
"Never. Not once in two years."
The mercenaries around them, hearing Padec's voice, all turned to look. In that time the small, suspicious figure settled into place and crouched.
"Th-that looks like a person."
"What? A person that small? A dwarf? Or a dwarf proper?"
"No… it looks like a child."
"What?!"
Every mercenary gaze swung as one toward the hilltop.
"Come on, no way…"
"Y-yeah, but just in case…"
"Check it! Get up there and confirm right now! No — not all of you. One man only!"
Alarm flared through the ranks.
"No. I'll go myself."
Padec moved. He headed straight for the small, shifting shadow in his sight.