VII. The Monster of Spitzenberg (10)
VII. The Monster of Spitzenberg (10)
The meteoric-iron longsword truly was different. Even the force behind each swing felt exceptional.
Perhaps it was simply the greater weight, but a heavy weapon suited Keldric well.
"Grrrrr..."
"You vicious bastard."
"Woof! Woof, woof!"
Clutching its dangling wrist, the monster barked threateningly. Its long canine muzzle opened wide, baring vicious teeth.
Keldric ignored it. He advanced in silence, holding the ink-black longsword that seemed to drink in every trace of light around it.
For every step Keldric took forward, the monster retreated a step and a half.
Whenever Keldric took a stance to swing, the monster's first instinct was to defend itself.
But just as no shield was truly impenetrable, there were attacks the monster could not completely block no matter how hard it tried.
Clang!
The clash of metal against metal rang through the churchyard. The surrounding soldiers tightened their grips on their spears.
The monster's battle instincts were those of a wild beast.
Its reflexes and athletic ability were on a completely different level from a human's, yet even they barely managed to deflect Keldric's meteoric-iron longsword once.
The instant his lightning-fast thrust failed, Keldric recovered the blade and flowed into his next attack.
The withdrawn ink-black blade did not gleam even beneath the torches illuminating the yard.
Just as the monster's black fur blended into the darkness, Keldric's longsword hid behind the curtain of night and waited sharply for an opening.
'The balance is excellent.'
The meteoric-iron longsword was a masterpiece. Its weight felt pleasantly heavy even by Keldric's standards, lending proper force to every blow.
He had long since forgotten the longsword he had received from his family.
The meteoric-iron blade battered the monster without pause. Confusion entered its eyes, followed slowly by fear.
Its fear-soaked eyes rolled wildly. The ink-black blade attacked savagely whenever the slightest opening appeared.
Keldric's sword seemed to aim for the left side of the monster's head, then changed direction in an instant and came crashing in from the right.
SCREEECH—!
The blade caught between the monster's claws. Keldric twisted it at once, forcing its fingers apart until they lost their grip.
Every missed movement was repaid in the monster's hot blood.
SLASH!
Warm blood sprayed through the air. The monster's muzzle wrinkled, and venomous hatred filled its eyes as it glared at Keldric.
The monster had no intention of dying like this.
A wild animal did not give up and submit to being eaten the instant it met a natural predator. Even prey would bite back with all its dying strength.
This monster was capable of far more. It had enough strength to tear its predator apart.
"RROAR!"
The monster gave a short, violent roar and lunged. Keldric, who had intended to control the distance, did not panic. He immediately gripped the longsword halfway up the blade.
The monster's hide was undeniably thick, but not thick enough to stop a meteoric-iron longsword.
When he half-sworded it and thrust as if wielding a spear, the monster's furry hide was pierced with ease.
Just as it was now.
CRUNCH!
The meteoric-iron point stabbed squarely into the monster's abdomen. Blood pulsed from the wound where its hide had been pierced clean through.
"RROAR! WOOF! GRAAAH!"
The monster continued to struggle. Ignoring the blade buried in its body, it swung a clawed arm viciously at Keldric.
The claws scraped across Keldric's breastplate with a harsh screech. Sparks flew, leaving shallow grooves in the steel.
Keldric frowned inside his helmet. Few things were more irritating than scratching equipment he had bought only days ago.
"Hup!"
Keldric poured that anger into his fists. His white-hot concentration and explosive strength were a killing technique in themselves.
BAM! BAM! KABOOM!
At point-blank range, Keldric drove three consecutive punches into the monster's belly. Its eyes bulged as if they might pop from their sockets.
"Grrrk... cough!"
The monster staggered back two steps and violently vomited. A yellow, viscous liquid that appeared to be stomach fluid soaked the dirt of the churchyard.
Keldric remembered the horrifically mangled corpse he had seen outside the inner castle.
Yellow fluid had been splashed across the bloody, torn-open remains as though someone had thrown it from a bucket.
It had been the monster's stomach fluid. Keldric did not know enough about its biology to tell whether it had vomited partially digested contents or expelled the fluid for some other reason.
One thing was certain: stomach fluid or not, the monster's head had to come off.
The rough longsword techniques Sir Volfen had taught him pulled Keldric's body deeper into the fight.
The ink-black meteoric-iron blade swept savagely through the darkness toward the bleeding monster.
The monster dodged Keldric's attack. Once it had evaded his strike, it was the monster's turn.
Its claws tore through empty air. Keldric retreated two steps, then advanced three; the monster moved forward two steps, only to be driven back three.
The pattern repeated. Though already wounded by several attacks and no longer in perfect condition, the monster still refused to give Keldric a fatal opening.
The damage continued to accumulate. Keldric steadied his breathing and glanced at his blood-soaked blade.
"Grrrrr..."
The monster's earliest wound was already healing. Black smoke seeped from the gash as the bleeding stopped.
Its regeneration resembled a troll's. At this rate, the fight showed no sign of ending.
'A formidable opponent.'
Keldric admitted it. The monster was far more troublesome than he had expected.
Calling it strong was not quite right. Keldric held the advantage in both strength and technique.
The problem was landing a single decisive blow. The monster refused to commit to an attack.
It seemed to be waiting for Keldric to tire. Fear had vanished from its eyes, leaving only the murderous intent to kill him.
It was a born hunter, no ordinary opponent.
'If that's the case...'
Keldric slowly lowered the hand holding his longsword, as though he had abandoned even the stance that made counterattacks easier.
The move was suspicious, but the monster had already lost its reason. Swallowed by bestial instinct, it charged straight at Keldric.
Its jaws opened wide, jagged fangs rushing toward him. That was the moment.
"Alisa!"
Keldric shouted, his voice booming inside his helmet.
The monster flinched for an instant, but its open jaws continued hurtling toward Keldric.
That meant it failed to notice the point of ignition forming on its body.
WHOOSH—!
Flames roared upward. A pillar of fire rose three or four times Keldric's height from where the monster stood, then quickly subsided.
"Yip! Yelp! Whine!"
The monster rolled across the ground in agony, its entire body aflame. Its fur burned and the fat beneath its hide melted, filling the air with a rancid stench.
"Stab it with your spears!"
The surrounding soldiers rushed forward. Their ring closed instantly, spearheads stabbing the monster from every side.
Its hide was tough, but once the sleek, bristling fur had burned away, it offered little protection.
Several spears glanced off patches of unburned hide, but five or six punched straight through it.
Dark-red blood erupted. It boiled against the flames and fell in sticky drops.
"GRAAAH! WOOF! RROAR!"
Even while burning, the monster bellowed and swung its arms with all its strength. Several spear shafts embedded in its body snapped helplessly.
The monster no longer had time to pay attention to Keldric. Extinguishing the flames on its body came first.
It was the opening Keldric had been waiting for.
"Hup!"
CRACK!
The meteoric-iron longsword bit halfway through the burning monster's neck before striking its thick vertebrae with a dull crack.
Burned fur crumbled into the air, and the weakened hide yielded easily to Keldric's meteoric-iron blade.
But the sword was broad and the hide remained tough, leaving the neck half torn apart rather than cleanly severed.
Keldric tried to force the blade through the bone, but the monster's thick skeleton was extraordinarily hard.
By then, Keldric was growing angry.
This was the bastard that had wasted his time in Spitzenberg, the vicious monster that had hunted innocent people.
His anger became strength, and that strength surged beyond restraint.
Keldric released the longsword.
Then he seized both sides of the monster's half-severed neck with his gauntleted hands.
"Gah! Cough! Grrk!"
"Nnngghh...!"
Veins bulged across his arms and neck. His gauntleted fingers dug into the monster's half-severed throat.
"Gasp!"
"Wh-what?!"
The soldiers and mercenaries stared in horror.
Even Alisa, panting from her spell, opened her eyes wide as though she could not believe what she was seeing.
It was a stupefying sight. He was trying to tear that thick neck off with his bare hands.
Keldric held the monster from behind and pulled. Its hide began tearing little by little.
Alisa's flames still burned around it, but Keldric did not care.
At that moment, his mind held only one thought: tear this fucking monster apart and kill it.
RRRIP—!
That decided the fight.
"Keh—!"
SPLASH!
Hot blood erupted like a fountain.
The instant the monster's seemingly inexhaustible vitality vanished, Alisa's flames died away.
The headless, charred body collapsed in front of Keldric with a wet thud. The severed head he had torn free rolled across the dirt.
Blood continued gushing from the torn neck as Keldric caught his breath and picked up the monster's head.
Only then did he get a clear look at its face.
Its tongue lolled from its long muzzle, and the bestial eyes filled with shock and terror had gone dark.
It was the face of the vicious monster that had plunged Spitzenberg into fear.
It certainly looked like a werewolf. Baron Spitzenberg's conclusion had been understandable.
And now Keldric had hunted it down.
"Huff... whew..."
Keldric silently caught his breath, then looked around.
The soldiers gathering broken spear shafts and the mercenaries previously mauled by the monster all stared blankly at him.
Helga trembled in Alisa's tight embrace, while Arno's eyes shone like those of any boy who had just witnessed something incredible.
"...Ha, ahaha."
Alisa gave a hollow laugh, as though she no longer had the strength to be surprised.
Father Garibaldo and Brother Marcus hurried over.
Keldric awkwardly showed them the monster's head. Father Garibaldo gasped, hastily crossed himself, and began praying.
Brother Marcus blinked repeatedly as if doubting his own eyes, then muttered in a barely audible voice.
"N-no... Its hide should have been empowered by the devil. How did you tear it apart with your bare hands...?"
"Uh, well."
"The devil's power was supposed to make its hide as hard as stone, difficult for even steel to tear..."
Keldric had no answer.
He could hardly say, 'I grabbed it and pulled, and it worked.' All the talk of demonic power made that answer feel awkward.
"...In truth."
"Yes?"
"This morning, the Holy Spirit sent by God descended upon me."
"O-oh...!"
Keldric said the first thing that came to mind.
He barely understood what he was saying himself, but assumed Brother Marcus would play along.
"The Holy Spirit gave me courage, and with its help I was able to destroy the monster."
"I-I knew it! Oh, God!"
Brother Marcus fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.
The soldiers and mercenaries followed him to their knees.
"This is a miracle! God has surely brought a miracle to this land!"
"Ah! The Holy Spirit descended upon him. We are truly blessed!"
While Father Garibaldo and Brother Marcus wept openly, Keldric alone stood there awkwardly.
'They bought it. Good enough.'
The monster that had terrorized Spitzenberg was finally slain by Keldric's own hands.
That was all that mattered. Keldric decided to leave it at that.