Subjugation (2)
The mercenaries had already set up a wall of flames to prevent the Saber Tiger from escaping. Originally, a mage should have handled it with proper magic, but since they’d simply poured oil and set it ablaze, the fire burned far more fiercely than intended. Beyond the wall of flames, three mercenaries were visible, their figures flickering in and out through the heat haze.
Watching them, I suddenly remembered that I possessed something even more magical than magic itself. Fairy Dust.
I believed that turning my body invisible with fairy dust and launching a surprise attack was the only way to reverse the current dire situation. Normally, I wouldn’t step forward myself—I’d apply the dust to someone else and send them in. But for some strange reason, I felt like I should be the one to do it this time.
Besides, I was the only one who knew how to make the body transparent with fairy dust, so I had no choice but to handle it personally.
“Father Hergo, please check if I’m properly visible.”
I pulled out a robe and put it on, then had him cast the three buffs—Activation, Healing, and Luck—on me once more. After that, I carefully sprinkled the fairy dust over my body, starting from the top of my head. As the powder settled, my form gradually turned transparent until I completely vanished from sight.
“Oho! I don’t know what you did, but your body has disappeared. Only your heels remain.”
I sprinkled more dust on the missing parts and moved around. Father Hergo turned his head this way and that, unable to tell whether I was standing there or not. Convinced the invisibility was complete, I slowly began to advance.
Palchion and Lord Doyle were facing off against the Saber Tiger up ahead, while Lord Johnson had retreated to the rear. He was panting heavily as he poured potions into the gaps of his torn armor.
Staying low in my transparent state, I crept closer to where the two men were fighting the beast. My plan was simple: the moment I got within striking distance, I would pull a spear from my inventory and drive it straight into the creature’s face.
Invisibility via Fairy Dust
But before I could even get close enough for the spear to reach, the Saber Tiger suddenly flinched as if startled and leaped backward, abandoning the fight.
“What? The beast retreated. Is it exhausted? Attack!”
At Lord Doyle’s command, several mercenaries charged in from behind, only to be sliced apart by the creature’s claws and die on the spot. Noticing the Saber Tiger’s behavior had changed from before, the panting Lord Johnson rejoined the fray as well.
While the three of them fought, I crept closer to the Saber Tiger once more, still crouched low. Yet again, before I could enter spear range, the beast leaped backward and began scanning its surroundings, nostrils flaring.
Watching it sniff around like that, I immediately understood what was happening.
Damn it. I sprayed vinegar on my clothes to mask my scent from the beast, but now that same vinegar smell is giving away my approach.
Just my luck. They say even a falling dog breaks its nose, and that was exactly what was happening to me. I’d come up with the brilliant idea of using invisibility, only for the vinegar I’d used to avoid detection to now prevent me from getting close.
“Looking at how its movements have changed, it seems like something is irritating or frightening it. Let’s pour everything we have into this one push!”
Palchion had noticed that the Saber Tiger seemed to be deliberately avoiding a certain direction. He began driving it that way, and Lord Doyle, catching on, joined him in launching a fierce assault from that side.
The Saber Tiger met their attacks with sweeping blows of its forepaws, refusing to yield. In doing so, however, its rear end ended up facing directly toward me.
Its entire body was black like a panther, but the asshole nestled between its hind legs was not. Stabbing that spot with a spear felt incredibly cowardly, but this was hardly the time to worry about such things.
Even if I pierced its rear, the beast probably wouldn’t die from it, but it would certainly hinder its movements. I waited for the perfect moment as it shifted and fought fiercely with the two knights.
Now!
The thought flashed through my mind. I instantly pulled a spear from my inventory and thrust it forward with all my strength.
It wasn’t the smooth shuk of piercing flesh I expected. Instead, a soft, squelching squelch traveled up the shaft and into my hands. The heavy weight made me let go of the spear and stumble backward.
Rear Strike — Direct Hit
[KRRAAAAAGH—KRAANG!?]
For the first time, the Saber Tiger leaped straight up from where it stood and let out a thunderous roar!
The moment I heard that roar, goosebumps erupted across my entire body. Every muscle in me contracted at once. Before I knew it, my body had frozen solid.
Ah… So this is what they call Fear.
Experiencing the paralyzing terror firsthand, I found my body completely unresponsive to my will. I nearly pissed myself on the spot.
Only then did I realize how insanely reckless I had been, trusting completely in my invisibility. It was absurd that I had charged forward into such a dangerous situation myself. One swipe of those front paws and my body would have been torn to pieces. How could I have been so stupid?
It must be because of Father Hergo’s blessing. That’s what made me act like a crazy person full of reckless courage.
The divine blessing that strengthened my weapons and protected me from fear had instead filled me with drug-like bravery. But now that the Fear had shattered the blessing, the artificial courage vanished. I turned tail and ran for my life.
“Huh? It’s the mage!”
“Whoa! He used invisibility magic to sneak up and stab it! That was the first effective hit!”
Though only a handful of mercenaries remained, they still had the energy to cheer, celebrating the attack that had finally dealt proper damage to the Saber Tiger.
“The spear stuck in its ass is slowing it down! Everyone, attack!”
The knights had noticed that the creature’s swift, flexible movements were now hindered by the spear lodged in its rear. Once Father Hergo restored the broken blessing, courage surged through everyone again—they truly believed they could kill it now.
The Saber Tiger seemed to realize it had suffered a serious wound and that the humans’ momentum had shifted. It tried to break through the encirclement and flee. But thanks to Palchion’s earlier plan, the mercenaries had created a double and triple layer of fire walls. There was no escape.
[KRRRRRR—]
“Got it!”
As the beast twisted and turned, trying to leap over the flames, Lord Johnson’s spear slammed into its lower back.
This was decisive. With two spear shafts—one in its back and one in its rear—still intact, the creature’s movements became severely restricted. Once its feline flexibility was gone, dealing with it became much easier.
“Now! Drive your spears in!”
At Palchion’s shout, the surviving mercenaries thrust their spears in unison, pressing the beast hard. But the Saber Tiger had no intention of going down easily. It charged straight at Palchion.
Having identified him as the one giving orders and leading the fight, it decided to kill the leader first, throwing its entire body at him.
Palchion, sensing this was the decisive moment, tucked his spear under his arm and charged forward with a fierce battle cry. But the instant he drew close, instead of meeting the beast head-on, he suddenly threw himself backward onto the ground.
“Sky Impale!!”
[SQUELCH—]
"For the hunter or mercenary facing a beast far larger than himself,"
"there is one final technique."
⟨ Sky Impale ⟩
Sky Impale was one of the methods hunters and mercenaries used when hunting animals larger than themselves. You tucked your spear under your arm and simply fell backward as the enemy charged. If done correctly, the monster would impale itself on the spear and die—a sure-kill technique.
It required immense courage to lie back and stare at the sky while a monster leaped straight at you. But courage alone wasn’t enough. You also needed the skill to drive the spear precisely into the heart in that single motion. It was no simple technique.
If you failed to pierce the heart accurately, the impaled beast’s death throes could easily kill the user instead. And right before our eyes, the worst possible outcome of that technique was unfolding.
Palchion had successfully impaled the Saber Tiger with Sky Impale, but he had missed the heart. The beast was still alive. With something other than its heart pierced, it roared in agony and began tearing apart the man pinned beneath it.
“Die!”
“You bastard!”
However, with Palchion’s spear still lodged through its body, the Saber Tiger could no longer move freely. It was relentlessly skewered by the others’ spears and finally killed.
Once its guttural growls fell silent, everyone collapsed where they stood, strength leaving their bodies. There was no triumphant cheer at having slain the Saber Tiger.
“Fuck…”
We had entered the forest with a carefully selected elite force of fifty men. Now, only eleven people could still move properly. Some, like the holy warrior Yoheim, had only fainted and might survive with treatment, but the casualties were devastating.
Palchion, the bravest of them all, had been our greatest hope for treatment, but the head beneath the Saber Tiger was completely crushed beyond recognition. It was truly heartbreaking. He had been the most courageous and likable among them.
With only enough MP left for four healing spells, I cast them on the two mercenaries who looked closest to death, then sat down myself.
The mercenary who had been in charge of pouring oil ran off toward Whited Stone Village to deliver the news. Father Hergo handed me a small bottle.
“It’s a mana potion. You didn’t use any attack magic, but you clearly did something else.”
Father Hergo smiled knowingly and patted my shoulder before standing up. He then took out red vitality potions and carefully fed them to the critically wounded.
I drank the mana potion and began moving among the survivors, applying healing buffs.
About two hours later, people from the village arrived. Yanne was with them.
“M-Master, are you badly hurt?”
Yanne’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at me, covered head to toe in dirt and blood. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her I’d been rolling around in the dirt to avoid catching the Saber Tiger’s attention.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m not injured at all. The blood is from treating the others.”
“Phew. That’s a relief. Ugh, but the vinegar smell is so strong. Please take off your clothes right away.”
“Palchion! Hic… sob…”
Someone was clutching what remained of Palchion—only the part below his shoulders—and crying bitterly. It was the blue-haired female mage who suffered from anorexia. I guessed she must have been his lover.
“I talked with everyone who went into the forest and with Sister Sezanne. They said Captain Palchion was from the bloodline. Apparently… he was the grandson of her great-uncle or something like that.”
So that makes them sixth cousins?
I was pointlessly calculating their exact degree of kinship when the mercenaries began dragging the Saber Tiger’s corpse off Palchion. His body was finally revealed. Even in death, he gripped the spear tightly with both hands.
“Sigh… We worked so hard to maintain a B-rank mercenary company with nothing but the shell of it, and now the captain’s gone too. Poor bastard.”
The mercenaries gathered up Palchion’s scattered remains.
“Sezanne. The Golden Dawn Mercenary Company is finished. All the members from your family died this time. We’re withdrawing from the company. We’ll cremate the captain and our comrades and then leave.”
The mercenaries collected the belongings of the dead and handed them to Sezanne, along with their company identification tags. Though it felt shameless for them to abandon the company the moment their leader died, I couldn’t bring myself to condemn them outright. After all, they were mercenaries, not knights. Still, the fact that they chose to leave at the most difficult moment left a bitter taste.
The blue-haired mage cried even harder. Seeing her like that, Yanne walked over, took her hands, and embraced her.
The living had to keep on living. The merchants began demonstrating that truth in person.
“The black energy has left the Saber Tiger’s body, but with so many holes in the hide, it won’t fetch a high price. Those who participated in the hunt, write your names over there. We’ll settle the accounts through the Mercenary Guild.”
The merchants moved efficiently. The Saber Tiger was quickly processed, and the battlefield was cleaned up amid the smoke of cremation.
“Father Hergo, I have a question. Why does that black energy appear? Didn’t you say it was holy water from Lecherot, the god of animals? And you mentioned it was a curse of punishment. Is it a curse from another god?”
“Hmm. Perhaps you wouldn’t know since you’re from another continent. That black curse isn’t from another god. It is divine punishment for challenging a god’s authority.”