Blackout (4)
Blackout (4)
"Knights, maintain the trot. Rex, begin the harassment."
"Leave it to me!"
The mounted archers split off to either flank of the knights advancing from the front. They rode the tribe's traditional racehorses, fast mounts with excellent endurance.
The elite cavalry swiftly dug into the Hydra's flanks. Most monsters would be thrown off by a sudden change in formation and encirclement, but the Hydra was different.
The creature had seven heads. Its vertically slit eyes — two pairs on each side — warily tracked the mounted archers on the left and right, while three pairs of eyes still fixed their glare on the knights at the front.
'No wonder an army that included both holy war knights and free knights got shattered.'
Even Eugene marveled at the creature's composure, so uncharacteristic of a monster.
It wasn't simply a matter of having many heads granting a wide field of view. What mattered was that each head thought independently and responded to changes.
-The Hydra is the most cold-blooded bastard among monsters. It never freezes up on the battlefield. Even if a few heads panic, the other heads keep the body moving.
That was the advice Rex had given during the pre-battle briefing.
-So it thinks in parallel.
-Parallel? What's that?
-Something like that.
-Sir Knight, you do use words that are hard to understand at times.
Even if some heads fell into panic, the other heads continued thinking, so the body kept maneuvering by selecting the optimal course of action.
It was a formidable advantage, considering that even powerful monsters like ogres made poor choices in battle — out of rage, irritation, or loss of focus — accumulating mistakes until they were hunted down.
"The sub-chieftain is drawing the creature's attention properly!"
Confirming that the Hydra's attention was dispersed, Eugene issued the next command.
"Canter!"
The warhorses, which had been moving at a trot, picked up speed. Now the pace was unmistakably a charge, plain for anyone to see.
"Forget any notions of becoming a hero! No stroke of luck works against that thing! Whatever surprise you attempt, it will see through it — so move exactly as you were trained!"
Eugene shouted repeatedly to keep the knights' hot blood in check.
Meanwhile, at the vanguard, Rex loosed the first arrow, and the tribal warriors behind him released their bowstrings one after another.
"Aim for the faces! Anywhere else, the arrows won't even stick anyway!"
At that moment, those with keen eyes — Eugene among them — witnessed a strange reaction from the Hydra.
Hissss!
Several of the serpentine heads opened their jaws as if to say 'How dare you little things trifle with us?!' — then clamped them shut at once. Their ferocious expressions snapped back to attention, as if they had been sharply rebuked.
'Shut your mouth!'
'You fool!'
'Those ones are on a different level.'
'You'll get an arrow lodged in your mouth!'
It was as if the other heads had thoroughly dressed them down.
"Damn! The bastard's quick on the uptake."
"The hide really is incredible."
The tribal warriors clicked their tongues in disappointment. The arrows bounced off feebly near the mouths that had closed by the narrowest of margins.
"It seems the heads can communicate with one another without speaking!"
"They're connected to a single body. Nothing particularly strange about that."
Unlike the astonished Haind, Eugene was calm. He had anticipated this to some degree.
'As expected, it's different from conjoined twins born of mutation.'
The Hydra was the product of a genome designed from the start to possess multiple heads. Naturally, he had predicted that the way the brains communicated with one another would have evolved accordingly.
"Sub-chieftain! I heard they were tough, but honestly, not a single arrow's getting through?"
"Then do you think our ancestors' records were wrong!?"
The mounted archers, now in swarm maneuver with the Hydra at the center, fired arrows without pause.
The enraged Hydra advanced to punish them, but it was impossible to catch up to light cavalry that was deliberately keeping its distance.
"We're not the main attack, so scatter their gaze as much as possible. The front — the heads at the front are staring at Sir Eugene!"
Rex loosed another arrow. This time it was not a lethal arrow.
A whistling arrow. The pine-cone-shaped arrowhead, pierced with five holes, flew toward the serpentine heads that were glaring at the knights.
When the decurions who had likewise nocked whistling arrows released their bowstrings, an eerie sound split the battlefield.
Whiiiiizz!
A grating noise, like a great iron ball falling from the sky. It came chopping in from the flanks, and even the Hydra, which had been watching the front, could not help but have its attention snatched away.
Eugene did not miss the opening.
"Commence attack!"
Thud-thud-thud!
The knights, now at a full gallop, rapidly closed the distance to the Hydra.
The lances, which had been raised toward the sky, came down in unison to level at the front.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Haind's heart pounded as if it would burst. His hand gripping the lance was slick with sweat, and his armpit, where he had the shaft tucked using the couched lance technique, was just as drenched.
The reptilian body, large as a house, and the seven giant snakes swaying against it — all rapidly drawing nearer. And the tip of his own spear, aimed to pierce them through.
'I have trained as a knight for this very moment!'
That single thought alone revolved in Haind's mind. Fear that he might die could not even dare to draw near that thought.
The lance, weighing over ten kilograms, aimed precisely at the Hydra's leg joints with minimal wavering even atop the charging horse.
Warriors who had refined both body and mind to the limit for the sake of a single point of destruction. A charge possible only for knights engulfed the Hydra.
Thud!
Crunch!
Crack-crunch!
The lance charges, concentrating immense shock into a single point, hammered the Hydra's lower body.
Shrieeeek!
All seven serpentine heads shot skyward together, shrieking in agony.
The city's subjugation force, watching fearfully from a sufficient distance, blinked their eyes.
Because even after pursuing it this far and fighting countless engagements, they had never seen the creature in such pain.
"Withdraw! Withdraw!"
The knights discarded their broken lances and pulled back at once.
The Hydra, its hide studded with metal tips that might have been bolts from a ballista, opened its bloodshot jaws. But it failed to bite down on any of the knights.
Thud-thud-thud!
The knights were mounted on desert warhorses purchased from Tripol.
Desert warhorses, trained on the sands of Samur, had exceptional turning ability even if their speed was somewhat slower. They could wheel away swiftly after a lance charge and disengage.
"Amazon!"
"Hwa!"
Moreover, the tribal female warriors who had come riding on twin chariots swung their staff slings and hurled jars.
The Hydra, sensing threat from the approaching masses accompanied by an intense tearing sound, halted its pursuit.
Hissss!
One of the Hydra's heads, apparently mistaking the flying jars for stones, opened its mouth wide. It intended to bite them apart in midair and seize the initiative.
But once again, the jaws closed immediately. It seemed to have been scolded by the other heads. That was sound advice.
The jars shattered, and the black, viscous, flammable mixture splattered everywhere.
At the foul stench, the Hydra recoiled in alarm. Through long experience fighting humans, it recognized what this liquid was.
But a massive body cannot hide from attacks that come flying from staff slings.
Thud!
Peoseok!
Half of them missed, as they were hurled from moving chariots, but the remaining half slammed into the Hydra's body and shattered into pieces.
"Shoot!"
Fire arrows were loosed at the Hydra, now drenched in the sticky incendiary mixture.
Hwaaaak!
Intense flames surged up. The Hydra's hide secreted a non-flammable mucus, but the situation was entirely different when it was coated with a catalyst refined through alchemy.
Shrieeeek!
Under the horrific searing pain, the creature began to rampage.
'It's working according to plan. It's effective.'
Eugene clenched his fist.
The lances ordered this time were specially crafted items commissioned from Walker, the dwarf blacksmith.
-You want the first meter from the tip sheathed in iron?
-That's right. The rest in wood, but make the point where the iron ends easy to break. The center of the tip must be drilled open, with a hollow cavity inside.
-Like a quill pen, you mean. And inside, you'll fill it with poison rather than ink?
-As expected, tell you one thing and you understand two.
-Hahaha! You flatter me.
As the Hydra writhed in agony, the coagulant poison inside the deeply embedded lance tips was injected further. Clotted masses of blood, blackened and dead like congealed blood pudding, tumbled from the wounds.
One of the serpentine heads, its eyes rolling in pain, lunged at Eugene, who was conveniently in sight.
Amidst everyone retreating, the sight of him standing alone to face it was utterly laughable. The abnormally massive warhorse and the great axe went unnoticed — the head had lost all reason.
'Danger.'
'Pull back.'
'Fool.'
The other heads sent their thoughts through the connected spinal cord, but the head consumed by fury would not listen.
Blackout punished that arrogance.
Seogeok!
In a single stroke, the great head — large enough to swallow an anaconda — was decapitated.
The serpentine head, launched into the air, spun about three times before crashing to the ground. From the severed cross-section, which recoiled reflexively, blood gushed like a fountain.
"Iyaaaaa!"
"The Castle Lord has beheaded the beast!"
Six heads still remained, but the soldiers raised cheers as though victory were already won.
The knights, who had been riding with their backs to the Hydra, were desperate to see the spectacle — to the point of dying from the desire — but they held themselves in check. A private whim must not ruin the operation their liege had so meticulously crafted.
"Sir Haind!"
"Sir Luden!"
From the opposite side of the knights, dark elf squires came galloping on horseback. They were carrying fresh lances.
The knights and squires, keeping ample spacing to the flanks, crossed paths with one another. The lances the squires had been holding were transferred into the knights' hands.
"Thank you!"
"I wish you good fortune!"
The squires wheeled about and rode back to the main camp to receive a third lance.
The knights likewise wheeled and executed their second charge toward the Hydra.
At the sight, magnificent to the point of majesty, the subjugation force's knights marveled — and seethed with bitter regret.
"Are you all watching? In all my life I have never seen such a beautiful sight!"
"The Water City? Goldford's farmlands? They wouldn't be fit to lie at the feet of those valiant knights."
"Damnation! I should have been in that place."
The knights' charge. The very concept of it was being realized in the most artistic form the world had ever seen.
"Bring me my spear! I'll join that fight even now!"
"You mustn't, master! Your wounds will tear open!"
"Agh, shut your mouth! I said shut it!"
"What are you doing? Stop him!"
At last, a knight wrapped in blood-soaked bandages tried to charge out again. Only after his squire and slaves clung to him and pleaded desperately was he barely stopped.
Ppajik!
Kwadeudeuk!
At that moment, the second lance charge struck home. The sound of lances shattering thunderously was loud enough to reach even those watching from afar.
The Hydra rampaged in pain and humiliation, but once again, it failed to catch the knights.
"Where do you think you're looking?"
Because another head fell to the massive axe blade that Eugene, riding Might — who had sprinted forward like the wind — swung down upon it.
With two heads dead, lances and everything else ceased to matter. All its attention had to be focused on the monster of a knight before its eyes. Then an anomaly occurred.
"Charge! Charge forward!"
The subjugation army, having recovered their spirits at the sight of Eugene's forces overwhelmingly pushing back the Hydra, came charging forth. At their head were the knights from the Apen Peninsula.
"Viscount! We have come!"
"We shall partake in the glory!"
'What the hell, are these lunatics for real?'
The knights' eyes blazed with madness. A mix of reverence and greed for honor spurred them on.
Their gazes took in the Hydra's massive body. Dozens of lance tips were embedded in it, blood streaming from the wounds.
"The beast is not immortal."
"We can bring it down!"
The sight of human will seemingly conquering the Hydra's colossal form wiped the terror of the immortal monster clean from the knights' memories.
The problem was that they were not moving according to a meticulously planned operation like Eugene's army. Such a reckless charge was nothing but perfectly suited for a Hydra counterattack.
Kuwaaaang-!
All five serpentine heads roared in unison at the knights of the subjugation force.
Hihihihiing!
Neigh!
"Uwaaah!"
"Ghk!"
The warhorses, struck head-on by the killing intent of a massive monster, fell and fled.
Horses were intelligent creatures. Through the countless humans and warhorses that had died in the preceding pursuit, they had already learned just how dangerous an enemy the Hydra was.
"Wh-where are you going? The enemy is over there!"
The panicked knights tried to soothe their mounts, but it was no use. Even the knights who pushed through the chaos found their speed reduced and their balance broken.
Kkung!
The Hydra's massive front paw flattened a knight and his warhorse.
Thud!
A knight struck by the tail's swipe flew away like a pinwheel. Seeing him tumble across the ground without a twitch after it was clear he was killed instantly.
"Heouk!"
One knight was lifted into the air, bitten horizontally by the Hydra. The Hydra was terribly exhausted and the knight wore a cuirass that protected his chest with iron plates, so he avoided instant death.
"Keok!"
But as the Hydra clenched its jaw, the armor crumpled and the wind was driven from the knight's lungs.
Since clashing with Eugene's army, the Hydra had done nothing but take hits, and at last having a counterattack that resembled a real one, it grew elated.
The problem was that it grew too elated despite the truly dangerous enemy still being very much intact.
Seogeok!
A massive axe blade fell like a thunderbolt, severing the third of the Hydra's necks.
"Are you alright?"
"Thank you, Viscount! Thanks to you, my life... Uwaak!"
"The pleasantries can wait."
Eugene grabbed the freed knight and threw him backward, and Might immediately kicked off the ground.
Bang!
By a hair's breadth, the Hydra's maw slammed into that spot. Might worked his hooves swiftly and delivered his master before the creature's neck.
Shrieeek...
Ssukduk!
The fourth neck dropped.
The three remaining heads were wise in that they had held out to the last. As if they knew they would truly die at this rate, they gave up the fight and resolved to flee.
The three brain signals fired through the spinal cord were unanimous. The sight of the three necks swelling in unison hardened Eugene's face as well.
"Rex! Does it also spit some kind of breath attack?"
"No! It doesn't! The records of our ancestors clearly state..."
"Everyone pull back! It's about to do something!"
The records of the Black Hand Tribe were respected, but nothing was absolute. All units under Eugene's command pulled back from the Hydra just in case.
And a moment later, it became clear why the Hydra's necks had swelled.
Gweeeek-!
It was because the serpentine mouths were vomiting up what they had recently eaten.
"It seems it is trying to lighten its body to flee!"
At Haind's words, the knights, even in the midst of battle, could not hold back and burst into boisterous laughter.
The sight of that colossal monster, submitting to their strength and miserably tucking tail, was simply too gratifying. It felt as though all the grueling training they had endured to perfect themselves as knights was being rewarded.
Cheolpudeok.
The male Hydra that had been swallowed after mating was still intact. He looked bewildered but seemed to grasp the situation immediately. He lunged savagely, intent on guarding the fleeing female's rear.
"A remarkably devoted husband."
"That devotion is worthy of acknowledgment."
As befits a matriarchal society, the dark elves, who held a culture of respecting wives and women, nodded their heads.
Yet it was a futile resistance. Lacking the thick hide and muscle of the female, he was reduced to chunks of meat by the attacks flying in from all directions.
Despite the husband's sacrifice, the female failed in her escape as well. Her lower body had suffered four lance charges from the knights.
Her joints were shattered by the lance tips, and the coagulant poison necrotized the muscles of her legs entirely.
Every time the Hydra struggled to take a step, her black, dead leg veins squelched out thick, jelly-like blood. Escaping the cavalry in such a state was impossible.
"Let us fight as well!"
"Quit your impertinence and stand back. This is no place for greenhorns."
The knights who received their long glaives from their squires joined Eugene, who was swinging Blackout.
Their liege lord was striking down at the Hydra's tail. It was so thick that it did not sever in one blow, but it was cut seven-tenths through and dangling. One more strike and it was cleanly cleaved in two.
'Now, are there any danger factors left?'
Eugene exhaled a sigh.
The tail was severed, and all four legs were lame. The three remaining heads had also been blinded in the eyes by arrow attacks, leaving them one-eyed.
"It is time to reap the harvest!"
The long glaive blades swung by the tribal knights aimed for the Hydra's leg tendons.
These were individuals who, through countless hunts and skinning, possessed considerable anatomical knowledge. In the course of the four lance charges, they had already identified exactly where the tendons were located.
Even so, engaging the Hydra in close combat and precisely targeting its vitals was no easy task. It was a feat possible only for knights.
BOOM!
As her Achilles tendons were slashed from all sides, the Hydra finally collapsed. At that sight, both Eugene's army and the subjugation force roared with a cheer fit to tear the world asunder.
Grrrr...
Eugene, holding Blackout, stood boldly before the Hydra. The creatures stared up at their victor with expressions of resignation.
The black lightning fell like a guillotine, and the Hydra's heads rolled across the ground one by one. The colossal form that had shaken Sicily was thus brought to a complete halt.
* * *
Among the prey the Hydra had vomited up to lighten its body for flight, there were survivors.
"S-save me!"
"It hurts! It hurts so much!"
These were individuals who had not been swallowed long. Their bones were broken and they had suffered burns from digestive fluids, but their lives were not in danger.
"It would be best to render them unconscious first. Light the sleeping incense."
"This skin must be cut away. Hand me an obsidian blade."
The medics, consisting of tribal witches and witch apprentices, busily began emergency treatment.
"Recover the bodies of the knights. Ensure the flesh of these brave men does not roll about in the dust."
Eugene pointed to the knights who had joined late and died.
"I have realized all too keenly that the fame of the Monster Slayer was not exaggerated, but rather understated!"
The knights of the peninsula dismounted and paid their respects to Eugene.
"I shall remember your bravery, sirs. It is no simple thing to rally one's fighting spirit once more when wounded and exhausted."
"It was but the duty of a knight."
At Eugene's praise, the knights of the peninsula beat their chests with their fists in profound emotion.
'Well, in the end, they did properly serve as bait, so.'
Eugene was more than willing to offer as much lip service as needed to the knights who had given their lives to draw the monster's attention.
"Those guys seem a bit off in the head."
"Where the hell did they sell their conscience?"
The tribal warriors, on the other hand, clicked their tongues in secret. From beginning to end, Eugene's army had done all the cooking, and the knights of the peninsula had done little more than dip their spoons in at the end.
"Oh, Lord. Remember this day's victory."
Yet the knights were drunk on the genuine sensation that they had shared in the glory.
The creature called a knight was, by nature, a creature of his own way. Tactics like drawing attention with countless arrow attacks, or launching a fire attack with oil jars, were considered mere supplementary branches.
Charging a monster on horseback!
Whether one had performed that act or not was all that mattered. They possessed a curious brain structure that believed this was what determined the credit for a monster hunt.
"The leather won't be of much use."
Rex looked at the blackened, burned body all over and expressed his disappointment.
"It's fine. No casualties among our own is the top priority."
"Well, it seems there is still enough to make armor for you, Sir Knight, so that is a relief."
What had burned was the comparatively weaker hide of the lower body, while the leather from the toughest areas was mostly intact.
"Monster leather armor, huh."
"And from a Hydra, no less, it would be top quality. Lord Goffrey's armor is excellent, but isn't it about time you wore something better?"
Rex grinned.
"Keep cutting in. Once all the congealed blood is scraped away, there should be clear blood pooled inside."
"Are you out of your mind? You're taking off muscle along with the hide! I told you to fillet it properly!"
The dark elves, who had changed their trade from warriors to artisans, surrounded the Hydra and began the dismantling.
Splash!
"I-it burst!"
"Don't spill a single drop! It's worth more than its weight in gold!"
What was called the potion of immortality was Hydra's blood. It was a top-grade alchemical ingredient rated several tiers above the blood of trolls, which were of a similar lineage. The blood was carefully collected into containers placed all around.
"Which idiot ordered us to throw away the congealed blood?"
"My Lady Witch? Isn't this stuff ruined from the coagulant poison?"
"Have you ever seen such a damned fool! Who is your superior? What kind of bastard has neglected your education?!"
The witches, shocked to see the congealed blood being discarded on the ground, came running and scolded them fiercely.
"E-excuse me...?"
"Oh my."
The wounded soldiers of the subjugation force, abandoned during treatment, gazed at them piteously, but no one paid them any attention. They were not even family to begin with, and dismantling the Hydra was far more important.
"Ahem."
"With a body this big, it certainly yields quite a quantity."
The knights of the peninsula watched the dark elves with envy. The Hydra was being carved up as if mining a 100% pure gold vein.
But as the knights were still human beings, they could not demand anything beyond the glory of the hunt.
"Everyone empty your waterskins. Hurry and go collect the blood..."
To be precise, a few unscrupulous knights had tried to bring their servants and get a piece of the action.
"You, where do you think you're going?"
"Uh, well, Viscount? We too claim a share of the hunt..."
"I asked where you're going."
Eugene's face, which had been somewhat amiable, turned as cold as the axe blade he held.
Bang!
Might slammed down a front hoof, glaring murderously. The horses ridden by the knights and servants shied away in terror.
'Don't cross the line. You'll fucking die. Seriously.'
Faced with a demeanor that seemed to express that single sentence as avant-garde art, the knights could only suck their fingers.
It felt as though if they let their greed get the better of them here, that massive axe blade dripping with Hydra blood would fall upon them as well.
End
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