Chapter 24 “The Disaster Appeared”

“…This is bad…” I muttered under my breath as I saw what stood in front of me. I kept my spear pointed at the hideous looking creature, ready to strike or parried its attack. Just one look at is enough to convince me that this opponent is a very dangerous one, maybe even the most dangerous I have ever encounter in this forest.

The creature in front of me looked like something hell would spawn daily. Its height is probably twice than mine with an overall appearance resembling a large bear that stand on its four large feet. Dark colored fur with occasional spot of scarlet red covers its whole body from head to toe, while greenish scale-like material covered the lower part of its muscular legs. I could see on its large head a pair of sharp and deadly looking pair of tusk sprouted with pride on each side. The head itself contains a pair of eye socket that housed a multitude of eyeballs, making me felt rather sick when looking at it. To make matter worse, it eyes moved around, as if looking at everything and nothing at the same time.

If its hideous and nightmare inducing appearance is not enough to make me realized how dangerous this creature might be, then there is one more thing from it that make me more wary for fighting it. It’s the greenish liquid that keeps dripping from its mouth. How disgusting it looks like is the least of my worry. But it is the fact that every time the liquid touched the soil it produced a sizzling sound accompanied by a small amount of smoke. Just the thought of my skin get in contact with that saliva of it makes me shiver with fear. Chances are the creature’s saliva is able to damage my weapon, armor, and my own body, if not destroying them altogether.

“Ms. Reystone.” I heard Sir Lange’s voice. “Be careful of its saliva. Just by touching it might be dangerous.” A small smile appeared on my face as I heard that. I’m honestly glad that he was able to realize that. I often noticed that my troop is unable to pick up small detail that might really make the difference in their chance of keeping themselves alive.

“I noticed.” I said to him without moving my attention from the beast in front of me. Fortunately, the beast just stood in front of us without moving its large body even an inch. It might be sizing us for how strong we are.

I tried to concentrate to pick any trace of magic in case it tried to prepare a spell or anything, but thankfully I found nothing of that sort. No, let me correct that. I found nothing that resembles a spell, but felt an abundance of magic energy swirling around the creature. The swirl of magic energy gave me a chaotic feeling and made me slightly nauseous, forcing me to stop trying to detect any more magic from the creature in fear of being affected by its corrupted magic force.

Then suddenly a growl escaped from the creature. Immediately after is let out a growl, I could hear a clanking sound not far from me. Since I couldn’t really see Sir Lange that clearly from my position due to being obstructed by the fallen tree, I could only guess that it came from him tightening his stance. Even without knowing whether he did that or not, I have already done the same as I gripped my spear and readied my stance.

Luckily, the beast just glared at us with its hideous looking eyes. I could feel my heartbeat quickened with each passing second. The muscles all over my body tensed up as I looked at its eyes. Although I want to avoid looking at its fear inducing eyes, I have to look at it and also its whole body, in case it tries to make any sudden movement. I might not have any time to react if I miss its movement even for a fraction of a second.

This is the real scary truth of the hunt. I have to be ready to move in case of any sudden movement and the failure in detecting that small changes might lead me to my own death. And sadly, when that happens –in which I hope will not happen any time soon–, I have no one to blame but my own self.

“Captain!!” Just when the atmosphere reached its tensest point, a voice came from behind me. I recognized that voice immediately as one of Sir Lange’s subordinates, the one that tried to make me give an argument about his over-cautious mindset. Then, as if realizing the newly arrived voice, the beast turned its head toward the source of the voice accompanied with another growl.

“Now!!!” The voice of Sir Lange reached my ear and the sound of him kicking the ground resounded in the whole area. Then the figure of him jumping toward the beast with his weapon pointed forward could be seen.

A bit late to realize what he meant by that sudden shout and also failed to realize that the beast had shown a gap we can use, I was unable to react in time and was only able to launch my own attack after seeing him jumped. As I kicked the ground and also launched my own attack, I felt quite disappointed at how foolish I was as I failed to see the gap. But I prided myself in my speed and therefore I am sure that I will reach the beast probably the same time as Sir Lange’s sword reach it.

Just as I expected, my spear reached the beast’s body relatively the same time as Sir Lange’s sword. He aimed at its neck while I aimed toward its front leg. Of course, we could aim at its head. But since the size of it is relatively small compared to the other body part, it is probably safer for aiming at the other body part. Since I was closer to its leg and while Sir Lange was closer to the head, I think we both picked the target with the most chance of hitting.

“W-What!?”

“No way!!”

What happened after our weapon reached the beast’s body shocked both of us. Both of our weapons indeed make contact with each of our target and landed perfectly, but not a single sign of damage could be seen. The blades failed to pierce its thick fur even for an inch. In fact, another troubling thing happened as I saw my weapon.

“F-Fall back!!” At Sir Lange’s command, I jumped back immediately to my previous location while Sir Lange landed besides me. I glanced toward his blade and noticed the same thing happened to his blade. “Tch! Even his fur can damage our weapon!? This is insane!” Sir Lange’s right. Both of our weapon, although was not sharpened perfectly, was far from dull. But just after hitting the beast’s body once, both of the blades has lost a significant amount of its sharpness. The edge looked to be dulled somehow and it even started to show a sign of being chipped away. Either its body is far too hard or it has other strange ability.

Then suddenly my eyes widened at the scene in front of me. The beast lowered its body and then jumped, leaving a cloud of dust on its previous location. But that sight alone which is enough to make me scared was not the one that shocked me. Rather, it is the direction the beast jumped into.

“Get away, you guys!” Yes, the beast jumped onto the pair of knights that came toward us. I shouted to warn them, but it seemed I was too late as the beast reached their location fast faster than I expected.

“E-Eh? W-What is th–GUAARRGGHHH!!!” Just as I feared, the pair of knight was not able to react in time. The first knight was slammed away into the nearest tree by its strong limb. The tree shook furiously as the knight hit the tree. The sound of impact he made when his back meet the tree was so loud that I instinctively winched my eyes. Judging by the fact that he didn’t move after that, I fear that he might broke his back and died due to the tremendous force the beast use when tackling him.

“D-Damn beast!!” The other knight, seeing his comrade has been attacked and left unconscious –if not dead–, pulled out his sword and swung it toward the beast. “GUUHH!!” But the beast swatted away his weapon together with his body with ease as if swatting away a weak fly. Just like his comrade, he also met the same fate as his body was thrown onto the tree.

But as I looked toward the second knight, I realized that he might be in a more dangerous situation. The reason for that is because there is a large scratch mark that runs from his shoulder onto his chest. Blood started to leak out of the gash on the armor and I could also see some started to drip from his mouth, evidence of how deadly a single attack from the beast is.

“Elold! Brecto!” Sir Lange shouted names that seem to be theirs. But the two didn’t give a single response to being called, making me fear the worse for them. “You!!” A single shout of anger came from Sir Lange. But instead of being blinded by anger and rushed to avenge his subordinates, Sir Lange took a very aggressive stance with his sword placed a bit higher than his head while pointed forward. “Give me strength, give might. Let me grab victory in every fight.”

Just like before, Sir Lange’s whole body is enveloped by a reddish blue aura. The aura also reached onto his long sword. But unlike the last time I saw him using that body strengthening spell, the aura only flickered like a raging flame for a few seconds before it turned still. The visible magic energy around his body started to become somewhat solid and concentrated on his sword, making the blade radiated a brighter light than before.

“DIE!!!” While I was still awed by the different sight his spell made, Sir Lange shouted and propelled himself forward and ran toward the beast. I don’t know whether his action was brave or just plain foolish since we realized that the beast is immune to our weapon. “HAAAA!!!!”

The beast swiped at the incoming attack, probably thinking of deflecting it. But even with that coming straight at him, Sir Lange didn’t move from his direction and just ran straight at the beast’s large paw. The moment its hand was inches away from hitting Sir Lange, he pointed his sword at it without any trace of hesitation on his eyes.

“W-What!?” He hit it? I mean, really hit as in he managed to drove his sword into the beast’s paw. The loud growl from it as it retracted its hand was the evidence that his attack landed perfectly. I couldn’t believe it! How did he do that? “…The magic? The magic!!”

Yes! That’s the only explanation! The magic will cancel its defense! Then let’s try it! There’s no way I’m missing my chance to defeat such a great beast! “Enforce my bone! Strengthen my muscle! Deliver me to my victory!”

The moment I finished my chant, I felt a hot sensation travel from my chest toward my whole boy, filling me with power and strength. I felt my body could fly like a bird and I felt my grip on the spear much more confident. I looked at the beast in front and lowered my stance and put strength into my feet. While Sir Lange has the beast’s full attention, this is my chance.

“HIYAAAHHH!!!” A loud shout came from my mouth as I ran toward the beast that kept swiping at the constantly dodging Sir Lange, missing every single strike it gave. Due to that, the beast has its back exposed toward me. I kept pushing the soil under me to increase the momentum of my attack. At the last minute, I kicked the ground and then jumped toward the beast. I then pointed the tip of my spear toward the beast’s exposed back and then put my whole strength and weight into it.

The beast let out a loud growl as my spear managed to penetrate its exposed back. Although it was not that deep, the wound will not be something that can be shrug away just like that. As I landed on the beast’s back, I turned the embedded spear, increasing the size of the wound together with the sound of its roar.

“Watch out!!” Even without Sir Lange’s warning, my body would have reacted first to the sudden danger that came from the beast that shook its body, trying to get me off of its back. I thought I could hold on and drive the spear further, but the shaking was too much. I jumped from its back and landed near Sir Lange. “Y-Your spear!”

“Huh?” I looked at it and I was unable to keep my mouth from opening due to the sight of my spear. Half of its blade has accumulated rust in such a short time. “T-This is insane!” I looked at Sir Lange’s sword and the condition was not much better from mine. Although a slight rust could be seen on the tip, but at least it was still usable. With my current weapon rendered effectively useless, I pulled out my sword after putting my spear on my back. Unfortunately, this means that I have lost the advantage that my spear could have given me. To make matter worse, I doubt that my sword would be able to do any damage since even Sir Lange’s heavier long sword could only do so much. “What now, Sir Lange?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know, Ms. Reystone.” Sir Lange kept his sword pointed at the growling beast that glared at the two of us. Or at least that what I could understand since inside its eye sockets the eyes kept moving around and twitching ever so often. “We should regroup with the other since I doubt we can take care of this beast just by the two of us.”

“I doubt that it will let us out of its sight.”

“…What a situation this is.” A clank sound came from his sword as he lifted the sword, ready to launch another attack. “Then our only option is hoping that the reinforcement will come before we will be overpowered by this damn creature.”

“What a wonderful plan that is.” I let out a mocking laugh at the reality of our very disadvantageous situation. To add matter worse, I am forced to use my sword, in which I am exactly expert in using compared to my spear. “Just to let you know, I can’t really attack that beast with my current weapon, Sir Lange. The most I can do is being a decoy and distraction.”

“Well, Ms. Reystone, although I’m not that happy to hear that, I’m appreciate that you were honest with me.” A wry smile appeared on his face.

“Being pretentious and prideful at this situation will not bring any good to any of us.” I then went into a stance I know best when using my sword. If I make it out alive, I have to remember to train myself in using my sword better. Ugh…why does the thought of dying crossed my mind just now? Not good! Not good! I shook my head several times to dispel the bad thought away.

“Are you all right, Ms. Reystone?”

“Fine.” I have no time being scared or worried! All I need to do is concentrate how to stall this damn creature. That’s all. Easier said than done, I noticed.

Just like before, the two of us stared at the creature. I kept my stance secured and ready to react in case it jumped toward us.

“FIRE!!!”

Huh? I tried to looked to the source of the voice but found myself unable to do just that. The reason for that is because Sir Lange pulled my hand as we retreated from our previous location. I was too shocked to realize what just happened.

While I was still confused, sounds of explosion reached my ear. I glanced toward my back and saw the beast being barraged by an attack that hit its back. Bright light hit its back as it kept roaring in agony.

“Tch, they’re too showy.” I turned my head toward the voice and found Sir Lange looked at them with a rather annoyed expression. “That was the knight corps’ mage squad,” said Sir Lange as he pointed at the group of people not far from the beast.

They all have the same knight outfit as Sir Lange and his two subordinates. Each and every one of them had their hand pointed at the beast while their mouth kept moving, probably chanting their next spell. Magic circle spread from under their feet and flashes of light came from their hand and flew toward the beast.

Just like before, explosions erupted from the back of the beast as the magic bolts make contact. The beast struggled to stand but managed to turn around to face the newly arrived enemies. It tried to attack the group as it prepared to leap onto their location. But for some reason, it just stood there while enduring the attack. What just happened?

“Movement seal,” said Sir Lange. Apparently, my face showed the content of my mind far too often than I thought. I really have to fix that habit of mine. “It is very effective when dealing with large target such as that beast. With that, we can maneuver much easily.” A sense of pride could be sense from his voice. I guess that is understandable. The fact that the beast was rendered unable to move was the sign of how skillful they are in using it. As expected of a mage in the knight corps.

While the beast is being barraged by the spell and also has its movement seal, we ran toward the back of the mages corps that was busy chanting their words. Each and every one of them have sweat pouring out of their forehead, a sign of how focused they are at their current task. As we walked by them, only one of them nodded toward Sir Lange. Maybe he is the leader.

“Onward, men!” Another shout came from in front of us. I looked at them as they passed by us and noticed several tall knights carrying tower shield marched onto the front of the mages. Although they wore similar looking armor and equipment, I somehow convinced that their outfit seemed to be a bit heavier than the other. Their armor looked quite bulky and the shield they carried could cover their whole height. The fact that each time they marched forward the ground shook a bit convinced me that I was not that far from the truth.

“Shield forward!” Together with that shout, sound of impact reached me ear as they pulled out their shield and then planted them onto the ground. Since I can’t see them that clearly anymore due to my location of standing behind the mage knights, I don’t know what else they were doing there. But judging from my experience in using a shield, they probably put their whole weight onto it to make it secure.

“Chant spell!!” Huh? Spell? What spell?

“Deflect the arrow. Stop the sword. Let not anything come through.” Their words were new to me. Judging from the content of the incantation, the spell is some kind of a barrier related spell.

“The Firm Shield.” Sir Lange said while he stood next to me. “It is a spell that is considered to be the strongest barrier spell a knight could use. Combined with their body strengthening spell, it will be able to provide a strong defense against anything.” So they are protecting the mages, eh?

“Impressive.” I said as I continued to look at the spectacle in front of me. At the moment, both Sir Lange and I stood not far from the scene, maybe only a few steps away from the lined up mage knights. For some reason, I, who should be happy seeing them able to control the situation like that, felt rather worried and uneasy. It seems…too easy. There’s no way the owner of such a strong presence could be defeated like that. Due to that, I gripped my sword even tighter, making a slight clanking sound.

“What is it, Ms. Reystone?” Probably noticing my uneasy expression, Sir Lange looked at me with a worried expression of his own.

“…Nothing.” I shook my head. Although I was in doubt, the fact that they were able to deal with the beast remained. Telling him about my own worry might not be the best action now. Due to that, I opted to keep quiet in the mean times while remain vigilance. As long as the beast it not subdued entirely, there is still chance that it will attack anyone. “What is our next plan, Sir Lange?” I looked at him since the battle seemed to be nearing its end. I hope.

“We wait for them to finish it.” He said to me while looking very attentively at the group of knights that were busy with subduing the creature. I also saw some knights were carrying the two fallen knights that were attacked by the beast not long ago. The fact that they were still breathing, although in a very shallow way, means that they can be healed. Once again, I hope.

“Mages! Attack!” The sudden shout in front of me brought me back from my own pondering and forced me to look forward once again. The mage knights released their magic spell and then a much larger and brighter than before. They all gave out a very strong magic energy. I don’t even need to concentrate much to realize that. “FIRE!!!”

Bolt after bolt hit the beast straight on. Explosion and flame covered the ground where the beast stood. The flame kept getting bigger and bigger. At first, I was afraid that it might consume us too as is got bigger. But my worried was misplaced as the row of shield in front of the mage stopped the flame completely from even reaching the mage knights. It seemed that they expected that when they used such a strong spell in such a close proximity.

The flame kept engulfing the beast and I couldn’t even see the glimpse of it any more. I could start to hear cheers and sigh of relief in front of me. But even while doing that, they still kept their vigilance.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t even do any of that. The more the fire become hotter and fiercer, my worry somewhat worsened. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that the beast will not be subdued so easily like that. But on the other part of my mind, I also want to believe that the strong magic they use will be more than enough to deal with it. I really hope that is enough.

“…No way…” When the worried filled word reached my ear, I glanced toward the one that said that. I looked at Sir Lange’s face and I could see his face distorted. Fear and shocked was painted on his face. I followed his sight and then I too realized the reason for that.

“…It’s…still alive?” I just couldn’t believe it. My worry became true.

The beast stood inside the raging fire as its ever moving multiple eyes twitched. It showed rows of sharp looking teeth as it released a growl. I might not understand the way the beast think. But all I know that it is angered. Furious even. And from my own experience, the most dangerous beast is a furious beast. It seems our fight is far from over.

Author Note:

The beast is angered. It has become much more dangerous than before. How will they fare?

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