Chapter 257: Just Attack the Weakness (2)
KAAAH!
The leader of the owlbear let out an even more ferocious roar and charged forward.
As the owlbear drew closer, Ghislaine suddenly stopped in his tracks.
SKRREEE!
His foot left a long line on the ground due to inertia, sliding toward the owlbear.
KAAAACK!
The owlbear raised its claws high to strike down at the approaching Ghislaine.
“Ugh!”
But Ghislaine’s movements were faster. Before their bodies could collide, his greatsword traced a large arc.
SWISH!
The head of the charging monster was sent soaring into the sky. The headless body wobbled for a moment before collapsing to the ground.
THUD!
As the owlbear fell, Ghislaine turned around and smiled brightly.
“See? If you slice off the head, they just die. Plus, you can cleanly get the leather. Most monsters die without a head. The numbers are about even, so everyone should take one.”
“……”
The knights had nothing to say.
If losing a head meant death, it was the same for humans. No, most creatures would likely share that fate.
If that’s the weakness, it’s like dragons walking around showing their weak spots.
Even though they wanted to argue back, they didn’t have the time because more owlbears were charging in.
Ghislaine swiftly stepped back and shouted, “Alright, everyone attack! Aim for the weak points!”
“Tch! Let’s go! I can handle at least that much!”
Kaor shouted boldly as he dashed forward. He didn’t want to be outdone in a fight.
The knights followed Kaor, brandishing their greatswords.
All of them had trained in various weapon techniques under Ghislaine’s guidance. While spears and swords were their main weapons, they had also trained with greatswords, making them well-equipped to fight monsters.
Kaor swung his greatsword, now charged with mana, at the approaching owlbear.
CLANG!
It was a bit rough, but nonetheless, he managed to sever the neck in one clean strike. Just achieving that against the thick and sturdy owlbear’s neck was quite impressive.
“Whoa!”
“That guy is something else!”
“Looks like we’re gonna take them all down!”
The fleeing porters stopped in their tracks to watch.
Having already seen two knights slice through the owlbear’s neck with one blow, they expected the other 50 knights to do the same.
“UAAAGH!”
But the knight who swung at the owlbear’s neck ultimately failed to land the blow and was knocked backward instead.
The same went for the other knights as well. Some only managed to nick the neck, while others didn’t even connect properly.
“I can’t cut it!”
“W-Wait a minute!”
“What kind of monster is this sturdy!”
It was one thing to just attack, but for these novice knights, slicing off the neck of a moving, giant monster in one go was quite challenging.
KAAAH!
Naturally, they each took a hit from the enraged owlbear, rolling around in the process.
“Let’s run away! We miscalculated!”
“Hurry, get on the wagon! We’re done for against those things!”
The hidden coachman and porters began stirring up panic again, and the party hurriedly climbed onto the wagon.
At that moment, Ghislaine re-entered the fray, wildly slicing at the owlbear’s neck, saying, “Tsk, tsk, I knew it would come to this. That’s why you have to train hard, you know? Get up quickly. As soon as we return, we’re going into special training.”
At his low voice, the knights panicked and scrambled to their feet.
They were all in armor and wearing the Blood Python’s inner layer, so they weren’t seriously injured. There was a bit of shock, but they could still move without issue.
There was no problem moving.
“Ghaaaah!”
“Please, get sliced!”
“Die! Die!”
The lord’s special training is terrifying. The knights poured all their strength into attacking the owlbear.
These knights were the ones who had been summoned here, those who were the most incompetent and lazy. Just a little while ago, they couldn’t even handle mana.
Even when they exploded their mana, they couldn’t land a proper attack, and the owlbear’s neck started to get messily torn apart.
Khaack!
The owlbears screamed in agony. They weren’t dying, just feeling a lot of pain from the clumsy attacks on their necks.
In the chaos that was maddening, Ghislaine and Kaor couldn’t help but jump in.
Of course, the knights weren’t just fighting casually. If they took a direct hit from the owlbear, they could get seriously injured or even die.
Ghislaine shouted as he helped knights caught in dangerous situations.
“Stand straight! Hold your sword properly!”
“Your legs are going weak! I told you so, why the heck do you look like that!”
“Hey! What the hell have you been training until now!”
Ghislaine, busy for a while and just not paying attention, definitely knew how to whip them into shape as a former mercenary.
He slashed at the owlbear’s neck while simultaneously punching the knights.
“Ugh! Lord! We’re in the middle of a fight… Keek!”
“Can’t I complain after this is over?”
“What do we do if we attack first! Ugh!”
Even with the knights’ cries, Ghislaine didn’t stop.
“You guys are here because words won’t work! Real battle is training!”
The knights ended up receiving more strikes disguised as training from Ghislaine than from the owlbears.
Seeing this, Kaor heaved a sigh of relief inwardly.
‘Phew, I’m glad I can kill alone.’
With so many people watching, getting hit would be troublesome. He always had to look awesome.
Kuwung! Kuwung! Kuwung!
Thanks to Ghislaine’s relentless help, all the owlbears were down. And the knights who got hit by Ghislaine also fell one by one.
“Uugh…”
“I’m really gonna die from training…”
“What was I thinking… I should’ve run away sooner.”
The knights felt like they were tasting death.
The current pain was nothing. Seeing the lord in action, it felt like they really had to deal with 100,000 monsters before they could go home.
And all the porters watching couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Who is that guy? He’s way too strong, right?”
“To take down dozens of monsters and knights alone….”
“He’s the strongest hunter I’ve seen so far.”
While everyone was in admiration, Ghislaine was chuckling as he looked at the owlbear corpses.
“Wow, luck’s on my side from the start. I managed to gather so much owlbear skin.”
The owlbear’s body resembled that of a bear. In other words, he’d gotten a ton of bear pelt.
The problem was their size; hauling all this into the mountains was very inefficient.
But since they hadn’t entered the mountains yet, this problem could be easily solved.
Ghislaine said to the coachmen.
“Hey, I’ll dismantle this roughly, so take it to the fortress for safekeeping. I’ll pay extra, of course.”
“Just leave it to us! We can handle the dismantling job!”
The coachmen eagerly accepted. Turning down such easy money would be foolish.
With over 100 porters and coachmen getting involved, the corpses were dismantled in no time. While the detailed work needed to be done at the fortress, this was enough to load everything onto wagons.
“Well then, we’ll be off!”
The coachmen loaded up the heaps of owlbear byproducts and headed back.
Ghislaine led the remaining porters and knights into the mountains.
“Alright, let’s resume hunting and training.”
With those words, a relentless hunt for monsters began.
Khaak!
Keeeek!
Kuuoooh!
As expected of a monster paradise, various beasts popped out from the mountains.
There were goblins, of course, and also Noras that resembled hyenas, along with Bugbears that were bulky and had grotesque faces. The variety was endless.
But the results were the same. No monster could evade Ghislaine’s sword, which only struck weaknesses.
Still guiding the knights, Ghislaine didn’t stop catching monsters.
“What are you doing! Attack the weaknesses! The weaknesses!”
“Where’s the head?!”
An unidentified monster appeared, one that looked like a round ball with legs everywhere, making it impossible to tell where its weakness might be.
It was on fire. The round orb-like thing had legs all over it, making it impossible to tell where its weak point was.
Crack!
Ghislaine simply sliced it in half and said,
“This is a monster called Skurch. There’s nothing to gain from killing it. In the future, if you encounter a monster whose head you can’t identify, just cut it in half.”
“……”
Easier said than done; not everyone could just do that.
So the knights had no choice but to keep getting hit by Ghislaine while hunting.
‘I want to go home…’
‘I should have trained harder…’
‘At this rate, I’ll get killed by the lord before I die from a monster…’
The knights’ previously relaxed attitudes were now filled with tension. Their focus was at an all-time high.
Getting hit by a monster was one thing, but getting hit by Ghislaine hurt so much more.
Crack! Crack! Bam!
The knights’ swords became sharper and sharper. It was tough, but they couldn’t afford to slack off in battle.
The porters who followed them couldn’t help but click their tongues at the sight.
The Shadow Mountain Range was considered so dangerous that it was called the disaster of the Turian Kingdom. But looking at the current situation, it seemed like the monsters were the ones being struck by disaster instead.
“Good, you’re doing well! Move faster!”
“Ugh! Please, slow down… Gack!”
Once Ghislaine got started, she didn’t stop until everything was finished. The complaining knight took a hit and was dragged away.
Even with 100 porters, Ghislaine’s hunting speed was so fast that the disassembly work was delayed. Eventually, the knights joined in to crouch and help dismantle the monsters.
“Um… there’s just too much luggage. It’s impossible to carry any more.”
Even the porters surrendered. Ghislaine’s hunting pace was overwhelmingly insane.
Ghislaine clicked her tongue and plopped down on the ground.
“Ugh, too slow. Let’s take a break for now. Dismantle as much as you can carry.”
The porters worked hard to disassemble the monster bodies. There were so many that they couldn’t finish even as the sun fully set.
Awooooo!
“Ugh! They’re coming again!”
Even at night, the knights couldn’t rest. After facing the oncoming dire wolves, they finally had a moment to relax.
“Ah, we can’t carry everything.”
Even with 100 porters and knights filled to the brim with monster byproducts, a good amount remained.
“Well, it can’t be helped. We’ll come back next time.”
Ghislaine looked a bit disappointed, but the porters and knights were smiling. They felt as exhausted as if they had hunted for a month, even though only a single day had passed.
Now there were no wagons. They had to carry heavy loads, but just being able to return felt good.
And when the people inside the fortress saw Ghislaine and her group enter, their eyes almost popped out.
“Crazy… Did they really hunt all that in just one day?”
Laborers and knights came in with their backs full of the monsters’ spoils. It felt like a large merchant group had just entered the fortress.
In the history of the fortress, there had never been a party that hunted so many monsters in a single day. Even if there were more people gathered than Ghislaine’s group.
Everyone was staring in a daze at the impressive procession.
A hunter, counting the newcomers out of curiosity, muttered in disbelief.
“Not a single one… died?”
People had already seen the coachmen bringing in plenty of owlbear hides. Besides that, it seemed they had caught hundreds of monsters in just one day.
Having caught that many, it didn’t make sense that not a single person had died. To achieve that quantity, they must have fought without resting for a moment.
If a person fought continuously without taking a break, it was normal for at least a few to die.
“Isn’t the number of people the same as when they left? How does that make sense?”
“Still, everyone looks like they’re hurt here and there… Why does it feel like they got hit by a person?”
“Did many humanoid monsters appear?”
Hearing the murmurs of the crowd, the knights swallowed their tears. They were hit by humans, not humanoid monsters.
No, it was surely monsters disguised as humans.
People looked at Ghislaine and the knights’ achievements with disbelief. But then, yet another unbelievable event happened.
The next day, Ghislaine disappeared again, leading a bunch of porters. And when she returned, she brought back a load of loot just like the day before.
“Is this even possible? No matter how strong you are, if you don’t know the terrain and the monsters’ characteristics, it should be tough?”
“I knew she was quite strong, but isn’t this her first time hunting? The speed is absurd.”
“Is it just me, or is the speed way too fast?”
“This guy is totally a veteran hunter, right?”
No matter how skilled a hunter is, they wouldn’t hunt so recklessly.
In fact, experienced hunters know when to stop, avoiding unnecessary greed. That’s how you stay alive longer.
But the newcomers, clueless as they are, were just obliterating monsters left and right.
Now the porters following them came back with proud expressions, feeling like they’d contributed to the major kill.
After this happened a few times, the hunters started to get greedy.
“Those guys have been raking in the kills. Is there any way to take it from them?”
“Not by force. Unless Doncard steps in. He’s in charge of the workshop, right?”
“Attacking there wouldn’t benefit us.”
If hunters are risking their lives, just killing monsters without getting anything out of it would be a loss. Naturally, they need to extract profits from every kill.
That’s why in the fortress, such operations were well-developed. Workshops that handled everything from butchering corpses to tanning leather and even storage were thriving.
Hunters generally didn’t bother these workshops. Not only were the costs hefty, but if word got out that a workshop was attacked, others wouldn’t do business with you either.
Ghislaine smiled contently as he looked at the stockpiles in the workshop’s storage.
“Ah, there’s nothing better than making money while warming up.”
Every time he saw the neatly stacked leather and bones, he couldn’t help but admire. Some monsters even had their innards removed separately, as those could be used for potions or food ingredients.
The knights, tired from daily battles, were awestruck every time they looked around the storage.
“Wow, all of this is money, right?”
“Our lord really knows how to procure what’s necessary.”
“But we still have to catch and send off 100,000 of these monsters…”
As someone said this, everyone’s expression turned gloomy. They realized clearly why they were there.
For several days, they’d been pushed to the brink of death. Honestly, dying would feel like a relief.
Getting hit by monsters was bad enough, but getting hit by allies? The knights had long lost their humanity.
“But… the speed is picking up.”
“Is this really effective?”
“Thanks to the lord, it’s super fast… but how do we keep this pace among ourselves?”
Ghislaine’s monster hunting speed was truly beyond imagination. No monster could defend against its weakness(?).
The knights were frantically trying to keep up, but at some point, they began to catch monsters faster.
However, the knights didn’t feel happy at all.
“Why do I keep crying when my skills are improving?”
To take down 100,000 monsters, they had to risk their lives every day. This was the harshest training imaginable.
As Ghislaine’s hunting continued, complaints slowly started to emerge among the hunters.
“That jerk is wiping out the hunting grounds. First, he started in distant areas, and now he’s come to where we hunt.”
“Don’t you think we need to establish some discipline? We might need to kill him outside or something.”
“And who’s going to do that?”
It would be like putting a bell on a cat. Given the skills and achievements he had shown so far, it was daunting to pick a fight with him.
Ultimately, the only one the hunters believed in was Doncard, the ‘King of Ironcliff,’ who held the strongest power in the fortress.
“Looks like Doncard will have to step in.”
“Yeah, he’s the only one who can. And he’s got a significant number of people too.”
“But why is Doncard just sitting there? Those guys aren’t even paying their association fees.”
“He wiped out Arnold’s crew at the inn. His hunting prowess is legendary by now. No matter how strong Doncard is, this must be a burden.”
“Still, he’s got to take action.”
“Right, those guys apparently even touched Doncard’s hunting grounds yesterday. It’s likely to come to a head soon.”
Rumors began to spread within the fortress. The word was that Doncard, leading the strongest force, wouldn’t stay silent for long.
And thus, the atmosphere shifted. Doncard couldn’t just let those who dared to touch his hunting grounds go unpunished.
“Doncard! Doncard is here!”
With someone’s shout, a group headed toward the inn.
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