261: This number should be enough. (2)
As the number of following hunters grew, Kaor asked Ghislaine,
“It’s great that we have so many subordinates, but will it be okay? They’re all rough guys, so it’s going to be hard to handle them.”
“Are you scared again?”
“I’m not scared!”
“The more people we have who can fight, the better. That way, we’ll gather leather faster, and it’ll be useful later on. When I return, you need to handle them well. Can you manage that?”
If it had been anything else, Ghislaine would never have entrusted it to Kaor. But Kaor had led a small mercenary group before, and Ghislaine decided to trust that experience.
Hunters are similar to mercenaries. In fact, they tend to obey stronger figures even more than mercenaries do.
With Kaor’s hot temper, he should be able to lead a few hundred hunters just fine. He had defeated Doncard, instantly rising in reputation and showing off his skills.
Indeed, Kaor snorted confidently with a smug expression.
“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely keep them in line, even if I have to beat them every day.”
“Right, those kinds of guys resist small fears but will submit to massive ones. Don’t forget that.”
At those words, Kaor nodded with a hint of tension. He seemed to grasp the meaning a bit.
After all, wasn’t he being dragged around, flustered by the immense violence of the lord?
‘Ugh! My pride! One day, I will definitely take my revenge.’
Kaor fumed, igniting his motivation. He wanted to surpass not only Gillian but Ghislaine as well.
Isn’t that the way of a man?
Whether Kaor was pumped up or not, Ghislaine didn’t care. There were many tasks to handle before the Monster Wave arrived.
He went to find the Knight of Turian who was in charge of managing the fortress.
“It’s best to prepare since the Monster Wave is going to start soon.”
“……There’s still over six months until it starts, though?”
The Knight of Turian didn’t hide his sarcastic attitude.
They were more familiar with the cycle of the Monster Wave. It was just funny that Ghislaine, having just arrived, would say something like that.
Regardless, Ghislaine just delivered his message and left.
“Don’t regret it and just prepare well. Many people who didn’t listen to me have regretted it.”
After Ghislaine left, the Knight of Turian fell into deep thought.
If he were from another kingdom, he would have ignored Ghislaine’s words. It would just end with, ‘Another crazy guy coming to blabber.’
But the people of Turian were different. They were cautious enough to build a fortress to fend off monsters.
Grant, the Knight of Turian and commander of the fortress, was troubled.
‘He’s only just arrived. He must have picked up some nonsense somewhere.’
‘But his recent achievements are extraordinary. He’s far more competent than the hunters who have been here for a long time.’
“Much more professional.”
“Do you know something?”
Preparing for the Monster Wave isn’t just about raising the alert. The fortress is sealed off, and all logistics are blocked.
Within the fortress, the byproducts of monsters are used as bait to lure in external merchant groups for economic activities. Once logistics are cut off, it becomes hard to hold out for long.
Secondly, it must be announced that the royal family and nearby fortresses are entering a wartime system. This allows for preparation in case the fortress is breached.
In other words, not just here, but everywhere starts preparing for wartime.
Thanks to this thorough system, the Turian Kingdom was able to fend off the tremendous monster attacks from the Shadow Mountain Range.
“If this was nonsense, enormous financial losses would occur.”
The cycle of the Monster Wave was almost regular. Therefore, each fortress had been planning and preparing according to that cycle.
Such a sudden shift to a wartime system hadn’t occurred since the fortresses were built.
Listening to a madman’s words and deciding alone felt overwhelmingly burdensome.
Grant, who had been sleepless all night in deep thought, spoke to his knights as soon as dawn broke.
“…Prepare for the Monster Wave.”
It wasn’t that he fully trusted Ghislaine. His obsessive caution wouldn’t let any nonsense slip by.
“Also, start monitoring Count Penris simultaneously. If there’s no Monster Wave within a month, he will face the consequences.”
He didn’t know how much money was involved, but to make up for that loss, one would have to hunt monsters here for a lifetime.
As soon as Grant gave the order, the fortress entered a powerful alert status. The fortress entrance was sealed, and hunting by the hunters was prohibited.
Knights and soldiers moved busily, preparing to fight against the monsters.
“Move quickly!”
“Check the amounts of arrows and stones!”
“From today, double the guarding personnel!”
Checks on the large ballista and catapults took place, and strategic supplies were tightly piled around the castle walls.
As a result, the roads and various areas within the fortress began to be controlled. Economic activities shrank, life became tight, and people’s tension rose.
Naturally, some people expressed their dissatisfaction with the unexpected sudden change.
“Why are we doing this out of nowhere? The Monster Wave is still far away, right?”
“I heard that Ghislaine or whatever that new guy’s name is said it’s coming soon?”
“What nonsense is that? How would he know?”
Not being able to hunt meant they couldn’t earn money. Naturally, the hunters directed their complaints at Ghislaine.
But just as they were ready to confront him, they turned back without seeing him. Because, just a few days later, the monsters really began to swarm.
Krooooh!
Endless monsters rushed toward the fortress, disregarding the type. No one knew how creatures that usually preyed on each other suddenly came together to charge the fortress.
All the Knights of Turian and soldiers gathered at the castle walls. The hunters did the same.
They all shared a fate similar to a community of destiny. And once the Monster Wave had begun, there was no escape.
The number of monsters was easily visible and seemed to exceed ten thousand. The hunters stared in shock.
“What, what is this? Why are they really coming all of a sudden?”
“The cycle hasn’t been wrong for years. The margin of error was at most a month or two.”
“How the hell did he know about this?”
Not just the hunters, but Commander Grant was equally stunned. He had prepared just in case, but he never thought it would actually happen.
Feeling somewhat relieved, he knew the danger was far from over.
“Combat preparation! Hunters, get ready for battle!”
“Prepare for battle!”
Kiiieee!
As Grant quickly regained his wits, the soldiers began loading the giant ballista and catapult. The hunters raised their weapons as well.
With monsters flying in the sky, they had to be ready for aerial attacks in addition to ground combat.
Ghislaine stood atop the castle wall, gazing at the approaching monsters. Behind him were the Knights of Penris and over 300 hunters he had recruited this time.
While preparing for battle, the other hunters sneaked glances at Ghislaine.
“Kaor is over there.”
“Isn’t he the one who defeated Doncard? It’s safer to be close to him.”
“Let’s move a bit closer.”
The hunters stealthily shifted towards Ghislaine. Grant, the fortress commander, shouted at the sight.
“Hold your positions! You fools! Stay in place!”
Monsters don’t use ladders. However, numerous monsters can easily scale castle walls.
Those with excellent reflexes could leap over a pile of corpses with ease. That’s why the hunters needed to hold their ground.
But the hunters ignored Grant’s orders and moved towards Ghislaine’s group. Being next to a strong ally took priority.
In the past, Doncard was the strongest here. While his skills in one-on-one combat might be uncertain, he was undeniably the best at monster hunting and always performed remarkably.
And now there was Kaor, who had defeated Doncard. Staying close to him increased their odds of survival.
Kaor swept back his hair with an arrogant expression.
“Ha, you idiots. You know who the strongest is. This is troublesome, really.”
Even with the monsters coming, he felt no tension. Right now, he just wanted to bask in the admiration.
The hunters already contracted with Ghislaine wore triumphant expressions. You could feel the envy radiating off them.
‘This is why you have to move fast in life!’
‘Envious, huh? Who told you to be prideful!’
Ghislaine looked around at the hunters who had come closer.
“Hey, do you all want to fight with us?”
The hunters all nodded eagerly. They wanted to fight without getting in too much trouble.
Ghislaine readily agreed to their wishes.
“Alright, since we’re busy, let’s make a verbal contract for now. Just fight hard alongside us. Plus, we have Kaor, who beat Doncard, so don’t worry.”
“Wooooah!”
The hunters’ morale skyrocketed.
It used to be quite challenging to even get close to Doncard. His party, which monopolized monster corpses, did not tolerate any intruders.
But the newcomers were either generous or naive; they accepted everyone who asked. For the hunters, it couldn’t get any better.
Seeing Ghislaine accepting the hunters, Grant gave up on trying to control them.
After all, the hunters weren’t soldiers. Trying to force them to move would only increase their resentment, and it wouldn’t work.
“Damn it, ever since that guy showed up, everything feels off.”
The unexpected monster wave and the gathering of hunters made it feel like the entire fortress was being dragged along by him.
KAAAAAAAH!
He couldn’t think any longer. The monsters had entered the attack range of the catapult and ballista.
“Attack!”
At Grant’s shout, the attack from the ballista and catapult commenced first.
Peace out!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
KAAAAAAH!
Monsters exploded and were torn apart. The ballista was particularly effective against large monsters.
However, they couldn’t stop all those monsters with just a few attacks. In the meantime, the monsters had moved beyond the range of the giant weapons, and attacks were no longer effective.
“Archers! Attack!”
“Hey! Attack!”
The archers, whose attacks were relatively easier to control compared to siege equipment, began their assault.
Whoosh!
A rain of arrows poured down. Some of them even targeted the flying monsters.
While they didn’t do much damage to the thick-skinned monsters, the smaller ones took significant hits.
“Fire! Keep shooting!”
They had to continue shooting arrows until they stuck to the castle walls. The few mages who had trickled in for various reasons squeezed out their strength to unleash long-range magic as well.
Boom!
The ground shook louder and louder. The monsters’ howls grew close enough to be ear-splitting.
Ghislaine, on the castle wall, took a rough estimate of the number of monsters and their distance, nodding her head as she spoke.
“Alright, let’s start jumping down. Everyone prepare for the ‘Only One Arm Gets Broken and Survives’ fall technique.”
The hunters around her looked puzzled, while the Knights of Penris wore forlorn expressions.
“I knew it would be like this.”
“Well, of course, there’s no way we’d fight normally.”
“I don’t even want to think about it anymore.”
Whether monsters were rushing in or not, the knights had already given up on everything.
They didn’t even protest and pulled ropes from their waists. Ghislaine chuckled at the sight.
“Wow, you’re preparing on your own now?”
“Yeah, yeah. I just don’t want to jump down. My shoulder hurts.”
The knights replied with lifeless voices, hastily throwing the rope over the castle wall and quickly descending while carrying massive wooden boxes on their backs.
The hunters gasped in shock.
“W-what are those guys doing?”
“Are they crazy? Why are they jumping down?”
“No way, are they really jumping just because they’re told? Are they out of their minds?”
Since when did anyone really die just because the leader told them to? If they were going to die anyway, wouldn’t it make sense to take out the one who gave the order first?
Grant yelled again, seeing the situation.
“You idiots! What are you doing! Come back! I swear you’ll die from our fire if you don’t!”
Even if monsters were creeping up close, the arrow attacks would continue. They could shoot directly downward after all.
But they couldn’t do that if allies were underneath.
Even as Grant struggled, Ghislaine ignored him. She merely looked at the hunters who had decided to follow her and were in a panic.
“What are you doing? You all grab the rope and come down.”
“…Why do we have to do that?”
“Fighting from the castle wall isn’t always advantageous. That only works when your opponent is human. When dealing with monsters, it’s better to step down and form a proper formation to fight. Besides, there are many monsters for which the castle walls are meaningless.”
“But the castle walls are safe…”
“Since it’s your first time, I’ll kindly explain again. When facing that many monsters, it’s better to fight down there. And there’s an even more important reason.”
“What’s that…?”
“We need to kill a lot down there to make it all ours, right? Alright, that’s enough explanation. Hurry up and jump down.”
“…”
The hunters were left speechless. No matter how they thought about it, it sounded like a joke, yet some of them had already jumped down.
They had no clue how the situation was unfolding.
As the hunters were dazed and confused, Ghislaine looked down and shouted.
“I think they aren’t getting the situation, so I’ll just throw you all. Catch it well!”
A mighty shout echoed from below.
“The monsters are approaching! Quickly throw them!”
“Yeah, let’s get this started.”
With that statement, Ghislaine grabbed a nearby hunter and threw him down.
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