“Ah… damn it! Why is it you again, Minotaur!”
Gilbert stumbled again, nearly falling to the ground and getting cleaved in two by an axe. He spoke with a grimy, dejected expression.
“Roar!—”
Failing to land a hit, the Minotaur roared furiously at the sky, then swung its massive axe, bringing it down upon Gilbert once more.
Where the giant axe passed, flowers, grass, and trees withered instantly. A whistling sound, [Whoosh—], could be heard cutting through the air.
This attack came with even greater ferocity and speed. A flash of axe-light gleamed in Gilbert’s eyes. Though he wished to raise his bow to block the axe, which descended like Mount Tai, his body simply couldn’t react in time. Just as his life hung by a thread…
[Whoosh—]
[Bang—]
Suddenly, a flying short sword, moving with lightning speed and immense kinetic energy, struck the Minotaur’s giant axe at that critical moment. This threw the creature off balance, causing it to lose its sense of direction completely.
With a resounding [Boom—], the axe finally slammed into a massive boulder beside Gilbert.
The colossal boulder, however, bore the brunt of the attack. Under the Minotaur’s full-force blow, it now lay shattered, its center blown apart into a scattering of small pebbles.
Some shot skyward from the impact, while others ricocheted outwards, even piercing the bodies of several Netherworld Wolves that had been about to attack Gilbert. It was unclear if this could be considered a blessing in disguise.
“Wh-what a powerful strike…”
Gilbert sniffed, a dazed look on his face, and exclaimed with admiration.
‘A part of him was also relieved. Luckily, that wasn’t aimed at him! Otherwise…’
“Hey! What are you standing there for? Do you want to die, you idiot!?”
“C-Captain!?”
Gilbert looked at Captain Thorne, who stood not far away, displaying a clearly annoyed expression, and spoke with surprise.
Yet his legs didn’t hesitate. After a lingering, fearful glance at the red-eyed, panting Minotaur struggling to pull its axe from the boulder, Gilbert dared not remain there for another step.
He quickly employed the escape and evasion techniques honed over his decade-plus career as an archer, dashing towards Thorne’s position.
Perhaps it was his innate personality, but even in such a dire situation, Gilbert couldn’t resist a jest:
“So… was that you who saved me just now, Captain? Oh, how lucky I am! Last time it was Miss Leya, this time it’s you, Captain, hahaha…”
“Last time? There was a ‘last time’?”
“Yeah, there was! It was another close call like this, almost died. Good thing Miss Leya arrived just in time… But seriously, magic is amazing!”
“…………”
However, things had finally reached a point where they could be considered resolved, or so it seemed.
Thorne estimated the time, figuring the convoy, laden with the wounded, should have already departed. So, what remained was…
“Ah!—”
“Wh-what happened!?”
“M-monster… it’s a monster!”
‘M-monster?’
Hearing this, Thorne’s expression froze, and both he and Gilbert’s faces were etched with profound disbelief.
Thorne recognized the speaker somewhat; if he wasn’t mistaken, it was a spearman, a pillar of a B-rank team, widely experienced and considered an elder in the adventuring world.
Theoretically, he should have been the one with the best psychological fortitude and most experience among everyone present! Yet, for such a person to display such a state was truly astonishing.
Following the sound, when Thorne and Gilbert also looked in that direction…
“Un… Undead!?”
****
Undead…
What an ominous and utterly detestable name!
Not just humans; surely all normal living races would find it hard to feel any goodwill towards them? Even the Orcs were no exception…
After all, the Undead loathed the living. Most of them lacked independent thought, acting merely on instinct to destroy and kill, like mindless machines.
“Dea… dead… dead…”
Stuttering, somewhat slurred single words emanated from the bizarre ‘entity’ that stood nearly three meters tall, clad in black embroidered iron armor, its skin already horribly decayed.
To be honest, if Leya were to describe its appearance… it truly resembled a ‘Death Knight,’ a ‘creature’ she had only ever heard of in novels from her past life!
“Ah!—Monster! Damn it, monster! Don’t come any closer!”
Wielding a broken spear, the very ‘adventurer senior’ known to Thorne and Gilbert, now clutched an iron spear already deformed by the Death Knight’s terrifying might, shouting in utter panic.
Perhaps he thought his screams alone would scare the Death Knight away, making it retreat obediently.
But that was merely his own unrealistic delusion, because in reality…
“Roar!—”
When the Death Knight was less than ten meters from the spearman adventurer, its bloodshot eyes suddenly emitted an eerie red glow.
However, unlike the red in Leya’s eyes… This red… it was far more bloodthirsty, more savage, more primal!
“Ah… ah… AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!—”
[Splatter—]
Thorne: “…………”
Gilbert: “…………”
Everyone: “…………”
So fast!
There was no time to even raise a hand in defense!
The spear-wielding adventurer was already struck by the Death Knight, which had suddenly accelerated. With a heavy sword, it descended like Mount Tai, from top to bottom…
…slicing him into a pile of mangled flesh scattered on the ground… or rather… severed limbs and broken bones…
“Ugh… Roar, roar, roar, roar, roar!—”
As if celebrating this very moment, the blood-soaked Death Knight, its face contorted in a grotesque grin, raised its greatsword high and roared at the sky!
“Th-this isn’t a joke, is it?”
“No… If I remember correctly, that spearman… wasn’t he a renowned Level 2 warrior in the guild? Last I heard, he could even fight a quasi-Level 3 warrior to a standstill…”
“But he was just… so effortlessly defeated by this monster…”
Suddenly, the atmosphere on the scene became eerily silent. A suffocating air of despair permeated the surroundings.
Finally, someone, though it was unclear who, was the first to speak:
“R-run, run, run, run, run, run, run!—”
Yes, flee!
While it was undoubtedly not a good solution, the grim reality was that everyone had already expended significant stamina battling the Netherworld Wolves and Orcs.
Moreover, facing this monster, even at full strength, the remaining five couldn’t confidently claim victory… Let alone now?
Though the idea was sound, however…
“Awoooo!—”
“No! This is bad! The escape route… the escape route is blocked by the Netherworld Wolves!”
“Wh-what did you say!? How is that possible!?”
Before anyone else could react, Thorne was the first to lose his composure, saying:
“Don’t the Netherworld Wolves usually not get along with the Orcs? It’s one thing for them not to attack the Orcs, but to go to such lengths to help them attack us?”
“Exactly! And… didn’t we secure our retreat path earlier? If that’s the case, how did those wolf packs know where we were going? It’s not like someone is commanding them…”
Another adventurer spoke up, but before he finished, Thorne suddenly slapped his forehead, speaking somewhat incoherently:
“That’s right… that’s right! I should have thought of it sooner! Wolf packs, Orcs, plus Undead—three seemingly unrelated races uniting to fight us? That would have been utterly impossible in the past!
Yet it’s genuinely happening now. Perhaps there truly is someone pulling the strings behind the scenes!”
However… although Thorne seemed to have discovered something extraordinary, in reality, compared to that…
“Hey, hey, hey, let’s not worry about that for now. If we still can’t find a way to retreat…”
[Gulp—]
The adventurer swallowed hard, beads of sweat the size of beans trickling down his forehead and falling to the ground.
“If we don’t find a way to retreat… that monster will probably…”
Everyone: “…………”
“Dea… dead… dead… Roar!—”
“D-damn it! Engage the enemy!—”
“Archers! Where are the archers!? Did you grow up eating shit!? He’s this close, shoot him in the head… oh no, he’s already dead… then shoot him in the knee! Shoot his knee, don’t let him get any closer to me, ahhh!—”
“Damn it… if you want to live, shut your mouth, you idiot!”
While unceremoniously cursing back at the nearly terrified man, Gilbert’s hands moved without delay. He swiftly executed the sequence of drawing his bow… nocking an arrow… and releasing it!
It was a fluid, seamless motion, perfectly executed!
[Whoosh—]
“Roar!—”
“H-hit it, ahhh! That’s great, truly great… Ugh…”
Before he could finish, as if designed to slap everyone’s faces at that very moment, the Death Knight merely glanced indifferently at the arrow in its knee, and then…
…there was no ‘then’…
Instead, the Death Knight roared at the sky once more, then, with an acceleration even swifter than before, it instantly appeared before the group…
And it had changed its target!
Its crimson eyes were fixed intently on Gilbert, who had just shot the arrow.
“Uh… gods… this isn’t… a joke, is it?”
[Buzz—]
It swung the great axe in its hand, creating a piercing whooshing sound in the air…
And just then… a voice suddenly echoed from the nearby forest path…
A solemn voice, ethereal and melodious, yet seemingly imbued with endless majesty and power…
“Go…!”
[Whoosh—]