Chapter 68: Man-Eater vs Man-Eater(?) (6)

The Colosseum was thrown into chaos. Everyone was struggling to escape, creating various races of survival in every corner of the building as they were pushing and knocking over other people so that they could get out first.

Among them, there were kind people who sacrificed their bodies to save their children, parents, and lovers, but there were also those who fainted or just stood blankly because of the Fear that the monster exuded.

It really was a terrible sight.

This was what happened when humans laid their eyes upon a monster that transcended their common sense, a monster they couldn’t dare to fight against.

In a situation where everyone was panicking, keeping one’s sanity was extremely difficult.

But, even though such a crisis was unfolding…

“This is already a failure.”

“Right? It shouldn’t be this ‘peaceful’… What a waste…”

There were two people who described such a miserable scene as ‘peaceful’.

The sight of the two men sitting in their seats while having a peaceful conversation amidst the chaos was already strange enough, but what was even more unusual was that the two men were wearing priest garbs—one of them was even wearing the high priest’s garb. This suggested that they were people from the temple.

However, no one asked them for help. In fact, everyone ignored them, as if they hadn’t noticed their presence to begin with.

The high priest, who had been listening to the screams as if they were music in his ears, opened his mouth.

“This isn’t going according to the plan.”

While the scene in the Colosseum was a terrible sight to others, the atrocity that the high priest had ‘planned’ wasn’t so ‘lukewarm’. His goal was to kill all these people to turn them into a [Sacrifice].

What he had in mind was a more terrible, a more bloody scene that was filled with countless lambs trembling in despair.

But right now…

“…We haven’t acquired any sacrificial lambs.”

While the situation was a crucible of chaos, it was still a rather lukewarm one that was devoid of despair or death. This was the kind of chaos that could easily be resolved.

The high priest shook his head in disappointment.

“Things really didn’t go according to the plan.”

“I’m sorry, Captain. I really tried to be as careful as I could, but this kind of problem still occurred anyway…”

The young subordinate priest expressed his regret. Though he always acted so playful, even he couldn’t help but feel that way.

However, the high priest just shook his head.

“How could that be your fault? It’s my fault for arrogantly believing that everything would go according to the plan.”

“…”

“You don’t have to blame yourself too much.”

“…Thank you, Captain.”

“Let’s stop dwelling on this, we have a more important thing to do. The ‘sacrifices’ are slipping away from us, which means there’s nothing else we can do.”

“What…?”

“Open the second summoning circle.”

“W-Wouldn’t the cost be too much to bear?”

The cost of summoning such a huge monster was already considerable enough. To put it into perspective, it was around the half year budget of a kingdom, or maybe more.

He should know this, but he wants us to spend even more money?

I don’t think it’s worth spending all that money on it…

However, the high priest…

“Do it. Right now.”

“…”

Simply gave a firm order to him. As if he had resolved himself to take full responsibility over this decision.

“Uh… Whatever.”

Hearing that, the subordinate priest decided to just silently follow his superior’s order and took out his staff from his robe.

Woong-!

His murky magic moved like the wastewater of a sewage. Seeing this, the high priest nodded his head.

After giving a brief glance to his subordinate, he quickly turned his gaze back to the center of the Colosseum.

“How dare a lowly knight interfere with our great undertaking.”

Needless to say, he found the knight detestable and hateful.

If he could, he’d personally step forward and tear him apart into a thousand or ten thousand pieces, but he couldn’t do that. This stage wasn’t a stage meant for him, after all.

However, even if he couldn’t personally step forward…

“I will kill you no matter what.”

He swore to his God that he would kill the knight, even if it meant he had to bear astronomical loss.

Inside the jet-black space, the ‘thing’ howled.

[[Grrrrr…!]]

It hadn’t been summoned properly yet, so it was hard to tell how big it was, however, its voice alone resonated ominously throughout the Academy. It wasn’t hard to imagine that its size would be ginormous.

Although, there was something that was more terrifying than its size…

Crackle-!

Bubble-! Bubble-!

Even though it was still being burned by the fiery fire, it was still able to regenerate itself. Which meant, it had incredible regeneration.

This fucking monster—! That blow was a powerful one, you know—?!

Odwal—the arrogant mage—despised the knight with his entire being, but he wasn’t a fool who couldn’t judge the knight’s skills.

He knew that the projectile the ignorant knight had thrown was an attack that even the highest level of mage would have a hard time reproducing. In other words, what should happen here was that the large monster should’ve died the moment it received the attack.

And yet, not only was it still fine, it also recovered the damage it took. On top of that, it also grew to become more and more terrifying.

Just who the fuck summoned a monster that big!!?

The longer a humanoid monster lived, the bigger it became. Not only that, it would also grow fiercer. From what it looked like, the mage assumed that the monster was at least a hundred years old.

With that in mind, the fact that it had lived for over a hundred years was a testament to how strong the monster was. Its long life meant that it was able to survive in a place where the weak would only get eaten.

A hundred years? How is there something that big left on the continent?!

This was something that Odwal found hard to believe. He had always thought that something that big had already been exterminated during the previous king’s reign.

“Hey, Slave, I got a question for you. That thing’s magic, no? Why can’t you just erase it?”

“…Your words are so stupid that hearing it made me sick. Summoning magic is like an ‘absolute promise’. It means…”

“Oh, forget it. If you can’t do it, then just say that you can’t. You’re making too many excuses, you useless punk.”

“!!?”

Odwal felt wronged. This wasn’t a matter of whether he could do it or not. No matter who the mages he asked was, he would only find the same answer: they couldn’t destroy that magic. And yet, he was the one who got berated.

“This isn’t a matter of skill!”

Indeed, it wasn’t a matter of skill. Summoning magic like that was something that had been activated through a huge sacrifice.

That kind of summoning magic was absolute. It was a ‘promise’ that a monster would definitely descend into this world, and such a promise couldn’t be overturned by any means. In other words, that monster would definitely descend into this world. Although right now it was unable to come out of the hole due to its huge body, it would definitely appear sooner or later.

“W-We need to run away! O-Or at least ask the kingdom for reinforcements! Right! Now! We can never defeat that monster by ourselves!”

“…”

“Stop acting like a moron! Are you trying to be a hero or what—?!”

Odwal desperately tried to persuade the knight as if he was swearing. He didn’t want to die needlessly here, after all; he just wanted to run away from here as quickly as he could.

But, because of that damn ‘oath’, he couldn’t just refuse the order the knight had given him.

That was why he begged.

He begged the knight to just run away from here.

However…

“It seems like all the spectators have all run away already. It should be okay for us to run.”

“Now, that’s one good thing to hear! Finally, you stopped spitting out nonsense!”

“But… That guy seems like it has no intention of letting us go…”

“I just praised you! What kind of nonsense are you on about now—?!”

“I’m not talking nonsense, Just look.”

“Just what are you— Huh?”

…As if fate was trying to play on them, it truly didn’t seem to allow them to escape.

Odwal—whose gaze was forcefully turned to the sky due to the vicious hand of the knight moving it with such a force as if he was trying to break his neck—tried to shout at him for his rude act. But, before he could even finish his words, his voice got stuck on his throat.

Up there in the sky…

“This crazy—!”

A new summoning magic circle had opened.

Thud-! Thud-!

Those who first saw it might have mistaken it for hail.

Not an ordinary hail, but a hail of something black or green; a hail that gave off an inexplicable sense of rejection.

And as it gradually fell down…

“M-Monsters are falling from the sky…!”

This was when everyone found out that the dark clouds didn’t only spit out that gigantic monster, but also numerous small ones.

After that, it became easy to figure out what kind of hail it was: a hail of lifeforms that were falling with their bodies curled up into a ball. They were the antithesis of humans, solely because of their innate cannibalistic nature.

Thud-! Thud-!

Those lifeforms—or rather, monsters, were pouring down like rain. It was impossible to even guess how many there were. Their number easily reached the hundreds, and needless to say, everyone who saw it was dumbstruck by the sight.

Thud-!

Thud-!

Hundreds of entities fell from tens of meters above the ground, creating a huge cloud of dust. If they had died from the fall, it would’ve been good for everyone there, but due to the summoning magic’s nature to summon only the strongest ones among the monsters, that was simply an impossible outcome.

In other words…

[Kiaaa!!]

[KRR-!]

The monsters that the summoning magic summoned weren’t the weak monsters who’d die just because they fell from merely tens of meters.

“G-Gnolls!”

Gnoll. They were a strange monster that looked like a mix of a dog and a hyena. Their entire body was covered in filth poison, and they loved to spread diseases around. But poison wasn’t the only thing they had. Their hide was also so thick that they wouldn’t die easily even if they were shot by an arrow.

Their favorite food was…

“H-Hide the children and the women! Quickly!!”

Newborn babies and young women.

They were monsters that humans hated the most, found disgusting, and could not help but fear.

And now…

[KIAAA!!]

Hundreds of such monsters had gathered together here. They all howled at the same time.

[Kieee…!]

The moment the scent of their favorite prey entered their noses, the monsters that were wielding armor and axes they had stolen from somewhere started to drool as their red eyes turned bloodshot.

From the gnolls’ perspective, they just blinked to suddenly see the place that was filled with full-course meals. No matter which one they’d choose, all the options were tasty to them, so they simply couldn’t hide their excitement because of it.

However, the thing that happened next didn’t align with what they had thought at all.

Swiish-!

Thud-!

[…?]

For a moment there, they failed to understand the situation. One of their kin was decapitated all of a sudden.

In a scene where it felt like everything was moving in slow motion, one of the gnolls slowly turned its head…and witnessed the last spectacle it would ever see in its short life.

“Don’t bark, it stinks.”

Crack-!

An axe swung by a scary-looking male human.

Thump-!

That scary-looking man casually separated the head of the Gnoll from its body as if it was a random scarecrow he found, not a mid-level monster.

“Blackie.”

“Roen Dmitri de Lionel is here, Instructor.”

“This is a wartime situation, refer to me by Sir.”

“Please give me your order, Sir Lee Han.”

He was none other than Knight Lee Han.

The knight’s face was dyed in a terrible anger that Roen—who had come to him after seeing him dealing with the gnolls so easily—had seen for the first time in his life.

Roen stood by, waiting for his order.

“Do you know who did this?”

“…I don’t.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’ll bet everything that I have, I haven’t told a lie, Sir.”

Although he was wearing the same cool expression as usual, Roen couldn’t hide the trembling in his eyes. He really didn’t know who was behind this situation. In other words, this was an event that even the regressor didn’t know about.

But, such a thing wasn’t important to Lee Han.

Because…

“Alright, I’ll trust you.”

“…”

What he needed was a single good swordsman.

“Heed my order. I will make you my agent, and make Levy Fault my adjutant. From now on, you two are the ones who are going to take up the commands. Take the kids who are still able to move and get rid of all these disgusting cretins.”

“…”

Roen couldn’t even give him his answer as ten gnolls sneaked in and attacked Lee Han while keeping their presence hidden.

[KIAA!!]

Their sizes easily reached twice the size of an adult man, so it was actually a threatening moment, but…

Crack-!

“Do you understand?”

“…I believe you can just kill them all on your own, Sir.”

Lee Han swung his axe horizontally, and nine gnolls instantly transformed into blood clots.

[Ki—]

There was one gnoll who had survived, but Lee Han caught it with his bare hand as it struggled.

Crack-!

Before long, Lee Han’s five fingers dug into the creature’s skull, making the gnoll writhed in pain before dying in an instant.

After lightly throwing the gnoll away—as if he was throwing out trash—he shook his head lightly.

“No, I have something else I need to deal with.”

As he said that, he pointed his fingers at the sky.

Seeing that, Roen’s face darkened.

“…Will you be fine doing it alone?”

“Even if I won’t, I still have to do it.”

“…”

“So, what’s your answer?”

“…I will follow your orders.”

A man had entrusted him with his back; if he didn’t respond in kind, Roen had no right to call himself a warrior of the north.

Roen saluted, moving his hand to strike his heart with his fist. It was a northern salute, a gesture of a promise that they would complete their mission even at the cost of their life.

“Good.”

Lee Han smiled with satisfaction before he took a deep breath, and…

Boom-!

[[Listen to me, 108 Arhats!!]]

Let out a roar that shook the entire area.

[…!?!]

The Lion’s Roar.

His roar shook the entire Colosseum in an instant, making the group of gnolls who were about to run wild flinch in fear.

Filled with his murderous intent towards the gnolls, the Lion’s Roar successfully paralyzed them.

In the meantime, the disciples of the knight who heard his voice from the thunderous Lion’s roar opened their eyes wide and ear even wider.

[[I will temporarily appoint Roen Dmitri de Lionel and Levy Fault as my agents. Those who can fight, follow their orders and slaughter these disgusting bastards!]]

-…

[[Do you understand? Don’t leave even a single one of them alive! Kill them all!]]

-…AHHHHHHH!!!

All of the 108 Arhats—no, all of the first-year cadets of the swordsmanship department answered and saluted before drawing their swords regardless of their status.

Among the 80 first-year students, none chose to run away.

“…Are you really sure you can’t just do everything alone?”

Watching the knight show off his spirit that could overwhelm hundreds of monsters with just his voice alone, Roen once again asked him if it really was worth it for them to step forward.

That marked the start of the battle.