Chapter 70: Man-Eater vs Man-Eater(?) (8)

At first glance, the monster bore a huge resemblance to a troll. From its appearance to its body structure, it was similar to the Rock Troll that the cadets had fought against today. It wouldn’t be wrong to call it a troll.

…However, that creature…

H-How could such a huge troll exist?

Was about five times bigger than a normal troll. Actually, it was probably even bigger than that. On top of that, unlike normal trolls, its skin was dark red.

Also, compared to the normal trolls, whose skin looked like a bunch of tough rocks being stuffed together, this troll’s skin resembled the scales of a snake.

Not only that…

[GRRR…]

Chill-!

Its pupils were dyed red, as if it had been painted with blood.

“Huuuu…!”

Even though the mage had barely managed to resist the blast of the impact it created when it fell down into the lake, his legs were still trembling greatly.

A certain anecdote came to his mind, and almost instantly, fear enveloped his heart.

I-I…know…what that is…

It was an old text he once read in his master’s room—which housed numerous ancient books—back when he was younger. The text he read was a collection of various legends, and one of them depicted a ‘nightmare’, a certain ancient species.

“G-Ghost King…”

The moment he called out the name of the creature that he didn’t dare to define as a mere troll…

Whoosh-!

He saw the creature slowly rising from the lake.

The lake was fairly deep, yet only half of its body was submerged in it. Moreover, every time it raised its body and failed its arms, it created huge waves that hit the land surrounding it as if a flood had occurred.

As soon as the mage confirmed its appearance, he gradually backed away.

“Ghost King?”

Hearing the words that the mage muttered while trembling, the knight asked.

He knows something about that troll?

But, a King?

“That title is too grand for a fucking troll.”

“S-Stop saying nonsense! The Ghost King isn’t just a normal troll!”

Indeed, the name ‘Ghost King’ was too grand to be given to a monster like a troll, but considering the knowledge the mage had about the creature, it wasn’t a wonder that the mage was terrified of it.

“W-We have to run away! T-That isn’t just a mere monster! It’s a Ghost King! A thousand-year-old troll!”

“…?”

“It’s the champion of the trolls! It’s even stronger than ogres! It’s immortal! It could destroy a whole kingdom by itself!”

Around a thousand years ago, there was a kingdom that was more prosperous than the Pendragon Kingdom. It was said that the kingdom was destroyed overnight. Since the event was only recorded in literature, for the longest time no one was sure if the information was real or not. However, as time passed, relics from said kingdom were starting to be discovered. That record gradually became almost an established fact.

The cause of that kingdom’s destruction was none other than…

“A-A troll… They said the disaster was caused by a troll…”

According to the record, the incident was caused by a single monster, and surprisingly, it was a troll.

It wasn’t just any troll, but a troll that had lived for a thousand years.

Just like mystical trees, lakes, winds, and volcanoes which gain spirituality just because of the fact that they had existed for a long time, monsters that survived for a thousand years also turned into catastrophic beings that couldn’t be categorized as mere monsters anymore.

This was something that the humans in ancient times came to realize after experiencing through disasters after disasters.

“I-It evolved into a mystical being after living for a thousand years… That thing is the king of all trolls, the pinnacle of all monsters…”

Black skin dyed in crimson scales and a body that was roughly twenty times larger than a regular troll. Even if it was wounded by sword, fire, magic, any kind of weapons, it would not die as it had a powerful regeneration that could even be seen as immortality.

Ghost King.

Even if someone were to call it Demon King, no one would dare to refute it. But, due to its appearance that resembled a ghost, it was called Ghost King instead. It was a living natural disaster that no human should ever touch.

“W-We have to run away—! N-Now! Noooowww—!”

With that, it was only natural for a living creature like the mage to fear it. His survival instinct as a living being was triggered after facing such a terrible adversary.

However, the knight who heard all this explanation…

“Twenty times? No matter how I look at it, it only looks five times bigger.”

Was just staring at the creature with a calm expression.

He wasn’t dismissing the wizard’s explanation, nor was he underestimating the creature.

The knight just didn’t feel scared at all.

I can’t see how this one could be that powerful…

Contrary to the mage’s grand explanation, he didn’t see this particular creature as something which had the power to destroy a kingdom. That was why, instead of being afraid, he just narrowed his eyes as he recognized the creature as an [enemy].

The knight opened his mouth.

“It looks bigger than a regular troll, but it looks smaller than what you said. What do you think about that?”

“Ah… Perhaps it’s lacking nutrition? It was stated that the Ghost King had been asleep for hundreds of years at the end of the continent where humans cannot reach. Maintaining such a huge body for thousands of years simply isn’t efficient, so they predicted that it would sleep for a long time instead. But now, it was forced to wake up because of the summoning magic… That means…”

[-GAAAA!!!]

“…It’s angry because it didn’t get enough sleep, and also starving because of the stress of being forced to wake up…”

That was just the mage’s analysis of the situation, but a mage’s analysis was rarely wrong. After all, that was the specialty of mages who saw the world through magic.

If the mage’s analysis was accurate, it meant that the troll needed a large amount of nutrients due to its anger and hunger. And the nutrients that it needed were none other than…

“It has a grand name, but at the end of the day, it’s still a fucking troll.”

Humans. All monsters love to eat humans, and among them, trolls, loved to eat humans the most. Hence their moniker, the Man-Eaters.

“Everyone is going to get eaten…”

Though he didn’t want to, the mage still calculated in his head.

Using the article he had read as reference, he managed to calculate out how many humans the Ghost King would have to eat to regain its original body.

And the result of that calculation was…

All the citizens of the capital—!

The moment that guy leaves the lake, not even a single blade of grass would be left in the capital!

“A..haha… It’s over… Ghost King… The legendary Ghost King…”

It didn’t take long for the mage to give up and expressed his despair. Just like how he managed to calculate the math quickly, he was also quick to give up when facing an opponent he could never have dreamed of defeating.

He completely lost his will to fight. The thought to move his magic didn’t cross his mind at all.

…But, at that moment…

“So… That guy is incredibly weak right now, right?”

“…?”

“Good enough for me.”

Step-!

The knight confidently approached the lake, leaving the despairing mage behind. He then drank five vials of potion at once and inserted a syringe containing potion fluids into his leg.

Crack-! Crack-!

Normally, someone could only drink two vials of potion a day. Any more than that, a normal human would experience symptoms of addiction and hallucinations. The knight was no different, but he just ignored it. He simply didn’t have the leeway to worry about pain or side effects.

Moreover, with the troll genes circulating in his body, the side effects he experienced were significantly weaker than normal.

And that was also why…

“Phew, it feels good.”

The potion’s effect was extremely effective on him.

Crack-! Crack-!

His body gradually became lighter and lighter as the potion forcefully stimulated it. The broken bones in his legs were mended while his skin was regenerated.

After his blood had been replenished to some extent, he…

“Anyway, a troll is a troll.”

[Grrr-!!]

The Ghost King didn’t understand human speech, so he didn’t get what the creature was saying. However, there was one thing that it knew. A familiar smell. For a moment there, that smell caught its attention.

The identity of that smell was none other than…

“Hm? Ah, you’re curious about this potion? Well, we made it by hunting your kin. It’s well made, don’t you think? Such a shame that it only has 30% of its original effectiveness.”

The smell of its kin.

[GR-R-!]

The potion was actually made of artificial troll blood that the alchemists created, but the Ghost King didn’t know that. Also, to the Ghost King, such a thing wasn’t important. The important thing here was that the puny human dared to provoke it.

A mere prey dared to provoke a king.

Needless to say, the Ghost King was furious. It wanted nothing more than to grab the arms of the creature in front of it and tear them apart. After it killed the puny creature, it would chew it up and— No, it actually hadn’t thought that far ahead. It just wanted to kill the human who provoked it.

It was already heated from anger because his sleep was disturbed, so such a provocation was enough to make it about to rush to the knight, but…

“Hey, why do you think I sacrificed one of my legs to throw you into this lake?”

As he said that, the knight welcomed ‘something’ that approached him from the sky.

“Instructor! I-I brought it!”

“Just drop it.”

“B-But—”

“It won’t hurt me.”

“O-Okay!”

With a groan, Irene Windler dropped dozens of large harpoons that she had carried with her telekinesis. There were thirteen harpoons in total, and those harpoons were the same instruments that people used to hunt whales.

Thud-!

“Thank you.”

After catching the falling harpoons, the knight gave his brief thank you to Irene Windler for bringing them up here.

Heup-!

Before long, he gathered all of his strength and threw the harpoon with all his might.

Kwaang-!

[Grr!!]

“Back when you were still roaming around, I bet that humans were still unable to catch whales.

“However, the current humans aren’t the same as they were a thousand years ago.

“I’ll personally show you how far human cruelty has advanced.”

The harpoon splitted the river and hit the Ghost King’s shoulder. Because of that, the Ghost King screamed in pain.

Though it wasn’t enough to pierce its hard scales…

Crunch-!

That one attack was enough to crack it.

[Gaaaa—!]

Only then did the Ghost King realize. The prey in front of it was by no means an easy prey.

Just like that, the thousand-year-old man-eater and the modified human born of human malice started to clash.

What would happen when someone fired a harpoon as if it was a cannon?

The answer was simple.

A cannon in the shape of a harpoon would be fired.

Its power was so great and cruel that it could even hunt giant whales like blue whales or right whales.

It was a weapon invented by various kingdoms for whale hunting during the Age of Exploration. However, after the sea guardian [Leviathan] was enraged due to the death of its kin and caused many kingdoms to sink into water, humans begged for its mercy and forgiveness, rendering the weapon to become something that was rarely used.

However, humans were not animals who’d just leave their inventions to rot. Instead of using it for whales, the large harpoons were modified to kill large monsters, or to catch sea creatures that had turned into monsters.

That was how these harpoon cannons were still used in the field. And compared to its counterparts that were used exclusively for whales, it was…

Bang-!

…Significantly more brutal.

[Gaaa-!!]

The Ghost King was enraged. It wanted to get out of the lake, but the harpoons kept slamming into it, as if trying to keep it there. If it was in a normal condition, or at least, had consumed some nutrients, this wouldn’t be a problem for it, but unfortunately…

“Who permitted you to open your mouth, huh?!”

The Ghost King was about to consume a fish, but Lee Han accurately aimed for the gap and stuck the harpoon into its mouth.

With amazing accuracy, speed, and power…

Kwaaang-!

The harpoon struck the Ghost King’s jaw and turned it around all at once.

Crack-!

[G…r… !]

However, befitting its status as a legendary monster, the Ghost King reacted to the harpoon and showed off its prowess by catching the flying harpoon with its teeth.

It showed a power that was no less than Lee Han’s through his jaw.

But…

“What a dumb bastard. This is why you’re just a fucking troll.”

[!!!!]

Bubble-!

As the liquid on the harpoon entered its mouth, the Ghost King felt an indescribable pain in its tongue and throat. It was as painful as being stabbed by thousands of needles.

Even though most poisons wouldn’t work on trolls, it wasn’t the case with the poison that was laced on the harpoon. This particular poison was a chemical poison that was specially made and produced in small quantities in the kingdom.

Lee Han was able to get it from a certain princess who frowned and refused to give it to him at first, but relented in the end after he threw a tantrum, or rather, reached a dramatic compromise with her.

“I told you just now. I’m gonna show you how far humans’ cruelty has advanced.”

And he did exactly just that. Humanity’s greed that had been developed over the years, as well as their desire to reign at the top of the ecosystem through the competition for survival had created countless products like this.

Living for a thousand years?

Bearing the title king of monsters and even having regeneration power which was as powerful as true immortality?

Such things were trivial.

“We humans are something who loves to hunt even the likes of you.”

Humans were creatures who’d eventually use even the moon as a resource.

Lee Han faced the Ghost King with such an arrogant attitude. Meanwhile, a certain mage girl was watching this scene from the side.

Um, I’m sorry…? Are we humans really that cruel…?

[…When he puts it that way, I guess so…]

The ghost girl expressed her thoughts.

As a human myself… I…kinda feel guilty after hearing that…

Irene Windler was speechless, unable to tell which one of those two were more evil than the other.

─However…

Crack-!

“Huh?”

[I-Is that thing chewing on the harpoon—?!]

As if proving that even the morality that the girl was questioning about was just another display of human’s arrogance, the Ghost King, the one who was called the pinnacle of monsters, the brutal Demon King…

[K…Ki…ll you.]

Said so while charging forward.

It endured all the harpoons flying at it.

And that was how…

Rumble-!

It finally stepped on the ground.

[I… Ki…Kill…You.]

“What a humongous motherfucker.”

Its size was as huge as three elephants combined. Not only was it huge, it also had an overwhelming presence and exuded a thick murderous intent.

Even a veteran would feel a chill in their heart, clutching their chest while spitting out blood in front of it.

As for Lee Han… He just shook his head. He knew from the very beginning that he wouldn’t be able to win against this monster.

Nevertheless…

Shiing-!

Though he had a tired expression on his face, he still unsheathed his sword.

“…You actually don’t need to come all the way here, you know? I was about to go there myself. I mean, I’ve been thinking that it’s about time for me to beat the crap out of you with my sword.”

I’m a knight, after all. I can’t keep acting like an infantry.

Lee Han waved his sword in the air a few times as he let out a cool smile.

“I just need to keep cutting and bleeding you out. Surely, you’d just die at some point.”

He would never retreat.

Whether it was a game of Go or a battle, the moment someone retreated, only defeat awaited them.

And so, without any intention to back down, Lee Han calmly declared his determination and marched forward.