Ch.104Chapter 104 – Outer Wall Defense Battle (2)

The massive boar’s body began to move.

“That damn beast, when we’re not looking!”

“Then let’s go!”

As we both ran toward the boar, Beatrice suddenly changed direction toward me.

I quickly crossed my arms and raised them, allowing her to step on them and leap upward.

Her body, enhanced with magic power, shot forward like a cannonball.

“Let’s start with a good hit!!!”

With that, Beatrice delivered a kick to the boar’s jaw.

-Kuung!

The tiny human projectile twisted the giant boar’s jaw.

The massive creature fell backward, raising a huge cloud of dust.

Then Beatrice landed.

“Ha, did we finish it?”

There are certain things one should never say in front of an enemy.

I immediately glared at her.

Right on cue, the boar’s furious roar echoed through the air.

-BUOOOOO!!!

Befitting a roar from a creature large enough to destroy the city gate, surrounding creatures began to fall to their knees one by one.

From small monsters to more massive ones.

Even people started dropping to their knees.

“Ugh, ahhh…!”

Hearing a familiar voice, I looked back to see Kaal standing with trembling legs.

Considering that some had lost their will to fight and were lying face-down, he was showing remarkable fortitude.

Such a roar shouldn’t break one’s spirit so easily.

“Compared to a dragon, this is just a gentle breeze.”

“That’s right.”

Even I had barely managed to withstand that dragon’s presence.

Compared to that beast, the giant boar’s roar was honestly laughable.

I kicked off the ground and charged forward.

Spinning my halberd, I closed in on the boar, which then targeted me.

-BUOOOOO!

“What… what are you doing! Get away!”

Kaal’s voice rang out from behind me.

‘That guy, I thought he disliked me.’

Perhaps he was more decent than he appeared.

While I was reconsidering my opinion of him, I saw the boar lifting its leg.

I was too small for it to target with its massive tusks, and with that bulk, rolling its foot would be enough—a logical choice.

As the leg rose, I could see the flattened corpses of monsters that had been trampled during its earlier charge.

-BUOOOOO!!!

The massive leg began to fall like a guillotine.

+

-Kuung!

With a tremendous boom, the ground shook.

Kaal watched the scene in disbelief.

‘I was wrong.’

He must be dead.

“…How will I face Lord Rudger…”

He had begged Rudger to let him come along, promising to stay by his side.

Of course, he had his own agenda.

He wanted to impress Rudger, to make him reconsider his succession choice.

To show that he was better than the chosen successor.

And secretly, he hoped something would happen that would make Rudger abandon the Paladin position.

Of course, he knew it was simple jealousy.

It was natural for him to feel that way—after serving Rudger for so long, this newcomer had suddenly been designated as the next Paladin.

Still.

He didn’t wish for his death.

While some secretly hoped the man would die here, he wasn’t one of them.

“I… I should at least recover his body.”

“What are you doing?”

Hearing a contemptuous voice, he turned his head.

It was the mage woman who had come with him before. Beatrice was her name.

“Lady Bea…trice.”

“What?”

“We need to quickly recover Kei’s body and retreat…”

“Why?”

She was already pulling out a cigarette from her pocket.

When a monster suddenly lunged at her, she casually punched it, causing it to explode.

“Ah, bitter. I’ll finish my cigarette first. Don’t want to get my hands dirty.”

Watching Beatrice casually dusting off her hands, Kaal somehow mustered the strength to stand up.

The mage clearly had no intention of moving.

He would have to…

“Hey, where are you going?”

“To recover… the body.”

“Are you stupid?”

Beatrice exhaled cigarette smoke.

Whether it was some unique leaf she was burning, Kaal felt himself calming down a bit.

“He was just crushed under that monster’s foot…”

Beatrice raised her finger, pointing upward.

As if hypnotized, Kaal looked up.

Seeing what entered his vision, his eyes widened.

“…When?”

Kei was falling from the sky.

He swung his halberd several times in mid-air before directing it toward the giant boar.

-BUWEOEOERK!!

A fountain of blood erupted from the boar’s forehead, which was already bleeding.

Not stopping there, he embedded the blade of his halberd into its forehead and began running across its face.

Using the boar’s face as his canvas, Kei drew a line with his halberd until he reached the tusk.

His halberd stopped at the massive tusk, apparently lacking the strength to break it.

Then Kaal saw Kei hanging from the tusk.

-BUWEORK!! BUWEOEOERK!!

The boar shook its head frantically.

Blood from its earlier wound rained down around it.

But the boar clearly didn’t care about its wounds now.

The man who had split its face was still clinging to it, driving it mad.

“Danger…!”

Kaal shouted, fearing Kei would fall from the tusk.

But he soon realized his concern was unfounded.

Hanging from the tusk, Kei swung his halberd with one hand, embedding it into the tusk, then used it to secure himself on top of the tusk.

Then he pulled out the halberd and drove it into the boar’s face once more.

-BUWEOEOEO!

“Yes, go that way! That way!”

Kei’s voice could be heard, sounding slightly excited.

Seemingly terrified by the additional pain and the voice of the one who had wounded it, the boar moved erratically.

“Uh, uh…”

The giant boar was in motion.

It crashed into the fortress walls and rolled on the ground.

All to shake him off.

But the man wouldn’t fall.

-KIEAAK!!!

-KRYAAK!!!

The invaders paid the price for the creature’s rampage.

Monsters that had crossed the walls were literally being ground to pieces as they were trampled and crushed by the boar.

Whether the man clinging to the boar’s tusk had calculated this or if it was mere coincidence, many monsters met their end this way.

After letting the boar rampage for a while, Kei stood on the tusk with both legs.

Then he began to strike downward with his halberd.

“What is he…”

“Hmm, I should help him with that.”

Before Kaal could ask “with what?”, Beatrice had already dashed off.

She cast chains into the air, flying through the sky, and began to build momentum.

“The helmet! I’ll break that for you!”

With Beatrice’s shout, her body soared through the air again.

Magic power gathered in her arm as she skillfully moved through the sky using the chains.

Then, using the momentum, she flew toward the tusk from above.

With Beatrice’s second aerial attack, the tusk broke and shot upward.

-BUWEOEOERK!!

The boar screamed.

Its body was covered in blood, and its prized tusk was shattered.

But the man was no longer on its face.

He had naturally been launched into the air with the tusk.

-BUWE…WEOEO…?!

Then the tusk’s direction changed.

Kei, who had grabbed the tusk in mid-air, had altered its course.

He put his weight behind it and began to descend.

-SHWAEAEAEK!!

Whether because it was exhausted from its rampage or because it momentarily thought Kei had fallen from its face,

The boar’s reaction was slow.

The massive tusk cut through the sky as it plummeted toward the boar.

“This is the end!!!”

With the man’s battle cry, the giant tusk was driven into the boar’s crown.

+

With a final death cry, the boar lost its life.

I landed on the ground.

“That’s the end of that.”

Hearing something cutting through the air above, I grabbed it with all my strength.

It was my halberd, which had somehow fallen right where I was standing.

“Hey, why did you think of breaking the tusk and driving it in? That’s so crude.”

“I’ve done it before.”

With a centipede, that is.

Using myself as a weapon is an emergency measure, after all.

“But, is this going to be okay?”

When I spoke with a secretly nervous voice, Beatrice shrugged.

It was good that we had dealt with most of the other monsters by using the giant boar.

But when I was clinging to it, the beast had crashed into the fortress wall, causing part of it to collapse.

Surely they won’t make me pay for that?

“If that massive body had charged the inner wall, it would have been all over. They won’t complain.”

“That’s true.”

If they do demand I take responsibility, I’ll just shift the blame to Beatrice.

Hiding these thoughts, I exchanged a few more words with Beatrice when I felt gazes from behind.

Several people were staring at us with blank expressions.

They hadn’t expected us to actually defeat the giant boar.

They knew they needed to kill it, but they couldn’t believe we’d actually done it.

An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment.

“WOOOOOAAAAH!!!!!”

Soon they began to cheer.

“What’s going on? Why are they like that?”

I instinctively flinched at the sudden shouting.

Beatrice laughed slightly, finding my reaction amusing.

“From their perspective, we just killed something they would have risked their lives to defeat. This reaction is natural.”

She flicked away her finished cigarette.

“Haven’t you experienced this before?”

“Honestly, no.”

Beatrice nodded at my response.

“Then enjoy it for a moment.”

Following Beatrice’s advice, I stepped forward.

The surrounding soldiers shouted as they approached me.

They looked ready to lift me up in celebration.

I slightly opened my arms, wondering if they would actually do it.

“The enemy is approaching! Deal with them first!!”

At the commander’s words, the smiling people rushed past me toward the monsters.

I was left awkwardly standing alone.

“……”

Not expecting this, Beatrice quietly approached.

She was looking at me with sad eyes.

“…What?”

“…Should big sis praise you instead?”

“…No thanks.”

I quickly grabbed my halberd and rushed toward the monsters.

I didn’t want Beatrice’s pity.

+

The fortress had a festive atmosphere that day.

Although a formidable enemy had appeared on the first day and destroyed the gate, Beatrice and I had managed to defeat it quickly, preventing further damage.

After repelling the attack, work began to reinforce the inner gate and the partially collapsed sections, and they hurried to install siege weapons in preparation for more creatures like the giant boar.

Though the work was arduous, those carrying it out didn’t mind the labor.

I honestly hadn’t expected morale to rise so much just from repelling the first attack.

“Even if it’s burdensome, please bear with it for a while. It’s natural for them to be this happy.”

Sera, who was walking beside me, said.

It was good that everyone’s morale had risen and they were working actively.

“Receiving such intense gratitude is honestly a bit tiring.”

“That’s only natural.”

Not just the knights, but even those who had rushed past me earlier—

After the battle ended that day, they came back to express their gratitude and goodwill.

When these gestures continued even after dinner and started to become a bit overwhelming, Sera suggested we take a walk, and I immediately agreed.

So we ended up walking along the fortress wall together, just the two of us, to clear our heads.

“Why do you think it’s natural?”

“From the dragon’s perspective, that was probably a significant investment of forces. It’s natural for morale to rise.”

“You think so?”

“I suspect the dragon gathered those monsters by force, displaying its power. Even so, creatures of that size can’t be that common.”

Sera had a point. There probably aren’t many boars large enough for a person to stand on their tusks.

Assuming the dragon is mobilizing nearby monsters, the number of creatures as large and powerful as that boar can’t be that many.

“If they were common enough to use freely, it would have sent several, not just one.”

As Sera said, if they had sent two or three more boar-level monsters, the damage would have been much greater.

Perhaps it was too valuable to be used as a throwaway piece, or maybe they wanted to see how effective it would be, so they limited it to one.

“There might be at most two or three more creatures of that size. Now that we know such monsters exist, we can prepare adequately on the walls to counter them, so we probably won’t suffer as much damage as today.”

“Except if the dragon comes directly.”

As I spoke with Sera, something strange occurred to me.

“Why did it send… disposable pieces rather than its subordinates?”

Sera fell into thought at my question.

Soon she looked at me and spoke.

“Maybe it’s just the dragon’s whim.”

I considered giving her a light smack.

But as I inadvertently glanced at Sera’s face, at her lips, I quickly averted my gaze.

It seems I’ll need more time before I can properly look at Sera’s face.

Seeing my reaction, Sera smiled.

“Kei, haven’t you already figured it out?”

Sera looked up at me as she asked.

Putting aside the fleeting thought that she looked cute, I gave the answer I had been considering.

“…This was a reconnaissance battle.”

Inflict meaningful damage, and even if it fails, gather information.

That’s exactly the level it would be.

Given that personality—one that enjoys playing with enemies, finding entertainment from its perspective—it seemed likely.

Sera nodded.

“I think we’ll see at most one or two more attacks of this scale.”

“Really?”

“There’s no need for more. And…”

Sera’s voice trailed off slightly.

“…That dragon seems to be targeting you, Kei.”

That dragon, which had raged about killing me after I took its eye, would certainly be coming for me to settle the score.

Sera looked at me with a dark expression.

“Kei.”

“I know.”

She was probably going to tell me not to fight the dragon alone.

I had heard this from her several times already, so I answered briefly.

“Being popular is also something to think about.”

“Indeed.”

Sera smiled slightly at my words.

She wasn’t laughing because it was funny.

Knowing her, she probably realized I was just putting on a brave face.

Still, her smile was her way of encouraging me.

After sharing small smiles, no more words passed between us.

Then Sera reached out and quietly took my hand.

“……”

“……”

I didn’t pull away.

Neither of us spoke.

Having tacitly agreed to spend this moment in silence, we continued walking along the fortress wall.