Ch.122122. Estate (5)

After successfully recruiting a man named Enerval Gatrang.

First, I brought a sentry to prevent the garrison soldiers from causing trouble.

In other words… Hydra and Gretel, who had been sprawled out sleeping with nothing to do.

“Hii, hiieek!! It’s a Hydra!!”

“Griffin! It’s a Griffin!! We’re all dead!!”

Did they think these two mid-tier magical beasts, who had suddenly appeared, would tear them apart and kill them right away?

The creatures, bewildered by the soldiers who had panicked and hidden in tents and huts, soon learned from me that they didn’t need to worry about them, and settled into their positions to begin surveillance.

“If they say they’re hungry, share food with them.”

[Understood, Gregory!]

Of course, since no one knew how the situation would unfold.

Just in case, I gave Gretel large quantities of provisions… sacks of flour, magically created preserved meat products, and sacks of onions.

Then, as the finishing touch, I cast a simple spell.

The effect of this nature magic called ‘Undrying Spring’ was none other than creating a small spring that produces drinking water.

Thanks to this, only after creating an environment where these soldiers could survive for at least several days did I approach the forest teeming with poachers, taking Enerval Gatrang with me.

I’m mounted on Astra, who is wearing a saddle made of leather and other natural materials, while Enerval Gatrang, befitting a knight, rides forward on a warhorse wearing simple barding.

Of course, some might sneer at what one could possibly accomplish by merely riding a warhorse, but such people are truly foolish.

The fact that warhorses are still used in a world where humans become superhumans and excel using the supernatural power of mana means that, even among such superhumans, warhorses are recognized as a meaningful military asset.

Warhorses, bred by mixing the bloodlines of all sorts of magical beasts and repeatedly improved, have nearly reached perfection as a breed in this era.

Thanks to this, some expensive, high-quality warhorses are born with mid-tier level strength despite being ordinary animals.

Ah, naturally, Enerval Gatrang’s warhorse isn’t one of those expensive breeds, but rather a fairly good one among the lower-tier warhorses.

Anyway, after riding for quite some time, the two of us found ourselves in the middle of the forest, which could be considered part of the estate.

‘Hmm… oh.’

Through the 2,000 squeakers I had additionally gathered outside while entering this area, I was able to accurately determine the locations and numbers of the poacher-bandits in the vicinity.

The number of those hiding in makeshift hideouts scattered throughout the forest was about 200.

Without a single mid-tier among them, their combat power was truly insignificant before me, but as expected, the biggest problem was that these bandits were scattered all over.

As seen in various real-world wars, no matter how much power and firepower one possesses, it’s never easy to suppress those who hide in forests and engage in guerrilla warfare.

Of course, with the power of my magic, I could cause an earthquake in this area and bury the entire forest where they’re hiding, but the reality is that a druid, as a guardian of nature, cannot commit such acts.

Therefore, what I desire now is, naturally, annihilation through overwhelming force, but the situation remains quite tricky to achieve that…

‘…Should I do it?’

I decided to use a method that could be employed without damaging the natural environment, even in this situation.

Among wild magic, there exists a spell that summons numerous crow-like black-feathered monstrous birds to attack enemies.

This magic, which I had occasionally used before to suppress slash-and-burn farmers or bandit groups, is a fusion of summoning and creation.

Using catalysts like crow feathers (feathers of black birds), a virtual body is formed, and then by infusing it with the shadow of a summoned animal, it’s given consciousness, creating a monstrous bird.

These black monstrous birds that appear in the world this way not only fearlessly attack enemies but also, based on their decent intelligence, find and attack designated enemies on their own.

Additionally, these monstrous birds can be summoned in numbers of at least several hundred at once, and their cawing-like cries have characteristics such as disorienting the mind, but…

Unfortunately, this monstrous bird summoning magic is not used at all on battlefields for several reasons.

First reason: the combat power of these created monstrous birds isn’t particularly impressive.

Although they’re called “monstrous birds” due to their appearance with four eyes or beaks with teeth… in reality, their combat effectiveness falls short despite their imposing appearance and name.

Their body size is, at best, no larger than a medium-sized bird of prey. The body of a monstrous bird, designed for flight, is naturally not advantageous in close combat.

Their talons can’t penetrate even leather armor, let alone the armor of a fully equipped soldier, and their skin is too easily torn by metal blades.

Moreover, the monstrous birds’ only special ability—their mind-disorienting cries—is also a subtle ability that can hardly be considered influential in battle.

Therefore, despite its excellent mechanism of summoning and controlling numerous monstrous birds, this magic wasn’t widely used due to the limitation that the summoned birds’ combat power was quite mediocre…

‘…Hmm.’

Having some interest in this rare offensive wild magic, I had modified it several times, and now I incorporated the newly acquired Primordial Mystery to transform it anew.

[Beasts of the primordial, awaken from the wild lands!]

Shortly after the not-so-long incantation was completed. Through the mana emanating from my body and taking form, dozens of beast-like figures took shape in the air.

At first glance, they resembled birds due to the abundant feathers growing all over their bodies, but at the same time, the shape of their bodies was unmistakably that of small to medium-sized carnivorous dinosaurs… reminiscent of the velociraptors from the Jura■ Park series.

Of course, the feathers growing from their arms like wings, and the feathers and down covering their entire bodies without revealing any scales, indicated to anyone that these were not simply dinosaurs…

And indeed, they were not.

The size of these creatures, reminiscent of feathered dinosaurs or the archaeopteryx seen only in textbooks, was roughly that of a large dog.

While their size wasn’t particularly enormous, it was sufficient to guarantee lethality against humans.

-Grrrr…

The growling sounds of these feathered dinosaurs appearing from all directions and the sound of dripping saliva echoed.

Anyone who heard or saw these wild magical beasts could tell they still retained their wildness and ruthlessness, and such wildness and ruthlessness would soon become one of the elements that could serve as my greatest weapon.

And so, the beasts hungry for slaughter and violence were unleashed.

“—Keu, keuaaaaa!!!”

“Die! Die! Di—”

—Slash!!

These feathered dinosaurs, released according to my will, rushed to the poachers whose positions had been confirmed by the squeakers, and repeatedly pounced on and hunted them mercilessly.

Of course, these poachers, as tier 1 bandits, were equipped with relatively good equipment, such as monster hide armor or looted weapons, and more than half of them had awkwardly learned how to strengthen their bodies using mana through experience.

But… the feathered dinosaurs I summoned with Primordial Mystery could easily hunt down such poachers.

Monster hide that hasn’t even been properly tanned, let alone chemically treated and hardened, couldn’t stop the talons of the feathered dinosaurs.

With each swipe, these sharp and powerful weapons tore through the leather and dug into the flesh.

Additionally, the ranged weapons these poachers had prepared to attack from a distance without dying largely lost their effectiveness in this dense forest.

Especially, the dinosaurs, able to freely climb trees with their uniquely abnormally light movements, slaughtered them with their distinctive hunting method of suddenly attacking from outside the poachers’ field of vision.

Although their feather-covered arms weren’t wings and thus couldn’t be used for flight, they could glide by jumping from heights or move at high speeds by riding the subtle air currents flowing between the forest trees.

Moreover, these dinosaurs had more developed forelegs, making their body shape closer to quadrupedal, and each time they swung these developed forelegs, it resulted in the death of a poacher.

“…Ah.”

And the knight, Enerval Gatrang, who had been watching all of this, was staring at me with a dazed, stupefied expression…

With this, the goal of establishing dominance before negotiations was essentially achieved.