Chapter 20

Monsters in the shape of wild boars. But they were nothing compared to the wild boar I had caught earlier with my bow. They were more than twice as big, and the thickness of their necks and heads was much greater. The protruding tusks were so long and sharp that it seemed impossible to survive if stabbed by them.

There were nearly ten of these creatures.

Thump thump thump thump!

They charged like bulldozers.

I shot an arrow without hesitation.

Swoosh!

Thud!

The arrow grazed the head of a wild boar monster.

“Tch.”

I clicked my tongue in frustration.

I had aimed for the eye.

I had some luck in the mountains earlier, but I still have a long way to go.

Even so, it wasn’t that the shot was ineffective, just that it didn’t incapacitate in one hit. This isn’t just any bow. It’s the named item, Marcus Bow.

A bow made from the bones filled with the immense grudge of the Skeleton King. Therefore, even a graze inflicted a vicious weakening curse on the opponent. The curse reduced all of the opponent’s abilities. The movement of the creature hit by the arrow was noticeably slower. That one was no longer a threat.

My gaze quickly shifted to the others. The ones that had almost reached me. It was too late to shoot another arrow.

‘Just one shot… I need to increase the speed, this won’t do.’

I muttered to myself about what needed improvement and switched from the bow to a sword. I had killed these creatures thousands of times, so I knew all about them. Their massive strength and sharp tusks were certainly threatening. But their relatively slow speed and straightforward movement were their limits.

‘I can dodge them.’

I saw a gap between the creatures. And I leaped precisely towards that spot.

Thump thump thump!

Whoosh.

I dodged the charge by a hair’s breadth. Their assault hit nothing but empty air. I had perfectly taken their rear. And only then did their fatal weakness become apparent.

Their anus.

That was their weak point.

I knew that if I stabbed there, they would die instantly with a sound like a pig being butchered.

“Then, shall we go hunt some pigs?”

I quickly approached the nearest wild boar monster before it could turn around and deeply stabbed its anus with my blade.

“Squeal!”

A pig slaughtering scream echoed. The creature’s body trembled violently. Then it collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

“One down.”

I kept moving without pause.

Stab!

“Squeal!”

Stab!

“Squeal!”

In the same manner, I took down three more in a row. Only then did I have a moment to glance at Camian and Annette.

“Hyaaah!”

Camian, who was engaged in a soulful duel with a wild boar monster, let out a battle cry. There was a corpse covered in wounds, indicating he had managed to kill one. Just by looking at the corpse, it was clear. Camian had no idea how to deal with wild boar monsters. Their hide is thick and tough. That’s why the wild boar monster didn’t go down easily when attacked there. That’s why he had no choice but to engage in a soulful duel. Still, Camian was doing better than most.

“Aaah! Don’t come!”

Annette was screaming and running away.

I understand.

She’s a healer.

Even so, I remember she had the ability to easily take down a few of these pig creatures…

It seems I expected too much from her, considering its only chapter two.

“Don’t come!”

But she still had the basics, dodging the creatures attacks by a hair’s breadth. But I couldn’t just leave her like that.

“Hey! It’s the anus!”

I mercifully taught them the weak point.

“What, what did you say?”

Annette looked bewildered.

“Huh?”

Camian also seemed to doubt his ears. Then I realized I had just shouted ‘anus.’ I had oversimplified it.

“Attack the anus, it’s their weak point!”

I shouted again. It might sound funny that the weak point is there, but for them in their desperate state, it was do or die. Camian’s gaze was already focused solely on the creature’s bu*ttocks.

“Squeal!”

The wild boar monster roared as it charged. But Camian boldly slid between its legs and waited for the anus to appear, then thrust his sword.

Stab!

“Squeal!”

The effect was, of course, decisive. With a pig slaughtering sound, the creature collapsed.

Camian’s eyes were filled with surprise. He had been skeptical, but he hadn’t expected it to work so well.

“Huh?”

Annette, who had been running away, saw it too. But her face said she didn’t dare to attack. I spoke to her firmly.

“What are you doing? Did you learn magic just for decoration? Use Magic Arrow to pierce its as*hole!”

Magic Arrow is a basic spell that everyone learns, but its power shouldn’t be underestimated.

At least it was enough to pierce their anuses.

The problem was her mental state. That’s why I spoke so forcefully, even using vulgar language.

Fortunately, it seemed to work as she muttered with trembling eyes.

“The an…..the as*hole… with Magic Arrow?”

Even in the midst of it all, she quickly corrected her words, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yes! If you can’t do that, you’ll be a burden to Camian for the rest of your life!”

I used Camian’s name to motivate her. There was nothing more effective for her than that.

Ding

Her expression changed immediately.

“I can’t let that happen!”

With a determined face, Annette confronted the wild boar monster head on.

Thump thump thump!

“Squeal!”

As she dodged the charging wild boar monster’s attack and looked for an opportunity, she quickly chanted a spell and then shouted the activation word.

“Magic Arrow!”A mana arrow was created and flew swiftly towards the creature’s anus.

Thwack!

“Squeal!”

The creature whose anus was shattered fell with a scream.

“I did it!”

She clenched her fists tightly, seemingly moved by her own success.

“We’re not done yet. Let’s finish them off.”

“Right.”

“Understood, senior!”

And so, the three of us completely slaughtered the remaining creatures.

“Huff…”

Camian sat down to catch his breath. It seemed he was more tired than expected from the unfamiliar life and death struggle.

“Heave. Heave…….”

Annette was breathing even more heavily. It must be harder for her since physical activity is not her forte. On the other hand, I was fine.

Partly because I knew the monsters weaknesses from the start and took them down easily, but more crucially because I had received a vitality infusion from Hiresia beforehand. It was only natural.

Being thoroughly prepared has always been my principle. Anyway, thanks to that, the overflowing vitality was suppressing the fatigue in my body.

Camian and Annette, unaware of the situation, looked at me with puzzled expressions.

It was to be expected. They had only heard rumors of a good for nothing troublemaker, yet here I was, taking down monsters better than they did and not looking tired at all. Their confusion was clearly visible.

“…..Senior, thank you for earlier.”

Annette expressed her gratitude, glancing around. Her view of me had already changed significantly. This is why people need to show their abilities.

“What for. I helped because it looked like you were going to die.”

“What? No, it wasn’t that bad…”

“Let me tell you something.”

“Yes?”

“In battle, a weak person might die or might not. But a person with a fragile mind will definitely die. You are too mentally fragile.”

I blurted out something I had heard somewhere, making it sound plausible. Even so, it was a statement that hit home for her. Annette bowed her head in silence, as if realizing something. Then she bit her lip and said,

“Understood.”

“That’s good enough.”

She would later become a renowned healer known as ‘Song of Healing.’ She had a naturally kind heart, but she was not a person with weak mental strength. I was confident that my teachings would help her grow.

“You were impressive.”

Camian spoke up.

He still seemed to instinctively dislike me. I had anticipated that it would be difficult to close the gap due to our completely opposite natures and zero charm. But even so, Camian acknowledged me. He disliked me, but he recognized what was due.

He was indeed a manly guy.

“How did you know the weakness?”

Camian asked.

“I’ve done some monster hunting when I was at the main house.”

Camian was silent for a moment. Then he spoke again.

“Monster hunting, huh. Honestly, that’s unexpected.”

“What is?”

“I thought you were the kind of person who would be far from such things.”

“Haha, really? What did you think of me then?”

I asked with a hearty laugh.

“A hopeless troublemaker. That’s what everyone says.”

Camian said without hesitation.

“You’re honest, I’ll give you that.”

“But it seems not all rumors are true. Regardless of your behavior, I can see that you’re not just a hopeless troublemaker.”

“Then?”

“A troublemaker with hidden depths.”

Finally, the protagonist’s view of me had improved.

Should I be pleased?

I smirked.

“Well, enough about that. The important thing is.”

Camian and Annette waited for what I was going to say next.

“I said earlier that this path was made by someone, right?”

“Yes, you did.”

Annette nodded.

“And then these monsters appeared. What do you think that means?”

They looked thoughtful. Even with their lack of experience, they seemed to have a rough idea by now.

“Could this be that…….”

“It’s a dungeon.”

Camian finished Annette’s sentence.

I nodded.

“Yes, this is a dungeon.”

I continued.

“If we stay here, the smell of blood will attract more monsters. Let’s move.”

“Ugh, more monsters?”

“How can there be monsters everywhere we go?!”

Camian and Annette shook their heads in exhaustion, as if they were fed up. I laughed to myself as I watched them. Of course. I’m making sure you gain some combat experience.

And myself, incidentally.

“Do you understand? Just kill them.”

“Squeak!”

“Squeak!”

This time it was giant rat monsters.

There were many, but they weren’t particularly troublesome compared to the enemies we had faced so far.

“Tch.”

Camian threw himself into the horde of monsters as if he had no choice.

“Rats… I hate rats, but come on!”

Annette seemed to have grown a lot mentally. I couldn’t just watch with pride as a senior… as the rat bastards were also rushing at me.

“Ah, I’m starting to get tired too.”

Still,

“I can’t stand to see these rat bastards running wild.”

So I began the slaughter of the rat bastards.

“Heave, heave, heave………….”

“Haa, haa, haa………….”

Camian and Annette, who had collapsed in exhaustion as if they couldn’t handle monsters or anything else anymore,

“Huff, huff……”

I too sat down to catch my breath.

Honestly, I wanted to collapse and rest like them, but my pride as a senior wouldn’t allow it.

Even if I’m a troublemaker, a senior is still a senior.

‘Is it about time to wrap things up?’

I thought, picturing the dungeon map in my head. All that was left was the location of the artifact and the boss monster. It was a shaky combination, but somehow we had managed to clean up the monsters.

‘We definitely lacked experience.’

The protagonist and the main cast had decent skills for their age. But they hadn’t been able to properly utilize them in real combat. That changed as they gained combat experience. At first, I had to blatantly teach them the weaknesses, but later they realized on their own how to take down enemies more easily. Of course, it wasn’t just them who grew.

I grew too.

Training and actual combat are worlds apart. The proficiency gained from shooting arrows and swinging swords at monsters in real combat is incomparable to what is gained in training.

Because of that, my rank had risen to ‘Swordsmanship E+, Archery E.’

The skill proficiency of Imperial Style Number eight, which started in the 30% range, had now surpassed 50%.

‘It’s rising quickly because it started from the bottom.’

I chuckled to myself. Then I got up.

Because I had recovered some energy.

“Let’s get up.”

“Heave, heave.”

“Haa, haa.”

They exhaled roughly, closing their eyes as if they didn’t want to listen.

To get them up,

“That’s why first years are useless. So weak, so weak, tsk tsk.”

I said, clicking my tongue. They couldn’t help but bristle at such words from an insignificant senior.

“Who’s weak…….”

“……I’m not weak.”

Camian and Annette got up with all the strength they could muster. It worked as expected. I chuckled inwardly and said,

“Really? Then prove it.”

With that, I started walking towards the location of the boss monster.