Chapter 69: Man-Eater vs Man-Eater(?) (7)

The reason why Lee Han ordered his disciples to take care of the gnolls wasn’t because he was lazy or irresponsible.

I can trust them to take care of those guys.

He wasn’t biased towards them because he was the one who taught them. Objectively speaking, his disciples were quite strong. While their individual power might be lacking, if they were to form a group, they’d be able to create the best synergy among themselves. This was something that he taught them; a work of art that he put a lot of effort into.

On top of that, among them was a ‘regressor’ who should have gone through countless wars. That guy was definitely someone who was used to commanding people. With that in mind, Lee Han believed that he could trust him, no matter how arrogant the punk was.

Which meant, the only thing he needed to focus on was the [monster] that was slowly falling to the ground.

Whoong-!

The sight of hundreds of gnolls falling from the sky was horrible enough, the sight of that huge thing falling from the same place was even more so. Lee Han felt like he was watching a huge meteor falling down.

The monster was falling quickly, and its outline gradually came closer.

Its body was huge.

Rocks so thick that it looked like castle walls covered its body.

That was why Lee Han…

“Just how many times do I need to keep on doing this?”

“Keeeeuuukk!”

“Hold on tight.”

“This vicious bastard—!”

“Stop whining like a baby, you fuck.”

Drip-!

Odwal, who, at this point, had blood gushing from his nose and eyes, finally raised another log spear.

However, the rotational power that he produced from his telekinesis this time was considerably weaker than the first one that Lee Han had sent to the sky. It was clear that it wouldn’t be enough to fulfill their goal.

Nevertheless, Lee Han was still satisfied with it. But, rather than giving him a warm praise, he…

“See? You can do it as long as you stop whining like a fucking baby. Why can’t you just do this from the start, huh?”

“You fuckkeerrrrr.”

Hit the poor mage with a stick again.

For a magic freak, carrots are a luxury.

Instead of giving him the carrot, I’d just let him off the stick once if he does something worth praising.

…Well, if we both could live to see tomorrow’s sun, that is.

With that determination, Lee Han pulled his left foot and kicked the log with all his might. Since his right leg was already useless, he used the other one instead.

Kwaaaaang-!

The second Sun Piercing Attack successfully hit the descending giant.

However…

[Grrrrr…!]

Kwaang!

This time, it wasn’t as powerful as the first shot.

“It deflected it, huh?”

That was why the monster managed to deflect the second Sun Piercing Attack, as if declaring that he wouldn’t get hit by the same technique twice.

But…

“Good, good. Go right over there and fall.”

The monster was still unable to completely nullify the Sun Piercing Attack’s impact and began to fall to a certain location that was on the opposite side of the Colosseum instead.

That place was none other than…

Splaaaash-!

A huge lake.

While that unbelievable battle that showcased various ridiculous techniques was happening, in the Colosseum, a relatively normal battle was unfolding. A fight that was filled with the fierce and suffocating atmosphere of war, where humans and monsters were facing off against each other, fighting for their lives.

[Grrr!!]

The group of gnolls, which were struck by hesitation for a moment due to the knight’s roar, came to their senses rather quickly as they howled loudly.

Such was the behavior of the monsters. Even if, in truth, they were unable to defeat a human, as long as that human was their target, they wouldn’t fear them in the slightest. Instead, they’d feel humiliation, anger and hatred, and they’d do their best to kill said human.

At times, there would be some animal lovers who claimed that they could communicate with monsters and tried to save and protect some of those monsters. And that was how a whole village ended up being wiped out the next morning.

One simply couldn’t use the common sense of humans to judge monsters. They were mortal enemies who could never live under the same sky as humans. While both humans and monsters held no grudges towards one another, coexistence between them was simply impossible.

As monsters would always try to eat humans, and humans would always try to stop them.

The relationship between them was simply a competition for survival.

Indeed. To fight against the monsters was a competition for survival for humans.

“Form a phalanx!!”

-Form a phalanx!

-Pick up your spears and shields!

-Woo! Woo! Woo…!

The moment the master’s order was given, Levy Fault quickly gave out a command to her brothers while conducting some relief work.

Phalanx.

It was a traditional formation that had been utilized by humans even back when they were still wielding axes made of stones instead of irons. A formation where soldiers holding spears and shields gathered in a single line like hedgehogs, and a formation that any soldiers in the kingdom would be familiar with.

However, unlike the common phalanx formation everyone knew of, this particular one had a hint of shaolin formation on it. Which made sense, since the instructor who taught them this formation was inspired by a certain formation that often appeared in martial arts novels.

“We have to guard this path at all costs!”

Setting up the formation wasn’t the only thing Levy Fault ordered. She went a step further and gave out another command. In an instant, she split her troops into three and blocked all three directions of the passage.

Even though their number was reduced and the degree of danger rose up, fortunately, the force she had under her wasn’t just the Arhats.

“We’ll be engaging them in close combat! Everyone, draw your swords!”

The noble young master drew their swords, following Roen’s order.

These swordsmen who had learned Combat Technique aimed their blades at the gnolls, making sure that the gaps the Arhats failed to notice were sealed tight.

[Kiaa…]

At that moment, the gnolls hesitated. Before they could realize it, they had been surrounded. Not to mention that these prey were radiating a considerable spirit.

Combat Technique. It was a technique created by humans in ancient times to hunt wild beasts and monsters.

If the creatures that killed most humans in history were monsters, then the creatures that killed the most monsters in history were the warriors who had learned the Combat Technique.

“…”

In that tense situation that was about to break out, the first ones to make their move were…

“Charge!!!”

Wooong-!

The swordsmen.

As soon as Roen gave his order, the warriors blitzed their swords towards the gnolls. Of course, the gnolls didn’t just sit still. They also charged towards the humans.

Bang-!

Crack-!

Both groups collided and dispersed. Then, a fierce fight broke out as the swordsmen who had learned Combat Technique and the bipedal monsters clashed. It was a fierce clash where a single mistake could lead to someone losing their life.

However, even if someone on the human side were to make a mistake, they didn’t need to worry.

Clang-!

After all, ‘he’ was behind them.

“Get yourself together! Don’t let your guard down!”

“T-Thank you, Young Master.”

“You can thank me later. Right now, focus on destroying the enemy!”

“U-Understood!!”

Hearing Roen’s spirited scolding and order, the cadet, Cain, unconsciously saluted.

He felt as if the man in front of him wasn’t a young man of the same age as him, but an experienced ‘general’ who had survived countless battles.

“Cut them! Stab them! The techniques you’ve learned are by no means weak! Those techniques and master’s teachings remain in your body! With those two, you will never lose against these curs!”

-Waaaaaaahhh

They all shouted simultaneously.

Roen’s presence was a firm support on their backs. It was enough to make them charge forward and fight as ordered.

Before long, the swordsmen gradually became accustomed to dealing with the gnolls, making the gnolls who were trying to leave the Colosseum hesitate.

[Krrrr…!]

The swordsmen’s resistance flustered the gnolls for a moment, but they immediately found another way out. They could try to fend off the spearmen who seemed weaker than the swordsmen.

And they did exactly that, marching towards the weaklings who didn’t show their fighting spirits unlike the swordsmen.

However…

“Stab them!!”

Stab-!

Stab-!

Stab-!

[!!?]

That was a huge mistake, and they had to pay the price for underestimating these spearmen with their bodies.

“Aaaah!!”

At Levy’s command, the Arhats swung their spears, and with every stab, they managed to pierce the body of the gnolls.

Thud-!

[Ki-!]

[Kiaa!?]

Indeed, they managed to pierce the thick hide of the gnolls, who were known to be able to deflect even the most powerful swords. Without using Combat Technique even. However, it was only natural. Even though they hadn’t learned Combat Techniques, what they had learned instead was by no means trivial.

After all, it was the unparalleled skill of a man who had spent his entire life fighting against both mages and monsters.

Muscle Arts.

[Martial Power]

While it wasn’t as good as Combat Techniques, it was powerful enough to hunt these monsters.

“Burst!”

-Haaaa!

A loud roar accompanying a burst of power!

The spear tip pierced through the leather and the gnoll fell where they stood.

Thud-!

[Ki-!]

…Thud!

The gnolls started to collapse, unable to endure the pain. While the humans couldn’t take them in one-on-one fights, they could handle them easily in a group. The cadets managed to properly utilize the advantage of the phalanx formation.

However…

“W-We won!”

“We kill—”

“—Don’t let your guard down!!”

“!!?”

Whoosh!

One of the gnolls that they thought had fallen stood up again. Levy Fault immediately shot an arrow at it and killed it.

But…

[k… i…!]

There were still a lot of them that started to move again. Not only was their vitality remarkable, their recovery speed—which allowed them to even withstand inner injuries—was also considerably crazy.

Since the Arhats were unable to finish them properly, the fallen gnolls got up and rushed towards them, startling them in the process.

-Swoosh!

“Bears! Letting your guard down, bad!”

At that moment, Kunta suddenly appeared like a black panther and cut one of the gnolls in half with a single slash of his khopesh.

Crack-!

“If you want to kill them, aim for their heads or their hearts. Like this.”

Together with him, Galand, who was using his halberd to rip open a gnoll’s head, spared some advice to the bears.

Crunch-!

“It’s better to aim for their arms and ankles first to take their mobility away.”

Arno added as he shook off the blood from his twin swords after slashing two gnolls with them.

“W-We are safe…”

Thanks to these three, the bears managed to barely survive, and they expressed their relief and gratitude to them.

However, the three guys shook their heads at their words.

“No… As long as they’re still alive, we aren’t safe at all.”

“Those fuckers are smart.”

“Kunta hate them.”

The three guys’ faces hardened as they said such words one after another.

There was a reason why gnoll was considered as the poster child among other terrible monsters.

Even though they were monsters, they tended to move in groups and they were also familiar with group tactics. In other words, they were monsters with a certain amount of intelligence. Not only did they move following their instincts, they also knew how to ‘cooperate’. This was the reason why they were so terrible to face.

Also, one of the most common curse words on the continent was: ‘You gnoll-like bastard’.

There was a reason why that was the case.

“We’re surrounded.”

[Kieee!!]

[Krrr!]

[KA-!]

The gnolls gradually surrounded the humans as if they were hunting them down. They finally decided to take these humans seriously. From now on, they were going to hunt the humans with all their might.

No matter how much stronger these cadets were compared to people at the same age as them, they were still far from being able to defeat this big group of gnolls.

Facing the impending crisis that would befall them, all the cadet’s faces gradually darkened. But, at that moment…

“Charge!!”

“Save the children!”

A strong force consisting of the old knights and old soldiers joined the fray.

They originally came to the Colosseum to watch the exam, but after all the people were evacuated, they immediately returned to the Colosseum with their weapons in hand in order to help these cadets.

And they weren’t the only ones.

“We can’t lose to our juniors!”

“Rachel of the Derren Family! Here!”

The seniors also came to help. Both the bears and the young masters thought that they had run away, yet here they were, coming with their armor and horses, charging toward the gnolls.

Their pride and courage prevented them from running away even in the face of these terrible monsters. After all, they were born and raised in the kingdom founded by the brave and noble knights that even the dragon respected.

This was the spirit of Pendragon.

“…You came!”

Levy said so, expressing her relief.

Before the battle began, she actually asked the chicks to gather as much support as possible.

“Hehe, do you know how hard those girls asked for our help?”

“They made my face burn. I couldn’t just sit there and watch.”

Considering that the girls had asked them so desperately, they couldn’t just refuse them and run away like cowards.

And above all…

“If we don’t defeat those abominations, the kingdom will suffer enormous damage.”

A single gnoll could destroy an entire village. There were hundreds of them here, and if they were to be released into the royal capital, the damage wouldn’t be negligible, that was for sure.

At this moment, the Colosseum had become an iron cage for them, a cage where they’d need to annihilate those monsters. With that determination, one of the old knights took a spear stance and swung their spear at the Gnoll.

Splaaash-!

Thud thud-!

“…Huh?”

However, instead of killing them, he was left dumbstruck.

Because at that moment, the lake right next to the Colosseum suddenly exploded. The water stream shot up into the sky and fell back down as if they were raindrops.

Unable to believe what he was seeing, the old knight asked.

“I know I shouldn’t ask this in this kind of situation, but can I ask you something?”

“Yes?”

“…That knight, is he really a human?”

“U-Um… T-That’s…”

To that, Levy let out an awkward laugh.

However, she understood why the old knight asked that question.

“W-We actually suspected that he wasn’t but… He really is a human…”

Nevertheless…

“I-It’s just, he always did something that made him not look like a human.”

“…Hehehe.”

Boom-!

As soon as the girl finished speaking, the water rose up again.

Why did such a thing happen again? Well, because…

“Add more harpoons.”

“Keuuukkk!”

“Bring it here! Quickly!”

The knight, the master of the cadets of the Swordsmanship Department, was throwing a large harpoon that seemed impossible to be thrown by a human towards the big monster.

Looking at it like this…

Which one of them is the monster, really…?

It was a sight that left anyone suspecting the knight’s race.