episode_0010

“Emergency situation. Monster type 1 sighting. Approximately 150 meters ahead of Rato Station. Requesting backup.”

As Lager finished speaking, a massive wyvern swooped down over Lager’s head.

Thud!!

Lager quickly rolled away to avoid the wyvern, then swiftly summoned his halberd and aimed the tip at the creature.

“Aeil, hide wherever you can’t be seen!”

Lager shouted to Aeil while keeping his eyes on the wyvern. The creature seemed to take his shout as a challenge, crouching down on its long legs in preparation to leap.

“Shing!”

With a thud, the wyvern lunged towards Lager, who barely managed to dodge the attack.

“Ugh!”

It was a split-second moment. If he had been just a bit slower, the wyvern would have caught him.

The wyvern quickly twisted its body and charged at Lager. Lager swung his halberd horizontally, blocking the creature’s head from coming too close.

The wyvern, with its large mouth gaping open on both sides, lunged at Lager with the intention of biting his head, driven by the desire to tear flesh and drink blood.

Pushed back by the wyvern’s immense strength and its red eyes filled with hunger, Lager was gradually forced backward.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Lager’s arm holding the halberd began to tremble. As the wyvern’s face drew closer with each passing moment.

And just as the wyvern’s head was nearing Lager’s…

“Thwang!”

A sound ripped through the air.

Thud.

“Kieeeeek!!”

One of the wyvern’s middle legs flew off.

With its leg severed, the wyvern turned its head sharply towards the direction of the sound, its red eyes glaring.

“Tsk!”

Aeil, who had been lying down to aim carefully, quickly got up after narrowly missing her target.

She should have aimed for one of the hind legs instead. The wyvern’s head was too close to Lager, making it dangerous, and severing a leg would not have been life-threatening. Aiming for the body was easier and more likely to cause a fatal injury, but her aim had missed.

As the wyvern crouched to leap, Lager urgently tried to stab it with his halberd.

“Shing!”

“Eujinah!!”

Lager shouted.

The wyvern swiftly flew towards Aeil.

“Ah?!”

Aeil quickly rolled away to avoid the wyvern and then lunged forward with all her might. Lager also hastened his steps to reach her before the wyvern could leap again.

“Aeil!! Duck!”

But then, a shadow loomed over Aeil’s head.

“Gasp…!”

As she turned her head, she saw the wyvern that had leaped right behind her.

“Kwee!”

Thud.

The wyvern pounced on Aeil. Aeil tried to push the wyvern’s head away with all her strength, but it was not enough.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

She struggled, but ultimately could not prevent the wyvern from burying its head.

In the next moment, the wyvern opened its mouth and…

A liquid splashed onto Aeil’s forehead.

“……Huh?”

Aeil, who had tightly closed her eyes, slowly opened them as she felt the liquid dripping down her forehead.

The wyvern’s mouth was wide open.

Or more precisely, Lager’s halberd was lodged in its gaping mouth, causing it to writhe in pain.

“Kieee, kieeeek!!”

Enraged, the wyvern charged at Lager. Lager rushed towards it, trying to pull out the halberd stuck in its mouth.

“Ugh, ugh!”

However, due to the force of the throw, the halberd stuck in the wyvern’s mouth refused to budge.

Then, with a squelch, blood sprayed from Lager’s arm.

“Ah, ugh?!”

The fox, thrashing about, had inadvertently scraped its front paw on a small thorn. Recognizing that pulling out the thorn wasn’t an easy task, the fox raised its fist and fiercely raked the creature’s head.

Thud!

“Kyaak!!”

From then on, it was a fierce battle.

As the fox tried to crush the creature’s head by clawing with its fist while the creature twisted its body and shook its front paw to tear the fox apart.

When the fox managed to knock the creature down again and swung its paws, the creature allowed some minor injuries and blindly punched back.

Unable to inflict fatal wounds on each other, the brutal and precarious battle continued.

And then.

“Ale! Shoot!”

“Huh…?”

“Hold it for a moment, and then shoot!”

Desperately shouting, the creature knew that shooting wasn’t as easy as it sounded. If it were the usual Ale, he would have made a sarcastic remark about not bringing a gun to a fight. But there was no time to complain now, so he quickly dropped to the ground, shouldered the rifle, and looked through the scope.

“Hey! Hurry up!!”

The fox, holding onto the creature, thrust its front paw into the creature’s shoulder. With a thud, blood spurted from the creature’s shoulder.

The fox, determined to somehow devour the creature, stabbed the creature’s head with its beak.

If the beak were to come loose, the creature would be bitten to death.

So, in one shot.

It had to end in one shot for the highest chance of success.

Aiming at the wriggling belly of the fox, Ale held his breath.

And slowly. With the feeling of pulling the trigger towards his body, he moved his finger.

Just one shot.

With the determination not to make the same mistake again.

He had to save the creature.

Carefully, he slid his index finger on the trigger, towards his body.

And.

Bang!!

With a gunshot, the fox’s belly exploded. The fox writhed in agony, screaming as it rolled on the ground.

“Kyaeeek!!”

Turning the tables, the creature, with a disgusted expression, got up while pulling up its pants.

“Ugh.”

Seeing the resentful look in the creature’s eyes, Ale finally relaxed.

He chuckled.

“Hey. You’re bleeding a lot. It’s torn on the side. I’ll take care of it.”

“It’s not ‘unni’, right? Oh, is it ‘nuna’?”

“Shut up.”

The struggling fox. With bloodshot eyes, unable to even leap as its burst belly dragged on the ground.

Ale aimed the gun at the fox again. If it didn’t move on its own, it was a big target that would be even harder to miss.

He held his breath once again.

And the next moment.

Bang, the sound pierced the fox’s belly.

With viscera oozing out, the fox glared at them. In a last-ditch effort to attack, the fox crouched to leap at Ale, but.

Hop.

It only jumped a very short distance.

It seemed to be struggling for a while, but soon collapsed on the ground, ceasing all movement.

Approaching the creature, the creature lightly tapped its body with its foot. Confirming the lack of movement, it placed a foot on the creature’s body, pulled out the beak with a swift motion.

Only then, with the beak released, the creature looked at Ale mockingly.

“You’ve been carrying such a good weapon and just watching all this time? I almost bled to death because of you.”

“This guy is a pain even when I try to help. Is that why you hate me? Should I have just let you die?”

Eil responded with a sullen expression.

With a look as if to ask, ‘Got nothing to say?’ Eil shrugged her shoulders, and Lager obediently lowered his tail, ready to say what she wanted to hear.

“No, thanks. I survived because of you.”

Eil finally smiled satisfactorily.

“Just know that, you brat.”

Eil’s blunt attitude towards Lager, despite her appearance as a platinum blonde beauty, was nothing but a seasoned sergeant major in disguise.

However, Eil’s arrogant demeanor, with both hands casually tucked into her pockets and a haughty expression, didn’t last long.

This was because Lager was bleeding more than Eil had anticipated.

“Hey, what about that…?”

“What?”

“You’re bleeding a lot right now! You might die from excessive bleeding!”

“Don’t overreact. Excessive bleeding, what’s that?”

She laughed dismissively, but Lager’s uniform was a mess. His arms and legs were covered in blood, and his shoulder where the bullet had grazed him was leaking blood, staining his shirt.

“Oh, wait a minute.”

As Lager staggered, Eil hurriedly ran over to support him.

“Look at this. You’ve lost a lot of blood, haven’t you?”

“I guess so. Hey, help me up.”

“Just sit on the ground. Why do you keep leaning on me?”

“Come on, just help me up!”

Why is he like this all of a sudden? Eil tried to push him away and make him sit on the ground, but Lager stubbornly clung to her.

The desolate wind of the deserted iron fence passed between the two of them.