episode_0031

Click.

Click, click.

The sound of the iron bars being touched regularly echoed loudly.

As my body, which had been on edge, cooled down and my sense of alertness heightened, I sensed that something was off with Lager. I quickly zipped up my pants again, lowered my posture, and raised the lantern.

However, the hand holding the lantern was covered in saliva.

“Ugh….”

I felt a bit, no, quite embarrassed.

We both silently agreed to pretend that today’s incident never happened, that it was just a momentary mistake and not genuine. We didn’t vocalize it, but we had an implicit agreement to do so.

It wasn’t a situation where anyone would understand and let it go.

Click.

Click, click.

Lager cautiously raised the lantern towards the direction where the sound was coming from.

The creatures climbing over the iron bars in a regular pattern were…

“Tigers…?”

They were tigers with fur as black as darkness itself.

The eerie reflection of their eyes in the lantern light shone menacingly.

Their glowing pupils were not just one or two.

At least six, eight, no, maybe more than ten.

Before the creatures completely crossed the iron bars, Lager took out his tablet. He pulled out a sniper rifle, sat down on the ground, aimed at the heads of the creatures crawling over the high iron bars, held his breath, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!!

With a deafening gunshot, the head of one tiger exploded.

Fortunately, they were not insect-type monsters. Insects could survive for a while even after losing their heads, as their organs could function independently, making them quite challenging to deal with. On the other hand, animal or humanoid monsters, no matter how strong, could be easily defeated by just targeting their heads.

“Good.”

Confidently taking down another one.

Bang!!

As he pulled the trigger, another tiger’s head flew off.

Through the Tier, I accurately assessed my current skill level and was able to roughly gauge the level of the monsters.

These guys were weak. If they were really strong, like the humanoid monster from before who could withstand countless bullets without flinching, even if I aimed for their heads, the bullets would have bounced off.

They were worthy opponents.

After Lager finished the call in the command room, he took out a halberd. However, before the creatures crossed the iron bars, half of them had already lost their heads to the sniper rifle.

“Ugh!!”

The remaining half ruthlessly attacked Lager, who wielded the halberd.

“Kyaaah!”

Their claws missed him, and he swiftly struck with the spear. After quickly retrieving it, he raised his head high, and two tigers fell to the ground, lifeless.

He pierced the charging creature’s mouth with the spear, struck down the rushing one, and swiftly dismembered the hesitating one’s legs and torso.

Lager had become stronger.

His halberd swinging speed had increased significantly, and his weapon handling skills had become much smoother.

“Did you repair the weapon?”

I asked Lager while providing cover fire from behind.

Lager turned around and swiftly threw the halberd above my head.

With a thud, a tiger leaped into the air and was impaled by the thrown halberd.

As I rolled on the ground to avoid it, I belatedly replied, pulling out the halberd from the fallen tiger.

“It only took a day to repair.”

“Setting this up so easily is quite something.”

“We have to fight fiercely. What if we spend too much time repairing weapons in a world where battles happen every day?”

“You’re quite meticulous.”

As we murmured, the sniper rifle disappeared from our hands. We had used up the time limit.

I had prepared my own countermeasure in case something like this happened.

It wasn’t anything grand, just sketching out multiple weapons in advance.

“Do we have about three left?”

Bang!!

With the deafening sound of bullets, another tiger’s head exploded. The mana gun, which didn’t require reloading ammunition, fixing the gun, or changing the barrel, boasted tremendous firepower.

Lager didn’t need to push himself any further and focused on protecting me by my side.

Bang!!

Two more.

Bang!!

One more.

And finally, one more shot with flames spewing from the barrel.

All the tigers turned into piles of meat on the ground.

A clean finish.

Even Lager, who clashed directly with them, didn’t even break a sweat in this overwhelming battle.

“Not bad, huh?”

After releasing the sniper rifle and getting up, I brushed off the dirt and threw a word.

“Why don’t you shoot too?”

In response to Lager’s question, I chuckled and pulled out a cigarette from my pocket. After all, I hold the record for the best rifle shooting.

Suppressing the urge to shrug my shoulders, I lit the cigarette.

“Are we done here?”

It was the gray and red strings that were causing trouble earlier. If you’re going to help, come early instead of dilly-dallying around.

Expressing my dissatisfaction, this time I shot at them without putting out the cigarette.

“Did you take care of them all?”

The two of them glanced at my cigarette and asked sarcastically.

These guys are really something.

“Yes, I did. It’s more challenging than it looks.”

Taking a drag from the cigarette in my pocket, they also took out cigarettes from their pockets, wondering what was so amusing.

“Give me a light.”

As they leaned forward, I took out a lighter from the cigarette case and threw it at the chest of the guy with the red string.

The lighter hit his chest and fell to the ground.

“Ah, this bastard…”

His grumbling gaze momentarily turned to my back.

Suddenly, he stiffened.

“Damn it.”

Swearing abruptly, the guy with the red string drew his dagger. The man with the gray string also looked flustered, summoning a short staff to prepare to cast a spell.

Feeling a chill, I turned around.

Standing on two feet was a tiger about the size of a person.

With sharp yellow eyes and equally sharp reddish-brown claws raised in both hands, its entire body covered in black fur, it stared at us.

It felt like a boss monster.

Feeling the pressure, I involuntarily took a step back.

The guy crouched down.

“It’s coming.”

As the guy with the red string drew his dagger,

Slash!!

A spark flew in front of the red string’s neck instead of blood, narrowly missing.

The one who failed the first attack turned to target the man with the gray string, but he was already prepared to defend himself. The fierce claws clashed with something in the air, sending sparks flying.

“Grrr….”

The guy who had been growling lowly turned to attack the red string again.

“Come on!”

With the red string’s attack, countless flashes collided from all directions.

The red line, which almost matched the reaction speed of a beast, blocked all of the leopard’s attacks.

The grey line shot ice spears at any gap it could find, aiming to pierce the leopard’s body.

And even the leopard-human who dodged all attacks with astonishing agility.

Facing a level of offense and defense that was difficult to follow with the naked eye, Lager was at a loss for words.

Lager called the command center once again. It was likely nighttime, and given the high tiers of the two individuals, it was highly probable that the situation would be resolved at this level.

And indeed.

“Emergency! Emergency! Humanoid, humanoid monster sighting. Requesting immediate support!!”

Since the enemy monster was initially reported as non-humanoid.

Before Lager’s urgent cry could even finish,

“Ugh, aaargh!!”

The right hand of the red line, holding a dagger, was bitten by the creature.

The creature clenched the bleeding wrist tightly, then suddenly bit down on the jaw with force.

Snap.

“Aaargh!!!”

Toppling the red line to the ground, it ripped the arm out from the shoulder.

In severe agony, the red line writhed, and the creature bit into the neck, which it had previously ignored, with its terrifying jaw.

And then, a snap.

The red line collapsed.

Lager raised his halberd upon seeing this, but the creature’s target was not him.

“Darn it, darn it!!”

While the grey line was casting an attack spell, the leopard-human attacked the creature.

“Argh! Get lost, you bastard!!”

The man screamed and thrashed. The leopard did not target the two of us.

As long as it could bring down the strong ones, it was always able to catch its ‘prey.’

It was hunting time.

I bit down hard on the trembling creature, swallowed the saliva, and shuddered.