episode_0048

Of course, I couldn’t continue to be so embarrassed.

No matter what she looked like, the woman in front of us was a monster who had toyed with and slaughtered countless warriors for hundreds of years.

When I saw her expression twist as if she didn’t like my reaction, I remembered the story my guide had told me.

A co-worker who had laughed at her for her appearance immediately had his throat torn by her sword and died a slow, painful death.

That memory helped me a lot in erasing all unnecessary thoughts from my head and focusing only on how threatening the opponent was.

As we aim our spears straight at the enemy in front of us, Emma lowers her voice and asks me behind her.

“…Master, how should I move?”

“…”

I was in trouble.

Should I not try to fight that rabbit right now, like one of the options we discussed at first, but turn around and run to get out of this unknown space?

Unlike back then, the monster was completely focused on us, but Emma, a centaur who received Epona’s blessing, would have been able to at least elude her.

In a situation where our forces were suddenly split halfway, we had to think about whether there was any reason to fight that dangerous monster alone.

Especially since the female warrior still had a special move to catch that monster.

However, we may have misunderstood the nature of this phenomenon in the first place.

The moment I looked around, wondering what to do for a moment, I was able to narrowly find another danger and take action.

“Aaagh!”

When I suddenly turned the spear and stabbed it backwards, the young druid screamed in surprise.

Or maybe it was because I saw the monster my spear blade pierced and killed.

-Grkeeh…

The white monster, struggling to survive its pierced body, pouring out sticky blood like sap, had a body that resembled tree branches.

It appears that it was hiding quietly in the nearby trees and then slowly approached us, trying to snatch the girl.

The scary thing was that neither I nor Emma’s extremely sensitive ears could tell that it was coming, and it was only at the last moment that we noticed it.

“…Damn, no way…”

I gave a signal to Emma and spun the body around, while at the same time swinging the spear and throwing the corpse just as it had pierced the tree monster from above.

Let his blood splatter all over the nearby trees.

Then, a lot of monsters appeared, crying and baring their teeth after being beaten with blood.

‘…Are these the monsters that the guide said we couldn’t confirm?’

“?! In front of the owner!”

At that time, at the same time as Emma’s warning, two blades were shot towards me.

As he quickly swung his spear and struck down the blades, the white rabbit bent down and rolled on the ground, holding the sword that bounced down.

Emma rushed forward and raised her hooves to trample and subdue her.

No matter how fast the rabbit moved, it was impossible to avoid Emma’s charge from this distance.

The problem was that she probably knew that, but she threw herself under the hooves first.

Although Emma was surprised, she did not back down and ran forward, trampling her with her legs and hooves, which were the fastest running machines on earth.

The weight of the half-man, half-horse, its rider, and its passenger crashed into the rabbit’s stomach, pinning her to the forest floor.

However, Emma’s distorted expression at that moment told us that the rumors we had heard were true.

Emma’s hooves were too hard and smooth to have stepped on something in the shape of a human, and only glided over its stomach, leaving behind a few marks.

And in the meantime, the rabbit did not let go of the swords in both hands and aimed at Emma’s legs with them.

Emma quickly kicked the ground with her other legs and ran to shake her off, but no matter how much she did, she couldn’t escape without getting hurt.

“Ugh…”

Emma, who had one of her legs cut by the dual swords, gritted her teeth and quickly regained her balance even with her wobbly legs.

However, even though I was used to riding her body that shook so much, it was difficult for the young druid to withstand the violence.

The girl fell from Emma’s waist without even being able to scream in shock.

‘this!’

I quickly reached out and caught her just in the nick of time before she fell headfirst to the ground.

At that moment, one of the monsters, waiting for the moment when we were vulnerable, leapt towards us from the tree, its claws and teeth sharp.

To shove them into the crevices of my armor behind my back and gorge on fresh meat while my hands are still tied.

“Where dare you go!”

However, Emma turned around again to face the rabbit, and at the same time swung her shield and knocked away the monster that was jumping from the tree towards us.

The guy who bounced off and hit the tree hard seemed to melt into the tree for a moment because of its color.

At least until you fall to the ground again with your back broken and become motionless.

“…I’m completely out of my mind. Emma, are you okay?”

As soon as I pulled the young druid back up again, I had to rip off one of his arms with another spear.

The guy who was trying to retreat back to the tree lost one of his arms and fell to the ground screaming, and I finished him off by slamming my spear into his screaming head again.

As the two guys died again in an instant, the remaining monsters that were still looking for an opportunity also cowered for a moment on the tree.

I’m not sure how long I’ll be like that.

“Phew… It’s still bearable, master.”

Judging by the sweat forming on her face, it was not a light wound, but Emma still did her best to maintain her courage and raise her weapon.

I looked at her with concern as she still tried to fight to protect us even though she was injured.

‘…In an instant, I tried to precisely target the blood vessels and tendons of the leg and cut them off.

If it weren’t for Emma, instead of just getting cut, I might have lost the use of one leg at all. It would have been better…’

“…No. I guess I should just get off and deal with that rabbit girl.”

After making my decision, I quietly placed my hand on her shoulder and said,

“Owner!”

“Listen.”

Of course, I calmly scolded Emma, who raised her voice in protest.

“Of course, Emma, you can still fight, but if you keep lunging in your current state, your cut leg will get worse and worse.

Moreover, while those guys above are watching for every opportunity, such methods will become more and more dangerous as time goes by.”

“But the owner cannot be left to fight alone. I’d rather unravel this image so you can stay by my side-”

“No, I’m not saying I’m going to fight alone.

I’m asking you to keep those tree branch-looking guys from interfering with me while I fight. I’m telling you to watch my back. Emma.

…And that kid too. I think it will be difficult to keep paying attention and fighting in this melee.”

After almost falling once, she clung tightly to Emma, shaking and clutching the hem of my dress.

Emma, who saw that, sighed and answered my question.

“…Haaah… If the owner is in any danger, I will run straight into it, so if you want to keep looking after me, please don’t get hurt.”

“Don’t worry. Make sure to stop the bleeding in your legs properly.”

With those last words, I jumped off Emma and landed on the ground, holding the spear.

Emma was surprised, grabbed the druid who was trying to stop me, held him close to her back, and nodded.

Some of the monsters seemed to think it was worth a try when I got off the horse, so they rushed at me at once.

I was cut and hit by Emma, who immediately jumped out in front of me, and the dead bodies were crushed by her hooves.

Still, I wanted one of them to remain for me, so I swung the spear too.

When I saw that all the people who had come forward before Emma’s charge fell to their deaths, I hit the leg of the guy with the spear, who was faltering, and the guy screamed and fell forward with his broken leg.

As soon as I stabbed the spear into it, the screaming stopped.

I lifted the spear that pierced the monster’s body and ran towards the reason I came here, the goal of the hunt.

She, too, seemed to have realized that I was starting a fight in earnest and ran towards me with a smile.

Her red eyes were shining with burdensome anticipation.

So, I decided to block the view for a while.

When I swung my spear and threw the corpse of another monster impaled on the blade towards her, I was able to avoid its red eyes for a moment.

Immediately, the twin swords she held tore apart the corpse, opening the way to its owner’s eyes again.

The white rabbit opened its eyes and pricked up its ears, as if it was trying to keep track of what trick I would use to block her view, even if just for a moment.

Actually, I just moved straight forward and thrust the spear.

It wasn’t a good move against an invulnerable opponent.

No matter how famous I was with my spear and how many wild beasts I hunted, the only thing I could do was scratch her body, which was cursed by God.

In the meantime, if she were to go inside the window, I would be at a huge disadvantage.

She seemed to know that, too, as she changed the direction of her two swords, trying to block my stab.

Normally, she would not be able to completely deflect the attack and would end up getting stabbed due to the difference in the mass of the weapon and the difference in physical strength between her hands, but it wasn’t much of a problem for her.

All you had to do was ignore it, dig in, and kill the other person.

However, when the spear blade collided with the two sword blades, she realized my intention and her eyes widened in surprise.

The moment the spear I stabbed while holding it with both hands made contact with the swords she was holding, it changed direction slightly and went straight out.

The swords that were trying to stab were caught on the spear blades and dragged out.

The hunter’s spear pierced the skin of giant beasts and severed their bones and muscles, snatched the dual swords from the hands of a cursed rabbit whose strength was nothing short of ordinary, and threw it away.

The two swords fell and fell to the ground in the forest.

Not even a second passed before she grabbed those swords again.

The moment she caught the spear, she realized that losing her weapon was inevitable, so she let go of the swords, quickly rolled back and grabbed the swords she had lost.

Her expression subtly changes as she holds the sword again.

The rabbit’s smile became brighter and she nodded, as if she was happy that I had given her an unexpected surprise.

If she hadn’t radiated life so vividly, others might have felt jealous of receiving such a smile from such a beautiful woman.

“Phew.”

Taking a deep breath, I swing the spear and shake away all the random thoughts along with the blood on the blade.

Because the hunt is still far from over.