Chapter 115

Paras said he would intercept the monsters alone. And he boasted that he could reduce their numbers by half before they arrived here.

To be honest, I thought Paras' confidence was a bit excessive. Because the monsters Paras had to face were not ordinary monsters.

‘Monsters that even Jereuth and Barut couldn't defeat together… can he kill half of them alone?’

I tried my best not to show such worries and doubts on the outside. Because it could seem like I was looking down on Paras.

“If their numbers are reduced by half, Jereuth and Barut should be able to handle them sufficiently. And since I will continue to fight alongside them afterwards, we should be able to win without much trouble.”

Paras added another word as he spoke.

“Alternatively, you guys can take Leonardo and run away from now on, and I can hunt them alone. Leonardo’s safety, which is the most important to me and to you, is the top priority.”

—…….

“You don’t have to worry about me. I am a member of the Elven royalty. I will never be caught in the forest.”

Paras spoke with overflowing confidence this time as well, but.

This time, Jereuth, who had been listening carefully to his words, cut him off.

“Paras. Of course, you will never be caught by the monsters. But their chasing speed will be faster than our running speed. Even as we speak, they are rapidly approaching this place.”

“Well… that’s true.”

“And if we get completely caught up and a chaotic battle breaks out in the forest, it could get troublesome. You may be used to fighting in the forest, but we are not. We are used to fighting in places with a clear line of sight.”

“…….”

“No matter how much you cover us, a chaotic battle is always dangerous. Especially a chaotic battle where we have to fight while protecting His Highness is like fighting with shackles on for me.”

As expected of Jereuth, who had been through numerous battlefields.

He immediately pointed out the problem with Paras' plan.

“I think it would be better to fight here, on this wide and flat mountaintop.”

“Isn’t it dangerous if we get surrounded?”

“There is a way to avoid being surrounded and to deal with them relatively easily. Especially a method that can be used when we have the advantage of being positioned in a high place like this.”

Jereuth said, pointing in one direction.

The direction he pointed to was a particularly steep part of the mountaintop.

“Paras, you only need to do one thing. Lure the monsters in that direction.”

***

Hor.

The second-in-command of the Black Orc tribe, and the leader of the monster detachment dispatched to protect the Minotaur’s dungeon.

He was riding a giant blood-red wolf, racing towards the Minotaur’s dungeon.

In the middle of that.

“Uwaaaaaaaaargh!!”

Hor let out a roar full of fury. At the harsh roar, even the other monsters nearby flinched.

Hor’s anger was fearsome even to them, his allies.

A crystal ball was clutched in Hor’s hand. It was a crystal ball given to him by the Black Orc chieftain, ‘Krokas,’ which would indicate whether the Minotaur had been resurrected or sealed again.

“Damn it!! To seal Lord Minotaur!! Who dares!!!”

—…….

“Ride faster!! Faster!! We have to catch them before they escape and bring them to Lord Krokas!!”

At Hor’s urging, the monsters following him increased their speed even more. Most were riding wolves, horses, or bizarrely shaped bulls, but there were also monsters that followed by flying.

“Sons of bitches!! I’ll kill them!!!”

Just as Hor let out another harsh curse.

—Swish—!

—Gak…….

—Thud!

An arrow flew from somewhere in the forest.

It brushed past Hor’s ear and pierced the heart of the Double-Head Ogre right behind him.

As if killed instantly by one shot, the Double-Head Ogre fell powerlessly from its bull.

As the Double-Head Ogre in the lead suddenly fell, Hor clenched his fist and shouted.

“H-halt!”

The other monsters also saw the Double-Head Ogre being sniped and killed by someone’s arrow.

“It’s an ambush! Look around! And bring me that arrow! Quickly!!”

At Hor’s urging, a monster near the Double-Head Ogre’s corpse pulled out the arrow and brought it to Hor. After checking the arrow, Hor immediately scowled.

“Damn it…….”

‘This is an Elven arrow. We’re still far from Foothill’s Rest, so why is an Elven arrow—.’

While Hor was examining the arrow.

Swaeeek—!

Swaeeek—!

Swaeeek—!

“Gak…….”

“Guk…….”

“Eup…….”

Arrows started flying again. This time, three fell.

As soon as he saw that, Hor solidified his conviction.

‘Damn it…… it’s an Elf! We’re still far from Foothill’s Rest, so why on earth is an Elf here?!’

Even while panicking, Hor immediately gave orders to the monsters.

“Scatter! And keep running! We meet at the mountain peak where Lord Minotaur’s temple is!”

“H-Hor! Shouldn’t we run away?! This is clearly an Elven sniper, trying to break through that is crazy!”

A Goblin cautiously opposed Hor’s order. His words might have lowered morale, but they were certainly rational.

Trying to break through an Elven sniper in the forest was indeed a crazy act.

But.

“This weakling, worse than a vermin, talking back to me?!”

Thwack—!

Hor, without a shred of mercy, easily smashed the Goblin’s head with his glaive. At Hor’s merciless punishment, the monsters flinched in surprise, but they all focused on Hor.

“Lord Krokas gave the order! If any bastard has sealed Lord Minotaur again, we are to capture them all alive!!”

Swish—!

Gak…….

Even as Hor was speaking, an arrow flew and sniped another monster, but Hor paid no heed.

“In our monster army, orders are absolute!! To run away in fear of a mere Elven arrow, have you no pride?! And you call yourselves warriors representing your respective tribes?!”

—…….

“We keep going! Go at full speed, and if we find the Elf’s location, we catch him first! If an Elf has come this far to attack us, he must be in league with those who sealed Lord Minotaur!”

—…….

“Anyone who runs away or falls behind dies by my hand. Understood?!”

—Yes, yeees!

Swish—!

Gak……!

Another monster was killed by the Elf’s sniper shot. All the monsters saw it, but they followed Hor.

To the monsters, Hor’s anger was more terrifying than the Elf’s arrows.

Before Hor set off again.

He gestured to the monsters in the sky.

Swish-!

It was a signal to bypass the Elf’s sniper fire.

***

‘That makes thirty-two.’

Paras thought as he fired arrows from between the trees. The number of monsters had clearly decreased compared to before, and so had their speed.

At first, they ran at full speed regardless of the arrows flying at them. But it seemed that fear naturally arose from the continuous sniping.

Paras could feel that even the Black Orc in the lead was scared.

‘To think they’re still chasing after so many have died while taking arrow hits. Should I call them foolish, or brave……. But did the ones flying in the sky run away? They did suddenly change direction earlier… Hmm.’

Originally, Paras intended to hunt the flying ones first. But if he did that, there was a risk of his position being identified, so he hunted the ones on the ground first.

Paras' goal was only to protect Leonardo.

Therefore, he just intended to prevent the flying ones from getting near Leonardo.

However, there was a point that bothered Paras. It was the fact that among those ‘flying monsters,’ there were some he had never seen before. There was one with a body as thin as a finger but with disproportionately large wings and arms attached to them, and a bizarre one with wings attached to a large eye that also served as its body.

Those were monsters that even Paras, who had lived for over 200 years, had never seen before.

‘Hmm… I didn’t know there were monsters in the Monster Mountains that I didn’t know about. Anyway, it’s about time I started luring them to the place Jereuth mentioned.’

There was still some distance to the mountain peak where Leonardo was. But he thought he needed to start showing himself from now on to make them chase him so he could lure them to the place Jereuth mentioned.

‘I don’t know what Jereuth is trying to do. But from what my sister said in her letters, he seems to be a quite skilled human knight, so I’ll have to trust him.’

Thinking that, Paras deliberately dropped from the tree.

It was to show himself to the monsters and lure them to their destination.

Tat—.

Paras landed lightly on the ground.

Hor in the lead spotted Paras and shouted.

“Th-th-that son of a bitch!! That fucking Elf bastard!!!”

‘He seems quite angry. Serves him right for trying to scare my cute nephew.’

Paras was full of confidence. Not only was he sure that those things would never be able to catch him in the forest even if they died and came back to life, but it also didn’t matter if Jereuth’s plan failed.

Because what was important to him was only his family, Leonardo.

‘Whether Jereuth’s plan succeeds or not, I can save Leonardo and escape. Leonardo might be sad if that happens… but I don’t care. Whether Jereuth or those two Giants die.’

In any case, what Paras had to do now was to lure the monsters to the place Jereuth had requested.

The place Jereuth had told him to lure them to was a particularly steep part of the path leading up to the mountain peak.

Swaeeek—!

Paras leisurely turned back and shot one more arrow. Paras' arrow unerringly hit a monster in the eye.

—Gak…….

The monster fell without even managing to let out a proper death cry.

Without even confirming it, Paras ran towards the mountain peak.

—There he is!!! Chase him!!!

The black Orc in the lead chased after him with bloodshot eyes.

Paras shot arrows whenever he had a chance, reducing the number of monsters one by one, and led them to the place where Jereuth had told him to lure them.

—Woof, kuargh!

—Don’t think you’ll die easily, Elf!!

—I’ll tear you apart and eat you alive!!

The monsters chasing Paras from behind shouted murderously.

They had no idea they were being lured. In a normal situation, they might have felt something was strange about an Elf suddenly revealing himself in the forest and running on the ground, but right now, they were too agitated for that.

‘We’re almost there.’

Just as Paras came up to the place Jereuth mentioned, near the mountain peak.

Swoosh—.

Two large figures blocked the sun floating on the side of the mountain peak. The sun was at their backs, so their faces were shadowed, but Paras could immediately tell who they were.

The two were Barut and Grondar.

Barut was holding a giant boulder he had brought from somewhere, and Grondar was holding a giant wooden pillar.

Looking at the two, Paras thought with a puzzled expression.

‘……To lift such a large boulder and tree above their heads. Giants are a truly ignorantly strong race. And that tree… it seems they punched it down because they didn’t have an axe. I don’t like them damaging the trees, but since this isn’t Foothill’s Rest, I’ll forgive them.’

Paras passed by Barut and Grondar without saying much. Then he started shooting arrows from behind them.

In sync with that, Barut also let out a battle cry.

“Now!! Throw it!”

“Yaaay!!!”

Grondar shouted with an excited voice and threw the log— a log too big to be called a ‘piece’—with all his might. Barut also threw the boulder towards the monsters below.

Kung, kung, kung—!

Kuuung—!

A giant boulder and tree rolling down from the top of a steep mountain path.

“G-get out of the way!! You cowardly s—!”

The monsters, who had been too worked up about catching the Elf, were climbing the mountain at full speed.

No matter how much they tried to slow down and dodge, it was impossible to completely avoid the rolling tree and boulder.

The monsters at the very front managed to notice the crisis early and dodged to the side, but the monsters behind them were crushed and pushed by the tree and boulder without even knowing what was rolling down.

—Kuargh……!

—U-uwaaah! My, my leg!!

Even while the monsters were in a state of panic, Paras' arrows relentlessly flew, accurately aiming for the hearts, eyes, or necks of those climbing to the top.

For the monsters, it was a scene of utter chaos.

Even in the midst of that, a few monsters eventually reached the mountain peak.

But having been exhausted to their limits, there was no way they could face Jereuth.

Chwaak—!

Jereuth, who had cut off the head of a giant wolf in one blow, said calmly.

“Don’t kill them all. We need to capture some for interrogation.”

Jereuth spoke rationally and sternly, as befitting a knight who had been through numerous battlefields.

But Grondar ruined Jereuth’s atmosphere.

“Yaaaaaay! There’s more here!!! Hahahaha!! Dad, this is fun?!”

Even though there were no more monsters standing properly, Grondar didn’t stop, as if he found throwing the lump of wood fun.

He was clearly genuinely excited.

***

The ‘flying monsters’ that Paras had missed.

One of them did not chase Paras but headed straight for the top of the Monster Mountains.

It was a monster of a species called ‘Heliai,’ with a body that was a large eye and wings attached to that body.

Except for being able to use magic, the Heliai’s combat power was pathetic. However, its large eye, which was as good as its body, could identify a person from tens of kilometers away.

In other words, it was excellent as a scout.

Such a Heliai was watching the entire current situation.

‘An Elf, a Giant, and a human together……. Did those three species form an alliance to seal Lord Minotaur?’

If so, it would be a major hindrance to the monster army’s goal of exterminating humanity.

Elves and Giants, though few in number, were a force that could not be ignored.

Just look at the situation now. The brute strength of the Giant, throwing a giant boulder that more than ten humans couldn’t lift without difficulty, and the Elven arrows that hit their mark every time, even though they seemed to be shot carelessly.

If they were to help the humans, it would be a major obstacle to the advance of the monster army.

‘And that human is no pushover either. To sever a Hell Hound’s neck in a single blow……. I must quickly return to the army and report what I’ve seen here.’

Just as the Heliai was about to return to the ‘Basin of Glory.’

Its gaze caught sight of the area far to the northwest, near the Wasteland of Ruin.

‘That’s the Wasteland of Ruin… why are there no sandstorms?’

The Wasteland of Ruin was a place where fierce sandstorms always blew. Therefore, at this height, even a person with normal human vision could clearly see the sandstorms rising.

But since no sandstorms were rising in such a Wasteland of Ruin, it was only natural for the Heliai to find it strange.

‘If there are no sandstorms… it might be okay to attack the Giants first. It would be better to defeat the humans, Giants, and Elves one by one rather than facing them all at once.’

To the Giants, the sandstorms were like the castles of humans or the forests of Elves.

But if there were no such sandstorms, no matter how strong the Giants were, they wouldn’t be able to withstand a monster army of over tens of thousands.

Heh heh—.

The Heliai’s eye curved into a sinister crescent shape.

‘If I bring this information, at least I won’t be reprimanded for returning alive alone.’

Just as the Heliai was about to return to the monster army by flapping its wings.

Swaeeeeeeek—!!

A sound of something tearing through the air fiercely was heard.

It was too loud of a whoosh to be the sound of an arrow flying.