NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 35
Chapter 35: Adventurer, the Samurai Loses It
“Two Demon Boars! They’ve noticed us! They’re charging!”
“Use the bow on the one leading ahead! Let’s take out the one behind in close combat! Barth, can you stop it?”
An arrow from Cross and Mauri struck the hind legs of the large Demon Boar charging at great speed, making it fall over. Barth clenched his teeth and managed to stop the charge of the following one.
“Uuuuuugh! This is it! Go for it!!”
Franz’s sword slashed its flank, and Pamela struck its head with her staff. Cross thrust his sword into the staggering Demon Boar’s side, destroying its heart and finishing it off.
“We’re done over here too—”
Mauri returned, waving his hands back and forth, having gone to finish off the fallen Demon Boar.
“Everyone, good job. The monsters seem to be getting tougher than when we were in the cave, huh.”
“That’s true. That charge earlier was quite tough.”
“But now, finally, we can say goodbye to jerky! I hate it!”
Pamela must have really disliked it; she took a piece of jerky out of her magic bag and hurled it far away.
“There was no need to go as far as throwing it away…”
“We don’t seem to have any water sources nearby, so let’s butcher it here. We just need the meat and magic stones, right?”
“Mm, I believe the tusks should sell too. The skin might not fetch a great price… but with room to spare in our luggage, let’s collect them just in case.”
Barth grinned, rubbing his lush beard.
Dividing the work, they began butchering the boar one after another, throwing the meat into the magic bag. Franz, even with bloodied hands, couldn’t hide his sense of great satisfaction.
A magic bag… magic bag!
The envy of low-tier adventurers and an essential item for high-tier ones. Not something that can be bought just by having the money, this prized possession is something that even mid-tier adventurers fervently search for.
Franz carefully took the dirty leather bag as if handling a newborn baby, trembling with emotion. His chest felt warm, and tears almost welled up.
It felt as if he had skipped several steps on the ladder of glory. Despite knowing that it’s childish to get so worked up over a lucky item, he wanted to whoop and jump for joy alone in front of his companions. This might be considered green, but at this moment, it truly felt like the peak of his adventuring career.
His spirits were soaring. Exhaustion from the previous day had disappeared, and his whole body was filled with vitality.
―――――――――――――――――――
“This smell of beast… It’s ridiculously delicious though.”
“I think I could eat a whole boar by myself right now.”
Seeing this as the perfect time, they decided to have lunch on the spot.
The pork they had just hunted was simply roasted after sprinkling some herbs and salt, but compared to the preserved foods they had been eating up until now, it was so delicious that it was almost moving. Everyone ate silently for a while.
“Franz, what kind of monster is the next gatekeeper?”
“Just one Spider Monkey. It has weak attack and defense but apparently moves quickly and lightly.”
“That’ll be troublesome if it runs around the grand hall. Well, how do we finish it?”
“For now, we’ll aim with the bow. If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to work together to trap it in the corner of the grand hall. I’d like to make it to the safety zone on the sixth floor today, so we don’t want to use up unnecessary stamina…”
While Franz was thinking about the strategy, Mauri, who was devouring the meat with great enthusiasm, noticed that something was off with Cross.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Cross stopped eating, closed his eyes, and stood still.
“…The air in the forest has changed. The sounds of the birds and beasts that were there till now have stopped. There might be something big nearby.”
Now that he mentioned it, listening carefully, it was indeed unusually quiet. Everyone instinctively picked up their weapons and took a defensive stance. Franz quickly opened his map and read the annotations written on the fifth floor, noticing a particular note.
“Trouble…! It seems monsters ranked C, Ghost Bears, appear on this floor. We might have drawn it here with the smell of the food.”
“Equivalent in strength to a Giant, huh…? What should we do? Should we run―――”
At the next moment, the trees far away could be seen shaking violently with a loud cracking sound. The size must be huge if it’s shaking the trees like that. It was most likely a Ghost Bear.
“It’s pretty far away still. It probably hasn’t detected us yet, so let’s try to leave quietly while suppressing our presence.”
Thankfully, all their belongings are in the magic bag. It was regrettable to leave such a fine feast behind, but they still had plenty of meat.
Following Franz’s instructions, everyone was about to move when Cross’s words made them stop.
“Should I go hunt it?”
“―――――――――”
It had only been about a month since they had met Cross, but Franz and the others had come to understand his character fairly well through their life together.
To put it simply, he was a combat enthusiast. Normally gentlemanly and considerate of his comrades, there was a pesky side to him that wouldn’t allow him to resist the temptation of a strong enemy.
As expected, his eyes were sparkling with the excitement of an eager child, and it was impossible to refuse such a look.
Franz sighed deeply, as if accepting defeat.
“If Cross says so, I think he’ll be fine, but in that case, we’ll follow you too…”
―――――――――――――――――――
Four of them quietly followed behind Cross, who was walking with a bold presence. He was occasionally singing out of tune while tapping the trees with a branch he held in his hands, as if deliberately showcasing his presence.
“Uh, he seems to be enjoying himself. What’s ‘Kintaro’ about?”
“If we only look at his figure… he looks like a child…”
“He has no fear, doesn’t he?”
“Perhaps it’s just a bear to Cross… Although an ordinary bear scares me too.”
Further ahead, they could soon see the Ghost Bear, breaking through the trees.
“GGUUUUOOOOOHHHH!!!!!”
A roar that shook the surrounding trees. If they had been near, it might have caused them to faint. Its giant frame was like a mountain of fur. Its claws were each as sharp as a finely honed sword, and its fangs, exposed, were quite intimidating.
“Beautiful bear, isn’t it?”
Eh…? Is that really all you can say about that monster?
The Ghost Bear stood up with surprising agility for its size and swung its arms with a whooshing sound. Cross dodged each attack like a dancing leaf, not even bothering to draw his sword, even though the claws were just inches from his face.
The Ghost Bear growled, irritated, dropped to four legs, and charged with its massive jaws open. However, this was easily avoided as well, like a playful puppy.
This exchange continued several times until the Ghost Bear finally stopped moving.
“Nghh… Nghh!”
“What’s the matter? Are you tired already? …Hey! You guys, come out!”
The four hiding in the bushes glanced at each other, feeling a very bad premonition.
“This bear is weaker than that giant! Try to take it down!”
“Wo, wait, you’re joking…? It’s C-rank!!”
“…There’s no way I can stop that charge with my shield…”
“W-w-what do we do…? Should we just hide here until Cross decides to stop?”
“No… Cross won’t change his mind once he starts. We have no choice but to come out.”
Franz and his team emerged from the bushes with heavy steps. Even from fifty meters away, they could feel the overwhelming presence of the Ghost Bear.
“Ah, good job coming out! So, I’ll send it over to you now…”
“Hey, hold on just a second, Cross! We’re not mentally prepared!”
“Ah, understood! Then I’ll keep it busy… entertained a bit more until you’re ready!”
“Hey, did he just say ‘entertain’ that thing?”
“He certainly did.”
“Rather than that, what do we do? We can’t clash with it head-on and win.”
“…It’d be impossible to withstand that charge head-on. Barth, can you deflect rather than block?”
“In that case… Aye, I’ll try to see what I can do.”
“Good then, we will begin with magic and bows. Afterwards, when Barth deflects the charge towards me, I’ll try to buy some time standing at the front. During that time, I want Mauri and Pamela to keep attacking from middle and long range. Don’t you two come close to it whatsoever, okay?”
After confirming the determination in everyone’s eyes, Franz gave a loud signal.
“Ready, Cross! Do it!”
“Understood! …Hey, Mr. Bear. There’s food over there.”
Cross kicked the Ghost Bear’s snout, directing its attention forcefully towards Franz and his team. The bear probably deemed more numerous but less threatening prey better, and rushed them with a roar.
“You bastards, I can hear you, Cross! Who’s food! DAMN IT! Pamela, fire!”
“Understood! Firing!”
Pamela’s fire cannon and Mauri’s arrows struck the Ghost Bear’s head. The beast hesitated briefly, then quickly resumed its charge after wiping its face with its forelimbs.
“Young lady, don’t worry about it being weak, just keep firing!”
“Understood! I’ll use my fire ball!”
Fire balls kept flying from Pamela’s staff. Each time one hit the bear’s nose, it would whimper discontentedly. Meanwhile, Mauri continued firing arrows until one struck its right eye.
“YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”
“Great, we’ve blinded one eye! But my arrows are gone! All I have left are ten throwing knives!”
“Pamela has either two fire cannons left or one Inferno!”
“You’ve both done excellently! Retreat for now and take a deep breath! Barth, I count on you!”
“Understood!”
Barth deflected the charge diagonally but was blown back by the impact.
“AAAARH! How’s that, huh!!”
“Come here, you bear! Eat me!”
Bating it with his sword on his shield, the Ghost Bear turned its attention to Franz.
A swing of its powerful arm roared as it came towards Franz. Avoiding it by a hair’s breadth, the wind pressure brushed against his cheek, and a cold sweat ran down his back.
One swipe from those claws would be fatal…
Neither the shield nor the sword could withstand it. All he could do was dodge.
Franz continued to dodge with wide-eyed determination, fully aware that death could be waiting at any instant. The Ghost Bear’s movement was getting slightly sluggish due to the knives from Mauri embedding into it, but its crushing strikes still remained deadly. It felt like he was being suffocated under endless attacks.
“The timing of the attack shows clearly in its eyes, shoulders, knees…”
True, seeing the shoulders and knees reveals the timing for its attack, and its eyes indicate its target, but the gap is so short—less than a second. Such frantic dodging couldn’t go on forever.
For how many minutes had this been? How many hours? The sound around disappeared, and the feeling of eternal moments stretched endlessly. However, Pamela’s call brought him back abruptly.
“Firing ready!”
“As soon as I move, fire…!”
Just as Franz narrowly avoided a powerful strike by diving, he leapt into the bushes ahead. The moment he did so, the Ghost Bear was engulfed in flames. Roaring a soul-piercing cry, it wildly swung its claws several times before finally crashing to the ground.
―――――――――――――――――――
“Mr. Cross is an Idiotoo!”
“You stupid crazy bastard! Were you trying to kill us?!”
“No, wait… I truly believed in your current skills and thought we could definitely win…”
“Fool! Even if we win, we used up all our energy and strength! I can’t move one more inch from here! I’m sleeping right here!”
“Cross, this morning we had a plan to reach the safe zone on the sixth floor today, right? I consider everyone’s stamina and pace when making our daily plans. True, I did say it was okay for you to fight. But I didn’t expect you to tell us to take over the fight. How could I imagine fighting a monster like that in a place like this? A life-or-death battle on the edge! It was miraculous that no one got seriously hurt. Just a slight misstep could have cost someone their life! Moreover, suddenly putting us through a full-scale combat training inside a dangerous labyrinth…”
Franz’s lecture continued for about an hour.
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