Chapter 74. It’s Not “How”
Several days after crossing the Hamelin Great Forest with the Aviot mercenaries.
The Hamelin Great Forest was, truly, going berserk.
Was it because we were pushing deeper and deeper inside? Or was Destrow’s influence growing stronger?
Krooo—!
Savage roars echoed from all directions, and the frequency of encountering monsters was rising as well.
It wasn’t just the frequency that rose.
“It’s an ogre!”
“Form up! Chain Unit, step forward!”
Up until we reached Base Camp No. 1, at most it had been goblins.
We’d run into orcs now and then, but monsters you could call “large-class” were rare.
‘Now the baseline is trolls and ogres.’
Things you could properly call “monsters” were coming out.
But.
- It’ll help a lot. Especially, we’ll be able to shorten the schedule significantly.
Raileigh’s words were, in fact, true.
Chwarareureuk—!
Metallic clattering rang out all at once.
With the sound of air splitting as chains cut through it, iron chains tangled around the furious ogre’s limbs.
And then, finally, even its waist and neck.
The ogre that had burst out as if it would tear everything apart was stripped of freedom in an instant.
Krooo! Keo!
Late to it, it twisted its arms and legs and body this way and that, but Aviot’s response was faster.
“Finishing Unit, forward!”
“Stab it good! Stab it good!”
Five or six mercenaries stepped forward.
The weapons in their hands were all different.
One held a mace the size of an adult man’s head, another a sickle.
And a few stepped out holding long spear shafts.
What followed was, from the ogre’s perspective, utterly horrific.
Kwa-deuk!
Mercenaries leapt high and crushed its eyes with their maces.
Seogeok! Kwa-deuk!
Sickles infused with Aether swept through, slicing Achilles tendons and wrist tendons.
And then—
Kwa-deuk.
A long spear shaft pierced its neck.
Puk!
A shorter spear thrust up from below, driving into the ogre’s solar plexus.
The time it took to process a single ogre was, at most, about five minutes.
“That scene… really, no matter how many times I see it, I can’t get used to it. Isn’t it incredible?”
At Raileigh’s words, I gave a small nod.
“Definitely… better than I expected.”
Objectively, it wasn’t that strange that Aviot’s mercenaries could kill an ogre.
Each and every one was a veteran mercenary.
With twenty-three of them gathered, what was an ogre or two?
But considering this place was the Hamelin Great Forest, it was surprising enough.
First, the size was different.
If an ogre outside the great forest averaged around three meters, the ogres here were around five.
And their strength?
‘To a shocking degree.’
With sheer grip strength alone, it tore out living wood—whole chunks of massive trees.
Just seeing that let you guess.
So how could it not be surprising?
‘I thought they’d at least have a hard time, but…….’
Instead of having a hard time, they cut its windpipe like seasoned butchers.
Not only that.
“Hey! Sickle guy! You lose your touch?! Damn it. I told you—just cut the tendons, you bastard! You’ll ruin the blade!”
“Ah, come on. So strict. Then you do it, hyung-nim. For the first time holding a sickle in a while, this is excellent.”
“Mm…… I didn’t pierce the heart completely. Looks like I really did lose my touch.”
As if even that wasn’t enough, they traded this and that among themselves.
As I watched, a shadow approached.
“Try to understand. It’s been a long time since any of them held a blade, so they haven’t found the feel again yet.”
“They haven’t found the feel?”
“Yeah. The oldbies mostly hold the chains. The finishing is the young ones’ job. Anyway, it won’t cause any disruption to the schedule.”
With that, Fixer turned away.
‘It’s true…….’
Those holding the chains looked unbelievably practiced.
No—was it only practiced?
‘At that level, you could call it a secret art.’
It was an ogre.
A great-forest ogre with monstrous strength beyond anything outside.
Could a human who didn’t even weigh a hundred kilos, even if he’d learned Aether, really bind that thing’s limbs with chains and hold?
‘Impossible.’
They were holding two chains each, but it was much the same.
And yet, the reason the Chain Unit could neutralize the ogre’s movements was—
- Those chains… they’re more expensive than gold of the same weight. They say they’re made from some ore that comes out of the great forest.
First, it was equipment doing the work.
To withstand an ogre’s strength, you needed chains that strong.
And the other was—
‘Experience and coordination.’
The chain-men controlling the arms and legs, the waist and neck, weren’t just bracing individually.
Like twelve men were one body, they threw off its center of gravity every time the ogre moved.
“Hey, loudmouth!”
“Ah, damn it! Why am I loudmouth?!”
“Because your mouth’s loose, that’s why! Shut up and come grab the way already! What kind of specimen is this?”
Raileigh, who’d been slacking off at the side, hurried over at an Aviot mercenary’s call.
He grumbled, but he looked the ogre up and down seriously.
After studying it for a moment, Raileigh exchanged some words with Fixer, and what he’d said a few days ago came back to me.
- Honestly, at this point, it’s a dream team.
- Dream team?
- Yes. The best compass and the best ship. When it comes to sailing, there’s no better conditions than this.
It was a bit annoying how he called himself the best compass, but seeing this, it wasn’t wrong.
And on top of that—
“Is anyone injured? I can do some basic healing magic…….”
We even had a somewhat clumsy mage.
Not a bad combination.
And so the journey continued fairly smoothly.
At times—
“Mage-nim, I think you’ll need to help.”
There were cases where I had to step in, but the obstacles weren’t that big.
And then……
“By now, I think I’ve got the feel. It should be fine to go straight by the shortest route.”
“Yes, I’ve gotten the feel to some extent too. I’ll set the route to match Aviot’s level.”
Just as we were starting to push the journey in earnest—
an Aviot mercenary who’d been keeping watch found something.
“Chief! You should come look for a moment!”
A mercenary calling Fixer loudly, rarely.
“Mm. Want to come with me?”
Fixer must have sensed something was off, because he threw the question at me.
I followed him without much thought, and what was there was someone unfamiliar to me.
“He’s a person… and he doesn’t look dead?”
But his condition was miserable.
A man drenched in blood—whether it was a monster’s or his own—barely hanging on with breath.
But why was it.
“……Mm. How did this guy….”
Fixer muttered, his complexion hardening.
“Who is he?”
“First… we’ll gather him up. Heinser, go back and tell them we’ll rest a little and then move.”
Fixer personally stepped in and collected the blood-smeared man.
“U… uuh.”
His condition must not have been completely hopeless, because the man let out a groan.
Fixer slung him over his shoulder, then went, “Ah,” and looked at me, asking—
“What did you say earlier?”
“I asked if he’s someone you know.”
At my question, Fixer nodded slowly.
“……Of course I do. Do you remember? Before we departed, what I asked you.”
“You wanted me to persuade… Ali… something?”
“It’s Hallig. And didn’t I mention someone else?”
“Was it Plen?”
“……Yes.”
Fixer opened his mouth with a stiff face.
“This guy is that Plen. Even if we let Base Camp No. 2 go, he’s the one I said we absolutely needed.”
“Hm.”
I frowned as I looked at the man called Plen.
“Didn’t you say he was a vice-captain?”
“That’s right.”
“Then…….”
“Yeah. It looks like something happened at Base Camp No. 2.”
With that, Fixer carried Plen and started walking toward the main group where the mercenaries were waiting.
‘Something happened, huh…….’
I watched Fixer, then turned my head sharply away.
For a moment.
Tap.
I kicked off the ground and sprang up onto a thick branch of a giant tree.
Right after—
“……Kuhk!”
In the dense shadow made by thick brush,
I pulled out one rat bastard hiding there, then curled my lips upward.
“It was bothering me already.”
A rat bastard who kept sending familiars to watch the party.
I’d left it alone because I didn’t know the intent, and now it had the nerve to come close and reveal itself like this.
“All right. Now say it. What are you plotting?”
“W-what the hell…… h-how…….”
Was it that he couldn’t believe his concealment had been exposed?
Pupils shrunk tight. Trembling eyes.
I gently shook my head at him.
“No. What you should be saying isn’t ‘how.’”
Your word choice is wrong.
“‘Which things’ you should say—shouldn’t that be what you ask first? Because that way, it’ll hurt just a little less.”
Over the bastard’s horrified face, my hand wrapped in Collision Style fell.
Aster returned to the main group after a bit more time had passed.
“What about the one you picked up?”
“His injuries are severe, but not to a critical level. He just lost consciousness because his strength was drained. Looks like he was harried by monsters for several days.”
“A lucky bastard.”
“……Mm.”
Fixer neither agreed nor disagreed.
Considering the current Hamelin Great Forest, it was fortunate he’d only come to that, but it felt like “fortunate in misfortune,” at best.
“Anyway, he’s not going to die, right?”
“That’s right, but…… hey. What did you go do, exactly?”
Fixer half-lidded his eyes as he looked at Aster.
No—more precisely, what those eyes held was Aster’s hand.
A faint scent of blood.
He probably tried to hide it in his own way, but you couldn’t fool the nose of a mercenary who’d smelled blood his whole life.
“There was a rat bastard. We’ll talk about this later.”
“A rat bastard?”
“There’s something like that. Anyway, if he’s not going to die, I think it’s better to depart right away.”
“……Hm. Fine, then I’ll have them prepare.”
Aster brushed it aside suspiciously, but Fixer didn’t press further.
They’d been together for several days now, and a certain level of trust had built.
“Prepare! We’re departing immediately!”
“I’ll take the lead now.”
Aster stood at the head of the party and crossed the great forest side by side with Raileigh.
After that, the schedule was a true forced march.
And then, several more days like that.
‘……Hm.’
Fixer watched Aster walking ahead with deep-set eyes.
‘So something really did happen.’
His face was hidden by the mask, but Aster had always kept an unhurried, relaxed attitude.
But now?
- Troll! A troll. It’s a Fallen Troll. You have to cut the neck in one go—
- Boom!
- ……!
Before the mercenaries could even move, the troll’s head exploded.
- There. Let’s go.
He hadn’t lost his composure, but the way he moved was, somehow, relentless.
- Uh, Mage-nim. The pathfinding—
- I’ll handle things whenever possible, so set it on the absolute shortest path.
- ……Understood.
In truth, this wasn’t a good method.
Fixer knew Aster’s force well enough, but the Hamelin Great Forest wasn’t a place you could break through with force alone.
A Pathfinder didn’t just look at monsters, but the ecology of the Hamelin Great Forest itself.
But.
- Uh, up ahead is a poisonous herb colony, so we should go around—
- Fwoooosh—
- This solves it, right?
He burned an entire poisonous herb colony to the ground.
- Mm… these are drake traces. I think it’s better to detour a bit.
- Straight.
He didn’t care about any monster at all.
And when they actually ran into a drake, the way he brutally tore off its scales and burst its heart……
“Mm, that gentleman. Why is he suddenly like that?”
Maybe Raileigh had sensed something off too.
Fixer took in Raileigh, who came up and asked obliquely, with a glance.
For a moment.
“Why, is it comfortable?”
“Well, for me, it is comfortable, but…….”
With Aviot joining, the parts Raileigh had to worry about had dropped sharply.
But from the moment Aster started leading, it wasn’t just “dropped.”
How should he put it.
Yeah—literally a compass.
It felt like having a battering ram that would always open a path as long as you picked a direction.
That was when Fixer’s thunderous reprimand fell.
“You little shit! Don’t get sloppy just because it’s comfortable—this is exactly when you need to keep your head on straight, hm? Stop coming over here and spewing bullshit and go up front and watch the path properly!”
At the sudden roar, Raileigh startled and hunched his shoulders.
“What the hell, all of a sudden—”
“This loudmouth—what are you doing? Why aren’t you going up front. Want me to grab you and throw you?”
“Fine… filthy old man, seriously. I’m going, I’m going.”
Raileigh headed forward, grumbling.
Fixer watched him for a moment, then turned his eyes back to Aster.
“Caught slacking?”
“Ah, slacking my ass. It’s just some old fossil being an asshole for no reason— ahem. He’s just a bit sensitive.”
“Then do better. Hm? This—there’s a freeloader right here, hm?”
Aster scolded the awkward Raileigh.
The scene was the same as always—there wasn’t a speck of seriousness to be found, but—
‘……Hm. It’s something I can’t understand at all.’
From that 모습, Fixer could read an unpleasantness he couldn’t put a finger on.
Like someone who feels itchy somewhere, but doesn’t know exactly where, so it’s uncomfortable.
As Fixer’s thoughts reached that point—
a mercenary who’d gone far ahead as a scout came back.
“It’s Base Camp No. 2!”
Right after that, Aster—who’d been walking slowly—shot out.
“Come slowly. I’ll go ahead and be there first.”
“Mm.”
Fixer nodded low, then raised his voice to the party.
“We’re speeding up too.”
And so Aviot’s mercenaries, guided by the scout, headed for Base Camp No. 2.
And then.
When they entered through Base Camp No. 2’s wide-open front gate—
“……!”
Fixer’s eyes went wide.
The first thing he saw was the masked mage standing there, staring at the scene.
A mage who stood without a word, without the slightest wavering, with a colorless expression.
But the scene spread beyond him was not something anyone could accept casually.
The central open ground of Base Camp No. 2.
The catastrophe laid out.
“U-uurk……!”
“Blegh!”
Even mercenaries who were worn down and hardened could only vomit at it.
“Ah…….”
Even Oberon, who had seen the disaster created by Destrow’s undead at Base Camp No. 4, turned pale.
In Fixer’s mind as he looked at it, only one word passed by.
‘Hell.’
A fictional world that old, dusty theologians never fail to bring up when explaining religion.
It had unfolded in Base Camp No. 2.