CH 167

Warning: Graphic violence on non-humans.

“Fuck…! Shit…! What should I do? What in the hell should I do?” Rutger swore.

He desperately worked his head while running and bringing up the rear of the retreating Royal Guard Division knights and the students.

The front is led by a squad of the Royal Guard. They don’t know what kind of danger there is if you run carelessly through the forest. It’s only natural to have someone who can fight to some extent at the front. And then the unarmed students they were escorting followed, then the volunteers guarding the flanks. The remaining 2 squads of the Royal Guard Division, Rutger, and Simon were almost trailing at the back.

The monster with the human body and the head of a cow chases after them, its 2-3 meter tall body letting it move as if the trees don’t exist. Even in a place where humans would not be able to run well due to bushes and tree branches getting in their way, the sight of this titan breaking even the thickest branches just by rushing into them was so terrifying even Rutger’s determination broke from the fear.

“Don’t be hasty… calm down,” Rutger said to himself. “Calm down… Is there anything I can do…?”

He tried to suppress his fear while running, but he couldn’t come up with a good idea so easily. No matter how you look at it, it’s an opponent that can’t be defeated with such a small number of people. And at this rate, it would be difficult to escape to the camp where many other knights were awaiting. In that case, there is no choice but to get through somehow without fighting it head-on.

“Simon! Didn’t you say you were good at magic? What spells are you good at?” Rutger asked.

“Fi-Fire magic, I’m good at Fire magic!” Simon replied, still running and panting.

With that reply, Rutger started to hatch a plan.

“…………………………. Alright! Listen up, Royal Guards,” Rutger said, explaining while running. “The students and the leading squad run straight back to the camp. We and the 2 squads attached to us will stop that monster. Simon and I will use Fire magic to envelop that thing in flames. While we’re concentrating on casting, the Royal Guard Division should draw its attention.

Even if they continue running at this pace, it’s obvious that that thing will catch up to them sooner or later. The only way they can escape is to stop the enemy. However, even if you face it head-on with this force, they won’t be able to win, and they’ll only suffer more damage.

Therefore, the Royal Guard Division will draw the enemy’s attention while using obstacles such as trees as shields. Of course, counterattacking and dealing damage to it is not the purpose, so they don’t pursue it too intensely. It’s just that multiple people are breaking apart and attracting the attention of that monster.

Then Rutger and Simon will focus their magic while the Royal Guards keep the enemy’s attention. It was a strategy to look for an opening and swallow up the enemy in flames, right when the Royal Guard knights were disengaging with the enemy.

They don’t think they can defeat this thing with Fire magic, that’s not the key to this strategy. Monsters also have somewhat high intelligence, but in the end, they are not that different from beasts. Beasts fear fire. They don’t think that this monster can be defeated with fire, but they thought that if the forest were set on fire and the flames separate them, it wouldn’t pursue them any further.

In other words, the goal is not to defeat it with Fire magic, but to cut it off and keep it from chasing them anymore. Depending on the situation, it may bypass the burning forest and pursue them further, but if you can buy even a little time, the possibility of escaping to camp increases. If they don’t do anything, it’s certain that it will catch up, so they have no choice but to bet on that.

“Don’t overdo it!” Rutger said. “Everyone’s going home alive!”

“””Roger!”””

No one opposed Rutger’s command. The Royal Guard Division immediately looks for a place to lure the monster while spreading out. Rutger and Simon were also looking for a spot where they could hide and concentrate on their spellcasting while the knights held the thing’s attention.

“Over there! Lure it over there!” Rutger said.

He found a place just a little right off the path to their camp. According to his instructions, the members of the Royal Guard Division lead the monster there.

“Get the monster over here!”

“Get over here, you!”

“BUH-MOOOOOOO—!”

The Royal Guard Division threw stones and knives at the monster, it trudged along and moved as Rutger had planned.

“Simon!” Rutger said. “I’m going to aim from here! Both of us will fire at the same time. Get ready to cast when I say so!”

“Yes!” Simon replied.

They prepare the location and the timing where they can isolate the monster without getting any of their allies in the crossfire. If they can’t delay it here, there will be incredible damage. To prevent just that, there’s no choice but to make sure to stop the monster here. Even though he’s nervous because failure is not an option, they increase their magical power and wait for that moment.

“Now! Everyone back off!” Rutger yelled.

“”Spirit of Fire, devour my magical power and manifest,”’ Rutger and Simon chanted. “Envelop our enemies with your might! Pillar of Fire!”

Rutger and Simon’s chanting ends and the spell shoots off. At that time, the students who were trying to escape, the members of the Royal Guard Division, and everyone else in the area witnessed it.

The two of them shouted in unison and shot out an unbelievably huge pillar of flame as they thrust their arms forward. It looked like laser cannon from an anime on modern Earth. Everything that was in the giant flame’s path was burned to ashes in an instant.

The upper half of the monster’s stomach, the trees behind it, nothing was left behind as the pillar of fire passed through all in its upward angle. And the fire spread to the surroundings it touched. The rest of the monster’s lower body and the other trees along its path were in flames, while the people were enveloped in silence.

“A-Amazing…!”

“What was that spell just now?!”

“Ah, that should have been impossible…”

The students who were trying to escape and the members of the Royal Guard were all surprised, some raised their voices in joy, while others stood dumbfounded and couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

And the most surprised were Rutger and Simon.

It’s not like the two of them suddenly unleashed their latent abilities, or that the two of them combined their magical powers and fired off that spell just now. In the first place, the Pillar of Fire spell they chanted was a spell that just raised a column of flame from a predetermined location. It’s not the kind of magic that shoots out laser-like fire from the hands of the casters, as the witnesses just saw.

And, fundamentally, it was a situation like, “from the surrounding’s perspectives, it was as if it came from their outstretched hands” but it was actually coming from the bushes behind Simon and Rutger. And when the two looked there in their shock, they found…

A person lurks around while wearing a kettle-like helmet. And for some reason, he’s waving his hands. And the hands finally stopped on the kettle helmet. Apparently, the two of them could understand that he was panicking and then holding his head. When the two of them stared at him, the kettlehead turned away as if realizing that they were also watching.

“”…………””

“…………”

The three stare at each other and stop. Rutger and Simon are just stunned, and Kettle-Head’s face is completely covered, so they don’t know what he’s thinking or what kind of expression he’s making. They just stood there facing each other.

“UOOOOHHHH…! Amazing!”

“Just as expected of His Lordship Rutger!”

“-!”

As the students and the Royal Guard Division headed over with cheers, Kettle-Head made some kind of gesture with his hands. Rutger and Simon didn’t understand what he meant at first and somehow figured out what they wanted to say from the motions.

“Do you want us to do this?” Rutger asked as Simon and he thrust their hands out like before.

Then…

“WOAAHHHH! It’s water, this time!”

“His Lordship Rutger can’t just use Fire but also Water, its direct opposite alignment!”

From the outside, it looked as if a column of water had been shot out of Rutger and Simon’s hands that they thrust once more. The line of fire was almost the same as the Pillar of Fire earlier, and after the pillar of water passed through, all the flames that had started were extinguished.

“I’d expect no less of His Lordship Rutger!”

“Simon, isn’t it? You’re amazing, as well!”

“Ah… no… we’re not…” Rutger stammered.

He tried to explain it was Kettle-Head who did it but as the students rushed over with cheers, he realized there was no longer anyone in the bushes and understood there was no point mentioning it now, so he decided to be quiet.

After that, Rutger and company encountered some monsters and beasts, but they returned to the camp after protecting the 17 students without much danger.

And while Ludwig and company protected 9 students, there were also in a predicament after being attacked by an impossible monster.

“HihiiIIIEEEeennn!” it whinnied.

Its muscular body walks on two legs like a person and has the head of a horse. When Ludwig and his friends encountered the horse-headed monster, they thought of using the forest as a shield to escape, but that didn’t happen. The monster is huge, about 2-3 meters tall, but it is very agile and its mobility surpasses that of humans. Even though there are obstacles in the forest, the monster runs around freely, catches up, and corners them.

“Kuh! Is there anyone who can still fight?” Ludwig asked.

“Uuu… yes…” one knight said.

The members of the Royal Guards fought bravely, but this wasn’t the kind of enemy that 1 platoon could fight while protecting the students. The Royal Guard Division was beaten into the ground in no time, and the students who were blown away by the monster running past them slammed into the trees and were knocked unconscious on impact. The only one who could barely stand up was a slender and tall knight of Ludwig’s age.

The knights were harmed, in unstable conditions, and they were barely standing, so they weren’t much different from the other unconscious people. Only Ludwig, protected by the people around him, was still in good health.

“What should I do…?” Ludwig asked. “If it keeps up like this, we’ll be annihilated…”

“I will buy you time,” the knight said. “Your Highness, please head to the camp during that time.”

“What are you saying?!” Ludwig asked, reeling. “Do you want me to flee with my life and abandon everyone else?!”

But the knight was right.

“Even if all these people are saved, we cannot replace your life, Crown Prince,” the knight said. “And everyone here is here to protect you, Your Highness. Above all, escape from that monster and call for support. It is impudent to ask you to do this, but please call for help before it kills us all.”

That’s just sophistry. Not everyone here was prepared to risk their lives for Ludwig. Unlike the knights who were prepared to put their lives on the line just by being in a situation like this by chance, ordinary students had no such intentions.

In the first place, if there was any possibility of escaping from that monster, it would be only Ludwig who’d come out unharmed, but even if he escaped and asked for help from the camp, everyone would have been killed by the time he returned. Leaving here to go and call for support is a pretext, but that’s the only way to convince Ludwig to escape.

“-!”

Ludwig clenched his fists in his helplessness. At that time……

“HihIIIEEeenn…!”

“Wha-What the?”

Ludwig turned his gaze to the monster’s sudden pained groan and saw an unbelievable sight.

Both of the monster’s arms were cut off, and there were deep cuts in both thighs, down to the muscle. With its legs badly injured and the loss of its arms, it seems to have collapsed and stopped moving.

It had been cut down in an instant, it should have been impossible to do it with something that was that fast. Its muscular body was impervious to the Royal Guard Division’s attacks and now it had been cut off with single slashes of a sword. He does not understand what is going on. However, the only thing he does know was that it was done by the person standing behind the monster as he wore unusually thick armor.

“Yo-Youre…” Ludwig gasped.

“…………”

At that sight… Ludwig guessed everything. Just as he silently approached and was about to reach out to the kettle-like helmet… the knight dropped his sword and left the place at a speed Ludwig couldn’t stop him. All that was left was the sword stuck in the ground, wet with the monster’s blood. And the monster before him is still alive.

“Fuuh…! Fuuhn!” it snorted.

Even though its arms were fallen by its sides and its legs so wounded it could not move, there was still life in its eyes as it stared at Ludwig. These were not the eyes of a dying creature. Ludwig understands that he cannot leave this monster alone and pulls out the sword stuck in the ground.

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“Do you think me a coward for stabbing you like this? Then despise me as you will,” Ludwig said.

“Uuh…” the knights moaned as they came to.

“Ugh…” the students went as they did, as well.

The scene they witnessed takes their breaths away.

“I will ease your suffering… HAH!”

Zhyuhn! With the sound of tearing flesh, Ludwig’s sword deeply pierces the monster’s neck. After convulsing several times and letting out a soundless roar, the monster finally became still.

“Uu-UOOOOHHHH!”

“His Highness Ludwig defeated that monster!”

“All hail His Highness Ludwig!”

Some were still staggering, but those who managed to stand up cheered. Hearing their voices, they were rescued by the support troops following after, and Ludwig’s group returned to the camp without losing a single life.