CH 154

Episode 154 – Battle on the Mountain Trail

The next morning, after thanking the village chief and paying for our stay, Edward and I promptly left the village. The next place where we planned on staying was quite a distance away, and we needed to cross a mountain to get there.

“Well then, let’s get started. From here on out, we’ll be taking some unmaintained roads. The likelihood of monsters appearing will greatly increase, so don’t let your guard down.” (Edward)

“Yes. I’ll be ready for battle whenever a monster shows up.” (Lewin)

Just as Edward finished warning me after leaving the village, the well-maintained public road soon ended, and we began to embark on a mountain path that was difficult to traverse. At first, the mountain path could still be considered a ‘path’ to most people, but it eventually devolved into an animal trail, and we were now wading our way through on that trackless path.

I was worried that we might be lost, but Edward pushed onwards without any sign of hesitation in his steps, which led me to believe that this was probably the correct path he had in mind.

“Oh! Looks like a monster finally decided to show up. I’d like to see what you’re currently capable of before I start teaching you, so how about you try fighting him?” Edward, who had been forging ahead on the path, suddenly stopped and said to me.

I hadn’t been able to visually confirm the existence of the monster he was talking about yet, so I looked around restlessly. Eventually, I sensed the presence of something coming straight at me diagonally to my right. The moment I drew my steel sword, a four-legged monster with sharp tusks leapt out of the brush.

“It’s a Rampage Boar. There are several more behind this one, so there’s no time to waste on defeating this first one.” (Edward)

This Rampage Boar didn’t seem to be thinking anything in particular as it charged at me in a straight line, so I waited until it got close and then sliced at it when it came close enough. I used the momentum of the Rampage Boar against itself, so I didn’t need to put in that much force myself to inflict a fatal wound on it. The Rampage Boar was unable to exert any force into its legs after receiving such a deep cut, and it tumbled forward and rolled across the ground without being able to kill its momentum.

But it wasn’t quite dead yet. It was glaring at me with a sharp gaze as it shook and trembled, trying to get to its feet. I wanted to turn to focus on the other ones that Edward said were coming in behind it, but I couldn’t let down my guard against a monster, even if it was on the verge of death.

I rushed over to the Rampage Boar, which was still trying to get up, and thrust a finishing blow into its heart. Only then did its movements finally stop, and it fell slowly to the ground. I wiped the blood from my sword and turned my attention to where the dead Rampage Boar had jumped out from earlier, but—

“Lewin. I got a pretty good understanding from that sequence just now. Would you mind stepping back a bit?” Edward, who was watching from a little distance away, said to me. I wanted to defeat the rest of the Rampage Boars, but… I obediently followed Edward’s instructions. Keeping my sword pointed towards the direction from which the monsters had popped out earlier, I slowly fell back towards Edward’s position.

“I’ll show you something a little interesting. Keep your eyes peeled.” (Edward)

“Yes. I’ll study it to the best of my ability.” (Lewin)

As soon as I changed positions with Edward, three Rampage Boars flew out from the area where the first Rampage Boar had come from earlier. Unlike the one that I had defeated just before, these three Rampage Boars looked composed as they moved to surround Edward, who was standing in front of me.

When I saw that he was surrounded, I thought it didn’t look like a good situation and started moving to provide some assistance, but Edward quickly raised his hand to signal me to stop. Then, he slowly drew his slender sword. His sword was thin, and the tip was rounded. Since it didn’t have much of a blade and had a rounded tip, and knowing that a sword was supposed to be a cutting weapon, how in the world was this weapon supposed to be used to fight?

“Now then, let’s do this.” (Edward)

Making his body look relaxed for a moment, he held his rounded, slender iron…rod at the ready. With one leg bent in front of him and the other extended behind him, he assumed a very cramped-looking posture. Since it didn’t look like he was able to swing his sword from that position, he was most likely intending to use thrusts. From within the encirclement of the three Rampage Boars, Edward turned his focus to one of them and approached with his unique stance. The Rampage Boars froze for a second, as if not expecting Edward to make the first move, before charging in at him from three different directions.

It was a three-pronged attack that left him no room to back out, but Edward’s expression and movements reflected no impatience. He continued to approach the Rampage Boar that he singled out earlier and fired out a thrust at the charging monster’s skull.

From an onlooker’s point of view, the thrust movement was so minimal that it looked just like a light poke, but the Rampage Boar abruptly came to a dead stop mid-charge before falling over with a thud. Without paying any further attention to the fallen Rampage Boar, Edward turned to face the other two that were coming from behind him, but he didn’t show any signs of moving to block their attack. He lightly poked both of them in the head just like he did to the first one, knocking them out cold.